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Stir-fried chicken and veggies (mostly veggies: snow peas, green beans, carrots, grape tomatoes) with peanuts

Coconut-mint jasmine rice

Wow! My stir fries usually end up so muddled-tasting and soggy, but this turned out just fantastic, if I do say so myself. I did it in batches (like you're supposed to but which I never do) using the same sauce/marinade for each: garlic, soy, mirin, fish sauce, lime juice, salt, pepper. For the chicken, I added a few shakes of peri-peri; for the carrots, I simmered and caramelized them in white wine. Everything is still crisp and the sauce is spot on. I like to minimize the meat: one chicken breast+a ton of veggies=four servings. And I rarely doctor up rice (which is probably why I don't like it too much), but I added powdered coconut milk to the cooking water and stirred in chopped fresh mint at the end. Yum.

Damn it's good to be back in my own kitchen!

What last night's dinner was supposed to be -

Roasted pork loan with mustard sauce

Sauteed squash and zucchini

What last night's dinner actually was -

A Chick-fil-a sandwich after leaving the ER

The pork was seared on the stovetop and then finished in the oven, and though I had the sense to remove the pan from the oven with an oven mitt, 2 minutes later I went to move the pan and grabbed it full-on with my left hand. Second degree burns all over. Worst pain of my life, quite possibly.

Ugh. I'm so sorry. I hope the pain isn't too bad today... B)

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strawberry-basil-black pepper sodas

salad of spinach, field greens, strawberries and basil with strawberry-balsamic vinegar dressing

assorted cheeses (d'affinois, Humbolt fog, young manchego, valdeon) (leftovers from a party)

pain de campagne

marinated mushrooms, roasted red bell peppers, Kalamata olives

sweet salami

strawberries and cream

Thanks, Pat, for posting the salad recipe in Kitchen 911. Though I didn't follow it, I was inspired by it; the salad dressing came out great.

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Fall food for fall weather. The last butternut squash from last year's crop diced, grilled to brown, crispy, caramelized happiness, and tossed into a risotto. I have to wait a few months for the next one - the vines are just now flowering.

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Thanks, Pat, for posting the salad recipe in Kitchen 911. Though I didn't follow it, I was inspired by it; the salad dressing came out great.

I'm glad it gave you ideas. It looks like you're making a dent in your strawberry collection B).

Last night was chicken sandwiches on toasted baguette and broccoli - tomato - penne pasta salad with garlicky bacon buttermilk ranch dressing.

The night before was takeout pizza (mushroom - olive - pepperoni) because our power was out...

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My wife has been away all week. I made Rat Na (ราดหน้า) (Lard Na) (rice noodles with gravy) a bunch of times. The last time the noodles were too soft to brown, so I just through them in. I like drunken noodles (ผัดขี้เมา) even better, but there was no holy basil this week.

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Wednesday, I made som tam (ส้มตำ) (green papaya salad) and smoked/grilled some Lao sausages I had in the freezer

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I put some grilled sausage in a Lyon bakery baguette with sliced cucumber and som tam on top.

It was pretty good.

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Yesterday was pizza (cafe pizzaiolo NY style) and beer (weyerbacher merry monks, la chouffe) with friends on the porch.

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Chilled minted* snowpea** soup

Camembert** on toasted Italian bread**

Strawberries** macerated in sugar and balsamic vinegar

*From the pot on my deck

**From the Columbia Heights farmers' market

Damn it's good to be back in my own kitchen!

+infinity

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Butter lettuce, radish, tomato, cucumber, orange bell pepper salad with feta, nicoise olives,homemade croutons and Newman's poppy seed dressing

Leftover chicken (breast meat and wings)

Home fried potatoes with red onion, garlic and orange bell pepper

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Last night:

Thomas Keller's fresh pea soup

Peter Reinhart's cornbread, if vegetarian [extra fresh corn vs. bacon]

Former without white truffle oil, tamis or Parmesan lid, though some of the salt I dumped into the roiling boil was flecked w black truffle. (Great technique: peas taste way too salty when cooked, but purée requires no seasoning when blended with vegetable broth which was prepared quickly w reserved pods thrown in during final 10 minutes.) Prettiest green on earth. Cornbread was a response to all the polenta I had leftover from winter. Favorite recipe, especially w buttermilk from Trickling Springs.

