Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Heather]

Huge green salad, with sliced tomato and cucumber, chilled shrimp, sliced avocado, and basil chiffonade. Basil oil vinaigrette.

Corn on the cob

Humboldt Fog and aged cheddar

Baguette

Some rose or another, from the mixed case I picked up at Ace this week

Strawberry shortcake for dessert

[Pat]

Our big meal today was lunch: mushroom-bacon cheeseburgers with lettuce and tomato on homemade buns.

Dinner is a big salad of green and red lettuce, cucumber, tomato, avocado, olives, and whatever else I find

plus baked chicken wings with celery and ranch

oops. I forgot why I was replying to this: humboldt fog and multigrain baguette as well.

[rkduggins]

Backyard grillin':

Hamburgers flavored with Tony Chachere's cajun spice and Worcestershire sauce

Thai flavored turkey burgers

Asian inspired slaw

Roasted vegetable orzo salad with feta

Vanilla cupcakes with bittersweet chocolate frosting

[xcanuck]

And more backyard grillin'.

Cheese and meat plate

Smoked and grilled baby back ribs

Maple and cumin glazed grilled salmon

Beer can chicken

Potato salad

Baked beans

Crab salad

Corn on the cob

7-Up cake

I become more and more convinced that beer can chicken is the ONLY way to grill an entire bird. Wondering if I could do a smaller bird (e.g. cornish hen) with a small Red Bull can....or a larger bird (e.g. capon) with one of those large Rock Star energy drink cans.

[Pat]

More fajitas last night. It turned out I had some tortillas in the freezer after all.

For the beef, I used the remaining hunk of sirloin I had from making the burgers. I seared it on the stove and finished it in the oven. It came out perfectly medium rare and tender. For the most part, I really learned to cook when I was vegetarian, and getting cooking times consistently right for meat remains a challenge.

[zoramargolis]

Hickory-smoked BBQ chicken

Succotash with fresh favas and corn

Mixed greens--turnip, beet and chard

Leftover cheese grits

2005 Bex Riesling (dry)

[plunk]

I become more and more convinced that beer can chicken is the ONLY way to grill an entire bird. Wondering if I could do a smaller bird (e.g. cornish hen) with a small Red Bull can....or a larger bird (e.g. capon) with one of those large Rock Star energy drink cans.

One of the wonderful things about beer is its versatile packaging. There should be no need for you to fill an empty Rock Star can with beer when you can easliy find some tall boys, a 24 ouncer, or even a Foster's "oil can."

[Pat]

SOS over toasted homemade hamburger buns, made with dried beef, shallots, and minced country turkey bacon.

Apricot and avocado salad with humboldt fog and vinaigrette. (It sounds weird but it's good .)

[legant]

Sautéed shrimp and mushrooms wrapped in whole-wheat crepes topped with a Mornay sauce

String beans sautéed w/ garlic, onions and mushrooms

Seagram's VO and Noilly Prat

[Leave me alone: I am so having fun! ]

[Anna Blume]

Spring Green Gazpacho with Ligurian broad bean purée

Served chilled in deep matte ebony elliptical bowls—foils for the soup's pale verdant effulgence.

Turbinado-flecked Shortcake w Local Strawberries and Soft Peaks of Vanilla-Scented Cream

N.B. Organic buttermilk in biscuits courtesy of Trickling Springs whose cows graze not far from the fields of Spring Valley Farm, West Virginia where the berries grow.

Filtered (Alice) Waters on tap

[The Hersch]

Spring Green Gazpacho with Ligurian broad bean purée

Served chilled in deep matte ebony elliptical bowls—foils for the soup's pale verdant effulgence.

Ooh, verdant effulgence! What goes into a spring green gazpacho? I always find myself this time of year sort of hankering for gazpacho but waiting a couple of months until the tomatoes start to come in.

And the broad-bean purée: Is that stirred or dribbled or dolloped into the gazpacho, or served on the side with bread? And thanks for calling them broad beans. I wonder how many Americans know that that's the perfectly good English name for fava beans?

[Anna Blume]

What goes into a spring green gazpacho?

Just needed something very light to justify indulging in what I consider my favorite dessert during consumption. Shortcake w tender biscuits just out of the oven, perfectly ripe berries, macerated, some slightly crushed....

