Dinner 2018

[Tropicalsenior]

1 minute ago, chromedome said:

Ground Beef."

 I love it! But did he have to eat it?

[chromedome]

It was sold at auction, so someone else got the benefit. 

 

My late wife was a chef's daughter, so she (like me) grew up with an unsentimental attitude. Her parents used to buy a lamb every spring, for lawn care and culinary purposes. She would play with it all spring, loving on it, feeding it flowers and putting ribbons around its neck, then come inside and ask her mother "Is Lamb Chop ready to eat yet?" 

 

At one point when I was a child my father decided to supplement his snaring of wild hares by picking up a breeding pair of domesticated rabbits. My sister and I decided, logically enough, that she would name the doe and I would name the buck. As I was deliberating, my father came by and overheard what was going on. "Call him Stew" was his suggestion. My best friend's name was Stewart, so I went with that quite happily. It took a month or two for the penny to drop. 

[Dejah]

On 2/3/2018 at 9:17 AM, liuzhou said:

Pig Offal Soup with Goji Vegetable

Unfortunately, I have to wait for spring to get our treat of gogi vegetables.

What did Pig Offal include?

[mgaretz]

Last night I made another batch of my Blasphemy Ribs (baby backs smoked as individual ribs instead of a rack).  Served with cole slaw with my homemade dressing and tater tots.  

 

 

Here's a close-up of a rib interior:

 

 

I also made a batch of char siu ribs at the same time because the wife prefers that style:

 

 

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, Dejah said:

Unfortunately, I have to wait for spring to get our treat of gogi vegetables.

What did Pig Offal include?

 

Kidney, intestine, tripe, heart and unidentified frying objects.

Edited February 5, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[kayb]

16 hours ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Thank you for the link. If it is true, that we eat first with our eyes, this site is a real feast. I only wish that I were close enough to take advantage of it.

I do have to admit that at first sight, I had a senior moment. I missed the link completely. My first impression was that you were raising your own beef and I thought OMG, he has broken my father's first rule of raising livestock. You never name the animals that you raise for food. It brought back memories of the time that we ate Charlie, my sister’s prize 4H steer. None of us had much appetite for beef that winter.

 

 

I named the first calf we ever raised for slaughter (after I helped deliver him). Could NOT eat Frosty. Never named another one.

[menuinprogress]

 

Smoked duck.

 

[scubadoo97]

Your duck looks fabulous

[dcarch]

I was digging to bury some kitchen scraps. The ground was somewhat frozen. I was pleasantly surprised to find these that I missed to harvest last fall. 

So carrots and steak for dinner.

 

dcarch

[ProfessionalHobbit]

For dinner tonight, we had

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pasta con sugo di costine di maiale 

Green beans and endive braised in an olive oil bath with garlic, Meyer lemon and anchovy

 

The spareribs were seasoned with salt and pepper, then set aside for 15 minutes. Then browned in 2 tbsp. olive oil with garlic on all sides, then added 1 28 oz. can whole plum tomatoes and 1/3 that amount of water, along with a little more salt and some torn basil leaves. Brought liquid to a boil, then covered and braised for two hours. Uncovered during the last 10 minutes and simmered on high to reduce and thicken the sauce. This is technically two dishes in one. Tossed with some cooked pasta with sauce and grated pecorino cheese, and served that as a first course. The second course consisted of the ribs with more sauce.

 

The recipe for the contorno is here but I reduced the amount of olive oil by 50% and substituted green beans and curly-leaf endive.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Georgian Tabaka from Tiko Tuskadze's Supra (p140).  She says when she was little she ate Tabaka almost every day and recently I find myself not far behind.  Served, perhaps less traditionally, with Peruvian aji amarillo sauce and tater tots.

 

Accompanied by Vietnamese stir-fried green beans from The Slanted Door:

 

 

 

Chartreuse Green V.E.P. as the digestive.

 

 

 

Edit:  from The Slanted Door cookbook -- I'm a bit far from San Francisco for takeout.

 

Edited February 5, 2018 by JoNorvelleWalker
duh (log)

[CantCookStillTry]

Courgette ribbons with yellow cherry mato, crispy pepperoni, olive, kale and parmesan, oh and chilli lots of chilli - crowned with a very dead egg. Served in my big old pasta bowls that I love and he who is fed hates . 

 

[Tropicalsenior]

3 hours ago, CantCookStillTry said:

he who is fed

 Your food just looks better and better all the time. Nice to meet another Rumpole fan.

[liuzhou]

 

Pork and Pasta.

 

Linguine with pork, shallots, celery, carrots, garlic, chilli, cherry tomatoes. Quick and simple.

I'd sell my grandmother for some decent fresh herbs, but China doesn't do anything other than coriander leaf/ cilantro (occasionally  mint and parsley, but neither are in season now - not that I'd want mint in my pasta) and I refuse to use dried basil - pointless stuff. Yet, I'm just north of the border with Vietnam where basil is ubiquitous. While China is known for eating everything, in fact it's quite conservative in which varieties of anything it eats.

