Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[laniloa]

Risotto with basil and roasted zucchini, sauteed chicken.

[JPW]

Funny about the cookbook.  I much prefer the Babbo book - gave Simple Italian Food away.

Well, if you ever feel like giving the Babbo cookbook away....

One of these days I'll get around to ordering a used copy from Amazon.

[bilrus]

Speaking of the Babbo Cookbook.

Last night I used my Asparagus from the Arlington Market to make a "Shaved Asparagus and Parmeggiano Salad" from the Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook and Asparagus and Ricotta Ravioli from the Babbo Cookbook.

Well, if you ever feel like giving the Babbo cookbook away....

One of these days I'll get around to ordering a used copy from Amazon.

Do it. I've not made a single bad recipe from this book yet. Although I have stuck mostly to the Pastas. The Babbo website linked above does have a lot of recipes in the archives.

Edited December 26, 2006 by mktye

[JPW]

Both look nice bilrus.

What's the dressing on that salad?

[Al Dente]

Just curious, but how does one "shave asparagus"? Seems like it would fall apart.

[bilrus]

Joe - The dressing is shallots, olive oil, lemon juice, champgne vinegar, salt and pepper

Al - The asparagus is raw, so it does hold up some. I don't own a mandloine as the recipe suggests. (I got really nice one for xmas a few years back and sliced my finger pretty good taking it out of the box. It went back to Williams Somoma - after I cleaned the blade.) I tried using a carrot peeler, but it wasn't sharp enough. So I ended up just using my knife (and medicore knife skills) to do a real fine julienne.

[cjsadler]

Goat cheese and scallion ravioli with black olive butter. This was from M. Batali's new book-- I just decided to make it a tomato dough instead. I have to figure out how to take better pictures with this new camera, though.

[bilrus]

Goat cheese and scallion ravioli with black olive butter. This was from M. Batali's new book-- I just decided to make it a tomato dough instead.  I have to figure out how to take better pictures with this new camera, though.

That looks really good. What did you add to the dough to make it a tomato dough?

As for the pictures, have you seen the Photobug thread on eG? They've got some pretty good tips.

Tonight's dinner for me was a Salumi platter with fixin's from the Italian Store in Arlington - Sopressata, Mortadela, Prosciutto di Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, some toasted bread and some assorted olives with my new revalation - pickled garlic cloves.

[hillvalley]

Tonight's dinner for me was a Salumi platter with fixin's from the Italian Store in Arlington - Sopressata, Mortadela, Prosciutto di Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, some toasted bread and some assorted olives with my new revalation - pickled garlic cloves. 

Be careful with that revalation...I discovered it a few years ago. The day after indulging myself in a meal just like yours I was informed by a student that "I smelled funny"

[Al Dente]

Goat cheese and scallion ravioli with black olive butter.  This was from M. Batali's new book-- I just decided to make it a tomato dough instead. I have to figure out how to take better pictures with this new camera, though.

That's a stunning dish. I gotta start working on my pasta skills.

[JPW]

Last night's dinner has inspired the beginning of an ode, "Ode to Stir Fry". Expect more bad poetry soon.

Tired? Don't feel like cooking? Looking for an easy clean-up? The humble stirfry has the answers to all these questions.

Put rice and water in rice cooker, plug in.

Chop up some veggies (last night was bamboo shoots, carrots, and onion)

Slice up some meat (last night was chicken)

Wait until rice cooker is done.

Heat oil in wok, toast some chili paste.

Add meat. Add veggies. Add some chix stock.

Cook through. Take off heat. Sprinkle with basil. Time to cook = 10 minutes total.

Easy as you please. Limited number of dirty things makes my dishwasher very happy.

[CrescentFresh]

That's a stunning dish. I gotta start working on my pasta skills.

Perhaps mdt will add it to the June 4 pasta class menu?

[cjsadler]

That looks really good.  What did you add to the dough to make it a tomato dough? 

Tomato paste. For each cup of flour you need roughly a tablespoon. Just mix it in with your eggs.

(Careful if you use that paste that comes out of a tube like I did- it has a fair amount of olive oil mixed in. I already use olive oil in my dough so this extra oil resulted in a dough with a hard to work with texture that had me cursing up a storm.)

[JPW]

Tomato paste.  For each cup of flour you need roughly a tablespoon.  Just mix it in with your eggs.

(Careful if you use that paste that comes out of a tube like I did- it has a fair amount of olive oil mixed in.  I already use olive oil in my dough so this extra oil resulted in a dough with a hard to work with texture that had me cursing up a storm.)

It's also very salty, so it is important to monitor theseasoning of your filling and/or sauce.

[Gastro888]

Roasted lamb, rice, and leftover veggies.

Dessert (which was before dinner, hee hee): A Vietnamese dessert from Eden Center - cubes of steamed rice jelly/dough with pandan flavoring, palm sugar and coconut cream. Oh yeah...

Must plan my carbing-up meal. Hmm. Pasta or mein, pasta or mein. Hmm.

