Grun,

When are you going to cook for some of the locals?

Rack of lamb

Coconut chicken breasts

Chix vindaloo, basmati, garlic & herb nan and some 03 Pinot.
Pretty good but nowhere near as tasty as Akbar in LA. Why is it so hard to get good Indian food outside of the UK?

how was the bread,
i love the onion nan

this night i made for my girlfriend and rainer:

- fennel salad with mozzarella di buffala
- in oliveoil marinaded, grilled vegtables
- nilperch (fish) in eggyok fried in butter with old himalaya-basmati-rice and flat-beans
- homemade lemon-sorbet (the best i have ever done, because i had from italy lemons from the amalfi cost!

quote:

Why is it so hard to get good Indian food outside of the UK?

benchland - come to DC. We've got killer Indian. Traditional and nouveau. Seriously....

PH

We've got great Indian food here in North Texas. There is a city near here called Irving, it is like Little India. We have both North and South Indian cuisine.

Shrimp and pork spring rolls with the usual peanut sauce
Pan-fried cornish hen with flavored rice

Some real good Indian food here in Toronto too. Actually, you can find pretty much any ethnic cuisine in this city. Ahh ... the perks of the multicultural city I call home.

I'll have to take you guys up on some Indian cuisine when I visit TX and DC this year. We just might have to have some good wine too. I don't think I'm going to Toronto this year though.

Last night, Mrs. PH wanted some "comfort food." She's a tax accountant and was approaching critical mass when I asked her what she wanted for dinner. I made up a batch of:

Midwestern Style Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches

I first had these as a college student in Indiana, but my wife who grew up in Ohio also had fond memories of these from years past. Not haute cuisine, but damn tasty. If you don't want to take the time to slice and pound tenderloin, it works just fine with very thin boneless pork loin chops.

Slice thin and then pound to no more than 1/4" thick (thinner is good) pork tenderloin or pork loin chop.

Season meat with salt and fresh pepper

Dredge in flour, dip in egg wash and coat with plain unseasoned bread crumbs. Put on cookie rack or other raised wire rack for at least 20 minutes to dry.

Heat cooking oil to medium high in wide fry pan.

Brown breaded cutlets thoroughly on both sides and put on paper towel to drain. They NEED to be crunchy.

Mrs. PH eats hers in what she tells me is the "traditional" manner: On a fresh white hamburger bun with ketchup! I went outside conventions with mine, and served it on a whole wheat bun, topped with a mixture of mayo, ketchup and Suzie's Calypso Hot Sauce and leaf lettuce.

Damn good eatin' either way.

PH

Oh man, PH... you just reminded me of a great "quick" fixin' dinner. I know what we're having tomorrow!!!

"BBQ" Pulled Pork Sandwiches
Notice the BBQ is in "quotes". You'll need a slow cooker (Crock Pot) for this.

2 lb. pork tenderloin
2 cups of your favorite beer
1.5 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce
6 cloves garlic chopped

In a slow cooker, thoroughly combine beer, sauce and chopped garlic.

Add pork loin, and cook on the "low" setting for 10 hours.

When done, remove loin and shred (I use a fork for this, and just "pull" it over the meat in the direction of the "grain".)

Serve on a bun of your choice.

NOTES:
I find darker beer works better for this, I like to use stout.
After shredding the pork, you can add BBQ sauce (not the cooking liquid) to desired consistency. It is better if the sauce is at room temp.
I think Kaiser rolls work great for this, but to each his own.
Some great sides are: Cole slaw, baked beans, fries or corn.

mwagner,

Sounds great!

There is just something about the texture of hand (or fork) pulled meat. I pull chicken breast meat for my chicken salad nowadays. I like to vary the sizes of the pieces from some good sized (but still bitesized) chunks to truly shredded. Much better than anything you can do with a knife.

PH

Sorry, no Indian food here in Naples unfortunately. However we did find a decent place in Portugal in January.

Tonight, got tired of paying an arm and a leg for expensive cuts of meat; so I bought some Chuck Steak for $1.89/lb and beat the living crap out of it. Was a pleasant surprise off the grill, quite tasty and much more tender than I expected. Cooked rare with grilled mushrooms and zuchini; and our first taste of a Neal Cab. I brought one of my 2002's back with me last week. Very tasty. My wife said, "I have two palates these days, expensive and cheap. This is not one of the cheap wines." I never show her what I open until after she tastes it.

For dinner tonight I am having beef shanks braised in pinot noir, peppercorns and garlic and finished with a demiglaze to make a sauce, pinot noir infused mashed potatoes and pinoto noir and sage marinated portabello mushrooms.

quote:

Originally posted by Renquist:
For dinner tonight I am having beef shanks braised in pinot noir, peppercorns and garlic and finished with a demiglaze to make a sauce, pinot noir infused mashed potatoes and pinoto noir and sage marinated portabello mushrooms.

Like Pinot much? How do you cook the PN infused potatoes?

Tomato cream sauce over bowtie pasta with tossed Italian sausage, broccoli, and spinach

Today:

Lunch with vegetarian daughter..... Falafel with wheat pita, yogurt and fresh parsley.

Extra firm tofu, marinated in sherry and soy, in sauce of ginger, leeks, red chile and honey on basmati rice.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale NV.

Not bad for rabbit food, if I do say so myself.


Dinner with carnivore pregnant daughter... fresh linguine with meat and sausage tomato sauce. Ceasar salad. Baguette.

2001 Vietti Barbera d'Alba Scarrone.

Taylor 10 YO Tawny and a Macanudu Robusto.

PH

We did the pulled pork (see above) last night. Served w/ fresh corn on just baked rolls... YUM!!!

quote:

"BBQ" Pulled Pork Sandwiches

My stomach just growled! We did pulled pork last summer with the rotisserie on the grill; took about 8 hours. Your way sounds easier. Mmmmm, pulled pork.

Today : curry lobster and Dampierre Cuveee Ambassadors Champagne, fillet mignon and '96 Phelan Segur

Last night: Baumard Savenniers '99, Williams Selyem '97 Riverblock, '99 Haut Batailley.

quote:

Originally posted by PurpleHaze:
Lunch with vegetarian daughter.....

Dinner with carnivore pregnant daughter...

PH, you're killing me.

I had worries about my 6 year old daughter turning into a veggie, then I cooked up elk steak for a week after hunting two years ago. She couldn't get enough of it. I guess there is hope for her after all.

lou,

My youngest has been vegetarian for over 4 years now. Even worse, two years ago she made a 8 month run of being uh, uh.......a

vegan

Talk about a challenge in putting together a family Sunday night dinner! She is gradually showing signs of sanity, lately. She sampled a risotto I recently made with chicken stock, and has actually indicated that she might be up for a taste of my famous seared diver scallops in ginger cream sauce. I gotta take it slowly with this one. I will not relent until she's gnawing on a baby back rib bone!!

PH

Tonight..............

From an original, and constantly evolving recipe:

Crab Cakes!!!

Hey grun, how about a recipe on the lobster curry???

PH