Dinner 2016 (Part 6)

[Spork]

 

 

Pork seems to be the theme. I'm thin, but I'm on it.

 

Rendered and caramelized garlic/onion/pepper. A kale wilt with brined pasta.

 

Spring, with a hidden dressing, to the Northeast.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

The Food Lion had T-Bones and Porterhouse on sale for $6.99 a pound. I glanced longingly, but briefly at my preferred rib eyes. They were $11.99 a pound, so guess what was for dinner? A honkin' huge Porterhouse! It was an inch and a half thick and covered most of a 10-1/2" dinner plate. I got the best package in the case, but they were all packed with one Porterhouse and one T-Bone to a tray. The T-Bone (which still had a respectable fillet portion) was wrapped in plastic, overwrapped in foil and placed in a heavy freezer bag in the freezer in deference to its awesomeness for later.

 

The only thing not cooked on the grill was twice baked potatoes which were coming to golden brown oozy, crispy cheese perfection in the oven inside while I was in the backyard manning the grill.

 

First I grilled off zucchini planks and eggplant slices that were lightly oiled and finished with kosher salt after cooking. Then as the first of those were coming off and onto the warm platter, I put a halved nectarine on to lightly grill. As soon as that was done, I went inside with the platter and put it on top of the stove to keep warm while I grilled the star of the show. The only help it needed was a little salt and pepper and the charcoal treatment.

 

This was a feast for us. There was enough steak leftover for dinner tomorrow. My husband claimed a small piece of fillet for his lunch along with a little of his leftover potato and the half of mine that was left. He also has two zucchini planks and watermelon, so he should be all set. Somehow he also managed to eat a piece of cheesecake for dinner. I put the remaining three slices in the freezer to introduce a little moderation.

 

I want to sneak the steak into more Mexican food tomorrow. My husband sometimes think I cook too much Mexican. Whaaaaat? No such thing in my book. I know! I'll ask him if he wants steak salad or Mexican. He never chooses salad if given a choice. 

[BonVivant]

11 hours ago, Tere said:

I loved that meal, but you should come back to us and post more fabulous food! <3

 

Hah! I meant "final meal" in general. You forgot the part where I mentioned "hypothetical". But if you said "what about a plate of assorted soft, stinky French cheeses and blue Stilton" then it's negotiable!

 

Cheese is the best food! Nothing is above cheese. (Source: yours cheesehead truly.)

[Shelby]

'Nother pork person here.  Pork roast done in the IP--but used the slow cook function.  Collards from the garden and taters.

 

[liamsaunt]

blueberry margaritas (again)

 

 

Thai style tuna cakes with rice and smacked cucumbers

 

[liuzhou]

Dinner tonight was with a couple of ex-colleagues from 15 years ago.

 

Pumpkin Flower Soup with Pork and Clams

 

Spicy Beef with Lotus Stems and Chilli

 

Stir Fried Bitter Melon with Black Fermented Beans

 

There was also an excellent dish of crisp skin roast duck, but for some unknown reason my cell phone camera seems to have lost that picture.

We then retired to one colleagues home which was conveniently above the restaurant, where we continued drinking tea and eating fresh Chinese date (Jujubes), lychees, mixed nuts etc. This ex-colleague is a now a professional musician playing guzheng (古筝), a traditional 21 string Chinese instrument. She has toured Europe and America giving concerts. We got a free one after dinner!

 

Fresh Chinese Dates (Jujubes)
(After we ate half of them.)

 

Edited July 11, 2016 by liuzhou
typo (log)

[kayb]

Scallops (which shrank dramatically during the SV step, but otherwise were topnotch in flavor and texture) over corn-infused grits (i.e., grits with creamed corn), flavored with ancho chile powder and smoked paprika and finished with St. Andre cheese; cucumbers in a dressing of rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, mirin and ginger; grape, cherry and Roma tomatoes from the garden, dressed with white balsamic vinegar and basil olive oil and topped with fresh ricotta.

 

Birthday eve dinner for a friend who was visiting.

