Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Pat]

We've mostly been eating leftovers of what's already prepared. I'd think our refrigerator would look emptier than it does, but I have a lot of condiments in there.

Sunday night was Brazilian cheese rolls; Yellow Indian Woman Bean soup with tasso; and leftover sumpin sumpin.

Last night my husband had the last of the pozole; the last of the sumpin sumpin; and leftover Cajun tasso and potato casserole. I had leftover brown rice and YIW beans. We both consumed re-warmed Brazilian cheese rolls stuffed/topped with smoked salmon and creme fraiche.

The cheese rolls called for tapioca flour, which I had bought during the summer when I couldn't find potato starch, but then I finally found potato starch and never opened the tapioca. They didn't come out quite right. I think the recipe called for too low a temperature and then my oven malfunctioned on top of that. They're edible, but they're not the way they're supposed to be. The creme fraiche and smoked salmon were nice with them, though.

The tasso and potato casserole was originally made for a lunch on one of the days that looks like all the other days. My husband loved it. I'm kind of overdosing on the tasso, so I've only sampled this casserole. It used the last of my regular potatoes, which had started to sprout.

The casserole came from a recipe I found online. I recognized the site when it came up in my search because I used to read posts from that site years ago.

This is getting off of dinner and onto...gah!...but I read through some of her more recent posts, including one thoughtful one titled "In These Moments." I got near the end of the blog post and saw this:
 

Quote

It isn’t good “business” right now to talk online about the Coronavirus or Covid-19 if you’re a food website. The experts tell us that Google and advertisers will eventually search for the terms trending now as we deal with this pandemic and “reverse keyword target” them, meaning there is a list of keywords that they won’t want their advertisements to show next to.

The idea behind that is that if you post content with corona-related keywords in the posts, it is very likely that those posts will not earn nearly as well as your other content that does not include those keywords.

You know what? I just don’t care about that right now. This is a huge part of our life and our history and I don’t want to just gloss over it all.

 

I admire food bloggers who have stuck with it through the commercialization of the genre, even though I sometimes get annoyed with the commercial elements, product placement, etc. That bloggers may be feeling pressure not to write about a massive event occurring in real time because they'll lose income into the future just...GAH!

 

[genericeric]

Pulled pork in the crockpot on seeded buns, onion rings and a store bought avocado ranch salad mix that I dressed up some some fresh avocado and spicy roasted pumpkin seeds.  

Another bottle of the Stinson Rose of Tannat.  Often when I think a first bottle is great, I re-buy and am disappointed in the second.  No so here - this is a great spring/summer wine.

[Pat]

2 hours ago, genericeric said:

Pulled pork in the crockpot

Pulled pork is one of the tasks where the crockpot really shines; that, and cooking beans.

[ktmoomau]

Last night was beef bulgogi.  I used this recipe here: https://seonkyounglongest.com/ground-beef-bulgogi/

Served with sliced cucumbers, kimchi, seaweed salad and rice.

Hubby loved it and ate it for lunch again today.  

[ktmoomau]

Tonight was chicken fajitas- which are my love and joy. Mmmmm.

[genericeric]

Last night was Jalapeno Popper White Chicken Chili in the crock pot.  Included are 5 diced jalapeno peppers but those are sauteed with onions and garlic before going in so the heat level is still tolerable even for my spice-averse wife.  Topped with cumin crema, cilantro, tortilla strips.  

Drank an Illumination Sauvingon Blanc from Quintessa (mostly Sonoma fruit).  I'm not a big SB guy, but Illumination and Bevan are my go-to's, though unfortunately both are a bit spendy.

[Pat]

Salad (iceberg, romaine, radishes, tomatoes, walnuts; vinaigrette)
Creamy fettuccine with smoked salmon, peas, and carrots

I adapted a recipe from Epicurious titled One-Pot Spring Pasta with Smoked Salmon. The date on it is April 2018, making it appropriate for an April's eve meal. It called for linguine or another long pasta. Mostly I was looking for a way to use sour cream and smoked salmon with pasta. I'd already used the asparagus I had, so I added some diced carrots to go with the peas instead (and -- as a bonus -- the carrot color matched the salmon). Didn't have basil so I topped with parsley. I didn't add more sour cream to the top, as the recipe called for, and also used somewhat less butter, but I added some grated Parmesan.

