Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Pat]

I had bought skinless boneless chicken breasts when they were on sale. I always think I will find something to do with them, but I hate the process of pounding them down, which many recipes call for. So I buy them with the highest hopes, and then it's their expiration date and 🤷‍♀️.

When I got these, I had imagined a chicken florentine type dish but then yesterday didn't have the energy to go through a whole process. So, I more or less followed this Bittman recipe [NYT gift link] (which is basically a template), since it didn't call for pounding or butterflying the chicken.

I didn't have a pound of spinach, so I used the 5 oz. [?] clamshell of baby spinach I had and half a bag of baby arugula. This was still well less than a pound, but it was adequate. I also frizzled some prosciutto in the pan when the chicken was about done browning, having bought a small pack of it [on sale because all of the salamis were on sale at WF, and why this counted as salami, I dunno...] because one chicken florentine recipe I'd been looking at called for it.

I subbed dry vermouth for the wine and mixed sour cream and ricotta for the creamy element. The chicken turned out delicious and really moist.

We had this with sourdough bread from Christophe and a big salad.

[Katya4me]

I had some leftover heavy cream in the fridge as well as some ground chicken and a quarter head of cabbage.  I made meatballs in a Cajun cream sauce and shredded the cabbage.  I sauteed the cabbage while the meatballs baked in the oven and then did the sauce.  I also did a quick batch of couscous to have as a carb.  Definitely delicious and great as leftovers too. 

[Pat]

I made a serendipitous discovery earlier this summer that blackberries pair well with salmon. (This is probably well known, but I stumbled upon it so I claim the discovery. 🙃). Last night I made air fryer salmon portions (salt, pepper, and a little fig balsamic dressing), plated them on a handful of Earthbound spring mix, and topped them with blackberries.

We also had a composed fruit salad with cantaloupe chunks, blackberries, and ricotta with lemon zest; corn on the cob; and, the last of some leftover maple mashed sweet potatoes. A very pretty meal (but I neglected to take any of my legendary photos...)

[dcandohio]

A jar of tandoori sauce from Aldi formed the basis of a curry with light coconut milk, chicken stock, broccoli, green beans, onions, garlic, ginger, vindaloo paste, hot curry powder, and a steelhead trout fillet.

There’s enough of the sauce and vegetables left over to add some shrimp today and have shrimp curry.

[genericeric]

Was cooking for a potato and wine situation on Sunday night for some friends.  Some dishes were less successful, but Anthony Bourdain's vichyssoise from Les Halles was absolutely delicious and not terribly difficult to make.  I did use the recommended additional broth to thin it a bit, but was a great indulgence on a warm day.  Paired well with the 2020 Michael Shaps L'Accord (65% Chard, 35% Aligote)

Speaking of indulgences... I decided to combine a fondant potato and a Croque Madame, which turned out surprisingly well.  Made a Mornay Sauce with Gruyere and spooned some onto the plate, then topped with a small round of french ham.  On top of the ham went the potato fondant, and an over-easy quail egg.  I was a little hesitant about the Cote Du Rhone Villages pairing but it worked nicely.

[Pat]

This recipe for Thai-influenced chicken meatballs turned out pretty well last night. Served with white rice. I didn't follow exact amounts and it was fine. Not feeling terribly inspired these days. Aiming for a turkey meatloaf tonight, which is really what you want to do when it's almost 100F outside...

[dcandohio]

Last night’s neighbor get together: spinach salad with pears, almonds, and homemade blue cheese dressing; pot, roast with gravy, mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli; pumpkin spiced Madelines purchased from the grocery store.

It was a really basic, Midwest sort of meal that was highly enjoyable.

[Pat]

Sunday night I made a hearty fall kind of comfort meal: pork loin roast* (air fryer), green beans, roasted garlic - Parmesan mashed potatoes, and (purchased) sauerkraut. Haven't made a meal like that in a while. The pork came out especially moist. It was really good.

