Dinner! 2014 (Part 4)

[rotuts]

i meant of course the bodies of the calamari !

 

kudos your way to get tender 'bodies'

 

[BonVivant]

While I love Vietnamese food I don't usually cook it so 2 days in a row is a new trend. (Yes, I've travelled around Vietnam, from Phu Quoc to Bac Ha/Sapa just to eat.)

 

Vietnamese beef salad with watercress. Dipping sauce is lemon juice, salt and pepper. Wine is Carmenere. I've been trying to avoid cooking in this heat but today it was pleasant enough to fire up the Weber.

 

 

 

[patrickamory]

I think I've figured out this marinara thing. Pasta was vermicelli from Molino e Pastificio in southern Switzerland. Despite the last photo this was devoured to the final drop.

 

 

[Blether]

I think I've figured out this marinara thing...

 

 

What's the secret?  

[Kim Shook]

Huiray – thanks for your response.  I just thought that the batter looked perfectly crisp and bubbly – just like I like it.  I’ll try your batter recipe next time!

 

Last night a friend came over to have dinner and show us her pictures from her trip to Vienna, Budapest and Prague.  I did the CI roast Cornish game hens with an orange sauce:

 

 

Green salad with my dad’s Creamy Parmesan dressing:

 

Long grain and wild rice:

 

Brussel sprouts:

 

And 3-cheese bread (I used some of this to make the croutons):

 

Dessert was Eton mess with blackberries, toasted coconut meringues and lime curd:

[CatPoet]

Wednesday dinner,  Nachos with cheese, a salad and  crispy shredded spicy pork.

 

 

 

This is the roasted pork lion from  yesterday.  Doesnt it look lovely?  It tasted great and we served it with  boiled  summer salad,  which is just cooked  potatoes, carrots, peas and cauliflower ( which we didnt have so)  and then gravy.

[rotuts]

KS :  what issue was that orange sauce in ?

 

Id like to look it up at the Lib.

 

many thanks

[liuzhou]

Spaghetti with Squid with a lime, chili, coriander (cilantro) dressing.

 

 

Followed by mangosteens and mango from the tree at the end of my lane. By that time it was too dark to take any decent pictures. To follow.

Edited July 25, 2014 by liuzhou (log)

[Shelby]

Kim, I want to pick some of that delicious looking skin off of the CGH.

 

Hot, hot hot here, so salad night again.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ann_T]

I really shouldn't come here in the morning.  Too many cravings.

 

Kim, lovely dinner for your friend.

 

Bon Vivant, beautiful photos.

 

Shelby, love your plate and plating.

 

Last night's dinner - Pizza

 

 Topped with fresh mozzarella , oven roasted Roma tomatoes and pepperoni.

 

Love the Ken Forkish method for baking pizza.

 

Beef Tenderloin Kabobs

 

With Greek Salad

[rotuts]

Im going to have to go out and get some pepperoni.

 

my Pizza-ish wont be as nice and tasty as yours, AnnT

 

but when Pepperoni Speaks, Im forced to listen Or Else.

[basquecook]

rotuts, no shells on my calamari ;-) they were melting in my mouth and if i wouldn't have stuffed them that much, the stuffing would have stayed in ;-)

 

Totally know what you are talking about over stuffing.. When I make stuffed squid, a basic recipe I use has me take the legs, some breadcrumbs, a shot of wine, lemon juice, garlic, a little cheese and parsley.  The first time I stuffed them, I didn't take into account the calamari will shrink and the stuffing will also expand.  It still was good but, there was a ton of stuffing that spit out.  Yours looked really nice, Nina 

[CatPoet]

 

Came home after a  the monthly shopping trip, meh, tired  and hungry, it became salad with anything I could find, tuna and  Greek yogurt.

[patrickamory]

What's the secret?  

 

(re: marinara) - probably all stuff that everyone here knows but:

 

1 heat up the garlic and basil in the oil from room temp, rather than adding them to hot oil

2 do not allow garlic to brown

3 cook sauce no longer than 30 minutes

4 add a little starchy pasta water to the sauce toward the end of the pasta cooking

5 finish the pasta in the sauce

6 pecorino romano instead of parmigiano

 

essentially some lessons learned from the polpette di nonna (2, 3 and 6) combined with recommendations from other sources (1, 4 and 5).

