Pork tenderloin stuffed with crimini mushrooms, Firefly farms goat cheese, and spring onions
Minnesota wild rice
Sauteed Swiss Chard from Heinz

Served with 2001 Hartenberg Shiraz. Initially I thought it might be a bit heavy for the meal, but it was a great compliment to the earthy mushrooms and nutty wild rice.

Dinner last night was pot roast -- Safeway had 7-bone roast (scroll down this list) so I tried that instead of my usual cross-rib cut. Delicious, but more of a hassle -- very hard to separate the meat from the fat in some sections. Still, hard to go wrong at $1.99/pound with leftovers that will feed us half the week.

Brie covered with dried blueberries and mango
Marinated, broiled pork chops
Sauteed ramps
Spinach steamed in lemon juice, topped with parmesean

Sparkling pear Izze

I love those Izze drinks! We had a fridge full, then my in-laws came for a few days, and they were drinking them like it was water! WTF...when I came home yesterday they were all gone! 16 bottles gone! Were are you finding Ramps? The Arlington Farmers Market never has any!

linguini tossed with a warm puree of sauteed spinach, carrot and turnip leaves, coriander, young chamomile buds and foliage, white onion, jalapeno and yogurt from blue ridge dairy, topped with toasted pine nuts and crumbled feta.

this is roughly from deborah madison's latest book and not something you are likely to encounter in a restaurant in this area. it's green with sour notes that play nicely against the pasta. because i had one and not the other, i substituted chamomile for dill, to which it holds some resemblance, crossed with mint.

this is almost a throwback to macrobiotic days, so toasted flax and sunflower seed bread from the farmer's market went well with it, as did a bottle of marlborough sauvignon blanc.

this dinner can be extended with a rhubarb compote, strawberries and vanilla ice cream from max's down the street, and it would have been except i got home too late from work and my wife was at the bookstore getting curtis sittenfeld (prep) novels signed, so it ended in bed with hendrick's gin.

tonight is daniel handler, aka lemony snicket, and his latest novel is really something else. if post-modern is not what you like, the basic eight is out in paperback and i don't know who wouldn't enjoy this more traditional account of a high school crime of passion, told unreliably by the perpetrator. anyway, it will have to be dinner out and we could go next door to buck's or head for palena closer to home. dirty but clean pierre tried bucks a couple of weeks ago after his politics and prose appearance and i would not be surprised if he had a bit too much to drink. i know we did, and also a bit too much to eat.

See most recent posts in thread on Ramps. Possibly she got hers at Dupont Circle as well; only one farmer sells them and he may not set up in Arlington. I never saw ramps at any of the WF stores in DC, i.e. another source that was mentioned some time ago.

i was surprised that ramps were still available last sunday at the dupont farmers market. they had expected the prior week to see the last of them. and i didn't notice them at whole foods on p street yesterday; there were just a couple of them left the week before and they were bedraggled. the farmers market ramps have been far superior to the $20-a-pound-for-free ramps they have been selling at whole foods. in any event, there has been a long ramp season this spring and it looks like it is running out.

Composed salad of roasted beets, cucumber and avocado with orange vinaigrette

Polyface pork ribeye chops, herb-brined overnight, then pan seared and oven braised, served with a sherry vinegar pan reduction sauce and arroz de Valencia.

Veggie-teen had a baked stuffed Portobello mushroom

2001 Sierra Cantabria Cuvee Especial Rioja

Fresh golden pineapple and pinenut shortbread cookies from Spain.

Something you might see soon in the Wash Post.

young and sticky honey mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, served with boiled asparagus over long-simmered polenta with butter and parmesan, garnished with purple garlic chive flowers

this is also from deborah madison's latest cookbook and i am noticing that she lets you do more of the driving than usual. a rich mushroom stock based on dried porcini and wine added to well-browned onions, carrots and garlic is essential for bringing everything together at the end, and it is a fricasee before it is strained. after making this dish, you won't feel guilty that you haven't been spending enough time in the kitchen, although you can shave off roughly an hour by preparing the stock ahead of time.

I have been working my way through the Bouchon cook book. Here are a few items made this past week.

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Tuna Sandwich

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Potato Leek Soup

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Lemon Tart

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Strawberry Sorbet

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Salmon With beurre blanc sauce

The following are just random meals.

