Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[DonRocks]

12 hours ago, Pat said:

Last night was more chestnut bisque and lamb pitas, kind of quasi-gyros with filled with ribbons of lamb, yogurt, hummus, and cucumber.

Coursed out, or together?

[DaveO]

Watched my sister make this, quite enjoyed it and prepared a version at home basically following this Recipe version.

It’s a single pan roast using chicken, squash, sausage, potatoes, carrots, onions and topped with a lemony garlic oil coating.  I enjoyed the squash element at my sister’s and added an apple sautéed a bit to the melange:  Nice addition.  Because of the apples my version used the baking dish and a pan for the apples, then let them sit for a while before adding them to the roast about half way in.  Left overs might have been better than the original.  I’ll do this some more over the winter

[Pat]

On 12/30/2018 at 1:05 AM, DonRocks said:

Coursed out, or together?

I put both out at the same time.

Saturday:
Salad of red leaf lettuce, cucumber, celery, and avocado; ranch dressing
Baked chicken breasts
Baked Japanese sweet potatoes

Sunday:
Salad of green leaf lettuce, bell pepper strips, olives, avocado, pear, and homemade croutons; ranch or blue cheese dressing
Bucatini with red bell pepper, crushed pepper flakes, marinara sauce, and shredded Parmesan

[dcandohio]

NYE dinner: Lobster Risotto served with a radicchio and romaine salad tossed in avocado green goddess dressing (blended avocado, parsley, green onion, dill, tarragon , lime juice, olive oil, white wine vinegar, s&p). Chocolates for dessert.

 I used flash frozen lobster, the SeaMazz brand,  which is certified sustainable.  I was pleasantly surprised by the great texture and fine flavor. 

[Pat]

I really like the sound of that ^^^ avocado gg dressing.

Last night was charred sumac and oregano chicken wings; celery, and ranch or blue cheese dressing; tiny meatballs with caramelized onions in kind of a balsamic reduction, and (on a whim) takeout cheese pizza.

I was disappointed in the Bell and Evans wings. Whatever process they use to prep the wings resulted in some randomly chopped bony bits in with the wing and drum pieces. Their chicken is usually top notch, which is why I buy it. I hope this was an aberration. It's not that much effort to break down wings into two pieces, but this is the way B&E ones are sold, and it's always worked out okay until now.

[Pat]

Pork loin roast
Black-eyed peas
Rice pilaf

The black-eyed peas are from a Marcus Samuelsson recipe I've been making for most recent New Year's dinners. They're spicy, seasoned with both berbere and a hot pepper. It calls for scotch bonnet but I usually substitute a habanero or another hot pepper. I used a whole habanero (minus most of the seeds) this time but probably should have only used half.

[ktmoomau]

Christmas dinner was fajitas.  I also while at home made vegetable soup to use a bunch of veggies my brother and I brought up so they wouldn't go bad, and ham and bean soup which used a ham bone taking up too much space in my Mom's freezer.  I also made Tuna tetrazzini, one of my brother's favorite meals.

For NYE I made empanadas with a traditional beef filling, and veggie and chicken taquitos.  I also had frozen dumplings we warmed up, and assorted desserts and cheeses. So last night was leftovers, as will likely be the next couple days.

[Sundae in the Park]

We're having soup to beat the Sick for the next few days. A brothy chicken soup and lentil soup as well. If they're not enough to do the job, I have a big butternut squash that will be roasted and pureed into more soup. Die germs, die!

[dcandohio]

New Year’s Day was lobster salad made with the leftover avocado dressing,  to which I added about a tsp of mayo. The salad was lobster, cucumber, celery and carrots served on Romaine and radicchio. I had homemade beef empanadas in the freezer,  and I made a chimichurri sauce to go with those. 

