Dinner 2015 (part 4)

[kayb]

I seem to be on a seafood kick.

 

I have no idea what these are called in English. In the local language they are 花甲螺 (huā jiǎ luó) which translates as 'flower shell clams'.

 

 

I like them a lot and prefer them just as they come. I steam them until they open and eat them without adornment. They are sweet and naturally salty.

 

liuzhou, that is just the way I like clams. Those have the most beautiful shells I've ever seen. How large are they?

[liuzhou]

liuzhou, that is just the way I like clams. Those have the most beautiful shells I've ever seen. How large are they?

 

Tiny.

 

I'll happily buy some more in the next couple of days and measure.

[huiray]

Regarding those clams shown above - in SE Asia they are called "lala" clams or just simply "lala" in the main Chinese communities.  That's the local term, not an official English name or scientific name.  See here, here, and here for some links.

 

ETA: One shellfish that I miss is "see ham" a.k.a. blood cockle.  Many scrumptious dishes (e.g. Hokkien char kway teow, Katong laksa, etc etc) are simply incomplete without these cockles, usually added raw (bloody red and all) right at the end of cooking or put into the bowl raw on top of the other stuff and hot soup ladled over them..  Over here, I have never seen Cape Cod blood cockles or their relatives around...perhaps a special request to a certain place is in order - I guess because it seems the vast majority of folks are pretty squeamish about them, so no market....

Edited July 15, 2015 by huiray (log)

[huiray]

Fagioli corallo al pomodoro, last night's version.

Cooked in the old-fashioned style but without deseeding the tomatoes.  Served on a mixture of angel hair [De Cecco] and linguine [Rusticella d'Abruzzo]. Yum.

 

 

EV olive oil. Medium heat. Sliced shallot & garlic, sweated. Hot red chili flakes. Chopped-up ripe tomatoes (Mountain Stream & Big Dena), cooked down/render the juices out, skins picked out. Seasoned. Trimmed young Roma beans (Romano beans; Fagioli/fagiolini al corallo). Simmer for a while. Some 10-year balsamic vinegar, plus some turbinado sugar. Simmer some more. Plentiful trimmed fresh basil. Simmer till done.

[scamhi]

EV olive oil, sliced garlic (Music), chanterelles, Cipriani tagliarelle, fresh peas (pre-cooked), fresh parsley, salt.

DSCN5502a_800.jpg

this dish spoke to me. So I made it last night. added some grated parmesan to the top and a nice white wine with it

 

 

 

[tdig]

Gah I want some good fresh chantrelles! 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Regarding those clams shown above - in SE Asia they are called "lala" clams or just simply "lala" in the main Chinese communities.  That's the local term, not an official English name or scientific name.  See here, here, and here for some links.

 

ETA: One shellfish that I miss is "see ham" a.k.a. blood cockle.  Many scrumptious dishes (e.g. Hokkien char kway teow, Katong laksa, etc etc) are simply incomplete without these cockles, usually added raw (bloody red and all) right at the end of cooking or put into the bowl raw on top of the other stuff and hot soup ladled over them..  Over here, I have never seen Cape Cod blood cockles or their relatives around...perhaps a special request to a certain place is in order - I guess because it seems the vast majority of folks are pretty squeamish about them, so no market....

 

huiray,

 

I hope you find some blood cockles, but based on the info from this NY Times article:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/dining/blood-clams-worth-a-second-look.html

 

I suspect it may be difficult and expensive because of the import bans.

[Okanagancook]

As a followup to the pig roast.  Spent the whole day in the kitchen making tortillas out of the leftover meat.  So far I have 72 made with enough filling for probably 48 more.    Sheesh.  They make good lunches and will probably last until the 2016 pig roast.

Ok, stopping now.  Cracking open a cold one.

[mm84321]

Went fishing this morning. Caught some beautiful black bass. A ton of porgies, as well. 

Grilled sea bass, swiss chard and zucchini gratin

[heidih]

As a followup to the pig roast.  Spent the whole day in the kitchen making tortillas out of the leftover meat.  So far I have 72 made with enough filling for probably 48 more.    Sheesh.  They make good lunches and will probably last until the 2016 pig roast.

Ok, stopping now.  Cracking open a cold one.

 

Umm - tamales?

[dcarch]

Went fishing this morning. Caught some beautiful black bass. A ton of porgies, as well. 

 

 

 

 

Then you should have made "Porgy and Bass"      !

 

"Summertime, and the livin' is easy

Fish are jumpin' and the cotton is high

Oh, your daddy's rich and your ma is good-lookin'

So hush little baby, Don't you cry

---------------------

---------------------"

 

dcarch

Edited July 16, 2015 by dcarch (log)

[Okanagancook]

Umm - tamales?

I have never made tamales.....just can't get around all the lard in them.  Plus we can't get dried corn husks here.  But thank you for the thought.  It'll be more tortillas or may be freeze some for Tostados and corn tortillas.

cheers

[heidih]

I have never made tamales.....just can't get around all the lard in them.  Plus we can't get dried corn husks here.  But thank you for the thought.  It'll be more tortillas or may be freeze some for Tostados and corn tortillas.

cheers

 

I guess I am not understanding - what do you call a tortilla which I think most know as a simple thin flatbread of either wheat or corn?? - How does that include your lovely pig meat???

