Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[dracisk]

12 hours ago, saf said:

peach leaf ice cream

Fascinating! I never knew that eating peach leaves was a thing.

[saf]

32 minutes ago, dracisk said:

Fascinating! I never knew that eating peach leaves was a thing.

It isn’t. You infuse the cream with them. Tastes kind of bitter almond. It’s a bi-rite creamery recipe, and is inspired by a recipe from chez panessse. 

[dracisk]

2 hours ago, saf said:

It isn’t. You infuse the cream with them. Tastes kind of bitter almond. It’s a bi-rite creamery recipe, and is inspired by a recipe from chez panessse. 

Yeah, I mistyped. I Googled recipes and saw that you steep them in the cream. I guess what I should have typed was, "Fascinating! I never knew that peach leaves have flavor."

[saf]

7 hours ago, dracisk said:

Yeah, I mistyped. I Googled recipes and saw that you steep them in the cream. I guess what I should have typed was, "Fascinating! I never knew that peach leaves have flavor."

You can use them in booze too! Also, cherry leaves.

[Pat]

Salad (red and green leaf lettuces, frisee, radishes, cucumber)
Hot Italian sausages, onions, and peppers
Corn on the cob with cilantro lime butter
Potato and egg salad

[Pat]

Last night was pulled pork sandwiches with pickles and cole slaw; leftover curried cauliflower; leftover broccoli + nutritional yeast, and a green salad.

Tonight is leftover sausages, peppers, and onions; leftover cauliflower; leftover potato and egg salad; and a green salad.

[genericeric]

A busy few days of cooking started Friday night with Momofuku's Bo Ssam recipe.  The pork itself was delicious, with a crispy, almost candied exterior following a brown sugar coating and a few minutes under the broiler.  Be careful - a full day of work can be ruined in 30 seconds of over-broiling!

Sunday brought a Mississippi Roast - seared chuck roast cooked in the crock pot for 6 hours with ranch dressing, pepperoncini and... butter.  I served on potato buns with salad.

Tuesday my inner cardiologist recommended I lighten things up a bit with an oven-roasted chicken schwarma.  This was a NYT recipe (pay wall) but  it was a marinade of lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and schwarma spice (which you can buy in a jar at Wegmans or make your own with salt, black pepper, paprika, cinnamon, cumin and sumac).  In goes the chicken and some red onion, then bake 425 for half an hour, followed by 2 minutes under the broiler to crisp up the edges a bit, then chop.  Served with a turkish farmers salad and some pita.

[Katya4me]

Tonight was grilled chicken over rice.  The avocado relish is a delightful collection of contrasts, creamy, crunchy and herby.  Really good.

[Pat]

Whole Foods has bone-in ribeye steak on sale this week. Bone-in ribeye is my absolute favorite cut of meat. I did a reverse sear on it and it came out fantastic. We had it with leftover salad, bicolor corn on the cob, multicolored baby potatoes with lime and aji amarillo sauce, and fresh peas from Deep Roots Farm. A big midweek meal but worth the effort.

[Katya4me]

I've had this grilled meatloaf recipe in the back of my mind for a while now and made it Saturday night.  Since I have a gas grill, I just spread the slices over the entire grill and then turned the temp down as 8 slices on one side was very crowded.  Definitely lemony (which I liked) but I would tear the bread into smaller pieces next time.  We had it with mashed potatoes and my hubby made a 2nd batch of potatoes to have with the it again last night so I'd call it a success. 

On Friday night, I had some thin sliced sweet potatoes lingering in the fridge, along with half a beet from another recipe.  Those combined with some tofu and broccoli went into this recipe for dinner.  I'd done the BBQ tofu bits by themselves before and liked them.  I didn't have any leftover grains and wasn't feeling like making any, so just had the veggies and the dressing and it was perfect for me. 

[Pat]

On 6/14/2023 at 11:01 AM, genericeric said:

an oven-roasted chicken schwarma.

What a great recipe. I had saved it in my NYT recipe box but hadn't gotten to making it until I saw this post, so thank you.

