Dinner 2017 (Part 6)

[chileheadmike]

17 hours ago, Norm Matthews said:

Just heard this: The New York Post just named Joe's Kansas City BBQ as the best BBQ restaurant in America.  We went there for a late lunch but the line was out the door so we went elsewhere.

I've waited in their line, seems to move pretty quickly. 

 

I think there are other places to that do individual items better than Joe's, LC's for burnt ends, Brobeck's out in Leawood for ribs, SLAPs has excellent brisket, but for consistency across all items, Joe's KC probably is the best. I don't think I'll ever get used to calling it Joe's Kansas City. 

[Norm Matthews]

If you call in an order, you can go right in and get it when it's ready.  We went in on a whim yesterday at 3:30, thinking the line would be shorter. We were going to go to Cheesecake Factory for my birthday but decided to go there instead because we drove right by and it's close to where I live in Olathe. But we had been shopping and walking a lot and I was getting tired and didn't want to stand up that long.  In the end we decided that Cheesecake was probably busy too and went to a Tex Mex place across the street from Joe's.

 

When I first moved back to Kansas City, 5 years ago, we went there a couple of times and the lines were short.  (Frankly I think my backyard BBQ is as good or better most of the time but this was a time when I wanted to go out)

[Tri2Cook]

A Korean-inspired burrito. Bulgogi beef, kimchi fried rice, shredded romaine lettuce and scallions. Made a sauce with kimchi juice, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sesame oil and Korean chile flakes. And since it's a burrito of sorts, there's a little Brick cheese in there as well. I started having second thoughts about that during assembly but it actually worked great.

[ElainaA]

I suspect I have posted this exact meal before. Grill-smoked steel head trout, beet and horseradish salad, potato salad. And a green salad that didn't make the picture. A replica of a meal I ate some years ago in Vienna and since then in a Viennese Heuriger here in the Finger Lakes area. (My husband's company installed and takes care of their plumbing/HVAC. He emailed the owners asking for the beet salad recipe and they sent it to us. (Always be nice to your plumber!) Very vaguely. A list of ingredients with no amounts given. I used it as a stepping stone. I like the result. It is very simple.)

Edited July 17, 2017 by ElainaA (log)

[Norm Matthews]

We had Creole rice and Shrimp and Corn Soup, also a Creole style dish.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Last night was ground beef, onion and hot pepper enchiladas topped with shredded cheddar. I had black beans and a lettuce and tomato salad with sour cream along with the enchiladas. 

 

Tonight, after Norm mentioning Joe's BBQ and kayb and chileheadmike chiming in with their favorites, of course I had to go check them all out on Yelp and look at all the BBQ porn. So ... ribs tonight with a nuked sweet potato with butter and salt and fried zucchini. The vegetables both came from Cottle Farms in Faison, NC, less than 70 miles from here. Both Food Lion and Harris Teeter are making an effort this year to bring our local produce into the grocery stores for us customers, and I really appreciate it.

[kayb]

No photos, but...

 

Used some of @ElainaA's roasted cherry tomato sauce I had in the fridge as the basis for what wound up an excellent meat sauce for dinner yesterday. Sauteed a diced onion, browned a pound of ground beef. Added a couple ounces of tomato paste. Pureed the roasted cherry tomato sauce with a stick blender. Added it, as well as a cup of homemade tomato sauce from last year's batch, and simmered for 30 minutes or so. Added fresh, minced basil and oregano from the herb garden, and a couple of pinches of red pepper flakes. Pretty marvelous.

 

Served it over a combo of tortellini and small ravioli I'd picked up at Aldi; had one two-portion package of each, and three adults, so thought we'd need more. Tortellini was excellent; ravioli, not so much. Cheese-filled, and the cheese seemed chalky, for want of a better descriptor.  I picked out and chunked the remaining ravs, and dished up some leftover tortellini with some leftover sauce, as well as a dish of just sauce that will serve nicely on English muffin halves or flatbreads as "mini pizza" with some cheese.

