Dinner 2020

[Margaret Pilgrim]

On 7/24/2020 at 4:34 AM, CantCookStillTry said:

TGIF. I had pulled some pork chops ...- huge, not great, possibly forequater chops that I have no inspiration for. 

 

Perhaps Momofuku's pork steak with ramp ranch dressing   might be a good way to deal with these chops.    I sub jarred cocktail onions for the pickled ramps which are both hard to find and expensive.   Delicious either way.

[heidih]

44 minutes ago, BKEats said:

When I was a kid, I use to love baked ziti. We would order it usually from a place called Dusal’s in my hometown. Or actually, I would get a chicken or veal parm and the free side was always baked ziti.

Never reading the menu, it was my go to order. “I’ll get the chicken parm and a side of beg ziti”.

One day I was out to dinner with an old friend, Andrew Horlick and he noticed me order my “beg ziti”. “Do you call it beg ziti”. I say yes, begged ziti, what do you call it. He replied “baked, it’s baked ziti”.

Only years later would I also learn the right correct way to say mozzarella. This is when an Italian man in Florence sang it back to me whole overly articulating the word. It was so shocking and beautiful, a light turned on for sure

Here’s my vegan begged ziti with roasted red peppers, eggplant, roasted tomatoes, basil, cashew ricotta and a very little vegan mutzahrell

 

In terms of recipes. I don’t really use any. I took some tomatoes, salted and olive oil and spiked with cloves.

 

 

That is hilarious. When my Aussie nephew said "spag bol" we just shook our heads. Not a Los Angeles term. On the tomato spiked with cloves - do you mean you poked them into the tomato? Great grandma used to do that with the onions in the Sunday boiled beef. 

[BKEats]

4 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

That is hilarious. When my Aussie nephew said "spag bol" we just shook our heads. Not a Los Angeles term. On the tomato spiked with cloves - do you mean you poked them into the tomato? Great grandma used to do that with the onions in the Sunday boiled beef. 

 

Yes, exactly... I just wanted to add a little clove in there..

[Nicolai]

Me think that any meal is just a conduit for dessert.

 

A typical yanning dinner followed by a princely dessert.

 

1- Starters

 

- Tabouleh (my way i.e. prepared to my taste)

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Hummos

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mtabal (my way i.e. prepared to my taste)

 

 

 

 

 

2- Main

 

- Shakshouka (my way i.e. prepared to my taste) which means the addition of chickpeas.

 

 

 

 

 

3- Dessert

 

- Knafe bel Jebn (hot and oozung cheese.....bestest for me)

 

 

 

 

 

- Osnalieh

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kayb]

I have no idea what either of those desserts are, but man, they look wonderful.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

40 minutes ago, Nicolai said:

 

-Hummos

 

 

(hot and oozung cheese...)

 

 

 

These two alone make a superb supper for me.    Many thanks.    And that hummus presentation is stunning!   

[heidih]

1 hour ago, Nicolai said:

 

 

- Tabouleh (my way i.e. prepared to my taste)

 

 

2- Main

 

- Shakshouka (my way i.e. prepared to my taste) which means the addition of chickpeas.

 

 

 

 First I like the phrase "prepared my way" bravo.  The parsley heavy tabbouleh is my favorite and the chickpea addition in the shakshouka appeals - will try.

Quote

oops

 

Edited July 25, 2020 by heidih (log)

[Nicolai]

32 minutes ago, kayb said:

I have no idea what either of those desserts are, but man, they look wonderful.

 

The square one is called Knafe bel Jebn. The top layer is semolina based which was toasted as thin strands and pounded. The second layer is unsalted white cheese.

The cooking is akin a Tarte Tatin whereby it is cooked upside down and then reversed and doused with Sugar syrup and served with a sesame bread type.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The origin of the dish is Palestinian using the local cheese from Nablus. A Syrian pastry maker set up shop in Paletine Nablus with a local Palestinian and they made Knafe filled with crushes pistachios. The Syrian man went back home and the Palestinian could not afford the pistachios filling and tried the local Nabulsi white unpasteurized cheese and the dish was born.