All I seasoned the pork with was some Schwartz's poultry seasoning my husband brought back from Montreal some time ago. He bought that and their steak seasoning. I'm almost out and wondering if I should re-order online, since both of the seasonings have been quite good, in my experience. Poultry seasoning, generally, makes a good crossover to pork.

Last night was roasted wild Coho salmon* with a cognac cream sauce that was originally supposed to be Calvados, but I combined plain VSOP cognac and pear cognac. I roasted it on a sheet pan with halved cherry tomatoes and previously lightly cooked green beans and broccoli florets. Just avocado oil, salt, and pepper for seasonings. It came out really well. Served with Atwater's scalded rye bread.

I had the sauce left over from making salmon not that long before, according to a recipe that called for pan-frying the fish and serving over a frisee salad. The recipe I followed said it would make extra sauce, but I'm kind of running out of things to use it on.

 

*On sale at Whole Foods. With the prices of meat being so high (or seeming to be), I frequently decide what to make based on their prime specials.

 

 

[Katya4me]

I picked up a butternut squash the last time I went shopping but without a plan for it. Looking around for a recipe, I decided to make a baked casserole with it. Outside of prepping the squash, it comes together very easily as the remaining work is done while the squash bakes in the oven. Very good flavors and nice one dish meal.

[Pat]

I made this squash beer cheese soup last night. It was pretty good. The rest of the meal was InstantPot turkey thighs with vegetables, herbs, and fresh and dried cranberries. The fresh cranberries were purchased at the end of last season and had been sitting in a clamshell in the refrigerator. Since they looked okay when I periodically eyed them. I never threw them out. I figured they probably weren't actually okay, especially over time, but many of them were, surprisingly, salvageable when I finally dug them out. The vegetables were onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. The herbs: rosemary and thyme. We served the turkey over jasmine rice.

[Katya4me]

1 hour ago, Pat said:

I made this squash beer cheese soup last night. It was pretty good. The rest of the meal was InstantPot turkey thighs with vegetables, herbs, and fresh and dried cranberries. The fresh cranberries were purchased at the end of last season and had been sitting in a clamshell in the refrigerator. Since they looked okay when I periodically eyed them. I never threw them out. I figured they probably weren't actually okay, especially over time, but many them were, surprisingly, salvageable when I finally dug them out. The vegetables were onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. The herbs: rosemary and thyme. We served the turkey over jasmine rice.

Ooh, that does look good.  It's not quite cold enough for that yet, but I might file it away for a month or so.

I had grilling on the mind yesterday, but the weather was not cooperative.  So I got out the cast iron skillets and cooked up shishito peppers.  I'd marinated some chicken thighs to do chicken satay.  Did those on the stove and served with peanut sauce and brown jasmine rice.  Except that I had almond butter in the fridge so I used that instead of peanut butter.  Worked out well for a rainy evening. 

[Katya4me]

Yesterday was tofu day.  Had the leftover rice and baby bok choy in the fridge so decided to make this spicy maple tofu. Swapped the bok choy for the broccolini and it turned out delicious. 

[Pat]

I cooked a few short ribs I bought on sale at Whole Foods in the InstantPot last night and used the shredded meat to make some pita filling. I added some of the cherry tomatoes that were part of the cooking ensemble and some chopped parsley to the warmed pita halves, plus a dollop of Little Sesame caramelized onion hummus on top. Pitas were from Yellow. I saved the rest of the liquid to make some kind of beef vegetable soup.

This accompanied premade items I put on a platter: WF lemon pepper shrimp over Foxtrot Spicy Lime Red Quinoa Salad. I also scooped some of the shrimp quinoa mixture into halved avocados that had been sprinkled with salt, pepper, and lime juice and put them alongside on the platter. This concept worked really well and was super fast.

[Katya4me]

Tonight's dinner was a fesenjan made with jackfruit. I did buy pomegranate molasses and that made it come together very easily.  However I spaced and forgot to buy walnuts, so I used almonds instead and had it over farro.  Nice mix of flavors and outside my normal lane of cooking.

[Pat]

Tonight I made this with some chicken cutlets I bought on sale at WF. Served alongside basmati rice and braised kale with hot pepper sauce. The appetizer was the cream cheese with pepper jelly over top and Triscuits.