 

 

Very good, despite the skimpiness of the scallops.

 

[BonVivant]

This is actually lamb chops. Got the butcher to cut them up like this. I used kebab spice mix, also for the prawns.

Turkish style surf and turf?

 

What it looks like from above.

[sartoric]

Chicken paprika, served with couscous and garlic zucchinis.

By happy accident, this became one of my all time best chicken dishes. I browned skin on chicken thigh cutlets, made a sauce with sliced onion, garlic, diced tomatoes, paprika, Harissa, fennel seeds and stock, then simmered partly covered for about an hour. That's when I put the lid on and thought I turned the stove off, but realised another hour later it was still on low. Oops. Enriched with a spoon of sour cream, it was so tender and moist, with the meat falling off the bone.

 

[rotuts]

@BonVivant  

 

Love your stuff.  the above is my kind of meal.

 

hope you removed the membrane on the inner side of that  Chop !

 

and enjoy a bit of a knaw on those bones !

 

[ed.: sorry can't spell 'knaw'  you know, Good Chewing ]

 

maybe a Chablis with those Shrimp ?

 

Yum  Yum

[BonVivant]

^^ I am good at gnawing and prefer the bone intact.

A minerally Riesling* for the prawns. By the same wine maker.

 

(*I am a minenerally Riesling person)

[ninagluck]

above 30° C I don't feel like cooking much. summersalad with strawberries and cucumber was perfect today 

Edited July 10, 2016 by ninagluck (log)

[ProfessionalHobbit]

 

Broccoli tops and spinach, with prosciutto and caramelized onion, served with couscous.

 

1 1/2 onion, thinly sliced and cooked down in olive oil for 40 minutes, to which was added shredded prosciutto and deglazed with pinot grigio, then added cooked chopped broccoli tops and spinach.  Seasoned with salt, black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.  Think of it as an imitation straccetti di manzo except I used prosciutto instead of lean shredded beef and broccoli instead of arugula.

 

B and I are on a sort of "reduced carb diet".  We're trying to minimize our intake of potatoes, pasta, rice, bread and sugar -- which is difficult because I sure do love my carbs.  

[chefmd]

Heirloom tomatoes with scallions and feta.

Wild salmon with roasted carrots and radishes, tapenade on the side

 

[huiray]

A very, very late meal the other night.

The remainder of the Cajun sausages, sauerkraut & potatoes from here, augmented w/ more sauerkraut [Hengstenberg] (this one) from the same bottle, water added plus chopped parsley, handful of thyme sprigs, chopped celery heart, chopped spring onions [Silverthorn Farm], simmered; lumachine [Garofalo] added dry straight into the pan and cooked in situ, allowing the liquids to be absorbed into the pasta. Seasoning adjusted. Garnished w/ parsley & sprigs of Lime Thyme. (There I was out on the deck with a flashlight picking thyme & parsley & stuff... :-) )

[huiray]

Soup.  Clams & wosun.

Scrubbed littleneck clams [from Caplinger's] soaked in salted water for a while.

Medium-hot pot w/ rice bran oil, julienned scraped ginger, trimmed & peeled wosun stems (celtuce) (see here), salt, the clams; then water, bring to simmer, add the wosun leaves, simmer till the clams start to open; add lots of fresh ground white pepper, simmer a minute more. Serve at once.

 

Stir-fried kangkong.

Trimmed & washed kangkong (water spinach, Ipomoea aquatica, etc) stir-fried w/ garlic, chopped Thai chillies, taucheo [Dragonfly] (this one; couple of tablespoons of the beans, somewhat smooshed up). Seasoning adjusted.

 

Steamed halibut.

Rinsed 1-lb piece of halibut [from Caplinger's] drizzled w/ Shaohsing wine, some oil & salt, dressed w/ sliced scallions and chopped garlic & ginger, then steamed till just done (about 6-7 minutes). Removed to the serving plate, scraping off the seasonings (I was a bit rough there...) and leaving behind all steaming liquids. Dressed w/ fresh scallions, ginger & coriander leaves; then a sauce of {hot oil quenched w/ a mixture of good Shaohsing wine, some double fermented soy sauce [LKK], water, rock sugar, wee dash of sesame oil} poured over.

