Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[ktmoomau]

Tried to use my nasty maple bacon:  Absolutely beautiful Carolina Gold rice with a sufficient amount butter, parmesan, baked apples, and a saute of spinach, leek and maple bacon.  It would have been better with plain bacon, but it was ok.  The rice with parmesan by itself was heaven.  Love that rice.

[Pat]

Monday night:

Leftover cabbage minestrone with rice

Leftover poached chicken plus steamed broccoli and rainbow quinoa, dressed with sesame oil and soy sauce

 

Last night:

Whole wheat no-knead bread and butter

Salad of red leaf lettuce, baby arugula, radishes, cucumber, hard-boiled egg and bacon; white balsamic vinaigrette

Mini cheese raviolis in homemade chicken broth, topped with grated Parmesan and chopped Italian parsley

Leftover poached chicken 

Leftover creamed spinach

[darkstar965]

I had a large chunk of Virginia ham I'd gotten from Pam the Butcher at holiday time and frozen. So, last night for dinner:

- baked ham with a glaze fashioned from Sarabeth's Blood-Orange Marmalade, Dijon, Allspice and s&p

- big baked sweet potatoes

- fresh veggie salad with a sherry vinaigrette

[Tweaked]

Kimchi fried rice with tofu, broccoli, avocado, fried egg, sambal.

[ktmoomau]

Last night was bucatini with red sauce, sausage, leeks and broccoli. Garlic Bread and Mountfair Woolomoloo.

[bettyjoan]

Last night was a quick one-pot chicken and rice with onions, peppers, cayenne, soy sauce, and basil.  Not bad, but the rice must have been on the shelf for a while, since it took FOREVER to cook.

The night before was supposedly a one-pot Spanish chicken and potatoes.  Unfortunately, it fell pretty short - the texture of the sauce (which had tomatoes, onions, garlic, and eggplant) was off (probably due to my crummy blender), the potatoes cooked unevenly, and the flavors just seemed "meh."  The chicken was nice and tender, though, since it was a braise - what I think I'll do with the leftovers is separate the sauce from the chicken, give the chicken a quick browning, and then heat up the sauce with some butter and other spices - then I'll hit it with my immersion blender to try to smooth it out.

[Pat]

Baked lemon pepper cod with dill over sautéed shallots, baby arugula and radicchio with bacon

Macaroni and cheese

[Tweaked]

Tonight was leftover one pot wonder... Leftover mushrooms, swiss chard and tomato sauce thrown together in a pot. Throw in some leftover mushroom ravioli. Hit it with some pecorino and a splash of olive oil.

Served with a salad of watercress and avocado and a thick slice of rosemary bread with good butter.

Dinner in 10 minutes!

[zoramargolis]

butter lettuce salad with cuke, sungold tomatoes, avocado

meatball sub sandwiches: meatballs were made with a mix of eco-friendly ground beef and bulk Italian sausage. They were oven roasted and then simmered in homemade marinara sauce. Topped with melted jack and parmesan. The bread was Breadfurst "ciabatta baguette."

vanilla ice cream with dulce de leche

2011 Vií±ademoya Bierzo

[darkstar965]

Rough-sliced the leftover baked ham and made Cuban-inspired grilled sandwiches with some emmentaler, lengthwise sliced pickle and a good Dijon mustard all on thinly-sliced slices of levain from BreadFurst.

Tossed greens with a lemon anchovy vinaigrette.

[Pat]

Big salad of red and green leaf lettuce, radishes, cucumber, walnuts, and clementine sections; white balsamic vinaigrette

Meatloaf topped with bacon and basted with tomato juice (just like Mom used to make)

English peas, butter, and pepper

I saw the peas at Whole Foods.  They were organic from Mexico.  I try to avoid buying produce like this that will be available (more) locally when the season gets here, but I want winter to be over  so I bought fresh peas.  (I also bought some frozen ones, as I discovered I had none when I wanted to add them to my mac and cheese...)

[ktmoomau]

Baked potatoes done the slicey slicey way, served with poached chicken and microwaved cheesy vegetables.  This is part of my freezer and fridge cull.  

