What did you have for dinner? - Page 24

Chef Ed,

Very interesting, I have never heard of that.

In the 'Old country' , they used alot of different things in their soup, maybe even things we don't have here today. But I can see it being used for sure.

Cooking it down with potatoes will give it the added body. Some used different spices.

Blended down and served in mini cups & saucers with creme fraiche for big events. I have also made it with gelatin.

Served hot or cold like a vichyssoise, you can dress it up or dress it down, it just tastes great.

Duck would certainly be worth a try, Ed! I'll do that next time. 

The original Borscht, though, is probably completely lost in history. I did in fact learn my recipe from the grandma of a Russian friend, and she used beef. It's pretty much the recipe petals posted, without the celery, though. From what I heard, you could probably start a religious war between Russian and Ukrainian Borscht, though....

GM

Tonight - Poached tri-tip Munich style (aka Tafelspitz)

GM: Nice plating.  Apple/horsheradish with that ? I believe that its all in the broth. When making Tafelspitz, can other beef parts be used or is it strickly the tri-tip ?

Petals.

Just plain horseradish for me. At least here in Munich, tri-tip is the one and only traditional option. The Austrians, however, do have some other options. They must have the most complex system of cuts for beef. I leave it to an Austrian butcher to explain and translate Bürgermeisterstück, Fledermaus or Schwarzes Scherzl...

Generally, you want a cut surrounded by fat, but with no significant intramuscular fat and not too much collagen. And indeed, it is all in the broth. I simmered it in some clear oxtail broth I had left in the freezer, enriched with some onions, carrots, button mushrooms for a little umami boost, laurel, juniper berries.

GM

Not dinner per se, but I had @ 5lbs of nice Hormel ham left over from the wedding.  I cut it up for the grinder then made a chipotle mayonnaise and added sweet jalapeno relish and stone ground mustard.  What a tasty spread for sandwiches, crackers, etc. it is.  Not too spicy up front, but it grows on you.
 

Homemade Won Ton. Tournedos Villeroi with a big salad. Strawberries with Chantilly.

Quail & Couscous.

 Petals.

gobi aloo egg salad

paneer tikka masala

chloe palak

naan

Quote:

Originally Posted by petalsandcoco 

Quail & Couscous.

 

 

 

 Petals.

Oh yes, I have a few partridge in the freezer, the above looks ideal for a change. Recipe please.

Hi Kippers,

There is nothing complicated about this dish as I am sure you might have guessed. The  quail were seasoned with salt, pepper and a couple of pinches of brown sugar, placed in a pan of oil and butter. seared, then tossed in a 400F oven for 10 minutes. Took them out, deglazed the pan with 1 cup of stock, juice of 2 oranges, lots of zest, tablespoon of roux, splash of port, pinch of cayenne. Put quail back in pan and spooned the sauce over them.

Couscous (med size) chicken stock, 1/3 cup of chopped parsely, 1/3 c mint, 1/3 c coriander, orange zest, 1 cup fried onions -some garlic added,cranberries, crushed pistachio, roasted ground cumin, salt, pepper, at the end I drizzled some olive oil to give the couscous some body.

I made this for my parents the other night. I buy my poultry from a farm and happened to get the quail for .70 cents each, cleaned but not de-boned. It happens to be one of my fav's.

Petals.

Beautiful as always.

Here, I made a somewhat eclectic and definitely non-purist black bean chili with slowly braised brisket, garnished with quick pickled onions and jalapenos and, of course, cheddar.

GM: That looks soooo good. There are alot of comfort foods out there, this is one of them. On a cold day like today, I would love a bowl of that right now.

Petals.

That was the whole reason for making the dish, petals. Cold and grey with a freezing drizzle here. Dr. GeneMachine prescribes some chili! It got even better today - and the short pickles have gained even more overnight. A glass of a nice local Merlot, or three, and one can almost forget about the dreary weather :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by petalsandcoco 

Hi Kippers,

 

There is nothing complicated about this dish as I am sure you might have guessed. The  quail were seasoned with salt, pepper and a couple of pinches of brown sugar, placed in a pan of oil and butter. seared, then tossed in a 400F oven for 10 minutes. Took them out, deglazed the pan with 1 cup of stock, juice of 2 oranges, lots of zest, tablespoon of roux, splash of port, pinch of cayenne. Put quail back in pan and spooned the sauce over them.

