Dinner 2016 (Part 1)

[mmille24]

46 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

@mmille24

 

Very nice leoparding on your pizza.

 

Do you mind telling jealous people like me how you achieved it?

Very high oven temperatures. 850-1000+ degrees.

 

Caputo Pizzeria 00 flour

1.8% Sourdough starter

62% hydration

2.8% salt

24 hour bulk fermentation + 15 hour balled at 60f

[huiray]

Charcuterie dinner.

Pressed tongue, Westphalian ham, Salame Cotto, coarse Braunschweiger, Zungenwurst, Kalbsleberwurst; Scallions.

Sliced Francese.

Romaine.

[Anna N]

 

 Toasted BLT on multigrain with Campari tomatoes.

[liuzhou]

Pan-roasted chicken breast (brined overnight), shiitake and cordycep militaris mushrooms. Shanghai bok choy and buttery smashed new potatoes. Followed by strawberries and cream.

 

.

Edited January 7, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[kayb]

14 hours ago, ElainaA said:

The holidays were really busy crazy (in a good way) so I haven't posted in awhile.  Here is tonight's dinner: pasta with bacon, ricotta and peas. And a salad,of course. Last night: chicken with peppers, olives and tomatoes, with potatoes simmered in olive oil and white wine. Both recipes are from a cookbook my daughter gave me for Christmas - The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper  (the Splendid Table commentator). I think it was remaindered ( she's on a badly paid post-doc) and it has good recipes.

 

 

I love The Splendid Table and am a regular Saturday morning listener. Have at least one of her cookbooks, and have cooked a few things from it. Oddly, I find I almost always have to increase the amount of spices she calls for. Did you find that to be the case?

 

 

[ElainaA]

1 hour ago, kayb said:

I love The Splendid Table and am a regular Saturday morning listener. Have at least one of her cookbooks, and have cooked a few things from it. Oddly, I find I almost always have to increase the amount of spices she calls for. Did you find that to be the case?

 

 

This is the first of her recipes that I have tried. However, after tasting, I did increase the salt and, especially, the pepper (I like pepper - I am moderate when cooking for people other than my husband and I, but this was just for us) and the herbs (fresh sage and basil). I am trying another of her recipes tonight so I will see if I need to do the same again.

[sartoric]

Cambodian chicken curry (Samlar Cari Moan).
Served with steamed rice and cucumber salad.

 

 

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

[Anna N]

 

Toasted western with a side of Greek giardiniera 

 

[huiray]

Beef shin braised w/ garlic. 

Whole beef shin sliced into thick-ish rounds, browned in EV olive oil w/ just sea salt, developing some nice fond &etc; then tossed w/ and gently sautéed w/ about 2-and-a-half heads worth of garlic cloves, uncrushed but each sliced in half. Water added to cover plus a bit. Simmered for a while. Fresh bay leaves crushed in the hand added plus cracked/lightly crushed black peppercorns. Simmered some more till done and the sauce was thickened and reduced. Eaten w/ fedelini, spooning some of the sauce over the pasta. Parsley garnish.

 

Balsamic glazed Cipollini onions, with romaine lettuce.

Trimmed whole red & yellow Cipollini onions gently browned in EV olive oil on medium-low heat (starting top-side-down), turning over once. Chicken stock added. Simmered down, covered some of the time. A generous pour of 10-year balsamic vinegar added, stuff stirred around, turning the onions over as appropriate; water splashed in as needed; a 2-second pour of hon-mirin went in, plus some dried crushed thyme, the pan covered and shaken occasionally as the stuff was cooked down. Seasoning adjusted.

The romaine was simply blanched in the pasta cooking water (from above) w/ a bit of oil added in, and eaten (chopsticks) mostly with dipping into the sauce of the glazed onions.

[liuzhou]

Felt a bit off-colour today, so a very simple, light dinner. Fish ramen. 

