Dinner 2015 (Part 5)

[liuzhou]

I've been out of town for a few days. Got back at noon today.  Happy to be in my own kitchen.

 

Tonight, chicken with a shiitake cream sauce. Sauce has shallots, garlic scapes, green chilli, shiitake and cream. With rice and beer.

 

 

I'll do that again.

[Dejah]

huiray: We enjoyed amaranth last weekend, from my s-i-l's garden. It's been a long time since I'd eaten these, and it was lovely. It was the first time my first cousin from Seattle had this vegetable.

Last night, got a call from a foraging friend, and I went to pick up some of her bounty: shaggy mane mushrooms (caprinus comatus) and meadow mushrooms (agaricus bitorqis) Cooked up the more delicate shaggy manes by first blanching them thern sauteed in onion and butter. Lovely light texture and flavour. Eaten with Beef  (left over piece of steak)stir-fry in oyster sauce and Jasmine rice.

 

 

 

Think I'll make Hungarian mushroom soup with the meadow mushrooms as my friend said they are perfect for that.

[huiray]

Dejah, glad you got your teeth into some amaranth.

It's a nice vegetable (and widely eaten elsewhere in the world too, as you know).

 

The mushrooms & etc look nice.

 

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A very late night/early morning meal.

 

A half-slice of Pig and Fig Terrine [smoking Goose via Goose the Market; this one].

Papa Cacho fingerling potatoes, simply simmered in salted water then wiped w/ butter.

Sliced fennel bulbs, sautéed w/ salt & EV olive oil.

 

[liamsaunt]

Cliche salad.  Chicken, roasted beets, goat cheese, and walnuts.  

 

[liuzhou]

We enjoyed amaranth last weekend, from my s-i-l's garden. It's been a long time since I'd eaten these, and it was lovely. It was the first time my first cousin from Seattle had this vegetable.: 

 

My local supermarket was literally giving away amaranth today. So long as you bought any one item from their entire range - anything from a bed to bar of chocolate, you could take a free bunch of amaranth. Guess there must be a glut at this time of year.

 

I passed on the offer. Not that I don't like amaranth, but it doesn't fit into the next few day's plans (Mid-Autumn Festival in China tomorrow)  and I knew it would just shrivel away in the fridge. I left it for others to enjoy.

 

Happy Mooncakes!

Edited September 26, 2015 by liuzhou (log)

[ninagluck]

when I travel to the office I always carry a cookbook with me to get ideas what to try new. This idea caught my attention immediately: peach sauce with scallops, squid and grilled spring onions

[Duvel]

Nina,

How do you do the peach sauce ?

[Norm Matthews]

Tonight was my nephew's semi-annual bacon-n- bourbon party only this time he called it scotch and swine.  I made these again.  It's pineapple bratwrust, queso quesadilla cheese, roasted poblano peppers with a light brushing of BBQ sauce and rolled up with a bacon wrap, tied with string, and smoked @ 240-270º for a couple of hours.  I did that yesterday, then wrapped in foil and refrigerated until today when I reheated them in the oven and cut them into medallions.

 

Edited September 27, 2015 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Martin Fisher]

"bacon-n- bourbon party"

 

That's definitely my kind of party!!! 

Edited September 27, 2015 by DiggingDogFarm (log)

[Dejah]

liuzhou: I remember my Mom growing them in her garden on the prairies - seeds shipped over with our steamer trunks. I have not seen them here in Asian markets, so it was great to have them from my s-i-l's garden. At first glance of the fresh leaves, I thought it was a coleus plant!

Tonight, kohlrabi / carrot soup followed by beer batter fish & chips with curry gravy. The batter was a mix by Louisiana company. Used cod and the batter turned out nice and stayed crispy.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Anticipated is spaghetti alla pescatora, The Romagnolis' Table p 43, attributed to the island of Lipari.  Pasta water is coming to the boil!  I thought most felicitous for my finger tips to mince the mise pre mai tai.  (People have suggested I should have been a hand model.)

 

This is a dish one can prepare only at the end of summer.  Then usually if I have parsley in house I do not have anchovies (or vise versa).  However the planets have aligned.  Now as long as I don't over do it with the salty little fish.

 

I shall not use cheese.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I finished off the recipe of spaghetti alla pescatora.  The whole thing.  Pleasantly reminiscent of Paula Wolfert's marak of okra and tomatoes from the other week.  (Minus the okra, of course.)  Served with a baguette.

 

Makes me wonder what Mediterranean peoples did before tomatoes were invented?  Chestnut porridge and camel mechoui come to mind.  Has anyone else noticed the similarity of classical Roman cuisine to modern day Moroccan palace cooking? 

 

Dessert was fresh figs, crème fraiche.  Red wine.  I would have enjoyed something sweeter, but it did not seem auspicious to pop a seventy four year old port.

[ChrisTaylor]

Lamb ribs. Dry rub of salt, white pepper, coriander, cumin, fennel, paprika and dried Fatali chilli. I served them with coleslaw.

 

 

[liamsaunt]

I made the mushrooms berkley last night.  According to the notes in my cookbook, I had made them previously, but I don't remember doing so.  I cut the sugar in half and thought they were more than sweet enough.  I used them as a sauce for some grilled chicken.