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Silken tofu, covered in black sesame seeds and fried, served with a sauce of dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and ginger juice

Ingen no ohitashi: Spring Valley green beans, parboiled and steeped in dashi, soy sauce, and mirin; topped with dried bonito flakes

Steamed rice

Our first-ever batch of homemade vanilla ice cream

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Phool gobi ki bhaji (cauliflower with onions and tomatoes)

Cherries

Only needing a light dinner and inspired by Fishinnards and a beautiful bag of cauliflower from the farmers' market, I went to my Madhur Jaffrey and found this recipe. Despite not having ginger or chili on hand, this turned out just delicious. A little salty, but otherwise a very solid dish. I've got to learn more about Indian techniques; the flavors always turn out to be way, way better than the sum of the parts.

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We made dinner on the grill last night, including some improvised tacos:

Chicken Yakitori

Marinated flank steak

Roasted red peppers

Flour tortillas, with sour cream and chopped scallions as accompaniments

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^

We were also in the mood to grill.

Grilled split chicken breasts with bbq sauce.

Penne pasta salad with a lemon vinaigrette, lemon zest, basil and diced tomato.

Baked beans.

Ghiardelli turtle brownies with whipped cream and berries.

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^

^

Also grilling, but alas, I have no outdoors. Grill pan it was -- not the same, but it hit the spot.

Seared cumin-scented scallops

Grillied zucchini and yellow squash ribbons and grilled scallions with cannelini beans and cherry tomatoes, tossed in a lemon-mustard-cumin sauce with lots of parsley

The leftover veggies get better in the fridge ... looking forward to lunch!

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^

^

Also grilling, but alas, I have no outdoors. Grill pan it was -- not the same, but it hit the spot.

Seared cumin-scented scallops

Grillied zucchini and yellow squash ribbons and grilled scallions with cannelini beans and cherry tomatoes, tossed in a lemon-mustard-cumin sauce with lots of parsley

The leftover veggies get better in the fridge ... looking forward to lunch!

I adore B) my LC grill pan. Perfect size for a flank steak or 2 strips etc. It doubles as a panini maker along with a foil-wrapped paver.

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I adore B) my LC grill pan. Perfect size for a flank steak or 2 strips etc. It doubles as a panini maker along with a foil-wrapped paver.

Mine's a Lodge cast-iron and MAN does it get hot! It really does an awesome job; I just miss the outdoors-y-ness of grilling.

Tonight:

Mushrooms stuffed with turkey, bacon, and chives, in a red-wine/tomato glaze

Sautéed rainbow chard with lemon and onion

Seared zucchini and yellow squash with cumin

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Hand is healing nicely, so back to the kitchen!

Maple-mustard grilled chicken thighs

Sauteed yellow squash and baby eggplant

Sauteed onions

Roasted potatoes

All veggies came from this week's CSA - yum! Had to get rid of stuff before I head out on business for the week.

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Radicchio, frisee, and Belgian endive with toasted walnuts and feta or blue cheese; Ranch dressing

Seared flank steak and mushroom-sherry sauce over bucatini, topped with chopped scallions

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Angelic Beef skirt steak grilled with bearnaise sauce. Potato truffle puree. Romaine and dill salad from our garden with figs, Worcestershire vinaigrette, and aged feta.

Leleboo said there was too much bearnaise. I said there's no such thing.

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went to Arlington farmers market on Saturday!

spaghetti bolognese made with Eco-Friendly spicy Italian sausage and Smith Meadows ground beef

streusel topped mixed berry tart* made with blueberries, blackberries and raspberries from Westmoreland Berry Farm

*I used part of a technique seen on one of the cooking shows I watch--cooked part of the blueberries (and some supermarket blues I had from last week) and a few blackberries with sugar and a couple Ts of water, then after they'd cooked down pretty well, added half a jar of homemade wild blueberry jam. I boiled it pretty hard, but it still seemed a bit thin, so I added about a tsp of cornstarch. This was spread in the bottom of a blind-baked crust (Trader Joe's) and then the rest of the berries were set into the jam. I baked the streusel separately, on a parchment-covered sheet pan (butter, brown sugar, flour, oatmeal, almonds, cinnamon, cardamom, salt) and then sprinkled that on top of the berries when it was browned. It made a nice multi-layered tart with lots of flavor and textures--fresh berries, cooked berries, sweet-tart and crunch. Delicious with vanilla ice cream.

