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Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog


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Homemade baked tortilla chips & WH roasted chipolte salsa

brown rice with black beans jalapeno

grilled onions & poblano peppers

skirt steak with a dry rub chilpotle/aleppepo pepper/cumin/salt

Intended to be fajitas but decided to save the fresh flour tortillas for the impending snow. :)

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Monday night:

Egg drop soup

Flatbread with caramelized balsamic red onions, pork sausage, and button mushrooms; Monterey Jack and Parmigiano Reggiano

Last night:

Salad of red leaf lettuce, sliced red and yellow mini-bell peppers, cucumber; vinaigrette

Cheese (Hooligan, Maytag blue, Morbier, and 3-year aged Quebec cheddar; fig spread; and baguette slices

Leftover flatbread topped with caramelized balsamic onions, etc.

Leftover feta tart

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Roasted butternut squash risotto. (Squash from the 2010 garden. Those suckers really do keep all winter.)

Shaved fennel and apple salad in a lemon juice, rice vinegar, olive oil and dijon dressing.

Levain bread from Firehook. Fantastic.

The fennel came from Trader Joe's in Old Town. It was labeled as a new item, was already trimmed with the outside brown-ish and bruised leaves pulled off, and the bulbs were bigger and nicer looking than at Super H. Plus, it was 2 for $3.00 instead of $2.00 each. Very nice flavor - I'll buy them again.

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charcoal-grilled marinated eco-friendly skirt steak

grilled Field Roast vegetarian chipotle "sausages" *

rajas de poblanos

La Costeña refried beans

basmati rice

pico de gallo

TJ's corn tortillas

Valrhona brownies (adapted from Ad Hoc at Home recipe)

B&J's vanilla

Pacifico

*purchased at Whole Foods and not used when K was home for Christmas--she'd been touting them. I figured I'd better do something with them before they expired from old age. They were quite spicy and a bit too salty, but really not bad as imitation meat goes. Didn't eat much of it (there were four large links in the package), but I could see using it when making burritos or to mix with scrambled eggs and green chiles.

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Early dinner tonight, focused on using up leftover horseradish

Seared New York strip steaks with horseradish-mint glaze (steaks from Bruce at Westover Market: excellent!)

Mashed potatoes with horseradish and scallions

Sauteed Russian kale with garlic

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Friday night was an appetizers for dinner sort of meal. It could have been a little healthier and better-balanced...

Red leaf lettuce salad with parsley, cucumber, carrots, and garlic-herb croutons; vinaigrette

Taco dip and Tostitos

Baked cheese-stuffed sweet mini-peppers with bacon

Last night was mostly leftovers:

Leftover taco dip and Tostitos

Red leaf and romaine salad with cucumber, carrots, bacon, mini bell peppers, croutons; vinaigrette)

Mushroom and kale, raisin, pine nut lasagna stacks

Leftover ginger and star anise chicken

Buttered red potatoes with lemon and dill

The taco dip was actually better the second time around. It doesn't seem like the kind of food for which that would be the case, but it improved with age.

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Salmon Teriyaki (using Trader Joe's frozen Sockeye--wild Alaskan w skin--better than expected)

Short-grain brown rice

Spring Valley's stir-fry greens w red bell pepper, shitake mushrooms and typical aromatics

Pinot afterwards, leftover from dinners of pasta w pork sugo, kale and ultimately, a salad of wilted radicchio w balsamic, toasted walnuts and shredded, raw carrot.

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Sunday night:

Romaine, shredded carrots, chickpeas, Alphonso olives; vinaigrette

Leftover ginger and star anise chicken

Chilaquile casserole

Last night:

Multigrain toast and soy spread

Baked cod with dill oil

Stir-fried vegetables (carrots, baby bok choy, snow peas, broccoli, shiitake & cremini mushrooms, scallions and garlic)

Medium-grain white rice

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cabbage borscht with a hunk of beef shank with a marrow bone. I make it at least once every winter, a tribute to my russki roots.

Sort of my roots, though never served at home: dinner was corned beef and cabbage, if the other way around.

Had a small Savoy cabbage in the back of the fridge. Picked up a sandwich-sized package of Red Apron's corned beef to go with. Sautéed cabbage w onion, added apple cider along w water and seasonings to braise quickly. Shredded meat to mix in along w carrots that steamed under the lid. Served beside boiled potatoes w parsley, cornichons and Dijon mustard.

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Ma Po Tofu (per Fuschia Dunlop)...served up with some steamed broccoli and rice.

Looks good. I did a little recipe comparison with Ma Po Tofu the other month. I liked the Dunlop version, but thought this Kenji Alt recipe topped it (This blog post also compares the two). The chili oil made a difference.

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Tuesday night:

Salad (romaine, radishes, cucumber, and croutons; creamy poppyseed dressing)

Multigrain toast with soy spread

Leftover cod

Leftover mushroom and kale, raisin, pine nut lasagna stacks

Macaroni and cheese

Last night:

Salad (romaine, radishes, cucumber, alphonso olives, chickpeas, and croutons; vinaigrette)

Multigrain toast with Morbiere cheese [run under the broiler]

NY strip steak

Leftover chilaquile casserole

Steamed snow peas and white rice

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last night:

two kinds of red chile enchiladas: chicken and jack cheese (red chile salsa was homemade, chicken was leftover Costco rotisserie)

La Costeña refried beans

basmati rice

pico de gallo

baby romaine salad with cukes and pickled roasted golden beets. ranch dressing

bosc pears poached in spiced syrup with vanilla creme fraiche

Pacifico

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*purchased at Whole Foods and not used when K was home for Christmas--she'd been touting them. I figured I'd better do something with them before they expired from old age. They were quite spicy and a bit too salty, but really not bad as imitation meat goes. Didn't eat much of it (there were four large links in the package), but I could see using it when making burritos or to mix with scrambled eggs and green chiles.

