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Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog


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My lucky day! I found holy basil at the market


I made a red curry paste. I've been resorting to dried kaffir lime peel. It's still very fragrant.


For dinner we had pork stir fried with holy basil (mu pad krapow, หมูผัดใบกะเพรา),

fish cakes (tod mun pla, ทอดมันปลา) pork stewed in Chinese 5 spices (mu palo, หมูผะโล่),

eggs, and rice, with Brooklyn Sorachi Ace.

IMG_1515>

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How do you make your coconut rice?

It's straightforward. Long-grain Thai rice, coconut milk (we use a preservative-free type but that probably doesn't impact taste for most people), water, bit of sugar, bit of salt. Bring liquids, sugar and salt to a boil and then add rice, stir, cover and simmer on low flame for around 20-25 minutes.

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Last night:

Salad (green leaf lettuce, Campari tomatoes, cucumber, radishes, and homemade croutons; ranch dressing)

Stromboli (Italian sausage, bresaola, salami, basil, provolone and swiss cheeses)

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Last night:

Pan roasted salmon cakes (from BlackSalt. A steal at 3.99)

Brussels Sprouts glazed with homemade chicken stock and vin cotto

Anson Mills Polenta Integrale

Tonight will be:

Skillet-fried pickle-brined chicken thighs

Braised collards (palisades farmers market)

Roasted spaghetti squash with black pepper and cacio di roma (squash from palisades farmers market)

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Last night I made a Ray's steakhouse dinner with a rib roast*, creamy mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. Blackberry panna cotta for dessert.

*Coated with fresh rosemary, onion powder, salt and pepper and roasted using a high to low method.

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Last night:

Leftover cream of potato and broccoli soup with crumbled bacon garnish

Potato and smoked trout omelette topped with sour cream, smoked trout, and chopped parsley

Shredded Swiss chard salad with fresh mozzarella


This was a satisfying meal and quite pretty too. The chard salad recipe came from Ian Knauer's The Farm. I bought it back in the fall and this is the first I've made something from it. This may be the first time I've served chard raw, and I liked it. I'm not sure it really needed the mozzarella, but it didn't detract from the salad either.

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Crimini mushrooms in cognac cream, served over criques.

Spinach in a tarragon vinaigrette.

Pan-caramelized sweet corn. (Dear Seasonal Police, I know it's March. Mr. lperry came with me to the store, and, well, what can you do?)

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(Dear Seasonal Police, I know it's March. Mr. lperry came with me to the store, and, well, what can you do?)

Dear Mrs. Mr. lperry: No biggie. In a year when Spring sprung cold and I am guessing the local growing season will be held back at least 3 weeks if not a month when it comes to crops planted out in fields, even the most vigilant among us bought a bundle of on-sale asparagus from California at the supermarket on Monday.--Seasonal Police

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Crimini mushrooms in cognac cream, served over criques.

Spinach in a tarragon vinaigrette.

Pan-caramelized sweet corn. (Dear Seasonal Police, I know it's March. Mr. lperry came with me to the store, and, well, what can you do?)

OK, I'll ask, what the what are criques? :huh:

I was temped to buy a couple ears of corn at the Old Town market last Sat. Just couldn't pull the trigger... yet.

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(Dear Seasonal Police, I know it's March. Mr. lperry came with me to the store, and, well, what can you do?)

Dear Mrs. Mr. lperry: No biggie. In a year when Spring sprung cold and I am guessing the local growing season will be held back at least 3 weeks if not a month when it comes to crops planted out in fields, even the most vigilant among us bought a bundle of on-sale asparagus from California at the supermarket on Monday.--Seasonal Police

(Dear Seasonal Police, I know it's March. Mr. lperry came with me to the store, and, well, what can you do?)

Dear Mrs. Mr. lperry: No biggie. In a year when Spring sprung cold and I am guessing the local growing season will be held back at least 3 weeks if not a month when it comes to crops planted out in fields, even the most vigilant among us bought a bundle of on-sale asparagus from California at the supermarket on Monday.--Seasonal Police

Guilty!

Last week ('til Thurs), Giant had asparagus at $1.88/lb. and this week Safeway has it at that price. I've bought about 8 pounds of it already. I've been roasting and mostly squirreling away delicious soup with it.

Interesting note-- I find that asparagus soup can have a bit of a harsh end note to it... perhaps bitter, but that's not really the word. It's hard to explain. Adding Parm or Pec helps, but what I've found marries nicely and mellows it out is cream cheese. So about 4 oz. goes in at the end for blending.