 

I had a fish stock I had made yesterday from some fish scraps from the local supermarket, along with celery, carrot, ginger and shallots. This had been strained and reduced and was in the fridge. Luckily, I had a pangasius fillet in the freezer so I didn't need to go out in the rain. Defrosted that.

 

Into the stock went some more shallots, a mild red chilli, the cubed pangasius and some Shanghai bok choy and fresh ramen noodles. Salt and white pepper.

 

 

Strawberries and cream for dessert again. It's strawberry season in China.

Edited January 8, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[liamsaunt]

On 1/7/2016 at 9:18 PM, ElainaA said:

The holidays were really busy crazy (in a good way) so I haven't posted in awhile.  Here is tonight's dinner: pasta with bacon, ricotta and peas. And a salad,of course. Last night: chicken with peppers, olives and tomatoes, with potatoes simmered in olive oil and white wine. Both recipes are from a cookbook my daughter gave me for Christmas - The Italian Country Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper  (the Splendid Table commentator). I think it was remaindered ( she's on a badly paid post-doc) and it has good recipes.

 

I have that cookbook.  I have not used it in a few years, but I do remember that the roasted chicken balsamico with potatoes is really delicious.  I take notes in my cookbooks when I make the recipes, so I will flip through it this weekend and see if there were any others that I really liked and can recommend.  

[Ann_T]

Sartoric,  that chicken curry looks delicious. Thanks for the link to the recipe.

 

Live lobsters were on sale so I bought three for Moe and I to share.

 

Par boiled and then finished on the grill. Served with a couple of mini baked potatoes , double baked with broccoli.

 

 

[kayb]

15 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

Toasted western with a side of Greek giardiniera 

 

That is a lovely meal. I can almost taste it.

[blue_dolphin]

25 minutes ago, kayb said:

That is a lovely meal. I can almost taste it.

Isn't it?  I woke up wanting this for breakfast!

[HungryChris]

I just took this hickory smoked salmon off the smoker. For some reason I like it cold better than hot. We'll probably have this as an app the next few nights.

[FauxPas]

Last night we had Lemony Chicken with Fresh Coriander based on Madhur Jaffrey's recipe. (The link goes to a Serious Eats version, which I think is pretty similar). Also, some Chana Masala + Gobi (ha, I like cauliflower in it). Basmati rice. 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

To make up for last night's McDonald's "McPick2" dinner of a couple McDoubles and one small fries each, which neither of us finished and set us back a whopping $6.46, I made something healthier tonight.

 

I broiled pork chops seasoned with adobo, black pepper, smoked paprika from TJ's, oregano on one side, thyme on the other, plus chipotle powder on mine. On the side we had broccoli boiled Marcella Hazan style in plenty of water for four minutes. I also nuked NC sweet potatoes, split, mashed in the shell, and topped with a little butter and salt.

 

Tomorrow will be roasted chicken leg quarters, probably just with salt, pepper and dried rosemary, with mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce and salad.

 

Sunday, I think we'll hit up our local seafood shop again. If they have good-looking red snapper like they usually do, that will probably be our dinner, broiled whole. If they have the live blue crab, promised in the window sign, but unavailable on the last two visits, I will defect to that. I am still thinking about Steve Irby's fried apalachiacola oyster po boy on ciabatta on the Lunch thread/topic, but I am as fickle as a kid in a candy store when I'm in a fresh seafood shop, like we are lucky enough to have. So I guess we will roll the dice with the most attractive day's catch/offering. 

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

 

 No one who knows me would believe I not only cooked this but ate it too.  This is Rancho Gordo Christmas lima beans.   These were a gift as I had expressed a wish to want to again try to enjoy beans.  I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they smelled when I opened the package.   Since I was fairly certain I would be challenged to enjoy these I joined them up with two of my favorite foods – – bacon and caramelized onions.  I cooked the beans without soaking in the Instant Pot and suspect that a true connoisseur would have let them cook longer. 

[huiray]

Calf's liver done with Fegato alla Veneziana as an inspiration, served with wild rice. 

