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Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog


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Last night we had grilled sweetbreads with chimichurri sauce (Gourmet May '06, and on Epicurious.com), grilled corn on the cob, and steamed rainbow chard. It was our first attempt at grilling sweetbreads, and we really enjoyed them.

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Who knew that Avondale rose of cabernet sauvignon would go so well with Hebrew Nationals? :unsure:

I'll make a note of that!

Tonight we had Cibola Farms spareribs, which were delicious in spite of the excess of black pepper in my rub, along with steamed corn on the cob and broccoli, oven-roasted potatoes in chimichurri sauce, and grilled eggplant Graziella style (Fabio's recipe), which was fabulous.

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-Grilled burgers which were 3/4 ground sirloin and 1/4 ground bacon, topped with Maytag blue cheese - myocardial infarctiolicious

-Grilled corn on the cob with a garlic, paprika & honey composite whipper butter

-Leftover truffled mashed potatoes

-Watermelon

-Cookies & cream pie

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Far be it for me to swim against the tide...

Hickory-smoked ribs: (Jonathan LOVED the succulent ribs at China Gourmet, and while I wasn't looking for Asian flavors on this all-American holiday, I did make some Chang-inspired changes in the usual way I slow-cook ribs. First they spent some time with a dry rub on them, then braised in the oven, in a beer and chicken stock with lots of aromatic veg and herbs, at low temperature for about three hours. They then spent two hours in the Weber kettle on indirect heat with pans of braising liquid directly underneath, and a slow charcoal fire banked to the side onto which I sprinkled a goodly amount of wet hickory chips. I turned and wet-mopped the ribs with braising liquid a few times, and then brushed on some homemade bbq sauce for the last few minutes.) The were falling off the bone tender, juicy. Absolutely the best ribs I've ever made.

BBQ sauce--tomato based (what can I tell you...I'm from the West Coast) with the usual plus a few surprise ingredients: cumin, chipotle powder, chopped grilled peaches, pomegranate molasses. Long, slow cooktop time. Excellent.

Garlic mashed potatoes

Cole slaw with coconut dressing (this was a pantry improvisation. I usually put crushed pineapple into coleslaw dressing, but didn't have any on hand. I did have some small cans of coconut milk, and added some to the mayo-yogurt-rice vinegar-sugar combo that is the usual basis for the dressing. I added onion and celery seed and whizzed it together. It worked! He liked it! So did I...)

Leftover apricot tart

2005 Turkey Flat Rose

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Tonight, an easy dinner for one:

Steamed Dungeness Crab*

Steamed corn on the cob

Steamed artichoke

Garlic lemon butter

*Labeled "Vancouver Crabs" today at the Great Wall, they were $5.99/lb. I was looking over my shoulder for security guards after I paid for my crab and left the store--I felt like I stole it!

[and with that, I am a Hammerhead!]

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Since Dame Edna picked up a bunch of peaches at the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market on Sunday, this evening we had the season's first episode of Chicken with Peaches and Basil. It won't be the last.

Also made peach sorbet today with the rest of 'em.

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Broccoli soup (Broccoli, sel gris, broccoli blanching water) as seen through my wholly inadequate digital camera. The green color is amazing. The creme fraiche is practically an insult (that said, some lemon zest might be neat as well dusted on top there).

broccolisoup5ok.jpg

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Drawing inspiration from zoramargolis’ lavender, Monique DC, LaShanta, Corrine and yours truly, gathered for potluck. All dishes used lavender

Legant: lamb strips with a balsalmic-honey-lavender glaze served with (lavender-infused) orzo pasta with goat cheese:

louise19ki.jpg

LaShanta: Chicken, marinated in thyme and lavender, served over rice:louise37la.jpg

Corrine: Cornish hens, rubbed with a lavender butter, served on a bed of spinach and couscous:louise24ei.jpg

Monique DC: Bread pudding with blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries with a lavender crème anglais. [sorry, no pictures; we were too busy smacking our lips.]

Thanks Zora!

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Drawing inspiration from zoramargolis’ lavender, Monique DC, LaShanta, Corrine and yours truly, gathered for potluck. All dishes used lavender

Legant: lamb strips with a balsalmic-honey-lavender glaze served with (lavender-infused) orzo pasta with goat cheese:

louise19ki.jpg

LaShanta: Chicken, marinated in thyme and lavender, served over rice:louise37la.jpg

Corrine: Cornish hens, rubbed with a lavender butter, served on a bed of spinach and couscous:louise24ei.jpg

Monique DC: Bread pudding with blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries with a lavender crème anglais. [sorry, no pictures; we were too busy smacking our lips.]

