Dinner 2016 (Part 9)

[liuzhou]

Tonight I had one foot in the past and one in the here and now.

The dinner I most dreaded from my mother's very limited repertoire was her liver and onions. Served up about once every two weeks, it was a form of torture probably outlawed by several international treaties. Shoe leather and burnt but still half raw alliums.

 

One night in China about 20 years ago, long after I had to suffer my mother's cooking, someone ordered it and, without knowing what it was, I wolfed it down. It was good.

Tonight I had my mother's signature dish with a few twists.

a) No! It doesn't take half an hour to cook liver!

 

b) Onions don't cook in five minutes.

c) Marinating in Shaoxing wine and chilli pepper then adding some soy sauce sauce at the end makes all the difference.

 

Served with buttery riced potato and stir-fried beans.


 

Edited October 15, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[weinoo]

 

Pan-fried pork chops with sautéed apples.

[sartoric]

Rockmelon wrapped with prosciutto, then linguine with clams in a white wine sauce.

Served with spinach salad and crusty bread.

 

 

 

[ninagluck]

Not much time for cooking and plenty of veggies in my fridge I went for green beans in tempura with a spicy anchovis/mayo/yoghurt dip

[JoNorvelleWalker]

9 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Tonight I had one foot in the past and one in the here and now.

The dinner I most dreaded from my mother's very limited repertoire was her liver and onions. Served up about once every two weeks, it was a form of torture probably outlawed by several international treaties. Shoe leather and burnt but still half raw alliums.

 

One night in China about 20 years ago, long after I had to suffer my mother's cooking, someone ordered it and, without knowing what it was, I wolfed it down. It was good.

Tonight I had my mother's signature dish with a few twists.

a) No! It doesn't take half an hour to cook liver!

 

b) Onions don't cook in five minutes.

c) Marinating in Shaoxing wine and chilli pepper then adding some soy sauce sauce at the end makes all the difference.

 

Served with buttery riced potato and stir-fried beans.


 

 

 

Is there a way to "like" the writing and "not like" the liver?

 

[Shelby]

5 hours ago, sartoric said:

Rockmelon wrapped with prosciutto, then linguine with clams in a white wine sauce.

Served with spinach salad and crusty bread.

 

 

 

OH this looks good.  Is rock melon the same as cantaloupe?  I guess I should google.

[sartoric]

4 minutes ago, Shelby said:

OH this looks good.  Is rock melon the same as cantaloupe?  I guess I should google.

Yep, it's the same. My husband still calls it cantaloupe, a product of him being from Victoria.

[gfweb]

Had friends over.

Lamb chops cooked SV with rosemary to 133F (they were pinker than the photo appears) (Not shown... blackened maple Brussels sprouts and braised red cabbage)

 

 

 

Parmesan roasted cauliflower

 

Potatoes au gratin

 

Bacon-wrapped chorizo-stuffed dates as an appetizer

 

 

Smoked pork tenderloin with cranberry chutney appetizer

Edited October 16, 2016 by gfweb (log)

[ProfessionalHobbit]

 

Mixed lettuce salad with radishes and mullet bottarga.

 

I really should look into using bottarga more often as a substitute for Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.  The flavor profile is similar.

 

 

Clockwise from lower right: 4 tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley; 1/2 lemon, sliced; 4 garlic cloves, crushed; kosher salt; 3 tbsp. fine breadcrumbs; 1 cup pinot gris; 2 onions, sliced. Not shown is a bowl with 3 lbs. mussels and another bowl with 4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil.

 

 

Warm 1/2 cup olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic cloves.

 

 

Fry garlic for 2 minutes, then add the lemon slices. Fry for 1 more minute...

 

 

...then add the onions and a pinch of salt. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until onions are wilted.

 

 

Add mussels. Toss with lemon, onion and hot oil. Cover and cook for 1 minute, shaking pan frequently. Add wine, cover, then cook for 3-4 minutes.

 

 

 

Uncover pan, then sprinkle breadcrumbs over, along with parsley. Toss mussels, drizzle over 4 tbsp. olive oil, then remove from heat and serve.

 

 

 

 

Brodetto di cozze, from "Lidia's Family Table", page 298.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I set out to recreate the perfect sweet potato of this post:

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/153452-dinner-2016-part-6/?page=6#comment-2063205

 

Fail.

 

The sweet potato, though organic, was dry.  At least it was somewhat sweet.  Not sure where I went wrong.  However the pork chop and Brussels sprouts tonight left nothing to be desired.  I finished off the liter of MR from the other night.  Nice, of course, but not worth the job it did on my poor hand.  I have much more respect now for Joule-Thompson.  This kills any desire I may have had for an anti-griddle.

 

Further, much unlike me, I purchased a couple pints of Haagen Dazs on sale.  The Haaden Dazs merely approached mediocracy.  I suppose I am jaded and spoiled.

 

[Duvel]

Last night we had BBQ dinner with some friends and colleagues. "HK style" BBQ takes usually place on beaches or rented properties as usually no one ever has a space big enough to put even the grill, let alone host more that half a dozen people.

The food is straight forward: Marinated skirt steaks, turkey wings, pork cheeks, all types of interesting "fish" balls and frankfurts, veggies and garlic bread. All grilled over fairly high heat and at the end basted with "BBQ honey", a golden syrup that just caramelizes on the surface. It sounds weird, but somewhat works. On top, the place provided us with two (professionally roasted) suckling pigs. I got both snouts!

