Dinner! 2002

[FoodMan]

Sunday Dinner:

Roasted duck with spicy orange sauce. Served with sweet potato and beer risotto . I used beer instead of wine for the risotto because I thought that the beer flavor would complement the rich earthy flavor of the roeasted duck that.... bla bla bla

Who am I kidding, I actually forgot to buy the white wine and was out of Vermouth so I used some Heineken instead. However it did come out very good. More closely resembling a risotto made with white wine than vermouth with a nice acidic flavor.

For dessert, we had individual chocolate souffles with Breyers french vanilla ice cream.

FM

[torakris]

Sunday Dinner:

Roasted duck with spicy orange sauce. Served with sweet potato and beer risotto . I used beer instead of wine for the risotto because I thought that the beer flavor would complement the rich earthy flavor of the roeasted duck that.... bla bla bla

Who am I kidding, I actually forgot to buy the white wine and was out of Vermouth so I used some Heineken instead. However it did come out very good. More closely resembling a risotto made with white wine than vermouth with a nice acidic flavor.

For dessert, we had individual chocolate souffles with Breyers french vanilla ice cream.

FM

Seductions of Rice (Alford and Duguid) has a Risotta alla Birra that my husband has been wanting to try.

I am not a beer drinker and actually even hate the smell of the stuff!

Stupid question but does it taste like beer?

[torakris]

Monday Dinner:

Chicken thighs sauteed with onions and carrots

baked potatoes stuffed with goat cheese and smoked salmon

fava bean salad

dessert:

chocolate caramel ice cream with hot fudge and a siroopwafelen on the side

[FoodMan]

Sunday Dinner:

Roasted duck with spicy orange sauce. Served with sweet potato and beer risotto . I used beer instead of wine for the risotto because I thought that the beer flavor would complement the rich earthy flavor of the roeasted duck that.... bla bla bla

Who am I kidding, I actually forgot to buy the white wine and was out of Vermouth so I used some Heineken instead. However it did come out very good. More closely resembling a risotto made with white wine than vermouth with a nice acidic flavor.

For dessert, we had individual chocolate souffles with Breyers french vanilla ice cream.

FM

Seductions of Rice (Alford and Duguid) has a Risotta alla Birra that my husband has been wanting to try.

I am not a beer drinker and actually even hate the smell of the stuff!

Stupid question but does it taste like beer?

As I said it tastes similar to risotto made with a slightly acidic white wine. I know my wife did not notice that it I used beer . However, I used Heineken ( a light Pilsner ) and I'm sure you can substitute a similar kind of beer but if you go with a darker ale or amber beer the flavor will for sure differ and will taste more like beer.

FM

[Liza]

2nd Avenue Deli matzoh ball soup; toasted bialy.

[Jinmyo]

Easy:

Bibimbap with pulled pork, kimchee, shrimp balls, braised cabbage and daikon, roasted mushrooms.

[FoodMan]

leftovers. shredded duck with noodles. fried risotto.

For Dessert: coconut pots de creme.

[Marlene]

Tonight is Shepherd's pie, I made this morning, ready to go in the oven, and for dessert, monkey bread that just came out of the oven.

[FoodMan]

Tonight is Shepherd's pie, I made this morning, ready to go in the oven, and for dessert, monkey bread that just came out of the oven.

monkey bread???????

[Marlene]

Tonight is Shepherd's pie, I made this morning, ready to go in the oven, and for dessert, monkey bread that just came out of the oven.

monkey bread???????

Monkey bread is a cinnamon bread dough. You break the dough into several balls and dip them into a mixture of butter, brown sugar and more cinammon. Then place the balls into a 6 inch bundt pan or bread pan, or you can place 3 balls each in each muffin tin and bake. When inverted on a plate, the top is really nicely glazed.

I made this particular bread with spelt flour since my son's friend is wheat sensitive.

[torakris]

Tuesday's dinner ahd me jumping all over the Asian continent, but it all came together well:

ground beef and pork mix stirfried with a bulgoki type sauce and garlic chives served with lettuce leaves for wrapping and kochujang

atsuage (thick deep fried tofu) toasted til crispy then sliced and topped with red onion, garlic chives and a Thai like sauce of nampla, lime, sugar, and a splash of sweet chilli sauce

broccoli with goma-ae, sesame paste pounded together in the suribachi

Japanese rice

Ice cream for dessert

[Varmint]

Monkey bread is on our family's "heavy rotation" for weekend breakfasts. All the L'il Varmints can help make it, even the 2 year old! It's very, very easy to do.

[Jinmyo]

Disclaimer: Professional kitchen, staff of three. Still, please try this at home.

