What did you eat last night for dinner?

Originally Posted by Manton

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Dude, that is about as close to flat as you can get a piece of skin-on fish like that.
Not really. Check the corners. You can see how far the sides are off the plate. I'm not trying to be nit-picky. Just trying to help a brotha out.

Here is my ballotine. This is an "update" of my family's iconic recipe. Roast chicken, seasoned a certain way, with a proprietary spinach stuffing, sliced potatoes, carrots and onions.

In this case, the chicken is boned and rolled. The stuffing is the same. The brown thing is 1/6 of a Pommes Anna cake. Normally, the carrots would be cut on the bias and cooked in the roasting pan with sliced onions, but in this case the carrots are turned and glazed and the onions are glazed pearl. The family recipe does not have a sauce but I provided one using the chicken carcass and bones.

The spinach stuffing is both rolled into the ballotine and also I cooked the excess separately and plated a little of it and rested the slice of the chicken on top.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Not really. Check the corners. You can see how far the sides are off the plate.

I have no idea what you are talking about.

mm, there are things I would have done differently, but as ever, it's very pretty, and the fish looks great.

Originally Posted by KJT

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Did you make this? Care to share the recipe?
No problem! Pretty simple. I use a 9.85/7.9/2.75" casserole dish. This here fits perfectly to the top. 1.65 lb mascarpone (3 normal packages here) 6cl Amaretto 5 eggs (5 egg yolks, ~2 egg whites) ~1/2 a cup of sugar (120g) enough coffee, I need 2 portions of my Bialetti brikka.. say 200ml Ladyfingers, about 7-10.5oz (I hope the measurements are okay, tried to convert it for you) Now, you whip together the 5 egg yolks and the sugar (maybe confectioner's sugar) until creamy. (funny thing is, this time I didn't do this step.. maybe this is the key? ) Mix in the mascarpone and 3cl of the Amaretto. Whip 2 egg whites. Stir half of it under the mascarpone, fold in the other half. (this isn't mandatory. it makes the cream more fluffy.. try it out for yourself which you prefer). Mix the remaining Amaretto with the coffee. Now you stick the ladyfingers in the coffee-Amaretto (let it cool a bit before doing this) mixture. Not too long, not too short either. Now layer it. ladyfingers-mascarpone-ladyfinger-mascarpone. Refrigerate it. The longer, the better. One day is good. This time it tasted awesome after just four hours. Maybe I used more coffee than usual so it smoothed faster. Don't add cocoa powder before refrigerating. Else it will soak and look sad. So fast to make, so tasty.

Originally Posted by Manton

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The family recipe does not have a sauce but I provided one using the chicken carcass and bones. The spinach stuffing is both rolled into the ballotine and also I cooked the excess separately and plated a little of it and rested the slice of the chicken on top.

How did you make the sauce? Mine left a lot to be desired... Smart cooking the excess and plating on top of it. Would have fixed my not enough stuffing problem. edit: Thanks for the recipe b1os!

Originally Posted by KJT

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How did you make the sauce?
I had some brown chicken stock on hand and used that. I took all the bones that I yanked out of the bird, cut them up small, browned them, set aside, then browned some mirepoix, then re-added the bones, then covered in brown chicken stock, added some herbs, simmered, reduced, strained.

Originally Posted by Manton

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I had some brown chicken stock on hand and used that. I took all the bones that I yanked out of the bird, cut them up small, browned them, set aside, then browned some mirepoix, then re-added the bones, then covered in brown chicken stock, added some herbs, simmered, reduced, strained.

Cool. That doesn't seem too complicated. I'll try that next time I cook a bird.

Me too. By the way, just finished my chicken stock. Got 1 liter out of my 400g carcasse. You made some yourself, too, KJT? Two small birds might equal one medium bird.

Originally Posted by Manton

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I have no idea what you are talking about.
Manton, fish doesn't come curled at the corners like that. It comes flat. If it was still flat the entire thing would be making contact with the plate. Look at the skinny end - do you see how the sides look closer together? That's because they've curled in. IIRC - the reason stems from the skin and the flesh cooking at different speeds.

Originally Posted by Rambo

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Manton, fish doesn't come curled at the corners like that. It comes flat. If it was still flat the entire thing would be making contact with the plate. Look at the skinny end - do you see how the sides look closer together? That's because they've curled in. IIRC - the reason stems from the skin and the flesh cooking at different speeds.

Eric ******* Ripert here.

OK, dude, let's see your fish. I can scan pics from TLF cookbook, which--to say nothing of other considerations--are guaranteed to show their food at the best possible advantage to them, that still show a little curling.

Originally Posted by Manton

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Eric ******* Ripert here.

OK, dude, let's see your fish. I can scan pics from TLF cookbook, which--to say nothing of other considerations--are guaranteed to show their food at the best possible advantage to them, that still show a little curling.
Quit being a prick. I've already said that I wasn't nit-picking and was only trying to give a tip. You, then asked me to explain what I was seeing. Did I say his fish looked like ****? Did I say it was prepared improperly? Did I say anything other than "if you score the skin it might help with the flesh curling"? No, I didn't.

I score the skin always, but it still curls a bit unless you put something like a burger press on top of the fish at the beginning. That plate looks nice, though. You need to get cleaner with your filleting, I think, mm.

Beautiful, as is to be expected. Those tomatoes compressed?

Did you get that recipe for watermelon cake from Nosu?