Dinner 2016 (Part 4)

[Fava]

JoNorvelleWalker, good eye!!

Normally I crush some Garlic and add that to the hot Butter, I like that a lot. But, husband prefers Lemon and I try to lower my caloric intake somewhat. So, only lemon today! It was good anyway! 

[Ann_T]

 

Grilled filets for dinner and served with buttered rice

 

and grilled zucchini, onions and peppers.

 

[HungryChris]

Over 90 degrees yesterday. Anything that gets cooked happens outside on the grill. Kielbasa on the grill (wrapped in aluminum foil and bathed in Crystal hot sauce) and from the kitchen, cucumber and three bean salads. I also made a big pot of French Vanilla coffee and put it in the fridge. Iced tea and iced coffee season has arrived in earnest!

HC

 

 

 

Edited May 27, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[TicTac]

11 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I don't see the melted butter...

 

 

Who needs melted butter when you have a bottle of Dom, a fresh lobster and a lush green deck (with I'm guessing a nice view!) to enjoy it from!

[liuzhou]

One of the most popular Chinese restaurant dishes in the UK is Chicken Fried Rice.  In over twenty years in China, I have never encountered Chicken Fried Rice or anything like it. In fact, fried rice of any sort is not that common, and when it does turn up is usually a breakfast dish to use up leftovers.

 

As in life, there are always exceptions and I've had it served at banquets. Usually Yangzhou fried rice (no chicken).

 

Anyway to rectify this obvious oversight by the Chinese in failing to ever cook their most renowned dish, I threw together a version of my own. Diced chicken marinated with garlic, chili, Shaoxing wine and black fermented soy beans. Fried with leftover rice from yesterday (stored overnight in the fridge), scallions and a duck egg just to confuse the chicken.  (I didn't have any chicken eggs).

 

Served with luffa stir fried with garlic - something I'm betting you won't find in UK's Chinese restaurants.

 

 

[Anna N]

@liuzhou

 

Love that you can take such a lighthearted approach to the whole nonsensensical "food ownership" issue. My efforts at making fried rice are rarely very successful  but I still think it's a great way to use up leftovers.

[Ann_T]

Liuzhou, I owe you a thank you.    So glad I saw your fried rice this morning.  Looks so good.  And it pushed me to make chicken fried rice  to take for lunch.   I had leftover rice  from last night's dinner and three boneless chicken breasts in the fridge.  Two of which were destined for tonight's dinner.    So I used one of the breasts, thinly sliced, marinated in  Shaoxing wine, sesame oil and cornstarch for about 25 minutes.   Sautéed the chicken in the wok.  Finished with Onions, garlic, ginger, green onions, peas and egg.   Had to resist eating it for breakfast.

 

[blue_dolphin]

15 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

Had to resist eating it for breakfast.

I would have!  Unless there was a lot, I guess I'd be stuck for lunch!

Looks lovely!

[kayb]

@huiray, that looks absolutely lovely. One day, I will cook morels. You just never see them this far south.

 

[Okanagancook]

Lobster and Champagne!  What a concept! 

[BonVivant]

North Atlantic sole (S. Solea), simply fried in butter and chives. This is the kind of simple food I enjoy tremendously. Ingredients are so refined and delicate they only need some good butter (or olive oil), and in my case, chives. 

 

Both had roe intact. Wonderful minerally dry Riesling was another enjoyment.

 

These 2 cost eur. 10,00. (eur. 20,00/kg, today's price)

Edited May 27, 2016 by BonVivant (log)

[sartoric]

We're heading into winter, so it's time to get the casserole dishes out.

Osso Buco with creamy mash potatoes, a mixed leaf salad and crusty bread.

 

 

 

[kayb]

Pork chop in balsamic vinegar and honey sauce, likely the last of the season's asparagus, and roasted new potatoes.

 

Hurry-up curry: Shrimp, snow peas, spices in coconut milk, over basmati rice.

 

[jvalentino]

Ricotta gnocchi primavera. 

[mm84321]

^Looks awesome

Alaskan King salmon with morels

 

[HungryChris]

10 hours ago, Ann_T said:

 And it pushed me to make chicken fried rice  to take for lunch.   I had leftover rice  from last night's dinner and three boneless chicken breasts in the fridge. 

