Dinner 2015 (Part 2)

[BonVivant]

Octopus must have struggled til its final moment? One tentacle is missing...

Saucy thing is pounded turmeric and parsley in olive oil. I also brushed it all over the octopus.

 

 

Asparagus comes from the farm near my house (15min cycling leisurely through a couple of villages)

 

 

[Anna N]

Aloo gajar matar-- Indian vegetarian curry with potatoes, carrots and peas. A fast meal cooked in my pressure cooker.

[David Ross]

We're in the midst of a wonderful spring halibut season in the Northwest.  We're getting clean, meaty, fresh halibut out of Alaska daily.  This is a recipe from Mario Batali-

 

Olive Oil Poached Halibut, White Beans and Ham Hock in Herb Vinaigrette and Radish Salad-

 

[mm84321]

Pea soup with mint, shrimp crostini 

Baby fava beans with sucrine lettuce and pancetta 

[Baselerd]

So I recently made the ginger-scallion sauce from Momofuku (it's the bomb), which inspired me to put this together. The puree is essentially the Momofuku ginger-scallion sauce, but blended (I added a bit of xanthan gum and a few splashes of boiled sake to make it a bit creamier). 

 

I took some of this puree and mixed with water, soy sauce, simple syrup, and sake to make a marinade for the chicken. I served it with some pan-fried broccoli crowns, and made some fondant out of the trimmed stalks by simmering in ginger cream.

 

-Marinated chicken breast

-Crispy broccoli

-Ginger-scallion puree

-Broccoli fondant

 

[huiray]

Comfort food.  Stew. 

Oil, garlic, beef shin, salt, stock, water, simmer; daikon, carrots, red & yellow onion, celery, whole cloves, cinnamon/canela stick, simmer.

More eaten later w/ rice.

[harrysnapperorgans]

I've been so exhausted with a new baby in the house that my cooking has been pretty dire. Lots of horrible pre-crumbed fish fillets, packet raviloi and of course lots of casseroles from friends. Finally made something good tonight though:

 

 

Deconstructed Sweet and Sour Pork. Sour peppers, sweet from the grilled pineapple and a grilled pork chop and brown rice. It was really good, if I do say so myself

[radtek]

S.A. Galbi! 

 

Charcoal grilled marinated 1" cross-cut short ribs. Banchan is quick pickled red onion and shredded carrot with miso, sambal olek, scallion top and sesame oil. Served with Kokuho Rose variety rice.

 

 

[liuzhou]

 

Seabass steamed over a bed of leeks, with ginger, garlic, Shaoxing wine and salt. Cordycep Militaris with asparagus. Buttery new potatoes.

 

Happy mouth.

[liamsaunt]

LiamsAunt--That looks wonderful.  What kind of mushrooms?  

 

It was just a package of pre-sliced various mushrooms I picked up at a farm stand.  I remember chanterelles, oyster mushrooms, cremini, and shiitake.  The star was supposed to be the fresh morels I bought at the same stand, but when I went to clean them they were filled with worms.  I know morels can be wormy sometimes, but this was around 75% worm, 25% mushroom!  It was gross and after trying to clean them for a while I gave up and threw them out.  Luckily I had only bought enough for two so I only lost $6 worth of morels.  Next time I will only buy them if they are loose in the bin rather than under cling wrap, so I can look for worm-to-mushroom percentage.

 

Here is another fish dish, roasted halibut nicoise.  I know have been posting a lot of fish dishes, but fish is one of my favorite foods.  

 

[Anna N]

Broccoli and beef stir-fry.

[mm84321]

Asparagus, morels, vin jaune sabayon

Gamberoni, raw and cooked fennel, sauce corail

Asparagus and morels, in an asparagus and morel sauce

[huiray]

Linguine alle vongole e pomodori.

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

After the spate of posts on whole fried clam bellies, I had to have a fix such as it was, sort of.

 

I'm old enough to remember being able to go to Howard Johnson's restaurants even in Memphis anytime I liked for a good clam strips fix. That was a long time ago, and although there are reports of still extant HoJo's where lucky folks can still get this delicacy, I'm not among them.

 

The clam strips from my local fresh fish shop, which is very good in many areas, are the very nadir of clam strips I have ever experienced. They come out of their freezer pre-breaded, and are like thick fried rubber bands. I'll betcha a C-note they've never sold a second order to any unsuspecting customer, and I NEVER gamble.

 

So, in my limited budget and environment, I went to the grocer and bought the only clam strips (frozen and breaded) I had access to. Sea Pack. I was a little worried, but you know what, after I coaxed my no-thermostat oven to screaming hot (like for pizza) this product came out crispy, SWEET, and reminiscent of HoJo's which was the best result I could possibly expect.

 

Only the really small pieces were rubbery or hard, and we had enough for two that the two four-dollar boxes satisfied us enough to leave those for the coons. The big pieces, and there were lots, were crispy, tender, and SWEET, just like I remember HoJo's.

 

So you landlubbers who can't get up to Maine, Rhode Island or Connecticut, or ... Sea Pack! It's decent, just make sure you get the oven screaming hot and don't overcook.