The pasta was very satisfying, but pasta usually is!

[deangold]

Chicken legs w/herbs and leeks from the freezer. Caesar salad. Bread and cheese; robiolina and Bayley Hazen Blue. 

Rum Negroni: Neisson agricole white, Don Ciccio Luna, capotoline white, Paychaud's barrel aged, Bitterman's grapefruit hopped bitters. 

[dracisk]

My husband smoked some chicken over hickory yesterday afternoon so for dinner we had smoked chicken tacos. We ate the chicken on flour tortillas with homemade tomato salsa, shredded lettuce, and sour cream. We forgot the shredded cheddar. Looking forward to the same meal tonight!

[deangold]

Last Sunday at Dupont, I cam across a stand with water buffalo. I picked up a pack of shortribs. Yesterday I sauteed some Spring Valley onion wedged until deeply brown then browned the ribs. Last I added herbs and king mushrooms. Since i was cooking in carbon steel, I deglazed the pan with water and added everything to a baking dish. We had opened a bottle of corked white wine the night before and I boiled it in a stainless steel pot, made sure there was no funk detectable, and added it to the baking dish. Some glace di vollaile and water finished the prep. I brought it to a simmer stove top then put it in the oven at 275 for a total of 3 hours cooking and 45 minutes cooking of time. I separated the meat and the sauce & veggies and pureed the latter in the food processor with just a few pulses ,resulting in a saucy mushroom & onion relish which I poured back over the meat and set aside. When we got close to dinner time, I added water tot he pot and brought the ribs to a bare simmer. We served it with the last of some Whole Foods sourdough. The sauce was SO good. The shortribs were fatty on the large pieces, and tsty, but I am not sure they were worth the bother over regular short ribs. Glad I got them on the whole. 

Homemade saffron gelato for dessert.

Cocktails:

Gibson: Plymouth 4 to 3 with Dolin dry, Bitter Truth lemon bitters & olive bitters, Paychaud's aromatic bitters, cocktial onions.

Corpse Reviver #2 variation: 1 oz Broker's gin, 1 oz lemon juice {probably more, I wasn't wearing my glasses and the jigger was hard to read} 1 oz Cocchi Americano, 1 oz Dimmi. Not th ebest variation I have made, the Dimmi did not round off the lemon as well as other spirits.

Kay had a Negroni: Broker's gin, Don Ciccio Luna, Capitoline white, Bitterman's hopped grapefruit bitters & Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas bitters. 

[dcandohio]

Shrimp and andouille jambalaya. I packaged up some of it to share with the neighbors. I thought I had celery and green onions, and I had neither, so I think the finished product was good, not great. 

[Katya4me]

We did sofritos over rice for dinner.  Good pantry items recipe, but I think I'll add a can of beans next time as it just needed a little something more.   We've been going through our cider stash so last night I had Swilled Dog's Caramel Apple and my husband had Blake's Mango Habanero.  

[ktmoomau]

Last night was bean and cheese pupusas, served with a side salad of lettuce, sunflower seeds, roasted sweet potato, pickled onion and radish, feta and green goddess dressing.  

[deangold]

Our usual farmer's market routine is to cut a big jar of crudite for snacking rom the fridge. This weeks batch, about a gallon jar filled of veggies, included some turnips and carrots that were a little long in the tooth and were not holding up well. The jicama, kohlrabi, celery and radish were all in great shape, but rather than going thru and separating, I took the easy way out and made soup.

First, I used about half a cup of garlic cloves, smashed and then lightly chopped, a couple of tablespoons of fresh chopped herbs {thyme, sage & rosemary,} Aleppo pepper, spice rub, salt & pepper. I sauteed all the garlic and half the herbs & seasonings over high heat till on the edge but just short of burnt. Then I added the veggies and let them steam in the clinging water while turning them in the hot oil for 5 minutes. Next I added a #10 can of canned peeled plum tomato and some water plus the remianing herbs & seasonings. I adjusted for umami & salt with San-J Tamari. Simmered for over an hour then served with grated parm. 

