What's for Dinner #128 [old]

[Barbara76137]

OK, I'm off the boards for about a week, and it's taken the entire evening to read through a thread from over a week ago. Super Bowl Sunday is over and done, and I'd hope that you've either finished your leftovers or thrown them in the trash by now.

So, what is everyone cooking?

[roxlet]

Please go to #129 to discuss your latest dinner creations!

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/8348...

[RelishPDX]

Last night (Monday), I was breaking down a couple of chickens to put the breasts in the freezer and use the rest of the birds for stock. I like doing this since 4 lb. chickens yield two nice 7 oz. breasts each, rather than the full pound Jayne Mansfields that are stuffed into most skinless/boneless packages emerging from factories somewhere deep in Arkansas.

I decided I wanted to cook the legs and wings instead of putting them into the stockpot, and a Chow search yielded this: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/726363

Boy howdy, is this a simple, and great recipe. Just soy, vodka, chicken, and a couple of hours in the oven.

I inhaled a leg and wing alongside some fried rice and a small bowl of Tom Ka Gai from last night, immensely improved with some ground chili I saved from a packet of MaMa noodles. I'll have to figure out how much of this or whole peppers I'll need for what remains of the soup.

[ChristinaMason]

<the full pound Jayne Mansfields that are stuffed into most skinless/boneless packages emerging from factories somewhere deep in Arkansas>

ZING! great observation.

[ChristinaMason]

I slow-caramelized some onions and made salisbury steaks with the last of the 97% beef following this recipe: http://oneperfectbite.blogspot.com/20...

I added a bit of dried mustard, bay leaf, and aleppo pepper (thanks, bushwickgirl!) to the sauce, but otherwise pretty much followed the recipe, except for swapping fresh thyme for dried.

We had the "steaks" over cauliflower puree with parmesan peas on the side. Very 1950s, indeed.

[nomadchowwoman]

Sounds good.

[gingershelley]

Tonight is leftover roast chicken, which I think I shall eat cold with a little mini greek salad, and have some cornbread (1/2 recipe) in the oven for a warm side, folded into it is some cilantro (tj's frozen cubes, x2), roasted corn and sharp cheddar. I know, kind of an odd combo with greek salad, but it all sounded good.
Sometimes, mish-mash night is a grand thing:)

[MAH]

Saturday I made fideos with chorizo, clams and bay scallops (modeled after the Casa Mono recipe). It fell a bit short of my expectations, but was still tasty -- slow pan roasted garlic and saffron...great flavors, just need to tweak the recipe a bit. Yesterday was dinner at a local pub after the Knicks game at the Garden (!). Tonight was a Salsa Verde Chicken & Dumplings with cornmeal dumplings with scallions and parsley mixed in. Very flavorful, and I mixed some chopped spinach into the chicken mixture before baking.

[superbadkitty]

I was looking at Korean recipes during happy hours last night and was inspired to make the following "I-can't-explain-it! Chicken Wings" for a "snacky" dinner from what I already had in my fridge... with a little Malaysian twist which I learnt from talking to Malaysian home cooks. Not sure if I am allowed to post a recipe here (?) but very briefly, I used half a whole head of garlic, spring onions, oyster sauce, soy sauce, dry sherry and at the second stage, added some Malaysian chilli sauce (Lingam's) that was what I believe gave it that "I-can't-explain-it!" flavour, as well as some Worcestershire sauce... (the Worcestershire sauce seems to be used by many Malaysian home cooks).

[ChristinaMason]

welcome! and yes, recipes (or your synopsis/paraphrase) are surely allowed. word-for-word cut-and-paste of a a recipe from elsewhere, however, is not.

[superbadkitty]

Hey Christina, thank you! :)

[superbadkitty]

Marinate 6 chicken wings (divided into 3 by the joints, or use bite-sized chicken pieces) in 1.5-2 tbsp oyster sauce (I used Lee Kum Kee brand), 2 tbsp soy sauce (Lee Kum Kee Premium Soy Sauce) and a splash of dry sherry (about a teaspoon). Stir well so they are well-coated.

Roughly chop half a head of garlic, and cut 4 spring onions into bite-sized pieces (or 1-inch pieces).

(NB I didn't marinate the chicken for very long at all - just for as long as it took to prepare the other ingredients).

Heat 1-2 tbsp oil and sauté the garlic. When fragrant, add the chicken pieces. Fry on all sides until no longer raw, then add the spring onion. Stir fry briefly.

Add 1 tbsp Malaysian chilli sauce (I used Lingam's brand) to the leftover marinade, together with a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce (I used Lea & Perrins).

Pour over chicken in the pot. Stir to combine, Cover and simmer gently on low heat for 15-25 mins or the chicken is cooked.

Serve with steamed or boiled rice.

[steve h.]

Spaghetti (Barilla) and meatballs. House-made meatballs and sauce have been languishing in the freezer.Time to set them free. There will be garlic bread on the side. Montepulciano D'Abruzzo to wash things down. Maybe an old favorite on the plasma. "Dinner Rush" comes to mind.

[JungMann]

I have been craving spaghetti and meatballs lately (curious, since I can probably count on 2 hands how many times I've eaten the combination). How do you make your meatballs and sauce? Can the meatballs be parcooked and frozen?

[steve h.]

Howdy JM,
The sauce is simple and the meatballs are a life's work. Both recipes can be found somewhere on these boards. No worries about par cooking. The freezer is every intrepid traveler's friend.

[LindaWhit]

Taking an easy way out tonight for dinner. I'll slice up several small b/s chicken breasts, do a quick pan-sauté, and then add some of this Cashew & Cream Sauce I found in my local supermarket a few days ago.

http://www.stonehouse27.com/Low_Sodiu...

I'll thin the sauce with a small tin of evaporated milk. It'll be served over jasmine rice and I'll have some steamed asparagus alongside.

[Caroline1]

Total comfort food/indulgence today. For lunch I made truffled mushroom rissotto with sous vide eggs for the topper. I'll be purring like a fat happy cat for the rest of the day.

[nomadchowwoman]

Oh, the thought of the yolkssettling into that risotto . . .

[Caroline1]

I think I must be nuts, but I absolutely LOVE sous vide eggs! It was sooooo soul cuddling.

[ChristinaMason]

mmmmm

[JungMann]

I'm getting too old for Carnivale. I think I actually blacked out from last night's dinner. I remember starting off with spam musubi before moving on to moco loco. There was macaroni salad of course that just dared to be eaten. There are crumbs next to the package of Filipino pork cookies I have on the counter, so I assume I must have had those as well. When I was younger I could be four pork servings deep and not yet feel this pang of regret. Lenten penances can't come soon enough.

But until Lent, I will continue eating. Tonight I will take it a little easier. I'm brining napa cabbage right now to make one batch of fresh kimchi to eat with dinner and another to ferment in the coat closet (apologies to my roommates in advance). For mains I think I'm going to go with something easy and make chicken adobo. There's also a bundle of kale that I had intended on turning into smothered greens, but I think I will just saute it with chorizo, walnuts and lemon for something a little lighter unless someone else has better ideas.

[prima]

Sounds good. I was really happy with a mixed bean/kale/chorizo stew I made last week. ;-)

I'm making this http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/hea... for dinner tonight, thanks to a pointer from Christine Cushing via Twitter. Not incredibly decadent for Rosenmontag, but I'm giving up meat and poultry for Lent, and I have a nice cauliflower in the fridge, so this will be my last chicken dinner until mid-April, unless I fall off the wagon.

[JungMann]

Beans and kale are a good combination, but legumes figure so heavily in Lent, and I don't particularly like them anyway, so I'm trying to avoid that combo.

[TxnInMtl]

After a 5-course chocolate dinner on Friday and a cheese tasting dinner on Saturday with 4 chefs competing to do 3 courses (both part of a festival here), I needed something a little bit lighter for dinner last night. The CSA box keeps insisting on giving us fennel that's more frond than fennel, so I tried a shrimp scampi dish with fennel fronds from Melissa Clark's Cook This Now, violating the seasons of the book. I paired that with a caesar salad and a side of beets and turnips in sweet caper butter (from March's COTM). The plate was colorful and the anise flavor on the shrimp was just right.

[mamachef]

Tonight I will be making a lovely chicken soup. I was not planning to make lovely or even unlovely chicken soup, but last night's disaster-con requires it. Having invited an old friend to dinner, and planned (upon request) to make fried chicken, gravy, roasted potatoes, biscuits and greens (not to put too fine a point on it or anything...) I had merrily finished the beautiful crunchy chicken and tasty floury golden biscuits, I stuck them back into the oven to keep warm with the 'tatoes while I ran out for literally 15 minutes to pick up a tasty beverage. You may already be able to hear the jungle drums beating and the animal-warning system begin to pick up volume. Had I really left the warmer at 150, it would have all been grrrroooovvvvvy. But no. On the way home, the hair on my neck stood up while I had one of those did I/didn't I moments, and as it turned out, I ditten! Turn the oven DOWN, that is. So I came home to a sizzly bird approximating bits of something awful small and awful dark, and for the biscuits and potatoes, really no words except "projectiles."
"Here ya go!! Grub!! Grayns and Grayvee, buddy!"
So me and old buddy went out for passaable rotisserie chicken. The veg. that got basted underneath were the best part, or the best part was maybe that old friends will laugh with you and just not care, since hanging out was always the point of the agenda anyways.
But I digress. I am going to boil the hell out of that badass birdy, with lots of vegetables. It should be fine once I've strained it. The chicken was the kind of dark that would've been unpleasant to crunch down, but for stock it'll just give it plenty of depth. And after I have beautiful stock, I aim to make some chicken, shrimp, and water chestnut dumplings, and I'll eat half in the stock and the other half with a dipping sauce.
Oh, yeah, and when I was taking out the recycling and trash (my phobia is chicken packets left in the house, I glanced at the wrapper and I'd bought a freakin' roaster anyway. I imagine our teeth would've bounced off those glorious-appearing pieces of poultry.
Moral: Do not shop when harried or stressed or whatever, and always have the correct beverage to hand. :)
Have a good holiday Monday and a great safe week.
Shalom, y'all.

[Caroline1]

I feel your pain! Here's hoping the soup turns out to be fantastic... Good enough that you think about doing this again? Well, maybe not. But yes, that *IS* a good friend. Peace.

[LindaWhit]

Comedy of errors. But good friends just laugh it off and pass the corkscrew. :-)

[L.Nightshade]

Sorry about your chicken disaster, but I enjoyed reading your description. You've got the storyteller knack!

[nomadchowwoman]

Yes, may that soup be delicious. (And the story ever will be!)

[Barbara76137]

mama, sounds like everything turned out good!

[RelishPDX]

Well, tonight is a triumph.

After all of these weeks pouring over cookbooks and the web, plus various and sundry trips to two different Asian markets, along with quite a bit of spend in the process, my humble kitchen is beginning to produce some delicious stuff from the Asian cuisines.

Tonight I made Tom Ka Gai, the Thai chicken-coconut soup. It's sitting on the stove right now while I finish the Pina Colada I've been imbibing on while measuring, chopping and cooking, as I think up options for raising the heat level of the soup a bit more, the only thing lacking and keeping this concoction from the total success it deserves.

This vessel of soup hasn't been without its ups and downs, though. Searching through recipes, I found pretty standard ingredient lists, but wide concentrations of water/stock to coconut milk everywhere from 6:1 to 1:2 plus everything in between. In the end, I decided to start with a 2:1 ratio of chicken broth to coconut milk, since I had enough coconut milk on hand to bring it up to 1:1 if needed. The final result ended up at 2:1.5, a fair compromise considering the calorie count.