 

Several bowls of white rice.

 

On the way there.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, huiray said:

There I was out on the deck with a flashlight picking thyme & parsley & stuff... :-)

 

I'm not the only one who does this?

 

[sartoric]

23 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I'm not the only one who does this?

 

We have a light on the deck

[sartoric]

3 hours ago, huiray said:

Soup.  Clams & wosun.

Scrubbed littleneck clams [from Caplinger's] soaked in salted water for a while.

Medium-hot pot w/ rice bran oil, julienned scraped ginger, trimmed & peeled wosun stems (celtuce) (see here), salt, the clams; then water, bring to simmer, add the wosun leaves, simmer till the clams start to open; add lots of fresh ground white pepper, simmer a minute more. Serve at once.

 

Stir-fried kangkong.

Trimmed & washed kangkong (water spinach, Ipomoea aquatica, etc) stir-fried w/ garlic, chopped Thai chillies, taucheo [Dragonfly] (this one; couple of tablespoons of the beans, somewhat smooshed up). Seasoning adjusted.

 

Steamed halibut.

Rinsed 1-lb piece of halibut [from Caplinger's] drizzled w/ Shaohsing wine, some oil & salt, dressed w/ sliced scallions and chopped garlic & ginger, then steamed till just done (about 6-7 minutes). Removed to the serving plate, scraping off the seasonings (I was a bit rough there...) and leaving behind all steaming liquids. Dressed w/ fresh scallions, ginger & coriander leaves; then a sauce of {hot oil quenched w/ a mixture of good Shaohsing wine, some double fermented soy sauce [LKK], water, rock sugar, wee dash of sesame oil} poured over.

 

Several bowls of white rice.

 

On the way there.

 

 

@huiray, the steamed fish with hot oil is a great dish. My Italian mother in law took cooking classes with Charmaine Solomon (Sri Lankan born Australian author of 30 cook books) in the 1980's and learnt this technique. 

They are both now 86. She has a website (the celebrated cook, not my mother in law).

www.charmainesolomon.com

 

 

[ProfessionalHobbit]

 

 

 

Before I get to the main event, I'm walking you through a recipe for breadcrumbs. 

This is a pantry staple that gets used in anything and everything from pasta sauces to filler in meatballs and meatloaf. We buy bread or make our own fairly regularly, and this is a great way to use up leftover stale bread that would otherwise get thrown out.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cut up a heel of some stale bread into 1" thick slices. Trim off the crusts, then dice into cubes. Blitz the cubes in small batches until they resemble coarsely-textured or finely-textured crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a baking sheet.

 

 

 

Occasionally, I'll flavor the breadcrumbs with herbs or garlic or both. You can hand-chop the herbs or blitz them in a food processor. Pictured are a 1:1:1 mixture of Italian parsley, oregano and thyme that got minced, then mixed in with the breadcrumbs.

 

 

 

Stir herbs into crumbs and spread out in a thin layer.

Bake until golden brown, remembering to stir the crumbs every so often so that they color evenly.

 

 

4 ripe heirloom tomatoes, cut up into chunks.

 

 

1 lb. green beans, trimmed.

 

 

 

Thinly slice 1-2 garlic cloves.

Pour 2-3 tbsp. olive oil into a large pot. Add garlic to oil. Warm oil over medium heat.

 

 

 

Add the tomatoes and 1/2 cup water. Season with salt and black pepper.

 

 

 

Eventually tomatoes will begin to break down into a loose tomato sauce.

 

 

Once you've reached that point, add the green beans. Stir a few times, then cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Braise the beans for one hour.

 

 

During the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, partly cover pot so that the liquid reduces. Beans are done when the sauce has mostly evaporated and the beans are softened yet still retain some texture. Taste for salt and pepper, drizzle some extra-virgin olive oil if you want, then serve.

