What did you end up cooking this weekend?

[MMRuth]

Here's my list:

Duck Confit
Duck Rillettes (made from duck confit)
Brandade de Morue (also made into croquettes)
Roasted Tomatoes (froze a lot)
Roasted Garlic (made w/ tomatoes)
Roasted Tomatoe Juice (made w/ tomatoes - great as salad dressing)
Braised short ribs (froze some, some for dinner this week, make leftovers into soup)
That duck "ham" that I'm still toying with
Spaghetti with Bottarga
Deviled Eggs with leftover Bottarga
Fricco with Montasio cheese, speck and cornichons

Meals were strange - nibbles of this and that - but lots stored up for the next week!

[jenniferstimson]

I feel like a slouch after reading these posts! I made mushroom and spinach enchiladas with mole and fried squash blossoms stuffed with refried black beans and ricotta.

[mielimato]

That's nothing to laugh at! Sounds delicious.

[NYchowcook]

I bought a chicken, and defrosted veal shanks and bones. Thought I'd make some stock (chicken and veal) and osso buco. Lots of tomatoes, so I was ready to roll:
Veal stock and reduced 1/2 the next day for demi glace
osso buco
Tomatoes:
(1) roasted tomato sauce, (2) slow-roasted tomatoes, (3) tomato tart w/ #2
Took Susan Spungen's suggestion and removed whole chicken 1 hr into stock-making, cut off white meat and returned remainder of chicken to stock for another hour.
Then I made curried chicken salad w/ rescued chicken.
Oh, and an almond torte.

[julietg]

Gazpacho (got heirloooms at $1.50/lb b.c they were bruised!)
Zucchini Bread
Tomato Chutney for the bread
Cherry Italian Water Ice

[NovoCuisine]

I went up north for the long weekend to visit my best girlfriend at her family's place. Whenever we are there all we do is cook, eat, and plan the next meal. Everyone pitches in; always a fantastic time.

My contribution, with what I could find in their pantry/fridge and their fully stocked garden, was:

- Spicy peel-and-eat shrimp "Portuguese style"
- Grilled mahi-mahi and halibut flaked on top of basil crisps topped with freshly made tomato/coriander salsa
- BBQ'd frog legs
- curried tofu "scrambled eggs" with peppers for the vegans in the fam.

[LizATL]

For the OP - sounds great! You must be located somewhere that has cooled off already...

Where do you get your bottarga? There are places around here, but they want to sell me a huge chunk. Do you ever buy it mail order?

[MMRuth]

Yes - in NYC - it was cold and rainy.

I buy the bottarga from a place in NYC call Di Palo - it's about $23 for 1/4 lb - which is a piece that has been vacuumed pack - more than enough for two meals for two. It keeps quite well even after being opened - I just wrap it very well. Make sure to get the gray mullet roe one, rather than the tuna, if you can. Saw the same thing at Dean & Deluca for $125 - so don't order from there. I think that when looking for recipes, I came across some Italian food sites that sell it. Apparently this year's harvest will be available in late September, so some stores may have run out of last year's. Good luck finding it.

[BackyardChef]

God, I love Di Palo. Even when I'm not shopping for anything I stick my head in and take a deep breath. I hope they never close.....

[MMRuth]

When I was there last Friday evening I thought to myself- this is my absolutely favorite "chow" place in NYC.

[mielimato]

Toast with butter and honey

Yogurt with fresh mint and peaches

Larb (one of my favorite hot weather foods)

Fried Rice with egg, fava beans and chunks of jamon serrano (I'm in Spain now and can't find chinese sausage but the sauteed jamon was delicious in the fried rice)

Sardines and Fennel in Tomato Sauce and Pasta (the combination of saffron, fennel and sardines was delicious)

[Amuse Bouches]

Wild Sea Bass with Ginger Lime Chili butter sauce and sauteed greens.

[revsharkie]

A friend gave me a bunch of cucumbers from his garden, so I canned relish. One night I pulled a package of chili I'd made a few weeks back out of the freezer and we had that, and Monday we had the smoker going. We had whole-wheat pancakes with blueberry/raspberry sauce for brunch on Sunday morning after church and bacon-egg-cheese biscuit sandwiches Monday morning. (Actually afternoon; we slept pretty late.)

[Chowsmurf]

Porkchops brined in apple juice, soy, ginger, garlic and grilled cherries on a skewer. Turned out great!

[chowetta]

I did a kalua pig riff using a dutch oven and brickets. It was a modified Sam Choy recipe- pork butt wrapped in banana leaves and foil.

