Dinner! 2002

[Sandra Levine]

Frittata made with sauteed onion, garlic and chipotles in adobo

Fried green tomatoes

Salad of about eight different greens with sherry vinaigrette

Melon smiles

[Wilfrid]

Pasta with chicken liver and salt pork ragu. Montgomery's cheddar with grapes.

[Suzanne F]

Lamb tagine with dried fruit, preserved lemon, and chickpeas. Faro (boiled in veg stock). Mixed green salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Seghesio 1999 Zinfandel.

Wilfrid -- I'm interested in your ragù. I always have trouble finding new ways to use chix livers.

[Jinmyo]

Roasted red pepper bisque with a lemon tuile;

roasted potatoes and turnips with parsley and horseradish mayonnaise;

roasted rabbit with mushroom red wine sauce;

salad of microgreens with crumbled chevre and garlic croutons.

[Wilfrid]

Darn, Suzanne, I only get questions when I've cheated. I diced the salt pork and tossed in olive oil with some finely minced onion, then add the drained and dried chicken livers. Then I saved myself time and effort with a pre-made tomato sauce. A little oregano.

Thinned the resulting goo with some red wine.

[Akiko]

Jinmyo,

Lemon Tuile (I love lemon!) how did you make this?

[Jinmyo]

Akiko, I mixed clarified butter and lemon juice and zest into rice flour with a bit of salt and cracked pepper. Put it in the refrigerator to set. Spread it into lozenge shapes onto silpats. Baked at 375 for about 5 or 6 minutes.

[SobaAddict70]

Last night -- duck salad (duck from our local takeout Cantonese joint, deboned and shredded the meat and skin; julienned a red and a yellow bell pepper; combined both with mache and blanched bean sprouts; dressing of mushroom soy, sesame oil, chile oil, ginger-garlic paste and shredded candied lemon peel); Chinese fried rice (leftover rice, stir-fried with ginger and garlic, scallions, slivers of Chinese sausage, julienned reconstituted black mushrooms. sprinkle of light soy, a little of the mushroom soaking water and gomasio.). green tea. plums.

SA

[tommy]

I was disappointed in my reaction to a 1996 Firestone Cabernet Franc, a grape which perhaps doesn't hold up beyond the turning of the new year after harvest.  Or something.

it's very zin-like. as opposed to zen-like.

[Jinmyo]

Soba, roast duck and pork from Chinatown shops (or restaurants, I guess) are great convenience foods. I use them fairly often in many ways.

The cubed pork with crackling makes for great sandwiches.

[SobaAddict70]

I always have trouble finding new ways to use chix livers.

Suzanne and Wilfrid:

try sauteeing the chix livers in unsalted butter and EVOO, to which add sliced roasted red/yellow/orange bell peppers and a couple of crushed garlic cloves. Cook uncovered for an additional five to ten minutes, or until the livers are cooked through; remove from heat and discard garlic or save for another use. Salt and black pepper to taste. Add some fresh sage or oregano, and use as a pasta sauce. Great with penne or penne rigati. No cheese necessary for this dish (too rich/too many competing flavors). The butter and EVOO form the basis of the sauce, so don't pour them off.

SA

[Priscilla]

I was disappointed in my reaction to a 1996 Firestone Cabernet Franc, a grape which perhaps doesn't hold up beyond the turning of the new year after harvest.  Or something.

it's very zin-like. as opposed to zen-like.

Huh! Zin-like! I wish! (Not really I was lookin' for something more austere than all that, this time.) This CF was just, um, ungood. Had others that were not, ungood.

Edit: Alphabet problems

[Jinmyo]

Oooh, Soba, my apologies but I just can't agree with cooking chicken livers that long. Rare is as well-done as is good. Past that, one doesn't get more flavour but only toughness, even when the livers are pureed. Everything else sounds luverly though.

[Priscilla]

Chicken-fried steak, using self-styled "London broil," how do they come up with these, cut in half laterally and pounded to a fare-thee-well. Biscuits, employing the very very good advice from knowledgeable types in the Biscuits discussion here in Cooking. Cream gravy, which has, as you all know, not made with cream. Honey & butter mixed, for the biscuits. Boughten coleslaw, which was not too bad. Piper Sonoma NV brut sparkling, very nice.

[awbrig]

Fresh Maine Lobster claws with fresh corn, jicama and cilantro relish...

[Adam Balic]

Haggis, 'neeps, cabbage with bacon, all on a white plate.

Drink - some weird homemade Croatian walnut and wormwood wine.

[Gavin Jones]

Drink - some weird homemade Croatian walnut and wormwood wine.

