Dinner 2020

[Margaret Pilgrim]

First night in country = super simple supper

Salad

 

Mac and cheese

[haresfur]

No photo of the results, sorry. Made my 1 pot pressure cooker chicken chili. Cut a chook in half so it submerges better, add water, pressure cook high for 20 minutes then crash-cool. Fish the chicken out, add great northern beans (edit: 350 ml 1 1/2 cups for half a compact free range chook) and about a tablespoon of pickled bird's eye chiles (cus they are plenty hot and I'll never use up the ones I preserved a couple of years ago). Pressure cook high for 30 min. While the beans are cooking shred the chicken meat. Let the beans depressurize naturally then drain off the excess broth into another pot. Add chicken, salt, and some green salsa. Simmer until beans are done, adding broth as needed then simmer until most of the liquid is gone. As we say in my country, "Too easy."

Edited February 25, 2020 by haresfur (log)

[robirdstx]

 

Floyd’s Crawfish Etouffee and Fried Shrimp with a Side Salad;

 

 

and Beignets for Dessert.

 

 

[Dejah]

Found a recipe for Lemongrass & Ginger Roast Lamb. Thought I'd needed a change from saucy lamb!

It was ok, not a favourite. Used a boneless shoulder. I think I eat lamb just for the fresh mint sauce!

                          

                                                              

 

 

Had lots of lamb leftover, so with several spoonfuls of Patak Vindaloo paste, it was better supper. The lamb flavour came thru much stronger.  Added steamed cauliflower which I really enjoyed with the curry sauce.

 

                                                            

 

I am hosting a Chinese cooking class with several ladies that I gathered together based on our love of gardening. We are the CPLS. Crazy Plant Ladies!

Did a test run tonight with Crispy Ginger Beef, the way I used to make it in my restaurant so many years ago! It turned out great! We'll also be making deep-fried wontons, Cantonese Chow Mein with Shrimp, and I made Portuguese Egg Tars for dessert. This is to be our lunch tomorrow!

 

                                                         

 

 

[heidih]

2 hours ago, robirdstx said:

And Beignets for Dessert.

 

 

 

Nice! In my house those require chicory coffee alongside

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Bouillabaisse inspired by Jose Andres, inspired by Eric Ripert.  Which Eat Your Books could not find because Ripert unhelpfully denominates his dish "fish soup".  I eschewed Ripert's star anise and Andres' Pernod and instead finished my soup with generous fennel pollen.

 

Not an inexpensive repast.  For six servings Ripert calls for nine pounds of red snapper at $27 per pound.  I skimped on the red snapper, but splurged on the inordinate amount of Spanish coupe saffron specified.

 

One of the finest soups I have eaten.  Served with tonight's baguette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[liuzhou]

Don't panic! I haven't gone vegetarian!

I did make fried hand pulled noodles with red-cooked tofu - 红烧豆腐 (hóng shāo dòu fǔ), shiitake mushrooms, garlic, ginger, chilli, Shaoxing wine etc, but I added some reconstituted dried shrimp.

 

 

The fun part is that the slices of mushroom and tofu are very similar looking, so you are never sure what you are going taste.

 

 

 

Steamy picture.

 

 

BTW - Red-cooked means braised in soy sauce.

Edited February 25, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[gfweb]

20 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

Steelhead and brussels 

 

 

 

Beautiful.  How'd you do the sprouts?

[gfweb]

17 hours ago, Duvel said:

As promised, some “real” cooking: homemade corned beef (9 days curing, 52h@65 oC SV) with a bit of a BBQ note (liquid smoke, pimenton a la vera, brown sugar, cajun spice mix). All put on whole grain rye with some raclette cheese and grilled ... 

Very, very satisfying (with some help of a aperitif/digestive/whatever ...)

 

 

 

SV for 52 hours?

[liamsaunt]

Kale salad with roasted butternut squash and fennel, chicken sausage, pine nuts, parmesean and pomegranate vinaigrette

 

[rotuts]

@chileheadmike 

 

I remember Martin Yan and that clip.

 

I have it somewhere  on one of many hard drives.

 

he really liked showing off w his cleaver.

 

and had all his finger tips intact

Edited February 25, 2020 by rotuts (log)

[chromedome]

Didn't Ruhlman have a story in The Making Of a Chef about a Chinese-American instructor at the CIA taking a chicken from live to cooked and plated in something ridiculous like 30 seconds?

 

 

(Only a small portion of the chicken, one would presume)

[Duvel]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

SV for 52 hours?

Yup. ChefSteps recommended 48h and 52h fitted my schedule better. Corned brisket was tender and moist ...

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, Duvel said:

Yup. ChefSteps recommended 48h and 52h fitted my schedule better. Corned brisket was tender and moist ...

I do 36 to 48 depending on my mood

[scubadoo97]

6 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

Beautiful.  How'd you do the sprouts?