[Pat]

Beef barley vegetable soup

Chicken Parmesan

Brown rice spaghetti with marinara sauce

[darkstar965]

Beef barley vegetable soup

Chicken Parmesan

Brown rice spaghetti with marinara sauce

The Post had a great spread on all things parmesan a few weeks ago. Any chance that was part of the inspiration? It's high on our list for a weekend dinner before it gets too warm out.

[Pat]

The Post had a great spread on all things parmesan a few weeks ago. Any chance that was part of the inspiration? It's high on our list for a weekend dinner before it gets too warm out.

No, this is from a quick and easy recipe I saw on a blog.  It originally came from the cookbook Sheet Pan Suppers by Molly Gilbert.  I liked it so much the first time I made it that I bought the cookbook.  Looking through the cookbook, though, the recipes all seem to follow the same formula (e.g., lots of panko and herbs de provence in the recipes). Maybe I shouldn't be surprised by that.  I'm undecided on whether it really was a "must-purchase," but it has a lot of fairly easy one pan recipes.

I made a pork, onion, squash, and apples recipe from the book on Saturday that I adjusted a little (used pork loin instead of tenderloin) and it still came out pretty well. I'm making an eggplant and chickpeas recipe from it tonight.

Back to the Chicken Parm.  It's just breaded skinless boneless chicken breasts cooked in a hot oven until almost done, then topped with marinara sauce (I use less than she says), provolone and Parmesan and cooked through.  I have a slow-heating oven, and it takes longer for my oven to preheat to 400F than it does to cook the chicken.  Regardless of my final decision about the book, this recipe is a keeper.

[nelumbo]

Was running late and did not make it to the grocery this morning on the way to work. Therefore dinner was Cupboard Curry - dried fungus and black mushrooms, a lingering shallot, cans of unpeeled oyster mushroom, baby corn, water chestnut, and coconut milk, and some stuff I dug out of the produce bin including whole bamboo shoots, scallions, chinese sausage, and a big vat of Maesri red curry paste. Oh, and garlic. Finally broke open the blue label Megachef fish sauce, it gets a thumbs up.

The big rice bag is re-infested with confused flour beetles, ugh. I had almost eradicated them but they are back.

[darkstar965]

Baked ziti with meatballs made from dark-meat ground turkey

Mixed cold veggies dressed with an assertive lemon-Reggiano vinaigrette

2011 Langhe (Reverdito) Nebbiolo

[Pat]

Lamb tacos with radicchio, jalapeno, and tzatziki sauce

Sheet pan roasted crisp-topped eggplant with chickpeas

Brown and wild rice mix

[bettyjoan]

Honey mustard chicken and potatoes with rosemary

Steamed broccoli and cauliflower

[Pat]

Lamb curry over cauliflower rice

This was the last of a roast leg of lamb I made late last week.  The curry sauce made a good gravy over the cauliflower "rice."

[zoramargolis]

posole verde made with an eco-friendly turkey thigh instead of pork shoulder. I cooked the posole in my pressure cooker for 45 minutes before adding canned hominy, but the turkey was still tough, so I had to add more time under pressure, twice. Surprising how long the turkey took to get tender enough to pull off the bone. Must have been a tough old bird. Ultimately very tasty, though. I made it with homemade smoked turkey broth.

pico de gallo

tortillas and butter

Talenti vanilla bean gelato with berry coulis

Fat Tire

[zoramargolis]

Thursday dinner:

homemade cream of mushroom soup, made with oyster, crimini and porcini

grilled 4 cheese*, ham, and shallot sandwiches on rye-pump swirl**

*Idiazabal, Comte, sharp cheddar, reggiano

**I've been making grilled cheese sandwiches using Gabrielle Hamilton's method: spreading the outside of the bread with mayonnaise before putting into an ungreased fry pan.

[ktmoomau]

Last night we had crispy tacos made with thawed fiesta chicken, onion, jalapeno, jalapeno cheese and lettuce.

