Dinner 2019

[Smithy]

I didn't cook any of this, but last night's dinner with good friends simply has to be shared. Their daughter, an inveterate baker, outdid herself with a shepherd's pie with a crust worthy of being included in the Sister Pie cookbook.

 

 

 

Their garden contributed beautiful broccoli that was perfectly steamed and served with a vinaigrette to be added at will.

 

 

There was also a small pitcher of gravy to be added to the pie at will.  We contributed (the first bottle of) wine. Here's dinner:

 

 

It was all finished with a lovely rhubarb crisp, coffee, and liqueurs of our choice.

 

 

Holy smokes, what a meal. The parents are excellent cooks in their own right, but it's a marvel they let the daughter move away!  Not shown: the sparkling conversation. It was a wonderful evening.

[Shelby]

46 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

What did you put on the fish before cooking?

Nothing but Lawry's salt and pepper.  Finished with a squeeze of fresh lemon.

 

Our friend sprays his grill with non-stick spray.  I put a tiny bit of olive oil on the skin/scales too.  They say that if you get the grill hot enough, then it won't stick, but that's hard to do with fish IMO.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

44 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I didn't cook any of this, but last night's dinner with good friends simply has to be shared. Their daughter, an inveterate baker, outdid herself with a shepherd's pie with a crust worthy of being included in the Sister Pie cookbook.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Indeed beautiful!   I'm not familiar with this format Shepherd's Pie.   Can you tell us a little more about the filling?   And the crust?  

[Smithy]

28 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Indeed beautiful!   I'm not familiar with this format Shepherd's Pie.   Can you tell us a little more about the filling?   And the crust?  

 

I just called the cook. She says it's basically her own invention, somewhere between a conventional shepherd's pie and a pasty. It's a double-crust meat pie with mashed potatoes at the bottom (to soak up juices) instead of as a topping, with some celery, carrots, mushrooms and ground beef that had been par-cooked before going into the pan, and of course the potatoes were cooked before being mashed.

 

She says she says the crust is a "really basic" pate brisee, although she didn't put salt in it because she knew the meat dish would already be salty. To accommodate the electic oven she was using, she put the pie on the bottom rack and shielded the pie on top until the pie was mostly cooked, if I understood her correctly. She gave an entertaining description of how she gets better results making the pastry by hand with a pastry blender and swooshing the mixture around rather than using an electronic device such as a food processor; she credits America's Test Kitchen with the technique.

 

Feel free to ask more questions...she's lurking, and will either correct me privately or join the group. Of course I'm encouraging the latter option.  

[Margaret Pilgrim]

13 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Feel free to ask more questions...she's lurking, and will either correct me privately or join the group. Of course I'm encouraging the latter option.  

 

Many thanks and bouquets to the cook!    Ingenious tweakings lead to a superb product.    And, YES, she should be here.    

 

Thanks again, Smithy.

[gfweb]

 

Lasagna

 

 

Flat iron steak 130  1 hour

 

 

 

 

 

Pork tenderloin piccata

 

 

Bratwurst with  dijon cole slaw and apple juice braised cabbage

 

Strip steak with lingonberry/dijon  sauce

 

 

 

Cheeseburger with charred corn salad

 

[demiglace]

2 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

I just called the cook. She says it's basically her own invention, somewhere between a conventional shepherd's pie and a pasty. It's a double-crust meat pie with mashed potatoes at the bottom (to soak up juices) instead of as a topping, with some celery, carrots, mushrooms and ground beef that had been par-cooked before going into the pan, and of course the potatoes were cooked before being mashed.

 

She says she says the crust is a "really basic" pate brisee, although she didn't put salt in it because she knew the meat dish would already be salty. To accommodate the electic oven she was using, she put the pie on the bottom rack and shielded the pie on top until the pie was mostly cooked, if I understood her correctly. She gave an entertaining description of how she gets better results making the pastry by hand with a pastry blender and swooshing the mixture around rather than using an electronic device such as a food processor; she credits America's Test Kitchen with the technique.

 

Feel free to ask more questions...she's lurking, and will either correct me privately or join the group. Of course I'm encouraging the latter option.  

 

Yes, I vote she joins the group.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

28 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Cheeseburger with charred corn salad

 

 

I'll pardon you the charred corn salad.  Others may not be as forgiving as I am.

 

[gfweb]

6 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I'll pardon you the charred corn salad.  Others may not be as forgiving as I am.

 

 

Whats the objection to corn,basil, onion, tomato and thyme?

