Dinner! 2002

[polly]

"Can anyone tell me how you make roasted cauliflower?"

I do it similarly to sandra but I like to keep the florets large. That way you get the browned and crispy outside and the creamy sweet inside.

If you have a lot of people over or you're doing a buffet, you can simmer a whole head of cauli 'til it's just cooked, drain, then spread with butter or fruity olive oil, salt and pepper and roast the whole thing until it's golden.

[CathyL]

There's a thread about roasting cauliflower here.

I leave the pieces larger (1") than Sandra does and roast a little hotter (400-425) until the florets are well-browned and a bit crispy at the edges. Sometimes I add minced garlic and hot pepper, or curry powder. Roasted with just olive oil, salt & pepper, it's very nice dipped into mustardy mayonnaise

[tommy]

What a beautiful salad, Tommy.  And so much more elegant than leftover ribs and coleslaw.

thank you. and don't underestimate the seductive powers of leftover ribs.

[Sandra Levine]

roast a little hotter (400-425)

Yes, the higher temp in the big oven; the lower temp in the toaster oven for smaller quantities. (But, it depends on your oven, too.)

[CathyL]

I like roasting vegetables in the toaster oven but it won't hold enough cauliflower! I would also lower the temperature.

Lining the baking sheet with parchment paper makes cleanup easy and doesn't impede browning.

Your deconstructed pizza, oh my.

[bushey]

I prefer a higher heat for roasting vegetables also, because I love the crunchy parts. Sometimes I cut the caulifower into smaller florets and roast them along with cubes of red bliss potatoes and some diced red pepper. I toss them with olive oil and add in slivers of garlic, but I don't salt until after they're done. It probably just superstitious, but I think the salt adheres better when they're cooked.

Another favorite vegetable to roast this way is green beans. When they're slightly shriveled and a little brown I splash with balsamic vinegar and serve at room tempertaure.

[polly]

Another favorite vegetable to roast this way is green beans. When they're slightly shriveled and a little brown I splash with balsamic vinegar and serve at room tempertaure.

ooh, and asparagus is good like this too.

[SobaAddict70]

Saturday: Your standard workout meal: broiled skinless chicken breasts (rubbed with masala and EVOO), green salad (with a minimal amount of EVOO and white wine vinegar, salt, pepper) and brown rice.

Sunday -- pasta with roasted tomato/onion sauce, steamed broccoli; date lassi.

Monday -- congee topped with minced pork, Chinese mushrooms and black bean sauce. Spicy pickled turnips. Steamed zucchini. Lemon sorbet with a splash of limoncello.

SA

[Jinmyo]

Shanghai wheat noodles with a garlic chive and Thai holy basil pesto; corncob soup (sautéed corn and Chinese celery in a stock of milk from the corncobs, coriander. lemongrass, lime); steamed amaranth leaves and snow pea greens with yuzu; roasted wild mushrooms with a shoyu-chile sauce; roast pork with crackling.

[Jim Dixon]

Sunday dinner outside....pretty much everything served room temp

fava bean spread with mint

fried sage leaves with Parmigiano

green beans with anchovy vinaigrette

mixed beets (pink Chioggia, gold, and white) with olive oil

sliced tomatoes with olive oil

fingerling potato salad with chopped capers, fresh oregano

pickled cippoline (little red onions)

lenticchie di Casteluccio (lentils form Umbria, similar to French green lentils, cooked with a little garlic and olive oil)

Oregon albacore tuna slow-poached in olive oil

[Wilfrid]

Filleted saddle of rabbit, diced with liver and kidneys, stir fried with onion, garlic, ginger, spices, soy sauce and chow mein noodles (shop bought, but good). Minor burns to inside of right wrist.

[Jinmyo]

fried sage leaves with Parmigiano

Oh, Jim, it's been such a long time since I've made these. Thanks for the reminder.

[bushey]

Last night's dinner was stir fried beef with broccoli. On half brown, half white rice, natch . Not a very summery dish but I'd been craving it for a while and since no one else was in the mood for eating, having gone out for a lovely lunch while I worked, I decided to please myself. It was sauced with an improvised mixture of hoisin sauce, chili paste with garlic, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and a splash of sesame oil. More broccoli than beef and it was very sweet broccoli. Dessert was a trip to our favorite soft serve ice cream stand, where I had a black raspberry cone dipped in chocolate. Yum!