Tonight we had steak with a large salad with celery, carrots, radish, shallot, tomatoes, homemade clementine vinaigrette, blue cheese and a hard boiled egg.  Homemade white no knead bread.  Homemade chocolate chip brownies.

[darkstar965]

Defrosted a batch of some Joan Nathan stuffed cabbage I made a few weeks ago.

Made a quick cacio e pepe.

Both sort-of-Euro-Mediterranean things? Maybe not really so coherent but, with nearly 10" of snow outside, these worked along with the mediator: an inexpensive bottle of a Nebbiolo, though maybe that's also a contradiction in terms.

Green jasmine tea and some toffee and chocolates from one of our favorite shops in NY.

[zoramargolis]

Wednesday night:

shakshuka with feta, smoked eggplant and merguez meatballs instead of poached eggs

saffron basmati rice

sugared strawberries

2011 Vií±ademoya Bierzo

[porcupine]

Ribollita.  Used an Ina Garten recipe and was somewhat disappointed; it was a little one-dimensional.  Still hit the spot, though.  Perhaps vast quantities of grated parmesan helped.

[Pat]

Chicken enchiladas with salsa verde, avocado, and sour cream

[zoramargolis]

Ribollita.  Used an Ina Garten recipe and was somewhat disappointed; it was a little one-dimensional.  Still hit the spot, though.  Perhaps vast quantities of grated parmesan helped.

Now that you have tasted Ina's recipe and found it wanting, what will you do differently the next time you make it?

Last night's dinner:

early appetizer:sweet-spicy Korean fried chicken wings from H Mart

fat tire

later:

slow roasted farmed salmon with black sesame seeds

roasted bok choy with miso crust

rice

B&J's vanilla with sugared strawberries

2013 Nobilo sauvignon blanc

[dcandohio]

Tonight I am hosting friends who have beed exceedingly kind to me, and who asked for a meal to go with a sweeter wine. So, I bought some riesling and am making a German-inspired supper.

Fresh bratwurst

Fresh kielbasa

Weisswurst

Smoked Garlic kielbasa

The sausages are made locally.

I am grilling the sausages, since it warmed up enough here for the snow to melt on my deck and I can get to the grill.

Sauteed red cabbage with garlic and marjoram

German potato salad (bacon, onions, vinegar, caraway seed)

We'll end with port, and dates stuffed with sugared almonds, drizzled with olive oil, warmed and sprinkled with sea salt

[porcupine]

Now that you have tasted Ina's recipe and found it wanting, what will you do differently the next time you make it?

That is a good question.  I'm really not sure.  It doesn't help that I can only use a tiny bit of onion.  I run into that problem a lot.

[LauraB]

Ribollita.  Used an Ina Garten recipe and was somewhat disappointed; it was a little one-dimensional.  Still hit the spot, though.  Perhaps vast quantities of grated parmesan helped.

That is a good question.  I'm really not sure.  It doesn't help that I can only use a tiny bit of onion.  I run into that problem a lot.

Interesting.  If it's this recipe, I had the exact same issue when I made it for the first (and last) time back in December.  I can usually count on Ina's recipes to produce a delicious result, but this one fell short of the mark.  Even on the second day it was just lacking in flavor.  I made a note that if I make it again (which I won't), I should increase the amount of pancetta and decrease the amount of bread and possibly use diced tomatoes in place of whole plum tomatoes (which didn't break down as much as I would have liked).  I don't think your problem was a lack of onions because I used the amount called for and still got a lackluster result.

In fact, if anyone has a Ribollita recipe that they like, I'd like to hear about it.  I've tried several and found them all to be disappointing.

[zoramargolis]

I just looked at Ina Garten's recipe, and a few things occured to me. First, I would add chopped fennel to the vegetables. Second, it has no bay leaves or bouquet garnie. I would tie up a leek green with a big bunch of parsley, fresh thyme, celery leaf, rosemary, and fennel fronds. Third, I would put in a healthy splash of dry vermouth or white wine. To add extra flavor, I would sprinkle on some porcini powder--which is a flavor enhancer I often use--or, soak and then chop some dried porcini and add the soaking liquid. For more flavor, some anchovy paste mixed in with the sauteed vegetables at the beginning of the process, or a couple of teaspoons of nuoc mam with the broth.

