Dinner! 2002

[helenas]

salmon/roasted asparagus pie in potato crust: tarragon/comte custard.

[Simon Majumdar]

Continuing the Indian theme of the night before

Onion and cauliflower bhaji

Tandoored Quail, chicken and lamb cutlets ( marinaded in cumin, fenugreek, saffron and chilli powder mixed with yoghurt)

Salad of red onion ( soaked first in iced lemon water - thanks for the tip Suvir ) and Mango with a dressing of lime and kalonji

Raita of yoghurt, cucumber, apple and mint

I finished with a dessert of Rabri which I made, not in the time intensive classic way, but by reducing a can of evaporated milk and adding crushed pistachios and a drop of rose water.

[Jinmyo]

Avocado halves, hatch-marked, drizzle of champagne vinegar, twist of pepper, crunchy fleur de sel, dollop of creme fraiche, topped with salmon roe.

Gnocchi with a brown butter and oyster mushroom sauce underneath. Seared salmon then flash-steamed with white wine atop. Roasted asparagus and leek strewn about.

Munster and camembert with crostini.

[Priscilla]

Oh, roast chicken, zzzzzzz. Marcella Hazan's lemon-inside method zzzzzz. Potato gratin. Jim Dixon's Patented eGullet Roasted Chou-Fleur. Cherry tomato preserves. Lurpak. Portuguese-type bread. Fetzer 1999 Zinfandel surprisingly really good.

[torakris]

I made a shredded chicken (steamed an extra thigh the night before) and mizuna salad tossed with a sudachi-soy-sesame-togarashi dressing.

Shioyaki (salt grilled) sanma (I think this is called saury pike in English, I had never heard of it until I came to Japan though)

kimchee chijimi with a sudachi-soy dipping sauce

namul of mung bean sprouts

namul of zenmai (fiddlehead fern?)

[mixmaster b]

Thanks for the peanut sauce recipe, torakris. Looks great!

Saturday:

Cream of carrot soup

Home made raviolis with chicken/roasted garlic filling, served w/ thyme butter (made by the fiance)

Raw artichoke & mushroom salad with lemony dressing

Decent but not terrible exciting bottles of CA chardonnay

More cheescake. (It lasts really well-very convenient)

Sunday:

Roasted chicken w/ pan sauce (also thanks to fiance)

Braised celery (This was yumm--from an older Marcella book)

Roasted potatoes w/truffle oil

[Suzanne F]

Molto-molto-cultural, more "assembled" than "made:"

Mexican Chicken Taquitos/Flautas (bought)

White Rice cooked with Puerto Rican Adobo Seasoning

Greek Tzatziki (homemade)

Mexican Salsa Verde (homemade)

Guacamole (homemade)

Korean Radish Kimchee (bought by CathyL; thanks, it's yummy )

Mixed Green Salad with Herb Vinaigrette

Red Hook ESB

[CathyL]

It's radish? I thought I grabbed the cucumber. SO yummy! I'm glad I had the opportunity to introduce you.

From where came the flautas/taquitos? I need a casual Friday dinner option and your assemblage seems much more fun than going out. Better wine & music, too.

[Suvir Saran]

Wednesday:

Caramelized Onion Tart

Tomato, Camembert and Basil Tart

Best-Ever Brownies

PS: Thanks to Ben (Schielke), Sandra Levine, CathyL, SuzanneF and everyone that helped me with the Kitty Ordeal.

I was able to deal, cook and now almost ready to sit down and eat.

Thanks everyone!

[Simon Majumdar]

Last night was

Scallop Corals sauteed in butter with shallots, garlic and chilli

Followed by a salad of smoked eel and black pudding on a bed of watercress and mustard leaves

Glass of Lindauer reserve to drink

S

[Scottf]

What dressing did you have with the salad Simon?

[Simon Majumdar]

Aged balsamic, macadamia nut oil and dijon mustard ( with a little black pepper and french marsh salt )

S

[Simon Majumdar]

Anyway, the much underrated Lindauer works extraordinarily well with them and is a steal at £15 per bottle from Majestic.

