Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Pat]

I fiddled around with the recipe(s) I've been making using D'Artagnan sirloin tips. Last night I made a vegetable heavy beef stew (mirepoix, garlic, thyme, yellow and orange carrot coins, Yukon gold potatoes, shiitake and button mushrooms, and green beans). We also had striata baguette from Radici and more baby greens salad.

[dcandohio]

One of my dear friends came for Sunday dinner. It was a good excuse to make a big meal. We started with deviled eggs, then a butter lettuce salad with a raspberry vinaigrette, dried cherries, Gorgonzola, and toasted almonds.

The entree was a pork tenderloin, marinated in mustard, soy, maple syrup, garlic, and Siracha. I served that with cabbage sautéed with a lot of onions, then mixed with some breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, and baked until soft. 
Dessert was chocolate hazelnut beignets from Wild Fork. Their frozen desserts, which are defrosted right before eating, are super delicious.

 

[genericeric]

Delayed post with the holiday activity ramping up... Hosted a Friendsgiving for Foodies two weeks ago.  Started by stuffing some small sweet peppers with a mix of stovetop stuffing, minced jalapeno, and cheese, then topped with more cheese and broiled.  Surprisingly good.  Then did mashed potato croquettes with a molten gravy center and cranberry dipping sauce.  It's Friendsgiving, calories counts were abandoned...

Main course was a turkey ballotine from Food and Wine.  De-boning a turkey is no joke, and I don't believe it can be done by reading text instructions.  This youtube video did a decent job of walking through the process, which took me over an hour, and left me with a bird that looked like it had been mauled by a pit bull, but WAS deboned and still intact.  The stuffing itself was so-so, next time I would add some acid or perhaps dried fruit, but after drying the skin overnight and roasting, this had some serious crackle.  It was impressive and unique, and I'll never do it again!

Also sous vide a whole beef tenderloin - 138 deg for about 2 hours until my Meater said it was at temp, then seared off in a pan with a port wine reduction sauce.  Served with hasselback creamed potatoes and a brussels sprout salad.  Poured a 1993 savennieres, a delightful chenin that I forgot to write down before the bottle was tossed, and a Sta Rita Hills Pinot.

Dessert was my first attempt to cook out of the Eleven Madison Park cookbooks, which I've owned for years and was too intimidated by to cook from.  I made the Chocolate Palette with Peanut Butter and Popcorn Ice Cream.  This dessert took me most of two solid days to cook.  The palette was layered with peanut butter shortbread, a chocolate peanut butter mousse with sweet crispy french crepes (like the crispy kitkat filling but... better), a salted caramel layer, and some peanut butter chocolate situation, then draped with liquid chocolate that hardened when cooled.  Served with a homemade peanut caramel corn, popcorn ice cream (which I will make again, daaaaamn), a cocoa nib syrub, caramel corn powder, topped with a chocolate curl, and gold leaf.  There were about 10 times I was ready to walk away from this dessert, but it was fantastic.  Served with a Schloss Johannisberg Trockenbeerenauslese.

Then I ate salad for three days straight.

[Pat]

I wish there were a Wow! emoticon for this one. It sounds so amazing. The dessert! As awesome as everything sounds, those peppers, which were probably the easiest part, just sound great.

[Pat]

I've made a couple tried and true recipes again lately, one new one, and am continuing to tinker with my turkey meatball technique. I've done a lot of variations on the meatballs, all kind of improvised, and I should really write those down. I find that using harissa in the mixture (I prefer Cava's) adds a nice amount of moisture as well as some bright, blandness-counteracting flavor.

The last batch of meatballs I made went into pita (from Yellow) to make sandwiches, with sheep's yogurt and sauteed red onion, garlic, and poblano pepper.

The new to me recipe was from David Tanis at the NYT: Baked Romanesco Broccoli With Mozzarella and Olives.  Gift link.