The amounts of fish sauce also varied widely, as did the use of Thai chilis or red curry paste. Boy, am I glad that I swung by the other Asian market on Friday, where I found Red Boat fish sauce. The small bottle of cheap stuff I'd bought before smelled like an armpit in comparison—Red Boat has almost a sweet smell to it. No wonder it's getting rave reviews around the interwebs, but at $8 for a 500mL (17 oz.) bottle it better be!

To solve the heat problem, I think I'll try various things bowl-to-bowl. Perhaps sriracha sauce tonight, chili oil tomorrow night, etc. I was a bit timid in the spice department initially, not wanting to spoil an expensive pot of soup, so I only used a few jalapenos to start. I've some Thai chilis I can add as well.

I'll figure that out later—the rum's gone straight to my head since all I've had to eat today is a short stack of pancakes 10 hours ago. Enough babbling, must eat something else straightaway!

[JungMann]

"It's sitting on the stove right now while I finish the Pina Colada I've been imbibing on..."
I like your style. This is what I do whenever I open a can of coconut milk for a single man's serving of tom kha gai. There are few better ways to finish leftover coconut milk in my opinion.

[L.Nightshade]

Congratulations on your triumph! It sounds wonderful, and you deserved that pina colada.

[mariacarmen]

that's it. i'm making tom ka gai next weekend. sounds wonderful, Relish.

[RelishPDX]

A little tip for when you make it, if I may. Many of the recipes I found call for tossing the chicken pieces in cornstarch. But, the chicken is being poached, not fried. There really is no logical reason for the cornstarch step. I tossed half of the chicken pieces in cornstarch and half I left plain. The ones with cornstarch have a bit of a gummy coating to them that I believe develops because the soup never comes to a boil to firm it up or disperse it.

Overall though, I find Thai soups extremely satisfying to make. The depth of flavors are remarkable for such light affairs, and they come together very quickly once you've sourced and prepped all of your ingredients. Most of the work can be done in advance and in stages, held until you're almost ready to say "soup's on!"

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

[mariacarmen]

thanks, i'll keep that in mind!

[megjp]

weezie, you've inspired me: I took the (bulkily greedy of valuable real estate!) frozen chicken out of the freezer and will make stock tomorrow when it's at least partially thawed.

But tonight I cooked a cottage roll pretty simply, which I hear is a Canadian deal but it's unsmoked cured pork shoulder that I boil for awhile with some aromatics (and beer!). It's a bit indulgent, so we finished off my delicious celeriac-apple soup and had roasted Brussels as well. Those were tossed with hot mustard powder and, later, maple syrup. A big knifeful of Dijon on the plate and we were happy campers! :)

[weezieduzzit]

A beautiful batch of chicken stock was just strained and is a great excuse to make risotto. The add ins will be gorgonzola, proscuitto and mushrooms. Something green on the side... or possibly mixed in.

I have beef bones and feet in the oven now for the next batch of stock (re-stocking my stock....) so I'll be perusing for something to make with that next.

[L.Nightshade]

Love the sound of that risotto. Even better with your homemade stock!

[gingershelley]

Last night was a classic - well, I guess this is a weekend of classics! Last nights was a lovely roasted organic chicken (sale at WF, only $1.99 lb!), with an hour's brine, then just rubbed with an herb butter made with rosemary, fresh thyme, garlic, lemon, coarse salt. Stuffed a little shallot and orange in the cavity. Hit the spot with some homemade mac & cheese and roasted crispy broccoli.

Mac and cheese back on tonight, but with accompany'ing my favorite meatloaf, out of susan Herman Lewis' The Farmhouse Cookbook... love that book. It has horseradish in it, among other things, and it is perfectly balanced and moist to me.

Breast of the chicken went on a lightened up cobb salad for lunch today (no bacon - plus chickpeas), which hit the spot with a light lemon-mustard viniagrette.

And bonus is, still have chicken leftovers, and will have meatloaf for sammies this week. Probably will be no cooking, just putting things together for the holiday tomorrow, which is good as planning a closet clean out, and a run to the thrift store to begin an early spring cleaning - whatever that groundhog said a bit ago, it is feeling like spring already here.... :)

[Berheenia]

Our local WF had the chicken sale too but ours went into a pot pie with the last of the puff pastry from xmas. I'm going to try that meatloaf- it sounds wonderful! I ordered The Farmhouse Cookbook from the library just this minute!

[gingershelley]

Berheenia,
It is a fun book, with good reads between the recipes, and takes ideas from farms all around America; I like her fried chicken, the Solviva farms dressing, the Rhubarb Cake, and her strawberry shortcakes. Oh, and the grilled Eggplant with Cilantro Sauce with some tweeks have all gotten into my list of basics I have gone back to, tho the meatloaf is my
keeper' from that book for sure!

[Caroline1]

Today I woke up with an overwhelming yen for Boston baked beans. So I made some. From scratch. It's been years since I've done that. My bona fide baked bean pot got dropped about twenty or thirty years ago and I've not been able to find a replacement I like. The one that was dropped was my mother's before it was mine. So this morning I'm thinking no bean pot, no beans. Then I thought, "PRESSURE COOKER!"

Wow. It used to take me two days to make Boston baked beans. I decided I would us a "toss it all in" method and put in all I can remember putting in for the meatless kind, except I did cut back on the amount of fat. It seemed logical that since I was pressure cooking the beans, I didn't need to do a long presoak or even a boil and wait soak, so I just tossed everything in... beans, a huge diced onion, brown sugar, molasses (had to melt the lid off with the blow torch!), a pinch of cloves, a bit bigger pinch of cinnamon, some Pommery mustard, organic ketchup and a splash of cider vinegar. No. No salt! It makes the skin on the beans really tough, so I always wait and salt after the beans are done. Oh, and four cups of water to two cup of beans. Put the lid on and fired it up to 15 pounds of pressure and...

Whoa!

I had NO idea of how long to pressure cook Boston baked beans. In a bean crock it was always low and slow and overnight and all the next day. That might blow my kitchen up! So I went on line and checked several recipes for time. The consensus was 45 minutes.

Overall, I'm really happy, except next time I think I'll go for a full hour. Or maybe presoak? But with the freedom of age and living alone and being able to totally indulge myself, I get to cook whatever I want to whenever I want to. Presoak? Who plans ahead! So now the big decision is what to go with them? Maybe just a bowl of baked beans and some corn bread? Maybe a patty of grass fed beef? Decisions, decisions! For now I think I'm just happy with a bowl of Boston baked beans.... After all, tomorrow is another day..... :-)

[LindaWhit]

Homemade baked beans are always a good thing (I've taken to using maple syrup vs. molasses). But I've still not gotten over my fear of pressure cookers. :-) Enjoy your bowl of baked beans, Caroline.

[Caroline1]

Thanks! And DO take the plunge with pressure cooking. The new cookers are self regulating super-safe and all that jazz. My lost/misplaced pressure cooker had the thingie that sat on top of the steam vent and rocked back and forth, hissing all of the time. This new Fagor is silent unless the steam builds up too high, then it vents itself automatically back down to the preferred 15 pounds of pressure, tthen carries on. I love it! Gimme my induction hot plate, my pressure cooker, my Sous Vide Supreme, my refrigerator, freezers and sink, and I've got it made in the shade! Ain't nothin' I can't do! Except maybe make button mushrooms taste like morels.... But I can make them taste like truffles! '-)

[ChristinaMason]

Last night we went out for some delicious smokey barbecue, but the night before we had my mom over for a low-fat chicken marsala with lots of mushrooms and artichoke hearts seared in butter, served over cauliflower-rutabaga mash, and wilted spinach with orange zest and dried cranberries. Good stuff.

Tonight, I'm putting together some kind eggplant stuffed with lean ground beef, onion, tomato, parsley, and garlic, braised in tomato-ey sauce, and topped with yogurt and sumac. At least, that's the idea so far. We'll see.

[LindaWhit]

Oh my - that spinach and the chicken marsala sounds wonderful - Mom gets treated very well! (Actually *everyone* gets treated very well in your house when it comes to food, Christina!)

[ChristinaMason]

Thankya, m'am! :)

[steve h.]

Charleston shrimp and grits will be Sunday's brunch. Recipe is courtesy of A Real American Breakfast.
There will be fresh-squeezed orange juice and California sparkling wine to wash it all down. Knicks will be on the plasma.

[LindaWhit]

Lin is getting coverage on *our* local nightly sports, steve! Considering he's a Hahvard man. :-) The Knicks lucked out getting him (after *how* many draft rounds?)

[steve h.]

28 points, 14 assists. It was a good day at the office against the defending champions.

Yep, Harvard man - an economics major. He's cool.

Knicks picked him off the scrap heap and were close to dumping him like two teams prior. This is a Cinderella story. I'm all in with this guy the same way I bought into Victor Cruz. I'm a sucker for this kind of success story.

[Harters]

So, there's this farmers market we go to a couple of times a year. It's getting on for an hours drive to a small town in the next county. Good market , a few real farmers!

Anyway, it's such a success, and the town has become a bit of a foody place, that someone has opened the "farmers market shop". Yep, a place open every day as a normal food shop where you can get the produce of folk who sell at the monthly market. We always pop in to see if there's bargains. And there was - a pack of four pheasant legs for £1 (about 1.60 USD). Now that is some bargain in my opnion.

There're going to get braised, along with a bit of carrot and mushrooms, in a big splash of white wine and a bigger splash of chicken stock. There'll be spuds of some sort. And, for veg, carrot and swede will be grated, leek will be finely sliced and they'll be steamed (leftovers are pretty good next day in a lunchtime frittata (but not for me, I'll be on a train to London)

[LindaWhit]

A farmer's market shop? How GREAT an idea is that? And great price on the pheasant legs. And might I ask why you're heading to the big city tomorrow?

[Harters]

I'm off to The Smoke to do some research. I've been thinking about writing another book - this one about food during the Great War. In my head, it'll cover the basic aspects - the supply line, if you will, about how the food got to the men in the trenches; also about their experiences of stuff like trying to eat under fire, food parcels from home, what they did to celebrate Christmas or birthdays, etc. I also want to include a chapter about the home front - and have been trawling our town's newspapersof the time for information.And, to keep on topic for the thread, I've come across a couple recipe books of the time and plan to include some of those.

Anyway, the point of the few days in London is to research at the Imperial War Museum. They have a large collection of documents donated - diaries, letters home - that sort of thing. I've been able to identify, from the catalogue, quite a number which have food references so I'm hoping to get some good first hand quotes.

Whether I get to write this or not, very much depends on the quality and detail of the personal accounts. I bet there's going to be loads of letters home just saying the food is awful. What I need are ones which said what they actually had to eat, or something amusing, or tragic.

Back in time for dinner of Friday. See y'all then.

[LindaWhit]

Great idea, Harters - good luck with your research, AND enjoy the food you get to enjoy in London Town.

[nomadchowwoman]

That sounds like a fascinating topic, Harters.

[Barbara76137]

I have a paperback edition of "War Letters" by Andrew Carroll that is a condensation of the original. It ranges from the Civil War to present day. If you want me to send it to you, I'd be happy to share it with you.

