Dinner 2017 (Part 1)

[Norm Matthews]

27 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

Norm, what was it stuffed with other than tomatoes?

The tomatoes were in the sauce it was cooked with. It was stuffed with ground pork (1/4 lb), 3/4 lb ground beef, panko bread crumbs, nutmeg, onion, egg, milk, salt and pepper. 

 

    The sauce was: 2 bay leaves, 1 large garlic clove, minced, 1 (14.5-oz, 411 g) can of diced tomatoes, 1 Tbsp. white wine, ½ tsp. kosher salt (1/4 tsp. table salt) and 1 cup (240 ml) chicken/vegetable stock

 

Edited January 6, 2017 by Norm Matthews (log)

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, ElsieD said:

I thought it strange that it was an Asian recipe, that it used tomatoes and no rice.

 

I'm not sure why you find Asian use of tomatoes so strange. They are widely used.

 

China and Japan not so much maybe as say, southern Asia, but they are used. The one dish every Chinese student can make is scrambled egg with tomato. See here. In fact, China grows more tomatoes than the rest of the world put together.

And we don't eat everything with rice!

That said a recipe for any dish won't necessarily mention the accompanying rice. I might give you a recipe for chicken with mushrooms and take it as a given that you will eat it with rice. No need to mention it. Just the same as me giving you my method for grilling a steak but not mentioning the potatoes I expect you will eat with it.

Edited January 6, 2017 by liuzhou (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

To celebrate getting a ride to a real grocery store today, I cooked myself a proper dinner.

 

Caesar salad, minus the raw egg, followed by what turned out to be, I guess, cream of potato soup. I'd intended to make corn chowder, but I like it so well without the corn, I decided not to go there. I served this course with some buttered whole wheat bread. Unfortunately the bread was too sweet for my tastes, but I will eat it. It will probably be fine with ham sandwiches and will probably make good toast.

 

There's a rare snow and/or ice storm bearing down on us with record low temps forecast, and I was lucky to get any bread at all. There were long runs of empty shelves in the bread area, but there were a few more expensive brands left. I also had to get 1% milk because the 2% and whole were gone. Some stores sold out of these items altogether. There were films on the local news of feet upon feet of empty bread shelves and empty egg and milk coolers. 

 

Then I broiled a center cut pork chop, and for dessert, I had half a pink grapefruit and blueberry Greek yogurt, eaten separately. Life is good ... until the power goes out. But I have a place to go with underground power lines, so life will still be fine. 

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

I'd intended to make corn chowder, but I like it so well without the corn, I decided not to go there.

 

Most things taste better without the corn!

[chromedome]

4 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

There's a rare snow and/or ice storm bearing down on us with record low temps forecast, and I was lucky to get any bread at all. There were long runs of empty shelves in the bread area, but there were a few more expensive brands left. I also had to get 1% milk because the 2% and whole were gone. Some stores sold out of these items altogether. There were films on the local news of feet upon feet of empty bread shelves and empty egg and milk coolers. 

 

 

A few years ago, when my US-bred wife was alive, there was a major blizzard working its way towards us up the East Coast. My wife was tracking it through the various weather services, and after monitoring the storm's process she switched over to the news. She started with several US outlets, which showed endless lines of people cleaning the stores out of milk, bread, and bottled water. Then she turned to the local CBC website, which had a video of staff shaking their heads over a run on beer that had nearly cleaned out the liquor stores. 

"That," she said, "Tells you everything you need to know about New Brunswickers."

 

ETA, for the benefit of American readers: New Brunswick, like most Canadian provinces, maintains a provincial monopoly on alcohol sales. You can only get beer at government-run liquor stores and their official agency outlets (in smaller towns that wouldn't support a full-scale liquor store). 

Edited January 6, 2017 by chromedome
clarification (log)

[Ranz]

21 hours ago, Shel_B said:

It looks to me that there's a big glob of unmelted fat right in the center of the roll.  Is that

 

the case?  After 48-hours of cooking, I'd have though all the fat would have been rendered

out.  To what temperature did you cook the brisket?