A bit belated, but I was introduced to the Field Roast sausages by some vegetarian friends. It would not be an understatement to say that I am morally opposed to imitation meat products, but I actually buy this occasionally now - the ingredients are reasonable and it tastes decent. Although I only buy the Italian version. I've found it's much better than either the chipotle or apple. It's great to have on hand for throwing on pizza or into a last minute pasta dish.

As for what's for dinner, so far wheat crackers and pimiento cheese spread. Things are looking grim in here. :)

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When the cow's milk cheese intolerant one is away, the cow's milk cheese lover makes macaroni and cheese with vast quantities of asiago, some raw milk blue from Spring Gap Mountain Creamery and parm, livened up with hot sauce and mustard in the béchamel. I also fry shallots in the butter before making the roux. Comfort food at its best.

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Olive bread with Kalamata extra virgin olive oil

Greek salad (chopped tomatoes* and cucumbers, kalamata olives, feta, parsley, and lemon-dill vinaigrette)

Butternut squash-stuffed triangoli pasta (from Trader Joe's) with sunchoke creamed spinach and grated gruyere

*Giant had some "not so perfect" produce out at greatly reduced prices yesterday. I got a package of two fairly large heirloom tomatoes (a little mealy but not bad for February) for $1.48 that were fine with the imperfections cut off.

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Chicken and apple sausages

Sweet potato fries

Okay, question on the sweet potato fries - this was my first attempt at homemade, and while they tasted super, they were also super soggy (boo). Any tips and tricks? I tossed them in olive oil, garlic powder, kosher salt, pepper, and paprika, and I baked them at 450 for about 20-30 minutes.

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Okay, question on the sweet potato fries - this was my first attempt at homemade, and while they tasted super, they were also super soggy (boo).

Yep. I've never had baked sweet potato fries come out even remotely crispy. Baking on a rack over the sheet pan might help, to get the heat circulating around them, but I think they only get *really* crispy if you, well, deep-fry them. :)

Hoping to hear otherwise...

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Yep. I've never had baked sweet potato fries come out even remotely crispy. Baking on a rack over the sheet pan might help, to get the heat circulating around them, but I think they only get *really* crispy if you, well, deep-fry them. :)

Hoping to hear otherwise...

I would agree that is the only chance. FWIW, getting crispy ones from a deep fryer still eludes many restaurants that serve them.

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Agree on the sweet potato fries; very hard to get crispy, in fact, I'd rather do "steak fries" with them with larger wedges.

Tues- Garden salad with feta and a feta and sun dried tomato creamy vinaigrette. Barilla Plus penne with EF bulk Italian sausage in a tomato and white wine sauce. I spiced it up with hot and sweet cherry peppers leftover from a visit to the Italian Store for hoagies (they are very generous with the peppers which we ask for on the side). Parm and aged Pecorino grated over top.

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The box of sweet potatoes I bought at Costco a few months ago really needs to be finished off. I'd been thinking about making some oven sweet potato fries coated with panko, and a search brought up this thread on Chowhound. There are a number of suggestions for how to get them crispy.

Dinner last night:

Leftover Greek salad (with added salmon)

Leftover sweet potato and black bean chili

Leftover ginger and star anise braised chicken

Leftover macaroni and cheese

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Made a macaroni and cheese recipe from Ideas in Food (I haven't read the book-- found the recipe online). What was interesting was the technique: pre-soaking the pasta for an hour (then putting it in the cheese sauce to finish cooking). Pre-soaking pasta is something I never would have thought of. It works. I could see this being useful in the summer, where the last thing I want to do is boil a large pot of water. Or for dinner parties-- the pasta is ready to go whenever. They also use various pre-soaking liquids to flavor the pasta, and have some other tricks up their sleeve too, like roasting pasta in the oven for a toasted flavor.

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Made a macaroni and cheese recipe from Ideas in Food (I haven't read the book-- found the recipe online). What was interesting was the technique: pre-soaking the pasta for an hour (then putting it in the cheese sauce to finish cooking). Pre-soaking pasta is something I never would have thought of. It works. I could see this being useful in the summer, where the last thing I want to do is boil a large pot of water. Or for dinner parties-- the pasta is ready to go whenever. They also use various pre-soaking liquids to flavor the pasta, and have some other tricks up their sleeve too, like roasting pasta in the oven for a toasted flavor.

It also works with lasagna noodles prior to assembly :)

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Everything sounds good! Regarding sweet potato fries which I normally do as wedges, I've had really good double-fried (?) ones at Burger Joint. Had a cone of amazing frites dressed w a dark brown reduction a couple of years back at the Taste of Bethesda. French place w an American name that I don't recall...

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Couple of nights ago I prepared Evensong's butifarra in traditional fashion w white beans and oyster mushrooms.

Since each sausage weighs about half a pound, I slivered half to brown last night w cubed butternut squash, spicy chickpeas, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, Aleppo pepper, couple of mushrooms, some sort of crinkly-leafed, dark green Asian-looking green from Tree & Leaf called ___________Savoy. Short-grained brown rice, lemon and parsley at end. Hippy-dippy cooking, but no tamari.

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