 

I made my own tartar as usual. "Joy of Cooking's" recipe starts out: make traditional mayonaise. Mine starts out: add "Joy of Cooking's" chopped veg to Duke's (no sugar) mayo. I also add chopped green olives. This addition is from Duke's tartar sauce, but since they use good, fresh ingredients, it's very likely to go moldy before the expiry date. Tartar, to be good, must be made fresh IMO, with flatleaf parsley, onion (preferably spring), dill pickle, capers and olives. My version has a lot of veg, and not one whit of sugar.

 

We also had a nice chef's salad with boiled eggs and cheese, but I'm afraid we both ignored it for the most part. Should have served it as a first course.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

huiray,

 

That clam pasta is inspiring envy in me, and I try really hard to avoid that!

 

Wow! So Beautiful.

 

I made it a point to get some 3 buck Chuck Chardonnay so I could make white clam pasta, but it'll be made with canned clams.

 

We had fresh mahogany clams from Maine the other day as an appetizer, but that's a rare treat, and they were on sale.

 

My canned clam dish is still really dreamy though, and even canned clams pack an absolutely amazing amount of Vitamin B12 as well as being crammed with minerals.

 

I'm going to enjoy my clam pasta soon before the parsley expires, but I'll be thinking of your much elevated dish. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I am more than old enough to remember Howard Johnson's fried clam strips.  I couldn't chew them even when I had a full complement of teeth.  All would be forgiven if they didn't serve their ice cream in heated metal cups.

 

My dinner was leftovers of a Berkshire pork chop.  Not quite as remarkable as the first time around, though there is enough left to make for a third meal.  Large chop.  I'd hate to have had a run in with it's owner.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

JoNorvelleWalker,

 

I'm sorry your experience with HoJo's was so bad. Where was it?

 

I really miss being able to get not overcooked clams. It is so easy to ruin them, but they're one of my favorite foods when done properly, which is kind of difficult to do or obtain from others.

 

Berkshire pork sounds great, and probably out of my food budget. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

JoNorvelleWalker,

 

I'm sorry your experience with HoJo's was so bad. Where was it?

 

More than one, but I'm thinking in particular of one near Philadelphia.  The clams smelled so good though.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

My experiences were much better, and they were all formed in Memphis, Tn.

 

Sweet succulent, not dried out, crispy clam strips. All across the USA, at the time, according to accounts still available, if you care to seek them out.

 

That sweetness is what still lingers, and was revisited by the frozen breaded clams that Sea Pack provided the other day.

 

It's not the "Clam Box," but it is what I can bring into my little limited realm of experience.

 

I also wanted to share it with others who maybe jonesin' for clams, and not know how to get any.

[huiray]

Aw shuck, Thanks for the Crepes, too kind of you.

 

I know you will enjoy your clam dish too.  

 

In fact, I have tended to have around a can or two of commercial white clam sauce (not just canned clams) for pasta – I just checked, and yep, there's a can of De Lallo white clam sauce in there.  Not great in the least, but fine for a quick rough-and-ready definitely non-fine-dining meal when I am hankering for pasta with white clam sauce and don't have stuff with me to do it from scratch or am just tired.  I used to buy these more frequently than I do now, though.  The "brand availability" around my parts seems to have shrunk while the quality of the still-available brands have gone down.  I miss the old Progresso glass bottle jars of it as well as the canned ones - before they changed ownership (? I think?) quite a few years ago now, and also changed their recipe, I believe... The old, OLD canned ones were pretty good, then the glass jars, then both went south.

[Shelby]

Huiray--Seriously, those clams and the pasta look heavenly.  I want I want.

 

Thanks for the Crepes--I haven't had fried clams for years and years.  I may have to rectify that somehow.  When I was a kid there was a clam dip that was sold at the local grocery store.  I LOVED it.  I can't remember the name of it.  I'm sure it's not around anymore.  Clam dip and a fresh bag of chips.  YUM.

 

HarrySnapperOrgans--CONGRATULATIONS on the new addition!!!

 

 

Liuzhou--I see you are still getting those lovely taters.  I'm sure you are enjoying the heck out of them!

 

 

I brined a couple of chicken quarters and threw them on the rotisserie last night.  

 

Yes.  

 

I did pick that piece of skin off the top lol.

 

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Roast chicken with a 'gazpacho' sauce; grilled asparagus with honey-sherry vinegar dressing and rice with a hint of cumin and clove with pine nuts and raisins.  I really liked that rice.  The spice was in back ground and I used a short grain rice and kept it a little el dente

[Anna N]

Spam hash. Yep! It's not a typo. Just as it was ready I realized I was out of HP sauce. Ketchup cut with some Worcestershire did the trick.

Edited to to say "oops should be in the dinner topic". Will try to get it moved.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Anna N (log)

[rotuts]

there is nothing wrong w Spam, as long as its not on your computer or Cellulare.

 

the Polynesians love it

 

its the salt for me that moves me away from it.   and i just choose to limit exogenous salt, as i still can

 

however, sliced about 1/4" thick, placed in ice water w lots of ice 'for a bit'

 

patted dry and 'crisped up' gently in a sauté pan

 

those polynesians have figured it out.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

rotuts,

 

Spam makes a 25% less salt version, but if you want a 4 oz. portion, you'll still spend half the recommended sodium allowance for the day.

 

http://www.spam.com/varieties/spam-less-sodium