Dinner 2019

[suzilightning]

Hoping John will get back at a reasonable hour from rock climbing...

pan roasted bone in chicken breasts (skin removed after roasted as per hubs preference).  Does he have to know I roast the skin to a crisp later?

rice with sautéed onion, red peppers and peas.  

[chromedome]

7 minutes ago, suzilightning said:

Hoping John will get back at a reasonable hour from rock climbing...

pan roasted bone in chicken breasts (skin removed after roasted as per hubs preference).  Does he have to know I roast the skin to a crisp later?

rice with sautéed onion, red peppers and peas.  

 

I'm in the same camp. If I get the lovely crisp skin, someone else is welcome to the rest of the breast. I'm good.

[liamsaunt]

miso marinated cod with baby bok choy and rice

 

[robirdstx]

Snacking while watching game 5 of the Baseball World Series. Go Astros!

 

 

Pork Tamales with Salsa Verde and Guacamole with Tortilla Chips

Edited October 28, 2019 by robirdstx (log)

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Pork tamales and guacamole/chips is not snacking.   It's FEASTING!  

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Rose plum and fuyu with roquefort/Russian dressing

 

Corned beef with buttery potato and Brussels.    Mustard cream.   

 

This was really yum, or maybe I was just hungry!

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Having some ribs that weren't getting any younger I went with Tskhare Neknebi, spicy ribs, from Tasting Georgia (p344,345), attributed to the Diaroni restaurant in Zugdidi.  It is unlikely my old bones will make it as far as Zugdidi, but should they ever, it is at Diaroni I would wish to dine.  I also make their chicken with nut sauce.

 

 

 

I had been about to prepare a different Neknebi recipe from Tiko Tuskadze's Supra.  The Supra Neknebi calls for an onion and egg yolk thickened tomato sauce.  Something I could not quite get my head around.  The Diaroni Neknebi recipe specifies a simple garnish of raw onion rings.  Here accompanied by CSO steamed new potatoes.  Served with a bottle of Pheasant's Tears Saperavi 2008.

 

The sticking point was that both Neknebi recipes require ajika, a spicy red chilli paste, in the marinade.  Ajika recipes call for bird's eye chillies.  Not something I could acquire on short notice.

 

Helpfully Carla Capalbo, author of Tasting Georgia, adds "Make your own...or buy dry red ajika ready made from Georgian food importers."  In my spice cabinet, a packet of ajika, I didn't even have to look that far back.

 

Rich spicy meat was almost falling off the bones.  I do not know if in Georgia it is polite to gnaw.  But if not, tough.

 

Cucumber and bib lettuce salad not shown.  As the Neknebi were marinated in a mayonnaise based sauce, I did not think it too far a stretch to serve the salad with Momofuku ranch.  A full recipe of Momofuku ranch.  It is well if Momofuku ranch remains unknown in Georgia.  Else the Georgian GDP would go for ramps.

 

[Anna N]

12 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Having some ribs that weren't getting any younger I went with Tskhare Neknebi, spicy ribs, from Tasting Georgia (p344,345), attributed to the Diaroni restaurant in Zugdidi.

 

I need to say a special thanks for this discussion as I found it quite fascinating. I love photographs but the background story sometimes is what really makes it for me. 

[CantCookStillTry]

Came home from work to an awesome nibbly dinner prepared by Mr CCST. Ash Brie, Black Bomber, Port Salut & the best bit... he shelled a bunch of boiled peanuts for me - because I love them but absolutely suck at shelling them (aka I'm really lazy) so don't often eat! 

 

[Paul Bacino]

Rolled  stuffed Nasturtium leaf   --  lamb/wild rice/ golden raisins   --  cooked in broth/  shirracha squash seeds

 

[Shelby]

Needed venison chili again

 

[TdeV]

On 10/7/2019 at 4:19 AM, Anna N said:

peas and mint sauce

 

Sorry for posting so late, Anna. Your saved-from-the-freezer meal looks inviting. How do you make your mint sauce?

