What's for Dinner?

[Tim McG]

BBQ'd Salmon Filets.

[Michael Weiss]

Wow, Mike- beautiful pork shoulder!

Care to share your recipe?

Wasn't my photo, but it looked pretty similar. This is the recipe we use from the NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/dining/02mini.html

[Free For All]

Chicken smoked/grilled with Jack Daniels wood chips and sauce, grilled asparagus and sweet corn.

And vodka.

[DukeCity]

Chicken smoked/grilled with Jack Daniels wood chips and sauce, grilled asparagus and sweet corn.

And vodka.

Sounds tasty!

We had burgers from the grill with Tillamook cheddar and brie. Sauteed mushrooms and onions. Baked sweet potato fries.

And vodka.

[clifford_thornton]

All your dinner questions answered.

[jeffcrom]

I think I was inspired by feelings of jealousy of papsrus - he's in New Orleans and I'm not!

Spring green/cucumber salad

Grilled turkey smoked sausage (way less fat than the regular stuff, and really nice flavor)

Red beans and rice

I wish I was on Frenchmen Street right now....

[kinuta]

Vegetable masala south Indian style, made from bok choy, red peppers and new potatoes. Cooked in onion, ginger garlic paste, tomatoes with fennel, fenugreek and other spices. Ate with rice, Greek yoghurt and Indian hot pickles.

[vibes]

I've been on a Brazilian kick lately, so the little lady and I hit Fogo de Chao for dinner last night (our third Brazilian meal in as many weeks). Excellent food, but totally overpriced. Too bad Minneapolis doesn't have more options for churrasco.

[mellowT]

Chicken!

[jeffcrom]

Tonight, a recipe inherited from my mom. Chicken Niçoise - chicken cut up and cooked with tomato, artichoke hearts, ripe olives, and spices. I've cooked this several times in the past few years, but this was the first time it "flowed" - like playing a tune you really know as opposed to reading a lead sheet. Served it over yellow rice with a salad on the side. I wish I had thought to take picture. Thanks, Mom!

Cooking music was provided by Dr. Lonnie Smith: Live at Club Mozambique (BN Rare Groove). Yeah!

Edited October 26, 2010 by jeffcrom

[ejp626]

I just had perhaps the worst burrito I've ever eaten. In fact, I could only eat maybe 10-15% of it, when I had to stop. Now I am looking for something else to take away the taste.

I've been to this taqueria once before and it was fine, so I decided, post-concert, to go back and not to the greasy late night Thai place when I often go after concerts (indeed it is literally called Late Night Thai). Anyway, the vegetable burrito had pico de gallo, which I'm not super fond of, but I let it ride. Somehow the proportions of everything were way off. There was little rice and essentially no beans that I could see, and I guess instead of chunks of avocado, they used watery guacamole. I'm not even sure there was any cheese, which might have helped a bit. Then the whole thing was overwhelmed by the pico de gallo and sour cream. When you looked inside it was mostly white! Yuck.

Don't think I'll be back. There are a few other Mexican restaurants around, and I'll go to one of them next time I have that craving.

[jeffcrom]

Tonight I tried a Mexican recipe that recently caught my eye - chicken with tomatillo, chipotle and brown sugar sauce. I had never dealt with tomatillos before - they're the smaller, greener, tarter cousins of tomatoes. They have a papery husk which peels off, revealing the green vegetable beneath. Since this was the first time I had tried this recipe, it took awhile to prepare, but it turned out just about perfect when served over yellow rice. It was a bit spicy for my wife, so next time I might cut the amount of chipotles in adobe sauce in half.

[Chuck Nessa]

Fried weasel, okra and RC.

[Matthew]

What is okra anyway? I've never seen it

Edited May 5, 2011 by Matthew

[papsrus]

Barbecued (over charcoal, not gas) a rather large, two-inch thick, boneless ribeye tonight, red in the middle and dripping with juices. Threw some portobello mushrooms on the grill as well. On the side, steamed asparagus and baked sweet potato, rolled in olive oil and lightly salted before baking.

The whole thing consumed at a very slow and steady pace. Absolute best steak I've had in quite some time.

[Sundog]

Having my very favorite egglant dish tonight. Sauteed Eggplant with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar served over Quinoa, with a side of Rapini, and a glass of Tempranillo. Not exactly a 30 minute meal (more like 75) but well worth the effort.

[Free For All]

Asparagus soup made with curry/coconut chicken broth and grilled ham & cheese with black pepper/bleu cheese bread.