Second day it turned into pulled pork w/ bbq sauce.

And ended as a pork ragu'ish sauce on pasta.

Yum and fun.

[designerboy01]

Crabs with Pork and Egg.

Stewed Pumpkin in Miso with Celery and Egg.

[AnjLM]

Porcini mushroom ravioli with a madiera wine sauce
Gorgonzola ravioli with a sauce of butter, walnuts, garlic, roasted red peppers and walnuts

For breakfast:
crepes with nutella and banana

[BackyardChef]

70 pounds of pulled pork
2 smoked mojo-marinated chickens
4 hanks of double smoked kielbasa
A roasted portobello breakfast strata
Campanelle salad w/ basil vinaigrette
Fall Couscous w/ roasted butternut squash

[houndgirl]

Veggie burgers with caramelized onion, avocado and goat cheese

Pork chops with a port and dried cherry sauce.

And one of the worst dishes I've ever made ... a nearly inedible barbecued beef brisket that ended up looking like a lump of charcoal with a dry rub on it.

[WineWidow]

Yum -- side ribs, that I brined and then braised overnight before finishing on the grill, cornbread, caprese salad (yeah, not the ideal salad choice but we had a cartload of tomatoes and basil to deal with), and homemade peach ice cream with grilled peaches for dessert.

[HollyDolly]

I made Sunday some thick roasted boneless porkchops and roasted some cut up white potatoes and onions with them.
I had a simple tomato and lettuce salad,and peaches and vanilla
icecream for dessert.Had to work Labor Day night at TJMAXX,so dinner was Sunday's leftovers.

Maybe I'll make a mushroom and monterray cheese stuffed burger
and baked pork and beans to make up for working Labor Day.

[UptownKevin]

Simple but great Hamburgers topped with sharp white cheddar.
with baked potatoes on the grill.

Best burger I've had in a while.

That's it. The rest of the time I ate out. Very relaxing.

-Kevin

[Will Owen]

Amazingly, not much. The last week or so was so stuffed with cooking that we coasted through on leftovers, mostly. I just got my first real gas grill, and I've been playing quite a lot with that: I brined and larded a chunk of boneless pork loin last week and cooked it by indirect heat on the grill Thursday night when my in-laws came over, with a foil package of wood chips providing the smoke. All of these things were new to me, but they all worked very well. Then we had a couple of no-stress days, which I marked by grilling hot dogs (Boar's Head natural casing - hey, do it right!) and toasting buns all at the same time. And then tonight I complimented a dish of cold roast pork from Thursday and a fresh green salad with some parboiled white creamer potatoes parboiled, marinated in seasoned oil, and then tossed in a basket on the grill until they were scorched and crunchy on the outside, creamy within. Oh, I like this thing a lot!

[carswell]

A Labour Day weekend mostly spent labouring, alas (being a freelancer sucks sometimes), but enlivened by dinner at Joe Beef's on Friday and some good friends' couch-warming party on Sunday. Saturday was a "do it now or wait another 12 months" moment, so I made one of my favourite late summer dishes, guinea hen braised with fresh green figs. So simple, so delicious and so perfect with a bottle of de Villaine's 2004 La Fortune pinot noir.

[Rubee]

For a family cookout:

Indochine burgers with cilantro mayo ("Build a Better Burger" winner) - everyone loved these. I went to Chinatown and bought the rolls they use for banh mi and toasted them. Only changes were to increase the Sriricha, and serve with marinated chiles, a recipe from "Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table".
Corn and tomato salad with cilantro dressing
Antipasto pasta salad with artichoke vinaigrette
Coconut cake

For our own consumption:
Carnitas and guac in the molcajete

Recipe for Pork Indochine burgers:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recip...

[AnjLM]

I saw that episode. Are they worth making? I was hoping to find a recipe for the tuna burgers...they looked pretty good!

[Rubee]

Definitely worth making. I tried them at home first, and my husband and I loved them. Everyone at the cookout commented on them - from my Vietnamese relatives, most of whom went back for seconds (I cut each one in half), to the picky New Englander who didn't think he liked pork. Nice combination of flavors kept everybody guessing as to the ingredients. I also put out the pickled chiles and a bottle of Sriricha for those who wanted to spice it up.

[Non Cognomina]

Peach hand pies with Frog Hollow peaches (so sweet I didn't add any sugar)

Moscapone ice cream with Frog Hollow peaches (so good)

Roasted figs with bacon and goat cheese (needed a decadent snack)

Grilled Flank Steak and summer squash marinated in Made In Napa Valley's Shanghai Marinade

[stevieBcanyon]

Lasagna using Dreamfields noodles. Must have weighed 9 pounds. Not very carby but boy, must have a lot of fat.7 cups total of 3 cheeses. Wife thought was best ever. It will take a week to eat it all.

