Dinner 2015 (part 4)

[huiray]

A batch of 番茄炒蛋 (stir-fried eggs and tomatoes). See here for a previous rendition.

White rice.  Sprouting broccoli & unpeeled straw mushrooms [Asian Best] in chicken broth.

[Baselerd]

Baselerd what did you do with the candied Quinoa that they did not stick together?

 

Well, all I really did was boiled the quinoa in sugar water, then strained them. The water wasn't super syrupy, so they didn't really stick together. Following that I partially dehydrated the quinoa and deep fried it in batches, and spread it out on a baking sheet to cool.

[Norm Matthews]

When I ask the kids for ideas for dinner, I always get nothing but if I give them a choice, they pick something.  I gave them the choice of Seafood Enchilada Casserole, Cuban Sandwich or a Malaysian flavored steaks.  They both chose the steak.  It was supposed to be with rice but I wanted potatoes since we had  rice a couple days ago.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Norm,

 

Your food looks great, and I love your serving dishes!

 

Edited: Nothing spectacular for dinner, but we enjoyed it, and while I'm here ...

 

Fried zucchini from neighbor's garden and a chef salad with cucumbers, bell peppers and tomatoes from said garden with iceberg lettuce, boiled eggs and shredded cheddar. I had homemade thousand island for mine and husband had commercial ranch on his.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[huiray]

...Malaysian flavored steaks...  

 

 

Norm, I am wondering what this is.  I took a quick look using Google - and - is this sort-of what you mean?

http://www.foodbeast.com/news/10-steak-seasonings/

(the last one of the ten)

If so I'm not entirely sure what makes it specifically "Malaysian" rather than "Thai" or "Indonesian" or even "South East Asian" ?

 

(That list of steak seasonings also has a bunch of combinations reducing entire national cuisines to somewhat dubious groupings of stuff that don't seem especially distinctive or specific...)

Edited August 7, 2015 by huiray (log)

[Baselerd]

I recently made some ramen, one of the more delicious incarnations that I've made. To make the broth I did the following:

 

-In the base of a large pressure cooker, I made some dashi by steeping kombu in hot water (just under boiling), removed the seaweed, simmered bonito flakes for a few minutes, then strained the flakes out.

-Next, I added 2 lbs of honey glazed ham hocks, 2 lbs chicken thigh bones and scraps, a big bag of dried shiitake mushrooms, a bunch of chopped green onions, about 2" sliced ginger, 1 onion (halved), 2 carrots (coarsely chopped). I filled the rest of the pressure cooker with a good amount of sake, mirin, and a bit of soy sauce.

-The pressure cooker was cooked on high pressure for about 2 hours, then strained. I added soy sauce and mirin to taste. Finally, I put the liquid in the refrigerator to let it set, then scraped off the excess fat.

 

The rest of the ramen was pretty standard, Chashu pork belly and shoulder (sous vide, 24 hours at 160 F), ajitsuki tamago (made with the marinating liquid strained from the pork bags), scallions, wakame seaweed, and some corn sauteed with butter and more of the pork bag juices. 

 

Edited August 7, 2015 by Baselerd (log)

[huiray]

Fagioli Corallo al Pomodoro.  A very simple version.  With angel hair pasta.

 

[Norm Matthews]

Norm, I am wondering what this is.  I took a quick look using Google - and - is this sort-of what you mean?

http://www.foodbeast.com/news/10-steak-seasonings/

(the last one of the ten)

If so I'm not entirely sure what makes it specifically "Malaysian" rather than "Thai" or "Indonesian" or even "South East Asian" ?

 

(That list of steak seasonings also has a bunch of combinations reducing entire national cuisines to somewhat dubious groupings of stuff that don't seem especially distinctive or specific...)

 The name of the recipe is "Garlic & Ginger Soy Caramelized  Steak. I only said Malaysian because the cook who posted the recipe was from Malaysia.  The steak itself may not be specific to Malaysian. It may have been presumptuous of me to think it was.

[Norm Matthews]

Norm,

 

Your food looks great, and I love your serving dishes!

 

 

Thank you.  We decided to put my old dishes out in the next garage sale and start using the dishes Cassie and Charles got as Wedding gifts. 

[liuzhou]

Found  myself a nice block of Jinhua ham.

 

 

So, tonight was spaghetti with Jinhua, black garlic, green onions, chilli flakes and olive oil.

 

[kayb]

Such great meals. Baselerd, that ramen is a thing of beauty; and Liuzhou, I would love to sample that spaghetti with Jinhua ham. I presume the ham is similar to jamon Iberico, or proscuitto?

 

Another traditional Southern dinner here; Meat loaf, purple hulled peas, potato salad, squash sauteed with onions. No photo. I was lazy.

[liuzhou]

Such great meals. Baselerd, that ramen is a thing of beauty; and Liuzhou, I would love to sample that spaghetti with Jinhua ham. I presume the ham is similar to jamon Iberico, or proscuitto?

 

Another traditional Southern dinner here; Meat loaf, purple hulled peas, potato salad, squash sauteed with onions. No photo. I was lazy.

 

The Jinhua reminds me of the great Spanish hams more than anything else.

[Shelby]

Anna--Your eggs look so light and fluffy.  

