Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[dcandohio]

5 hours ago, DaveO said:

One month later and I finally made it to TJ’s.  I now have the vaunted everything bagel spicing.  (Couldn’t find it elsewhere in the interim)

Pork chops. — Interesting.   Gonna start healthy shaking this spice on a number of dishes

I love it on salads. Good on hummus, too. Hope you like it!

[Tweaked]

Weekend project:  Homemade tart, crust from scratch, filling of egg, broccoli, leek, mushrooms and goat cheese.

[Deborah Lee]

Grilled in skillet pan and finished in the oven, Fontina Val D' Aosta from Righteous Cheese, sautéed chanterelles on Seylou's Pain au Levain with Trickling Springs butter!

 

[Pat]

Rice and vegetables: Brown rice cooked in homemade chicken broth with saffron and ginger; roasted tomatoes, potatoes, and broccoli. 

[DaveO]

Last night chicken cutlets with Italian bread crumbs.  Used mustard slathered on the chicken rather than flour and eggs.  Nice addition.  Bread crumbs stuck very well and there were tinges of the mustard.  Broccoli heavily sprinkled with TJ's everything but the bagel spices.  Nice garlic strength to that spice.    And at the end banana split ice cream. 

[Pat]

Butter lettuce, radishes, cucumber, yellow/orange bell pepper, and bacon; Caesar dressing
Sourdough baguette and butter or evoo
Bucatini, Rao's marinara sauce, mozzarella, and Parmesan

I wasn't sure exactly what time my husband would be home so I got the pasta all ready to be served and kept it warm until he arrived. I put the cooked pasta and sauce in a casserole, topped with the cheeses, and put it in a moderate oven until the cheese had melted and it was all heated through. Then I covered it and turned the oven off.

[Pat]

Broccoli and tofu stir-fry with brown rice - millet ramen, peanuts, scallions, ginger, hot pepper flakes, and peanut sauce

[Pat]

Breaded, pan-roasted chicken thighs
Leftover bucatini, marinara, and cheese
Braised beet greens with balsamic vinaigrette

[Deborah Lee]

Ora King Salmon Poke

Sashimi grade Ora King Salmon from Ivy City Smokehouse Market seasoned with Nibishi Ago Shiro Dashi, Kuki Sesame Oil, Hazel's Fire Panda, Mishima's Nori Komi Furikake and chopped scallions.  I purchased the seasoning products at Hana Japanese Market and Hazel's Fire Panda at Hazel Restaurant.  In my recipe, I substituted Shoyu or Soy Sauce with the Nibishi Ago Shiro Dashi.  I blended the 3 liquid seasonings first in a separate bowl to my taste and then mixed the blended sauce with the Ora King Salmon, chopped scallions and Mishima's Nori Komi Furikake.  Easy to assemble and so delicious!

 

[Pat]

Salad (butter and red leaf lettuces, radishes, cucumber, tomatoes; Caesar dressing)
Garlic bread
Pan-grilled NY Strip Steak
Steamed asparagus with lime juice

[Pat]

Thai-Style Eggplant Salad (a Marco Canora recipe I found at Food Republic)
Greens quesadillas (with leftover balsamic beet greens, pea shoots, mozzarella, and Gruyere)

I didn't have any sour cream (how did that happen?), so I improvised some by mixing buttermilk and yogurt and served with the quesadillas.

[Pat]

Grilled turkey andouille sausages
Portuguese potatoes with caramelized onions and cheese (Batatas à murro com cebola e queijo funded)
Spicy Tuscan Kale (from Ruth Reichl's My Kitchen Year)

 

[Deborah Lee]

My version of Lamb Ssam

Shio Koji-Marinated Lamb Kebabs with sautéed Padrón Peppers, Red Capsicum, Maitake Mushrooms, Sweet Onions, Garlic served on Bibb Lettuce with a sprinkle of Japanese Sansho Pepper and Hazel’s Fire Panda.  I purchased the Cold Mountain Creamy Shio Koji sauce (umami enhancer) at Hana Japanese Market in the refrigerator section at the back of the store.  Easy to use as a marinade and I also loved the results of the umami flavor that elevated a set of grilled Wild Coho Salmon Collars in a past dinner.

[Pat]

Tonight is baked chicken breasts, carrots, and Japanese sweet potatoes on a sheet pan.

[dcandohio]

A lamb shoulder steak marinated in red wine and garlic, pan seared. 

Roasted potatoes, red and yellow peppers, and green olives.

I wanted to eat early to try to re-establish a routine I keep losing, and then my neighbor called and said "come down for a drink." Two drinks later I began my meal two hours later than anticipated. Life is good. 

