Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Pat]

Sourdough bread and butter

Chicken soup with chanterelles and button mushrooms

Pork tenderloin

Rice pilaf

Pumpkin gratin

[zoramargolis]

I'm curious where you purchase Kabocha Squash.

I bought it at the Dupont Circle FreshFarm Market. You can probably find kabocha at many of the markets these days. If you can't find kabocha, you can substitute buttercup or butternut. The three are very simillar.

[monavano]

Leftover potato leek soup out of the freezer (lunch)

Sunday's braised pork shoulder with fresh sage, rosemary, parsely-defatted and gently reheated over braised red cabbage

Sweet potatoes oven-roasted in their skins, peeled and smashed with a bit of butter and chicken stock.

Laffy Taffy (raiding the Halloween supplies).

[leleboo]

Morrocan(ish) chicken: skinless thighs braised in white wine and stock with roasted lemons, sauteed onions, and green olives, seasoned with cumin, garlic, and ginger, served with roasted broccoli.

I think I put the roasted lemon slices into the braise a little too early, because the dish was a bit too lemony for me overall, but still delicious. Crusty baguette for purposes of sopping up sauce. Nom.

[zoramargolis]

salad with roasted beets, lemon vinaigrette

eggplant parmesan with mozzarella di bufala

pretzel bread garlic toast

banana pudding with 'Nilla Wafer crumble

2007 Cantina Zaccagnini montepulciano d'Abruzzo

[Anna Blume]

West Coast wild-caught sole fillet (gorgeous and shiny at WFM) poached in broth-thinned, roasted salsa verde w stubby brown rice

Nashi

5 Marcona almonds

2 Medjool dates

3 dried apricots

2 baby Mounds bars

Yogi herbal tea

P.S. Nothing can be too lemony!

[Pat]

Leftover potato leek soup out of the freezer (lunch)

Sunday's braised pork shoulder with fresh sage, rosemary, parsely-defatted and gently reheated over braised red cabbage

Sweet potatoes oven-roasted in their skins, peeled and smashed with a bit of butter and chicken stock.

Laffy Taffy (raiding the Halloween supplies).

Weird how much this is similar (except for the Laffy Taffy ) to recent meals we've had. Must be the time of year.

Tonight was

Sourdough bread and butter

Big salad (romaine and red leaf lettuce, cucumber, red bell pepper, radishes, artichoke hearts, prosciutto, and feta); vinaigrette

Cavatappi pasta with spicy meat (lamb) sauce and Parmigiano Reggiono

[zoramargolis]

Nashi

OK. I'll bite. What's that?

[monavano]

Two nights ago:

Butternut squash and carrot soup with fresh sage and rosemary. Garnished with goat ricotta.

Quinoa pilaf with broccoli, red bell pepper and finished with a sprinkle of Pecorino.

Last night was leftover braised pork shoulder. It was mild enough to shred it and re-purpose it as pulled pork with bbq sauce. Toppped with fresh red cabbage slaw dressed with vinegars, agave, cilantro, lime and orange juice. Served on plain ol' bread.

We ate this ravenously after making it home from a Halloween doggy happy hour in Old Town...in a tow truck! There we were, with 2 dogs, one a Harley biker and one a pumpkin, on Duke St., when we loaded back in the car and realized our power steering belt blew out. We called for a tow (thank you USAA!) and loaded the car with 2 dogs in the back, onto a flat bed. The driver was kind enough to take us right to our door before taking the car to the dealer. What a night!

[Anna Blume]

Nashi

OK. I'll bite. What's that?

You actually can bite since it's an Asian [apple] pear and not an apple.

[Chocolatechipkt]

Pasta carbonara (and a meatless version for the vegs.)

happy green beans (organic, with a little garlic)

sliced apples (ran out of time and inspiration)

[bettyjoan]

FINALLY getting into my Ad Hoc at Home cookbook - autographed, of course!

