Dinner! 2002

[Jinmyo]

Adam, sincere consolations on the brain virus. Rarely fatal. Might cause you to run for political office though.

Potage of leek and potato. (Chicken stock, wine, etc etc.) Garlic croutons.

Pulled shoulder of pork and roasted cabbage with fig vinegar.

Roasted whole cremini mushrooms with sauteed shaved fennel and pecorino shavings.

Plum tomatoes stuffed with chevre cream standing in cool tomato consomme (tomato water).

Pain de Pepin (St. Jacque's country bread) with sauteed chicken livers and bacon.

[Liza]

Jin, that really reads quite deliciously. I hope the meal was capped with an appropriately lengthy round of applause.

[Adam Balic]

I thank you both. Now seem to be OK (it wasn't serious, it just made me feel mildly drunk all the time and gave me the sensation of falling).

Sirlion steak with creme faiche and green peppercorns

Jim Dixon's roasted cauliflower

Roasted vine tomato

Extra fine green beans steamed and tossed in nut brown butter and almonds. All in all a real circ. 1970's meal (apart from the cauliflower).

[Miss J]

post-Yoga snack:

Toasted pain Polaine topped with Tuscan salami and wilted spinach with olive oil, black pepper and fleur de sel

Water, water and water - all good old London tap.

[Liza]

Braised rabbit with bok choy, olives and beans. Sauced with a pea puree and a drizzle of balsamic.

Latkes.

Embriux 2000.

[Suzanne F]

Not fancy or exciting, but satisfying:

Buffalo burgers (a bit overcooked, but tasty nonetheless) on rolls from Le Pain Quotidien, with dijon mustard;

Homemade thick- cut potato chips, bottled chili sauce;

Kale left from T-Day (blanced, then sautéed in olive oil with garlic, pancetta, and lemon zest)

me: Saranac Black Forest ("Bavarian Style Beer")

Paul: Red Hook Extra Special Bitter

[Anna N]

A bizarre meal - one to test my skills and not to conform to anyone's idea of what one ought to have for dinner - Kung Pao Chicken and Crepes Suzette - just because I wanted to see what I could do with both dishes - no company - just me and hubby and up to a point he's very much supportive of my efforts. I got to use my new kitchen "island" which he built for me - a tile-topped worked surface with a shelving unit above that is custom-fitted into an alcove in our tiny apartment kitchen. No wok - I used a big cast iron fry pan - but I had read, listened and learned a few things about stir-frying and this was my best effort yet - far from perfect - not spicy enough for me - what the heck are "long red dried chilies" - I had dried chilies but who knows what "long" means - relative to what? Anyway, next time I'll know to spice it up some more. The crepes were OK but nothing to write home about - I have had better - not sure of the problem - but thought they might be really interesting made with blood oranges.

[Jinmyo]

nll, the red chiles are about as long as a finger.

[Liza]

Congrats on the experimentation, NLL. It's way more fun, yes?

Sunday night: leftover rabbit and bok choy, with newly cooked pasta, and pea green coulis. Roasted varied squash, with rasel hanout, madras chile powder, and cream.

Lots of cream.

Oh, and tiny little challah toasts with tiny little slices of Manchego.

[Anna N]

Thanks, Jinmyo, for the info on the peppers - may have to wait until I can get into Toronto - not much choice in peppers in this area and I don't make that trip often. The ones I have look rather tired and are about pinkie finger length or perhaps even shorter. Can I use them and increase the number - would that do it - or could I have used fresh hot peppers - long - more than finger length and bright red?

Yes, Liza, it is fun to experiment - I try to do at least one new dish or technique each week and sometimes more - I like to do very small quantities so I can try them before presenting them to hubby! Right now I'm trying to perfect onion bhajis - but I ran out of chickpea flour and the store I got it from just closed and I haven't found a new source - darn - and I think I was getting close to what I wanted!

[Flossie]

Nll - when you perfect your onion bhajis can you pass on the tips you've gleaned, please? I love them but mine are horrible - stodgy and greasy.

[Jinmyo]

nll, I'd use the fresh long peppers. Dried latin chiles (especially smoked) are fabulous; however, Asian style dried chiles are usually just hot without the fruitiness and herbaceous profiles of fresh.

[SobaAddict70]

late night dinner:

penne with spicy tomato sauce (EVOO, Pomi chopped tomatoes, anchovy fillet, red pepper flakes, kosher salt, cracked black pepper; cooked the tomatoes down to a jam like consistency); Evian; mango sorbet and watermelon chunks. Snarfed some leftover T-day stuffing.

SA

[J Acord]

Was up in Edinburgh over the weekend, visiting friends. Had a dinner party for eight on saturday night where someone had a digital camera, so I thought I would unleash some pictures of the food on the unsuspecting members of this board!

Starter:

Salad of Scallop and Jerusalem artichoke served with sauteed corals and a hazelnut oil vinaigrette.

Main:

Pigeon breast and leg with a red-onion tarte tatin, creamed spinach and braised leeks, a red wine sauce and side dishes of carrots and french beans with toasted almonds and lemon butter.

Dessert:

Gianduja (hazelnut flavoured chocolate) mousse with caramalised bananas and rum and kahlua chocolate sponge filling, banana caramel sauce and raspberry coulis, garnish of sharp red fruits and caramel coated hazelnut.

[Anna N]

nll, I'd use the fresh long peppers. Dried latin chiles (especially smoked) are fabulous; however, Asian style dried chiles are usually just hot without the fruitiness and herbaceous profiles of fresh.

