Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[monavano]

Last night we had a veggie-teen worthy dinner! Fried green tomatoes (Toigo farm) with fresh mozzarella and tomato sauce ( a la Marcella Hazan) and sauteed squash with thyme and shredded parm. Also, Toigo farm mirai corn.

[Pat]

Tonight's dinner is the leftover spanakopita from brunch, with a big salad (butter lettuce, olives, cucumber, tomato, red bell pepper) and garlic bread.

[zoramargolis]

Last night we had a veggie-teen worthy dinner!

Veggie-teen may need a new moniker. She's always eaten a little bit of fish and seafood. Since she came back from Ecuador, where she ate some meat in order not to be a burden on her host family, she is still eating chicken occasionally--like in taquitos or tamales. No red meat or pork, however.

Last night we all had grilled swordfish with cilantro-lime butter

fregola pasta with sauteed wild oyster mushrooms (foraged in Battery Kemble)

green beans with roasted red pepper and garlic

corn-coconut pudding

2006 Domaine Sorin Rosé

[zoramargolis]

Mesclun salad with roasted beets, heirloom tomatoes and homemade lavender goat cheese, lemon vinaigrette

Charcoal grilled rack of lamb, marinated in garlic, mint and rosemary (V-t had mozzarella di bufala)

Homemade crabapple-mint jelly

Fresh creamed corn

French lentils with roasted red peppers, roasted garlic and basil

Roasted plum and fig compote with Greek yogurt

2003 Llicorella Priorat

[Pat]

corn-coconut pudding

This looks really interesting. Could you share the recipe/technique? My husband doesn't really like coconut, but I do. It might be good to make when we have guests.

[zoramargolis]

This looks really interesting. Could you share the recipe/technique? My husband doesn't really like coconut, but I do. It might be good to make when we have guests.

It's in the September Gourmet Magazine, their Latin foods issue, which is really worth buying and keeping. It's the best issue they've done in eons. The recipe is called Majarete, on page 122. Fresh corn is cut off the cob, pureed in a blender with coconut milk, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch, put through a strainer and then cooked until thickened.

[Pat]

It's in the September Gourmet Magazine, their Latin foods issue, which is really worth buying and keeping. It's the best issue they've done in eons. The recipe is called Majarete, on page 122. Fresh corn is cut off the cob, pureed in a blender with coconut milk, sugar, vanilla and cornstarch, put through a strainer and then cooked until thickened.

Thanks. My subscription has been on the verge of expiring, and I don't know if I got that issue or not. I'll have to check my pile of unread magazines.

[Al Dente]

Long day (and night) of work. Put two frozen burritos in the microwave at around 10:30. Grabbed hot sauce. Checked burritos-- still cold. Turned on TV. Checked burritos-- still cold and tortilla is cracking. Tuned TV (my new 42" high def Aquos-- HAH!) to US Open. Checked burritos-- still cold and filling is oozing out. Poured glass of water, found napkin and placed on coffee table. Checked burritos-- they seem done now. Carry to sofa. Watch Ferrer hold his own against Nadal. Feel burrito, still cold. Put back in microwave. Decide to do more work, fire up the laptop. Check burrito-- tortilla is in shreds by now with filling bursting out. Feel what is left of burrito. Seems hot. Take bite and teeth melt off. Wait a couple of minutes while watching Ferrer push Nadal around the court. Take another bite with liberal dose of hot sauce. Center still very cold. I hate those fucking microwaves. Eat burritos anyway while watching Nadal melt down and I answer a few e-mails. Then I eat some almonds and cashews. Dinner.

[monavano]

Margherita pizza with dough from The Italian Store, homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil.

Nectarine, sour cherry and blueberry cobbler.

[TinDC]

The Italian Store sells pizza dough? I was just in there on Monday and wish I had known. Is it is the refrigerator or do you have to ask for it?

[monavano]

The Italian Store sells pizza dough? I was just in there on Monday and wish I had known. Is it is the refrigerator or do you have to ask for it?

It's in the freezer section, back left by the pizza.

[Pat]

Pork tenderloin with plum-apple sauce

Brown rice grain mix with spiced cashews

[legant]

This looks really interesting.

Huh?

