Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[bettyjoan]

Roasted paprika-garlic chicken breasts with chickpeas and tomatoes

Steamed peas

[zoramargolis]

last night:

fideoa with shrimp, squid, chicken and haricots verts cooked in shrimp-head broth

white nectarine-yellow peach bread pudding

2005 Cerro Aí±on Rioja reserva

[zoramargolis]

tonight:

lamb, eggplant and tomato tagine made with eco-friendly lamb shoulder chops

Israeli couscous

molokhia with lemon and tomato

ice cream with chocolate sauce

2009 H. Fessy Fleurie

[bettyjoan]

Spaghetti with roasted tomato meat sauce

[zoramargolis]

sauteed eco friendly chicken livers with mushrooms, onion, bacon, and balsamic vinegar

mashed potatoes

haricots verts with lemon and garlic

yellow freestone peaches

[bettyjoan]

Green curry fritters (great recipe from Cooking Light - lots of flavor and super easy)

Green salad with Greek yogurt dressing

[Pat]

Leftover curried potato soup

BBQ brisket tacos with red scallions, jalapeno, tomato, and cilantro

Refried black beans

The soup, originally made Tuesday, is a recipe from Eastside Cafe in Austin.  The refried beans are from their recipe too (or, rather, the list of ingredients the server gave my friend when we ate there and she asked about them).  The tacos were a successful attempt to rescue a dry brisket that I had cooked too long on Wednesday and then managed to slice with the grain .  I chopped the remaining brisket up pretty small and simmered with some of Zora's bbq sauce and leftover liquor from the beans that became the refried beans.  Nice and moist and tasty but still a tiny bit tough.  Much better than the original incarnation, though.

[lperry]

Last night, Tarte í  la moutarde.  I thought the Black Krims were gone for the season, but it turns out one of the mystery potato-leafed vines is a BK.  It's loaded, so I hope the weather stays warm.

Served with Bodega El Angosto La Tribu 2010.  I'm fairly certain this wine is one of those that people call New World style while making a face that conveys you really shouldn't be interested in those types of wines, but I really enjoyed it.

[Pat]

Iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and radishes; lime juice; champagne vinaigrette

Olive flatbread (Costco)

Baked chicken drumsticks

Spinach artichoke penne

[Fishinnards]

This week featured two meals of rice, dal, papads, and ghobi aloo (cauliflower and potatoes), then two meals of tomatoes and basil (tomatoes with mozzarella and fresh basil, capers, olive oil etc. with crostini and pasta with tomatoes, basil, olives, capers, roasted red pepper, garlic, olive oil, and chili). This was probably the last week of Italian basil from the garden.

Yesterday, à¹à¸à¸‡à¹€à¸œà¹‡à¸”เนื้อใส่ผัà¸à¸—อง (gaeng ped nuea sai fak tong, red curry with beef and pumpkin) เนื้อผัดใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸² (nuea pad bai grapao, beef with holy basil) ไข่เจียว (omelet) rice and vegetables. ใบà¸à¸°à¹€à¸žà¸£à¸² ใบโหระพา (holy basil and "Thai" basil) from the garden are still going strong. Treated myself to a bottle of Oude Gueuze, a fantastic beer.

[Sundae in the Park]

Had a disastrous failure for dinner the other night - we used pin rice noodles and a new kind of Asian green (round leaves and firm, not-too-thick stalks) instead of our usual gai lan veg and wide-flat or ovalette noodles.  The greens were oddly slimy once cut (or bit into) and quite bitter and the noodles, while texturally decent, were visually reminiscent of large mealworms, which led to unpleasant imaginings upon consumption ("...it's squirming!!!").  I hate to waste food and yet we dumped the dinner (my husband didn't believe he would be reprieved until I actually threw it away) after a few bites and ate waffles instead.

Last night: creamy penne with mushrooms, thyme, and chicken.  Pure comfort after said FAIL.

[Fishinnards]

Had a disastrous failure for dinner the other night - we used pin rice noodles and a new kind of Asian green (round leaves and firm, not-too-thick stalks) instead of our usual gai lan veg and wide-flat or ovalette noodles.  The greens were oddly slimy once cut (or bit into) and quite bitter

Maybe you had Malabar Spinach? It has an earthy taste and an unexpected sliminess (not unlike okra). I learned that my wife does not care for it earlier this summer when I bought a large bag from Great Wall. I had to eat it all myself.