Started out w a cold cucumber soup in mind, but didn't feel like using the usual mint or dill. First whirrr in blender resulted in thin, watery consistency, so I retrieved a jar of maro (scroll down; second recipe) from the fridge and added that. Still too thin. Turned on the oven, opened the freezer and ended up spreading butter on the crusts I sawed off a reheated end of a baguette to snack on. Tossed shredded bread bits into the blender along with another spring onion, Jalepeno, champagne vinegar and a little more EVOO. Diced cucumber, scallion rings and little red flecks of another type of fresh chili into the bowl. Would have been better without dairy products, but the raw favas (blanched just to pop the beans out) are something I'd turn to again for a cold soup.

[legant]

Bravo! Bravo!

Soft Peaks of Vanilla-Scented Cream

Cool Whip, right?

[The Hersch]

I retrieved a jar of maro (scroll down; second recipe) from the fridge and added that.

I love maro. A year or two ago I very successfully stuffed ravioli with it, served with a very light tomato sauce, really a broth, with basil.

[txaggie]

After a long weekend of cooking (and eating) multi-course meals, Monday's dinner was a bbq chicken salad (topped with Trader Joe's flax seed tortilla chips).

Tonight's dinner was a beet and goat cheese salad (not pictured) and roasted chicken (with Stubb's bbq sauce - my favorite!) and collard greens. We shared a bottle of Yalumba Wild Ferment Chardonnay.

[Anna Blume]

I love maro. A year or two ago I very successfully stuffed ravioli with it, served with a very light tomato sauce, really a broth, with basil.

Great idea! Bet it would be good with melted butter and grated pecorino, too.

[zoramargolis]

Eco-Friendly pork sirloin steak braised with crimson turnips, carrots, leek, green garlic, lemon and rosemary

Mushroom risotto (oyster, king oyster, shiitake and porcini)

Oven roasted local asparagus

Fresh borlotti (cranberry) beans braised with aromatic vegetables

Fennel slaw

2005 Castle Rock Monterey Pinot Noir

[Pat]

beef hotdogs (Coleman Natural) on whole wheat buns

banana peppers and pickled cabbage as relishes

baked beans

I'd never tried the Coleman hot dogs before and thought they were quite good. I had bought some pickled cabbage at Tortilla Cafe when I stopped in there to buy some bacon (some of the Canales deli meats are being sold from there while Eastern Market is rebuilt). I love their pickled cabbage. It turns out to be a good hotdog condiment. I also put some yellow mustard on my hotdog. Sometimes yellow mustard is just the right thing (this was Heinz, not my usual French's).

[Heather]

I tried Coleman hot dogs recently and liked them. They've got a lot of garlic in them and a nice snap.

[legant]

It’s salad season!

Hanover* black beans tossed with summer crisp corn, petit diced tomatoes, red onions and cilantro

With a Zesty Southwestern Dressing (olive oil, chipotle, lime juice and cumin)

Garnished with a dollop of avocado-cream

Raspberry-Lime Zazz

*These were, surprisingly, in abundance at the local Giant.

[Heather]

cornmeal fried catfish, butter lettuce, thick slices of tomato, salt & pepper, and lemon mayonnaise on Whole Foods white bread

big cold glass of milk

strawberries and ice cream

[porcupine]

Inspired by finding a spice I'd never heard of, kala jeera , at Penzey's, tonight I cooked an Indian meal for the first time in years.

G'vine gin and tonic

lamb rogan josh [onion, garlic, ginger, almonds, yogurt, tomato, many different spices]

coconut rice with carrots and raisins [cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom]

carrots and peas [with ginger, cilantro and many different spices, including kala jeera]

masoor dal [ginger, cilantro, lemon, hot peppers, and of course many different spices, and kala jeera]

homemade strawberry ice cream

[Pat]

I wasn't sure what to do with the lamb ribs I brought home from the picnic. The course I settled on proved quite successful.

I sauteed carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in a dutch oven. Added some white wine and cooked it down. Put in the ribs and then covered with chicken broth. Simmered on the stove for a while, then put into the oven to simmer for a couple of hours. Even covered, the liquid cooked down quite a bit, leaving ribs with extremely tender meat and a nice vegetable gravy.

