Gumbo

While wearing a scarf because it is freakin cold outside. What is the point of living in Florida if you are going to have hard freeze warnings????

leftover black-eyed pea salad
pork tenderloin sandwiches (w/provolone and bbq sauce on Marvelous Market baguette)

What was the marinade?

Bowl foods:

Tonight: Soba in a Kombu stock with spinach, carrots, shitakes and shrimp

Last night: Creamy polenta with spinach and andouille sausage

Farfalle al Medici: leftover ham and green peas in a Parmesan cream sauce. The Dr. Pepper glaze on the ham was a little distracting in the flavor department, but I managed to uphold my membership in the Clean Plate Club undaunted.

a big salad with shrimp, avocado, tomato, cucumber, balsamic
whole grain bread oven-toasted with garlic-marinara sauce (because sometimes you just need warm comfort on a frigid night)
my favorite sugar cookie tea

. I used to follow a recipe for it and pretty much now throw things together without noting what I'm doing.

This was the original marinade, from the Post's Dinner Tonight feature in 1996.

I usually use a little orange juice or honey instead of sugar. Sometimes I use hot sauce instead of all or some of the soy and mustard instead of or in addition to the ginger.

If it marinates too long, the bourbon flavor can be too strong in the final product, especially since I don't measure the bourbon all that carefully . I don't usually marinate overnight--maybe 6 hours.

salad of red butter lettuce, radicchio, radishes, carrots, and crumbled cheddar; balsamic vinaigrette
baked chicken breasts
steamed green beans with toasted almonds
rice pilaf
Marvelous Market olive bread with kalamata olive oil for dipping

I just brined my first chicken! I also just broiled my first chicken!

Simple Broiled Chicken Thighs (Cook's Illustrated)
Spicy Jamaican Jerk Dipping Sauce (Cook's Illustrated)
Green beans w/ red peppers and almonds
Texas Toast

Pinot Grigio

Peanuts, covered in chocolate, and fudge (Nestlé)

[Damn! Them were some tasty chicken thighs. I thought brining was all hype; I have never described my chicken as being "juicy." I had no idea what I was missing. As to broiling: I've always roasted my chicken. It never occurred to me to broil the thing; surely reason enough to eat the chicken skin. And, the dipping sauce??!! That was smokin'!]

Interesting. I've brined turkey, but I wouldn't think of brining individual poultry parts.

Dinner tonight was an adaptation of a Julia Child recipe for French Onion Soup gratineed with cheese. I used leeks, shallots, and garlic to round out the specified yellow onions, since I had them to use. I managed to grate some ancient gruyere (mentioned elsewhere) very finely, but it was hard to get any bigger pieces. That meant that the cheese over the bread didn't give thorough coverage when it went under the broiler. No edge-to-edge cheese barrier on the soup bowl. Tasted great, though.

The rest of the meal was mostly leftovers turned into a stirfry (pork, broccoli, bell pepper, onion, garlic, wild rice).

After two gut-busting restaurant dinners in a row, last night was my triumphant return to the kitchen. I made a really hearty vegetable stew with onions, potatoes (both white and sweet), eggplant, zucchini, red bell pepper, fire roasted tomatoes, chicken stock, and some garlic and bay leaves. It was actually based on a "30 Minute Meals" show I watched the other day, and it was very tasty and filling. Score one for Rachael Ray! I served it with big slices of crusty wheat bread, rubbed with a little garlic and with some melted/browned pecorino cheese on top. It was nice to feel full without feeling like we ingested our body weight in fat (actually, the only fat in the dish was the extra-virgin olive oil that covered the bottom of the pot--well, that and the cheese on the bread).

The stew could have been thicker, but I imagine that both the texture and the taste of my leftovers today will be better than the original product--soups always get thicker and more intensely flavored as it sits. Yum!

The scallop pan roast from the last NY Times food section is tasty (and very quick to make). Hold back when adding the cream/milk mix (we only added about 2/3 of it) and you may want to up the worchester and chili sauce amounts. The gin is crucial.

Trying to get back on track with my vegetable consumption. Last night was sweet potato gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce accompanied by a romaine salad with carrots and roasted garlic dressing.