 

 

 

[scamhi]

dinner last night grilled loin lamb chops with green beans, smashed potatoes, and salsa verde

[ninagluck]

Duvel, I peeled very ripe peaches and put them in a blender with some olive oil, salt and a pinch of sugar. the sauce  is served cold and is perfect with the scallops

Edited September 27, 2015 by ninagluck (log)

[FauxPas]

Local Dungeness crab is delicious! Served with some garlic butter, coleslaw and potato salad. I like to add lemon to my garlic butter. 

 

[NVNVGirl]

OK Norm tell us more about the turkey. Stuffed/unstuffed? Brined/wet or dry? Temps? foil or no foil?

 

I do our Thanksgiving turkey every year and am fascinated by the challenge of trying to make it good. Rarely an easy feat.

Im not Norm, and his turkey looks beautiful and delicious! But my favorite way to cook turkey is Martha Stewart's (sorry ) method with  brining the bird overnite, soaking cheesecloth in melted butter and white wine then covering it with same cheesecloth, and basting with the butter/wine mix every 20 min or so. We've been doing that for several years and it always turns out delicious. You can find the recipe online under Quince Glazed Roasted Turkey. Have never used the quince glaze but it turns out beautifully and is moist and tasty! But I'm interested in Norms method also!

[ElainaA]

 

Not the greatest picture but a really good dinner - linguini with shrimp and leeks in a white wine and shrimp-shell broth. And salad of course.

[huiray]

Saturday's meals were sort-of grazing + this-and-that from the shopping that day.

• Spinach "turnovers" (using pita bread) and za'atar-dressed pita, both from a Mediterranean/Middle-eastern/(West-Asian) grocery (Al Basha).

• "Pickled Wild Cucumbers"** from that same Mediterranean grocery.

• Chinese BBQ pork (from Asia Mart).

• "Indo Mie Chicken Curry Flavour Instant Noodles". (This one)

• "Ah Lai Penang WHITE Curry Noodles". (This one) This is good stuff.

 

** These are really "Armenian cucumbers"(Cucumis melo var. flexuosus), a type of muskmelon rather than a true cucumber. They are sold, pickled, "...in Middle Eastern markets as "Pickled Wild Cucumber"..." according to Wikipedia.

 

Pic of one of the spinach pita and one of the za'atar pita. Zapped in the microwave.

 

Pic of the bottle of "pickled wild cucumbers", sans a few of the things in it :-) .

 

[huiray]

Sunday – Hainanese Chicken Rice.

 

Done w/ a yellow-skin chicken (Asia Mart). The head & feet were lopped off before pouring kosher salt all over it and inside then rubbing by hand vigorously all over, then rinsing off under the tap. Poached w/ the "let sit with the heat turned off" variation, brought to a simmer from cold then simmered for about 10 min before shutting off the heat. Lots of smashed ginger (4-5 inches worth of a fat thick rhizome) and adequate sea salt in the poaching water.

 

Rice done w/ generous finely chopped ginger & garlic (Music) plus chopped scallions sautéed in peanut oil + cut-up chicken fat from the chicken used, rendered in situ in the pot, before adding the rice and stirring that around; followed by the poaching liquid/stock after the chicken was done, plus bundled-up pandan leaves. Cooked in the usual way – uncovered, then covered.

 

Sauces:  1) Chopped garlic sautéed in peanut oil then quenched w/ a mixture of double-fermented soy sauce + a bit of dark soy sauce + some ryori-shu; diluted w/ some water. Brought back to a simmer for a few minutes.  2) Lingham's "Extra Hot" Hot Sauce, diluted w/ fresh lime juice (lots); with some crushed rock sugar and a dash of sea salt stirred in.

 

Watercress wilted in a portion of the chicken broth/poaching liquid.

 

 

 

The rice in process:  1) garlic + ginger + scallions in rendered chicken fat + peanut oil.  2) Plus rice and pandan leaves plus chicken broth.

 

[liuzhou]

 

Wild shrimp with garlic scapes, chilli and rice.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night, or more correctly this morning, a seldom made old favorite.  Bryani from Yogi Vithaldas and Susan Roberts, The Yogi Cook Book, Bell Publishing Company 1968, pp 36-38:

 

"Like so many things in life, Bryani is more difficult to explain than to prepare.  I lead you gently toward it.  To do otherwise would discourage you, and that would be too bad."

 

 

A new use for my Le Creuset tarte tatin pan.

[ElainaA]

Tonight's dinner:

 

 

Tomato and roasted garlic soup with parmesan cheese. (From Fields of Greens) This seemed like a good idea - I have lots of garlic and many, many tomatoes. My husband really liked it. I thought it was kind of meh.

 

 

A salad with grilled steak and potatoes. Topped with home made ranch dressing after I took the picture.

 

 

And lavash crackers. From Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice

 

 

[liamsaunt]

Ramen noodle bowl.  I came home from work and processed 25 lbs. of tomatoes into marinara so needed something fast after I was done.  20 gallons of sauce made so far, and I only have one more batch of tomatoes to go.  Most people have standing freezers filled with meat. Mine is half filled with marinara sauce.