Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Xochitl10]

Salt-grilled horse mackerel, broiled bamboo shoots, and steamed rice

[Xochitl10]

Azami requested Western food this evening. We had Pink Gins, hamburgers (okay, ground pork burgers, since our grocery store doesn't carry ground beef), and "broiler fries" liberally seasoned with Old Bay.

[Pat]

Pasta salad (creamy dressing, chicken, red onion, romaine, cilantro, celery, bacon, pecans, and croutons)

Banana chocolate chip bread with cream cheese spread.

[ol_ironstomach]

Riff on Yunnan clay pot chicken, prepared in a Pyrex bowl in lieu of the proper clay pot.

Spicy stir-fry of string beans.

Paired with a can of Cheerwine.

[Barbara]

A run to the Penn Quarter Farmers' Market this afternoon produced some crab cakes by somebody named "Chris." A sauce pan on a hot plate produced some samples of same, so I bought four for our dinner tonight. Came home and looked for some corn and a ripe avocado to make quacamole to go with this. Also bought some fresh mozzarella from Blue Ridge to go with the tomatoes and basil I already had. Summer on a plate.

[zoramargolis]

Tandoori chicken

Grill roasted asparagus

Raita with goatmilk yogurt

Basmati rice

Tastybite dal makhani

Cilantro-mint chutney

Methi parathas (bought frozen at Halalco)

Magic Hat Fat Angel ale

[Pat]

Green salad with homemade croutons

Spaghetti Carbonara

[legant]

Frogmore stew: red potatoes, corn, shrimp doused, liberally, with Old Bay

Watermelon

SunnyDelight

Red Bicyclette Chardonnay

[Pat]

Buttermilk biscuits with butter

Broiled tomatoes* with feta and basil

Baked chicken breast halves

Leftover penne pesto

*Conestoga River (PA) tomatoes from Dan Donohue's stand at Eastern Market--real tomatoes ...(Chicken from Market Poultry).

[DinerGirl]

Wholegrain toast topped with a scrambled egg, drizzled with leftover mutter paneer sauce from Woodlands.

[Pat]

A sampler of open-faced mini sandwiches on biscuits [cream cheese, smoked salmon, nevat goat cheese, black pepper; mustard, lettuce, proscuitto, morbiere cheese; butter, lettuce, morbiere, sliced tomato; coarse salt]

Little Thimbles Sciue' Sciue' from a Giada DeLaurentis cookbook [pasta with basil, fresh mozzarella, garlic and tomato]

[Xochitl10]

Eggplant and string beans cooked in sesame oil and glazed with miso ("nabe-shigi"), with some pork tossed in for protein, served over rice. Served with a nice gift jizake from Shisui, Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo.

[txaggie]

Saturday night's dinner was a tapas experiment.

On the menu was a Spanish potato and onion omelet

Chickpea flour crepes with caramelized onions and capers

Bruschetta with quince paste, roasted red peppers, and ham and oven-roasted artichokes

And garlic shrimp

All dishes were keepers. The favorite of the night was the potato and egg omelet.

[porcupine]

A mix of the following vegetables, finely or coarsely chopped, cooked in olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, and saba:

fennel (from the garden at maison Miller)

Swiss Chard (likewise)

eggplant (likewise)

yellow squash

tomato (purchased at Homestead Farm, brought in from Georgia )

... served with striatta (Praline bakery) sliced thin, spread with garlic-infused olive oil, and toasted, then topped with manouri cheese.

Dessert: the first handful of blueberries form the garden at maison Miller, and a few alpine strawberries.

Oh how I love this time of year.

[legant]

A mix of the following vegetables, finely or coarsely chopped, cooked in olive oil, seasoned with salt, pepper, and saba:

What's saba? I Googled it and came up with a bunch of acronyms, none of them food-related.

[porcupine]

What's saba? I Googled it and came up with a bunch of acronyms, none of them food-related.

Grape must cooked down. It tastes (to me) like a cross between balsamic vinegar and pomegranate molasses.

[Xochitl10]

3:1 Tanqueray martinis garnished with Japanese cocktail olives. We envision requesting a care package including fragrance-free soap, cocktail onions, and proper olives very soon. Maraschino cherries also v. disgusting here -- waaay more chemical tasting than American maraschino cherries.

