Dinner 2016 (Part 6)

[scubadoo97]

I'm an off the cuff cook most of the time.  Look in the freezer and fridge and ask myself what can I put together.  I'm think there are are few of us around here.  Tonight was a perfect example. Wife's working on an art project inside and I'm outside in the pool house on guitar jamming to old rock and roll.  Play lead like I cook.  Can't read a note but my fingers tend to find their way most of the time.   Most of all I have a good time.  

 

Tonight I looked in the kitchen and found some mini peppers that had seen better days, half a shallot, a few mini yellow tomatoes, some sliced mango and romaine.  In the freeze I had a small vac bag of Patagonian scallops.  Got to work and sliced it all up and seasoned the scallops.  Cooked up the shallots, most of the tomatoes and peppers with the mango to make a cooked "salsa" then hit the scallops with Wondra ( I love this stuff) and gave them a quick flash in the pan.  Toasted some corn tortillas on the camal, layered it all up and it was dinner.  There is a certain gratification of turning very little into something tasty 

 

[ElsieD]

Tonight we had harissa rubbed roast chicken, fresh corn, detox salad (chopped broccoli, cauliflower,  cranberries and some other stuff, purchased), quinoa and at 12 o'clock there is some Trader Joe's peach salsa.

[blue_dolphin]

Creamy corn pasta with basil from the NYT.  The creamy sauce is pretty much just sautéed corn and green onion whizzed up in the blender.

My fresh corn was a very sweet, white kernel variety so not much visual contrast and the dish certainly needed the flavor contrast from the dried chili flakes and lemon juice but the fresh corn flavor really shines through.

 

 

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I made a cottage pie for dinner. I cooked minced onion and grated carrot with the ground chuck, then stirred in some thawed frozen tiny green peas. The meat layer was topped with a layer of corn and then mashed potatoes. Served it with sliced cucumber, grape tomatoes, black plums, pluots, and some cherries.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

It's too hot to cook, except for bread, can't live without bread, and there is no hot water for cleaning up.  Dinner was the last of my Marcella beans and Callipo tuna on a bed of baby spinach.  Perfect, just perfect, but that's what MR is for.

 

Second course was an organic Pink Lady apple, cheese plate, and the rest of tonight's baguette (and the rest of the freezer cold liter of MR).  Sadly this is not the season for apples, organic or otherwise.  The Pink Lady was tasteless.  The Roquefort Papillon I served with the cardboard Pink Lady melted to a grainy, salty, soup.  I do not blame Papillon, I blame the New Jersey summer.

 

Almost equally disappointing was a wedge of Pierre Robert, which had melted to an ammoniacal pool of butterfat.  Fortunately I have a taste for ammoniacal pools of butterfat.  The sad part is I had purchased a full wheel.

 

What saved the meal was cut of truly excellent Emmentaler, holes and all.

 

[huiray]

Soup.

Hot oil, garlic, dried shrimp ("har mai", 蝦米) (pre-soaked), water, chicken stock cubes, dried wood-ear fungus ("muk yee", 木耳) (pre-soaked), fuzzy squash ("chit gwa", 節瓜) peeled & cut into rectangular chunks, cellophane noodles ("fun see", 粉絲), trimmed scallions.

 

Biscuits.

[From Viet Hua Supermarket] "Lou por pang", 老婆餅, Old Lady Cake a.k.a. Sweetheart Cake.

[HungryChris]

It was so hot yesterday that we decided to have a cecchetti dinner with cold leftover chicken, TJ's shrimp puffs, and breaded mozzarella, along with crackers and TJ's sheep milk brie, potato salad and my own gardiniera. I must admit, that I pushed the limit on the breaded mozzarella because I cooked them with the last of the TJ's shrimp puffs, that I wanted crisp and the cheese leaked out a bit, oh well.

HC

[Shelby]

Ribs smoked outside, tendered up in the Instant Pot, then put in the Breville to broil for a bit.  Green beans and taters done in the other Instant Pot and a squash casserole done in the steam boy.  Having a good time with all of my toys.

 

 

[scubadoo97]

Great color on the ribs Shelby.  Fun in the toy box 

[huiray]

Fried rice.

Hot oil, garlic, scallions-white parts, marinated sliced pork cheeks & chicken; chopped Chinese long beans; eggs, (scramble), rice, (toss and stir in); sliced red Carmen sweet pepper, scallions-green parts, coriander leaves (seasoning adjusted, covered for a minute or so).

[liuzhou]

Tonight's dinner was, and the rest of the week's dinner may be, a little weird. I'm off on a trip to Hunan next weekend and am using the opportunity to use up most of the stuff in my overloaded fridge / freezers (three of them!) and prepare to let them defrost while I am away.

So odd combinations. Tonight:

 

 

Steamed hake with red chili, ginger and garlic chives. Broccoli purée with garlic. Duck fried cubed potatoes with shichimi togarishi.

Looking forward to some of my favourite Hunan food next week.

