Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Al Dente]

Seared hanger steak (mmmmmm), arugula salad... tater tots.

[Pat]

Cornbread and butter

Roasted cod and lima beans

Spicy mac and cheese

Sliced roasted beets

 

The cod and limas is a simple Giada de Laurentiis recipe that calls for making foil packets with limas on the bottom, some parsley,  and a 6 oz. portion of cod on the top, with some white wine poured over.  I got distracted and left this in a little too long and the cod overcooked a bit .  

 

I hadn't made that recipe in a while, but I did remember that it makes for a pretty monochromatic plate, so I made sure to include other colors in the meal. The mac and cheese used Ye Olde Dragon's Breath cheese that I bought last week at Cheesetique.  It's a raw milk cheese studded with habaneros.  It made for a scorching hot pasta dish, but it was a nice change from the way I usually make macaroni and cheese. (I used ziti rigate for the pasta.)

[porcupine]

carrot salad sandwiches

tiny radishes with butter

The carrot salad sandwich recipe came from the Gourmet Cookbook (2004).  One piece of pumpernickel bread is spread with goat cheese, the other is spread with a green olive and caper tapenade, and in between go thinly sliced carrots that have been blanched, then marinated in lemon, olive oil, and spices.  This was surprisingly tasty and I'm glad to have enough left over for lunch.

Tomorrow night I get to cook for a club meeting; most of the guests are decidedly non-foodie types, but one requested chicken gumbo, so that's what I'm making, with rice and cornbread and a cherry pie for dessert (using the last of the tart cherries I pitted and froze last summer).

[Pat]

Baby arugula, pea shoots, broccoli, carrots, celery, bacon, Emmental cheese, and red bell pepper; champagne-caper vinaigrette

Brown rice spaghetti with tomato - basil meat sauce (beef and pork); shredded Parmesan

[zoramargolis]

Chinese chicken salad (traditional style by request, including canned mandarin oranges and packaged crispy noodles)

a 2011 Muscadet from the back of the wine closet that was still very good

[Tweaked]

Shakshuka (added red bell pepper and mushrooms)

Roasted potatoes with Zaatar

Various salad greens with radishes and avocado

Tagine Bread (Paula Wolfert, The Food of Morocco)

[DanCole42]

Several constraints contributed to tonight's excellent dinner:

• I've been trying Nathan Myhrvold's "quick dry age" technique: http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/quick-aged-grilled-rib-eyes.
• The NY strip I used was total crap and way too thin.
• I'm trying to eat my way through an over-full freezer.
• I wanted Bearnaise.
• I had leftover asian vinaigrette.

Therefore...

• So instead of Bearnaise I blended the vinaigrette with some soy lecithin, loaded it into my whipping siphon, and made some Asian foam.
• I seared the still frozen steak, then chopped it up into tiny strips.
• Microwave-steamed some garlic.
• Cooked some frozen Painted Pony green beans from last year's garden that were in the freezer.
• Clove, coriander, red pepper flakes.

The end result:

Stir Fry

Painted Pony beans / dry-aged strip / Sweet & Spicy Asian foam

[Tweaked]

Mushroom ravioli (Vace), pesto made from garlic tops* and basil from the sad basil plant in my kitchen, topped with sauted radish greens*, toasted almond slivers, pecorino, toasted bread crumbs*.

Market salad greens*, radish*, cucumber*.

Roasted asparagus (Yes Gourmet had some nice fat stalks).

* Yay first farmers market meal of the year that didn't predominately feature stored root vegetables!

[Pat]

Cornbread and butter

Pan-seared pork loin chops finished in the oven; capers; garlic

Wilted arugula with garlic and red hot pepper flakes

Leftover spicy mac and cheese

[ktmoomau]

Tonight was pork and beef meatballs over rice with broccoli, onion and green pepper sauteed in a lemon, white wine, butter sauce.  A little bit more of some homemade german chocolate cake for dessert.  Some Croatian wine.

Last night was NY Strip Steak and greek salad.

[Pat]

Baked chicken breasts a la Mom

Brown rice, red quinoa, and freekeh mix with carrots

[DonRocks]

I just noticed this mini-milestone, and figured it was worth capturing the moment in time:



---

 
ETA: Never mind, I could have sworn it said 50,000 - I swear sometimes I think I'm getting old.

Edited April 6, 2015 by DonRocks

[porcupine]

salad of spring lettuces, frisee, mache with agrodolce red wine vinegar dressing and sunny-side-up duck egg

Keswick creamery herb-coated soft cow/goat cheese

French breakfast radishes

Easter bread (kind of like challah)

enjoyed on the porch on this wonderful warm day; I feel alive again

[porcupine]

Ricotta gnocchi tossed with browned butter, served atop barely-cooked spinach with slivers of tasso ham.  I would have added pine nuts but was out.