I had to change some things around because I only had one romanesco. I also had to make substitutions. I thought I had fresh mozzarella but I didn't, so I used low-moisture part skim. Ditto for the black oil-cured olives. Instead I used pitted castelvetrano olives I had on hand from the Whole Foods Mediterranean bar. They looked wonderful with the colors of the casserole. I would use them again. This came out really well and was beautiful.

One of the recipes I made again after not making it for quite a while is from Joy Wilson aka Joy the Baker, for a chicken and pasta dish. I've posted the link here before. For the pasta I use pipe rigate, which I can find at Whole Foods. I used shiitakes this time for the dried mushrooms, because I had them. I always forget how long it takes to make this and dinner is invariably late. We love this dish, though, and it's great for generating leftovers.

Finally, a pork tenderloin recipe. This one is so old, it's not formatted on the Post site, so I've pasted it in below. (When they were looking for recipes people liked to include in the official cookbook, back in the Bonnie Benwick era, I submitted this one, but it didn't make the cut. Perhaps that's because it was straight from the source and not an adaptation, it occurs to me now.)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/food/1996/07/24/on-the-fridge/a853cf23-34b0-4a9b-b0e2-bb639f80667f/

JIM'S GARLIC-SHALLOT MARINATED PORK TENDERLOIN
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) sour-mash bourbon or dark rum
1 teaspoon salt
4 to 5 cloves garlic, smashed or chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon grated gingerroot
1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin
In a small bowl, mix together the soy sauce, sugar, bourbon, salt, garlic, shallots and ginger. Place the marinade and the pork tenderloin in a zip-seal plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. When ready to cook, remove the meat from the marinade and drain for 20 to 30 minutes. Discard the marinade. Cook on a preheated grill or under a preheated broiler element, turning occasionally, about 25 minutes or until the meat is done. Makes 4 servings.
Per serving: 227 calories, 37 grams protein, 6 grams fat, 1 gram carbohydrates, 89 milligrams cholesterol, 284 milligrams sodium, 23 percent calories from fat.

NOTE: As is the custom, the same recipe or recipes are used to promote a cookbook in every venue that publishes a review or sampling of the book, so I've seen copies of this from all over from the same period. I have a note on one of my print copies from another newspaper a reminder not to leave the pork in the marinade too long because the bourbon flavor will be way too strong in the final product. Since that instance, I typically put the pork in the marinade first thing in the morning, rather than having it go closer to 24 hours.

 

[Pat]

I had two unopened bags of tortilla chips that were largely broken and past their date. I'd bought a few bags because I was out and they were on sale, only to discover that these are a thicker corn chip than I usually gravitate to for tortilla chips. (Fritos are a different matter ☺️.) The last ones have been sitting in the pantry, unopened, and I decided to use them...in something.

So, I made chicken tortilla soup, not particularly following any recipe and using boxed broth and shredded rotisserie chicken from Whole Foods. I started with sauteed onion, carrot, celery, and garlic, and added chopped poblano and jalapeno peppers and a can of diced tomatoes in addition to the broth. For spices, there were some dried hatch chile flakes, chipotle powder, garlic powder, and cumin. I put crushed tortilla chips on the bottom of the soup bowls, ladled in soup, and topped with mild cheddar, chopped avocado, and cilantro. I served sour cream and (more or less) unbroken chips for dipping. I put out the remnants of some cheesy corn bread too, but that was kind of redundant because I also made sandwiches (roasted deli turkey, American cheese, and watercress).

So, a long and winding road to soup and sandwiches for dinner.

 

[dcandohio]

Lately, I’ve been eating a lot of leftovers out of the freezer or throwing things together, but yesterday yesterday I made a proper meal. I had some chimichurri sauce left over from empanadas, so I mixed it with some olive oil and extra garlic and topped a tilapia fillet. Cubed sweet potatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper went into the oven. 
 

I made some rice and plated the tilapia, which I baked, over the rice, with sweet potatoes and some steamed spinach on the side. 