Edited July 23, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[ninagluck]

It's so hot again, so not much cooking. cold salad with fregola sarda and corn with grilled halloumi

[Tri2Cook]

Fridge cleaning today. I have some purchased extra hot 5 pepper sausage, a yellow bell pepper, some mushrooms and 1/2 a Vidalia onion needing to be used. I fried some Thai red curry paste that I had in the freezer in a little coconut fat and whisked in a can of tomato sauce, some fish sauce, a little lime juice and a little palm sugar. Let it cook a bit and tossed in a handful of basil and cilantro. Tastes pretty good. I browned the sausage and cut up the veggies. Earlier this morning, I got a batch of dough going. Later this evening, just before the Tour de France stage rebroadcast, all of that plus some unsalted cashews and mozzarella are going to become a pizza.

[kayb]

Made @Anna N's shrimp fritters last night, with broccoli and jail slaw. Had to add a bit of tarragon, as I love the taste of tarragon with shrimp and corn, as in the saute' of the two that @Kim Shook shared a few years ago. That was white sweet corn I'd frozen last year, as I forgot to get any when I was out and about.

 

Good, but it felt like it lacked something. I think I might try them with some ginger and sesame oil, and serve them with lime wedges, maybe. I chilled in freezer 20 minutes and then in fridge, fried in 1/4" oil and they held together just fine. First fritter I ever made that didn't have an egg or a bread crumb anywhere about it.

 

[scubadoo97]

Thanks ninagluck for the inspiration on the corn fritters and blue_dolphin for the smoked canned tuna idea.   It was what's for dinner. They both went well together 

 

[HungryChris]

I have a shrimp and pasta combination that is in the works, minced garlic, butter, olive oil, fresh basil and oregano,  chopped green onions, chopped fresh tomatoes, crushed red pepper flakes, capers, fresh peeled shrimp and dry sherry and a couple of bay leaves. It gets a little better each time, but like I say, it's in the works. Now lets talk a little more about fresh tomato. After my first tomato sandwich, first BLT, I have a next up on the horizon: Bruschetta. I had my first bruschetta late in life, but it was a game changer. Chopped fresh tomatoes, sweet onions, fresh basil and oregano, a little minced garlic, the best olive oil I can find, a bit of kosher salt, all dished out on garlic rubbed crostini at the last minute.

HC

 

 

Edited July 24, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[sartoric]

The last leg of lamb that will be cooked in this house is pictured below. A roast leg of lamb has an almost cult status in Australia, perhaps due to a successful ad campaign where the protagonist would turn down a dinner date (with the likes of Tom Cruise) because "Mum's cooking a lamb roast tonight".

In a mortar I made a paste of garlic, lemon zest, salt and oregano, loosened it with red wine vinegar, olive oil and lemon juice. I stabbed the leg several times and massaged in the paste.

Roasted with potato, shallots and zucchini, plus a few of our olives.

 

It looks fine, the meat was neither tough or tender, but just rubbish really. Dogs will be happy.

 

[ElsieD]

Curry-crusted shrimp with coconut noodles, recipe from Fine Cooking.

[robirdstx]

Saturday Night Burgers and Fries!

 

 

The burgers were cooked on a steel on the gas grill. Thin burgers cooked crispy!

 

 

Bacon cheese burger on a toasted bun with onion, mustard and mayo with crispy fries and ketchup.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

It's hot here.  Inside, 10:36 pm, at the moment, with the air conditioner running, 88 deg F.  About 5:30 I watered what's left of the vegetation and took a shower.  I felt smug as, dressed in not much more than nail polish and thoroughly anticipating this evening's mai tai, with the fresh mint on the cutting board, I admired my garden handiwork.

 

Then in the dying shadows of the gloam I noticed the thyme I need for dinner.  Outside, on the balcony, on the far side of the glass door...

 

[scubadoo97]

Ok that just made me laugh Jo.  It's hot here and humid as well, low 90s.   Multiple dips in the pool between doing some yard duties.  AC set at 78 

[rarerollingobject]

The entirety of my dinner..a s'mores parfait, with gingersnap crumbs at the bottom, a layer of that very interesting Heston Blumenthal chocolate-and-water mousse recipe, and Italian meringue on top, lightly blowtorched.

 

#cleaneating

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, scubadoo97 said:

Ok that just made me laugh Jo.  It's hot here and humid as well, low 90s.   Multiple dips in the pool between doing some yard duties.  AC set at 78 

 

AC here set on 62.  Actual measured temperature where I am sitting, 86.  Hotter in the bedroom.

 

Dinner was Kenji's chicken marsala.  Good, to be sure, but I have been making it too often.  I confess I am getting rather tired of it.

 

@rarerollingobject has the dinner that I envy.

 

[FrogPrincesse]

1 hour ago, rarerollingobject said:

The entirety of my dinner..a s'mores parfait, with gingersnap crumbs at the bottom, a layer of that very interesting Heston Blumenthal chocolate-and-water mousse recipe, and Italian meringue on top, lightly blowtorched.

 

#cleaneating

 

The mousse is a creation by Herve This originally (chocolate Chantilly) (sorry, I couldn't help but give credit where credit was due... )

 

https://food52.com/blog/2932-herve-this-chocolate-mousse

 

Very appetizing by the way! That mousse has been on my list of things to try for quite some time now.

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, sartoric said:

The last leg of lamb that will be cooked in this house ...

 

It looks fine, the meat was neither tough or tender, but just rubbish really. Dogs will be happy.

 

Oh dear. I love roast lamb. What went wrong?