Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[zoramargolis]

Charcoal grilled spice crusted pork tenderloin

Sauteed beet greens

Semolina egg pasta ribbons* with green garlic, fava beans and basil

Pear and blackberry crisp with vanilla ice cream

2000 Domaine de Montpezat Prestige Languedoc (60% cab 40% syrah)

*thin sliced leftover semolina crepes that I made on Saturday for mushroom manicotti

[legant]

chocolate goat cheese (yum--if you haven't tried you really should)

I've never heard of this before. Tell us more. Is it homemade or store-bought. If the latter, where'd you get it.

[DanielK]

I've never heard of this before.  Tell us more. Is it homemade or store-bought.  If the latter, where'd you get it.

Jill at Cheesetique carries it.

You have to really like sweet cheeses - I didn't care for it all that much, as it reminded me of chocolate-flavored cream cheese.

[jjl]

Jill at Cheesetique carries it.

You have to really like sweet cheeses - I didn't care for it all that much, as it reminded me of chocolate-flavored cream cheese.

I think it tastes like chocolate cheesecake; it is definitely sweet.

Jennifer L

[ol_ironstomach]

Caipirinha Beleza Pura.

Selection of cheeses from last night's Nat'l Geo tasting.

Tomato salad with onions and bell peppers, in a vinaigrette of Jake Parrott's remarkable Rozendal vinegar.

Potatoes au gratin.

Grilled leg-of-lamb, thinly sliced.

Watermelon slices.

G'night!

[zoramargolis]

Charcoal-grilled boneless leg of lamb, marinated for seven days in yogurt, lemon, onion and herbs (I had planned to cook it Friday, but it turned out we had to go early to the chorus concert at school and then we went away for the weekend.) The texture of the outer edge of the meat may have suffered a bit from the long marination, but it was really delicious.

Veggie-teen's main was charcoal roasted crimini mushrooms drizzled with Meyer lemon oil and stuffed with Nicoise olive, roasted garlic and feta cheese.

Israeli cous-cous with duxelle of oyster mushrooms

Haricots verts with roasted garlic and Meyer lemon oil

Salad of mache, baby romaine, and Middle Eastern cucumber

2000 Domaine la Soumade Rasteau, Cuvee Confiance (a bottle recently discovered in the bargain bin at Calvert Woodley--an extraordinary find). Gorgeous fragrant, mouth-filling fruit with a spine of sweet tannin that was a perfect foil for the grilled lamb. Too bad there was only one bottle there.

[jm chen]

(I can't believe this is my 500th post, but it's gotta happen sometime. Here goes.)

Sunday, for the first time, I successfully prepared... tofu!

Threw together a marinade loosely based on something Bobby Flay did once with shrimp: soy sauce, fish sauce, ginger, garlic, scallions, oil, lime juice, jalapenos, and a few rehydrated red chilies, all in the food processor. Took extra-firm tofu, sliced, and pressed it between two cutting boards for about an hour, then let it soak up the marinade for another hour or two. Set the tofu slices on paper towels to get excess moisture off and fried them in a little bit of hot oil while I steamed up some green beans. Then I heated the marinade to concentrate it a little and served that as a sauce.

Turned out great! Especially with a little extra plum sauce for dipping -- the sweet was very nice with the hot. Will definitely make it again.

[ulysses]

tonight was an experiment with gelatin

Malpeque oysters with cubes of watermelon gelee(variation of Jose Andreas recipe)

Tomato gelee with parmesan bavrois and aged balsamic (total ripoff of Frank Ruta)

Kiwi slices embedded in Prosecco Gelatin (a few recipes put together)

IN THE YEAR 2000 ALL FOODS WILL COME IN GELATIN FORM. IN THE YEAR 2000...

[cjsadler]

Three cheese calzones (ricotta, parm, mozz) with tomato dipping sauce

And chocolate, ancho chili and espresso pots de creme. A recipe from Allison at Bluebell, a Philly restaurant I really like. The ancho and espresso flavors were dynamite with the chocolate.