Meatballs and pappardelle with oven-roasted tomato sauce

Meatballs were stuffed with mozzarella and use 4 different cuts (beef sirloin, beef chuck, veal shoulder, and pork butt) - VERY tasty and moist. The sauce was incredibly concentrated, which was great for flavor but not so much for texture (I prefer a saucier sauce). So, I added it to a batch of basic homemade marinara that I had on hand, and Keller's sauce greatly enhanced mine (duh).

One of these days I'll make homemade pasta...

[lperry]

We're back to having both of us in the house for dinner, so I'm back to cooking.

Crimini mushrooms in a red wine / balsamic reduction served over quinoa.

Yellow crookneck squash sautéed with a little onion and butter. There was one squash, so each person got half. I would say it is the last one, but I've been wrong about that a few times now.

Four Romano beans each, steamed and tossed with butter and salt. There's maybe twenty more on the vines. (Fingers crossed.)

Pugliese bread heated in the oven until the crust was crisp, smeared with chêvre.

[zoramargolis]

bouillabaise (non-traditional*, with monkfish, hake, shrimp, squid and mussels in a stock made from shrimp shells and heads)

baguette toast

rouille

ciao bella pistachio gelato

2009 Villa Maria sauvignon blanc

*a couple of days ago, I watched an old episode of Hubert Keller's cooking show where he made this, I didn't use quite the number of different fish/shellfish elements (he said seven was traditional), but for him there was none of this nonsense about it not being true bouillabaise without rascasse--he used salmon, fer heaven's sake-- I did follow his lead and add pieces of new potato. I didn't have fresh tarragon, so I added a small splash of pastis at the end, and some grated orange peel.

[zoramargolis]

braised eco-friendly lamb shanks (after 5 days in a cooked wine marinade)

mash of 1/2 russet and 1/2 sweet potatoes

roasted brussels sprouts

2005 Kirkland Yountville cabernet

[bettyjoan]

Another Ad Hoc dinner -

Pan-roasted duck breasts

Butter-braised brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and radishes

Veggies were delicious - and the duck would have been perfect, but for a) a little too much citrus, and a touch of overcooking (both my fault).

[leleboo]

Butter-braised brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, and radishes

It's a sprout night!

Artichoke-lemon crostini

Pepper-bacon-wrapped pork loin steaks

Brussels sprouts sauteed with white beans

Lemon-mint cake

A lot of wine, for a lot of reasons.

[weezy]

a breakfast for dinner for something quick after the trick-or-treaters came thru:

fried eggs, sunny & runny

applewood smoked bacon

turnip greens with onion cooked in bacon drippings

ciabatta roll

[LauraB]

Grilled lamb loin chops

Grilled red peppers

Sauteed red chard with garlic

Steamed brussel sprouts

[MsDiPesto]

Made linguini carbonara for the first time, with wonderful results appreciated by my friend and myself. Not something I'll do very often, due to high calorage content, but it was deelish. No, didn't use guanciale. No, didn't use pancetta even. Bacon.

Very forgiving recipe, even with the extra egg I decided to add to my egg-parmigiano reggiano stravecchio mix. I added diced shallots to the hot bacon grease as well as chopped garlic.

[Anna Blume]

English sense of the word "dinner": duck hash in a wide, preheated (white) bowl. Potatoes came from a farm whose manager dressed up like a carrot for Halloween, so a carrot diced to aid parsley in cutting the fat [duck and bacon].

[weezy]

chanterelles sauteed in butter with a little thyme and shallot over rice, followed by purple baby bok choy sauteed with some garlic in EVOO and splashed with a shot of balsamic over the remaining rice.

[ema]

I made lobster rolls, inspired by the Redhook lobster rolls I had this weekend. It turned out delicious, except I didn'tt have the New England style rolls at home. Final cost came out to be $10 per roll, so I guess the $15 charged by Redhook isn't bad at all.

