Virtual Banquet Thread

[arf777]

Last out of the smoker today, the pork shoulder. Cooling a bit before I shred it.

And a yellow BBQ sauce that is a little decadent - most of a bottle of grand cru sauternes, smoked yellow heirloom tomatoes, bacon fat, Vidalia onion, garlic, smoked pears, armagnac, fresh sage, pureed and strained.

 

[t-dub]

Giving some infra-lovin' to some chicken, fresh summer squash, and zucchini. Coated in olive oil, Real Salt, and Madagascar black pepper. @arf777 - see dishes lower right . . .
http://realsalt.com/

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

I'm not a vegetarian by any means but there's been too much of the meats and pork! How about some fruit? Plucked 'em off the tree about 10 minutes ago, ate a few that were so ripe they tasted like they were starting to ferment into wine or something also gave the neighbor lady that's over a couple, and moms ate a few as well. Still a bunch left but some are too far gone with the ants and birds so they'll just feed nature instead should have another bunch ready tomorrow or day after

 

[arf777]

I'm not a vegetarian by any means but there's been too much of the meats and pork! How about some fruit? Plucked 'em off the tree about 10 minutes ago, ate a few that were so ripe they tasted like they were starting to ferment into wine or something also gave the neighbor lady that's over a couple, and moms ate a few as well. Still a bunch left but some are too far gone with the ants and birds so they'll just feed nature instead should have another bunch ready tomorrow or day after

I gotta say I used to LOVE cooking with fresh figs - candying, stuffing veal with them, making sauces from them. Then I learned about the fig wasp and its attendant nematodes...unless your figs come from a commercial fig operation that pollinates in some other way, you are eating these guys. Not bad for you, but creeps me out badly enough that I stopped eating them.

I stopped eating escargot as well - check out a snail radula.

EDIT - Here's some snail radula action.

 

[grokit]

I've tamed the elusive wild strawberry!

The bees love the perimeter plants, so I've been getting plenty of fruit to snack on even though I'm letting them run. We'll cut those runners next year for a bumper crop from a lot more plants!

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

I gotta say I used to LOVE cooking with fresh figs - candying, stuffing veal with them, making sauces from them. Then I learned about the fig wasp and its attendant nematodes...unless your figs come from a commercial fig operation that pollinates in some other way, you are eating these guys. Not bad for you, but creeps me out badly enough that I stopped eating them.

I stopped eating escargot as well - check out a snail radula.

I've eaten stranger things before

 

[arf777]

I've eaten stranger things before

Oh, I've eaten nastier. I eat crabs and lobster, which are just huge sea bugs (but using similar logic, every time we eat a chicken or a turkey, we're eating a dinosaur, which is pretty damn cool). I eat yogurt, which is ALIVE. And live oysters at just about every opportunity.

I eat cheese, which is full of little microbe corpses.

I've been a butcher, so I know just how nasty prepping mammal meat actually is. Oh, and I grew up eating sweetbreads and tongue, until I found out what they were. My mom kept claiming 'tongue' meant something different in Yiddish than in English. And for some reason I believed her.

And I have likely eaten a jillion fig wasps in my day- figs were one of only three fruits I'd eat as a kid.

On the bright side, I know numerous vegans who eat figs, never knowing they are munching little animals.

I have to put okra right up there on the nasty list. Any green plant that turns not just gelatinous, but translucent, if you cook it long enough, I find highly suspect.

I have a related theory re half sour pickles, which I believe to be a conspiracy to get good, god-fearing (as it were) pickle people to eat (shudder) CUCUMBERS. If a cucumber is not pickled or in yogurt, I just cannot eat it. And that goes for their weird friend the watermelon too. Another conspiracy to get more veggies in, this time by pretending they're fruit. Like the whole rhubarb thing.

 

[StickyShisha2]

making this tonight
http://www.homemademommy.net/2012/0...cken.html?mc_cid=598f6aafe6&mc_eid=88f5cb85d1
Turmeric Grilled Chicken

 

[t-dub]

Grilled octopus tentacle served whole with deep fried Fava beans and a red pepper coulis. Very tender. Second pic is Diver scallops with squid ink pasta, pork belly, blue oyster mushrooms, and white wine.

---

 

[Stu]

Looks gross to me tbh, t-dub. But I had to like that post for the epic pic!!