Thanks Zora!

OK, girls. I am going into Jewish-shrewish mother mode here. ;) So, this is how you thank me? You prepare a fabulous meal like this, with the lavender I gave you, and you don't invite me? All I get is pictures? Would it have killed you to pick up a phone and call? But, no, really, don't worry about me. I'm fine. I'll have a Cup o'Noodles, and that'll be plenty. I don't need much. And besides, my doctor told me to watch my lavender intake. So you go ahead and have the leftovers, too. Gesunter hayt! :unsure:

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Sandwiches made from RTS leftovers. Tomato, romaine, vidalia onions, Maytag blue, all on a baguette that's been broiled while covered in my paprika/garlic/thyme composite butter.

It's served with a pickle and some Terra garlic & onion potato chips (who wants to kiss me NOW?).

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-Grilled zuchini with some McCormick's veggie seasoning

-Grilled sage-rubbed vidalias

-Grilled lamb... something (shoulder?) rubbed with garlic and rosemary

-A fire roasted orange pepper and roasted zuchini puree with honey, cumin, and cayenne*

*I roasted the veggies over my chimney starter while the coals were lighting. I thought that was a pretty cool trick if I do say so myself :unsure:

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some more from deborah madison:

golden fennel with linguine.

this recipe swallows up one whole lemon, its juice and zest, so it is lemony, and it calls for fettuccine that was not on hand. three good-sized fennel bulbs are sauteed for about 40 minutes in butter and olive oil, a three-step process starting out over high heat and then simmering down in water with the lid on the pan. chopped fennel greens, garlic and the zest are added at the end. i also added ricotta i had no other use for, a suggested variation, and dust with parmesan. by the time it is finished, the fennel is saucy.

red currants from the farmers market, served plain, and not as plump as those i remember from my early childhood in frankfurt, when our maid would take us picking and then serve them in a bowl with cream and sugar. i don't know how other people feel about raw currants, but even my wife, who dislikes the seeds, conceding they do hold flavor, is coming around to them. they are my madeleines.

a bottle of silverado sauvignon blanc, lemony too.

a small bucket of vodka with watermelon juice sans seeds, because it was a hot summer day, which has never been a rarity in washington.

(this is a meal i would gladly serve to the zany character played by amy sedaris in "candy from strangers" after she snaps her father out of a coma by (almost) winning the science fair by devising a (shank-free) battery out of materials available in prison. children, and childish adults, would like it, but for the littlest you might have to sugar the wine.)

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Grilled chicken with a lemony grilled vegetable medley. The vegetables were fennel, rabe, and radicchio seasoned with lemon thyme salt, lemon balm, and blanched lemon rind. The vegetables were nicely caramelized and the subtle lemon flavors of the herbs and rind brought a nice complexity to this dish.

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Cooked fennel is only occasionally served chez moi, since my daughter only likes fennel raw in a slaw with olive oil and lemon, and my husband doesn't like it at all. I roasted some fennel wedges the other night, with Meyer lemon olive oil and ended up eating the leftovers for lunch--delicious.

Last night, I did a charcoal-roasted, herb-brined Polyface chicken, which was about as good as a chicken can get. Served it with fresh corn polenta-- creamed corn combined with corn off-the-cob, slowly stewed with butter. And braised chard. Chilled 2003 DuBouef Julienas Cuvee Prestige. Watermelon for dessert. Ah summer. Food--yay! Weather--boo!

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And what, pray tell, is a Polyface chicken? I'm guessing it's not, as my imagination hopes it is, a crazed mutant chicken with two heads.

It's beyond organic, sustainably raised chicken from Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA recently made famous in Michael Pollan's book, _the Omnivore's Dilemma_. It's sold at the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market by Eco-Friendly Foods, which is owned by Bev Eggleston, who built a small meat-packing plant in the Shenandoah Valley, also now made famous in Pollan's book. These are chickens who follow the grass-fed cows into the pastures, eat bugs and grubs and grass in the sunshine and live happy, though short lives, are humanely slaughtered and taste absolutely delicious.

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Drawing inspiration from zoramargolis’ lavender, Monique DC, LaShanta, Corrine and yours truly, gathered for potluck. All dishes used lavender

Legant: lamb strips with a balsalmic-honey-lavender glaze served with (lavender-infused) orzo pasta with goat cheese:

louise19ki.jpg

LaShanta: Chicken, marinated in thyme and lavender, served over rice:louise37la.jpg

Corrine: Cornish hens, rubbed with a lavender butter, served on a bed of spinach and couscous:louise24ei.jpg

Monique DC: Bread pudding with blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries with a lavender crème anglais. [sorry, no pictures; we were too busy smacking our lips.]