[mariacarmen]

ANOTHER EPISODE OF.... SOMETHING OUT OF NOTHING!

inspired by Rabaja's success with the sear/quick braise of her pork chops, i made a braising sauce. sliced shallots, minced lemon grass, garlic, sauteed, and added Better Than Bouillon chicken broth. then, because my local stores were closed for some reason on my way home from my dad's, and i couldn't buy coconut milk, i subbed in a couple tablespoons of mexican crema. next, added in minced habanero, a good tablespoon of tamarind paste and let that simmer. threw in chopped cilantro at the end. seared the thick chops in my cast iron, couple minutes on each side, then into the sauce for about 5 minutes, turned over once. on the side was chopped up cauliflower, which i'd rubbed with cumin, granulated garlic, salt & pepper, and roasted, then mixed with toasted pine nuts, raisins, cilantro, s&p, and a drizzle of olive oil.

The chops were AWESOME! juicy as can be - i've not made juicy chops in ... ever! they always come out dry, even when i brine. great tip Rabja!

i have to say I also loved my lemongrass/tamarind sauce. and the cauliflower "hash" was good and crunchy.

[mamachef]

Look at this beauty meal!! And heartshaped to boot!!

[mariacarmen]

isn't that funny? totally unintentional, didn't even notice as i took the pic.

[mamachef]

I done thunk you did that there on purpose. I've been served a heart-shaped steak tartare before - cutefood, but the shape didn't last long considering it was me behind that fork with evil, evil intent.

[nomadchowwoman]

Looks beautiful, sounds scrumptious. That caulilower "hash"--brilliant.

[mariacarmen]

thanks! the boy had the leftovers tonight. that chop still remained juicy, even after a heating. (hah- i typed "hearting"!)

[RelishPDX]

Even though I felt the General Tso's Chicken recipe I made last night from appetiteforchina.com is really bad, I'd already gone through the motions to secure everything for the Spicy Black Bean Chicken recipe there which I made tonight, linked below:

http://appetiteforchina.com/recipes/s...

Changes I made: The leeks at the market didn't look their best, so I substituted a combination of white onion and shallots. For deglazing the pan, I used the dregs of the bottle of vermouth I keep around for cooking to replace it with the new bottle I just bought, and don't feel it detracted from the recipe at all, since it was just a tablespoon's worth. I wanted some type of vegetable in the dish, so I added half of a roughly diced green bell pepper to the saute, a traditional vegetable in it when I see chicken with black beans at those steam table restaurants like Panda Express.

There was about a half pound of snow peas in the crisper that I won't have a calling for in the next week, so I sauteed those up with some ginger, grated garlic and soy sauce to serve on the side. A great choice.

The recipe came out pretty good. Oddly, the bites where I got a bit of the green onion garnish were far better than the bites without them, which tells me something must be missing in the base recipe (perhaps garlic?). The garnish shouldn't act that way, I don't believe. Even so, I'd make this again when in the mood for chicken in a black bean sauce if nothing else strikes my fancy in the meantime.

[ChristinaMason]

Too bad about those recipes. The internet can be so hit or miss for "ethnic" recipes. I have tried the dan dan noodles recipe from that site, and it was very good.

[prima]

Tonight's dinner was a Samedi Gras potluck.
I made sausage and ham jambalaya, maque choux and a King Cake, and my talented & generous friends brought Shrimp Etouffee, Creole rice, Natchitoches, broccoli ceviche (mentioned in another recent thread), pastrami, baklava, moon pies, sponge toffee, and special sourced donuts (lemon meringue, chocolate pudding, coconut cream and maple bacon). The King Cake, using the recipe from the King Arthur Flour website, was disappointing. I'll use a different King Cake recipe next time, probably one dissolves the yeast before adding it to the other ingredients in the batter. Some of the yeast didn't activate or dissolve, so my cake ended up quite dense, rather than light like a brioche.

[JungMann]

Sounds like a great dinner! If you want a good basic recipe for a king cake, Allrecipes has a good place to start: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/king-cake/

[prima]

The dinner was a lot of fun. My first sit-down dinner party in 5 years! I'd been wanting to host a Mardi Gras gettogether for some time, and it finally worked out this year.

Thanks for the link! Will give this recipe a try, to use up the filling that I reserved, when it was clear my dough wouldn't be stretching to fit around all the filling I'd prepared.

[letsindulge]

Yesterdays oysters became tonights dinner of kaki fry, steamed asparagus, and furikake rice. Holing up on couch with my kittycat, and DVR recordings.

[wineos]

Tonight we made a beef broth, veggie and meatball soup with ciabatta garlic bread. It hit the spot!

[mamachef]

Mix-and-match: ground lamb crumbled and sauteed with garlic and onion, seasoned with cumin and coriander and some fresh cilantro and a hit of allspice; stuffed into warm naan with goat's milk yogurt and a salad of tomatoes, red onions and cukes seasoned with some sumac, salt, aleppo, and a squeeze of lemon, rolled and sliced into rounds. Perfect for a night of catching up on TC episodes, don't you think? So that much I'm making, along with some purchased lentil soup and a tall pepsi with crushed ice and a box of garlic triscuits with boursin for later. Everyone's food thus far sounds divine. Bon Apetit, y'all.

[LindaWhit]

Enjoy your Top Chef. Hope it doesn't put you off your feed. You'll see what I mean when you watch. :-)

[linguafood]

Yumboski, mc! Lamb might be an option for tonight, too. It's been a while --

[mamachef]

Was SO good. When the flatbread was gone, why I just got me a spoon and kept eating alternating bites of lamb, yogurt and veg. Then I wanted more, so I ate half the package of garlic Triscuits and boursin (edit: I just wrote triscuits and Bourdain :) and fell asleep watching re-runs of Dawson's Creek. Not that I meant to, but it was so comfortable and the remote was so far away.............

[LindaWhit]

Mmmm....Triscuits and Bourdain.

That works for me.

[mariacarmen]

then I'll take Ripert and American Flatbread (i can't even get that here -except online- but you intrigued me!)

[LindaWhit]

I just saw on Facebook a few pics from Tony's airport trips with Ripert. Chef Ripert did NOT look at all happy with an airport panino, airport biscuits and gravy, and an airprot Breakfast Coney Dog. I wonder if Tony drugged him before dragging him along. ;-)

[mariacarmen]

Poor Eric! when Spanish chorizo is your "junk" food, airport food must be something he wouldn't feed his chien.

[steve h.]

Burgers. We'll be grinding the chuck shortly. Cheese will be white American (Land O' Lakes) sliced at my supermarket deli counter.. A Martin's potato roll will be the delivery mechanism. This is a familiar "goto" that we enjoy. Lunch was a reprise of a recent Marseille shrimp stew.

The day was spent looking at sinks, commodes and all the necessary bits that go into upgrading a first-floor half bath. Prices were extraordinary. This will be a challenge.

[LindaWhit]

A simple perfectly made medium-rare (I hope?) cheeseburger is one of life's great joys. Enjoy.

My sister has found all sorts of off-price places for her cabin in Maine. She's got gorgeous vanities for all three bathrooms. It just was a matter of hurry-up-and-wait for them to come into the store. :-)

[LindaWhit]

Errands today, and a trip to the supermarket that ended up being more expensive than I really wanted. I have a serious problem when it comes to going into a supermarket. :-/ I discovered the ethnic aisle in my local Hannafords while looking for peanut oil, and picked up a jar of cashew & cream sauce that sounded interesting. I'll probably use some of it for Monday's dinner.

ANYWAY...it's pot roast tonight. I'm using a small boneless chuck roast combined with a smal 7-blade steak for the Mike Ditka recipe from his old restaurant - Pot Roast with Bourbon-Maple Glaze. I had originally posted this recipe back in the early 2000s on an AOL food board called, coincidentally, What's For Dinner. :-) http://www.food.com/recipe/pot-roast-...

I'll boil up some Yukon Gold potatoes and mash them to serve this over top. I always add more peas and corn to this mix to add more veggies. I *LOVE* this pot roast. :-)

[Berheenia]

I heart pot roast. mmm

[linguafood]

My first full-band gig tonight since mid-January, with a late afternoon practice -- so not a helluvalot of time to prep any major dinners.....

I have a tiny bit leftover from last night's mega-delish "chicken, oyster shrooms & campanelle in red wine paprika cream" concoction, which my man and I will likely share, along with a simple (read store-bought) soup and perhaps a grilled cheese.

Nothing too heavy before belting out them tunes, I 'spose.

[mamachef]

Ah, the price you pay for your art. That chicken sounds just terrific, girl.

[linguafood]

The leftovers were even better!

For the "real" dinner, we ended up making panini & salad instead of soup. I tossed half of my panini, tho, as it was overly salty & cheesy -- for some reason, I thought caper mayo (!) would go real well with two slices of extra sharp cheddar and salami. Umm, no.

Gig went well, new songs were popular with the crowd, went to bed at 5 am. Aí.

Tonight, it's a toss-up between pork (roast) or steak. It's sunny out, so maybe throw on the grill for a change. I'm in a carnivorous mood...

[mariacarmen]

congrats on the show! hope you slept in nice and late.

i vote.... steak!

[linguafood]

Thx, it went well, given the long-ish break. I didn't sleep nearly enough (got up at 11... ugh), so tonight will be an early one, me thinks.

We are indeed having chuck eye (tho I'll make it in the pan/finish in the oven) with baby bellas & Melissa Clark's supposedly super-sexy broccoli salad.

Somehow, boatloads of garlic over raw broc doesn't exactly ring "sexy" for me, but it's gotten such good reviews on the HC board that I just had to try it. I'm not a broc lover, so any recipe that makes it tasty will be a keeper.

I shall report on the outcome...

[mamachef]

Steak or roast gets my vote too, and I've heard that salad is something else ...my thing to do with brocc. when I just get tapped out is 3/4:-1/4: good mayonnaise to mustard. I use this as my desperation sauce but have made it plenty times when I was just being lazy, and told myself it was lazy-gal's Hollandaise. Anyway.

[linguafood]

Meh. Sorry to say, but I do not *get* the salad. Yeah, sure, it was tasty -- as far as raw broccoli goes, and very, very garlicky.

But revelatory? I don't know. It could definitely use something else to really make it pop... perhaps a tad more sesame oil, or maggi sauce. Or lemon?

It's been sitting in the fridge all night, so who knows if tonight I won't have an epiphany with the leftovers. I'm rather doubtful, tho.

[prima]

Maybe you should sprinkle with crumbled Feta or Chevre and roast it? I had broccoli gratin with blue cheese in Marienbad about 5 years ago, and I'm still thinking about it, but never found any similar recipes online. I'm suggesting Feta over Blue because I'm not sure about cumin and blue. And not sure how much you dislike your broccoli, cooked or uncooked!

[linguafood]

Oh, I _like_ it alright. It's not in my top 5 veggies, that's for sure.

I'll likely chop it up some more tonight & toss with some pasta, adding butter and soy sauce. That should do the trick, I hope.

[megjp]

Last night I made my standard bell pepper, onion, and cashew stir-fry. Then I had way, way, too much to drink, so I'm a little worried about having to get my act together in time for our late v-day dinner out tonight. I'd rather have pho and watch movies.. :\

[Berheenia]

I'm going to make a lasagna to freeze and give to an expecting couple at church so we will be content with a pasta melange of capers, olives, roasted red peppers and whatever else the fridge divulges. I'm going to shop for a really nice loaf of bread to accompany this.

[mamachef]

how nice of you, beerhenia. So helpful to them and very kind of you.