Very simple to make (hardest part: mincing  6 cloves of garlic) and delicious. I marinated the chicken before leaving for the Nats game yesterday and cooked it when I got back. I found it was fine after the 40 minutes in the hot oven and didn't put it under the broiler. I was a bit worn out and just heated Tater Tots for a side, which worked great because it was the same temperature and just a little shorter time. I used the awesome pita from Yellow, however. It was more convenient when they were in Navy Yard,  but I get myself to Georgetown to buy it now. (They're supposed to be opening a location this summer at Union Market.)

NB: Even though I greased the pan, there was still some sticking that took a bit of effort to clean off.

I never remember to use these links they've started providing behind the paywall, but here's one for the shawarma.

[Pat]

Last night was salmon ceviche with chips, toasted sourdough, corn casserole, and Matzo ball soup from Buffalo & Bergen.

The casserole was a Patti LaBelle recipe from LaBelle Cuisine.

Tonight is the last of the ceviche + chips and nachos topped with the last of the chicken shawarma; and kale and marrow beans.

 

[Pat]

Last night covered soup, salad, and bread in various ways. Soup was made to salvage a bunch of not-quite-forgotten-about asparagus languishing in the refrigerator. One of the very pencil thin pieces had to be tossed, but the rest was all usable in some form; a few tips had kind of disintegrated. I made a basic soup base with olive oil and mirepoix plus garlic, salt, and pepper; added some bouquet garni to bloom (old but still packing an impressive amount of flavor, though I used more than I would have if it were fresher); and, then a little flour. After that cooked a minute or so, I added a quart of chicken broth, a cup at a time. I cut a couple peeled small red potatoes in quarters and tossed them in to simmer. After a while, I added the asparagus stalks, cut in 1-inch or so pieces. (Originally I reserved the best of the tips for serving but ultimately added them to the soup near the end of the cooking time instead.) When the potatoes and asparagus were cooked through, I buzzed the whole thing with an immersion blender, stirred in some heavy cream, and then put it on a very low simmer. Cream of asparagus and potato soup was a success!

Salad was red leaf and frisee, bacon, cucumber, radishes, and tomato.

We also had the last few slices of a big cheese pizza from Slice Joint. I topped them with a little grated Parmesan and some red pepper flakes and heated quickly under the broiler along with some toasty things. Toasty things were an experiment that succeeded: Slices of baguette from Wine & Butter, spread with cream cheese; with a middle layer of smoked trout; topped with leftover corn casserole; and, sprinkled with grated Parmesan.

 

 

[dcandohio]

After traveling for a while, I was happy to make dinner for a Friend tonight.
 

I made a salad of Romaine, spinach, dried cherries, and goat cheese with a berry vinaigrette. The main event was butterflied chicken breast pounded, covered with a mixture of canned artichokes, breadcrumbs, lemon juice, olive oil, and seasonings, and rolled (roulade, if I’m being fancy). A quick roux of flour and butter,  with chicken stock, Dijon mustard, a little bit of heavy cream, Parmesan cheese, tarragon, salt, and pepper made a nice sauce. I also steamed some broccoli.

When the roulade came out of the oven, I sliced them and then covered them with some sauce. I think this was a very successful meal  

 

 

[Pat]

We had chili dogs and salad last night. Salad was basically the same as the previous night. The beef hotdogs came in a South Mountain Creamery order. Apparently they're making their own hotdogs now. They're pretty good. The hotdog buns were WF whole wheat. Those are decent and stay fresh a fairly long time.

I made a much larger and more complex batch of chili than necessary for the dogs, because I figured that way we have chili to eat on its own (and I have plenty of cooked Rancho Gordo marrow beans that I'll throw in for at least one meal.)  I combined a pound of organic ground pork from Whole Foods (the du Breton brand vacuum packs they carry) and 3/4 pound of ground sirloin from Union Meats. There wasn't a huge amount of excess fat when I got the meats mostly cooked, but I removed some. When the meat was largely broken up and browned I began adding onions and peppers.

