Dinner 2022

[Norm Matthews]

I wasn't planning to cook today but when I  got home from the store, Charlie told me that Carlos had given us some pork steaks so I grilled them and made new potatoes by boiling them tender, splitting them with a fork and frying them until crisp on the outsides.  I forgot to take a picture until after dinner.  These are leftovers. We also had a salad and  some banana nut bread.  Carlos is one of Charlies car club members who has started renting a room from us.  There is a Mexican market nearby that sells meat ready to cook. It's already cut up and marinated. I grilled it outside. The meat is thin and cooked quickly.

[mgaretz]

Another pork chop on the NFG, served with steamed snap peas.

 

 

Not really dinner but earlier in the day I thought I'd try out the dehydrator function of the NFG.  Was just cutting this huge pork loin into chops (see above) and my wife had just enjoyed some pork jerky samples at Costco so I though why not?  I marinated the thinly cut pork in a mix of hoisin and soy sauces with some garlic powder.  I only marinated for two hours and that was plenty.  Cooked at 150F on the dehydrate setting for 7 hours and my wife really liked them (me too).  There were twice as many on the plate before I quickly snapped a pic!

 

 

[Ann_T]

Pizza again for dinner last night.

 

Baked in the Ooni.

Dough started with a Biga on Saturday and left in the fridge until yesterday afternoon.

[Annie_H]

On 4/25/2022 at 9:13 AM, weinoo said:

At Fore Street, the restaurant which really put Portland dining on the map.  Open for over 25 years, it was so good. I wish NYC had a place like this

That is rare. Next level chef. The freshest ingredients and make it seem effortless. Not sure if similar even exists  coastal Long Island. Hamptons, etc. That is passion and talent, not just a love of cooking. Excellent meals in NY but memorable is a half dozen over the years. (at that level to be clear). I don't need a 14carat gilded fish eyeball or a precious edible flower garnish unless a salad where appreciated. We travel north and coastal often, through Canada and Newfoundland. A small French seaside cafe in Nova Scotia is on that list. 

 

 

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Annie_H (log)

[Annie_H]

We spent a long weekend in the Catskill mountains. Cold evenings below freezing, but warm sunny daylight. Tapped a few maples and quickly harvested 4 gallons---about a pint of syrup but I take a few pints half boiled and make a maple/rhubarb juice. 

Had to dig out some snow to open our barn door Friday. Big melt Saturday with warm sun. 

Blooming daffodils means ramps. Did some thinning and next weekend will be snipping. 

Burgers last night with butter basted ramps, cherry tomatoes, and roasted garlic. Roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussels. 

No cheeses necessary. 

 

[liamsaunt]

Brown butter scallops with burst cherry tomatoes and chives over linguini

 

[chromedome]

24 minutes ago, Annie_H said:

That is rare. Next level chef. The freshest ingredients and make it seem effortless. Not sure if similar even exists  coastal Long Island. Hamptons, etc. That is passion and talent, not just a love of cooking. Excellent meals in NY but memorable is a half dozen over the years. (at that level to be clear). I don't need a 14carat gilded fish eyeball or a precious edible flower garnish unless a salad where appreciated. We travel north and coastal often, through Canada and Newfoundland. A small French seaside cafe in Nova Scotia is on that list. 

Would that have been Fleur de Sel in Lunenburg?

[Annie_H]

Saturday in the Catskills we had our first Bonfire Chili of the season. A homemade 'meal kit' from the freezer prepped at home. Heated on the wood stovetop. Had some neighbors over for a bonfire. Topping options---cilantro, celery leaves, scallions, feta, goat cheese, and ramps. Roasted garbanzos and black beans heated separately in a 1/4 pint of master stock. 

Not pretty but very good on a cold evening by an outdoor fire. 

 

[liuzhou]

There are certain ultracrepidarians who would deny that this is a proper dinner. Conspiracy theorists the lot of them.

 

小笼包 (xiǎo lóng bāo)

 

 

[Annie_H]

16 minutes ago, chromedome said:

Would that have been Fleur de Sel in Lunenburg?

I'll look on a map. He is French and spends summers there. Winters back home in France. His Fishermans stew is excellent.(not sure what he calls it). I've not had a more memorable lunch traveling the coast. A few rental motel type rooms right on the coast. Separate from the small restaurant. High strung, passionate, and very friendly. We try and stop by every trip if we have the time. 

 

Editing to add this is in NewBrunswick. Between StAndrews and StJohn---coastal. Back when the TCH-1 (?) was not yet re-built. I've visited Lunenburg when working in Halifax. Our first overnight sleep is StAndrews. That gives us plenty of time to reach the Newfoundland overnight ferry. A few stops along the way is easy if we get an early start from StAndrews. 

 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Annie_H (log)

[Duvel]

18 hours ago, cteavin said:

Love that you know negiyaki. I've been wanting to make that, too. 😁😉

During my last post-doc year at KyoDai I had a master student working for me who doubled at nighttime cooking for everyone who stayed late (so, all of the lab). Once a week he made either Okonomiyaki or Negiyaki, the latter being preferred by the guys because it was a welcome excuse to have a beer (because of its stronger taste). I learned from him - both making it and having a beer when I do 🥳

[JoNorvelleWalker]

 

 

Bunny chow from Bryant Terry's Vegetable Kingdom.  A South African curry dish I understand.  I cheated and didn't make the rolls from scratch.  The preparation was more work than I should have attempted, but I got to use up a few Rancho Gordo beans.  Quite good.