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Criques are little French potato pancakes that I learned to make watching a Jacques Pépin program you can see here. I couldn't help but notice that they were 1. really easy, 2. gluten free, and 3. rather elegant. They taste really good too, although I didn't fry mine in as much oil as he did on the show.

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(Dear Seasonal Police, I know it's March. Mr. lperry came with me to the store, and, well, what can you do?)

Dear Mrs. Mr. lperry: No biggie. In a year when Spring sprung cold and I am guessing the local growing season will be held back at least 3 weeks if not a month when it comes to crops planted out in fields, even the most vigilant among us bought a bundle of on-sale asparagus from California at the supermarket on Monday.--Seasonal Police

My little garden seedlings are still struggling in the basement, although I may be able to put them in the cold frame today. It has been oddly cold. I haven't bought the asparagus yet because I haven't come across any that looked really good yet. At least the corn was US produce, Florida or the Rio Grande Valley, we figured.

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Interesting note-- I find that asparagus soup can have a bit of a harsh end note to it... perhaps bitter, but that's not really the word. It's hard to explain. Adding Parm or Pec helps, but what I've found marries nicely and mellows it out is cream cheese. So about 4 oz. goes in at the end for blending.

To me, what really helps the flavor (and texture, for that matter) of asparagus soup is white asparagus.

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Fake Tandoori Chicken thighs

Brown basmati rice

Leftover braised greens w onions and paprika

Gold Rush apple

I had forgotten Fake Tandoori Chicken was something I used to make thanks to Laurie Colwin--raise a glass! So rummaging through the cookbooks, I found a different version in Molly O'Neill's New York Cookbook that is delicious, especially when you use Greek-style yogurt and ignore advice to wipe off marinade completely. Made with lemon, fresh ginger, garlic & subtler spices though I added powdered Arbel chilies.

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Eggs with basil and shallots (with siracha sauce), cucumber, collard greens, dandelion greens, red cabbage, and carrots, Red curry with beef and pumpkin, green mango salad with smoked salmon, mint and peanuts (and chillies, garlic, shallots, palm sugar, lime juice, and fish sauce), Thai red rice.

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Last night:

Baguette slices with extra virgin olive oil for dipping

Salad of red leaf lettuce, campari tomatoes, and white cheddar; white balsamic vinaigrette

Cauliflower and garlic and herb roasted mushrooms with cheese sauce

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Last night

Bruschetta alla Caprese* with tomato, Thai basil, and fresh mozzarella
Red and green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, avocado and mushrooms; white balsamic vinaigrette
Tortellini soup
*I thought I made that name up and then discovered there are recipes for it online :lol: .
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Last night, rice, vegetables, grilled chicken and green papaya salad.

Tonight Gaeng Masaman แกงมัสมั่น (homemade curry paste, beef, potato, pineapple), green papaya salad again (som tum ส้มตำมะละกอ), vegetables and rice.

แกงมัสมั่น>

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Biscuits

Roasted boneless leg of lamb with rosemary and garlic

Roasted potatoes

Steamed asparagus

Chocolate stout bundt cake

I used a bottle of Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro for the cake and it was fantastic--amazing flavor. I'd bought the beer because of the Virtual Beer Tasting thread, and this may not have been the best use of it, but, wow, this cake :wub: .

Since I messed up my timing, the biscuits came out a little flat. They were ready to go into the oven before the oven was ready for them, so they sat for a while before going in. I'm assuming that's what the problem was, anyway. I hadn't made this recipe before. They were soft and tasted good, regardless.

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Our Easter dinner was much like Pat's^

Pan roasted boneless leg of lamb (Valentine's) with a reduction pan sauce (this is my go-to sauce since I discovered it).

Roasted fingerling potato "coins" with rosemary. This was tossed! I bought the potatoes at the Falls Church market and when I prepped them, I wondered how old they were. Their texture was awful. Shame.

Roasted cauliflower that I was going to serve wiht a citrus tahini sauce drizzled over, but didn't like the sauce and just couldn't finesse it enough to my liking. I find tahini has a bitter end/after taste and use it judiciously in hummus. Fortunately, roasted cauliflower rocks on its own.

Roasted asparagus with Parm.

Chocolate pot de creme hastily put together after a panna cotta wouldn't set up.

So more misses than hits, but the lamb was really delicious *and* we have lots of leftovers :)

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last night:

baked flounder filets with "piccata sauce"* (fish was purchased at A&H for $13.99 ib., considerably less than BlackSalt's price, and same level of quality IMO)

mashed potato cakes

broccolini with lemon and garlic

2008 Ch. des Cleons muscadet

*J said that he prefers the fish breaded with panko and pan-fried, but that this was "good." We gotta start cutting calories somewhere...

