What's for dinner?

[Jenise]

Grilled porterhouse steak with potato-stuffed onions (IOTM), here. I'll be playing up the whole onion family, adding lots of chopped chives and other herbs to the potato mixture, and coating the steak with EVOO, lots of smooshed garlic and really coarse black pepper. The starter will be an arugula, raddichio and walnut salad.

Starter was a small tuna steak that I fried so that it was pink in the middle. It's rare to get such good quality tuna here that this can be done - usually its already going grey, so if I buy it at all I'll make it well done. I marinated it in some white wine, capers, lemon juice and rind for a couple hours and served it on some salad with cherry tomatoes with EVOO and Balsamico dressing. I don't think I'm much of a cook, but this was pretty edible. We finished last night's Trentino Sauv Bl with it - fair, but not great, match for the food. The food was too "meaty" for the wine.

For main course: Fillet of reindeer that I encrusted in herbs and then put in the oven until slightly medium. I also put a dish of carrots, turnips and potatoes with a bit of tarragon and syrup in the oven that we ate with the reindeer. This was a very fair match with the Poggio Salvi Brunello 1999.

For dessert: Suvi (born 1983) wanted a sweet wine, so Taylor's Port 1983 it was. And it was corked. This kind of sucked. But it did show some nice character before the TCA came out in full - TNs to follow soon on the other forum.

Zari got a 25 lb. turkey from work for the holidays and I've got it roasting away right now. This is a Thanksgiving meal redux with most of the trimmings, several guests, and my usually invisible daughter included. In a few minutes I'll be mixing up my extra-cavity stuffing and driving it over to Zari's for baking since there ain't no blamed space left in my oven with that bird in there. (I had to cut the Parson's nose off to keep it in my roasting pan, too.) Zari is taking care of the rest on her end, i.e. broccoli with cheese sauce, cranberry sauce, baguettes, and salad. I'm bringing a couple of bottles of (French) Beaujolais and (German) Riesling.

The turkey soup I made from the innards and neck is really good!

Alas, the day has not been without incident. My Polder thermometer fell into the bottom of the oven when I turned the turkey. The plastic lens fell off the front, melted and is now abstract art. I've also had my share of oversquirts during basting. Guess the I'll be using a few kilowatts of power to clean the oven tonight.

Yum guys! That sounds delicious!

Jenise - what kind of dressing for the Arugula salad? The potato stuffed onions sound fabulous!

Otto - Is Reindeer different then Venison? Dinner sounded lovely...sorry about the corked port though. What a bummer!

Sunday nights I do Spaghetti Bolognese...simply and easy, but still good.

Last night I did grilled salmon marinated in a soy/maple marinade, baby peas, and saffron rice. I had some leftover Cheapy young WA Cabernet Sauvignon and it actually went great with the dinner...I think because the Salmon was grilled and sweet, and the yellow rice was very strongly spiced so the wine wasn't too overpowering.

I am excited to here what everyone else is having/had...it's making me very hungry!

Otto - Is Reindeer different then Venison? Dinner sounded lovely...sorry about the corked port though. What a bummer!

Reindeer I *think* can be classified as vension, but frankly am not sure. I thought that venison was originally any meat that was hunted rather than raised. Though reindeer in Finland is raised, I think it still is a game meat in flavour - so might be categorised as venison.

I've never thought of the matter before: what really is venison?

Rigatoni with "gravy" and sausage, meatballs, and a few baby back ribs I threw in for good measure.
Robin Garr's Ultimate Baguette, and a green salad.
I don't know yet what I'll open. I've been on a bit of a Beaujolais kick lately - maybe one of those.

We cooked so much food last weekend and early in the week that we still have leftovers!!! So tonight will either be pork tenderloin or beef stew. The pork tenderloin was wonderful, prepped from a Bobby Flay recipe. Marinated in a mix of green onions, fresh jalapenos, fresh ginger, soy sauce, lime juice, and sesame oil then grilled. Reserved (before marinating the pork) some of the marinade for sauce. Paired with Trimbach Gewurztraminer. Yum!

Or the beef stew done in a crockpot with potatoes, carrots, turnips, and parsnips. Paired with Cotes du Rhone or maybe Mourvedre. With Cincinnati finally getting some snow, this could be the choice.

[Robin Garr]

Something chicken-ish here, although I honestly haven't decided what, yet. We've got some fresh thighs from Eberly's that need to be eaten while they're fresh.

Well, it's 32 degrees here in the Triad, and we're wavering between rain and freezing rain. In other words, it's a cold, nasty day. I'm dining solo tonight, and I'm leaning toward a simple goulash with some homemade bread. I can definitely use some comfort food!

We're going out to eat with my wine tasting group for our annual "Late is Better Than Never" holiday meal.


Mike

[Jenise]

Maria, the arugula will get the basic vinaigrette: garlic clove smashed in the salad bowl, salt, oil and vinegar added. The greens go on top, toss and serve. What saves it from tasting like any other is the mix of ingredients, the black walnuts and arugula are so magic together you don't want to weigh it down with conventional vegetables like cukes and tomatoes--just toss in the nuts and get out of the way.