 

58C. There was a bit of it but it was delicious. I don't mind some fat with my meat. Enough of it had rendered in my opinion.

 

23 hours ago, Steve Irby said:

Here's a batch of Ukrainian style sausage that I made over the weekend.  It's a beef and pork sausage that is poached, air dried, then smoked.  it's doing double duty this week for lunch and dinner.  

 

 

Wow.

 

Edited January 7, 2017 by Ranz (log)

[Norm Matthews]

7 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

I'm not sure why you find Asian use of tomatoes so strange. They are widely used.

 

China and Japan not so much maybe as say, southern Asia, but they are used. The one dish every Chinese student can make is scrambled egg with tomato. See here. In fact, China grows more tomatoes than the rest of the world put together.

And we don't eat everything with rice!

That said a recipe for any dish won't necessarily mention the accompanying rice. I might give you a recipe for chicken with mushrooms and take it as a given that you will eat it with rice. No need to mention it. Just the same as me giving you my method for grilling a steak but not mentioning the potatoes I expect you will eat with it.

 

 

The picture of the cabbage rolls showed it served in a bowl with the thin sauce.  I opted to serve it with rice on the same plate because I thought my Korean son would like it that way.  When I said 'no rice' I meant that rice is usually included in stuffed cabbage filling, rather than on the side.  Perhaps I should have said 'unusual' instead of 'strange'.   I have several Japanese and Korean cookbooks and I can't recall the use of tomatoes in any of them.  I have seen tomatoes in a few Chinese recipes though.  At the time, It seemed to me that I have started seeing a few Japanese recipes (from Japanese cooks who live in Japan) which I thought showed Western influences. My son was not surprised at all.  He is of the opinion that Japanese food is quite widely influenced by other cultures.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Norm Matthews (log)

[liuzhou]

53 minutes ago, Norm Matthews said:

I meant that rice is usually included in stuffed cabbage filling

 

Perhaps in the US. I often make stuffed cabbage of various sorts. Seldom with rice.

 

54 minutes ago, Norm Matthews said:

My son was not surprised at all.  He is of the opinion that Japanese food is quite widely influenced by other cultures.

 

He is correct.

[Shelby]

Had to have fish after seeing @HungryChris 's  --fried up some shrimp that needed to be used, too.  And oysters.  Was going to make Oysters Rockefeller.....but I suffered an attack of laziness.  Plus they are so good just plain as they are.

 

[zend]

SV lamb with wine-braised cabbage. 

Lamb was supposed to stay 20 hrs @ 61C but ended up 28 hours in the bath. The whole thing went in the oven for a couple of hours; big advantage is that the SV finishing step could be forgot - the meat got a very nice finishing from the oven. 

 

 

[shain]

Risotto with butternut squash, sharp gorgonzola, crisp apples, pumpkin seeds.
The risotto is flavored with onion & celery, sauteed in butter, glazed with wine and blended; oregano, thyme and pepper.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but I promise that there is some rice under all the veggies and cheese...

[kayb]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Had to have fish after seeing @HungryChris 's  --fried up some shrimp that needed to be used, too.  And oysters.  Was going to make Oysters Rockefeller.....but I suffered an attack of laziness.  Plus they are so good just plain as they are.

 

 

 

Re: raw oysters vs Rockefeller or other preps. If they ain't broke, why fix 'em?

 

[liuzhou]

10 minutes ago, kayb said:

Re: raw oysters vs Rockefeller or other preps. If they ain't broke, why fix 'em?

 

That's my gal!

 

I've never found a cooked oyster that could match a raw one.

[chileheadmike]

1 hour ago, liuzhou said:

 

That's my gal!

 

I've never found a cooked oyster that could match a raw one.

I generally agree, but I do love a fried oyster po boy.

[Dejah]

17 hours ago, Anna N said:

I had promised myself a large hunk of protein as part of tonight's meal but when it came time for dinner I chose to make this broccoli salad somewhat adapted from here .

