Dinner 2014 (Part 5)

[Shelby]

Happy birthday Shelby. Your celebratory food choices are amazing - love them all!   Did you order the foie online?  

Don't cry, I am closer to 60 than you are to 50!

 

Thank you so much!  We don't travel....sooooo I treat myself....what would I do without the internet??????

 

Yes, I ordered it online.  I get it from www.markys.com  .  Here is a picture of the whole thing.   Now that I think about it, I need to look up Hudson Valley and see if I can order from them direct....

 

 

I'm not seeing the foie in the picture.

It's on the plate with the toast points.  When I was cutting the foie up these smaller pieces were left so I used them.  The nice big ones are resting comfortably in my freezer 

Edited October 12, 2014 by Shelby (log)

[c oliver]

 

Thank you so much!  We don't travel....sooooo I treat myself....what would I do without the internet??????

 

Yes, I ordered it online.  I get it from www.markys.com  .  Here is a picture of the whole thing.   Now that I think about it, I need to look up Hudson Valley and see if I can order from them direct....

 

 

photo.jpg

It's on the plate with the toast points.  When I was cutting the foie up these smaller pieces were left so I used them.  The nice big ones are resting comfortably in my freezer 

Gotcha!  I bought two whole ones two years ago right before CA banned the production.  I cut each in half, FoodSavered them and got four glorious meals out o them.  SO wonderful, isn't it?

And, offtopic, I don't think anyone who does the cooking and is the birthday 'person' should have to do any arm twisting re kitchen cleaning

[Kim Shook]

Shelby – happy belated birthday.  What a feast!  Worth washing dishes for (though, doesn’t someone else eat at your house who could have washed dishes on your birthday?  ).

 

BeeZee – get well soon!  Love having chili in the freezer when I have a cold!

 

Mr. Kim decided to make dinner tonight.  He was planning on smoking some ribs and a turkey breast, but it was supposed to rain all day, so he did some recipe searching on the internet instead.  He came up with recipes for chicken salad and bean & bacon soup.  Both were delicious!  The soup:

 

Autumn chicken salad with apples and almonds:

 

Made into sandwiches with arugula and aged Provolone:

 

And some pickly stuff:

[huiray]

• Fresh linguine w/ Hazan-style tomato sauce, from fresh ripe tomatoes.  Pecorino Romano.

• Trimmed baby spinach, blanched in oiled hot water & dressed w/ oyster sauce & ground white pepper.

• Vegetable soup.^¶

 

 

^¶  Olive oil, shallots, smashed garlic, cubed celeriac root, water, sea salt, cubed turnips, sliced old red carrots, chopped ripe tomatoes, sliced "normal" mushrooms, sliced red Italian sweet peppers.  Simmered for about 6-8 hours.  Bowl of it dressed w/ fresh parsley.

 

 

[Shelby]

Patrick, I've never had hen of the woods and I think I should  I love 'shrooms.

 

Kim, now I want chicken salad

 

Huiray, you know I'm a sucker for any pasta and yours always looks so good.  And that spinach is calling my name.

 

So, my birthday generally lasts about 5 days      and Dejah's pasta 3 ways has been haunting me every single day.  I had to make a similar dish last night.  

 

I have a ton of basil in the garden so I thought I'd make some pesto.  I've never made it before.  I've had the kind from the grocery store and it was ok.  But OMG.  Homemade pesto WHERE have you been all my life????  I want to swim around in it.  What a difference homemade makes.  I need to look and see if it freezes well.  If so....hello pesto all winter!  Bad thing is, my husband didn't care for it. 

 

 

 

I think it's such a pretty color.

 

Caprese salad

 

Pasta three ways:

 

Manila clams in white wine, pesto, and my meat sauce with a slice of sour dough

 

 

I had such a good time cooking the manila clams.  I loved watching them open 

 

 

[cyalexa]

I have a ton of basil in the garden so I thought I'd make some pesto.  I've never made it before.  I've had the kind from the grocery store and it was ok.  But OMG.  Homemade pesto WHERE have you been all my life????  I want to swim around in it.  What a difference homemade makes.  I need to look and see if it freezes well.  If so....hello pesto all winter!  Bad thing is, my husband didn't care for it. 

