Dinner 2016 (Part 11)

[shain]

For this Saturday I made Jachnoon, a rare treat in my house. Jachnoon, is a sweetened dough, rolled thin and laminated with fat, then baked overnight. It is of Yemeni origin and is a very popular food item in Israel. The absolute most of the jachnoons here are laminated with margarine, which is a shame since it gives them no flavor (health issues aside). So I resort to making them myself (which is probably a good thing, because otherwise I'll eat them way too often). I also like to add yeast to my dough, because I believe it gives them more flavour (there is no need for rising the dough). The dough is sweetened with either dark brown sugar or date syrup, along with the long slow baking and butter, this gives it a lovely butterscotchy aroma.

It is most commonly served with eggs, slow cooked in the same pot (haminados), schug and pureed tomatoes.

I've also added a pot of fava beans with garlic and cumin.

[liuzhou]

Bought a leg of lamb/mutton and removed the meat. Two-thirds of the meat is in the freezer and the other third I used in this slow-cooked lamb curry with spinach. Rice and home made yoghurt.

Lamb bones and trimmings are gently bubbling away in the stock pot.

 

 

 

[cakewalk]

4 hours ago, shain said:

For this Saturday I made Jachnoon, a rare treat in my house. Jachnoon, is a sweetened dough, rolled thin and laminated with fat, then baked overnight. It is of Yemeni origin and is a very popular food item in Israel. The absolute most of the jachnoons here are laminated with margarine, which is a shame since it gives them no flavor (health issues aside). So I resort to making them myself (which is probably a good thing, because otherwise I'll eat them way too often). I also like to add yeast to my dough, because I believe it gives them more flavour (there is no need for rising the dough). The dough is sweetened with either dark brown sugar or date syrup, along with the long slow baking and butter, this gives it a lovely butterscotchy aroma.

It is most commonly served with eggs, slow cooked in the same pot (haminados), schug and pureed tomatoes.

I've also added a pot of fava beans with garlic and cumin.

Very beautiful, and this really brought back memories. One of my cousins, when he was in high school, used to prepare jachnoon on Fridays and then, with a friend, on Saturdays they'd go to the beach in Tel Aviv and sell them. They did it during the summers, and made good money, too. I remember him telling me about it (years after he used to do it, it was hysterical listening to his stories about selling this stuff on the beach), but I had never heard of jachnoon. So I said, okay, please to make some for me, I have to try it. It was good, but I have to say, yours look way better! 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, sartoric said:

They are from the rib. You can get them French trimmed so the bone becomes a handle. Me, I like all the fat and skerricks of meat along the bone. My next oven will be a CSO.

 

I was trying to be funny about our common language.  I believe your cutlets and my chops are exactly the same thing.  Here, as I remember growing up, a cutlet is a pounded piece of meat.

 

The chops I had last night were Frenched, though I too prefer them untrimmed.  The package was large and I have enough chops for three more meals, so I may yet try the sumac.

 

[ninagluck]

I love bitter salads and pair them often with fruits. today I had endive, persimmon with blow torched lardo, hazelnuts and cream cheese. 

[Anna N]

16 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I was trying to be funny about our common language.  I believe your cutlets and my chops are exactly the same thing.  Here, as I remember growing up, a cutlet is a pounded piece of meat.

 

The chops I had last night were Frenched, though I too prefer them untrimmed.  The package was large and I have enough chops for three more meals, so I may yet try the sumac.

 

Might be a common language but I still had to look up "skerricks". 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

Might be a common language but I still had to look up "skerricks". 

 

Oh my!  I just googled it.  (I confess I assumed it was a typo.)

 

[blue_dolphin]

40 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Oh my!  I just googled it.  (I confess I assumed it was a typo.)

 

I didn't even think to look it up - I thought it was @sartoric's own made-up word, and a very good one!

[Ann_T]

On 01/12/2016 at 2:14 AM, MetsFan5 said:

A take out turkey club with avocado and a side of broccoli salad. 

 @Ann_T I really want to make a ham but have only tried ham steaks and they sucked. Any tips? Left over ham has so many good uses plus, I just love it. 

 

MetsFan,  I'm a purist when it comes to ham.

 

As you mentioned there are so many ways to use up leftover ham.   Which is why I never rub with mustard or brown sugar, or pineapple, cloves  or any other glaze.

I don't want sweet ham, especially if I'm going to make sandwiches, or fried ham and eggs, ham omelettes or crepes with ham.  Or use the ham bone for a pot of beans or soup. 

 

I buy a good quality smoked ham, bone in,  and just put it in a roasting pan, cover tightly with foil and roast in a slow over, between 275°And 300°F for about 12 to 15 minutes a pound.   

[sartoric]

4 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Oh my!  I just googled it.  (I confess I assumed it was a typo.)

 

What word would that have been, (assuming the typo) ? Genuinely curious. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, sartoric said:

What word would that have been, (assuming the typo) ? Genuinely curious. 

 

Streaks.

 

[sartoric]

46 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Streaks.

 

Ahh, fair enough.

[HungryChris]

Butternut squash and kielbasa from the grill. Still no working oven, but that will all change on Wednesday!

HC

[kayb]

Sigh. I wish I felt like cooking. For that matter, I wish I felt like eating. Y'all's dinners are enough to make me feel hungry, despite bronchitis.

 

I did bestir myself to make some potato skins with cheese and bacon last night.

