Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[TrelayneNYC]

For tonight (Sunday), we had

Yogurt chicken curry, served with lime, cilantro and green mango pickle
Pearl couscous with onion and preserved lemon
Roasted cauliflower
Fresh pineapple for dessert

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, TrelayneNYC said:

For tonight (Sunday) we had

Yogurt chicken curry, served with lime, cilantro and green mango pickle
Pearl couscous with onion and preserved lemon
Roasted cauliflower
Fresh pineapple for dessert

Man, looking down these pictures, I thought you were going straight Israeli almost to the very end.

[Pat]

Last night:
Baked chicken breasts
Leftover wild rice with roasted chestnuts and cranberries
Swiss chard with yogurt, tahini, and buttered pine nuts

Saturday night was a fairly light meal/small portions (and vegetarian) before heading out to a party:
Romaine, cucumber, and black beans; ranch dressing
Leftover rogan josh sauce, green beans and rice
Leftover cauliflower cheese

[Tweaked]

Fall Polenta:  butternut squash, mushrooms, greens, toasted pecans

 

[Pat]

Salad of romaine, cucumber, carrot, red grapes, feta, and pita triangles; ranch dressing
Leftover chicken Parmesan meatballs with bucatini; shredded Parmesan
Wilted kale with lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper, and toasted pine nuts

The meatballs and pasta were from a month ago and had been vacuum-sealed and stored in the freezer. I have frozen a lot of leftovers that way, with the intention of reheating them sous vide, but I never do. (The machine gets used so rarely, stuff is piled on it, and...I end up not using it.)  Because we had a busy day with meetings and a lot of time out, I hadn't really thought about dinner and pulled the packet out of the freezer only about an hour before we ate. I followed the food safety guidelines and soaked it in coolish water in the sink for about 40 minutes until it was basically thawed, then dumped it on a plate and microwaved, along with the raw chopped kale and lemon juice.  It took about 5 minutes to get everything done, but it was all cooked, hot, and not mushy.  Not that kind of meal I usually make, but it turned out to be fast and easy.  Vacuum-sealing individual portions makes it like having your own frozen convenience meal line.

[ktmoomau]

I have been a stranger of late- between work just being crazy, crazy busy, all the non-profit volunteer work I do on the side coming to it's yearly peak (if any of you were a part of the Scottish Christmas Walk Weekend in Alexandria- thank you for supporting the Campagna Center!) and then trying to see family and friends for the holiday, while also putting in an appearance at the gym sparingly, oh and my Spanish classes, my cooking really took a hit, and I owe some posts on lots of take out.  But I got back into cooking a bit this week. 

I made thin crust pizza (store bought crust at HT, will look up the brand it was good) with turkey meatballs, marinara, broccoli, kale and red peppers last night, Monday night I made baked chicken thighs with leftover cheese grits, wild and brown rice with leeks and butternut squash from a prior meal, and spinach sauteed with butter.  This past weekend I made the aforementioned rice and squash with NY Strip steaks.  I also baked a delicious rosemary, goat cheese  cheesecake with lavender honey in record time for a family meal Sunday night from a Bon Appetit recipe.

[dcandohio]

Last night I entertained my cousin and his girlfriend, and she is Chinese.  I know she likes shrimp and I assumed she likes rice, so I made shrimp étouffée.  I think she liked it more than my Texas-raised American cousin! It was spicy, but not hot.  Reminded me why I don't cook like this more often, because making a good roux is truly a labor of love!!!!  Gives me even more respect for my mother who cooked like that all the time.

[Pat]

Pita and hummus
Pan-roasted pork tenderloin, with kale, mushrooms, and onion
Leftover wild rice, chestnuts, and cranberries
Leftover cranberry sauce

 

[Pat]

Salad of romaine, red pepper, cucumber, and carrot; ranch dressing
Spinach, bacon, mushroom, broccoli, red pepper, goat cheese and Parmesan frittata
Brown rice and millet ramen with mushrooms and broccoli

[Pat]

Recent Menus:
Cream of broccoli and potato soup with bacon and cheddar
Tuna melts

Leftover cream of broccoli and potato soup
Penne with spinach and Alfredo sauce with leftover sliced pork tenderloin

Turkey meatloaf [from the freezer] topped with tomato salsa
Crisp corn tortillas
Maple-glazed brussels sprouts and chestnuts