Fagiolini con pomodoro ("green beans with tomato").

 

 

Clockwise from center: 2 tbsp. lemon juice; 3 tbsp. unsalted butter cut into cubes; 1/2 cup pinot grigio; 3/4 tsp. kosher salt; 1 lb. shrimp that had been trimmed, deveined and butterflied; 4 thyme sprigs; 1/4 cup chopped shallots; 1/4 cup chopped Italian parsley; 4 crushed garlic cloves; 3 tbsp. sourdough and herb breadcrumbs. Not shown is a glass bowl with 1/3 cup olive oil.

 

 

Blitz 3 garlic cloves along with 2 tbsp. olive oil and all of the shallots in a food processor until you obtain a finely-textured paste. Transfer paste to a bowl.

 

 

Spoon 3-4 tbsp. olive oil into a cold skillet and add remaining garlic cloves. Warm oil over medium-high heat.

Tip: If you add the garlic to cold oil as opposed to already heated oil, the garlic will infuse the oil more than if you added them later.

 

 

Let garlic sizzle for a minute or two, then add half of the shrimp, all of the thyme sprigs and season with a pinch of salt. Saute the shrimp until it's seared but not cooked, about 2-3 minutes.

I had B butterfly the shrimp and only realized about a minute after this point that butterflying the shrimp was totally unnecessary. D'oh. Oh well.

 

 

Transfer shrimp to a plate, then repeat with the remaining shrimp.

 

 

In the same pan you used to sear the shrimp, add 3-4 tbsp. olive oil and all of the garlic-shallot paste. Cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic-shallot paste begins to dry out, about 5 minutes.

 

 

This is about right.

 

 

 

Quickly add the wine, the lemon juice, 1/2 cup water and a pinch of salt. Whisk in half of the butter cubes. Reduce the sauce until it's reached 1/3 of its original volume.

 

 

Once the sauce has reduced (around this stage), whisk in the remaining butter, then transfer shrimp back into the pan. Stir in chopped parsley. If the sauce is too thin, stir in breadcrumbs until desired consistency has been reached.

Serve.

 

 

 

Scampi in umido, from "Mastering the Art of Italian Cuisine", pages 274-275 by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and Tanya Bastianich Manuali.

 

B pronounced it "the best shrimp scampi I've ever eaten in my life".  High praise indeed.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I had a torta de carne asada with yucca frita and the husband had a grilled steak sandwich with (yucca) fries. He's not aware he had anything Latin American, and I got to have what I wanted, so everyone is happy. What could be better? 

 

I sliced the leftover porterhouse very thinly. Most of it was the strip side, and there was little waste because it had already been very aggressively trimmed by the butcher. There was only a very thin 3" long and 1/4" thick piece of bone that made the downward stroke of the T.  It wasn't even connected to the top bone. These bones were frozen for stock. I piled the steak on a couple of buns made from split pieces cut from a purchased loaf of French bread. On the other side of the bread, I laid out slices of Muenster cheese. While the yucca fries were roasting in the oven, I sauteed white onion and green bell pepper in a little butter, seasoned with Goya Adobo and black pepper. After the pan of yucca fries was done, I popped the laid out sandwiches into the oven for long enough to melt the cheese. Then I topped the meat side with the onions and peppers and the cheese side with lettuce and thin sliced tomato.

 

This is the first time I've worked with yucca and the second time I have eaten it. It was a learning experience, with a very promising first result, although, I won't claim my rendition was as good as the ones I ate at Alpaca Peruvian Charcoal Chicken, which were the inspiration for my wanting to venture here at all.

 

I bought a 2-1/4 pound root from Costa Rica at the local Food Lion. It was the largest they had and I figured it would entail much less waste than the much smaller ones on offer. They are intimidating, and do not look like food, really. There's a barky-looking skin and it seems to be covered by a waxy substance which I wasn't able to determine in my research if that is natural or added by man as preservative. If you are interested at all, don't let the appearance daunt you. I was able to make short work of the waxy bark with just a vegetable peeler. I also made all the cuts on the root with my trusty boning/fillet knife, which I was unsure would be possible. 