[Sundae in the Park]

Maybe you had Malabar Spinach? It has an earthy taste and an unexpected sliminess (not unlike okra). I learned that my wife does not care for it earlier this summer when I bought a large bag from Great Wall. I had to eat it all myself.

Could be (my husband actually noted that it tasted like "the earth")!! He grabbed a bunch of greens marked as "Vietnamese Spinach" while we were at the Asian market.  Since neither of us care for slimy veg, expected or no, we will try to avoid in the future. Thanks!

[lperry]

Sweet corn, black bean, red pepper and feta salad served over little chickpea pancakes spiked with chipotle hot sauce.  The pancakes were from 101 Cookbooks, and I won't make them again because the egg makes the little pancakes tougher than socca.  Strange but true.  Next time I'll try making tiny little socca-type pancakes. 

[Pat]

Last night was

Sliced red and yellow tomatoes

BBQ brisket quesadillas

Fisherman's eggs (sardines and eggs in cocotte)

Garlic greens with ginger and mushrooms (spinach, kale, and radish greens)

[monavano]

 

Potato, leek and onion tart with Parmesan and lardons, grilled strip steak, sauteed broccoli and a tossed salad with Joisey   tomatoes

[Pat]

Salad with some kind of fancy green leaf lettuce,* tomatoes, radishes, and cucumbers; champagne vinaigrette

Spaghetti and meatballs

*from those packs of "Artisan Lettuce" they sell at Costco.  How lettuce can be artisan, I do not know.

[dcandohio]

Tonight it's minestrone made from roasted local tomatoes that I pureed and froze a few weeks ago.

Add cheesy bread.

[bookluvingbabe]

Last night:  Beef heart and carrot stew.

The recipe called for parsnips but I didn't have any.  BL1st-grader refused to eat the carrots (carrots can only be eaten when they have been shredded finely in the food processor and added to ground beef entrees.)  but liked the meat.

I usually just roast the beef heart but then I'm the only one who eats it.  This time everyone ate it and Mr. BLB at least pretended to like it.

(I also didn't tell the little one what the meat was beyond beef--I didn't spare Mr. BLB's feelings.  )

[porcupine]

Breakfast for dinner: homemade corn tortillas piled with pinto beans, salsa, bacon, cheese, and scrambled eggs.

[lperry]

Last night, with tonight in the planning stages.  Someone brought home a bag of 8 squash when we still have two plants producing, so rather large quantities of chopped squash, leeks, and sheep's feta, bound with egg and yogurt, seasoned with nutmeg (gotta put nutmeg in the squash) and hot sauce, topped with pecorino romano, and baked.  I could call it a crustless quiche, but it's pretty much a squash casserole.

[Sundae in the Park]

Sesame chicken and sauteed mushrooms (2 separate dishes) over rice.  A little bit of Panda Express at home to satisfy some Chinese-American food cravings without actually having to go.

I've been taking some time on the weekends to grill up a mess of sliced eggplants bathed in Vietnamese fish sauce (nuoc cham) to keep in the fridge during the week.  It's like having salty veg candy!

[monavano]

 

Sungold and sun dried tomato soup with Parmesan, basil cream and smoked garlic bread croutons.

Salad

Leftover potato, leek and onion tart.

Apple pie tart with oatmeal crumble topping  and caramel sauce.

[LauraB]

Bought a lot of vegetables at the Dupont Market on Sunday, so trying to cook them up before leaving for the weekend.

Last night

Beet risotto with greens:

Golden beets, baby kale, Arborio rice, lemon zest and juice, onion, butter, white wine, parsley, basil, s/p, parmigiano reggiano

Tonight

Provencal style vegetable soup:

Vegetable broth, onions/garlic, fresh herbs, carrots, potatoes, green beans, patty pan squash, tomatoes, corn, basil pesto, parmigiano reggiano

[Pat]

Green salad with tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, and olive flatbread croutons; champagne-caper vinaigrette

Tuna noodle casserole

Leftover garlicky greens with mushrooms

[zoramargolis]

Tues:

Asian-style noodle soup with fresh wheat noodles, shrimp head-ginger-lemon grass-miso broth, squid rings and shrimp, napa cabbage steamed with gojuchang, cucumber, scallions, sesame seeds and cilantro.

Wed:

herb-brined eco-friendly pork chops, charcoal-grilled with applewood smoke chips

ZQ sauce

collard greens stewed with bacon fat, onion, garlic, roasted peppers and cider vinegar

mashed potatoes

Sierra Nevada Tumbler ale

[dcandohio]

Rum brined pork chops with "inner beauty" sauce: simmered peaches from the freezer, a half of a banana, mustard, hot pepper vinegar and chopped home-canned mixed hot peppers.

