Dinner 2020

[chromedome]

3 hours ago, Shelby said:

Finally ran across some oxtail in the grocery store.  $5.99/lb!  Used to be so much cheaper.  But, I've wanted them ever since I saw @Duvel's ragu.

 

 

 

 

They seldom go below $13.99 or $14.99/lb where I live, so usually I only buy them when they're approaching their "sell by" date and are marked down 50%...and yours are still cheaper! (Well...depending on the exchange rate I suppose...)

[Shelby]

23 minutes ago, chromedome said:

They seldom go below $13.99 or $14.99/lb

Holy crap, I feel bad for complaining.  I retract my complaint. 

[Duvel]

Potato leek gratin (loosely based on the NYT recipe, with garlic, thyme and gruyere), topped with smoked salmon ...

 

[Dejah]

Our weather has been like a yoyo - one day with single digit temps such as -2C, then last night -32C with windchill of -42C! This is lingering today.
Made some warming food for supper - my version of Mapau Tofu with the addition of Japanese eggplant.

 

Stir-fried beansprouts with char siu

 

 

[mgaretz]

Pork chop, yellow squash and carrots, all done on the Philips Avance Grill.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

As I’ve posted in some other threads, I’ve been sick for over a month, so lots of make do and eating out meals for lunches and dinners.  Nothing deadly – just one aggravating thing after another – virus, infection and now what they are calling “significant anemia”.  Not to mention the burning mouth syndrome that I talked about awhile back.  Sigh. 

 

@robirdstx – I got the recipe for your chicken pot pie in 2013 and we still think it is one of the best we’ve ever had!  Need to make this again soon!

 

@mgaretz – glad to see you taking steps to recovery – even baby steps!

 

@CantCookStillTry – I’m not a fan of fluffy mashed potatoes, either.  I like them pretty solid.  Plus, the airy kind let your gravy wander away!😉

 

@Dejah – welcome back!  Sounds a bit scary and I’m glad you are feeling better.  And thank you for posting the char siu recipe.  I love it so much and haven’t ever made any that I really liked!  Is a 24 hour marinade long enough for the meat?  Also, now that I have the char siu recipe, would you please give me your recipe/method for the bean sprouts with char siu?  I had a favorite Chinese restaurant from college up to a few years ago when it closed.  One of my favorite dishes was something they called Roast Pork Bean Sprout and a few years ago, I realized that the roast pork was char siu.  I’d love to try to replicate it.   

 

I’ll go ahead and post the meals I’ve got on my computer.  I’ve got more on my phone, but I still need the ICloud class that Jessica has promised me.  Until then downloading the phone pictures to my computer is a long, PITA process!😉

 

We did a ‘shop’ at a Helen’s restaurant in Richmond for a friend who is doing some consulting for them.  Helen’s has been a restaurant and under the management of the same family since 1927.  We hadn’t been in years.  We always want to try the new places and sometimes forget the stalwarts.  We started with this:

mussels w/ Pernod broth, garlic, tomato, herb de Provence, sweet potato chips, and lemon aioli.  Maybe the best prepared mussels I’ve ever had.  Not one “funky” or gritty one and all of the flavors were so well balanced.  The sweet potato chips might seem to be an unnecessary “chefy” embellishment, but they were perfect with the other flavors.  The broth was so good that we were were afraid that we would be overfull from the broth-soaked bread, so we switched to spoons and got every last drop. 