Kale pesto and cremini mushroom whole wheat pita pizzas

 

[Pat]

Last night's dinner looked real pretty on the plate:
Baked tofu with kale pesto
Steamed green beans with walnuts and walnut oil
Roasted butternut squash

[Pat]

Baby arugula and baby spinach, dried cranberries, shredded Parmesan, radishes, cucumber, and cremini mushrooms; ranch dressing
Tortellini soup with peas and spinach
Leftover kale pesto-mushroom pita pizza

[Pat]

More of the baby arugula and spinach salad
Charred sumac and oregano chicken wings
Carrot and celery sticks with ranch and blue cheese-yogurt dressings for dipping
(and doubling as salad dressings)

I've posted about the chicken wings here before [click].  They come out consistently well.  While the recipe calls for 2 1/4 lbs. of wings, I don't think I've ever used exactly that amount. The marinade ingredients just need to be scaled a bit to account for the change. This time I made 3 3/4 lbs. of wings, an increment that was easy to scale but made a LOT of wings. They are so good!

 

[dcandohio]

Here in South Florida we are looking at a cold snap right after the new year, and in anticipation tonight I made a big pot of chili.   Aren't that many days down here when a steaming pot of chili is appealing!  Plus, I have a cold so I'm craving the spice. 

One of my friends is coming for a visit, so I also made muffin tin omelettes of hashbrowns and grated white cheddar with green onions.  Those are in the freezer. 

[TrelayneNYC]

On Saturday, we had

Baked salmon with tomatoes and onions
Pearl couscous with cauliflower, garlic and preserved lemon
Muhallabieh (Lebanese milk pudding with pistachio, coconut and bay syrup)

For the salmon - the onions were fried in lard for a little over half an hour before I added the tomatoes.

[TrelayneNYC]

Tonight (Sunday night), we had:

Coda alla vaccinara ("Roman-style oxtail stew"), from "I Heart Rome", pages 178-179
Green salad, shallot vinaigrette
Caramelized Oro blanco grapefruit for dessert

Happy New Year, everybody!

[TrelayneNYC]

One of the payoffs from last night's dinner was

which led to

Spaghetti al sugo di coda, dusted with pecorino cheese.

[Pat]

Spinach tagliatelle with pork ragu
Salmon and orzo salad with kale pesto 
Black-eyed peas with berbere and coconut milk
Striata baguette and oil for dipping

The black-eyed peas are an Ethiopian recipe from Marcus Samuelsson's The Soul of a New Cuisine.  I've made it a bunch of times now.  That makes a nice New Year's dish.

 

[Tweaked]

New Year's Day Dinner

Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Marshmallows; Stuffing with Mushrooms and Sage; Roasted Carrots; Pan Seared Brussels; Swiss Chard; Cranberry Sauce.

It was kind of like a Thanksgiving dinner mixed with a Christmas dinner but served on January 1.  

 

[Pat]

Coconut chicken curry with yogurt and shredded red Swiss chard leaves
Wild and brown rice mix

I added shredded chard to the chicken as it was finishing cooking. There was enough sauce that the chard filled out the skillet nicely. I then plated the chicken, chard, and sauce over the rice. I used skinless boneless thighs for this.

[Pat]

Chili and sweet potato cornbread

[dcandohio]

Fettuccini with sautéed shrimp,  garlic, halved cherry tomatoes, fresh spinach, quarter canned artichoke.  I covered the shrimp with Italian seasoning and some crushed red pepper flakes and let them sit for a few hours, sautéed them briefly and took them out of the pan. I then cooked the tomatoes with the garlic until the tomatoes were soft, added the artichoke hearts, and the spinach.  I finished it with a bit of heavy cream, tossed the shrimp back in and then added the pasta into the skillet. Parmesan added at the table. Easy and colorful. 

[Tweaked]

A cold weekend warmed up at the stove.

Friday:  Shrimp in a Aji Amarillo sauce (made with coconut milk and shrimp stock).  Spicy...right on the border of delicious and painful.  

Saturday:  Simmered a large pot of Cuban black beans in the afternoon.  Cheese ravioli (from Vace) with a homemade tomato sauce; grilled bread with goat cheese and sauteed mushrooms

Sunday:  Vegetable strata (for brunch).  Kung Pao tofu, stir fried bok choy (dinner)  

Leftovers for days!