[Okanagancook]

Chinese food last night:  sticky rice done in the IP using the rice function; stir fried veggies; shrimp in red pepper sauce and mapo tofu from Egullet.  I have leftover pork and mandarin pancakes in the freezer so I will be making Mu Shu Pork for lunch.

[ninagluck]

I love my vegetable dealer, they notify me whenever they get something and think that might be of interest to me. yesterday I bought japanese artichokes. I turned this little beauties raw into a tatar and some were sauteed and served with bambi and a mash from endives/potatoe. 

Edited December 4, 2016 by ninagluck (log)

[sartoric]

Kentucky not fried chicken (it's baked). Served with potato salad, a mixed salad and lemon chilli dipping sauce.

 

[Shelby]

4 hours ago, kayb said:

Sigh. I wish I felt like cooking. For that matter, I wish I felt like eating. Y'all's dinners are enough to make me feel hungry, despite bronchitis.

 

I did bestir myself to make some potato skins with cheese and bacon last night.

I hope you feel better soon!!!  Yum on the potato skins.  I haven't made those for a long time.  

4 hours ago, Okanagancook said:

Chinese food last night:  sticky rice done in the IP using the rice function; stir fried veggies; shrimp in red pepper sauce and mapo tofu from Egullet.  I have leftover pork and mandarin pancakes in the freezer so I will be making Mu Shu Pork for lunch.

This is calling my name.  

1 hour ago, ninagluck said:

I love my vegetable dealer, they notify me whenever they get something and think that might be of interest to me. yesterday I bought japanese artichokes. I turned this little beauties raw into a tatar and some were sauteed and served with bambi and a mash from endives/potatoe. 

 

Lovely venison.

35 minutes ago, sartoric said:

Kentucky not fried chicken (it's baked). Served with potato salad, a mixed salad and lemon chilli dipping sauce.

 

I love seeing the difference in meals around the world.  It's clearly summertime for you  Nice looking chicken.

[scubadoo97]

After reading some posts on Vivian Howard's book Deep Run Roots, I noted that season 4 was on the PBS  website but has not been picked up by my local PBS stations.  After watching episode 1 I had to do something with spring onions that were growing in pots out back.    These were re-grown from the root ends of onions from the market 

 

sautéed  them then added corn cut off the cob along with some fresh basil from the garden.   Simmered in a little cream and half and half then topped with Patagonian scallops.  Served with a side of sliced mini cucumbers and tomatoes with a dressing enhanced with green onions.  Yes it was rich but darn tasty!

 

 

[Norm Matthews]

We had chili today while watching the Chiefs.  After I took the picture, we discovered the saltines were stale and so Charlie got out the corn chips, sour cream and salsa con queso. 

 

 

[Jacksoup]

@Norm Matthews. Chili looks very appetizing. And I just saw the very same placemats at my neighbors.

[robirdstx]

Pan-Seared Duck Breast with Black Cherry Sauce and Oven Roasted Duck Fat Potatoes...

 

 

...with a Dinner Salad of Romaine, Cucumber, Red Onion and Tomato with Honey Mustard Dressing.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2016 by robirdstx (log)

[HungryChris]

Veal picatta, toaster oven scalloped potatoes and peas.

HC

 

 

Edited December 6, 2016 by HungryChris (log)

[quiet1]

I keep forgetting to take photos. We had dinner out tonight anyhow - my mom is in the hospital so my housemate took me to visit her then we all went to an Indian restaurant nearby that is usually out of the way for us. It's fun going out when my housemate and his son because his kid is pretty adventurous with food and so orders things people don't expect him to - the looks are entertaining. (Tonight he polished off an entire appetizer order of calamari pakora by himself. He is also fond of octopus and loves lobster and shrimp but doesn't get it often because I'm allergic so we don't have it in the house. I need to see if there is anything an allergist can do.)

 

We got a combination dinner for two thing that they had, which gave us a nice variety of meat and vegetable dishes, and actually ended up with plenty of leftovers also, so I was able to put together a box for my dad and we dropped that off with him at the hospital before heading home. Better than the hospital cafeteria food for sure. (My mother is having a test tomorrow early so my dad is staying overnight with her.)

 

We ended up with vegetable samosas (one of which I snagged for my lunch tomorrow) and daal, tandoori chicken, saag paneer, lamb curry, and butter chicken, plus rice and naan and dessert and two cups of tea, I'd definitely do it again. The one thing I'm finding interesting is how much some things vary between restaurants - butter chicken is VERY different depending which place you order it from. Treatment and quality of paneer also varies a fair bit - some places have paneer with much more flavor than others, some seem to fry the paneer a little before adding it to the dish, etc. I used to think I didn't care for paneer, but more recently I have concluded that I don't like paneer with no flavor - I don't particularly like the texture so if it is very very bland then my food just has cubes of meh in it, whereas we've had paneer a couple of times lately that had a very nice milky flavor that wasn't overpowering but also wasn't completely buried by the sauce it was in, and that does add something to the dish.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

What a pain, I seem to have lost a carefully crafted post.

 

Anyhow I was taken by a submission from @sartoric a couple of nights ago of her sumac dusted lamb cutlets.  Forgive me, I'm finishing a second mai tai while waiting for my interminable baguette to cool, so posting after dinner may or may not be practical.

 

Having no sumac in house, per se, I have two lamb chops crusted in za'atar from fair trade women owned Palestinian cooperatives ready to be grilled.  Za'atar of which sumac is a major ingredient.  To be served with thirty second green beans, said baguette, and Boursin.  Zinfandel ad libitum.  Salad should I make it that far.