[LauraB]

I just looked at Ina Garten's recipe, and a few things occured to me. First, I would add chopped fennel to the vegetables. Second, it has no bay leaves or bouquet garnie. I would tie up a leek green with a big bunch of parsley, fresh thyme, celery leaf, rosemary, and fennel fronds. Third, I would put in a healthy splash of dry vermouth or white wine. To add extra flavor, I would sprinkle on some porcini powder--which is a flavor enhancer I often use--or, soak and then chop some dried porcini and add the soaking liquid. For more flavor, some anchovy paste mixed in with the sauteed vegetables at the beginning of the process, or a couple of teaspoons of nuoc mam with the broth.

Will do!  Where do you buy your porcini powder?

[zoramargolis]

Will do!  Where do you buy your porcini powder?

On the internet, you can get it from Kalustyan's in NYC or Surfas in Culver City, CA. There may be other internet sources as well. I tend to buy it in person at those two stores, when I am in NY or L.A. It's one of my secret umami enhancers--I use it in any mushroom dish, obviously, but also in tomato sauce, any sort of stew or braise. You don't necessarily know that it's there, it just adds to deliciousness.

[porcupine]

Interesting.  If it's this recipe, I had the exact same issue when I made it for the first (and last) time back in December.

That's the one.

I just looked at Ina Garten's recipe, and a few things occured to me. First, I would add chopped fennel to the vegetables. Second, it has no bay leaves or bouquet garnie. I would tie up a leek green with a big bunch of parsley, fresh thyme, celery leaf, rosemary, and fennel fronds. Third, I would put in a healthy splash of dry vermouth or white wine. To add extra flavor, I would sprinkle on some porcini powder--which is a flavor enhancer I often use--or, soak and then chop some dried porcini and add the soaking liquid. For more flavor, some anchovy paste mixed in with the sauteed vegetables at the beginning of the process, or a couple of teaspoons of nuoc mam with the broth.

To be fair, I did not follow the recipe exactly.  I didn't have fennel on hand (rare for me), but I did add bay leaves and other herbs.  And a fair amount of fresh parsley.  It was really lacking in the umami department, though.  I actually had a bottle of soy sauce in hand and decided against it.  And then discovered that I'm out of Worcestershire sauce.  Vermouth or white wine would have been a big help, but I didn't have them on hand, either. 

Maybe I'm too frugal a cook.  I don't like to open a bottle of wine just to use a few splashes, and I really can't drink much.  Unless I plan several meals in a row that require wine, I just don't bother.  Can't stand to pour 2/3 of a bottle down the drain.

[darkstar965]

That's the one.

 ...

Maybe I'm too frugal a cook.  I don't like to open a bottle of wine just to use a few splashes, and I really can't drink much.  Unless I plan several meals in a row that require wine, I just don't bother.  Can't stand to pour 2/3 of a bottle down the drain.

We struggle with this too but, without really knowing whether it was a good idea, refrigerated open vermouth for quite some time after opening it. Checking online, seems that may be okay along with some other white wines.

http://www.drinkhacker.com/2009/01/21/how-long-does-vermouth-last/

[Pat]

I have not made ribollita in some time, but I've made the version from The Silver Spoon.  It's different from that Ina recipe, much simpler.  All I remember is that it's very hearty but it's not terribly distinctive in my mind either.  It has potatoes in it and black leaf kale.  The interesting difference is that the bread is put on the bottom of a casserole, with the soup poured over, and then that's heated in the oven for a while.

It calls for no alcohol and just water, no stock.

[zoramargolis]

For those of us who are into food, have sophisticated palates, enjoy intense flavors, some of what comes out of the "poverty kitchen" of various cultures can seem flat or uninteresting. Carrots, celery, kale, potatoes, some tomatoes and an onion cooked in a big potful of water is just not going to be ambrosial. We look at the recipe and see healthful vegetables and Italian tradition, and somehow expect that following the traditional recipe will yield great depth of flavor. However, the role a soup like this plays in an impoverished home, from whence it emerges, is that it fills the belly when one cannot afford meat. If ribollita is going to satisfy first world palates, it's going to need enhancement with ingredients beyond the traditional ones.

