Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[hillvalley]

The theme thsi week was we are done with death and winter, bring on spring:

Deviled eggs

Greyson Cheese

An unnamed blue and an unidentifiable but delicious random cheese

Popcorn

Matzah

Asparagus with balsamic reduction and parmesan

Corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes with bacon horseradish sauce

Homemade challah

Tapioca pudding with mango and coconut

Mango berry cake

Glenfiddich 15

Dark and Stormys

Mango, Strawberry, Banana, Lime, Coconut Coladas

[monavano]

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Scallop and shrimp picatta over rice with broccoli sauteed in evoo, anchovy paste and garlic.

[Pat]

Scallop and shrimp picatta over rice with broccoli sauteed in evoo, anchovy paste and garlic.

As always, the food looks gorgeous. Being able to make the food is one thing but being able to present it so beautifully is another.

Our dinner tonight will be chicken cordon bleu and asparagus quiche. It's taking a little longer than I planned but getting close now.

[monavano]

As always, the food looks gorgeous. Being able to make the food is one thing but being able to present it so beautifully is another.

Our dinner tonight will be chicken cordon bleu and asparagus quiche. It's taking a little longer than I planned but getting close now.

Thanks, Pat. I'd like to make cordon bleu with leftover VA ham and wonder what you use for making the sauce. It's been a while since I've made it, and wonder if there's a relatively easy sauce that eclipses canned soup (which I still find works quite deliciously in select casseroles and dishes).

[Pat]

Thanks, Pat. I'd like to make cordon bleu with leftover VA ham and wonder what you use for making the sauce. It's been a while since I've made it, and wonder if there's a relatively easy sauce that eclipses canned soup (which I still find works quite deliciously in select casseroles and dishes).

This is just a reduced white wine/chicken broth sauce from deglazing the pan. Nothing fancy. I could swirl a little bit of cream in, I suppose, since I have some.

[zoramargolis]

"leftover night":

chicken croquettes made with leftover chicken and leftover mashed potatoes

remoulade sauce

oven-roasted asparagus

"leftover" 1/2 bottle of 2011Laetitia pinot noir

[Pat]

Shredded Swiss chard salad with fresh mozzarella

Lamb curry with potatoes, raisins, and peas

Leftover couscous

This is the second time recently I've made the salad (from Ian Knauer's The Farm), and I really love it. Maybe I'll make it for the picnic...The vinaigrette dressing has a bit of hot pepper in it, which gives the salad an extra kick. It's fresh and bright and quite simple.

On a whim, I used buttermilk in the curry, and it worked beautifully, giving a sightly tangy undertone to the whole thing.

[Sundae in the Park]

Last night: orecchiette with pine nuts and red pepper sauce, grilled chicken, and sauteed garlicky spinach

Tonight: potato-corn chowder and cheese pizza. Again. Someday we'll begin adding toppings.

[zoramargolis]

mushroom-barley-bean soup made with fresh crimini and various dried mushrooms

[Fishinnards]

It was nice out, so I grilled a chicken. I marinated it with garlic, white pepper, cilantro roots (Great Wall has cilantro with roots at both locations), palm sugar, vegetarian "oyster" sauce, and soy sauce. Served with two dipping sauces, nam jim jaew (fish sauce, lime juice, sliced shallots, roasted rice powder, roasted chili powder, culantro, palm sugar) and sweet chili sauce (vinegar, sugar, garlic, chillies), rice, vegetables, and the requisite green papaya salad. ส้มตำ ไก่ย่าง

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[monavano]

^ That looks amazing as usual!

Yesterday, I took a note from Dan Cole and made my own buns for hamburgers. This is my new, $1 proofing bucket from Lowe's (it's for mixing paint) .

The bun dough started at 24 oz. and blossomed to the top after proofing in my oven for an hour. Poof!, then punched down and made into 8 buns. After resting and baking and buttering, they looked like this:

The burgers were topped with cheddar and gorgonzola, and served with Ina's potato salad, which is perfection.

[Tweaked]

Sri Lankan Shrimp Curry

Kerala Chickpea Curry

Bengali Squash

I do not have pretty photos like the posts above

[Fishinnards]

Chicken with holy basil and long beans (Gai pad bai grapao ไก่ผัดใบกะเพราไส่ถั่วฝักยาว), jasmine rice, crispy fried egg on top, with fish sauce with chillies (prik nam pla) and vegetables (lettuce, green radish, cucumber, long beans, grape tomatoes). Bangkok 54 has had holy basil pretty regularly this past month .

