Dinner 2015 (Part 6)

[huiray]

 

There's a video I ran across in my travail that may be something you or someone else on this site had linked to before, because I definitely remember having seen it before.

 

Just look up "peeling water chestnuts" on Google. It's the second entry.

 

 

This one?

[huiray]

A simple dinner.

 

• Chinese sausages (generic variety) rinsed then steamed/cooked with the rice being cooked in my usual pot. Eaten w/ deep-fried shallots & a small scattering of scallions.

• Baby kai-lan (those are whole plants seen in the dish in the photo) stir-fried w/ garlic & peanut oil, and quenched w/ a mixture of oyster sauce, hon-mirin, water, splash of double-fermented soy sauce.

 

[liuzhou]

 

Chicken, shallots, garlic, olives, red chili, capers, shiitake mushrooms braised in a mushroom stock. Finished with torn basil. Served  with  bacon fat fried Shanghai bok choy (上海白菜) and rice.

 

[kayb]

ElainaA, thanks for that ketchup recipe. Saved it to use next summer.

 

TFTC, now I am inspired to look for fresh water chestnuts at the international market next time I go. 

 

Day got away from me yesterday resulting in me heading home at 5:30 with nary a thought about what might be for dinner. That's my cue to pick up some kind of prepared protein as a centerpiece; usually either a rotisserie chicken from the grocery or pork barbecue from the local barbecue emporium. I opted for barbecue, because I had sweet potatoes, and could do this:

 

 

Sweet potato and barbecue hash, with a drizzle of barbecue sauce thoughtfully provided by the barbecue place, with a side of arepas. Thirty minutes, start to finish. Just call me Rachel Ray.

[Shelby]

Elaina, I'll add my thanks for the ketchup recipe.  Definitely will make next summer (if the tomatoes cooperate )  Also, I went to Amazon and ordered the cookbook you mentioned.  Looks like a good one!  3 cents plus $4.00 shipping.  Can't beat that.  I warned Chris already that I'm pretty sure I keep Amazon in business.  I'm trying my hardest to remember to use the link that gives back to eG.

 

Rachel (aka Kay), I envy you having a good BBQ place near.  Your hash looks so good. I wish I could get Ronnie to like sweet 'taters.  No matter what they are just too sweet for him.  On a side note his family put me in charge of the sweet potatoes this year for turkey day (along with bread, which I don't mind doing.  Easy peasy).  My first thought was to change it up and do something different like a savory kind ....but then, I decided that the family would much rather have them the same way Gramma makes them.  With big jet puffed marshmallows on top.  Sigh.  I don't hate them, they are good.....but they are like a dessert to me.

 

Last night was red beans and rice with andouille and some greens from the garden.  

 

 

 

[ElainaA]

Elaina, I'll add my thanks for the ketchup recipe.  Definitely will make next summer (if the tomatoes cooperate )  Also, I went to Amazon and ordered the cookbook you mentioned.  Looks like a good one!  3 cents plus $4.00 shipping.  Can't beat that.  I warned Chris already that I'm pretty sure I keep Amazon in business.  I'm trying my hardest to remember to use the link that gives back to eG.

 

Rachel (aka Kay), I envy you having a good BBQ place near.  Your hash looks so good. I wish I could get Ronnie to like sweet 'taters.  No matter what they are just too sweet for him.  On a side note his family put me in charge of the sweet potatoes this year for turkey day (along with bread, which I don't mind doing.  Easy peasy).  My first thought was to change it up and do something different like a savory kind ....but then, I decided that the family would much rather have them the same way Gramma makes them.  With big jet puffed marshmallows on top.  Sigh.  I don't hate them, they are good.....but they are like a dessert to me.

 

Last night was red beans and rice with andouille and some greens from the garden.  

 

PB090904.JPG

Shelby -If you like Better Than Store Bought, the author has another book - Fancy Pantry - on the same theme - how to make things most people buy. My only caviat is that she doesn't process all her jams or uses very short processing times, which I think is unsafe. I process everything and use standard times from the NCHP site. But the recipes all work. And I love the concept.