[Harters]

Tonight's starter comes from "Vegetables", Antonio Carluccio (2000) - Pasticcio di Panelle. A sort of gnocchi made with chickpea flour. The dough is cut into 5cm squares and put in a baking dish, overlapping them. It's then covered with a bog standard tomato sauce , dotted with mozzarella, sprinkled with Parmesan and baked for a few minutes.

Main is a piece of brisket, pot roasted along with some chunks of carrot, swede and leek (leftovers make great potted beef for sandwiches).

Sicily meets Stockport, if you will.

[Harters]

Flawed recipe with the panelle. The dough just didnt set to enable the "gnocchi to be made. Book will be winging its way to the charity shop.

Also travelling the same route are two Keith Floyd books (Feast of Floyd and Floyd on Britain and Ireland). Much as the late great Floyd was a TV hero, there just wasnt anything in either book that we really wanted to cook.

[LindaWhit]

Well, it sounds like you've got a good main - hope you enjoy!

[Harters]

Herself has now come up with a new starter. There's brown shrimps (or grey shrimps as the French call them), some salad leaves and a dollop of mayo.

And there's Wensleydale cheese for afters. It'll need a little bread and a handful of raisins alongside (seeing as we havnt got the traditional fruitcake accompaniment

[mamachef]

I didn't know it was an accompaniment!! The recipe I read indicated a layer of the cheese inside the cake, and I thought it sounded pretty fascinating.

[Harters]

Yep, classic accompaniment to cheese in the north of England. You want a rich fruitcake - the classic British "Christmas cake" is ideal. On the same theme, a number of restaurants here now serve a dessert of, say, Lancashire cheese and an Eccles cake. Eccles cake is, in essence, raisins wrapped in puff pastry. http://britishfood.about.com/od/recip...

FWIW, Eccles is a small town in our metro area. An even better cake, IMO, is the Chorley cake - same sort of filling but ordinary shortcrust pastry. Chorley's about 40 north of here.

[mamachef]

Yum to prettty much all of it, good man!!

[twodales]

You know Harters, Yanks make fun of fruitcake. Maybe that's because they've never had a proper Christmas cake. I have to say, I make a fine version which is macerated in lovely brandy or this year in cognac as that is what I had. I usually make it in October and then feed and flip every week until it's time for the marzipan and Royal icing. My hubby is a lucky guy as I make many British foods for him so he doesn't have to pine for the "fjords" er I mean the Dales too much. That's the one thing I can't bring over here...the Derbyshire fells and dales. ;-)

[BananaBirkLarsen]

We got a rather pleasant surprise yesterday in the form of my boyfriend's student loan check, larger and earlier than expected. So instead of roasting pork last night, we got beer and takeout from the cheap Chinese place across the street and started planning an impromptu road trip for the long weekend. I roasted the pork anyway, and will thinly slice it for sandwiches on the road.

After a frustrating day trying to book a rental car (we now have to wait until 2pm to leave tomorrow instead of bright and early as planned) all I felt like doing was pulling a blob of pizza dough from the freezer. So pizza it was, simply topped with sauce, cheese and spicy salami. The salad I'd planned for last night on the side: romaine, blue cheese, strawberries, olives and buttermilk vinaigrette. For dessert: doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom.

[LindaWhit]

Have a safe and fun impromptu trip, BBL!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Thanks! I will!

[LindaWhit]

I had the day off today, and spent the afternoon with Mom getting her new computer set up. She was very helpful in taking off plastic wrap, twist ties, getting me a flashlight so I could see the USB ports, and breaking down boxes. I *did* get a phone call from her about an hour after I got home: "OK, here's my first dumb Mom question: How do I shut the computer down?" (She went from Windows XP to Windows 7, and things "look different - it doesn't say START in the lower left-hand corner!") :-) So I walked her through it again and she said "OK - expect more of these calls for awhile." No problem, Mom. :-)

She took me out to lunch at Bob Lobster on Plum Island for a late lunch - lobster roll and fries for me; fried fish sandwich and fries for her. YUM. I knew I wouldn't be be hungry for awhile, but when I was, I pulled out an American Flatbread pizza from the freezer - a Cheese and Herb pizza as it comes out of the box, a salad, and WINE. Mom told me to pour myself a glass for "dealing with her" today, and you should always do what your Mom says. So I did exactly as she said - I had two glasses of wine. :-)

Tomorrow I hope to cook.

[steve h.]

Very cool.
I'm guessing your Plum Island is different from ours (Long Island Sound).

[LindaWhit]

Yup. Ours is a little spit of an island off of Newburyport. Not a whole lot there except cottages and a couple of restaurants (both shacks and higher-end). But the lobsters at Bob Lobster are damn fine. :-)

[nomadchowwoman]

Every good daughter deserves wine.

(As frozen pizza goes, American Flatbread is my hands-down favorite.)

[LindaWhit]

Had the rest for lunch today. :-) It was very good!

[JungMann]

Everyone seems to be talking noodles, so I think I will succumb. I'm envisioning a creamy shrimp etouffee sauce on fettucine with heat from cayenne, Aleppo pepper, Urfa pepper and an edge from a combination of Worcestershire and sumac. Dessert: the last slice of king cake. 'Tis a sad day, but at least I still have eggnog from the batch in November to remind me of more festive occasions.

[steve h.]

Home-made onion soup. It's been sitting in the coolerator since the weekend when Deb made it. There will be a green salad on the side topped by a gently poached egg, a little sliced bacon too. I bought a baguette from my local baker today to add some crunch. A Sancerre to wash things down. Nothing special on the panel, maybe I'll just stream some music to the sound bar.

Edited to add: The modest meal has been elevated to dining room status. Every day china, every day flatware. Maybe some Lou Reed on the box.

[twodales]

Sounds swell steve. I'm generally not a white drinker but that Sancerre is pretty tasty stuff.

[steve h.]

Totally agree.

[LindaWhit]

Nom, nom, nom. That sounds great!

[linguafood]

Wow. I haven't even had lunch yet, and looking at those pics I can feel some serious hunger pangs coming on! It doesn't help that dinner last night consisted of a couple of stuffed mushrooms halves and a few fries I could sneak in during solo breaks '-)

I took out kosher chicken breasts to thaw overnight, as my original idea for dinner today was... yeah, you guessed it: piccata. Hey, don't fall asleep, not fair!!!

BUT... seeing milk-braised pork and a noodle dish in the recent posts here, I think I've changed my mind. I'll likely slice the chicken breast, season with hot paprika, s&p, lightly flour and sauté in some butter with some shrooms. Deglaze with white wine, add some heavy cream I have leftover, and serve it all over broad noodles or whatever pasta I have lurking in the pantry. Comfort food. Side of a simple green salad with a lemony vinaigrette.

Yep, that sounds good to me right now.

[mariacarmen]

it does. it really, really does.

[mamachef]

Don't you talk your filthy filthy foodie porn in here. We have STANDARDS, you know. :)

[mariacarmen]

well, the sesame pork was tasty, but the meat turned out dry - i think using the pork loin country ribs instead of tenderloin means we should have adjusted the time down somewhat? the marinade was good, tho since the BF followed the recipe exactly (i was working late), it was a bit mild tasting for us. i would have added more of everything - more garlic, more ginger, etc. i'd do it again, but use tenderloin next time. that marinade was awesome with the jasmine rice.

[letsindulge]

Day 6 of eating on my own while hubs is traveling. Feeding my craving for pan-fried noodles with Sing Jau Chow Mai (Singapore Curry Noodles), raw oysters w/ sriracha mignonette, and steamed jasmine rice. Here's my mise. Photo to follow.

[letsindulge]

Whatever was I thinking with oysters?! 86'd those but here are the extra-spicy noodles. Glad I had rice.

[mariacarmen]

your noodles look yummy, but why'd you 86 the oysters?

[letsindulge]

Mainly because the Madras curry I used on the noodles was aggressive, and the sriracha migonette on the oysters would have been overload.

[mariacarmen]

oh, gotcha.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Dinner tonight: spicy coconut chicken ... yum.

[nomadchowwoman]

Tonight, I am feeling too old and lazy to venture out for one of my favorite MG parades, Muses (the one in which the mantra is "throw me something, Sister"), over which our favorite hometown muse, the lovely and talented Patricia Clarkson, will be presiding. I'm afraid she's been upstaged by the lasagne bolognese I discovered buried in my freezer (the gods--or the devil--are smiling on me). Several more days of debauchery ahead should that spirit move me, but for tonight, home is where the lasagne is. That and leftover fennel soup. Salad. A martini.

Last night we had a little pork loin braised in milk with a salad (lettuce, beets, asparagus) and farro w/some sauteed mixed mushrooms stirred in. It was far better than our V-day dinner, IIDSSM.

Pics from last night and my hokey V-day lobster plating.

[steve h.]

Stunning photos. A martini is intrinsically good.

[nomadchowwoman]

And it's the beginning of the countdown to Mardi Gras so I have a real excuse this time.

[steve h.]

I'm softly chuckling to myself.

[buttertart]

Can I come visit you sometime, nmcw?

[nomadchowwoman]

Any ole time!

[buttertart]

(insert big ole grin right here)

[LindaWhit]

Lovely. Lovely. Lovely. GORGEOUS.

[nomadchowwoman]

LW--I hope you've seen by now that a fellow Hound on another thread is trying to set up, um, *dessert* for you with a certain hunky superchef. That should help set that dream from a few nights ago straight. ; )

[LindaWhit]

Yes, I saw. Now THAT is a dessert I can get my hands around. :-)

[mariacarmen]

i'm not usually into sweets, but i'll help you clean your plate!

[LindaWhit]

Ma'am, I usually share. After all, I adore tapas and sharing tastes of various dishes.

But this? No. This dessert is ALL MINE. Git yer own.

[mariacarmen]

rassle you.

[LindaWhit]

In chocolate pudding? :-) :::::and noticing the intent interest of the men in the crowd::::::

[mariacarmen]

sure! or foie, choose your poison...

[LindaWhit]

Poor goosies. No foie. Choco puddin'. :-)

[steve h.]

Grilled skirt steak. Mixed greens on the side and potatoes sautéed in duck fat. Sicilian wine, a Nero D' Avola, to wash things down. Deb will cook, I'll wash the dishes.

Still noodling Mardi Gras but our beads are out.

[LindaWhit]

Steak AND duck fat potatoes AND an Italian red? Be still my heart.

[steve h.]

Simple is good.

[mamachef]

Hah, eat enough like that and it'll be no problem for your heart to be still. :)

[sandylc]

Doesn't the red wine fix it?

[LindaWhit]

I'm roasting a Frankenchicken breast that has had shallot butter tucked under the skin with some salt, pepper, and Herbes de Provence sprinkled on top after spraying with a bit of cooking spray. I'll baste the monster chicken breast until it's done and the skin is crispy. Rice pilaf and steamed broccoli alongside.

And WINE. I've been having WINE this past hour. And I'm on a slightly extended long holiday weekend since I've taken Friday as a day off from work. I think this is a nice start.

[steve h.]

very cool.

[nomadchowwoman]

Happy Mardi Gras weekend, LW. Enjoy your wine (and your dinner too).

[mamachef]

Always love you and your Frankenchicken descriptions, but I also kind of picture Al Franken in a chicken suit and his glasses, being lovingly basted by yourself.

[LindaWhit]

Ewwww.....I would toss him into the fire and let him fry to a crisp. There's no "lovingly basted" when it comes to him. At least for me.

[mamachef]

LOL.