[Pat]

Chicken salad with grape tomatoes, bacon, cornichons, avocado, and tarragon; dressing of mayonnaise, lemon, and white balsamic vinegar

Linguine with roasted grape tomato sauce, shiitake mushrooms, and freshly grated Parmesan

[zoramargolis]

cucumber and tomato salad with cumin, scallion and jalapeño, meyer lemon and sunflower oil dressing

kefta tagine (eco-friendly lamb meatballs in a spiced tomato sauce with preserved lemon)

oven roasted haricots verts

basmati rice

2009 Ch. de Riviere chinon

[monavano]

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Ginger apricot chicken with caramelized pineapple and cashews over coconut rice. Rapini on the side.

[Pat]

Leftover shredded chard salad

Chicken quesadillas

Leftover lamb curry

[Fishinnards]

I had one more bag of holy basil to use before it went black and sad, so tonight we had the same thing as last night, but with pork instead of chicken (used one pork chop from Lets' Meat).

Pork stir fried with holy basil and long beans with crispy egg, brown jasmine rice, vegetables and fish sauce with chillies (หมูผัดใบกะเพราไส่ถั่วฝักยาว)

My plate

[zoramargolis]

last night:

panko-crusted skate wing filets

remoulade sauce

oven roasted asparagus

basmati rice

2011 Dom de la Quilla muscadet

[Fishinnards]

Grilled chicken salad (yum gai yang ยำไก่ย่าง) made with leftover grilled chicken from Sunday. Rice, and vegetables. Brooklyn Brewery Sorachi Ace

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[lperry]

Black bean, chipotle soft tacos with a honey, lime slaw made from savoy cabbage and cilantro. The Cuisinart griddler is the best appliance for heating tortillas while simultaneously working on three other tasks. I love that thing.

[zoramargolis]

smoked chicken tostadas with leftover Rancho Gordo refried beans, salsa verde, pico de gallo, guacamole, spring mix lettuce with lime vinaigrette, grated aged cheddar, goat cheese

bosc pear

fat tire

[Sundae in the Park]

Two nights ago: beef fajitas, with zucchini, red peppers, and portabellos subbed in for the usual green peppers and onions. Also smashed avacado, mango slices, and salsa and tortillas from the carniceria. We used the Pioneer Woman recipe but found the marinade to be rather bland, oily, and limey. Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/3 cup Lime Juice, Fresh Squeezed
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar

Any suggestions to tweak it? Everything else was great.

Last night: fried rice

[monavano]

Two nights ago: beef fajitas, with zucchini, red peppers, and portabellos subbed in for the usual green peppers and onions. Also smashed avacado, mango slices, and salsa and tortillas from the carniceria. We used the Pioneer Woman recipe but found the marinade to be rather bland, oily, and limey. Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Olive Oil
• 3 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
• 1/3 cup Lime Juice, Fresh Squeezed
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tablespoon Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Sugar

Any suggestions to tweak it? Everything else was great.

Last night: fried rice

Hmm... I don't think you need all that oil. Needs more salt and perhaps switch out the sugar for brown sugar and more of it. Cilantro would be a nice addition too.

[zoramargolis]

In addition to the suggestion of cilantro, I would add onion, and if you want it spicier, either chipotle powder or a chopped, canned chipotle en adobo with some of the adobo sauce from the can. When I marinate steak for something like fajitas, I don't use oil at all, I use lots of garlic, onion, cumin, Mexican oregano and ground coriander. Also, throw the lime rinds into the bag after you squeeze the juice. Smoosh it all together so that the meat gets massaged with the marinade.

[dcandohio]

Tilapia topped with a quickly cooked "sauce" of tomatoes, basil. roasted red pepper, capers, Kalamata olives, Balsamic vinegar, garlic

Sauteed kale with garlic and chilis

Lemon and rosemary roasted potatoes

[lperry]

Risotto with loads of roasted home-grown tomatoes stirred in, finished with some fresh goat's cheese and pecorino romano. Loving the freezer right now.