 

I freeze a thick paste of basil and olive oil in an ice cube tray. I have never frozen completed pesto. The paste can become pesto or many other things after thawing. I also stack dried leaves and wrap them like a cigar in plastic wrap for freezing. Run your knife through the unwrapped basil cigar, re-wrap and return to the freezer. I have not had success at drying basil and no longer try. 

[huiray]

Shelby, I've frozen a lot of pesto before (in Bell wide-mouth jars).  IMO they were not as good as freshly-made but still fine and I dug into them all throughout winter.  The taste does deteriorate over time in the non-vacuum-sealed jars I kept it in, especially when there are many jars of it.  I didn't make any this year.  (Somehow I never planted any basil this year and it has been barely available and at great cost at the Farmers' Markets this year - it has been a miserable growing season for it around here)

 

The surface of the basil pesto will oxidize/turn brown when it sits, even in a closed jar.  I expect it would not if you vacuum-sealed it. It's not as nice (the brown layer) but still OK to eat - or just scrape off the brown layer.  Or, pour a little olive oil on top *right away* after scooping out what one wants.  With the frozen stuff that actually is "digging it out" (some pressure needs to be applied :-) ) with a metal knife or spoon or whatever is handy.  :-D

 

p.s. I like my pesto with a lot more basil in it than what I see in your picture.  :-D  ;-)

 

 

Edited to change "basil" to "pesto"

Edited October 12, 2014 by huiray (log)

[Shelby]

I blanched my basil, wouldn't that save it from turning brown?

[huiray]

I blanched my basil, wouldn't that save it from turning brown?

 

Oh.  I don't know.  I make pesto with basil leaves that has only been (cold water) washed and more-or-less dried.

 

p.s. I edited my previous post to correct "basil" to "pesto".

Edited October 12, 2014 by huiray (log)

[patrickamory]

A fairly elaborate ras-el-hanout. Toasted spices below, untoasted spices (including dried rose petals and lavender) on top.

 

 

Pressure-cooked a beef stock from oxtails. Browned a 3-pound chuck roast and then used the stock and the ras-el-hanout to make a Moroccan pot roast, cooked for 3 hours in a 325F oven. Served with dried cherry couscous.

 

 

 

[Paul Bacino]

Cod w/ coconut cream sauce:

 

Cod-dipped in egg coated w/ Potato flake w/ herbs- pan fried- finished in oven to 130.

Coconut Cream Sauce-- sauted onion and ginger, curry leaf,coriander seed, coconut milk

Peas--cooked in a brown butter sauce with brown mustard seeds

as always S and P  tt

 

and a little bit of chive blossom!!

 

Edited October 12, 2014 by Paul Bacino (log)

[C. sapidus]

Hey Shelby – happy 40^th! Looks like you did it up right. And yes, homemade pesto is magical.

 

No picture but we had a nice dinner tonight. Fish molee, Indian green rice, and stir-fried cabbage with fennel. Mrs. C enjoyed her meal on the couch, recovering from a trip to the ER after stepping on a roofing nail.

[Prawncrackers]

So I bought a mackerel, crab and grouse at the market last weekend. No I wasn't going to put them all on one plate! Though admittedly mackerel and crab would have been lovely together. 

 

 

The first thing I cooked was the crab. Cleaned it up, steamed it for 15 minutes then made the Chettinad Crab Curry from Rick STein's India cookbook. Had it with plenty of plain rice, it was a "mindblasting" curry Ricky:

 

 

With such fresh mackerel I just cure lightly to make shime saba and snacked on sushi the whole day, some nigiri in the morning and oshisushi in the evening:

 

The grouse was simply roasted, served with cavalo nero, broccoli, guanciale, pink fir crisps and a fig compote to cut the richness:

 

[Smithy]

Those are gorgeous photos! The first one makes me hungry for curry.

Please tell more about the pink fir crisps with the grouse. If I'm looking at the right item, I'd be expecting standard potato crisps. What difference would I taste?

[Shelby]

Hey Shelby – happy 40^th! Looks like you did it up right. And yes, homemade pesto is magical.

 

No picture but we had a nice dinner tonight. Fish molee, Indian green rice, and stir-fried cabbage with fennel. Mrs. C enjoyed her meal on the couch, recovering from a trip to the ER after stepping on a roofing nail.

BRUCE!!!!  So glad to see you!!!  Your meal sounds lovely.  I forget to use fennel.....need to incorporate that.  I hope Mrs. C is feeling better and get that camera dusted off.  Don't be a stranger!