 

Mr. Kim’s main dish:

Bacon wrapped chicken breast, country sausage pistachio stuffing, broccoli, Yukon gold mash, and double chicken jus.  This was very, very good – oversalted, though.  Mine was not over salted and every flavor was perfect:

This was the pork chop with Gouda grits, Brussels sprouts, pecans, cider glaze, and an apple-fennel relish.  As I said, it was delicious BUT – the pork chop was badly overcooked.  Very tough and dry.  I should have sent it back, but the rest of the dish was SO good that I decided to keep it.  We didn’t order dessert, but on the way home we stopped at Country Style Doughnuts:

😁

 

Another night Mr. Kim had a very specific cheeseburger craving:

Worcestershire burger with bleu cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions on brioche buns.  Served with sweet potato fries, sliced tomatoes, and slaw (slaw and potatoes were both purchased):

 

 Jessica generally gets 2 birthday dinners.  One casual at-home one with just the three of us on her actual BD and another “splurge” dinner with a guest of her choice at a favorite or new restaurant.  Her home meal was a taco night.  She requested ATK’s Tacos Dorados – these are the ones that you stuff with the meat mixture, fold, and fry in a little oil.  Frying:

With too much oil, though.  I had to make a note on the recipe to be careful about using too much oil.  If it is too deep it will seep in around the sides and “fry” the already cooked meat.  They were still good:

 

All kinds of fixings:

Including the cutest little cucumbers I’ve ever seen:

 

Chips, queso, and salsa:

 

Street corn (Jessica’s version):

 

Plated with beans and corn:

They are a little hard to stuff.  But I heated the leftovers in the CSO and treated them like tostadas – just piled everything on top!

 

Also by request dulce de leche cheesecake with cinnamon sugar.  Because we were going out the next night to a fancy dinner, she was ok with frozen.  I found a Junior’s cheesecake at Wegman’s that was small and much better than I expected.  I topped it with cinnamon sugar and warmed up dulce de leche:

 

The next night was for her “fancy” BD dinner.  She chose Demi’s, a favorite Greek place.  We started out with 3 appetizers.  Saganaki:

 

Oysters poached in butter and garlic:

 

Dried apricots stuffed with ricotta, Spanish almonds and drizzled with a balsamic reduction:

 

I had the lovely pastichio:

 

Mr. Kim had the special - rockfish with shrimp:

 

Jessica had grilled salmon with potatoes and spinach:

 

Her guest had the pork marsala:

 

Jessica had little filo cups filled with chocolate:

 

Her guest had the sweet cream empanadas and gelato:

 

Mr. Kim had the baklava:

 

Every single thing was wonderful. 

 

Another night - before dinner snack:

Murrays Fromager D’Affinois and Cabot 3 Year Cheddar.

 

Dinner was toasted cheese bread and Mr. Kim’s (and Emeril’s😉) wonderful split pea soup:

 

Another short cut meal:

Frozen Swedish meatballs with an ersatz stroganoff sauce!  Tasted pretty good in spite of the presence of Campbell’s!

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Tomatoes with blue cheese dressing

 

"Green soup" = zucchini, spinach, celery, onion, potato, BUTTER.    Creme fraiche and bacon garnish

 

Garlic bread sauteed in bacon fat!!!

Edited February 14, 2020 by Margaret Pilgrim (log)

[robirdstx]

 

Baked Teriyaki Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs

 

 

Teriyaki Stir Fried Mushrooms, Onions, Yellow Squash and Zucchini 
 

 

[heidih]

@Kim Shook Too much to take in all at once. You killed me with the mussels. Gotta breathe and read slowly. Feeling inspired. Oh and not a Costco girl. Argentine wild redd shrimp in freezer will have to suffice.

[Ann_T]

A favourite of Moe's that I haven't made in a long time.

 

Ziti Tagliati in a tomato cream sauce with smoked salmon.

[BonVivant]

Nothing fancy this time but everything is always freshly made by the kitchen staff, a family-run hotel-restaurant-whale watching business who aims to honour tradition. I saw the family ate the same food that came from the restaurant's kitchen every day.

 

Kitchen and wood-fired pit

 

 

 

 

[heidih]

Wow what a mainstream manufactured sauce selection including lots of Kraft. Its a Small World - sorry for ear worm m- designed by a woman back in the day when Disney was female heavy,  Food very enticing. 

[mgaretz]

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

 

@mgaretz – glad to see you taking steps to recovery – even baby steps!

