Dinner 2016 (Part 9)

[HungryChris]

To be frank, the kitchen in our apartment in Rome is a cook's nightmare. You need a flashlight to peer into the cabinets and we both are saying "we need more light!" repeatedly as we make do with it. So... we decided to go out to a local restaurant we have been to, and liked, before. In addition to great food, it has a reputation for rushing you out when they want your table. One time, they asked us to move to make room for a big party, but gave us dissert and left the Limoncello  on the table as a thank you. I have a thing for the tiny moscardini fritti they serve, so I was looking forward to going back to I Buoni Amici.

The moscardini fritti (this is really an app to share, but Deb had no interest)

Spaghetti with clams

spaghetti carbonara

we split a very good tiramisu and were given some rather good sweet fennel cookies

(before being rushed out as we have come to expect),

HC

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[kayb]

14 hours ago, chefmd said:

Left over rare steak hand chopped and mixed with onion, garlic, capers, mayo, mustard, and the tinies amount of fish sauce.

 

 

 

14 hours ago, chefmd said:

Crispy toast and 1/2 martini.  Whole martini puts me to sleep ;).  My goal is to eat as many leftovers as I can while my husband is out of town.  I envision empty and clean fridge that is ready for more leftovers.

 

Just freakin' brilliant. I always tend toward steak and eggs the morning after...this is a great change.

 

[liuzhou]

辣子鸡 (là zi jī) or chicken with chillis is a renowned Sichuan dish* which I tend to make about every couple of months. More often I eat it out, comparing versions.  

辣子鸡 (là zi jī) or chicken with chillis is a renowned Sichuan dish* which I tend to make about every couple of months. More often I eat it out, comparing versions.  

 

This morning I picked up a couple of duck legs and was pondering what to do with them. It crossed my mind that what I really wanted was 辣子鸡 (là zi jī), then it struck me. Make 辣子鸭 là zi yā (duck with chillis).

 

The legs were skinned and de-fatted (all proceeds rendered down to add to my huge bowl of duck fat). Then de-boned to separate meat and bones.  Bones into a pan to make duck stock.

 

Meat cut into chopstick handleable pieces and marinated in Shaoxing wine and soy sauce. "Facing heaven" chilis halved and de-seeded. Garlic chopped. SIchuan peppercorns roasted and ground in my new mortar and pestle. Scallions cleaned and chopped into one inch segments.
 

The duck deep fried until cooked though, the oil mainly drained off, then the chillies, garlic and peppercorns fried until fragrant. The duck re-introduced and heated through. Served with rice and greenery.

 

 

It was good, but I've come to understand why Sichuan prefers chicken in this dish.

This morning I picked up a couple of duck legs and was pondering what to do with them. It crossed my mind that what I really wanted was 辣子鸡 (là zi jī), then it struck me. Make 辣子鸭 là zi yā (duck with chillis).

 

The legs were skinned and de-fatted (all proceeds rendered down to add to my huge bowl of duck fat). Then de-boned to separate meat and bones.  Bones into a pan to make duck stock.

 

Meat cut into chopstick handleable pieces and marinated in Shaoxing wine and soy sauce. "Facing heaven" chilis halved and de-seeded. Garlic chopped. SIchuan peppercorns roasted and ground in my new mortar and pestle. Scallions cleaned and chopped into one inch segments.
 

The duck deep fried until cooked though, the oil mainly drained off, then the chillies, garlic and peppercorns fried until fragrant. The duck re-introduced and heated through. Served with rice and greenery.

 

 

It was good, but I've come to understand why Sichuan prefers chicken in this dish.

*Actually, it's from Chongqing which is now directly administered from Beijing, but was part of Sichuan.

Edited September 26, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[Okanagancook]

Basil pasta with Rao's tomato sauce and some meatballs.  We also had a salad.  The pasta wasn't very good.  I put too much basil in the dough so there is no chew in the texture.  

[Auro]

Yesterday I made xiao long bao for the first time.

The result was amazing. But i have to improve my skills.

 

http://vid31.photobucket.com/albums/c395/aurote/VID_20160924_192149048_zpskd3abcgc.mp4

 

The pork skin and bones, soy sauce, carot, onion on the cook pressure.

 

Pork Jelly

 

 

Dought. Hot water, salt and flour

 

 

Pork meat, ok, ok, ok... we don't have carrots in chinese xiao long bao...

 

 

Filling the dumplings

 

I have to improve my skills.

 

 

 

Edited September 25, 2016 by Auro (log)

[ProfessionalHobbit]

Looks great, Auro.

[Okanagancook]

Good job on the dumpling forming.  Those shapes are not easy to make.

My mouth is watering now. 

[Anna N]

Soup dumplings!  Amazing. 

[ninagluck]

from my trip to the farmers market I also brought some beets. I roasted them, took out the inner flesh, stuffed it with minced lamb and served it with greek yoghurt. 

[Anna N]

@ninagluck

 

stuffing beets is definitely a first for me!   Don't see why not although I'm very interested in how you reamed out the flesh.    I find cook beets very slippery to hold and I can't imagine how I would dig out the flesh. 

[ninagluck]

@Anna N, I used the tool for making melon balls, no problem scooping the beet out

[Smithy]

I've been on a beet kick lately, and now I'm sorry I have them already cooked and peeled.  They're delicious, but scooping them out and stuffing them with meat and nuts is a new idea to me, too.  Thanks for the additional information on how to scoop them out, @ninagluck.  I'd have had the same question if @Anna N hadn't asked first.

