Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[monavano]

Osso Bucco with Parmesan polenta and rabe. The veal was braised yesterday, and I reheated 2 of the shanks tonight.

The veal is from Costco, and this was the first that I recall seeing veal shanks. They were vaccuum sealed by 4's. In the braise, I used some pancetta--just trying to use it up (also from Costco) turned out to be really good. I liked the bits of salty pork.

The polenta was made with Bob's Red Mill corn meal and I threw in a big nob of butter and a handful of Grana Padano to finish.

Mr. MV sauteed up the rabe in evoo, garlic and red pepper flakes (I had blanched the rabe yesterday).

We'll be redoing the rest of the osso bucco and polenta a bit later on in the week.

eta: I braised the veal low and slow, at about 225 for many hours. The meat remained very moist. I'll be turning the temp way low to braise from here forward.

[zoramargolis]

The veal is from Costco, and this was the first that I recall seeing veal shanks. They were vaccuum sealed by 4's.

If my recollection is right, Costco has been carrying that packaged veal shank regularly since last Fall, and irregularly before then. I always used to buy a couple of packages when I saw it, but then it was there so predictably that I haven't been buying it every time I've been at Costco recently. That said, I made osso buco more frequently this recent past winter than in prior years. The price just can't be beat and the quality is excellent. It is, however, white veal, and I have made a resolution to try to limit my veal consumption to rose veal in the future. Note I said "try"--we love osso buco, and the Costco price is just so good...

[lperry]

Pugliese bread from Costco

Humboldt fog from Eastern Market

Bartlett pear

[zoramargolis]

last night:

blanquette of Eco-Friendly rose veal

TJ's egg pappardelle

broccolini

rhubarb compote (stewed with vanilla bean, ginger root and orange peel)

2006 Dom. des Nugues Beaujolais-Villages

[zoramargolis]

last night:

Spanish-style goat stew made with Farm at Sunnyside dried beans, roasted red pepper, tomato, green olives, pimenton, cumin, lots of aromatics and cubed, leftover grilled Eco-Friendly goat leg--the house smelled absolutely amazing while this was cooking

Quaker Valley purple asparagus with meyer lemon

steamed new Yukon gold potatoes

cinnamon crostata with macerated strawberries and vanilla pastry cream

2007 Volver (tempranillo)

[Heather]

For the kids:

Pizza delivery

Green salad

ice cream

For me, probably orange juice.

[DanCole42]

For me, probably orange juice.

If you buy the frozen concentrated kind, you can slice it!

Taco Night!!!

Roast onion, garlic, serrano. Blend with tequila (burn off the alcohol first), lime juice, cilantro, and agave syrup. Add toasted cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, cumin. Marinate skirt steaks, then grill.

Serve with:

Pickled serranos

Grilled sweet onions

Guac

Cheese

Sour cream

Hickory smoked salt

Charred corn tortillas

[zoramargolis]

last night:

pomagranate anti-oxidantini with Pom, frozen meyer lemon vodka, meyer lemon syrup, sparkling water, chunk of lime

potato samosas from halal market on University Blvd. with tamarind-date chutney

buttermilk-marinated tandoori spice-rubbed, charcoal grilled Eco-Friendly chicken

cilantro-mint chutney

basmati rice

raita

strawberry cream pudding

dogfish head indian brown ale

[rkduggins]

Tonight:

Cornmeal fried catfish with remoulade

Stewed tomatoes with okra

Braised lima beans

Cornbread with bacon

Myer lemon buttermilk sheet cake

[leleboo]

Life has been completely insane. It feels kind of nice to cook, even though it's nothing special tonight.

In progress:

Balsamic-lacquered chicken legs, sprinkled with sesame seeds and chives

Grilled eggplant and zucchini with a hint of lemon

Lazy, but tasty.

[DanCole42]

It's grillin' time, baby!

Fire the bad boy up... roast some garlic and a whole onion with rosemary and EVOO/butter

Blanch and marinate* some swiss shard stems

Skewer some shiitakes on rosemary skewers, marinate*

Let some NY strips dry at room temp, season

Pack the chard leaves into foil with EVOO, lemon, etc.

Sprinkle some salt on some lemon slices

*Balsamic, EVOO, rosemary, salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic

Grill everything!!!