Very filling & hearty. Made enough for three more meals in the fridge, one more frozen plus tonight's dinner. Way better than the crudite would have wound up!

Note: San-J Tamari gets reamed on the test shows and in tamari rankings online. But a lot of restaurants have a halg gallon on hand. It is super salty, but it adds umami like crazy. So adding a spalsh adds a lot without making the dish taste of tamari. I use in it salsas, dressings, soups and sauces. I have 2 other Tamari on hand in addition to the San J and they are simply used for different purposes. 

[Pat]

Salad (romaine, tomatoes, carrot, orange bell pepper, chickpeas, radishes, feta, walnuts); bottled vinaigrette
Quinoa, chile-spiced chickpeas, and vegetables (ramp butter, onion, shallot, garlic, orange bell pepper, carrot, celery tomato); topped with steamed broccoli and (from the freezer) homemade turkey sausage patties

The quinoa had gotten pushed towards the back of the cabinet. Its best by date was in 2016. I decided to cook some up earlier in the day to see if it was still good. It was. It hung out in the fridge until dinner time and then got reheated and mixed with sauteed veggies and spiced chickpeas. From the freezer, I pulled out some ramp butter I had made back around the time the quinoa expired and used some (along with olive oil) to saute the assorted vegetables. I added some more to the quinoa as it reheated. It still had a sharp pungency to it and lots of little flecks of green.

I peeled the stems of maybe a dozen broccoli spears and steamed the intact pieces. They looked pretty arranged over the top of a mound of vegetable quinoa, along with a few small sausage patties (also from the freezer but more recent vintage than the ramp butter).

[Katya4me]

Last weekend we totally stocked up on chicken (thighs and breasts) and then divided into labeled freezer bags the portions we planned to use in various recipes over the next 2 weeks.  Last night was Thai chili sauce stir fry, so the chicken breasts came out of the freezer and into the wok.  We had this over jasmine rice with some Thai basil leftover from another recipe. 

[dracisk]

Yesterday was my daughter's 6th birthday. No friend party this year, so we tried to make her day special even though she was only hanging out with boring ol' Mommy and Daddy (actually, at 6 she still pretty much likes us). We asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner and she said "cheeseburgers!" So my husband smoked some burgers over hickory. I'd been at Giant on Monday and they were completely out of ground beef, but they had ground steak, so we used that. We ate the burgers on potato rolls with melted cheese, pickles, and mustard (ketchup and no pickles for my daughter). I had also bought a bag of frozen French fries at Giant, but I left them in the trunk of the car accidentally, so those went in the trash and my husband cut his own fries and deep fried those (or maybe shallow fried them -- he used a couple inches of oil in our Dutch oven). My husband's grill/smoker is getting quite a workout during all this time at home. He's currently smoking more chicken for tacos and a huge batch of chicken wings.

[deangold]

Given the difficulty and effort going shopping these days, I am really being diligent about using things before they go bad and eating leftovers in a timely fashion no matter how good that tri tip thawing and marinating in the fridge is looking. SO I went into today's dinner thinking about a simple pasta using the left over water buffalo short rib sauce. We got spinach in our spring valley box this week so I decided to saute that with a lot of garlic. Then I noticed the hand dipped Calabro ricotta and thought spinach & ricotta sounded good on a pasta. Then it struck me that the leftover soup would be great as well. I cut into the ricotta to find that depsite it beig in code, it was the slightest bit fizzy. Not fizzy enough to toss but I put it in a pan and cooked it with some cream. It broke into a cottage cheese like consistency which I added some spice rub, salt, pepper, san-j tamari and pomodoro doppio {Italian tomato concentrate sold in toothpaste tubes. This tasted fantastic so I decided to make a pasticcio inspired casserole.

