Dinner! 2002

[Marlene]

French Onion Soup

Spareribs baked in saurkraut, served with mashed potatoes with shallots mashed in and roasted garlic.

Creme brulee

Perfect comfort food for a cold winter's night...

[tommy]

standing rib roast

roasted potatoes

roasted cauliflower

coleslaw

ravenswood lodi zin

[Priscilla]

Tommy, what did you do if anything with the roast residue in the pan?

[tommy]

Tommy, what did you do if anything with the roast residue in the pan?

i was browbeaten into leaving it be. however, the potatoes were nice as they cooked in the drippings. please, don't even start with me on this one. i was sick and didn't have the energy to argue.

[Jinmyo]

This whole dinner sounds wonderful!

Can you say a bit more about the Suppli?  I have never heard of them.  Do you dip the lobster in butter, then form a risotto ball around it?  I wonder if another ingredient could be subbed for the lobster.

Also, was it leftover risotto, or made specifically for the dish?

Thanks!

Thank you.

Suppli are very common, usually filled with mozarella (suppli alla telefono). Yes, the lobster meat was dipped in butter and the rice ball formed around it. One could use scallops, I think. But as I say they are usually made with cheese.

We made enough rosotto to have enough left for the suppli.

[Orik]

For a celebratory dinner yesterday:

- Steamed shrimps (the really huge kind sold at wild edibles) with a quick shrimp stock/cream sauce and caviar (american, I think I'll pay extra for russian next time).

- Cream of celery root with dry mushroom stock, parmesan and truffle oil.

- Roast squab breast and pan fried foie gras (both from dartagnan), served on a brioche (pain q.) with a red wine/squab carcass reduction.

- Vanilla ice cream with warm fig/balsamic/black pepper syrup.

[Jinmyo]

Orik, did you steam the shrimp with some of the stock or plain water?

I like the celery root with mushroom soaking liquor. I haven't done that in years. When I have, I saute the mushrooms in butter and top the soup with them.

This sounds like it was a wonderful meal.

[mixmaster b]

Thanks for the info on suppli, Jinmyo. Yum!

Orik, your dinner sounds great--celebratory indeed!

We had friends over last night, too--I was more the hostess/sous chef, and my S.O. did most of the work:

Proseco cocktails with grappa and limoncello

Squash ravioli with sage butter

Roast pork tenderloin wrapped in proscuitto, served with tangerine sauce (a lovely, clear concoction of reduced vinegar, tangerine syrup, garlic, pan drippings, a bit of juice)

Sauteed radicchio

Herb salad with lemon dressing

Individual flourless dark chocolate cakes served with milk chocolate ice cream (all thanks to the S.O. ), consumed with glasses of Brachetto D'Acqui. (I love that stuff!)

I was very proud--we managed to be ready on time, and serve dinner at a reasonable hour, without long pauses between the couses!!! It was a first for us--hopefully the first of many!

The menu worked well and was pretty good, but I feel like we have done similar things in the past. It is hard to strike a balance between getting a dish right (repetition helps) and doing experimentation, when we have limited time to entertain...

[Akiko]

Tokaris,

A while back you posted about your peanut sauce... which I printed out and saved for the opportune meal to make it with.

I made it the other night. Thank you, YUM! YUM! YUM!, we drizzled it into the table salad rolls, on our sticky rice, I was tempted to spoon it directly into my mouth. Yesterday night I made Pad Thai just to be able to drizzle more of it on there... and tonight I will drizzle it on more sticky rice and my pork chops!

[Miss J]

Orik - I am fascinated by your warm fig/balsamic/black pepper syrup - could you describe this a little further for me please? Did you use fresh/dried/jam figs? Lots of little light seeds sitting alongside fleck of black pepper? Oh, the mind whirls.

Last night I made risotto. I used some butter, a bit of red onion* because I didn't have any shallots, carnaroli rice, a glass of Soave*, and veggie stock. I finished it with a spoonful of mascarpone, and a large handful of sake-steamed prawns*, a bunch of chopped fresh herbs (parsley and sorrel) and the usual final round of seasoning. Then I popped it into dishes and topped each serving with a spoonful of trout roe*.

