Seared chicken breast with orange and yellow bell peppers, capers, garlic in a white wine sauce over fettucine. Grated pecorino to top.
Cheesecake for dessert.

Mushroom Veloute with Almonds*
Greek Zucchini Balls (Kolokythokeftedes)
Greek Potato Balls (Patatokeftedes)
leftover fried chicken

*from Pepin's Fast Food My Way. The recipe is accessible via the search inside the book feature at Amazon and is reproduced with some changes here: http://www.thecookbookcritic.com/archives/...od_my_wa_5.html

Last night was Caldo Verde, a wonderful Portuguese potato and kale soup. I had a friend over to help me eat it, which we did with gusto in huge bowls with some crusty bread and scallion butter.

I stumbled on this soup when my son's mother recently asked me how she might get our one year old son to eat kale (the allure of "super-foods"). So after some Googling, I thought a soup might be a good bet - my son doesn't have too many teeth yet

Recipes are all over the Web, but it's basically a pureed soup of onions, garlic, sausage and potatoes (6 of them) and water/stock. Then you chiffonade 1+ pounds of fresh kale, slice a few more sausages (chourico) and add that to the pot. Season with salt and pepper (I added some paprika too) and serve.

Today I hope to visit my son, re-puree the soup with the kale and see how he likes it. I love to cook, but I have to say few things are so gratifying to me as seeing my baby munch happily on his daddy's cuisine.

An American strata perchance? Did yours have bread in it?

Hotdish is a midwestern (ca. Minnesota/the Dakotas) name for a casserole. It typically has a starch, a protein, a sauce (often a can of cream of something soup), and sometimes a vegetable and/or a topping of some sort. I've become acquainted with them after reading years of rec.food.cooking .

This is one of my all time favorite soups. I actually make mine often with kielbasa.
Last night:
apple (Allenburg Orchard empire apples) and celery root (New Morning Farm) soup with Cibola bacon bits and chive oil
Flank steak seared on my cast iron grill
Smashed yukon gold potatoes
Salad topped with a bunch of feta

Pat, the expression is well-chosen. Zora, if I see you at the market, I'll provide further details, but really, I'd rather not commit them to writing.

FTR, after 3 days of brining, a center-cut loin pork chop from Cedarbrook Farms was fabulous. I used Judy Rodger's recommendations for a process she calls house-curing. Served it w her roasted applesauce which calls for a dot of apple cider vinegar when out of the oven.

Impromptu dinner party for six teenaged girls: "Mom? I invited ___, ___, ___ and ___ over for dinner, okay?" And then two more get called and invited, because they would have felt left out. Which is fine, because the empty nest will be upon me very soon.

Salad of frisee endive, looseleaf lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and pine nuts

Rigatoni-type pasta with marinara, mixed wild mushrooms, homemade ricotta, and Reggiano
Garlic-cheese toast

Tiramisu

The girls drank Coke, cream soda or water
I had 2006 Epifanio

They did the dishes =:-D

Niku-jaga: thin slices of beef, quartered potatoes, onion, shirataki (konnyaku noodles), and green beans simmered in dashi, mirin, sake, sugar, and soy sauce.
Miso soup with wakame and tofu
"Baby cheese" dipped in soy sauce mixed with wasabi

Salad of baby arugula and pea vines; buffalo mozzarella; vinaigrette
Short ribs braised in porter ale with maple-rosemary glaze
Greek potato balls (but shaped as large potato pancakes this time around)


The short rib recipe was from All About Braising. Porter isn't something I usually drink (or keep on hand). For the 1 1/2 cups I needed for the recipe, I picked up a bottle of Stone Smoked Porter at Marvelous Market that worked nicely with the flavors of the dish. The remainder of the (1 pt. 6 oz.) bottle proved very drinkable .

That beer is delicious.

I was also braising last night ('tis the season) from All About Braising. I had about 2.5lb of pork shoulder left from the pâté I made during the day, so the menu unfolded as:

Caribbean Pork Shoulder
Creamy grits (I had a pork and grits dish at Eve a few nights ago and was inspired)
Baked Potato with Salad
Pâté of Pork Liver and Shoulder, Mustard, Parsley/Garlic paste

Yesterday was creamed chicken livers and mushrooms on toast. This is one of my father's regular recipes from my teen years, and I still love it.

Start with the holy trinity - finely chopped onions, carrots, celery. Add a few cloves of garlic, a bay leaf, some thyme sprigs and seasoning. Soften and set aside in a bowl. Brown livers and then add a few tbsp of flour and some paprika. Add about 10 large mushrooms, chopped or sliced. Add veges back to the pan, then deglaze with some white wine (I dumped in some sherry I wanted to get rid of too), which will then reduce and thicken. A few tbsp of vinegar will cut through the sweet. Finally add some basil and cream (or 1/2 and 1/2) and cook for a few minutes, reseason yada yada. Serve over toast.