As the place we rented only serves beer it did not charge corkage for wine, so we had an eclectic range of German wines (just arrived the same day, my annual order), Sake and Baiju. Needless to say it was good fun, very filling and only caused the tiniest of headaches this morning ...

[Dejah]

Lots of fall work getting done today - sunny but windy. Tomorrow has rain in the forecast.

Threw a rack of lamb coated with whole grain mustard and fresh rosemary into the oven. Closer to supper time, made nasi lemak with fresh Kafir lime leaves and lemongrass. Steamed green beans in the microwave, drained and sauteed them in the lamb dripping. Full and lazy after supper at 8 pm...

[Paul Bacino]

Daughter lives in ABQ, New Mexico

 

So I picked up some assorted peppers to roast!!

 

These are Big Jim hatch Chile --fairly thick skin nice roasting, easy to peel and chop, mild heat ton a flavor

The meat  #8 grind ( chuck, brisket and short brisket ) -- just salt and pepper

Telemook chedder

 

GREEN CHILE CHEESE BURGER

 

 

Edited October 16, 2016 by Paul Bacino (log)

[Duvel]

Yesterday, my annual order of wine arrived. Being an expat in HK, I am quite lucky that my German mother company takes well care of their delegates, at least as alcohol is concerned. Once a year, we can order (at German prices) wine from the company, which is an excellent deal in both price and quality.

In order to celebrate, we had some Brazilian friends over for semi-dry Riesling from Deidesheim (Palatinate), Flammkuchen and - because for our friends the needs to be some meat involved - Lahmacun, Turkish lamb mince pizza. Didn't get minced lamb at the local supermarket, so I simmered minced pork with an Oxo lamb stock cube. Worked like a charm ...

[Anna N]

Three rather pathetic onions and a small steak that I had cooked Sous Vide and frozen.  

 

Surprisingly good. Defies the "only use the freshest ingredients" mantra suggestion that otherwise you are doomed to a mediocre meal.  Sometimes you can still make a tasty meal using what you have got.  

 

[liuzhou]

This afternoon I bought a smallish turbot. Now, though I've often eaten turbot, until today I'd never cooked one and certainly never filleted one. The supermarket did offer to deal with it, but the Chinese way of doing so ain't my way so I declined.

 

I like to think I did OK, but I know I only did just OK. Could have been a whole lot better.

 

Cooking the critter went better in terms of taste if not presentation. Seaweed. pickled daikon and home pickled ginger. Served with rice and asparagus. This is only part one. I went back for more.

And I'll try again soon to get it just right.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2016 by liuzhou
Punctuation (log)

[Shelby]

11 hours ago, gfweb said:

Had friends over.

Lamb chops cooked SV with rosemary to 133F (they were pinker than the photo appears) (Not shown... blackened maple Brussels sprouts and braised red cabbage)

 

 

 

Parmesan roasted cauliflower

 

Potatoes au gratin

 

Bacon-wrapped chorizo-stuffed dates as an appetizer

 

 

Smoked pork tenderloin with cranberry chutney appetizer

 

We are almost dinner twins.

 

I put lamb chops in the SV.....I like them at 125F and then a nice sear.  Being vertically challenged I have to stand on my tip-toes to see the top of the Anova once it's in the pot.  I thought I programmed 125 when actually I did 135.  I noticed about 45 mins. in.  PANIC lol.  Luckily these were still frozen when I put them in.  I quickly stopped everything, added some cold water and began again at the right temp.  I was so worried I had over done them but they were good.  Phew.

 

Scallops taters and bruss. sprouts to go with.

 

[gfweb]

@Shelby How about that! Looks great.

[ninagluck]

today I made oriental lamb shanks, braised with pomegranate juice and served with couscous. the sauce is fingerlicking good

[sartoric]

Indonesian roast pork belly with gado gado.

The pork is rubbed with turmeric, salt and pepper, then marinated with a smash of garlic, ginger and peanut oil.

 

[scubadoo97]

Fabulous dinners!   @Paul Bacino I want one of those burgers 

 

Tonight after returning from a weekend trip i did a clean out the fridge dinner.  Roasted beets, a couple zucchini and leftover salmon.  Made a fish salad, grilled the zucchini and diced and tossed the beets with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a drizzle of pomegranate syrup. The beets were the standout for me

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

 

Hutspot - carrots, potatoes, onion cooked and mashed together. I added bacon and packaged gravy (a mix I picked up in the local Dutch store). Comfort food par excellence. 

[ElsieD]

 

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 

 

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Hutspot - carrots, potatoes, onion cooked and mashed together. I added bacon and packaged gravy (a mix I picked up in the local Dutch store). Comfort food par excellence. 

 

My mom used to make this.  She also made what we called stamppot with kale long, long before it became the trendy vegetable it now is, and also a version with sauerkraut.  She always served hers with smoked sausage.  When I saw your plate I wanted to dive right in.

[Anna N]

@ElsieD

 

@Chufi used to be very active and gave us a memorable intro to Dutch foods as well as much other stuff.  I think anyone who was active when she was must miss her also.   Never did get around to trying some of her dishes at that time but my interest has been renewed since I have been visiting the Dutch store with @Kerry Beal.  

 

[Okanagancook]

Slow roast lamb shoulder, roasted winter squash with apricot jam, roast potatoes and slow cooked green beans, garlic and tomato.. m.