 

Edit: Original post here

Edited October 28, 2019 by TdeV (log)

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

 

Sorry for posting so late, Anna. Your saved-from-the-freezer meal looks inviting. How do you make your mint sauce?

 

Edit: Original post here

 

Hate to disappoint you but these days I let  Crosse and Blackwell do that job! Once upon a time I would’ve taken fresh mint, a good pinch of salt, a good pinch of sugar and sprinkled them onto the cutting board with the mint before chopping the mint finely.  I would’ve scraped it into a small cruet, added a smidge of hot water and a soupçon of malt vinegar and let it steep until I needed it at dinner time. 

[shain]

Focaccia.

Santorini fava.

Greek salad. 

 

 

 

[scubadoo97]

This bottle of armagnac gave it up while making dinner.  
A splash went into a butter sauce on grilled mahi 

 

[Kim Shook]

6 hours ago, Anna N said:

Hate to disappoint you but these days I let  Crosse and Blackwell do that job! Once upon a time I would’ve taken fresh mint, a good pinch of salt, a good pinch of sugar and sprinkled them onto the cutting board with the mint before chopping the mint finely.  I would’ve scraped it into a small cruet, added a smidge of hot water and a soupçon of malt vinegar and let it steep until I needed it at dinner time. 

That is exactly how my English Nanny ( @Ted Fairhead's mum) made it!

 

@Franci – I would very much like your well curated, but minimum effort salads at my dinners.  I have a bad habit of tossing together the same things every night.

 

@Margaret Pilgrim – two requests, please.  Do you share your crab Louis dressing recipe and what kind of sauce is on your wonderful looking meatballs?

 

Last week was Restaurant Week in Richmond.  We went to one of our favorites, Acacia.  I started with fried shrimp with southern coleslaw and Acacia remoulade:

Bite:

This was fantastic.  I loved serving it over top of slaw.  And the coating was somewhere between panko and tempura. 

 

Jessica had the tuna carpaccio with parmesan mayo, arugula, fried capers and shallots:

She and Mr. Kim loved this. 

 

Mr. Kim had the tomato and pumpkin soup with a little grilled cheese sandwich:

Just perfect and lovely.

 

Main courses – Mine:

Braised beef cheeks with a celery root & potato mash, roast Brussels sprouts, and red wine sauce.  Gorgeous.  None of us could ever remember having either beef cheeks or celery root.  Nice introduction to both. 

 

Mr. Kim had the mahi with bucatini, roasted mushrooms, kale, pine nuts, and a basil pesto sauce:

It sounded like it had a lot going on and I was a little apprehensive.  But it was very balanced and the pesto was not at all overpowering.  Once he got that rude looking fungus out of the way, I liked this very much. 

 

Jessica got what I would have if she hadn’t!  Crabcake with grits, roasted Brussels sprouts, and grilled lemon butter:

Just perfect crabcake – no detectable filler and sweet, sweet crabmeat.  The grits needed a little salt – thank God not all chefs oversalt. 

 

Desserts – Jessica got the vanilla bourbon panna cotta with brown sugar caramelized bananas:

Perfect.  Maybe the best dessert we had.

 

Mr. Kim had the mixed berry cobbler and lemon curd ice cream:

The cobbler was delicious, and the ice cream was smooth and creamy, but we detected NO lemon flavor.  I think lemon gets lost in the intense cold and fattiness of ice cream.  I think a lemon sorbet would have been a better choice. 

 

I got the chocolate cremeaux with chocolate sauce and raspberry sorbet:

Incredibly good.  The cremeaux looked for all the world like a mound of chocolate frosting.  The texture was similar to that, too.  But it was not at all overly rich.  And every time it threatened to become too rich, a little bit of sorbet fixed that. 