It was very pretty to look at - the risotto very pale with the faintest hint of rose from the red onion, the delicate pink curves of the prawns, the bright orange-y red roe - and the flavours worked well, although I wish I'd kept all the prawn shells for stock so I could have intensified the sea-flavours. It was also very rich (note to self - smaller portions required when finishing risotto with mascarpone). I have also decided to find more uses for roe in my cooking. I love its texture and the way the little beads pop in your mouth.

Served all this with fennel* rolled in a little OO and roasted, then dusted with some fleur de sel, and a final glass of the Soave.*

*All things leftover from Sunday's drinks-n-nibbles party. Ah, leftovers...

[torakris]

Tokaris,

A while back you posted about your peanut sauce... which I printed out and saved for the opportune meal to make it with.

I made it the other night.  Thank you, YUM! YUM! YUM!, we drizzled it into the table salad rolls, on our sticky rice, I was tempted to spoon it directly into my mouth.  Yesterday night I made Pad Thai just to be able to drizzle more of it on there... and tonight I will drizzle it on more sticky rice and my pork chops!

Thank you!

I love that sauce it goes with everything!

It also holds in the refrigerator for quite a while,so it makes a simple lunch when poured on tofu and some raw or steamed veggies.

If only I could get my hands on some kaffir lime leaf and some lemongrass here in Cleveland.........

Last night's dinner:

rigatoni with a cauliflower, pepper (red, orange and yellow) and anchovy sauce

baby leaf salad with a simple dressing of oil and vinegar

homemade pastries filled with either apricot or cherry jam

[SobaAddict70]

sauteed scallops in unsalted butter, lime zest (reduction of lime juice, unsalted butter, salt and white pepper)

roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts, drizzle of EVOO

couscous (chicken stock, chopped herbs)

Evian. Roasted bananas, black pepper, Haagen-Dasz vanilla.

SA

[Orik]

Orik, did you steam the shrimp with some of the stock or plain water?

With plain water. They were skewered and placed on savoy cabbage leaves.

As for the soup, I was aiming at a single complex flavor, so the mushrooms were processed with the celery, but topping with them would probably have resulted in a nicer looking dish (not a sick shade of gray, that is).

Miss J -- the lovely fig syrup we used was recently purchased at 'Le Salon Saveurs' in Paris from a vendor best described as 'the fig nut' (I'll look up the actual brand when I'm at home). We used tellicherry (sp?) peppercorns and a passable balsamic vinegar (Fini, 12 years old). Now you reminded me it's been too long since I last made risotto and it's only 9am...

[Malawry]

Monday:

Tilapia meuniere-style with a ginger-lemongrass beurre blanc over basmati rice, stir-fried baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms

Last night:

Refried pintos over the leftover basmati, dollop of sour cream, scattering of queso fresco. Grapefruit for dessert.

[Priscilla]

Malawry what do you think of tilapia.

Last evening, didn't cook!!!

Take-in takeaway selection of banh mi...SO good, especially my especial fave, sardine with extra chiles and onion. But you really can't argue with any of 'em, they're all good. Little hit of sugarcane juice before defaulting to barely drinkable Argentinian Malbec.

[SobaAddict70]

Shredded duck meat and skin from a local takeout Cantonese palace, shredded red cooked chicken (homemade, btw) -- stir-fried with veggies (carrots, broccoli, choy sum, straw mushrooms, reconstituted Chinese black mushrooms, onions, ginger, garlic), mushroom soy,a little of the mushroom soaking water, chicken stock, arrowroot (I use arrowroot in place of cornstarch.) Sprinkled a little sesame oil, added a pinch of five-spice powder, added minced scallions at the end. Steamed rice. Szechuan pickled turnips. Jasmine tea. Clementines.

SA

[Jinmyo]

Soup and sandwiches:

Seafood bisque with saffron or wild mushroom consomme with creme fraiche.

Olive oil packed sardines on garlic crostini, much pepper.

Cubed roast pork with rutabaga coleslaw (with celery seed and cried chiles) in soft sourdough.

Artic char on wilted watercress also in sourdough.

Thick cut frites with fresh mayonaisse.

