Virtual Banquet Thread

[arf777]

The wind chill in my part of the DC area is currently -8F. So I made some (fat-free) egg drop soup

Recipe is
1 cup chicken stock (made from free range organic chicken and organic veggies- recipe available upon request)
1/2 teaspoon brunoise fresh ginger
1 jumbo free-range egg
green onion
salt and pepper to taste

Bring stock to a boil. Throw in the ginger. Reduce to a simmer. Whip the egg in a bowl and slowly pour in the simmering stock while stirring. let simmer 90 seconds. Pour in bowl and garnish with chopped green onion. You can thicken with corn starch, but I am not eating corn products at the moment.

Recipe for last night's chicken:

1 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into strips
2 tablespoons tamari
1 large garlic clove
1/2 inch of fresh ginger julienne (about half a tablespoon after chopping)
the juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons dry white wine
1 medium sliced shallot
~ 1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach

Bring a wok up to stir-fry temp. Add just enough canola, soy or peanut oil to coat the wok. Sprinkle the chicken with a small amount of salt and pepper and stir fry in wok

When the chicken is about 2/3 done, throw a splash more oil and the garlic, ginger, and shallots. Stir fry until the garlic and shallots sweat. Then add all the liquid ingredients except the lime juice. Simmer until chicken is nearly done, then add the lime juice and spinach and toss until spinach wilts. Serve with jasmine rice or Chinese glutinous rice.

 

[momofthegoons]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!

They both sound delicious. I am making the chicken this weekend.

 

[arf777]

A low fat chicken dijon, with brown jasmine rice and romanesco

recipe:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon extra virgin
2 tablespoons dijon
1 teaspoon fresh horseradish, chopped
1 garlic clove, sliced
2/3 cup of white burgundy
1/2 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper


Salt and pepper the chicken breasts and sear in the canola oil. When both sides have good color, reduce to medium high heat and add garlic, horseradish and the olive oil.

Deglaze with the white burgundy. After the alcohol cooks off, add chicken stock. Reduce heat to halfway between medium and medium high and cover for 7-9 minutes. Add dijon and reduce sauce until it thickens a bit. Strain before serving. Garnish with dill.

 

[momofthegoons]

@arf777 I made your chicken dish tonight for dinner and was very impressed. What a wonderful marriage of tastes! I will admit that when I first looked at the recipe I thought that the lime was an interesting ingredient. But the acidity made the dish. I can see adding a little bok choy in to give it more veggies.

Really good. Feel free to share some more...

And if you come up with something for the sweet tooth I'd be much obliged, lol.

 

[arf777]

@momofthegoons - glad you enjoyed it.

Here's an original dessert recipe. This one is not low in fat or calories, but it is delish - poached pears with mascarpone and aged balsamic.

Serves 2

1 ripe (soft to the touch) bartlett or bosc pear. If bartlett or bosc not available, a green anjou works, but needs to be cooked a little longer
1 cup Madeira
1/2 teaspoon light brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts
1 teaspoon good aged balsamic (at least 20 years). If no aged balsamic, can substitute reduced balsamic with a little added sugar, but the aged stuff is worth it for desserts. I have had a 250ml bottle last years with judicious use)
4 tablespoons mascarpone

Core the pear and cut in half. Poach in the Madeira, brown sugar and butter. Remove pears and let cool a little- want to serve warm but not hot. Reduce the poaching fluid until it has good cling

Put a tablespoon of the Madeira reduction and pear halves in a shallow bowl or old fashioned (wide-mouthed) champaign glass, pears with skin side down.

Put a 2 tablespoon scoop of mascarpone on each pear. Drizzle a half teaspoon of the balsamic on each pear and garnish with the toasted pine nuts.

Alternate version - if you have a smoker - instead of poaching the pears, macerate overnight in 2 tablespoons of brown sugar, 1 cup madeira and a jigger of armagnac. Smoke at low temp (~150F) over either pecan or sugar maple for 2-3 hours. Serve the same way, but you'll have to cook the madeira reduction on its own. I personally prefer this version but some folks don't like smoked dessert.

 

[Roger D]

 

[arf777]

Spent most of the last week recovering from the worst food poisoning I have ever had. And from a place at the farmers market I've been eating at with no problems for over a year. Not sure if I'll ever eat there again.

Finally felt human enough to cook. Stir-fried pork and beef with asparagus. Served with brown jasmine rice.

Recipe- serves 2:
4 oz thin sliced pork tenderloin
4 oz thin sliced beef ribeye
1 tablespoon rendered duck fat
1 fresh jalapeno, sliced
1/2 a white onion, julienne
2 cloves of garlic, diced
1/4 cup tamari
1/4 cup chicken stock
2 jiggers amontillado (or other sherry)
1/4 teaspoon plus a pinch of five spice
ground black pepper to taste
a handful of fresh arugula
1 large bunch asparagus, trimmed, cut in half and blanched

Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon five spice on the beef and pork and toss
Heat wok to high and put in the duck fat Once melted, put in the beef and pork and stir fry

When beef and pork are ~2/3 done put in the onion, garlic, and jalapeno. Continue to stir fry until onions sweat

Add amontillado and flame off. THen add the rest of the liquid ingredients. when it begins to boil put in the blanched asparagus, the arugula, the remaining pinch of five spice and the black pepper. Toss until arugula is wilted. Serve with white or brown jasmine rice.

 

[momofthegoons]

@arf777 that looks delicious!

Spent most of the last week recovering from the worst food poisoning I have ever had.

