Dinner 2016 (Part 1)

[HungryChris]

7 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

It's tough to lay the raw tortilla dough on your griddle or comal without getting creases that are hard to straighten out without tearing the tortilla up. This difficulty increases with the diameter of the tortilla. The nature of the dough may be self-limiting as to the size? Also since you support the tortilla on you spread hand before laying on the cooking surface, folks with larger hands may have an advantage. I am sure there are Latino grandmas who have whipped these things out every day for decades who are capable of larger ones, but I am lucky to get good results up to 7 or 8 inches, and the larger I try to make them, the more I manage to botch. Six inch are easy, and that's probably why they are so common.

 

I had a feeling it had something to do with practicality. I would like to try making my own corn tortillas. I do have a press and a comal, but need to find a good starting point that will produce the flavor I like. I guess I had it in my mind that you had to make your own hominy to get a good product and that just put me off.

HC

[Ann_T]

I love homemade corn tortillas.   For me the simplest way to make them is to cut open a ziplock bag,  I sandwich the ball of  dough between the two pieces of plastic and then press.   Flip the tortilla on to my hand and carefully pull the plastic off the top.  Then it is easy to place onto the cast iron griddle.

 

Pictures might explain it better.

 

 

 

 

 

[MichaelJ]

Last night's sausage arugula pizza.

[shain]

4 hours ago, MichaelJ said:

Last night's sausage arugula pizza.

 

It seems that you baked it with the arugula on, this is new to me. I would expect it to reduce it's peppery flavor, or am I wrong? I really like arugula, but am not a fan of having a large amount raw leaves on the pizza. Can you describe the effect of baking on it's taste and texture?

[HungryChris]

6 hours ago, Ann_T said:

I love homemade corn tortillas.   For me the simplest way to make them is to cut open a ziplock bag,  I sandwich the ball of  dough between the two pieces of plastic and then press.   

 

My issue is with making the dough that has good flavor. I always had the understanding that it was a long and involved process.

 

HC

Edited January 27, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[Franci]

Mini baccala' croquettes

 

[sartoric]

Lions head meatball soup from "Homestyle Chinese cooking with pictures" published in 1975.

Essentially minced pork and crab, lots of wombok, ginger and spring onions.

 

[scubadoo97]

Relishing the fact I'm not allergic to crab.   It's crab cakes again!!

 

[sartoric]

1 hour ago, scubadoo97 said:

Relishing the fact I'm not allergic to crab.   It's crab cakes again!!

 

 

They look so good, crab is my favourite food ! Are they broad beans ? What's in the crab cakes ? Many thanks...

[mmille24]

Pizza. Buffalo Mozzarella.

[scubadoo97]

3 hours ago, sartoric said:

 

They look so good, crab is my favourite food ! Are they broad beans ? What's in the crab cakes ? Many thanks...

The beans are edamames.   The crab mixture included egg, mayo, mustard, panko, Old Bay, Worcestershire, parsley and lemon juice.  Used a pound of lump and made 8 little cakes 

The mix

 

[huiray]

Schnecken Bratwurst [Claus'] in a tomato sauce.

With shaved green cabbage & Cipriani Tagliardi (this one).

Schnecken gently pan-fried and browned on both sides in EV olive oil on medium heat then reserved. To the pan w/ residual oil & fond: sliced garlic (Music), sauté a bit; a can of whole peeled tomatoes [Red Gold] (this one) w/ all juices,the tomatoes chopped up w/ the spatula into quarters; a half-cube of caldo de tomate con sabor de pollo [Knorr], some sea salt, some 10-year Modena balsamic vinegar [La Vecchia Dispensa] (see here), dried oregano entero, dried thyme, bay leaves, stir around, gentle sauté, a good splash of water, cover, simmer for a while. Some white balsamic vinegar [AgroDolce Bianco Delizia Estense] (this one), some turbinado sugar, a bit more sea salt; continue simmering; reserved Schnecken nestled back into the sauce, Kumato tomatoes cut into sixths added in, pan re-covered, simmered for a little while more.

Tagliardi cooked as directed, drained briefly, tossed in the still-wet/warm cooking pot w/ some of the sauce from above.

Served over a bed of shaved green cabbage (there's more underneath, in the picture), spooning sauce & tomatoes over the stuff. Eat.

 

Almost there...

 

[Kim Shook]

Thanks for the Crepes – I know exactly what you mean about the fried flour tortillas elevating the meal.  We used to spend Sundays at a BBQ chain restaurant called Red, Hot and Blue because we could sit at the bar, watch football, eat and smoke (Mr. Kim could even smoke a cigar – ah, the good old days).  Their BBQ nachos were special not because of the BBQ (fine, but not exceptional) or toppings (the items you’d expect), but because they used fried FLOUR tortillas instead of corn.  Just delicious.  They have since closed, but we use the flour tortillas most often nowadays.