Kosher sour dill pickles.

[Priscilla]

Late Stealth™ burger dinner with a friend who joined us last-minutedly.

Stealth burgers, the burgers with the radar-evading cheese inside©. Nice Stella blue cheese for the grownups, Regulation Medium Tillamook Cheddar for the under-12 set.

Frites, twice-fried.

All the usual garni suspects.

(Beef was a Certified Angus chuck roast run twice through the old KA grinder...very nice amount of fat-to-lean, very well-behaving in the cooking. CAB continues to have good flavor, for supermarket beef.)

Edited December 19, 2002 by Priscilla (log)

[Priscilla]

Nice big CAB chuck cut, braised with some very nice shallots, little garlic, sage only a bit withered from the what passes for cold weather, bay, s & p, red wine. Carrots bunged in with a hour to go. Squares of thick bacon rendered, reserved, big cremini quarters sauteed in pan where bacon had been, garni. Braising liquid reduced, garni added. Popovers.

Edited December 20, 2002 by Priscilla (log)

[Liza]

Lots to catch up with:

Sunday night: Cornish game hens roasted, with butter-poached brussel sprouts and rutabaga.

Monday night: Burritos of Cornish game hens, sliced poached brussel sprouts and rutabaga, lamb and kale. Delish topped with Laura Chenel goat cheese.

Tuesday: 9 oz. burgers from Dave's Not Here on Hickok Street in Santa Fe. Drip down your elbow burgers.

Wednesday: veal chop; sauteed cabbage in a pig foot stock (best not to ask but delicious).

Thursday: A visit to the local cheese lady and the Gruet tasting room. Apparently there was a dinner of some kind but I remember the Gruet more.

Friday: local Pollo Real chicken, rubbed under the skin with butter, thyme and garlic. Roasted on a bed of carrots, onions, potatoes. With mashed potatoes (you can't have too many), smushed up with Point Reyes cheese.

[helenas]

Wehani rice crepes filled with herbed fresh ricotta. Actually the crepes were so good by themselves, almost juicy, that it was my mistake to add any filling. Next time i'll serve them plain with some creme fraiche and melted butter on the side.

[tommy]

fried macaroni and cheese with multi twists of fresh ground pepper. comforting.

[Jinmyo]

tommy, mac n cheez is at it's best fried. Though I'd add toasted crumbs and bacon.

[Simon Majumdar]

Currently in the welcoming bosom of my family and so a traditional Bengali meal of

Bono Kampee Ghonto ( cabbage cooked for hours until caremelized with a very few spices )

Doi Murghi ( yoghurt chicken )

Mascher Johle ( Fish in a light gravy )

Muschu Dhal (Watery dhal with lemons )

gugni ( Chickpea dhal with tomatoes and tamarind or limes - in this case limes )

Followed slightly incongruously but some of the finest cheeses known to man ( as purchased from Neals Yard by my estimable brother )

Colston basset Stilton

Montgomery Cheddar

Appleby Cheshire

Durrus ( Irish soft cheese )

Wigmore ( Sheeps Milk Cheese )

Tynedale Goats Cheese

for allsorts of reasons, one of the best meals of the year

S

Edited December 22, 2002 by Simon Majumdar (log)

[Malawry]

Malawry what do you think of tilapia.

I think it's a decent white-fleshed fish. There's a certain taste to the flesh that I like...a fresh/creamy sensation that I find appealing. Plus it's dirt ass cheap at the Asian market in Rockville, MD. I think it was 99 cents a pound since I was willing to clean and filet it myself. Can't beat that. (And yes, it was quite fresh, and I was able to inspect it quite closely before purchasing.)

Tonight:

Butternut squash soup garnished with spiced shrimp and a ribbon of cream

"Chicken" Quorn-vegetable curry, basmati rice.

This was my first time using the quorn I purchased a long time ago...wanted to get it out of the freezer. Not half bad, but not worth a detour either. Next time I'll stick to veg and beans for my curries. It's not as chewy as I'd hoped. To its credit, I'd tossed it into a curry and couldn't really taste it on its own. And I was put off by the admonition on the package saying it shouldn't be served unless heated.