[LauraB]

Barley Stew with Crimini Mushrooms, Leeks and Kale

Arugula, Sliced Pears, and Roasted Red Grapes, dressed with Roasted-Shallot Vinaigrette

[leleboo]

Grilled salmon and portobello mushroom caps in a marinade of soy, mirin, oyster sauce, scallion, garlic, and ginger

coconut curry jasmine rice with peas

stir-fried eggplant with sesame and garlic

Dear friend visiting just to go see the Supreme Court argue tomorrow. Late arrival, early departure. Exhausted, but well worth it.

[mame11]

So, last night I ended up dumping my second attempt at Pad Thai. I considered going out tonight to get Pad Thai but I opted to cook instead. Still in the mood for Thai or Indonesian, I made a yummy peanut sauce which I put on a chicken breast and fresh shredded napa cabbage. I also made some black rice I picked up at a Thai place in New York. Not sure I'd serve this meal for company but I feel redeemed from my disaster last night.

[lperry]

Oven roasted crimini mushrooms and (out of season, shipped from Peru, bought at Costco, but still pretty good) asparagus tossed with pan juices, a little balsamic and Parmigiano Reggiano, served over quinoa. Hot bread with chêvre.

[weezy]

Cibola Farms pork chop and a turnip gratin. Tasty, but wasn't happy with the texture of the gratin. Need to fiddle that recipe. Pork chop was simply seared in the pan and finished in the oven w S&P and was marvelous.

I always have really liked the taste of pork, but this pastured pork takes things to an incredible flavor level. I had to stop gnawing the bone b/c I didn't want to break a tooth.

[zoramargolis]

meat loaf made with eco-friendly ground beef plus ground pork and turkey from Whole Foods

sweet and russet potato mash (left over)

pan-roasted brussels sprouts

quince and bartlet pear rustic tart

2009 Dom. de la Chantelouserie Bourgeuil

[Anna Blume]

...(out of season, shipped from Peru, bought at Costco, but still pretty good) asparagus...

Do you often sense someone watching over your shoulder?

Conchiglie due stagioni con panna piano

• pasta shells cut artisanally with old bronze-cast dies on a monastery so quaint that it does business with Whole Foods. Shipped many, many miles after that initial trip on a humanely-raised donkey's back.
  
• Artichokes more recently in season than asparagus, but highly processed with their leaves torn off and probably not tossed into a compost heap, though maybe they were transformed into undergarments for Woody Harrelson just so Trader Joe's can freeze the hearts
  
• Ham very hip, very cool since animal grown on farm of a Donrockwell member, also patronized by Eola.
  
• Light cream from some dairy out in California, probably, though it's from WFM, so maybe a dairy here, a dairy there. Cows when calves didn't get shot with hormones but being milked by some metal contraption can hardly be pleasant
  
• Chives local but the farmer smokes and ditto on parsley (local, I mean; vices unknown)
  
• Butter: see comments about cream
  
• Salt--g-d, does Morton's tell you sources? Kosher qualities mitigated by porcine content of dish and mixing dairy with flesh, though not of the same creature.
  
• Chicken broth out of can--birds could hardly have been happy ones and probably stuck in some wretched skyscraper of a henhouse off the coast of Arkansas or something
  
• Don't feel like getting up and going down to the kitchen to find out what's wrong w the pepper I ground
  
• Parm Reggiano: carbon footprint similar to pasta.

Amazing stalks of celery from Twin Springs

Quarter of an apple also from Southern Pennsylvania

Salted, roasted almonds all the way from Spain

Apricots very processed (I like them orange and smooth vs. brown and wrinkly) from California--dried because they're not in season either

[lperry]

Do you often sense someone watching over your shoulder?

I'm actually pretty good at generating my own guilt. I was too lazy to go out in the yard and get the greens for something else. No frost again last night, so maybe I'll be more local this evening.

[monavano]

The chill in the air prompted me to cook a whole chicken with lots of herbs and lemon. Gosh, I love the way my house smells with sage and rosemary wafting through the air.

Pommes Dauphinoise with Fontina (vs. Gruyere)

Rapini

Leftover smashed yams

Oven-roasted sungold tomatoes. The tomatoes were a bit bland, but the roasting helped to concentrate the flavors a bit.