[Katya4me]

Apparently tonight was the night to make WaPo recipes. I made lemon chicken with potatoes for dinner.  Super easy and my potatoes were starting to grow eyes so I put in 24 oz instead of the 16 oz it called for. The lemon flavor was a bit more intense than I prefer, so I'd probably do 1/2 a lemon next time. 

[zgast]

6 hours ago, Katya4me said:

Apparently tonight was the night to make WaPo recipes. I made lemon chicken with potatoes for dinner.  Super easy and my potatoes were starting to grow eyes so I put in 24 oz instead of the 16 oz it called for. The lemon flavor was a bit more intense than I prefer, so I'd probably do 1/2 a lemon next time. 

I saw that one.  The suggestion that threw me off was including the pith, which I've always found to leave an awful taste.  Was that aspect ok?

[genericeric]

I cook from Jenn Segal all the time and for some reason had never made her Beef Stew with Carrots and Potatoes until last night, which is the top ranked recipe on her site.  It was a really good beef stew.  I think there are probably limits for how good a dish like beef stew can be, but if in the market for a recipe, this was a good one.

[Katya4me]

On 10/2/2023 at 3:59 AM, zgast said:

I saw that one.  The suggestion that threw me off was including the pith, which I've always found to leave an awful taste.  Was that aspect ok?

I'd say it added some bitterness, but that didn't bother me nearly so much as the 2 Tbs of lemon juice and a large lemon for 4 chicken thighs. 

[genericeric]

Last night was a turkey burger recipe from NYT.  Simple and straightforward, but was the first time I've had a turkey burger that didn't have that turkey tang to it - these were delicious.

Since its behind a paywall, its just a pound of ground turkey, 2 tbsp ketchup, 2 tbsp grated onion, 1 tbsp worcestershire, salt and pepper.  

[KeithA]

Last night was left over grilled steak (when I bought and cooked way too much for an earlier dinner party) which I reheated in a low 250 degree oven for 20+ minutes and then seared in pan on the stove for about a 1 min or so a side. Great tip for reheating from Food Network. I then sliced the steak, warmed tortillas and turned into make your fajita night. Sauteed some bell peppers and onions, made some rice, a few jarred salsas from the store (red and green), plus some chopped jalapenos and cilantro. Plus tortilla chips for more dipping.  Everyone was very happy - including our guests. This was a big point because despite it being a quick, causal weeknight meal with good friends and their kids, but my wife really hated the idea of serving leftovers to guests. My thought is they don't know they were leftovers and if I can make it all into a delicious meal, no one would care. I'm taking the win.

[Pat]

Leftovers rock. The flavor builds up in them.

I'm using leftover beef and lamb stock to make a beef stew tonight. The last of the quinoa salad and some bread to go alongside.

[Katya4me]

2 hours ago, KeithA said:

Last night was left over grilled steak (when I bought and cooked way too much for an earlier dinner party) which I reheated in a low 250 degree oven for 20+ minutes and then seared in pan on the stove for about a 1 min or so a side. Great tip for reheating from Food Network. I then sliced the steak, warmed tortillas and turned into make your fajita night. Sauteed some bell peppers and onions, made some rice, a few jarred salsas from the store (red and green), plus some chopped jalapenos and cilantro. Plus tortilla chips for more dipping.  Everyone was very happy - including our guests. This was a big point because despite it being a quick, causal weeknight meal with good friends and their kids, but my wife really hated the idea of serving leftovers to guests. My thought is they don't know they were leftovers and if I can make it all into a delicious meal, no one would care. I'm taking the win.

Definitely a win. Fajita night is always a win at our house.  In the winter, turning leftovers and cheese into nachos is up there too. We always keep a couple of cans of refried beans in the pantry to make easy meals like those.

[genericeric]

Fresh flounder was on sale at Whole Foods -  2:1 ratio of parmesan to bread crumb, a little lemon zest and garlic.  Salad with honey citrus vinaigrette.  Not a bite left and took <15 minutes.