Curry spice- dusted roasted cauliflower

Romaine and kale salad with lemon and olive oil dressing.

[Pat]

Thursday

Leftover tarte aux moutarde

Mustard trout and seckel pears

Leftover macaroni and cheese

 

Last night

Farmhouse wheat bread and butter

Rustic shrimp stew 

Leftover chicken drumsticks with bbq sauce

Leftover ribeye steak

Succotash

 

I'm in the midst of trying out a bunch of new recipes  The trout and shrimp recipes are from Martha Stewart.  The shrimp stew was quite good, though I ignored the directions at some points because they weren't the best.  Except for peeling and deveining the shrimp, it was pretty easy to make.  I hadn't paid attention to the weather forecast when I did menu planning, and making this on a day when the temperature almost hit 90 degrees probably wasn't the best move.

 

The trout (I used rainbow trout) recipe was a little odd.  It called for lady apples, which I didn't find, but Whole Foods had seckel pears, which are about the same size, and they substituted well.  Those are halved, topped with a butter-sugar-breadcumb mixture and baked in a pan with some apple cider.  Then those are served alongside the simply-broiled trout, with a mustard-caper-apple cider sauce.  Each one of the components was fine (though my sauce didn't thicken quite enough), but it was weird to put these things together. They were okay but didn't really seem to belong together. The fish was wonderful without any sauce (and I think I actually prefer it that way).  The cider was the ingredient link between the fruit and the trout/sauce.

 

Both of these recipes came from the health section of the whole living site and were supposed to feature specific good nutrients, so that may be the reason for the odd combinations.  I've got another one coming up tomorrow night.  

[zoramargolis]

When the Post did their article last week about blind tasting various filets of fresh and frozen wild and farmed salmon, Jonathan asked me to buy their surprising #1 choice: Kirkland frozen farmed salmon, the next time I went to Costco. He prefers farmed to wild salmon for the same reason that the tasters on the panel did--it's fattier and "moister." I bought a bag at Costco and on Thursday night, I thawed two pieces and cedar planked them. Our verdict: enh. Good not great. Have had much better (farmed) salmon many times.

Also on the plate:

Tree and Leaf romano beans, grilled over charcoal with the fish

stone ground grits with smoked corn and cheddar cheese. the corn was smoked the night before, with the applewood-smoked pork chops. this was sensational, IMO. the corn kernels were simultaneously sweet and smoky, andwhile I was concerned lest the smoke flavor overwhelm the grits, it was all perfectly balanced

ripe bartlett pear slices

2012 Nobilo sauvignon blanc

[hillvalley]

I finally made it to the local outdoor market and grocery store in Italy this morning. This afternoon I hit the local version of Sutton Place (Manor).  Hitting both in one day is major accomplishment in my world given the amount of preparation for travel involved.  At the checkout at the grocery store in Italy gave prices in euros and lira.  Four bottles of wine, including a bottle of prosecco, was 10 euros or about $13.00.

Burrata on a bed of sauteed roma tomatoes and squash blossoms drizzled with truffle oil

Broiled pork chop stuffed with garlic

A fizzy red whose name I don't remember

Peanut M&Ms (a luxury because they are so expensive)

The burrata was the best I have ever had.  It was huge, the size of a newborn, and made a couple of days ago.  The cheese maker's father sold it to me.

[lperry]

Three nights of dinners.  Thursday was a quick salad of roasted eggplant and chickpeas with pecorino romano in a mustard vinaigrette.

Friday was stuffed zucchini, because, once again, one snuck past me in the garden.  It was a simple filling with minced onion, pecorino romano, a little Greek yogurt, nutmeg, and hot sauce.  The advantage to stuffing crooked squash is that they fit on the round plates much better.

Last night was spaghetti in an heirloom tomato sauce (the tomatoes that needed using, red wine, rosemary olive oil.)

I'm looking forward to fall, but I will miss the summer garden.  This year's drought created a dry farming environment, and everything is so flavorful that a quick, simple preparation is all you need to show off the best of each vegetable.  It's been so hot, the fall greens are stunted, but maybe the upcoming rain will help extend the season.

[Pat]

Baked chicken cannelloni

Roasted Delicata squash filled with sage, hot pepper, and an egg

The squash was a variation on the Frank Ruta recipe, which calls for an acorn squash.  The opening in a delicata isn't quite as appropriate for the application, though it did work.