Instinct said "use the fresh ones" but then I chickened out! Chilies (sp?) are a whole new thing for me. Yes, I've heard a lot about the latin chiles (sp?) but have only recently seen (and bought!) chipotles in adobo sauce and I was an instant convert. Anchos are just not around in this WASP neck of the woods. I knew enough to suspect that in an Asian dish, neither would be appropriate. Can I dry these long fresh red ones? Thanks.

[Anna N]

Nll - when you perfect your onion bhajis can you pass on the tips you've gleaned, please? I love them but mine are horrible - stodgy and greasy.

For sure! I like mine very crispy and spicy not heavy and stodgy. I was getting close by "laying" the battered onions in the oil rather than just dropping them but as I say - no more chickpea flour - On the weekend I'll check out a health food store and see if I have any luck there. As soon as I have anything to report I will do so. Thanks for your interest.

[Wilfrid]

Cassoulet time.

Although there are long ways around to prepare this dish, the basics are really very easy, and I put together a good, simple version with very little effort at the weekend. Beans, some chopped onion, a small proportion of diced carrots to add some interest to the texture. Just a little tomato paste to move the color from grey to pinkish. If I was making this for a special occasion, I would use several cuts of pork, but this was just an easy domestic version, so I used some fresh bacon and chunks of saucisse seche (the very hard French salami-style sausage, which softens while cooking and gives the beans a lot of richness).

And of course some duck confit already prepared for the winter larder.

Simmered on stove top for about an hour (beans pre-soaked and boiled), then finished in a clay pot in the oven. The beans very soft but still holding their shape, and the liquid completely absorbed. Didn't bother with a breadcrumb crust. Really, minimal preparation time for a lot of good food. Do not be intimidated by Mr Cassoulet.

[Coop]

Here goes. This is my first post on this subject as I am new to the board. I have yet to decorate or gloss myself with quotes or icons. Look forward to that in the future.

Saturday: An attempt at Brachiole, stuffed with onion and carrot, braised in chicken stock. Not overly successful. Decent bottle of Cotes du Rhone 99 Bernard I believe.

Sunday: Pork Loin Roast studded with sage and garlic, Golden and Purple beets roasted and served with chevre and basil oil, Mash of Russets, and Celeriac finished with butter and chives. Had a Hugel wine called Gentile. Is that a varietal or a blend?

Monday: Bistro style Steak hache with Rice pilaf and sauteed spinach. San Pellagrino to drink.

Been a while since we ate this blandly but the wife and I have decided to cut back on the calories and the food bill. I will try to be more interesting in the next few weeks.

[Coop]

Oh yes almost forgot Chippollini onions roasted than marinated in Balsamic type vinegar on Sunday.

[Priscilla]

Mmmm wish Mr. Cassoulet would come to my house.

Much prefer Mr. Cassoulet to Mr. So-Called Prime Rib, although I think I'm just about ready to retire that appellation for good. (Roast beef'll do me, in future, I'm thinking.) Mr. Certified Angus Prime Rib, he'd want us not to omit, if we can squeeze that in before the term becomes verboten. Three ribs, about a four-pound roast, not bad. If you like that sort of thing. Nice color contrast between the red red middle and the brown brown outside. Lots of salt and pepper.

Horseradish whipped cream, shameless habitual riff on lovely campy Lawry's The Prime Rib's best accompaniment. Yorkshire pudding. Broccoli tossed with crispy buttered browned breadcrumbs.

[FoodMan]

Braised beef in barollo from Batali's book. Served with homemade crusty bread for myself and egg noodles for the wife.

I made a bit too much so I am freezing half of it for another rainy day... maybe have it with some gnochi. yum.

Dessert: buttermilk pie with a pecan strussel(sp?) topping from the last issue of food and wine. We have a great crop of pecans from my inlaws tree so I have two sealed bags of shelled pecans in my freezer. Will be using often.

FM

[Toby]

A schizoid meal, eaten in several stages:

My nephew arrived after delivering microgreens and mushrooms to various restaurants; his contributions to dinner: a huge box of shiitake mushrooms, a bag of microgreens, a sort of mushroom tart and a container of mushroom soup, both from Bluehill, and a pistachio creme brulee with raspberries from Payards. I sauteed some of the shiitakes, sliced with olive oil, a little chopped shallot and garlic, butter, thyme. We ate the sauteed mushrooms and the sort-of mushroom tart together, with some microgreens sprinkled over the sauteed mushrooms. We didn't eat the soup because the main course, which I'd cooked, was gumbo with chicken feet, andouille sausage, duck and hard-boiled eggs over white rice.

Then later we ate the pistachio creme brulee with raspberries.

[Miss J]

Roasted a chicken. (Usual method: half a lemon inside, bit of butter outside, bit of salt.) And let me tell you, it was great . Once again I was left wondering at how something so insanely easy can be so good.

Made gravy/jus by scraping up sticky bits from pan, squeezing in chickeny lemon, adding a bit of marsala (the sweetness offset the sour lemon nicely, but not too much) and some water because I didn't have any stock.

Ate with a salad of bitter greens and carrots glazed with butter, a touch of honey and a good dash of hot smoked Spanish paprika.

[Sandra Levine]

Broiled red snapper filet, brushed first with melted butter and lime juice, dusted with curry powder

Roasted parsnips

Salad

[Liza]

Don't you love the barter system, Toby!?

Roasted squash soup; chicken thighs braised in tomato, with bay leaves, sumac, onions, etc.