Broiled salmon, asparagus and shiitake steeped in a soy/dashi dressing, and steamed rice.

[monavano]

Pureed roasted asparagus soup with basil cream and bacon.

Crusted talapia with corn and green pepper in a white wine and lemon sauce.

Meatballs and whole wheat spaghetti. Nix the whole wheat pasta next time. Yuck.

[Xochitl10]

Penne tossed with a cooked sauce of fresh tomatoes, eggplant, and garlic and onion sausage

A big bowl of ripe, blushing, beautiful cherries from Yamagata Prefecture

[rkduggins]

My Farmer's Market Supper: Thyme rubbed chicken legs roasted with whole garlic and vermouth served with a side of creamed new potatoes and peas.

[DanielK]

To celebrate the first night of two weeks of the kids away at Grandma's house:

2 lb. lobsters, steamed

baby artichokes

drawn butter with fresh herbs (parsley, chive, basil)

Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2005

Fresh strawberries and raspberries from the garden

[mdt]

lobsters...

Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2005

[DanielK]

2 lb. lobsters, steamed

Jip Jip Rocks Shiraz 2005

And the combination was about as bad as you would expect. It was not my choice...

[qwertyy]

Potluck dinner:

Virginia ham*

Macaroni and cheese (mine--tasty, but the sauce broke; not bad for a first try, but not impressive)

Mashed potatoes with raw garlic and lotsa pepper and butter

Green beans

Some extraordinary lentil thing with spicy curry (great texture--at first some thought it was yams!)

Some extraordinary beet thing with apples

*I have never in my life tasted anything this salty, not even salt. And I LIKE salt! He boiled it, like the directions told him to. Are you supposed to boil it? Even if it comes out tasting like ... that?? I think it says something that I'm desperate for pork and could only swallow three bites before my fingers started swelling. Stupid potlucks.

But yesterday for dinner, I had macadamia nuts and passion fruit juice. (Ya mon.)

[Barbara]

Virginia ham*

*I have never in my life tasted anything this salty, not even salt. And I LIKE salt! He boiled it, like the directions told him to. Are you supposed to boil it? Even if it comes out tasting like ... that?? I think it says something that I'm desperate for pork and could only swallow three bites before my fingers started swelling. Stupid potlucks.

Did he soak the ham for a couple of days and change the water periodically before boiling it?

[Pat]

Tonight involved a renewed effort to reproduce a fabulous meal I had at Cafe Annie in Houston about 5 years ago. It was beef with a coffee-red wine sauce with cheese grits. My first effort resulted in virtual caffeine poisoning (I used just a bit too much of the crushed coffee beans I understood the dish to have. After a sleepless night, my husband told me not ever to try this again unless I used decaf .)

More recent investigation showed a few recipes, including one from the restaurant using beef filet, coffee, and chiles. I picked up a coffee chile dry rub at Uncle Brutha's hot sauce store and decided to approach it that way. After I started, I realized that all I had was polenta and no white grits, so I abandoned that part of the meal for couscous (the cheese grits were the highlight of the previous caffeine poisoning meal ).

I had bought a couple of rib eyes on sale at Safeway for the experiment. I rubbed the coffee mixture on both sides and let them sit a bit, then seared them in butter. I threw in some minced garlic and shallots, then added and cooked down some chicken broth and vermouth. I tossed in some sliced mushrooms and cooked a bit. Then the whole skillet went into a low oven while I finished the meal. (In addition to couscous, we had steamed asparagus.)

I put the steak back on the heat, adding about a Tbsp. chopped chipotle in adobo and some wondra to thicken the sauce.

The resulting meal was quite good, except for the predictable overcooking of the steak. It was way too thin for the cooking treatment/experiment. I believe that a nice hunk of tenderloin would fare a whole lot better. I'm also contemplating starting over with actual coffee beans and chiles, as per the recipe I found on the web.

