Dinner 2015 (Part 5)

[TicTac]

Greek is by far the most flavorful I have found thus far (besides my own home grown Italian varietal - not your usual 'round shaped leaf oregano' mind you, more so a rosemary shaped leaf).

[scubadoo97]

Greek is by far the most flavorful I have found thus far (besides my own home grown Italian varietal - not your usual 'round shaped leaf oregano' mind you, more so a rosemary shaped leaf).

If I can get my butt up to Tarpon Springs I'd pick up Greek oregano dried on the stem from one of their local Greek food stores. The flavor is really nice. I favor it over the Italian variety in the jar. I always wonder how fresher Italian oregano compares. I'm sure way better than the jar stuff in the grocery store

[huiray]

A simple late night meal.

 

Half a slice of rabbit & pork cheeks paté (parsley) [Goose the Market/Smoking Goose]; and broccoli florets just-cooked (still slightly crunchy) in fresh high-gelatin-content chicken stock/broth.

 

[scubadoo97]

While portioning some steelhead trout the other day I was left with some tail ends and belly meat. It went well with some succotash of baby limas, corn, red peppers and onions for a quick meal tonight

[BonVivant]

A "speciality" of Gjirokaster, Albania. Fried rice "balls".

 

 

 

Spinach pie

 

Qifqi frying pan (with spinach pie in background)

 

Seen from the castle's terrace

 

 

(Posting from northern Greece now)

Edited October 10, 2015 by BonVivant (log)

[huiray]

Itek Tim.

 

Water, cut-up skin-on fat-on fresh duck legs, sliced galangal, trimmed & cut-up pre-soaked pickled mustard (large-leafed type) ("harm choy"), generous tamarind pulp (from a pressed block), crushed garlic, wet salted plums ripped apart plus some of the pickling liquid, palm sugar. Simmer till done.

 

With white rice.

 

Plus some rehydrated dried flower-pattern Chinese mushrooms braised (stove-top) w/ garlic briefly lightly browned in rice bran oil, sliced-up "fried bean curd"^¶¶, unpeeled straw mushrooms (canned), some sea salt & chicken stock & water, and trimmed wong nga pak (Napa cabbage) towards the end.

 

 

I sort-of concentrated on the Itek Tim (and spooning the soup over several bowls of rice consumed).  :-) 

 

^¶¶  Labeled as such in English on packages of this stuff. The Chinese name is 炸豆包 which is more appropriately "fried bean package". They're basically thickish sheets of what folks here might know as "tofu skin" (a.k.a. yuba) but thicker, formed/folded into smallish stacked "blocks" which are lightly fried (usually), sometimes thoroughly fried. Frequently packaged for retail sale. The stuff is oily. The stuff I used (dang, should have taken a picture) was sort-of like this, or this, or this (but stacked thicker). This is a common brand of this stuff available in my usual Chinese grocery store, but this time I used Kimbo (金寶) brand (another Taiwanese brand).

[ninagluck]

back into the kitchen, cauliflower, egg yolk, black pudding crumble. cauliflower is puree, florets marinated in sage oil.

[dcarch]

I have been cooking as usual, but have been incredibly busy. Only had time to enjoy all the fantastic meals everyone has been posting.

 

So here are a few recent quickies:

 

dcarch

 

Beef Tenderloin on Roasted pepper

 

Pewter Pan squash, BBQ ribs

 

SV chicken, fennel, squash

 

Chicken thigh, Squash

 

[ElainaA]

I've been really busy. Here are a couple of dinners:

 

Oven roasted cod with peppers and olives.

 

 

Pasta with left over chicken from a couple of nights ago with peppers, garlic and onions.

 

Tonight was very simple: pasta with shrimp and lots of garlic (no picture). This is because some crazy person in our household ( uh, me?) invited about 30 people over tomorrow afternoon for excellent conversation, good food and lots of good wine. The conversation is not a problem given our friend group - we will have a  few organic farmers, an Irish poet, a long haul driver, a professor of Medieval French history, a plumber ( my husband), a social worker/weaver, a computer forensics investigator and various other interesting individuals. The wine is my husband's issue and he has it under control. The food is my  area. Today we smoked a turkey and I prepped most of what I need for tomorrow. Besides the turkey there will be wild  and brown rice with butternut squash,leeks and corn,grilled  pork tenderloin marinated in cider,bourbon, brown sugar, ginger and a few other things, a platter of tomatoes and cukes, several kinds of bread (I made anadama  bread yesterday

and whatever condiments I remember to put out. I have a variety of cheeses, crackers and olives for nibbles. Our cousins are bringing dessert but being me I couldn't completely abdicate so I made some raspberry meringues that I will dip in chocolate.

 

Any egullerters in easy reach of Vifgil NY are welcome - about 3:00 pm.  I can guarantee the conversation will be great. 

Edited October 11, 2015 by ElainaA (log)

[liuzhou]

I've been sick. Still am, really. Nothing serious. A bad cold then an unhappy reaction to the medicine. So I haven't been eating much and what I have eaten is highly not worth reporting. Freezer food. I even found and ate a Chinese supermarket frozen pizza which I have no recollection of ever having bought. It was horrible.

 

Today, I managed to stagger out and pick up some freshness. Clams mainly. Some vegetation. And tonight cooked for the first time in days. 