 

A famous Lebanese pastry chef visited Nablus and learned how to make the recipe as told to me by his grandson with the picture of his ancestor in the sweet shop in Nablus.

 

Now the sweet is available with either a cheese filling or clotted cream filling. it is also available in the original fine dough or the coarse stringy dough.

 

 

The round one Osmalieh is originated in Lebanon and is made with stringy knafe dough with clotted cream doused with sugar syrup.

 

 

[Nicolai]

1 hour ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

These two alone make a superb supper for me.    Many thanks.    And that hummus presentation is stunning!   

 

Glad you like them.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 hours ago, BKEats said:

When I was a kid, I use to love baked ziti. We would order it usually from a place called Dusal’s in my hometown. Or actually, I would get a chicken or veal parm and the free side was always baked ziti.

Never reading the menu, it was my go to order. “I’ll get the chicken parm and a side of beg ziti”.

One day I was out to dinner with an old friend, Andrew Horlick and he noticed me order my “beg ziti”. “Do you call it beg ziti”. I say yes, begged ziti, what do you call it. He replied “baked, it’s baked ziti”.

A woman who worked for my sister was enthusing about her favorite breakfast, "bastard eggs".    When I said that i didn't know them, she answered, " You put butter in the frying pan, then the eggs and you keep spooning the butter over the eggs until they're done."     Ahhhhh....basted eggs.    She liked her version better.  

[Nicolai]

1 hour ago, heidih said:

 First I like the phrase "prepared my way" bravo.  The parsley heavy tabbouleh is my favorite and the chickpea addition in the shakshouka appeals - will try.

 

 

 

I like the Tabouleh with little crushed wheat and more parsley and lemon juice. Also a pinch of red hot powder pepper.

 

 The Shakshouka is soften onions and garlic paste with the chickpeas slightly toasted in. Add the tomatoes plus tomatoes concentrate and lots of Cumin plus black ground pepper plus Aleppo ground Pepper plus salt plus Cayenne pepper plus Celery salt. All Chef's measure but go heavy on the Cumin and start sweating your forehead......

[shain]

41 minutes ago, Nicolai said:

 

I like the Tabouleh with little crushed wheat and more parsley and lemon juice. Also a pinch of red hot powder pepper.

 

 The Shakshouka is soften onions and garlic paste with the chickpeas slightly toasted in. Add the tomatoes plus tomatoes concentrate and lots of Cumin plus black ground pepper plus Aleppo ground Pepper plus salt plus Cayenne pepper plus Celery salt. All Chef's measure but go heavy on the Cumin and start sweating your forehead......

 

This is what I think of as proper tabouleh, it should be mainly parsley with just a little bulgur to absorb any liquids. Lemon and olive oil of course. I like some mint as well.

 

Re the shakshuka, I skip the onion, but add lots of cumin, chili and garlic. I also like serving it with some tahini sauce. 

[shain]

58 minutes ago, Nicolai said:

 

The cooking is akin a Tarte Tatin whereby it is cooked upside down and then reversed and doused with Sugar syrup and served with a sesame bread type.

 

 

 

That's a Lebanese way of eating it. I always found it interesting, but couldn't bring myself to make such sandwich. I might be able to eat a quarter of one, then fall asleep

The version common here is made with kadayif pastry, and that's the one I prefer. The local version also usually have two pastry layers, but this I don't care about.

[liamsaunt]

Last night was the "once per visit" fried seafood fest.  Fried whole belly clams, oysters, calamari and scallops.

 

 

Nephew cannot have the fried food so he opted for some ribs

 

 

And my stomach was not liking the idea of fried food so I got a salad

 

 

I took my niece and nephew to the bakery yesterday for some housemade soft serve ice cream, with caramel sauce and caramel crunchies.  Eaten in the car of course

 

 

Bonus picture, last night's sunset from the beach in front of the house

 

[MokaPot]

6 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Last night was the "once per visit" fried seafood fest.  Fried whole belly clams, oysters, calamari and scallops.