Thanks Zora!

Do you have a recipe for the lamb strips and the cornish hens? Both look really good, I am been running out of ideas for dinner. I think I will try these next week

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Margaritas made with Herradura silver, Cointreau and Agavero

Spinach salad with grilled wild Copper River salmon (from Costco, of all places, $8.99 a pound, fresh and good!-- I also bought some for gravlax)

Roasted beets with orange vinaigrette

Marinated white beans

cherry-blueberry-apricot compote

2005 Ch. Guiot Rose´

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To celebrate my wife’s birthday we had burgers on homemade focaccia, and topped with freshly made pesto. This was served with fries served with a homemade mayonnaise.

We washed it down with a 1996 Pol Roger Rose, a vibrant, and flavorful champagne.

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It's beyond organic, sustainably raised chicken from Polyface Farm in Swoope, VA recently made famous in Michael Pollan's book, _the Omnivore's Dilemma_. It's sold at the Dupont Circle Farmers' Market by Eco-Friendly Foods, which is owned by Bev Eggleston, who built a small meat-packing plant in the Shenandoah Valley, also now made famous in Pollan's book. These are chickens who follow the grass-fed cows into the pastures, eat bugs and grubs and grass in the sunshine and live happy, though short lives, are humanely slaughtered and taste absolutely delicious.

Also can be found on Saturday mornings at Courthouse. These are great tasting chickens, even the white meat has a very chickeny flavor and the whole texture is different, denser somehow. I've rubbed with a spice paste, spatchcocked and grilled with great results. These are smaller birds that what you would find at a supermarket so the cooking times are conveniently shorter.

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Pasta with chicken and an "I have crappy ingredients that don't stand up well enough on their own so I have to embelish them with lots of other ingredients so I end up with a way-too-complicated" pesto.

IHCITDSTUPWEOTOSIHTETWLOOISIEUWAWTC Pesto Ingredients

Roast in foil over grill:

Pine nuts, fresh oregano, garlic, lemon slice, salt, pepper, and EVOO

Mix in food processor until pesto-y with:

Fresh oregano, locatelli cheese, EVOO, lemon juice, maple syrup, dried basil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, cumin, paprika, cayenne, beau monde seasoning and, uh, probably some other crap

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Wednesday: Emerald Martinis (3:1 Tanqueray to dry vermouth, with a splash of green Chartreuse); Sausage and Spinach Pie from "How to Be a Domestic Goddess," made with Snider's sausage.

Thursday: Beef and bean burritos on Bueno tortillas imported from New Mexico, Harp Ale.

Tonight: Martinis and Cowgirl Creamery cheese tasting! 4:1 Hendricks martinis alongside a baguette, Gubbeen, and Red Hawk.

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we drove to Uzes France last night to have dinner at Chez Waitman and Mrs. B. After a bit of foraging - literally in the case of the rosemary - we ate:

Melon with jambon. Sauternes

Veal entrecote, marinated with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. Chops were boned, sauteed and finished in a hot oven. We made stock with the bones for a chanterelles sauce. Served with tagliatelle and zucchini gratin.

Gigondas and Lirac.

Mache, heirloom tomatoes. Six cheeses, including aged crottin. Pain au Levain.

Purchased Mille-Feuille, eclairs, tarte au abricots. Chocolates from Joel Durand's shop in St.-Remy. The rest of the Sauternes.

In the words of the inimitable Waitman, it was a proper meal. Delightful food, delightful company, on a terrace watching the sun set and stars come out.

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Two good dinners this weekend. Nothing like the lucky folks in France had, I'm sure, but still tasty.

Saturday: an actual successful homemade Indian dinner, with sauteed eggplant, okra stir-fried with tomatoes and jalapenos, and tandoori chicken a la Mark Bittman. Produce courtesy of the Star Hollow Farms online farmers market. Beautiful, beautiful okra.

Sunday: steak sandwiches with onions, parmesan, and chervil-shallot mustard. Fresh corn. Panzanella.

