Jump to content

Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog


JPW

Recommended Posts

Mache, baby arugula and spinach salad with tomatoes, bacon, cucumber, radishes, and feta or blue cheese; homemade buttermilk ranch dressing

Pesto orzo with zucchini and cherry tomatoes; parmesan and toasted pine nuts

Leftover grilled chicken drumsticks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tuesday night:

herb-brined, applewood-smoked eco-friendly pork chops with zq sauce

braised kale

duck fat-fried new potatoes

fresh limas stewed with onion, eco-friendly bacon and aromatics

canary melon

2013 Muga rosé

Wednesday night:

bbq'd chicken thighs (cooked the previous night along with the pork chops)

romano beans, slow cooked with tomato, roasted red pepper, garlic and aromatic herbs served with grated parmesan and basil

new potato home fries with smoked portobello mushroom and shallot

fresh peaches

2012 La Caí±a albarií±o

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Skillet meal of millet with leftover grilled pork, steamed green beans and broccoli, tomato paste and hot pepper sesame oil

Corn on the cob

 

I had thought of cutting the corn off the cob so it truly would be a skillet meal, but I prefer it on the cob, so there :P .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And tonight:
 
Mache and baby arugula with bacon, tomato, avocado, hard-boiled eggs, scallions, poached chicken, and radishes; homemade buttermilk ranch dressing; feta on the side

Whole wheat sesame melba toasts (TJ's) and WASA dark rye crackers with butter and soy spread

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last night was a mishmash:

Mache, baby arugula, gem lettuce, heirloom tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, bacon, and radishes; homemade buttermilk ranch; feta on the side

Leftover millet with grilled pork, broccoli, and string beans

Egg in a hole made with brioche

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tonight:

Hanger steak, pan grilled, with a sauce made from pan drippings, butter, mushrooms, rum, and blue cheese.

Kohlrabi, buttered

Idaho potatoes, halved long way, microwaved, then finished in the oven with a bit of olive oil

Ch. Patache d'Aux  Médoc '89

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Potato and green chile stew

Mushroom, green bean, and chicken casserole

 

The stew is a Deborah Madison recipe I found on the Food 52 site.  It's simple and made two decent portions.  The casserole was something I threw together out of what was on hand.  It needed something else. Since I didn't want to add noodles or potatoes, I left a starch/grain component out, but it needed that.  I think I'll cook up a wild rice mix to add to the leftovers to tie it together a little better.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lentil Sausage Soup

Halibut Alla Milanese

Steamed broccoli

 

I'm back to trying to justify my cookbook collection by actually making recipes from the books.  Last night, we had a wonderful lentil soup from Ina Garten's Barefoot in Paris (and I don't care much for lentils, so that's saying something) and an adaptation of a breaded, pan-fried halibut recipe from Jonathan Waxman's Italian, My Way.  The soup recipe called for kielbasa to be added at the end, so buying fresh sausage labeled kielbasa at Whole Foods was probably the wrong decision.  (I had pondered over buying turkey kielbasa in a vacuum pack and that probably would have been more suitable.)  I almost halved the recipe because it makes a lot but went ahead and made the whole amount.  We have a lot of delicious soup left over now.

 

The fish recipe called for four 1" halibut steaks, which was way too much for two people.  The steaks they had at Whole Foods were so large that working with just one looked challenging.  Instead I bought one piece of halibut fillet, that was about 1 1/4" thick and 1 1/3 lbs.  The breading technique was interesting in that it said that the flour-dredged fish could stay in the egg - cream mixture for up to an hour before being dredged in fresh bread crumbs (I used panko instead).  The fish was amazingly moist, and I'm not sure if that had something to do with its hourlong egg & cream bath or not.  Wow, that was good fish.  I'm remembering the technique, which is the only part of the recipe I actually followed :rolleyes: .