I cut in half and shred with a knife. 
Fine dice a small shallot and cook with a little butter and salt till tender.  Some times toss in a little water, cover and steam to retain the color.  So a combo sauté and steam

[Kim Shook]

@CantCookStillTry – you’ve gotten some good info for others so I’ll only say: if you can get it in Australia, a few drops of Gravy Master or Kitchen Bouquet will add a lovely darkness to your sauces, gravies, stews, etc. without adding a lot of flavoring you don’t want.  And while it is absolutely true that the darker the roux, the less thickening it will supply, for sauce/gravy I doubt you will ever want to go darker than a caramel or white bread crust.  I’ve never found that roux brought to that point was ineffective as a thickener. 

 

@Shelby - madly jealous of your ravioli skills over here!

 

We still had some of the shellfish goodies that my cousin had sent for Christmas, so – king crab legs and shrimp:

Served with spoonbread and salad:

 

After THAT meal, there was STILL shrimp leftover, so I did shrimp quesadillas with the last of them.  Chips and salsa and cheese dip:

 

Raw veg and dips:

 

Quesadillas cooking and some toppings:

 

 

Folded with roasted asparagus:

 

Corn on the cob with creama, chili powder and cotija:

 

A fairly dull dinner from Sunday:

Ham from the freezer, leftover asparagus, and tiny little potatoes that I thought would taste better than they did.

 

Dinner last night at Sushi King, which we enjoyed and will go back to.  For $16.99 you get all you can eat, but it really isn’t a buffet.  Everything you order is made fresh.  They do have a cold bar to augment things, but that is very limited.  I got this at the cold bar:

Not at all sure what the stuff on the left was – it was firm, like squid, but not tough and very tasty.  The middle is surimi with a thick mayonnaise and then edamame. 

 

Crab Rangoon and beef gyoza for me:

Excellent.  Even Mr. Kim liked the gyoza and he is not a dumpling fan. 

 

This was supposed to be tilapia, salmon, tuna and yellowtail.  Don’t know how the shrimp got in there.  

Mr. Kim said that the fish was very fresh tasting and nice, but not cut very well. 

 

Jessica’s salmon:

 

Jessica’s Christmas Roll:

Salmon, tilapia, and avocado with tri-color tobiko. 

 

Shrimp “tempura”:

I think someone mixed up “tempura” and “panko”.  They were very good, but I’d have been really disappointed if I’d ordered a plateful of tempura for my meal and they all turned out to be panko coated instead. 

 

My steak teriyaki and fried rice:

The rice was blah – no flavor and a little gummy, but the steak was outstanding.  It came medium rare, as ordered, and was incredibly tender and juicy.  The sauce was not at all overpowering.

 

Mr. Kim’s Orchard roll:

Spicy tuna and crunchy flakes of panko topped with more tuna, spicy mayo and wasabi sauce.  All in all, we felt like we got good value and a good meal.  The only raw food I eat are vegetables 😝 and Mr. Kim and Jessica love the fish, so it is a nice compromise for us. 

[Duvel]

Pizza Margerita - 5-day cold rise dough, San Marzano tomato passata, Mozzarella di Buffala, Parmigiano, olive oil and fresh basil. So simple, so good ...

 

 

3.30min baking time ...

 

 

[Captain]

2 hours ago, Duvel said:

So simple, so good ...

Perfect.  Yum Yum.

[Anna N]

 

duck breast with roasted carrots and parsnips. 

[TdeV]

16 hours ago, Dejah said:

Crispy Ginger Beef, the way I used to make it in my restaurant so many years ago

 

Every dish looks delicious. Could you please give us a recipe for this @Dejah?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Tomato and goat cheese dressed with pico de gallo and Salvadorian sour cream

 

Peppers, potatoes, onions, sausage

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

duck breast with roasted carrots and parsnips. 

Nice cooking on the duck breast. I’m not a big fan of the too-rare duck breast, served too-often , in too many restaurants. 

[robirdstx]

 

Pan Seared Tilapia and Steamed Asparagus with a Lemon Butter Sauce and Salad

 

 

[Dejah]

8 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

Every dish looks delicious. Could you please give us a recipe for this @Dejah?

I don't have an actual recipe, but wrote this up from "thinking about the process" for my cooking class today.
Crispy Ginger Beef a la Dejah:

Cracker meal is just soda crackers whizzed in food processor until they are fine crumbs. If it is still a little coarse, add a little flour to the mix. I find this doesn't soak up the oil as much as bread crumbs or Panko crumbs. We used to buy this meal in 50 lb bags.

 

[Dejah]

Hosted a Chinese cooking party for 3 of my Crazy Plant ladies this afternoon. Two of my friends were down with the dreaded flu.
I used 3 induction cooktops, so they were all able to work together at my dining table.
We made deep fried wontons, Cantonese Chow Mein with Shrimp and Char Siu, and Ginger Beef. I made Portuguese Egg Tarts for dessert. One of the ladies brought a bottle of wine.
Would this classify as "The Ladies Who Lunch"? 😋 We Rocked the Wok!

    
       

                             

 

              

                                   

 

                                             

 

                                                        

      

 

 

                                                 

 

                                                                             

Edited February 26, 2020 by Dejah (log)