[Pat]

Last night was roasted delicata squash halves stuffed with a mixture of garlicky greens*, basmati rice, and shredded Parmesan. I roasted the squash with a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper. When they were about done, I pulled them out and added the cooked chopped greens and rice. Topped with the Parmesan and put back in the hot oven until it was all finished.

We also had pita from Yellow.

 

*Curly kale, plus dandelion and radish greens

[Katya4me]

I picked up some more nopales and made this tonight: https://grillinfools.com/grilled-nopales-tacos/ By the time I got home it was too dark to grill so I did them in a cast iron skillet.  Really tasty and so easy.  Dessert was fish waffle ice cream sandwiches in the brown sugar boba flavor: https://www.melonaicecream.com/other-products?type=samanco

[Pat]

I roasted a whole Bell and Evans chicken last night in the oven, using the convection roast setting. I roasted a couple whole sweet potatoes at the same time. (I poured a little maple syrup on mine because I love maple syrup on sweet potatoes.)

The chicken roasted on a bed of sliced onion and a mixture of quartered bell and poblano peppers. Some of the peppers were more to the side. I took the pepper and onion trimmings and mixed with some cubed stale striata baguette (improper storage = hard bread. Gah.). That mixture went into the cavity for an impromptu stuffing. Otherwise...melted butter over the chicken, plus lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I cut up several of the season's last tomatoes from the farmers market and threw them into the mixture closer to the end. It all melted together nicely.

The roasting pan was left to me by a friend who passed away 7 years ago. It's a well-loved and-used Descoware Belgian pan. It is perfect for a roasting a whole chicken with veggies around. I think of her every time I use it. ❤️

The Descoware, after cleaning:

 

[dcandohio]

A friend came over for dinner last night, and I was thrilled to produce the entire meal out of my freezer and pantry without having to go to the store.

I used canned artichokes to make artichoke balls as an appetizer. Shrimp from the freezer were tossed with remoulade sauce and served on a salad. And the chicken gumbo came straight out the freezer and just needed to be heated up and served over rice.
I love having leftovers/ingredients  in the freezer for these impromptu meals.

[Pat]

Last night was a skillet meal of roasted butternut squash, hot Italian sausage, basil, cream, and butternut squash ravioli. Parmesan on top. Sourdough bread.

[Pat]

Roasted wild salmon with blackberry sauce, roasted broccolini with nutritional yeast, and buttered green beans last night.

[Katya4me]

After making empanadas for lunch the other day, I still had some butternut squash remaining. I also had some leftover rice in the fridge so I made butternut squash red curry and it was just what I wanted. Came together well and perfect for a cool windy day.

[Pat]

Turkey meatballs, vodka sauce, and basil over eggplant ravioli
Polenta stacks, mozzarella, basil, and vodka sauce

Not as fancy (or homemade) as it sounds. I made the turkey meatballs myself, but that was about it. The pasta sauce and polenta were from TJ's (and the polenta was leftover from slices I previously cooked). The ravioli came frozen in a box from Whole Foods. The mozzarella was pre-sliced from Costco (that was the only kind of low moisture mozzarella they had when my husband went). Basil came from a vendor at Eastern Market.

 

[Pat]

I wasn't feeling very motivated or energetic tonight. I baked some bacon in the oven and roasted some kale in the bacon fat, along with cherry tomatoes. They were seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes. When everything was pretty well cooked down, I drizzled a little balsamic over it for the remaining time. When we were about ready to eat, I tossed some cubed feta in with the rest and returned to the oven briefly until the feta got melty. This all got mixed together with wheatberries I'd cooked in chicken stock, some of the bacon (crumbled), and pine nuts I'd toasted in a small pan in the oven.

This was pretty good. We had it with some sourdough bread.

[Pat]

Breakfast for Sunday night dinner: pumpernickel raisin French Toast with butter and maple syrup; bacon; and fried potatoes, peppers, and mushrooms.