[Pat]

Pan-seared prime top sirloin steaks from Costco
Curried roasted carrots
Leftover Ethiopian-spiced black-eyed peas
Leftover sweet potato cornbread

 

[silentbob]

Taiwanese beef noodle soup in the slow cooker, using beef shanks from Wegman's and a Frankenstein of online recipes.  Perhaps most importantly, both kids loved it!

[Pat]

Baked chicken breasts
Macaroni and cheese
Leftover curried carrots

[dcandohio]

Greek night!

Last night I marinated bone-in and skin-on chicken thighs with lemon juice, olive oil, lots of garlic, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper. Today I tossed the marinade with diced potatoes. I put the potatoes in a baking dish, and topped them with fresh green beans. I put the chicken thighs, skin-side up, on top. I added about 1/2 cup of chicken stock.  I roasted the whole thing for about 45 minutes on 400.  I then turned on the broiler for a bit to make sure the chicken skin was crisp.  It tasted pretty close to my favorite roasted chicken and potatoes at my neighborhood Greek restaurant.

[TrelayneNYC]

Rigatoni with sausage and broccoli.

It's a rare weekday dinner cooked by me - moreso since I started around 11 pm Pacific.

The sauce was pretty minimalist: lard, sweet Italian sausage, broccoli, salt, black pepper, white wine, pasta cooking water. Dusted with pecorino cheese and more pepper.

Buona notte!

[Pat]

Leftover steak
Twice-baked potatoes stuffed with broccoli, cheddar, Fresno pepper, and sour cream
Leftover sweet potato cornbread

 

[Tweaked]

Tacos!  Corn tortillas, Cuban black beans, sweet potatoes, sauteed spinach, sauteed mushrooms, avocado, chipotle salsa, squeeze of lime. 

[Really need to take more photos]    

 

[Katya4me]

I had some lentils and sweet potatoes that were lingering, so I made a delicious curry: http://inpursuitofmore.com/2015/08/31/lentil-vegetable-curry-with-tomato-coconut-milk/

I served it with basmati rice and the leftovers were even better.

[Pat]

Spinach lasagna made from the last of the 10 sheets of fresh pasta I bought before Christmas, wildly miscalculating their size .  Spinach noodles and layers of béchamel and marinara sauces, with chopped mushrooms and lots of blanched, chopped baby spinach.  Gruyere, Monterey Jack, and Parmesan cheeses.

[Pat]

Romaine salad with radishes, cucumber, and avocado; ranch or yogurt blue cheese dressing
Pain de campagne with butter or evoo
Surf and turf on a grill pan:  Prime top sirloin, scallops with truffle salt, and shrimp with Schwartz's of Montreal poultry seasoning
White rice 

I think I went a touch too heavy with the truffle salt, especially since scallops have a lot of sodium to begin with, but it was all good.  The poultry seasoning, which my husband brought back from a trip to Montreal, worked great on the shrimp.  It has mustard, dried onion and garlic, lemon peel, and palm oil.

[TrelayneNYC]

Braised chicken and root vegetables with anchovy, rosemary and Meyer lemon
Pomelo for dessert

[Pat]

Roasted butternut squash soup
Chicken BLTs

[TrelayneNYC]

I had a craving for meatballs; I've made this recipe so many times, it's almost second nature

1 1/3 cups breadcrumbs
1/4 cup milk

14 oz. ground beef
14 oz. ground pork (if you don't have ground pork, you can substitute sweet Italian sausage meat)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 egg
grated nutmeg
3 tbsp. finely chopped Italian parsley and mint
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a pair of cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs and milk. Soak crumbs for 10 minutes.

In a larger bowl, combine beef, pork, cheese, egg, nutmeg, herbs and breadcrumbs. Mix together all ingredients, then season with salt and pepper.

Shape into balls with either your hands or with a teaspoon and arrange on the parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes in a 425 F oven, turning the balls once at the halfway point. Remove cookie sheets from oven. Set aside.

In the past, I'd resort to frying them in olive oil.

You can do that if you like, but I prefer baking the meatballs. Less mess, plus the balls are lighter and aren't as oily-tasting.