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Ribeye. Herbed butcher's salt from Italy/coarse black pepper right before grilling, grill over high heat, then pull and finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, chopped rosemary, and super thin sliced garlic.

Sliced and served over charred asparagus (california) tossed in a lemon vinaigrette

Topped with sauteed royal trumpet mushrooms + thyme and an over easy waterview egg (tom at dupont)

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We've had a couple of meals recently with roasted asparagus over penne with balsamic and pecorino romano, roasted acorn squash on the side.

Last night was roasted parsnips and potatoes and a chickpea salad with lemon, olive oil, and pecorino romano. It's a weird combination, but I've been replacing lunch and all snacks with juice trying to shake off the winter, and I was craving complex carbs.

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...Spinach - manchego cheese souffle...

That sounds really good. Did you wing it, or is there a recipe?

Last night was a clean-out-the-produce-drawer meal with crimini mushrooms and broccoli in a gochuchang sesame sauce, served over jasmine rice. Pan caramelized sweet corn on the side. Ferrari Carano Fumé Blanc 2012.

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That sounds really good. Did you wing it, or is there a recipe?

Well...both actually :lol: . I had intended to make this recipe, from a blog I recently discovered. I'd made several recipes from the site and they've all been good. I didn't know where to find soft garlic, so I was going to use scallions. (Since it's a Spanish blog, I've had to make some alterations.) I found perfect potatoes for the recipe. They were just the right size and shape. I baked them at 375 instead of 350, but they never got cooked enough to be used in the recipe. At 90 minutes in and hard as rocks, I realized they were dud potatoes. Dinner was going to be very late if I gave them much more time to cook before starting on the stuffing part, so I knew I had change my plans.

Since I had bought the Manchego cheese (which was expensive) and in too great a quantity (I remembered the weight as a 1 so bought one pound...when the amount was actually 100grams/one quarter pound), I wanted to use it. I had the ingredients for the stuffing/souffle part prepped and had just been waiting on the potatoes...and waiting. I had larger than baby but not full size spinach prepped to be sauteed, so I made a souffle with that and the ingredients that had been prepared for the potato recipe. By the time the souffle was ready, the potatoes had softened just enough to be edible (but still wouldn't have worked for the recipe.) Aren't you glad you asked? ;)

Last night was biscuits with butter, Moroccan Chicken Stew with Artichoke Hearts and Carrots (from a Bon Appetit recipe), and couscous.

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Well...both actually :lol: . I had intended to make this recipe, from a blog I recently discovered. I'd made several recipes from the site and they've all been good. I didn't know where to find soft garlic, so I was going to use scallions. (Since it's a Spanish blog, I've had to make some alterations.) I found perfect potatoes for the recipe. They were just the right size and shape. I baked them at 375 instead of 350, but they never got cooked enough to be used in the recipe. At 90 minutes in and hard as rocks, I realized they were dud potatoes. Dinner was going to be very late if I gave them much more time to cook before starting on the stuffing part, so I knew I had change my plans.

Since I had bought the Manchego cheese (which was expensive) and in too great a quantity (I remembered the weight as a 1 so bought one pound...when the amount was actually 100grams/one quarter pound), I wanted to use it. I had the ingredients for the stuffing/souffle part prepped and had just been waiting on the potatoes...and waiting. I had larger than baby but not full size spinach prepped to be sauteed, so I made a souffle with that and the ingredients that had been prepared for the potato recipe. By the time the souffle was ready, the potatoes had softened just enough to be edible (but still wouldn't have worked for the recipe.) Aren't you glad you asked? ;)

I am glad I asked! I've got green garlic sprouted all over the garden, and this looks like a nice way to use it. I only have waxy potatoes in the house, but I may give it a try anyway.

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last night:

I found a $3.99 pull-date special, cage-free natural chicken for sale at Rodman's yesterday. It had a giblet envelope inside with three livers in it. I made a rich broth with the chicken and pulled the meat. And I used the livers to make DGS-style chopped liver. (I watched Barry Koslow make it on a local tv food program last week, and found out he uses duck fat as his schmaltz. I happened to have a container of duck fat in my fridge, and some hard boiled eggs.) I had some TJ's fresh wheat noodles in the fridge, and used those for the soup.

chopped liver with Breads Unlimited caraway rye

Korean chicken noodle soup (flavored with star anise, lemongrass, ginger, white miso, black garlic, gochujang and a little bit of tamari)

2011 Laetitia pinot noir

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