Last night was another clean out the refrigerator meal:

goat cheese and basil ravioli with creme fraiche, parmesan, herbs, and smoked salmon
blanched asparagus, red and yellow peppers with Caesar dressing for dipping

(Leftovers for breakfast this morning were quite good.)

A too busy to cook meal of leftovers was the menu for me last night:

Korean short ribs
Feta cheese, kalamata olives and fresh oregano in toasted pita
Caio Bella vanilla gelato from the carton

Baked Goat Cheese and Garden Lettuces (Chez Panisse Cafe Cookbook)
Roasted Beet Farrotto (Babbo Cookbook)
Broiled Cod with Champagne Mango and Peach Salsa

(I'd never heard of champagne mangos before but saw them at Whole Foods and thought they'd be good for salsa. Two of them and one peach, chopped parsley, plus some lime juice, s + p, made a nice chunky salsa for the fish.)

Risotto with red cabbage and pancetta (from Marcella Cucina cookbook)
Artichoke crostini

Day five of my Wegman's-catered housewarming party leftover-a-thon:
Chips & dip, veggies, potato salad, macaroni salad, tortellini salad, regular salad, sandwich wraps, cookies, soda, and beer for 25 people for less than $10/person... plus lunch and dinner for me and the Mrs. throughout the week

Potato salad going bad... must... finish...

Artichokes with lemon-miso vinaigrette
Spiced carrot-leek soup with yogurt
Marinated fool (dried favas) and chickpeas
Roasted medjool dates stuffed with homemade lavender chevre, drizzled with Israeli olive oil, fleur de sel and lemon zest (!!!**wow!!)
Hommos
Tzatziki

From Lebanese Taberna--stuffed grape leaves and marinated eggplant salad

Oven-toasted lavash with olive oil, garlic and zaatar

Blackberry-strawberry crisp

2004 Don Salvador (Alicante) Monastrell ---unbelievable bargain from Arrowine @ $4.99.

Veal chops cacciatore over homemade egg pasta
Braised fennel finished with Parmesan

This was a really delicious combination.

Happy 5th Birthday Ian! His dinner choices:

chipotle cheddar burgers on the grill
corn on the cob (not great - mostly a vehicle for butter)
fruit salad
vanilla cupcakes with blue icing and sprinkles

I had almost the same dinner

I had black and blue burgers
fruit salad
tater tots

Happy birthday to Ian! We also had corn on the cob. It was leftover from last summer. This had been frozen after being parcooked and buttered. It wasn't reheating so well so I pan grilled it on top of the stove with extra butter and parmesan, which really perked it up.

The rest of the meal was also leftovers, a sampler that came out surprisingly well: Two breaded goat cheese disks reheated and served over salad greens with vinaigrette; a braised beef short rib; and a fishcake made from cod mixed with mayo, breadcrumbs, onion powder, pepper, and hot sauce. We also had a defrosted loaf of multigrain bread and butter. I had planned only to have corn and bread, but I kept stealing bites of my husband's food. The short rib and cod cake were really good, if I do say so myself.

Roasted asparagus topped with melted asiago cheese
Roasted artichokes smothered with sauteed ramps and the butter they were sauteed in.
The first strawberries of market sliced and topped with powdered sugar.

Fruit smoothie. Why? Because it is 85 degrees and my air conditioner is broken. Grrrrrr.

Burgers and fries

For the toppings:
Sauteed criminis & red onions
Roquefort
Ketchup
Mustard

For the buns:
Sesame seed

For the paddies:
Beef
Worcesterhsesherrrrshershire sauce
Salt
Pepper
Heavy Cream*

*All the was left at the grocery store was very lean ground beef. Ordinarily, I'd grate in some onion and add some EVOO for moisture and to compensate for the low fat content. This time, I had about two tablespoons of cream left over from a previous night's dessert, so I figured, "Hey, this has fat in it. Might as well." It made the beef look hot pink, which was interesting, but the finished product tasted just fine. Does anyone know what effects, for good or for ill, my addition of cream would have had on the grilled burgers?