For dessert, more Laffy Taffy and OMG, we have to get rid of the damn Halloween candy-really crappy turnout this year

[leleboo]

What do you make when your husband gets hit by a car (door) while biking home?

Apparently:

Minted pea pesto crostini on Asiago toasts

Sirloin au poivre with a red wine reduction sauce

Sautéed zucchini and mushrooms with garlic

Château de Beaucastel Côtes du Rhône Coudoulet de Beaucastel 2007

Also apparently: I cook as a stress response. Good to know.

[lperry]

What do you make when your husband gets hit by a car (door) while biking home?

Hope he is OK. On topic, I had leftover pizza and a couple of glasses of wine. This is what happens when I'm left to my own devices...

[zoramargolis]

Hope he is OK.

Ditto. Thank your lucky stars he was able to come home, eat dinner, and the two of you could enjoy a glass of good wine together. By the way--does he wear a helmet? So many bikers I see downtown don't wear helmets and it always makes me a little bit nuts.

tonight:

oven-fried eco-friendly chicken coated with five-spice, cumin, garlic, bread crumbs

braised Russian red kale and beet greens

pureed golden cauliflower

[leleboo]

Hope he is OK. On topic, I had leftover pizza and a couple of glasses of wine. This is what happens when I'm left to my own devices...

Ditto. Thank your lucky stars he was able to come home, eat dinner, and the two of you could enjoy a glass of good wine together. By the way--does he wear a helmet? So many bikers I see downtown don't wear helmets and it always makes me a little bit nuts.

Thank you both for the good wishes! He does wear a helmet! Always always. No, it was very lucky -- he's got sort of a nasty gash and some bumps and bruises, but he's relatively ok -- and the fact that the computer in his backpack may have been a casualty is no sweat at all. Meantime, I am plying him with wine and hoping the recommendation that he doesn't need stitches holds through his interview on Friday.

tonight:

oven-fried eco-friendly chicken coated with five-spice, cumin, garlic, bread crumbs

braised Russian red kale and beet greens

pureed golden cauliflower

Zora, were the beet greens leftover from other beet preps, or do you get them separately? I love both beets and their greens, but find that when I buy them all as one, I end up not using one part before it turns (usually greens, having used the beets themselves).

[monavano]

Leftoverville tonight!

Cream of asparagus and broccoli soup

Flank steak

smashed yams

rapini

roasted tomatoes

pumpkin bread with Keswick's quark

[Anna Blume]

The chill in the air prompted me to cook a whole chicken with lots of herbs and lemon. Gosh, I love the way my house smells with sage and rosemary wafting through the air.

oven-fried eco-friendly chicken coated with five-spice, cumin, garlic, bread crumbs

braised Russian red kale and beet greens

Friendly echo: Grass-Kickin' bird w sage, rosemary and marjoram under skin roasted above parsnips, potatoes, cipollini, yellow and orange carrots

Tuscan kale, braised

Côtes du Rhône

Dried apricots

[weezy]

Had to make some stops after work, too tired to do much, so reheated some rice and black beans, gave it a squeeze of lime and a shot of sriracha. Good enough.

[zoramargolis]

Zora, were the beet greens leftover from other beet preps, or do you get them separately? I love both beets and their greens, but find that when I buy them all as one, I end up not using one part before it turns (usually greens, having used the beets themselves).

The beet greens were attached to beets that I bought a week-and-a-half ago at the Dupont market. I roasted the beets and used them in salads, and the greens were in a zip-lock bag. I often have the same experience as you, with the tops spoiling before I get around to cooking them, but these must have been very fresh when I bought them, and they were kept in just the right environment, temp and humidity-wise, because they were still in perfect shape.

[bettyjoan]

Well, I had every intention of making a lovely squash and apple soup for dinner last night - it was so nasty and raw outside - BUT, as I was peeling apples, my paring knife slipped and I took a pretty sizeable chunk off the tip of my finger. My super-squeamish husband was absolutely no help, since it was bleeding like crazy, but eventually my mom and I fashioned a ridiculously cumbersome bandage. Showering and typing have been challenging this morning, but the worst appears to be over.