[amyblues]

Seared NY strip steak, with broccoli and cubed, roasted butternut squash sprinkled with salt, pepper and rosemary. I don't have a grill so I used the cast iron grill pan. I need to work on my indoor steak grilling, or perhaps buy thinner strip steaks. This was 2 inches thick (maybe a little more!) and in a 500 degree oven, after searing it on the stove-top for 4 minutes a side, it was still really rare after 10 minutes. I'm fine with rare steak (my preference!) but the +1 is more a medium rare guy. Any tips?

[zoramargolis]

Seared NY strip steak, with broccoli and cubed, roasted butternut squash sprinkled with salt, pepper and rosemary. I don't have a grill so I used the cast iron grill pan. I need to work on my indoor steak grilling, or perhaps buy thinner strip steaks. This was 2 inches thick (maybe a little more!) and in a 500 degree oven, after searing it on the stove-top for 4 minutes a side, it was still really rare after 10 minutes. I'm fine with rare steak (my preference!) but the +1 is more a medium rare guy. Any tips?

Make sure that the meat is at room temperature before you cook it.

[giant shrimp]

asparagus baked in pockets of prosciutto and fontina, from marcella hazan, accompanied by steamed new potatoes with garlic chives and olive oil. you probably shouldn't eat this too often, but it really is good, and you don't need to use as much butter as specified in the recipe.

[amyblues]

Thanks Zora! I had the steak out for half an hour prior to cooking but a steak that thick probably takes a bit longer.

Last night's dinner was perfect: toasted everything bagels with lox, whitefish salad and Temptee whipped cream cheese. Temptee is a Breakstone product, and I've never seen it around here but it's everywhere in NJ where my family is from. It's my taste of home, and far preferable than the Philly whipped cream cheese. My friend's dad owns a kosher store in VA Beach, and she brought me back a container when she went for Passover. Bagels, lox and whitefish from Calvert Woodley, and I was in heaven!

[Capital Icebox]

Last night was perfect weather for grilling out:

Duck Liver Pate

Cowboy Ribeye from Cheesetique (50% off!)

Grilled zucchini and squash with parprika and a little madras curry

'Cashel and Custard Sundae' -- lemon meringue custard (from the godmother), cashel blue, and a little grated nutmeg and honey

Music: The Beach Boys' SMiLE and Pet Sounds (made all the better when the train came through Old Town right on cue)

[zoramargolis]

In recognition of Cinco de Mayo:

Jicama with lime juice and pasilla chile powder

Guacamole

Pico de Gallo

Sopes with frijoles refritos and feta cheese

Chorizo

Rajas de poblanos

2005 Akakies Kir Yianni Rose (beer/wine, beer/wine, beer/wine? Wine won--this worked).

Sugared strawberries with whipped cream

[zoramargolis]

Charcoal-grilled yellowfin tuna burgers with wasabi-lime mayonnaise and grilled onion

Jicama slaw

Pan-crisped potato wedges*

2004 Glatzer Gruner Veltliner

*I've done this a few times recently, and it satisfies the family's craving for fries without lots of oil being poured and heated up. I microwave a russet potato or two until just soft. Then cut in quarters, lengthwise, leaving the skin on. I dust the cut sides of the potato wedges with my pre-made spice rub (Spanish paprika, ancho powder, garlic powder, ground cumin, ground oregano, salt and black pepper) and fry them in a little bit of olive oil until brown and crisp on all sides.

[cjsadler]

A late dinner to go with watching Iron Chef.