Drizzle all with butter, EVOO, salt, lemon juice, etc. etc. etc.

Drink an entire bottle of syrah during this process, post while still slightly buzzed on same.

I swear, few things are more incredibly transformative than a whole onion that's been roasted with herbs and made sweet and juicy.

[Rovers2000]

Pan seared salmon (from BlackSalt) with lemon and olive oil.

Grilled (well...since I live in a condo, grilled on my cast iron grill pan) asparagus and ramps(from the Dupont Farmers Market) tossed in olive oil and sea salt.

[leleboo]

Grilled (well...since I live in a condo, grilled on my cast iron grill pan)

Nothing wrong with this! <looks around furtively>

...I mean, y'know. Ditto.

[Toogs]

Roasted Evensong chicken with garlic and herbs de provence, asian sweet potatoes roasted with the chix, red wine gravy, the year's first asparagus barely cooked.

And the somehow forgotten ramps sit in the fridge and await the leftovers tomorrow.

[Pat]

Saturday:

Grilled thai beef salad

Mushroom asparagus bread pudding

Tonight

Frisee with poached egg and vinaigrette

Leftover pork scallopini

Leftover noodles and cheese

Leftover honey carrots

[Anna Blume]

last night:

pomagranate anti-oxidantini with Pom

Cute. Now tell me about the strawberry cream pudding...

[zoramargolis]

Now tell me about the strawberry cream pudding...

It was the remaining macerated strawberries, blended in the Vita-Mix with the remaining vanilla pastry cream. I was too lazy to strain out the seeds. It would have been better if I had.

[leleboo]

Gruyère and Irish cheddar soufflé with salade vinaigrette and "flax and bran filone"* from Harris Teeter.

I really just need to throw in the towel and move back to France soon, yeah?

*This bread is pretty good -- nutty, with the flax seeds flecking the dense crumb -- but every time I try to say it, I somehow get all Spoonerised and say "flan and brax." Which sounds like a new webcomic or something.

[Pat]

Delayed by a month or so...

corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots

salad of sliced campari tomatoes, s + p, frisee and ranch dressing

[monavano]

Grilled Tandoori chicken breasts (yogurt and spice marinade for a few hours), (Next Step) yams that were spiced with cumin and smoked paprika and baked, chopped salad with roasted tomato vinaigrette.

We started with:

Roasted cauliflower and potato soup (thyme, sweet paprika, smoked paprika and turmeric) garnished with stinging nettle pesto (garlic, pecorino, evoo, pistachios), a dash of smoked paprika and crushed pistachios.

[Flavortown]

Spring Lasagna, filled with asparagus, creminis, shallots, fresh ricotta, goat cheese, pecorino, and chervil with a tarragon, lemon, and goat cheese bechamel.

[chaofun]

Ramps and Parsley pesto and spaghetti. Simple, seasonal, and yum!

[Pat]

Black pepper-manchego gougères

Cream of asparagus and sunchoke soup

Leftover grilled Thai beef salad

I wanted some bread-like type of product to go with the meal and found the gougères in the freezer. (How bread-like they are is open to debate, but they fit my general category.) They were just as good as when I'd first made them, though I forget when that was, since I neglected to label the bag . That also meant a bit of memory work trying to recall exactly what type of gougères they were, as I went on a bit of a gougère-baking spree a while back and made several different kinds. Finally figured it out, though .

[Anna Blume]

Carbon-footprinted chicken braised with pancetta; sweet onion; white wine; stock; oyster, button, honey and pioppini mushrooms

Miniature potatoes

Thick purple and green asparagus

Baked rhubarb compote w dollop of plain yogurt

[monavano]

A cup of cauliflower soup with nettle pesto to begin, and brinner (breakfast for dinner); Keswick's poached eggs (it's been a while, but yup, they're still deep orange and delicious), rabe, Blue Ridge ricotta over lightly buttered toast.

