What's for Dinner?

[Monty Knapp]

Smoked a couple racks of baby back ribs. Six and a half hour process. Gone in 30 minutes.
Fell right off the bone.

 

[Boatboy24]

83 and sunny? Steak night. Sous vide for about two hours, then finished quickly over charcoal with a little pecan for some smoke. 'Gus marinated in EVOO, lemon juice and 'Todd's Dirt'; grilled and finished w/ EVOO and parmesan. Caesar salad and rosemary fries.

 

[sour_grapes]

Totally jealous, BBoy!

This was actually last night, but my DW made a very nice weekday meal. I am a little squishy on the details, as I had nothing to do with it. This was monkfish that was coated with mustard and butter, then crusted with crushed peppercorns, fennel seeds, and salt, then roasted on high heat. Served with roasted broccoli and garlic (with EVOO, natch), and a baked redskin 'tater. Thank you, Mrs. Grapes! (Tonight was leftovers, not worth describing.)

 

[JamesGrape]

Wife is making pasta and a huckleberry/apple pie. Decanting Amerone for 2 hours get ready.

 

[JamesGrape]

I am a very lucky man.

 

[JamesGrape]

I just noticed the neck label is crooked on the Amerone - hope its real, lol. I’ll report after dinner

 

[geek]

Thus must be a 24oz rib-eye.
Delicious!!!

 

[JamesGrape]

Newbie Amarone report: it’s definitely the real deal. We drank 1/2 the bottle between 1 and 2 hours after opening and decanting. When I sampled the aroma from the decanter I didn’t think I would like the wine, but I was wrong. The dominant aroma was alcohol, but with a hard-to-detect and undefinable lushness underneath - wet leather is the closest I can come to a description.

Mouthfeel was great - very lush. After swallowing an alcohol burn appeared that lasted about 5 seconds - then you are ready for more and wanting it. There was nothing that made me feel I had enough, or that the natural diuretic effect of alcohol was drying me out.

After 2-1/2 hours of decanting, the alcohol aroma subsided and my wife said she detected a faint floral aroma like rose - but it was still hard to pull out of the overall lushness. I thought I could detect a hint of tobacco, but it was hard to distinguish. The alcohol burn on the sides of my tounge changed to a tartness at the back of my tongue. My wife said the alcohol burn subsided for her before it did for me. Different palates - hers is better then mine. She really liked the wine and described it as soft and lush. I read that Amerone can be aged for 20-30 plus years. I think we will make some and put it away for aging.

The biggest takeaway for me was that with this Amerone I spent a very enjoyable two plus hours sipping wine and talking over dinner and desert with my wife. And the wine was quite good, too

 

[sour_grapes]

We had the same crappy weather that 2/3 of the country did. In our neck of the woods, it took the form of 12 hours of rain, followed by 24 hours and counting of continuous snow/sleet/graupel/freezing rain. Yuk. This is “heart attack snow” — heavy and wet.
This made me want one last wintry, comfort-food meal. I scored some Mike-appoved Woo-Hoo chuck eye steaks for small money. Turned those into a boeuf bourgignon dish, with Bogle Merlot (my standard cooking red wine), caramelized onions, carrots, mushrooms, garlic, ho-made beef stock, fresh thyme, etc. This was served over frilly pasta, and paired with green beans that were baked with sauteed shallots, fresh rosemary, roasted pine nuts, and ho-made chicken stock. DW made up some garlic bread with smoked paprika for a kick.

 

[geek]

Nice grilled salmon and veggies at the Italian restaurant in the resort.

 

[JohnT]

Well, I finally gave that Ragu recipe a try.

I went with spiral pasta. I like this shape as it really holds the sauce.

The pic was an afterthought. It may not look too pretty, but I got to tell you that it was fantastic.

Thanks for the recipe guys!

 

[ceeaton]

Some food images from this past weekend at our cabin. My two brothers and a sister-in-law, and me, so I could take pictures.

Pulled pork smoke cooking:

Pulled pork second cooking:

Pork spare ribs, beef long and short ribs:

New tent in case it rains:

Deep fried fries (brother got a new fryer):

Fried chicken wings:

Wet chicken wings:

Hunk of brown trout (as large as a small Atlantic salmon):

The only weekend sighting of a green vegetable (other than the hops to make the beer):

 

[geek]

Churrascos, excelente!!

 

[sour_grapes]

Busy night in the kitchen. We decided to make 2 veggies a night instead of 1, so tonight I made Brussels sprouts (roasted in EVOO, then topped with shredded manchego cheese) and escarole (sauteed with ~4 cloves of garlic + EVOO, then braised in sherry, with a kick of cayenne). In addition, I picked up some Mike-approved Woo-Hoo mushrooms, viz., King Trumpet 'shrooms. I wound up just half frying, half roasting these. Not too shabby, but I think I could have done a lot better with them if I had given it enough attention. In a last-minute decision, I also made some orzo with some ho-made chicken stock, thyme, lemon, parsley, and parmigiano-reggiano. Finally, the star was a modified version of chicken parmesan. I made a tomato sauce from crushed 'maters, seasoned with herbs, sauteed onions and LOTS of Vitamin G. This was to use up an already roasted breast, so I did not bread and fry it. Rather, I put some sauce under it, and on top, then covered this with smoked mozzarella. Washed all of this down with my penultimate Viognier/Pinot Gris blend from last year.

 

[sour_grapes]

The featured two veggies tonight were: a simple broiled asparagus with Balsamic vinegar (red), and a reprise of a dish I made for the first time about a week ago, viz., caramelized fennel and onions, then braised in ho-made chicken stock, and then combined with lots of cilantro, chopped roasted pistachios, and chopped scallions. Once again, this was a highlight. We also had leftover seafood risotto. The main dish was shrimp, but I screwed it up a bit, sadly. I took a minced shallot and reduced it in vinegar (white Balsamic + sherry), then added LOTS of butter (1 stick) and a bunch of chopped fresh tarragon. This is similar to how you start to make a Bearnaise sauce. The butter stayed nicely emulsified -- I wonder if the acid helps keep it from separating? I then dumped my raw, peeled, deveined Jumbo Gulf shrimp (bought from @jamesngalveston's company) into this buttery goodness. I then broiled the mix until a bit browned. There is where I screwed up. It turned out a bit overdone -- I should have gone maybe 3/4 the time I did.

 

[geek]

And some of you said that I cook for an army [emoji4][emoji4]

 

[sour_grapes]

The wife is out of town, so WE ARE BATCH-ING IT, BABY! Tonight's fare was a thick bone-in rib pork chop (dry-brined and pan-fried in butter); a mushroom/onion/garlic/thyme compote for the chop; mustard greens (blanched, then sauteed); diced potatoes, fried up in EVOO. Not my best effort ever, but nice, simple, sturdy fare. I enjoyed a Left-Hand Nitro Milk Stout while cooking, and washed down dinner with my WE Eclipse Nebbiolo.

 

[Boatboy24]

Nice chops, Paul. And nice beer too.

 

[JohnT]

I am thinking of either chicken parm or chicken/mushroom picata this weekend.

 

[sour_grapes]

I am thinking of either chicken parm or chicken/mushroom picata this weekend.

Go with the piccata, John. I just had parm the other day.