Dinner 2020

[RWood]

Baby Gem grilled Ceasar salad with garlic butter bread crumbs. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

5 minutes ago, RWood said:

Baby Gem grilled Ceasar salad with garlic butter bread crumbs. 

 

I LOVE this idea.   Thanks much.

[robirdstx]

 

Toasted Ravioli (from the freezer) - 10 minute bake at 425F - no marinara for dipping - nice and crunchy - satisfied!

[heidih]

53 minutes ago, RWood said:

Baby Gem grilled Ceasar salad with garlic butter bread crumbs. 

Hhmm can you elaborate please

[Franci]

I little lazy taking photo of dinner recently. A couple days ago I did chinese pork roast but instead of my usual steamed bread, I went italian, doing the fusion that is usual in my house. So tigelle and pork roast. Man, I should sell the idea to some restaurants because this stuff works really well. 

 

Tonight I fried some cod, some calamari still from the freezer and croquetas de chorizo for the rest of the gang, for me a little bowl of noodles, salad and roasted cod. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Franci (log)

[Smithy]

Thanks to someone or several someones on this topic (or was it the lunch topic?) I got the idea to roast down some gorgeous summer tomatoes and onions, along with a couple of eggplants. Maybe I'd even get energetic and toss them with fresh pasta. Maybe I'd put them into a tart or galette.

 

Unbeknownst to me during this planning process, my darling was rooting around in a freezer. He came in, accusing me: "I've found some sausages from last January!" I took a look. Well...no, they were only from last March. But I agree that it defeats the purpose of buying hot Italian sausage "handmade fresh in Arizona today!" when one sticks them in a freezer and forgets them for nearly 5 months. They went into the mix.

 

Two huge eggplants, several tomatoes, several onions were cut up, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkled with salt and herbs, then roasted until they collapsed. The sausages kept them company in the roasting pans but didn't collapse. The lot was chopped and tossed with freshly cooked dried pasta. Not bad, not bad at all.

 

 

Even better with grated parmesan. Somehow, that made the sauce elements stick to the noodles better.

 

[RWood]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

Hhmm can you elaborate please

 

 I split the baby gems in half and brushed with olive oil. I placed them on a hot grill till they had marks on both sides.  I made my usual Caesar dressing.  I had read This article about salad breadcrumbs instead of hard croutons and wanted to try it. 

So much flavor in them compared to croutons, and was nicer to eat. 

I'm not a fan of baby gems for regular salad, but I thought that since they are such sturdy little buggers, they would grill well. And, they are a better size than a big romaine head. 

[pastameshugana]

3 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Parallels one of my favorite sayings:   “Not my circus, not my monkeys”.

We whisper this to each other when we see misbehaving children out in public. 

[CantCookStillTry]

Not pretty, Pita Bread, Spiced beef mince, sour cream, cheese, lettuce, red onion. Pretty much a Taco in a different shell. 

[liuzhou]

I'm not quite sure what to make of this dinner, although I just ate it.  I wasn't feeling on top form and kind of threw it together.

 

Egg fried rice with cabbage. Red lentils with onion, cumin, fennel seed, turmeric, chilli and scallion. 1-10-10 chicken breast finished with Shichimi Togarishi.

It was a lot better than anticipated or the images suggest.

 

 

 

The rest of the chicken breast is in the fridge to be incorporated into breakfast - somehow.

Edited August 6, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[scamhi]

21 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

Last night, salmon larb

 

 

@liamsaunt this looks really good. Can you let me know how you made it. is the salmon cooked or raw?

[liamsaunt]

3 hours ago, scamhi said:

 

@liamsaunt this looks really good. Can you let me know how you made it. is the salmon cooked or raw?

 

The salmon is lightly cooked with ginger, cilantro, fish sauce, lemongrass, palm sugar, Thai basil and shallots.  I don't measure, just add to taste.  I put crushed peanuts on top for texture.

 

Last night, I made a loaf of semolina rye bread and we ate it as zucchini melts with a kale salad that had pistachios and golden raisins in it.

 

 

[heidih]

11 hours ago, Smithy said:

Thanks to someone or several someones on this topic (or was it the lunch topic?) I got the idea to roast down some gorgeous summer tomatoes and onions, along with a couple of eggplants. Maybe I'd even get energetic and toss them with fresh pasta.

 

I think it was @shain  That is who planted it in my head. I tossed it with cellentani pasta shape. I don't cook for dad and wife as we have sharply different tastes and mealtimes BUT I shared it with stepmother who is not eggplant conversant. She said it was the first time she really enjoyed it. 

Edited August 6, 2020 by heidih (log)

[shain]

Classic pesto, from some days ago. Salad of tomatoes and cuces on the side.

Most pastas I'll mix with the sauce in the cooking pot, but not peso. For pesto, I'll plate the plain pasta (and green beans in this case) along with some cooking water, then a small heap of sauce on the said. To be mixed right before eating.