Salad of greens from the Dupont farmer's market

Pasta al'Amatriciana

Olive oil and polenta cakes with balsamic-basil marinated strawberries

[zoramargolis]

Pasta with fiddlehead ferns*, wild oyster mushrooms**, favas*** and Pecorino

Spice-crusted, charcoal grilled sirloin

Green salad

Sugared strawberries from Heinz's stand at Dupont market

2004 Seghesio Zinfandel, Sonoma County

*fiddleheads from Maine, purchased at Trader Joe's in Bailey's Crossroad

**Gathered in Battery Kemble, while walking the dog.

***favas were purchased at Super H yesterday, the nicest ones I've seen this year.

[Anna Blume]

Pasta with fiddlehead ferns*, wild oyster mushrooms**, favas*** and Pecorino

**Gathered in Battery Kemble, while walking the dog.

The mushrooms given to me at the farmer's market (Dupont Circle) were my first oyster mushrooms. I diced them, sauteed them in butter. Salt and pepper. Squeeze of lemon. Amazing!!! Lucky you!

* * *

Another Spring thing:

Long-stemmed globe artichoke alla Romana

Spaghetti carbonara with ramps (wonderful)

Grapefruit with strawberries

[zoramargolis]

Stopped in at BlackSalt and Bassin's today:

Linguine with alfredo sauce and Blackpearl salmon

Gulf brown shrimp scampi

Roasted asparagus with Meyer lemon oil

Mango buttermilk panna cotta with blackberry coulis (the buttermilk was from Adam, the milk seller at Dupont market. This was real buttermilk, the by-product of making butter, not cultured like commercial buttermilk you get in a grocery store. Very sweet, and had not had all the cream separated out.)

With the meal, we drank a 2004 Gobelsburger Gruner Veltliner--OMG it was good (incredibly reasonable, too, at $10.99) and this was the very last bottle. They can't get more--the vintage is completely sold out, according to Mike the new German-Austrian consultant at Bassin's.

[JPW]

Good old fashioned Italian-American linguini with sausage and red sauce and a generous topping of parmagiano reggiano.

[jm chen]

Friday:

split roast chicken

Cajun wafflecut carrots

Saturday:

more chicken

roasted asparagus

Sunday:

soy-glazed chicken thighs (from All About Braising)

roasted broccoli

Good simple stuff. Well, the braised thighs have about 83 ingredients, but the actual cooking is simple, anyway.

[JPW]

For mother's day --

Bean ravioli in brown butter balsamic sauce

Pureed carrot soup

Pork tenderloin, mashed parsnips and asparagus with a reduced stock sauce.

Shoofly pie and vanilla ice cream.

[brr]

another mothers day menu

Grilled whole black sea bass - reallllly good, we briefly washed/marinated/rubbed it with a mixture of white wine, olive oil, garlic, black sea salt and oregano, and grilled 8 mins on each side

with...

Grilled asparagus, portobellos and eggplant

and a nice 1999 Barolo

Dessert was some sponge cups filled with fresh fruit and whipped cream

[mdt]

Lunch technically, but yesterday we feasted on roasted garlic stuffed pork shoulder sandwiches. Butterflied pork shoulder covered in a mix of garlic, Italian parsley, EVOO, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary, then rolled and tied. Roasted in the oven at 225F for about 6 hours. Served with freshly baked rosemary focaccia.

Served with 2004 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Granges.

[CrescentFresh]

Lunch technically, but yesterday we feasted on roasted garlic stuffed pork shoulder sandwiches. Butterflied pork shoulder covered in a mix of garlic, Italian parsley, EVOO, salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary, then rolled and tied. Roasted in the oven at 225F for about 6 hours. Served with freshly baked rosemary focaccia.

Served with 2004 Domaine Bernard Baudry Chinon Les Granges.

mdt's factual report leaves out one very important detail -- It was freakin' delicious!

[zoramargolis]

Cardoon flan: I ran a vegetable peeler along the cardoon stalks to destring them somewhat before chopping and parboiling. However, when they were tender and no longer bitter, they were still a bit stringy. My original plan had been to make a bechamel and bake them in a gratin. But then I thought about pureeing them in my Vita-Mix, which is powerful enough to turn plywood into a smooth puree. And I tossed in some shallot, three eggs, some creme fraiche, salt and white pepper and poured the resulting puree into a buttered casserole and baked it in a bain marie until done. It was a pretty pale green, very delicate tasting and quite good. Not a whole lot of artichoke flavor, though. Next time, I'll add some artichoke hearts.

