Dinner! 2002

[Jinmyo]

Adam, I'd never have a go at you. That's a yuzu. I provided a picture in case anyone was unfamiliar with the fruit. It's like a grapefruit with tones of tangerine or mandarin orange. The juice and zest are both used.

[Dana]

FoodMan: The brine for the pork sounds great except for the molassas. I'll use honey instead. To me, molassas overpowers everything. It's good only for molassas cookies. I'll let you know how it turns out.

[tommy]

i lamed out and made something straight from food & wine, without altering it at all. penne with sausage and basil.

i think this could have used a little visit from someone in the onion family. although i've never cooked with leeks, i thought that they might go nicely. i thought this when a slice of scallion from my salad fell into the dish.

[Jinmyo]

tommy, do you mean that you've never used leeks in a pasta dish? Or that you've never cooked leeks?

[tommy]

tommy, do you mean that you've never used leeks in a pasta dish? Or that you've never cooked leeks?

i've never used leeks at all. that's weird, i know.

[Jinmyo]

Oh, tommy, they're great. I do use them in some pasta sauces. Also in congees. Of course leek and potato soup. I sometimes blanch sections of leek and then roll scallops or such in them for poaching.

The old cliche about needing to clean them well is true. But that's easy.

[CooksQuest]

Well, it's not quite dinner, but:

I found some great veal bones on Saturday and spent the *entire* day making demi-glace...

I may have to *buy* it next time.

[Jinmyo]

Gary, demi-glace is a lot of work. But you can get a lot of other things done at the same time. Generally, I'll make demi and several other kinds of stocks on the same day. Make up a bunch of spring rolls and yuba-maki for freezing. On and on.

[Adam Balic]

Balkan pot-roasted beef.

Steamed fingerling potatos

Vichy carrots

petit pois

[Jinmyo]

Adam, what's "Balkan pot-roasted beef"?

[Adam Balic]

Beef pot roasted in the Style of the Balkans.

[Jinmyo]

Which would be what? With potato peelings and beet skins?

[Adam Balic]

Teeheheh. .

No silly (you is thinking of Russian slavs) it is red wine, red wine vinegar, celeriac, carrot, leek, molto garlic cloves, bay leaves all-spice and cloves. Don't think you would like it (although the spice is subtle). Looks quite and old recipe from the ingredients, although exant in much of the Balkans still apparently.

[Jinmyo]

Oh. I'd skip the cloves but sounds nice.

I did a pot-au-feu a few days ago with a red wine and a range of squeezed vegetable juices (onion, bell peppers, Chinese celery, tomato, garlic, ginger). Low simmered for twelve hours. Removed meat, shredded it, returned to sauce passed through a tammis, simmered with celery root slices. Served with mashers and a celery root salad. Quite nice.

[Adam Balic]

Clove taste v. subtle. What cut of meat did you use? I used a topside roast (it was in the freezer) and it went a bit mushy for my taste after two hours! I prefer brisket, but many people don't like the fattiness of the cut. Silverside?

Chinese celery sounds good (had to look it up), sounds like European celery when it was a herb, not a veggie.

[Liza]

Home-made basil noodles, in a sauce of morning-harvested mushrooms (thanks, Maria!), onions, veal sausage, and tomatoes.

[Jim Dixon]

The weekly I freelance for does a restaurant guide in October, which means assignments for 150-word write-ups aren't made until early August and the deadline is Wednesday...long way of saying I've been eating out way too much and not cooking dinner very often for the last few weeks.

I was writing them up yesterday (always wait until the last minute), but had some stuff in the kitchen that was calling...

slow-roasted tomatoes (Early Girls)..cut in half, roast 250 for about 4 hours

served room temp with 'sauce' made by deglazing roasting pan w/water, reducing that, adding a bit of sherry vinegar, a little sugar, and something called 'fig balsamic' (my mother gave it to me...not too bad, actually, and gives a little fruity flavor with some acid)

roasted an eggplant in my little deLonghi convection oven, scooped out the flesh, mixed with about 4 of the tomatoes, garlic, shallot, mint, Meyer lemon juice, preserved Meyer lemon, olive oil, cumin, and pimenton...this was really good

had some King oyster mushrooms from the farmers mkt, so sliced, dry-sauteed, then some olive oil, shallot, butter, cream, and a rustic-style pasta called tacconi that looks sort of like broken lasagna (goes well with the sliced mushrooms)

pickled some cippolini onions in a lightly salty brine with bit of sugar and wine vinegar

bruschetta with garlic I harvested a couple of weeks back and olive oil

Jim

[Jinmyo]

What cut of meat did you use? I used a topside roast (it was in the freezer) and it went a bit mushy for my taste after two hours! I prefer brisket, but many people don't like the fattiness of the cut. Silverside?

