Dinner 2014 (Part 6)

[FauxPas]

Funny how several of us cooked pork cutlets last night! I did also, after brining them overnight. They were just OK though, I wish I had used some Panko crumbs like Kim Shook or Anna N with the Tonkatsu. 

 

Didn't take a pic after cooking. Baked squash and green beans were the best part of the meal, though! 

 

[Anna N]

Thanks!  

 

Yes, true, this qualifies as an "empty out the fridge dish" and I have done variations upon that now and then too. :-)  In this specific case it was a bit of that and a bit of "planned dish", however.  I did have broccoli rabe I needed to use up...I had guanciale, which I was intending for some spaghetti carbonara...but also had the sliced Jamón Serrano sitting in the meats drawer.  So - I decided it would be broccoli rabe and the Jamón Serrano and pasta...although with broccoli rabe and pasta I often use something like capicola; but pasta + broccoli rabe + a dried ham or salumi-type sausage --> broccoli rabe + artichokes + sun-dried tomatoes as a favored combination for me.  Nope, no sun-dried tomatoes in my larder - I fished out a can of San Marino tomatoes instead...but nope, I thought I had the artichokes but did not after all.  I suppose my mind was now fixating on my favored "trinity" so the can of S.M. tomatoes went back into the pantry, I put my pants on and picked up my car keys...and as they say the rest is history.

 

ETA: As for the thin spaghetti + fedelini mix, well I didn't have quite enough thin spaghetti left in the opened box in the cupboard - so I used some fedelini (opened box) as well, which is not too dissimilar in sizing to the thin spaghetti.  I just staggered the additions of each to the boiling salted water accordingly.  :-)

I love formulaic meals which are anything but formulaic! Thanks for sharing the thought processes that went into this meal. I suspect you have a number of these formulae in your repertoire. Perhaps you should write a book or better still draw one of those amusing charts that encourages one to pull a vegetable from here, a protein from there, a starch from another column and finally a condiment from yet another column.

[basquecook]

Simple dinner with maximum results.. Clay Pot time.  Here is browned chicken going into the oven.. White wine, a little chorico, a lot of garlic, thyme, rosemary, onions, bay leaves.. Served over rice cooked with about a table spoon of tomato paste a tablespoon or two of butter.  edit to add: a half a pound of wood ear mushrooms. 

 

the family raved.. The little one who gave me the mug because she hasn't had sushi in a long time, cleared her plate and sang my praises.  She even spoke  about school without using the word good, once.  

 

Edited October 31, 2014 by basquecook (log)

[Hassouni]

No pictures of my braised chuck roast from earlier in the week, but behold my gumbo!

 

[Mmmpomps]

My BF makes incredible meat sauce. He shares with his co-workers, a few who happen to be Hunters! Tonites dinner is a barter: sauce for elk steak. We did them sous vide. They came out a little over done but its a very offal taste of liver. Could be the onions that were added with it. But it is just incredible tasting. I made spicy, very spicy, roasted potatoes with onions and spinach. I love this kind of cooking.

 

 

Edited to add an f where needed.

Edited October 31, 2014 by Mmmpomps (log)

[Franci]

I made beef stock today, so ramen noodle was for dinner

[menuinprogress]

Store-bought ramen gussied up a bit with homemade chashu, soft-cooked egg and chard.

 

[Smithy]

After I thawed mine out I patted them with paper towels and made sure they were super dry.  Then I seasoned with s and p--I might have used a little truffle salt too.  Then I put about a TB of butter and a TB or so of olive oil in a skillet and got it smoking hot.  Next put those lovely scallops in and don't move 'em until you start seeing brown around the edges.  These were fairly thick and big so it was like 3-4 mins probably.  Then I used tongs to flip 'em over.  I don't leave quite as long on the other side because you don't want to make them tough.  Probably 1-2 mins.  

 

Now I'm hungry for scallops again 

 

Thank you.  This, along with pasta alfredo with asparagus and fresh sourdough bread, was dinner tonight.  A good time (and meal) was had by all. 

[Shelby]

Happy Halloween!!!  And, Happy Breeder's Cup!!!!  (I'm a huge horse racing fan )

 

Hassouni, gorgeous gumbo.  I might have to have that tonight.  I have some in the freezer.

 

Smithy, I'm so glad they turned out well. I could have scallops every day and not get sick of them I think.

 

'Sketti night last night

 

Edited October 31, 2014 by Shelby (log)

[Kim Shook]

Basquecook – thanks!  I wish I had one of those.  I do have a deep fryer, but it involves digging through the attic and finding a place in my tiny kitchen to safely put it….etc.  I probably get it out twice a year  ! 

 

Franci and menuinprogress – I’m loving the looks of those noodley bowls!

 

Shelby – are those fettuccini noodles under your sauce or egg noodles?  I am a philistine because I actually prefer soft, slippy egg noodles to pasta, but never thought to put spaghetti sauce on them.  I might try that, even if it’s not what you did.  Mr. Kim loves spaghetti and I don’t make it very often.  I might if I used egg noodles!

