Lunch! What'd ya have? (2018)

[BonVivant]

Austria meets Scotland.

 

All from leftover bits (save for the cresses).

 

Based on the original dish mac and cheese from Switzerland "alpine macaroni".

 

Apple compote alongside, the way it is served at the source.

 

I used Comté.

 

A big "fry-up". Potato puffs.

 

Smoked herring, hot-smoked salmon bellies, fried assorted fresh roe.

 

Made the apple sauce myself, always. Grated horseradish in the crème fraîche.

[rotuts]

nice

 

@BonVivant

 

really nice

 

I haven't had 

 

Shropshire Blue in a long long time

 

Im going to have to dig some up , somewhere !

[robirdstx]

 

Grilled Fish Tacos, Ocean Grille, Crystal Beach, Bolivar Peninsula 

[liuzhou]

3 hours ago, BonVivant said:

Austria meets Scotland.

 

Which part is Scotland?

[liuzhou]

Mere hours after muttering on the Dinner topic lamenting the lack of basil here in southern China despite being very near the Vietnamese border, I go out this morning and, near my home, find this place that wasn't there last week.

 

 

I passed by and went to do what I had come out for, but returned for lunch. Despite the name (in which the Vietnamese is slightly wrong - it should be Bánh Cuốn Việt Nam), it was entirely Chinese run, but the bánh cuốn was just like I have had in Hanoi.

 

I forgot to take a picture, but here is a public domain image found via the interwebs which s very similar to what I ate. They weren't quite so generous with the basil. Of course, I asked where they got the basil and was given a withering stare and told "Vietnam".

 

 

By the way, the Chinese name of the restaurant, 正宗越南卷粉 zhèng zōng yuè nán juǎn fěn means 'Authentic Vietnamese Rice Rolls".

Edited February 6, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[BonVivant]

6 hours ago, liuzhou said:

 

Which part is Scotland?

 

I meant to say Ireland. Ireland! Want to make something Scottish that is similar to farls with leftover potatoes.

 

Also, I think Vietnamese Banh Cuon has more mince. But hey, at least you got basil.

 

8 hours ago, rotuts said:

nice

 

@BonVivant

 

really nice

 

I haven't had 

 

Shropshire Blue in a long long time

 

Im going to have to dig some up , somewhere !

 

Shropshire Blue is nice but the 3 year-old Comte is extremely hard to find outside of the Jura. This is the first time I ever saw it. My favourite cheesemonger* finally got hold of it and alerted me. (*Yes, I have favourite and not so favourite cheesemongers)

Edited February 6, 2018 by BonVivant (log)

[liuzhou]

1 minute ago, BonVivant said:

 

I meant to say Ireland. Ireland! Want to make something Scottish that is similar to farls with leftover potatoes.

 

Also, I think Vietnamese Banh Cuon has more mince. But hey, at least you got basil.

 

The word 'farls' is certainly Scottish - it meant a quarter - but in Scotland usually refers to oat cakes.

Potato farls are, I'm very sure, Irish. Maybe Scots Irish.

My confusion arose from my not noticing your caption indicating the potato farls (I have problems with low contrast in pictures. My problem; not yours)

 

There are many varieties of bánh cuốn!

 

 

[robirdstx]

 

Beef Taco Nachos 

 

[HungryChris]

Some tiny, locally farmed oysters and an artichoke fresh out of the IP (high pressure 14 minutes, manual release) with a bit of spicy, lemon & garlic aioli.

HC

[Anna N]

 

 Small savoury bread pudding. I winged this one. Sausage meat, a shallot, a couple of cremini mushrooms, a torn up ciabatta bun and a custard of one cup of cream and two eggs.  Forgot to mention some cheese both cheddar and gruyere. 

Edited February 7, 2018 by Anna N
To mention the cheeses which were also included. (log)

[HungryChris]

Between stacking a recent firewood delivery and meeting with the garage door opener guy, I skipped breakfast and by lunch time, I was pretty hungry. Fortunately, I had a roll, a head of cabbage, a few remaining slices of salami, provolone cheese, a decent tomato and some chips from Aldi.

HC

[Anna N]

 

Salad with the remaining half of a smoked duck breast. Two little gem lettuces (I prepared these in the manner of Jamie Oliver. Slice through the lettuce to separate about a half of the top from the bottom, separate the top part into individual petals and julienne the remainder), Campari tomatoes, the green part of two scallions, cut diagonally,  and the duck breast with the skin crisped.  The dressing was a homemade creamy garlic. Might have benefitted from a few  crispy croutons. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[Nicolai]

Heyyyyyyyyyy. It's Sunny Thursday and Thursday is Fish day.

 

So we went to a Lebanese Fish restaurant by the Sea where the house special is Salt Crusted Fish.

 

We started with selecting the Fish, in this case it was Hamour (Grouper).

 

Drinks: a Dry White Lebanese Ksara - Sparkling water

 

The Cold Starters were:

 

 

1- Humos of course

 

 

 

 

 

 

2- Raheb (grilled Aubergine, green and red Pepper with Lemon and Olive oil)

 

 

 

 

 

3- Tabbouleh of course

 

 

 

 

 

4- Roka and Green Zaatar salad (Rocket, Thyme, Purslane and Tomatoes)

 

 

 

Hot Starters

 

 

5- Yemeni Bread

 

 

 

 

6- Batata Harra (Potatoes diced and Cooked with Coriander and Spices)

 

 

 

 

7- Whitebait

 

 

 

 

8- Red Snapper

 

 

 

 

9- Kibbet Lakteen (off camera)

Pumpkin and Cracked Wheat shells filled with Spinach, Humos and Pomegranate, deep fried

 

 

 

 

The hero of the day: Salt Crusted Grouper with a selection of sauces: Harra, Tarator and Traboulsie.