Dinner ended up being nothing - the whole experience was an appetite killer for me. I'm sad to have wasted the apples, but I will buy more try the soup again (carefully) once I am healed!

[lperry]

The beet greens were attached to beets that I bought a week-and-a-half ago at the Dupont market. I roasted the beets and used them in salads, and the greens were in a zip-lock bag. I often have the same experience as you, with the tops spoiling before I get around to cooking them, but these must have been very fresh when I bought them, and they were kept in just the right environment, temp and humidity-wise, because they were still in perfect shape.

Greens tip stolen from Julia Child: wash them, shake off most of the water, then wrap them in a tea towel (I think she used paper towels) and put in a plastic bag. They will keep much longer with the damp towel - even those mesclun mixes that go bad in seconds.

And yikes, Bettyjoan! Hope you are OK. It seems like it was a rough night for DR cooks last night.

[monavano]

Greens tip stolen from Julia Child: wash them, shake off most of the water, then wrap them in a tea towel (I think she used paper towels) and put in a plastic bag. They will keep much longer with the damp towel - even those mesclun mixes that go bad in seconds.

And yikes, Bettyjoan! Hope you are OK. It seems like it was a rough night for DR cooks last night.

Heal quickly, Bettyjoan!

Agreeing with lperry that throwing a paper towel in with greens, in a plastic bag, helps to prolong their freshness. Zora's beet greens are a true testament to farm-freshness. I lose the greens a lot.

I also find that cleaning and wilting/sauteing the greens keeps them viable for a couple, 2-3 days. I do this with rapini in that I blanch, drain and spin it as dry as I can, then cover until I'm ready to eat it. A quick reheat in a pan with shallots/garlic/ chicken stock/ pancetta and it's ready to go. The par-cooking seems to preserve the greens rather than letting them wilt and spoil even while fresh.

[weezy]

Zora, were the beet greens leftover from other beet preps, or do you get them separately? I love both beets and their greens, but find that when I buy them all as one, I end up not using one part before it turns (usually greens, having used the beets themselves).

Maybe we should shop together. I always prepare the greens right away -- love them fresh! --tand then the beets or turnips wait ....and wait....and wait... patiently in the veggie drawer for me to get to them.

[weezy]

bison burger with applewood smoked mozz, dijon mustard, on a potato bread roll.

Also made some mashed turnips with caraway and sour cream but the caraway overpowered. I was trying to decide between caraway and nutmeg and chose wrong.

2006 Jacobs Creek Reserve Shiraz

And there's a honeycrisp apple for a little later.

[zoramargolis]

pan-seared scallops

Riso Baldo risotto with crimini mushrooms and shellfish stock

oven-roasted asparagus (from Costco)

left-over pear and quince tart with B&J's vanilla, blackberries and dulce de leche

2009 Brancott sauvignon blanc

[zoramargolis]

last night:

"white" posole (with poblano chiles and tomatillos)--I often use canned hominy for posole, but I had a couple of bags of dried nixtamal corn in the pantry and used one of them. el sabor es muy autentico!

corn tortillas

Ciao Bella pistachio gelato and blackberries

Longboard Island pilsner

[monavano]

Last night, I took the leftover chicken from our baked chicken previously and made a sauce for Chicken Marabella. I put the sauce over the shredded chicken (not traditional) and left the flavors mellow in my crock pot for awhile. Served over the last of pommes (the food gods would probably not approve!).

For dessert, I went for more salt and enjoyed popcorn with Pecorino while watching Iron Man 2.

[Xochitl10]

Black bean soup made with a smoked pork hock

Cornbread

[Pat]

Salad (green leaf lettuce, radishes, cucumber, avocado, croutons; vinaigrette)

Olive bread with Kalamata olive oil for dipping

Roasted chicken drumsticks

Green beans with lemon butter

Carrots with cumin and tangerine juice