Dinner! 2002

[CathyL]

Blondie, I believe the fractal is like the broccoli. Very cool indeed.

It's a broccoli/cauliflower cross, right? How does the flavor compare to either?

[torakris]

broccoli with goma-ae,  sesame paste pounded together in the suribachi

Torakris, is this the sesame dressing sometimes served on green beans?

Could you give your recipe when it's convenient?

This dressing works on almost any veggies especially green ones. In Japan spinach is the most popular followed by green beans and broccoli. I especially like it on broccoli rabe.

This is really all to taste, so taste as you go along, I don't really use a recipe so these are approximates.

for about 1 lb of veggies

4 tablespoons white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons dashi ( I just put hot water in a small cup and sprinkle in some dashi powder)

Toast the sesame seeds, then place the hot seeds into a suribachi and crush until about 75% are spretty well smashed. Add the sugar and mix again. Then add the soy and dashi and mix wit the pestle with a fast almost whipping action to blend it. Taste and add more sugar or soy if needed.

Add the vegetable, if using a leafy vegetable mix with the pestle very gently bruising it to allow the flavors to penetrate. When using chunkier veggies I mix with a rubber spatula.

I vary the taste depending on the veggie, for broccoli rabe I like it sweeter to offset the bitterness, where I prefer a little more soy in the spinach version.

[FoodMan]

Stuffed poblanos. Stuffed with pacadillo, cream cheese and toasted ancho chile.

I served it topped with melted Chihuahua cheese and roasted tomatillo salsa.

For an accompaniment I made a mashed black bean salad with limes, tomatoes and cilantro.

FM

[Blondie]

It's a broccoli/cauliflower cross, right?  How does the flavor compare to either?

I should have tasted it in the raw state. Roasted it does taste like it could be a cross. I'll certainly buy it again if I see it.

Veggie-resistant kids might even try it. Each point has its own stalk, so it looks like tiny trees

I bought some Sottocenare al Tartufo today (Italian cows milk cheese with truffles). Any ideas on what to drink/eat with it?

[Jinmyo]

I've had romanesco broccoli. It is a weird splice between broccoli and cauliflower. It was at all the shops and supermarkets a few years ago in Ottawa but I haven't seen it since.

Disclaimer: Professional kitchen, staff of three. Still, please try this at home.

"Pueblo Polenta". (I just call it this to distinguish it from the other styles of polenta I do.) Very soft polenta made from white and yellow corn meal with roasted whole and mashed corn kernels, sauteed poblano and jalapeno chiles, diced white onion, and red and green bell peppers seasoned with toasted cumin and mustard seeds, garnished with fresh coriander (cilantro). Served with a swirl of chipotle paste round.

Roasted radicchio and zucchini batonettes with balsamico.

Roast bone-in pork loin roast, served cut into chops. An ancho powder spice rub for the crust, served with a swab of ancho paste.

Fresh corn tortillas filled with chevre and toasted pumpkin seeds, deep-fried, sliced on bias, lime dipping sauce.

[tommy]

i shot for the world's most monochromatic dish:

grilled pork chops (brined...my first time ever, and it was special), with "homemade" spicy dipping sauce. roasted cauliflower. roasted potatoes (boiled first...the only way to fly).

sorta quick. very easy.

[Jinmyo]

So sorry, tommy. My mother made the world's most monochramatic dish: Dover sole with bechamel, mashers, creamed cauliflower.

Yours sounds wonderful. Roasting stuff is great.

[CathyL]

Roasting stuff is GREAT! St. Maillard be praised.

I've been making spicy dipping sauce with Suvir's inestimable tomato chutney, cut with mayonnaise and sour cream. What's yours, Tommy?

[snowangel]

So sorry, tommy. My mother made the world's most monochramatic dish: Dover sole with bechamel, mashers, creamed cauliflower.

Ranks up there with Xmas eve at my in-laws. Lutefisk on boiled potatoes (peeled, of course) with white sauce. Accompanied by cauliflower with white sauce (I should mention that in her household, pepper is a spice, and one rarely used). Let's not forget the lefse with butter and white sugar. Any wonder that I always bring a colorful cooked vegetable and a great salad full of wonderful, flavorful greens (or reds)? (Last year, I also brought a roasted beet salad with raspberry vinegarette, stilton, and walnuts.)

[tommy]

I've been making spicy dipping sauce with Suvir's inestimable tomato chutney, cut with mayonnaise and sour cream.  What's yours, Tommy?

hoboken eddies t-bone tickler (steak sauce), sriracha, thai chili sauce.

basically whatever i grab.

[Wilfrid]

These monochrome white and grey dishes remind me what those once-trendy octagonal black dinner plates were for.

Haven't cooked in a week or so due to (ah, who cares...). Quick fix last night: chicken pieces with chopped garlic and onion, braised in water (yes, water) with a healthy dose of Kalyustan's seven-spice Middle Eastern mix, colored with a little tomato paste. After the chicken was done and removed, I reduced the liquid to a nice, glossy, red-brown sauce without needing any other thickening agents. Dat's it. Next time I would add a heat source - red pepper flakes or something involving chili. Good for a busy evening - like prep time ten minutes at most, and then leave it alone, then about three minutes to finish the sauce.

[Priscilla]

This dressing works on almost any veggies especially green ones. In Japan spinach is the most popular followed by green beans and broccoli. I especially like it on broccoli rabe.

