How come my “clean the fridge” projects result in more food containers occupying space than the original ingredients? It’s almost as if these things are amoeba… in a controlled environment… reproducing at an astonishing rate. In one week… from cherry tomatoes, pork, green peppers, beets, and spinach… I got:

Bow tie pasta with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and spinach and pork and feta
Dal with oven-roasted cherry tomatoes and spinach
Roasted beet sandwiches with spinach and goat cheese
Pork and beans

And 5,011 containers of leftovers.

You need to get a dog. It will be happy to help you avoid the guilt you would feel by throwing food away that you don't want to eat any more of. My Aussie Penny gets her kibble enhanced every night with a little bit of people food. Leftover management is one of her jobs. She is a working dog, after all. Her primary job is being the family teddy bear, and she has a number of other responsibilities, as well, like waking me up in the morning, and taking me for a walk in Battery Kemble Park. She is very conscientious about fulfilling all of her duties.

My dogs do kitchen management duties as well, including cleaning up food for which the "7 second rule" has long expired and the food that well, they simply get to first. My Bichon Frise frequently assists with the pre-wash cycle of the dishwasher.



Last night was spicy lamb meatballs with a tomato curry yogurt sauce. I wasn't sure what else we had to serve it with or over, so I just used thin spaghetti. I suppose pita bread would probably have been more fitting.
Nevertheless, it was good.

Leftover pate brisee became the crust for a quiche with Stilton, apple, and onion. This was a really good combination.

Tonight was a big salad with baby romaine, green leaf lettuce, red onion, alphonso olives, tomato, shredded chicken, croutons, ditalini and bottled dressing of choice. It was very filling and satisfying.

Miso soup with wakame, chopped up kuruma fu (wheat gluten), and minced green onion
Simmered kabocha squash and minced chicken

Chicken Schnitzel (panko crumbs) with a little anchovy/butter/wine sauce. Yum. I never make anything like this, and it brought back fond memories of the occasional childhood trip to a German restaurant back in Syracuse, NY and Balt, MD. Steamed broccoli tossed in garlic/lemon/butter.

Family meal leftovers: Six kinds of Korean food (and rice), mixed together in a bag.

Fennel Slaw
Apple-Stuffed Pork Chops
Mango Couscous
Homemade Applesauce

Braised turkey thighs with onion, tomatoes and okra
Succotash
Basmati Rice

Our own little Oktoberfest:
Wiesswurst, Bratwurst, & Bockwurst mit Senf
Sauerkraut (simmered with a little white wine, a dash of sugar, and juniper berry)
German pumpernickel with good butter
Grüner Salat
Ayinger Ur-Wiesse

yum!

mmmmmh...
Was ist Ihre bevorzugte Marke der guten Butter?

Vermont Butter & Cheese cultured butter with sea salt. I can eat it by itself.

Plain pizza
Pizza w/ ricotta and sausage
Pizza w/ St. Pete's blue, golden delicious apple slices, and agave syrup
Flamenkuchen-esque pizza w/ mayo, slow-caramelized onions with sage, mustard seed, and nutmeg, bacon, and Dubliner cheddar

Magic Hat "Mystery Beer"
2000 Bordeaux (from my special stash of "Wines I Paid More Than $10 For" to celebrate my good friend's just-announced pregnancy)

Football-shaped Carvel ice cream cake

Hotdogs, banana peppers, and homemade pickles
Green Beans Almondine
Scalloped Potatoes with Smoked Gouda and Gruyere

Broiled salmon from Hokkaido (one island to the north)
Kimpira gobo -- julienned burdock root and a couple of dried red chile peppers simmered with mirin, soy sauce, sugar, and cooking sake
Komatsuna (Japanese mustard greens) sauteed with sliced garlic

Orrichiette with fresh ricotta, peas, and mint. The kids scarfed this in astonishing quantity.
Sliced tomatoes from Truck Patch Farms. I am going to be so sad when the tomatoes finally go away.
Girl Scout cookies.

Thoroughly strained butternut squash soup, with blanc mange for dessert. Lunch was thoroughly strained tomato soup. Snack was cherry jello. Breakfast today was plain lowfat yogurt. Lunch and dinner will be soup again. I will be very, very happy when I can eat solid food again. Will reward self with steak next week.

call me "chipmunk cheeks"...

