What's For Dinner #65 - the Brand New New Year's Edition - January 2021

Nice!

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Buffalo mushroom pizza to punctuate a tiring week. Fortunately the pizza was far better than the week.

image

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Thanks! The chicken looked fab.

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Agreed.

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Another pantry meal = (packaged) gnocchi, baked in fresh tomato, basil and cream sauce.


Big plate of ruby grapefruit on the side.

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I could go face-first into those pictures of the bread and not be embarrassed at all. :heart:

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Now I’m REALLY jealous! I read French and would love the recipe for the Pain des Amis (not to mention every other bread they make!) but the book isn’t available in the US right now due to COVID. Will keep an eye out!

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Pork bolognese. Ground pork, minced coppa, onion/garlic/carrots, bay leaf, fresh thyme & sage, dry vermouth, a parm rind, lemon peel/zest, arugula/spinach, shitakes and oyster shrooms, a little tomato paste and heavy cream, and let that simmer for 4 hours. Really good, but probably would have been even better if we’d let it sit until Sunday. Roasted a fennel bulb on the side, with parm, lemon zest, olive oil. Fennel turned out partly tough, I should have braised it first.

So glad this week is over - time to drink! cin-cin, everyone!

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she’s sure got my vote!

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i love that method!

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Tonight was a nacho night. BF made the tortilla chips, guacamole, and pulled chicken. All excellent. There was also sour cream, cheese, onions, olives, pickled jalapeños, and queso (not pictured).

Temperature was 22 when I got home, so no chilled martini tonight. But there was a whiskey ginger.

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Nice . I always failed at nachos. Looks fantastic.

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Actually it’s not new, published in 2016. Sold out online everywhere, I called the bakery, luckily they still have some stock there.

http://lepaindelaterrealatable.com/index_en.html

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Good idea! Copying.

You’re no slouch yourself.

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Saturday lunch time … 30th … Fresh Eel in Champagne, Eeel with pasta …

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@naf

Those breads are extraordinary … I know the allure of French breads well !!

Very remarkable labors !!

Have a nice weekend.

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I made Lobster Bisque… with stock from scratch. Lord.

I got a line on a big box of frozen lobster shells & heads at a cruise line warehouse sale I’ve been haunting (lotsa’ distancing). The cruise line industry is struggling, but most importantly so are their workers who often come from underdeveloped little nooks in the world and support entire families with this steady work. The profit from these sales bring aid to the workers, help the ship operators unload excess food and are the bomb for my geeky food friends and myself.

Anyhoo, the possibilities of frozen uncooked lobster heads were rolling around in my mind… just not the practicalities. If I had thought of the latter I might’ve passed. Glad I didn’t.

STOCK

Just one of my 2 big bowlfuls. Aren’t they ugly? :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

They came intact and needed to be pounded to small shards. I didn’t go that far but did crack & pound enough for my arms to be tired and frozen - they keep stuff in below zero temps and even after sitting in my kitchen overnight they were still frozen together and needed prying apart.

Now there’s that pretty red color.

Shells are fried in batches in super hot vegetable oil until red.

Shallots, Leaks, Celery, Fennel, Garlic, Brandy, Wine

Removed shells & in the same pot sautéed Aromatics, Brandy, White Wine, stirred in Tomato Paste, then Shells & Water.

Remarkably, you’re supposed to bring to a hard boil then only simmer for 15 minutes or else it gets dank, and I don’t mean in a cool urban dictionary kinda way. I went a little longer because I had a cajillion times more lobster heads than the recipe, but still went a tad too long and it lost a bit of this pretty color and brightness, but thankfully didn’t destroy it. Let’s just say it was a tad more ocean-y.

A bowl for the foam. Lotsa’ skimming.

Finally, strained everything thru a strainer & cheesecloth, cooled, jarred & fridged for a few days. Don’t ask what we did with the 2 bagfuls of shells & carcasses.

BISQUE

Sautéed Butter, Leeks, Sweet Onion, Garlic, S & P then stirred in Chopped Whole Campari Tomatoes & Tomato Paste, Thyme Sprigs, Bay Leaf, Paprika & Cayenne then Brandy, Sherry & Lobster Stock, generous S & P then boil & simmer 30 minutes.

Remove Thyme & Bay Leaf and strain. Purée, let cool 15 minutes, whisk together Cream and Cornstarch (I used Instant Potato Flakes), stir into bisque, boil, cook, stirring until thickened slightly.

Butter poached & chopped Lobster (also from wh sale)

Bisque!

I told my husband if it wasn’t good just love me enough to lie to me. No need. It was fan-f-ing-tastic! :heart:

I used Eric Ripert’s stock recipe and Ms Martha Stewart’s bisque recipe and followed both strictly with just a tweak here & there. And I will never do this again on this scale unless I can borrow one of their line cooks and a scullery maid or dude.

Thanks for letting me document my journey. :blush:

Happy Eating!

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Delicious! What a lovely journey.

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What a feast!!

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