Slow Monday troll: What's for dinner?

[Jenise]

Jeff, I just love your photos!

Thank you.

Those are just about the biggest pork chops I've ever seen. Er, WERE.

[Jenise]

Smoked sockeye salmon, cold sliced Fuji apple, cold sliced cucumber, dill and yogurt dip, pita garlic crackers, Billecart Salmon NV Brut Reserve.

Yum! I'm planning to start the cure for your salmon recipe today. I may go ahead and do some via the brine method that has worked so well for me, too, for comparison. I had some questions that I'll address in your other thread, though. Btw, I cleaned Bellingham out of the remaining bottles of pre-rising Euro priced Billecart Salmon BR's in Bellingham last year, and have yet to open one. What am I waiting for?

Zanzibari fish and coconut soup. Which was nice.

What's a zanzibari fish--is it a particular type of fish or the name of a dish?

I meant that it is a fish and coconut soup that originates from Zanzibar. I used two fishes when I made it - Finnish salmon and Vietnamese Pangasius since I, of course, didn't have any of the typical Zanzibari fish species available here.

-O

[Robin Garr]

I meant that it is a fish and coconut soup that originates from Zanzibar. I used two fishes when I made it - Finnish salmon and Vietnamese Pangasius since I, of course, didn't have any of the typical Zanzibari fish species available here.

Otto, would you by any chance have a recipe - or even a description sufficient to back-engineer one? That sounds delicious and I'd like to try it. Well, probably not with Zanzibari fish species ...

Otto, would you by any chance have a recipe - or even a description sufficient to back-engineer one? That sounds delicious and I'd like to try it. Well, probably not with Zanzibari fish species ...

Sure. I work on the basis of this recipe (from some source that I've forgotten - sorry I can't give due credit )

1 coconut (or coconut milk for those of us that don't have fresh coconuts available on every other tree)
1,25 l hot water
4 tbs cooking oil
1kg fish cut in cubes
250g celery
250g leeks
2 onions
2 tea spoons curry
salt, pepper & green chilli to taste
1,5 l fish stock from the fish bones and celery and leek trimmings
1 kg tomatoes peeled and chopped
2 bunches of coriander, chopped
juice of 3 limes

Grate coconut. Pour hot water over shredded flesh. Let stand for 30 mins. Strain and save the coconut milk. Heat oil in a large pan. Add fish, celery, leeks and onions. Fry for 3-4 mins. Add curry, salt, pepper, chilli and garlic. Stir in coconut milk and fish stock. Add tomatoes and simmer for 10 mins. Add coriander and lime just before serving.

[Jenise]

My Dad is cooking for us. He says it will be slow-roasted pork belly, saurkraut and mashed potatoes. I'm to bring a salad, probably will be heirloom tomatoes with basil and a little goat cheese, since that's what I have on hand. Weird meal for this time of year, but hey, you can take the German out of Germany but you can't stop him from eating saurkraut in the summertime.

That's cute. How was dinner? I hear everything Saturday went superbly. Wish we could have been there--did I tell you that I tried to get plane tickets about three weeks ago? I remember mentioning it to Annabelle but not sure I followed up with you, I'm so bad. We needed to arrive Saturday and leave Tuesday, and there weren't any affordable flights--Alaska had just announced a sale for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the Saturday flights were gone in a nanosecond.

[Robin Garr]

Sure. I work on the basis of this recipe (from some source that I've forgotten - sorry I can't give due credit )

Otto, it sounds delicious! And intriguingly, it seems to me to bear a considerable kinship to dishes of India's Malabar Coast, directly across the Indian Ocean from Zanzibar but a very long way ...

Otto, it sounds delicious! And intriguingly, it seems to me to bear a considerable kinship to dishes of India's Malabar Coast, directly across the Indian Ocean from Zanzibar but a very long way ...

I have often thought that Swahili cuisine is a mix of Indian and Arabic cuisines - which is logical because of the trade.

