Dinner 2015 (part 4)

[Shelby]

Did everyone survive the fireworks? I stood in my driveway and watched (I can see them being shot off in all the towns--Kansas is quite flat lol) for about five minutes. Then the mosquitos tried to carry me away so I gave up and went to bed.

My pictures are terrible from last night. I'm embarrassed to go after Liamsaunt! All of your food looks SO good.

Liuzhou--Your chicken looks very very tender.

Ok, here are the terrible pictures:

Cucumber, cherry tomato, red onion, feta cheese and dill with splashes of olive oil and champagne vinegar. Healthy amounts of salt and pepper were also added.

Picked my first okra yesterday. I only got this many.....I planned my whole meal around them lol. I wanted to fry them.

So, I did.

Fried fish and chips (fries lol) to go with

Also made a cherry pie

Host's note: This post triggered an extended discussion of okra, which now may be found here.

Edited July 6, 2015 by Smithy (log)

[TicTac]

Happy 4th everyone. Found a HUGE patch of wild blackberries on my hike earlier today. They are so juicy and flavorful! Best yet, free!

Made tarts with a blackberry/purple basil marmelade and some candied lemon zest!

Cheers

 

 

Great find.  To clarify, these are actually black raspberries - Like you I found a patch recently near our house and members of my family have been growing them for years.  They are quite delicious.

Edited July 5, 2015 by TicTac (log)

[mgaretz]

I wanted smoked ribs, my wife wanted Char Siu ribs, her new favorite.  So I split the rack of baby backs in two and did half as my normal smoked ribs and the other half as Char Siu.  Same cook, just had to add the Char Siu ribs about two hours in.  Served with sweet white corn, salad with romaine, celery, carrots, daikon, baby cucumbers, red bell pepper, tomatoes and avocado along with my raspberry vinaigrette.  Not shown is the appetizer of home made hummus, made with my new birthday present, a Blendtec Twister jar.

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

MG:

 

what's your char sui system ?  id you use your pellet smoker, what sorts of times and temp have suited you tastes ?

 

Im going to try both of these soon on the Yoder, once I get a few minor kinks out of that system,

 

thanks

[ninagluck]

pineappple salad with celery and peanut is perfect in the heat. chicken breast is just a side!

[huiray]

Red-skinned carrots, yellow carrots, celery stems & leaves (at the end) in simmering chicken broth. (no pic)

 

Meat balls & Roma beans in tomato sauce over fedelini.

Minced beef chuck was mixed w/ lots of chopped parsley, a bit of salt, minced garlic, several dashes of Maggi Sauce, an egg (broken into the bowl), panko crumbs (a decent amount), ground black pepper, dried oregano, dried thyme; and set aside. Frenched Roma beans were sautéed w/ finely chopped garlic in EV olive oil, then reserved leaving the oil in the pan. More sliced garlic was added followed by chopped tomatoes, the mixture cooked with the tomatoes beginning to break down & release juices, with a good pour of hon-mirin [Takara] along the way. Light salting. Small meat balls were rolled by hand and added to the mixture, the pan covered and simmered, gently "turning over" (spatula) occasionally. The reserved beans (& garlic) were added back in towards the end and gently stirred in and the pan re-covered and simmering continued briefly till it was done.

[mm84321]

Great find.  To clarify, these are actually black raspberries - Like you I found a patch recently near our house and members of my family have been growing them for years.  They are quite delicious.

Ah, thanks! They indeed are!

[mgaretz]

MG:

 

what's your char sui system ?  id you use your pellet smoker, what sorts of times and temp have suited you tastes ?

 

Im going to try both of these soon on the Yoder, once I get a few minor kinks out of that system,

 

thanks

Cut up ribs. Marinate in Meathead's marinade at amazingribs.com or a dry rub of NOH char siu marinade packet overnight. (Prefer the former having tried both methods, but both are good.). Cook at 225f for 3 hours. At the 2.5 hour mark, baste with honey. I found this step goes easier if the honey is warmed for about 20 seconds in the microwave. Yes I made them in the smoker, but you can also do the oven. For the oven you need a water pan so the drippings don't burn and smoke up the house.

[mm84321]

Vegetable tourte

[Anna N]

mm84321,

I would love to know more about your vegetable pie.

[liuzhou]

 

Duck cubed and marinated in Shaoxing wine, Thai fish sauce, garlic, ginger, and Thai bird's eye chillies.  Then browned in its own fat and braised with a bit of dark soy sauce for colour. When the rice (Hom Mali) and asparagus were cooked, added cubed mango and garlic chives. Served the duck in a half mango skin. With lime to balance the sweetness of the mango.

[tdig]

Vegetable tourte

 

beautiful. mind sharing the crust recipe? would love to try something like this.

[Shelby]

My husband traipsed to the field and snagged a couple ears of corn (field corn).  It's tender enough to eat now.  In a few days it will be tough, tough tough.

 

 

 

I wanted Mexican food....so I decided to make a recipe that I've wanted to try forever:  Mexican Street Corn.

 

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2013/07/mexican-street-corn-elotes-recipe.html

 

 

This was SO good.  I want to make it again. I don't think my husband liked it as much as I did.  He's a corn purist lol.

 

 

Venison steak enchilada with Hatch chili sauce that I made a froze.  Freezing it didn't calm down the heat any.  It was SPICY hot.  

 

[rotuts]

by field corn, do you meat livestock corn vs sweet corn for humans ?

 

Ive tried livestock corn at all stages and found it inedible and very starchy   which it is by design I think

[Shelby]

by field corn, do you meat livestock corn vs sweet corn for humans ?