For the fries:
Who doesn't love the refreshing crispness and flavor and homemade french fries? If you don't have a deep fryer, though, they can be very tricky. I found that by cutting up my Russets into CUBES rather than fry shapes, I was able to cook them perfectly and evenly in a shallow fry pan with just a little bit of EVOO and butter, just making sure to turn them occasionally. I also infused the oil by cooking several cloves of garlic with the skins still on.

I removed the potatoes and tossed them in kosher salt and pepper. They were AMAZING as is, but I went a bit further... I mashed up the garlic with some lemon juice and mayo for dippin'. It was a hit.

Time for gazpacho.

Last night was a night made for the grill. Nieghbours were milling about the deck and bottles of various types of alcohol were being passed around/exchanged.

Grilled creamy eggplant dip
Marinated lamb kebabs
Grilled pitas

The eggplant dip was made out of grilled eggplants, garlic, fresh lemon juice, greek style yoghurt, and parsley. Grilled pita points went with that.
Chunks of boneless leg of lamb were marinated for three hours in lemon juice, mint, parsley, garlic, and olice oil, then skewered and grilled. Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm!!

Greek fever seems to be catching. My last night's diner was

keftedes made with fresh mint and parsley
dolmas
tabuleh
kalamata olives
feta
tzatziki

We were too full for dessert. In fact, we both were asleep on the couch by 9:30!

Pork loin purchased from Bev Eggleston at Dupont Market--acorn fed pork he'd been saving for a chef tasting that never happened, with a thick fat cap, which I brined overnight in a lavender-thyme brine and slow roasted. OMG was that delicious.
Rhubarb compote
French lentils with garlic and basil
Baked potato
Braised Russian kale

2003 Llicorella Priorat

Despite all the press about Florida ugli tomatos, you just can't find any decent tomatos in the stores. Combination of bad soil and too early in the season despite the heat. The one sort-of, not quite farmers market (I qualify because they sell bananas from Ecuador as well as semi-local stuff) around here won't have decent tomatos for at least another month. Plus, we had a late freeze that is killing the few local growers we do have. The market guy told me he doesn't expect to get any Georgia peaches this year!

Last night was Tonkatsu with Bulldog sauce & sesame seeds, rice and sauteed zucchini accompanied by a beautiful Steininger Steven Holl Gruner Veltliner. Was going to have ripe strawberries and angel food cake for dessert, but was too full.

Um, Laniloa, clams commit suicide?

Dinner last night:

Swordfish with a ginger-shitake cream sauce
Creamed spinach
Avondale Rose

Although I overcooked the swordfish (bad timing), the ginger-shitake cream sauce was fantastic and quite versatile: would be a great accompaniment to pork, chicken or lamb; will pair it with fried trout later this week.

The creamed spinach was another story. The recipe: “strain the béchamel sauce into a bowl.” My béchamel was quite thick, maybe the consistency of rice pudding; as soon as I put the sauce in the strainer, I knew this wasn’t going to work. Instead, I painstakingly picked out the peppercorns and bay leaf and chile.

Even with the final addition of the whipping cream, the sauce was still quite thick. When added to the spinach it didn’t look anything like the picture on the Stouffer’s box. Further: it “clumped” – I could have shaped it, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, and made a pretty tasty spinach fritter; I had expected the spinach to have the consistency of a rather thick tomato sauce. Although the béchamel was quite tasty, it didn’t taste “creamy” at all: added some cream cheese, hoping that the spinach would “melt” the cream cheese.

Two changes: used one box of frozen -- rather than 24 oz. of fresh -- spinach; and, halved the sauce.

What did I do wrong?

It sounds like the bechamel needed less flour, or more milk, or both. What were the proportions of the recipe?