Simon - Lindauer cost you fifteen quid? Ouch, shouldn't it be about seven or eight?.... Hang on (checks again), you say it's a Reserve bottling? Haven't had that. What's it like? As far as antipodean fizzes go, I like Pelorus, though it's worth springing the extra three quid for the 96 as against the NV, but the best I've had comes from Piper's Brook in Tasmania - it's called Pirie (after Andrew Pirie, the guy who started the winery), it costs about GBP 17/bottle, and it's quite superb. Well worth a try.

Adam

No, the reserva is good value at £15. The ordinary which is still pretty OK is £7. The pelorus is also c£15 at Majestic.

I am going to have to check the receipts to see what I actually paid

S

[Adam Balic]

Tah Adam. Tasmania was some good wine, although climate means that Cabernets can be a little hit and miss. Pinots are good, but the temptation is to drink NZ pinots for the same price. Good wine makers are Pipers Brook (Riesling and Gwertz. especially), Cloverhill (fizz) Freycinet (Chardonnay) and Moorilla (various).

[AdamLawrence]

Adam - yours is the second recco I've had for Moorilla Estate, must check it out. NZ pinots are good too, but the ones I like best - Felton Road and Martinborough - run close to twenty quid a bottle, not really everyday drinking. Pipers Brook is about twelve, so a bit better. But pinot is expensive everywhere.....

Adam

[Adam Balic]

Both Felton Road and Martinbough are worth the twenty quid. Some of the other stuff, not so much. Pinot is expensive and when it's good it's very very good, but when it's not it's horrid.

[Wilfrid]

I can never remember which type of bass we're supposed to boycott, and I think I got the one I shouldn't - Chilean sea bass, right? Well it was nice braised in olive oil with a mushroom, tomato and tarragon ragout. Marques de Caceres rosado to wash it down.

[Suzanne F]

Ooops -- that's the one! Bad Wilfrid.

(My objection to patagonian toothfish is that it is virtually indestructible; whether you cook it properly or not, it comes out the same.)

[Wilfrid]

I will eat some pot noodles as a punishment.

Seriously, I rarely cook or order this fish. It came out kind of sweet and creamy. It was okay.

[Jinmyo]

It's only ever "okay". It's popularity is due to the fact that it doesn't taste like much of anything.

[Priscilla]

OK, thanks to Mr. Andy Lynes and one of his multitudinous prizewinning recipes I was able to prepare some nice wild Canadian Coho salmon last evening, poached in clarified butter. (Andy specifies goose or duck fat.) So there is the butter-poached salmon fillet with a potato pancake underneath, and then (a brilliant stroke) a thin coverlet of smoked salmon, custom fit, over all. Garni a la concombre. Mayonnaisesque anchovy sauce around.

The butter flavor and richness penetrated the salmon entirely. Looking forward to doing it with duck fat at my earliest opportunity.

The potato preparation that I used (Andy's is a very elegant individual potato cake) was inspired by a discussion Cabrales and I think Pirate were having over in France about some Parisian place serving a slice of sausage atop a potato cake. Was good. Pommes de terre Macaire, per Larousse. More, shall we say, rustic, than Andy's, but earned its keep.

Very thin-sliced garden tomatoes, water-starved and full of flavor here at season's end.

Portuguese-type bread. Trinity Oaks 1999 Zinfandel, not zzzzzz but not take-the-top-of-your-head-off, neither.

[Andy Lynes]

OK, thanks to Mr. Andy Lynes and one of his multitudinous prizewinning recipes

That may be overstating the case somewhat I'm afraid. There are a few though.

Glad it turned out well, very nice to think of one of my ideas being reproduced across the pond.

[torakris]

Last night I decided to take it easy and make one of the kid's favorites, steak and onion fajitas.

homemade flour tortillas

homemade tomato and cilantro salsa

homemade guacamole

black olives from a can

fresh jalapenos from the garden

[awbrig]

homemade tortillas?

[torakris]

homemade tortillas?

Remember I live in Japan! Ther are no tortillas here. If I want to eat them I gotta make them! There is an "International" market near my house that sells frozen 6 inch ones for $5.00 a ten pack. It is so easy to make and taste so much better! My recipe uses milk and has great chew.