[cjsadler]

Chive spaetzle and chicken and mushrooms braised in riesling. I love spaetzle, and it's about the quickest most foolproof thing to make.

[Gastro888]

Steak - pan fried, served with a side of white rice.

Mix the pan juices with the rice and gobble up like there's no tomorrow.

Ahhhh.

[brr]

chive spaetzle - looks and sounds delicious!

Chive spaetzle and chicken and mushrooms braised in riesling.  I love spaetzle, and it's about the quickest most foolproof thing to make.

[txaggie]

The spaetzle was yummy the next day too. I ate the leftovers for lunch.

[Al Dente]

Last night-- an enormous pile of spaghetti with Rao's marinara and about 8 lbs of Reggiano grated over it. For shits and giggles I added a quart of Cholula hot sauce.

It was one of those days.

[Gastro888]

Korean kal bi on the bone. Different than the boneless ones - I think I'll stick with the boneless next time.

Tonight - carbing up for the competition tomorrow. More kal bi and rice. Lots of rice. We will be a rice rocket dragon boat tomorrow at Thompson's Boat House!

[JPW]

Clean out the fridge night.

Cheese remnants, prosciutto that was a day too old, leftover pita from the picnic, some really crappy rose that I got at Paul's.

Shared a pear with Peanut.

[brr]

we had a snacky, cheese-dominated dinner w/ some friends and some wine incl a great Los Vascos Reserve Cabernet that I picked up at CW a few months back for $11 a bottle - drinks like a wine 3 or 4 times the price!

Cheeses: Belle Etoile, Shropshire Blue, Manchego, Montenebro and Forsterkase (an amazingly pungent, earthy, buttery cheese wrapped in spruce bark that some friends brouight down from Murrays cheese in NYC - I must ask Jill at the Cheestique tasting if she has ever had it in stock)

Wasabi peas from Whole Foods

Fancy Terra chips of some kind

[bilrus]

At the Arlington market this weekend I succumbed and bought some early tomatoes from Toigo after tasting a bite of the samples they had sitting out and I picked up some bacon from one of the other stands. You can see where this is leading.

But a few days ago jenrus watched the movie Spanglish - not my idea of a great movie, but whatever. In the movie Adam Sandler plays a top-level chef and was trained before filming by Thomas Keller. One of the extras on the DVD is Keller making his ideal sandwich. basically a BLT on good toasted bread with a yolky fried egg and melted Monterey Jack cheese. With that inspiration I gave it a shot.

No pictures, because it didn't look very pretty on the plate. But it was mighty tasty. The tomatoes were very nice for this time of year (can't wait for the summer to unfold) and the yolk from the egg gave the sandwich the extra bit of richness you probably didn't know that a BLT needed.

Edited May 27, 2005 by bilrus

[bookluvingbabe]

At the Arlington market this weekend I succumbed and bought some early tomatoes from Toigo after tasting a bite of the samples they had sitting out and I picked up some bacon from one of the other stands. You can see where this is leading.

But a few days ago jenrus watched the movie Spanglish - not my idea of a great movie, but whatever. In the movie Adam Sandler plays a top-level chef and was trained before filming by Thomas Keller. One of the extras on the DVD is Keller making his ideal sandwich. basically a BLT on good toasted bread with a yolky fried egg and melted Monterey Jack cheese. With that inspiration I gave it a shot.

No pictures, because it didn't look very pretty on the plate. But it was mighty tasty. The tomatoes were very nice for this time of year (can't wait for the summer to unfold) and the yolk from the egg gave the sandwich the extra bit of richness you probably didn't know that a BLT needed.

I've made something similar during the summer using the smoked mozzerella from the Blue Ridge Dairy. It's a pretty wonderful Sunday morning brunch item with bread fresh from the market. Takoma Bakery has a dill cottage cheese bread that's great and I've had great luck with Atwater's various breads.

Jennifer

[hillvalley]

Chicken breasts stuffed with prosciutto, provolone and lots of basil with sauteed snap peas from Market.

[FunnyJohn]

Spent yesterday smokin' -- a slab 'o pork ribs. Then it rained -- well, ok, spritzed is the better description, and I thought I'd have to finish them in the oven. But the Gods were kind and it stopped spritzing and I was able to fire up the grill to finish the ribs. Um-Um delicious. The secret (aside from apple wood) -- my hoisin based marinade and finishing sauce. Losen my tongue with a few glasses of wine and I may divulge it one of these days.

[JPW]

Hamburgers that would make Frank Ruta jealous!

The buns, however, needed an upgrade.

[bilrus]

Grilled pork tacos with mango salsa and goat cheese:

[Stretch]

Leg of Aussie lamb from Trader Joe's. Very nice. Pan gravy. Haricots verts and a spring green salad. Barossa shiraz (Shotfire Ridge, OK for the price.) Couple of Macallans.

Screw diets and screw abstaining.

PS: Bought a bag full of Bahn Mi from An Binh the other day and put some in the fridge. Today I nuked one for breakfast. I highly recommend hot white radish with your morning coffee.