[ktmoomau]

Well the head cold I seemed to be narrowly avoiding caught up to me last night and today.  So to follow Sundae in the Park's advice, I am hoping to soup it out.  So last night I made a broth with chicken soup base, with lots of carrots, celery (leftover from making a crudite platter) and ginger.  I added some lemongrass paste, dried chili flakes and a little rice wine vinegar for a little balance of flavor, let it cook a bit.  I then dumped in one of the leftover bags of dumplings from the party- I think they were the chicken terriyaki ones.  Topped with some fresh basil leaves.  It turned out better than I expected it would.  Now Hubby will want me to try to recreate it sometime, to me soup isn't something you really follow a recipe you just make something with ingredients on hand and taste and add until it is tasty.   

[Pat]

Last night was leftover chicken wings and a spinach pie. I didn't feel like making a crust so figured I'd buy one at TJ's. They were out of the regular ones.Though it wasn't what I really wanted, I picked up a frozen deep dish one. There were only a few of them left. The store was pretty well cleaned out. I realized while waiting in line to check out that it was gluten-free (rice flour, tapioca flour, and I don't recall what else). I figured I'd give it a shot. It held together really well, through blind baking and the final baking and cutting. FYI if you're looking for pre-made deep dish GF pie crusts.

The spinach pie is something I'm sort of working on incrementally and improvisationally. It's fairly much like a spanokopita but done as a one-crust pie. It's not eggy enough to be a quiche. Spinach is the main ingredient in the filling. As with the last time, I added a small amount of crumbled lamb merguez sausage to it because it seemed to fit with the other ingredients (frozen, drained chopped spinach; feta, cottage, and Parmesan cheeses; 2 eggs; black pepper, garlic powder, and green herbs--this time dill, parsley, and basil). Originally I was going to serve it with a salad but was too tired/lazy to make a last-minute salad, so I went with leftover wings. It's a really solid main course to go with salad or soup.

[Pat]

Leftover pork loin with fried sage
Cornmeal waffles with smoked salmon and creme fraiche

[ktmoomau]

Last night I made rice and topped it with the black eyed pea puree I had leftover from being a NYE dip and then the leftovers of the beef empanada filling, it was sort of like rice and beans.  I was sick, it was the most energy I could muster up.

[reedm]

I prepared Hainanese Chicken Rice last night, using some frozen broth from another Hainanese chicken recipe I'd tried before. My wife and I are both under the weather, and while the chicken and sauce were delicious, the broth proved to be very comforting on its own.

[Pat]

Leftover spinach pie plus leftover meatballs and onions turned into soup

[ktmoomau]

I had some veggie (bean, spinach, corn and tomato) filling and a little shredded chicken filling that I had leftover from making taquitos.    Tonight I mixed them and then used the filling, added cheese to make quesadilla.  Served with some avocado and plain greek yogurt.  I have been trying to get back on track with my previous goal of eating more vegetables and having meat as a smaller part of the dishes I eat with meat, it doesn't always happen, but I am trying.

[Pat]

Not quite breakfast for dinner:

Leftover cornmeal waffles topped with fried eggs and bacon; on the side, leftover black-eyed peas and rice pilaf mixed together

There was butter and maple syrup available for topping excess amounts of waffle.

[TrelayneNYC]

Pasta al pollo scappato.

1 medium onion, minced
1 carrot, peeled and minced
1 celery rib, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
120 ml olive oil
60 ml red wine
1 tbsp. tomato paste
salt
freshly ground black pepper
cooked pasta

 

[TrelayneNYC]

Lenticchie in umido

950 ml water
400 g lentils
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 celery ribs, chopped
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

Combine first four ingredients in a large pot. Bring this mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes or until lentils are tender. Either partly cover the pot or cook uncovered. If the latter, you may have to add small amounts of boiling water every so often to prevent the lentils from drying out. Don't forget to stir the lentils every so often.

Once the lentils are done, taste for salt. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil, then serve at once.

[TrelayneNYC]

Cime di rapa soffritte.

Recipe is in the "Osteria" book, page 304. I've depicted the cover in the event there is interest.

Quantities in the list below have been converted to metric from the amounts in the book.

The technique for this recipe is different from the way I usually cook greens and it's something I'll probably replicate for other vegetables going forward. The stalks and leaves were extremely tender, just the way I like them.

