Dinner 2016 (Part 4)

[Captain]

I actually had a Homer Simpson craving for these Pork chops.

[Anna N]

 

 Dinner was a disaster.  My homemade sourdough baguette was all wrong in taste and texture. A glass of wine might've improved my mood but would still have done nothing for the baguette.  Alas the house is out of wine.   I am consoling myself with a caipirinha. 

[HungryChris]

Baked, stuffed shrimp, roasted asparagus and lemon, garlic and chopped caper aioli. The shrimp is one of Deb's favorites and the asparagus and aioli, one of mine.

HC

 

 

[ElainaA]

19 hours ago, sartoric said:

 

@ElainaA, how do you do the chickpeas please ? They look delicious, as does the main meal. 

 

@sartoric Thanks!  The recipe is from one of my current favorite cookbooks, Meera Sodha's   Made in India.  I used canned chickpeas. Pre heat the oven to 400 F. For one can (14 oz) - rinse the chickpeas, shake to dry. In a bowl, toss them with 2T canola oil, 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t chili powder, 1 t ground cumin. Mix thoroughly, spread on a baking sheet, bake until crisp - about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally. They hold very well - I like to have them hanging around for a snack. 

Enjoy!

Edited May 16, 2016 by ElainaA (log)

[huiray]

Fresh thick-cap Chinese mushrooms, white beech mushrooms, asparagus, "stir-fry" w/ garlic, sliced shallots & a bit of salt and Shaohsing wine.

 

Cantonese roast duck [Asia Mart] w/ "kon lo mein".

Skinny wonton noodles tossed w/ the duck-bean sauce included w/ the chopped-up duck, plus a little more oil & dash of this-and-that. Chopped scallions.

 

More of the roast duck, reheated w/ skin partly crisped; with blanched flowering tatsoi [Farming Engineers] & steamed rice rolls ("chee cheong fun", 豬腸粉; containing dried shrimp & scallions) [Lee's Noodle] drizzled w/ a sweet-savory sauce (see below). Chopped scallions.

Sauce – a mixture of oyster sauce [LKK], hoisin sauce [LKK], generous hon-mirin [Takara], bit of sesame oil [Dragonfly], good dash of double-fermented soy sauce [LKK], ground white pepper, water; poured into hot peanut oil and the mixture brought back to a simmer briefly.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Tonight was a sage covered grilled rib chop of Berkshire pork, baked sweet potato, and thirty second green beans.  I've improved the thirty second green beans by steaming in my larger Fissler.  The smaller Fissler is easier to handle but the beans are partially touching water.  These beans were perfectly bright and crisp and crunchy.

 

Also for the first time, in I believe my life, I pulled the chop shortly after 130 deg F.  I did not measure the temperature after resting, although the meat was pink and juicy.  I never, ever had pink pork before.  Realizing the folly of my beverage choice I switched the wine to red.  Eventually I emptied the bottle and was compelled to stop.

 

I might have liked the chop a bit better done if only because the Berkshire breed is very fatty and not all the fat was fully melted.  Still, few things are sexier in my estimation than a woman with pork fat smeared over her face and in her hair.

 

Dessert is a generous pour of Whistlepig.  Half the chop is left.

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

17 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

 As the weather starts to warm up, I am experimenting with pre-dinner cocktails on Saturdays.  Yesterday I made blueberry margaritas. Overall tasty but ultimately too sweet for my liking.  I only drank a quarter of mine before getting bored.

 

 

 

 

I'm so sorry to hear that your very lovely-looking blueberry margaritas were boring, because they certainly don't look like anything to me but very inviting cocktails. Perhaps they can be salvaged with less of the sugar element and more acid maybe from lime juice or something. They really are so pretty.

 

Your bean burger looks great too.

[liuzhou]

I found these large, meaty chicken legs this morning. Browned them then poached them with white wine, garlic (lots), ginger, chili and green olives, s+p. Added mushrooms then scallions to finish. Served with rice. There was also a side of stir fried cauliflower which I failed to photograph.

 

 

And there are leftovers for tomorrow's lunch.

Edited May 16, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[huiray]

Picked up some really long (mostly) thin asparagus [Silverthorn Farm; BRFM], teeny baby Red Russian kale [Full Hand Farm; BRFM]; and spring king bolete from Oregon (Boletus rex-veris) (see here too) [via Annabelle's Garden]. 

The asparagus on the right of the pic were about a foot long.  The boletes were around 3-4 inches tall.

 

Boletes & asparagus w/ pappardelle.

Some of the boletes were sliced up, sautéed in Arbequina EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch], Maldon salt & black pepper; trimmed skinny asparagus (see above) added, everything tossed around; then just-cooked Cipriani pappardelle added in plus some of the pasta water and everything folded in on heat. Served.

 

Plus lots of salad.