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Pasta Sauce

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Sunday Breakfast

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Salmon Bake in Foil with Potato Puree (the potatoes are from the Bouchon cookbook)

An antipasto meal without any pasta

Fava bean crostini with prosciutto and pecorino Romano
Merguez lamb meatballs
Roasted asparagus
Roasted beets with orange vinaigrette
Tomato wedges with fresh basil and balsamico
Fennel with lemon vinaigrette and Reggiano
Fontina Val d'Aosta

2004 Pazo Señorans Albariño

Hot and sour soup with shrimp, and curry with chicken and many vegetables. Gubeen and ol_ironstomach went nuts at an Asian grocery then invaded my kitchen for several hours, producing a wonderful Thai meal. The whole house smells of chilies and lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves.

Oh, and dessert was fish eyes and fruit. Love that name.

Had to start the Memorial Day Weekend on the grill. We tried a burger recipe from Daniel Boulud that worked well (No! not the one with fois gras). Purists will scoff, of course, but it combines roughly four parts ground sirloin and one part shredded pulled pork barbecue, along with ample finely diced jalapeno, all layered on a toasted bun with jalapeno mayonaise, lettuce, tomato, and onion, and topped off with a cheddar cheese and roasted corn salsa. Juicy good stuff.

Dinner for 10--

Appetizers in the yard, with liberal applications of Off Deep Woods spray:
Fava bean crostini with Jamon Serrano and Pecorino Romano
Roasted beets with orange vinaigrette
Marinated white anchovies
Merguez lamb meatballs
Fennel slaw with lemon vinaigrette
Charcoal grilled veggies: baby yellow squash, red bell pepper, baby bermuda onion
Sicilian olives

2005 Turkey Flat Rose (Australia)
2005 Elyse Rose (Napa Valley)

Main course at the table:
Charcoal mixed grill--butterflied lamb leg; yearling venison rump roast, marinated in cooked wine marinade with juniper berries
Fresh creamed corn (fresh sweet corn scraped off the cob, stewed with sweet butter)
Grill-roasted asparagus

2001 Picchioni Andrea Rosso D'Asia
2000 Fontana Graziano Trentino Lagrein

Cheese course:
Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam; Cashel Blue; goat gouda; Idiazabal. Australian blood plum jelly, dried figs and dates.

Dessert:
Apricot upside-down cake
Wild mulberry sorbet (made with berries picked in Battery Kemble park) !! Wow, the flavor and color of this were amazingly intense !!
Creme Chantilly

Bonny Doon Muscat

Dinner for two:



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Chicken tenders -- slices of breast meat dipped in a batter (mixed 1 c mayo, chicken makhani spice mix, and water until consistency of heavy cream), dredged in panko, baked at 350 on cookie sheet for 20 minutes.

A far cry from real fried chicken, but I was sick all weekend and needed something very quick and easy.

Last night: crab fest with the hillvalley family. They were tiny but delicious! We're purist; nothing but crabs, plain potato chips and cold beer.
Tonight: mozzerella(sp?) and proscuitto on an herb salad with lavendar vinegar dressing, strawberries drizzled with balsamic glaze. Late night snack will be a slice of blueberry tart from market on Sunday.

Something with... coconut?

Pulled pork sandwiches topped with crispy-spicy onion straw and served with mustard potato salad.

While deep in the heart of Texas, our kitchen turned out a couple of tasty dinners...

Sunday night:

Brisket
Smashed potatoes
Baked beans
Coleslaw
Charoset (don't ask why my friends wanted charoset... it not being Passover and all... good thing my cousins had some extra Manischewitz sitting around)
Berries and cream


Monday night:

Smoked turkey
Creamed corn
Green beans
Coleslaw
Cornbread
Sweet tea
Blueberry pie (made with berries we'd picked that morning)

hothouse or no, I don't care:
Season's first tomatoes!

Did you drink the 1+1=3 Cabernet Sauvignon Rose with that? Sounds yummy!

i had pulled pork and cole slaw too.