[ElsieD]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Georgian Tabaka from Tiko Tuskadze's Supra (p140).  She says when she was little she ate Tabaka almost every day and recently I find myself not far behind.  Served, perhaps less traditionally, with Peruvian aji amarillo sauce and tater tots.

 

Accompanied by Vietnamese stir-fried green beans from The Slanted Door:

 

is 

 

 

Chartreuse Green V.E.P. as the digestive.

 

 

I have a jar of Peruvian aji amarillo.  How do you make the sauce?

[KennethT]

27 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Pork and Pasta.

 

Linguine with pork, shallots, celery, carrots, garlic, chilli, cherry tomatoes. Quick and simple.

I'd sell my grandmother for some decent fresh herbs, but China doesn't do anything other than coriander leaf/ cilantro (occasionally  mint and parsley, but neither are in season now - not that I'd want mint in my pasta) and I refuse to use dried basil - pointless stuff. Yet, I'm just north of the border with Vietnam where basil is ubiquitous. While China is known for eating everything, in fact it's quite conservative in which varieties of anything it eats.

 

I've had mint in pasta before at nice Italian restaurants in NYC... it works really well in combination with chili.. just not too much!

 

Have you ever seen Italian basil in Vietnam?  I've only seen the purple stemmed kind, what we call Thai basil.

[Tropicalsenior]

23 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

I'd sell my grandmother for some decent fresh herbs

 Is there any chance that someone could send you some seeds? Most herbs will do quite well in a pot in a sunny window. I have a totally brown thumb but I manage to keep my favorites going in pots, not because I can't buy them here, but because I usually only use a small amount and they wind up as nasty little bags of goo in my refrigerator after a few days.

[Tropicalsenior]

13 minutes ago, KennethT said:

purple stemmed kind, what we call Thai basil.

 I grew some a while back and I quite like the flavor but I found it it is only good for salads and to stir in a dish at the very last minute. If you cook it any longer than that, it gives the dish the appearance that you have stirred in a whole flock of flies. Very unpleasant.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Tropicalsenior
Editing correction (log)

[liuzhou]

13 minutes ago, KennethT said:

 

I've had mint in pasta before at nice Italian restaurants in NYC... it works really well in combination with chili.. just not too much!

 

Have you ever seen Italian basil in Vietnam?  I've only seen the purple stemmed kind, what we call Thai basil.

 

Yes

 

13 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

 Is there any chance that someone could send you some seeds? Most herbs will do quite well in a pot in a sunny window. I have a totally brown thumb but I manage to keep my favorites going in pots, not because I can't buy them here, but because I usually only use a small amount and they wind up as nasty little bags of goo in my refrigerator after a few days.

 

It is illegal to import seeds. I did buy some here, but none germinated.

[Tropicalsenior]

9 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

none germinated.

Sometimes you have to trick them. some seeds like dill are cold weather seeds and you have to put them in the refrigerator for a week. Others need extra moisture at the beginning and you can put them in a folded, wet cloth for a few days until they sprout. Worth a try.

It's illegal to import seeds here, too. I had a friend who  always got seeds from her daughter in letters with the seeds glued to the page as punctuation.

Edited February 5, 2018 by Tropicalsenior (log)

[liuzhou]

4 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

Sometimes you have to trick them. some seeds like dill are cold weather seeds and you have to put them in the refrigerator for a week. Others need extra moisture at the beginning and you can put them in a folded, wet cloth for a few days until they sprout. Worth a try.

 

 

Yeah,  I know.  I have a thriving community of plants on my balcony and every window sill, all raised from seeds. The basil seeds were stone dead.

Edited February 5, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[ElsieD]

20 minutes ago, Tropicalsenior said:

 I grew some a while back and I quite like the flavor but I found it it is only good for salads and to stir in a dish at the very last minute. If you cook it any longer than that, it gives the dish the appearance that you have stirred in a whole flock of flies. Very unpleasant.

 

 

@Tropicalsenior  Do you grow cilantro in pots?  I've tried, and failed miserably.  I have grown bay leaf, rosemary, thyme and parsley but cilantro eludes me.  I have even tried gtowing cilantro from seeds that were meant to grow in pots. It is the one herb we use a lot of.

[Tropicalsenior]

@ElsieDI have grown cilantro. The trick seems to be that you have to thin it quite vigorously when it's about 3 or 4 inches high and to make sure that it doesn't go to seed. it needs space, sun, and quite a bit of moisture.

[KennethT]

@ElsieDI find that the biggest issue with cilantro is temperature - if it gets slightly too warm, it bolts.  There are some "slower bolting" varieties available, but I've never tried them.  It never works to grow in my windowsill just because it gets too hot when the sun comes out (my window is southern facing).  Even in winter, when the sun is out, it's like 90 degrees right by the window...  Maybe a fan on it to blow room temp air at it?  Or maybe stick it in a corner (with little natural light) and a compact fluorescent bulb on a timer....

[Tropicalsenior]

@KennethT Thank you for correcting me. Now that I think about it, the space where I have mine does get shade in the afternoon.