[rosielucchesini]

Fri: Tri Tip,Zucchini and Polenta (all grilled) w/roasted walnuts and honey poured over vanilla ice cream for desert
Sat: "black and blue" (leftover tri tip and blue cheese)salad over mesclun/arugula w/roasted walnuts and red onions
Sun: challah french toast w/bacon for breakfast and hubby smoked some ribs for dinner while I made baked beans and corn on the cob for the sides and peach crisp for desert (with all the bacon i dubbed it 'pigskin sunday'-it should've been the opening day of football season)
Mon: i tried to be virtuous to make up for all the pork the day before so i made ratatouille and a salad for dinner.

[luswei]

roasted tomato cappellini w/fresh basil, fresh mozzarella drizzed with good olive oil, parmesan, fleur de sel and cracked pepper

turkey, provolone, lettuce, heirloom tomato paninis

roasted garlic cheddar cheeseburgers

*b/c of heat wave and anniversary wkend, didn't have to cook much

[gorboduc]

Dan Dan noodles, from Fuschia Dunlop's recipe in Land of Plenty.

Hot sauce, made from a blend of dried guajillo and arbol chiles and fresh habaneros. I like this stuff so much, I'm literally eating it on everything. I'm even eating it straight, by the teaspoon full. But then I've recently developed a wierd fondness for hot sauce.

And last but not least, to get rid of my superabundance of peaches, bellinis and blueberry peach pie....

http://gorboduc.livejournal.com/16596...

[Val]

Gorboduc, can you please paraphrase the Dan Dan recipe? Many thanks!

[gorboduc]

Sure--
For the sauce:

1 tbsp lard or peanut oil
4 tbsp Tianjin preserved vegetable or ya cai, minced

Heat the oil in a wok and stirfry the preserved vegetable unitl fragrant. Put into a small bowl with the rest of the sauce ingredients:

2-3 tbsp chili oil (to taste)
1 1/2 tbsp light soy
1/2 tbsp dark soy
1 1/2 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
1 - 1 1/2 tsp ground toasted sichuan pepper (or to taste)
The green parts of 3 scallions, sliced thin

Mix the sauce together and set aside.

For the meat:

1 tbsp oil
4 oz minced pork
1 tsp Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
2 tsp light soy
salt to taste

Heat up the wok and add another tablespoon of oil. Stir fry the meat, seasoning with the wine, soy, and salt, until it is cooked through. Set aside.

For the noodles:

12 oz fresh Chinese noodles

Cook the noodles according to package directions, then drain them well.

To serve:

Place a few spoons full of the sauce and meat at the bottom of a bowl. Top with the noodles. Your guests stir to coat the noodles with the sauce and evenly distribute the meat.

[Dommy]

Nuffin... We were in SF the entire time and ate out TOO much. Tonight I'm back on the wagon though... We have a TON of corn we need to use up, so I'm making this Chicken Chowder... :)

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

I'll report back on how it went! :)

--Dommy!

[Dommy]

Made it last night and t'was excellent!! It really worked well with fresh off the cob corn... Yumm!! :)

--Dommy!

[LT from LF]

Savory bread pudding with mushrooms and herbs (parsley, basil, oregano) and a chocolate butter cake. Pasta with sage cream sauce. Mushroom and gorgonzola omelet. Bought oxtails and chicken thighs but haven't cooked them yet.

[celeste]

Saturday:
Spiced meatballs with hungarian-inspired paprika/sour cream sauce with couscous
Plum galette

Sunday:
Toasty baked oatmeal (brunch)
Devil's chicken thighs with braised leeks and dijon (from Sunday Suppers at Lucques - YUM)
Butter lettuce salad with crumbled gorgonzola, roasted hazelnuts, shaved fennel, and dried cranberries in currant dijon vinaigrette
Gingerbread cake

Monday:
NOTHING! Leftovers and pizza!!!!

[thenurse]

Hmm, I wasn't so creative and I ate out a lot.

Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (devoured by my running group) Carrot-ginger soup (gone as of today's lunch.
Banana bread with raisins (from the Nabisco site, with graham cracker crumbs - yummy!)

It was a terrible weekend in Toronto weather wise, but that's all I cracked out of my tiny kitchen. Had some good meals out though!

[missem]

I only made one interesting meal, but it was good...

I grilled a whole pork loin crusted with fennel, rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic and olive oil. It was so crusty outside and juicy inside.

