Dinner 2023

[KennethT]

Had a few friends over for dinner for Malaysian/Indonesian night...

 

Store bought shrimp chips with homemade peanut sambal (sambal kacang)

 

Sambal udang kecombrang - shrimp sambal made with torch ginger flower. The head on/shell on shrimp were deep fried first to make the head and shell crunchy and edible.

 

Then tossed in the sambal

 

Peranakan chicken curry with homemade curry powder

 

All served with jasmine rice and bok choy two ways - stir fried with garlic and belacan style with tons of shrimp paste (didn't get a photo of that).

 

 

[heidih]

18 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Had a few friends over for dinner for Malaysian/Indonesian night...

 

Store bought shrimp chips with homemade peanut sambal (sambal kacang)

 

Sambal udang kecombrang - shrimp sambal made with torch ginger flower. The head on/shell on shrimp were deep fried first to make the head and shell crunchy and edible.

 

Then tossed in the sambal

 

Peranakan chicken curry with homemade curry powder

 

All served with jasmine rice and bok choy two ways - stir fried with garlic and belacan style with tons of shrimp paste (didn't get a photo of that).

 

 

Nice! You are able to source fresh torch ginger - lucky you!

[heidih]

1 hour ago, C. sapidus said:

Pan-seared mackerel with red onion, garlic, and ginger. Sauce was black and regular soy sauce, black pepper, sugar, and rice vinegar. I need to remember to use that topping on, well, just about anything. Mackerel is not Mrs. C's favorite fish, but she was tolerant.

 

Javanese cucumber and carrot pickle, with shallots, sliced Thai chiles, rice vinegar, and sugar.

 

Coconut rice with galangal, lemongrass, bay leaf, and Mrs. C's chicken stock.

 

 

Yah mackerel gets a bad rep  as "too fishy".. Maybe cuz of the cat food like canned stuff. When you say coconut rice  is it rice cooked with coconut milk or??

[KennethT]

16 minutes ago, heidih said:

Nice! You are able to source fresh torch ginger - lucky you!

frozen.... not nearly as good as fresh but better than nothing

[C. sapidus]

10 minutes ago, heidih said:

Yah mackerel gets a bad rep  as "too fishy".. Maybe cuz of the cat food like canned stuff. When you say coconut rice  is it rice cooked with coconut milk or??

Rice cooked with half coconut milk and half chicken stock is my preference. You can cook it in pure coconut milk - kids preferred it that way - but I think it tastes lighter and more interesting with chicken stock mixed in.

 

Mrs. C grew up in Wisconsin with clean-flavored, lake-caught fish, so mackerel is a bit of a jump.

[Kerry Beal]

46 minutes ago, KennethT said:

 

 

 

 

 

Is that induction you are cooking on?

[heidih]

My favorite is a handful of split peas cooked to half done with coconut milk, and then that thinned with more coconut and water dependining on thickness plus the rice into the cooker. Sometimes the slightest touch of S&B curry powder wanders in with its friend chicken powder Pure comfort. A variation of rice and peas from Carribean via Panamanian mentor

[Honkman]

Cubano Chicken Legs with Peppers, Tomatoes, and Citrus - chicken legs marinated overnight in a mixture of orange and lime juice and zest and plenty of garlic and oregano. Next day braised with onion, red, green and piquillo peppers, chickpeas and tomatoes in the marinade. Served with a salad of cucumber, jicama and avocado
From the rarely mentioned cookbook “Braise” from Daniel Boulud (and Melissa Clark) - which we like quite a lot

[liuzhou]

Pork tenderloin steaks, replacement 黑皮鸡枞菌 (hēi pí jī cōng jūn), 'black skin chicken fir mushroom', Oudemansiella raphanipes and snow peas.

 

 

 

[KennethT]

10 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

Is that induction you are cooking on?

yes - I just got it.  It's a high power (2600W) Vollrath induction unit.  Unlike most induction units, it doesn't pulse the power to control heat (like most microwaves) but rather puts out continuous limited power.  It is also adjustable in 1% increments from 1 to 100.  According to Vollrath, you can even use it to melt chocolate without a bain marie since it's capable of providing very low power.  It also has a temperature probe so you can control it by temperature rather than % of total power - I haven't used that function yet.  You can also set the pan temperature without the probe, but I haven't found that feature very accurate in my initial trials.

 

But for the few things I've used it for so far - I love it.

[weinoo]

 

With the leftovers from last night's roasted chicken, and stock made earlier in the day via the Instant Pot, a chicken and clean-out-the-vegetables stew; I even found some escarole.

 

Above is my bowl, with all the bony pieces of back, neck, wings, etc. The Mrs. gets the breast meat, once again - just touched by the heat of the stew.  Jasmine rice. And a nice chenin blanc from the Loire.

[Dejah]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

With the leftovers from last night's roasted chicken, and stock made earlier in the day via the Instant Pot, a chicken and clean-out-the-vegetables stew; I even found some escarole.

 

Above is my bowl, with all the bony pieces of back, neck, wings, etc. The Mrs. gets the breast meat, once again - just touched by the heat of the stew.  Jasmine rice. And a nice chenin blanc from the Loire.