[rabaja]

It was going to be more Sante Fe chicken from skinnytaste.com, which I actually like quite a bit, but the better half needs some comfort this evening, so I'm going to try my hand at braising pork chops and making applesauce.

Last time I did this, it was ok, but a little on the dry side. My chef-friend told me pork chops these days just don't want to be braised...

Hopefully these do. They are more marbled than most, a Kurobuta cut from Japan Town, so fingers crossed.

Spinach on the side, maybe with some sweet potato fries, though I know someone would appreciate tator tots. That someone is not my backside.

[mariacarmen]

your backside! ahahahaha!

where do you get your Kurobuta in JTown, Rabaja? the big supermarket in the mall? i can never remember the name of it. i know one of the other Japanese grocery stores just closed down - the oldest grocery store in San Francisco - 100 years old!

[rabaja]

hmmm, somehow my reply to you yesterday has dissapeared...must have been all the foul language I used.

I like to shop at Nijiya, yes, the larger market west of the mall. With street parking you don't have to get sucked into the mall part, which I find a bit tedious.

I really like the pork they've started carrying, which consists of many different Kurobuta cuts. The belly always looks good, but I haven't gone there yet. Not so points friendly, ya know?
The fish always looks fresh and I've gotten shrimp, smelt and calamari and scallops, all to good success. Smaller packaging, but good fresh stuff, and lots of cuts for sashimi.

If you're going to do a hot-pot or shabu shabu meal, this is the place to go. A lovely array of cuts and proteins to choose from.
Treat yourself to some of the prepared sushi or rice triangles they have too. Unlike any other grocery store sushi, this stuff is freshly made and the rice is really nice. They used to make my favorite brown rice versions, but I guess that didn't go over so well, because it's not available anymore.
I always pick up shitakes and oyster mushrooms, sometimes tofu and they have a great selection of various noodles. The citrus is often good, inseason, as well.

Which grocery closed? The one closer to Pine? I haven't been to that one in years, it's smaller, but I used to hear their fish was superior.

[mariacarmen]

yes, the Pine one closed. i don't think I'd actually ever shopped there, but it's a shame to hear of an institution like that closing.

i almost bought some of the pork belly the other day at Nijiya! thanks for all the good tips.

[LindaWhit]

Braising lean pork chops just doesn't sound right, rabaja. I hope they don't get overcooked!

[rabaja]

I know, it doesn't sound right to me either. I don't know how his mother does it, but it's a favorite recipe when he's seeking comfort, and she's all the way in Stratham!
In the end, I browned both sides of my pork, removed them to a plate, and then made the braising sauce, with minced onions, tomato sauce and a few other strange additions (it's a family recipe, I'm not fighting it). Once this cooked on it's own for 30 minutes or more, I added the meat back in on super-duper low, for about 15 minutes, just to finish the cooking. The results were moist and tender, and noone needs to know my methods.
Homemmade applesauce and spinach on the side. And yes, he got his tator tots too.

[LindaWhit]

OK, that works. It's a "quick braise" - a pan-sear and then it cooks in the sauce you made. I've done that with BBQ sauce and pork chops. I always think of braising as low-and-slow.

[buttertart]

If ever there were a better night for a turkey pot pie than this raw, drizzly, nasty one, I don't want to see it. Drippings and carcass from Sunday's breast will make the sauce, and mushrooms as well as the usual suspects will go in. I have some piecrust in the freezer, will see if that or biscuit topping appeals to my consort more. A sharpish dressing on a salad of butter lettuce, maybe accented with grapefruit sections and green onions, to perk things up. Home cookin'!

[bushwickgirl]

I lurve you for this idea. Go for the biscuits. Home cookin' at it's finest!

[roxlet]

Turkey pot pie was one of my childhood favorites. Such a warming, nostalgic dinner on this nasty night.

[sandylc]

It's nasty somewhere? I'm in Minnesota and this is the warmest, most pleasant winter I've seen here! I thought seriously about bringing the bikes out today.

[buttertart]

It was plenty nasty in nothern NJ yesterday. The pie went down a treat, biscuits were the topping, and the mushrooms were the salad, with green onions, walnuts, a dribble of Sherry vinegar, and sour cream (a remembered Jacques P recipe).

[sandylc]

Ouch. I think the upper east got most of our winter this year!!

[buttertart]

Nope, we're spoiled here too (only 1 snowstorm after the crazy one in October) -- yesterday was rainy and raw. Nasty though.

[iL Divo]

Sandy, love Minnesota.
It's so gorgeous there.
My husband and I have visited my family many times as they live around the whole state. We are amazed at the scenery and the old old barns as well as the lakes everywhere.
Lucky you................

[sandylc]

There are many great things here in Minnesota!!!! Unfortunately, I am an ocean person, so there's a bit of a mismatch for me here!

[mamachef]

Making disgusting smacky noises. I'd drool, but I'm a big girl now.

[JungMann]

I feel like something healthy and spicy, so I had plans to make a spicy ginger chicken stir fry with garam masala... but then I realized today is one of the holiest days in the calendar. So special a day in the Midwestern heart that I could do naught but observe Fat Thursday. In accordance with tradition dinner will now be paczki, one of which will pack nearly as many calories as the entire dinner I had in mind. Diet starts tomorrow.

[prima]

Start your diet with the fast next Wed!

If you're going to celebrate Fat Thu, you might as well go all out, and celebrate Rosenmontag and Fat Tuesday. ;-)

[gingershelley]

+1... the time after Fat Tuesday is the BEST time to start a diet. Perfectly takes you into Spring. Better than January regret, in my book:)

Do tell, Prima; what is Rosenmontag?

[linguafood]

It's THE big day in Germany during Carnival/Mardi Gras.

Incidentally, today is called Weiberfastnacht, which is the ladies' day where all the "ladies" get pissed and may kiss anyone who can't run fast enough.

Ah, good times.

[LindaWhit]

Damn. Wish I had known that earlier. I would have gone out to dinner tonight. :-)

[buttertart]

I had never heard of fat Thursday until today from my Swabian friend. And here it it under intensive discussion. In her neck of the woods it's Schmaltzdonnerstag, and you eat Berliner so as to cushion the effects of the massive amount of alcohol ingested...nothing was said about kissing, though, Like that part. I think it was in Joseph Wechsberg that I read that in old Vienna, indiscretions committed during Fasching were not allowed as grounds for divorce...

[JungMann]

Speaking from experience, the paczki didn't offer much cushion. Today will be Regrets Friday as I also had a few cookies made of flaky pastry filled with sweet bean paste and candied pork. We really put the fat in Fat Thursday.

[linguafood]

Yeah, I never got the donut thing as booze cushion. That won't help at all.

Another, fairly ridiculous/pathetic "tradition" is for the ladies to cut off men's ties. Men generally wear their ugliest ties in expectation of this not-so-veiled act of castration.

Eh. It's a fab boozing holiday, but not much more. And yeah, the "Bütze" (kissing random folks) is allowed on this day only, regardless of marital status. Now that I am not single anymore, I can only say >ick<.

[prima]

And boozy maple bourbon donuts definitely wouldn't help as a cushion!
http://newyork.metromix.com/restaurants/standard_photo_gallery/deviant-doughnuts-in-nyc/2505162/photo/2505292 Not sure if Flex is serving maple bourbon boozy donuts this Fat Tue.
Here's a recipe for a boozy donut with a Dark Chocolate Grand Marnier filling: http://thebridesguide.marthastewartwe...

[prima]

linguafood, besides Krapfen, are there other dishes that people eat a little more frequently during Fasching?

[linguafood]

Yeah, Bodenpizza. Ok, bad joke.

Latkes? I guess fried & greasy is popular, but I can't really think of specific dishes I or my family endulged in where I'm from. Food pretty much plays little to no role.

[Harters]

Shrove Tuesday isnt a particularly big thing in the UK - except on the food front as it's popularly known as Pancake Day. I'll be missing that,as I'm off to London for a few days next week - so Pancake Day is today at Harters Hall - served with sugar and lemon, of course.

It''ll be preceeded by a new pork dish. Thick medallions of fillet will be browned. Onion, garlic, rosemary will be softened. Lemon zest and juice goes in along with some white wine and stock. This all simmers away until the pork is nearly cooked, then some halved "Pepperdew" peppers go in for the last couple of minutes or so. Recipe suggests having this with giant couscous (which I havnt got, so we'll have ordinary couscous or , maybe frikeh) and green beans (which I have got).

[JungMann]

Pancake Day is the next big eating day for us. I am not much of a fan of sweet pancakes, so we will more likely be dining on Chinese and Austrian savory pancakes and crepes.

How was the pepperdew pork? I love the peppers, but have never used them as anything other than a snack with cheese.

[Harters]

It was an OK dinner - but not a keeper. The Pepperdews seemed to lose a lot of their swete chilli flavour - I think we''ll stick to have them as tapa/snack/meze sort of things.

[twodales]

Harters? Have you ever stuffed those pepperdews with goat cheese? One of my favorite on-hand cocktail nibbles.

[prima]

The day before yesterday was veggie borscht, cilantro/garlic/dill roasted leg of lamb with roasted potatoes and string beans.

Yesterday was arugula, red onion, mascarpone, mushroom pizza and left-over lamb.

Tonight is caldo gallego, roasted turkey drumstick, and tiramisu.

[ChristinaMason]

those all sound really good!

[prima]

thanks ;-)

[miss louella]

On the road to recovery after very indulgent V-day weekend, my guy and I are (now) eating the alphabet.

Yesterday was A is for asparagus and aoli night.

Today is B is for broccolini and baked potato night.

Tomorrow might be cauliflower? Or maybe couscous... Perhaps cauliflower couscous but that sounds too beige... maybe with some zatar included but not named...

(Don't worry, when this stops being fun (for me), we'll hop off the Reading Railroad.)

[Harters]

I'm on the edge of my seat waiting, with bated breath, for Monday to come. LOL

[miss louella]

me too! :-)

[LindaWhit]

I think that's a very cool idea, miss louella!

[miss louella]

It's actually helping me get out of ruts... though my dinners haven't been anything super special, they're also not the "usual." I'm sure it helps that I'm loose with the lettering... potatoes become a B food because they're baked potatoes...

[miss louella]

Today's dinner--in which C is the star, is somewhat appalling. We'll be eating in the car (letter appropriate but yikes!)--Dinner to include Chicken tenders oven fried ala this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo... , Carrots, Cucumbers and Creamy (edamame) dip. Cookies for my guy.

[ChristinaMason]

I think we'll have panko-breaded and baked chicken tenderloins, broccoli w/ cheese sauce, and maybe some of those cauliflower-rutabaga fauxtatoes again. Sriracha, ketchup-mayo, bbq sauce, and Polish mustard for dipping.

Yeah, I really love condiments.

[gingershelley]

I am intrigued by the cauliflower-rutabaga fauxtatoes... (love the name!). 2 of my fave ingredients, and surely delish together!

Must.Try.This.

Especially with the Frenchman being - as kind of an inside joke with us - a "card carrying member" of the Parmentier Society, and kind of not down with as many veggies as I believe fellow countrymen seem to eat except the spud. We eat veggies as starters in entrees, but he NEVER produces one as part of a main he makes. I frequently have, but, it seems the celebrated stars are protein and whatever Mr. Saint Parmentier would approve of, to an extreme. I am going to work that veg into a fake potato dish with your inspiration!