[Katya4me]

I was on a Korean side dishes kick this week.  It started with spicy bellflower root salad on Monday, then I made soybean sprouts and corn cheese on Tuesday. I had those leftovers for lunch. On Thursday, I made cucumber boats with tuna instead of crab.  And finally last night, I made pickled radish wraps, and added miso to the sauce.  I loved all of it, but I've satisfied my craving for a little while now.

[Katya4me]

Last night I was ready for a change of pace and had picked up a bag of 3 chayote squash of the discount produce table earlier in the week. I peeled them and then chopped them into bite size pieces, not bothering to remove the seeds.  Last year, we had a bunch of celery and carrots, so we diced them up with onions and put them in quart bags in the freezer.  I defrosted one of those bags along with a partial package of bacon.  Sliced the bacon up thin and then started frying it.  Once that was well on its way, I tossed the bag of veggies in and let them cook, along with some fajita seasoning, pepper and a splash of fish sauce.  Once most of the moisture had cooked off, I added a small can of diced green chilies and a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes, along with the squash.  I let that cook for about 15 minutes while I cooked brown basmati rice in the Instant Pot.  The squash was soft right about the same time as the rice finished. For an unplanned meal, it came together very well and I've got plenty of leftovers for lunch. 

[Pat]

I've been making some pretty random meals lately. I roasted some butternut squash and baby (precut) carrots with evoo and lots of black pepper to go with leftovers the other day and then topped with minced green herbs for serving. That combination of vegetables was a good one, and I will do it again. I had about half a bag of the carrots from TJ that I occasionally keep around to snack on...and then let the remainder languish 😑. This was a good way to use them so they didn't hit the "toss" stage. Since they are pre-prepped, they have a shorter shelf (well, refrigerator) life than regular carrots.

Last night I made a the harissa and persimmon chicken dish again (highly recommend while persimmons are in season). Served with a green salad and pita from Yellow.

[Pat]

Of late, I keep making elaborate meal plans and then don't follow through; however, I actually made two of the three items I had scheduled for last night when I started drawing up holiday menus a couple months ago.

The fish and rice were the planned ones:
Scalded Rye Bread (Atwater's) and butter
Baked Fish With Pomegranate Sauce
Saffron Rice and Golden Raisin Pilaf
Steamed Purple Broccoli

The fish was from a recipe Joan Nathan adapted for the NYT. Gift link. I used cod, which was half the price of halibut. It worked fine. There's a lot left. I probably should have halved the recipe, which occurred to me after I bought 2 lbs. of fish 🙃.

The rice I served with it is from the Mayo Clinic - Williams Sonoma Cookbook. I used chicken broth instead of vegetable. Someone put the recipe up online here. I used to make a fair amount from that cookbook years ago. I should leaf through it again for inspiration. The recipes are generally pretty solid, IIRC.

Tonight might include one item I originally planned. We'll see. It's that or zero...

[dcandohio]

“Orphan” Christmas dinner coming up later:

Charcuterie tray (duh) with some cruditè and fruit.

Cheddar cheese shortbread.

Cheesy zucchini bites.

Jambalaya.

Romaine, cabbage, and radicchio salad, with dried cranberries, feta, sunflower seeds, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Bread and desserts TBA brought by guests!

[Pat]

1 hour ago, dcandohio said:

“Orphan” Christmas dinner coming up later:

Charcuterie tray (duh) with some cruditè and fruit.

Cheddar cheese shortbread.

Cheesy zucchini bites.

Jambalaya.

Romaine, cabbage, and radicchio salad, with dried cranberries, feta, sunflower seeds, and raspberry vinaigrette.

Bread and desserts TBA brought by guests!

That's an enticing menu. The cheddar shortbread jumps out at me. Maybe for New Year's.

Last night I made nothing I had first planned. Instead I made the David Tanis romanesco recipe again, and this time I used truffle burrata instead of plain fresh mozzarella. It generated a little extra liquid that way. Eventually I'll use the cheese he calls for!

We had this with more scalded rye bread and the pork chops with apple butter I keep making. This time I used Asian pear instead of apples with the pork. This variation also worked well.