[DaveO]

On 4/6/2018 at 7:40 AM, dcandohio said:

.

Last night it was pan seared pork chop,  steamed broccoli, and a baby arugula salad with grated Parmesan Reggiano, an olive oil and lemon juice dressing, and a healthy shake of everything bagel seasoning from Trader Joe's.  That everything bagel seasoning is the bomb!

I've been trying out the everything but the bagel spicing from TJ's.  I do love everything bagels and have become a fan of the Everything Croissant from Junction Bakery in Alexandria.

Still experimenting with the spice.  The advice of a healthy shake is on target, IMHO.  The combination of garlic flakes, sea salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds and onion flakes is so diverse as to spread the flavor components throughout a dish.  In fact in my efforts it appears that to REALLY grasp the flavor the spicing has to have the look of an everything bagel or croissant, such that it is highly visible and concentrated in a manner not unlike its topping on a bread.   Either that OR I've got to double or triple what I consider to be a healthy shake. 

....and then it might just depend on which flavor components hit the desired spot and in what quantity.  As a spice on anything I'm thrilled with the sea salt  garlic and onion flakes.  They all provide a high level of the appropriate seasoning.  The poppy and sesame seeds aren't working for me as a spice.    There are simple recipes for making your own everything but the bagel spicing and they are so simple.  I might just create my own version limited to garlic flakes, onion flakes and sea salt. 

Its a good learning experience though.  It appears my version of a healthy shake has been pretty minor league. 

Shake shake shake...like there is no tomorrow.

[Pat]

Fettuccine with lemon, strawberries, and pea shoots
Zucchini frittata casserole

[Pat]

Tuscan carrot top soup with rice
Veggie pitas (whole wheat pitas, homemade hummus, chickpeas, tomato, avocado, cucumber, jalapeño, shredded carrots, carrot tops)

This would have been a vegetarian meal, but I had no vegetable broth on hand so used chicken broth, thinned with water, as the soup base.

[dcandohio]

I am taking a shift of care duty for my elderly and fragile parents.   Surprisingly, tonight they wanted chicken quesadillas.  I was assembling the ingredients on the round tortillas before putting them in the skillet, when my mom crowded the galley kitchen with her walker, looked at them, and said, "I thought they were supposed to be triangular."

 After I cooked them and cut them into wedges and served them on her plate, she said, "See! I told you they were supposed to be triangular." Yeah. Ok. 

[TrelayneNYC]

Veal and pork meatballs braised in tomato sauce
Skillet cauliflower
Stone fruit and bananas with Madeira

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, TrelayneNYC said:

What is the brownish ingredient in the pot between the milk and cheese?

 

[TrelayneNYC]

Nutmeg.

The meatballs have about 1/8 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg in them.

If you mean the stuff in the metal measuring cup, it's 1 cup breadcrumbs.

[Pat]

Recovering from being caught in the storm(s) and flash flood, I am beginning dinner. It will be meatloaf barded with bacon, mashed potatoes with ramp (and pea shoot) butter, and steamed broccoli with hot pepper sesame oil. I was thinking of salad too, but I'm wet, cold, and feeling sorry for myself, and I've decided on an all hot meal.

[dcandohio]

Chicken tostadas with  sharp cheddar cheese, tomatoes, homemade pickled red jalapenos and lettuce. 

[Tweaked]

Frittata, mushrooms, goat cheese, greens.

[Pat]

Lazy kind of meal last night:

Canned (Amy's) butternut squash soup
Turkey bologna and Jarlsberg cheese sandwiches on toasted Pullman rye with lettuce and tomato
Trader Joe's  potato chips ("Ode to the Classic Potato Chip")

The soup, which I uncovered in the pantry, was for my husband. He also got banana pepper rings on his sandwich because he loves them. I had mustard on my sandwich (TJ's organic yellow) because I like mustard on sandwiches and he doesn't like mustard at all. I somehow ran out of French's yellow mustard so picked some store brand up at TJ's when I was there for some other things earlier in the day. We had no potato chips, so I bought a bag of their old-fashioned thin chips--no kettle cooking, no fancy seasonings--and thought they were pretty good. 

[DIShGo]

Hamburgers smoked over an open flame with the love of my life. 

[Sundae in the Park]

We had a leftover pork loin so made up a gochujang sauce (the same marinade we'd used on the loin originally plus some sour cream) and smeared it on some bakery rolls. Added warmed-up slices of the loin plus some cucumbers and those sandwiches tasted GOOD. At least food truck-, if not restaurant-worthy.