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Tonight more food from the Bouchon cookbook. We started with the Dungeness Crab Salad, with Citrus Vinaigrette. I used back-fin crabmeat from Whole Foods and arugla from the farmers market it was served with toasted brioche. Very good stuff here. The main course was Sole Meuniere, I could not find Sole today, so I uesed some very nice Fluke Flounder from Black Salt. At the moment this is my favorite cookbook

Last night:

batter-fried squash blossoms
Traugott's Sauteed Soft-Shelled Crabs
sauteed fava beans, baby carrots, and baby pattypan squash
squash blossom risotto

The crabs were from Wegmans: big, juicy, live when sold, $3.99 each. The recipe was from Whitey Schmidt's Crabbiest cookbook.

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Tonight:

Market Greens with Goat Cheese and Walnuts
Roast Chicken and Flageolets with garlic confit
Blueberry and Strawberry Shortcake with cardamon

Focus man, focus.

Ravioli di Carciofi al Profumo di Timo (Linguria)
Pollo con Finocchio, Olive e Vino Biano (Sardinia)
Patata Sfondato colla Forchetta
Rioja
Melone d'Atene

(Leeks were pureed with artichokes for the filling of the pasta that were, in turn, sauced with crushed pinenuts colored lightly in butter with fresh thyme.)

Might I suggest a little downconverting too? Those photos would render fine and be considerably more pleasant to download at half the dimensions and one-tenth the filesize.

sauteed mushrooms, baby spinach and young sweet onion
toigo bourbon peaches, strawberries and blue ridge dairy honey yogurt

another recipe from deborah madison, her farmers market book, which calls for hedgehog mushrooms. i couldn't find those so i used an assortment from the mushroom stand at the dupont freshfarm market. i don't know what you call them, but half of them were mushrooms that look like pegs, or diminutive champagne corks, or something that might make you feel slightly queasy as you slice through them, a la that magical moment from "realm of the senses." i cut only the larger ones in half. anyway, they provide more than a hint of cherries. this meal is fast, a few minutes in olive oil for the onions, five or so for the mushrooms and a couple of flash batches of the spinach. considering their expense, you have to be in the mood to try exotic mushrooms. this recipe might just put you there.

(appetizer: walking home via tenleytown i came across some mulberry trees. until reading a couple of posts by zora margolis, whose knowledge of foraging from local parklands is formidable, i have all my life thought these were best left for the birds. the berries from a low-hanging limb were ripe and extremely sweet to the point of tasting flat, though some still retained their tartness. the seeds are quite tender though get caught between your teeth, and even if you are careful to prevent yourself from staining a white shirt, you will still wind up with purple fingers.)

[quote name='giant shrimp' date='Jun 7 2006, 11:11 AM' post='40157
(appetizer: walking home via tenleytown i came across some mulberry trees. until reading a couple of posts by zora margolis, whose knowledge of foraging from local parklands is formidable, i have all my life thought these were best left for the birds. the berries from a low-hanging limb were ripe and extremely sweet to the point of tasting flat, though some still retained their tartness. the seeds are quite tender though get caught between your teeth, and even if you are careful to prevent yourself from staining a white shirt, you will still wind up with purple fingers.)
[/quote]
I never remember to take plastic gloves with me to the park, so I am still trying to scrub under my nails to remove the blackish-purple residue from mulberry picking. Small price to pay, though. When I see those fat, shiny, luscious berries hanging there, I am unable to stop myself from picking as many as I can. It's a true addiction, I'm afraid.

Whenever I make things with lots of seed-y berries like mulberries, blackberries, etc, like coulis or sorbet or preserves, I puree them and strain out as many seeds as I can, which are a real nuisance to eat. And mulberries don't seem to have a whole lot of flavor raw. I find that, similar to blackberries and black raspberries, they have much more depth of flavor when they are cooked. You might try throwing a few mulberries into some pancake batter if you don't want to get into a big project involving pureeing and straining. The griddle cooks the berries and improves the flavor, and there aren't enough seeds to be a problem.

Oh, and almost all ripe berries require a bit of lemon juice for balance, if they are very sweet.

Is this a photo lesson?

the photos look a little too saucy to me.

Saucy? That's a new one

More like netiquette; neither storage nor bandwidth are free, and a little consideration makes for a better experience for your fellow netizens. Please PM responses if any directly to me, as this is off-track from dinner.