2 Tbs butter: 2 Tbs flour; 1 1/4 C milk. 1/2 C of whipping cream added at the end.

Caipirhinas
Flank steak marinated in lime, orange, garlic, hot peppers
Spicy black bean, corn, jicama salad
Banana buttermilk ice cream

The recipe you posted says 1/4 cup flour. Isn't that more like 4 Tbsp? With half that, it really shouldn't have been too thick .

The whisking part is all I can think of where something might have gone wrong, possibly in the incorporation of the flour or the milk. Maybe it cooked too long. I sometimes have to add extra milk if I get inattentive making a sauce and am not whisking frequently enough or let it cook longer than it should.

Brined and roasted chicken with thyme and garlice
pommes rissolees
baskin robbins 31 cents scoop

According to at least one tv character they do!

If you never hear from me again, I died of complications from Grand Buffet.

I'm in Charlotte caring for my sister, who is recuperating from a bad car accident, and she requested an old family recipe which is sort of a meat loaf roulade with ham and gruyere in the middle. Mr. food snob "pate is superior" Waitman would've turned up his nose, but I thought it turned out pretty good. Steamed asparagus, green salad, and sourdough bread with butter to go with.

Ben & Jerry's peach cobbler ice cream for dessert. Good stuff.

Bad day at the dentist, and I could hardly open my mouth afterward. Soup was the only thing I could think about eating:

Leek and green garlic soup, with potato and creme fraiche, pureed and ladled over sauteed shiitakes, cubed spiced tofu and julienne of jamon serrano.

Garlic toast, for those who could chew.

2005 Clos Roche Blanc Touraine Sauvignon Blanc

Popsicle brand sugar-free fudgesicle (heaven help me)

So how are you feeling today?

A delicious Nigella stand-by for one:

Chop three cloves of garlic (or whatever you like) and mix with three pieces of uncooked bacon, sliced into 1/4" strips, with a small olive oil drizzle in a rimmed baking sheet or square Pyrex pan. Put into a 350 degree oven as your pasta water goes on the heat. Use 1/4 to 1/3 package of linguine. When pasta is done, pull out bacon garlic mix from the oven and toss in pasta, combine, decant to a bowl, shred parm over and eat on the couch.

I only move it to the bowl because the Pyrex is too hot to eat from straight. I love this dish. You can move the quantities up or down to feed more than yourself AND, if you put scallops in towards the end of cooking time, it becomes something different but no less fantastic.

Oh, my. This sounds delicious. What kind of hot peppers did you use? Fresh or dried and ground? If dried, did you toast them first? Any oil in the marinade?

More detail on the spicy black bean salad, too!

A few coarsely chopped jalapenos, though ancho paste is a staple in my kitchen for just this sort of thing. And a touch of olive oil. I was trying to keep it simple. Following a method in the Gourmet cookbook, I broiled the steak, which was less than ideal as I didn't get a good sear on it. Next time, the cast iron skillet.

Black bean salad - all measurements approximate as this is something I just mix in a bowl until it tastes right:
2 c black beans (rinsed if you're using canned ones)
1 c corn
1 c diced jicama
finely diced onion to taste (1/4c?)
finely diced hot peppers to taste (about 4 jalapenos, say) (actually, I leave some in bigger pieces)
a roasted and peeled red bell pepper, chopped
salt, lots of black pepper, a goodly amount of cumin, a nice amount of coriander
lots of lime juice (2 limes?) and enough olive oil to bring it all together
a good handful or two of chopped cilantro

Bockwurst, weisswurst, and knackwurst with hot mustard
Gundelsheim sauerkraut - comes in a big, barrel shaped jar. My fave sauerkraut of all the canned/jarred varieties. Can be hard to find sometimes.
Steamed broccoli
Sour rye bread and butter

Pot Roast with Potatoes and Carrots
Farro Salad with Tomatoes and Herbs

The wife's b-day was yesterday, so we had some folks over and I made a sampling of some of her favorites-- seared sea scallops over wilted green chard, heirloom cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, basil salad, braised short ribs over polenta. I was going to do a pasta course too, but that wouldn't have left room for a surprisingly good cheesecake from the P St Whole Foods with these huge but not so flavorful blueberries that were on sale.

