Perpetual "What's for Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner Today" thread

[MidasKnight]

What is 'bias sliced?' I've heard that term a few times now.

Also, I don't think I can name 12 grains. Sounds expensive and unnecessarily highbrowed. Please tell me what I'm missing.

[Darb]

Bias sliced or bias diced means cut on an angle ... it's an easy way to adjust the size, shape and cooking properties of a given chunk of vegetable, as well as the appearance.

12 grain bread is typically just everyday mass produced whole-wheat bread (made with a base of regular white flour with a little whole wheat and molasses added for flavor, color and texture) into which very small amounts of various other grains have been added to finesse the flavor, texture, fiber content and/or nutritional value. It just sounds hoity toity - it's nothing fancy or expensive.

Article: http://www.bellybytes.com/articles/best_bread.shtml

I happen to like certain commercial multi-grain breads, like arnold, freihofer, pepperidge farm, etc. We use it for most of our regular sandwich and toast making uses ... except if/when I have the time and energy to make my own, or buy something crusty & artisanal.

Plain wonderbread seems woefully bland to me, by comparison ... but that's just me. To each their own.

I'm always on the prowl for new brands to try.

[MidasKnight]

Yeah, white bread is awful.

[Darb]

In all honesty, I didn't say that.

''Awful' and 'woefully bland' have different meanings to me. 'Awful' implies that something is unpleasant enough to the speaker that it would be refused/avoided it in all but serious need, whereas 'woefully bland' simply means disappointingly unexciting & underwhelming ... more of a lack of unique inherent qualities that fails to satisfy a particular craving, rather than something awful and worthy of avoidance. Indeed, there are circumstances in which wonderbread is better than multi-grain bread - but most of those are not for my most common uses/cravings.

Anyway, I apologize if I somehow gave offense - I was just answering the question asked, with regards to my own personal preferences. If anything, the question was asked in a way that seemed to predispose a slightly defensive answer. I didn't take it personally.

Cheers.

[Darb]

Dinner last night was acorn squash (which had been steam-roasted with maple syrup and a little dark sesame oil, then mashed), and some heated julienne of leidys smoked pork butt.

I think I already posted a recipe somewhere for how to steam-roast acorn squash ... I think I did it with butter and honey last time.

[E Pericoloso Sporgersi]

... I think I already posted a recipe somewhere for how to steam-roast acorn squash ... I think I did it with butter and honey last time.

Yes, yes, we know all about that, but ...

... julienne of leidys smoked pork butt.

How does one go about bagging a pork butt? Stalk and shoot the other end?

[Darb]

... julienne of leidys smoked pork butt.

How does one go about bagging a pork butt? Stalk and shoot the other end?

Sounds like fun !

However, I usually just buy it from someone who does the dirty deed for me.

[MidasKnight]

Brad, I don't know who you think you might have offended but certainly not me.

My question was meant more as a challenge and not an attack. I have champagne taste on a beer budget. However, I know that we sometimes get caught up in silly attempts to impress with veiled hollowness and was wondering if the 12 grain bread was one of those things or if it was legitimate to have 12 grains in a bread.

(the producer of the 12 grain bread being the suspected impresser, not you)

Sorry if I came off rudely.

[Darb]

I suppose there is a certain amount of one upsmanship by certain bread manufacturers with regards to more (types of grain) is better ... I've seen 5 grain, 7, 9, 12 ... even 15 grain bread. I usually ignore all that and buy on the basis of taste ... I'll try stuff, and then buy it again only if I like it AND if it's on sale for less than other brands that I like less.

As for being on a budget ... I fully sympathize there, as things have gotten tough for me as well. I can no longer afford my prior tastes in sushi and premium sake, on my current budget.

All the more reason to hone my skills on making the best I can out of basic goods, while sharing what I learn with others.

[Darb]

I had a large bunch of cilantro and a smaller bunch of parsley in the fridge that needed using up (cilantro in particular is very perishable), so I buzzed up another batch of my pseudo-chimichurri sauce, which should last for several days.

Pain permitting, tomorrow I'm hoping to turn a head of cauliflour into a vegetarian curry, and then spend some time further honing my dim sum skills ... dumplings in particular.

Some photos from my last session a few weeks back (of freshly made but as yet uncooked dumplings) ...





The beauty of asian dumplings is that once you master the basic technique (of making a basic dough and cutting/rolling & stuffing it), a whole vista of permutations open up that are little more than variations on the dough, and variations on the filling ... savory, sweet, meat, vegetarian, etc. They freeze well, and are great by themselves or in soup. Ditto for the Italian counterparts (ravioli & tortelloni). If anything, I find the asian technique faster, easier, less fussy, and more fun to make and eat.