I cooked some really good penne until just barely close to al dente. Mixed it with the meat sauce and the soup which after reheating was more like a veggie stew. This covered the base of the baking dish. On top went a mix of the spinach, the ricotta, indulgent amount of Gruyere and herbs. Topping that was more Gruyere and Parm. Into the oven at 400 for 30 minutes and it was bubbly and delicious smelling.

While waiting for the pasticcio to bake, we enjoyed a Caesar with chopped romaine and more of the creamy Caesar I made a few days ago. 

The paticcio was tremendous. Quite decadent as well. The cheese on top was that perfect edge of melted and brown to almost burnt at the edges. The pasta finished cooking to a toothy niceness in the combined sauces so it was so full of flavor you really couldn't tell where the pasta ended and where the sauce began. Did I mention the melted and on edge of burnt cheese? 

We enjoyed a spiced rum daiquiri, blended with fresh squeezed lime, Cotton & Reed dry spiced rum & simple sirup blended in the Blend-Tec with ice. Freaking great. When asked if she wanted her daiquiri blended or rocks or up, she answered "Strong." She is in emergency response so her days are stressful and who was I to disagree. 

With dinner we had a glass each of Jorche Primitivo.

There is a saying Fat, Dumb and Happy. Put drunk in there somewhere and we will cop to it describing us tonight. And being drunk with the people in charge of the COVID-19 response, well it is fitting. 

Now we have 6 normal-sized servings of leftovers based on leftovers. Or I tell myself it is 6 servings. It may be a side dish tomorrow with the aforementioned steak and dinner or lunch the following day. 

[Pat]

Romaine, tomatoes, chickpeas, kalamata olives, orange bell pepper, radishes, walnuts, feta; bottled vinaigrette
Leftover smoked salmon fettuccine topped with toasted sliced almonds

[deangold]

Tri Tip. Living in a complex that does not allow BBQ and the common area grills closed, we did it in carbon steel. medium low heat with a temp alarm in it, cooked to 125 and let rest 10 minutes. For the last 10 minuted, I tossed in 6 garlic cloves. While resting, mashed the garlic roughly and added it it back to the hot pan. I added chopped herbs too. I deglazed the pan with water, mounted the pan sauce with butter. Then off heat, I seasoned with a few drops sherry wine vinegar, salt & Sriracha. 

We sliced the roast as needed, serving with the pan sauce, wasabi, and an oldfashioned Tuscan style salsa verde

Sweet potatoes with olive oil infused with mint, garlic & Aleppo flakes. The oil was super simple, heated olive oil in a stainless sauce pan with a large garlic cloved crushed with the side of a knife & Aleppo flakes. When the garlic barely started to sizzle, I added a big handful of mint {probably 1 small bunch before removing the stems. Then I turned down the heat super low and tossed a few times and let simmer for 30 minuted. Then strained the oil, pressing hard on the leaves and garlic. We used a couple of teaspoons on the sweets , which were from Spring Valley.

Korean cukes w/Eden foods ume paste. The US ume not as good as the Japanese brand I had previously but we ram out before the ew batch has arrived from Japan {who knows when} so the Eden is making due.

Drink: Martini: I only had an ounce of brokers and even though ` oz gin usually means a negroni, I made a short martini w/dolin {4 to 3 as per usual} . Then tragedy struck: I splashed about a third of the drink out of my cocktail glass moving it over to add bitters. Peychaud's aromatic bitters, Bitter Truth olive bitters and Angostura orange bitters. Garnish was very good Spanish pepper stuffed olives from Miguel & Valentina. 

A glass of primitivo Jorche. 

[Katya4me]

We did chicken yakisoba last night.  The recipe wasn't bad but didn't do anything for either of us, so won't be making it again.  Do have 3 more servings of it to eat later this week but we'll doctor those up as we eat them.

[Katya4me]

I had about a cup of dry white beans that have been lingering so decided to cook them this afternoon.  We had ground beef and empanada wrappers in the freezer so I made spicy beef and bean empanadas.  Had three of them with a bit of sour cream and leftovers for tomorrow. 

[deangold]

Today was my weekly shopping day. I hit both Hmart and Lotte Plaze and we had sashimi for dinner.