Tacos al carbon with skirt steak
Charcoal-grilled cebollitas
Homemade tortillas--made with homemade masa
Salsa ranchera
Refried beans
guacamole
pico de gallo

Green salad
Beef pot pie (made from leftover pot roast--very tender)

Two great dinners this weekend:

Saturday
Mint Juleps ala Scott (Bourbon, simple mint syrup, sparking water, lime)
Hot and Sour Soup (http://www.americastestkitchen.com/login.a...e&iSeason=7)
Great Harvest Spinach and Feta Bread with Olive Oil
Wasabi Dumplings

FYI The America's Test Kitchen Hot and Sour soup is really really good. It uses very common ingredients. I substituted dry mushrooms for fresh. The two teaspoons of chili oil make the soup kick ass, use one for tamer palates.


Sunday

Poached Rock fish with fennel, onion, celery, vermouth, and tomato
Fennel Salad
Fresh Corn Salad with cilantro

From Julia:

Swordfish with Eggplant Tomato Sauce (La Barbouille) and pasta shells with butter

Very satisfying. Advertised as taking half an hour, but, uh, no. Still worth it.

Risotto with fresh wild boletes (porcini) and maitake (hen of the woods) mushrooms, asparagus and favas
MKTye's sourdough bread
Mixed berry crisp

2005 Clos Roche Blanche Touraine (Sauv. blanc)

sourdough bread leavened with wild yeast and oak pollen

tap water served tepid

punishment for being unable to express myself algebraically

Grilled lamb shoulder chops briefly marinated with mint, marjoram and garlic
Grilled portabella 'shroom stuffed with marinated French lentils and mozzarella di bufala (for Veggie-teen)
Cous cous with favas and roasted garlic
Haricots verts

Oakleaf lettuce salad with lemon vinaigrette

2005 Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz

platter of tomatoes and hard boiled eggs, and baguette slices with olive oil for dipping
sauteed zucchini and salami with garlic
au gratin potatoes
NY Strip Steak

A “clean out the fridge” meal:

Soba salad w/ roast chicken, carrots, cilantro, scallions; tossed with a rice wine-soy sauce-oil-Sriracha vinaigrette; topped with sesame seeds

Chocolate ice cream soda

Aah… the perfect end to a really lousy week.

skillet fried chicken
corn on the cob with butter, pepper, and Parmesan
baguettes with cheddar, bacon, salami, shallots, garlic, and Parmesan--run under the broiler

Spaghetti "carbonara"

Ya know, you live in a Muslim country long enough and you start to crave pork in a way that makes you do crazy things. But I don't know if I'm more embarassed that I attempted to make spaghetti carbonara with Bacos, or that on the first bite I thought, "Not bad."

Help me.

Last night I made French bread pizza from a baguette I had gotten at Marvelous Market earlier in the day. I cut two long sections from the widest part of the loaf, enough to be split and turned into four decent sided boats.

I used a little leftover marinara for sauce. The toppings were garlic, red onion, dry Italian herbs, buffalo mozzarella, alfonso olives, salami, bacon, and hot pepper flakes. I forgot that I had mushrooms, but I guess there were enough toppings without them .

The advantage to using a fairly heavy duty bread like that is that it can hold a lot of toppings and still be manageable and not soggy.

Beautiful seared chorizo (thanks Dan) on black beans and white corn with caramelized cocktail onions. And ice-cold Corona Light beer.

Hank's Lemon Beef Salad from today's Post.

Whoa, was this good. I mean, it was really really good. I added a bit of sour cream to the food on the plate to match the slight heat. I also lightly toasted the sesame seeds.

Definitely a keeper.