-O

Tonight's dinner will be pizza. I haven't yet gone to the store and it's the only thing I always have everything on hand to make.

I know, you're all shocked by this news.

That's cute. How was dinner? I hear everything Saturday went superbly. Wish we could have been there--did I tell you that I tried to get plane tickets about three weeks ago? I remember mentioning it to Annabelle but not sure I followed up with you, I'm so bad. We needed to arrive Saturday and leave Tuesday, and there weren't any affordable flights--Alaska had just announced a sale for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, and the Saturday flights were gone in a nanosecond.

Gunther's dinner was actually quite good, and eaten in an air-conditioned house it almost seemed like a perfect meal. I ended up bringing a tomato/cucumber salad dressed with dill and sour cream, which was just right. I wish you could have come on Saturday-- It was one of those perfect SoCal evenings in the garden--about 80 degrees, a clear sky, lots of good wines, and of course great company. We had a houseful of guests, so stayed up past midnight drinking champagne and Jim's amazing Belgian beers.

Gunther's so cute, I can just picture him cooking. He and I must drink tequila together again some time--his has no accent whatsoever when he drinks tequila.

Saturday sounded perfect--the bocce tournament and everything. Annabelle was so impressed with your food and so sorry that the things she would normally kill for (your terrine, for one) can't taste right to her at the moment. She oohed over your roasted tomatoes, though, which is good guidance on what might be appealing to her when they come up. Our garden toms should be at peak about then. Any favorites for you among the wines?

Smoked sockeye salmon, cold sliced Fuji apple, cold sliced cucumber, dill and yogurt dip, pita garlic crackers, Billecart Salmon NV Brut Reserve.

Yum! I'm planning to start the cure for your salmon recipe today. I may go ahead and do some via the brine method that has worked so well for me, too, for comparison. I had some questions that I'll address in your other thread, though. Btw, I cleaned Bellingham out of the remaining bottles of pre-rising Euro priced Billecart Salmon BR's in Bellingham last year, and have yet to open one. What am I waiting for?

When the salmon is done and you aged it overnight in the refer to allow it to mellow...That is the time to break opne the BS BR and toast your success. That sockeye will melt in your mouth and the champagne chaser is not bad either !

I spent the day cooking for my trip--and my crew. So, I nibbled all day on corn and quinoa salad, a spinach and mushroom strata, and some zucchini, corn and bacon pasta. Kind of an in-house buffet!

[Jenise]

I spent the day cooking for my trip--and my crew. So, I nibbled all day on corn and quinoa salad, a spinach and mushroom strata, and some zucchini, corn and bacon pasta. Kind of an in-house buffet!

People must bust their butts to get on your flights, girlfriend.

Gunther's so cute, I can just picture him cooking. He and I must drink tequila together again some time--his has no accent whatsoever when he drinks tequila.

Saturday sounded perfect--the bocce tournament and everything. Annabelle was so impressed with your food and so sorry that the things she would normally kill for (your terrine, for one) can't taste right to her at the moment. She oohed over your roasted tomatoes, though, which is good guidance on what might be appealing to her when they come up. Our garden toms should be at peak about then. Any favorites for you among the wines?[/quote]

Can't say I loved any of the Beaujolais, even though we took care to keep them cool before tasting. Even my '03 Audras Julienas did not show well and that's one of my favorite bojo's ever. The cab francs fared better. I had a corked 2000 Del Dotto CF but was able to replace it with an identical bottle that was very good. Again, a good object lesson for those who couldn't detect the TCA in the flawed bottle (like Jim, he couldn't detect it at all, and it was stinky). BH of course hated it. He only liked the herbal Loire CF's. The votes were all over the place--most preferred the New World cab francs over the Old World, as could be expected in this group. Kriss brought a very interesting Italian Gamay which was one of my favorites in the bojo category.