Lamb and gravy were served with fresh buttered English peas and mint. The accompanying salad was roasted beets and nectarines over watercress with chives, shaved goat gouda and balsamic vinaigrette.

The beets were yellow but had been roasted a couple of days ago with red beets. Sitting in beet juice in the refrigerator turned the yellow beets a nice scarlet color, but when cut, beautiful yellow rings emerged. The red and yellow complemented the colors of the (mostly unpeeled) nectarines perfectly. It was a gorgeous salad.

[zoramargolis]

I had several large packages of mushrooms from my trip to H Mart, that were crowding my refrig, so I made mixed mushroom duxelles--oyster, king oyster, shiitake, crimini and a little porcini powder. I used the duxelles and homemade ricotta to stuff large ravioli, made with small round dimsum wrappers, sandwiched together with eggwash*. Served in a chunky marinara that I'd made a few days ago, that was also taking up a lot of room in the refrig. With that, J and I had spicy Italian sausage from Eco-Friendly, and Veggie-teen had marinated borlotti beans, also leftover from a few days ago. With fresh basil chiffonade and Reggiano.

Baby lettuce salad with cold, roasted asparagus, tomato, cucumber and lemon vinaigrette

2003 Borgo di Colloredo Aglianico Terre Degli Osci

*I'd seen ravioli made like this several times on t.v. cooking shows, but had never done it myself. I was really pleased with how they came out. Very simple to put together. I let them dry for twenty minutes on a towel-covered tray before cooking. Amazingly, nothing leaked into the cooking water, and they were tender yet al dente. Not quite as sublime as homemade pasta, but better than any frozen or commercially made ravioli I've had.

[xcanuck]

Last night was brined pork chops with a szechuan peppercorn crust, cooked on the grill. Just 40 minutes of brining had a great effect on the chops - they ended up incredible juicy though the meat was cooked a little better than medium.

I made a spice paste using the mortar and pestle with garlic, crushed szechuan peppercorns, crushed coriander seed, crushed cumin seed, salt, sesame oil, olive oil, soya sauce, and lime juice. The chops were well coated with the paste before going on the grill, about 4 mins per side. Mmmmmm.....I love the tingly/numbing feeling of the peppercorns. My wife said they were the best pork chops she's ever had (she might have just wanted out of doing the dishes, though).

Served corn on the cob and grilled potatoes on the side. Still waiting for decent corn to come into the markets.

[Anna Blume]

Quesidilla w mozzarella

The last of last week's mozzarella with unfiltered olive oil and mini pearl tomatoes from Trader Joe's (inexpensive, but improved vastly halved, oven-roasted, slow)

An entire Middle-Eastern cucumber, sliced

A bowl of the strawberries I grumped about, much better sliced w a little sugar

Edy's tangerine fruit bar (addicted to this product)

[Xochitl10]

The first dinner in the new kitchen, which consists of a fridge, two gas burners, and a grill/broiler. I made "taki-awase," or an assortment of simmered foods. The assortment included shrimp, shiitake, tofu, butterbur, and wakame (a type of seaweed). All were simmered in dashi stock supplemented with with some combination of mirin, soy sauce, sake, and sugar or salt. The whole dish was quite tasty, though Azami and I concurred that the tofu was especially awesome. We had chocolate Pocky for dessert.

[Banco]

I did a salad last night of King Crab (the whole legs are available at my local Unsafeway, and are quite good), avocado, and basil, flavored with minced red onion and a vinaigrette made with reduced carrot juice, shallot, and champagne vinegar. I took some with me for lunch today.

[purplesachi]

breakfast for dinner last night: fresh filipino longaniza (from the phil-am in jersey city), white rice, fried egg (over easy).

[Heather]

We had chocolate Pocky for dessert.

Pocky! I love pocky. I bet it's better there.

[monavano]

This weekend, we enjoyed the bounties of the farmers market. Dinner was a mix of winter/ summer. Kale and chorizo soup was comforting on a cool rainy day. Strawberry and rhubarb cobbler reflected the glories of late spring and summer.

Rhubarb.....where have you been all my life??