Cavatapi pasta with a wild mushroom cream sauce (morels, lobster, gypsy, porcini, huagu, honey, matsutake all reconstituted, a few fresh cremini).

Soup of romano beans with sofritto and parmegiano.

Slices of rare lamb's kidneys with a few drops of aceto balsamico tradionizale.

Savoy, red, and green cabbage slaw with celery seeds and a lemon vinaigrette.

Pecorino cheese frito with walnuts.

[nervousnelli]

Spagetti sauteed with olive oil, garlic and bok choy.

(I've been unemployed since August and it's getting more and more difficult to come up with interesting things to eat on a budget of virtually zero dollars.)

[Jinmyo]

nervousnelli, how about bibimbap?

[nervousnelli]

Thanks, Jinmyo, for the good idea and the link. I'll have to sift through all that bibimbap info to cull a recipe that's simple enough that I won't screw it up. I do love bibimbap though and I'll take a shot at preparing it myself.

[Adam Balic]

Surprise guest, so pasta alla Cittarra with Italian sausage (garlic, celery, carrot, onion pancetta 'base'), fennel seeds, tomato, cream, egg yolk sauce. + salad.

[Simon Majumdar]

Spagetti sauteed with olive oil, garlic and bok choy.

(I've been unemployed since August and it's getting more and more difficult to come up with interesting things to eat on a budget of virtually zero dollars.)

As well as the excellent bibimbap recipe, why not try some Indian dishes. once you have the basic spices, there are countless permutations of what you can prepare for almost nothing

last night I made a dhal from red lentils, half an onion and spices ( I figure that costs about 50p to make for two people )

A Vegetable curry using cauliflower, green beans and spinach ( cost about £1 for two people )

The most expensive thing I made was a garden pea and minced lamb dish which would have been about £2 for two people )

Nutritious and very good for eating well on a budget

Check out the India thread. Suvir has put some amazing recipes on there

S

[Jinmyo]

Simon is of course correct. Suvir's your man. Indian cuisine can be tremendously elegant even at its simplest and most inexpensive.

[Priscilla]

Yes, it's true. Indian food has the wonderful combination of elegance, as Jinmyo said, and economy, as per Simon. We have an incredible resource in Suvir.

Simon, was that your dinner menu or just ideas.

Last night sauteed chicken breasts with sage and garlic, had some chicken broth kicking around for the sauce (+ a little white vermouth in there), added some Mexican crema at the end. Brussel-sprout risotto (Carnaroli maintaining its primacy). Nice Romaine salad.

[Simon Majumdar]

It was my supper last night. Cobbled together at the last minute and very tasty it was too

S

[torakris]

One of my favorite "poor day" foods is a hard boiled egg and potato curry (Unday aur aloo) from Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking book. It is prepared all with pantry ingredients, is fast and tastes great! And the kids absolutely love it, an added bonus!

I agree as well, once you have the spices Indian food is one of the most economical cuisines.

Weds dinner:

Squid stuffed with mint, scallions, garlic chives, and chiles and stemed on a bed of baby bok choy that had been sprinkles with ginger and salted black beans. The finished dish was dreesed with a black bean-sweet chilli sauce dressing. The dish took only about 15 minutes from start to finish! Another great recipe from Jamie Oliver (Jamie's Kitchen).

Ban Ban Ji (this is what it is called in Japan, not sure of its real name) A Chinese dish of steamed chicken on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes topped with a sesame sauce, served cold as a salad.

Renkon kinpira (lotus root stir fry?) lotus root very briefly stirfried with dried red pepper, soy, sake and mirin.

[Priscilla]

broccoli with goma-ae,  sesame paste pounded together in the suribachi

Torakris, is this the sesame dressing sometimes served on green beans?

Could you give your recipe when it's convenient?

[Blondie]

Braised short ribs (St. Mario's Babbo recipe, added an anchovy or two)

Fresh papardelle.

Roasted broccoli romanesco. I love the shape. It looks like a fractal

[Gavin Jones]

But probably not as either it would be less than 3 dimensional and therefore not nutritious or more than 3 dimensional which might cause some problems.

Last night I was staying in Bristol with friends as I have had no electricity for 2 weeks. They have a bloody aga.

Anyhow I ended up deputed to make steak pudding.

Casserole decent braising steak from the Farmers' market for 90 mins.

Dump in suet crust lined pudding basin cover and simmer for 2 hours.

Needs Kidney (&possibly oyster). I did add some porcini to try and give it the earthiness but it was missing urea. Needed another 30 minutes, too.

Tasty pastry. The 3 year old was turning her nose up at the filling but piling through the suet crust.

(Also smoked prawns, smoked mack & horseradish, atrociously named 'nanny's nibble' cheese - not bad, and various rare apples).

Electricity now back on.