 

Pretty tasty, it is

[TdeV]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

Bratwurst with  dijon cole slaw and apple juice braised cabbage

 

@gfweb, all those dishes look fabulously tasty. Do you take reservations? 🤣

 

I'm looking at red cabbage for an upcoming dinner party. May I have your recipe, please?

 

Edited to add: I agree as to the divine-ness of corn.

Edited August 5, 2019 by TdeV (log)

[gfweb]

55 minutes ago, TdeV said:

 

@gfweb, all those dishes look fabulously tasty. Do you take reservations? 🤣

 

I'm looking at red cabbage for an upcoming dinner party. May I have your recipe, please?

 

Edited to add: I agree as to the divine-ness of corn.

 

Thanks!

 

Apologies for the coming imprescision ...

 

Shredded small red cabbage..pick out the cabbage with too much white stuff. 

one small yellow onion julienned

apple juice

allspice

red wine vinegar

 

sautee onion till clarified

add cabbage, and enough apple juice to go halfway up the cabbage mass

add a bit of allspice...1/8th tsp?

1 splash vinegar....1 tbsp?

1/4 tsp salt

 

Simmer covered for 30 min...take a look....if it is only partially purple do another 15 min then cook uncovered till most liquid is gone. 

 

Taste and add sugar and salt as needed. 

 

It keeps well. You could do it a day ahead and not lose much. 

Edited August 5, 2019 by gfweb (log)

[robirdstx]

 

Grilled Flank Steak

 

 

When sliced, a little too rare for us...

 

 

...so, the steak was finished for another minute in a hot fry pan and served with Salad

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

33 minutes ago, gfweb said:

 

Whats the objection to corn,basil, onion, tomato and thyme?

 

Pretty tasty, it is

 

Seriously, I enjoy corn when it's on the cob.  Off the cob I have a strong aversion.  Possibly due to too much canned corn in my youth.  Last week for the first time in my life I tried pozole.  This was with some trepidation but I loved it.

 

 

[gfweb]

25 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Seriously, I enjoy corn when it's on the cob.  Off the cob I have a strong aversion.  Possibly due to too much canned corn in my youth.  Last week for the first time in my life I tried pozole.  This was with some trepidation but I loved it.

 

 

I never liked corn as a kid either. Probably the canned and frozen stuff my mother relied on...barf. 

 

And i swear the corn on the cob must’ve been horse corn. Gummy and not sweet. 

 

Now the only corn stuff off my list are the vile Fritos and popcorn (which smells like feet)

Edited August 5, 2019 by gfweb (log)

[robirdstx]

I love corn! I remember, as a child, being told that if I ate enough corn, I would get drunk. I always ate as many ears of corn as I could. Never happened! 🤣 I still love corn!

[IowaDee]

Oh My, the things parents tell kids to get them to eat.  Mine told me that eating eggs would make hair grow on my chest.  Thank God I realized , that as a girl, I didn't really want a hairy chest.   In spite of all of that, I love eggs and my chest is hairless. 

[Kerry Beal]

I recall asking my mother what little Johnny down the street had died from - "because he didn't wash his hands before dinner!". Years later Johnny's mom was my patient when I was a resident. Turns out it was leukemia.

[Smithy]

Oh, the stories we're told as children -- indeed! I don't remember whether I was told that eating the bread crust on my sandwiches would curl my hair or put hair on my chest -- maybe both, at different times. Either way, it didn't come to pass.

 

We made up for last night's excesses with a Caprese salad (how I love summer tomatoes!) and fresh bread. I posted about the bread here. In this iteration it was sliced, slathered with garlic-infused oil and butter, and then broiled and toasted in the CSO. Frankly, neither of us could taste the garlic but it was good otherwise. The bread made a good crisp sop for the salad juices.

 

 

[Shelby]

19 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

I recall asking my mother what little Johnny down the street had died from - "because he didn't wash his hands before dinner!". Years later Johnny's mom was my patient when I was a resident. Turns out it was leukemia.

I laughed and then I didn't.

[Kerry Beal]

6 minutes ago, Shelby said:

I laughed and then I didn't.

Actually that many years later - his mother did find it amusing when I told her. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, gfweb said:

I never liked corn as a kid either. Probably the canned and frozen stuff my mother relied on...barf. 

 

And i swear the corn on the cob must’ve been horse corn. Gummy and not sweet. 