[mm84321]

Happy Birthday, Shelby. 

[patrickamory]

Oh man Prawncrackers you're killing me. Can you share the recipe for the Chettinad curry?

[suzilightning]

When we were kids, Columbus Day was when we would go up island to Commack to Robert Hall's to buy our winter coats.  Now I do fall house cleaning before the coming winter so I also try to check out what is in the fridge and freezers and get them in shape.

 

Dinner last night was a beef cottage pie with fresh carrots, frozen peas and leftover green beans and leftover beef with mushroom gravy from our local BJs club topped with leftover olive oil mash.

 

Getting ready for John to head back to work tomorrow :
roasted, thin sliced chicken breasts for sandwiches
vege pizza
French toast with wild blueberries

For his breakfast today :
cinnamon raisin rolls to start
ham, potato and tomato frittata
all I wanted was coffee before the festivities began

Using up leftovers for lunch was minestrone soup or rice with sweet and sour meatballs and spinach

For dinner I'm using up some sour cherries and duck breast:

sautéed duck breast with Montmorency sauce
potatoes au gratin with emmentaler
steamed broccoli with capers and olive oil

 

I'm yearning for the cool weather around here so I can try a recipe from Alex Guarnaschelli for a two tomato soup.  I also have some local apples that I trying how to use for a flying trip up to Poughkeepsie for the weekend.
 

[mm84321]

Lobster, chestnut and porcini mushroom soup

 

[Prawncrackers]

Those are gorgeous photos! The first one makes me hungry for curry.

Please tell more about the pink fir crisps with the grouse. If I'm looking at the right item, I'd be expecting standard potato crisps. What difference would I taste?

Pink fir apples are a type of small knobbly potato, my favourite, really sweet and nutty. Fries up to a great crisp much better than store bought.

Oh man Prawncrackers you're killing me. Can you share the recipe for the Chettinad curry?

Standard southern Indian beginnings, fry onion and garlic, add fennel fenugreek cumin turmeric chilli powder, add tomato and curry leaf, Cook down to paste then add a little water, Cook down a little more then add ground coriander, tamarind water, salt and sugar. Add crab then thicken with freshly grated coconut. Finish with a tarka of dry chilli, cumin, fennel, fenugreek, curry leaf. Quite a simple "curry" only 15 mins to cook and a great one to have in the locker.

[Dejah]

Thanksgiving over and the leftovers went home with the kids.

 

Had the day off, so I made up 2 meals:

 

Tonight, we had cumin beef a la Fushia Dunlop, with baby bak choy, Jasmine rice, and a diced tomato. The tomato is not usual accompaniment, but I wanted it and it was great with the beef!

 

 

I also prepped and simmered some off-the-bone beef short ribs for Beef Rendang - for tomorrow. It's a long process and kinda ties you to the kitchen with all the stirring, but I won't need to do much tomorrow after work to put supper together!

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Dinner tonight was bread and fruit and wine and cheese.  The bread was slightly overproofed with the slashes not opening fully, but not bad at all, considering.  I ate two thirds of a loaf, even if it took a couple hours.

 

All was well until I went to put the cheese away.  A door shelf fell out of the refrigerator, and with it four bottles of wine.  Only one of which broke, a mostly full 1.5 liter bottle of soave.  I'd never seen a wine bottle break from falling less than two feet before.  Most impressive.  Half the kitchen is covered in standing wine.  A novel method to degrease the floor tiles.

[Norm Matthews]

We seldom have fish so I was looking at some recipes and found two. This is one of them. I think I will do the other one tomorrow.  This one is Asian themed.   Pan Glazed Salmon, laver, kimchi, rice and a salad.

 

 

[Shelby]

Good evening everyone!

 

Last night I shucked the clams that I didn't use in the pasta and made a clam chowder

 

 

Tonight, my husband had a meeting so I was on my own.  I ordered some ahi tuna steaks and trimmed them up before I froze them....I might have left myself some prime pieces....    Heavenly for this Kansas girl who doesn't get anything like this usually

 

[Franci]

Today I bought a mackerel and a snapper.

Decided to grill both and dress the mackerel for tomorrow night, it gets very tasty. The Italian salmoriglio is with oregano but I really like rosemary with mackerel or sardines, so I used that.

A little piece of sockeye for the children and some leftover risotto cakes, plus salad, cavolo nero and celtuce.