 

[CarolKing]

Looks gross to me too. It must be an acquired taste. I'm glad you're felling better t-dub.

 

[Havelock Vetenari]

Looks aside,squid ink pasta is actually very nice in taste.
I love it and highly recommend anyone trying it.

 

[Seren]

Looks delicious to me t-dub! Scallops are one of my favourite foods ..... I've never tried squid ink pasta though - I think I may have to seek some out this weekend.

 

[t-dub]

I've never tried squid ink pasta though - I think I may have to seek some out this weekend.

@Seren - Try it you'll like it . . .

 

[arf777]

Squid ink pasta KICKS ASS! One of my all-time faves, especially with seafood. I'm actually going to a place known for its squid ink pasta (among other things) on Sunday.

 

[arf777]

Doing Italian this weekend, since my pasta maker came. Rolled out and cut some fresh fettuccine, concassed a couple pounds of tomatoes for ease of making sauces later (will be making a bolognese tonight). Used some of them with some of the fettuccine to make a simple pomadoro - tomato, garlic, fresh basil, extra virgin, and some asiago shredded on top. And it's on my new, much prettier plates.

Also have a beef stock cooking all day. Will make mushroom ragu from it later this week. Whole apartment smells like beef and tomatoes.

 

[arf777]

Got bored so I made the fettuccine bolognese early. Pretty standard, but used pureed concasseed tomatoes instead of tomato paste.

I'd forgotten how much fun rolling pasta is. I have a feeling I'm going to be doing it even when I don't need the pasta.

 

[grokit]

This was delicious. I've never had a santa clause melon before, it looks like a honeydew inside and taste like one crossed with a canary melon. With fresh blueberries and some strawberry-honey greek yogurt

 

[Nooky72]

British artist James Ostrer covered himself and some intrepid models with thick layers of candy, frosting, and other junk food in a rather unsettling portrait series. The photos are on display in his exhibition “Wotsit all about” at the Gazelli Art House in London through September 11th, 2014.

 

[arf777]

British artist James Ostrer covered himself and some intrepid models with thick layers of candy, frosting, and other junk food in a rather unsettling portrait series. The photos are on display in his exhibition “Wotsit all about” at the Gazelli Art House in London through September 11th, 2014.

Hmmm....I see the artistry and skill here, but it's mostly creepy. And the chef in me is like, 'what a waste of food!'

As a counter - a simple omelet of madeira-cured bacon and gruyere, garnished with diced tomatoes and some feta.

I have a ravioli roller en route so I can combine the smoker and the pasta- smoked pork & beef ravioli, egg yolk ravioli to go on a pile of pulled pork, summer squash ravioli with peach-cured bacon, etc.

 

[arf777]

from the pasta maker and the smoker- fettuccine in creamed sage pesto (sage, toasted pecans, asiago, extra virgin and garlic) with pulled pork shoulder. If you never had it, sage pesto sounds a bit much to some folks, but it is tasty, especially with some pork.

 

[SD_haze]

Hmmm....I see the artistry and skill here, but it's mostly creepy. And the chef in me is like, 'what a waste of food!'

As a counter - a simple omelet of madeira-cured bacon and gruyere, garnished with diced tomatoes and some feta.

I have a ravioli roller en route so I can combine the smoker and the pasta- smoked pork & beef ravioli, egg yolk ravioli to go on a pile of pulled pork, summer squash ravioli with peach-cured bacon, etc.

Having made many omelettes in my life, I can you tell I've never made one as well as that looks!


Here's something from a local San Diego eatery, Divine Pastabilities
Is it a torpedo? Is it pasta? Yes!

Torpasta: hollow out an italian roll, coat it with garlic, then stuff it with pasta.

 

[arf777]

Thanks for the compliment on the omelet. All i can say for that is practice, practice, practice. A French master yelling at you whenever you fuck it up helps a bit too.

Lunch today- fresh pasta in a mushroom ragout- made from a beef stock I made saturday, button and crimini mushrooms, garlic, fresh oregano, tomatoes. Topped with asiago.

 

[arf777]

My ravioli press got here a little while ago, so here are the first ravioli. Could be prettier, but they're tasty. Filled with chèvre and pulled pork shoulder from the smoker, tossed in sage pesto and a little butter.

 

[arf777]

More of the ravioli I made yesterday (chèvre and smoked pork) in a simple alfredo (cream, asiago, black pepper, garnished with a little basil).