[zoramargolis]

iceberg salad with french breakfast radishes and buttermilk blue cheese dressing

lasagna bolognese* with mozz di bufala and homemade ricotta

coconut popsicles

2007 Cantina Zaccagnini montepulciano **

*made with eco-friendly ground beef/framani hot italian sausage on sale at Rodman's for $1.99 (reg. price $6.99--pull date is May 1)

**seriously delicious, rich red for $11.99 at Costco (Parker gave it >90 points)

[Pat]

Pastini soup with Italian parsley and Parmesan

Red leaf lettuce salad with radishes and Campari tomatoes; ranch dressing

Nachos with pulled pork, black beans, cheddar, chopped tomatoes and cilantro; sour cream added to serve

I can't recall if I've mentioned this before, but I discovered that one way to counteract the tendency towards sogginess with nachos without skimping too much on toppings is to do two layers of cheese. I put one layer on directly on the chips, then add toppings, and then another layer of cheese over top. When I chop tomatoes to put on, I let them sit in a bowl for a bit (in this case, with chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice), letting them give off excess liquid. After I bake the nachos for a few minutes, I pull the pan out, add the tomatoes to the top with a slotted spoon and finish heating them. The sour cream goes on when they come out of the oven.

For the pork in this, I heated it with some Lagunitas Pils and a drained can of black beans before lifting it onto the chips and cheese with a slotted spoon.

[bettyjoan]

I've been traveling for a week, but before I left, I made short ribs with pickled caramelized onions and sauteed spinach. The recipe came from the February Bon Appetit, and actually the focus was on sandwiches you could make with the leftovers. I didn't get to have a sandwich, since I headed out of town the next morning, but the short ribs were AWESOME, and hubby said the leftovers were killer as well.

[Pat]

Thursday night

Red leaf lettuce salad with campari tomatoes, radishes, and cucumbers; ranch dressing

Sourdough boule (Marvelous Market) and butter

Baked Penne with roasted tomatoes and sunchokes and mozzarella

Last night

Sourdough boule and butter

Green leaf lettuce salad with campari tomatoes, radishes, and cucumbers; ranch dressing

Pasta shells with gorgonzola and pistachios

[monavano]

Sloppy Joes last night. I riffed on a Mark Bittman recipe that is in this month's Cooking Light (I am loving this magazine and try to cook at least 2 recipies from each issue). I had a defrosted flank steak in the fridge, and didn't want to just grill it and have "steak" for dinner, what being that Mr. MV and I just gorged on steak the night before at Ray's in Courthouse.

Bittman's recipe reflects his relatively recent change in diet to limit animal protien after discovering that he had high cholesterol. His Sloppy Joe recipe uses veggies and legumes for heft, and animal protein to compliment.

I minced/chopped the steak in the food processor-first time I tried this and it worked well in lieu of having ground beef on hand.

[flygirl]

Today - and was it ever good.

http://52mealsinoneyear.blogspot.com/2010/04/five-easy-pieces-i.html

[lperry]

Roasted asparagus with whole wheat penne, balsamic vinegar, red pepper flakes, and pecorino romano

Roasted cauliflower seasoned with smoked paprika. I could have done two cauliflowers and we would have eaten them both. This idea came from a WIlliams Sonoma vegetable cookbook and it is fabulous.

Sidecars

[LauraB]

A meal in one dish:

Quinoa with moroccan-spiced sweet potato and carrot stew: onion, garlic, sweet paprika, coriander, cumin, turmeric, ginger, cayenne, saffron, tomatoes, lemon juice, cilantro, mint

[zoramargolis]

oven braised Eco-Friendly beef cheeks* with crimini mushrooms

polenta

sauteed spinach with garlic

tapioca pudding

2005 Ch. Lafon-Rochet

*I had planned to cook these a couple of days ago, but didn't, so they spent 5 days in a cooked wine marinade. they were slap-yo-mama delicious. perfect slap-yo-daddy Bordeaux pairing.

[Pat]

Green leaf lettuce salad with campari tomatoes, radishes, and cucumbers; vinaigrette

Pulled pork tacos

Baked sweet potatoes

[bettyjoan]

Last night - beer-braised chicken tacos, slightly modified from a recipe in the March Food & Wine. Biggest modification was that the protein was supposed to be turkey (bone-in thighs and legs). Tried Whole Foods and Fresh Market, and the only turkey they had was the whole bird (which I didn't want to mess with). The chicken worked out just fine, and the tacos were a huge success - the simmering sauce is sort of like a mole, but less complicated. No constructive criticism was offered by the husband, so I take that as a good sign!

