Dinner 2015 (Part 6)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

We had a simple dinner tonight of pinto beans cooked in the crockpot with onion and jalapeno peppers, about half deseeded in concession to my husband. I cooked up some good bacon in a skillet, drained off most of the fat, deglazed with some boiling water and added that into the beans with the crumbled bacon. This was really good with my rosemary/olive oil cornbread baked in the oven.

 

I knew I'd have to devote quite a bit of time tonight to prep for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, so this easy dinner was perfect. It also left plenty of leftovers to send home with my brother tomorrow who mentioned several days ago that he was craving bean soup.

 

I candied some walnuts with a little brown sugar, butter, kosher salt, cayenne and powdered ginger for a salad tomorrow. Also for the salad, I carefully freed all the arils from a large pomegranate. I got almost 2 cups of arils from this monster. This was really time-consuming, trying to do it without rupturing any juice sacks. I made up a dressing for the salad with soy sauce, white vinegar (I love the clean, bright taste, although I thought of rice vinegar), frozen concentrated orange juice, grated fresh frozen ginger (lots), a little garlic powder and crushed red pepper flakes. I had to adjust it because I put too much orange juice concentrate at first so it was too sweet, but I'm really happy with the result. I will finish the refrigerated dressing tomorrow with dark sesame oil, sliced scallions, and I am thinking about a small amount of fresh crushed raw garlic, but I may not go there. I'll toss just enough finished dressing with baby spinach leaves and garnish with the arils and walnuts, and for anyone who wants it, Valbreso sheep's milk cheese (feta). I found it too gamy this time, but my husband likes it, and I'll let everyone else taste before adding. Sounds like a really simple salad, but wound up taking hours to do all the components, and I hope everyone likes it.

 

I also decided to do the cranberry/apple compote ahead of time and refrigerate it. I think since it is my substitute for cranberry sauce and everyone is used to that served cold, that it will work well. It is nothing but equal parts peeled macintosh apple sliced into wedges with fresh cranberries cooked down a few minutes with a little white sugar, not even water added. Oh, and a little salt to balance. I think it came out well. It's quite tart and refreshing. I have it refrigerated in a covered glass faceted candy dish I always use for the cranberry sauce.

 

This will be served with Betty Crocker's "Oriental" glazed Rock Cornish hens and other accoutrements tomorrow. Thank you, Norm Matthews, for reminding me of them.

[liuzhou]

I picked up these fresh hibiscus flowers the other day. The dried variety are usually available and generally used in teas and tisanes. Traditional Chinese medicine considers the infusion to be a mild laxative and diuretic and I'm told it is good for "women's troubles". I often have trouble with women but I don't think that's what they mean.

 

I suspected though that the flowers may be used in cooking, too.  Searching Mr Google's Chinese friends came up with only one recipe. Friends whom I consulted came up with the same idea. Braise them with chicken. Either regular chicken or black bone chicken (silkie). I bought a smallish organic bird at great expense and here is dinner.

 

First the chicken after 45 mins braising with the flowers and some Shaoxing wine and ginger.

 

 

Then dinner plated with rice and a quick leek and shiitake stir fry. A dollop of lemon sauce in the centre and a sprinkling of sachimi togarishi and we are set to go.

 

 

Note: Any apparent pinkness to the chicken in the photos is colour from the flowers. the meat was cooked through.

 

The hibiscus taste was barely discernible, but no doubt it's doing its work on my system.

 

I toyed with the idea of adding a bit of English mustard, but decided that might be a step too far. Now I'm not so sure.

 

In conclusion, I think I'll keep the rest of the hibiscus for teas. They are pleasant in the mornings. What they added to the chicken wasn't worth the expense. Still, it was an OK dinner.

 

Live and learn.

 

(And I've got the head, feet wings and carcase for a stock tomorrow. Bonus.)

Edited November 26, 2015 by liuzhou (log)

[huiray]

Hiyayakko, of sorts.

Soft tofu, pressed for a while. Cut into chunks, dressed w. katsuobushi, slivered leek whites, sliced leek greens. Tentsuyu-type sauce, from a mixture of hon-mirin, water, kelp-flavored natural brewed soy sauce, ryori-shu, etc.

 

Fish osuimono.

Fish: Barramundi, marinated in ryori-shu, blotted dry, sliced up, dressed lightly w/ sea salt, pan-seared/cooked in a dry, un-oiled medium-hot pan, removed to serving bowl, dressed w/ sliced leek greens.

