Dinner! 2014 (Part 3)

[huiray]

Two-thirds of a block of soft tofu and one block of firm tofu, both cut into chunks, deep-fried in turmeric-infused oil.^¶  The tofu picked up an additional pleasant taste to the crispy skin and a lovely golden color, over how they come out when done in a more usual manner.  Eaten w/ chopped scallions and grated daikon.  Dipping sauce of a mixture of Lingham's Hot Sauce & nước mắm pha sẵn. 

 

^¶Oil that had been used to deep-fry the tamarind-marinated chicken pieces when making Kari Kapitan previously posted about here.

 

[Anna N]

Thanks to Norm Matthews I just had to try this!

One leg/thigh served with a side of kongnamul (Korean side dish of dressed soya bean sprouts).

[merstar]

Tonight is rainbow trout fillets with caramelized scallions in extra virgin olive oil and dry white wine. Served with basmati rice, and steamed asparagus.

Deep dark devil's food cake with dark chocolate ganache for dessert.

[gfweb]

Israeli salad with parsley and a little mint

 

Grilled corn

 

Grilled London broil.   If I had planned ahead, I'd have done it sous vide

[C. sapidus]

Shrimp po' boys, a joint effort with Mrs. C. Yeah, hungry boys made most of that pile of shrimp disappear. 

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Anna – I love bean sprouts!  What were they dressed with and were they cooked at all?

 

merstar – that trout dish sounds fantastic.

 

gfweb – It is almost midnight.  I am filled to the gills with Greek food and I want some corn and grilled beef right now.

 

Bruce – I also would like a shrimp po’boy.

 

Last night was assorted leftovers.  My dinner:

Redo of the salad from the disastrous dinner with our visitors, cottage cheese and a creamy fruit salad from a good friend.  Mr. Kim chose a Dagwood instead of cottage cheese   :

 

Tonight Mr. Kim brought home a semi-disappointing meal from the Greek festival:

Pastichio, dolmades, tiropita, spanakopita, Grecian green beans and pilaf.  The only thing that was exceptional was the tiropita.  Everything else was just ok.  The gyro was very much a disappointment:

The tzatziki was so dull (mine is much, much better) and I think when actual Greek people are selling it, you should expect something more than frozen portions of machine made meat  :

 

The dessert assortment was stellar:

From top left: finiki, ergolavos, kourambiedes, kataifi and baklava.  Every single one was perfect.  I don’t get how you soak something in honey and it stays crisp.  Next up is the Lebanese festival.  Then the Armenians (the best, in our opinion). Opa!!!

[Ashen]

a few meals from the past week

 

Fresh ground sirloin tip burger ,   with point reyes original blue, homemade relish, sliced onions and dijon  . served with potato and mac salads

 

 

 

 

spaghetti alla puttanesca  [ yes I put parm on it , even though there is anchovies in it.. call me a rebel  ]

 

 

grilled  lemony drumsticks, mushrooms and my  first taste of  local asparagus  season.  This was the serving platter , not my plate. although I could have eaten all the asparagus myself. 

 

Edited May 31, 2014 by Ashen (log)

[Dejah]

Kim Shook: That's a lovely spread you put on for your relatives. I'd eat at your table in a flash!

 

All the meals look great...The shrimp po'boy - dredged in cornmeal? Sapidus / Bruce?

Lazy days for cooking due to gardening, but we've enjoyed rainbow trouts, stuffed with lemon and fresh ginger slices. These were grilled on the BBQ, basted with cilantro, lemon juice, and melted butter.

 

 

And last night, a throw together Thai red curry chicken and our first feed of fresh fiddleheads!

 

 

 

[C. sapidus]

...The shrimp po'boy - dredged in cornmeal? Sapidus / Bruce?

 

3-step coating for the shrimp - seasoned flour, egg wash, and then a mix of corn meal and seasoned flour. Seasoning was Dizzy Pig Cajun rub. Mrs. C dredged and I fried, and the timing worked out perfectly.

 

Dejah, the rainbow trout and Thai curry look right up my alley . . .

