Dinner! 2014 (Part 4)

[Ann_T]

Steve, Your dinner looks delicious.  I'd like to know more about your Haitian cornmeal porridge.  How does it differ from polenta.

 

Made Moussaka last night.

 

 

Served with a Greek salad.

[rotuts]

Wow

 

that M. looks so delicous

 

For Me eggplant adds nothing

 

bad texture  no flavor etc

 

just me

 

Im looking at what I think are the EG layersL

 

thin Potato ?  thin sweet potato ?

 

I have to say  for me and only a few

 

if one might sub. a more tasty item for the EB

 

well .........

 

there would be a Nobel Prize in the Making !

[Ann_T]

Rotuts, I put both fried eggplant and fried potatoes slices in my moussaka.

 

Edited August 6, 2014 by Ann_T (log)

[rotuts]

potatoes look tasty

[Anna N]

I am with rotuts on the eggplant!

Having been away for five weeks there is not very much fresh food in my house. So today I headed out the door with my shopping list. But after five weeks apparently food is not the only thing I'm missing. Car battery is dead dead dead. So dinner tonight came from the pantry:

Patties made from canned salmon,Thai chili peppers, a shallot, an egg (brought back lots of eggs) salt and pepper and canned artichoke hearts sautéed in garlic olive oil (brought home lots of garlic too). The garlic reached that perfect state where I added it to my plate as garlic chips (far right). A shower of Parmesan cheese on the artichokes and dinner was ready.

[Anna N]

Chicken Chettinad from the current issue of Saveur. So I have to tell you that this is inedible if you follow the recipe as I did. I don't know with whom I am most angry - Saveur or myself. I have done enough Indian cooking that I should have paid attention to my gut feeling that this recipe was not right. Sure enough Saveur missed out a critical step -- grinding the spice paste! If you fail to do this you end up with a sludge of cellulose instead of a sauce.

In order not to waste everything I ended up rinsing off the cooked chicken under the hot tap and pushing the sludge through a fine mesh seive. Gross.

[mm84321]

Rouget de Roche stuffed with swiss chard

[Steve Irby]

Ann_T -  Thanks, from what I've been able to figure out there is no real difference between grits, polenta, porridge, etc.  I think I lucked out and bought a fresh, coarse ground meal that is superior to local offerings.    I've got to try your moussaka  variation with potatoes.   It looks like a great way to give the dish a little more structure and lightness.  Beautiful plating as usual with a nice twist in the background.     

 

Tonight's supper was a very loose interpretation of a seafood paella.  

 

 

 

[mgaretz]

My daughter is moving to Portland tomorrow to attend Grad School.  She requested one her favorites that I make:  Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao).  How could I refuse?  I usually will serve that with an Asian vegetable, but I totally forgot to pick up something.  All I had fresh were Brussels Sprouts, so I free-lanced a sauce from sesame oil, soy sauce and hoisin sauce and dusted them with toasted sesame seeds.  They both came out good!

 

[basquecook]

Was in vegas for the last week.. got home today on a redeye around 545 am..  Got home and hit the beach in Rockaway.  

 

Came back tonight to very little in the house..  With one tomato, I made a pasta alla trapanese-esque dish.  In a mortar, added a tomato, basil, salt, sugar, chile flakes,  pistachios.  Then added some olive oil..  Cooked the pasta and added some shave ricotta salata.  Then mixed in the room temp sauce and topped with toasted almonds and torn basil. 

 

Edited August 8, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[ninagluck]

a simple steak with pineapple salad. perfect for hot weather

[Anna N]

a simple steak with pineapple salad. perfect for hot weather

An interesting concept. Can you tell us more about the pineapple salad, please?

[rotuts]

and myself ?  On the salad ?

[Anna N]

So I was quite determined that something good would come from my disastrous dinner yesterday. The failed chicken Chettinad needed a sauce. As I was going through my freezer today I found the Muslim Curry sauce from Modernist Cuisine that I had made some time ago. That should work I thought. Then Kerry Beal showed up at my house with this:

It's a flatbread from the Middle Eastern store in Hamilton. The lemon is just there for scale. So with this, the Muslim sauce, a few peas for colour and the failed chicken, dinner turned out to be a bit of all right.

Doesn't hurt that I always thought I should have been born into a culture that shuns utensils in favour of fingers.

[scubadoo97]

Good save Anna. Looks tasty. Can't even think of eating that with a fork. Fingers rule

[huiray]

A leisurely dinner.

 

Earlier on:

 

• Pumpkin blossom/squash blossom soup; w/ sautéed garlic (Music), sliced dark meat chicken, chicken stock, dash of fish sauce [Red Boat], green zucchini batons.  Simmered till done.  (blossoms went in last)

 

 

 

• Interlude – Parmigiano Reggiano (top), Old Kentucky Tomme (left) and “Farms for City Kids” (Spring Brook Farm) Tarentaise cheeses.  Pic of remaining blocks after I had sequentially chopped off pieces and chomped them down.  :-)

 

 

 

 

Later on:

 

• Top sirloin cap, seasoned simply w/ salt & pepper.  Oven – pan seared (vegetable oil) – oven.  Rested about 20 min.

• Chanterelles tossed in the pan fond/residues/drippings from the searing of the beef, with additional EV olive oil plus Redmond salt + sea salt.  Parsley.  Just-cooked linguine added, tossed/stirred around in the pan, plus some of the pasta water.

 

Edited August 9, 2014 by huiray (log)

[scamhi]

Couple of dinners from this week.

Grilled chicken and greek salad

 

 

and grilled 50 day dry aged bone in Strip steak

[ninagluck]

Pineapple salad: parsley, chopped, pineapple slices grilled and then cut up, some red onions sliced, blue cheese, crumbled. balsamic vinegar, good olive oil, salt, on 

goes very well with beef, but can be served on its own. a little chili might be added for some extra spice ;-)

[SobaAddict70]

Pho, with lime juice, Thai basil, bean sprouts, plum sauce and pickled jalapeno peppers

[Anna N]

Good save Anna. Looks tasty. Can't even think of eating that with a fork. Fingers rule

Thanks. Got back to the grocery store and bought more ingredients to retry the recipe. This time I will follow a better version. Not sure I will ever again trust Saveur!

[Anna N]

Pineapple salad: parsley, chopped, pineapple slices grilled and then cut up, some red onions sliced, blue cheese, crumbled. balsamic vinegar, good olive oil, salt, on 

goes very well with beef, but can be served on its own. a little chili might be added for some extra spice ;-)

Thank you for sharing. I am not sure I can quite get my head around that combination of ingredients. But obviously it works fine for you. I don't do well with fruit and beef.

[Ann_T]

 

Grilled a small prime rib , just big enough for two.  Two nice slices.

[ninagluck]

I always try to find something new ( at least to me).  tonight, calamari rings, coated in airbag and deep fried. served with a sauce of sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and chili. airbag is my new friend!

[heidih]

Ummmm -you will need to explain airbag- at least to me! Looks great as I love crunchy squid.

[Shelby]

I wondered, too, Heidi!  I found this on google.  Looks like it's pork skin!  Right up my alley!  Looks delicious, Nina.

 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/sunday-brunch/articles/may/crispy-pork-covered-squid-with-chilli-sauce-recipe