Fresh calf's liver, cut into slices, marinated briefly w/ ground black pepper, some rice bran oil, a splash of Hotel Tango gin and a wee splash of hon-mirin. :-)  The remainder of the batch of balsamic glazed Cipollini onions (from here) with the juices and sauce added to a pan w/ EV olive oil on moderate heat, most f them cut into two w/ a spatula, tossed around briefly then the liver slices added in. Heat turned to high, everything tossed/stirred around briefly, a splash more gin went in plus lots of chopped Italian parsley, some sea salt, and stuff tossed/stirred till the liver was just barely cooked w/ some pinkishness/bloodiness retained. Served over wild rice [Bineshii] prepared just beforehand (simply simmered in salted water then drained).

 

Sautéed mustard greens.

I used "pull mustard", 雪裡紅. 

 

Edited January 9, 2016 by huiray
insert embedded link for the onions (log)

[liuzhou]

It's been a miserable day here. raining and cold by tropical standards. So, some comfort food.

 

 

Cottage Pie.

Beef, celery, onion, carrot, beef stock, thyme, Worcestershire sauce. Cooked around 30 minutes. Left to cool.

 

Potatoes boiled then riced. Left to cool.

 

Beef mixture topped with the potatoes and into the oven for 50 minutes

Not the most photogenic dish ever, but it was just what was needed. Served with some roast flower of cauli. No picture of that.

 

 

 

Edited January 9, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[liamsaunt]

Thursday night I made a spinach and gruyere souffle

 

[Shelby]

Pork tenderloin, turnips, spinach and stuffing

 

[ElainaA]

5 hours ago, huiray said:

Calf's liver done with Fegato alla Veneziana as an inspiration, served with wild rice. 

 

Fresh calf's liver, cut into slices, marinated briefly w/ ground black pepper, some rice bran oil, a splash of Hotel Tango gin and a wee splash of hon-mirin. :-)  The remainder of the batch of balsamic glazed Cipollini onions (from here) with the juices and sauce added to a pan w/ EV olive oil on moderate heat, most f them cut into two w/ a spatula, tossed around briefly then the liver slices added in. Heat turned to high, everything tossed/stirred around briefly, a splash more gin went in plus lots of chopped Italian parsley, some sea salt, and stuff tossed/stirred till the liver was just barely cooked w/ some pinkishness/bloodiness retained. Served over wild rice [Bineshii] prepared just beforehand (simply simmered in salted water then drained).

 

Sautéed mustard greens.

 

I used "pull mustard", 雪裡紅. 

 

 

huiray - That plate is beautiful.  Liver (including calve's liver) is one of the very few foods that my husband won't eat so I haven't cooked it in years (probably 30years+!!) I really like it and miss it. 

[huiray]

1 hour ago, ElainaA said:

huiray - That plate is beautiful.  Liver (including calve's liver) is one of the very few foods that my husband won't eat so I haven't cooked it in years (probably 30years+!!) I really like it and miss it. 

 

Heh.  Maybe one day when your DH isn't around and it's just yourself?

 

Hmm, on reflection I *think* I also had a glass of J&B in my hand when I was cooking the liver and I *might* have dumped some of it into the pan too... :-D

[blue_dolphin]

10 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

 No one who knows me would believe I not only cooked this but ate it too.  This is Rancho Gordo Christmas lima beans.   These were a gift as I had expressed a wish to want to again try to enjoy beans.  I was pleasantly surprised at how delicious they smelled when I opened the package.   Since I was fairly certain I would be challenged to enjoy these I joined them up with two of my favorite foods – – bacon and caramelized onions.  I cooked the beans without soaking in the Instant Pot and suspect that a true connoisseur would have let them cook longer. 

 

That looks really good!  And I admire your willingness to start off your bean journey with such a big bean. I love beans but I'm always sort of wary of the big ones - I'm working up my courage to cook some of those RG Royal Coronas!   If you have any of those guys  left, my favorite recipe for Christmas limas is the salad with beets, quinoa and avocado from the RG Heirloom Beans cookbook.