Another tip is to briefly freeze the basil, I find that it helps it become a smoother paste and releases more flavor

 

[Kim Shook]

Instituted pre-dinner cocktails last night:

@Michael Ruhlman's Lemon Drops with a touch of St. Germaine.  Lovely.  We won’t do it every night – maybe weekly.  I also made the world’s easiest soup – Camille Glenn’s  Tomato Consommé.  It is one of those greater than the sum of its parts things.  This is V8, canned beef consommé, sweet onion, celery, and bay leaves.  I sometimes add cheese tortellini after this simmers for 20 minutes:

 

 

The ridiculously easy and delicious result with tortellini and some parm:

 

We also had the first BLT of the season.  I make them similar to how they do the “toasted” sandwiches at the BBQ place I grew up on - Short Sugar’s in Reidsville NC.  SS’s breakfast sandwiches are actually grilled so that you end up with the outside of the bread toasted and crunchy and the inside (next to the fillings) soft.  I didn’t grill these, I just toasted them on one side in the CSO:

 

Sandwich:

 

[mgaretz]

BBQ Chicken breast, served with baked potato and butter and the last of the mashed cauliflower and mushroom gravy.

 

 

 

[heidih]

59 minutes ago, shain said:

Classic pesto, from some days ago. Salad of tomatoes and cuces on the side.

Most pastas I'll mix with the sauce in the cooking pot, but not peso. For pesto, I'll plate the plain pasta (and green beans in this case) along with some cooking water, then a small heap of sauce on the said. To be mixed right before eating.

Another tip is to briefly freeze the basil, I find that it helps it become a smoother paste and releases more flavor

 

 

 

Interesting pesto tips. Do you find that not mixing it in give a brighter taste?

[TdeV]

2 hours ago, shain said:

briefly freeze the basil

 

Define briefly. An hour?

[shain]

7 hours ago, heidih said:

 

Interesting pesto tips. Do you find that not mixing it in give a brighter taste?

 

I find that basil and olive oil both have volatile aromas, so adding them late allows the pasta to be cool slightly, which prevents overheating (I like my pasta hot, so letting it intentionally cool more than it does by plating is a no-go). Also, and perhaps more importantly, by mixing on the table, the initial aroma is released just in front of the eaters.

Same goes for margarita pizza - I add the basil and olive oil only after baking. Even in Napoli, some pizzerias cook the basil and oil (and others don't), I think that this brings forth the oil-soluble flavors of the basil and tomatoes, but still I prefer the fresh notes.

 

5 hours ago, TdeV said:

 

Define briefly. An hour?

 

Depends on how you pack it, it should freeze solid. An hour should suffice.

Edited August 7, 2020 by shain (log)

[weinoo]

2 hours ago, shain said:

 

I find that basil and olive oil both have volatile aromas, so adding them late allows the pasta to be cool slightly, which prevents overheating (I like my pasta hot, so letting it intentionally cool more than it does by plating is a no-go). Also, and perhaps more importantly, by mixing on the table, the initial aroma is released just in front of the eaters.

Same goes for margarita pizza - I add the basil and olive oil only after baking. Even in Napoli, some pizzerias cook the basil and oil (and others don't), I think that this brings forth the oil-soluble flavors of the basil and tomatoes.

 

 

Depends on how you pack it, it should freeze solid. An hour should suffice.

A million Italian nonnas just rolled over in their graves. Here, I try to soothe their worries...

 

 

via a classic tomato sauce (canned tomatoes!), fresh basil. Parmigianno-reggiano - grated at the table...

 

[gfweb]

Pulled pork with sprout/apple slaw

 

[shain]

51 minutes ago, weinoo said:

A million Italian nonnas just rolled over in their graves. Here, I try to soothe their worries...

Regarding the freezing or other parts? I do take care that when I make traditional Italian dishes, to respect their traditional flavors and spirit. I do however, allow myself to experiment with techniques and innovative cooking methods. In this case, I can assure that no damage is done to the basil flavor when frozen for an hour.

[chefmd]

Boneless chicken thighs grilled on a puny electric grill (no other grill is allowed on our condo balcony).  Spaghetti squash.  Peanut sauce.

[TdeV]

Several eG posts were my inspiration. Thanks to @rotuts @Shelby @mgaretz @Kim Shook @ambra @shain

 

I found some discounted veal shank cross cut which was sous vide at 130°F for 2.5 days and then sautéed for seconds at high heat.

 

 

Green beans with sautéed onion, new potatoes, chicken stock, smoked Spanish paprika, nutritional yeast, splash of red wine vinegar at end.

 

 

Sautéed Shiitake mushrooms, juice from sous vide bag, five spice, butter, cornstarch.

 

Edited August 7, 2020 by TdeV
More details (log)

[ambra]

Thank you tons for the comments, @Smithy(I hope it was delicious!), @Kim Shook, @TdeV and @Shelby!

 

More pasta over here too. This one is Pancetta, onion and canned date tomatoes (and a little chili pepper). 

 

Then there was homemade Schiacciata stuffed with prosciutto di San Daniele, mozzarella (oddly shaped because it's from a treccia) and fried friggitelli peppers.

 

@Franci, can you say how you did the pork? It looks amazing and is something I miss!