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spinach salad with bacon, hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, and tomato; white balsamic vinaigrette

Spring Mill onion-dill-rye bread with butter or soy spread

Brown rice spaghetti with fennel and sardines (based on a Mario Batali recipe)

 

We thought the brown rice spaghetti was quite good.  When I saw it at Trader Joe's this summer, I recalled an anti-wheat friend saying that brown rice pasta comes out the closest to wheat pasta.  I bought it to try out and I have to agree.  (Amusingly, right before I was headed home to make dinner, I mentioned the spaghetti to another friend, who turns out to love the TJ's brown rice spaghetti and gave me a spontaneous testimonial for the product.)  It was much closer to "regular" pasta than whole wheat pasta is.  I'll have to look for more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Earlier this week:

Lentil-swiss chard-baby red potato soup, with "butterscotch" pudding (a la Betty Crocker cookbook 1980). Need to find a better butterscotch pudding recipe, the vanilla and cocoa puddings from the BC book are good for a quick "I want pudding" fix, but the butterscotch just subs in brown sugar and the texture of the pudding is off.

Tonight:

experimental espresso black bean chili (with some kidney beans too), a la epicurious; side of hot cornbread drizzled with fancy grade maple syrup since I am out of honey. If the chili turns out terrible I'll just eat the cornbread....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tonight is blistered shisito peppers, leftover pork chops with a shiitake-red wine sauce, and more braised (are they) cranberry beans in pod with bacon.

Friday:

Mixed berries with cream
Avocado toast on onion-dill-rye bread
Leftover brown rice spaghetti with sardines
Warm dandelion greens with scrambled eggs and chives
 
Yesterday:
Grilled spatchcocked whole chicken
Grilled sweet potatoes with maple ancho butter
Buttered corn on the cob
Leftover broccoli rabe with mozzarella crema, [added] hot pepper flakes and orange juice
 
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Earlier this week:

Lentil-swiss chard-baby red potato soup, with "butterscotch" pudding (a la Betty Crocker cookbook 1980). Need to find a better butterscotch pudding recipe, the vanilla and cocoa puddings from the BC book are good for a quick "I want pudding" fix, but the butterscotch just subs in brown sugar and the texture of the pudding is off.

Tonight:

experimental espresso black bean chili (with some kidney beans too), a la epicurious; side of hot cornbread drizzled with fancy grade maple syrup since I am out of honey. If the chili turns out terrible I'll just eat the cornbread....

So how did the chili turn out?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Husband and I are trying to limit the carbs, so last night was chicken enchilada-filled zucchini boats (from Skinnytaste) and Trader Joe's roasted corn.

I'm not a huge zucchini fan, but the dish was spicy and interesting enough that I didn't notice the zucchini taste as much.  I will cook it a little less next time, since the zucchini was a bit mushy (which definitely reminded me that I was eating zucchini).

Catching up on reading this thread, and everyone's recent dinners sound so good.  Why not bring your cooking talents (and your lovely faces) to the DR picnic this weekend?  :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So how did the chili turn out?

It was meh, marginally better the following day,  but I'm not sure if there are any vegetarian chilis that I would like all that much. For beans, I tend to like baked beans or bean dishes with a strong sweet/sour flavor, while I very much dislike refried beans, red beans and rice, and similar (they are just like eating wall paste to me). Vegetarian chili is kind of midway between the bean dishes that I like and those that I dislike, so "meh" might be the best possible without moving out of the realm of chili. There are some meat chilis that I like, but the spice may just not be able to overcome the pastiness of the beans...  I was mostly testing this recipe out to see if it would work for potlucks with vegetarians in attendance, but I may keep looking.

Tonight: ciabatta rolls split and topped with mozarella and those little golden cherry tomatoes, popped under the broiler for a few minutes.