I learned from watching Julia Child on tv years ago, that a bottle of inexpensive dry vermouth should always be on hand to add small amounts to various dishes. It keeps for a long time without oxidizing or going bad. I wouldn't use my cooking vermouth for making martinis, but I only open a bottle of regular white wine to cook with when I am going to use the entire bottle, as in a pot of chicken stock.

[porcupine]

Zora, I get your point, but not sure that I agree.  I don't expect great depth of flavor out of everything I eat, and "poverty kitchen" cooking is something I ate a lot of in my youth - and still enjoy.  I often make simple vegetable soups, and really the only difference between them and a ribollita is the presence of bread in the soup.

[DonRocks]

For those of us who are into food, have sophisticated palates, enjoy intense flavors, some of what comes out of the "poverty kitchen" of various cultures can seem flat or uninteresting. Carrots, celery, kale, potatoes, some tomatoes and an onion cooked in a big potful of water is just not going to be ambrosial. We look at the recipe and see healthful vegetables and Italian tradition, and somehow expect that following the traditional recipe will yield great depth of flavor. However, the role a soup like this plays in an impoverished home, from whence it emerges, is that it fills the belly when one cannot afford meat. If ribollita is going to satisfy first world palates, it's going to need enhancement with ingredients beyond the traditional ones.

I learned from watching Julia Child on tv years ago, that a bottle of inexpensive dry vermouth should always be on hand to add small amounts to various dishes. It keeps for a long time without oxidizing or going bad. I wouldn't use my cooking vermouth for making martinis, but I only open a bottle of regular white wine to cook with when I am going to use the entire bottle, as in a pot of chicken stock.

This reminds me of Babette's Feast - all it would have taken to make that fish gruel palatable is a good cook with some seasoning.

[Pat]

Georgian garlic chicken

Stuffed roasted eggplant with farmer's cheese, steamed broccoli, and extra sauce from the chicken

 

The chicken was from a recipe in the Post last week.  It came out fantastic (really garlicky) and the chicken crisped and browned up beautifully.  I used chicken pieces (drumsticks and thighs) rather than a whole cut-up chicken and had 11 total pieces instead of 8.  They fit fine into two largish cast iron skillets.  I added a handful of fresh parsley (mostly leaves), roughly chopped, to the sauce ingredients in the blender, so my sauce turned out rather vibrantly green.  Even if I halved the chicken portion of this, I think I'd still made a full batch of the sauce for other uses.

[zoramargolis]

Zora, I get your point, but not sure that I agree.  I don't expect great depth of flavor out of everything I eat, and "poverty kitchen" cooking is something I ate a lot of in my youth - and still enjoy.  I often make simple vegetable soups, and really the only difference between them and a ribollita is the presence of bread in the soup.

An uncle of mine grew up poor on a farm in Poland. He emigrated to Canada as a very young man and some years later married my mother's sister, joining a Belarusian family of good cooks. He always waxed nostalgic about a soup that his mother made, that he had loved when he was growing up. Most of his family had perished in the camps during the war, but eventually, some time in the late fifties or early sixties, my aunt was able to get the recipe from one of his sisters, who had survived and moved to Paris. My Uncle Josef's sister swore that the recipe she sent explained the exact way that their mother had made the beloved soup. My aunt followed the recipe to the letter. And surely you know what happened: he thought that it tasted like dishwater. Porc, I'm not suggesting that the simple vegetable soups you still love aren't delicious. Just speculating on why Ina Garten's ribolitta recipe might taste flat and uninteresting to you.