I used half of 1 large yellow onion and  2 minced Fresno chilies and 1 jalapeno (removing most ribs and seeds but not all). Dried seasonings were regular 365 chili powder, Penzey's cumin, smoked paprika, and oregano, McCormick allspice, Morton's kosher salt, and freshly ground TJ black pepper. Wet ingredients: about half a 15 oz. can of Kirkland tomato sauce and a 14.5 oz. can of their diced tomatoes, a couple tablespoons of French's yellow mustard, and about half a 12 oz. can of DC Brau Pils. I was going to add a little beef broth but didn't want to open a quart box just to use a small amount. There was plenty of liquid to cook down as it was. Once it cooked down, it was delicious, spicy enough but not overpowering.

I ladled a heaping amount of chili over each of the heated split hotdogs in their buns and served with additional chopped onion and shredded cheddar (from a huge block of Kirkland orange cheddar) at the table.

[genericeric]

Dinner party Saturday night started with some basic canapes - salmon with whipped cream cheese and fresh dill, and seared, thinly sliced steak with a gorgonzola cream and balsamic glaze (prosecco).  Salad was the always fantastic spring snap peal salad with spinach pistachio pesto and creme fraiche from Apricot Lane Farms (Bott Geyl Points Cardinaux Métiss Alsace).  Entree was Ina Garten's Baked Rigatoni with Lamb Ragu and some roasted broccoli with pine nuts and parmesan (Chateau de Segries Secret de la Grange Lirac).  Dessert was another Ina - chocolate terrine over orange sauce, garnished with candied kumquats, which were a pain in the rear to make but turned out delicious and cut nicely through the richness of the terrine (Marfil Molt Dolç).  I had initially made a panna cotta with summer berry reduction from the NYT but the panna was boring and desperately needed a textural variance, so I pivoted to the terrine.

Extended family dinner yesterday was an oven-roasted pork shoulder with brown sugar glaze, my own version of Clyde's corn chesapeake (fresh corn, cherry tomato, onion, garlic, parsley, splash of rw vinegar), cucumbers and onions in vinegar, watermelon, some heavily doctored baked beans (which were the big hit of the meal) and homemade strawberry shortcake.

I'm both exhausted and severely in need of a light salad for lunch.

[Pat]

Made these Gingery Meatballs in Tomato Sauce last night. Easy and excellent. (They did take more than 30 minutes for me to make, though. More like 50.) I used turkey that was half dark and half white meat. We had them over couscous.

We had these with this cucumber and watermelon salad with feta dressing. Pretty good, but I made a half recipe of the main parts and didn't scale back the dressing amounts enough.

[Pat]

Last night I made a London Broil with a top round steak that was on sale at Whole Foods. I did it the James Beard way (though he calls for flank steak): rub both sides with kosher salt, black pepper, and sprinkle with some Tabasco. Preheat the broiler with the rack 2 inches below the heating element. Put the meat on a greased broiling pan and broil 3 - 4 minutes per side. Let rest. Slice thinly on the diagonal, against the grain. (I used a rack over a sheet pan.)

We had this with sourdough rye toast, roasted broccoli, and salad.

I roasted the broccoli and took it out to heat the broiler, and then put it back in to stay warm after I'd turned the oven off and the steak was resting. I'd had other plans for the broccoli, but it was a bit too aged, so I roasted large pieces of it with avocado oil, salt, pepper, date syrup (to cut through any bitterness from the aging), and nutritional yeast.

Salad was frisee, radishes, tomato, and feta.

[Pat]

Last night I assembled a bunch of things that needed to be used and made a chicken mushroom casserole with bowtie pasta. I stretched a white sauce with a bit of leftover tomato sauce in the refrigerator, and used the last of some Parmesan and Pecorino cheeses. Some of that Pecorino also went into a simple salad I made for myself with baby arugula and sherry vinegar. My husband finished the last of the watermelon salad.