[Captain]

Thick & hearty Pea & Ham soup.

This is such a favorite for us and have been wanting to get it on the table all winter.  It's taken till now to find some smoked hocks.

[liuzhou]

This is not all of dinner last night, but it was the centrepiece. Steamed sea bass.

 

I de-scaled and gutted the fish (the fishmonger would do this, but when I bought it I wasn't sure how I would prepare it and anyway, I'm a masochist who is never happier than when elbow deep in fish entrails.), then slashed its body on both sides. Rubbed it inside and out with Shaoxing wine and salt. Finely sliced ginger, chilli, wild rice stems (Zizania latifolia), shiitake mushrooms are inserted in the cavity, the body cuts and scattered around the fish.

 

Ready for the steamer

 

Ready for the steamer (close up)

 

It was then steamed for 15 minutes and served with rice, a  soy sauce/ black vinegar dip, stir-fried greenery etc.

 

 

Too much for one, but I'll be having a sort of pseudo-kedgeree for breakfast. No complaints.

 

Edited August 16, 2017 by liuzhou
testing (log)

[robirdstx]

Chicken 'Curry' Stew with Potatoes and Carrots

 

 

[chefmd]

Roasted chicken with fried "green" tomato.  I bought tomato while green but it was quietly trying to become red, so I fried it );

 

Edited July 18, 2017 by chefmd (log)

[ElainaA]

Tonight the first corn of the season! Fresh corn has a relatively short season here so while it is available we only pretend to eat anything else for dinner. (Tonight we pretended to eat  small steaks and a salad, There was steak and salad left over. But no corn.) It is still not strictly local - from Ovid, over on the edge of Cayuga Lake, But close enough. And very good. 

[liuzhou]

I accidentally made what is probably the best soup I have ever achieved. As usual it looks like a muddy pond in the picture, but the taste! Oh, the taste.

 

 

One of the local supermarkets sells these packs of chicken offcuts - wing tips, head, backbone etc - but it seems the butcher there is a bit heavy handed at the chopping and the selection also includes quite a lot of good meat. I occasionally buy a pack specifically for making stock. 

 

Yesterday, I did that and stuck the chicken in a slow cooker with ginger and a couple of goji berries. I had a container of some dried cèpe soaking liquid, so I used that instead of water to cover. Left it all day (because I forgot about it). Today, I soaked some dried shiitake and then added their liquid to the drained stock from yesterday (all the meat and ginger/goji mash were discarded).

 

I had some pork tenderloin which I cut into slivers. Ditto some Jinhua ham. Sliced the rehydrated shiitake and also some fresh shiitake, some wild rice stems (Zizania latifolia) and chopped onion. A load of ground white pepper and the secret ingredient* which brought it all together.

*juice of half a lemon.

 

Darn, it was good if I say so myself.

 

Followed by simple, fishy fried rice using the leftover sea bass from yesterday's dinner (above), with yellow bell pepper, red chili and asparagus

 

 

Edited September 23, 2017 by liuzhou
typos (log)

[mgaretz]

Dinner last night was wood-fired roasted chicken and red potatoes, salad and a nice '08 Oppolo Zin that was still excellent.

 

 

 

[sartoric]

Kerala mussels fry, rescued spicy mash, baby eggplants, turmeric rice and a large chopped salad with chaat masala. There was also a little gunpowder chutney and lime pickle. 

[mm84321]

A cheese sandwich. Not toasted. Just thickly sliced cheese between two pieces of sandwich bread. The trick is to compress the bread and cheese together using the side of a cleaver for ease of consumption and synthesis of individuated components.

[Captain]

Burger night.  Not that that's a regular thing.

I grounded a Kilo of Chuck to mince. So much better doing it this way & far more satisfying.

Note;  Burgers In Australia must have Beetroot

These included Bacon, Egg, fried Onion, Tomato and some green stuff.  

