Dinner 2019

[kayb]

20 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

Dinner. Had to be easy coming off a wedding weekend, my daughter’s.   Not much food in the fridge but lots of booze brought back home plus a lot of cake 

 

 

Congrats!

 

@Shelby, do you have a recipe for white chili or do you just "throw and go"? I have the better part of a roast chicken I need to do something with, and that's been on my mind.

[suzilightning]

11 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

Yes!   I use a two-tined fork, like this, to aerate many compact or dense foods, like mealoaf, or to fluff rice.

 

 

Mine is a 4 tine serving fork.

[lindag]

4 minutes ago, suzilightning said:

Mine is a 4 tine serving fork.

I have one of these that is used for bread making.  I may try using it next time.  I don’t own a big fork.

[lindag]

6 minutes ago, lindag said:

I have one of these that is used for bread making.  I may try using it next time.  I don’t own a big fork.

I wonder if a pastry blender would work.

[heidih]

So odd to me - never had dense meatloaf and always used my hands. Interesting. 

[liamsaunt]

21 hours ago, gfweb said:

Perhaps you didn’t use “good” olive oil...

 

but seriously, she adds panko and no milk. This is not a panade.  And why panko , whose main characteristic is spiky fragments that brown well? The value of panko is on the surface of a piece of meat, not inside it.  I think the lack of a true panade is why it was dense. 

 

Actually, the recipe calls for 2/3 cup whole milk, and for the panko to be ground up in a food processor before blending it with the meat and milk, I guess to eliminate the crunch.  I do not like meatloaf, but I have notes in my cookbook next to this recipe from my Mom's experience cooking it for my Dad and brother.  They all said the texture was not pleasing and also they felt the garlic sauce was overpowering...and my entire family loves garlic.  Most of Ina's recipes are good, but she does have a handful of real clunkers.   I personally cannot stand her recipe for bay scallops gratin.  

[lindag]

9 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

 

Actually, the recipe calls for 2/3 cup whole milk, and for the panko to be ground up in a food processor before blending it with the meat and milk, I guess to eliminate the crunch.  I do not like meatloaf, but I have notes in my cookbook next to this recipe from my Mom's experience cooking it for my Dad and brother.  They all said the texture was not pleasing and also they felt the garlic sauce was overpowering...and my entire family loves garlic.  Most of Ina's recipes are good, but she does have a handful of real clunkers.   I personally cannot stand her recipe for bay scallops gratin.  

Agreed, this one is a clunker in my eyes.

When I use the rest of the meat mixture that I froze I will use a different recipe, most likely my favorite CI glazed meatloaf.

[liamsaunt]

Tonight's dinner was another recipe from Meera Sodha's Fresh India, Park Street kati rolls.  I made my own parathas which made it a bit more time consuming than she may have intended.  Anyway, the cooked parathas are heated and then topped with egg, then flipped and filled with a sautéed blend of paneer, bell peppers and red onions seasoned with cardamom, cumin, and Indian chile powder, then topped with a cilantro chile chutney.  I have no idea why I made two, one was more than filling enough!  I saved the other one to repurpose into some sort of breakfast or lunch tomorrow.  

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Brined pork chop, smashed potato, bok choy, pan gravy

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Bouillabaisse, wine, good bread, broccolini and radicchio.  When that was gone...

 

[Shelby]

14 hours ago, kayb said:

 

Congrats!

 

@Shelby, do you have a recipe for white chili or do you just "throw and go"? I have the better part of a roast chicken I need to do something with, and that's been on my mind.

Definitely throw and go over here....although I did peruse some recipes and added some cream cheese at the end to make it more creamy.  A good addition.  Along with the usual suspects:

Chicken

Hatch chiles

Tomatoes

Garlic

Onion

Cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro etc.

Chicken broth

Threw in some corn

Half a hunk of cream cheese

Squirt of lime and cheddar cheese when served

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by Shelby (log)

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Definitely throw and go over here....although I did peruse some recipes and added some cream cheese at the end to make it more creamy.  A good addition.  Along with the usual suspects:

Chicken

Hatch chiles

Tomatoes

Garlic

Onion

Cumin, salt, pepper, cilantro etc.

Chicken broth

Threw in some corn

Half a hunk of cream cheese

Squirt of lime and cheddar cheese when served

 

 

 

I truly hope you don't mind if I offer a slight tweak to your methodology, in order to make the finished dish edible.

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Made me some rou jia mo. Normally this variant is made with beef, but I didn't have any beef so used pork.

Pork, freshly toasted and ground cumin seed, red and green chillies, garlic, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce.

 

 

 

One of the trio.

Edited November 20, 2019 by liuzhou (log)

[Nicolai]

Back to Aleppo cuisine which is the best cuisine in the Levant.

 

It was the restaurant soft opening so we had the chance to taste some of the dishes and make few recommendations.

 

We started with some freshly baked bread and I had to ask my guest not to have any bread as it just acts as a filler and no Humos - Mutabal...etc was ordered.