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My daughter returned yesterday from a three-week backpacking trip, craving fresh food. She told me that she and a friend on the trip had spent hours talking about what great cooks their moms are, and naturally that affected my ego not one whit... :)

Since I came home from Dupont yesterday with a TON of tomatoes, and she is a vegetarian, we had:

Cherokee purple tomato slices with fresh mozzarella, basil, EVOO and 10 year balsamic

Rosemary bread

Orecchiete pasta with fresh tomatoes, roasted garlic, ricotta, Reggiano and basil

Romaine, cucumber and avocado salad with lime vinaigrette

Apricot upside-down cake

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I went grocery shopping for the first time in a LONG time yesterday. It was invigorating! Unfortunately I was talked out of cooking and into a not-so-yummy dinner out (the company was great, the food so so, and the service horrible).

As a rebound, I decided to make the dinner I was going to eat last night for lunch today. Baked salmon fillet with olive oil & steak seasoning over angel hair pasta and fresh pesto sauce. The basil was amazingly brilliant in both taste & smell. Blended it with toasted pine nuts, olive oil, kosher salt & freshly shredded Parm until pesto-y. I made the salmon & pesto last night before turning in, and then boiled the pasta this morning to finish off the dish.

I haven't had a great Monday lunch like this in a while - maybe this week won't be so bad! :)

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we drove to Uzes France last night to have dinner at Chez Waitman and Mrs. B. After a bit of foraging - literally in the case of the rosemary - we ate:

Melon with jambon. Sauternes

Veal entrecote, marinated with garlic, olive oil, and rosemary. Chops were boned, sauteed and finished in a hot oven. We made stock with the bones for a chanterelles sauce. Served with tagliatelle and zucchini gratin.

Gigondas and Lirac.

Mache, heirloom tomatoes. Six cheeses, including aged crottin. Pain au Levain.

Purchased Mille-Feuille, eclairs, tarte au abricots. Chocolates from Joel Durand's shop in St.-Remy. The rest of the Sauternes.

In the words of the inimitable Waitman, it was a proper meal. Delightful food, delightful company, on a terrace watching the sun set and stars come out.

OK, that just trumps my Cibola Farms Bison & cranberry sausage, with peppers & onions from the farmers' market. I fold. Never eating dinner again. . . . :)

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Don't despair, Scottee. We left Waitman and the Mrs. in France and flew home yesterday to the realities of kids and laundry and jet lag. Dinner was fried bologna and onion sandwiches, with mustard. :)

Previous night's dinner was at Alain Assaud in St. Remy, but I'm letting Waitman write that one up.

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Four (4) Guinnesses and four (4) strawberries.

Anybody got a Tylenol?

I hear ya. Leftover burger, no bun, bottle of Cotes du Rhone. Though I did have 2 nectarines before hittin' the sack that were sublime-- had to eat them over the sink they were so juicy.

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One fragrant white peach from a roadside stand, a handful of tomatoes from my own backyard.

And by accident, nearly a pound of Schwartz's smoked meat. I'd meant to thaw and steam just a few strips to augment my veggies, but it was sooooo good that I just kept going, fork in one hand, mustard bottle in the other... :)

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.

And by accident, nearly a pound of Schwartz's smoked meat. I'd meant to thaw and steam just a few strips to augment my veggies, but it was sooooo good that I just kept going, fork in one hand, mustard bottle in the other... :)

I know just how that happens. My mouth says, "Yummy! More! More!" and my stomach says, "OK, you're the boss..." :lol:

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A simple -- yet oh so satisfying -- meal:

Edamame

Salmon (oven poached in wine, butter and Old Bay)

Gingersnaps (the ubiquitous KitKat bars have been removed from the vending machine 'cause of the summer heat), and

Manhattan (a "tip o' the hat" to Corduroy for introducing Canadian Whiskey in my Manhattans. Hmmm. Good. :) )

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Grilled flank steak rubbed with mustard seed, tarragon, and sea salt.

Inspired by a suggestion in the roasted red potatoes thread, I tossed some with olive oil, curry powder, garlic, and white pepper. They were tasty, but flavor was faint -- I need to get over my seasoning restraint.

Green salad with vinaigrette.

Sadly, no cocktail this evening. :)

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gnocchi tossed with halved yellow cherry tomatoes, picholines, capers, mozzarella, diced garlic and shallots, basil, olive oil, sea salt and a few drops of balsamic vinegar

vinoce sauvignon blanc from the napa valley

sliced white peaches and valrhona noir noisette (with hazelnut couverture)

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Anyone got some common sense?
Apparently not me. Two Dogfish beers (the 120 Minute IPA & Golden Shower) and a couple non-descript cups of macro-brew from a pitcher downtown were only slightly balanced with a big bowl of fried dough with tomato dipping sauce. :)

Tonight's menu is roasted lamb loin, smashed red potatoes, fresh zucchini or a spinach salad. Sans alcohol.

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