Future plans: scored a large cushaw and small blue hubbard (small for a hubbard) squash at the farmers market. Freezer space is at a premium due to summer pickings of blackberries, sour cherries, and raspberries, so I will need to plot out exact plans for pies, soups, and stewed squash before attacking either squash.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Stracciatella Soup

Green leaf lettuce and frisee with tomato, cucumber, and homemade croutons; miso-ginger vinaigrette

Sous vide poached King Salmon with horseradish dill sauce 

Boiled baby red potatoes with dill-horseradish sauce

Link to comment
Share on other sites

dinner with visiting cousin

bread with Maine cheeses: aged raw cowsmilk with ale-washed rind; peppercorn chevre

2012 Curlew RRV pinot noir

lettuce and tomato salad with vinaigrette

applewood smoked kosher chicken thighs with zq sauce

bbq kidney beans*

baked cheese grits with fresh corn and golden cauliflower**

rustic plum tart with almond crust

*beans pressure cooked for one hour with aromatic herbs and onion sauteed in bacon fat, then simmered ad infinitum with molasses, balsamic vinegar, tomato paste, pimenton, and fresh ginger slices

**a successful improvised dish created to deal with a disaster: pressure cooking cauliflower at two bars for four minutes results in mush. The mush got mashed and mixed with fresh corn polenta. Sharp cheddar was added, the mixture was poured into a buttered casserole dish and baked with the plum tart. Once a cheese other than reggiano is added to cooked cornmeal, it changes from polenta to grits. Whatever the name, it was delicious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Friday night: Gong bao tofu a la Dunlop (using pressed tofu and mushrooms); roasted broccoli;  ice cream "sandwiches" using hot from the oven chocolate chip cookies with a dollop of Talenti chocolate-peanut butter gelato in between.

Sunday night: cheese omelet, kabocha coconut soup with curry, cold coconut custard.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cod Paella (because that was the only fish that the Van Ness Giant had that looked decent enough to use as food)

Zaatar Roasted Potatoes

Grilled Yellow Squash and Eggplant, mixed with pesto, topped with breadcrumbs, sprinkled with pecorino and then thrown back in the oven to toast (So whatever you call that dish)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Night before last, home grown eggplant and tofu in a Thai green curry, served over jasmine rice.  An unusual meal in that I cooked something for myself instead of foraging from dregs in the fridge.

Tonight, Sweet corn, black bean, poblano (garden) tacos with lime.  Vegan for Mr. lperry who wants to try the Mark Bittman approach to weight loss and health, but with a random two meals a day instead of the "Until 6" concept.  We'll see how it goes. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

almost meatless Monday:

lettuce and spinach salad with sungold tomatoes

fresh cranberry beans stewed with onion sauteed in bacon fat

cheese grits with corn and golden cauliflower (leftover)

I haven't eaten any in years, but J had a hankering for Sarah Lee poundcake, so he went up to the store to buy one. served with vanilla ice cream and Catskills elderberry coulis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whole Foods recently had a special on chicken, so we have been eating lots of chicken lately.

Baby arugula salad with tomatoes, mushrooms, cucumbers, and miso-ginger vinaigrette

Grilled chicken drumsticks, thighs, and breasts
Grilled portobello mushrooms stuffed with wild rice, brown rice, wheat and rye berries mix
Corn on the cob
Horseradish-dill mashed cauliflower 
 
Roast chicken with potatoes, lemons, capers, and mixed greens
 
Leftover grilled chicken legs and wings
Cannellini beans
Fried eggs
Wilted greens
 
Baby arugula with tomatoes, mushrooms, and cucumbers; miso-ginger vinaigrette
Chicken sandwiches on onion-dill-rye toast with baby arugula and home-pickled banana peppers
Fried potatoes
 
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Leftover turkey chili (much better than the recent attempt at vegetarian chili), and a single sautéed wine cap mushroom from my garden (because only one was the correct ripeness and I haven't tried any before so I wanted to minimize the chances of dying, haha).

My community garden plot is heavily shaded (don't get me started), so last spring I put in two beds of wood chips with wine cap spawn, and another bed of straw/manure with shaggy mane spawn. This week both beds of wine cap started fruiting, but they are fast suckers and I don't visit every day, so most of the mushrooms are overgrown by the time I get there. Will need to try and stop by on my way from work while they are fruiting. I plan to keep adding wood chips and making new beds, so I can get additional fruitings later.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...