 

Dinner last night:

 

Creamed corn, smothered cube steak w/ gravy, roasted sweet potatoes w/ coconut cream, Brussel sprouts and some of my white bread.  Looks good, but a fairly blah meal, except for the sweet potatoes and bread.  The cube steak never got tender, the gravy was WAY too salty and the spouts were skunky.  Sigh.

 

Edited January 28, 2016 by Kim Shook (log)

[mmille24]

10 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

The beans are edamames.   The crab mixture included egg, mayo, mustard, panko, Old Bay, Worcestershire, parsley and lemon juice.  Used a pound of lump and made 8 little cakes 

The mix

 

 

I was looking into getting my hands on a dungeness, but might get my hands on some lump meat instead. Haven't had crab cakes in too long. Thanks for the idea!

[shain]

Vegetarian shepherds pie (cottage pie), with mushrooms, lentils, carrot, onion and peas. Very nice in this cold weather.

Edited January 29, 2016 by shain
Pictures (log)

[Norm Matthews]

Getting ready for a fondue party to which I'm not invited.  Son told me that Cassie wanted him to make her a romantic fondue dinner.  He got a little nonplussed when he discovered that he can't toss a hunk of cheese in a saucepan and wait for it to melt.  The store didn't have any fondue in a bag that we could find so I mixed up some grated emmentaler and gruyere and all the other dry ingredients in a plastic bag and the right amount of wine in a mason jar so he can make it with the least amount of effort.  He's got the oil and the chocolate fondue under control, I think.  I may have a quarter pounder with fries and diet coke for my dinner.

 

[ElainaA]

Last night: Brown rice and black beans (coco noir from last summer's garden) with chili-ginger salsa, avocado, feta and cilantro and roasted butternut squash.

 

 

[sartoric]

Fried rice with leftover char siu pork belly, a few prawns, some chicken, beans, peas and spring onions.

 

[liamsaunt]

 got home later than usual the past couple of nights and did not have as much time for cooking, so went with some fast standbys.  On Wednesday I made baked eggs

 

 

And last night I made spicy sausage and pepper sandwiches

 

[huiray]

Earlier – a cheese plate.

Cheeses:  Vacherin Fribourgeois Alpage (the one in 3 pieces), Pecorino Ginepro (black rind),  Cabot Clothbound Cheddar (Jasper Hills) (crumbly-looking one).  With mini-croccantini, brown rice crackers, celery, fresh Ya Pear pieces (Pyrus x bretschneideri).

 

Later – Schnecken Bratwurst round 2.

Rest of the Schnecken in tangy tomato sauce from here, re-simmered w/ Pantelleria salted capers [Bonomo & Giglio] (briefly rinsed) & halved artichoke hearts [Reese] and seasoning adjusted. Eaten w/ wild rice [Bineshii] cooked in water salted w/ the sea salt from the capers. Plus romaine lettuce.

 

 

Edited January 29, 2016 by huiray
To reload the images into the system - they were deleted in another action elsewhere (log)

[Ann_T]

On 27/01/2016 at 2:15 PM, HungryChris said:

My issue is with making the dough that has good flavor. I always had the understanding that it was a long and involved process.

 

HC

We have a Mexican grocery store in Victoria where I can buy Masa harina flour.  I find corn tortillas very easy to make with good flavour. 

 

Mmille,   I aspire to have my pizzas look like yours.

 

Tried a new recipe last night that gave me the excuse to buy a bamboo steamer.   

Kachin Chicken curry with fried rice with crispy shallots.

 

I'm always salivating over Huiray's meals. Many of which are steamed.   Can't wait to try a few. 

[huiray]

Ann_T, thanks for the compliment. I hope you get to like steaming stuff as an additional way to cook things. :-)

Your Kachin chicken curry & fried rice looks wonderful.

Edited January 29, 2016 by huiray (log)

[Paul Bacino]

Asian Italian Ravioli

 

Braised beef Ravioli

Sauce -- Chxn stock/  Hoisin / Chili sauce reduction

 

Topped with Basil/Parsley and Romano cheese 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

For the past little while I have been depending on pre-cooked and convenience foods for my evening meal and for a number of other meals also. I am grateful that they were available and some of them were even edible. The steak and kidney pie from Deningers was more than adequate. But I yearned for something in which I had had a least a hand.  So tonight I had semi-homemade chicken soup. I used the carcass from a store bought rotisserie chicken to make some stock and used the stock to make some soup. All of this in the Instant Pot. I was winging it so the carrots and the orzo were definitely over cooked. But I enjoyed every last drop. 

 

[BonVivant]

Lamb Köfte from the other day, simmered in a tomato and Turkish red pepper sauce today. It is a brilliant paste and I use it often in anything I like, really.

 

I ate it with pasta, my partner preferred pita bread.