[patrickamory]

Mostly leftovers… 

 

I was given some RG Good Mother Stallards and planned to kick them up. I soaked them overnight with basil leaves and half an onion, defrosted some pork neck bones and was ready to throw in some salt-cured anchovies.

 

My plan was to render the neck bones in a cast iron pan, sweat some more onions in the oil and pour the lot in with the beans and the soaking water with the anchovies, maybe add some fresh tomatoes.

 

But you know what - I wanted to get a headstart on cooking the beans, so had them coming to a boil in a heavy pot with the soaking liquid and some salt, and the kitchen filled with a heavenly smoky bacon-y flavor. I decided to sideline the pork and the anchovies, and just went straight beans. Nothing added except salt and pepper, and long, slow cooking. The GMSes have that much character. I've cooked them a million times before, but forgot how perfect they were on their own. Not even any olive oil.

 

Served on rice, with leftover cold chicken, and some more heirloom tomato salad.

 

 

 

[heidih]

I applaud you Patrick -a great testimony to the beans, and the mark of a good cook - you "listened" to the food

[Okanagancook]

I guess I am not understanding - what do you call a tortilla which I think most know as a simple thin flatbread of either wheat or corn?? - How does that include your lovely pig meat???

Like these.  Had one for breakfast.  Dough is from D. Kennedy ( 1 lb white flour; 2 oz. pork lard; 2 t salt and 1 cup warm water) and the filling is that chopped pork with some onion, cheddar cheese, cilantro, coriander, cumin, Mexican oregano, ancho chill powder, salt, pepper, three habanero chilies and some more chill sauce because it was not hot enough and could still do with some more heat.

[heidih]

Looks great! That would be called a burrito here in Los Angeles

[Okanagancook]

Ok, I thought burritos were mainly bean based.  We don't have many good Mexican restaurants here...just Taco Time/Bell if you can call that Mexican.  Anyways, this time I mixed the cheese into the meat filling for ease of stuffing rather than sprinkling some on each burrito as I wrapped them.  Much quicker and I think it tastes better all mixed in.  It was difficult to judge how much cheese to put in though.  Mind you, one can never have too much cheese

[huiray]

A simple dinner. Water, smashed garlic, oil, Hebrew National beef franks, simmer; seasoning packages from "Ho Fan Abalone Chicken Soup Flavored" [sau Tao], trimmed yard-long beans (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis), simmer, the ho fan noodle block, simmer, trimmed broccoli florets, simmer. Bowled. Dressed w/ deep-fried shallots.

 

[Willie]

First of all I would like to thank Franci for starting the post about the spiralizer, this has given us a lot more options for utilizing our zucchini and other veggies. I would also like to thank everyone on eGullet for inspiring me and educating me about our wonderful world of food. Today I made elk meatballs that I smoked on the Barbie and place them on a bed of sautéed zucchini noodles with a simple chicken-based veloute sauce and topped with grated parmesan. I made the elk meatballs with 30% homegrown pork fat, grated Parmesan cheese, oregano and fresh parsley. milk, egg, pepper, granulated onion and garlic.

 

[gfweb]

Some recent meals..

 

Lasagna

 

 

Papardelle with sausage and mushrooms

 

 

Israeli salad ( which missed having a little mint in it)

 

 

Smoked SV chicken breast

 

 

NY strip, mushrooms, broiled tomato, Yuengling

[scubadoo97]

Wild sockeye on braised lentils with shave brussels

The salmon was good but the lentils and sprouts were red light foods to me. The combo was quite tasty

[huiray]

Itek Tim.

Water, chopped-up duck legs, crushed garlic, sliced galangal, wet salted plums (partly ripped apart) + some of the pickling liquid, trimmed & cut-up pickled mustard greens (syun/harm choy; presoaked, under slowly running tap water), slurry of tamarind pulp, half a chunk of palm sugar + some rock sugar, simmer till done. (Skim off some of the rendered duck fat)

 

Cincalok ground pork & tofu, today's version.  White rice.

Hot peanut oil, julienned ginger, minced pork (butt), cincalok (a kind of fermented salted/pickled tiny shrimp), taucheo (salted soya beans), cut-up hot green Thai chillies, soft tofu cut into cubes, lots of chopped scallions.

 

 

Some of the condiments - for those interested.

L-R: Wet salted plums, taucheo, cincalok, tamarind pulp.

 

Two brands of the pickled mustard greens. I used one pack of each.

[FauxPas]

Fresh wild salmon, caught by our neighbour. Cooked sous vide. Roasted new potatoes and roasted green and yellow pattypan squash with gremolata  (with orange and lime zest as well as lemon) and some snow peas. Topped with some citrus slices and toasted pine nuts. 

 

 

The veggies. 

 

 

And the local farm corn is here. This is Fastlane, a bicolour and it's pretty darn tasty. A bit early. 

 

[liuzhou]

 

Chicken cooked this way.

Steamed cabbage leaves stuffed with snow greens (雪菜) and finely chopped shiitake.

 

Rice

 

Zhenjiang Black Vinegar (镇江香醋) dip.

 

The cabbage rolls

Edited July 17, 2015 by liuzhou (log)