 

Made two quiches this morning with Gruyere cheese - one crab and one Mexican chorizo and onion - for a confused brunch which may be dinner by the time everyone's travel plans, etc. line up. 

[Anna N]

Anna – I love bean sprouts!  What were they dressed with and were they cooked at all?

 

Kim,

These were soy bean sprouts. I have only ever had mung bean sprouts before so I had to look up what to do with them. A number of places suggested boiling them for 10 minutes with a lid on and then refreshing them with ice water. That is what I did. I then tossed them with some scallions, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce, and Korean pepper flakes.

[Norm Matthews]

Smoked Pork Chops with a salsa made with fresh cut pineapple, red bell peppers, onion, kiwi, sriracha and cilantro; sugar peas and rice.

 

 

[Anna N]

Roast chicken sandwich -- it's what's for dinner.

[patrickamory]

What is better than a roast chicken sandwich… !

[patrickamory]

Had another go at chicken adobo à la Soba, served with steamed jasmine rice, green apple samba and Filipino cucumber salad.

 

 

 

 

[SobaAddict70]

Looks awesome. Maybe I need to make that soon...



Herb and mesclun salad, chive vinaigrette

Salad: contains baby mesclun, nasturtium flowers, lovage leaves, minced chives, oregano leaves, mint leaves, French tarragon leaves and sage leaves
Chive vinaigrette: 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, 2 tablespoons white wine, 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper and minced chives




Duck gizzard confit, Japanese turnips, scallion

Gizzard: sliced, then sautéed in bacon drippings, with onion; deglazed with port, seasoned with sea salt and black pepper
Turnips: simmered in lightly salted water, then glazed in olive oil and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper
Assembly: spooned atop a shallow bowl, then dressed with sesame oil and togarashi pepper




Sea scallops, pan con tomate

[huiray]

Prawns in tomato sauce (tôm sốt cà chua) with ginger, shallots & scallions.

White rice.

 

[Anna N]

huiray

Would you mind sharing your recipe for the shrimp in tomato sauce. I did Google it but the recipes are all over the place. Thank you.

[scubadoo97]

With the recent SV burger thread I decided to give it a whirl

I picked up 2 roasts at the market yesterday. A chuck and upper blade roast. These were cleaned. The blade roast needing the most work to prepare with the thick tendons. These were ground through a medium die

Made 2 6oz patties. Seasoned with S/P as well as a BBQ rub called Dizzy Pig Red Eye Express. These were bagged with a few sliced onions and placed into 130f water for ~ 2hrs. The burger was pan seared before serving. Served with cold oil fries Aka Joel Robuchon fries

I had an opportunity to see how the 2nd burger did on reheat when my son came home later declaring "I'm hungry what's for dinner".

I pulled the burger from the fridge which had also been seared wrapped and chilled and rebagged and reheated at 130 for maybe 15-20 min. Looked like the first one but without the crisp crust. He proclaimed it a success

Although I like a good smash burger this was really good. As rare as the meat looked it didn't have that raw texture

[rotuts]

scubadoo97

 

excellent choice of meats.  blade roasts are over looked and have excellent flavor.  even better when on sale.  even better than that

 

when they are Prime and on sale.  i remove the central tendon and tie two 1/2 pieces together and SV as a steak

 

delicious

 

next time the Prime are on sale  ( same price as choice  ....  sold that same way ...   But I 'know' the butcher and get them when

 

they come in )

 

Ill trim some up and make a couple of SV burgers

 

nice idea

[scubadoo97]

I really like the flavor of blade roasts. Never seen Prime blade roasts just prime prices when they are split in two to make Flat Iron steaks.

[rotuts]

in my area a one butcher in a local family owned chain  * Roche Brothers *  I was talking w the butcher and he had some in

 

the large box of blades --- both for 'steaks'  the usually butchering method  and roasts by request.

 

he showed me the prime sticker, said in a box of 12 roasts to trim  sometimes up to 4 were 'prime'

 

they just mix them in w the choice.   I bought all 4 prime and trimmed them up myself into SV Steak pouches

 

best 'steak'    ( 130 x 4 or so  very carefully trimmed by me )  ive ever had.  pan sear etc.