For the tomato sauce:

2-3 tbsp. olive oil
1 crushed garlic clove
1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 bay leaves
salt
black pepper

Next, in a Dutch oven or other large pot, warm olive oil along with a crushed garlic clove. Fry garlic on low heat or until the oil becomes fragrant. Once that occurs, add crushed tomatoes. Fill the can about 1/3 with water and add that to the pot. Taste for salt and pepper. Remember that the meatballs are already seasoned (with salt and Parm-Reg cheese which is also a bit salty), so you might want to have a light touch with the salt. Add bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer sauce for 15 minutes. Add the meatballs and partly cover. Braise the meatballs in the sauce for 20-25 minutes. 

These are fine as is, or you can serve them with pasta, bread or mashed potatoes.

Meatballs with tomato sauce

These were topped with fistfuls of grated cheese and herbs.

This recipe makes about 40 meatballs and is sized for up to 8 people.

[dcandohio]

Ground turkey tacos American style, with crispy corn shells, white cheddar, lettuce and salsa. 

[Pat]

Red leaf lettuce, Campari tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, bacon, radishes, and crumbled feta; ranch dressing
Steak and eggs
Steamed broccoli

I sliced the leftover sirloin, grilled it quickly to reheat and served alongside fried eggs over easy.  Don't think I've ever tried doing that for dinner before, but it was good.

[DaveO]

4 hours ago, TrelayneNYC said:

I had a craving for meatballs; I've made this recipe so many times, it's almost second nature ...

Your meatball recipe is so much better than mine, and prettier.  Thanks.  Good food for cold weather, let alone if you are holed up with the rest of the mafioso. 

If Clemenza had given this recipe to Michael Corleone rather than the one he used, Michael would have become a chef rather than the brutal Don he became:

 

[TrelayneNYC]

awww thank you Dave!

[TrelayneNYC]

I had leftover meatballs.

And I also made a batch of sesame-onion scones, adapting this recipe: https://food52.com/recipes/40544-everything-bagel-spice-scones

BTW, they're addictive.

[Pat]

On January 15, 2018 at 7:52 AM, TrelayneNYC said:

Meatballs with tomato sauce

These were topped with fistfuls of grated cheese and herbs.

This sounded so good that I wanted to make it with the ground turkey I had in the refrigerator (with a sell by date of 2 days prior) that had slipped my attention. I had good intentions but was way too exhausted at the end of the day to form that many meatballs.  Instead I figured it would be easy enough to make one of those ground meat, tomatoes, and pasta dishes that goes by various names (goulash, Johnny Marzetti, etc.). Too tired even to pull that off on the fly, I  googled for American goulash recipes. To my great shame, I selected "Bobby's Goulash" from Paula Deen as my template, using a mix of turkey breast and thigh meat instead of lean ground beef.  

I must say, in my great state of exhaustion (we're embarking on a massive home renovation project, and just moving would have been much easier), I was able not only to follow the recipe but also to disregard the parts of it that were fully idiotic.  I cut wayyyyyyy back on the salt, for instance. Not only did the recipe call for 1 Tbsp. of seasoned salt, but it also called for 1 Tbsp. of their special "House Seasoning," which is 4 parts salt to 1 part each of black pepper and garlic powder.  Since the recipe also uses canned tomatoes and canned tomato sauce (both sodium-laden) AND soy sauce, I added only  pinch of kosher salt. While I was wary of the 3 Tbsp. soy sauce I went ahead and used low-sodium tamari sauce, and it wasn't a disaster. I wouldn't have known it was in there.

Because I didn't want the elbow macaroni to turn to complete mush (maybe Bobby likes it that way?), I only simmered it in with the rest of the ingredients for about 15 minutes, until it was, you know, cooked, not for 30 full minutes. (Then you're supposed to let the whole pot of hot "goulash" rest for another 30 minutes before serving. WTF? Even if we hadn't been starving, that would further have mushified the pasta.)  

And I went rogue and threw some shredded sharp cheddar cheese over each plate before serving.  (I can't believe her recipe didn't call for cheese!)

It was completely unexceptional and perfectly fine.  I'm not including a link.

I'll save Trelayne's recipe to make properly some other time.

[Tweaked]

Another long weekend of cooking

Friday:  Salmon, wild rice, roast broccoli, roast potatoes.  Black Hog Granola Brown Ale (surprisingly good)

Saturday:   Al Volo pasta, homemade sauce, salad

Sunday:  Indian night - Chili paneer, red bean curry, mixed greens thoran (new dish for us and really good), spinach dhal.