[legant]

Alicha -- vegetarian version of an Ethiopian stew made with: (CSA) cabbage, cannellini beans , potatoes, green peppers, carrots and curry

Whole Wheat tortillas

Seagram’s VO Canadian whiskey

[Pat]

stuffed zucchini blossoms <--first time I' ve made them; need a little practice

smoked salmon over baby spinach and arugula, with vinagrette, dill, and cracked black pepper

Coleman hotdogs in potato rolls

plus, a pancake/crepe-y thing made from the leftover batter for the flowers, filled with the leftover filling <--surprisingly good

[pizza man]

the kids had chicken nuggets, buttery green beans and spanish tortilla.

I'm having whatever they don't eat, and dominion summer wheat beer.

[zoramargolis]

Late afternoon snack:

Hot-smoked Copper River salmon with creme fraiche

Aubry Champagne

Dinner:

Copper River salmon ceviche with cucumber and avocado

Watermelon and feta

Grilled rib eye steak

Green Beans

Leftover buttermilk-roasted garlic mash

Cherry-berry sorbet

[mdt]

butterflied leg of lamb grilled over hardwood charcoal and hickory

grilled corn on the cob

steamed sugar snap peas

mint raita

arugula salad

cherry and peach galette

bottle of Rosè (forgot the name)

[Al Dente]

Defrosted one burger and one Kosher dog of indeterminate age and cooked 'em in a pan. Blanched string beans from Eastern Market. Boiled up some frozen raviolis.

Tonight, tater-tots, maybe a frozen pizza, and whatever else I can make with what's left in the fridge.

We're moving at the end of the week, so we're trying to eradicate food from our abode and not shop until we're in the new joint.

Scraping the bottom of the barrel...

[monavano]

I am so happy I finally went to the Kingstowne Farmers Market. It was bigger than I expected: larger than Del Ray and smaller than Courthouse. There were a few vendors that I recognized from Dupont. Vegetable stands were a plenty. There were about 3 bakers, 2 meat stands , (Cibola and Smith Family), an ice cream truck , jams, honey, master gardeners for advice and kettle corn. Prices were notably a bit lower than Dupont and Courthouse.

I purchased:

A Pugliese round bread bigger than my head and 2 scones. One sweet and one savory. All from The Bread Ovens at Quail Creek. These breads were a thing of beauty, really.

Beets, cukes, zucchini, yellow squash, bi-color corn, asparagus, white cherries (my gawd these are good), and kale.

Maple pork sausage from Smith Family Farm.

We're enjoying our scones right now.

This haul has made for good eating this weekend. We had our scones Sat. morning as mentioned above. Sat. night dinner was burrito's followed by the market corn. Strange combination, but MMV was in the mood for Mexican, and I couldn't wait to eat the corn. I also made a cherry crisp, which wasn't eaten until Sunday. We were just too full.

Sunday, I roasted the asparagus and the beets in the oven. Using each, I made cream of roasted asparagus soup and borscht.

Pics from Sunday:

Herb salad with Firefly Farm Allegheny Chevre, cashews, raisins and a simple vinaigrette.

The cream of roasted asparagus soup with seared scallops and basil oil. The Pugliese was toasted (Heather's recommendation) and buttered. It sopped up the soup wonderfully.

White cherry crisp with fresh whipped cream and a touch of cinnamon.

[qwertyy]

Did he soak the ham for a couple of days and change the water periodically before boiling it?

No! I'm pretty sure there was no soaking! Was that the problem? (I wasn't part of the prep process, and my people aren't really ham cookers, but I love to eat the stuff.)

Last night, I threw a casual dinner party with a main of meatball sandwiches. Food was great (thank you, 1971 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook!), company was not. Funny--they're a good crowd that I've had over many times. Something in the air, maybe, but I'm not likely going to commit three days--one to shop and cook sauce and meatballs, one to leave work early to make apps and clean apartment, one to do dishes--to doing this again in the near future.

I suppose this should go in the Dinner Party thread, but how do you recover from hosting a bunch of ingrates? (Sorry. Still a bit grumpy.)

[monavano]

No! I'm pretty sure there was no soaking! Was that the problem? (I wasn't part of the prep process, and my people aren't really ham cookers, but I love to eat the stuff.)

Last night, I threw a casual dinner party with a main of meatball sandwiches. Food was great (thank you, 1971 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook!), company was not. Funny--they're a good crowd that I've had over many times. Something in the air, maybe, but I'm not likely going to commit three days--one to shop and cook sauce and meatballs, one to leave work early to make apps and clean apartment, one to do dishes--to doing this again in the near future.

