What did you have for dinner? - Page 25

Haven’t posted in a while. Been busy with the Sandy storm and the NE storm, etc. Amazing cooking everyone!

 

Played with dishes using aluminum foil for baking.

 

Bacon wrapped stuffed zucchini

 

And baked whole Golden Tilapia.

 

dcarch

 

 

And just when you thing you have accomplished something, dcarch comes along and posts more of his sculptures on a plate. Nice work!

 

@petals Thanks for the info, I will indeed shamelessly steal that. I occasionally bake bacon or prosciutto over a ring to form a little basket, but I didn't make the connection to arrive at that sour cream holder. Borscht this week!

 

GM.

I agree GM.

 

DC: Your work is outstanding. The filigree foil is a stylish idea and really adds another dimension to the plating coupled with the sculptures. Your work should be in a magazine , if it is already, let me know please.

I hope the storm was not so hard on you & the garden. According to the news this morning there are so many still suffering, just so sad.

 

@ Chef ED : Thank you for your kind words.

@ Kgirl: I am going to see if they sell that brand here, thank you for sharing the info.

 

I looked at a youtube a couple of weeks ago and decided to make this terrine of hamhocks. If you have time to watch the video, i'd like to hear your opinion. The microphone was placed a little to close to his face .

 

http://youtu.be/iT3QBqTVsG0

 

I served this up yesterday for lunch with baguettes, assorted mustards, homemade beets & cornichons (bought), cheeses & apple wedges and some good red wine. Petals.

Petals, that is a simply unctuous! 

I adore terrines, chunky paté, whatever you want to call them, they're close your eyes and moan, tasty. 

I watched that video and that chef is funny, I did fast-forward a few times, I really didn't need to watch him pick the, what was it, 8 hocks.  And that broth, oh boy!  That's exactly how I start my Portuguese Bean Soup, but with smoked hocks, those seemed salted and not smoked, is that right? 

Was there any lunch leftover?  I'll be right there with my fork and napkin.

*as to the rice, just look for any brand of calrose rice

Roulade of plaice, stuffed with fennel and carrots, with a mustard-honey-dill sauce.

 

 

 

Essentially, I wanted to know, if one could even make a roulade out of plaice... Needs some fine-tuning, but tasted fine.

 

After looking at petals' pic, I really need to get into the terrine business. Very nice. 

 

Kaneohegirl, could you share that Portuguese soup recipe? I still fondly remember a bean soup I got served in a small Portuguese village tavern, no menu, no one speaking English or German. Apparently, the soup was the one and only dish of the day. It came with white beans, bacon and whole pigs' trotters. Enough calories to get a field worker through the day and tasty as hell :D

I love fish and terrine so both plates hit the spot.I got a good inky cuttlefish from the market. I made a simple risotto nero with crispy deep fried cuttlefish goujons.

 

Tropical Girl   What makes the soup Portuguese ????

It was nice yesterday and we have family visiting.  I took a venison rump roast, made a bacon weave, wrapped it and slow roasted it on the grill.

 

 

 

 

Needless to say it was delicious.

Cool technique.

 

Petals.

Very nice mike. I'm just roasting an entraña (diaphragm) en papillote and this tecnique could have been very cool. I will take note of it., Thanks.

It's the first weave I've done so I had to Google for how-to pics.  It went on the top rack with a drip pan under and indirect heat.  All that bacon did not infuse the meat with any grease, but it was a natural baste.  I put a dry rub on it before the wrap went on.

 

Aloha Kakahiaka (Good Morning) chefedb!

It's the sausage!  Linguica, or Portuguese Sausage.

I have found some here in the middle of the desert,

but it's more on the Spanish side,

whereas in Hawaii it has a very distinct flavor.

This is a very popular soup served with Diamond Bakery Soda Crackers.  YUM!!!

 

Gene, I'm not certain, as I have never been to Portugal nor the Azores (where my family is from) but our's is a simple soup. Start out as in the video that Petals posted:

boil the heck out of smoked Ham Hocks and aromatics until the meat falls away from the bone, reserve the garlic & smash those into the broth.