I am making Fauxtatoes, and going to report back!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

I have about half of a pork roast I need to use up, so I'm thinking about doing a mini roulade stuffed with some of the cranberries I stockpiled in my freezer over the holidays, shallots, garlic, maybe a bit of mustard and cider vinegar... I'm still working on the specifics, but I think that will be the general concept.

Served with a salad I was planning for last night: crunchy romaine hearts, bell pepper, sliced strawberries, blue cheese, buttermilk vinaigrette.

And maybe some basmati mixed with a bit of wild rice.

That is, if my boyfriend's feeling better tonight. If not, I might just have that salad and some bread myself.

[mariacarmen]

i copied this recipe from the WW Foodies thread:

ROASTED SESAME PORK (4 servings (about 1/4 lb each) - 5 pts+ each)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp honey
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 lb pork tenderloin
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Preheat oven 425F. In bowl mix first 5 ingredients and roll the tenderloin into
that mixture. Pat the sesame seeds on top and sides of the tenderloin. Use
parchment paper or spray Pam on a small baking dish. Bake 25-30 minutes, remove
from oven and let stand 5-10 minutes. Slice in 4 pieces.

I have a pack of boneless pork loin country-style ribs - i know that loin and tenderloin are different, so my question to you, dear friends, is do you think my pork will be too tough with such a short cooking time?

[rabaja]

I use those country-style ribs for stir-fry from time to time, they work really well. It doesn't get much quicker cooking time than that so I say go for it!

[mariacarmen]

ok, good, thanks!

[onceadaylily]

Everyone's meals sound wonderful. Now you all have me craving lobster.

The chili, while delicious, turned out to be more of a spicy black bean stew as I didn't have enough tomatoes on hand. It was still very good though. Tonight, I'll use some of the leftover stew and sofrito to make black bean omelets, with salsa, and maybe avocado if I like the look of them at the market. I'm fairly certain we need a spinach salad to go with. The two of us keep trading colds and the flu back and forth, and I think it's time to ignore a certain side of the pantry and make more nutritious things. Damn it, we need to eat some beets around here!

But I do think that, maybe, tofu baked in Pickapeppa sauce, and served in a sandwich with peppers and onions would be something we ought to eat soon. And by soon, I mean tomorrow. Maybe with a spinach and beet salad, and some spicy roasted sweet potatoes.

[mariacarmen]

that sandwich sounds really good! i have firm tofu at home..... hmmm....

[JungMann]

And I have the Pickapeppa. What do you do, OADL? Do you just cover the tofu in half a bottle of Pickapeppa and set it in at 350 for 30 minutes?

[onceadaylily]

This is my first time using Pickapeppa on tofu, as I've only just found it locally (I'd been curious about it for years), but I think I might thin it a bit with a sesame oil and rice vinegar mixture to extend it, and toss it with the tofu. Five bucks for a small bottle, and we've been using it steadily, so I doubt we've a half bottle left.

Whenever I bake tofu, I rinse, drain, and press it, chop it into large cubes or strips (it shrinks quite a bit as it bakes), and bake it at either 350, or 375 if I let it sit in a marinade, and bake it for a half-hour, or longer. I flip the pieces every ten to fifteen minutes. I like to cook it until all sides are golden brown, as I love the chewier texture, but you may want to try a bite after thirty minutes before following my lead.

[RedTop]

I'm presenting a Beefy/Porky Tater Tot Casserole to the family. Side of Antacid optional.

[Harters]

Caught the train into the city for lunch - 4 courses from the restaurants "grazing" menu. "Amazing graze" as they call it. Geddit?

Anyway, it was fab (owned by Michelin starred chef - although not his main place that he cooks at, which is in the south west of England) - and dead cheap at just £19.

Smallish plates - so I needed a big piece of the lemon polenta cake herself made yesterday.

Anyway, all this whittering on gets you no nearer knowing what's for dinner Chez Harters.

Pizza & salad is what's for dinner at Chez Harters.

[mariacarmen]

you funny, Harters!

da pizza you buy or da pizza you make-a?

[Harters]

Itsa da pizza ya buy. From the supermarket.

Branded as "Pizza Express" which is our largest national pizza chain.

Being relatively, erm, mature, I have had a long and very happy association with Pizza Express. By that I can remember when they only had three or four places, all in London. It was somewhere I always wanted to go when we visited the capital.Now they have several hundred. Back in the day when pizza places were rare, you could go celebrity spotting - although my only experience was to be in the same one as Brian May (of the band Queen) - although as Mrs H says spotting Brian May eating pizza is a celebriity spot worth 5 points. Almost as good as spotting the Pope in the local supermarket.

[mariacarmen]

Mrs. H is right on!

[Cherylptw]

Went out for dinner Tue, was unexpected and I was planning to cook since I got the roses/candy/card present on Mon. Nice surprise! So dinner tonight was the T-bones & shrimp planned for last night...t-bones were blackened seasoned & pan seared then topped with a red, yellow & poblano mix with onions and served surf & turf style with shrimp scampi. On the side, hasselback potatoes with chopped garlic & drizzled with olive oil before roasting and braised green beans.

[L.Nightshade]

Your dinner sounds lovely, wish I could see and smell the plate! Any guy who surprises you with roses, candy, card, present, AND dinner out, deserves a nice dinner like that. Sweet!

[nomadchowwoman]

Yes, Cheryl is having a Valentine WEEK!

[BananaBirkLarsen]

Boyfriend was feeling sick tonight and not wanting dinner, so I just made some stovetop mac-and-cheese for myself. Cheddar, muenster, pepper jack and crumbled bleu with chopped mushroom and some strips of deli turkey. Penne, 'cause I didn't have any elbows. All topped with a healthy dollop of ketchup (I've eaten it that way since I was 4 and I don't intend to stop now).

[AlkieGourmand]

I made spaghetti with Marcella Hazan's slow-cooked onion sauce. I have long considered this a phenomenal, perfect dish, worthy of being served in Michelin-starred Italian restaurants, and it's incredibly simple. It just blows me away every time.

[L.Nightshade]

Are you talking about a tomato sauce with onion? Or is there an onion sauce?

[gingershelley]

With you L.Night... want to find out more about Ms. Hazan's Onion Sauce.... She is one of my culinary warriors I love.

I must get better at these aps &website's where we can bookmark recipes, etc. I have several of her cookbooks, and cannot find that in any I have pulled from library yet today.

Do tell, AlkieG!

[L.Nightshade]

EYB has eight of Hazan's books indexed. This is a link to a search for "Hazan onion sauce" (if this works, that is). Don't know if Alkie used one of these, but there is plenty of inspiration here!
http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/r...

[AlkieGourmand]

No. I don't consider the tomato sauce with onion all that special.

This is the recipe. It's truly an onion sauce.

http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recip...

[L.Nightshade]

Oooh, thank you! I was hoping you were talking about a true onion sauce, that looks wonderful.

[mariacarmen]

i've made that tomato sauce with the lone big onion in it, and even used the san marzano tomatoes. we were thoroughly unimpressed. did you like it?

[L.Nightshade]

You talking to me? I haven't made it. I was just searching for Alkie's onion sauce on EYB. Do like Marcella's Bolognese, however.

[mariacarmen]

me too!

[gingershelley]

+1 on the Bolognese... not really seening the Onion Sauce on the added links to find it on. And, am a little confused ast toAlkies' comment above?

"No. I don't consider the tomato sauce with onion all that special.

This is the recipe. It's truly an onion sauce."

So, Alkie G, what IS the sauce that you consider Michelin- resto worthy? I am a little confused.... Can you post a recipe or a link to 'where your heart is' on Onion Sauce?

[nomadchowwoman]

Alkie posted this link a few posts upthread:

http://low-cholesterol.food.com/recip...

[sandylc]

Just ate a root vegetable potpie with homemade puff paste. Really, really, rich...but turned out deliciously well.

[GretchenS]

Yum! Was it the puff paste that made it so rich or was the root vegetable "filling" also rich and creamy?

[sandylc]

The sauce in the filling was mostly chicken broth and veg stock with some cream and tarragon and thyme - not terribly thick and gloppy, but somewhat rich. The tarragon seems to up the richness ante for some unknown reason!

[LindaWhit]

Tarragon is a "sweet herb" and could possibly have added to the richness with that sweetness.

[sandylc]

Oh, and just a teaspoon of maple syrup - it didn't add sweetness, but did add a background richness.

[sandylc]

S & P, of course. Maybe I should do a different post for each ingredient! :-(

[ChristinaMason]

Your Valentine's dinners all sound so awesome, I won't even attempt to comment on them individually. That applause you hear off in the distance? That's me.

We went out last night, and tonight, I'm having something quick and light to offset the crazy consumption of the past 24 hrs. Beef broth simmered with ginger, scallions, sriracha, sesame oil, grated carrot, and shredded cabbage, with some broken mai fun and a poached egg tossed in at the end. Tasty and quick.

[Caroline1]

That sounds good! So good that it sounds like lunch tomorrow! Thanks! '-)

[mariacarmen]

yum, CM, yum! how long did it simmer?

[ChristinaMason]

maybe 15 minutes total, including time to cook the pasta and egg.

[megjp]

I'm much happier with dinner tonight than I was last night.

I made a bee-yootiful celeriac soup*, garnished with bacon (natch). Since the green beans I bought shamefully long ago were looking basically inedible, I didn't roast them -- instead, as a side, I chopped up some cooled steamed baby spinach, a couple of roasted red peppers, a leftover quarter-can of diced tomatoes, and an avocado, mixed it all up with a bit of fleur de sel and half a lemon's juice, and dressed it with some Mediterranean-style pesto I'd had the man pick up on a whim. This concoction scooped up with crispy rosemary polenta crackers was delicious, and I can imagine the man will enjoy leftovers on tomorrow's work lunch of a turkey sandwich.

* This soup was a gem, truly a keeper. I'm typing it out now partly so I remember what I did, before the timefog sets in.

Chop up the equivalent of a cup of onions (half Vidalia and half yellow, these were leftovers), and sautee in a tablespoon or so of butter until softening. As I had roasted garlic this week, I added all the cloves -- I'd use less if it were fresh, and I'd add it shortly after the onions, but in this case I just chucked it in with the next step.

Add one large celery root (maybe a kilo, but my scale is sans batteries right now so I can't accurately say) and two Granny Smith apples, along with 2 small-medium yellow-fleshed potatoes of some kind (pantry dregs!), the lot peeled and chopped. Season with salt and (lots and lots of) pepper and stir so everything is buttery.

Add 3-4 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (I used the former), to cover. Toss in a bay leaf and crumble in 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme (or mince in twice as much fresh, you lucky dog), and simmer until vegetables are tender. Blend with an immersion blender (as I did), or in batches with a blender.

Topped with crispy bacon, this was good good eats.

[GretchenS]

That soup sounds insanely good!

[TxnInMtl]

Last night the BF made fettuccine alfredo with homemade bread and a pear-chocolate trifle. Tonight was Pork Loin in Cream with Tomatoes, Sage, and Gin as well as an arugula salad with beets and some crumbled blue cheese (Ciel de Charlevoix). I really should've checked the thread for Radically Simple before making the pork loin because I repeated the mistake of burning the sauce horribly! The salad more than made up for the pork though.

[mariacarmen]

wow, you have a recipe for pork with GIN? was the gin in it good besides the burn factor, or could you not tell? i've never heard of such a thing, and i'm a total gin girl...