 

Now the only corn stuff off my list are the vile Fritos and popcorn (which smells like feet)

 

 

Frozen?  Frozen?  At least you got frozen.  What I remember best (or one might say worst) is "succotash":  canned corn and lima beans.  I doubt the resulting dish bore much relation to what the Indians would eat (and my father was Cherokee) unless they were very, very hungry.  Some of course add peppers and tomatoes to succotash, which were even less familiar to the eastern tribes than to the Europeans.

 

They say one of the four locations on earth where agriculture developed was the eastern United States.  I can't imagine that poor primordial first farmer had canned succotash in mind.

 

 

"Smells like feet" reminds me of something I was reading earlier this evening about pozole.  Turns out for pozole pork is not at all traditional.  Quoting Wikipedia:

 

According to research by the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (National Institute of Anthropology and History) and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, on these special occasions, the meat used in the pozole was human. After the prisoners were killed by having their hearts torn out in a ritual sacrifice, the rest of the body was chopped and cooked with maize, and the resulting meal was shared among the whole community as an act of religious communion. After the Conquest, when cannibalism was banned, pork became the staple meat as it "tasted very similar" [to human flesh], according to Bernardino de Sahagún.^[9

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozole

 

 

And now I have a whole bag of Rancho Gordo hominy to use up.  Anyone want to come for dinner?

 

[liuzhou]

10 hours ago, rotuts said:

@liuzhou

 

your dinners at home , and meals in restaurants are always interesting

 

Im wondering what the Gravy FR lasted of ?

 

brown meat gravy ?  something else ?

 

BMG

[Kim Shook]

Between @gfweb's flat iron steak and strip steak and @robirdstx's flank steak, I find myself in need of a hunk o’ beef. 

 

When I was four years old, my uncle showed me that it said “English peas” on the can of peas and told me that the Beatles ate them.  I would check the can to make sure they were “English” and, if so, I would choke them down.  I still hate peas.

 

@JoNorvelleWalker – I adore corn and lima beans.  I can manage to eat canned corn if I have to, but canned limas are horrible.  They are bitter and funky and taste like canned peas to me.

 

Saw an interesting taco method on America’s Test Kitchen the other night.  You toss the ground beef with baking soda mixed with a little water (this is supposed to keep the meat juicy).  Then sauté onions, add chili powder, paprika, cumin, garlic powder, and salt:

 

Add tomato paste and the meat:

This is my favorite utensil to use when cooking ground meat.  And, really, the only wooden utensil I find useful at all.  I almost always prefer a silicone one.  Wooden spoons just seem to scrape one little area – I find them pointless.  But the wide flat edge of this one is perfect for scraping the bottom of the pan and breaking up the meat. 

 

Done:

 

Then you dump some shredded cheese in and stir it until it melts (this make things more cohesive):

 

You brush the corn tortillas with oil and bake them to soften, then put 2 tablespoons of the beef mixture in and fold over:

 

They are then fried in a little oil on both sides:

 

Done:

 

Go-withs:

 

Refried black beans:

Just canned – fixed up with cumin and salsa.  And “Mexican Style” Rice A Roni:

In this case the Roni is orzo. 

 

We liked these a lot.  Nice and crisp, but not fall-apart crunchy.  @CantCookStillTry - you might want to give these a try (PM me if you want the recipe - I haven't posted it on my website yet).  You can make them up to the point of frying them and refrigerate overnight.  

[CantCookStillTry]

Spanish Rice with Chorizo and Sage from the Readers Digest 30 minute cookbook. One of the very first things I used to make when I tookover cooking duties after School. Back then Chorizo was a little exy for us so we used Hotdogs, this time I had Chorizo to use up and something made me remember this dish 🤷‍♀️. 

 

Not gonna lie, Nostalgia prefers Hotdogs. 

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by CantCookStillTry (log)

[liuzhou]

Early dinner or late lunch with a friend in a Muslim restaurant offering food from China's far west.

新疆大盘鸡 (xīn jiāng dà pán jī)
Xinjiang Big Plate Chicken

 

炝汁老虎采 (qiàng zhī lǎo hǔ cǎi)
Dressed Tiger Salad

 

土耳其奶油胡椒虾 (tǔ ěr qí nǎi yóu hú jiāo xiā)

Turkish Butter Peppered Shrimp

 

拨丝红薯 (bō sī hóng shǔ)

Candied Sweet Potato

 

A  beer for me

 

And a glass of Sea Buckthorn Juice for my companion.

 

with a warning

 

 

 

Edited August 5, 2019 by liuzhou (log)