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Was craving crab & avocado last night, but not in a sushi mood. The result:

crab cakes with avocado sauce (avocado, a bit of mayo, dash of dijon, lemon juice, S&P, whirred in the miniprep-esque attachment to the stick blender) and diced avocado

sautéed orange bell pepper and red onion

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Summer Solstice grilling.

Portobello mushrooms filled with feta and thyme, finished with the good balsamic

Asparagus with olive oil

Corn on the cob with butter and salt

The mushrooms came from the Pentagon City Costco and were the largest I had ever seen. I was told we can have this same meal tomorrow if I want. B)

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Seeded whole wheat baguette; evoo or butter

Salad Caprese

Leftover chicken leg

Leftover chicken yakitori and mango

The baguette was from Le Pain Quotidien. I usually buy bread from Marvelous Market but decided to try LPQ instead. I had no idea what I wanted and just picked something. As I carried it home, I looked at the bread and had buyer's remorse. I realized the scent I was picking up from the bread was heavy on fennel from the seeds on top. I tend not to like bread products with fennels seeds on them so much. Once we started slicing it up, though, the bread turned out to be pretty good. It had a bit of a molasses/caramel flavor to it.

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Spent Sunday making Mole from scratch using Diane Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto (because I'm insane). I wasn't ready to make Mole Negro (her recipe makes 6 lbs), so I practiced with Mole Rojo Ixtepecano. I did most of the roasting, toasting and frying outdoors over charcoal. The task was made much easier using my Mixie (Indian wet/dry grinder), but it sill looked like I was practicing surgery in my kitchen, with all the splattered red chillie paste. I used the mole to make enchiladas (chicken) for the past two days and froze the rest. Here's some with rice, a salad, and frijoles negros

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Skipped dinner last night because I had a huge lunch at Meiwah (courtesy of work, not my choice), Friendship Heights location. I haven't had American Chinese food in a while. I really don't miss it all that much. The wife had a pimento cheese sandwich for dinner, with pimento cheese from the Cheesetique.

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Spent Sunday making Mole from scratch using Diane Kennedy's Oaxaca al Gusto (because I'm insane). I wasn't ready to make Mole Negro (her recipe makes 6 lbs), so I practiced with Mole Rojo Ixtepecano. I did most of the roasting, toasting and frying outdoors over charcoal. The task was made much easier using my Mixie (Indian wet/dry grinder), but it sill looked like I was practicing surgery in my kitchen, with all the splattered red chillie paste.

I have tubs of Oaxacan black and red mole paste in my fridge. It's been a long time since I made mole from scratch, for the reasons you describe above. And that was for a rather simple mole. Mole negro is a much more complicated process with many more ingredients.

I have a friend from Mexico and she says no middle class home cooks make their own mole. They all use mole pastes made in Oaxaca (you thin it out to the desired consistency with tomato and chicken stock). At a book signing a few years ago, I asked La Dama Kennedy about mole paste and she was predictably scornful. Of course, in her home kitchen she has a staff of several peasants who do most of the work, under her direction. It's a different story when you have to do all of the work and cleanup by yourself.

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Chiles rellenos de pollo y hongos a la crema

Lots of curiosity. I haven't ever used mushrooms as a filling. What varieties of chiles and mushrooms did you use? Were the mushrooms and cream inside, or was the cream on the outside? Mexican-style crema or something else? How did you treat the chiles? Skin on or burned off? I've eaten and also made chiles rellenos several different ways: the classic-- dipped in a beaten egg-white batter and fried; rolled in masa harina and fried; wrapped in filo and baked. Or naked.
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Lots of curiosity. I haven't ever used mushrooms as a filling. What varieties of chiles and mushrooms did you use? Were the mushrooms and cream inside, or was the cream on the outside? Mexican-style crema or something else? How did you treat the chiles? Skin on or burned off? I've eaten and also made chiles rellenos several different ways: the classic-- dipped in a beaten egg-white batter and fried; rolled in masa harina and fried; wrapped in filo and baked. Or naked.