[TxnInMtl]

Neither one of us noticed much gin flavor, although the recipe reports here mentioned getting quite a bit of the juniper flavor: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/7860.... I think because the sauce burned and I didn't have any heavy cream or gin left to repurpose the sauce at the end (heavy cream doesn't last long with two people who like to bake and the rest of the gin had already gone into G&Ts). I think I'm going to have to try again soon, maybe with pikawicca's suggestions.

[L.Nightshade]

Hey, that's me! I thought that pork treatment sounded familiar. We could definitely taste the (juniper) gin flavor. I had forgotten about this dish, it's definitely repeatable.

[TxnInMtl]

Yes! Your post was one that piqued my interest even before I picked up Radically Simple. I just wish I would've noted the sauce burning issue instead of noting the idea of pairing with beer risotto. I definitely want to give this dish another try.

[Caroline1]

Oh dear. I must be going blind. I didn't see the note on the other thread to post over here, so here's what I said there. Soory 'bout that, and thanks, Linda.

Well, since the question doesn't ask what I cooked as opposed to what I assembled, and since there are some parts where "lunch" is called "dinner," today, for what I call lunch but some may call dinner, I assembled a kinky delicious salad! A bed of organic baby lettuces topped with sliced button mushrooms, grape tomatoes, sliced and pitted medjool dates, freshly shelled English peas, sliced avocado, crumbled bacon and a sprinkling of freshly grated Pecorino Romano, all topped with a home made balsamic dressing I whipped up at the last minute. THEN... the big secret! The whole thing is nuked for about 45 seconds to wilt the lettuce and warm the avocado. SOOOOOOOoooOOOoOOoooOOOoooo good!

[steve h.]

Marseille-style shrimp stew. Lots of garlic, lots of shrimp. Recipe comes from Food & Wine. Not complicated but promising in flavors: garlic, onion, claim juice, tomatoes, orange zest, saffron, paprika and so on. There will be a garlic-intensive rouille on the toasts. A slightly chilled French rose to wash it all down. Deb is doing all the heavy lifting. NCIS will be on the plasma. The meal should be Lin-tastic.

[LindaWhit]

Oh. MY.

[steve h.]

Maybe a skinny slice of leftover chocolate cake for dessert.
For my penance, I get to do the dishes.

[LindaWhit]

I'd do dishes for that dinner!

[steve h.]

Leftovers here are pretty cool, too.
Pitchers and catchers officially report on Monday. I like our chances. Jeter needs a sixth ring.

[L.Nightshade]

Well, complete change of plans last night. My valentine got sick, we cancelled our dinner reservations, and I hurriedly scrounged around for dinner. Had sea scallops in the freezer (and was inspired by steve h's post above), so out they came, along with some pepper bacon and mushrooms. Cooked some canned cannelini beans with garlic, anchovies, and chile flakes. Seared scallops on top, with sautéed mushrooms and bacon, roasted tomatoes and lemony greens on the side. Mr. NS's taste buds still worked, he was happy.
Our soundtrack was very different from steve's: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

[mariacarmen]

love it all, including the tunes. love the sound of those beans! glad you were able to whip up something wonderful but there was never really a doubt....

[steve h.]

Hi L.,
That's one beautiful plate. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds? I'll have to look that one up.

[GretchenS]

Tonight is a pasta inspired by Greek salad: spinach fettucine will be tossed with garlicky tomato sauce, Kalamata olives, artichoke hearts and capers and then crumbled feta will be scattered on top. Both the olives and the feta are from the Greek market and are killer, I can hardly wait!

[linguafood]

That sounds awesome.

[mariacarmen]

yummers, going to have to try something like that.

[iL Divo]

well Harters I was gonna make dinner until I read what you were having.
thinking an airplane ticket should be in the works for me ;:-) your dinner sounds fabbo......

thanks for starting this thread Barbara [a brand new topic] and getting us off Super Bowl.

last nights' dinner was a disappointment for Valentines Day, awful service and we got there at 4:15 so it's not like the Valentines crowd had even started yet.
so what I bought home is pulled pork that I'll re-purpose with broth, veg, seasoning and low slow heating through. hope to do a 'type' of Shepard's Pie or Cottage pie. only have Yukon Golds or baby New Reds but they'll do for mashed potatoes.
the market had super huge artichokes on sale and I'll do just one for both of us.
David Rocco is making brutti ma buoni right now on his show and my husband loves these. I'll pay close attention watching his show now so I get the texture just right. also gonna make the recipe for Lebanese garlic paste on Chef Talk and I'll rub this on his hot sourdough.
i'ts found here:

http://www.cheftalk.com/t/61635/leban...

I'll only be eating the pulled pork and veg with some leaves of artichokes, but not dipped in butter.

[Harters]

The Lebanese sauce seems to me , as identffied on the link thread, to be toum. It's fab. Lebanese restaurants here usually serve it with a plain, simple chicken kebab. Very garlicky!

[iL Divo]

I got really sick once in San Francisco from eating a baguette dipped in gorgeous green olive oil and a pureed mound of garlic, and a glass of red. so very delicious but joked with the waiter upon paying that it was good my husband was no where near as I'd not get a kiss.
not sure how many cloves of garlic made up that mound.
this recipe concerns me a bit though since over doing garlic isn't good for me.
I'll use it to douse his bread, but rest of it will get used sparingly as additive to various sauces.

[Harters]

It's a rare occurance at Harters Hall, but we have guests for dinner (long term friends - herself and Mrs Friend worked together for 30 years)

Starter - tomato tart. Sheet of puff pastry, smeared with a tomato & chilli chutney, topped with a mix of sun dried tomatoes, fresh cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of thyme. Baked till just getting a little charred on the tomatoes. A little watercress also on the plate.

Main - Asparagus & smoked salmon risotto. Oven cooked. Pretty much as you'd expect. Very forgiving as a dish so will happily sit in the oven while we eat the starter.

Dessert - Lemon polenta cake, dollop of mascapone to accompany. We Brits don't really do cake as a dessert but this one seems to have a texture that needs a fork and spoon.

It's another Mediterranean meets Manchester fusion-y meal.

[letsindulge]

Skype'd w/ hubby in Isreal, and now to enjoy my solo V's Day dinner of Duck Confit w/ Spicy Sauteed Broccoli Rape. Ambosia for dessert.

[GretchenS]

Those duck legs look fantastic!

[mariacarmen]

OOOH they really do! glad you got to talk to your honey....

[nomadchowwoman]

Lovely.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Sushi and miso soup for dinner, with an avocado salad. Homemade dark chocolate mousse with raspberries for dessert. Yum.

[suburban_mom]

Since the child who doesn't care for fish isn't home on Tuesday nights for dinner, I made salmon. I stuffed it with cream cheese, bathed it in teriyaki sauce, sprinkled it with sesame seeds and baked it. I broiled it at the end to carmelize the teriyaki. I cooked up some jasmine rice in the rice cooker and grilled asparagus to serve on the side.

[weezieduzzit]

The cardamom creme brulee is chilling, I've picked up the lobster tails and bubbles. The man won't be home for another 2 - 2 1/2 hours so I've got plenty of time but will start clarifying butter and prepping veggies soon so I have time to clean up any messes that happen and still have time to get myself cleaned up!`

I'm actually going to put away ALL of my work (I work from the dining room table most days,) and pull out a nice vintage table cloth and a nice set of vintage dishes for dinner. The cats parole will be revoked and they will be sent to jail so we can have candles and eat in peace. They have a hard time behaving when there is shellfish (they are repeat offenders.)

[L.Nightshade]

Wow! Sounds spectacular. Particularly like the sound of that cardamom creme brulee. Have a lovely evening (how can you not?).

[weezieduzzit]

Thanks! If the creme brulee tastes half as good as it smelled cooking it's going to be amazing! I can't wait to try it. :)

[mariacarmen]

everyone and their lobster is making me very jealous tonight! AND the bubbles.

and yeah, cardamom crme brulee..... that's the kind of dessert that really calls to me...

hope you enjoyed!

[nomadchowwoman]

What a lovely V-Day dessert. So how do you do the cardamom brulee, weezie--do you infuse the creme w/whole pods or seeds or use ground?

[weezieduzzit]

The cardamom creme brulee turned out really nice, the smell and taste were right at the perfect level- pronounced but not overwhelming. I smashed and infused 4 or 5 cardamom pods and 1 vanilla bean in 1 cup heavy cream (3 egg yolks, 1/3 cup sugar- it makes two servings.)

We're both big fans of cardamom and will be making it again. :)

[nomadchowwoman]

Last night I craved lasagne. I continue to crave lasagne. But absent planning, I went for as similar a dish (other than take-out pizza) as possible that could be pulled together quickly--Ruth Rogers's "Pappardelle with Tomato and Stewed Pancetta"--and oh my was it delicious. Served it with a salad of bibb lettuce, beets, and asparagus.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001...

Tonight it is lobster (still on special--yay!), salad, potatoes, and profiteroles w/strawberries and chocolate sauce. Fennel soup to start. A little champagne. We're having my mom as she's usually alone on V-day, so I had to get all the lobster out of the shell earlier as she can't manage it w/her arthritis. Now I must figure out how to best serve it. And, yikes [noting the time], I must get back to it.

Happy Valentine's Day ALL!

[mariacarmen]

your papardelle look wonderful - i think that's my favorite pasta.

[nomadchowwoman]

That dish required very little effort for a big result. It didn't hurt that I had this fabulous pappardelle that I had picked from the stupefying selection at Eataly. (So glad I picked up a few packages, intended for, um, "gifts.")

[ChristinaMason]

Looks like a really nice recipe---do you discard the juices you squeeze out of the tomatoes?

[nomadchowwoman]

I just kind of smashed the tomatoes in a strainer--so, yes, I did discard those juices. (I probably should have just strained them into the rest of the tomatoes in the can.)

[roxlet]

Tonight's main will be steak au poivre, which is one of my favorite things, being made for us by my husband. I know we are starting with a frisse salad with Roquefort and lardons, but what is being served with the main is unclear at this point. I'd be very happy with just those two things, and if I would be allowed to lick the plate!!

[L.Nightshade]

I missed an entire thread? Where have I been?
We are going out tonight, but yesterday, while I was working, Mr. NS went shopping and came home with a couple of lobster tails. Unlike you people on other coasts, we rarely get to have lobster. But the market had tails from Canada, albeit frozen. Mr. NS doesn't stick to one type of cuisine, definitely a fusion guy. His appetizer was roasted red and yellow peppers, with garlic, anchovies, and parsley. The main course was lobster tails steamed with garlic, ginger, scallions, fermented black beans, and butter, alongside asparagus and roasted potatoes.
A sweet pre-Valentine dinner.

[GretchenS]

Looks and sounds fantastic!

[mariacarmen]

That man's a keeper, LN.

forgive my ignorance.... why don't you guys get fresh lobster, too cold up there?

[L.Nightshade]

I am equally ignorant. I'm sure it is at least as cold in New England, and they get it! Like many things, I just never see it here. Perhaps there is just not a call for it, I'm sure we could find it in Seattle.

[mariacarmen]

well, and your tails came from Canada, the King of Cold! hmmm... maybe some other, smarter CHer will know....

[BananaBirkLarsen]

We're delaying Valentine's Day until we have the money to go out for a nice dinner (probably next week). So tonight I'm aiming for a moderately-romantic stand-in dinner. I'm thinking lemongrass pork with rice vermicelli and some sort of asparagus (since that's the most romantic vegetable I have in the house). No wine, unless I decide to walk the hour to and from Grocery Outlet later, but that's okay, since we aren't really celebrating Valentine's Day today anyway.