The chicken cannelloni was from What Katie Ate, a cookbook I finally acquired after wanting it for some time.  The photography on her blog is gorgeous, though the recipes are somewhat hard to read due to the background and typeface.  Unfortunately, the recipes in the cookbook are done the same way, making them also hard for me to read.  While I was in the midst of making this, it occurred to me that I had never actually tried making one of her recipes before   .

I don't know if this one is typical of all of the recipes, but it was a bit flawed.  The cannelloni came out all right and tasted fine, but the dish took me four hours to make, so I won't be making it again.  (I was taking my time at the beginning, so I could have probably shaved about an hour off the time, but still...).  It called for 6 cups of liquid in the bechamel sauce (!), which I halved, and it probably didn't need even that much.  It called for 18-20 pasta shells, and the package I used had 14; 6 cups would have been ridiculous for the total number given in the recipe.  The directions say nothing about boiling the pasta in advance, so maybe they were supposed to cook in the abundant bechamel.  (I boiled them.) I just used three cups of milk and omitted the 3 cups of heavy cream   that were also supposed to go into the sauce.  Other things that were weird:  pureeing raw chicken livers (also    ... not doing that again) and multiple listings of amounts and divisions of Parmesan, which I managed to misread and screw up (even after calculating a reduced amount to go into the halved sauce).

And, manicotti shells...they are hard to find.  I suppose that because there are so many different types of gluten free and other pasta now, stores have reduced the variety of shapes.  I finally found them at Safeway (none at the Giant or Whole Foods I went to or two other smaller shops with pasta).  I ended up buying Barilla because that was the only kind available. (I wasn't going to try Harris Teeter to see if they had them, since it seemed likely that, if they carried manicotti, it was likely also Barilla.)

[zoramargolis]

^just fyi, Pat--Michel Richard's chicken faux gras recipe is made with raw chicken livers, butter and sauteend onions which are pureed together and then poured into ramekins and baked in a water bath.

last night:

charcoal roasted a duck, which I had purchased at the Dupont Market from Country Pleasures Farm. It was frozen when I bought it (it was expensive; not sure what came over me...)After I had thawed it in the fridge, I had to do a fair amount of feather quill plucking, because whoever de-feathered it didn't do such a great job, and also discovered to my disappointment that there were no giblets inside. For the price I paid, I should have gotten the damn liver and heart! (I had hoped to give Eric, the farmer, some feedback today, but he wasn't at the market. Probably better to wait a week to talk to him. I'll be calmer.) I brined the duck for a couple of days in a herb brine with lavender. It spent two and a half hours in the bbq, with the coals down low. And then I brought it into the house and brushed a little bit of maple syrup on the skin and put it into a hot oven for twenty minutes to brown the skin a bit more. The flavor was fabulous. The meat was tender and succulent, and I cooked it on a rack in a foil covered pan inside the bbq, so that I could capture all of the duck fat, which is in my fridge, awaiting who-knows-what. And I'll make some wonderful stock with the bones after this ridiculous hot weather is gone. Served with:

pan roasted baby japanese white turnips and wild foraged maitake mushroom

puree of smoked yellow cauliflower and potatoes

grilled pineapple and vanilla ice cream

2007 Migration pinot noir (duck? migration? it was a fabulous bottle of wine and perfect with the food).

[ktmoomau]

I have been on a cooking ahead and cooking for people stint lately.  Last week I made chili, chicken barbecue, coleslaw, cornbread, london broil marinated in terriyaki.  Last night we had roast chicken, sautéed green beans, parsley potatoes, homemade rolls and a chocolate bundino cake because I had a little help.

Tonight I had "crazy chicken" aka chicken breasts rubbed with this spice blend called crazy pete's from Alex Spice and Tea that I really like.  We had green beans from last night warmed in a pan with caramelized leeks and butter, used the left over potatoes and frozen blanched squash that I boiled and made a mashed squashed and potato which was good.  I also made homemade foccacia bread that was delicious if I may say so myself.  It was a test run and it turned out very well.  Used a basic recipe of Food52 for the stand mixer.

Trying to empty out random stuff from the cabinets the next two weeks before grocery shopping so should be interesting.

[KMango]

Lazy desperation move...a packet of Maruchan ramen noodles.  And while the interwebz devotes hundreds of pages to "MSG symptoms are a myth" and their emphatic, argumentative counterpoints, I now have a full-on case of Glutamate Tummy.  It's a plastic-like, distressed sensation I get when I know I've downed that stuff.