[Katya4me]

Tuesday, I had some Chinese broccoli to use up, along with some chicken thighs and Korean rice cakes.  I made a quick marinade with Szechuan broad bean sauce, and gochuchang.  I let that sit while I cut the broccoli into 3rds and then put the chicken and lower stems in a skillet to sauté.  Once they started to soften, I added some chicken broth and the rice cakes to the pan, along with a handful of the leaves and covered it for another 5 min.  I made some more of the marinade and added it along with some more broth to the pan and made sure it coated the rice cakes.  Gave it a couple more stirs and dinner was ready.  Definitely enjoyed then and the leftovers on Wednesday.  

I wanted to grill last night, but didn't like the air quality, so stayed inside.  I had some tiny baby potatoes, so I gave them a quick boil while I preheated the oven to 400*F.  I cut up 3 chicken thighs and put them on a broiler pan, potatoes when on a separate broiler pan and they both went in the oven for 20 min.  I got out the last of the Chinese broccoli leaves and tossed them in a skillet with the last of the chicken broth to wilt.  In a bowl, I melted some butter and mixed it with white miso, agave, chili crisp, and basil paste.  Once the potatoes and chicken were cooked, I tossed them in a bowl, followed by the greens and stirred.  I've got about another lb. of those potatoes left, so I may be doing this again as it was really easy and very tasty.

[Pat]

We had the Apple Butter and Sage Pork Chops again last night. These are soooo good. More of a fall dish than a summer one, but spectacular nonetheless. To accompany were boiled new red potatoes with sour cream and dill and sauteed multicolored snap peas. The snap peas probably don't require a recipe, but somehow following an Ina recipe makes things better.

The apples and apple butter for the pork came from Quaker Valley Orchards at H Street market. They're also at Dupont, Foggy Bottom, and some other local markets. Their fruits are really great. I have gotten the most amazing peaches from them this year. The red potatoes were also from them, IIRC. Snap peas from Deep Roots Farm at H Street.

[Pat]

Last night was a steak Caprese salad (leftover sliced London broil over top) and another round of the Rose's Luxury strawberry pasta. I made a double batch this time, with linguine for the pasta. This was a little more summery than the previous night's menu.

[Pat]

I had bought a baguette at Wine & Butter for the pasta and salad meal on Saturday, and there was a fairly big piece of it left. Knowing it wouldn't keep long, especially in this hot, humid weather. I decided to make a quick French bread pizza with it, using the remainder of the Caprese salad (minus the couple slices of leftover beef). Since it was to be a quick and easy meal, I wasn't making sauce for this, so I braved the line at TJ's to pick up a jar of pizza sauce, having used up what was in the pantry. All of the stars seemed to be aligned.

Pizza sauce went on the bread, which had been sliced lengthwise and folded open. I layered on the tomatoes and mozzarella, interspersed with the basil and some pepperoni slices I found, and then I sprinkled grated Parmesan and hot pepper flakes over the top. It looked and smelled gorgeous when it came out of the oven. When I went to transfer it to a serving plate, it flopped over and reassembled itself into...a sandwich.

I wasn't going to fight its inherent nature, so I cut the sandwich in half and we had Caprese subs (or grinders, as I recall the term from my Philly area childhood).

Accompanying this was a crudites and dip platter. The Herbed Goat Cheese Dip was from the Post [gift link]. It was pretty easy to make. I only had 5 oz. of goat cheese but it still required the full amount of milk and a little more. OTOH, everything fit in my mini-prep that way. I was not precise about amounts on the herbs.

Good recipe, but the one thing this dip screamed out for--SCREAMED--was garlic. Roasted would be mellower, but since this is a quick recipe, I'd probably just throw some chopped cloves into the blender/processor with the cheese and milk. If I had extra roasted garlic on hand, however...

The crudites were celery sticks, baby carrots (the actual kind, not the processed carrot pieces), breakfast radishes, and cucumber spears. The carrots and radishes were from the H30 vendor outside at Eastern Market. His produce is excellent (and that's a subscript 3; can't remember how to make them).