Hope everyone else's meals go well!

[steve h.]

Happy Valentine's Day!

Caviar (farm raised) with creme fraiche on store-bought blini. Brut Rose to wash it down.

Sauteed Sea Scallops with wild mushroom and mixed greens. Domaines Ott Chateau de Selle Rose (I'm sensing a trend).

Seven Layer Chocolate Cake (local bakery). Vintage Port.

Crystal, china and silverware on the dining room table. Lady Day (Billie Holliday) will be on the box.

[L.Nightshade]

Sounds like a wonderful, romantic dinner. Nice job of going all out for V Day.

[steve h.]

I might even light a candle or two.

[boyzoma]

A while back, I had DH make a list of dishes that he was craving, which has helped me immensely when preparing meals. So tonight, I'm working on his list.

One of the things he loves is my Roasted Rosemary Chicken. I put rosemary butter under the skin as well as on top. A halved lemon and more rosemary goes inside the bird. To go with that, his favorite veggie - steamed broccoli with cheddar cheese sauce. On the side will be a tossed salad with red onions, sliced olives, parm & romano cheeses, tomato wedges tossed with a home made italian dressing. I think a nice bottle of Pinot Noir will go well with it. Dessert is chocolate mousse.

Happy Valentines Day to all !!!!!!!

[gingershelley]

Yum Boyzoma... wish my man liked roasted chicken more. I could have gone for that as Vday meal for sure. But, will be happy with the scallops and lamb chops on deck.

Happy V-day all!

Oh... and I got the funniest card ever for this year. a little sassy, but so cute! Can't wait for the reaction:)

[ChristinaMason]

that sounds SO good right now.

[linguafood]

I'm making a shrimp & lobster bisque very loosely based on the Melissa Clark recipe from Splendid table. Got a 2 lbs. lobster, lots of shrimp shells (shrimp still need to be purchased), a fennel bulb, fennel seeds, cream & brandy. Things should taste lovely. Maybe throw in a bit of fresh tarragon at the end.

Side is spring greens with avocado, blue cheese, orange grape tomatoes in a citrus zest vinaigrette.

Dessert TBD. Likely some store-bought concoction we'll share. Don't want heavy loins tonight, after all. Hahahahaha.

[L.Nightshade]

Love the sound of that bisque!

[linguafood]

It turned out very well, even tho I ended up using the lobster for an appetizer lobster salad with lemon zest crème fraîche.

If I ever made the bisque again, tho, I'd have to severely cut down on the butter and cream. I don't do so well with large amounts of fat. Let's just leave it at that '-(

[mariacarmen]

oooooh, not romantic! hope you were able to enjoy anyway.

[linguafood]

Nope, not romantic at all. In fact, pretty fucking far from romantic, to loosely quote Marsellus Wallace.

But then, every day is Valentine's day at casa lingua, so we'll survive this without any emotional scarring '-D

[LindaWhit]

MARSELLUS! LOL Yeah, BTDT with "rich foods" doing that tap dance. Timing the visits alternately and not have to fight for the facilities was a dance in and of itself. :-/

And your lobster salad with lemon zest crème fraîche sounds WONDERFUL.

[linguafood]

The lobster salad was nice, but could've used something else to truly make it pop.

I hate what rich foods do to me, because I like them. Waaah.

[mariacarmen]

that's how i feel about VDay! every day is romance day with my honey, in its own oddball little way.

sorry about the rich foods. i would hate that too. ) :

(and i LOVE the marcellus wallace quote - i believe i've watched that movie at least 30 times.)

[linguafood]

Dito on Pulp Fiction. At least 30. Love that it's on all the time late at night :-)

[Harters]

Dinner comes from the on-going "cooking the books" exercise at Casa Harters. We currently have "Real Cooking", Nigel Slater (1997). Now the significance of the word "real" in this context will probably be lost on folk who are not British (and, indeed, probably a goodly number who are). It should be taken in the context of "real" meaning, simple, traditional, straightforward, proper - you get the drift. The word was first used in this context by the Campaign for Real Ale - which has sought to defend British style beers against the onslaught in the last 20+ years from imported European and American style lagers. Or, as I used to think of them in my drinking days "proper beer" and imported "sweet, fizzy drinks".

That's not to say that Slater only writes "authentic" British recipes. Not for nothing has this small island been a trading nation - well, you have to be one if youre a cold rock off the coast of northern Europe. So, Slater has a Greek spin to dinner - no doubt, like many of us, it's an idea he's brought back from holidays in warmer climates.

So, some new potatoes are wedged and tossed aorund in a pan with some olive oil, sliced onion & garlic. When they've softened and coloured for a bit, they go in a roasting tin. A couple of pieces of fish go on top (Slater pretty much says pick whatever you want - fishmonger had decent cod this afternoon) . A few halved tomatoes are scattered in. Some chopped herb goes in - again the recipe is forgiving, saying you can use oregano, dill or mint. Well, of course, I can't get locally grown in February - but the supermarket had Spanish grown mint - a bit manky * but useable. It bakes for about 35 minutes. He calls the recipe "Greek baked fish"

(* manky - http://www.peevish.co.uk/slang/m.htm)

[mariacarmen]

feeling a bit manky myself, morning i've had (cute little cheap-ass tote i bought leaked sauce from my lunch all over a change of clothes i packed for this evening - grrrr.)

love the idea of fish over the taters. i'd want to add some greek olives too...

[LindaWhit]

I think I'll stay off the WFD thread today as I have nothing to offer except for messing up in a dream I had before waking up.

I dreamt that I was invited to a farewell dinner for four retiring nationally reknowned chefs by Anthony Bourdain (be still my heart!) The only chef I knew of was Hubert Keller, and the house was set in the mountains and was really beautiful. But when I got there I realized that I was supposed to have made something for the dinner (everyone else invited brought gorgeously plated appetizers) so I hid in a room and never ate. Dammitall.

Enjoy your day, evening, and romantic dinners, all.

[mariacarmen]

d'oh! all that matters is you got an invite from AB!!!!

enjoy yours too, LW.

[L.Nightshade]

Oh golly, culinary anxiety dream! I've had those, but not with a celebrity cast!

[nomadchowwoman]

When Chowhounds have nightmares . . .

LOL. LW!

[gingershelley]

Now I would love to have that dream with a re-do! So did you see the other chefs in the dream, but just didn't know names to attach to the faces except for Huberts?

Curious...

[LindaWhit]

I only knew Hubert Keller. He *is*, after all, rather distinctive and has such a lovely smile. I think one of the "retiring chefs" was similar to Jose Garces, but it wasn't him.

Besides. Anthony Bourdain and Hubert Keller? That's about all the heart can manage. :-)

[Berheenia]

Last night I cored the big cauliflower from the farmstand- this was a big boy- and steamed it whole until it was 3/4 done. Then into a 350 oven on a pie plate, frosted with a mix of mayo and mustard with some mustard panko on top. Tastes like meat! Husband likes cauliflower made this way and it was accompanied by cheese tortoloni's with jarred marinara and some leftover foccachia. He made egg salad for lunch today - can't eat egg salad sandwich without potato chips! Stuffed peppers tonight.with a rice, ground beef, chili, cheese filling
We really need to start cutting back on the carbs but I've decided winter is a lost cause with the colds and bad backs- In April we join a new gym. .
Happy Valentine's Day - eat chocolate!

[ChristinaMason]

sounds like a nice cauliflower prep---i'll have to try that.

[onceadaylily]

The cauliflower sounds really interesting. I'm definitely going to try it out.

[megjp]

Love = getting up at 6am when not strictly necessary to get posole fixins in the crock pot at the man's request for dinner tonight, thereby missing a rare chance to sleep in because he (the early riser) has the day off work to fight a traffic ticket he got 18 months ago (!).

Manalive, I need some coffee.

[TxnInMtl]

That is love! I hope he realizes how lucky he is and that you found some coffee.

[ChristinaMason]

I just had a cup in your honor.

[megjp]

Yep, very sweet of both of you. That sure would have been a great dinner if my slow cooker hadn't burned out sometime during the day without him noticing or me being home. I now have to dump the unsafe-to-eat contents, buy a new slow cooker, refill my stock of dried peppers and hominy, forget this mad craving and anticipation I'd built up, and figure out what kind of unhealthy fatty take-out to get instead.

Happy Valentine's Day indeed.

[GretchenS]

Oh, what a shame! :(

[ChristinaMason]

ack! that's terrible! sorry :( it wasn't the circuit that blew, was it?

[megjp]

I knew CHers would commiserate!

It wasn't the circuit; it was the actual element in the pot. Like, it SAID it was turned on but after 10 hours I could easily handle the stoneware insert with bare hands. Ah well, on the bright side I'm going to get a really great new one somewhere this weekend.

[Cherylptw]

Spaghetti with meatballs; made the sauce to which I added cooked & well drained Mexican chorizo. So good I think I'll make it this way for pasta from now on! Garden salad on the side with toasted bread.

[OckhamsFolly]

Well, I've only really been learning to cook seriously for a little while now, and today there were a couple things I've been wanting to try that I finally got around to. One was baking a loaf of bread; I baked a loaf of olive bread, pretty basic, just with finely chopped olives kneaded into the dough after it's first rising. The other was making my own blue cheese dressing. Being a guy who lives with roommates, I'm not obligated to make regular meals, so I just served the bread with an olive puree to top and served the dressing over iceberg wedges with chopped bacon, apples, and cashews. Very simple, but it was filling, fairly well balanced, and everybody liked it; it was even somehow, the first time one of my roommates had an iceberg wedge salad like that. So I consider it to have all been pretty successful.

[mariacarmen]

your "irregular" meal sounds just like what I'd like to eat more of.

[OckhamsFolly]

Hah, I didn't really mean regular like that. I meant there are no expectations of me for a full sit down meal or anything. Obviously, it's pretty well rounded- you got a fresh starch, a veggie (lettuce, sure, but also plenty of olives), a fruit, dairy and a small bit of meat. It's got it all. Just more lunch-like than a full dinner.

[GretchenS]

Sounds very tasty -- lucky roommates!

[mariacarmen]

ok, but you need to tell everyone on the OLD thread that we're on this new one, or people won't find it. i did it. you also should, when you start a new thread, ask on the OLD thread for the mods to add "OLD" to the title, so people know. we don't want to lose anyone! PLUS, you need to call it the next number! #128. Barbara you're doing it ALL WRONG!! AHHAHAHAHA! don't worry, we'll get it fixed.

reposting from the old thread...

Happy V Day, tomorrow, everyone!

[Barbara76137]

I know, I know, I know!! Just beat me with a wet noodle, or worse, one that isn't even the least bit al dente......smack that thing over my head and I promise I'll never do it again :)

[mariacarmen]

haahaha - oh wow, they changed the whole title! oh well....

[GretchenS]

I do so love your V-Day avatar mc!!! It's so "you"!

[mariacarmen]

( :

[roxlet]

With a huge box of mushrooms in the refrigerator not getting any better, I decided to use them in some chicken Marsala. I used a recipe from epicurious.com that had some sage and cream in it, and it was a winner. The recipe calls for reducing some chicken broth, and we had some that my husband made in the pressure cooker using chicken wing tips. When this broth was reduced, it almost turned into a glacé, which made the sauce particularly delicious. A very nice recipe, indeed.

[Barbara76137]

wow, sounds wonderful. My fresh sage died and I'm too cheap to buy it at the market. I'm jealous.

[ChristinaMason]

that sounds really good!