I don't have a fancy way of describing it, but tonight's meal was really good. It was very flavorful and had a comforting texture. The cooked cauliflower broke up like mashed potatoes, so it gave a quasi-potatoes-2 ways effect.

Potato-cheese gnocchi* and cauliflower with sage brown butter, golden raisins, and cremini mushrooms, topped with toasted almonds and pine nuts.


*bought premade

I thought last night's dinner was fine, nothing great. But today its leftovers tasted so good as lunch! I made a recipe from Epicurious' quick and easy section, Peppered Beef Stroganoff. It was in fact very easy and very quick which was exactly what I needed when I finally got home at 8 pm last night. I subbed a flavorful rib eye for the filet based on both taste and cost (almost $17 a pound at Safeway in McLean).

Buri daikon -- yellowtail collars and daikon slices simmered with ginger, mirin, soy sauce, sake and sugar
Hourenso no goma ae -- parboiled spinach dressed with ground white sesame, soy sauce, sake, and sugar
Iburigakko -- smoked pickled daikon
Steamed rice

You do realize: when you come back to the States, you will prepare dinner for all of us.

[You'd think I'd just discovered electricity. Three days later and I'm still patting myself on the back. I've been dreaming all day about brining a pork chop for supper. Alas, time is not on my side: CI's ultracrunchy baked (brined) pork chops, sautéed brussel sprouts w/ pancetta and hazelnuts, and cornbread will have to wait until tomorrow night. Tonight:]

Linguini w/ mushrooms, squash and spinach
Vodka cream sauce

Vodka gimlet

That recipe looks good, especially with the pepper component. I bookmarked it to try. I rarely make stroganoff. It's not something my mother ever made. I don't think I ever ate it until I was an adult. The stroganoff I make most often (which is quite infrequently) is a recipe for meatballs stroganoff from Good Housekeeping, ca. 1960.

Last night I experimented with making a dish I saw described and pictured in an eGullet blog: fettat hummus. Once I had constructed it, it struck me as being akin to a 7 layer dip, but focused on hummus. Since I didn't plan ahead and hadn't soaked chickpeas, I used canned. I hadn't made hummus in ages and couldn't remember what recipe I usually use . I went with a Jane Brody recipe, mostly, with a nod to Moosewood, so the hummus had parsley in it and chopped scallions on top, paprika, cumin, and a couple of slugs of tamari sauce (in addition to tahini, lemon juice, and garlic). The 19 oz. can of chickpeas was the perfect size, as the Brody recipe calls for 15 oz or 1 1/2 cups, and that left just enough over for the chickpea layer.

This is how I assembled the dish:

Layer in a glass serving bowl,

fried pita (small rounds, cut in quarters, split in halves)
chickpeas
hummus
thick (i.e. Greek) yogurt with garlic and mint
pine nuts (toasted)
olive oil (drizzled over top)

Serve with additional fried pita quarters.

When I searched online to see if I could get more information on preparation, I saw an Iraqi recipe, which had only chickpeas and not prepared hummus as well. That called for baked pita and drizzling liquid over them on the bottom layer, so I drizzled some reserved chickpea liquid over the bottom layer of pita.

Anyway, this was excellent. We both loved it. The remaining portion is in the refrigerator for tonight. I fried up some extra pita chips, so we're ready to go.

Much fancier than usual weeknight dinner...

Roasted beet salad with fried capers and horseradish-creme fraiche dressing


Cod with lentils and grain mustard emulsion (ala Proof)

The texture of frozen cod just isn't any good, though (this was from Trader Joe's).

Dahlia Lounge coconut cream pie

Didn't quite match up to the restaurant... wasn't quite coconut-y enough. This was a super-easy pie to make, though.

Those are all GORGEOUS and delicious-looking.

-Roast vegetables with fresh herbs
-Warm sourdough bread
-Risotto made with homemade chicken stock
-Roast chicken with thyme, butter, and dijon mustard

It was a simple meal, but the execution was such that my wife called it one of my best efforts ever. The fact that the chicken stock was homemade (from chickens brined as part of the Palena Chicken Project stretching back almost a year) meant that even the plain risotto came out creamy and intensely flavored. My awesome LG convection oven created a crispy skin and a juicy bird. Adding the butter and thyme as the chicken was resting AFTER cooking created a faintingly delightful aroma and a fresh taste in the final product. This is going into my regular rotation, no doubt about it.