[DanCole42]

Simple Roast w/:

Carrots

Broccoli

Red & yellow onions

Chicken breast

Italian sausage

Tons of cremini mushrooms

Toss w/ salt, pepper, and olive oil

On top, layer some sliced lemons, garlic heads, and whole fresh thyme and rosemary

Bake @ 400 for 45 minutes

It takes five minutes to make but smells amazing, lasts for days, is unbelievably full of flavor, is very cheap, and has a bajillion variations

After it comes out of the oven, I drain away all of the juices that have rendered out of the meat and vegetables, then I reduce it to only about a quarter cup. I have tons of frozen cubes of "concentrated flavor" in my freezer that make great additions/thickeners for sauces, soups, stews, BBQ, etc.

[Pat]

Another iteration of the Coleman hot dogs tonight. Just as good as before.

I also reheated in the oven some banana jalapeno fritters (recipe via egullet) I made several days ago. I concocted a sweetish pineapple-avocado-jalapeno dipping sauce to go with them that turned out fabulous.

[cjsadler]

banana jalapeno fritters (recipe via egullet)

Those sound very interesting. Can you give us a link to the recipe?

[Pat]

Those sound very interesting. Can you give us a link to the recipe?

They're quite good. This post has the link, as well as comments on changes made to the recipe.

Following from that, when I made them, I used 1 large jalapeno w/some seeds; 1 tsp+ minced ginger; 2 tsp kosher salt; 1 heaping tsp. baking powder added to flour; a generous 1/8 c water. I also made them larger than the recipe called for--serving tablespoon size dollops of batter. At that size, they made a nice meal accompaniment, as opposed to being an hors d'oeuvre.

[vsky]

Vegetarian Birthday Dinner

Luckily my sis-in-law loved this vegetarian bday dinner. Shaft's blue cheese and water crakers to munch. Broccoli,

bacon (vegetarian), red onion, with mayo and apple cider dressing, served cold. Sweet Mashed Pots, loaded with butter and salt. And a new recipe for me, Polenta Napoleon, and the following recreated recipe is attached as a scan (tried attaching as a word doc and couldn't). This was finished off with Scotch and a chocolate blackout cake (the most decadent around - uses espresso, buttermilk and cocoa, but don't know the recipe, it's my sister's). All the carnivores were just as happy!

[monavano]

Fortunately I had extra rhubarb and made a rhubarb and golden raisin chutney to top pan seared pork chops with a port reduction, accompanied by escalloped potatoes and onions. Leftover strawberry rhubarb cobbler for desert.

[rkduggins]

Roasted honey soy sea bass with mango avacado salad. I soaked thinly sliced red onion in the juice of two limes as I cut up two mangoes and two avocados then combined all together. I really like this salad with the fish; mild and flavorful.

[zoramargolis]

Baby lettuce salad with roasted beets, orange segments, cucumber and feta cheese

Harira-- a Morroccan soup which had Spring picnic roasted lamb stock as its base, with chick peas, tomatoes, carrot, onions, Camargue red rice, semolina, spices, saffron, cilantro and parsley. Served with diced lamb, chopped cilantro and harissa. Never made it before, but it was thick, hearty and savory. Winterish fare, I know, but I wanted to use the lamb stock I made after the picnic.

And now, for a little bit of dessert hyperbole...

Pillowy clouds of vanilla-scented whipped cream daubed onto macerated Alpine strawberries that had been ladled over warm home-baked biscuits. (i.e. Strawberry shortcake) ;-D

[Xochitl10]

5:1 Tanqueray martinis

Salmon poached in water, sake, and garlic, then flaked and tossed with butterbur cooked until crisp-tender and spaghetti coated with toasted sesame oil.

Tahitian Vanilla Pocky (Yes, Heather, I intend to try them all! )

[Anna Blume]

And now, for a little bit of dessert hyperbole...

Pillowy clouds of vanilla-scented whipped cream daubed onto macerated Alpine strawberries that had been ladled over warm home-baked biscuits. (i.e. Strawberry shortcake) ;-D

So, she steals the dessert as well as the purple prose!

My dinner w hyperbole: One of the best burritos made on the face of the earth, then cantaloupe and third day in a row, a tangerine fruit bar.

My plagiarism: the beans, courtesy of two different sources.

