Dinner 2016 (Part 7)

[robirdstx]

The plan was to have a grilled beef rib-eye, salad and a loaf of freshly baked no knead bread. 

 

 

Well, we had the bread - the whole loaf - with herbed olive oil and ended up putting the steak back in the fridge to grill tomorrow night and never even made the salad! We were pleasantly stuffed!

[ProfessionalHobbit]

 

 Padrón peppers, extra-virgin olive oil, Maldon sea salt.

 

I call it "pepper roulette" because one can be explosively spicy or sweet.  Life is like a bowl of peppers to paraphrase Forrest Gump.

 

 

Zucchine con acciughe e capperi.

 

Sliced zucchini sautéed in olive oil along with garlic and anchovy until caramelized, then added some capers and mint.

 

 

Pollo alla romana con peperoni ("chicken with tomatoes and sweet peppers").

 

I'll post the walkthrough in the My Kitchen in Rome thread in a minute.  

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Breakfast for dinner night!

 

Leftover charcoal grilled T-Bone steak from the strip side. Over easy eggs, crispy, golden home fried potatoes from little white new, hot buttered toast and golden honeydew melon.

[ProfessionalHobbit]

7 hours ago, rarerollingobject said:

 

In my spare time - I work. All I do is work. When I'm not at work, I'm still working anyway. And I work in child protection, so I like finicky cooking projects to take my mind to a completely different place for a few hours.

 

But on a happier note: prawn rolls. Steamed prawns, chopped and mixed with (too much) mayo, celery, spring onions, lemon zest and celery salt and piled into a buttery brioche roll, brushed in more butter and toasted in a pan. And topped with some of the delicate inner-most celery leaves I love so much.

 

Now, I realize lobster rolls are a dime a dozen to much of America but they're not really a thing in Australia at all, so this was a real treat.  

 

 

Looks awesome.

 

I need one now...been ages since I had a good shrimp or lobster roll.

[scubadoo97]

13 hours ago, rarerollingobject said:

 

In my spare time - I work. All I do is work. When I'm not at work, I'm still working anyway. And I work in child protection, so I like finicky cooking projects to take my mind to a completely different place for a few hours.

 

 

Shrimp roll looks fantastic

 

i would have sworn you worked as a professional chef.  Your food is always amazing!

i understand the need for diversion

[naguere]

Kippers, I love them. Recently i bought 3Kg of them for £20. including delivery, arriving in a cool box they are ready to stick in the freezer.

put one on a plate (skin side down) a dab or two of butter and cover with cling film then nuke for 2 and a half minutes (i like just 2 minutes)

The company also prepare a lot more from the West coast of Lancashire (England) which i am going to try.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Port-Lancaster-Lancashire-Whole-Kippers/dp/B00BPU2XIG/ref=sr_1_2_s_it?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1470056703&sr=1-2&keywords=Kippers

 

[demiglace]

14 hours ago, HungryChris said:

Shrimp cocktail is a good thing when done right. Those of you who live in shrimp country, will probably want to change channels when I speak of frozen shrimp, but up here, fresh shrimp is a crap shoot, at best. I quickly thawed frozen, raw gulf shrimp (these were 31 - 40) in cold water, peeled, deveined and steamed until cooked. Then plunged them into ice water. You know the job is well done when they squeak against your teeth when you bite into them. Good cocktail sauce depends on a hot horseradish. Without that, you are doomed. You want to add just enough to threaten, but not frighten, to ketchup with a bit of lemon juice and a dash or two of Lea & Perrins, mix and chill. Here, I served with bruschetta and fresh corn on the cob. I include what I hope is a corn money shot  out of respect (and sympathy) for the corn deprived (demiglace).

HC

 

Oh I love you! Thank you so much, buttered up and all. I feel better now. Love the whole meal.

