Dinner! 2002

[haunted_chef]

Priscilla,

Pork fat and anything is great.....

[SobaAddict70]

Saturday: Minestrone invernale (topped off with EVOO), a baguette. Salad of shaved fennel, lemon juice, parmegianno-reggiano. Perrier. Baked caramelized pears with fresh ricotta and honey.

Last night: Pasta with fresh vegetable sauce (in this case, pureed roasted acorn squash which had been mixed with unsalted butter, light cream, and caramelized onions), topped with fried herbed bread crumbs. Sauteed kale with EVOO and garlic. Tonic water w/ lemon. Flambeed roasted bananas w/ vanilla ice cream.

SA

[torakris]

Monday evening:

Roast chicken with lemon (Marcella Hazan), I read about it here, somewhere, and decided to give it a try, absolutely delicious. The very few leftovers there were are going into a chicken sandwich today.

Risi e bisi (rice and green peas) made from a recipe from Nigella Lawson's new book Forever Summer, this has become a new family favorite, my kids were actually trying to lick the pan clean that I made it in!! I even used frozen peas and bouillion cubes, can't imagine how much better it would taste with stock and fresh peas!

Mushroom and parmasean salad with lemon and EVOO dressing

Pear tart for dessert, not homemade but not bad (gift from MIL)

[Nick]

ok ....its finally cooled off here in houston, so I whipped up some shrimp and chese stuffed jalapenos(wrapped in bacon of course) and a couple racks of ribs. I then tossed them in the smoker.

How do you do the cheese stuffed jalepenos? Are the shrimp in them too? How big are the jalepenos?

That sounds like something I'd like to try. Thanks.

[nervousnelli]

Just got back from Mom's - she cooked me a kickin' oxtail soup. Mmmm!

[tommy]

i've always been a follower. never had an original thought in my head, and never will. always wore the same sneakers as everyone, listened to the same bands as everyone, and didn't read the books that the other kids didn't read.

so it follows that egullet is an extremely suggestive force in my sad, meaningless life. so much so, that it often dictates what i eat, and when i eat it. today, for example, we looked at, discussed, and craved blue heron's thai inspired hors d'oeuvre. i then had to have thai for lunch. liza told us about her mousse rubbed roasted chicken. so i had no choice but to order mrs. tommy to prepare this meal for me. which she dutifully did (wouldn't you?).

roasted chicken with mousse under da skin. baby spinach with garlic and a squeeze of lemon juice. potatoes roasted under the bird.

a reasonably priced if not very exciting santenay to drink.

i just just doesn't get any more basic, easy, and wonderful. thanks again egullet.

[

[Suzanne F]

Tommy, you're a very lucky man.

We had: grilled lamb rib chops with Cape Chef's Black Olive Tapenade; pilaf of "Pardinas" Lentils of the Palouse with Thai black rice, Texmati brown rice, and sun-dried tomatoes; steamed baby bok choy; tzatziki.

Standing Stone Vineyards "Pinnacle" 1999 (Finger Lakes) -- a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Merlot.

[awbrig]

Tommy that looks awesome...we had Tyson chicken patties sandwiches- Ugh and black beans ( w a drop of Dave's Insanity sauce)

[tommy]

if you have a moment, could you consider explaining black rice to the class. what about it makes is so unique, and delicious?

[awbrig]

is that the same thing as Forbidden Rice..which is actually a deep purple?

[Suzanne F]

According to Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid in Seductions of Rice:

Thai black rice: A black variety of Thai long-grain sticky rice, this rice is not milled (i.e., it is a "brown rice").  Though the rice inside the bran is a sticky rice (and white), because the outer (black) bran layers are left on the grain, the grains of rice do not stick together when cooked, but stay entirely separate.  The rice turns a most beautiful, slightly purply black when cooked.  Thais use this rice for desserts and other sweets.  They usually mix it with an equal quantity of white sticky rice and soak them together... The black rice dyes the whte and the white's stickiness helps the blended rice to stick together when cooked....

Neither this book nor any of my other Asian ingredient books mentions Forbidden Rice, so I don't know if it's the same. (And I've never heard of it elsewhere.) Sorry.

I love it because: it is chewy, nutty, has a flavor different from any other rice, and yes, is a beautiful purple when cooked. (Not normally a favorite color of mine, but just really neat in this context.) I've made a terribly rich pudding with it -- cooked in milk and whipping cream -- that came out lavender-colored, and sooooooooo good.

[torakris]

is that the same thing as Forbidden Rice..which is actually a deep purple?

According to the way Madhur Jaffrey describes "forbidden "rice (Chinese Black rice), they sound to be the same, or at least they are used in similar ways..

I aslo have always heard the term "forbidden" rice when black rice was being refered to.

[tommy]

i do believe that it is sometimes referred to as "forbidden rice," having something to do with that story that only royalty were allowed to eat it at some point in history. the texture and flavor is wonderful. all rice should be black, or rather, purple. for those in northern NJ, "my cup of tea" in allendale serves "forbidden rice."

[Liza]

I'm so proud!