Salmon Skin Salad to start. I cut the salmon skin and shallow fried it in olive oil for 20 minutes till crisp. Served on greens from Spring Valley dressed in sesame & oilive oil, persimmon vinegar & mirin. We had Sohyu Tamari for Sushi as it is labeled and wasabi for dipping. 

Baked beets in red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper. Beets from spring valley, roasted in foil yesterday, marinated and served at room temp

The sashimi:

Salmon, mostly belly portion, very fatty & rich, came cut.

Cuttlefish: little cuttle fish, bodies only, carefully scored. I loved them and Kay did not. More for me.

Octopus: one smaller tentacle, well boiled with a touch of a briny flavor. Really good. I sliced this one.

Fluke. There were beautiful flukes on ice and I almost got them for broiling, but I waled over to the sushi case and there were three filets, including the bottom fin or engawa so I got them. I had to slice, first taking off the fin which I cut in three, and then cutting up the filets.

wasabi, the taari and a mix of yuzu & cherry blossom shoyu.

Rice

Really good meal. Been a while since I can say I feel stuffed on sashimi. Less than a meal from Takohachi would have cost plus makkoli. 

[smithhemb]

Raclette!  Surprised to find the cheese restocked @ Rodman’s earlier this week.  Sausages rather than proscuitto/capicola for the meat-eaters.  

[dcandohio]

Salad of a bit of leftover coleslaw mixed with Romain and grape tomatoes. Topped with Parmesan cheese and a dressing of olive oil and lemon juice. 
Eggplant casserole from the freezer. Cooked eggplant mashed with breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, Italian sausage and whole shrimp. I put some breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese on the top and ran it under the broiler for a pretty brown crust. 

[ktmoomau]

I had thawed a beef pot roast- and had a plan for the weekend, which got interrupted by us ordering out some- which is fine.  But it means we now have a lot of leftovers in the fridge to eat. So last night I used up some carrots I had cut into spears for Hubby and he hadn't eaten, the last of my cooking wine, some mashed potatoes I had frozen and made beef bourgnone in the instant pot.  It was very tasty.  The next couple meals will be left overs of that and some other odds and ends. 

I bought a bunch of hot dogs/sausages but forgot about the buns, so using some of my yeast and flour supply to make hot dog buns that I can then use and freeze.

[smithhemb]

Barbacoa tonight!  Frontera’s slow cooking sauce is really tasty (not to mention cheap and easy).

[deangold]

Romaine salad w/garlicky lebne dressing

Left over Tri Tip with salsa verde

Pretzels

Saffron gelato

Drink: Lyons rum perfect manhattan w/Cocchi Americano & rosa. Bitterans's hopped grapefruit bitters & Peychaud's whiskey barrel bitters.

Split a 12 oz beer but cant't remember the name and too lazy to go look. It was that good!

[genericeric]

Chicken Kabobs on the grill with red pepper, onion, tomato after a brief italian marinade.  Spring pasta salad with asparagus, peas, parmigiano, O/V.  Caesar Salad.

Josh Sonoma Chardonnay - not extraordinary but a solid Monday night chardonnay (the Black label upgrade is worth it...)

[deangold]

This! 

From Garner

Broccoli Raab, Spring Onion, Brussels Sprouts & Kalettes

From Spring Valley

Ramps

From HMart or Lotte plaza

King Mushrooms, Shishitos, Red & Yellow Onion, Persian Zucchini, Chinese Eggplant

Other stuff tonight and this will last more than one meal I hope. 

[Pat]

Sweet Potato and Feta Bourekas from the freezer
Leftover quinoa and vegetables
Extra steamed broccoli
Cheesy peppery omelette

The omelette had a sauteed chopped Fresno and (part of a) chopped orange bell pepper as filling. The cheese was pepper jack. The omelette was cut in half for serving and plated over the edge of the quinoa. This was really good. The bourekas had only been in the freezer for a little more than 3 months and, despite some ice crystals in the bag, held up quite well.