[lperry]

Grilled sweet potato, sweet onion, and chickpea salad dressed with lemon, olive oil, Locatelli, and some "Three Pepper Lemon" sauce from a bottle someone gave us. That stuff is hotter than I thought it would be.

Coffee cake that I made for breakfast, but it was suggested we should try for dinner.

[Pat]

Leftover pastina soup with parsley and parmesan

Tarragon chicken salad with toasted walnuts, celery, avocado, and dried cranberries; buttermilk ranch

Garlic sourdough toasts

[Pat]

Black pepper-Manchego gougères

Green leaf lettuce salad with campari tomatoes, radishes, and cucumbers; vinaigrette

Chicken andouille sausages over buttered white beans and herbs (parsley, chives, fennel fronds, tarragon)

Orange flannel hash (corned beef, onions, carrots, and sweet potatoes)

[lperry]

Early dinner resulting from an early wakening, an early breakfast, then an early lunch...

Steamed artichokes with drawn butter and salt

Asparagus and portobello mushrooms sauteed with red wine and served with crumbled chevre over seasoned arepas. I wanted grits, because I am tired of pasta, but I seem to have no grits in the house. (Please don't tell my Mom. ) The arepas worked nicely adding a crispy texture. I seasoned them with hot sauce and also put some chevre in the dough.

[Pat]

Butter lettuce and tomatoes, with frizzled Prosciutto and feta; vinaigrette

Leftover creamy gorgonzola shells

Roasted Salmon with miso, sake, and tarragon

The salmon was fantastic. I did something similar to a preparation I made for rockfish a while back, mixing small amounts of mayo, lemon juice, red miso and sake and brushing it on the fish before roasting. I snipped some fresh tarragon onto the top right before I put it into the oven.

[DanCole42]

Fresh, homemade pasta with lemon sage pesto

If you've never made your own pasta, there is simply no comparison to boxed.

[DanCole42]

Grilled NY strip w/ turnip greens and mushroom bruschetta

The bruschetta was made from homemade bread and grilled. Grilling it (rather than broiling) gets you a moister, chewier interior.

The mushrooms were tossed with leftover short rib braising liquid/sauce from Christmas.

[Pat]

Salmon rolls

Smoked salmon frittata

The salmon rolls were done in the style of lobster rolls. I took leftover salmon from last night, added a bit more mayo and tarragon, some chopped cucumber and sliced spring onions and served on toasted hotdog rolls lined with lettuce. These were very good.

[zoramargolis]

aperol sunsets

maro (fresh fava puree with green garlic, basil and lemon) on rosemary crostini

cioppino (monkfish, shrimp, squid and mussels)

haricots verts with garlic and meyer lemon

garlic toasted Pugliese bread

rhubarb compote cooked with vanilla bean and orange peel

2008 Meinklang Burgenland White (dry muskat and gruner veltliner)

[zoramargolis]

last night:

guacamole and chips

charcoal-grilled Eco Friendly flank steak tacos (marinated in green garlic, spring onion, lime juice, cumin and oregano)

roasted tomatillo salsa

pico de gallo

pickled ramps

La Costeño refried beans

last of the rhubarb compote

Bell's lager/Pacifico

[Pat]

Butter lettuce salad topped with leftover salmon and herbed white beans; balsamic vinaigrette

Cheese quesadilla

[lperry]

Bean soup augmented with three large "wild garden chicory" plants that survived the winter in my yard. They added a pleasant bitterness. Topped with Locatelli.

Pugliese bread with butter.

[monavano]

Pork tacos using leftover grill pork chops, taco seasoning. Lots of Americanized toppings

Rice steamed with turmeric, cumin and a can of Rotel tomatoes tossed in at the end.

Refried beans

Fresh pineapple, banana and honey for dessert.

[DanCole42]

"Peking Pig" - Braised pork belly with scallions and hoisin sauce in whole wheat tortilla

The belly was first cured in pink salt, salt, maple syrup, black pepper, and soy sauce, dried, then smoked over hickory. This was then braised in hoisin, Riesling, mirin, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, scallions, and sherry vinegar. Finally, the belly was thinly sliced and crisped under the broiler.

Learn from my fail: Tortillas will puff up when toasted under the broiler, so make sure there's plenty of space between them and the heat lest they rise up, touch the red hot element, and catch fire.