Tonight's dinner will involve beef. The rest TBD.

[Pat]

Christmas Dinner:

Porterhouse Steak
Creamed Spinach and Wild Rice Casserole
Buttered Green Beans
Where's Linus Rose 2021

The casserole was something originally intended for Sunday, but I didn't really have the energy. It's not especially complex, but it has a bunch of steps and ingredients to prep. It also required making the wild rice, since I had none pre-cooked.

Yesterday I mustered the energy for the casserole and then realized I couldn't both make that in the oven and reverse sear a steak; completely different oven temperatures. So I sous vided the beef in my InstantPot before searing. I don't like the sous vide function on the IP as much as the stand alone (but hugely bulky) sous vide machine I have stored away. It worked out all right, though.

My husband really loved the casserole. I don't know how much we even have leftover. He ate at least three servings .

[Pat]

Last night was leftovers combined with the contents of a Spicy Mushroom Miso Bowl from Foxtrot. I sauteed the last of the cremini mushrooms I had on hand and added the last of the roasted carrots and squash to the skillet, plus some previously cooked Asian pear slices. In a separate pan, I cooked up thin slices of a leftover cooked pork chop and added the contents of the miso bowl to cook everything through. I didn't mix the two groupings together exactly, just plated them side by side, topped with miscellaneous fresh green herbs I had on hand (mostly parsley).

I've been buying a fair amount of Foxtrot's prepared foods in the last few months. They're usually pretty good quality, if a bit on the spendy side.

[Pat]

I had no idea what to make for dinner last night. I looked at ingredients I had that needed using and decided on a beet salad, smashed yukon gold potatoes with sour cream and dill, and turkey kielbasa.

For the salad I roasted 3 golden beets, a poblano, and 2 jalapenos. I peeled the peppers, chopped the flesh, and mixed with a little chopped cilantro and scallion. This didn't yield a lot of pepper, but what there was, was fairly hot. I then made a quick bit of vinaigrette with evoo, white wine vinegar, s + p, and a few squeezes of lime juice. I sliced the beets and plated them, topped each plate with a bit of the pepper mixture, and drizzled on vinaigrette. I crumbled some feta on top, scattered chopped avocado and cilantro around the plate and squeezed on a little more lime. It was a bit of an odd salad but pretty good. It went well with kielbasa and potatoes.

[Pat]

Last night was a grazing dinner: assorted breads, crackers, nuts, and olives; cheese sticks; camembert; prosciutto; tuna pâté; shrimp and cocktail sauce; and the last of the kielbasa with mustard.

I came across the pate in one of my old recipe files and remembered it as being wonderful. It is. It includes butter to keep it from getting too dry, and I know I don't use the whole amount, but I couldn't remember how much I typically use. I added about 4 Tbsp., and I think I'd go lighter even than that next time. It is rich, delicious, and wonderful for a celebration.

The recipe is originally from Fine Cooking #42. The publication seems no longer to exist, but there is this archive of the issue online.

These are the ingredients:

6 large sprigs fresh rosemary
2 tsp. olive oil
8 oz. very fresh tuna
6 oz. (12 Tbs.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Crostini or crackers, for serving.

Heat the rosemary in the oil until fragrant, then lay the tuna on top of the rosemary and cook about 5 minutes, until still pink. Let the tuna cool some. Discard rosemary. The cooled tuna goes in a food processor with the butter, lemon, salt, and pepper. Pack into a ramekin and refrigerate until set.

We still have plenty left to have with a meal today. I think I may add some capers and/or cornichons.

[Pat]

Last night was pan-seared and roasted pork tenderloin; sauteed kale; leftover rice; and, Marcus Samuelsson's black-eyed pea recipe from The Soul of a New Cuisine. I love the recipe and often make it for New Year's. It's a delicious and bright spicy African-inspired stew. In his headnotes for the recipe he refers to West Africa and specifically Ghana, but his further description makes this sound more like an "inspired by" than a specific dish from a specific place. When I showed the recipe to a friend whose mother's family originated in East Africa, in Tanzania, she said that her mother makes a recipe very similar to this.