(you say pluh-see-bow)

(i say pluh-sah-bow)

[bettyjoan]

Balsamic glazed pork chops with polenta

[bettyjoan]

The government shutdown special - black beans and rice with various fixins. We are lucky that such an affordable meal (that produces great leftovers) happens to be hubby's favorite!

[zoramargolis]

spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce and eco-friendly spicy Italian sausage

Italian plum upside down cake

2011 Vií±ademoya mencia

[lperry]

Roasted heirloom tomato risotto (all the ripe tomatoes that split with the inch and a half of rain.)

Steamed Romano beans with butter and coarse salt.

Passionfruit "sangria."  From Bobby Flay's recipe, and using a bottle of wine from the first wine tasting we did.  Not so great on it's own, but wonderful doctored up.

[bookluvingbabe]

The guys had Cincinnati-style chili, which used up the last of the tomato products in the house.  I have a cold so I heated up some chicken broth, stirred in two eggs, added some salt and lime juice and pretended it was egg drop soup.  

[dcandohio]

Roasted cauliflower, brussels sprouts, sweet potato and acorn squash. Meatless Monday cleans out much of the leftover vegetables from the weekend shopping and cooking.

[Tweaked]

Fish Head Curry (Minus the Head).

Sri Lankan Chickpea Curry.

Malay Cabbage with Ginger and Coconut

Lime Pickle

[Pat]

^just fyi, Pat--Michel Richard's chicken faux gras recipe is made with raw chicken livers, butter and sauteend onions which are pureed together and then poured into ramekins and baked in a water bath.

The funny thing is, when I was looking through recipes to see what to do with excess chicken livers, it occurred to me to look at the cayettes recipe from Jacques Pepin that I've made several times and liked (it has the livers, as well as ground beef and pork and spinach).  That also calls for the livers to be pureed raw, which I had not remembered.  But the meat goes into the processor after that brief puree and everything gets mixed, so I guess it just didn't strike me the same way as only livers being pureed.  Certainly the visual effect is different when the livers are the only thing in the bowl. I probably could take that food processor bowl with the pureed livers in it and chase off all the kids on Halloween. Gory .

Last night:

Guacamole and chips

Gigande bean salad over red leaf lettuce with tomatoes

Leftover shrimp stew

Meatball sandwiches with fresh mozzarella, basil, and watercress on toasted farmhouse wheat bread

[zoramargolis]

negroni

eggplant parmesan with fresh tomato-wild mushroom sauce, ricotta, mozz, reggiano and pecorino romano, fresh basil

more plum upside down cake

2011 Nobilo suavignon blanc

[Pat]

Toasted farmhouse wheat bread with soy spread

Watercress and green bean salad with tomatoes and bacon; mustard-caper vinaigrette

Pork tenderloin with blueberry chutney

Caramelized roasted brussels sprouts and figs

[bettyjoan]

Rotini and cheese with bacon and peas (ooh, nice rhyme) 

[ktmoomau]

Last night was balsamic chicken and leftovers, with roasted carrots too.  Tonight the Hubby is on his own for dinner.

[TrelayneNYC]

Some recent dinners:

Summer squash, shishito peppers, heirloom tomatoes

Pappardelle with fresh and wild mushroom sauce

Pan-roasted chicken, with garlic, wine and rosemary

Green beans, with sweet peppers and tomatoes

Spaghetti, with leeks, mussels, sweet peppers and bottarga

Marcella Hazan's braised celery, with tomato and pancetta

Celery salad, with soft-cooked farm egg and bottarga

[Pat]

^ Whoa.  Those are some really pretty pictures.  I should start taking photos again, not that they would look that good .

Tonight:

Toasted farmhouse wheat bread

Broiled Caprese Salad (based on something I saw in a thread on mouthfulsfood.com)

Leftover tuna noodle casserole with crushed potato chips

Leftover chicken chicken cannelloni with bechamel

[lperry]

Seconded on the pretty pictures.

I'm on my own for a week or so, so dinner is in fridge clean mode.  Fortunately, the garden is still going.  Fusilli in roasted red pepper sauce (two red peppers, roasted and peeled, some fresh goat's cheese, a slice of manchego, some rosemary olive oil, and a little hot sauce just for kicks.)  I've got sweet corn in the crisper and I'm thinking soup tomorrow for this cold, rainy weather.