What did you have for dinner?

[teamfat]

he local Kroger affiliate, Smith's, has small 4 - 5 ounce lobster tails on display around the store, so I bought a package of 2 for $8. Made some butter poached lobster fettuccine. Pulled the raw meat out of the shells and put the shells into the pasta water. Melted a stick of butter in a pan with minced shallots, about a cup of white wine, a splash of water and fresh tarragon. Some of you may know what classic, tasty sauce starts with a white wine, tarragon and shallot reduction.


After 20 minutes or so I strained the water to get rid of the shells, put the pasta in to cook. The lobster meat went into the barely simmering liquid for a few minutes until not quite done, then pulled out and cut into pieces. Pasta was drained and put into the poaching liquid. Added the lobster back in with the Parmesan cheese, gave it a good stir. Sauce broke when I poured it into the bowl, drat. But the flavor was not harmed. Topped with some basil fresh from the garden and enjoyed. And finished off the rest of the wine, a Monkey Bay sauvignon blanc from New Zealand.



mjb.

 

[teamfat]

So while digging around in the freezer the other day I found a package of frozen duck breasts. I thawed them out and have had 4 nice duck dinners over the last 5 days.

My favorite was the pan seared duck served with a red wine demi glace with mushrooms and shallots. Good cook on the duck, that sauce was REALLY good!



The duck was cooked skin side down in a cast iron skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
Flipped over and seared on the other side for about 2. Pulled out, most of the fat poured off, heat reduced. Sliced shallots and mushrooms were sweated in the skillet then deglazed with about half a cup of red wine. Added about half a cup of demi glace, which I had made for the sauce challenge but didn't use. Let it boil and reduce. Duck was put back in the pan for about a minute, flesh side down keeping the crispy skin high and dry.

My second favorite was once again a pan seared duck breast with crispy skin and potato wedges.



This was the first one I did. The duck was dried off, skin scored and placed skin down in a cold, dry skillet, medium low heat. After 6 - 7 minutes the skin was nicely browned, duck flipped over , seared another 2 minutes. The potato was boiled for about 25 minutes to mostly cook it. Then it was crisped up in the skillet with the duck fat. Taters were set on a plate and dusted with caldo de tomate, which is basically tomato and chicken flavor bullion powder. Did a quick pan sauce with dry vermouth, mounted with butter. The duck was a bit overcooked but I liked the potatoes.

The other two were just so so, one being done sous vide at 127F for about an hour and a half before getting seared in a medium hot skillet. I don't cook duck very often, so I did enjoy this chance to try it 4 different ways.

mjb.

 

[Mischief]

I had a basic parmesan risotto with a Himalayan pink sea salt, cumin, and peppercorn crusted pork tenderloin with a pan jus and roasted fall vegetables. Simple and delicious.

 

[mike9]

We had leftover gumbo and rice that I made on Friday. Shrimp, squid and andouille with okra and fresh shrimp stock. I made enough stock to make the rice too. It was delicious Friday and even better last night.

 

[nicko]

Made dinner for my wife's birthday.

Started with Cheese


She loves escargot so these are a version done in mushroom caps


Chateaubriand with grilled asparagus, glazed carrots and mashed potatoes.



Great Wine


Lemon cake

 

[mike9]

Wow - quite a feast Nicko!!! I made a humble breakfast for dinner for us. Bacon, hash brown potatoes with a garden pepper, eggs from our chickens and French peasant toast. I'll tell you what - it really hit the spot -

 

[nicko]

Wow - quite a feast Nicko!!! I made a humble breakfast for dinner for us. Bacon, hash brown potatoes with a garden pepper, eggs from our chickens and French peasant toast. I'll tell you what - it really hit the spot -

hey Mike I love have eggs and bacon for dinner. Love the potatoes they look very tasty. Thanks for the kind words about my dinner.

 

[mike9]

Chuck roast was $1.99/lb. this week so I snagged one with a nice piece of the rib eye cap on it. I blitzed the chuck part with some garlic and made burgers for dinner. There is nothing like meat ground 5 minutes before cooking. With caramelized onions, cheese, greens, garden tomato and dill pickle . . . it's childhood all over again.

 

[mike9]

We celebrated our anniversary today as well as my wife's negative breast cancer results!!!! So I made her her favorite - potato leek soup. I roasted the potatoes and leeks + did a mirapiox in bacon drippings, reduced white wine to deglaze and chicken bone broth. I had to add more broth after being in the oven and stick blending smooth. I made a little garlic baguette and we had some bubbly to go with it. Delicious - the roasting brings out flavor usually lost to simply going "in the pot".

 

[harpua]

Made chicken pot pie! Simmered the chicken thighs as it made it's own stock, cooked the veg and potato in the stock and then made some silky chicken gravy. I love making this pie dough so I had some in my freezer... Very good and looking forward to the leftovers tonight!

 

[nicko]

Made chicken pot pie! Simmered the chicken thighs as it made it's own stock, cooked the veg and potato in the stock and then made some silky chicken gravy. I love making this pie dough so I had some in my freezer... Very good and looking forward to the leftovers tonight!

The crust looks awesome!!!! You have got to share your recipe (please). Send it to me in apm.

 

[ShelteredBugg1]

Picadillo with a walnut salsa and some corn tortillas

 

[mike9]

Super crisp chicken thigh, vegetable medley - mirepoix, leek, garlic, mushroom, potato, dried morel, chicken stock, corn starch and heavy cream to thicken, and a fresh crescent roll. (which I had a reaction to)

 

[mike9]

I made old school "sloppy Joes" from scratch yesterday only with chicken thighs I ground fresh. It's a good, easy recipe that'll take you back to school days. Served with 'tater tots of course.

 

[mike9]

It's soup weather here in the North East so a store had mushrooms on sale . . .

Button mushrooms, leak, onion, a few small white carrots, herbs, mushroom stock, reduced vermouth, some dried morels and heavy cream. Topped with sauteed shiitake and some lardon with some toasted garlic chibatta and a glass of Porto it really hit the spot.

 

[EdwardParkernl]

My dinner was a sandwich with coffee.

 

[mike9]

I had lamb left over from Sunday's Greek dinner. I turned that into Shepherd's Pie and it was very tasty.

 

[teamfat]

Blackened shrimp with pepperjack cheese grits. Made a quick stock from the shrimp shells, cooked the grits in that. I thought I had made enough for leftovers ...

 

[Seoul Food]

Man all of this stuff looks great.

 

[mike9]

Some friends from Welfleet, MA can up to hunt last week. On Friday we met up and John gave me a bag of Wellfleet oysters. "Here Mike, have a hundred oysters" - Wow what a treat! We ate a dozen Friday night, I shucked two dozen Saturday for our dinner party, took Sunday off, had 20 on Monday and I enlisted a good friend to come over for dinner and help us with the rest - another 45. 102 oysters in total including the "samplers". As much as I love them I'm glad they are gone in a way. Too good for fried oyster tacos, or po boys, too good for chowder just the perfect oyster for eating on the half shell. I've had oysters from all over the country and these are my favorite hands down. A green salad and some hot, crusty garlic bread balanced out the richness of the main course.