Mesclun salad with roasted beets, heirloom tomatoes and homemade lavender goat cheese, lemon vinaigrette

Charcoal grilled rack of lamb, marinated in garlic, mint and rosemary (V-t had mozzarella di bufala)

Homemade crabapple-mint jelly

Fresh creamed corn

French lentils with roasted red peppers, roasted garlic and basil

Roasted plum and fig compote with Greek yogurt

Pictures, woman! Pictures! Consider posting photos of the plated meals. We've learned, from your blog, that your digital photo skills are top notch. And, I'm sure I'm not the only one who would love to see more pictures.

Xochitl10: You too!

[legant]

This got tossed in with some fresh bucatini from Eastern Market that had been boiled and quickly fried in some olive oil.

Fried pasta??!! I've browned raviolli, but have never "fried" pasta. Do tell.

[legant]

Have you ever tried a “new” recipe only to realize… after the first bite… that you’ve made this before… and it wasn’t that good the first time around? And, unfortunately, you’re committed – waste not, want not – to finishing the damned thing.

Tuesday:

Cherry Tomatoes*

Black bean patties

Dad’s (CSA) cucumber and dill salad

Maker’s Mark Manhattan

Monday:

Lay’s Potato Chips*

Shrimp and pasta salad (with CSA green pepper, cucumber, tomato, hot pepper)**

Absolut Screwdriver

*While waiting for the salad flavors to meld.

**An homage to Pat’s clean the fridge project; next: the freezer.

[Pat]

Huh?

You don't like coconut?

Fried pasta??!! I've browned raviolli, but have never "fried" pasta. Do tell.

I'm not talking about deep frying, just a quick stir fry in some olive oil. It probably wasn't necessary. I didn't really even brown it much. I could have left the pasta plain or just coated it in oil. It just seemed like it needed something before going in with the turkey and vegetables.

I've tried to make real fried spaghetti, where you mix it with an egg and make a pie out of it, and I couldn't get it to hold together. I've got to try that again.

[goldenticket]

The Italian Store sells pizza dough? I was just in there on Monday and wish I had known. Is it is the refrigerator or do you have to ask for it?

If you ask, they'll go in the back and get you fresh dough (not frozen) so you can make pizza as soon as you get home

[Pat]

turkey meatballs

tzatziki

spanakopita

[zoramargolis]

Steamed artichokes vinaigrette

Caldo de camarones (shrimp in a soup of tomatillos, poblano and jalpeno chiles, roasted tomato, onion, garlic and cilantro--VERY spicy)

tortillas

Cerveza Modelo Natural and Dale's Pale Ale

Peach crisp with vanilla gelato

[Pat]

Braised turkey thighs with peppers and onions

served on a bed of

Kale and Brown Rice

topped with

Cherry Tomatoes

[legant]

Gaze at rings on your left hand. Remember how, when you were single in New York and men made rude remarks to you on the street, you'd dream about the day your boyfriend would put an engagement ring on your finger. Those trips with your friend, Megan, to Tiffany's — how the diamonds sparkled under glass. And so, my friend, it comes to this: Orientalish pasta salad for the kabillionth time.

After reading the above description, I’m grateful I couldn’t find a reference for Food and Whine magazine. Surely there was another recipe out there for pasta and tuna.

Sunday:

Sliced (CSA) cucumbers

Tuna, stir-fry frozen vegetables, and (CSA) hot pepper over

Whole-wheat linguine

Roasted (CSA) squash and zucchini with garlic

Arizona Raspberry Iced Tea (gawd! I love this stuff!)

Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate square

Saturday:

Roasted pork chop w/ Apple Butter

Leftover macaroni and cheese

Broccoli and cauliflower melody

Belmondo Pinot Grigio

Friday:

Pan-fried trout

Stouffer’s Macaroni and cheese

String beans

Fetzer Sauvignon Blanc

[Part of the ongoing "clean cupboard, clean fridge, clean freezer" project.]

[bioesq]

Wood-grilled, dry-aged rib-eyes

Wood-grilled asparagus

Wood-grilled peaches

Wood-grilled corn with garlic-lime butter

Fresh peach sorbet

1998 Hickinbotham Shiraz

(And, to the two rabbits grazing happily in our herb garden, you're next.)

[zoramargolis]

Wood-grilled, dry-aged rib-eyes

Wood-grilled asparagus

Wood-grilled peaches

Wood-grilled corn with garlic-lime butter

Was the cooking done in a barbecue? A fire pit? I've always associated wood-fire cooking with campfires. What kind of wood did you use? What did the fire look like when you started to cook--ie. was the wood still basically intact and flaming or had it transitioned to glowing coals? What sort of grate were you cooking on? How would you compare it to charcoal cooking?