Yes, it is. I'm glad I discovered it. I decided I'd scan the beer selection at Marvelous Market before trying the liquor store, since I was starting out kind of late in acquiring my ingredients. When I saw that in a single bottle, I figured it sounded like a good bet for a short rib braise, and it was. I doubt I'd ever have bought it to drink if I hadn't stumbled upon it this way.

Friends over last night, hadn't cooked for them before, so +1 and I decided to go all out, meaning four courses rather than three.

Roasted red pepper soup with polenta croutons from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (go-to recipe, as no one has ever disliked it)
Salad of chopped fennel with farmer's market arugula and a honey-lemon dressing
Rib roast with the English Prime Rib rub from The Spice House
Garlic mashed potatoes
Vanilla souffle with raspberry sauce
Various beverages, including ginger vodka cocktails with a little lime juice and actual grated ginger
Bottle of Saintsbury pinot noir

Friends left happy, we collapsed into food coma.

Last night was steak with chimichurri sauce; tagliatelle with asparagus, proscuitto, butter, wine and cream (fresh herbs, etc.)

Cider-braised pork shanks (my attempt to recreate a pork osso bucco w/ cider glaze I recently had at a restaurant in Galena, IL)
Roasted butternut squash
Spaetzle (purchased pre-made at the meat market)
Apple crisp with vanilla ice cream

Yesterday was homemade chicken soup. Bought two small chickens, onions, carrots and celery to practice our newly acquired Knife skills. (we needed to reinforce what we learned!) Accompanied by leftover bread from a family meal at Moby Dick on Saturday. Also sauteed the chicken livers for an appetizer, and cooked up some mushrooms that were on their last legs in the fridge with a little butter, s&p and fresh thyme.

Kabocha soup and toasted cheese sandwiches

salad of baby arugula and pea greens, tuna, tangerine sections, tomatoes, olives, and toasted almonds; vinaigrette
zucchini-cheese casserole

This was another "clean out the refrigerator" meal. The casserole was the remaining uncooked mixture from the zucchini balls I made a few days ago, topped with bread crumbs and parmesan and baked for an hour. It was okay but needed something else. The salad was pretty good.

Oven braised brisket
Crispy polenta cakes
Fricassee of chanterelles and fava beans
Braised kale with fig balsamic
Pear crisp with vanilla ice cream

2004 Edmunds St. John Rocks and Gravel

Double post madness!

Sunday:
cider brined grilled center cut pork loin chops
sauteed brandied apples
oven roasted butternut squash and garlic scented with bay and thyme

2004 Whoop Whoop Shiraz

Monday:
Spicy soba noodles with shitake mushrooms and napa cabbage

Homemade brown* chicken soup with what I call "Italian Spaetzle" which is farina, parmesan and egg run through a ricer into the hot soup.
Atwater sourdough bread slathered with butter.
* The soup gets the same color as a brown stock but without roasting the bones. I add tomato paste to the stock while cooking and then allow the soup to gel together overnight. The next day I skim the fat, warm it up a bit and remove the inner basket with all the wings, necks and vegetables. Strain it through cheesecloth and add the "dumplings".

leftover arugula, etc. salad
baked spinach-cheese stuffed shells

Hamburgers! YAY!
Sliced tomato, red onion, parmesan "shavings,"* balsamic-beef-soy sauce-red wine reduction (SO GOOD!!!)
Russet potatoes crisped up in garlic butter
Lemon-garlic-dill mayo dip for the potatoes
Wegman's spring mix salad w/ herbs


*Can they really be considered "shavings" when I slice them a quarter inch thick???


Sorry for the quality. My Canon's batteries were dead, so I took this with my cellphone and did my best to enhance it in Photoshop.

Cibola farms pork shoulder roast, braised with leeks, onions, calvados, Toigo apple cider, and a bouquet garni of thyme, parsley, peppercorns, & garlic cloves.
mashed sweet potatoes
green salad
vanilla ice cream with crushed See's Toffee-ettes

green salad
chicken and mushroom puff pastry pie

The puff pastry pie was really good. I couldn't figure out if the chicken was supposed to be kept whole or not, so I chopped it into about 1" squares.

I haven't been to the UK in a really long time and translated the twice the thickness of a pound coin measure in the recipe to be about 1/4 inch.

Mediterranean seafood stew, with monkfish, scallops, mussels and clams, fingerling potatoes, leeks and fresh basil
Marvelous Market Striata
Leftover pear-persimmon crisp

2006 Dom. de la Quilla Muscadet

Gyu-don: thinly sliced onions and beef simmered in dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sake, served over rice and topped with a little pickled ginger
Clear soup with wakame and the last of the kabocha

Crispy pan fried veal
herb salad lightly dressed with olive oil and red wine vinegar
smashed rutabaga

Cold salad plate: Jumbo pasta shells stuffed with curried chicken salad; garnished with small tomato halves.