 

 

Last night was breakfast for dinner while carving the pumpkins:

Local sausage, local free-range eggs, frozen biscuits and salad bar fruit salad – mixed bag, huh?

[Shelby]

Breakfast for dinner is so comforting, Kim

 

No, they aren't egg noodles, but I believe there are a LOT of eggs used to make them.   You might like them...they aren't as toothsome as most pastas.  I buy them either from Igourmet or Amazon.  They are made by Caponi.  Kind of expensive, but I love them. Best store bought pasta I've ever had.

 

 I need to start making my own again.  I have a great machine and everything, I'm just lazy.

[huiray]

• A sort-of kon lo mein. 

Hot oil, chopped smashed garlic, sliced ginger, thinly sliced pork belly (skin on), short-cut pork spare ribs; "aged soy sauce" [Kimlan], "Superior dark soy sauce" [YHY], fish sauce [Red Boat]; water, simmer then cook down; jozo mirin, chopped scallions, sliced standard mushrooms, cook a bit more.  Eaten w/ skinny wonton noodles plus more chopped scallions.

• Green beans, "French cut", simply stir-fried w/ garlic & salt.

 

Sauce + wonton noodles in picture was before tossing/mixing up; a little more sauce was also added from the pan then.

[Ann_T]

Kim, nice looking biscuits.

 

We had pasta for dinner Wednesday night.

 

Simple sauce of pork, tomatoes and olives.

 

[huiray]

Fresh fettucine is often (usually) made with eggs (see here as one example).  Many fresh pastas use eggs as the liquid component instead of water.  (Wiki article)

 

For myself, some of the best "store-bought" dried Italian-style pastas (and yes, containing egg) are the ones put out by Cipriani.  My favorite one is the tagliarelle.  I consider these a treat, not eaten on a "daily basis".

[Anna N]

Pasta in the style of huiray. Love that each bite is a different combination of flavours.

[dcarch]

Non-stop display of amazing dishes! Truly impressive all.

 

Halloween is for you to do strange things to food.

 

How was your Halloween dinner?

 

dcarch

 

A perfectly round smoked chicken.

 

Not sure what this is about

 

Pairs well with Halloween background music

 

Kaboooocha!

[basquecook]

haha, incredible dcarch.  i always love your plating. 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

dcarch,

 

Very creative and cute monsters for Halloween.

 

I'm curious as to how you got the celery stalks in front of your kabocha one to appear as if they have double root ends. 

[Ann_T]

Look what I picked up yesterday.

 

 Now in the freezer. A whole Lamb.  36 pounds of free range Cowichan Valley Lamb.

 

 

First meal from the new lamb. Grilled Rack of Lamb

 

 

with home-made fresh mint sauce.

 

Potatoes roasted in duck fat.

[rotuts]

does that lamb look perfect or what ?

 

I might have to get a rack from TJ's which I used to do all the time.

 

gobble gobble

[scubadoo97]

The lamb looks perfect Ann_T

[huiray]

Hainanese Chicken Rice.

 

• Yellow-skin chicken, stuffed w/ trimmed scallions; poached w/ the "shut off heat & steep" method and w/ lots of ginger pieces (smashed w/ a Chinese cleaver), sea salt & additional chicken fat, chopped up.  Brought it back to a simmer this time because the thick part of the thigh temp wasn't at 160ºF yet. 

• Rice cooked w/ the poaching broth (with most of the fat scooped up and into the rice pot), ginger pieces, garlic, fresh pandan leaves.  All these were removed after the rice was done.

• Some of the poaching broth w/ chopped scallions & coriander leaves.

• Sauce1: finely chopped scallion – grated ginger (with all juices) – salt – hot oil.

• Sauce2: Lingham's Hot Sauce + Kokita Sambal Bangkok + juice of two ripe fresh calamansi limes + a bit of rice vinegar as well.

 

[Norm Matthews]

Everyones meals looks great.  That lamb especially.  Since I had some sourdough that had been sleeping in the back or my refrigerator for 7 or 8 months, I decided to wake it up and make some Sourdough French bread dough. I was happy that it started bubbling right after the first feeding and it was all the way back in only 4 or 5 days.  I made two pizzas with the dough.

 

 

[Anna N]

Instant noodles fortified with rapini, shiitake mushrooms and an egg.

[Prawncrackers]

Massive oysters from Colchester, a day old so decided to deep fry them as a snack. Mentaiko mayo dip.

 

 

Last night, Earl Grey tea smoked duck breasts, served in gua bao:

 

 

 

Today a nice fat silver eel, bigger than my biggest board! I saved the liver and bones this time. The eel was steamed first then grilled with tare. The bones were deep fried till nice and crispy, the liver gently steamed for a couple of minutes. The whole lot was served with a seaweed salad, leftover tea smoked duck and veg from last night, anchovy bokkum and a good sprinkling of sansho pepper. Oishi des!!!