Dinner 2016 (Part 1)

[huiray]

Couple of recent meals.

 

Toulouse sausages [Goose the Market/Smoking Goose] "toasted" in a pan w/ some EV olive oil, then reserved. Bulk sauerkraut [Hengstenberg; from Claus'] browned/toasted in the same pan. Halved German Gold potatoes added, bay leaves, rice vinegar, hon-mirin, water, simmer. Browned sausages added back in. Plated & eaten w/ romaine lettuce.

The potatoes were some of the best I've had, smooth and creamy in texture.

 

 

Winter spinach & fresh small shiitake mushrooms in chicken stock.

Plus another helping of the Toulouse sausages and kraut and potatoes from above.

[liuzhou]

Simple dinner tonight. But tasty.

 

Duck breast, wilted spinach with garlic and plain boiled new potatoes. (I forgot to buy butter today.)

 

 

And some wet stuff.

Edited January 18, 2016 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[huiray]

"Kam Heong" Chicken Wings. Last night's version.

Chicken wings – flats and drumettes, chopped into halves across the bones; tossed w/ and marinated w/ Shaohsing wine, sea salt, jaggery, oyster sauce, sesame oil, corn starch, rice flour. Then: shallow-fried in a hot pan w/ hot oil, full flame, till slightly browned. Reserved.

Into medium-hot pan w/ peanut oil: sliced shallots, chopped garlic, minced pre-soaked dried shrimp (har mai), julienned ginger, trimmed & washed curry leaves (Murraya koenigii), chopped de-seeded hot green chillies; sautéed till fragrant plus a bit more. Added in a slurry of {the soaking water for the shrimp w/ Madras curry powder, bit of jaggery, a few dollops of oyster sauce, some fish sauce, dash of double-fermented soy sauce, dash of dark soy sauce, a good squeeze of fresh lime juice}; cooked everything on high heat.

The reserved fried chicken wing pieces were added back in, tossed and stirred a minute or two (the sauce is also reduced a bit).

Served

NOTE: "Kam Heong" (金香) is a style of flavoring/cooking for dishes like this; other meats or seafood or shellfish are used as desired. Common in Malaysian-Chinese cuisine. I've also posted a few preps of "Kam Heong" Clams on eG before.

 

Simple stir-fried yu choy sum hearts.

 

Eaten w/ white rice, of course.

 

Edited January 18, 2016 by huiray (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night, Berkshire pork chop (previously pasteurized sous vide) prepared on the Zojirushi indoor electric grill, as I have no skillet large enough to sear them.  Some of the most felicitous flesh on which I have gnawed.

 

Served with thirty second green beans (well, I confess more like thirty five seconds this time).  And traditionally harvested wild rice with mushrooms, shallot, and fresh thyme.

[kayb]

5 hours ago, huiray said:

"Kam Heong" Chicken Wings. Last night's version.

 

Chicken wings – flats and drumettes, chopped into halves across the bones; tossed w/ and marinated w/ Shaohsing wine, sea salt, jaggery, oyster sauce, sesame oil, corn starch, rice flour. Then: shallow-fried in a hot pan w/ hot oil, full flame, till slightly browned. Reserved.

Into medium-hot pan w/ peanut oil: sliced shallots, chopped garlic, minced pre-soaked dried shrimp (har mai), julienned ginger, trimmed & washed curry leaves (Murraya koenigii), chopped de-seeded hot green chillies; sautéed till fragrant plus a bit more. Added in a slurry of {the soaking water for the shrimp w/ Madras curry powder, bit of jaggery, a few dollops of oyster sauce, some fish sauce, dash of double-fermented soy sauce, dash of dark soy sauce, a good squeeze of fresh lime juice}; cooked everything on high heat.

The reserved fried chicken wing pieces were added back in, tossed and stirred a minute or two (the sauce is also reduced a bit).

Served

NOTE: "Kam Heong" (金香) is a style of flavoring/cooking for dishes like this; other meats or seafood or shellfish are used as desired. Common in Malaysian-Chinese cuisine. I've also posted a few preps of "Kam Heong" Clams on eG before.

