What's For Dinner?

[Skillet Doux]

Make us jealous.

Grilled NY Strip and Cauliflower with Saba & Mint

Azhotdish got me going with his steak from the other night. Though I think I've decided that I prefer a good balsamic for steak. It needs the acid.

[grrlscout]

mmmmm steeeaaaaaak

Last night was posole, always well-received at our house. And pretty dang easy, since I mostly make it in the crockpot. I brown the pork and onions in the skillet, but other than that...

You can see one of my tiny Zuni tomatillos in there!

[golbsalt]

As some of you know we dry age our own beef. (the pic I have exceeds max file size)

A few weeks back I took a couple of ribeyes that had already been aged and aged them some more...as steaks. Normally you only age the sub-primals right? I aged the steaks to create the rind and then rehydrated the rind in a marinade of balsamic (sweet aged modena) and guinness extra stout along with some herbs & spices.

Dry aged beef either needs higher heat or some surface moisture back to get a good sear. This was one approach to improve the sear.

You could smell the balsamic and guinness as the cooked steaks sat on everyones plates. Served with a side of loaded mashed potatoes. . . dinner was, in a word, incredible.

And last night we made two different batches of AZ Bitters Lab flavored ice creams for Monday!

[Skillet Doux]

As some of you know we dry age our own beef. (the pic I have exceeds max file size)

Sorry... still working on this :-/

[M_L]

(the pic I have exceeds max file size)

If you upload your pic to photobucket or a similar service then paste the URL into your post you will not have a problem.

[gritsnyc]

We had bibimbap last night, made up of refrigerator bits and bobs (pot roast, mushrooms, eggplant, spinach, egg, kimchi, gochujang). I whipped up a bulgogi-esque marinade and let the pot roast reheat in it while it reduced and, honestly, it was terrific.

Bibimbap is becoming increasingly popular here at The Hacienda. I don't know why I didn't think of it years ago.

[azhotdish]

Azhotdish got me going with his steak from the other night. Though I think I've decided that I prefer a good balsamic for steak. It needs the acid.

The saba that I used the other night wasn't so much for the steak as it was for the beans. I definitely prefer balsamic over saba on beef - it just stands up better.

[Skillet Doux]

Cruising through the Whole Foods at Tatum and Shea, grabbing a few things for the next couple of dinners, and I ended up comically rubbernecking while passing the seafood case. Lo! Some really beautiful looking branzini, eyes perfectly clear and full, shimmering appearance, vibrant red gills, fresh briny scent... some of the best-looking whole fish I've seen since moving here, and at $12/pound I could get enough to feed the family for $25... not a steal, but pretty darn reasonable for what it was, I thought.

Change of plans!

No recipes? No worries. Got everything at home already. I let the fellow at the seafood counter gut and scale two of them, took them home, salted and peppered them all over, stuffed a little rosemary and thyme in the cavity, brushed them with olive oil, slapped them on the grill for about 5-6 minutes per side, and...

Grilled Branzino

...flipping delicious. Fresh, sweet flesh, smoky and crispy skin... dynamite. A touch of salt to finish, a splash of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon, and we're done. I wish it was always this easy to get whole fish this good.

[Christina]

I wanted to make something French for Bastille Day, but had a lot of work to be done yesterday, so kept it simple.

Pre-dinner cocktail was a Kir pêche (white wine with peach liqueur).

For dinner, I made tartines with Roquefort cheese (and a little creme fraiche and cracked black pepper) with roasted cherry tomatoes from the garden (lemon-infused olive oil, Penzey's Fox Point seasoning blend with green peppercorns, and chives). Pouilly-Fuissé for wine.



Dessert was vanilla ice cream topped with marrons glacés (candied chestnuts).

[phxmacbear]

After having chicken malai boti at Khyber Halal this weekend, I wanted to try my hand at it...so tonight I made that, with a side of poha (Indian dish of flattened rice, to which i added veggies) and some easy roasted cauliflower/broccoli with a dash of olive oil and parmesan.