This is from his website and is a variation on the recipe in the book, only slightly different.

[Katya4me]

We've been going through a lot of leftovers this week, but I made this the other night: Vanilla balsamic chicken with fresh figs. Served it with smashed baby potatoes roasted in the oven with Parmesan sprinkled over them.  My husband made eggnog ice cream for dessert.

[dcandohio]

I’ve been looking for an excuse to make roast beef. One of my best friends came back from a long trip and is suffering from Jetlag so I invited him over for dinner.
 

Roast beef, mashed potatoes, sautéed green beans, and a mixed green salad… A perfect meal. we also enjoyed a bottle of Cooper and Thief 2019 red wine blend. One of my favorite pours. 

[Pat]

Last night I cooked the last of the black-eyed peas I had soaked* and added them to a skillet in which I had sauteed garlic and thinly sliced cabbage, seasoned with yellow mustard seeds, kosher salt, and pepper. I heated it all together for a while with a couple teaspoons of TJ's spicy honey sauce. The hot honey seemed like a good counterpoint to the cabbage, which isn't my husband's favorite flavor. We had this with pita from Yellow and salad. The base was a bagged organic herb salad from TJ's, with added tomato, cucumber, avocado, radishes, and hard boiled eggs.

 

*The peas I used were from Rancho Gordo, which often don't even need soaking, but these had somehow been kicking around in the bean supply tub for almost 4 years. Since I'd soaked a whole pound, I used them for three different dishes. The first two were the Samuelsson recipe and an old black-eyed pea dip from Bon Appetit that doesn't appear to be anywhere online. Reader submission, maybe? We had it with tortilla chips and random leftovers Tuesday night. Can post if anyone wants it.

[Pat]

Last night I made steak and cheese sandwiches on striata baguette pieces. I should have just had us split one, because each of us only ate half. They should reheat well enough wrapped in foil, though.

A couple days before, I had come across a couple frozen delmonico steaks I bought in the early months of the pandemic via South Mountain Creamery delivery and decided to put them in the refrigerator to thaw. When I buy steaks or chops from them, they tend to be very thin. I always forget this. I find it hard to cook these when they're so thin and get them to turn out right. These were a scant 1/2" thick, so I thought they'd be good in sandwiches.

I cooked them sous vide, rested briefly, and then seared in a cast iron skillet. I composed the sandwiches with steak, sliced room temperature camembert, caramelized red onions, and sauteed cremini mushrooms. I added a little sriracha mayo to mine. I wished I had thought to get peppers, but, oh well. I set them back in the skillet briefly in a very hot oven to get the cheese meltier.

The oven was hot from heating tater tots (topped with shredded Mexican cheese blend from an open bag I need to finish). There was also a salad of baby spinach, chopped endive spears, cremini mushrooms, radishes, and some crumbled feta. That's 3-for-3 on the cheese. Maybe I should be scaling the cheese back a bit

[Pat]

Last night was chicken piccata over spaghetti, striata baguette, and a big salad.

[Pat]

Yesterday seemed very much like a soup day, so I made a coconut curry red lentil stew. I simplified it even further by throwing the ginger (which was only sort of peeled) and garlic into the food processor after roughly processing the other veggies and then cooking them all together from the beginning. I used avocado oil for that and a splash of shoyu at the end with the lime rather rather than fish sauce.

I tinkered with the liquids a little bit, using the last part of a previously opened can of coconut milk + a new one; a quart of vegetable stock + the remainder of an opened can of low-sodium chicken broth; most of a 24 oz. jar of passata (could not find any crushed tomatoes in the pantry, but I swear I have some!); and a little plain water near the end to thin out the texture just a bit. It was getting a little thick even for stew. This was excellent and perfect for a blustery rainy day.

The rest of the meal was leftover salad and toasts made from the last of the striata.