This is really all to taste, so taste as you go along, I don't really use a recipe so these are approximates.

for about 1 lb of veggies

4 tablespoons white sesame seeds

1 teaspoon sugar

2 teaspoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons dashi ( I just put hot water in a small cup and sprinkle in some dashi powder)

Toast the sesame seeds, then place the hot seeds into a suribachi and crush until about 75% are spretty well smashed. Add the sugar and mix again. Then add the soy and dashi and mix  wit the pestle with a fast almost whipping action to blend it. Taste and add more sugar or soy if needed.

Add the vegetable, if using a leafy vegetable mix with the pestle very gently bruising it to allow the flavors to penetrate. When using chunkier veggies I mix with a rubber spatula.

I vary the taste depending on the veggie, for broccoli rabe I like it sweeter to offset the bitterness, where I prefer a little more soy in the spinach version.

Thank you, Torakris. I've used the prefab packets of this type of dressing (purple-and-white striped foil) for spinach, so this is a boon to me.

[Jinmyo]

Disclaimer: Professional kitchen, staff of three. Still, please try this at home.

Huge sea scallops, drained, dried. Seared in butter.

Spinach, wilted with butter in the scallop pans. Pour in reserved scallop liquid. Add lardons of double-smoked bacon.

Scallops served atop spinach.

Roasties. (Yukon Gold potatoes parboiled, drained, dried, then roughly cut into chunks, salt and pepper, EVOO, grated parmegiano, roasted for one hour at 425 F.) Horseradish aoili for the roasties.

Ancho marinated huge cremini mushrooms roasted.

[Nick]

Tonight it will be deer steaks (wild, not farmed), steamed brussels sprouts (from the garden), and roasted Yukon Golds.

Edit: The brussels sprouts are the ones the deer didn't get.

[torakris]

Last night was one of those walk in the house at 6:00 and try to get dinner on the table by 6:30. All my meats and fish were frozen and the only veggies I had were daikon, garlic chives, celery, onions, and 2 avocados.

so:

baked orzo with gruyere (using celery and onions in the sauce)

antipasto plate of marinated artichoke hearts, black and green olives and a nice wedge of blue cheese with some crackers

avocado salad

I am saving the daikon for pickle making today and what to do with those garlic chives.............?

[tigerwoman]

Was in the Bronx and did a quick run up to Arthur Avenue for Lard Bread (Fridays and Saturdays only)

Picked up pizza dough, fresh mozz and soppresata, used left over sauce from sausage and peppers and made a great pizza in domestic oven by par cooking dough with EVOO and fresh garlic and then topping with the arthur ave ingredients. Then hubby took out of oven and perched on stove and opps - scrambled pizza . we managed to save and eat. Still delish.

[Blondie]

Jamaican ox tail stew based on Nina’s recipe from the ox tail thread. I didn’t have lima beans so I used gandules. So simple, so good. Served with white rice and a green salad.

[nyfirepatrolchef]

For the first time...a BLT made with turkey bacon...considering it was my first form of bacon in about 3.5 years since I was yanked kicking and screaming away from my beloved pork...it was total heaven.

Im able to use Applegate Farms no nitrates turkey bacon. Its got the slightly chewy bacon feel....its much more meaty (less fatty which I LOVE) and has that nice salty sweet taste.

Life is incredibly good sometimes.

[Malawry]

Fresh fettucine with leeks, wild mushrooms, and roasted red peppers

Grilled pear and roasted asparagus salad

Bouillabaisse, aioli croutons

Lemon-ginger pound cake, lemon curd on top, ginger tea

Assorted chocolates

[Liza]

Foie gras rubbed chicken with roasted potatoes and whole shallots. Mash with Cypress Grove Midnight Moon and horseradish.

[Toby]

Slow-roasted pork shoulder (with black pepper, dried red pepper, sage and garlic rub), sauteed spinach, smashed la ratte potatoes.

[SobaAddict70]

Saturday evening: Took a page from Honmura An (Japanese restaurant in SoHo -- the place is known for making their own soba noodles every day):

Hot soba noodles topped with shredded duck meat, minced scallions, sliced duck skin, gomasio and ginger-mushroom soy-mirin dipping sauce. (Cheated once again -- takeout duck from one of the local Cantonese palaces in my neighborhood.) Finished off with a broth made out of the soba cooking water, some ginger and star anise-infused chicken broth and red miso.

Green tea.

Hot red bean and date soup for dessert. (also from the local Cantonese palace)

---------------

Sunday evening (tonight):

takeout from Texas Rotisserie & Grill (the South Street Seaport branch), but y'all don't want to hear about that, I'm sure. LOL.

SA

Edited November 18, 2002 by SobaAddict70 (log)

[Jinmyo]

Much snow on the weekend. Weighing down branches still heavy with leaves.

Individual lamb and mushroom lasagnas. (Ramekins. Layers of noodles cut to fit, layers of ground lamb with mushroom, shallots, garlic. Some rosemary infused cream. Crumbled chevre and bread crumbs.)

Romaine and radicchio salad with lupini beans on concave parmesan crisps.

Potage of pureed turnip with crispy lardons cut from double-smoked local slab bacon.

Range of cheeses: Stilton, edam, 10 year old Canadian cheddar, camembert.

[FoodMan]

Clazones made with home made pizza dough and stuffed with Eggplant Caponata, mozzarella, smoked ham and olives.

FM

[FoodMan]

Morrocan chicken with honey and tomatoes. Recipe from Claudia Roden's middle eatsern cook book. Basically the chicken is braised with a sauce of tomatoes, cinnamon, saffron, ginger, and onion. When the chicken is cooked the sauce is reduced and honey is added. I served it sprinkled with toasted almonds with plain basmati rice.

FM