Monday:  Tagine bread, shakshuka, roast butternut squash with red onion toasted nuts and tahini sauce, roast broccoli with za'atar

[dracisk]

1 hour ago, Pat said:

Instead I figured it would be easy enough to make one of those ground meat, tomatoes, and pasta dishes that goes by various names (goulash, Johnny Marzetti, etc.).

Funny, I was just reminiscing (that may not be the right word) with a friend about how often we ate this growing up. We called it American chop suey. :-)

[TrelayneNYC]

Hey @Pat -- thanks for the kind words. I'm flattered.

The original recipe is from Rachel Roddy's cookbook My Kitchen in Rome and she specifies 14 oz. ground beef and 7 oz. ground pork, 1/3 cup grated Parm-Reg cheese, and 2 tbsp. chopped herbs. For the sauce, she calls for canned whole plum tomatoes, and doesn't have you add water.

I adjusted her recipe since B had bought meat from the supermarket instead of our local butcher and I didn't feel like freezing leftover meat. I have a thing against leftovers, but that's just me. I had to add water to increase the braising liquid. So just take those into account if you elect to make my version of her recipe. Her recipe makes 15 moderately-sized meatballs. I like mine golf-ball sized so it makes anywhere from 35-40 meatballs, enough to feed an army.

[ktmoomau]

Well, I am back from Singapore and my jet-lag haze is beginning to lift and I was awake enough to buy groceries this weekend!  I also broke out my instantpot for first use, which was cooking meatballs and tomato sauce from frozen, as I didn't have the space in my fridge to defrost after buying groceries (I may have gone a little overboard, but such is life not in my kitchen for over 20 some days) and I just wanted to see how it would really do.  It worked better than I thought it would, my sauce was a little watery, so I threw it into saute mode and let it reduce.  I have seen online that I could have thrown the noodles in too, but that seemed sacrilege and pushing my luck for it's first use.  Goals for the new year include more cooking, baking and dinner parties (that requires me to get my house all picked up and Christmas decorations away which is slowly happening).

[Rhone1998]

3 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

Well, I am back from Singapore and my jet-lag haze is beginning to lift and I was awake enough to buy groceries this weekend!  I also broke out my instantpot for first use, which was cooking meatballs and tomato sauce from frozen, as I didn't have the space in my fridge to defrost after buying groceries (I may have gone a little overboard, but such is life not in my kitchen for over 20 some days) and I just wanted to see how it would really do.  It worked better than I thought it would, my sauce was a little watery, so I threw it into saute mode and let it reduce.  I have seen online that I could have thrown the noodles in too, but that seemed sacrilege and pushing my luck for it's first use.  Goals for the new year include more cooking, baking and dinner parties (that requires me to get my house all picked up and Christmas decorations away which is slowly happening).

I have also been experimenting with my new Instant Pot over the past few days...also my first experience ever with a pressure cooker.  About a half dozen uses in and one lesson I'm learning is that (in pressure cooking mode)  you need a lot less liquid than you would if you were cooking a dish in, say, a covered dutch over, just because there's no (or very little) evaporation.

[Smita Nordwall]

19 hours ago, Rhone1998 said:

I have also been experimenting with my new Instant Pot over the past few days...also my first experience ever with a pressure cooker.  About a half dozen uses in and one lesson I'm learning is that (in pressure cooking mode)  you need a lot less liquid than you would if you were cooking a dish in, say, a covered dutch over, just because there's no (or very little) evaporation.

Instant Pot requires a lot less water than stove top cooking. I readily admit I am addicted to mine. It is a god-sent for Indian cooking. 

[ktmoomau]

Wednesday night I made brown basmati rice in the instant pot, roast chicken and a saute of green beans, kale, onion and garlic with tomatoes, cinnamon, clove and nutmeg, that was lovely and fragrant- to which I added some white beans.

Last night was homemade chicken noodle soup thawed from the freezer, to which I added a little curry, and biscuits.

[Pat]

Sheet pan roasted pork tenderloin, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower
Sauteed kale with dates and sherry vinegar
Biscuits

The pork was marinated in sesame soy ginger vinaigrette from Trader Joe's, which is one of my favorite easy marinades. The sprouts got tossed with a little additional vinaigrette. The cauliflower was roasted with evoo and za' atar.