 

I searched eG first to see what I could find on this new to me ingredient, but the only mentions here seem to involve ordering it out at restaurants. So I went out on the wild, wild web to see what I could find out about this vegetal beast I was determined to turn into something delicious. Guy Fieri had the simplest and seemingly most popular recipe on the Food Network site. It popped up first. He said just cut it up and put them in hot oil like potatoes. Mr. Fieri does not enjoy much popularity with me, so I decided to hunt further. Serious Eats had a Kenji recipe that insists they must be parboiled first. Further research all indicated parboiling, and this included Cuban, Brazillian and many other sites. A few places said that good yucca frita could be produced by parboiling and then oven roasting at high heat, and I decided to go that way.

 

I think I may have over cooked my yucca during the boiling step a tad. Sites recommended between 15 and 20 minutes, so I went with 15. It was soft and a bit flaky, and I knew if I tried to shake it with oil in a produce bag, as I had planned, I would damage the planks. So I poured oil onto a baking sheet and flipped the planks around on there to coat and put in a 450 F oven for 30 minutes, turning once. Several sites said you must work quickly with yucca because it discolors when exposed to air. One site said you could refrigerate your parboiled yucca up to 3 days. I had more than I knew we could eat, so I have the excess in the fridge for later. My yucca frita was very good, and we scarfed down all but two of the planks for dinner. The leftover two will go with my husband for lunch tomorrow and he got about half of each of our sandwiches too.

 

That Porterhouse will have made 6 good meals in all, so it wasn't as expensive as I originally thought.

 

Oh, more notes on yucca. Several sites mentioned that there is a central woody string-like structure running down the center of the root. I found maybe a 2-1/2" string that looked like the photos on one site in the whole root that was over a foot long. I also found a woody structure shaped like an olive pit, you know, pointed on both ends and fatter in the middle, and rounded. It was about three or so inches long, and 3/4" diameter at its widest point. I don't know if it's because I chose such a large root or it was a mutant. Interestingly, Kenji, who is usually very thorough, had nothing to say on the fibers or woody structures in yucca.

 

Edit: I just now realized that yucca is the source of tapioca pudding. I truly despise that nasty excuse for an edible dish. Don't let that put you off either. Yucca frita is better than french fries when made well. How could anything be better than french fries, you wonder? 

 

Yucca frita is. Really!

 

 

Edited July 12, 2016 by Thanks for the Crepes (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

1 hour ago, sartoric said:

We have a light on the deck

 

I have a light out there too, but it is behind me to the plants and casts my shadow on them. Snipping herbs without undue damage to your plant can be delicate work even in daytime, so a flashlight at night might be a good idea. 

[huiray]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

I'm not the only one who does this?

 

6 hours ago, sartoric said:

We have a light on the deck

 

4 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I have a light out there too, but it is behind me to the plants and casts my shadow on them. Snipping herbs without undue damage to your plant can be delicate work even in daytime, so a flashlight at night might be a good idea. 

 

Nope.

Me too.

Yup.

:-) 

[huiray]

5 hours ago, sartoric said:

 

@huiray, the steamed fish with hot oil is a great dish. My Italian mother in law took cooking classes with Charmaine Solomon (Sri Lankan born Australian author of 30 cook books) in the 1980's and learnt this technique. 

They are both now 86. She has a website (the celebrated cook, not my mother in law).

www.charmainesolomon.com

 

 

 

It's an old Cantonese technique. (Especially the discarding-steaming-liquids-seasonings bit)

[Paul Bacino]

Parted out a leg of lamb roast  .  We usually can eat a leg of lamb, so i dissect out 2 roasts and grind some left over for burger.

 

This was a roast Sous Vide  4 hrs @135    finished on the " Big Kahuna "  ( Outdoor wok )   served with Tators and corn  ( Not shown )

 

Seasoning  -  Penzy Turkish, fresh parsley, rosemary and garlic