 

on sale to boot :  3.49 lbs

[huiray]

huiray

Would you mind sharing your recipe for the shrimp in tomato sauce. I did Google it but the recipes are all over the place. Thank you.

 

Sure.

 

This one is modeled after the simple recipe here.  I had also previously "adjusted" that same recipe here.

 

• Large wild-caught Atlantic prawns/shrimp^¶ (slightly over ½ lb), shelled & deveined but tails left on; marinated/tossed w/ 1 egg white, ~½ tsp sugar, ~½ tsp salt, ~1½ -2 tbsp light soy sauce [i used Pearl River Superior].  Set aside for 20-30 minutes while doing the other stuff.

• Two medium shallots, peeled, thinly sliced.  Maybe a 1 inch length of fresh ginger, skinned, thinly sliced into thin coins.  Four or five large scallions trimmed, washed, sliced into 1½-2 inch pieces.  White rice was cooked (stovetop).

• The prawn shells/legs were simmered on low heat in a saucepan w/ a little salt, a bit of oil and some water (partly covered), tossing w/ a spatula, till it was almost dry and beginning to "crisp" and get crispy bits.^§  A small amount of water was added, everything scraped around and simmered (some tossing) for a short while.  The stock was poured off, squeezing the shells w/ the spatula.  Yield about a half of a small-ish rice bowl's worth.  Shells dumped.

• The prawns (fished from the marinade) were sautéed in the same pan w/ some fresh oil, till barely done, then reserved.  The crispy bits were scraped off and added to the reserved prawns.  (The marinade left behind in the marinating bowl went down the drain. ;-) )

• A bit more oil was added, the sliced shallots & ginger went in & sautéed till the shallots were just beginning to acquire a brown edge.  Three very healthy squeezes of Heinz "Simply Heinz" tomato ketchup went in and the mix was sautéed on medium-high heat till the mix/ketchup was just beginning to brown and turn dry-ish, then the reserved prawn stock poured in and the mixture stirred well still on medium-high heat for a minute or so.

• The reserved prawns and scrapings then went in and were tossed around, followed by the trimmed scallions.  Everything was stirred/tossed till warmed/heated through plus a wee, wee bit more.

 

Serve.

 

^¶"Prawn/Shrimp" is interchangeable in the culinary sense, of course, and "shrimp" is more widely used in the US.  Technically these were prawns, with the 2^nd shell segment overlapping only the 3^rd shell segment on the abdomen.

^§ I've done this w/ the heads as well before for this dish, where the tomalley gave a big additional "oomph" (and color) to the shrimpy taste.

[scubadoo97]

I bought all 4 prime and trimmed them up myself into SV Steak pouches

best 'steak' ( 130 x 4 or so very carefully trimmed by me ) ive ever had. pan sear etc.

on sale to boot : 3.49 lbs

A little knowledge pays off well. What a deal. Must have felt pretty nice when you walked out with that heist.

[Smithy]

That sounds really good, huiray. How do you think that would work with firm white mild fish? Would it overpower the flavor, such as it is, of the fish?

[huiray]

That sounds really good, huiray. How do you think that would work with firm white mild fish? Would it overpower the flavor, such as it is, of the fish?

 

I think it would work well in a way, but the taste of the fish *will* be masked, if one wishes to savor the fish as the primary taste.  I would still do it, but consider the fish to be a canvas on which you hang everything else.  Does that make sense?  "Sweet & Sour Fish" is a dish in a related vein, where the use of a delicate-tasting fish where the subtlety of the FISH itself is supposed to be the prized feature would not be the best choice.

 

ETA: One could dial back the amount of ketchup - use, say, "one squeeze" :-) - and that might be helpful with a mild-tasting firm white fish, adjusting the seasoning as needed w/ sea salt/fleur de sel/a squeeze of lime/other stuff if needed.

Edited June 1, 2014 by huiray (log)