Polyface loin end pork chop, pan-seared and oven finished, pan reduction sauce with rosemary, sage and garlic.

Homemade quince mostarda

Polenta

Fennel slaw with lemon vinaigrette

2003 Blisss Maremma Sangiovese

[goldenticket]

Braised baby bok choy

Grilled Asian Pork Chops (very easy, VERY tasty marinade from Epicurious - black bean sauce, lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, fresh ginger - which I didn't have but threw in some powdered ginger - YUM)

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad

[zoramargolis]

fresh ginger - which I didn't have but threw in some powdered ginger - YUM)

For those instances when I need fresh ginger, and don't have any in good enough condition to use, I keep a bottle of The Ginger People brand Ginger Juice in my fridge. It is an excellent product and keeps for a year or more. I get it at Balducci's.

[giant shrimp]

Cardoon flan: I ran a vegetable peeler along the cardoon stalks to destring them somewhat before chopping and parboiling. However, when they were tender and no longer bitter, they were still a bit stringy. My original plan had been to make a bechamel and bake them in a gratin. But then I thought about pureeing them in my Vita-Mix, which is powerful enough to turn plywood into a smooth puree. And I tossed in some shallot, three eggs, some creme fraiche, salt and white pepper and poured the resulting puree into a buttered casserole and baked it in a bain marie until done. It was a pretty pale green, very delicate tasting and quite good. Not a whole lot of artichoke flavor, though. Next time, I'll add some artichoke hearts.

i'm not convinced we scored the best cardoons in the land from the dupont farmer's market, or that you can even successfully grow them in this area. however, i do believe i was lucky to receive the least fibrous of the bunch, from the descriptions i have read here. i agree that you lose the artichoke flavor if you go much beyond the boiling stage, so i am a bit perplexed by the recipes i have found. those in the silver spoon entirely envelop the vegetable with some strong flavors, although the gratin i adapted from a flawed recipe in that book tasted good, just not like artichoke. a number of sources recommend boiling cardoons for two hours. what kind of vegetable can stand up to that? not the cardoons i had.

[slarochelle]

Another Mother's Day report.....

Since Dad is the least likely one to try something new, I had to cover my bases.

Chilean Sea Bass, Halibut, or Mahi Mahi on a bed of briefly sautéedred and yellow pepper, red onion and swiss chard, all cooked en papillote, Diver scallops seared in butter and olive oil and new potato roasted with rosemary and garlic cloves.

Dad had the Halibut and it was a success. Mom had the Mahi Mahi; it was a little over done as it was the thinnest of the bunch - but that's how she's used to it . I had the Sea Bass, quite moist. All were from Up Stream Seafood in Silver Spring, and all were a hit.

Dessert was Strawberry Cream Cake from the recent Cooks Illustrated, another success.

[JLK]

Batali's recipe?

For mother's day --

Bean ravioli in brown butter balsamic sauce

Pureed carrot soup

Pork tenderloin, mashed parsnips and asparagus with a reduced stock sauce.

Shoofly pie and vanilla ice cream.

[JPW]

Batali's recipe?

Yep

[ScotteeM]

For Mother's Day, in memory of my mother-in-law, we had her specialty: crab cakes.

Last night, another of her favorites:

Soft shell crabs with Lemon Butter Sauce

Pan-seared shrimp marinated in garlic, shallots, pepper flakes, parsley, olive oil & lemon juice

Risotto alla Milanese

Asparagus roasted with parmesan & lemon peel

2004 Chateau Bellevue la Foret

1996 Comaine Moreau & Fils Chablis Grand Cru Les Close

[Baccala]

We had another great dinner at Bangkok 54, the place is amazing and never fails to impress.