[Pat]

Multigrain bread and butter

Leftover deviled eggs on lettuces

Leftover lamb and mint chutney

Leftover rice pilaf

[Pat]

I've been doing a lot with leftovers the past few days.

Last night's dinner used up the rest of a poached chicken and some already breaded and fried asparagus in the form of a chicken noodle casserole.  I made it the way I make a tuna noodle casserole (with mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, and white sauce) and laid the asparagus on the top, dotted it with additional butter and heated it all through.

Thursday's dinner was more for my husband than me, since I'd eaten plenty at the ballpark that afternoon. He got chicken soup (white meat chicken and leftover rice pilaf with noodles in homemade broth, plus onions, celery, carrot) and a lamb sandwich on multigrain bread with lettuce and yogurt mint sauce (leftover spicy mint chutney mixed with yogurt).

Wednesday's meal featured the last couple cups of spaghetti sauce turned into chili.  (It worked!)  I added some chopped jalapeí±o and serrano pepper, canned mild green chilies, cumin, hot smoked paprika, and homemade chicken broth, along with a drained can of red kidney beans.  The sauce already had beef and pork in it.  I let this heat on low in the crockpot for a couple of hours until everything came together.  I was skeptical of changing the flavor profile from Italian to Mexican without disaster, but it turned out perfectly edible.  It's good to have that trick up my sleeve.

The chili was accompanied by chicken nachos (white meat, jalapeí±o rings, more of the canned chilies, cheeses, tomato salsa).  I had some tortilla chips that were getting stale and this revived them and rounded out the meal.

[Pool Boy]

Grilled, porcini powder crusted veal rib chops, dressed with 25 year old (-ish) balsamico, 'smashed' potatoes and grilled asparagus. Served with a 2004 Match Vineyards Butterdragon cabernet.

It was a pretty darn good meal.

[DonRocks]

Grilled, porcini powder 

Porcini powder is what's served on the donuts at Rich Table - is this a "thing" now?

[dcandohio]

Deviled eggs with a bit of chipotle hummus mixed in with the yolks, mayo and seasonings

Baby back ribs brined in apple cider (from freezer) and beef stock, started in a slow oven and finished on the grill with a grocery store sauce that I doctored with beer, mustard, smoked paprika, siracha...

Roasted green beans with pecans

Salad of shaved root vegetables and greens with avocado

Jalapeno cornbread

The neighbors and I worked together to enjoy the first grilling night of the season. We dranks lots of wine and sang old songs around the fire pit.

[bettyjoan]

To christen our new grill (for those interested, we opted for the Weber E-210 propane grill - it is small, but it packs a pretty good punch and has a cool setup where you can remove the center grate plate and put down a griddle, pizza stone, etc.), tonight we did steak sandwiches with NY strip, sauteed peppers and onions, and provolone cheese.  Yum.

Such a perfect day for being outside!

[Pat]

BLT crostini

Chicken thighs with mustard

Mashed potatoes

Steamed broccoli

[darkstar965]

Porcini powder is what's served on the donuts at Rich Table - is this a "thing" now?

I'm not 100% sure I'm remembering correctly but think Zora turned us (or, at least, me) onto this in a post on some thread some time ago?

[zoramargolis]

For quite a few years, porcini powder has been one of my favorite non-secret "secret ingredients" for adding umami and depth of flavor to soups, braises, and tomato sauces. It's cheaper and easier to use than dried porcinis--no soaking or chopping needed.

Don't know if I have ever seen it locally--it'd be at Balducci or Dean and DeLuca if it's available around here.

I get it at Kalustyan's in NYC and at Surfas in Culver City (West Los Angeles). Both places sell online.

And darkstar965 is correct. I have talked about it here.

[Pat]

Last night:

Roasted pork tenderloin with adobo rub

Roasted cauliflower 

Brown rice, red quinoa, and freekeh mix cooked in homemade chicken broth

[DonRocks]

For quite a few years, porcini powder has been one of my favorite non-secret "secret ingredients" for adding umami and depth of flavor to soups, braises, and tomato sauces. It's cheaper and easier to use than dried porcinis--no soaking or chopping needed.

Don't know if I have ever seen it locally--it'd be at Balducci or Dean and DeLuca if it's available around here.

I get it at Kalustyan's in NYC and at Surfas in Culver City (West Los Angeles). Both places sell online.

And darkstar965 is correct. I have talked about it here.

Penzy's?

What is it, dessicated, ground porcinis?

[Al Dente]

Costco frozen pizza right before bed. Glamorous, eh?

[Al Dente]

What is it, dessicated, ground porcinis?