[Tom Storer]

I saw a New York Times cooking video on how to make perfect fried chicken, so I gave it a try for lunch. It worked! Basically you marinate chicken parts overnight in buttermilk plus whatever flavoring you like (I used red onion, garlic, chili powder and paprika), then take it out of the fridge long enough in advance for it to reach room temperature; dredge it in highly seasoned flour, then pan-fry it: five minutes covered, uncover and cook the other side six minutes, flip again and cook for five more minutes. Best fried chicken I've ever eaten, if I do say so myself.

A couple of nights ago I tried another NYT video suggestion, spicy shrimp salad with mint: delicious. I'm now a big fan of New York Times cooking videos.

Edited August 7, 2011 by Tom Storer

[sidewinder]

Fried Egg sandwich !

[Peter Johnson]

Chilled heirloom tomato and peach soup with a 24-hour marinated flank steak and some Jersey corn for good measure. Summer rocks!!!

P.S. Where the hell is Catesta? Dearly miss his posts in this thread...

[Sundog]

Tuna In Tomato Sauce With Linguine

Carrots With Currants And Pine Nuts

[Brownian Motion]

Cuban-style black beans and rice--I simplify the recipe by eliminating the sauteing of the pepper and onion, and substituting 1/2 a cup of lean ham for the ham hocks. Top with chopped raw onions soaked in red wine vinegar.

Ingredients

1 pound dried black beans, preferably turtle beans

6 cups cold water

2 small ham hocks, about 1 1/4 pounds

1/2 cup olive oil

3 1/2 cups finely chopped vidalia onions

1 1/2 cups chopped green peppers

2 tablespoons finely minced garlic

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon dried, hot red-pepper flakes

3 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

Salt to taste, if desired

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce

3 tablespoons dark rum

Cooked rice (see recipe)

Onions for black beans (see recipe)

Preparation

1.

Pick over the beans carefully to remove any foreign particles. Rinse well in several changes of cold water.

2.

Put the beans in a bowl with the six cups of cold water. Cover and let stand overnight.

3.

Drain the beans, reserving the water in which they soaked. Measure the water and add enough additional water to make eight cups.

4.

Place the beans, water and ham hocks in a small kettle or large saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook slowly, uncovered, skimming the surface as necessary to remove any foam. The beans should cook until tender, four to six hours.

5.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a skillet and add the onions and green peppers. Cook, stirring, until the mixture is wilted. Add the garlic and cook briefly, stirring. After the beans have cooked about two hours, add the mixture to the beans. Add the bay leaves, pepper flakes, vinegar, salt and pepper.

6.

When the beans are almost tender, uncover and continue cooking 30 minutes.

7.

Remove the ham hocks. When they are cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skin, fat, bones and gristle. Shred the meat and return it to the beans. Remove the bay leaves. Add the cayenne pepper and Tabasco.

8.

This dish improves if cooked one day in advance. When ready to serve, heat the bean mixture thoroughly. Just before serving, stir in the rum. Serve with rice on the side or spoon a portion of the bean mixture over individual servings of rice. Add the onions according to taste.

YIELD

Eight servings

[jeffcrom]

Okonomi-yaki - Japanese cabbage-based griddle cakes. My wife and I had these in Kyoto a few years ago, but I haven't been able to find them at any Japanese restaurants in Atlanta. I think that they're too downhome/ordinary to warrant inclusion on a restaurant menu - like serving a grilled cheese sandwich at an American restaurant in Japan. But when I told my niece's Japanese boyfriend how much I liked okonomi-yaki, he gave me a couple of kits with the batter mix and sauce and taught me how to make them. They tasted pretty great tonight.

[JSngry]

I had a good friend/food snob tell me somewhat unpleasantly a few years ago that cabbage was "peasant food". I told him to go f**k himself. We're still friends, but not like before.

Cabbage is wonderful.

[Christiern]

Not an easy request to fulfill, I would imagine. Did your friend ever manage to straighten himself out?

Agree, cabbage is great! I like all vegetables that aren't okra or eggplant. I wish I could find celery beets in NYC—I know they have to be available, somewhere.

My favorite wildlife is Ptarmigan, a bird that is found in cold regions, like Norway, Iceland, Canada and, I guess, Alaska. If it is prepared right, in a rich brown gravy, I think it tops all fowl when it comes to taste—and no other meat I know of has that taste. It is in the grouse family, there are several varieties and it's size is small—one bird per person, all dark meat. There used to be a Scandinavian food shop on NYC's East Side that carried Ptarmigans, but it vanished many years ago. Anyone her ever had this treat?