 

Simple stir-fried yu choy sum hearts.

 

 

Eaten w/ white rice, of course.

 

 

 

If I can't find curry leaves, is there an acceptable substitute? Also, how hard is Shaoshing wine to find? I live within striking distance of several excellent Asian groceries.

 

[huiray]

9 minutes ago, kayb said:

 

If I can't find curry leaves, is there an acceptable substitute? Also, how hard is Shaoshing wine to find? I live within striking distance of several excellent Asian groceries.

 

 

Sorry, no, there is no substitute for curry leaves. Some folks say to use basil or kaffir lime leaves, but these really don't taste the same or even close, IMO. Shaohsing wine is NOT required for "Kam Heong" dishes, just leave it out.

 

Nevertheless, if you are shopping in an Asian market in the near future it's an idea to pick up a bottle of it - which, in such places, usually tend to be ones with salt added in (i.e. "cooking wine").  It;s a widely used ingredient in many Chinese and Chinese-affiliated cuisines, and you may find it pleasant to play around with recipes in this genre.  I don't know what the liquor laws of the state you are in are like, but in some states (like in Indiana, where I am) grocery stores may not need a liquor license to sell unadulterated wine and decent Shaohsing wine may be available from them.  Otherwise, decent (unsalted) Shaohsing wine can be obtained from liquor stores in Chinatowns in larger cities.

 

As for the curry leaves and "Kam Heong" dishes, you could use the basil leaves and/or kaffir lime leaves insted - but the resulting dish cannot be called a "Kam Heong" dish in that case. Ditto if you do not have the dried shrimp (har mai) - without this it also cannot be called a "Kam Heong" dish.

If you are sufficiently intrigued by "curry leaves", try growing it yourself. Small plants of it are available from a few nurseries and even on eBay.

 

[patrickamory]

Prep for the dal, using this recipe. I will say - remember to add a little oil to the dal in the pressure cooker because it will foam up like any bean (I forgot!). From another recipe, I gathered the info to rinse the dal well and soak it for 30 minutes, and cook at high pressure for 6 minutes with a natural release. I used the soaking water.

 

I think this is the best dal I've ever eaten, highly recommended... btw that is a cayenne chile in there - I didn't have a green Indian chile. Other than that I followed the recipe to the letter.

 

[patrickamory]

Here are some prep photos from the chicken with apricots.

 

I think people underestimate the amount of time and attention it takes to properly "brown-fry" onions for Indian dishes... I know I have! This was two pounds of onion, and it was a good half-hour of stirring before it compacted down to the caramelized mess you see in the third photo.

 

The whole spices are ground and divided in half - half are used to marinate the chicken, the other half, in a typically Indian move, are sauteed with the onions.

 

 

 

 

[weinoo]

Dinner for 6...

 

Manhattans and Boulevardiers

 

Spanish salchichon, ham and lomo

Marinated Mushrooms

Pan Roasted Marcona Almonds

Lemon/Garlic Shrimp

Baccala Mantecato

 

Bucatini all'Amatriciana (once I get something down, I just keep making it for different guests)

 

Roast shoulder of American lamb (much better than New Zealand lamb, imo)

Yukon Golds roasted n duck fat

Marcella Beans from Rancho - used a couple of pecorino rinds in the pot

Endive Salad with Anchovy Dressing

 

Cheeses From Spain

 

Tarte au Citron

Creme Chantilly

[patrickamory]

weinoo what bucatini recipe do you use... where do you get your guanciale?

[sartoric]

Cumberland pork sausages with onion gravy. 
Served with potato mash, slightly mushy peas and brussels sprouts with bacon.

 

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, patrickamory said:

weinoo what bucatini recipe do you use... where do you get your guanciale?

 

It's a pretty classic recipe from David Downey's Cooking the Roman Way.

 

With a little of one or two other "authentic" amatriciana recipes, providing their points of view.  Some use a bit on onion, some don't. Some a bit of wine, some not. Some garlic - some say that's heresy.

This recipe is certainly pretty close, from the blog The Italian Dish, whereas I think Batali's recipe uses way too much pork.