To the strained Ham broth add:

Potatoes

Carrots

Celery

Onions

Cabbage

Tomatoes

Portuguese Sausage, browned (we prefer hot over mild sausage)

Tomato Paste

Chicken broth

Cooked Beans (your choice, but we use Dark Kidney Beans)

Cooked small Elbow Macaroni

Talk about filling!!  This soup, as with most, is best a few days later.

I do not add the macaroni if I'm going to stash it away for later, I add it to the bowl at service.  This is my version, of course each home has their own style of making this soup.  Sometimes I'll add extra Ham if the hocks or lean.  But we like our soup fully-loaded and tightened up a little.

Nice work, as usual, everyone. And thanks for the info, kaneohe!

 

I made some simple beef, beer and rutabaga pies tonight. More comfort food for cold weather.

 

 

Gene - what did you use for the crust?  Reminds me of a Pasty from back home in Michigan.

GM: now thats a flaky pastry, nicely done.

speaking of pastry , don't know if you like curry or not but I had the most awesome samosa the other day with a very sweet dark sauce. I'd like to make some of that soon. I am getting terrific info for cassoulet. I have Bourdain's which I switched to and it has a nice flavor but going to add more seasoning to it.

 

Petals.

Edited by petalsandcoco - 11/14/12 at 8:07am

Thanks, the crust was just a classic puff pastry, rolled out very thin.

 

I never really got into Indian curries, petals - huge gap in my culinary knowledge. The only curries I regularly make are Thai style. I sense the necessity to expand my cookbook library... ;)

 

Tonight, I had calf's liver in chestnut-herb-breading, with roasted onions and baked potato wedges on an apple-Gewürztraminer-sauce:

 

 

Nice food pairing and plating GM , talk about a very nice contrast of flavours and texture. I might just use your idea for a meal next week , if you don't mind ?

Petals.

Ps I'm big on Thai , I have shares (not ) in a small , but very small restaurant here on Cote des Neiges, where it takes a long time to get a seat, but when you do, it is so worth the wait. A mom and pop joint, with old world Asian music and you sit down to a pot of green tea as soon as your seated. And oh that bowl of liquid gold.....

Feel free, petals. The whole thing is a play on a German classic - liver Berlin style. Traditionally the unbreaded liver is fried, taken out of the pan and kept warm. In the same pan, apple wedges and onion rings are roasted. Everything is then plated with mashed potatoes. 

 

Making a sauce from the apples worked really well to concentrate the flavours. I first baked the apples for about 15 minutes in the oven, chopped them up and fried them for 10 more minutes in butter. Added something like 300 ml Gewürztraminer, pureed everything and reduced the sauce. The wine gave it a really nice kick. The breading for the liver was a last minute idea to get rid of some chestnuts and give the whole thing a seasonal touch. Adds a nice crunch, which texturally complements the liver nicely.

 

As for Thai - I am cooking and eating my way through Thompson's "Thai Food" at the moment. Talk about comprehensive...

Thanks for the notes on the dish. Nothing beats a good sauce to compliment a dish.

As for the book, last night I was reading parts of it thanks to Google. When you said comprehensive, I think that was an understatement. I enjoyed reading the menu for the dinner at the Grand Palace on February 23, 1900.

Interesting how  that chicken dish was set in a coconut agar-agar.

 

Petals.

Nice....Sweet Presentation.

3am snack: pan seared a tri-tip steak that I rubbed with chili, and smashed a 1/2 avocado with some lime juice and oregano.

 

 

 

I fried some chicken last night - just these three thighs.  They are, of course, gone.  It was tasty so I may do something I usually don't do and fix the exact same thing for dinner tonight, this time cook up enough for leftovers!

 

mjb.

 

Love when that happens. Sign of a true success when you want to double up the following night. 

FF : your steak looks like it was cooked to perfection.

Petals

Going out of the kitchen later will be one of the following:

 

Beaufort Bisque: scallops, shrimp, butter, onion, celery, flour, fish stock, ground fennel seed, cream, sherry, parsley, lemon juice, paprika, salt and pepper.

 

 Petals.

Awww thanks Petals.  It was really good.

 

Your bisque looks and sounds delicious! 

Petals, what was the second choice for dinner tonight besides the bisque?

The other was pistou .

The main was stuffed sole with a light orange cream sauce, haricots vert , stuffed tomato and piped mashed. It was a very busy day.
Dessert was a simple pineapple Bavarian.

Petals

Bacon and eggs.