[Jenise]

Gunther's so cute, I can just picture him cooking. He and I must drink tequila together again some time--his has no accent whatsoever when he drinks tequila.

Saturday sounded perfect--the bocce tournament and everything. Annabelle was so impressed with your food and so sorry that the things she would normally kill for (your terrine, for one) can't taste right to her at the moment. She oohed over your roasted tomatoes, though, which is good guidance on what might be appealing to her when they come up. Our garden toms should be at peak about then. Any favorites for you among the wines?

Can't say I loved any of the Beaujolais, even though we took care to keep them cool before tasting. Even my '03 Audras Julienas did not show well and that's one of my favorite bojo's ever. The cab francs fared better. I had a corked 2000 Del Dotto CF but was able to replace it with an identical bottle that was very good. Again, a good object lesson for those who couldn't detect the TCA in the flawed bottle (like Jim, he couldn't detect it at all, and it was stinky). BH of course hated it. He only liked the herbal Loire CF's. The votes were all over the place--most preferred the New World cab francs over the Old World, as could be expected in this group. Kriss brought a very interesting Italian Gamay which was one of my favorites in the bojo category.[/quote]

It's Wednesday night here and we just back from Georgia last night. So, we are having country ham slices, creme peas, and buttermilk bisquits.

Its Wednesday and we eat early dinner here. Dinner tonight:

Pasta alla Puttanesca con Vongole. Whores pasta with fresh wild razor clams served in a rich red gravy and a rather lackluster bottle of 2004 Dunham cab. Wont do a WTN because I did not like the wine well enough to find the high points. But the dinner was good and so was the Bocelli.

Yum! I'm planning to start the cure for your salmon recipe today. I may go ahead and do some via the brine method that has worked so well for me, too, for comparison. I had some questions that I'll address in your other thread, though. Btw, I cleaned Bellingham out of the remaining bottles of pre-rising Euro priced Billecart Salmon BR's in Bellingham last year, and have yet to open one. What am I waiting for?

Today is Thursday. Are you smoking fish yet ?

[Jenise]

Its Wednesday and we eat early dinner here. Dinner tonight:

Pasta alla Puttanesca con Vongole. Whores pasta with fresh wild razor clams served in a rich red gravy and a rather lackluster bottle of 2004 Dunham cab. Wont do a WTN because I did not like the wine well enough to find the high points. But the dinner was good and so was the Bocelli.

I like Dunham cabs. But then the first time I ever had a Dunham cab, it was poured me by Eric Dunham who I like in a rather rarefied-air kind of situation. I thought it good, not great, and marvelled that I didn't actually taste the 100% new oak. Since then I've had some aged versions and understand that's where the magic is--these wines need time to develop. The 99 is drinking very well right now.

[Jenise]

Can't say I loved any of the Beaujolais, even though we took care to keep them cool before tasting. Even my '03 Audras Julienas did not show well and that's one of my favorite bojo's ever. The cab francs fared better. I had a corked 2000 Del Dotto CF but was able to replace it with an identical bottle that was very good. Again, a good object lesson for those who couldn't detect the TCA in the flawed bottle (like Jim, he couldn't detect it at all, and it was stinky). BH of course hated it. He only liked the herbal Loire CF's. The votes were all over the place--most preferred the New World cab francs over the Old World, as could be expected in this group. Kriss brought a very interesting Italian Gamay which was one of my favorites in the bojo category.

One of the fun things about this group for me was always the fact that it contained both overtly new world lovers tolerant of overripeness and lavish oak plus some of us who went as far in the other direction for old world flavors and textures. You never know quite what to expect. Too bad about the Bojos--these days, almost every time I open one, I wonder why I don't buy/own more of them. In fact, yesterday I was in town picking up the wine for our neighborhood wine tasting tonight, and it turned out I was three bottles shy of what I needed to buy for the 15% discount. So I picked up three extra bottles for my own cellar--all bojo.