 

 

And my stomach was not liking the idea of fried food so I got a salad

 

6 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

I took my niece and nephew to the bakery yesterday for some housemade soft serve ice cream, with caramel sauce and caramel crunchies.  Eaten in the car of course

 

 

 

OMG, I don't think I could have passed up that fried seafood. That ice cream w/caramel sauce looks amazing as well.

 

[heidih]

8 minutes ago, liamsaunt said:

Last night was the "once per visit" fried seafood fest.  Fried whole belly clams, oysters, calamari and scallops.

 

 

Have not had the pleasure in forever. Looks SO good!

 

[scamhi]

Friday Night,

for three

green market cherry and sungold tomatoes with prosciutto and buffalo mozzerella.

grilled spatchcocked chicken with fresh english peas and sugar snap peas in a creme fraiche, dijon mustard, olive oil, shallot,  dressing.

an Italian salsa verde and a bunch of wine. the reds were both birth year for the dinner participants

[Margaret Pilgrim]

@liamsaunt

I may hate myself tomorrow, but I'll have some of each, thanks.    Absolutely perfect midsummer dining.

[Dante]

"Korean Sticky Beef", called such as one lets the beef sit in the pan until it browns enough to stick to it. With scallions and shredded napa cabbage, over noodles.

[BeeZee]

Red snapper fillets grilled on cedar plank, thick slices red potato cooked in foil, salad with cuke, orange, little sliced fennel.

[kayb]

A heritage Berkshire chop, cooked sous vide and then broiled in the CSO, with mashed potatoes and peas.

 

[FauxPas]

We've been eating pretty simple meals. More salmon a few nights ago, then some crunchy tacos and last night was soup. Received a link to Garden Green Minestrone Soup from Simple Bites blog and it was a good starting point for making use of quite a few of our CSA veggies and frozen leftover Rancho Gordo beans. It's a fast soup to make so doesn't have to heat up the kitchen and it's pretty light. I had some leftover beef stock and used that, but it might have been prettier with chicken or vegetable stock. 

 

I'm cooking a small (beef) roast tonight as it's not too warm this evening. We're supposed to get a couple of quite warm days, so it will be nice to have something pre-cooked. 

[liamsaunt]

3 hours ago, MokaPot said:

 

 

OMG, I don't think I could have passed up that fried seafood. That ice cream w/caramel sauce looks amazing as well.

 

 

My nephew granted me a (small) bite, and it was indeed really good.  

 

Our last dinner for this trip.  Had to be a sushi repeat.  We are headed home tomorrow for the month of August to take advantage of my small garden and central AC, but my husband and I are coming back for an entire month in September into October.  One advantage of working remote during this pandemic...

 

 

[Okanagancook]

On 7/24/2020 at 3:32 PM, TicTac said:

Hailing from my shrimp and lobster sauce thread....

the rendition, attempting to live up to its namesake: 

 

While Canada is still working on evolving it’s wine production prowess; ice wine being the first real success - we also produce some fantastic whites...this is one of the better Reisling’s I have had in a while...

I love Niagara whites, especially Riesling.......Canada has world class wines.  Here’s the latest winner.right in our backyard https://www.castanet.net/news/Penticton/306226/Four-wines-from-Poplar-Grove-won-gold-medals-at-the-annual-London-Wine-Competition

 

 

[shain]

Thai green curry (commercial paste spiced up with fresh chilies, garlic, ginger, some spices, a little shrimp paste, kaffir lime, lemon zest, anise seed) with eggplant, green beans, tofu, onion. Coconut milk, lime juice, fish sauce, a little sugar, finished with basil.

Sweet corn salad with green beans, onion, tomato, fish sauce, chilies, lime juice, lime zest, garlic, coconut oil, peanuts, basil.