Chicken thighs and drumsticks - placed on a bed of thin lemon slices and rosemary sprigs, broiled about 10 min per side. frequently basted with lemon-rosemary butter. Very crisy brown skin, juicy flesh. This one's a keeper.

That's a lot of yellowtail collars.

I had time on my hands yesterday, so I decided to make a standard Japanese dinner of steamed rice, soup, and pickles, and three other dishes (ichiju-sansai, according to Wikipedia).

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Clockwise from left:

Kinpira gobou (simmered burdock root; I'm addicted to this stuff)
Shira-ae (tofu dressing) with konnyaku, shiitake, and carrots
Miso soup with wakame and fu (wheat gluten)
Steamed rice (in the covered dish)
Homemade ponzu
Rice-bran pickled carrots
Katsuo tataki

Baby romaine salad with yellow bell pepper, grapefruit and cucumber, topped with poached salmon; vinaigrette
Meat loaf larded with bacon
Baked potatoes

Homemade applesauce topped with chopped pink lady apples, sliced almonds, and golden raisins
Pork stroganoff with cremini and white button mushrooms, over wide egg noodles, garnished with chopped parsley

Lentil soup w/ kielbasa
Cornbread w/ pancetta

Cinnamon raisin bagel chips

Large salad of red leaf lettuce, slivers of dried white peaches & toasted walnuts w shallot vinaigrette
Quiche w a hint of sautéed scallions and whisper of bacon
Half a green apple

Dried white peaches were purchased at Trader Joe's some time ago--much too sweet on their own. Threw them in the freezer. Actually quite good w a tart salad dressing.

Half the dairy Keller calls for in the filling, so not as custardy as the recipe in Bouchon, but needing to use up heavy cream reminded me of what a difference it makes.

As for the pastry, I've decided I really, really like lard when making a savory dish w ham or bacon. This was really one of the best ever:

3 T (39 g) lard
5 T butter (total g of both fats: 114)
5 oz. flour
1/2 t salt
2 T ice water
1 T apple cider vinegar

Pork curry rice with a side of rice-bran pickled cucumbers

-Antipasto of olives, reggiano parmigiano, prosciutto, sourdough bread, dijon mustard & roasted garlic olive oil
-My first EVER homemade pasta! Thank you, Santa, for the lovely attachments to my Kitchen Aid! It was a simple tagliatelle, and it came out great! No sticking issues, no clumping, and perfectly cooked
-I tossed the pasta in a saute of chanterelles, shiitakes, and porcinis with some crispy prosciutto, butter, and reduced porcini mushroom water

I discovered a new use for leftover meatloaf: crumbled taco beef for 7 layer dip.

Dinner plans changed rather at the last minute, and the 7 layer dip with tortilla chips (some homemade--the bag of them ran out) was quite good. I'm not even sure what goes into 7 layer dip, but we had that number of layers with no cheese. I realized we were lacking shredded cheddar after we'd already eaten, so I'm not sure what the extra layer was . Maybe it was the meat .

torn iceberg lettuce
chopped tomatoes
chopped black olives
crumbled meat loaf
black beans
sour cream
guacamole

My wife, who grew up in Texas, says that a 7-layer dip is traditionally vegetarian, so the beef is indeed the (oft-added) 8th mystery layer.

Coffee-Marinated Buffalo Short Ribs
Roasted Kabocha squash (straight, no chaser)

H20 Cocktail

Aha! Maybe I'll call this taco dip then .

Is this from the Bon Appetit article this month by Bruce Aidell? (I saw that recipe the other day) How were they? Where'd you get the buffalo short ribs? Cibola?

Last night was a margherita pizza on a whole wheat crust (well, part ww), with mushrooms. I intended to put sopprasseta on it as well, but I forgot .

green salad
baguette
veal stew

The stew came out incredibly well. I used a small piece of fatback to start out with, and I'm not sure if that was a key to the incredible flavor or not, but this was some good veal stew. (Veal, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, chicken broth, white wine, cremini mushrooms, barley, parsley.)