Charcoal grilled skirt steak and tri-color peppers sandwiches
(Grilled portobello and peppers for Veggie-teen)
Roasted corn
Marinated French lentils

Cupcakes from Sugar Sweet Sunshine Bakery, Lower East Side of Manhattan

2005 The Hammer, California Red

Leftover braised turkey thighs, tomatoes, and okra
Roasted baby graffiti eggplant and onion, with salt, pepper, thyme, olive oil, and a splash of hot sauce [really good!]
Basmati rice

Udon soup with pan-fried pork and mountain vegetables (including bamboo shoot, bracken, Japanese royal fern, and some kind of teeny-tiny brown-capped mushrooms)

Fresh tomato salsa and avocado slices
Seared sea scallops (garnished with above)
Cheese and black bean quesadillas (ditto + lowfat sour cream)
Gratin of Yukon Gold potatoes and wild Coho salmon

I hadn't tried doing the potatoes and salmon this way before. I parboiled and sliced the potatoes fairly thin and made a layer of them dotted with butter, s + p. I baked them in a fairly small Le Creuset gratin dish, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes at 385F. Then I laid the salmon (<1/2 lb. filet) on top, skin side down. Instead of breadcrumbs, I topped the salmon with a few slices of parboiled potato I had reserved and sliced into thin matchsticks. (I coated the matchsticks with a serving tablespoon of lowfat mayo, added s + p.). Then I returned the dish to the oven.

My mistake at this point, I think, was covering the dish for the first part of the cooking time. I hadn't wanted it to brown too quickly, but doing this meant it didn't brown at all. After about 10 minutes of this, I removed the lid for another 5 minutes, then ran everything under the broiler for a final browning.

It was an improvised meal. I wanted to use the two lonely potatoes I had left and got the idea for topping them with a little salmon. When I bought the salmon, I decided to get a few sea scallops to make a small appetizer portion to go with the quesadillas. (Four sea scallops cost more than the salmon . In retrospect, I should have bought two scallops and halved them.)

The meal was good overall but took longer to prepare than I planned, so we ate too late.

Asparagus risotto with shrimp and drizzled brown butter.

Homemade gnocchi with mushroom cream sauce
Westvleteren beer

Kimchi hotpot with sliced pork, cabbage, bean sprouts, carrots, and tofu
Steamed rice

Very simple tonight:

curried root vegetable* soup with black-eyed peas, thyme and tofu
multigrain bread with butter


*parsnips, turnips, carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions

Mabo doufu -- Japanese interpretation of a Szechuan spicy tofu dish
Grilled Japanese sweet potatoes (satsumaimo). I should have oiled these or something before grilling, because they're dry-textured potatoes and the sides completely dried out during grilling.
Hourenso no goma-ae -- spinach dressed with ground sesame

Click to view attachment

Pan-braised Eco-Friendly pork chops
Sauteed chanterelles* with tarragon and creme fraiche
Polenta
Roasted beets with orange vinaigrette
Roasted kabocha squash

Spiced wine-poached Seckel pears

2005 Chapoutier Belleruche Cotes-du-Rhone

*The chanterelles from Costco were tasty, but I can't call them sublime. Before cooking, the mushrooms had practically no aroma--they are highly aromatic when very fresh. And the flavor was a bit muted. I can only ascribe this to having been packed in plastic and chilled for who knows how long before I bought them. Still, For only $8.99 a pound, they were worth it.

Southern Pole Beans
Mira Corn Muffin

Suncrisp Apple
Neal's Yard Lincolnshire Cheddar

* * *
After bringing home a pound of long, thick green beans from New Morning Farm, I consulted Vegetables from Amarenth to Zucchini, suspecting that Burt's Heirlooms might be pole beans. Zoe Crawford confirmed the theory.

So, I followed Elizabeth Schneider's recommendations by preparing a broth with a couple of chipotle chiles and a 1/4 pound of guanciale cleaned of its spices. Dumped the topped & tailed beans in whole w salt and sugar. Cooked them well over an hour, though I can't say they were limp and unctuous. More like edible since the pods were extremely thick and tough before cooking. Wish I had stringed the beans, too, since thick fibers held the two sides of the pods together. The beans within (name?) tasted very much like lima beans. Sprinkled w sherry vinegar. Ground black pepper. Crisp lardons from two of the strips of guanciale. More of a cultural experience than a revelation, though there's now pot likker to plump some pintos.