1) Soak one cup of pintos or borlotti overnight. I don't care what others say about non-soaking; this works best for me.

2) Rinse thoroughly and cover with fresh, cold water in an oven-proof dish.

3) Bring to boil on top of stove and skim off foam while your oven is heating up to 325 F. Lower heat.

4) Add 2 bay leaves, a strip of kombu (yes, very hippy, courtesy of Deborah Madison), a peeled, quartered onion, parsley sprigs (just stems, fine), 1-2 cloves peeled garlic in chunks. For burritos, I like adding a pre-soaked Ancho chili puréed w one chipotle in adobo if they're around and I have the energy. If not, some cayenne pepper, cumin and Tabasco sauce after 35 minutes or so or while cooling.

5) Cover and let simmer in oven until almost done. This way, there's less of a chance of beans splitting and turning to mush. During last 15 minutes or so, add about 1/2 t of salt. You could also wait until they're done and let them soak up the salt in the little broth that remains.

I'm sure Zora and others have wonderful, different, nay superior, recipes and recommendations, but this one of the simplest ways to go for me.

I then fried up a large Spanish onion and added the beans and remaining broth to the pan, letting the broth cook down, mashing slightly. Folded them w guacamole, oven-roasted grape tomatoes, strips of charred & peeled Poblano chilies, a little thawed corn and sour cream.

[Pat]

Last night we had the remainder of the charcuterie plate from Wednesday night at Beck, along with a baguette and some Delice d'Argental cheese from Costco. Also on the menu, fish tacos with leftover skate wing, avocado, jalapeno. lime, and pickled cabbage. (I added a smidgen of bottled creamy salad dressing to enhance the flavor a bit.)

[Xochitl10]

Sapporo Black Label beer

Stir-fry of pork, yellow pepper, shiitake, and some lovely snow peas that our neighbor gave us from her garden

Genoise sandwiched with whipped cream and strawberries, garnished with a bit of parsley. I don't make these things up.

[porcupine]

Genoise sandwiched with whipped cream and strawberries, garnished with a bit of parsley. I don't make these things up.

A long, long time ago, I read an article, possibly in the Washington Post travel section, about Japanese takes on American food. The author ate a salad donut - an actual fried sweet dough stuffed with chopped lettuce and tomato. Wish I could cite it properly.

Anyway, if you come across any more oddities like this in your new home, please start a thread and report on them. I'm sure a lot of us will enjoy reading about it.

[DanCole42]

-Philly cheesesteak w/ shaved sirloin, sweated onions, and artificially oranged American cheese

-Broccoli rabe and onion saute w/ chicken-sausage-veggie roast demi glace

-Beer

[Pat]

T-Bone steak, medium rare, with fried mushrooms and cremini button mushrooms

Potato salad

Deviled eggs

[zoramargolis]

Twice-cooked artichoke hearts (braised then roasted) with reggiano parmesan

Roasted yellow beets with fresh orange

Marinated charcoal roasted peppers

Chile-garlic olives

Marinated fava beans

Home-made ricotta

Cippolini onions in olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Pan-seared brined pork rib chops from Eco-Friendly

Home-made quince mostarda

2004 Rosenblum Heritage Clones Petite Sirah

[DanCole42]

-Grilled NY strip au poivre (more on this in the Grilling 101 thread) w/ cow and goat milk blue cheese wrapped in chestnut leaves (the cheese was wrapped, not the steak)

-Mashed potatoes with chicken-sausage-veggie roast demi glace, truffle sauce, and truffle oil

2004 Estancia Syrah

[Pat]

Bruschetta* (or is that crostini?) topped with some basil, tomato, and tartufello cheese

Baked chicken legs

Penne with pesto**, topped with tomato, basil, and tartufello

*toasted baguette slices with garlic and olive oil

**last summer's, still perfectly fine; freezer finally cleared out

[squidsdc]

Last night:

fresh, white corn-on-the-cob (from Giant, no less, and it was very sweet)

broccoli

duck legs-bought on a whim, as they were on sale to get them out the door. Each one was about a $1.25!

Seasoned with a little S&P, seared on the stove to render the fat and finished in the oven. We've never had these before, but I'll definitely seek them out in the future. And now there's rendered duck fat leftover--hmmm what can we do with that?