[Pat]

Last night was another salad, leftover lentil soup, and cheeseburgers on whole wheat buns (Muenster because it was the only kind I had pre-sliced and was feeling lazy).

[dcandohio]

Some friends stopped by who are not really big eaters. It was cocktail hour, so I served little cups of crawfish etouffee over rice. I made mini corn muffins studded with prosciutto, which were a big hit. Then I rounded out the event with oil-cured black olives, cheese and crackers, and celery stuffed with hummus. Dessert was a big bowl of grapes.

[Pat]

Last night we had leftover salmon and quinoa plus roasted purple broccoli (evoo, nutritional yeast). We also had smoked trout crostini with sour cream and chives. I had saved the recipe a long time ago. It's no longer on the original website but I did find the ingredients list on pinterest.

Brush baguette slices with oil and bake in the oven to make crostini. Break up some smoked trout over each piece. Mix sour cream with lemon juice, s + p, and chopped chives. Dollop over the fish. I add extra chives on top.

[Pat]

Last night was a macaroni casserole. Just your basic one, with ground beef, onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato sauce, elbow macaroni, and topped with grated colby jack cheese. Served with an iceberg salad and toasted baguette slices.

[Pat]

We are eating a lot of pasta lately. Last night was cheese tortellini in a Parmesan cream sauce with peas and prosciutto, accompanied by an iceberg and gem lettuce salad.

[Katya4me]

We did pasta last night as well but we did vegan, creamy pasta with miso and mushrooms. I think it could have used a bit more seasoning, maybe I didn't use enough thyme, but otherwise very good and easy to make. 

[Pat]

I was reading through an article recently from The Philadelphia Inquirer about the food columnists' 25 favorite soups in Philly. They didn't come with numerical rankings, but the first one on the list was Uzbek lagman at Uzbekistan Restaurant. It looked and sounded delicious. From there I went down a rabbit hole looking up lagman recipes and then made the soup last night. (Note: I did not make the noodles by hand )

I drew mostly on this recipe but also on this one (gift link) and a few others. I made about half of the Cooking Channel recipe, using a pound and a half each of beef and lamb, and water instead of stock. The meat itself generated plenty of its own flavorful broth. I did not grind the star anise but put a few star anise in to be fished out later. Kind of like leaving in bay leaves. Got to remember to check for them. I used the remainder of an open box of linguine (1/2 lb.+) for the noodles.

It took a long time to make but was great for a cold night and will be cozy for the snowy day today. It made a lot. I plan to make freezer space to freeze some. We had it with striata baguette and a baby arugula salad.

[Katya4me]

3 nights ago, I made this spicy sheet pan tofu with green beans and had it over brown basmati rice.  The peanut sauce was really good, but as is frequently the case, the recipe mad way too much of it.  So last night, I was poking around in the freezer and fridge and decided to use it before it sat forever and got thrown away.  I defrosted some chicken thighs, and sliced them up, along with 1 red bell pepper and 2 carrots.  Those went into a skillet along with a good grinding of black pepper.  I had some fresh udon noodles in the fridge, so cooked those up as well.  Once the chicken was cooked, I tossed in 2 green onions to cook briefly.  I added the noodles to the skillet and poured some of the peanut sauce over it.  Once warmed, I sprinkled on the last bits of broken cashews from a container and declared dinner served.  I'd definitely make it again.

[Pat]

Last night was chicken thighs baked over a layer of pomegranate seeds and brushed with commercial bbq sauce partway through cooking, after fat from the skin had rendered for a while. The seeds made a nice tart syrupy sauce on the bottom to go with the sweet sauce on top. I got the idea of roasting meat over pom seeds from a friend and it's a great tip. We also had buttered green beans and leftover cheesy noodles from some iteration of the chicken noodle casserole that made a ton of food.

