Show Us Your Dinner! (Home Cooking ONLY please!)

Proper Beef, Ale & Mushroom Pie

I finally got around to catching up on the promised beef pie.

I don't like soggy-bottomed pies. I like the crust to be nice and flaky. Also, do not like to discard the juices created during the baking of of the filling. So, I slow bake the filling, and create separate top-hats of crust, to be served with the filling.

The filling, baked in a Dutch oven, low and slow: Texas tri-tip, chopped onions, chunked carrots, caster sugar, flour, Shiner Bock (German amber ale from Shiner, Texas), quartered crimini mushrooms, reconstituted dehydrated morel mushrooms (and the resulting juice), a few drops of liquid smoke, and a bundle of fresh thyme, bay leaves and parsley.

The top-hats: flour, lots of European-style butter (less water & more butterfat), Dead Sea salt, and ice cold water, worked only as much as necessary to get it to press out after re-chilling.

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Enjoy,
Rich P
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Kung Pao Chicken

Strangely, I don't make very much in the way of Chinese food. Frankly, I'm a bit intimidated by it. I know, considering all the stuff I make, for me to be intimidated by Chinese. Nevertheless, I am. My taste for Chinese food overwhelmed me the other night, so intimidation had to take a back seat.

As is my tendency, especially in my old age, I tweaked the traditional recipe just a little bit, for a unique twist.

I really enjoy the flavor and texture of chicken thigh meat. I am not a great fan of the qualities of breast meat in stir fry dishes. So, I skinned and de-boned some thighs. I don't like to waste things, so the removed parts went into a saucepan with some spices and water, for something to supplement the dinner for our Great Pyrenees. the meat went into a traditional marinade: mushroom-infused soy sauce, rice wine, and cornstarch. I like to use the mushroom-infused soy sauce, for a nice tweak of flavor.

Now, to the stir-fry. I tweaked the dish from a traditional one, adding star anise and black cardamom to the spices, and zucchini, Thai dragon chilis, and red sweet pepper to the vegetable complement. Otherwise, the rest of the ingredients were traditional: the marinaded chicken, Chinese black vinegar, mushroom-infused soy sauce, hoisin sauce, sesame oil, sugar, cornstarch, Sichuan pepper, scallions, minced garlic, minced ginger, dry-roasted peanuts, all stir-fried in peanut oil.

The dish was served with a bowl of special quality Japanese rice. We pay more for it, but it is definitely worth it.

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Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Tom Kha Gai

This dish is regular fare around here, but this pot was the best so far. I changed a couple of ingredients and quantities. The small changes made a big difference. There are tubs of Tom Kha paste available in Asian grocery stores, but I like the control of making this from scratch.

First, my beloved bride, and sous chef, made her famous spring rolls: spring roll skins, filled with fresh Napa cabbage (shredded), carrots (grated), glass noodles, and chopped cilantro). These were served with a nice Thai sweet chili paste.

Now the Tom Kha: cubes of chicken thigh meat, chicken stock, coconut milk, Kha (a rhizome like ginger but with a different flavor), lemongrass, heirloom tomatoes, sweet Hawaiian onions, kaffir lime leaves, quartered crimini mushrooms, Thai dragon chiles, salt, fresh-squeezed lime juice, and chopped cilantro. As I am wont to do, I tweaked the recipe, adding a sweet pepper and a bit of high quality Vietnamese fish sauce. I modified my normal recipe by replacing my normal chicken stock, with a different brand, and wow, what a difference. I also doubled my coconut milk, and used a different brand that usual, to a wonderful, rich effect.

Our guest had never had any of this before, and she raved. We served the dish with a high quality Japanese rice and my traditional vodka grapefruit juice cocktails, the acidity of which really paired well with the Tom Kha.

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Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Sometimes You Want Something Simple...

We ate lunch late, so a smaller dinner would be just the ticket. so...

Hot pastrami on pumpernickle: pumpernickle bread and pastrami, both grilled in beef tallow; country, whole seed mustard, Durkee's special sauce, sweet clover & alfalfa sprouts, and shaved red onions. Served with a tasty hand-full of Trader Joe's potato chips.

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Enjoy,
Rich P
 
Looks real good! What is the beer?

-Dave

It was! I have always loved thai food, but for some reason I've never tried to cook it myself before. This won't be the last time, though - easy, healthy, and deliciuous :)
The beer is a Ginger Brew from a Danish brewery called Ørbæk. It's a barley/wheat type flavoured with ginger, and elderflower. Not the sort of thing I'd usually go for (in general I'm not big on flavoured beer), but it went very well with that dish.
 
Baby back ribs on the Weber Smokey Mountain
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Hickory and maple wood for smoke.

Homemade rub with sweet and heat, then some sauce to make it lip smackin' good.
 
Dang, you just had to do that now didn't ya
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I never did get my fill of ribs this summer...sigh
 
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