What did you eat last night for dinner?

Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy

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Nice! I haven't had a good chicken pot pie in ages. Perfect for this time of year.

It was a nice change after all sorts of rich Holiday food.

Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy

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We had chicken pot pies, made from scratch by my wife. Delicious puff pastry on top, yummy!


Looks good but...why is there a letter G on it?

Originally Posted by Alter

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Looks good but...why is there a letter G on it?

G for come and git some, or his name is Georgie.

Originally Posted by Alter

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Looks good but...why is there a letter G on it?

My wife put our initials on each pastry.

Originally Posted by pocketsquareguy

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My wife put our initials on each pastry.
I figured, but considering your work on the "These are fake" thread thought that it might be indicating a cup size.

edit, question was already answered.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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Homemade falafel and pita.

Did you deep fry them at home?

I tried oven baking, but didnt turn out so good...

K

Originally Posted by VKK3450

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Did you deep fry them at home?

I tried oven baking, but didnt turn out so good...

K

For sure. Gotta turn that hood fan on high though, or your apt will smell like **** for a year. You could also just have a half inch of oil in a pan and fry them one side at a time if you don't want to d the entire deep frying thing.

Originally Posted by kwilkinson

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For sure. Gotta turn that hood fan on high though, or your apt will smell like **** for a year. You could also just have a half inch of oil in a pan and fry them one side at a time if you don't want to d the entire deep frying thing.

Word. Thank goodness for three good felafel options here in Philly (Mama's, Hamifgash, and Zahav for those who wonder.)

Originally Posted by philosophe

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Word. Thank goodness for three good felafel options here in Philly (Mama's, Hamifgash, and Zahav for those who wonder.)

I had never had it before, not done well at least. I was surprised at how well it came out. Should have snapped a few pics, since it's easy to make at home.


And now, Alter has inspired me. I bought some pork bones and am starting a pork stock tonight. Tomorrow the roomie and I will have some ramen. Pics of the process will follow so all you fools can see just how incredibly easy it all is.
To hold me over while making the stock: fresh baguette, Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam, Cypress Grove Fog Lights, some local chorizo, and local Sopressata, and some local country pate w/ black peppercorns. Life is good.

I made Huevos Rancheros, because I figured I'd try it out and I don't have time on weekday mornings. First time I'd made Refried Beans (not exactly a staple dish where I live), and it turned out really well considering I had no real battle plan. Made enough beans so I could also have them for breakfast tomorrow, oh yeah! \t

I went out for dinner last night... Here's what I had:

Local Cauliflower Bisque (roasted piquillo coulis, dried olive, green onions, shaved parmesan, truffle oil)

Roasted Lamb Rack " Mini Roast" & BBQ Ribs (Pan roasted baby vegetables, pumpkin seed pesto, serrano jus & burnt honey- tamarind BBQ paint)


She had:

Serrano Ham Tasting (blood orange oil, hibiscus poached pear, spiced and candied pistachios, Mahon cheese from the island of Menorca in Spain)

Carbonara alla Romana (Gragnano pasta, crispy guanciale, pecorino romano, organic egg yolk emulsion, 3 cracked peppers)


It was good times... and good food, too.

Originally Posted by Alter

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From scratch?

Ramen is one of those foods that is so good (and cheap) in restaurants that we usually eat that when we are out. It is like Japanese fast food...shops are everywhere.

Actually, it is rare for anyone to make the soup stock, roast pork or noodles at home. If we eat it at home we just use a packaged version and sometimes add a 7-minute boiled egg, some thinly sliced green onions or other vegetables and throw it all together.

I'm a little saddened to hear that.

Tonight, we made ramen. Tonkotsu, to be exact.

The process takes about a day and a half, unless you're one of those people who always has some kind of stock on hand. Yesterday morning, I got the pork stock started.
I chose trotters for the initial stock b/c they have such great gelatinous quality. So much collagen. Maybe a more traditional French food guy like SField, Manton, or Matt would hate me for it, but I like to use them in stock.
In this initial stock goes pork trotters (not roasted), water, onion, garlic, leek, ginger peel, and konbu. I let this summer for about 10 hours to get a pretty good white pork stock.

Trotters:


Veg:


Stock going:


It turns out pretty nicely.


Then, I let that cool and put it in the fridge. This morning, I roasted off pork shanks-- chose shanks because I wanted the really great flavor and didn't need to add a whole lot of body for the secondary stock.

Shanks:


The stock obviously needs skimmed the entire time it is going. After about 8 hours with the shanks, it has great body and great pork flavor. I start to turn it from a stock into a ramen broth by adding some green onion bottoms and more ginger peel, and at this point I begin to salt it.


That's basically it. Plate it with the noodles first, and then whatever you want with it. This time, I chose hard-boiled eggs, some japanese spice mix, green onion, pickled ginger, and a dot of sriracha. The dish needs a lot of work to become more visually appealing, but the flavor honestly just could not be any better.




Oh, and here's a shot of the ginger used for pickled ginger:


It is harvested young and still has an enzyme that reacts with oxygen during the pickling process, which is why it turns pink. Most places dye it pink with food coloring, but the stuff we made was all natural.

There you have it. It makes sense why someone like Alter wouldn't make it at home. It was about 20 hours worth of work, although most of that work is relatively easy, just spent skimming the stock. But when I'm somewhere that has good ramen, I wouldn't make it at home. It's so cheap and so good out. However, it is possible to make at home and this turned out really well.