[dcandohio]

I used things from the freezer last night and made a baked chicken cacciatore pasta casserole with mushrooms and spinach. The flavor was awesome, but it was too dry because I should’ve covered it with foil while it was cooking. I also should’ve waited to put the mozzarella cheese on at the end because it got really crunchy, which I like. I think my guests did not love it as much. 
 

I had an abundance of apples to use. So I made an apple clafoutis. There was also salad with a pomegranate vinaigrette.

[genericeric]

Ludo Lefebvre's Carrot Salad (gift link) is one of those recipes that looks much more impressive on the plate than it is challenging to make, and it gets rave reviews every time.  There are a number of components, but most can be pre-made to an extent with the final product assembled right before serving family style.

Last night was a more-or-less standard chicken noodle soup with Jenn Segal's Ham Sliders.  Nothing earth-shattering but fed 6 in under an hour for about $40 all in, meaning the food was significantly less expensive than the Georges Vernay Condrieu it was served with...

[reedm]

1 hour ago, genericeric said:

Ludo Lefebvre's Carrot Salad (gift link) is one of those recipes that looks much more impressive on the plate than it is challenging to make, and it gets rave reviews every time.  There are a number of components, but most can be pre-made to an extent with the final product assembled right before serving family style.

Last night was a more-or-less standard chicken noodle soup with Jenn Segal's Ham Sliders.  Nothing earth-shattering but fed 6 in under an hour for about $40 all in, meaning the food was significantly less expensive than the Georges Vernay Condrieu it was served with...

I made that carrot salad some time ago, and it is certainly delicious.

[Pat]

Last night was more bread and salad, plus Sheet Pan Chili Ginger Orange Chicken and Broccoli over white rice. The chicken came out really well. I know this blogger/influencer has come under criticism at times for cultural appropriation, but if you just want to make something with good flavors that's not especially authentic, her recipes tend to work pretty well. It works for me because this kind of fusion is what I tend to do myself. I find she kind of over-relies on certain ingredients, but I do that too, so...

[dcandohio]

Broiled salmon, topped with a mixture of maple syrup and chili crisp. Sounds weird, but it was a great sweet heat combination. I served it with salad of French lentils and artichokes that I had made on Sunday, and sliced tomatoes.

[Pat]

I made this* delicious Rosemary Garlic Pork Shoulder with Sweet Potato Purée last night. It's written to be flexible and flexible I was.  Even though I'd read over the recipe several times, I still didn't allow enough time to rub the meat with the rosemary mixture in advance, so it went in the oven pretty much right after the rub went on. I can't say it didn't make a difference, since I haven't tried it the other way, but it didn't seem to hurt anything.

My pork shoulder was 3 1/3 lbs. boneless (on sale at WF) and 1 large sweet potato was 1.6 pounds. (The sweet potato was cut in rounds but I split the largest pieces into half moons.) I used homemade chicken stock to surround it as it cooked. It roasted (on the convection setting of my oven) at 325F for about 2 hours and then rested for almost half an hour before slicing. I cooked it to an internal temperature of 168F, which was a little higher than I was aiming for, but it was cooked just right inside after resting.

One addition I made was to top the exposed potato purée with canned pinto beans that heated during the resting period. I used most of a drained 15.5 oz. can. I served this with applesauce on the side and herb focaccia. It all looked pretty.

*The recipe is from a blog I have a paid subscription to, but there's a note it can be shared, so I dug around to find the sharing link. The way(s) online recipe sharing and the protocol around it keeps changing, I'm always wondering if I'm doing it right or I'm stuck in the past.

 

[dcandohio]

21 hours ago, Pat said:

I made this* delicious Rosemary Garlic Pork Shoulder with Sweet Potato Purée last night. It's written to be flexible and flexible I was.  Even though I'd read over the recipe several times, I still didn't allow enough time to rub the meat with the rosemary mixture in advance, so it went in the oven pretty much right after the rub went on. I can't say it didn't make a difference, since I haven't tried it the other way, but it didn't seem to hurt anything.