 

Pizza night on Friday to celebrate Jessica’s new job that she started today.  Our regular place.  Mr. Kim and Jess got pizza:

Italian sausage, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and green peppers.  I got a ham, steak, and cheese grinder (not pictured).  It was very good.  The pizza was great, as always.  What was amazing were the fries:

This place has the best pizza we’ve tasted in Richmond and fantastic grinders.  They don’t HAVE to have great fries.  They don’t have to make them from scratch.  But they do.  I was so surprised at how good these were.  I don’t think I’ll ever go there again and NOT get them, no matter what else I’m having.

 

Dinner last night was almost horrible.  I’d bought this at Aldi:

 

It looked like it might be akin to Hamburger Helper, which is a guilty pleasure for us.  It was NOT.  It made The Helper look exotic.  Bland to the point of tastelessness.  And so salty that it burned our tongues as if it were temperature hot.  Blah.  So, I just dragged some stuff out of the fridge and freezer.  Crackers with chicken salad and egg salad:

 

Toasted ravioli and jarred marinara:

 

Spaghetti with more marinara:

Dinner rescued!😄

 

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Bartlett pears with blue cheese dressing

 

Zucchini with olive pesto

 

Lobster ravioli (packaged/frozen, from grocery outlet, surprisingly delicious) drawn butter

[kayb]

23 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Bartlett pears with blue cheese dressing

 

Why has this never occurred to me? Pears going on the grocery list!

 

[eugenep]

3 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

This bottle of armagnac gave it up while making dinner.  
A splash went into a butter sauce on grilled mahi 

 

thanks for sharing and bottles look nice - like there's this authenticity about them owing to what seems like handwritten labels in the background and the minimalist style of the labeling etc. 

 

for the rums and cognac, do they taste especially different and interesting in some kind of different way? if so, where do you buy it or how can i purchase (hopefully at a fair price)? 

 

for rum, i drink diplomatico and other Venezuelan rums  that are very high quality and Cruzan is my everyday mixing rum 

 

tips on other products would be super helpful. thank you 

[CantCookStillTry]

I am deep into one of those 'I do not want to be an adult' phases of life at the moment, craving a roast and no time or energy. 

So settled for Roasties and a Mug of Bisto for dipping. 

 

 

Eaten in a huddle over the sink with a sound track of "Sh.. that's too hot! Sh.. that's too hot! Slurp. Oww."

 

Because we're animals. 😂

Edited October 29, 2019 by CantCookStillTry (log)

[liamsaunt]

I baked a loaf of cheddar-black pepper bread yesterday

 

 

 

Dinner was an updated version of chicken marbella (I used dried apricots, cherries, and raisins for the fruit instead of prunes, plus less sugar), mashed potatoes and spinach.  Nice comfort food

 

[Steve Irby]

A few dishes from this past week.  Shrimp, chicken and chaurice sausage  served over creamy grits bolstered with pepperjack cheese and heavy cream.  The sauce was reduced cream with hatch chilies and some jellied pork stock. 

 

The hatch chilies and sausage also made an appearance with  grilled oysters.  

 

 

And a chocolate espresso torta from a recipe from Jody Adams.

 

 

 

[Shelby]

Pork belly noodle bowls last night

Pork and veggie

 

[Duvel]

This week are my sons very first school holidays, so today I took a day off to visit the Technik-Museum in Speyer. On the way back through the Palatinate, I stopped to buy my first (and probably last, due to end of season) bottle of Federweisser this year. It was surprisingly young and still on the sweet side - very refreshing.

 

 

The glass in the drawing is a Dubbeglas, the tradional 0.5 l glass for new wine and Schorle (wine mixed with sparkling water) in the Palatinate. I prefer smaller glassware (and more refills).

 

 

To go with it I prepared two quick Flammkuchen, one traditional (just sour cream, onions and bacon) and one more kid-friendly with just a few onions, but plenty of sausage and cheese. 

 

 

 

A pleasant dinner ...

 

[rotuts]

@Duvel

 

the label on that bottle 

 

is to die for.

 

pleased some ware 

 

there is still a sense of humor

 

over all

 

those pizza like thing-ies

 

 

aI gobble them both of

 

after a refill

 

of Fieder......

 

cheers