[Pat]

Pork (shoulder) and tomatillo stew with serrano and fresno chilies, and baby yukon golds; chopped cilantro, sour cream, avocado, tortilla chips
Pickled black-eyed peas

[Pat]

Chili beans and mac

This is an old recipe I don't make much anymore: ground meat, macaroni, kidney beans, crushed tomatoes, olives, chili powder and cheese. Onion and meat get cooked up in a skillet and then get tossed in a  9 X 13" pan with everything else and go into a 350F oven for an hour. The macaroni cooks in the liquid. I guess it's a form of American goulash/chop suey and similar recipes. I made it with ground chicken instead of ground beef this time. 

One change I've made over the years is to drain and rinse the canned beans before adding them. The original recipe calls for them in their liquid. It had been so long since I made this I couldn't recall how much water I added to compensate for not using the bean liquid. I used about 1 cup last night because that seemed to give about the right texture.  I also doubled the amount of chili powder, which is only 1 Tbsp. for the entire pan. Again, I know I usually put more in but couldn't recall how much. I added an additional scant Tbsp. of chipotle powder in addition to the generic chili, and that gave a good level of spicing.

[DonRocks]

10 hours ago, Pat said:

Chili beans and mac

As opposed to 7-11 ramen? 

This is an old recipe I don't make much anymore: ground meat, macaroni, kidney beans, crushed tomatoes, olives, chili powder and cheese. Onion and meat get cooked up in a skillet and then get tossed in a  9 X 13" pan with everything else and go into a 350F oven for an hour. The macaroni cooks in the liquid. I guess it's a form of American goulash/chop suey and similar recipes. I made it with ground chicken instead of ground beef this time. 

One change I've made over the years is to drain and rinse the canned beans before adding them. The original recipe calls for them in their liquid. It had been so long since I made this I couldn't recall how much water I added to compensate for not using the bean liquid. I used about 1 cup last night because that seemed to give about the right texture.  I also doubled the amount of chili powder, which is only 1 Tbsp. for the entire pan. Again, I know I usually put more in but couldn't recall how much. I added an additional scant Tbsp. of chipotle powder in addition to the generic chili, and that gave a good level of spicing.

Punch-buggy back.🙂

[Deborah Lee]

Insanely delicious weekend dining out!  I will post as soon as I am able:

• Friday, May 25 at Momofuku CCDC
• Saturday, May 26 at Spoken English, LINE Hotel DC
• Sunday, May 27 at Maxwell Park for wine fun and dinner at Ellē

[TrelayneNYC]

On Saturday, we went to one of the more unusual Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. They're in a Michelin guide if that matters.

Old Mandarin Restaurant
3132 Vicente Street (42nd Avenue)
Parkside

We had lamb hot pot along with a scallion pancake. The pancake was one of the best I've ever had and HUGE, as in literally the size of a dinner plate. Soft on the inside, crispy on the outside.

The stock is flavored with ginger, scallion and star anise. Dip the vegetables and meat to cook, then retrieve with a strainer and dip into sauce and eat. Then later, drink the stock which has now been flavored with the ingredients as a kind of soup.

Clockwise from top: lamb kidney and liver; fish balls; Napa cabbage; tea; preserved tofu; chive dressing; pickled garlic; winter melon; enoki mushrooms.

Lamb slices. 

There's chile sauce in the ceramic jar at top.

 

[TrelayneNYC]

Spaghetti puttanesca

The sauce contains only ONE garlic clove, olive oil, chile flakes, anchovy, tomato, olives, capers and minced parsley.

If you want to go old school, omit the parsley and use dried oregano.

[TrelayneNYC]

Insalata cruda e cotta

This version has Little Gem lettuces, roasted onion, boiled potato and green beans, diced tomato; capers; pickled cherry peppers; marinated artichoke hearts and olives.

Then we had

Chicken braised in wine with garlic, rosemary, olives and red wine vinegar

Also wonderful if made with rabbit

[Pat]

Last night was red quinoa mixed with marinated gigande beans; baked chicken breasts; and steamed asparagus topped with over easy fried eggs.

Sunday started with a butter lettuce salad with cooked green vegetables (haricots certs, sugar snap peas, and English peas), chives, and a buttermilk ranch dressing with dill and chives. We also had store-bought ricotta and lemon ravioli topped with pea shoots and ramp and pea shoot butter

[Tweaked]

A couple of soft shells getting the pan fried treatment.

[DaveO]

Over the weekend I made meatballs for Italian tomato sauce meals.  I've been thinking about this since having a sublime meatball app at a Trabocci restaurant.  So much lighter, but excellent flavor and texture than anything I'd made.  So much better.  Meatballs.  I've made them for decades, never look at a recipe, and well...I'd fallen behind.