 

The Before:

 

 

 

 

 

The After:

 

 

 

 

The Dessert to die for:

 

 

Ashta (Clotted Cream) Ice Cream with Mastika and Rose Water covered with a Duvet of Cotton Candy sprinkled with Pistachios

 

 

 

 

And finally strong black Najjar Coffee with Cardamon

[heidih]

@Nicolai   It all looks wonderful. The fish appears perfectly fried and I'm sure the salt-baked fellow was succulent. No money shot of the flesh?

[heidih]

@Nicolai  I for got to ask - was the dessert like this one featured in the New Yorker a few days ago?  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-syrian-baker-whos-bringing-the-middle-easts-most-famous-ice-cream-to-california

[Nicolai]

9 minutes ago, heidih said:

@Nicolai   It all looks wonderful. The fish appears perfectly fried and I'm sure the salt-baked fellow was succulent. No money shot of the flesh?

Thank you. It was.

 

I am afraid we were busy stuffing our faces and I did not take any pics.

[Nicolai]

27 minutes ago, heidih said:

@Nicolai  I for got to ask - was the dessert like this one featured in the New Yorker a few days ago?  https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-gastronomy/the-syrian-baker-whos-bringing-the-middle-easts-most-famous-ice-cream-to-california

 

Yes. It should be similar.

 

Originally, the Ice Cream (Bouza is a generic name for Ice Cream and does not specify it for Ahsta Ice Cream,, in which case it is called Bouza b'Ashta)) was simply sprinkled with crushed Pistachios as made famous by Baghdash in the Damascus Souk el Hamidiyeh.

 

Nowadays, it is partnered with Ghazl el Banat which translates to the Girls (wool/cotton) spinning. In fact it is a very old recipe for candied spun sugar.

 

When eating Ashta Ice Cream. You are supposed to mash the Ice Cream with the spoon to soften it before eating as it releases the Mastika flavour.

To the best of my knowledge, The original Baghdash Ice Cream does not contain Rose Water and definitely not sprnikled on top as the NewYorker article.

 

It is really a delicacy to be tried on your 100 to do list.

I usually have my Arabic Ice Cream at one of Baghdash Ice Cream Parlor at the Dubai Mall when I am there.

 

I am getting my better half Ghazl el Banat for Valentines day as she likes it very much. 

I will try to post some pics. 

Edited February 8, 2018 by Nicolai (log)

[blue_dolphin]

That looks amazing, @Nicolai  The first time I had salt-baked fish was in Istanbul.  The friends I was traveling with made some serious rug purchases so the rug merchants took us out to a lovely restaurant with outdoor seating right next to the Bosphorus and everything was marvelous.  Thanks for rekindling a great memory!

 

Salmon & asparagus bruschetta from Ottolenghi. I love all things on toast and thought this sounded great - crusty bread, toasted and rubbed with garlic, cream cheese, lightly cooked fresh asparagus and salmon, oven-poached in wine with lemon, juniper berries and bay leaves.
I followed the recipe, except for substituting fennel greens for the requested chervil in the garnish.

It was OK but needed a little somethin' somethin' so I ended up adding some thinly sliced preserved lemon - perfect!

[rotuts]

Lunch was at Pepe's Pizzeria

 

Not in NewHaven , but W of Boaton :

 

 

top is the mandatory White Clam

 

and botom Bacon.

 

superb crust

 

the WC was good to very good , while hot.   Clams , garlic etc

 

the bacon was superb.   as good as pizza gets.   good quality bacon w some smoke to it , but not overwhelming.

 

I have a little of each left.

 

about 3 months worth of NaCl right in front of you!

 

Id happily go back for the bacon pizza.

 

P.S.:    Pepe's seem to have 7 places now in CT , one in Yonker and one in ChestnutHill MA

 

very very good if you like thin crust pizza.

Edited February 9, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[liuzhou]

Actually brunch

 

 

Pork and shiitake wontons in a spicy chicken broth.

[HungryChris]

18 hours ago, rotuts said:

Lunch was at Pepe's Pizzeria

 

Not in NewHaven , but W of Boaton :

 

 

top is the mandatory White Clam

 

and botom Bacon.

 

superb crust

 

the WC was good to very good , while hot.   Clams , garlic etc

 

the bacon was superb.   as good as pizza gets.   good quality bacon w some smoke to it , but not overwhelming.

 

I have a little of each left.

 

about 3 months worth of NaCl right in front of you!

 

Id happily go back for the bacon pizza.

 

P.S.:    Pepe's seem to have 7 places now in CT , one in Yonker and one in ChestnutHill MA

 

very very good if you like thin crust pizza.

 

Coming soon to Providence, RI., I hear. We have been to the one at Mohegan Sun Casino and the one in Manchester, CT., but neither has come close to the New Haven pizza.

HC 

[chefmd]

Short ribs, sautéed onions, rice cooked with a little bit of tomato pulp.  

[robirdstx]

 

A quick taco!

[BonVivant]

OK, so I said I wouldn't make anything remotely Korean until summer. Guess summer is here! Rice sticks 2 ways. The version with soya sauce and vegs precedes the red-sauce version. The latter is absolutely everywhere.

 

In Vienna it's called "Butterschnitzel", everywhere else "meatballs and mash".

 

Gotta have some greens because you know, health.

 

Maatjes herring, beetroot potatoes and confit yolk. My Olympic watching weekend is complete. New routine to be planned according to Olympic schedules.

[HungryChris]

Ham and baby Swiss

HC