2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tbsp. olive oil
1 kg broccoli rabe, roughly chopped
4 tbsp. water
salt

[dcandohio]

Pork tacos.  I cut the narrow pieces off of a pork tenderloin that I am going to cook tonight, and I cubed up those narrow pieces and marinated them for a bit in hot chili powder, garlic, salt, olive oil and chicken stock.  I seared the pieces in a wok, and used them as taco filling along with cheese, shredded romaine, sour cream, and Verde salsa. Easy and satisfying. 

[MarkS]

Seafood paella Saturday night washed down with many bottles of Rioja Riserva.  Paella included lobster, shrimp and scallops.  I made stock for the paella with the lobster and shrimp shells.  The stock made the paella wonderful.

[Pat]

Salad of green leaf lettuce, radishes, yellow bell pepper, bacon, and marcona almonds; ranch dressing
This miso-mushroom pasta recipe from Food 52

The pasta was fantastic, though (or because!) it had a large amount of fat. I had seen it a few days earlier and realized I had all of the ingredients on hand, so that and a salad made for a quick meal. And the only meat in the meal was a couple strips of crumbled bacon in the salad.

[DaveO]

1 hour ago, MarkS said:

Seafood paella Saturday night washed down with many bottles of Rioja Riserva.  Paella included lobster, shrimp and scallops.  I made stock for the paella with the lobster and shrimp shells.  The stock made the paella wonderful.

Sounds delightful.  Seafood stock.  I've never bothered making it, but with a lot of frozen shrimp, shell on, it now appears to be on my agenda.  Thanks

[ktmoomau]

Another batch of leftover wonton hot and sour soup.  I am not sure the broth this time around was quite as good, it was a smidge different and I don't know why, still very good.  I did add onions this time, but I think those were a good addition to the complexity.  Of course, I also added a good bit of sriracha to mine while I was eating it and made it quite the keep the sinuses running experience.  Hubby really enjoyed both renditions.

[Sundae in the Park]

Yep, squash has been soupified, and we're hoping it will be enough to see us through to the end of my sickness.  I cubed it, tossed with oil, salt, and pepper, and roasted it with chunks of onion until caramelized.  Threw it all into a pot with some dried sage, veg stock, and some sherry; whizzed with the stick blender; and stirred in some cream and lots of salt at the end.  It's thick and rich tastes like the holidays come again. I think the rest of the family is having chicken tenders tonight while I have more soup.  

[Pat]

Salad of green leaf lettuce, radishes, yellow and orange bell pepper, tomato, avocado, bacon, and marcona almonds; ranch dressing
Pugiliese bread from TJ with butter
Ground turkey, baby spinach, and cremini mushroom skillet
Buttermilk mashed potatoes with scallions

 

[dcandohio]

Roasted pork tenderloin, that I marinated/brined in a “Christmas Beer” with salt, garlic, chiles, cumin, brown sugar and olive oil. 

Sweet potato cubes roasted with five spice powder.

 Simple romaine salad. 

[ktmoomau]

Dinner last night was short ribs I had done sous vide for 72 hours, seared off in a pan with a little red wine, balsamic, Worcestershire.  I made mashed potatoes via the instant pot, and roasted Brussels sprouts in balsamic, maple syrup, salt, pepper and a little lemon juice towards the end.  All made in about an hour because I thought I had a meeting that is actually tonight- hahahhahahha, so not funny, really.  This dish could have really been more perfect had I dedicated a little more time, oh well.

[Pat]

Last night I made steak sous vide and served it with more of the previous night's salad, a mashed potato casserole, and steamed broccoli. The casserole was leftover buttermilk scallion mashed potatoes, with the addition of some cream and topped with aged cheddar, panko, and some dots of butter before going into the oven to heat through and brown on top.. The steak was a prime NY strip from Costco that I had frozen after breaking up the original pack. I froze it in a vacuum-sealed bag, so the defrosted steak could go right into the water in its bag. I defrosted it in the refrigerator for a day, pulled it out while I heated the water bath and then dropped it in the water, and cooked it at 120F for 3 1/2 hours. Before searing on a grill pan, I seasoned it with black pepper, a small amount of salt, Worcestershire sauce, and a little red wine.