I suppose this should go in the Dinner Party thread, but how do you recover from hosting a bunch of ingrates? (Sorry. Still a bit grumpy.)

Deny them your hospitality and culinary offerings! What a shame your efforts have gone unappreciated. Did they complain about the food or company?

[qwertyy]

Deny them your hospitality and culinary offerings! What a shame your efforts have gone unappreciated. Did they complain about the food or company?

Well, not directly. Guest of Honor showed up an hour late. Folks were uninterested in cocktail hour, despite lots of laughing and good conversation ("Where the heck is dinner??"), and ate basically none of the munchies I set out. (It was no grand spread, but I made curried popcorn and tapenade and set out a bunch of other tasty "bitings.") (I love that word, "bitings.")

I live abroad, so I think that this strange little incestuous microcosm in which we live has beaten people into thinking more along the lines of "I brought some wine, where's the food?"--a tendency made all the worse considering that Guest of Honor requested that dinner be held on a work night and that this was one of about 73 farewell parties he requested in the last week.

But, while only one guest thanked me the next day, she left me a lovely card asking effusively for recipes, so at least I know the food was good!

And I understand the sentiment, but I can't deny hospitality and culinary offerings because I love to cook, and this is the only audience I've got. Looks like I'm going to have to fugure out a different approach to these folks...

[Barbara]

No! I'm pretty sure there was no soaking! Was that the problem?

Yes, yes and yes. A "traditional" Virginia requires a minimum of three days to prepare. The longer the soak, the more salt is removed.

[Heather]

Last night:

Lambburgers! seasoned with cumin, ground coriander, salt & pepper. Grilled and stuffed in warmed pita with sliced vidalias, tomato, feta, and Fage yogurt seasoned with mint, salt and pepper. They tasted very like gyros. The seven-year-old ate two.

Chopped salad with hot house cucumbers, grape tomatoes, vidalia onion, salt, pepper, oregano, olive oil, and red wine vinegar.

Beer for grownups, milk for the kids. We're still working our way through the beer left at a recent party.

Ice cream (peach cobbler and Neapolitan Dynamite) for dessert.

[Xochitl10]

Shrimp and cheese okonomiyaki topped with plenty of okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, shaved bonito, and a bit of benishouga (grated pickled ginger).

[monavano]

Roasted beet borscht with a dollop of sour cream and dill from the garden.

[Pat]

baby greens with proscuitto, morbiere cheese, tomatoes and croutons, with balsamic vinaigrette

chicken andouille gumbo over white rice

[legant]

I Wikipeed okonomiyaki: "cook what you like, the way you like." Tell us more. Are the okonomiyaki sauce and benishouga home-made or commercial?

Shrimp and cheese okonomiyaki topped with plenty of okonomiyaki sauce, mayonnaise, shaved bonito, and a bit of benishouga (grated pickled ginger).

[Xochitl10]

I Wikipeed okonomiyaki: "cook what you like, the way you like." Tell us more. Are the okonomiyaki sauce and benishouga home-made or commercial?

Both were purchased. Okonomiyaki sauce is pretty easy to make, though -- it's essentially Worcestershire sauce enriched with soy sauce, mustard, and a bit of ketchup. I've never tried making benishouga before, but pickling is on my list of skills to acquire while I'm here.

Tonight's dinner:

Made-up drink involving gin, dry vermouth, and the juice of half a pomelo, and garnished with an awful maraschino cherry

Menuke (red rockfish) marinated in pomelo juice, miso, sake, and ginger, then broiled

Roasted snow peas and shiitake steeped in soy/dashi dressing

Steamed Kitakami genmai (short grain brown rice)

Steamed Japanese cake topped with chopped walnuts and black sesame seeds

The genmai was a gift from one of Azami's students, who is a local rice farmer. The cake was a gift from my language partner; I hope to have the recipe soon.

[Pat]

Since I had been planning to make it and had bought the fish to make it (not because I have any sense ), I made this roast cod and lima bean recipe last night. I thought it looked delicious and simple when I saw it prepared on tv, though the comments on the foodtv web site were all over the place. Numerous people thought it was too bland.