For sides, butternut squash risotto and spicy roasted broccoli rabe.

For dessert, vanilla roasted plums with vanilla ice cream and pine nut cookies.

[MMRuth]

That sounds delicious - did you use fennel seeds, or chopped fennel?

[missem]

Seeds that I chopped/crushed with the knife while I was chopping the rosemary. They gave a nice crust.

[foodISlove]

would you post the recipe for the spicy roasted broccoli rabe? sounds great.

[Val]

Sunday:

Greek Chicken stuffed with Spinach and Feta
Orzo Pilaf
Salad

Monday:

Tri-color coleslaw
Roasted potato salad with cilantro and garlic
Marinated grilled chicken (one of our junky favorite marinades of Zesty Italian dressing mixed with Tony Chachere's Creole seasoning)
Pine Bark cookies or Chocolate Toffee Crack, it goes by different names

[SarahEats]

Buffalo chicken pizza
Breakfast strata
Roasted veggies (eggplant, yellow squash, tomatoes, onion, red and green pepper)
Chocolate chip cookies
Shrimp scampi over linguine

[Problem Child]

Orange Truffles (from Pei's blog recipe)
Saba Sushi
Saba Shioyaki
Tomato soup (made with slow roasted heirloom tomatoes)- wife cooked this
Grilled Tri-Tip
Emeril's Tin Foil Corn in a Cob

We finished most of the food, still a little bit of meat left which will probably be made into enchilada's today or tomorrow. Speaking of which, anyone has a good enchilada recipe?

[cheryl_h]

Thai belly pork (moo wan)
Pork belly confit
Seafood and corn chowder
ATK roast chicken with Zuni bread salad
Squid and chicken sambal
Pickled peaches
Concord grape pie
Marjolaine
Mediterranean carrot salad
Borlottis with bacon and caramelized onions
Smoked chicken breasts
Chicken breasts stuffed with kasseri and basturma

It was a very chickeny weekend. We didn't eat all of this! A fair amount went into the freezer for later.

[Biggie]

Cheryl, I'd love it if you'd share your moo wan recipe

[cheryl_h]

This is adapted from chezpim's food blog. I had a piece of pork belly, skin removed, about 3lbs in weight. I combined fish sauce and palm sugar, about 1/3 cup of each. I added about 2 Tbs tamarind paste (this was my first time using it in this dish) and about 2Tbs ground dried birdseye chiles. I like my foods to be spicy, you might reduce this if you prefer less heat. When you taste the mixture you should sense sweet, salty, sour and hot in about equal amounts. Play with it until it's to your taste.

I put the belly pork fat side up into an ovenproof dish, lined with foil (helps with cleanup), added the spice mix and enough water to bring it to about 1/3 of the way up the meat. Roast at 350F until very tender. It took about 2.5 - 3 hours for my piece.

Note: the tamarind caused a burnt crust to form on the outside of the meat. It's not bad but I prefer lighter caramelization. Without the tamarind I usually get a brown crust with crispy edges. If I were doing it again, I would either cover the meat with foil for the first 1-2 hours or roast at a lower temperature. The tamarind does add a lot of flavor so I wouldn't leave it out.

[ghbrooklyn]

Sweet Potato and Rajas arepas with turkey sausage, roasted tomatillo salsa and poached eggs.

[Pei]

I let out the sugar monster inside me this weekend and had a frenzy of dessert making:

-mint truffles
-jam truffles
-English toffee (which turned out more like NOLA pralines but were beloved by all)
-Mark Bittman's frozen yogurt (Highly recommend this to the ice cream lovers on this board)
-salted caramels
-ingredients for marmalade. Unfortunately, I ran out of steam before I could finish this one.

Meals themselves were simple this weekend because of my skewed allocation of time and energy: variations on rice, stir fried vegetable, and ready to eat meat (Chinese sausages, etc.)

I did, however, manage to make a few hundred dumplings with the help of a friend. They're resting in freezer bags now. I love having ten minute meals ready just by doing a few hours of hard work one weekend.

lots of sugar photos: www.chezpei.com

[mielimato]

Wow! Your pictures and recipes look amazing. I think I'm going to make your nui nan this weekend. I love this soup but have never made it at home.

[fara]

broccoli rapini w/penne
codfish and bacon fried rice
chicken "enchiladas" w/ a jarred green sauce. loosely following some recipes from chowhound.

a friend made romanian moussaka, which is eggplant, beef, and tomato sauce. she salted then microwaved the eggplant for 20 min. before baking it. the eggplant texture was perfect w/out being greasy.