Prime steak from Costco is quite a treat. We split one steak between us, so a pack of 3 or 4 lasts some time. I cooked the first one from the original pack by reverse sear, which is great, but the frozen ones are already in the vac seal bags and ready to go, so sous vide makes more sense.

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, Pat said:

Prime steak from Costco is quite a treat. We split one steak between us, so a pack of 3 or 4 lasts some time. I cooked the first one from the original pack by reverse sear, which is great, but the frozen ones are already in the vac seal bags and ready to go, so sous vide makes more sense.

Their prime steak is good and *cheap* considering its quality - the problem is that you have to buy about six cuts.

[Bags]

9 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

Their prime steak is good and *cheap* considering its quality - the problem is that you have to buy about six cuts.

Unfortunately Costco's steaks are blade-tenderized.  That makes them a no-go for me.  Not sure why it's even necessary on a prime cut.

[Pat]

19 hours ago, Bags said:

Unfortunately Costco's steaks are blade-tenderized.  That makes them a no-go for me.  Not sure why it's even necessary on a prime cut.

Apparently they label for this, but I don't recall seeing that labeling on the package.It appears, though, from a search that only the vacuum-sealed whole cuts (e.g., whole tenderloin) are not blade tenderized. It really doesn't make any sense to do this to a prime cut. It also means these steaks should not be eaten rare or anywhere below 165F.

[Pat]

Last night I added some red leaf lettuce to what's left of the salad and made a quick batch of chili (ground chuck; with beans). I made stacks with the leftover cornmeal waffles, topping each waffle with chili, cilantro, cheddar cheese, and a fried egg. Sour cream on the side. 

[dcandohio]

4 minutes ago, Pat said:

Last night I added some red leaf lettuce to what's left of the salad and made a quick batch of chili (ground chuck; with beans). I made stacks with the leftover cornmeal waffles, topping each waffle with chili, cilantro, cheddar cheese, and a fried egg. Sour cream on the side. 

Those waffles sound delicious!  I don’t have a waffle iron, but I could do the same thing with cornmeal pancakes. 

[Pat]

1 hour ago, dcandohio said:

Those waffles sound delicious!  I don’t have a waffle iron, but I could do the same thing with cornmeal pancakes. 

It worked out really well. As long as the pancakes are fairly sturdy, I'd think it should work. The, uh, embarrassing thing about how I came upon this plan is that, having run out of ideas for what to do with the leftover waffles, I googled cornmeal waffles to see what came up as an accompaniment or serving idea, and it brought up a Paula Deen recipe for cornmeal waffles and chili. I wasn't interested in the recipe but I liked the concept. I looked further for other sites with a similar dish and found a blog showing them as stacks.

[ktmoomau]

Those waffles do sound good and I have a lot of cornmeal!

Last night we used the leftover shredded shortribs and made tacos with slow roasted tomatoes, tomatillo salsa, mozzarella (the only cheese we have left in the fridge) and spinach.  The tortillas were really thick they were homestyle from Shoppers, I was worried that they would be too thick and griddles them to make sure they would be good.  They actually were perfect as the shortribs were very saucy and they needed this type of tortilla to hold up under the amount of liquid.

[dcandohio]

I am trying to cook more of what is in my freezer and pantry, and so today I used a lot of pantry and frig ingredients and made Chana    masala.  So, since I had an Indian theme going, I rubbed salmon filets with lime juice and masala spices and broiled them.  I added a little salad, because I wanted something crunchy.  

The Chana masala was especially delicious.  I used the basic recipe/method taught to me by my former neighbor, who was an Indian and a cardiologist.  She used healthier methods and ingredients to cook traditional foods.  And she would probably chastise me, but at the end, I added about 2 tablespoons of butter to compensate for the lack of ghee.  She would’ve added nonfat yogurt!