And you inspired me to make kimchi fried rice with leftover kielbasa.

HC

 

 

[robirdstx]

 

Avocado, bacon, shredded cheese, grilled chicken breast, tomatoes, hard cooked egg, and black olives on a bed of romaine. Ranch dressing on the side. One of my favorites!

Edited May 28, 2016 by robirdstx (log)

[huiray]

"Yau Mak Choy" (油麥菜), sort-of kind-of. (Stir-fried romaine-type lettuce)

I used full-sized Western romaine outer + middle leaves instead of either the hearts or the small-sized variation of romaine-like lettuce used in this ubiquitous dish in SE Asia, or the Taiwan AA Choy used in some places. No less delicious. Stir-fried w/ garlic, quenched w/ a mixture of oyster sauce, sesame oil, Shaohsing wine, dash of fish sauce, ground white pepper, dash of double-fermented soy sauce.

 

Pork belly slices braised w/ garlic, shiro miso & heavy-gelatin chicken stock; and bamboo shoot, wood-ear fungus, lily buds.

Rice bran oil, lightly crushed garlic cloves, sliced ginger, pork belly slices (skin-on), shiro miso slurried w/ water, sauté; water, chicken stock, sliced pre-poached winter-type bamboo shoot, simmer; rehydrated trimmed wood-ear fungus, pre-soaked lily buds, simmer; w/ an overnight "stand" plus further simmering w/ a little more water added till done.

Eaten w/ white rice.

 

On the way there.

It's no doubt a cultural and cuisine-specific thing, but I was salivating when looking at the stuff cooking along and smelling it... :-) :-D 

The pork belly slices (which were then cut into smaller pieces) were sliced from a much larger single slab (about 4 lbs?) of pork belly.

 

Edited May 28, 2016 by huiray (log)

[mgaretz]

Just a simple sirloin, cooked SV to 131F and then torched to finish.  Served with white corn in butter and salad (not pictured).  Home made cherry-chocolate-almond non-dairy ice cream for dessert (also not pictured).

 

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

14 hours ago, kayb said:

@huiray, that looks absolutely lovely. One day, I will cook morels. You just never see them this far south.

 

 

kayb, I have seen them dried in a few places, but unfortunately not fresh. Fresh Market, if you have one, has nice dried ones sometimes.

 

Whole Foods might even have fresh ones, but I never darken their doors. They are out of my budget.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I cooked up a vegetarian fritto misto for dinner tonight. We started with slices of thin-skinned white new potatoes since I was cooking these naked, and the excess flour coating that comes off the in oil, will turn dark and bitter after a while.

 

Next, I made a mistake and cooked crispy onion straws. It's tough to shake off, get rid of the excess flour on these little shards of onions. They came out very well, and were my favorite of the evening, but too much flour got into the oil, but it still wasn't too dark to throw out before cooking some eggplant slices. I found some small tennis ball sized, purple eggplants at the Indian grocer. They were good, but I don't like them as much as the more familiar, larger purple eggplant. They were not as good as the oven-fried eggplant I made a little while back from the Irregardless Cafe recipe. That is a keeper recipe and, bonus, less messy than frying.

 

After cooking the eggplant, I decided to throw out the oil and wipe the skillet and start with clean oil and start over for some small okra pods I also found the the Indian store. These were very good, and so tender we even ate the stem ends. I cooked them whole. My second favorite.

 

I had also scored a rare find of a green tomato. They are difficult to find even here in the South where they are very popular for frying, unless you grow your own. I was going to do the tomato last because I like cornmeal coating on them, and it'll burn even before flour will. We were too full to continue though, so my green tomato will be cooked up at a later dinner. I think I will try it with some lemon tahini sauce when it happens.

 

We had a few cherries for dessert that I also got at the Indian store for the bargain price of $1.99/pound. Come to think of it, everything came from the vegetarian Indian market, but the potatoes and onion were purchased on an earlier excursion.

 

Host's note: this ever-popular topic has been split in order to reduce the load on our servers.  The next segment may be found here: Dinner 2016 (Part 5)

Edited May 28, 2016 by Smithy
Added host's note (log)