Broth: Cold water, konbu, bring to boil; add kelp-flavored brewed soy sauce, sake, hon-dashi granules, salt, shaved lime rind; bring back to a simmer, reduce heat to lowest setting, leave a while; add small/baby oyster mushrooms, leave on low heat for a while more. Filter, add to fish pieces & leeks in bowl; oyster mushrooms added to bowl.

 

Fish & leeks in bowl before broth added:

 

Pan-fried yakisoba w/ sliced hakusai (Napa cabbage), plus a fried egg. Dressed w. coriander leaves.

 

[sartoric]

The spoils of a Burmese cooking class at our guesthouse.

We made lentil soup, chicken curry, eggplant curry, tomato salad and stir fried veggies.

My take - for nearly everything, the Myanmar people use lots of garlic and ginger pounded together, finely chopped red shallots, tumeric powder, chilli powder and water to simmer down. The salads are particularly interesting, I must find the crunchy dried bean mix that prevails on many.

The set up.

The meal, served with rice.

[liuzhou]

Tonight was leftovers and fridge / freezer clearance time.

 

Some fish stock (from the freezer), a fillet of sea bass (ditto), a handful of wild prawns (double ditto), some leeks, shiitake, garlic, chili, vinegar. A sort of hot and sour soup to start. Sorry the picture isn't perfect, but it was steaming hot and I wasn't going to wait for it to get cold.

 

 

The some chicken left over from last night, more leek, more shiitake, more chilli (different type), garlic chives and leftover rice from lunch made a simple but taste fried rice.

 

Feeling very full and environmentally worthy.

Edited November 27, 2015 by liuzhou (log)

[mgaretz]

A couple of nights ago we had some leftover chicken so I made a casserole with the chicken, noodles, onions, celery, peas and topped with panko.  Kind of like a pre-Thanksgiving leftover dish.  Didn't remember to take a picture until we'd eaten most of it.

 

 

Then of course turkey for Thanksgiving.  This was my first try at a spatchcocked turkey.  Did it on the smoker.  Came out very nice.  The skin was crispy but didn't get that all-over golden brown color I'm used to. Served with stuffing and roasted carrots/parsnips.

 

 

[kayb]

 

Change of pace from yesterday's overindulgence. The pate de campagne I made the other night (I deem it a success!), with some cheese, olives, pickles and quince paste. Crackers and a glass of red.

 

 

[Steve Irby]

A few photos from Thanksgiving dinner.  I made a shrimp napoleon as a starter. It is fried mirliton chips layered with shrimp in remoulade sauce.  The plate is drizzled with a cayenne beurre blanc.

 

 

Soup was a winter squash veloute finished  with apple matchsticks, coconut cream and candied walnuts.  I used agave syrup, lime juice and an Indian spice mix when I roasted the walnuts.

 

 

I made a turchetta following serious eats recipe and chicken tarragon sausage wrapped in bacon.  I used meat glue in both preparations to adhere the skin/bacon and cooked sous vide for 5 hours.  They were finished in a hot oil bath to brown.

 

 

 

Served with roasted carrots and a spinach gruyere crepe gateau from a Martha Stewart recipe.

 

 

Dessert included a pear tart with a nut crust and a sour cream bundt cake served with whipped cream and raspberries.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[huiray]

Pork wonton noodle soup. (豬肉雲吞湯麵)

 

 

Wontons: Minced pork, corn starch, finely chopped leek green, grated ginger w/ juices, sea salt, good Shaohsing wine, ground white pepper. Square Hong Kong style thin wonton wrappers [Twin Marquis].

Broth: Chicken stock simmered w/ de-headed ikan bilis, chopped garlic & broken-apart tea flower mushrooms, then filtered through a sieve.

Accompaniments: Skinny wonton noodles [Twin Marquis], yu choy sum & wong nga pak both blanched in oiled simmering water, deep-fried shallots. Dang, forgot the coriander leaves which were left in the soaking water.

 

On the way there:

Edited November 28, 2015 by huiray (log)

[Shelby]

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving (to those of us in the US and maybe Canada).  I hope everyone else had a good Thursday. 

 

Steve-I had to google "mirlitons".  Interesting.  I need to put those on my bucket list of foods to try.  Your whole meal looks amazing.