Did you think to PM before posting this? You got this off subject not me. There are so many " Know it alls" on this board!

I think his note was also to inform, and heaven forbid, teach others how to be a little more polite on the net.

Have a glass of wine and relax.

Dinner for visiting cousins from Canada, who love Mexican food:

Guacamole and chips
Jicama sprinkled with lime juice and ancho chile powder
Pico de gallo

Watermelon-papaya gazpacho demitasse

Chiles rellenos stuffed with crabmeat with mole verde and crema Mexicana

2005 Turkey Flat Rosé

Barbacoa de Cabrito-- boneless shoulder of young goat, marinated in citrus-chile adobo, wrapped with avocado leaves in banana leaf, and steamed for three hours

Frijoles refritos
Saffron rice
Homemade tortillas

2004 Tait, the Ballbuster (75% shiraz, balance cabernet and merlot)

Key lime pie

2004 Peller Estates Vidal Ice Wine (gift from the Canadian cousins--wow, was this delicious!)

Loin lamb chops, marinated in maple syrup and soy sauce and grilled rare.
Grilled asparagus topped with shaved parmesan and lemon zest.
Rombi pasta with browned butter, pine nuts, buttercup squash, sage, onion, arugula and sage.

Slightly off topic--Does anyone have the current issue of Saveur? (I left my issue on the plane. ) There is a chicken dish, resting on (I think) a bed of fried onions or shallots. I want to say it was some sort of Asian recipe. Can someone tell me the name of the dish? I can then research it on Saveur's web site.

Is it perhaps Sali Chicken (chicken stew with potato sticks, on page 18)? It seems to be the only chicken dish photographed with the chicken sitting on a bed of something. And it does have ginger and garam masala in the recipe.

While I'm here-- we are having a forager's meal tonight, from my gleanings in Battery Kemble Park yesterday:

Cream of oyster mushroom and lamb's quarters soup

Queen Anne cherry clafouti--
I found a tree, which appears to be a volunteer of many years' growth, absolutely LOADED with ripe cherries. OMG, I went berserk. My husband had to drag me away, or I would still be there picking...

Ah, rapture. Leftover suckling pig from Komi. Served with a thrown-together pantry panzanella -- who knew English muffins made perfectly good croutons? -- and long-cooked green beans in bacon to echo the pigginess.

Cheese, Pate, Olives, spanish Chickpea salad

Seared Scallops with Lemon Butter

Lamb shank Tagine, Farro, Dried Fruits

Belgian Endive Parfait, Candied Orange, White Chocolate-Cayenne Sauce

We was hungry!

(Thanks to Mr Tweaked for provisions, wine and excellent seafood cooking).

Some tapas on the rooftop deck of my building:

Lamb and mint meatballs with tomato-white wine sauce

Cauliflower gratin with almond-manchego sauce

A tomato trifle of sorts - fresh cluster tomatoes from Toigo at Del Ray Farmers Market, layered with fresh Burrata from Cheestique, garnished with chiffonnade of basil, salt, fresh ground pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. The juicy goo left in the bowl was sopped up with some Italian bread from Caboose Bakery. Yum!

Went to both Lidia and Mario for dinner tonight. Her pasta with broccoli rabe, anchovy, red pepper flakes and plenty of garlic was amazing-- especially since we couldn't find rabe at Eastern Market and substituted some greens from the Greens Lady. Mario contributed with his saltimbocca Roman style. I made it look just like the picture in the cookbook.

Baguette with Chateau d'Estoublon olive oil (a gift from a friend who was recently in Provence) and nicoise olives

Snap peas with mint

Cranberry-walnut couscous

Salmon with mint, cilantro and basil

White peaches and raspberries over vanilla yogurt

To drink, a 1998 Sybille Kuntz Riesling.

Yum! I love summer at the Dupont market!

Old Pals -- equal parts bourbon (or in this instance of tribute, Early Times), Campari, and dry vermouth, up with an orange wheel

Grilled flank steak
Steamed green beans tossed with sea salt and white pepper
Roasted red potatoes coated with EVOO, garlic, rosemary, and sea salt

"Clean out the fridge" calzone -- tomato sauce, mozzarella, sopressetta, and spinach added at the table.
Harpoon IPA