 

[kayb]

14 hours ago, HungryChris said:

Shrimp cocktail is a good thing when done right. Those of you who live in shrimp country, will probably want to change channels when I speak of frozen shrimp, but up here, fresh shrimp is a crap shoot, at best. I quickly thawed frozen, raw gulf shrimp (these were 31 - 40) in cold water, peeled, deveined and steamed until cooked. Then plunged them into ice water. You know the job is well done when they squeak against your teeth when you bite into them. Good cocktail sauce depends on a hot horseradish. Without that, you are doomed. You want to add just enough to threaten, but not frighten, to ketchup with a bit of lemon juice and a dash or two of Lea & Perrins, mix and chill. Here, I served with bruschetta and fresh corn on the cob. I include what I hope is a corn money shot  out of respect (and sympathy) for the corn deprived (demiglace).

 

I love shrimp, and I agree, for the most part, with your construction of cocktail sauce. I'd add a drizzle of lemon juice and a shake or two of Louisiana hot sauce. Your meal looks gorgeous.

 

12 hours ago, Shelby said:

Because if you aren't close to the freshest of shrimp you have to quench your inner desires somehow.

 

I'll eat fresh when I'm on the coast and can get 'em, but many shrimp are flash-frozen on the boats within minutes of being caught, and are very difficult to tell from fresh. I refuse to deprive myself of a food I truly love just because of circumstances of geography. 

 

11 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Stunning Steve

Surely is.

 

11 hours ago, Ashen said:

 

my starting point was this 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/smothered-pork-chops-and-grits.html

 

I ended up using full cook grits and doing the whole soak method  , switched out to gruyere for the cheese .   

 

I am somewhat ocd when it comes to browning onions  , so I started with a finely sliced large vidalia that I browned for about 40 mins  on low heat with ghee  and a pinch of kosher salt.  Once I had good colour on it I put aside in a bowl and deglazed with a small amount of cjhicken stock.   wiped out pan to brown the chops  in ghee.   once they were nicely browned pulled them out momentarily while I added  a tbsp of flour to the drippings on bottom of the CI pan and basically made a fast roux, I added the onions back in and a cup of homemade chicken broth and a splash of  a fairly acidic strawberry wine  that is the bottom of a bottle  hanging around  in fridge that I am using for  cooking and about an equal splash of apple cider vinegar. 

I let it simmer to thicken a bit then added the mostly cooked chops back in to finish in what is basically an onion gravy.   

 

I made a few killer sandwiches with that leftover pork and onion sauce/gravy. 

 

To me, smothered represents a gravy, as Ashen notes -- a flour- or roux-thickened sauce. Grew up on smothered round steak. 

 

But I must quarrel with you, as a Southerner who loves her grits -- it's CHEESE grits -- never CHEESY. As Mitt Romney found out during the most recent Presidential campaign.

 

[Okanagancook]

Ok, I will make a roux after I brown my onions for my 'smothered meal'.  I love the close up with the flecks of black pepper!

[Shelby]

It must have been shrimp day yesterday lol.  You can't see mine very well, but they are there in the orange bowl.  Shrimp scampi and alfredo zoodles.  

 

[Tere]

Sometimes all you need is simplicity itself. Sacrificial tree spinach, with added rainbow chard and spinach beet, sauteed very simply with lemon juice and butter. Water-bath chicken on top. Juices to slurp in the glass.

 

Prep:

 

 

Finished article:

 

[Ashen]

3 hours ago, kayb said:

 

 

But I must quarrel with you, as a Southerner who loves her grits -- it's CHEESE grits -- never CHEESY. As Mitt Romney found out during the most recent Presidential campaign.

 

 

 

No quarrel here , I will just refer to them as Awesome grits from now on.    As a polenta lover pretty much from birth , grits have all that comfort food vibe from childhood while being just that something different enough to make them feel special too.  I had never had truely well made grits until a couple years ago when a friend shared some Anson mills antebellum coarse grits  someone had sent him . I think it was andiesenji that detailed the proper way to cook them when I went searching the forums.   I can't get those anymore but a local bulk store started carrying  some that are very nice.  They have a very strong scent of corn which I find so great about grits as opposed to polenta. 