I am pretty sure I've seen Bayless's Mexico. One Plate at a Time in your dining room. I had a large pile of mixed oyster, button and shitake mushrooms that needed to be used up, a carton of heavy cream that had been open for a week and some greenhouse tomatoes, one huge, w a cut on the skin. Feeling kind of Mexican, I looked in the index and went aha! All I needed to buy were the poblanos and ears of corn. Since also had cooked a big batch of beans that I wanted to use up, I decided to up the amount of fresh corn and forget about the protein in the filling. The chilies were simply charred, skinned, seeded and stuffed, naked, with sautéed mushrooms, Vidalia (since that's what I had) onions, corn, ribbons of chard (the white-stem variety, young, is much better, Ramona, so now I kind of appreciate Alice Waters' insistence on only that color for her Inaugural fund-raiser) and half of cinnamon-flavored tomato sauce. The rest of the latter is then thinned w broth and simmered for a long time to reduce and become more delicious. Sauce gets poured over the filled chilies and the cream drizzled in generous manner. All baked until bubbly. I think this would be really good w the recipe's shredded, roasted chicken or pulled pork. I tried the recipe because I've made some tacos and enchiladas with oyster mushrooms before that I've really liked.

*****************

Tonight: Pasta con le sarde--another "use up what's in the fridge" dish, especially considering how pricey fennel is. This is a Sicilian way to avoid wasting the stalks (and half a bulb) even some of the frilly bits (both a substitute for wild fennel) and eat an aromatic fish (canned, skins on, in water) that is very good for you. (More parenthetical phrases than km!)

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I am pretty sure I've seen Bayless's Mexico. One Plate at a Time in your dining room. I had a large pile of mixed oyster, button and shitake mushrooms that needed to be used up, a carton of heavy cream that had been open for a week and some greenhouse tomatoes, one huge, w a cut on the skin. Feeling kind of Mexican, I looked in the index and went aha! All I needed to buy were the poblanos and ears of corn. Since also had cooked a big batch of beans that I wanted to use up, I decided to up the amount of fresh corn and forget about the protein in the filling. The chilies were simply charred, skinned, seeded and stuffed, naked, with sautéed mushrooms, Vidalia (since that's what I had) onions, corn, ribbons of chard (the white-stem variety, young, is much better, Ramona, so now I kind of appreciate Alice Waters' insistence on only that color for her Inaugural fund-raiser) and half of cinnamon-flavored tomato sauce. The rest of the latter is then thinned w broth and simmered for a long time to reduce and become more delicious. Sauce gets poured over the filled chilies and the cream drizzled in generous manner. All baked until bubbly. I think this would be really good w the recipe's shredded, roasted chicken or pulled pork. I tried the recipe because I've made some tacos and enchiladas with oyster mushrooms before that I've really liked.

*****************

Tonight: Pasta con le sarde--another "use up what's in the fridge" dish, especially considering how pricey fennel is. This is a Sicilian way to avoid wasting the stalks (and half a bulb) even some of the frilly bits (both a substitute for wild fennel) and eat an aromatic fish (canned, skins on, in water) that is very good for you. (More parenthetical phrases than km!)

Both of those sound really delicious...

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First of the summer, open-faced: Tomato sandwich w basil and mayo on very toasted Pugliese.

Chocolate Cherokee field tomato from Mountain View got a little bruised on the way home, so plans for dinner changed. Absolutely delicious after a Asian-style cucumber salad (thick chunks, not peeled) from Harvest.

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I have a friend from Mexico and she says no middle class home cooks make their own mole. They all use mole pastes made in Oaxaca (you thin it out to the desired consistency with tomato and chicken stock). At a book signing a few years ago, I asked La Dama Kennedy about mole paste and she was predictably scornful. Of course, in her home kitchen she has a staff of several peasants who do most of the work, under her direction. It's a different story when you have to do all of the work and cleanup by yourself.