Tying the entire meal together: Kirkland crinkle cut kettle potato chips with Himalayan pink salt. They were a side with the grinder and excellent for dipping as well.

[dcandohio]

Ribs on the grill (dry brined overnight, and then baked wrapped in foil in a 325° oven for an hour and 40 minutes and then chilled), basted with half homemade barbecue sauce, and half cheap stuff from the grocery store.

Potato chips with French onion dip, potato salad, coleslaw, watermelon.

It was a perfect pre-Fourth of July meal

 

[Pat]

Blueberry, watermelon, and feta salad
Roasted chicken thighs and potatoes
Green beans almondine

[Pat]

Last night: More of the goat cheese dip and veggies (it made a lot of dip, and I didn't even make a full recipe!); leftover apple butter sage pork chops with apples; and corn muffins with pork bits.

This started with 2 very large pork chops, and there was still a little bit of pork on the mostly eaten pork chop, along the bone, so I cut it off and diced it. I pressed the bits into the tops of the muffins before they went into the oven. So, pork two ways for dinner.

[Pat]

Made this beef, broccoli, and pineapple dish for dinner last night. The beef, pineapple (pre-cut), and chili sauce were on sale at WF, which worked out well, and I'd had crystallized ginger in my pantry waiting to be used for literal years. The broccoli was aging in the refrigerator (again, me with the broccoli I buy with the best intentions).

Like many of her recipes, it has a lot more steps than it seems to need. (The herb salad didn't really seem necessary, and I only made a fraction of it.) It was also poorly edited (e.g., a reference to an ingredient not in the recipe; I subbed 1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar for the missing pickled ginger juice.) I didn't break up the ground beef all the way, so it was more marble-sized chunks.

My husband liked the meal, but I just thought it was all right. I made rice pilaf (with noodles) instead of plain rice. I'd streamline this if I made it again.

[dcandohio]

Even though the weather is hot and steamy, there were things that needed to be used out of the refrigerator and the freezer, and the result was a big pot of chicken noodle and vegetable soup. Some I will freeze for myself, and some I will gift to the neighbors.

[Pat]

I had most of a jar of pizza sauce left after making the French bread pizza sandwich and also some premade TJ's dough, and I used them to make something I've never made before: Hawaiian pizza. It (or my version of it) came out pretty well.

I always answer those questions about opinions on Hawaiian pizza with some variation on, "Haven't tried it, seems weird, but it's probably decent." Now I've tried it, it was kind of weird, and it was better than decent. I used deli ham rolled up for the ham part and chunks of pineapple. I didn't have quite enough chunks for full coverage, and instead of cutting a ring into chunks, I put that in the center of the pie (which was free form round, done on a sheet pan). I added pepperoni around the edges.

I still had some sauce left and made an eggplant stack with the sauce, some pepperoni, and mozzarella on top. Also had a salad.

[Pat]

Last night I made a Smitten Kitchen recipe for zucchini spaghetti. It turned out very well. It was included in an email newsletter about her 10 favorite summer dinners.

We had it with sourdough toast and a mixed greens salad with tomato and avocado and an avocado oil, lemon, & white balsamic vinaigrette.

[dcandohio]

Tilapia, crusted with Dijon mustard and grated Parmesan, and broiled.

Yellow squash casserole with shrimp (sautéed squash, shallot, celery, garlic until the squash was soft. Threw in peeled shrimp. Once the shrimp cooked, I added seasoned bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and seasoning. Baked at 3:50, topped with more cheese.)

Cucumber salad.

[Katya4me]

Needed to clear out the fridge this week, so last night's dinner was a bit of a hodge-podge.  I had some garlic chives, matchstick carrots, cooked mushrooms, and a pack of fermented greens in the fridge.  I sauteed the carrots and chopped the chives and added them to the skillet.  Once they started to soften, added the last of some chicken broth and then the greens.  Once that was all mixed together, I added the mushrooms to warm them up.  I had this together with Trader Joe's squiggly noodles and it worked out pretty good.