The muffins were courtesy of Dorie Greenspan's latest book on baking. I am not a fan of my silicon muffin pan, but used it out of laziness, making 6 large muffins instead of a dozen. Was very disappointed with the recipe until I accidentally put three of them back in the oven until the exterior became crisp and brown. Absolutely fantastic! I see why toasting is recommended in the book. Interior shot full of holes. Moist. Perfect end for the last ear of Toigo's corn.

As for the cheese, it's brilliant. Endorsed by Elizabeth, cheesemonger at Whole Foods, Georgetown. She uses wine words to describe its complexity. I urge thee to hi your hither.

Last night was roasted cauliflower soup made with the first batch of stock for fall.
Tonight is penne with yellow tomato sauce with oven slow roasted cherry tomatoes and fresh basil.

mmmmmm...Global warming

Dessert both nights are champagne chocolates (the best brownies ever) from Shoe Box Oven.

Dinner tonight started out being improvised from odds and ends and wound up being a riff on Cincinnati 5 way chili. I sauteed some red and green onions and garlic and threw them into a small Le Creuset casserole with sliced Coleman beef hot dogs, a can of stewed tomatoes, and a can of (UK) Heinz baked beans. I put that in the oven at 400 until it was good and bubbly hot all the way through and some liquid had evaporated. I served it over fresh bucatini from Eastern Market, topped with shredded chipotle gouda and additional chopped green onions. I added a little cholula sauce at the table for some extra spice, though the cheese did a pretty good job too.

I was amazed at how well it came out. My husband has eaten 3 bowls of it .

My decision over what kind of beans to put in was made when I discovered I had a can of the Heinz beans, which are much less sweet than the US kind. (My initial idea was to do something with hotdogs and baked beans, but then I realized I had the fresh pasta I wanted to use as well. The thought of that with sweet baked beans didn't quite work for me.)

Southern fried chicken (marinated for 12 hours in salted buttermilk, dredged in seasoned flour, pan-fried in a cast iron skillet)
Braised kale
Pureed kabocha squash

Ellie's Brown Ale

Spiced seckel pears, again

I baked a frozen thin-crust pizza for Veggie-teen, but the aroma of the fried chicken overwhelmed her scruples, and she devoured a drumstick.

The chicken came from the Dupont Market, and was tender, juicy and very flavorful. I put some cumin, ground bay leaf and ancho chile powder in the dredging flour along with sea salt and black pepper. I fried the chicken in previously used/strained corn and peanut oil, and the crust was crackly and irresistable. Many kudos from the family, which made all the clean-up worth the work.

Dinner on Sunday was a salad with duck confit and a poached egg and mushroom risotto.

Wow, txaggie, your dishes look wonderful! Mmm, mushrooms.

We had an old standby tonight: ginger-glazed pan-fried pork (shouga-yaki) plated with shredded cabbage and julienned green pepper. If I learn nothing else the entire time I live here, I'm glad I learned about shouga-yaki. I also made a clear soup with sliced shiitake and cubes of cotton tofu.

Beef-anchovy meatballs (leftover from last night)
Buttered spinach
Buttered egg noodles


I grated a little fresh parmesan over the assembled plate.

Last night:
Pappardelle with chanterelles, leeks, mushroom jus and creme fraiche
Roasted turkey meatballs with tarragon

Mesclun salad with roasted beets

2005 Terroir Les Gras Moutons Muscadet

Tilapia poached in Shao Hsing wine, soy sauce and a touch of toasted sesame oil
Steamed sweet brown rice

Macallan Fine Oak 15 year old Scotch

Oven-braised buffalo short ribs* with crimini mushrooms
New potatoes
Buttered green beans

Roasted plums with vanilla creme fraiche

2001 Eric Texier St. Joseph

•the eight hour braise at 200 degrees worked really well--they were tender and succulent despite being very lean.

hearts of romaine with chopped tomatoes, grated Parmesan and ranch dressing
cheese-jalapeno quesadillas
cream of lettuce soup (romaine)
baked chicken legs (lemon, butter, s + p)
baked potatoes with butter

Chicken tikka masala (from the Cook's Illustrated recipe)
Saag paneer

Sunday:

Mizuna, Yamagata pear, and toasted sesame seed salad with a rice vinegar/sesame oil vinaigrette
Pan-seared pork chops with ginger-soy pan sauce
Boiled, then briefly broiled satsumaimo

Last night:

Ramen with pan-seared sliced pork, kamaboko (fish paste), and kimchi

Last night:

Cauliflower gratin--it's actually more of a baked cheese fondue with cauliflower in it. A family favorite. Lots of thick, creamy cheese sauce to dunk bread in. Made with a combination of Gruyere, Vermont Cheddar, P'tit Basque, Monterey Jack and Reggiano.