For App's we had

Kanom Jeep

House Special Duck Roll

Cellophane-Noodle Salad

Dinner

54's Spicy Roasted Duck

Crispy Whole Fish with Spicy chili garlic sauce with fresh basil

Pad Cha From The Sea

Pad Thai with Shrmip

2 Mango margarita, a few glasses of Trimbach Gewurztraminer and Tyrell Moore’s Creek Shiraz

[mdt]

Pork tenderloin stuffed with crimini mushrooms, Firefly farms goat cheese, and spring onions

Minnesota wild rice

Sauteed Swiss Chard from Heinz

Served with 2001 Hartenberg Shiraz. Initially I thought it might be a bit heavy for the meal, but it was a great compliment to the earthy mushrooms and nutty wild rice.

[jm chen]

Dinner last night was pot roast -- Safeway had 7-bone roast (scroll down this list) so I tried that instead of my usual cross-rib cut. Delicious, but more of a hassle -- very hard to separate the meat from the fat in some sections. Still, hard to go wrong at $1.99/pound with leftovers that will feed us half the week.

[hillvalley]

Brie covered with dried blueberries and mango

Marinated, broiled pork chops

Sauteed ramps

Spinach steamed in lemon juice, topped with parmesean

Sparkling pear Izze

[DLB]

Brie covered with dried blueberries and mango

Marinated, broiled pork chops

Sauteed ramps

Spinach steamed in lemon juice, topped with parmesean

Sparkling pear Izze

I love those Izze drinks! We had a fridge full, then my in-laws came for a few days, and they were drinking them like it was water! WTF...when I came home yesterday they were all gone! 16 bottles gone! Were are you finding Ramps? The Arlington Farmers Market never has any!

[giant shrimp]

linguini tossed with a warm puree of sauteed spinach, carrot and turnip leaves, coriander, young chamomile buds and foliage, white onion, jalapeno and yogurt from blue ridge dairy, topped with toasted pine nuts and crumbled feta.

this is roughly from deborah madison's latest book and not something you are likely to encounter in a restaurant in this area. it's green with sour notes that play nicely against the pasta. because i had one and not the other, i substituted chamomile for dill, to which it holds some resemblance, crossed with mint.

this is almost a throwback to macrobiotic days, so toasted flax and sunflower seed bread from the farmer's market went well with it, as did a bottle of marlborough sauvignon blanc.

this dinner can be extended with a rhubarb compote, strawberries and vanilla ice cream from max's down the street, and it would have been except i got home too late from work and my wife was at the bookstore getting curtis sittenfeld (prep) novels signed, so it ended in bed with hendrick's gin.

tonight is daniel handler, aka lemony snicket, and his latest novel is really something else. if post-modern is not what you like, the basic eight is out in paperback and i don't know who wouldn't enjoy this more traditional account of a high school crime of passion, told unreliably by the perpetrator. anyway, it will have to be dinner out and we could go next door to buck's or head for palena closer to home. dirty but clean pierre tried bucks a couple of weeks ago after his politics and prose appearance and i would not be surprised if he had a bit too much to drink. i know we did, and also a bit too much to eat.

[Anna Blume]

Where are you finding Ramps? The Arlington Farmers Market never has any!

See most recent posts in thread on Ramps. Possibly she got hers at Dupont Circle as well; only one farmer sells them and he may not set up in Arlington. I never saw ramps at any of the WF stores in DC, i.e. another source that was mentioned some time ago.

[giant shrimp]

See most recent posts in thread on Ramps. Possibly she got hers at Dupont Circle as well; only one farmer sells them and he may not set up in Arlington. I never saw ramps at any of the WF stores in DC, i.e. another source that was mentioned some time ago.

i was surprised that ramps were still available last sunday at the dupont farmers market. they had expected the prior week to see the last of them. and i didn't notice them at whole foods on p street yesterday; there were just a couple of them left the week before and they were bedraggled. the farmers market ramps have been far superior to the $20-a-pound-for-free ramps they have been selling at whole foods. in any event, there has been a long ramp season this spring and it looks like it is running out.