[bioesq]

Was the cooking done in a barbecue? A fire pit? I've always associated wood-fire cooking with campfires. What kind of wood did you use? What did the fire look like when you started to cook--ie. was the wood still basically intact and flaming or had it transitioned to glowing coals? What sort of grate were you cooking on? How would you compare it to charcoal cooking?

I grilled dinner on a 22 1/2" Weber with a cast iron grate insert, and used a combination of oak charcoal that was made up in Harford County, and a few blocks of hickory wood. I usually wait until there's a fair amount of white ash so as to ensure that the grate is at it hottest point. It's charcoal cooking and, too, wood grilling; an excellent combination of flavor and heat.

[Xochitl10]

3:1 Old Overholt Manhattan with a dash of bitters

Mackerel simmered in dashi stock with miso and ginger

Chingen (Shanghai cabbage, like bok choy but smaller) sauteed with sesame oil and red pepper flakes

Genmai topped with some kind of a chili relish, both from Azami's rice farmer student

[Pat]

black bean quesadillas

[zoramargolis]

charcoal-grilled ribeyes with red chile recado

grilled portobello stuffed with recado and cheese grits for Veggie-teen

succotash of fresh corn, favas and roasted red peppers

roasted garlic mashed potatoes

2004 Santa Helena Aureus Cabernet

Peaches with honey-vanilla mascarpone

[legant]

Simple, yet satisfying:

Vermicelli

tossed with olive oil, garlic, red peppers

smothered with parmesan

Arizona Raspberry Iced Tea (I can't say it enough: Gawd! I love this stuff!)

[brr]

filipino chicken stew w/ pepper leaves for dinner

then baked a lovely peach cobbler and our first ever bread pudding!

[Pool Boy]

The other day we tried 'Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Hot Dogs". Which we used kielbasa on actually. Smeared with ketchup and mustard on the inside, with cheese inserted and covered by sauerkraut and then wrapped in bacon and tossed on the grill. Below is what it looks like. It tasted quite good. You can't eat this stuff with any frequency, but every once in a big while, it's worth it.

[Pat]

Saffron Cream of Caulifower Soup

Lemon Pepper Baked Cod

Steamed Broccoli

[Scott Johnston]

Roast Chicken via Palena Post

Potatoes, parsnips and onions underneath the roast chicken

Steamed Zucchini from the garden

Fresh Sautéed spinach in EVOO and garlic

Strawberries and ice cream

[Xochitl10]

Pork, kimchi, and cheese okonomiyaki and a giant bottle of Sapporo Black Label beer. Delicious on a chilly mountain night, but it's too bad the kimchi was bland, bland, bland.

[zoramargolis]

Barbacoa de cabrito (red chile recado marinated goat shoulder, wrapped in banana leaf and steamed in a slow oven for 4 hours)

Veggie-teen had barbacoa de tofu

Frijoles refritos

Arroz amarillo

Salsa cruda

Magic Hat Fat Angel amber lager

Randolph's cupcakes

[Pat]

Iceberg lettuce salad with cucumber and tomato

Raisin challah

Pork tenderloin with lemon roasted potatoes

[porcupine]

Another meal-in-a-bowl, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink end-of-summer production:

linguine topped with butter, shallots, the very last tiny zucchini* and squash blossoms*, a few small chopped tomatoes*, a handful of basil*, shrimp, merguez sausage, and crumbled sheep/goat feta. This was pretty darn tasty.

2004 Muratie Chardonnay

dessert: partly successful attempt at recreating Baked and Wired's bee sting cookies.

*homegrown

[Pat]

microwave asian chicken thighs

corn on the cob

plum hazelnut torte

Breyer's vanilla ice cream

I recommend the torte recipe. It came out really well. It might stand a little less baking time, though. I took it out 5 minutes early, and it probably could have come out before that. (I bought a 5 lb. container of Italian prune plums at Costco the other day. 3 1/2 lbs. more to go .)

[monavano]

Southwestern Meatloaf with succotash and smashed red potatoes. After Dinner Mint Chip ice cream from Middleburg Creamery (Kingstowne Market).

[zoramargolis]

charcoal grilled puerco Yucateco (butterflied pork tenderloin marinated in sour orange juice, achiote paste, oregano, garlic and onion)--I had planned to make cochinita pibil, but couldn't get a banana leaf at the farmers' market today, so I just grilled it.

rajas de poblanos (one of Veggie-teen's favorites)

frijoles refritos

arroz rojo

pico de gallo

Modelo Natural

[Xochitl10]

Azami did the honors tonight, and quite fabulously too.