[hillvalley]

Brandade

Brie

Homemade matzah crackers

Homemade challah

Baked sweet potato spears with preserved lemon yogurt sauce

Watermelon feta red onion salad

Sweet potato kale cilantro curry powder soup

White bean and rosemary cake

Asparagus with balsamic glaze

Pasta with duck tomato sauce

Lemon cream pie

Reds and whites

[monavano]

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Asparagus soup with chiffonade of VA ham

Flank steak with red wine sauce and smashed rosemary potatoes

Moose Tracks froyo later on

[monavano]

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Tonight is soup and salad Asian style, with Cook's Illustrated's version of hot and sour soup. This soup was on the easy side to make and pretty quick, too. It's not as good as some (restaurants), but better than others. For a 'take-out at home" recipe, I'll definitely make it again.

[monavano]

Sweet and sour fish (I used cod and shrimp tonight) over sticky rice.

[Pat]

Leftover pastrami sandwich from Stachowski's.

Fried pierogies (Costco) with butter and parsley.

[lperry]

^ I tried those pierogies when I was at Costco a few weeks ago. I thought they would be the perfect recovery food after a really long bike ride.

Tonight was black bean chili with roasted sweet potato, as inspired by last weeks WaPo food section. Toppings included warmed tortilla chips, avocado, various cheeses, and cilantro.

A few toasts went out to our friends in Boston.

[zoramargolis]

last night:

Spanish one-pot wonder-ful: eco-friendly chorizo, garbanzos, new potatoes, kale, roasted red pepper-tomato-shallot sofrito, the usual spices and aromatics

2003 Altos de Luzon (another find from the back of the wine cabinet)

[porcupine]

no MrP last night, so dinner solo al fresco: fusilli with fennel, orange bell pepper, broccoli, brown butter, Parmesan. Next time I'm making something like what Zora made (previous post). I love meals in a bowl.

[Pat]

^ I tried those pierogies when I was at Costco a few weeks ago. I thought they would be the perfect recovery food after a really long bike ride.

They'd probably be quite good for that. They come in a three-pack, so I usually keep one in the refrigerator and freeze the rest for a quick meal. Invariably the "use by" date is very soon after purchase, so sometimes I wind up freezing all of them because I can't use any of them quickly enough.

Last night:

Chicken soup with Swiss chard and mini-toasts

Roast pork loin with gravy

Macaroni and cheese (Monterrey Jack, manchego, and fresh mozzarella cheeses)

I don't think I've ever put fresh mozzarella in mac and cheese before. This had been in the refrigerator for quite a while and was past its expiration date, so I wanted to use it before it went bad. The soup was made from some broth I cooked up from the carcass of a Costco rotisserie chicken, plus some of the remaining chicken, the last of a bunch of farmer's market chard, and the standard onion/carrot/celery. The broth made for a delicious soup.

[monavano]

^I've been using my baked chicken/rotisserie chicken carcasses for stock recently. I don't know why I threw them out before, but I either use 1 of my baked chicken carcasses with all veggies and herbs that it was roasted with, or 2 store bought chicken carcasses to make stock. I place the carcass in my slow cooker, add water and just let it go for hours on low. Strain solids, refrigerate to get fat cap, skim and store. I get almost 4 quarts of stock per.

I also like Costco's pierogies and they are quite the bargain and better compared to Mrs. T's.

Last night was just leftover flank steak with pan sauce, smashed potatoes and Spring Valley's itty bitty brussel sprouts, roasted until they were just like popcorn.

[Tweaked]

Linguine with pesto and artichokes

Roast asparagus and red onion, topped with boquerones

[Pat]

Last night:

Chicken quesadillas

Stir-fried pork, mushrooms, escarole, zucchini, scallions, and sugar snap peas with soy sauce

[captcourt]

Last night:

Inspired by Dino's "deconstructed" lasagna, we made our own by cleaning out the fridge/pantry - fresh and dried mushrooms, asparagus, thyme, chopped shallot, an unopened container of ricotta nearing its expiration date - and a killer (probably in the literal sense, too) bechamel. A little parm and black pepper for bite.

[monavano]

Yesterday, I place seasoned pork shoulder cubes in my crock pot and juzzed (sp?) them up "a la" roast pork Italian style, with fresh rosemary, thyme, white wine, garlic and a bit of chicken stock. I turned the crock down to low and went about my afternoon of errands, just thinking about the aromas in my house waiting for me. Except I actually turned the crock pot* off, instead of low! So, I came home to cold pork cubes, not nearly as tender as I wanted them.
I turned the pot back to low and let the pork go until bed time, and pulled out last night's leftover feta and sun dried tomato meatloaf and made cheesy melt kaiser roll sandwiches with them.
Not a bad second choice
That, and Zesties

*the crock pot is my mom's old Rival. Off, low, high. It's antiquated, but much loved and very effective for smaller jobs... and making cakes with the insert.