 

We started with the typical Aleppo Mohamara which is a dip made originally with the specific Aleppo Red Pepper grown in the region of Aleppo and which is fruity and low heat. This is mashed and mixed with Pomegranate Molasses - and crushed Walnuts , Breadcrumbs and other ingredients and has a sweet/sour/hot/crunchy taste'

 

 

 

 

 

 

A different dip is a mix of Tomatoes and Aleppo Red Pepper paste

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yalanji are small parcels of Swiss chard with a Rice - Parsley - Crushed Walnuts....etc

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The mains were Kibbe al Sikh which is grilled Kebbe on skewers with the Aleppo spices

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The ubiquitous Lambb Shank

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the famous Aleppo Yabrak which is Vine Leaves stuffed with a mix of minced meat and rice on a bed of Lamb chunks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was too full and sleepy to move to the Arabic Sweets shop down the road and had to make do with the Knafe bel Jebn

 

A meal is never  complete without a sweets coronation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by Nicolai (log)

[scubadoo97]

21 hours ago, heidih said:

So odd to me - never had dense meatloaf and always used my hands. Interesting. 

Do you have long nails 😋

[heidih]

14 minutes ago, scubadoo97 said:

Do you have long nails 😋

 

You are kidding right!?! We do everything by hand - pastra dough, bread dough - you name it

Edited November 20, 2019 by heidih (log)

[Kim Shook]

@CantCookStillTry – I think that corned beef pasty (because, basically…right?) sounds fantastic.  Gorgeous looking pastry there, too!

 

@Okanagancook – lovely lamb chop dinner.  I just finished putting together the base for crab and shrimp chowder and now I’m dying for a giant baked potato with everything!

 

@lindag – I will offer no advice on meatloaf.  There is nothing else in my culinary world that I like so much and suck so bad at making.  Mr. Kim says my meatloaf makes a lovely base for Bolognese 🙄.  Nine times out of ten, it doesn’t hold together at all.  Sigh.  Best of luck with all of the GOOD advice. 

 

@BonVivant – the dogfish looks so good.  I’ve given up trying to get it here.  Even the high-end fish monger doesn’t get it.  When I asked, he said no one will buy it. ☹️

 

Dinner last night started with a salad with Momofuku ranch:

 

Pork schnitzel from Aldi (breaded and frozen, but raw), leftover noodles and Brussels sprouts au gratin and some cinnamon peaches that we were gifted:

Pork with some sauce that we won’t ever be able to have again because I just tossed a bunch of stuff in the pan and didn’t take any notes😁:

Fond from pan, butter, pepper, lemon juice, shallots, Dijon, whipping cream, and a jar of pork gravy from the cupboard. The pork, which was bought as an emergency freezer item (there a many things that constitute an emergency in the Shook household - including culinary ennui 😉), was surprisingly good.  I'm sure that my "seat of the pants" sauce helped, but it was pretty tasty all by itself. 

[scubadoo97]

@Nicolai  all my favorite things

 

looks amazing 

[robirdstx]

 

Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetable Stir Fry over Jasmine Rice

 

[blue_dolphin]

Roasted mushroom pizza

 

Al Taglio dough @ 80% hydration from Mastering Pizza. Dough made with 50% bread flour and 50% stone ground whole grain Glenn wheat flour. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Peppers with goat cheese

 

Sweet Italian sausage, cauliflower penne, sauteed crumbs, Parmesan

[tonyrocks922]

Pan fried chicken breast with spicy BBQ sauce, mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus. 

[tonyrocks922]

Been lurking this thread catching up for a while. Some more notable dinners from the last few months: 

 

Prime rib from Prime and Provisions in Chicago

 

 

Lamb shank with orzo from Ouzo Bay in Baltimore

 

 

Snow crab legs boil and lobster boil from a restaurant I don't recall in Disney Springs, Florida. 

 

 

Duo of tartars from a random cafe in Bordeaux

 

 

Dried sausage from Chez le Pépère in Bordeaux

 

 

Cheese plate from L'After Work Beer Bar in Bordeaux

Edited November 21, 2019 by tonyrocks922 (log)

[tonyrocks922]

 Spaghetti Carbonara and Seafood Linguine from Piatto in Utrecht, NL

 

[Kim Shook]

Salad with the usual stuff plus apples and bleu cheese:

With Panera Mediterranean Lemon vinaigrette.  They were sampling this dressing at Publix the other day and we liked it a lot.  Nice and tangy.  With some oregano, it would make a great Greek dressing. 

 

Crab and shrimp seafood bisque:

This redundantly named soup started with a recipe from a friend’s FB post that looked good.  When I finished making the base, I was a bit underwhelmed.  So, I started playing with it.  I ended up adding hot sauce, Old Bay, nutmeg, Worcestershire, and some lobster stock I had in the freezer.  I already had most of what the recipe called for at home and decided to economize by using surimi instead of blue crab.  I have unabashedly embraced surimi ever since Doddie ( @Domestic Goddess ) told me how popular it is in South Korea and to NOT think of it as imitation crab, but as its own thing.  It is NOT crab.  But it is good in lots of applications that call for crab.  And I can have those things a lot more often if I use surimi.  So – surimi and shrimp bisque!  It turned out quite good.  My tongue is still acting weird – everything feels (but doesn’t taste) spicy.  Still, we both liked it very much. 

 

Hawaiian rolls:

I need to remember to cover rolls with foil in the CSO – I’ve burnt the last few batches. ☹️