Niku-dofu: thinly sliced Aomori beef, cotton tofu, enoki mushrooms, and shallot simmered in dashinomoto, sake, soy sauce, and mirin

Sesame rice: rice steamed with sesame oil, sake, and sesame seeds

Asabiraki "Yumeakari" ("Dream Light") sake

[monavano]

Roasted lemon rosemary chicken with braised rainbow chard (Kingstowne market), sauteed button mushrooms and leftover taters.

[zoramargolis]

Niku-dofu: thinly sliced Aomori beef, cotton tofu, enoki mushrooms, and shallot simmered in dashinomoto, sake, soy sauce, and mirin

A few questions:

1) Can you say a bit more about Aomori beef?

2) What is cotton tofu?

3) Do you make your own dashi? If not, what do you use? I ask, because I just got some matsutake mushrooms at the farmers' market, and I understand that the most frequent way of serving them is in a dashi-based soup.

[rkduggins]

Black-eyed peas simmered with smoked organic ham hocks

Baked jasmine rice

Collard, turnip and mustard greens braised with applewood smoked bacon and chicken broth

Dessert: Willie Nelson's Country Peach Cobbler ice cream from Ben and Jerry's

[Pat]

Broiled Swordfish Steak with mango chutney and fennel

[over] vinaigrette-dressed baby greens

Macaroni and Cheese

Ciabatta and olive oil

The swordfish was on sale at Whole Foods. I didn't like the looks of what was in the case and the fishmonger said she would cut me steaks from a new shipment that came in. We miscommunicated a bit and I ended up with more than I thought I was getting. It cooked up great, though. Excellent, fresh fish with a good texture. I'm thinking of recycling the leftover into a fish soup of some kind tomorrow rather than just straight reheating.

[monavano]

Dinner was reheat-your-own leftovers, but dessert was Prune Plum Upside Down Cake. Recipe from epicurious and plums from Allenberg Orchards.

[Xochitl10]

1) Can you say a bit more about Aomori beef?

Aomori is the prefecture just to the north of Iwate. It is generally very well marbled (so that the meat looks almost translucent if sliced thinly) and quite rich tasting.

2) What is cotton tofu?

Cotton tofu (momendofu in Japanese) has a rougher texture than silken tofu, and is a bit firmer. The taste is similar.

3) Do you make your own dashi? If not, what do you use? I ask, because I just got some matsutake mushrooms at the farmers' market, and I understand that the most frequent way of serving them is in a dashi-based soup.

I do not make my own dashi. I use the instant dashinomoto granules from Ajinomoto. I imagine you'd be able to find it in one of the Japanese or Asian groceries. Dashinomoto is actually quite good, and very convenient. Hardly anyone here makes dashi from scratch anymore.

[Pat]

Dinner was reheat-your-own leftovers, but dessert was Prune Plum Upside Down Cake. Recipe from epicurious and plums from Allenberg Orchards.

That looks wonderful. The recipe sounds similar to the plum hazelnut torte I made a couple of nights ago (also from epicurious). Maybe I'll try this one with some of my remaining plums for comparison.

[monavano]

That looks wonderful. The recipe sounds similar to the plum hazelnut torte I made a couple of nights ago (also from epicurious). Maybe I'll try this one with some of my remaining plums for comparison.

Just FYI, it was a tad dry at 1 hour of baking (recipe calles for 1 hr. 5 min). Next time I'll set the timer at 50 minutes and give it a check then.

[Xochitl10]

Kabocha squash simmered in a water/sugar/soy sauce/mirin simmering stock, topped with just a bit of similarly seasoned ground pork

Miso soup with tofu, enoki, and wakame

Steamed brown rice topped with some kind of relish given to us by Azami's rice farmer student. I think it may have chili, onions, and seaweed in it, and really need to find out because we're becoming addicted to it.

[zoramargolis]

Inspired by my purchase of wild pine mushrooms (matsutake) at the Dupont Market on Sunday:

Homemade dashi broth with soba noodles, matsutake mushrooms and wild-caught Carolina shrimp quenelles*

Fresh pineapple upside-down cake

2006 Di Lenardo Toh! Tocai Friuliano

*The broth and mushrooms were dubbed "too subtle" (ie. flavorless) by J and V-T. I, however, found them ethereal and delightful. The shrimp quenelles were DA BOMB.