 

Fried red rice with sea bass fillet  (thanks freezer!), the clams, red onions, red chili pepper and flowering Chinese chives. There was a side of baby bok choy, too.

 

 

There is more clam meat in the rice.

The red chilies were these:

 

 

The Chinese, 美人椒 (měi rén jiāo) translates as 'beautiful people pepper'. No idea what they are in English, if they even have an English name. They are a bit of a lottery, ranging from quite mild to holy cow what was that? They also come in green.

Today, they were of adequate strength to punch through my dysfunctional nasal and gustatory sense mechanisms. 

[huiray]

Leftover Itek Tim ladled over white rice in a big bowl. Yum.

Coarse Braunschweiger & Prosciutto Rossa, with lots of small purple-tinged broccoli florets. Chomp chomp.

[Smithy]

"Beautiful people pepper" is a great name, and those are pretty! We have a few wild-card chiles in the U.S. but I don't think I've seen any with that particular shape and color.

[liuzhou]

"Beautiful people pepper" is a great name, and those are pretty! We have a few wild-card chiles in the U.S. but I don't think I've seen any with that particular shape and color.

Between these and the "facing heaven peppers" we also get, I love literal translations of many Chinese food names.

[spipet]

Cod fried in beer batter and panko breadcrumbs (extremely crispy, really love doing it that way), with mushy peas with mint, tomato salad with mint and homemade tartar sauce with beetroot roses

[Shelby]

Dcarch--So glad to see you!  Been wondering where you were.  Beautiful peppers and I love the shape of that squash.

 

Liuzhou--I hope you get well soon! Those clams look so fresh.  

 

Spipet--Welcome to the dinner thread!  I could pluck one of those fish pieces up and scarf it down for breakfast!

 

I ordered some seafood from Pike's Place.  Big splurge, but so good.

 

Scallops with pasta and some shrimp cocktail

 

 

 

 

Last night king crab legs with fries and a salad

 

[rotuts]

Shelby

 

those scallops do indeed look delicious.

 

I could live on scallops and of course for hydration only, a Grand Cru Chablis.

 

any of these Grand's would be fine :

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chablis_crus

 

from the 'better years' of course !

Edited October 11, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[cyalexa]

Pizza. A slightly modified Tartine country dough. Thin crust, rosemary oil, prosciutto, parm, and figs for me. Standard crust, Italian sausage for my husband. Salads not pictured - standard dinner salad with 1000 island for Joe, arugula very lightly dressed with champagne pear vinaigrette eaten on top of my pizza for me.

 

 

[ninagluck]

fall is giving us a big variety of pumpkins, tonight: baked patisson, filled with talleggio and walnuts, served with some pomegranate syrup

[cyalexa]

fall is giving us a big variety of pumpkins, tonight: baked patisson, filled with talleggio and walnuts, served with some pomegranate syrup

 

I must try that! Can you tell me a bit more? Winter squash are plentiful here as well. Taleggio is my very favorite cheese and I have and like using pomegranate molasses. Thanks in advance.

[ninagluck]

not much to tell cyalexa, I cubed the tallegio and mixed it with chopped nuts and pepper, deseed the pumpkin salt it inside, stuff the cheese in and bake for  abt 1h at 180°C. 

[liamsaunt]

Pizza night.  This one is my niece's favorite, bacon and egg pizza.

 

 

 

A standard margarita pizza

 

 

 

And because we are on Cape Cod right now, a lobster pizza

 

 

 

I also made a white clam pizza and a pepperoni pizza, but no pictures of those.

 

 

[ElainaA]

Dinner (?) tonight.

I do not have any pictures because various friends arrived as  before the food was plated - and immediately started eating.  But tonight it was dinner for about 30 - and a great success. "Befores" were a cheese tray (I get crazy in the Wegmans cheese section - my husband made sure we only bought 5, well 6, different cheeses.) I was fascinated by the various "fruit pastes" on offer to go with cheese so when we got whom I consulted Google, found a recipe and made some pear paste - it was  really good with the cheese - I'd post a picture but there is none left. 

The main meal was turkey - smoked yesterday, pork tenderloin marinated and grilled, wild and brown rice with butternut squash, leeks, and corn, a platter of tomatoes and cukes and a salad nicoise  (Is this passé or retro? I don't care - it is good). Friends brought the desserts - 3 kinds of biscotti, a pumpkin cake, lemon bars and a Dutch apple pie.  I kind of wish there were more left overs. On leaving almost everyone said "The food was great. The conversations were REALLY great." My kind of party.

Edited October 11, 2015 by ElainaA (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Shelby, the food looks really good. I like that dish that the shrimp is on, the one with the crackle glaze.

[scubadoo97]

Tuna belly off a loin cut in half. Wedges were glued together to make a more even piece of fish

Seared and served with lentils and braised kale. The lentils were the standout for me.

Edited October 12, 2015 by scubadoo97 (log)

[Smithy]

ElainaA, I wish I could have joined your group; it sounds wonderful!  Please tell us more about pear paste.  At last night's dinner party we (the guests) enjoyed quince paste (membrillo) as part of dessert and I began thinking about how to make it.  Now here you are, posting about quince paste's close cousin. Want to post a link to the recipe you used, or post about what you did?