[zoramargolis]

Composed salad of roasted beets, cucumber and avocado with orange vinaigrette

Polyface pork ribeye chops, herb-brined overnight, then pan seared and oven braised, served with a sherry vinegar pan reduction sauce and arroz de Valencia.

Veggie-teen had a baked stuffed Portobello mushroom

2001 Sierra Cantabria Cuvee Especial Rioja

Fresh golden pineapple and pinenut shortbread cookies from Spain.

[cjsadler]

Something you might see soon in the Wash Post.

[giant shrimp]

young and sticky honey mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, served with boiled asparagus over long-simmered polenta with butter and parmesan, garnished with purple garlic chive flowers

this is also from deborah madison's latest cookbook and i am noticing that she lets you do more of the driving than usual. a rich mushroom stock based on dried porcini and wine added to well-browned onions, carrots and garlic is essential for bringing everything together at the end, and it is a fricasee before it is strained. after making this dish, you won't feel guilty that you haven't been spending enough time in the kitchen, although you can shave off roughly an hour by preparing the stock ahead of time.

[DLB]

I have been working my way through the Bouchon cook book. Here are a few items made this past week.

Tuna Sandwich

Potato Leek Soup

Lemon Tart

Strawberry Sorbet

Salmon With beurre blanc sauce

The following are just random meals.

Pasta Sauce

Sunday Breakfast

Salmon Bake in Foil with Potato Puree (the potatoes are from the Bouchon cookbook)

[zoramargolis]

An antipasto meal without any pasta

Fava bean crostini with prosciutto and pecorino Romano

Merguez lamb meatballs

Roasted asparagus

Roasted beets with orange vinaigrette

Tomato wedges with fresh basil and balsamico

Fennel with lemon vinaigrette and Reggiano

Fontina Val d'Aosta

2004 Pazo Señorans Albariño

[porcupine]

Hot and sour soup with shrimp, and curry with chicken and many vegetables. Gubeen and ol_ironstomach went nuts at an Asian grocery then invaded my kitchen for several hours, producing a wonderful Thai meal. The whole house smells of chilies and lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves.

Oh, and dessert was fish eyes and fruit. Love that name.

[dcdavidm]

Had to start the Memorial Day Weekend on the grill. We tried a burger recipe from Daniel Boulud that worked well (No! not the one with fois gras). Purists will scoff, of course, but it combines roughly four parts ground sirloin and one part shredded pulled pork barbecue, along with ample finely diced jalapeno, all layered on a toasted bun with jalapeno mayonaise, lettuce, tomato, and onion, and topped off with a cheddar cheese and roasted corn salsa. Juicy good stuff.

[zoramargolis]

Dinner for 10--

Appetizers in the yard, with liberal applications of Off Deep Woods spray:

Fava bean crostini with Jamon Serrano and Pecorino Romano

Roasted beets with orange vinaigrette

Marinated white anchovies

Merguez lamb meatballs

Fennel slaw with lemon vinaigrette

Charcoal grilled veggies: baby yellow squash, red bell pepper, baby bermuda onion

Sicilian olives

2005 Turkey Flat Rose (Australia)

2005 Elyse Rose (Napa Valley)

Main course at the table:

Charcoal mixed grill--butterflied lamb leg; yearling venison rump roast, marinated in cooked wine marinade with juniper berries

Fresh creamed corn (fresh sweet corn scraped off the cob, stewed with sweet butter)

Grill-roasted asparagus

2001 Picchioni Andrea Rosso D'Asia

2000 Fontana Graziano Trentino Lagrein

Cheese course:

Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam; Cashel Blue; goat gouda; Idiazabal. Australian blood plum jelly, dried figs and dates.

Dessert:

Apricot upside-down cake

Wild mulberry sorbet (made with berries picked in Battery Kemble park) !! Wow, the flavor and color of this were amazingly intense !!

Creme Chantilly

Bonny Doon Muscat