[artvandelay]

Made family dinner tonight. Flank steak marinated in a lime and honey based marinade to which I added chipotle adobo (in my opinion there is nothing that isn't made better by chipotle adobo). Sauteed spinach tossed with balsamic and cherry tomatoes. Grilled potatoes and arugula salad tossed in a lemon vinaigrette. Last but not least whole roasted cauliflower with brown butter. This is a Michael Ruhlman recipe that is dead simple and out of this word. Brush whole head of cauliflower with olive oil and roast for 45 minutes. Then rub butter on the cauliflower sprinkle with salt and roast another 45 minutes or so basting every so often with the butter that has browned at the bottom of the skillet. Looks and tastes amazing.

[CelticBellaAZ]

I let the fellow at the seafood counter gut and scale two of them, took them home, salted and peppered

They still have faces on them! hehe

[phxmacbear]

I've only eaten Ethiopian twice in my life, but that didn't stop me from picking up some injeera over at Baiz market today and planning an Ethiopian dinner! (My partner is REALLY going to give me dirty looks, but this is payback for having to go to Buca di Beppo earlier this week!)
Tonight I'm cooking Sik Sik Wat (Beef Stew), Mesir Wat (Red Lentils), and because I needed ONE more side dish, but ran out of Ethiopian inspiration, I'm borrowing from Middle Eastern culture and making roasted tomatoes with labneh, which are going to be topped with a saffron-infused lemon/olive oil.

I really don't know if any of it will work, but that's half the fun! If it turns out, I'll come back and post a pic!

Anyone been to the Ethiopian place on 16th St right by Mariscos Playa Hermosa? The one in the back of the convenience store? It's supposed to be very good.

So here's what I made...it's not very pretty! And frankly, it wasn't that great. WAY too tomato-y. Oh well...it was edible! And the lentils weren't bad.

[Skillet Doux]

Anyone been to the Ethiopian place on 16th St right by Mariscos Playa Hermosa? The one in the back of the convenience store? It's supposed to be very good.

No, but I've been wanting to try it. If you put up a gathering, I'll definitely try to make it.

Report back on dinner!

[grrlscout]

We're in full-on diet mode at our house. We thumbed through several issues of Eating Well, and picked out enough recipes for a week. I didn't get pictures of everything, but a couple of the "keepers" were:

Sesame chicken salad:



Tasty, peanutty, crunchy.

and crab and corn cakes, with a corn and tomato salad:



Tracking down actual crab in my neighborhood was a small challenge. For the record, Fry's has a bazillion kinds of Krab, and only tinned real crab. Safeway has actual (previously frozen, from the Philippines) crab. I went with the latter.

[CelticBellaAZ]

I've only eaten Ethiopian twice in my life, but that didn't stop me from picking up some injeera over at Baiz market today and planning an Ethiopian dinner!

I have eaten ethiopian once, and I can say with all honesty I will never go back. That bread stuff rolled off my plate and stuck to my straw wrapper, that kind of weirded me out. I didn't think the food was all that great. Kudos to you for making it!

[phxmacbear]

I've kind of been in this "what-can-I-do-with-ground-lamb" mood when it comes to cooking at home.
I found this recipe for Moroccan style lamb with chickpeas and when something has lamb, chickpeas, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and raisins, you know it's going to be delicious.
Then came the debate of how to serve it: rice, couscous, stuffed in a pita? I found this recipe for Israeli couscous that called for chicken broth, pine nuts and more cinnamon so I knew I had to make it. Why have I never used israeli couscous before? what a great texture! Definitely using THAT more often!

Anyway, both dishes turned out mighty tasty, and were a BIG hit in this house!

Toasted Israeli Couscous
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Toasted-Israeli-Couscous-with-Pine-Nuts-and-Parsley-231300

Moroccan Lamb
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/moroccan-style-lamb-chickpeas-50400000117846/

[Skillet Doux]

Israeli couscous rocks.

That looks mighty fine.

[Tim H]

Moo ping and chicken satay with sticky rice from David Thompson's Thai Street Food. The flavor of the moo ping was just right, but would have preferred a fattier cut (used thin-cut pork chops).


satay1 by Timbo_AZ, on Flickr


satay2 by Timbo_AZ, on Flickr

[CelticBellaAZ]

that looks so good!