[ninagluck]

give it a try, I really liked it, I made a marinade of evo, pomegranate molasses, a little harissa paste, s+p and brushed it all over te beet and inside, before I put the lamb mince in

[Tere]

No pictures because do you really want to look at a plate of brown, but Barnsley cut lamb chop, seared lightly then into the cooling Aga with red wine, garlic, marjoram and salt and pepper. Served with a riff on @ProfessionalHobbit's recent caper and anchovy zucchini dish - slowly pan fried onions, spring onions, a LARGE *cough* zucchini / courgette, all fried at high temperature (the Aga fry station is hot even when cooling down) until golden and glorious, then seasoned. Half a stray pot of decent quality passata, a glug of wine but also some water to get the extras out, 6 anchovy fillets, chopped, a few teaspoons of home made nasturtium seed peppers in lieu of capers, then more simmering down. It ate well! Would make again! Thanks @ProfessionalHobbit! 

 

[ProfessionalHobbit]

Glad you liked it.

[sartoric]

A steak with mixed mushroom sauce. Served with a baked potato, a few cherry tomatoes, garlic spinach and a salad.

 

[ProfessionalHobbit]

For the first part of this recipe, click here and scroll down.

 

 

After 3 hours, add the remaining onions and carrots. If the liquid in the pot gets low, add more water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer.

 

 

After 3 1/2 hours, check to see if the vegetables are done. If they're done, remove with a slotted spoon and continue simmering the meat.

 

 

Vegetables.

These will be reheated in the broth prior to serving.

 

 

 Lesso o allesso.

This will be reheated later. I'm planning to serve this with boiled potatoes (prepared separately), along with salsa verde and maybe salsa rossa.

[Norm Matthews]

We had two Provençal recipes. One was a Julia Child recipe for Potato  Gratin and the other was roasted chicken thighs.  Our salad was broccoli, carrot and celery sticks with a ranch dressing for dipping.  We didn't care too much for the potatoes but that may have been because I put too much anchovy paste in it. 

 

[robirdstx]

Grilled Sausage (Pork with Garlic), Buttered Yellow Corn and Spicy Black Beans

 

 

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, Auro said:

I have to improve my skills.

 

I don't see how - those look spot on. Much better looking than the ones in my newly opened, local xiao long bao shop here in China!

 

 

(To be fair to the shop, although they don't look great, they tasted fine, as I'm sure did yours.)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

We had the large mango I got from the fish store tonight. It was sweet, and so juicy that when I was scraping the pit with my teeth for the last bits of flesh over the kitchen sink, the juice was running down my elbows. My husband liked it better than the ones we usually get from the grocery store. I think it was a fine mango too, but I think I prefer the tarter flavor and the more pronounced notes of pine that I adore from the grocery store ones.

 

I fried up some maduros from a Guatemalan Dole plantain that I had let turn completely black skinned.

 

The main course was the last of that hickory smoked ham steak and provolone cheese stuffed into Samoon bread split into a pocket. I wrapped each one after spitting and stuffing in sealed foil and heated in the 400 F/204 C oven for fifteen minutes. I had taken the ham out earlier so it wouldn't be going into the sandwich cold from the fridge.

 

The idea came from this photo when I was looking up more info on Samoon bread. Our sandwiches were pretty flat compared to the overstuffed one in the photo. I was thinking of putting an egg in each sandwich as well, but it would have been overkill. They were perfect just as they were. These would be great stuffed with everything from falafel to egg salad to fried seafood to ...

 

A bonus of using the bread in a familiar dish was that my husband is just as sold on this bread now as I am, so may not be as resistant to taking me to the mediterranean store. It should be easier now to get more crack bread. 

 

After dinner I mixed up this marinade, kindly shared by member, mgaretz. I'm marinating a whole chicken in it in a burrito tortilla bag, which is the only thing I had large enough, inside of a stainless bowl in the fridge. I thought I had one of those huge zip bags king crab legs and other seafood comes in, but I guess I'm out. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow, as it has done every day for over a week, so I can cook over charcoal tomorrow, but the chix will be cooked one way or another. Tropical storm/hurricane season is a pain here even when it doesn't get outright violent.

 

I have been remembering eating at El Pollo Loco, where this recipe comes from. Ours left town about thirty years ago, but I still remember the experience. It wasn't a fancy place, and specialized really in one thing they did really well: the chicken. They had several sides and they were fine, but I can't recall any being exceptional or memorable. You smelled the chicken cooking as soon as you opened the door, and then you saw it cooking on huge on grates over open gas flames on huge grills. I am looking forward to this a lot, and if I get rained out tomorrow and have to roast the chicken in the oven, I expect it will still be delicious, but this is going to happen over charcoal one day.

 

[liamsaunt]

I made the Bisteca California with pepperonata and baked ricotta from Sunday Suppers at Lucques yesterday.  The beef:

 

 

And with chicken for the non red meat eater (me, haha)

 

 

No photo of the baked ricotta but it was delicious.  We ate it on crusty bread.

[liuzhou]

19 hours ago, Anna N said:

Soup dumplings!  Amazing. 

Yes, looking again I would say those are soup dumplings '汤 包 tāng bāo' rather than 小笼包 xiǎo lóng bāo. Not the same thing.

 

But I still admire the pleating skill

 

[Anna N]

45 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Yes, looking again I would say those are soup dumplings '汤 包 tāng bāo' rather than 小笼包 xiǎo lóng bāo. Not the same thing.

 

But I still admire the pleating skill

 

Yes.  I am not that perceptive though. I clicked on the link! 

[ElsieD]

@Thanks for the Crepes I'm interested in the Samoon bread.  It reminded me a bit of pita a until I looked back at one of your previous posts.  Does it bake up as pita does, that is, one you can easily separate?  Or does it bake up more like a solid bun?  How did you bake them?   I think these would be great for sandwiches, such as the ham and cheese ones you made.

Edited September 27, 2016 by ElsieD (log)