[Pat]

We had broiled salmon last night, wild sockeye from Costco. I also made one of my favorite cauliflower dishes: Mustard-Parmesan Whole Roasted Cauliflower,  a recipe from Food Network. The cauliflower came from Deep Roots Farm, was huge, organic, and very expensive.  I didn't want to let it sit in the refrigerator too long. Speaking of which, I roasted some carrots alongside that I found in the fridge, from the farmers market quite some months ago. For a "green" vegetable,  we had purple string beans from Quaker Valley Orchards, with basil and toasted sliced almonds. They look just like very thin green beans when cooked.

This is my husband's plate, which looked a lot better than this photo. If I were a food blogger, I'd have deleted this one. (He pointed out it would have looked good on a solid color plate. It surely would have looked better on our pale green milk glass plates.)

[dcandohio]

It’s too hot to cook here, and I’m not feeling much like having a big meal. Last night I made shrimp remoulade on a salad for dinner. Lots of big flavors, but no cooking.

[Pat]

I bought a thick bone-in rib eye pork chop from Canales at Eastern Market and made a variation of the apple butter pork chop, this time with shiitake mushrooms instead of apples. It came out well.

Alongside we had sourdough bread from Christophe and wheat berries with leeks and poached eggs. I originally was going to make the leeks and wheat berries with the salmon to try to recreate a dish I used to love at Montmartre (RIP). I've made it before but can't find any notes on what I did, and it's been a long time since I had the actual dish. I looked around for wheat berry recipes with leeks for ideas and saw this one, which I used for guidance.

I abandoned the wheat berry/salmon combo when the salmon, beans, and cauliflower all really needed to be used ASAP the other night and so made the wheat berries, leeks, and eggs to go with the pork chop and mushrooms instead. Since there was pork in the meal too, it probably didn't also need the eggs, but I poached them perfectly 😎.  (I didn't take one of my glorious photos, however.)

That wheat berry dish would be excellent at brunch with a crisp green salad. I will definitely be making it again.

[Pat]

4 hours ago, dcandohio said:

It’s too hot to cook here, and I’m not feeling much like having a big meal. Last night I made shrimp remoulade on a salad for dinner. Lots of big flavors, but no cooking.

Maybe we should compile a list of what to make when it's too hot to cook. A fruit and cheese or charcuterie plate works great for that, but sometimes I want something more like a meal, so that shrimp remoulade over salad sounds like a great idea. I've been buying shrimp already cooked most of the time I have it lately. My husband isn't that fond of shrimp, so it's extra work to cook, devein, etc., just to make something for me.

[dcandohio]

I buy frozen deveined shrimp, and they defrost really quickly.

So when it’s too hot to cook there are some things that require no cooking at all, like ceviche, gazpacho, guacamole, poke bowls (especially good if you have leftover rice), overnight oatmeal.

And then there’s the things that can be done quickly on top of the stove, like lentils for lentil salad, pasta for pasta salads and cold noodle dishes.

I make scrambled eggs in a Pyrex cup in the microwave. 

[MsDiPesto]

I found a few recipes for chicken with sun-dried tomato and mushroom cream sauce, so I made that last night. As with most recipes, I always make the full compliment of sauce, even if I'm just cooking one chicken breast for myself. On the side was Carolina rice and green beans sautéed with sliced almonds and shallots. 

[Katya4me]

Gochiso-Dofu (Decorated Tofu) is something we tried for the first time last summer and it's on the agenda for this week.  Cold silken soft tofu, with herbs, soy sauce & sesame oil, over white rice.  Very simple and surprisingly delicious.

I also like to do daikon or carrot noodles and do sesame noodles or a cold noodle salad with them.

[dcandohio]

On 7/12/2023 at 8:22 AM, Pat said:

Last night I made a Smitten Kitchen recipe for zucchini spaghetti. It turned out very well. It was included in an email newsletter about her 10 favorite summer dinners.

We had it with sourdough toast and a mixed greens salad with tomato and avocado and an avocado oil, lemon, & white balsamic vinaigrette.