Mixed green salad

2006 J & F Lurton Torrontes

Ishikari nabe -- a miso-based salmon stew from Hokkaido. Mine had salmon, potatoes, leeks, carrots, shiitake, and konnyaku (devil's tongue jelly).
Salad of mizuna and julienned daikon, leek, and carrot with sesame dressing.

Last night:

Flemish Beef Carbonade (cubed chuck roast, vidalia onions, Rodenbach Grand Cru, thyme)
Mussels (mussels steamed in Corsendonk Brown, one vidalia, pork trotters)
Frites (twice-fried, with malted salt and mayo made with Drie Fonteinen Doesjel Oude Lambik)
Cheese and grapes (Gorgonzola Dolce, the manchego-ish one from Dupont farmer's market, a brie whose name I can't remember)

The past two nights have been efforts at cream of tomato soup with puff pastry. The soup is phenomenal (just making it clogged my arteries, but it is good). Getting the puff pastry right has been challenging, though. The first night it went over the bowl as the recipe calls for but didn't rise properly. The second night, I baked the puff pastry separately, and it was used as if it were a bread accompanying the soup. (It baked up perfectly .)

I've been told the problem is using prepared sheets. I either need to make puff pastry dough myself or buy some that is plain dough rather than prepared sheets. I've still got some soup left, but I think I'll pass on further puff pastry experiments this time around, given the amount of fat and calories in the soup alone . (For last night's version, I added some fresh crab meat and cilantro to the soup.)

Both nights the soup was accompanied by a green salad and light vinaigrette (the first night had some chicken, but the second night was veggies and olives only).

Southern fried Eco-Friendly chicken
Mashed potatoes with roasted garlic
Collard greens
Store-bought biscuits (don't shoot me) with Toigo honey

2006 Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc

Lemon chicken with capers
skillet brussel sprouts with red pepper flakes
long grain rice
Assorted cookies from Mike's Pastry (Mr. MV brought them back from a business trip to Boston)

1 1/2 slices Prosciutto Americano ($1 each), right out of the plastic bag headed to the Claredon metro stop; half of one slice fell on the ground, so I threw it away.

Late supper: The last of leftover white rice dumped into cauliflower-leek soup w extra chicken stock that was extracted by slamming the freezer bag repeatedly on the counter after running it under hot water.

Last minute, leaves pulled off of thick stems of arugula swirled in. Grated Pecorino. Black pepper. Generous drizzle of unfiltered olive oil on top.

3 raw almonds. 1 1/2 toasted walnuts. 10 pistachios. 4 dried apricots.

I have had a request to provide a recipe for the gratin of cauliflower. I will give an approximation, because I don't really measure when I cook.

2 smallish medium sized or 1 very large cauliflower, stem and core removed, broken and sliced into pieces. (Not too small, or it'll turn to mush.) Steam until just tender (it doesn't take long).

Cheese sauce
3/4 stick butter
3/4 cup flour
3 cups milk (whole or 2%, not skim), more as needed
1/2 onion, chopped and sauteed in 1 tsp. olive oil or butter
1 tsp. Dijon mustard
small slug of white wine or dry vermouth
salt and white pepper
sweet paprika (optional)

4 cups grated cheese (use mostly semi-soft types, like cheddar, gruyere or comte, gouda, jack) and include around 1/3 cup of parmesan.

Make white roux with butter and flour. Cook briefly until it smells nutty. Add cold milk and whisk until smooth. Bring to a boil and stir in more milk if it is too thick. Reduce heat and allow to simmer. Saute and sweat onion until translucent and soft. Add to white sauce. Begin adding cheese a handful at a time and stir as cheese melts. When all of the cheese is incorporated, taste and add salt as needed. Add the wine, a few grinds of white pepper and the Dijon mustard. You can add a little creme fraiche or sour cream, if you want it a bit richer.

Put steamed cauliflower into an oven-proof casserole. Pour cheese sauce over and stir to coat all of the cauliflower with the sauce. Add some milk if you don't have enough sauce. Grate some more parmesan on top. Sprinkle with a light dusting of paprika.

Bake in 350 degree oven for approx. 30 minutes, or until top is browned. Briefly run it under a broiler to brown the top, if it hasn't browned enough.