Thanks Kim. 

[nickrey]

Dinner for 16. From a Yannick Alléno recipe.

 

Squab Royale with Foie Gras and Vegetable Chartreuse (I used chicken mousseline in this, which was not in the recipe). Baguette with shredded confit squab leg and chicken paté, lattice cut chip, lettuce leaf and pickled vegetables (cornichons and raspberry vinegar eschallots).

 

Sorry about quality of photo.

Edited February 14, 2020 by nickrey (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

Philips grilled Berkshire chop.  Philips grilled asparagus.  I am getting rather attached to Philips grilled asparagus.  Baked potato.

 

[liuzhou]

2 hours ago, nickrey said:

Dinner for 16

 

Confused. That wouldn't even fill me.

[nickrey]

52 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

 

Confused. That wouldn't even fill me.

Appetizers x 2. 

Entree (not in the US sense) of scallops on pumpkin with orange sauce and hazelnut foam. 2 x slices of cheese. Dessert as attached. No one went away hungry. 

Edited February 14, 2020 by nickrey (log)

[liuzhou]

I didn't fancy Chinese tonight so I made pork fried rice. Rice, pork, shallots, garlic, red chillies, green chillies and shiitake.

 

Edited February 14, 2020 by liuzhou (log)

[liamsaunt]

miso roasted salmon with black rice, cucumbers, cilantro, roasted radishes and lime-mirin dressing

 

[shain]

Freshly made alkaline egg noodles. Smoked tofu, shiitake and button mushrooms, charred cabbage, spinach, spring onion. Sauce of garlic, ginger, chilies, soy sauce, oyster sauce, toasted sesame oil, five spice, orange zest, a little sugar.

 

 

[TdeV]

@shain, lovely! What are the things which look like cashews? Also, what are alkaline egg noodles?

Edited February 14, 2020 by TdeV
Clarity (log)

[shain]

13 minutes ago, TdeV said:

@shain, lovely! What are the things which look like cashews? Also, what are alkaline egg noodles?

 

 

Thanks!

The things that look like cashews are cashews. 😄

The noodles were made with some additional baking soda (which I toasted first), which contributes to a chewier texture. 

 

 

[Okanagancook]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:33 PM, Dejah said:

Been using the Flashfood App from our Canadian Superstore  where they have food items reduced by 50%. Each day they post different items. The most frequent one I've found are the Country Style Pork Ribs. They are fabulous for Char Siu. Don't know why these are always overstocked, but instead of $20.00 per pkg, I have been picking them up at 50%. Today I grabbed 3, and I roasted one package in the oven.
So for supper, it was Char Siu Ho Fun with sugar snap peas and bell peppers.

The marinade was my usual one from my old restaurant: Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, soy, sesame oil, sugar, and 5-spice powder. Even marinating for 6 hours, the flavour was good!

I made the pork today and sampled some with CSO super steamed mini bok choy.  Used country ribs and this is the best I have made yet.  The oven temp was perfect...I wanted a little more char on mine so briefly broiled them.  The honey finish was excellent.  Quite a lot of liquid came out of the meat after 30 minutes..I drained it off and reduced in a sauce pan to serve on the side.  I did put a tray of water on the bottom of the oven for moisture.

great flavour.  Thank you.

[suzilightning]

On 2/13/2020 at 10:41 AM, lindag said:

They're $7.99 (frozen) a pound here if you can find them....and this is beef country!  What the heck are the meat producers doing with them!

And why the heck are they called OXtails!?

 

 

Shelby, Lindang…..

PM me and I will tell you how much I need you to buy

 

It is 11.99 +here for fresh oxtail and no one has frozen.  Beef cheeks?!?  No way to find them...….

[robirdstx]

Happy Valentine’s Day!
 

 

Filet Mignon (Sous Vide at 129F for one hour, then finished on the Grill) with Garlic Herb Compound Butter and Lemon-Dill Green Beans