[Katya4me]

We did spicy fried rice tonight.  I had a ton of old rice that was lingering so I doubled the recipe.  We had some leftover spicy tofu sofritos that I tossed in with the diced chicken thighs I used as the protein.  I didn't have any more green onions, so tossed in half a red onion instead and added some chopped basil. Really good and plenty of leftovers 😋

[deangold]

6 hours ago, deangold said:

This! 

From Garner

Broccoli Raab, Spring Onion, Brussels Sprouts & Kalettes

From Spring Valley

Ramps

From HMart or Lotte plaza

King Mushrooms, Shishitos, Red & Yellow Onion, Persian Zucchini, Chinese Eggplant

Other stuff tonight and this will last more than one meal I hope. 

SO we enjoyed a small bit of this huge tray of grilled veggies. So good and so simple, but one hell of a lot of prep and grill time. The kalettes & brussels sprouts were superb, so were the shishitos. The raab ias very good but a few bites has tough skin. Somehow Kay would up with all that. The ramps were the stellar hit of the dish.

To accompany: tofu w/scallion & ginger oil. I tub soft tofu. Cut in squares and simmered 2 minutes in salted water.  Then I drained the tofu and plated it still warm. Meanwhile, I sliced scallions and grated ginger in a metal bowl. I heated corn oil w/Aleppo flakes until the whole was smoking and the pepper turned dark. Then I poured the oil over the scallions and ginger. As soon as the sizzling stopped, I added soy, sesame oil & persimmon vinegar. The warm oil went over the warm tofu. 

Rice with butter & salted pollock roe. The roe seems to me to be the same as Mentaiko. It comes in pairs and is the roe surrounded by a transparent skin. I took one pair and sliced it into thick coins. We cooked the rice in the rice cooker and put the butter in the bottom of our rice bowl, Added the rice, the juices from the veggie pan and the mentaiko and stirred. Decadent and delicious. Tomorrow I will do a pasta with the same ingredients. 

A bottle of cheap white Sicilian blend. 

 

[deangold]

The batteries for our scale died a few weeks back and we did not have any rechargeables in the size needed. So to save a dollar or two, I found a bargain on EBay with a guaranteed delivery time of 3 days. Well, three weeks later, the three days are finally up. We got a notification that the batteries were here. But it was too late to go the 15 feet to the mailbox and we have to fold masks out of bandanas and then there will be the charging time. But the day of reckoning can only be put off for a couple of more days at the most. Our lavish meals may be not so lavish once we can step on a scale. My Doc will be pleased. 

[genericeric]

Broccoli, snap peas, bell peppers, onion, edamame, spinach and chicken stir fried with some store bought teriyaki sauce and sriracha over jasmine rice, topped with toasted sesame seed.  After a few weeks of quarantine cooking, this mix of fresh vegetables was like a tall drink of water on a hot day (or in my case, a cold beer...)

Anselmann Pfalz dry riesling, which was perfectly pleasant if unremarkable (18.99)

[MarkS]

For Passover tonight on the stove is short ribs sitting on a bed of caramelized carrots, onion, cabbage and simmering now with some Bordeaux for the next 4 hours.  Added about a cup of chopped figs to add decadence and sweetness to the pot. Short ribs were browned in pot first, then put back in after veggies got happy.

Roasted potatoes and rainbow carrots will be paired with the short ribs.

Without any sweet wine my wife substituted port for the Haroseth.

It will just be 2 of us but it will be interesting.

[deangold]

22 hours ago, deangold said:

The batteries for our scale died a few weeks back and we did not have any rechargeables in the size needed. So to save a dollar or two, I found a bargain on EBay with a guaranteed delivery time of 3 days. Well, three weeks later, the three days are finally up. We got a notification that the batteries were here. But it was too late to go the 15 feet to the mailbox and we have to fold masks out of bandanas and then there will be the charging time. But the day of reckoning can only be put off for a couple of more days at the most. Our lavish meals may be not so lavish once we can step on a scale. My Doc will be pleased. 

Great news on the scale front. It wasn't the batteries. The scale is defective! So no worries. At least until the new one comes. 

