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Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog


JPW

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Nice butt, Bill. :lol:

We're home from the beach and ready for some decent food. Tonight:

Hot dogs & corn on the grill

Cole slaw with homemade buttermilk dill dressing

Potato salad

Cold beer ;)

Watermelon

Berry shortcakes

Popsicles while watching the Rockville fireworks. :P Happy Independence Day!

Edited by Heather
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Every once in a while, I do a blow-out Mexican meal. I owed someone a fabulous meal in return for one she cooked for us, and since my daughter is in camp, I had the time to devote to preparation.

Botanas:

Verduras en escabeche (marinated carrots, onions, celery, garlic cloves, cauliflower florets and jalapenos), guacamole and chips, salted pepitas

Prosecco- Zardetto

Ensalada:

Jicama, naranjo, cebolla roja, confit y chicharron de pato (jicama, orange and red onion salad with duck confit and cracklings).

Sparkling rose- 2004 Cremant de Loire Lambert

Tamales:

Uchepas con huitlacoche y hongos, mole verde (fresh corn tamales filled with corn fungus and oyster mushroom, green mole).

2003 Falanghina dei Feudi di San Gregorio

Plato:

Barbacoa de cabrito (leg of young goat marinated in citrus adobo, wrapped in banana leaf with avocado leaves and slow-roasted over charcoal), frijoles refritos, arroz con asafran (refried beans and saffron rice).

2002 Hartford Zinfandel, Russian River Vinyard

2001 Seghesio Zinfandel, Home Ranch

Postre:

Coconut flan, mango-tequila salsa, papaya-lime sorbet

2001 Bonny Doon Muscat, Vin de Glaciere

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Every once in a while, I do a blow-out Mexican meal. I owed someone a fabulous meal in return for one she cooked for us, and since my daughter is in camp, I had the time to devote to preparation.

Botanas:

Verduras en escabeche (marinated carrots, onions, celery, garlic cloves, cauliflower florets and jalapenos), guacamole and chips, salted pepitas

Prosecco- Zardetto

Ensalada:

Jicama, naranjo, cebolla roja, confit y chicharron de pato (jicama, orange and red onion salad with duck confit and cracklings).

Sparkling rose- 2004 Cremant de Loire Lambert

Tamales:

Uchepas con huitlacoche y hongos, mole verde (fresh corn tamales filled with corn fungus and oyster mushroom, green mole).

2003 Falanghina dei Feudi di San Gregorio

Plato:

Barbacoa de cabrito (leg of young goat marinated in citrus adobo, wrapped in banana leaf with avocado leaves and slow-roasted over charcoal), frijoles refritos, arroz con asafran (refried beans and saffron rice).

2002 Hartford Zinfandel, Russian River Vinyard

2001 Seghesio Zinfandel, Home Ranch

Postre:

Coconut flan, mango-tequila salsa, papaya-lime sorbet

2001 Bonny Doon Muscat, Vin de Glaciere

Does anyone know where I can find an emoticon with motion that's salivating with gusto?
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cjsadler and I made a Father's Day dinner for his dad and family a few weeks ago. I should have posted these images then but I just uploaded the images from my camera this weekend. :lol:

Our appetizer was homemade mozarella with a sundried tomato pesto.

mozzarella9bv.jpg

Asparagus and ricotta ravioli with a sweet pea coulis was the first course.

ravioli2dj.jpg

The main course was veal scallopini with a lemon cream sauce and broccoli rabe.

veal3ov.jpg

And finally -- dessert...carrot cake roulade with caramel and candied pecans. The recipe is from the Kinkead's cookbook. It took 4 attempts to get this cake right but it was worth it! After the first try, we realized the recipe was a bit off and called for way too much flour.

carrotcake9gp.jpg

cjsadler was in charge of the apps and the main course. I did the first course and dessert.

Binni

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Homemade as in your home? That's pretty impressive. How does one make their own mozarella?