[MidasKnight]

mmmm

Brad, I'll let you cook for me anytime

[voralfred]

mmmm

Brad, I'll let you cook for me anytime

ditto

[Darb]

While watching the sunset with my wife, I was invited by a pair of very talented local chefs we knew (but hadn't seen in a while) to try their tasting menu. After mentioning local squab, bay scallop crudo, and duck bacon, I was sold. My wife had a prior engagement, so I reserved for a solo tasting ... which turned out to be one of the 10 best I've had in a long time. I took a few notes, and will try to post a writeup as time (or insomnia) permits.

Off to bed ...

[Darb]

Ok, can't sleep (pain), so here goes ... this is from memory, supplemented with very minimal notes from my cellphone's notepad. I think it's pretty close.

• Starter was a sliced chunk of crusty multi-grain panis rustico, with a small dish containing a lush puree of roasted cauliflower, cannellini, tahini and olive oil. Wine choice (mine) was a glass of sparkling proseco.
  
  First course (amuse bouche): A soup shooter of silky roasted pumpkin soup. It was buttery, with a hint of spice, bourbon, and topped with a cream-based foam. Refreshingly salty and savory, rather than sweet (as most pumpkin soups tend to be).
  
  Second course (appetizer): A raw crudo of sweet (and highly seasonal) Peconic Bay Scallops, atop a marinated mix of shaved shallots, tender cucumber ribbon 'noodles', blood orange royales, and pomegranate seeds, in a jus of pomegranate and lime.
  
  Third course (appetizer): Hand-made Hen of the Woods tagliatelle ravioli, in a brown-butter sauce scented with tarragon, topped with thin-shaved parmesan.
  
  Fourth course (full entrée): A generous portion of pan-seared Skin-on Black Cod Fillet, served over roasted sun chokes, local mussels (and a touch of garlic and w.wine ?), topped with a micro-slaw dressed with Meyer lemon.
  
  Fifth course (half entrée): Brick-roasted bone-less half-squab (a perfect med-rare), served over roasted celery root puree, tender julienne of celery root, and garnished with celery leaves, a grilled slice of mango, and a thin drizzle of mango puree and CPEVO.
  
  Sixth Course (sm dessert): Tangerine semi-fredo curd, topped with tangerine royales and walnut brittle.
  
  Seventh course (sm dessert): Kumquat relish, and a sliver of artisanal walnut-leaf wrapped pecorino romano style sheep's milk cheese (from upstate NY ?), paired with a lovely white dessert wine that I forgot to record.

Aside from the squab being slightly oversalted, it was a near perfect meal. I was stuffed, and well-satiated.

I initially tried to take pictures, but between the low lighting and my new phone's poorly-integrated flash, it just didn't work out.

Ok, back to eating light & cheap for the rest of the week ...

[MidasKnight]

squab?

[Darb]

Google it.

[voralfred]

Google it.

After I googled it, I decided I'd rather gobble some

(...) I was invited by a pair of very talented local chefs we knew (but hadn't seen in a while) to try their tasting menu. (...)

As I understand it, you were invited. But how much would the chefs charge a third party for that seven course menu?
And, really, can one eat all that much? (unless the portions were rather small?)

[Darb]

As I understand it, you were invited. But how much would the chefs charge a third party for that seven course menu?

Oh, I paid, just like anyone else. Perhaps I was unclear ... the invitation was to come back to the restaurant because I used to be a regular patron and I hadn't been there in a while, not to dine for free. In any case, the chef's tasting menu was $75 USD, excluding beverage, tax and gratuity, which is very consistent and competitive among restaurants of such caliber. Well worth it too. A similar menu in NYC would run $75-150, depending on where you go (ex: Babbo, Per Se, etc.), and the portions would probably have been a bit smaller.

And, really, can one eat all that much? (unless the portions were rather small?)

In general, "tasting menus" usually, but not always, involve a sampling of smaller portions chosen from a restaurant's full menu of appetizers, entrees and desserts ... instead of say one appetizer, one entree and one dessert for a standard price fixe meal, a tasting menu might include smaller portions of several appetizers, several entrees, and several desserts, with the portion sizes cut down slightly to be roughly the same (collectively) as a normal 3-4 course meal. It's basically a way for a restaurant to showcase their wares, for the benefit of foodies, chef friends, food writers and VIPs who like to linger and graze (regardless of cost) rather than simply dine and go. However, last night's meal (1 amuse, 2 full apps, 1 1/2 entres, and 2 small desserts) was very substantial ... I couldn't finish, and pretty much had to waddle out of there.

[Darb]

Dinner tonite was a stirfry of baby bok choy and sopressata ...



Here I basically sweated a large knob of shaved ginger, a crumbled cayenne pepper and a small clove of garlic in a blend of mustard and canola oil, added some shaved julienne of sopressata (from the fridge), followed shortly thereafter by chopped baby bok choy, and a splash of thai fish sauce, chinese cooking wine, and basic sake, and sweated it (covered) until tender before serving it over some basmati rice.

Everything except the bok choy is a basic staple or condiment that's always handy in my kitchen, so although this might sound like an elaborate recipe, it was really just a fast and easy way to cook and flavor the veg du jour.