[deangold]

In honor of passover and not making 200 matzo balls and 200 geflte fish balls, traif! Pasta with butter & mentaiko. Triscuits and avocado. Margarita on the rocks. 

[Katya4me]

Last night was unintentionally but deliciously vegan.  First was not scalloped potatoes, but quartered potatoes in a fantastic sauce.  The recipe called for small new potatoes, but I used thin skinned red potatoes.  Once those were in the oven, I moved on to the BBQ tofu bites.  You drain the tofu, tear it up into bits and then toss it with oil and a rub, then roast until crispy.  I've done this recipe before and very much enjoy it.  After dinner, we popped some popcorn sprinkled with Nanami Togarashi seasoning, but I think I prefer sate seasoning.  

[Pat]

Bread Furst whole wheat bread topped with fresh ricotta
Caesarish salad with horseradish buttermilk ranch dressing
Sausage cavatappi alla vodka (sun-dried tomato chicken sausages in Rao’s Vodka Sauce with added sun-dried tomatoes and roasted peppers)

My husband tried out the Whole Foods senior hour yesterday morning and did our first real grocery shopping in more than a month. The whole wheat bread he bought turned out to be Bread Furst. In honor of having really good bread and needing to use the unopened milk from South Mountain Creamery I'd had for more than 2 weeks, I made fresh ricotta. I hadn't done that in a long time and couldn't recall what recipe I'd used, so I followed one from Smitten Kitchen and used all whole milk. It came out wonderfully. One quart of milk made a cup of ricotta. We're going to have to eat the rest of it quickly because it won't keep.

 

[Katya4me]

Tonight was WashPost's Shrimp and White Bean Bruschetta which is basically exactly what it sounds like. I had some white beans left from the batch I cooked on Sunday, basil that was on it's last leg and I had made a loaf of bread on Tuesday.  Super easy and definitely would make again. 

[reedm]

Tonight we enjoyed pan seared and oven roasted Berkshire pork chops with citrus dressing, oven roasted baby Yukon gold potatoes, and Thomas Keller's creamed summer corn. 

[ktmoomau]

Tonight was leftover beef stew on top of buttered noodles with a side of cooked spinach. Glass of a red blend from Mountfair.

Last night was hot dogs and bratwurst on the grill with slaw and baked beans and a blue moon.

Tuesday night was a sandwich for Hubby pre Mount Vernon book talk, and vegetarian wrap for me, then pita and hummus, followed by cookies.  I just couldn't itch the dinner craving I was having.

[deangold]

Leftover grilled veggies. We area now maybe 1/2 way thru.

Romaine salad w/Caesar dressing

I'm having a smith & cross Jamaican single pot rum daiquiri w/luxardo cherry syrup supplanting some of the simple syrups. Not a good twist.

Kay had a Perfect Manhattan w/Evan Williams 1783 Bourbon {one hell of a bargain at $15.99 at the VABC, less in more civilized booze cultures,} dolin red and dry, Bitter Truth chocolate bitters, Bitter truth Aromatic bitters,  Bitterman\s Orange cream citrate bitters {add this to any brown spirit for smoothness and not particularly the flavor.}

[dcandohio]

Yesterday I made a sort of mushroom stroganoff with both mushrooms and sour cream that had to be used. I had leftover rice so I served it over rice, but today I will eat the rest of it over noodles. 

[Pat]

Last night I made the spicy sofritas tofu that Katya4me posted about previously. It's a keeper recipe. Thank you! I added a can of pinto beans to the mixture and a can of chopped green chilies because I didn't have a poblano. We had this over brown rice, along with some leftover steamed broccoli and pickled red onions I'd made earlier.

[dcandohio]

I bought two lamb shoulder steaks because I wanted one for my solitary Easter dinner. I had to defrost them together because they were in the same package. As I was marinating the steak for Easter dinner tomorrow I had a bit of an inspiration for the other one. 
i cut the second steak into chunks, and hit it with salt and pepper and then heated up a wok. I chopped up an onion and minced some garlic. I put the meat in the wok, and while it was browning, I chopped up a tomato  Then I threw in the onion and the garlic and put in some lemon juice and dill. I added the tomato and when everything started to break down, I threw in a big handful of frozen haricot vert from Trader Joe’s. I let it all play around the wok for a minute before I served it. It was a delicious Greek inspired quick stirfry. It made me realize I need to eat more lamb. 
 