 

If your family would consider a different sweet potato recipe, I recently found one with an apple and pecan topping. I haven't tried it but it looks really good. I can't remember where I found it but I have it at home so I can post a link when I'm there if you want. (I am right now  "volunteering" in my husband's office - so I can goof off any time I want. ) (I thought it might be from right here but a quick search doesn't find it.)

When we still did a traditional, extended family Thanksgiving, I HAD to make the same stuffing every year - cornbread, sausage and pecans - or there was universal outrage.

[ElainaA]

 

If your family would consider a different sweet potato recipe, I recently found one with an apple and pecan topping. I haven't tried it but it looks really good. I can't remember where I found it but I have it at home so I can post a link when I'm there if you want. (I am right now  "volunteering" in my husband's office - so I can goof off any time I want. ) (I thought it might be from right here but a quick search doesn't find it.)

 

Found it!   cyalexa's post on page 5 of this thread. "Turkey wings and a bourbon/sweet potato/apple/pecan casserole (http://www.finecooki...ecan-crust.aspx)  which I was auditioning for Thanksgiving. It made the cut although I'll use a little more apple and a little more butter in the topping next time."  Thanks cyalexa!

[sartoric]

Sumac dusted lamb cutlets.

Served with pumpkin, potato and garlic mash with mozzarella, chickpea salad with pomegranate, and mixed tomatoes on baby cos.

The salad.

The meal.

More info here https://www.facebook.com/Whats-for-dinner--1427021760943871/

[mgaretz]

Cold and rainy here yesterday, so beef stew was the ticket!  Made this for the first time with tri-tip and it came out great.  (I had cut some tri-tips into steaks and froze the too-small-for-a-good-steak sized pieces for later use as stew meat.)  The stew also contained carrots, potatoes, celery, peas, onion and barley.  It was made in the electric pressure cooker.

 

 

 

[scubadoo97]

Last minute throw together for a late dinner since we both got home late

Steelhead trout. Fish, the easiest to thaw and prepare

A potato galette and mushy peas with mint from the garden

[sartoric]

Last minute throw together for a late dinner since we both got home late

Steelhead trout. Fish, the easiest to thaw and prepare

A potato galette and mushy peas with mint from the garden

Looks delicious. Can you tell me more about the potato galette?

[FauxPas]

Tried out a FarmBox from a nearby organic grower and used some of the mixed tomatoes, green beans and carrots for dinner last night. Started with a very simple salad with butter lettuce and tomatoes and vinaigrette, then had some beans and carrots with Chilean Sea Bass. The sea bass was pan-fried with a cumin rub, finished in the oven. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[patrickamory]

Catching up again here, with all your fine cookin!

 

I've always enjoy amatriciana and was excited to see guanciale at my local artisanal butcher...

 

 

I felt like I had a concept of how to make this. I knew I wasn't going to do orthodox bucatini, and in fact thought maybe just tomatoes simmered in guanciale instead of olive oil. Did a quick search and oddly ended up going with the first recipe I found, which is this:

 

https://oldtiogafarm.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/cooking-with-guanciale/

 

Coarsely chopped the guanciale as instructed and simmered at the same time as the onions. 

 

 

 

All looked good except that the onions browned extremely fast, as would be expected, while the guanciale remained unrendered and rubbery. I added the tomatoes and then rapidly decided I'd made the same mistake as I had with my early Texas chilis, with chunks of unappetizing unrendered suet floating in it. Dumped the whole batch and started again!

 

This time I chopped the guanciale more finely, rendered it first and then added the onion, which created lots of yummy looking (and smelling) little lardons in the liquid fat:

 

 

And then took it all the way to linguini all'amatriciana:

 

 

Looks delicious right? Well, it wasn't. Skunky and offal-ly tasting, and not in a good way. Plus a really greasy texture. I'm not sure what I did wrong, because I like all'amatriciana in restaurants. Maybe too much guanciale for the recipe? Maybe a skunky guanciale? I don't know. I threw out the leftovers.