Yes. There was a thread on eGullet back in the late 19th century discussing this. I thought I had invented something new by buying dried porcinis, grinding them up in a coffee grinder, and rubbing it on some steaks. Turned out I wasn't so clever-- it's been done before.

Anyway, just grind those dry fungi up.

[Pool Boy]

We made this tonight--

Soft eggs, potatoes, lettuce of your choice, a dressing of lardons with shallot, dijon, red wine vinegar and sprinkle all of that with crumbled bleu of your choice. It's a smitten kitchen thingerdinger.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2015/03/potatoes-with-soft-eggs-and-bacon-vinaigrette/

I'd make it again.

[Pat]

Chicken vegetable soup with brown rice, red quinoa, and freekeh

Grilled bacon and cheese sandwiches

Salt and pepper potato chips

[zoramargolis]

Penzy's?

What is it, dessicated, ground porcinis?

It is probably made with the detritus, broken bits and stems of dried porcini that aren't primo enough to charge the big bucks for. It is much cheaper than buying dried porcini and grinding them up yourself. It is a very fine powder, like wheat flour, that mixes invisibly into whatever. I haven't used it as a steak rub.

[Pat]

Onion-dill-rye bread and butter

Rockfish soup with fennel and potatoes (LA Times)

Leftover brown rice, red quinoa, and freekeh mix

I tinkered around with the soup recipe, since I didn't want to deal with a whole fish.  Instead of making a broth from the head and bones, etc., I started with the next step, adding fennel, leek, carrot, etc. to a quart of boxed seafood stock and wine diluted with water.  When that had simmered a while, I added half a pound of shell-on shrimp and cooked until they were done.  Then I strained the solids out, keeping the shrimp and the scraps of rockfish I had also tossed in, and proceeded with the recipe, adding pre-cooked potatoes and littleneck clams.  It came out really well.

[dcandohio]

Salmon filet pan seared with dijon mustard and pomegranate balsamic

Ratatouille that I found in the freezer. I had forgotten it was there. It reheated well.

[ktmoomau]

Last night was pork chops from my Christmas pig (my Aunt gets my brother and I an animal every year and stores the cuts in her chest freezer so we can take them as needed home with us), green beans and limas with shallot, butter and garlic and Carolina gold rice.  Homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I've been so busy at home we have been eating out a good bit.  

[Smita Nordwall]

Last night was pork chops from my Christmas pig (my Aunt gets my brother and I an animal every year and stores the cuts in her chest freezer so we can take them as needed home with us), green beans and limas with shallot, butter and garlic and Carolina gold rice.  Homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I've been so busy at home we have been eating out a good bit.  

What a totally cool Aunt. Everyone should have one, especially me.

[darkstar965]

I really like Niko and Oana Adamopoulos, the young couple who own the cool "Mediterranean Way" shop in Dupont.  This past weekend, we stopped in and picked up a few products (one exciting and new; will try to post on that thread soon) including some really wonderful oregano, imported Greek Feta and orzo.

So, over the past couple of days, for dinnners made quite delicious thanks wholly to Niko and Oana's wonderful ingredients:

-  Grilled lamb chops in an oregano marinade with roasted potatoes and a fresh greek salad

-  Grilled Greek lemon chicken thighs with warm orzo tossed with sliced kalamatas, diced tomato and more of the feta.

It was all enough for three nights' worth of dinners but now, the feta and kalamatas are gone so we'll be moving from Greek cuisine to a few nights out with guests coming into town.

[ktmoomau]

Last night I decided to do some post work grocery shopping at the HT in Ballston, it was a madhouse and seemed to have really long check out lines.  I also don't shop there often so upon reviewing my list in the store and in the check out line I realized multiple times I forgot a couple essentials, like butter, mainly because I couldn't find them and turned around to go back.  There was other stuff that I just never did find.  The argument in my head was something like: can't you just get butter another time we have been here forever, you have 1 stick left you can make due v. you are currently in a grocery store, go get the damn butter.   I got so frustrated I picked up a rotisserie chicken on my last swing around because the whole process just took me a long time.  So for dinner we had rotisserie chicken, leftover green beans and limas and some oven baked potato wedges with garlic salt, salt and pepper and old bay.     

[Pat]

Last night was cheddar quesadillas with guacamole and sour cream; roasted whole chicken that had dill butter under the skin and had been spritzed with lemon juice, plus onions and carrots roasted in with it; and goat merguez sausages, which I had thawed from the freezer several days before and really needed to cook.  Unfortunately, I thought the sell-by date on the chicken was a little more into the future than it was (as in: already past), so I had to make that too.  I considered it mixed grill .

The sausages came from one of the Tuesday outside vendors at Eastern Market last year.  I hope to find him again.  Those sausages are great.