Huge.

[scubadoo97]

Last nights dinner.  Amberjack with lentils and salad

 

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Last night was a freshly store-ground chuck burger on a grilled bun with mayo, mustard, a slice of white onion, green leaf lettuce and a Campari tomato. It hit the spot. No sides, but I tried to eat a peach that got a little smushed on its trip home from the store in my backpack. The reason it got smushed is that is was overripe and mealy. I fear the other three peaches in the fridge are like that too, and that it may be the end of a short, but spectacular local peach season. After unceremoniously pitching the offending peach into the woods for the coons, I consoled myself with a couple of Krispy Kreme donuts microwaved for a few seconds to warm them up. 

 

Tonight was an enormous salad of green leaf lettuce, sliced strawberries and blueberries, dressed with about equal parts olive oil, white vinegar, sugar and soy sauce. I love this salad. Then I had a couple of very meaty leftover pork ribs and a bowl of extra creamy grits, thanks to this tip from Sylvia Lovegren. I'm stuffed and satisfied now, but I'm not ruling out more Krispy Kreme deliciousness later tonight.

[mm84321]

Garden sandwich, prior to grilling and eating 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night was chicken Tetrazzini, Joy of Cooking.  A staple here.  Tonight (a work night) was grilled lamb and Stouffer's spinach soufflé.  Due to a tragic, tragic oversight I started cooking the frozen soufflé in the CSO on convection bake rather than on steam bake.

 

It took forever and the skin on the soufflé was coriaceous.  Please, CSO owners, learn from my mistake.

 

[Shelby]

I had a super busy day yesterday and even though it's a zillion degrees outside I decided to do a pork roast in the slow cooker.  I'm so glad I did.  I was exhausted by the end of the day and it was nice to have most of the meal already done.  This recipe is so easy and good.  I need to do it more often.  I prep this the night before and leave in the fridge overnight.  Make slits in the roast and shove garlic cloves in all over, salt and pepper, brown in a skillet.  Place in the slow cooker on top of two onions that have been sliced into rings.  Pour in a cup of hot water that has 2 generous TB. of soy sauce in it.  Cook on low for 8 hours--mine was more like 11.  Take the roast out.  Mix together 2 TB of water and 2 TB of cornstarch.  Pour into the slow cooker and bring to a boil (mine boils if I put in on high).  This makes a nice gravy.

 

 

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

It took forever and the skin on the soufflé was coriaceous. 

Coriaceousness is so over rated...unless of course your name is Imelda Marcos. 

[lindag]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

I had a super busy day yesterday and even though it's a zillion degrees outside I decided to do a pork roast in the slow cooker.  I'm so glad I did.  I was exhausted by the end of the day and it was nice to have most of the meal already done.  This recipe is so easy and good.  I need to do it more often.  I prep this the night before and leave in the fridge overnight.  Make slits in the roast and shove garlic cloves in all over, salt and pepper, brown in a skillet.  Place in the slow cooker on top of two onions that have been sliced into rings.  Pour in a cup of hot water that has 2 generous TB. of soy sauce in it.  Cook on low for 8 hours--mine was more like 11.  Take the roast out.  Mix together 2 TB of water and 2 TB of cornstarch.  Pour into the slow cooker and bring to a boil (mine boils if I put in on high).  This makes a nice gravy.

 

 

 

Which cut of pork did you use, please?  I have a couple of pork sirloin roasts (from Costco) that I need to get out of the freezer.  The first one I cooked in the oven and it wasn't as tender and flavorful as I'd like.

I think I'll try your method.

[Shelby]

6 minutes ago, lindag said:

Which cut of pork did you use, please?  I have a couple of pork sirloin roasts (from Costco) that I need to get out of the freezer.  The first one I cooked in the oven and it wasn't as tender and flavorful as I'd like.

I think I'll try your method.

It was a shoulder roast.