I usually don't use too many fresh tomatoes in the winter because they're not very good and/or are very expensive. I respect seasonality, but sometimes I want a tomato in the winter . My fallback used to be buying plum tomatoes, which tend to be far better off-season than beefsteak tomatoes. For some time now, though, I've been buying the Campari tomatoes at Costco. The quality is quite good. They're advertised as greenhouse grown, vine-ripened, and herbicide-free. I'm not quite sure what the trick is to these dream tomatoes, and I don't think I want to know, because I want to keep buying them

No trick. They just have a fairly large carbon footprint, as do most Costco produce items, whch are shipped long distances. But hey, nobody's perfect. You do as much as you can, in terms of being a locavore. In the winter, a smaller percentage of your purchases are going to be local.

Last night:
Herb-brined Eco-Friendly pork rib chops with Marsala pan reduction sauce
Polenta cakes
Green beans with garlic, red pepper and tomato (the beans were on sale at WF Tenley for 99 cents a pound yesterday)

2005 Castel Del Monte Rosso

Pat, I buy the campari tomatoes in the winter too. They taste quite good and are really a bargain at Costco. Campari tomatoes are at my local Safeway for 3x the price of Costco.
Last night was a retro casserol of chicken tetrazzini and tossed salad-no tomatoes

No doubt to encourage shoppers to buy fresh green beans for their Thanksgiving casserole.

* * *
Stuffed eggplant w lots of toasted pine nuts, baked in a tomatoey-onion sauce w Syrian spice mixture, pomegranate molasses and fresh pomegranate juice.

An additional sauce of garlicky-tahini laced yogurt (delicious & quick) drizzled on top w parsley, spices & pomegranate seeds.

Basmati rice.

It's nice to see more variety in the kinds of fresh fruit associated with this time of year. It's not just apples, oranges, bananas, pears with an occasional pineapple thrown in. Quince. Pomegranates. Persimmons.

Local food can sometimes consume more energy, especially when it is shipped -- even short distances -- by truck.

Speaking of which, has anyone seen quinces recently in local markets? I'm looking for one.

They can often be found at Balducci. I got some at the Dupont farmers' market, and also got a few at Halalco in Falls Church. The Asian markets often have them.

Which reminds me--I forgot to mention the condimento I made to go with my pork chops last night--quince mostarda.

Tonight:
Lasagna Bolognese with homemade ricotta and fresh mozzarella from Vace
Salad with avocado oil-lemon vinaigrette

Trader Joe's chocolate chip ice cream sandwich

2004 La Colombaia Valpolicella Ripasso

I made takikomi gohan for dinner tonight. Takikomi gohan is rice boiled with seasoned liquid and whatever ingredients you want to put in it. I used julienned carrot, slice shiitake, shaved burdock root, chicken thigh, and aburaage (deep-fried tofu skin).

Click to view attachment

Rice, then water and seasonings, then the rest of the ingredients went into the rice cooker, which has a takikomi gohan function. One hour later, we had this:

Click to view attachment

Holy crap, was it good.

X: That is the first sound argument for a rice cooker that I've read!

Turkey chili with Rio Zape heirloom beans
served over fresh bucatini from Eastern Market; topped with scallions and grated Cabot sharp cheddar
Marvelous Market striata with kalamata olive oil and rosemary for dipping

Thanks! I struck out at Balducci today, but I'll try the Dupont market tomorrow, and if I strike out there, I guess I'll head for Falls Church.

Would you/could you do this without a rice cooker? What was the seasoned liquid?

Orange baked pork chop
Basmati rice

Edamame

Maker's Mark Manhattan

Cream of sugar snap pea, leek and comice pear soup with fresh mint garnish
(an improvisation that really worked!)

Charcoal grilled Eco-Friendly aged beef rib steak
Marinated brown lentils
Baked potato

You can make it without a rice cooker. People use either clay pots (donabe) or stainless/aluminum pans. I understand from looking at some other recipes that how you heat your cooking vessel depends on which you're using (i.e., high heat first for a donabe, low for metal pans).

The liquid was the water in which the rice soaked while I prepped the rest of the ingredients, plus sake, sugar, mirin, soy sauce, and a splash of dashi.

Toigo came through!

Fresh batch of beef stock meant a dinner with onion soup. Used smoked mozzarella on top as I had some in the house. Was a nice complement. Leftover shrimp boil for the main. Man, does the corn improve with age.

So glad to be back in the kitchen after a week in Vegas! Last night was slow-cooked pork in the form of Asian wraps (served in flour tortillas, since I didn't have lettuce on hand) with sliced cucumbers. Tonight was rosemary- and mustard-seasoned steaks (broiled, since I have no grill) with cooked carrots and roasted potatoes (which were a mix of yukon gold and sweet). Feels good to get some nutrition...

Wood-grilled garlic and red wine-marinated flank steak
Asparagus
Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes
2001 Barolo Classico Riserva

What did you marinate them in?

To contribute to this thread, I made the posole recipe out of the Dean & Deluca cookbook, which I've made before but with cubanelles. This time, I used poblanos instead, and it was the best batch we've had - much better depth. With a good toss of cilantro and lime, it was incredible.

A Dupont Market dinner tonight- marinated and pan seared lamb rib chop, broccoli rabe blanched then sauted with currents, and sweet potato with butter and apple cider.