Btw, I usually don't get to your posts before you get the answers you need, but I enjoy reading your questions on the wine side. Always fun to see someone so excited about learning about wine.

I'm sure your Spag Bol (as the Aussies call it, they've totally adopted this dish as their own) will be great. I could eat it once a week myself--but tell me, do you really have a tight rotation of dishes where every night of the week has an assigned standard? But hey, John Tomasso's cooking rigatoni--maybe we should both scrap our plans and go to his house.

Mike H--nothing wrong with leftovers!

Mike F--have fun tonight.

Linda--goulash will definitely do the job.

Otto--can you go into any Finnish supermarket and find reindeer right there on the meat counter along with the beef and pork?

Otto--can you go into any Finnish supermarket and find reindeer right there on the meat counter along with the beef and pork?

No. Usually only Stockmann's Delicatessen - the fanciest food shop in Helsinki - has it readily available. Reindeer is raised in N Finland, so it can be found elsewhere irregularily also. I can find it often enough that I never miss it. It is bloody expensive though - the only problem with it, IMO.

Maria, the arugula will get the basic vinaigrette: garlic clove smashed in the salad bowl, salt, oil and vinegar added. The greens go on top, toss and serve.

Jenise, I really like that trick of smashing a clove of garlic and rubbing the bowl with it. Gives a nice flavor to the salad but doesnt overpower it.

A technique that I picked up years ago and that I really like with this type of salad dressing is to toss the greens with the oil only first. Then they get a nice coating of oil that all the other stuff kinda sticks to.

Mike H--nothing wrong with leftovers!

Especially these leftovers!!! Looks like its gonna be the stew which is appropriate for the weather here. Time to find the wine for it!

Roasted vegetables in maple syrup glaze (very light) and top flight peppered tuna. Grilled rare. Paired with Terras Gauda Albariño "O Rosal" Rias Baixas 2005.

Threw in a mash of roasted turnips -- see recipe and technique in IOTM for November. Worked great. [Thanks Jenise for picking the Ingredient!]

Maria, the arugula will get the basic vinaigrette: garlic clove smashed in the salad bowl, salt, oil and vinegar added. The greens go on top, toss and serve. What saves it from tasting like any other is the mix of ingredients, the black walnuts and arugula are so magic together you don't want to weigh it down with conventional vegetables like cukes and tomatoes--just toss in the nuts and get out of the way.

Sounds absolutely delicious! I will definitely remember to try it out!

Btw, I usually don't get to your posts before you get the answers you need, but I enjoy reading your questions on the wine side. Always fun to see someone so excited about learning about wine.

Awww... Thank Jenise...you have such a great site here...everyone is so friendly and knowledgeable...and you all have truly inspired me to become even more passionate about wine!

I'm sure your Spag Bol (as the Aussies call it, they've totally adopted this dish as their own) will be great. I could eat it once a week myself--but tell me, do you really have a tight rotation of dishes where every night of the week has an assigned standard?

Unfortunately, yes, I do have a pretty tight rotation here...I have 2 young kiddos (not to mention a very picky husband), so it's easiest to keep to a tight food schedule, especially making things I know they like . I miss the days of making new and fancy things on a whim! Someday...

But hey, John Tomasso's cooking rigatoni--maybe we should both scrap our plans and go to his house.

Sounds good to me!!

Tortilla soup--good and easy to make.
Sauteed plaintain--yum
Homemade tamales with Colorado red sauce--shoot me, I must be crazy
Negra Modelo beer

Sushi and potato chips at work. I also grazed on boiled shrimp all night. Top all that off with a Nut Brown Homebrew.

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

rwj

Too much food. Highlights included peppadews stuffed with chevre and roasted, hummos, roasted eggplant and tree ears, wild mushroom arancini stuffed with bufala (we called 'em "crack balls"), Humboldt Fog drizzled with balsamico-honey.

Too much food. Highlights included peppadews stuffed with chevre and roasted,....

We had a carrot puree last night that was striking. It had a spicy aromatic flavor to it that we couldn't figure out - we were thinking maybe ginger with a little chili of some kind. According to the chef, though, it was nothing but carrots and peppadews pureed together. Great stuff that we'll be trying to make soon.


Mike

Too much food. Highlights included peppadews stuffed with chevre and roasted, hummos, roasted eggplant and tree ears, wild mushroom arancini stuffed with bufala (we called 'em "crack balls"), Humboldt Fog drizzled with balsamico-honey.

At the risk of sounding dumb, what is a peppadew?

Tonite something if a twist:

Tagliatelle with a string beans tomato sauce flavoured with crushed sea salt, coriander seeds, garlic and green cardamon .... served with grated hard ricotta on top. It is cooking now, but the sauce taste delicious already!

Ciao

Francesco

At the risk of sounding dumb, what is a peppadew?

They're small pickled red chili peppers with a really addictive combo of sweetness with mild heat.

Mike

What Mike said. They're South African in origin, but they've been showing up at Whole Paycheck and even a few Safeways in the olive bar.

Tonight (Monday), I used my leftover Colorado sauce to make huevos rancheros accompanied by bacon, hash browns and green peas. And Dos Equis. Good huevos rancheros are good anytime. Yum.