[monavano]

^^

We got around to making roast pork Italian sandwiches tonight after yesterday's whoopsie. Actually, it worked out for the best because Mr. MV was able to run over to The Italian Store at lunch and pick up aged provolone.

Served with spiced up sweet potato fries.

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The pork sandwiches could be a contender for sliders at the DR picnic

[zoramargolis]

pan seared herb-brined eco-friendly pork rib chops, mushroom pan reduction sauce

mashed potatoes

oven roasted broccolini

2011 Villa Maria sauvignon blanc

[bettyjoan]

I haven't been visiting this forum/topic much, because I haven't had a kitchen. Now I do, and all of these pictures are making me SO. HUNGRY. I have some definite catching up to do.

First meal in the new place was simple - black beans and saffron rice with turkey kielbasa, pico de gallo, and guacamole. Filling and comforting, and eaten while watching Friday night's rainstorms in silence (no TV yet). Awesome.

Looking forward to many more...

[monavano]

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Grilled branzino stuffed with lemon, thyme and bay leaf (thank you for the Mediterrafish suggestion) served with a lemon-thyme vinaigrette, grilled asparagus and cous cous with shallots and ramps.

[hillvalley]

Raw baby carrots

Roasted asparagus and green garlic

Eggs baked in a quick tomato sauce of a Toigo hothouse tomato, green garlic, baby zucchinis and their flowers

Everything procured at Dupont on Sunday. I'm pushing the season but needed real veggies.

[monavano]

Pizza last night- VA ham (Calhoun's), caramelized onions and ramps, ricotta, aged provolone and a Margherita with Blue Ridge mozzarella, spiced-up fire roasted tomato sauce and basil.

[Pat]

The last of a loaf of Italian bread, heated to revive it, served with butter

Straw and hay fettuccine with asparagus puree (from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Cooking)

Trying to get the asparagus pesto out broke the food processor, but it was tasty.

[zoramargolis]

last night:

improvisational pasta: linguini with Benton's bacon, clams (canned), and green garlic*, topped with basil chiffonade and

freshly grated parm and romano. I know, not supposed to use cheese with seafood pasta, but it was delicious.

*and a splash of white wine and some red pepper flakes

2009 Blason de Bourgogne Montagny

[Fishinnards]

A week or two ago I bought a pork leg from my butcher. At first we had a crossed conversation that resulted in me buying some bacon ends (always a good thing, he thought I wanted smoked ham hocks). After some clarification he procured a pork leg later in the week. I wanked to make a Thai/Chinese dish called Ka Mu Palo (ขาหมูผะโล่, pork leg in five spice i.e. the Thai version of red cooked pork). It's been years since I've had this dish, but I recently got some from the takeout section of the Bangkok 54 grocery (my go to for real Thai food) and I realized I missed it and would like to make my own. I really enjoyed the contrasting textures of the skin and cartilage and meat. Of course, I had way more pork than I needed for the stew (about 4 lbs in all), so over the course of the last two weeks I used the (very lean) meat from the upper part to make many other dishes. And I took some pictures

I made my own ผะโล่ Chinese "five" spice powder (because I could)

Here is the pork leg in the pressure cooker (and now the house smells like a Chinese grocery)

The meat and skin came off the bone and were sliced. The stew made numerous appearances at various meals throughout the week, with deep fried tofu and hard boiled eggs added. The other parts of the leg became:

Green curry แกงเขียวหวาน

Chopped up it became part of glass noodle salad ยำวุ้นเส้น (pictured here with friends)

Here is the pork leg stew with blanched Chinese broccoli and fried tofu and pork laap ลาบหมู (aka larb) from some of the extra meat. the red stuff is homemade chili garlic sauce that Thais always serve with palo (which by itself is not spicy)

Later, pickled mustard greens were added to the stew (and some hard boiled eggs)

Finally out of raw pork, the last two nights we had chicken tom yum ต้มยำไก่, tuna salad ยำปลากะพง and egg ไข่เจียว with the pork leg palo ขาหมูผะโล่

As always, everything is eaten with piles of jasmine rice and vegetables. The all Thai food diet was interrupted by two nights of Sri Lankan chicken curry. And a belated Happy (Thai/Lao/Burmese/Khmer/Sinhalese etc) New Year to all (2556)!