 

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, liuzhou said:

There are certain ultracrepidarians who would deny that this is a proper dinner. Conspiracy theorists the lot of them.

 

小笼包 (xiǎo lóng bāo)

 

 

I think it depends on the filling!  Pork (meat) and chives (vegetable) looks like all the food groups to me!

[Shelby]

On 4/23/2022 at 7:32 PM, KennethT said:

I was all set to make a new (to me) Indonesian dish, but it turned out to be almost 7PM when we were leaving the grocery store so we decided to put that off to tomorrow and get take out sushi on the walk home instead.  This time from our local favorite, Kanoyama - for $3 more, it was heads and tails above the quality at Ennju - the rice was 1000x better, and the fish was awesome.

 

It comes in one of those fanciful wooden boxes.  Left to right, tuna, hamachi, salmon, snapper, shrimp (perfectly cooked), hamachi, salmon belly, tuna/cucumber roll.

 

It was fortuitous that just a few minutes before, totally unplanned btw, we got these new soy sauce dishes at HMart...

 

 

And filled:

 

Sorry - I probably should have picked the detritus out of the dish before the photo but oh well....

Amazon continues to amaze me with their delivery speed to me.

 

Thank you @KennethTfor the wonderful enabling 😁

 

 

 

 

[Kim Shook]

@Ann_T – I know you don’t love them, but you certainly are a pro at cooking scallops.  Great sear!  AND I’m dying to make some pate now.  You are quite inspiring.

 

@KennethT – my whole family is in love with those soy sauce dishes.  I found a set at Amazon and put them on my wishlist!

 

@Shelby – I have been craving spaghetti for weeks.  It is our next restaurant outing since I don’t feel like making sauce right now.  I also love your lilacs.  I am garden growing challenged, and everything I plant dies, but some good friends who are whizzes brought me a little knee-high dwarf lilac that does well.  I don’t get enough blooms on it to feel like I can get a bouquet cut off.  Yours are lovely!

 

Saturday was the day of my mother’s memorial service.  A dear friend from high school was able to come down from DC for it and took us to dinner at Rappahannock, a local fish-forward place.  I had two appetizers – roasted oysters with Benton’s bacon and benito flakes:

 

 

And octopus with fingerling potatoes:

 

 

Our friend had the scallops with maybe fried zucchini and some sort of puree:

 

 

Mr. Kim had the mahi-mahi on pureed potatoes w/ broccolini:

[Norm Matthews]

We had Buffalo Wing. I planned to have potatoes but used them yesterday so we had rice. Charlie wanted Kimchi.

[RWood]

Fettuccine with home made pesto and sautéed baby zucchini and asparagus bits (leftovers from trimming for the pickled asparagus). 

[liuzhou]

51 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I think it depends on the filling!  Pork (meat) and chives (vegetable) looks like all the food groups to me!

 

exactly!

[Tropicalsenior]

I have been craving Swiss steak for ages. I like it with lots of onions but since it's a No-No in our house, I had to make do with mushrooms and tomato. Doesn't photograph well but it sure was tasty.

I used to shy away from making popovers because I've had some colossal failures but I found a no-fail recipe that always turns out perfect.

Served it with a salad made with broccoli, mango, celery, and walnuts in a Greek yogurt and honey dressing.

[MetsFan5]

Ok so I have to sell my house which kinda sucks but my goal once I move it to learn how to shuck oysters. I think I’ll visit the local Whole Foods to ask for some assistance and go from there. Because all these oysters are amazing. 

[AlaMoi]

Mets - we did an evening session of education&oyster eating at our local  fishmonger . . .

we tried oysters from all up&down the east coast - they are quite different!  one interesting factoid:  (farmed oysters) "seed oysters" raised in one area are then grown in many areas - warm water to cold water, brackish to seawater . . . and those same oysters taste distinctly different.

 

another take-away was on shucking - not every variety is shucked the same....  seems the shape of the shell differs and that means a slightly different shucking technique.  one the 'expert' explained a high % of "OOPS I stabbed myself!" is due to prying in an inappropriate spot for the oyster type.

 

[KennethT]

8 hours ago, MetsFan5 said:

Ok so I have to sell my house which kinda sucks but my goal once I move it to learn how to shuck oysters. I think I’ll visit the local Whole Foods to ask for some assistance and go from there. Because all these oysters are amazing. 

In addition to what @AlaMoi said, a while back, my wife and I would go to New Orleans once a year for a while... While there, we consumed an uncountable amount of oysters while sitting at various oyster bars.  Those guys shuck fast!  One of them said that the secret is to keep the oysters in a big tub of ice (that drains) - when the oysters are at that temp, they open much easier than standard refrigerator temp.  Also, most of them didn't shuck in their hands, but they had some kind of cradle they would nest the oyster in.

[gfweb]

19 hours ago, chromedome said:

Would that have been Fleur de Sel in Lunenburg?

Calvin Trillin has written a bit about his love for Lunenberg.

[liamsaunt]

Yelowtail flounder rolled up around an herb paste of cilantro, ginger, lemongrass and chiles in a coconut, lemongrass, lime and ginger broth with carrots, onions, cilantro and chiles, plus some chopped peanuts for crunch.  Cilantro lime rice

 

[Annie_H]

RG rice and bean bowl. Whipple and black caviar lentils. Whipple sauced with a miso/mole. Over a fennel, celeriac, celery, radish, slaw.