 

Subsequent meals have been more successful. Chicken thighs marinated in mixture of well-blended parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice, sweet paprika, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil. Cooked on a rack over onions and tomatoes so that the juices dripped all over the vegetables.

 

 

And another great pork chop (from Hudson & Charles, the place that sold me the guanciale), dry-rubbed Julia Child style, seared in a Griswold number 10, and served with spinach, rice and sweet potatoes. Heaven really, especially with a couple asphalty-tasting glasses of this good Cote de Rhone I've found:

 

[scubadoo97]

Looks delicious. Can you tell me more about the potato galette?

It was a simple potato pancake. Shredded Idahos with a little egg and onion and pan fried.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

<snip>

 

Looks delicious right? Well, it wasn't. Skunky and offal-ly tasting, and not in a good way. Plus a really greasy texture. I'm not sure what I did wrong, because I like all'amatriciana in restaurants. Maybe too much guanciale for the recipe? Maybe a skunky guanciale? I don't know. I threw out the leftovers.

 

 

patrickamory,

 

I cannot stand that taste you're talking about, and I believe it comes from mature, intact adult males. I love baby lamb meat, but not mutton. Maybe you had a boar jowl?

 

I have recommended Valbreso French "white sheeps' milk cheese" (feta) on this site, and after sampling some from my newly bought and opened can (exp. Feb. 16), I must withdraw my endorsement. This current batch has the taste you describe, so much so, that I will feed the rest of the $12 can to the coons after trying it out on my husband to see if he will eat it. This batch convinces me that their consistency does not justify the price, although I have really enjoyed this cheese for years. Just inedible, and not worth risking getting another bad can at that price.

 

Are you reading this, hummingbirdkiss? I was serious when I said mature, intact male animals often taste so bad no one would eat them unless they were starving. Boar may be trending, but it sure beats me why.

Edited November 11, 2015 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

This one?

 

That one exactly. Thanks! The person in the video is very skilled, but I fear for their non-knife hand. 

[liamsaunt]

A simple salad with hazelnuts, apples, and gorgonzola dolce in a citrus vinaigrette.  I topped it with crispy chicken made from a recipe that came in a case of wine my husband ordered.  It was supposed to be "sweet, spicy, and crunchy" but really did not have enough heat for me.  And I forgot to add the honey that the recipe called for so it ended up not being sweet either (my fault, obviously).  At least it was crunchy!  It was one of those nights ;-)

 

[huiray]

A kind of "Kon lo hor fun", sort-of. With simply blanched Taiwan bok choy heart leaves.

I used fairly narrow-width bánh phở [Dragonfly] (this one) as a stand-in for hor fun. :-)  Sauce was made w/ lots of chopped garlic sautéed in peanut oil quenched w/ a mixture of oyster sauce, double fermented soy sauce, hon-mirin, good Shaohsing wine, water, ground black pepper, black sesame oil, plus some fish sauce. Poured over the cooked bánh phở already-dressed w/ deep-fried shallots, sliced scallions & coriander leaves.

 

Pork meatballs & daikon in peppery milky pork stock.

Milky pork stock (see below) diluted w/ some of the "Second Stock" (also see below); peeled young daikon (Farmers' market stuff) cut into chunks, simmer for a while; pork meatballs formed from {ground pork, chopped scallions, panko crumbs, some rice bran oil, sea salt, splash of light soy sauce; mixed well by hand}; plus LOTS of ground white pepper.

 

 

The pork stock:

 

For this batch I used very meaty assorted bones (mainly shoulder blade region) plus some shin bones. Not really enough of the proper bones to give a really good milky stock but these sufficed for a reasonable one. Bones were boiled for a few minutes ("fei sui" treatment) and washed under the tap. Some residual blood/myoglobin still in the meat and bones but I left it at what they were.