 

Couscous (med size) chicken stock, 1/3 cup of chopped parsely, 1/3 c mint, 1/3 c coriander, orange zest, 1 cup fried onions -some garlic added,cranberries, crushed pistachio, roasted ground cumin, salt, pepper, at the end I drizzled some olive oil to give the couscous some body.

 

I made this for my parents the other night. I buy my poultry from a farm and happened to get the quail for .70 cents each, cleaned but not de-boned. It happens to be one of my fav's.

 

Petals.

Thank you, I will give it a bash but I will buy some quail. 

we had skampi buzara last night because its quick.

My kind of fast food, kippers!

I agree GM, the meat on those is so sweet, must have been an amazing sauce for dipping, thanks for sharing that Kippers.

 Here are some salmon cakes and apple slaw.

 Cod chowder.

Nice dishes everywhere. Autumm there, spring here. I thought i could golf today but it's impossible with 38°C (shadow). So a quick snack for lunch: green asparagus (sauté on the bacon fat) with fried bacon and some parmessan on top. Talk about umami!

.

Last night we had Croatian breakfast for dinner, Burek with salad.

Petals!!

 You do some of the nicest plating on this site  Gene machine is also a different style but very nice.. When I look at your presentations it reminds me of when I was in France many, many years ago. Classical and most of all NEAT.& CLEAN. 

@Chefedb Thanks Chef!

@Petals We seem to have the same concept of comfort foods for weather like this. I made some cod chowder myself last week. After reading Mark Kurlansky's "Cod: A biography of the fish that changed the world", I simply had to. One question, though - I just reviewed this thread and I came back to your Borscht. Could you quickly explain how you did the plating of the wrapped-up sour cream in your presentation? I have to shamelessly steal that technique ;)

@ordo Don't tease me! I am about to slip into my winter depression! Can't wait for the local asparagus season to arrive again. Seriously looks great.

Last dinner was roast beef with butternut squash and cucumbers - can't upload the pics, since I didn't cook it at home. The squash/cuke combination works pretty well, though. Nice texture difference between the mealy squash and crunchy cucumber.

Cheers, GM

Really not sure why, but here in the middle of the desert in Fall (?) we had Asparagus in two different markets @ $1.88/lb last week.  Got two huge bunches, gave one to my Mother and then made this the other night.  I thought that this was a spring-time veg, but mine is not the question why, mine is to make good food!

Chinese-American influenced Chicken Asparagus,

rather than Beef Broccoli.  Most yummy over steamed white rice

(gots to have me my two scoops rice!)

That is a good price Kgirl. What kind of rice do you use for your dishes ? Nothing beats asparagus cooked al dente.

@ GM: It sounds like a good read. For sour cream holder *crazy idea maybe* I took 3 strips of thin bacon and tightly wrapped it around a metal ring (always put aluminum paper around the metal ring so that it does not cook to the ring, you want  it to slide off easily ). Taking end piece of bacon, I seared that part right away and then gently turned and cooked the bacon . Once that was done , I slipped it off and placed it in a preheated oven so that the interior would cook. When that was done , I placed it  on a paper towel, let it come to room temp and then placed it on the soup mixture and scooped the sour cream in. Basically speaking they are bacon rings.

I finished making a terrine of hamhocks today, I will post the video tormorrow of where I took the recipe from (followed it to a "T") and I will post a pic. One more thing off my to do list. :)

Petals.

"When that was done" .....I am sounding redundant. *my bad*, sorry.

Quote:

Originally Posted by petalsandcoco 

That is a good price Kgirl. What kind of rice do you use for your dishes ? Nothing beats asparagus cooked al dente.

 

 

Petals.

My jaw just about hit the green grocer's floor when I saw gorgeous pencil thin asparagus in November for that price.  Normally, it's pushing $4 USD per pound or more.  They were so sweet and yummy, I blanched them for 30 seconds and then shocked them to hold until the rest of the dish was put together,  PREFECT crisp-tender.

As to the rice that I use, it's calrose cooked in my faithful Panasonic 3cuper. 

I use the method suggested by Ming Tsai to cook it. 

I cooked today this dish - Roasted chicken legs with chestnut filling, dill gnocchi, carrot in sweet paprika sauce

to PETALSANDCOCO:

Really nice pics...salmon cakes with sweet and sour apple salad combo is perfect and cod chowder should be delicious as well.
 

Last week, or maybe the week before the Sprouts Markets here in Salt Lake had asparagus for $1.29 a pound.  Needless to say I bought a pound or two or three.

Yum.

mjb.