What a bummer! But looking on the positive, that's one way to diet! I've had a week like that and can completely understand how you felt/feel. I had the misfortune of having some Oberon red wine the night I 'succumbed' to food poisoning. That was 4 years ago and I still can't even handle the smell of red wine.

Well, I felt sorry for my husband this weekend. Poor man has been suffering through my 'diet' for weeks now. He's the type of guy that never gains weight. He's only gone up one size pants size since high school. So not fair, lol.

So what do you cook a hungry man? A stuffed pork chop (stuffed with an apple/cinnamon stuffing) with sautéed broccolini (with garlic and lemon zest) and a wild/brown rice mixture.

 

[arf777]

Some light continental fare- braised pork tenderloin in Tokaji and Polish mustard. Served with asparagus with lemon and fresh watercress. Woulda had brown rice but my new rice cooker shorted out. The small appliance gods must hate me.

This one is really simple.

Serves 2

1 whole pork tenderloin
2 tablespoons Kosciusko mustard
2 tablespoons chicken stock
4 fluid oz Tokaji

Clean the tenderloin and salt it and pepper it. Preheat oven to 350F. Sear the tenderloin in a little canola.

Deglaze with Tokaji and chicken stock

Cover and put in oven for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and let tenderloin rest.

While it rests, finish the sauce over high heat with the mustard and reduce until it has good cling. Slice and plate.

 

[Buildozer]

Carne Asada, Beans, Cheese, Rice, Potatoes and Pico De Gallo Burrito w/ the EVO for reference

 

[arf777]

Another stir fry- pork in plum sauce- pork loin, plum wine, yellow plum, chicken stock, baby carrots, asparagus, arugula, fennel seed, ginger, garlic, shallot, fresh jalapeno, honey, tamari. With jasmine rice.

 

[arf777]

I've been good and lost a little weight. So I made myself some proper fatty French food for the 1st time in a while. Braised pork tenderloin in demiglace and aioli - pork tenderloin braised in Amontillado, beef demi, mushrooms, garlic, shallots, and rubbed sage, garnished with arugula and horseradish aioli and some of the mushrooms. Served with sugar snaps in butter and Tokaji and a toasty baguette.

 

[arf777]

Back to lighter food. A fusion thing- roast sirloin and sugar snaps in oyster sauce and demiglace. Beef demiglace, oyster sauce, rice wine vinegar, white burgundy, tamari, garlic, shallot, ginger, horseradish, rosemary, and chives.

 

[momofthegoons]

That really looks good arf777. Looks like comfort food.

 

[arf777]

That really looks good arf777. Looks like comfort food.

Thanks. Did it with very little fat, but it was a pain in the ass. Veggies, sauce and meat all cooked separately.

 

[arf777]

New project- my first homemade mustard. Very simple French country mustard- brown and yellow mustard seeds, white burgundy, cider vinegar, salt.

Also have had pickles pickling for a week- will post pics when they hit full sour. Spices include black pepper, yellow mustard seed, garlic, allspice, fresh dill.

And am curing a corned beef, which will go in the smoker in a couple of weeks -- using some saltpeter, so it should be properly pink. Have to do some smoker repair before firing it up (new gaskets and some rust proofing- bad winter for outdoor gear) so I figure I'll do long cures while working on it. Should be ready to smoke starting in two weeks, at which point I'll have had beef corning for two weeks and bacon for a week. Will also get some fish and tofu curing shortly. I need a bigger fridge. If I had space I'd get a dedicated fridge for curing.

 

[arf777]

Chicken and roasted eggplant in spicy black bean sauce- roasted Chinese eggplant, stir-fried chicken breast, beef demi, fermented black bean, Chinese chives, garlic, fresh horseradish, sriracha

And I now also have sauerkraut a-krauting. Should be ready when the corned beef is ready.

 

[arf777]

Another, different fermented black soy bean dish- goat stewed in spicy black bean sauce, cabbage and peppers.

 

[Nooky72]

 

[t-dub]

goat stewed in spicy black bean sauce, cabbage and peppers.

You are eating goat? That is an acquired taste . . . One time when I was somewhere in Asia a "relative" leaned over while we were eating on the front doorstep and he asked me straight out if I had ever eaten dog before. I told him no. He said "You have now!" . . . To this day I'm still not sure if he was telling the truth, but I think he was.

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

You are eating goat? That is an acquired taste . . . One time when I was somewhere in Asia a "relative" leaned over while we were eating on the front doorstep and he asked me straight out if I had ever eaten dog before. I told him no. He said "You have now!" . . . To this day I'm still not sure if he was telling the truth, but I think he was.

Acquired? I grew up loving goat! Don't kill 'em too old or the meat starts changing. We raise our own goats, chickens, and a steer (every 1.5ish years) for eating. We also sell the goats here and there to those who would like to enjoy preparing it themselves. Usually birria or barbacoa, guess we make it great because we've introduced lots of non-Latins to eating goat and they've all loved it Butchers have the good meat, but the local people have better goats. We used to have some for milking and cheese too, damn wild pack of dogs out here in the country got to them and killed 4; we had to take the 12 out...

Hope the dog tasted good

 

[t-dub]

Hope the dog tasted good

It did. We had been slinging machetes all day chopping, stacking, and burning bamboo so I was hungry. I like goat too . . .

 

[Frederick McGuire]

Now you guys are making me want a nice goat stew...

 

[t-dub]

Now you guys are making me want a nice goat stew...

Bring it on Freddo . . . with pics please . . .

 

[Quetzalcoatl]

Now you guys are making me want a nice goat stew...

Party at Fred's!! I'll bring some trees!