 

The "cleaned" bones went into fresh water and back on the stove, on fairly high flame, sea salt added in. After a minute or two:

 

Gently BOILING along after a few hours (covered; the cover was taken off for the pic):

Note: NOT simmered - but BOILED. The idea is to get a milky stock. See here for a discussion on milky stocks:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/147367-if-you-skim-fat-off-soup-is-there-any-fat-left-over-from-emulsion-eg-ramen/ 

 

The "First Stock", after around 9-10 hours (I think) of moderate/gentle boiling** and after decanting through two nestled fine mesh metal sieves:

Thick with gelatin and lip-gluing-ly tasty. 

 

** Yes, additional water is added throughout as needed – quite a few times.

 

The meat+bones residues are re-boiled for a couple hours with fresh water (not too much!) plus some salt for a "Second Stock". This one goes milky quite quickly after starting the boiling. (I believe a not dissimilar phenomenon happens when one does the second and third boiling in the prep of seolleongtang with beef/ox bones)  Decanted through a fine-mesh metal sieve.

 

Edited November 11, 2015 by huiray (log)

[mmille24]

Soup looks delicious. That reminds me to try making Tonkotsu ramen. 

[ElainaA]

 

Spinach ricotta pie from Moosewood Cookbook. Well, sort of. I knew I needed more ricotta but I forgot to stop at the grocery on my way home from work. So this is spinach ricotta-yougurt-sourcream-cream cheese pie. I finished off several partial containers of dairy in the refrigerator - and it tasted just fine. Although I do not use this book very much I am very fond of it - it was a gift from my staff when I left my job at Cornell in 1980. And Moosewood Restaurant is iconic in Ithaca. 

 

There was supposed to be a salad with greens, cukes and pears to go with - but did I mention I forgot to stop at the store?  No greens or pears. We ended up with a side dish of corn, tomatoes and green pepper with some chili. Good but it could have used more heat. Also a very retro carrot, raisin and pecan salad. Since I like it, I call it retro rather than old-fashioned. 

[Kim Shook]

Kay – that rouladen looks incredible.  I love how browned you got the bacon!  That entire meal sounds wonderful.  And I LOVE crowder peas.  No one in my house will eat them, so I don’t think to make them!

 

Shelby – that is so funny about the Sloppy Joe sauce because that is exactly what I do (fix up Manwich to my taste) and for exactly the same reason.  Nice looking corn.  Is that some that you froze yourself?  Or are you still getting decent corn?

 

 

Simple, but extremely satisfying dinner a couple of nights ago – started with the usual salad:

Made nice with crumbled feta.  Lamb chops, rice and garlic bread:

Seems a bit dull, but it was delicious and exactly what I wanted.  I’ve been craving rice for a couple of weeks.    And I found the chops on sale - 5 of them for $6.  I have a freezer full of things we need to eat soon, but I couldn't pass that up!

[sartoric]

Started with a snack of spicy avocado dip (avocado, Harissa, lemon juice and natural yoghurt).

Linguine with pesto because I had to do something with this.

Plus a mixed salad.

Served with crusty sourdough.

[rotuts]

nice

 

 

sartoric

 

down under might be nice now

 

All i have is TJ's  Fz basil

 

nice as it is ...............

[sartoric]

nice

 

 

sartoric

 

down under might be nice now

 

All i have is TJ's  Fz basil

 

nice as it is ...............

Yes, it's late spring, nearly summer, lovely at the moment here with day time temps around 26 C.

[Norm Matthews]

About 25 years ago I tried a recipe for Honey Lacquered Game Hens. It became my one of my son's favorite dishes.  About 20 years ago ex #2 stole the recipe when she left. (FWIW, she also stole my smoker and Charlie's basketball goal)  I've made up similar versions and we've liked them too.  Actually I think I recently found the original online and we didn't like it as well as what I do now.  I always have had it with rice before but today made cornbread stuffing and mixed vegetables.