Your bowl with all the bony pieces would be my choice!

Had picked up a couple of prepackaged mustard and rosemary lamb shanks on sale at Safeway. I don't usually buy marinated meat, but it was cheaper than other shanks at my moment of weakness. It was wayyy too salty, so I tried to rescue it by rinsing off the marinade after braising. Too late, even with 2 cans of coconut milk and a bit of red curry.
Lots of herbs, stir-fried veg and roasted taters were the highlight of that meal!

 

                                                                                    

 

Grandson picked up a smallish Wagu beef to try. I donated a single rib roast. The wagu was a weird shape, he said, so he cut it into 3 steaks and cooked it with the cold pan start method I showed him. The roast was done early and sitting took it to beyond medium but still good.
                                                                                    

 

I made scalloped taters, one side with dill as the kidlets like the taters plain;-)

 

                                                                                   

 

Also took over Michael Symon's Holiday brussel Sprouts, which the picky kidlets have always loved!

 

                                                                                 

 

and a quick pickle with English cucumber and sushi seasoning.

[liamsaunt]

23 hours ago, heidih said:

I love cauliflower soup - esp leftovers for breakfast. Sorry about your bitter experience. My first thought was the rosemary as the culprit. Just took the tiniest nibble from some fresh but ij a vase for some time = bitter.  Just a thought. 

 

Interesting, but that was not the issue.  There was no rosemary in the soup itself, just tossed with the bacon after it was cooked and set aside for the garnish.  I had not added that to the soup yet. 

 

 

23 hours ago, Duvel said:

I‘d blame the pale ale … did you use an IPA, by any chance ?

 

No, just a standard Sam Adams Boston lager.  I keep that in the house for cooking as it has a pretty neutral flavor.  I cannot think of any recipe that I would use an IPA in!  At least not the kind that are around in my house.

 

Last night we had roasted chicken cooked with green garlic butter under the skin, parsnips and carrots that were roasted in the pan with the chicken, and some celeriac puree. My sister's chicken carving skills could use some work.  Mine could too though 😀

 

 

 

[OlyveOyl]

Last night we had Korean rice cakes, Swiss chard, petit peas in a Gochujang lamb meat sauce. The usual suspects included onion, garlic and ginger, topped off with sesame seeds, sesame oil and cilantro. I’ve made this with pork and beef previously and served it over rice or noodles.  Recipe adapted from foodgal and several other sources.

[Duvel]

1 hour ago, liamsaunt said:

 

No, just a standard Sam Adams Boston lager.  I keep that in the house for cooking as it has a pretty neutral flavor.  I cannot think of any recipe that I would use an IPA in!  At least not the kind that are around in my house.

 

I imagined the addition of pale ale prescribing something else than a lager …

 

IPA is used in quite some braised dishes of (mostly fatty meats), where the fruitiness and astringent properties are balanced with the primary ingredient.

[OlyveOyl]

@Duvel         https://www.foodgal.com/2022/07/a-go-for-gochujang-gravy/

perhaps this will clarify.

[Duvel]

28 minutes ago, OlyveOyl said:

@Duvel         https://www.foodgal.com/2022/07/a-go-for-gochujang-gravy/

perhaps this will clarify.

Thanks. There are a few details I feel challenged to reconcile with my understanding of Korean cuisine. But, as the cited article starts with an analogy to Italian-American Sunday gravy, I think this might be a nod to Korean-American cuisine. Plus cilantro 😜

[OlyveOyl]

Your welcome, many rifs on using Gochujang, etc. including those from well known Korean American chefs.   These are not meant to be authentic, just tasty!

[weinoo]

5 hours ago, Dejah said:

Your bowl with all the bony pieces would be my choice!

 

It's where all the flavor is!

[C. sapidus]

Mrs. C made a Reuben casserole. Layered corned beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese, with a cracker crust on top. Homemade thousand island dressing with Sriracha subbing for ketchup. Sorry, no picture but it was really good.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

9 hours ago, Dejah said:

Your bowl with all the bony pieces would be my choice!

 

 

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

It's where all the flavor is!

 

We consciente promise to keep this secret.

[Ann_T]

@KennethT, lucky guests.  What a delicious looking feast. 

 

 

Had been craving pasta (Linguine) with clams.

But every time in the last month when I went to get clams they were out.

Usually waiting for their order to come in either later in the day or the next day.

Lucked out today.

[FeChef]

29 minutes ago, Ann_T said:

@KennethT, lucky guests.  What a delicious looking feast. 

 

 

Had been craving pasta (Linguine) with clams.

But every time in the last month when I went to get clams they were out.

Usually waiting for their order to come in either later in the day or the next day.

Lucked out today.

What kind of clams are those? When we go chinese buffet, they always have them in some brown sauce with black beans, sauteed diced onions and green/red peppers.

[Ann_T]

4 minutes ago, FeChef said:

What kind of clams are those? When we go chinese buffet, they always have them in some brown sauce with black beans, sauteed diced onions and green/red peppers.

@FeChef, west coast Manila clams. 

 

[Honkman]

Fusili with Spinach and Ricotta - sauce made with fresh ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest and juice, milk and nutmeg