[Pat]

Baked chicken leg quarters with BBQ sauce, baked sweet potatoes, buttered green beans, rice pilaf

[saf]

Salad - and lumpia from H Mart out of the freezer for dinner tonight.

The best meal so far this week was Sunday night though. The boy grilled a rack of baby back ribs. Rubbed with mustard and spice mix and basted at the end with Dinosaur BBQ sauce. Also, salad, and grilled carrots. And grilled squash for him.

(Where did you go this time Sarah? Back into the hole of medical crap. Apparently, things were not as settled as I thought last time I tried to resurface into real life! But I think.... this time I am approaching normal?)

[Katya4me]

Last night's meal was a bit eclectic. I had a bag of baby bok choy in the fridge that I needed to use, so put them in the counter. Didn't feel like cooking Asian though so stood in the pantry for a while and then came out with this Hungarian pepper paste a friend sent us for Christmas a year or two ago. I also snagged a box of pipette rigate pasta and set a pot of water to boil. I cut the bok choy in bite size pieces, then cubed up a single chicken breast. Sauteed that in some oil with S&P, then added the bok choy while the noodles boiled. Then turned to the paste. It definitely had a kick and the heavy cream and sour cream in the fridge had other claims on them.  I saw the tahini and grabbed that, along with a tube of Italian herbs paste and the box of chicken broth.  Mixed those together and called it good. Once the noodles were done, I added them to the bok choy and chicken and poured the sauce over and stirred. Perfect!!! 

[genericeric]

After having a fantastic dish of grilled swordfish topped with bacon jam over a broth with white beans and greens (Bookbinders in RVA) over the weekend, I tried making myself last night with promising results, though it still needs tweaking.  Onion, garlic, celery, thyme soften for a few minutes, wilted some greens, then boiled in chicken broth for 15 minutes.  Squeezed in some lemon juice and parmesan, topped with crispy pancetta.  After I dished up for my non-spice loving companion, added a few healthy glugs of tabasco.  Served with parmesan toasts.

Overall it was a solid B effort, but I made the classic mistake of tasting for seasoning before I topped with pancetta and without the toast, which boosted the salt level more than I would normally like.  Next time I'll know...

Note: Could easily be vegetarian without the pancetta and using veg broth.

[dcandohio]

I had some shredded chicken and spinach that needed to be used. I made a “from the refrigerator and pantry” pot of what I called Tuscan chicken soup: onions, garlic, celery, tomatoes, chicken stock, carrots, spinach, kidney beans, chicken. Seasoned with the traditional medley of Italian spices. Added a bit of sugar and a healthy glug of red wine.
Served with a drizzle of olive oil, and Parmesan cheese.

[Pat]

I made an improvised chicken soup last night too, with homemade chicken stock, leftover rice pilaf, fresh thyme, and roasted fresh yellow tomatoes. (I bought them as green tomatoes a while ago and hadn't used them so they were yellow by last night!) Some greens would have been good in it. I had originally thought of making a greens and beans thing with the stock, changed my mind, and then decided soup would be good at the very last minute 🙃.

We had this with a whole roasted cauliflower slathered with Stonewall Kitchens Roasted Garlic Onion Jam. The other item on the menu was mini squash and mushroom stacks. I roasted delicata squash rounds and large white mushroom caps separately (with evoo and fresh thyme in the caps). Near the time they were done I stuffed the caps with a little bit of rice pilaf and Parmesan and stuffed them into the squash rounds to finish. I had enough pieces of slightly different sizes that everything fit somewhere.

It was a kind of haphazard meal that all worked out.

[Pat]

We had leftover sausage-stuffed ravioli in marinara with ricotta last night; sauteed sliced white mushrooms (butter, fresh thyme, red wine, minced onions, garlic powder); a big salad; and, rosemary bread from Atwater's.

[Pat]

I added some more lettuce to leftover salad and we had that last night with a surprisingly good improvised savory pie. I had impulse purchased a box of Pillsbury pie crusts on sale weeks ago so I got out a deep-ish dish glass pie plate and a bunch of stuff and put together a pie. I spread some Dijon mustard on the bottom crust and layered deli baked Virginia ham over top and then deli American cheese. I added a veggie* layer topped with some Roasted Garlic Onion Jam, another layer of ham, and then the rest of the veggies. I topped with the second crust and baked in a hot oven until it was nicely browned. I had some foil over the top for a while to keep it from browning too much and then removed the foil and brushed with a little cream when it was getting close to done.