 

Ive tried livestock corn at all stages and found it inedible and very starchy   which it is by design I think

Yep, some of it is for livestock.  Some of it gets made into things for human consumption.  Some of it gets made into Mexican Street Corn 

[huiray]

No, mine isn't hot water.  I put rendered lard in a cast iron and throw it in the oven while it's heating up.  Then I make my cornbread.  When the oven is at 450 degrees I pour the batter in and bake it for 20 mins.  The lard gives it a great flavor.  I've also used bacon grease.  

 

Edited to add that my go-to cornbread isn't sweet at all.  I like a savory one.  

 

Yes, I was aware that what you made and showed was not hot water corn bread.  It was more-or-less a variant of standard corn bread.  I asked "if you do hot water corn bread" (i.e. have you made HWCB before, rather than what you show in your pic), not "if what you did was hot water corn bread".  But thanks, I guess you don't make HWCB at other times either.

[Norm Matthews]

The day started out very nice. I BBQed a slab of spare ribs and trimmings.  Here is the smoker going and next to it is my brand new grill.  Next picture is after two hours, just before wrapping the ribs and the last picture is after another two hours.  As soon as I took them off, the sky got dark and the clouds opened up.  I wanted to do a quick run to the store to get a few things to finish dinner but the storm sirens went off and the car radio said there were tornadoes sighted.  I was at the store but they closed before I could get in so I'll have to finish dinner with left overs I guess.  The ribs are nicely done and very juicy, btw.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

ribs look very good.

\

safe is also very good too.

[liamsaunt]

Fish in "crazy water."  This was the last fish from my current fish share cycle, and a new to me fish, king whiting.  I liked it very much.   I am taking the next 8-week fish share cycle off because of some summer travel plans, so you might actually see some non-fish photos from me over the next few weeks :-)

 

[btbyrd]

Pressure cooked chili verde a la Kenji. First time making this... And it won't be the last!

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/04/pressure-cooker-fast-and-easy-chicken-chile-verde.html

[JoNorvelleWalker]

My own sweet, fresh picked cucumber, the full twelve inches of it.  Sexpartite tomatoes.  Various dried out cheeses.  Half a day old baguette, which I couldn't quite finish even with the help of wine ad libitum.

 

Thinking about gelato.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

We had spicy Italian sausage lasagna with zucchini and mushrooms from the freezer with salad and garlic bread. Good enough, but I'll be happier when my kitchen mojo (or anything) is at full speed again.

 

Shelby and rotuts,

 

Field corn is what I've read is typically used for elote street corn in Mexico. Perhaps harvested early like Shelby did. It can get very starchy and tough, but when you're hungry, it definitely beats nothing, and Shelby's version looks very appealing to me.

 

When we were kids riding our horses through the Vermont countryside, field corn was sometimes lunch straight out of the husk from the field. If we thought about it, we'd ride back to the volunteer apple tree across the dirt road from the tended orchard for dessert. You ate around the worms in these small, but tasty apples. There were sometimes wild berries to be had too.

[mm84321]

The tourte dough is a pate brisee. The recipe I used is from Alain Ducasse. For the filling, sweat some onion, fennel and zucchini in olive oil with some picked thyme leaves and a clove of garlic (make an incision to infuse its flavor). After about 10 minutes or so, add some peas and fava beans, and continue cooking for 15 minutes, just until everything is well cooked. Let cool. Mix into this a few bunches of blanched, dried and finely chopped swiss chard, and an herb cream (about 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche, chopped parsley, chive, chervil and two tablespoons of chopped black olive, along with two egg yolks. Season with parmesan, salt/pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Roll out the dough to extend a few centimeters outside of your mold, then fill. Place a circle of dough a few centimeters smaller than the mold on top and brush with egg wash (egg yolk and a little water) and fold over the sides of the base to adhere. Brush the whole thing with egg wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds (if you wish) then snip some holes with a scissor to let the steam escape. Bake at around 350 convection for 30 minutes. Let rest for 15 minutes before serving. 

 

Last night: strozzapreti cooked like a risotto with peas and crispy prosciutto..

[Anna N]

mm84321,

Thank you very much for sharing your recipe and method for the vegetable tourte. I still think it looks delicious but really doubt my willingness to devote such dedication as you are prepared to give! Better I should practice schmoozing so I get invites! Ha ha.

[Shelby]

We had spicy Italian sausage lasagna with zucchini and mushrooms from the freezer with salad and garlic bread. Good enough, but I'll be happier when my kitchen mojo (or anything) is at full speed again.

 

Shelby and rotuts,

 

Field corn is what I've read is typically used for elote street corn in Mexico. Perhaps harvested early like Shelby did. It can get very starchy and tough, but when you're hungry, it definitely beats nothing, and Shelby's version looks very appealing to me.

 

When we were kids riding our horses through the Vermont countryside, field corn was sometimes lunch straight out of the husk from the field. If we thought about it, we'd ride back to the volunteer apple tree across the dirt road from the tended orchard for dessert. You ate around the worms in these small, but tasty apples. There were sometimes wild berries to be had too.

Oh thank you for sharing this!!!!!  I was authentic and I didn't even know it   .  When you harvest it early enough for the corn not to be tough, the kernels are not nearly as big as regular corn...but I honestly think field corn is tasty and I don't notice any starchiness.  I'm not a huge corn lover, but I can't wait to eat that street corn again.  

 

We had a storm yesterday and it knocked out our power for several hours.  So, I decided to make something that could be easily made by flashlight and on top of the stove (yay for gas burners).  However, the power came back just as I was beginning to cook so all was well.

 

Brats with mounds of caramelized onions and mac and cheese