My pork shoulder was 3 1/3 lbs. boneless (on sale at WF) and 1 large sweet potato was 1.6 pounds. (The sweet potato was cut in rounds but I split the largest pieces into half moons.) I used homemade chicken stock to surround it as it cooked. It roasted (on the convection setting of my oven) at 325F for about 2 hours and then rested for almost half an hour before slicing. I cooked it to an internal temperature of 168F, which was a little higher than I was aiming for, but it was cooked just right inside after resting.

One addition I made was to top the exposed potato purée with canned pinto beans that heated during the resting period. I used most of a drained 15.5 oz. can. I served this with applesauce on the side and herb focaccia. It all looked pretty.

*The recipe is from a blog I have a paid subscription to, but there's a note it can be shared, so I dug around to find the sharing link. The way(s) online recipe sharing and the protocol around it keeps changing, I'm always wondering if I'm doing it right or I'm stuck in the past.

 

That is, indeed, very pretty.

[Pat]

On 2/2/2024 at 8:24 AM, dcandohio said:

That is, indeed, very pretty.

Thanks ☺️.

Last night I made chicken vegetable soup with homemade chicken stock. I used some more of the stock to cook pearl couscous. For serving, the couscous was mixed with sauteed garlic, red onion, and red pepper, and roasted broccoli with nutritional yeast. We had some Atwater's rye bread from the freezer along with this.

[Katya4me]

We had a bunch of things in the fridge that needed to be eaten before they went to waste. So, looking around, this rice salad with pickled daikon looked like a great starting point. We had basmati rice in the fridge along with a whole bunch of veggies and Thai basil to use instead of cilantro.  I had a bag of pickled daikon radish, so chopped that into bite size pieces. Matchsticked some carrots and cucumber and tossed in a handful of baby spinach. I still had some leftover peanut sauce so I thinned it with some garlic chili crisp and tossed cubed extra firm tofu in it and let that sit until the salad was ready, then added it in as well.  Mixed all together, made for an excellent meal and great way to bring all those ingredients together.

[Pat]

Tonight was wedge salad (bleu cheese for me; feta for him) and chicken fettuccine Alfredo with peas.

[dcandohio]

As we get closer to Mardi Gras, this New Orleans girl craves hometown food. I had some roast beef and gravy in the freezer, and that became last night’s roast beef Poboy. I was sad afterwards that I had not thought ahead to make potato salad to serve with it.

[Pat]

We had roasted cauliflower and cheese ravioli from TJ's with roasted cauliflower florets and a butter sage sauce last night, along with salad and jalapeno cheddar focaccia (from Safeway).

[Pat]

Last night was leftover French Garlic Soup with rye croutons; baby kale salad with citrus, radishes, and feta; and, habanero cheddar cheesesteak sandwiches on jalapeño cheddar focaccia.

I had some extra mayo from making the soup and used it on the bread for the sandwiches. That is the best mayo I think I've ever made.

Tonight will be leftover salad and leftover pork roast over sweet potato puree.

 

[MsDiPesto]

I was bad and made myself a Patty Melt last night. I will atone today. 

[Pat]

2 hours ago, MsDiPesto said:

I was bad and made myself a Patty Melt last night. I will atone today. 

Patty melts rule. No atonement necessary.

[dcandohio]

On a whim, I bought a bag of frozen langoustines from Aldi. They have been languishing in my freezer until I decided to make a Mardi Gras meal for my neighbors.

Artichoke spread on Parmesan garlic toasts

Pickled shrimp on a salad

Langoustine étouffée on rice.

A king cake from fresh market

It was a fun meal!

[MsDiPesto]

I used the WaPo's "Chicken and Red Peppers in a creamy sauce" as a basic recipe for an easy chicken paprikash last night.   Boneless, skinless chicken thighs, red peppers, a cubanelle pepper, onions, garlic, paprika and cayenne, S&P, served over egg noodles with sour cream. I omitted the yogurt suggested for the sauce in the recipe as I didn't have any, but now that I think of it I should have used creme fraiche. I'll do that with the leftovers.