[Pat]

Friday:
Kale and lentil soup with chunks of pork tenderloin
Salmon platter 3 ways (broiled sockeye fillets, cold smoked, and roe); cream cheese; tzatziki, rye toast triangles; sliced tomatoes; shaved red onion; capers; lettuce

Last night:
Meat loaf barded with bacon
Egg noodles with butter and dill
Cauliflower cheese gratin

[Pat]

Salad of red leaf and iceberg lettuces, slivered red onion, cucumber, radishes, and tomato; sesame - shiitake dressing
Mushroom. red onion, and pepperoni sheet pan pizza

[Sundae in the Park]

We've taken to roasting our tri-tips instead of grilling them, as it requires far less meat-sitting. There's 100% less thrilling flame flare-ups but a lot more pan juices.  We buy the untrimmed roasts and trim them lightly, which works out great for self-basting while grilling, but is less useful for roasting in a pan, so we've been trimming more carefully. The meat is much more tender but lacks the charred exterior - not a bad trade off, but we will still grill on occasion.  We made the last one a few nights ago with mashed potatoes, sauteed zucchini, and mushroom cream sauce, and are just now finishing it up as sandwiches. 

Two nights ago we made chicken pot pie soup, because I wanted a pot pie but didn't feel like messing with pastry. And then I went and finally tried the no-knead bread recipe that I've been eyeing for years.  That bread recipe is very forgiving and we were happy with the results. I couldn't believe that I made pretty bread!

Last night was pad se ew with chicken, because we were out of beef and had fresh, soft noodles that couldn't wait.  Beef > chicken in this dish but we managed to get a decent bit of wok hei charring on the noodles. 

[ktmoomau]

Last night was veggie linguine (don't tell Hubby he had no idea) with meat sauce.  

Friday night was heated frozen Phillips crabcakes from Costco (for a frozen, quickie crabcake, these really are not terrible), leftover mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.  I am waiting for Hubby to get home to decide what tonight is...

[Pat]

Sweet and sour oven-baked baby back ribs with soy-ginger dipping sauce
Chinese noodles and broccoli with peanut sauce

[NolaCaine]

I did a great job on dinner last night.

In an old cast iron pan i fried salmon steaks with just salt and evoo; that's it. It was perfect. 5 yr old girl at everybody's skin if they didn't eat it themselves...and her fish. 8 yr old took maybe 3 bites and it's his favorite fish!

For the first time ever, I made mushroom barley risotto and it too was fantastic. In fact, I will plop it into my homemade chicken noodle soup from this weekend (which is now missing both chicken and noodles). Girl at it, boy didn't. 

Fried up some purple Brussel sprouts in some bacon fat. Bacon didn't survive long enough to be sprinkled on top of the finished product. 

I ate everything and multiple servings as did husband. Those kids though. Between them both they finished one plate. Weird; their loss.

 

[ktmoomau]

Last night was just reheating leftovers as Hubby thought we had a HOA meeting and I was in relaxed mode from spa daying.  Tonight is probably also reheating leftovers before our different meetings.  

[Sundae in the Park]

Tried this eggplant with garlic sauce America's Test Kitchen recipe that seemed to be everywhere on the internet this week. I liked that it uses regular eggplants and basil, since I can't reliably get (good/cheap) Asian eggplants or Thai basil (at all), and I love Thai-style eggplant-basil dishes. There is a lot of lime in this dish, which is great, but has to grow on you if, like me, you aren't used to your brown sauces tasting so bright. The more I eat the more I like it. I think it's a keeper for our house.  Did I ever mention that I used to hate eggplant and red peppers? Now they are among my favorite foods. 

[Tweaked]

Mushroom curry, crispy fried egg, Jasmine rice, lime pickle

[Pat]

Avocado stuffed with tzatziki; sliced tomato, shredded radicchio
Baked ziti (pork sausage and marinara)

[ktmoomau]

The past couple nights have been hectic, frenzied what is in the fridge that can be cobbled together nights.  Last night I ate mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and leftover Tom Yum soup.  And some homemade flan from my co-worker!  I plan to get it together and pick up a grocery order today.

[Pat]

Lats night was roasted chicken, potatoes, and carrots plus leftover cauliflower cheese gratin.