[Robenco15]

My first attempt at a Chicken Roulade, potato noisette, morel and chanterelle mushrooms, mushroom sauce, green beans.

 

Edited July 28, 2014 by Smithy
Member request (log)

[basquecook]

I was too tired to go out last night... Wife reading the daily menu at the restaurant she wants to go to..  "They have spaghetti with baby fennel, anchovies and pistachios. "  I ask, if I make her that pasta dish can we stay home.. She agrees..  The pasta was stupid good. 

 

 

i caramelized the fennel with some butter and sugar a little red pepper and Pastis. I then added anchovies, soaked currants, the almost finished pasta, then some pasta water to loosen, a shot of Pastis. Kill the heat, add toasted pistachio, red pepper flakes and fennel fronds.

 

 

20 minutes later, we are eating pasta, and hour and change later, i am laying down, 10 dollars in groceries instead of the 100 dollars we would have most likely spent.. It's a win-win my friends 

Edited July 26, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[Shelby]

Basquecook, that pasta calls to me as does Ann's pizza.

 

 

 

 

It's hot here, but I wanted bierocks badly enough to heat up the kitchen.

 

My new addiction--zucchini roll ups and some cukes with salt and pepper all from the garden

 

 

Bierocks straight out of the oven

 

 

With fried taters and a tomato 

 

[onrushpam]

Recipe for the bierocks, please?

[Shelby]

Recipe for the bierocks, please?

Happy to share     I must ramble here for a bit, though lol.

 

I don't like the dough to be really sweet.  A lot of recipes out there call for 1/2 c. of sugar...I like this recipe because it's only 1/3 c.  I don't do a full 1/3...more like a scant 1/3 lol.  But, by all means, if you like the sweeter dough, you can increase the sugar.  

 

The filling is something I don't measure--I like equal amounts of cabbage to meat.  The following recipe is what I use with a few changes.  I use venison for the meat, I omit the broth, I crushed up two beef bouillon cubes instead.  The juices from the meat and cabbage were sufficient. And, I used a bit of leftover sauerkraut in there as well.  Probably like 1/2-3/4 cup.  OH and this recipe is missing a major ingredient that you must not leave out IMO.  Caraway seed.  The meat must have caraway seed.  A tablespoon or so.  I probably do two tablespoons.  I like caraway.

 

Anyway, here is the recipe.  I'm getting ready to make another batch of dough as we speak because I had a lot of leftover filling from last night.

 

http://mikaspantry.blogspot.com/2011/10/german-bierocks.html

[CatPoet]

Bierocks, I make them too  and my recipe calls for no sugar at all for the meat filled ones.  I do have apples ones that calls for ½ cup of  sugar.

[ninagluck]

quick, simple, good! Fregola and chicken wings

[Shelby]

Garden tomatoes (should be WAY more than this by now...but, sigh....it is what it is)

 

 

 

BLT's and mac and cheese

 

 

 

[patrickamory]

Shelby those three dishes look perfect in every way

 

Care to share any mac and cheese secrets?

 

(and I've made a note of your bierocks recipe… also curious about CatPoet's recommendation to leave out sugar entirely from the dough… hmm, I will experiment)

[CatPoet]

Patrickamory:  I two recipe  ( I checked it yesterday) , both are from a friend's grand mum who was born in Berlin in 1930.   One contains beer and the other has 1 tablespoon of honey,  I know that how much you use to get yeast going. It could also be that her recipe has very little sugar due to the war.

[Shelby]

Shelby those three dishes look perfect in every way

 

Care to share any mac and cheese secrets?

 

(and I've made a note of your bierocks recipe… also curious about CatPoet's recommendation to leave out sugar entirely from the dough… hmm, I will experiment)

You have to promise not to scream and run away when I mention Velveeta

 

I do my mac and cheese in a saucepan on the stove.  Cook your noodles, drain and pour into saucepan.  Toss in cubes of Velveeta, a handful of shredded cheddar, diced tomatoes and sometimes I do some fresh dill and/or green onions.  Sprinkle with a bit of lemon pepper and salt.  Pour a bit of milk, slap the lid on and heat on low until it get all melty and gooey.