[Pat]

Salad of butter lettuce, radishes, and cucumber; white balsamic vinaigrette

Baked stuffed pasta shells in tomato-basil sauce

Filling for the shells was kale, rainbow chard, farmer's cheese mixed with ricotta, Parmesan, eggs, black pepper, and nutmeg.  I scattered some shredded Monterey Jack cheese on the top (no mozzarella on hand) and additional grated Parmesan.  I had the farmer's cheese left from making enchiladas and it doesn't keep long, plus a small container of ricotta in the refrigerator and pasta shells that had been sitting in the pantry who knows how long, so this seemed a good idea.

I could tell a bunch of the shells were broken in the box, so I just cooked the entire box, even though I knew I wouldn't need all the shells.  After using as many intact ones as I had filling for, I now have the remainder stored in water in the refrigerator awaiting some kind of further use.  Maybe I can find something utilizing the chard stems too.

[bettyjoan]

Last night was Ann Burrell's garlic chicken with Israeli couscous - I saw it on "The Best Thing I Ever Made" on Food Network this weekend, and it looked so good that I had to try it.  The only bummer was that the roasted garlic paste seemed to come off the chicken when I sauteed it.  It ended up in the couscous, so that tasted amazing, but the chicken itself was a bit bland.  Not sure how to solve that one...I could marinate it for longer, I guess, or maybe I could reserve some paste to re-apply on top of the chicken while it is baking?

[Pat]

Last night was Ann Burrell's garlic chicken with Israeli couscous - I saw it on "The Best Thing I Ever Made" on Food Network this weekend, and it looked so good that I had to try it.  The only bummer was that the roasted garlic paste seemed to come off the chicken when I sauteed it.  It ended up in the couscous, so that tasted amazing, but the chicken itself was a bit bland.  Not sure how to solve that one...I could marinate it for longer, I guess, or maybe I could reserve some paste to re-apply on top of the chicken while it is baking?

The garlic chicken I made the other night has the garlicky sauce poured over it at the oven stage.  Raw unmarinated chicken is pan-cooked on both sides until browned and then finished in the oven with the sauce.  So, yeah, maybe divide your paste into two batches and brush the second over the browned chicken before the oven stage.

[zoramargolis]

 Maybe I can find something utilizing the chard stems too.

Marcella Hazan has a famous recipe for chard stems that are first braised in chicken stock and then baked with parmesan cheese.

[Pat]

Marcella Hazan has a famous recipe for chard stems that are first braised in chicken stock and then baked with parmesan cheese.

Excellent.  Thanks.  I have excess homemade chicken stock in the refrigerator too.  Maybe I can somehow work some chopped up pasta in there too, since I only have one bunch of stalks.

[darkstar965]

Made a big batch of our favorite chicken cacciatore with Montebello linguine.

Salad with a basic sherry and balsamic vinaigrette.

Plenty of Reggiano for everything.

Only regret? Cold rainy day and car in the shop meant no BreadFurst baguette to serve alongside the dish,

Leftover Pinot Grigio

[The Hersch]

I learned from watching Julia Child on tv years ago, that a bottle of inexpensive dry vermouth should always be on hand to add small amounts to various dishes. It keeps for a long time without oxidizing or going bad. I wouldn't use my cooking vermouth for making martinis, but I only open a bottle of regular white wine to cook with when I am going to use the entire bottle, as in a pot of chicken stock.

Julia always had a big bottle of Noilly Prat on hand. Several years ago, as some of us no doubt remember, the makers of Noilly Prat decided to remove the product we in the US had been used to all of our lives and replace it with what had supposedly been the European version all along, a much different, more aromatic, less cooking-friendly fortified wine that's also ill-suited to the style of martini that most of us had also been accustomed to for decades. I don't know how that worked out for whatever conglomerate now owns the Noilly Prat brand, but I doubt it did them much good in the US market; I haven't bought their vermouth since, and I'm sure there are many like me. I now use Boissiere, and find it excellent both for cooking and for martinis. I keep a litre bottle in the fridge, and think of it (as I used to think of Noilly Prat) as the cook's best friend.

[porcupine]

With Mr. P out for the night and half a head of cabbage left from making ribollita last week, I went for comfort food: cabbage and noodles.  You know, poverty kitchen cooking.