 

Oooooh Dejah, those ribs look so tender.  

 

Baselerd, if it wasn't so dang hot here I'd be copying your ramen....that looks wonderful and that egg is perfect.

 

Liuzhou, I stared at your pasta for a long time.  Wishing it would propel itself over here next to my computer.

 

Kay--I've seen your meatloaf and it is mouthwatering!  I need to make some soon--we're craving meatloaf sandwiches with 'maters on top.

 

My ISP went out Tuesday evening and was out for like 36 hours or so (yeah, I was counting lol).  They won't tell us what happened...space junk hitting the satellite???  Hacked by a 6 year old in a foreign country??  Sigh.  All I know is that I missed Egullet.  My husband has decided that he likes....dare I say loves.....okra.  It's a miracle.  We had wings to go with this, but my focus was on what's shown 

 

[huiray]

 The name of the recipe is "Garlic & Ginger Soy Caramelized  Steak. I only said Malaysian because the cook who posted the recipe was from Malaysia.  The steak itself may not be specific to Malaysian. It may have been presumptuous of me to think it was.

 

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification. If one is interested, here's a reasonable place to start for a (non-exhaustive) overview of food found in Malaysia.  :-) 

Edited August 7, 2015 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

Regarding Jinhua ham – in the USA it has been said by many that a substitute for it is the genuine Smithfied ham (dry cured).  However, for myself I tend to use Jamón Serrano as a substitute, OR dry-cured ham "in the style of Jinhua Ham" produced in NY (e.g. Brooklyn) and even labeled as "金華火腿" (i.e. Jinhua ham). (Jamón Iberico is too expensive for regular use)  I personally prefer Jamón Serrano because it is slightly less salty, can be sliced to order (from certain local charcuteries) and is a bit more "pliable" than the Jinhua-like ham (which also needs to be sliced thinner than what I get in the packages I can get in my Chinese groceries).

[Okanagancook]

Shrimp stuffed lemon cucumber for appetizer and P. Prudhomme's Italian Sausage Custard Pie with a salad not shown.

 

[Anna N]

It is nameless and stateless, a refugee as it were. It would like to be Mexican or perhaps Southwestern but it harks back to the French tradition of crepes. But who puts cornmeal in crepes? Shredded leftover chicken, store-bought salsa, sour cream, chopped scallions....

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Dinner was supposed to have been a pork chop.  That was before I went out onto the balcony.  Dinner was tomato and cucumber, a baguette and boursin.

 

Tragically a green tomato fell to its death.

 

I still have more than two dozen large, perfect, red tomatoes on the kitchen counter.  (Not to mention all the little ones.)  And a hydrator full of cucumber.  Two dozen okra on the dining room table, the thought of which makes me gag.

 

Night before I cooked down all the less than perfect tomatoes to make sauce.  Where did I go wrong?

[Kerry Beal]

Dinner was supposed to have been a pork chop.  That was before I went out onto the balcony.  Dinner was tomato and cucumber, a baguette and boursin.

 

Tragically a green tomato fell to its death.

 

I still have more than two dozen large, perfect, red tomatoes on the kitchen counter.  (Not to mention all the little ones.)  And a hydrator full of cucumber.  Two dozen okra on the dining room table, the thought of which makes me gag.

 

Night before I cooked down all the less than perfect tomatoes to make sauce.  Where did I go wrong?

Cou-cou. One of my favourite Bajan foods. You could use up those okra in the cornmeal and some of those tomatoes in the butter sauce. I leave out the flying fish. Here is a reasonable recipe to riff off of (off of which to riff?)

[liuzhou]

I've had little appetite the last couple of days. Too not, maybe. Humid 38C / 100 F.

 

In an effort to brighten up my taste buds, tonight was this:

 

 

Chicken (brined then pan fried/roasted), mushroom sauce (shiitake mushrooms, shallots, garlic, red chilli, chicken stock) and simply boiled new potatoes.

 

May have done the trick.

Edited August 8, 2015 by liuzhou (log)

[huiray]

Dry-style 薑蔥牛河, Ginger-scallion (stir-fried) beef hor (fun).  More commonly called 幹炒牛河, dry stir-fried beef hor (fun).

 

 

Hadn't made this at home for a few months.  Did it this time w/ sliced inner skirt steak, velveted/tenderized/marinated.

Edited August 8, 2015 by huiray (log)

[kayb]

Lobster and white wine sauce over zucchini noodles. Tomato, watermelon and feta salad. Sam's had 8-to-10 ounce tails on sale for $19.99 a pound, so I bought a couple.Boiled, taken from the shell, cut in chunks.

 

Observation: Zucchini noodles do not play well with white wine sauce. Lobster, however, plays very well with it indeed.

 

Salad had a honey-citrus-balsamic dressing I make by the pint and keep in the fridge. It was the last of my current jar. Must make some more.

 

[Norm Matthews]

Cassie made dinner tonight.  She said it was sort of a tapas dinner.  There were poblano tempura, scallops, bacon wrapped dates and french bread topped with bleu cheese, walnuts and pears.  She did a great job and it was pretty too. 

 

[cyalexa]

Tomato pie - so good!

 

 

[scubadoo97]

That does look good. What kinda cheese?