Does this have some psychotropic effects?

I browned a couple of lamb shanks, then cooked off an onion and a bit of tomato in some red wine, simmered for a couple of hours - dumped some cannelini beans in to thicken - and finished with some garlic & parsley.

Will be a bit leftover for tonight.

Would have been more adventurous on the spicing (spiked with a hottish pepper) following the New Tayyab excursion but looking into the cupboard I noticed it was bare.

[Cheffie3]

This week I've made: white & wild rice with pecans and honey mustard chicken breasts. I've also made Shrimp with Ginger-Shiitake Cream Sauce over penne. My standard drink with dinner is a Cape Cod. Tonight it's tacos, -without a seasoning packet- and home fried shells. This is my first time using my own seasonings for the meat and I'm using the recipe from Cooks Illustrated. We'll see....

[SobaAddict70]

I managed to get out of the office early enough -- early being a relative term, as it was well past 8 pm by the time I got out of there.

Tomato, paneer and cauliflower korma -- fried black mustard seeds in some ghee; added onions and garam masala, and fried until somewhat caramelized; chopped tomatoes, cubes of paneer I had made over the weekend, and cauliflower; finished with plain yogurt and light cream. Chopped sauteed cashews (sauteed in ghee with a bit of cardamom) added in at the end. Basmati rice (lemon juice and chopped cilantro before serving). Lurisia spring water, baby bananas.

SA

[Jinmyo]

Grilled unagi (eel) cut into 1 inch squares with a few salmon roe in the centre.

Thin congee with pine nuts, slivered scallions, three mussels in the shell (they had been steamed with Shaoxing, lemongrass, ginger, scallions).

Chicken thigh meat with kimchee in a broth (made from the mussel steaming liquid) with wedges of scallion pancake and pieces of chicken "crackling" from the skin.

Tsukemono of cucumber shavings with mint and yuzu with crushed roasted peanuts.

Trout with crispy skin on rice with gomasio.

[SobaAddict70]

Oooh, Soba, my apologies but I just can't agree with cooking chicken livers that long. Rare is as well-done as is good. Past that, one doesn't get more flavour but only toughness, even when the livers are pureed. Everything else sounds luverly though.

Jin,

Sorry about the confusion. When I typed it in, I was at work. Its more along the lines of three minutes.

Also, I usually roast the peppers first, then peel them. About 1 T. of melted butter and double that of EVOO, saute for 3 min. chix livers, a couple of anchovy fillets and some capers if you want. Maybe a garlic clove, finely minced. Add peppers and keep warm. Melt about 2 or 3 T. unsalted butter in a pan, add pasta and toss. Add liver mixture and toss. Scatter chopped fresh basil or a pinch of dried oregano if you want. Serve IMMEDIATELY.

[Sandra Levine]

Peppers and onion sauteed with fennel sausage and cheese and parsley sausage

Cute pattypan-type squash stuffed with herbs, cheese and bread crumbs and baked

Mixed green salad

Petite suisses with sliced peaches, drizzled with [stefanyb, avert your eyes] chestnut flower honey and tiny cubes of candied ginger.

Ridge Zin

[Toby]

Chicken braised with figs, chestnut honey and balsamic apple cider.

Small new potatoes with butter

Marvel striped tomato salad

Ricotta cheese mixed with sugar and rum

[Liza]

Tonight: Knoll Crest chicken rubbed all over with foie gras mousse and thyme. With a bottle of The Holy Trinity Barossa, and "The Sopranos" of course, of course.

[Miss J]

Had friends over yesterday, so I pushed the boat out a bit and planned a Sichuanese feast with the guidance and support of Fushcia Dunlop's Sichuan Cookery (which I notice Mamster has discovered as well over on the Sichuan Peppercorns thread). Putting it all together was suspiciously similar to running a military campaign. The meal went something like this:

Premeal nibbles:

Boiled aromatic peanuts

Deep-fried lotus crisps with sea salt

Cold dishes:

Blanched green beans with fresh ginger sauce

Red pepper strips in sweet & sour rice vinegar dressing

"Strange-Flavour" chicken, in sesame dressing with lots of roasted Sichuan pepper

Hot dishes:

Pot-sticker dumplings with chicken broth

Belly pork steamed in lotus leaves

Red-braised lamb with daikon radish

"Fish-Fragrant" beancurd

Pak choi stir-fried with garlic

Rice

Chili-radish pickles

Jasmine tea

In order to be really authentic, I should have served a mild, undersalted soup close to the end...but I really couldn't be bothered. Sorry, Fuschia!