Baby Red Russian kale, baby broccoli [Earthly Delights; BRFM], green romaine [Silverthorn Farm; BRFM], Red Butter lettuce & Green Leaf lettuce [both Van Antwerp Farm; CFM]. Dressed & tossed with Arbosana EV olive oil [California Olive Ranch], 10-year Modena balsamic [Piazza Roma, via Zingerman's], Maldon sea salt, ground black pepper.

 

[zend]

La Zi Ji Ding Qie Zi. 

 

Love La Zi Ji Ding (dried-chile deep-fried chicken cubes) and adore eggplant (qiezi), so I thought I would deep fry both and subject them to the spicy, numbing, garlic-ginger, leek-infused treatment afterwards. Covering chicken bits and eggplant in cornstarch and spices-powder made a big difference in the final texture.

 

Spices powder: 1 sugar, 1/4 salt, 1 dried chiles, 1/2 hua jiao, 1/4 fennel, 1/8 cumin seeds.

 

PS - a dish best eaten max 15 min after taken off fire (second helping 20 min afterwards got a bit soggy)

 

 

[BonVivant]

Waiting for the buns to rise

 

Buns were easy to make, just needed time to rise (twice).

 

Meat was braised the day before, when buns were ready I stuffed them and used the same bamboo basket as a "plate" for the photos. Here is an overhead shot of the basket:

 

[HungryChris]

Stuffed, boneless chicken legs and a salad. 

HC

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kayb]

Zucchini parmigiano with fresh ricotta, meatballs, and roasted tomato-garlic sauce I canned last summer.

 

[liuzhou]

9 hours ago, zend said:

La Zi Ji Ding Qie Zi. 

 

Love La Zi Ji Ding (dried-chile deep-fried chicken cubes) and adore eggplant (qiezi), so I thought I would deep fry both and subject them to the spicy, numbing, garlic-ginger, leek-infused treatment afterwards. Covering chicken bits and eggplant in cornstarch and spices-powder made a big difference in the final texture.

 

Spices powder: 1 sugar, 1/4 salt, 1 dried chiles, 1/2 hua jiao, 1/4 fennel, 1/8 cumin seeds.

 

 

I've never seen 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) with just one dried chili before. I use a rice bowl full with one chicken breast.

[zend]

@liuzhou I know, I was running low on whole dry chiles. It did come out spicy, though

[sartoric]

@liuzhou, you must have an asbestos mouth !

[sartoric]

Dinner last night at Monsoon Restaurant in Yangon. 

 

We we started with Shan chips with a yoghurt dipping sauce. Sorry about the poor photo.

 

 

Then Thai fish cakes, chicken with cashews, and eggplant with shrimp, plus rice.

 

 

One night in transit, then I'm home to my kitchen ! I feel a roast chicken coming on....

[liamsaunt]

Some things from Sunday's group dinner. An orzo salad with wax beans and cucumbers in a tzatsiki-like dressing

 

 

a watermelon, pickled onion and feta salad

 

 

a nectarine and black bean salsa

 

 

there was also grilled mahi mahi, roasted potatoes (for the non-orzo eaters), grilled bread (for the non-orzo AND non-potato eaters) and grilled sausages (for the non-fish eaters), but I did not get pictures of any of that.  It gets a little hectic when food for 10 starts coming off the grill.

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, sartoric said:

@liuzhou, you must have an asbestos mouth !

 

While I do have a high chilli tolerance, I should point out that the chillies in 辣子鸡 (là zi jī) are not actually eaten. The chicken is fried with the chillies which impart a spicy and smoky flavour to the cooking oil and hence the meat. That requires a lot of them.

 

Here is Fuchsia Dunlop's explanation with link to a recipe, although I prefer the original, simpler recipe she provided in Sichuan Cookery (UK) / Land of Plenty (USA).

 

I have also made this with rabbit - another popular meat in Sichuan.

[David Ross]

Port wine braised duck with figs and roasted potatoes.  Terribly guilty on the potatoes-roasted in beef tallow.

[mm84321]

I love you guys

[mgaretz]

El Pollo Loco style chicken again.  Served with steamed and butter green beans, baked sweet potato and salad (none of which are pictured).

 

 

 

[Okanagancook]

On May 16, 2016 at 0:51 PM, BonVivant said:

Waiting for the buns to rise

 

Buns were easy to make, just needed time to rise (twice).

 

Meat was braised the day before, when buns were ready I stuffed them and used the same bamboo basket as a "plate" for the photos. Here is an overhead shot of the basket:

 

Crunchy, fatty, porkie bits nestled in little pillows!  They are a thing of beauty.

[mm84321]

Polenta with cepes 

 

[HungryChris]

Stuffed shells, three bean salad (I was both surprised and pleased by how much Deb liked this) and toasted homemade garlic bread.

HC