Edited June 3, 2005 by Stretch

[squidsdc]

pho!

[wineitup]

It was didn't go shopping, let's see what's left in the fridge, freezer, pantry night.

Grilled spicy sausage on focaccia bread, grilled potatoes, mixed green salad with vine ripe cherry tomatoes.

Had it with an 03' Rock Rabbit Syrah, that opened up nicely by the end of the meal.

[Stretch]

It was didn't go shopping, let's see what's left in the fridge, freezer, pantry night.

Ditto. Cold leg of lamb and tapenade in wholewheat pitas. Hummus and salad on the side. Bottle of Abadia Retuerta. Power, and aircon, and fans, went out halfway through dinner so family repaired early to bed by candlelight with a couple of beers, on the grounds that they would just get all warm anyway.

[JPW]

Thai night last night.

Pad Ka Prow with chicken and larb with pork.

washed down with a couple bottles of Victory Prima Pils.

[FunnyJohn]

Had six split chicken breast halves to deal with (one of those buy one get one free deals at Safeway). They were Purdue's birds so I new I would have to spice them up in order for them to have some degree of tastiness. I cross halved each one and then sprinkled liberally with some Penzey's lemon pepper salt blend and smoked Spanish Paprika before throwing them on the barbecue over some mesquite. I whipped up my own barbecue sauce and the end result was quite delicious with plenty of left over chicken for this week. Enjoyed it with some ratatouille and a bot of Gruner Vertliner.

[mdt]

Sunnyside steaks on the gril, some greens with a simple lemon vinaigrette, the last of the ricotta torte, but most importantly NO TOMATO SAUCE.

That will figure into dinner tonight and many more in the upcoming weeks....

[mktye]

the last of the ricotta torte

The first one or the second one?!?

Hmm, we are also have something with tomato sauce for dinner tonight...

[mdt]

The first one or the second one?!? 

The second one was deemed unedible and tossed. I need to go back and re-read the recipe and see what needs to be corrected. Live and learn...

[Heather]

Thai night last night.

Pad Ka Prow with chicken

Joe, what recipe do you use?

[JPW]

Joe, what recipe do you use?

None really.

Lan Chi Chili Paste with garlic (Whole Foods). Toast the paste in some oil. Stir Fry meat. toss in basil and onion (or other veggie du jour). stir fry for a minute and then finish off with a little stock.

[Pete]

Picked up some nice Mahi Mahi from Wegman's yesterday. Briefly marinated it in a soy/orange juice/mirin concoction, and threw it on the grill. Washed down with a couple of glasses of Domaines de Pouy. Delicious.

[hillvalley]

Cream of roasted asparagus soup and a sirloin tip steak I picked up at Sunnyside. This was the first time I was disappointed with their meat. It was chewy and not nearly as flavorful as their other cuts.

Could someone please tell me why I felt the need to turn on the oven on the hottest day of the year?

[bilrus]

Cream of roasted asparagus soup

This is on the menu for tomorrow night.

Tonight I used the pasta dough I took home from Saturday's lesson as the basis for Papardelle Bolognese from the Babbo Cookbook.

Nothing like two light meals in a row on hot summer nights.

Edited June 7, 2005 by bilrus

[CrescentFresh]

Could someone please tell me why I felt the need to turn on the oven on the hottest day of the year?

I did the same thing. Must be some kind of curse or something.

[JPW]

Grilled Caribbean-marinaded tuna steaks.

Pouch fried peppers

Steamed broccoli

Hugues Beaulieu Picpoul de Pinet

[Stretch]

Pouch fried peppers

How do?

[JPW]

How do?

"Pouch fried" was the best term I could come up with

Thinly sliced bell peppers with lots of olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.

Put in aluminum foil pouch and toss on back of grill.

[bilrus]

St. Louis style pizza made from mail order fixin's:

[bookluvingbabe]

OMG! My husband would plotz if I showed this to him.

Took him to St. Louis, showed him Amighettis, took him to Steak and Shake, made him toasted ravioli. (It was too cold for Ted Drewes.) Bought him Bissingers Chocolates. What is he still talking about six months later?

Imos Pizza. I've never seen a non-native take to it the way he did.

So the mail-order stuff from Imos works well????

Jennifer

[bilrus]

OMG! My husband would plotz if I showed this to him.

Took him to St. Louis, showed him Amighettis, took him to Steak and Shake, made him toasted ravioli. (It was too cold for Ted Drewes.) Bought him Bissingers Chocolates. What is he still talking about six months later?

Imos Pizza. I've never seen a non-native take to it the way he did.

So the mail-order stuff from Imos works well????

Jennifer

Yep it works very well. If you want to read more, I expounded a bit in this thread.

And my Ohioan wife didn't miss a beat in helping me put away the two pizzas I made tonight. She picked up the habit (and many of the others you mentioned above) pretty quickly. Edited July 30, 2013 by RWBooneJr.