Dinner on Wednesday (made by cjsadler) was gyros and mixed veggies. Dessert was dried cherry compote with fennel shortbread and mascarpone. The gyro recipe was from a recent issue of Cook's Illustrated. The dessert recipe was from Food and Wine this month.

Yes, that's the recipe, and the short ribs were delicious. I purchased the ribs at Cibola a few months ago, and finally decided to cook them. The recipe calls for low-sodium chicken broth (which i didn't have on hand), so I used regular broth, but forgot to adjust the salt in other parts of the recipe. So, the ribs were a bit salty, but otherwise nicely-seasoned, tender, and rich, without much fat (compared to beef short ribs). My brother has decided that I should add this recipe to the regular rotation!

Farro and lentil salad with roasted peppers, olives, capers, pine nuts, marsala-poached golden raisins, pecorino on a bed of baby spinach
Roast leg of lamb (boneless) with garlic and rosemary

2001 Villa La Selva Felciaia (100% Sangiovese from Tuscany)

I finally got around to cooking some of the farro I've had in the fridge since my August shopping spree at Surfas in Culver City, CA. It was in a strongly vacuum-sealed pouch. It seemed very similar to barley, and I could see making the same salad with barley. It was dressed with roasted and raw garlic, EVOO, red wine vinegar, balsamic, lemon zest and juice, finely chopped scallions, rosemary, thyme and Italian parsley. And I added the tiny bit left of a head of radicchio that I found in the veg drawer. I made it as a main for Veggie-teen and a side for us--but I have to say that as delicious as the lamb was, I would have been totally satisfied with just the farro salad. Definitely a dish I will make again. Next time I might use arugula as a green instead of spinach, for even more flavor. It also could be good with chick peas instead of lentils, but I liked the color contrast of the brown lentils with the pale farro.

The wine was fabulous--rich and full bodied with enough tannin and acidity to handle bold seasoning--and I am a happy camper, because I've got five more bottles of it! Thank you Wine Library =:-D

Do you recommend that I keep my farro in the refrigerator? I've got a couple of unopened packs in the kitchen cabinets. I'm not making it as often as I was last year. The salad sounds good.

When I bought it at Surfas, it was in a refrigerated case along with a number of other whole grains, artisanal grits and flours.

Maybe I should make room for it in the refrigerator, then. I know that quinoa is especially prone to rancidity, but I'm not sure about other grains.

Last night: leftover lamb chops from rack of lamb, pan browned and crusty (not medium-rare anymore but good nonetheless); baked potatoes; braised baby bok choy with mushrooms and garlic.

No. At least, in Italy it's sold on shelves next to the dried pasta. I've brought some back that I used slowly to make it last for well over a year. Fine. Not musty, dull or beer-like.

ETA: Moderator: How come you removed this post from the thread dedicated to farro? Wouldn't the information be more useful there?

We had Okinawan soba for dinner on Friday night.

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Okinawan soba is not made from buckwheat. It has a thickness somewhere between soba and udon. The toppings of pork belly, kamaboko, benishouga and minced green onion are among the most common.

I guess I'll leave it in the cabinets, then. I really should just use it . I was on this big farro kick early last year and then my fascination dropped off a bit.

Last night was roasted whole chicken with bread stuffing and giblet gravy; buttered parsley potatoes; and, roasted fennel. I'm going to make soup from the chicken carcass today and add some of the leftover stuffing to it .

Pork Shoulder alla Porchetta (Mario Batalli's recipe)
Wild rice blend (Trader Joe's package)
Celery Root Remoulade (minus celery root as my produce store did not have it - substituted jicama to add to the apple and fennel called for in the recipe)

Mesclun and frisee salad with Meyer lemon vinaigrette
Crabcakes with remoulade sauce based on homemade garlic mayonnaise
Creamy artisanal grits
Collards stewed with onion, garlic and tomatoes

Whole cored apples and pears stuffed with chopped dates, figs, golden raisins, almonds and spices, baked with apple cider reduction/framboise syrup, served with vanilla whipped cream

2006 Tittarelli Torrontes

Lemon brined buttermilk fried chicken
Green beans roasted with marjoram and onions topped with fresh lemon juice and Marcona almonds
Turnip gratin

One Trader Joe's salted chocolate caramel