Chinese celery sounds good (had to look it up), sounds like European celery when it was a herb, not a veggie.

I used chuck shoulder roasts.

Yes, Chinese celery is the "real deal" (as the Tenacious P might say if he agreed about Chinese celery and used the phrase "real deal" about it; anyway, he's the most recent source of this phrase I can remember). Very very very potent.

[Dana]

Broiled Salmon with compound butter, pasta with basil-walnut pesto, and green salad with balsamic vinigrette.

No mushrooms.

[Suzanne F]

Shrimp bought live and drowned in cheap Shaoxing (had to put a cover on the bowl so they would not flip out [literally] during their death throes) then stir fried with ginger, garlic, and soy (plus some of their last bath); Tom yam (from a Knorr cube) with udon, Szechuan preserved vegetable, seaweed, some variety (?) of choy, fish balls, pork balls with shrimp, and sweet-and-spicy tofu.

[Deades]

Fried green tomatoes and buttermilk biscuits --Yumm!

[aliwaks]

Sunday

Salad made form very very thinly sliced zucchini, radishes & japanese cucmber with mint, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil & sea salt and a dollop of labneh

Salad of left over chicken (which had been roasted with preserved lemons, garlic & dill seeds), baby arugula, ginger gold apples, shaved fennel, toasted walnuts & coach farm goat cheese dressed with honey, poppyseed & lemon & olive oil

a Plumcot

Monday

Linguine with steamed zucchini, bread crumbs sauteed in olive oil & shaved parm

Seedless watermelon with fresh mint.

Last Night

pinch of aged provolone

half the sausage & pepper sandwich (cold) i didn't have time to eat for lunch

half a toasted bialy with coach farm goat chees & slice of beautiful pinky orange hierloom tomato

Tonight looks like pasta with hierloom tomatoes zucchini blossoms & fresh ricotta

[SobaAddict70]

a Plumcot

What's a plumcot?

SuzanneF: That sounds quite lovely. I have a special fondness in my heart for fish balls.

Yesterday: Congee, topped with ground pork stir-fried with garlic and fermented black beans. I made enough for breakfast this morning. Spicy pickled turnips. Green tea.

This was the first dinner I've cooked in over two weeks, due in part to a bout of migraines I had to deal with recently, and other things. It felt great to be back in front of a stove...

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Tonight: fresh tagliatelle with fresh cooked tomato sauce, lemon thyme and pecorino. White peaches. Evian.

Cook the tagliatelle (or other type of either dried or fresh pasta; penne is also good with this sauce); drain and return to pot along with the tomato sauce, 3/4 T. chopped fresh lemon thyme and a generous pinch (about 1 T.) of grated pecorino cheese. Mix and cook over medium for about 3 minutes; drizzle about 2 T. EVOO and toss. Plate and serve IMMEDIATELY. You can serve this with a mixture of additional thyme and cheese for ppl to add as they wish -- about 1/4 T. thyme and 4 T. cheese, combined together.

For the tomato sauce: saute peeled and crushed garlic cloves, chopped celery (with leaves), carrot, and crushed red pepper flakes in EVOO. Add a handful of fresh basil leaves (about 1/2 c.), and a similar amount of chopped onion. Cook until the carrots are soft, then add tomatoes. I used some plum tomatoes I picked up last night along with some leftover grape tomatoes -- any type is ok though. Simmer over low heat, about 45 min., add another handful of basil, remove from heat, and then puree in a food processor, blender, or pass through a food mill. Return the sauce to the pot and cook for an additional 20 to 30 minutes; salt and white pepper to taste. Add water if you need to thin the sauce a bit. Use immediately, or store in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can also freeze it, for up to 3 months.

SA

[Jinmyo]

A few days ago I had some leftover pot-au-feu. I incorporated it into a simple tomato sauce with lobster mushrooms and tossed some ziti with it. A parsley and spinach broth with poached eggs and croutons. A salad of white and fava beans with celery greens and roasted parsley roots, turnips, parsnips, celery (all cut into julliene first).

[Miss J]

Last night:

Cold Chinese egg noodles with sesame sauce - a complete cheat, as the sauce is actually meant to be for bang bang chicken. It was easy though - just sugar, soy, black vinegar, Chinese sesame paste (tommy, take note), homemade chili oil, sesame oil and slivered spring onions. The chili oil gave a nice, slow building heat with no sharp edges. I finished it with a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds and a scattering of roasted Sichuan pepper.

Marinated aubergines

Sliced aubergines brushed with peanut oil and fried 'til golden, then layered with finely minced ginger, garlic and shallot and left to steep at room temperature in a little dark soy & peanut oil until meltingly soft.

Stir-fried pak choi with garlic