 

I've made a few trips up to Arthur Avenue retail market recently, and got this guanciale at the butcher in there.  I'm pretty sure DiPalos has it, Eataly, Buon Italia too. The nice thing about Buon Italia is they carry Settaro brand pasta, which I think is great for dishes like this.

[Franci]

For dinner tonight we had homemade garganelli and ragu'

 

[dcarch]

Really enjoyed all your inspiring meals! Such diversity and creativity,

Here are a few recent ones from my kitchen.

 

dcarch

 

Poor man's escargots (canned oysters) and tofu steaks  :-)

 

re-heated (SV'd) shell steak

 

 

SV salmon

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight was supposed to have been pasta e fagioli from cranberry beans the other night.  As it happens the baguette turned out better than expected and dinner was a cheese plate with a Granny Smith apple and ad lib method rotuts.

 

But the sauce smells wonderful.  Perhaps more tomorrow.

[huiray]

Hazan tomato sauce & Parmigiano Reggiano on fresh spaghetti [Bettini Pasta].

 

Romaine blanched in oiled simmering water, dressed w/ oyster sauce & white pepper.

 

[liuzhou]

Tonight.

 

 

Quail soup. A couple of quail breasts and upper legs in a chicken stock with carrots, leeks,celery and ginger. Finished off with shichimi togarishi.

 

 

Stuffed green chilli peppers. Rice and stir fried mushrooms. The stuffing is minced pork marinated in Shaoxing wine and soy sauce with s+p.

Served with a dip of garlic, red chilli pepper and coriander leaf in soy sauce and Zhenjiang black vinegar. This is a picture is of a dip I prepared earlier, but today's was the same..

 

Edited January 19, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Shelby]

Liuzhou, I'm craving spicy food.  Your stuffed peppers look good.

Franci, I always drool over your pasta.

 

SV wild Canadian goose legs, taters, stewed tomatoes and stuffing.

 

[liuzhou]

2 minutes ago, Shelby said:

Liuzhou, I'm craving spicy food.  Your stuffed peppers look good.

 

One of the many things that surprised me when I moved to China was how spicy the food was where I ended up living. Back in England, I'd only really eaten (bad) Cantonese. I have now eaten good Cantonese, but still usually find it dull and tasteless. Top marks for appearance though.  I almost cried at one meal in Guangzhou where my favourite food, crab arrived looking beautiful but tasting like the hand towel they had supplied me a few minutes earlier.

Fortunately, I soon found myself in Hunan where the food is probably the spiciest in China (more than Sichuan, for sure). Then I moved south to where I am now and was happy to see the spice followed me.

 

The local speciality is spicy rice noodles in a chilli laden, bright red snail soup. See here.

But that's only one example.

[mgaretz]

Cross rib roast, cooked SV at 130F for 9 hours, then seared with the Sansaire Searing Kit.  Tasted and was tender like prime rib, but only $3.99/lb!  Served with baked potato and salad.

 

 

 

 

 

[ElsieD]

Mgaretz,  that looks delicious.  How much did the roast weigh?

[mgaretz]

Just now, ElsieD said:

Mgaretz,  that looks delicious.  How much did the roast weigh?

 

A little over 3 pounds.  Not all of it is shown in the picture of the slices.

[kayb]

I finally attempted the stroganoff, with the SV top sirloin I'd cooked and then frozen when I didn't use it a week or so ago. I was completely underwhelmed. Use this recip, and while the meat itself was perfect (salt and pepper, paprika, SV 5 hours at 130), the sauce was bland, and too thin. I didn't eat mine, and pitched the remains.

 

Sigh. Some nights you're the windshield, some nights you're the bug. Last night was a bug night.

 

[BonVivant]

White wine, swede, fresh rosemary, shallots, garlic, Moroccan preserved lemons and saffron powder, salt.

 

I like it slow.

 

 

[sartoric]

A sort of ensalada Mixta, without the tuna - replaced with roast chicken. 

Baby cos lettuce, Roma tomatoes, cucumber, corn, hard boiled eggs, cherry bocconcini, red onion and basil.

Dressed with a red wine vinaigrette.