[Pat]

Last night:
Salad (romaine, carrot, celery, tomato, orange bell pepper, marcona almonds, horseradish buttermilk ranch)
Leftover tomato basil soup
Bread Furst whole wheat bread with herbed evoo
Baked leftover sausages and vodka sauce with cavatappi, mozzarella, ricotta, and Pecorino Romano

Tonight:
Leftover salad
Spicy Italian chicken sausages in whole wheat hotdog buns; banana peppers and pickled red onions
Canned baked beans

[deangold]

Celebrating the fact that I can cook or not cook matzo balls whichever night of Pasover I damn well please, and don't ahve to cook gefilte fish at all if I don't want, we had matzo ball soup for tonight's dinner

I prepped the broth yesterday cutting onions, carrots and celery and simmering it in reconstituted reduced chicken stock from the great stock making project of late december. As the soup neared completion, I realized I had forgot to use the parsnips Kay wanted in her soup {hey you lunkhead, you for got the parsnips! Whatcha gonna do about that?} SO tonight as I reheated the soup, I strained the veggies out and put in the parsnips. I cooked the soup until the parsnips were almost ready and I readded the cooked veggies and got everythin nice and hot.

I could not find my usual Streitz's matzo meal my last trip to the market so I bought Yehuda. The meal was a lot finer and more even than Streitz. I was wondering what the effect would be, thinking it could mean compressed balls {sinkers: BOOOOO!} or extra fluffy balls {Floaters: Yea!!} But I used my usual recipe and chilled the dough for an hour.

When I was ready to cook the matzo balls, I started forming them haven forgetting to make the final addition of seltzer water. I made one ball before realizing this, so I grabbed the soda siphon and did the final addition {1/4 cup seltzer before chilling, 1/4 cup after. I was debating if I should fish out the 1 ball and thought F it.

Kay served up the soup and balls. I had no way of knowing what ball was what. The first bite of the first ball was tough & heavy. And I thought: Oh no, this yehuda is a waste! But the second ball was etherial and light, one of the best matzo balls I have ever made {A number approaching 6,000.} So was the third. And so were both balls in Kay's bowl {I was not stealing her food, this was SCIENCE!} So my practice of adding seltzer at the end has been proven effective! Years of tradition validated by experiment.

Pomegranate.

Drink:

Perfect Manhattan for Kay with Cochi Rosa and Americano and the wonderful Evan Williams 1783. Bitters were Bitter Truth Jerry Thomas, Bitterman's Orange Cream Citrate and Bitter Truth Chocolate. Fruitier and rounder than the Dolin version from last night. 

Corpse Reviver #2 for me. 1 oz each Green Hat Gin, Cocchi Americano, Luxardo Triplum, Fresh lemon juice. Iced the cocktail glass and then rinsed it with 1/4 oz chartreuse as I don't like absinthe enough to buy a bottle just for corpse reviver glass washes. Shaken hard and double strained. Luxardo Cherry. Superb.

As I left off yesterday, the La Brea Tar Pits. The favorite field trip of every kid in LA prior to the fencing off of the pits because you could get tar on your shoes and it would never come off! Now, the question is the name. La in spanish is The. {some of you can see where this is going already!} Brea is pitch which is tar. So  this place is named "the the tar tar pits!"

I demand that henceforth and forever, they be called La Brea Pozos or The Tar Pits. Anything else an inconsistent and an affront to latinos of Los Angeles or anyone reading my dissertation here. I will have some other trivial thing almost no one has ever noticed or worried about to bitch at tomorrow. Or not.  

[genericeric]

Sautéed asparagus, bell pepper, corn cut off the cob, garlic.  Took off the heat and added raw red onion, cucumber and grape tomatoes, then some frozen peas.  Season, splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar, and added to pasta.  Topped with parmigiana.  By far our favorite meal of the week.