Also inspired by the recipes and photos via @TrelayneNYC I ended up with a recipe similar to what he has provided and similar to some others I reviewed.  For me the big change were significant fillers--in my case I used soaked torn bread and then wrung out much of the liquid.  

Huge improvement.  Had meatballs and spaghetti with a spinach asparagus tomato salad and ice cream treats at the end over a Memorial Day gathering.  Still need to work on this.  I noted in Trelayne's last version he used chopped veal and it comes oft recommended in a variety of recipes.  Whole Foods has it without my needing to visit a special butcher.  Looking forward to improving on this effort.

Meatballs...so pedestrian but upgradeable into a potential delight.

[TrelayneNYC]

They're great, aren't they?

[DaveO]

7 minutes ago, TrelayneNYC said:

They're great, aren't they?

They were excellent.  So much better than I had been making for years.  I'll vary with soaked bread/soaked bread crumbs, and I want to add veal, which I anticipate will be a big upgrade.  BTW:  I added nutmeg per your recipe. 

[dcandohio]

I''m experimenting again with the one sheet pan meal.  I tossed asparagus and cubed potatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper and started them on the sheet pan in a 400° oven.  I kept the asparagus on one side of the pan, all facing in the same direction, and the potatoes on the other side of the pan.

 I covered a filet of tilapia with olive oil, breadcrumbs, Trader Joe's everything bagel seasoning, and lemon juice.  When the potatoes were just about cooked, I carefully put the tilapia on top of the asparagus, to cover the delicate tops.  I then switched the oven to broil. 

 As soon as the breadcrumbs were starting to get really toasted I took the pan out.  I squeezed some more lemon over there tilapia.  The tilapia was perfectly cooked without being dry, and the vegetables were a tad past well done, which is kind of how I like roasted vegetables.

[Pat]

Carr's rosemary crackers with truffle cheese
Chicken pasta salad, with peas, bacon, tomato, chives, dill, cottage cheese, and buttermilk ranch dressing

[dcandohio]

Leftover roasted asparagus topped with two fried eggs, and a side of the leftover roasted potatoes from last night. 

[Pat]

Last night was a catchall stir-fry (tofu, broccoli, onions, garlic, bell peppers, sugar snap peas, and haricots certs) with Thai rice noodles and pan-grilled boneless pork chops sliced and served alongside.

Wednesday was leftover pickled black-eyed peas and a chicken, kale, and mushroom casserole.

[Pat]

Multigrain sourdough bread
Spinach tortellini with baby spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, herbs, and ramp - pea shoot butter

[Tweaked]

Rainy Sunday Project:  No Knead Pan Pizza

Prepped and ready to bake (550 degrees for 13 minutes); final product. 

[ktmoomau]

Last week was hectic, and I went to the Farmer's Market, but still haven't been to the grocery since China.  In good news, the fridge and freezer are getting cleared out.  Mom gave me a whole bag of cans of beans, as they don't work on her new diet, so contemplating what do with them.  We had: Steak pan fried in cast iron with Adam's Steak seasoning (my favorite) with squash sauteed with peppers and onions in olive oil that I had frozen.  We also had penne with marinara and meatballs. 

Last night I made penne with a sauce of Italian sausage browned (it's from a butcher in Garrett County and very saucy so then I just tossed the rest of the stuff in), garlic and broccoli, oregano, fennel, white wine, lemon and olive oil.  I tossed the leftover squash and red peppers in too because, why not.  

[Pat]

Cucumber salad
Sliced tomatoes
Baked chicken breasts
Baked sweet potato with maple syrup
Boiled corn on the cob with butter and Parmesan

[ktmoomau]

Well I made a haphazard attempt at shakshuka tonight and emptying the fridge- I thawed some mildly spicy peppers and spinach in the microwave, added white beans, some prego, diced cherry tomatoes, cumin, oregano, chili pepper, paprika and a little cinnamon.  Cracked in four eggs and baked it in the oven.  Pretty darn good.

[TrelayneNYC]

We went to a potluck on Sunday where all of the dishes on offer were from Marcella Hazan's cookbooks.

My contribution was

Green beans with sweet pepper, tomato and chile pepper, from "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking", pages 474-475.

It's tasty but to be perfectly frank, not as good as my version of fagiolini e pomodoro. If you want, I can demo that the next time I get a chance to make it. It's pretty simple by comparison - has lard, tomato, garlic, green beans, salt, pepper. Marcella's has olive oil, onion, yellow bell pepper, tomato, green beans, salt, pepper AND chile pepper flakes. She also has a few more steps than what I would have done: she has you prep the vegetables a certain way whereas I dispense with most of it. She also doesn't braise the beans as long as I do.