[bettyjoan]

Made paella mixta on the grill last night - it turned out really well, although I'm not sure the hassle of the grill (bringing ingredients and tools in/out) was worth it in terms of results.  I didn't get as much of the socarrat (the crunchy rice at the bottom of the pan) as I was hoping for, so I'll have to fiddle with things and see if my grill just isn't getting as hot as it should.

As usual, though, making and using homemade chicken stock makes a huge difference.  Time well spent!

[Pat]

Last night was multigrain bread and butter; leftover pot roast; and steamed green beans, snow peas, and broccoli that were dressed with a little soy sauce and hot pepper sesame oil.  I plated the vegetables in the middle of the plate of pot roast (which included onions, mushrooms, carrots and potatoes) and the beefy broth from the roast mingled nicely with the sauce on the green vegetables.

[The Hersch]

Dinner a few nights ago.

Not the best pizza I ever ate, to be sure, but the best I ever made. Puffy and chewy around the periphery, a little thin and wet in the middle. Tomato sauce, anchovies, mozzarella.

[Pat]

Rosemary biscuit

Salad with butter lettuce, radishes, cucumber, and snow peas; sesame-shiitake vinaigrette

Leftover pot roast over egg noodles

Steamed green beans

[Pat]

Last night:

Leftover broccoli cheddar soup

Breaded baked pollock

Fava beans with lemon, butter, and black pepper

[Pool Boy]

The Storm and the Slurry cocktails (gin, creme de cassis and lemon juice) - quite good

'Surf & Turf'

-A couple of grilled diver scallops

-a shared 'brontosaurus' ribeye

-frites

-a hash brown

-grill roasted asparagus

molasses ice cream with molasses candied pecan crunch inside it

2010 Match Butterdragon Hill Cabenet (Napa)

The crazy thing? We nailed ALL OF IT. The scallops, the steak, the frites, the asparagus, the hash brown, the wine and eSPECIALly the ice cream. The planets must be aligned!

[Pat]

Poached whole chicken

Cornbread and butter

Good Mother Stallard Beans with bacon

Wilted kale with hot pepper flakes and broth from the chicken

 

This went fine, except for the seasoning of the kale.  I couldn't locate my regular crushed red pepper flakes, so I used some habanero pepper flakes I did come across.  I didn't think I added that much, but my husband must have gotten all of them in his portion .  

[bettyjoan]

Last night I made Bobby Flay's Nacho Burgers, but unfortunately, the cheese sauce never really thickened.  So, I decided to save that for queso one of these evenings, and I just melted some good provolone slices onto the burgers.  The salsa in the recipe was really good - I didn't think I was going to like it because of the smoky chipotle element (I prefer a fresher tasting salsa, more like pico de gallo), but the vinegar balanced everything out nicely.

Also sipped on homemade strawberry thyme lemonade, with thyme cut fresh from our community herb garden.  There's something really satisfying about having ingredients literally growing in your backyard!

[dcandohio]

My neighbors and I collaborated on a cookout:

Pork tenderloins marinated in rasperry beer, Frank's hot sauce, maple syrup, garlic, olive oil

A few locally-made sausages (garlic, I think...)

Asparagus wrapped in bacon and grilled

Roasted Brussels sprouts and bok choy with olive oil and pomegranate balsamic vinegar

Salad of shredded kale and dried cranberries with a citrus dressing

A fruit tart purchased from the grocer

it was wonderful to dine al fresco!

[Pat]

We grilled last night:  a 2 1/2 lb. or so piece of pork butt with a dry rub that we've taken to calling "the secret recipe" because I made a big batch a long time ago and don't remember what's in it anymore.*  We didn't have any wood chips, so we grilled on a double layer of thin cedar planks.  The pork came out fantastic, really moist with a wonderful crust.

Served it with steamed asparagus with butter, macaroni and cheese with bacon and tomato, and more cornbread and butter.

*So secret that even the chef doesn't know what's in it.

[darkstar965]

Like Pat, we grilled last night too. Was that kind of night, I guess. The grill beckoned. :-)

In our case, it was a huge porterhouse from a local provider; the kind of nearly 3" thick steak one person could never finish. It was such a nice steak, I didn't want to mess with it too much. So, simple evoo and fresh herb rub with careful high-temp searing and indirect heat cooking to get to medium rare. Success! Served with a simple buttered orzo with herbs and a fresh salad with a lemon-caper vinaigrette.

Oh, and an Oregon Pinot.

Steak sammies and other TBD meals later this week with the leftovers.

[Pat]

Roasted chicken with cornbread stuffing

Leftover asparagus

[bettyjoan]

Sundays have turned into burger nights at our place.  Today I did pork/veal/beef burgers with sage fresh from the garden.  Yum.

I also harvested some of my arugula and made a simple salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, and shaved parmesan.  The greens were peppery and delicious - I can't believe I grew them!