Even in the book Kennedy says they prepare all the ingredients for Mole Negro and then take it to their local grinder guy to be ground to a paste. I will probably try to make it myself (my Mixie works really well for grinding) but only because I like cooking even more than eating.

Last night I was lazy and made a watermelon salad with greens, olive oil and lemon juice and zest, chopped fresh mint, cucumber, and (sheep's milk) feta. We ate this with a loaf of Rustico bread from Lyon bakery.

Requisite food porn pic:

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Been back to Indian food since Saturday. Last night I made chana dal with tomatoes and a fried paste pounded cumin, coriander, bird chillies and garlic. Also potatoes and eggplant with tomatoes and toasted cumin (and fried whole cumin seeds in mustard oil, and chillies) and Brown basmanti rice with chard, onions and whole cumin seeds. I am a fan of chard, it was great in this recipe. I also love all the fresh tomatoes around now and getting fresh cilantro from the garden. Here's a pic:

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Black beans in soupy, dirty rice w feta

Garnish: chopped, organic Roma tomato from Mexico, diced avocado and sweet, spring red onion from Tree & Leaf

Almost black, ripe Bing cherries in a green, glazed ceramic bowl decorated w hens and baby chicks

Herb discussion w farmer (Jim of Anchor Nursery, now growing Ophelia's rue) led to the gift of sprigs of fresh epazote, aka pigweed, so I had to make black beans.

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It was the grilled meal that wasn't thanks to the magnificent storm. We managed to turn off the grill and get back inside just as the first raindrops fell.

Homemade chai made with chai spirited in from India sipped while sitting outside under the safety of the screened-in porch watching the storm

Roasted baby artichokes and okra (both locally grown)

Pasta with garlic, mint, and rainbow chard picked at the end of the storm

Homemade salsa with chips

The mint was inspired by Chef Ruta. He's using it with his grilled squash. I think that mint should be used all over the city until it becomes trite. Mint when used as a savory is brilliant

Also, I love summer

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This holiday weekend I celebrated peaceful Thai elections and marriage. Saturday I Djed a wedding at Nellies on U street, so no cooking. Sunday I grilled some chicken (Gai Yang) and sausage (sai krok), made green papaya salad (Som Tam Thai), massaman curry with lamb (Gaeng Massaman Gkae), cucumber "pickle" (achad), and copious amounts jasmine rice. Then I had some friends over and we got drunk and watched old episodes of "Charlie's Angels".

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On Monday, I had leftover chicken (on purpose) that I sliced

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so I could make grilled chicken salad (Yum Gai Yang).

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which has a dressing of lime juice, vinegar, sugar, salt, fish sauce, alot of ground dried Thai hot pepper, and roasted ground peanuts. One of my favorites. Sexy close-up:

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Hope everybody had a great holiday.

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All made over the weekend --

duck egg salad with lardons and grilled bread

black raspberry ice cream

blueberry pie

tart cherry pie

black raspberry custard pie

blueberry scones

Grilled mustard rosemary potatoes, grilled ribeye steaks, sauteed swiss chard, mushroom-melange, some good wine (1998 Ch. Beaucastel CdP)

leg of lamb done in a tandoori inspired fashion with salad and chapati to go with

Duck breast on the grill. Potato and onion gratin (Sunday Supper at Lucques recipe - holy crap!). Roasted grapes with olive oil (kind of revelatory), salt and pepper(kind of revelatory). Rocket very lightly dressed with duck sitting atop and a dollop of creme fraiche.

Now to graze on weeds for the next week.

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Strozzapreti al forno

Sliced tomato drizzled w balsamic

Peach

Kale braised briefly in homemade chicken broth after wilting in olive oil w caramelized onions, slivers of garlic and red chili pepper flakes. Red Apron's Rosso (pork, red wine, salt & pepper) sausage which smells wretched to me when cooking and meh or strange while served in other preps, truly delicious halved and sliced in this dish. All mixed w partially cooked pasta. Mixture of heavy cream and more of the broth poured into gratin dish. Topped w seeded bread crumbs moistened in olive oil, fresh herbs and grated Parmesan.

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