Edited August 1, 2016 by Ashen (log)

[Tere]

Sunday dinner, home made tagliatelle served with a lobster cream and tomato sauce and baby broad beans, peas and French beans from the garden. Yummy!

 

 

(the lobster was frozen and six quid from Aldi at Christmas. Don't tell anyone  )

[chileheadmike]

Smothered pork chops from last night, still bubbling from the oven.

 

1st, I made a roux. I let it brown lightly, it wasn't super dark. Then added onion, celery, and green bell pepper. Once the veggies were soft, I added fresh garlic and some cajun seasoning and chicken stock. While that simmered, I browned the chops. Put it all in the caserole and baked.

[sartoric]

Inspired by @ElsieDs Japanese curry, I pulled out my packet of S & B Golden curry and made this.

It is unusual in that you first cook meat and vegetables in water, then add the curry paste for the last 10 minutes or so.

The paste was labelled medium hot, so I added some of my home grown chilli powder to the sizzling onion.

Here it is with chicken, potatoes, carrots and baby spinach. We liked it, and I will buy more of this paste.

 

 

[rarerollingobject]

And when I vegan, I vegan hard; lettuce, perilla leaf, witlof, zucchini flower and apple kimchi wraps. Bundle it all up into one tasty mouthful, and down the hatch in lovely shades of green.

 

[Patrick S]

Chicken quarters dry-rubbed, started over Apple wood smoke, finished over direct heat on the grill and sauced. Served with grilled Mexican street corn - mayo/sour cream base with lime, garlic, cilantro and cojita cheese. 

[scubadoo97]

@Patrick S  looks really delicious 

 

I hit up an Asian market on the way home.   Made a panang curry dish.  Using cubes of white chicken, eggplant, baby bok choy, string bean, carrots, peppers and shallots and Thai basil.  Between the sweet heat and all the flavors it's red light food for me 

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Wow, I like the idea of all the added veggies to the curry.  Looks like some coconut milk in there too?

[scubadoo97]

5 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

Wow, I like the idea of all the added veggies to the curry.  Looks like some coconut milk in there too?

Absolutely.  That's one of the flavors that makes it so addicting.  I used 2 cans of coconut cream

[Okanagancook]

I'm an idiot or maybe the double marguerita.....but attempted to make the smothered pork chops from Lee Brothers cookbook.  They have you make a wet dip of egg yolk and milk and then a dry dip of corn meal and ALP.  They just weren't like the picture....no big crust after frying them in oil.   Dah, no big crust if you don't dip in the wet dip first.

maybe this belongs in the 'I will never again' thread.

 

[FauxPas]

One of my favourite summer salads - peach, golden beet, sweet onion, red pepper, goat cheese, fresh basil and an orangey vinaigrette over mixed greens. Perfect on a warm day when we wanted a light dinner. (Though we will have fresh strawberries and ice cream for dessert, so not all that light, ha.)

 

[robirdstx]

 

Grilled Beef Rib-eye with home made Tonkatsu Sauce for dipping.

[Taveren]

On July 26, 2016 at 0:21 PM, mgaretz said:

 

 pork tenderloin, cooked SV at 140F for 4 hours 

 

 

Completely unnecessary, though your electric company probably is all for it. You don't accomplish anything cooking tender cuts for hours.  Take it to temp, done. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, Taveren said:

Completely unnecessary, though your electric company probably is all for it. You don't accomplish anything cooking tender cuts for hours.  Take it to temp, done. 

 

You accomplish pasteurization.  Whether pasteurization is important to you or to your loved ones is not for me to say.

 

Four hours at 140 deg F. is not horribly long and is unlikely to ruin a tender cut of pork.  That being said, four hours does seem a little long but hardly worth a tirade.