 

Kay-Your pate looks perfect.  I need to try to make that someday.  For now, I'll stare at yours.

 

 

Prime rib last night. It weighed 4.3 lbs.  I did it to an internal temp of 110 F (thank you, Thermapen) and let it rest for quite a while while I finished the rest of the meal.  I took the temp again and it had hit 120 F.  Then I seared it in the oven at 500 F for about 5-10 mins.

 

 

Oh, and I made popovers/yorkshire puddings.  Thank you to Kim for the link to her recipe.  The recipe is written perfectly, but I still managed to screw it up.  That happens when I'm making different foods simultaneously.  I forgot to pre-heat the pan in the oven before I poured the batter in.      I should have poured it out, but, I was using one of those popover pans where all the "cups" are connected and I couldn't figure out a method to do so.  Anyway, I've never tasted them before, and even with my screw-up, we really liked them!  I can't wait to try again doing the recipe the right way.

 

Green bean, mushroom and blue cheese tart

 

 

[harrysnapperorgans]

Those popovers/yorkshire puddings have risen incredibly, considering you started with a cold pan!  Have you got a link to the recipe? I make them occasionally, and mine come out great, but sink immediately. I’d like to find  a way to keep the crisp and fluffy on the plate for a little longer 

[Shelby]

Those popovers/yorkshire puddings have risen incredibly, considering you started with a cold pan!  Have you got a link to the recipe? I make them occasionally, and mine come out great, but sink immediately. I’d like to find  a way to keep the crisp and fluffy on the plate for a little longer 

I think it was beginner's luck lol.   They did sink a bit.  That picture is probably a minute or two after they were out of the oven.

 

Here is the link to the recipe.  The thing that may have saved me is that I made the batter literally three or four hours before I baked them so it had a long time to sit at room temperature.  The recipe says to let the batter sit...the longer the better.

[sartoric]

When in Cambodia what do you eat ? Vietnamese food yeah !

We'd had 3 meals in Cambodia so far, one excellent serve of Vietnamese spring rolls, and two very ordinary Cambodian meals, one was a bland soup and one an ordinary local barbecue.

So we head back to the Vietnamese place, it's called The Soup Dragon and is on the corner of Pub Street in the old market area. We have their claypot set, which consists of a claypot filled with fragrant stock, herbs and pork meatballs. It's placed on a table top burner. Alongside is a plate of wafer thin sliced beef, a plate of oyster mushrooms, a plate of gai larn, some rice noodles, some crispy tofu wafers, and four eggs. Accompaniments are chilli sauce, Hoi sin sauce, sliced garlic, sliced fried shallots, and more chillies.

Break an egg onto the beef, add a stem of Gai larn, mix, then add to the soup. Add mushrooms, greens, noodles and crumble the tofu wafers into the pot. Eat, swoon.

Our waitress comes back several times with a jug to top up the stock.

We spent more than an hour eating this, washed down with two beers each, the cost was less than $15.

[mgaretz]

My daughter is visiting for Thanksgiving weekend and she had the traditional turkey dinner with her mom. Tonight was our dinner but she didn't want more turkey. Instead she requested my Belgian Beef Stew. But she's on a gluten free diet so instead of the lambic I substituted a black cherry cider and cornstarch to thicken instead of flour. Came out good. Served with mashed potatoes. We were too hungry to pause for pictures. Ironically we're off to see the new Hunger Games movie after dinner.  Dessert was a dairy-free, gluten-free pumpkin cheesecake, made with Tofutti cream cheese and sour cream.

Edited November 29, 2015 by mgaretz (log)

[Steve Irby]

Good trip to the farmers market this AM.  Really nice salad greens and rainbow radishes.  We were in New Orleans a few years ago and went to MiLa when Slade and Allison Rushing were the chefs.  We had a great mixed green salad with fried oysters and buttermilk dressing.  The oysters were buried in the salad and covered with the radishes so they did not get soggy.  I tried a pretty successful version tonight and also a more conventional version with fried green tomatoes and leftover remoulade & shrimp. 

 

 

 

 

[kayb]

I made a pot of turkey posole, which was pretty good. Forgot to take photos.

[huiray]

Several fresh spinach pitas [Al-Basha] & Salame Cotto [Goose the Market].  See here, scroll down.  All demolished.  A very nice combo, very good munching.  The sour-savory-bready character of the spinach pitas complimented the sweetish-salty-tangy-gelatinousness-savoriness of the cotto very well.  I'd do this again eagerly.  Plus a Nong Shim Kimchi Bowl beforehand. :-)  Plus a chocolate eclair [Rene's Bakery] afterwards.  :-D 

[Paul Bacino]

Happy Holidays!!