Jim -- Just had fried sage leaves the other night. My husband ordered wonderful wild mushroom ravioli in sage and brown butter and it was garnished with crispy sage leaves. They were delicious. How do you make them?

[Jinmyo]

bushey, just drop the sage leaves in the fat, pull them out. But you can tempura the buggers too and that's nice.

[Liza]

Fresh poblanos stuffed with leftover Niman Ranch pork loin, rice with almonds and pork fat, Provolone, and dash of home-made tomato soup. Baked til runny and oozy and the poblanos near collapse.

(spoonfuls of homemade tomato soup for dessert, followed by a serious belly-rubbing session with Spot. Sorry for over-sharing).

[FoodMan]

Last night it was one of my favorite Italian dishes, homemade gnocchi and meat ragu.

FM

[Steve Martin]

Home again, at last.

The latest findings on umami suggest that parmesan is a natural partner for seafood - the opposite of the Italian rule.

I flash fried some raw tiger prawns in a teflon pan with a smear of lardo. Lightly crisped some San Daniella prosciutto and dressed a salad of rocket and the green of spring onions (scallions) with warm olive oil and balsamico. A few shavings of old parmigiano, salt and pepper.

My wife thought it went very well, I was not so sure.

Main course was seared fillet of tilapia. Bashed new potatoes with spring onion, mint, basil, rocket and olive oil. A stock of prawn shells, tilapia trimmings, pink peppercorns and vermouth. Reduced down with a fecule of arrowroot. A few chives.

Served with a very light rosé (gris).

Some English strawberries with whipped double cream and a dash of maraschino.

[CathyL]

Steve, that is a beautiful dinner indeed.

If you have a moment, could you explain your reservations about the tiger prawns? If it's the seafood/Parmesan pairing, would you do something different next time to bring them into better harmony?

[Steve Martin]

CathyL:

The science suggests that there should be a marked amplification of flavours when the glutamates in the parmesan are combined with seafood.

I most often serve prawns with a citrus flavour, of one sort or another.

I do like them with soy or 'fish sauce', and parmesan should work for the same reason that they do. However, as I say, I'm not so sure.

[Wilfrid]

Nothing.

Somehow the chicken which had been in the refrigerator yesterday morning had made its escape by the time I got home.

Think Caine Mutiny - Captain Queeg and the strawberries.

[Liza]

Tim Stark's tomatoes (thanks, Toby!) with Mark Gilman's Cato Corner's Hooligan cheese on toasted rye bread, with thinly sliced red onions.

[lullyloo]

Frittata with sauteed bacon and yellow-green speckled zucchini, goat cheese and basil leaves added at last minute and put under broiler. However, the result was not so great. the goat cheese got zapped by the heat and turned into hard yuck. Tomato salad with toasted pine nuts, chopped basil, kalamatas, roasted yellow peppers marinated in roasted garlic and olive oil, and anchovy vinagrette. That was so good I finished the dressing off with a spoon!

[SobaAddict70]

Yesterday: salt and pepper shrimp; stir-fried choy sum, wood ears and Chinese black mushrooms; fried rice with crispy shallots, Filipino pork sausage and scallions. Nectarines. Green tea.

SA

[Toby]

You're welcome, Liza.

Thin spaghetti with very quick-cooked sauce -- lots of olive oil and rough-chopped garlic and tiny red currant tomatoes, with garnish of lots of whole parsley leaves. Sliced heirloom tomatoes (pineapple, cherokee purple and mango tomatoes). Sauteed scallops. Mesclun. Bonny Doon Clos de Gilroy grenache. Ambrosia melon for dessert with homemade quince rataifa.

Soba Addict, how'd you make the salt and pepper squid?

[coolranch]

black bean burgers (black beans, mayonnaise, cilantro, hot sauce, little bread crumbs, seasonings, mushed, formed into patties, then browned in a skillet) w/fresh pico, grated jack cheese, lettuce in a pita.

Salad w/romaine, lots of scallions, bit of garlic, dressed w/lemon juice and olive oil.

few glasses of Rancho Zabaco red zin