Anyway, I found it delicious and the essence of good comfort food (of course, I love limas). My husband thought it was bland, though . Funny thing is, I like spicier foods than he does, but I don't mind foods that are more sutbly flavored. This is definitely something I want to make again, when the weather is more hospitable. The only change I made to the recipe was to sprinkle some garlic powder on the fish along with the salt and pepper.

I was also intrigued by this cottage cheese and potato rissole recipe I saw online. I prepared that while the fish and beans cooked. I used parsley instead of the dill called for, since I couldn't locate the fresh dill I know I have . I was starting to wilt by that time, though, and the thought of shaping and frying the rissoles was too much, so I ended up serving the mixture as mashed potatoes. I added a little Ethiopian spiced butter I had in the fridge, too, while mashing. I went light on the onion (I used white) and put it in raw. I'll try the actual recipe again some time, but this was great with the limas and fish. It would make a really nice simple supper...in October!

[DanCole42]

So back in February I made some balsamic-barolo-braised-beef short ribs (my quadruple-B ribs). I reduced the braising liquid, skimmed the fat, froze the liquid in an ice cube tray, then tossed it all in a ziploc bag in the freezer. I use it now and again to add flavor and thicken sauces.

A few weeks ago, I used a ton of it (and the last of it) to add a fantastic depth of flavor to my cowboy/cottage pie. I drained the liquid off that and reduced it to about a cup and froze it.

Finally, we get to last night. I sweated some onions and garlic in butter with freshly ground nutmeg, salt, pepper, cayenne, and sage, then I sauteed it all with some fresh spinach. Once it was wilted, I tossed in the frozen liquid from the cottage pie and reduced everything until the spinach was a creamy and delicious mush. The result was amazing - the final heir to the flavors of my birthday. It was spinach that tasted like steak and joy. My wife said it was "better than the spinach at Ray's." Mildly blasphemous, but my wife is my most honest critic and to hear this coming from her was a huge compliment.

To go with the spinach was one of my most beautiful NY strip steaks ever topped with roquefort.

I also took bioesq's biscuit recipe and modified it slightly: using honey instead of sugar and increasing the butter by 25%. Best biscuits I've ever made.

It was a delicious country steak dinner taken to a gourmet level, and I love how the spiritual essence of many meals that went before it were passed through and on.

I can't wait for leftovers at noon.

[Pat]

Ribeye Steak au poivre

Sauteed Mushrooms

Cottage Cheese-Potato Rissoles

Steamed baby spinach and arugula with balsamic

Multigrain bread and butter

[monavano]

We were in the mood for steak last night, and I had some nice Porterhouse in the fridge. I asked my DH to pick up some baking potatoes and along with a bouquet of very nice flowers, he handed me 2 yukon golds. God bless him and his "will these do"? clueless face. So, I pulled out my mandoline and sliced them up, made a bechamel sauce (added thyme and a pinch of nutmeg) and used up my chevre. Delicious scalloped potatoes. The steak was done inside on a cast iron grill. I cooked it too long and it came out medium. Hence the A-1. What the heck. The pooch, as it were, was already screwed. The other pooch is my Bichon, Cole.

[DonRocks]

We were in the mood for steak last night, and I had some nice Porterhouse in the fridge. I asked my DH to pick up some baking potatoes and along with a bouquet of very nice flowers, he handed me 2 yukon golds. God bless him and his "will these do"? clueless face. So, I pulled out my mandoline and made sliced them up, made a bechamel sauce and used up my chevre. Delicious scalloped potatoes. The steak was done inside on a cast iron grill. I cooked it too long and it came out medium. Hence the A-1. What the heck. The pooch, as it were, was already screwed. The other pooch is my Bichon, Cole.

Should have had some Frisee salad with it, or a little Cole Slaw.

[monavano]

We had the herb salad pictured, and some corn too. Same as Zora mentioned in her blog. Ridiculously cheap at Safeway right now. I'm fixin' to get some more and make Ina Garten's cheddar corn chowder.

[Pat]

Iceberg Wedge with Grape Tomatoes, Bacon, Avocado, Radishes, and Stilton, with a creamy buttermilk dressing

Chicken Fricassee with Peppers, Tomatoes, and Shiitake Mushrooms

Ethiopian-Spiced Potato Patties