[Darb]

The other day I happened across some good quality salmon, so I brought home a side, skinned it, and turned it into butterflied boneless pinwheel rounds, which I seasoned with meyer lemon zest. The portions in the photo are pretty large ... roughly 1 1/4" thick, and approx 8oz each.



It's too bad myspace scales the res down so far, because the originals are 3.2mp, and at that res you can really see the fine creamsicle-colored marbling of the salmon, whereas at this res it's simply a bright orange. Anyway, after taking the photo, I rubbed the rounds with mustard oil, and griddled them slowly on a cast iron flat top, to a perfect 125F medium.



One of my pet peeves about salmon is that virtually every restaurant cooks it to death, until it's criminally dry. I on the other hand, only buy salmon if the fat content is good, I let it come up to temp first, then cook it at just the right speed to just the right doneness, until the interior is just beginning to set ... that way it stays super succulent and juicy. After resting, I served a pair of these to my wife and I on unadorned potato buns, no mayo needed ... just a little salt and some of the meyer lemon.

[voralfred]

Darb, that looks fantastic! I'm partial to salmon myself, especially when it is cooked just right, not overcooked and dry (or raw as sashimi, or in sushi, of course)
What did you use to keep them in that shape? Just tie them with string? On the first pic, it looks like they are held is some transparent substance, but maybe it is a ligth effect, on the second one Isee only a piece of string.

[Darb]

Butcher's twine. For butterflied pinwheel rounds, I use a lasso knot to pull them gently snug, then lop off the excess. Once they're cooked they hold their own shape, and you remove the string after they rest ... either by sliding the slip knot off past the cut end, or by cutting it off.

The other fun thing about pinwheels is you can splice multiple pieces together, forming wheels of almost any size ... which makes it easy to incorporate scraps into portions that are otherwise undersized.

Anyway, the leftovers keep well and reheat well (if warmed gently in the microwave), and are also great crumbled over salad, pasta, into soup, or even served cold with a lemon remoulade.

[Darb]

At my wife's behest, I made French Toast for breakfast.

I have no idea what, if anything, this dish is actually called in France, but for Voralfred's benefit, this is how the dish is made here in the US. It evolved in olden times as a way to use up stale bread. The classic old school method is to make a mixture of raw eggs, some milk, a splash of vanilla extract, a pinch of salt, (optional: some freshly micro-planed citrus zest) and whisk in some sugar (I use simple syrup) until slightly sweet and incorporated. Slice bread into slabs, and soak in the mixture until well saturated & softened all the way through. Brown a generous knob of sweet butter in a large skillet, and lay out the egg-soaked bread in a single layer, cook until golden brown, then turn over and repeat on the other side, until the the other side is browned, and the bread begins to puff slightly and steam in the middle. Serve immediately with maple syrup or honey.

That's the classic way. I didn't have any stale artisanal bread handy, so I simply used sliced (and still fresh) whole wheat bread from the fridge ... less rustic & toothsome, but almost as good.

[voralfred]

For your information, if it is actually made of stale bread, this would be one of the possible recipes for "pain perdu" (="lost bread", except that the whole idea is to recover bread that would have been lost otherwise - we used to jokingly say the proper name should be "pain retrouvé"="found again bread"). The other class of "pain perdu" starts mostly the same way but ends up baked rather than fried. That was the way my mother used to do it, and she added raisins and maybe cinnamon, I am not sure. We did not fry much, at home. Is "fry" even the correct word? I understand you do not mean "deep-frying" of course, just cooking in a skillet with butter, but the french word is "frire" both for that and deep-frying.
If fresh sliced bread is used instead of stale bread, the very notion of "pain perdu" is lost, but it is quite possible that a lot of people would still do it with fresh bread in France, too. Since deep-freezers entered almost every home, the amount of stale bread has considerably decreased, and if one likes the taste of "pain perdu", well...
I don't remember either my wife or myself preparing any at our own home ever since I got married (30 years ago... time flies...) but maybe we could give it a try. But baked, in any case, not fried, "comme faisait ma Maman" (as my Mummy used to do it)

[Darb]

Yes, I indicated "stale" in my 3rd sentence ... that's the default, but fresh bread will do in a pinch. Oh, and agreed on there being both sweet and savory versions. Every culture that uses eggs and grain has some version of this ... matzoh is turned into matzoh brie in Jewish cuisine and is done sweet or savory, pasta is used in place of bread in italy where it's called fritatta and done exclusively savory, in china it's fried rice, etc ad infinitum. Most are generally done stove top, unless the thickness or greater batch size dictates being baked.

Speaking of asian tradition, supper tonite was homemade fried rice ... mine being much better than every restaurant I've ever dined in. I use massive amounts of fresh herbs (esp parsley and cilantro ... both leaves and stems), as well as whatever else is handy, such as onion, ginger, pumpkin seeds, leftover finely minced dried sausage, lemon juice, etc. I also garnish it generously with my homemade pseudo-chimichurri sauce (which is thicker and less acidic than traditional versions).