 

Sea Bass Carbon Pan Seared in Butter
Beet green tops --Garlic, oil, pepper flakes, Bragg's Cider Vinegar, Home-made stock
zucchini and onions--caramelized with raw sugar
Yukon Potatoes topped - Garlic/ butter/ Oyster mushrooms/ Morel / Balsamic/ stock Wonder flour

 

 

 

 

 

[Paul Bacino]

Onion Soup

 

Base is  2 chicken Roasted Carcasses.. with Celery  Carrots Onions and Herbs  Cooled and     de-fatted  ( pressure Cooked  1.5 hrs )

a Day latter I added a well browned chuck roast and Pressure cooked 35 Mins @ 15 psi that stock. 

 

Onions - yellow , caramelized with butter , rosemary  and a touch of Sherry

 

Base added with onions and Balsamic ( just a bit )

 

Now I am not a fan of cheese, so I made croutons to dip in..

 

Rice with stock on the side!!

 

 

 

[kayb]

One of the reasons I love sous vide: I had coated a small (1.5 pound) rump roast in a coffee-ancho spice rub and put it in the water bath for four hours at 125. Decided I wasn't in the mood for roast beef for dinner. Took it out, stashed the bag in the fridge, and had a glass of wine and some cheese, pate and crackers. Tomorrow evening, I'll bring it back up to temp, then sear it, and go forward with the original plan.

[scubadoo97]

Fabulous meals as usual.  Everyone's pictures look so good

 

Today I made a big pot of Cuban black beans, white rice and a tomato salad

[Ann_T]

This thread always creates cravings.  Thanks to Shelby I had a craving for Yorkshire Pudding. A family favourite. 

 

Roasted a small strip loin roast for dinner tonight.  I presalted it before leaving for work.  

 

Roasted at 500°F for about 20 minutes and left to rest while the Yorkshire Puddings baked.

 

 

I had a horseradish root in the fridge so I made horseradish.  An exceptionally hot horseradish.

 

Last night it was

 

 Burgers and homemade double fried fries.

 

 

And earlier in the week I put a big pot of chili on to simmer.

 

 

Served with homemade flour tortillas.

[huiray]

Asari Osuimono, one version.

Kombu dashi, Higeta Honzen soy sauce, ryori-shu, hon-dashi granules, bunapi-shimeji & enoki mushrooms, scrubbed pre-soaked "flower clams" (Venerupis). Broth/stock filtered. Scallions, negi & coriander leaves dressing.

 

Buta no Shogayaki, one version.

With white rice, julienned hakusai & pickled Persian cucumbers.

Sliced pork loin (Berkshire), salt & pepper. Sautéed w/ rice bran oil, medium-hot pan. Then: Mixture of grated ginger & juices, Higeta Honzen soy sauce, Takara hon-mirin (the on the right), the clear part of Rihaku nigori 'Dreamy Clouds' sake; plus finely sliced scallions. Toss & cook down (a minute or so).

 

[Anna N]

SV'd pork chop, apple slices and fresh spinach quickly cooked in garlic infused olive oil. The sauce on the chop is from Dana Cowin. It is described as a umami sauce but fell well short of expectations.

[liuzhou]

A couple of weeks ago I was given a couple of samples to review.

 

 

They are just regular black fermented beans as used in that perennial favourite, black bean sauce. The twist is that these are "enhanced" with Sichuan peppercorns (the 'ma' part) and chilli (the 'la' part). The great benefit of these 30g sachets is that you get to avoid the deep pain of mixing the beans with your own Sichuan peppercorns and chilli, a service for which they only charge you four times the going price for the individual ingredients. Bargain!

 

 

The other sample was similarly 'enhanced'' with dried shrimp.

 

But not being the type to refuse a free sample because of anything so troubling as ethics, I used them. I'm cheap.

 

Pork with mala black beans and mushrooms. The pork was marinated in Shaoxing wine, garlic and the beans along with some corn starch. Stir-fried and finished with Chinese chives and coriander leaf. Served with rice and wilted lettuce with oyster sauce.

 

 

 

Happy mouth

Edited November 30, 2015 by liuzhou (log)