*I chopped up the remaining roasted cauliflower, squash rounds, and rice stuffed mushrooms and cooked them down with the last tiny bit of the chicken stock and rice pilaf.

[Pat]

I had bought a bunch of gorgeous greens (not all of which were green) from Deep Roots Farm at the H Street market yesterday and left them out with the stems in water. They started to wilt rather quickly. I boiled the heartier of the greens (some of which may have been mustard -- there was a mustard tang as I was sampling the raw ones) along with dino kale I had and some garlic. After the greens cooked down, I seasoned with a little black pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar, and let them simmer until the rest of dinner was done.

The rest of dinner was seared ahi tuna, two gorgeous wild tuna steaks via Costco. I sort of followed this recipe, using a cast iron pan and avocado oil. Don't know about the 6 minutes in the title. While it wasn't a long process (I marinated about 25 minutes), it wasn't just six. I used a little TJ's spicy honey for the marinade in addition to regular honey and omitted the cayenne.

The tuna came out great and was served plated over the greens. We also had sourdough bread from Boulangerie Christophe. That same loaf of bread has gone up quite a bit in price over the past couple of years, but it is so good I splurge when I'm nearby the store.

[Pat]

I turned some of the leftover tuna into tuna salad, made with (purchased) sriracha mayo, a dollop of Greek yogurt, chopped celery and sliced scallions. It was plated over baby wild arugula from TJ's. We also had leftover Costco rotisserie chicken, wheatberries cooked with sun-dried tomatoes and onions, and more of the sourdough bread.

[Pat]

Last night was more of the tuna salad on arugula, sourdough bread, and a frittata. The frittata came out quite well.

I didn't know what to make to go with the salad, so I decided on a frittata and just started grabbing things. The add-ins were Jasper Hill Farm Whitney cheese, pepperoni, leftover takeout french fries, scallions, and basil.

[Pat]

Last night we had the very last of the tuna, coated with sesame seeds, reheated in a skillet and served over Chinese noodles with scallions and peanut sauce. In addition we had a plate of hard-boiled eggs, sliced avocado, and vegetable futomaki from Yes!

[Pat]

Thinking of a bread recipe I'd seen, I bought 4 fuyu persimmons at the farmers market yesterday. Later in the day, I realized a couple of them were really ripe and soft, so decided I wanted to make something savory with them for dinner instead. I had chicken breasts, greens, and butternut squash to use as well. I roughly followed this recipe for Harissa and Persimmon Chicken, using Cava harissa and no olive oil in the marinade. The chicken was plated over boiled garlicky mustard greens and spinach with a little of the pan drippings.

I also made a pasta course with TJ's butternut squash ravioli topped with cubes of roasted za 'atar - spiced butternut squash and some grated Parmesan.

This was a lot of food, but I'm planning to ride various leftovers right up to Thanksgiving.

 

[dcandohio]

Chicken breast marinated Greek style and pan seared. I marinated the chicken breast and olive oil, lemon, crushed garlic, oregano, dill. Then, after they were cooked, I moved them to a plate and quickly sautéed parboiled potatoes and spinach in the good stuff leftover in the skillet. 
I plated the chicken over the spinach with the potatoes on the side. Nearly as delicious as the crazy busy Greek restaurant right down the street from me.

[MsDiPesto]

2.5 lb. boneless Leg of Lamb, marinated in the Julia Child style, tied, and cooked Sous Vide at 133 F for 3 hours, seared in cast iron, served with charred brussels and spatzle. 

[Pat]

Yesterday I made the apple butter and sage pork chops recipe again, after finding it a good cold weather recipe last year. Served with roasted green beans and romanesco. We also had a salad of baby greens, dried cranberries, cucumber, and avocado.