 

 

 

Have everything in the fridge...sounds like a plan!

[Dejah]

Temps still warranted "extreme temperature warning", so more comfort food to warm the belly:

Cooked in a small cast iron pot: rice with cured Chinese bacon, sausage, and duck. Was making some chicken and mushroom filling for steamed baos, so threw some of that in with the rice. A bowl of chayote and pork bone soup made a lovely meal.

Had to fight for the crispy rice (flavoured with all the oils and seasoning) on the bottom of the pot!

                   

                                     

[rotuts]

@Ranz  

 

Id love to hear more about your Brisket Roll.  

 

times and temps ?  was 48 H tender enough for you ?  seasonings pre-SV ?

 

as Tasty looking as Tasty gets

[suzilightning]

7 hours ago, chromedome said:

 

A few years ago, when my US-bred wife was alive, there was a major blizzard working its way towards us up the East Coast. My wife was tracking it through the various weather services, and after monitoring the storm's process she switched over to the news. She started with several US outlets, which showed endless lines of people cleaning the stores out of milk, bread, and bottled water. 

She forgot the eggs...

We have a joke here in New Jersey that French toast is the official food of snowstorms because if one is predicted you can't find bread, milk or eggs anywhere!

[zend]

6 hours ago, Norm Matthews said:

 

The picture of the cabbage rolls showed it served in a bowl with the thin sauce.  I opted to serve it with rice on the same plate because I thought my Korean son would like it that way.  When I said 'no rice' I meant that rice is usually included in stuffed cabbage filling, rather than on the side.  Perhaps I should have said 'unusual' instead of 'strange'.   I have several Japanese and Korean cookbooks and I can't recall the use of tomatoes in any of them.  

 

 

Hi Norm, 

 

Amazing that Japan has its version of stuffed cabbage rolls. What type of cabbage did you use? Nappa / white - was it fresh or pickled? If fresh, did you boil it before-hand?

 

The Turkish/Middle Eastern/East European versions of stuffed rolls all have rice inside, and most of them use tomato puree in the braise. 

 

Any link to the recipe (or at least the name it goes by in Japan) will be appreciated.

[sartoric]

Felafels with minty pea & yoghurt sauce. 

 

[Norm Matthews]

1 hour ago, zend said:

 

Hi Norm, 

 

Amazing that Japan has its version of stuffed cabbage rolls. What type of cabbage did you use? Nappa / white - was it fresh or pickled? If fresh, did you boil it before-hand?

 

The Turkish/Middle Eastern/East European versions of stuffed rolls all have rice inside, and most of them use tomato puree in the braise. 

 

Any link to the recipe (or at least the name it goes by in Japan) will be appreciated.

I used regular green fresh cabbage and boiled it to soften the leaves. I had not seen a cabbage roll recipe that did not use rice, well excpt one used barley, but I did a search and found quite a few.  To see the recipe, click on the normmatthewsblogspot link at the end of this post.

Edited January 6, 2017 by Norm Matthews (log)

[Norm Matthews]

How To Make Stuffed Cabbage Rolls - Japanese Version (Recipe) is shown in a video on You Tube.

[robirdstx]

Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Stew

 

 

The Stew is a combination of many of the ingredients in my Country Captain and Hong Kong Style Chicken recipes. The photo shows the Stew just before it went into the oven. It is smelling good! Naan to be served alongside!

 

[robirdstx]

Out of the oven and into my bowl.

 

 

 

[Ranz]

5 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Ranz  

 

Id love to hear more about your Brisket Roll.  

 

times and temps ?  was 48 H tender enough for you ?  seasonings pre-SV ?

 

as Tasty looking as Tasty gets

 

@rotuts

 

It was pre-packed and frozen by my local trustworthy butcher, so I just chucked it in at 58C. 48Hrs later I salted the exterior it and put it in a 230C oven for 8 minutes a side. It was plenty tender, but a tiny bit on the dry side for me. Next time I might go for 55C/56C and think about searing on a cast iron.

 

My fiancee loved it but it came shy of being perfect for me.