There's a new farmer at the market on Mondays with lamb, so Davy brought home some meat for stewing and some lovely skinny sausages. I don't know what he did but when I got home from work, the place smelled like something serious was in the oven. With a saffron rice, he served a lovely lamb stew with carrots, potatoes, sauasage and a nice gremolata.

[Dana]

I roasted a chicken as well (alas, I have no wife - I AM the wife) and made a sauce with shallot saute'd in evoo, capers, hint of dijon, the juices from the chicken and finished with a little butter. I have to say that it was delish.

[mhadam]

Mac and cheese -- sauce was made with whole milk, a vermont goat cheese, ny sharp cheddar, a blue with lots of beautiful blue veining and a handful of roughly chopped swiss. Finished with fresh parsley from the garden and several cracks of black pepper.

Had some leftovers so eating some now :) tastes even better than last night...

[tommy]

Had some leftovers so eating some now :) tastes even better than last night...

can i suggest "reheating" the mac in cheese by frying it? oh man, you don't know what you're missing until you try it.

[mhadam]

can i suggest "reheating" the mac in cheese by frying it?  oh man, you don't know what you're missing until you try it. 

Hmm...frying...never had that....And couldn't since I'm at work :)

Does it matter if the mac and cheese wasn't baked? I simply added the al dente noodles to the sauce pot and let them cook a bit together.

How would I go about frying it? Butter? EVOO?

thanks Tommy....

[tommy]

Does it matter if the mac and cheese wasn't baked? I simply added the al dente noodles to the sauce pot and let them cook a bit together.

How would I go about frying it? Butter? EVOO? 

thanks Tommy....

dunno. i've only done it with baked.

no butter. no evoo. the cheese has enough oil in it already. i use as non-stick skillet. just drop the frozen block in (you can freeze if for months), throw a cover on it to speed the defrosting process, and fry it up. oh man.

[Adam Balic]

Basic "Curry" made paste of dried shrimp/shallots/birds eye chilli (only four of the buggers)/garlic/ginger. Steamed then fried some Chinese sausage, cooked paste off in the oil that had rendered out of the sausage. Added carrot, green beans, pepper, black cloud fungus cooked these off added bean sprouts and Holy basil. Checked sweet/sour/salt balance with Palm sugar/tamarind water/yellow beans. Served with steamed Jasmine rice.

[Priscilla]

Cut up a nice tri-tip into big old pieces, browned in rendered trimmed fat, (in a vintage oval Descoware, Belgian product which I believe preceded Le Creuset into the American market--those interested in integral handles on pot AND lid might consider same), few T. of red vermouth to empty the bottle deglazement, bunged in sliced onion, few garlic cloves, handful of sage leaves, a bay leaf, two nice strips of de-pithed orange peel, s & p, meat returned, lid clapped on, cook cook cook. Beef stew. Sauce eventually to be reduced and enriched with a little butter.

Mashed potatoes with a dose of heavy cream, broccoli with Mornay, again, special request. Nice Frenchy-French baguette from the Vietnamese bakery.

[torakris]

Why do I also seem to be making the same thing as everyone else?

We also had a beef stew last night, with emphasis on the beef.

Satueed onions, carrots, and celery, add large chunks of beef, bay leaves and about 1 1/2 bottles red wine. Simmered for 4 hours then added some demi glace (sp?) sauce to thicken it a bit. Tossed in some boiled potatoes and and button mushrooms sauteed in an ungodly amount of garlic.

Served with

Red oakleaf salad simply dressed with EVOO and red wine vinegar

Popovers fresh from the oven (made from the incredibly delicious recipe out of Fine Cooking's Apr/May 2002 magazine)

Of course my husband and 3 children all had to eat the stew Japanese style, over rice.

[mixmaster b]

Last night I made pizza. I can't seem to get it round--it morphed into a rather attractive rectangular shape.

Toppings: sautéed dandelion greens and treviso with pancetta, drained, chopped tomatoes (from a can) sautéed for a few minutes w/Ovoo & garlic to get them dry. Arranged in stripes on the pizza, topped all with grated mozzarella (poly-o type) and good reggiano.

It was good! The dough had been frozen and defrosted, and I was able to get it much thinner than usual. (Relaxed dough is a good thing!)

Served with salad and leftover champagne.

[Aix]

Pork tenderloin, stuffed with a tight pear chutney, wrapped in prosciutto, garlic truffle mash, asparagus "noodles" and a gorgonzola drizzle. Easy to prepare but looks like a million bucks!

[Miss J]

Last night I cooked for the first time in ages (been working/socialising too much), and since I got home late (again - but without intending to this time), I went for the cheap & simple dinner-in-20-minutes route:

Eggs stir-fried with ginger, tomatoes, and spring onions, then finished with chopped fresh coriander

Shredded green cabbage stir-fried with lardons of unsmoked bacon and garlic in ginger/dried red chili/star anise oil and finished with a little soy sauce

Sambal olek (because I eat it whenever possible...it was nice with the eggs)

Steamed jasmine rice