I made this zucchini spaghetti yesterday, and I loved it. It’s a super easy summer dish, and I can see adding this into the regular rotation. I had it with a cucumber and tomato salad tossed with the last of the leftover remoulade dressing. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

[dcandohio]

Vindaloo paste mixed with plain yogurt made a nice coating for broiled tilapia. I baked it for a few minutes before putting it under the broiler, and the coating got nice and brown. But the fish was still flaky and moist. Served with steamed broccoli/cauliflower, and roasted potatoes.

[dcandohio]

Last night’s dinner began with Roasted vegetable gazpacho. I roasted tomatoes, onions, and garlic, and used roasted red pepper from a jar. Served with cheddar cheese shortbread I had made earlier in the week. Then we had Sausage, pepper, onion sandwiches on crusty rolls. We ended with a cherry Clafoutis. It was a weird mix of food items, but everything was tasty.

 

[Katya4me]

Playing a bit of catch-up here.  Last night was this green curry rice cakes dish that turned out very well.  I used a can of Thai green curry paste and it had enough kick that we both had clear sinuses when we were finished.  

Wednesday night, we had been out SUPing and didn't feel like cooking much, so we did spicy watermelon sushi and grilled shishito peppers.  We had leftover sushi rice and seaweed from the previous night's lion's mane mushroom sushi.  I didn't have dulse powder and not vegan, so substituted a bit of hondashi powder instead and I think it turned out fairly tasty.  We added cucumber sticks to both of the sushi for some nice crunch. 

Sunday was too hot to cook, so made this watermelon and halloumi tabbouleh that I've done before.  I was feeling a bit lazy and used a seasoned box kit of couscous and I should have made the recipe's sauce or added more salt and pepper, etc.  It still tasted good though.  

Friday night, I made this melon and mozz ball salad to go with fish.  I took 2 frozen branzino fillets that I got from TJ's, coated them with a season spicy mayo mixture, topped them with panko bread crumbs and baked them for about 20 min. before broiling for 2 min. to crisp the bread crumbs.  I was really happy with how that turned out. 

[dcandohio]

Inspired by what was in my freezer, I used stock, some pieces of leftover sausage, and a leftover smoked pork chop as a basis for chicken gumbo. I will freeze some of it for enjoying when the weather is a bit cooler. 

[dcandohio]

Chicken cacciatore over spaghetti. Once again, and attempt to use up things that are in the refrigerator and freezer. We’ve had a quiet hurricane season so far, but I don’t like to have a full freezer if there’s a risk of the power going out.

[saf]

Cooked a nice meal tonight - easy. Chicken and chick peas. I also have some nice ice cream for later (some chocolate blackberry, some peach, and some blueberry cheesecake. Hard choices!) And I made some shortbread, adding some interesting extract. I hope it will be good.

(And where have I been? Not eating much. I have been eyeball deep in medical stuff. Usually, my stress response is to overeat. Not this time. This time, food is uninteresting. But all is figured out now.  So maybe food will be interesting again!)

[dcandohio]

Having friends in town means a dinner party. Cocktails were in the condo down the hall, so I was only responsible for dinner. I had a gift of a pound of crawfish tails in the freezer, so I made crawfish étouffée. For a salad, I chilled grilled asparagus and served it with romesco sauce, diced tomatoes, and slivered almonds.
Desert was provided by a friend, and was a very nice cheesecake.

[Katya4me]

The other night we had marinated stuffed mushrooms as a starter, and had fiery dragon noodles as the main dish.   I had a 10 oz package of noodles and a lb of rotisserie chicken, so I scaled the recipe up a bit and it turned out very well. I do still have 1/2 a head of cabbage in the fridge that I need to use up. 

[saf]

Pulled pork from the crock pot tonight, with dinosaur sauce. And of course, salad.

Ice cream and cookies later!

[dcandohio]

Broiled steelhead trout topped with lemon, dill and Trader Joe’s Everything bagel seasoning. Roasted mixed vegetables from whatever was in the refrigerator. A decent Simi valley chardonnay.