Homemade mozarella is easy once you get the hang of it (and the results are great). I can post some details later (I don't remember exactly what temperature guidelines I use and need to consult my 'notes'). All that's required is rennet (I get mine at Wegman's), citric acid and a thermometer. Or if there's ever something along the lines of the shindig at Mike's I'd be happy to show you how (I'd host something, but there's no room in my tiny DC condo).

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Watermelon and feta salad. The combo of watermelon and feta, which I had for the first time last summer, is surprisingly great. Try it. Saw some recipe in Gourmet that used pickled rind on top too, so I added that.

watermelonsalad7er.jpg

Then some penne with pesto (I finally was able to get my basil to grow)

And a bing cherry phyllo roll for dessert. We picked 18 pounds (!) of cherries at Cherries on Top in Flint Hill and I'm still using them up.

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Steak au Poivre with boiled potatoes in creme fraiche.

Started out with an aperitif of Lillet and lemon before getting down to business on the steak.

Did the steak following the recipe in The Les Halles Cookbook, with very good results using a decent-enough NY Strip from Harris Teeter. Very nice crunchy crust of pepper. Need to learn to settle down and let my sauces reduce more, though. No matter, it was all good. For the side, I boiled cubed white potatoes, then drained and folded in creme fraiche, chives, a little nutmeg, and some lemon zest, then finished with white truffle oil. Last night at Firefly I was standing there by the bar, smelling somebodies truffled fries for 20 minutes, so something was getting truffled tonight! :wub: These proved a good counterpoint to the peppery steak.

Served with a 2001 Columbia Crest 'Grand Estates' Syrah, which was a name that stuck out in my mind following my review and careful annotation of the $15 wine thread, which I then neglected to sync to my PDA before I left to go grocery shopping. It did well.

Having not thought to pick up something at the store, dessert consisted of Eagle Rare 10 year old bourbon, and some Lindt balls, which for some reason I DID grab. No digital camera, so no photo: picture a steak and some potatoes with chives, and not-entirely-reduced (but most of the way there) pepper/cognac sauce, and you're at least halfway there. :P

Edited by shogun
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Pre-dinner snack of sauteed chicken liver, s&p, little bit of booze mashed and smeared on toast.

Beet salad with olive oil, champagne vinegar, goat cheese and basil chiffonade

Roast chicken stuffed with tarragon and garlic cloves

Sweet corn

Humbolt Fog with an indifferent baguette

Very nice Macon-Fuisse ('01, name escapes me) with dinner

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Last Night: Just the usual baby back ribs grilled to perfection -- found the ideal rub-- it's called Gunpowder Pig Rub. I think Jacques uses it for his butt. The piece de la resistance was the first fresh fruit tart of the summer

Edited to say @#$%! Can someone pm me and tell me how to add a photo to a post. pullhair.gif

Thanks.

post-45-1121087964.jpg

Edited by FunnyJohn
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For dinner tonight, I'm making:

Tuna poke salad w/ mango pineapple salsa

Greek cucumber-tomato salad

Grilled dry-aged rib eye steak

Sauteed spinach and mushrooms w/ garlic

Rice (eh, the 888 should give the reasoning away...hee hee)

Chocolate foundue w/ strawberries and bananas

I'm debating on the tuna - should I make it poke style or make it more ceviche style. I like the flavors of the poke - soy sauce, sesame oil and a pinch of chile fakes but the ceviche is cool, too. Hmm.

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Friday - Dinner was at Firefly with friends

Saturday - I made cjsadler a long overdue birthday dinner. The first course was caramelized apples and gruyere on wild rice-walnut-orange bread from the Golden Door Cooks Light and Easy.

sandwiches29ge.jpg

The main course was salmon with a shrimp ragout from the Kinkead's cookbook.

salmon4na.jpg

A cheese plate was next. A couple of cheddars, gruyere, and a blue cheese.

cheeseplate9mx.jpg

And dessert was blueberry white chocolate cheesecakes from from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate. Sorry, bad picture - too bright.

cheesecakenoadjustments2ko.jpg

We shared a bottle of Cotes du Rhone. It went really well with the salmon.

wine7fd.jpg

Sunday - Dinner with friends

Apps were roasted peppers with leftover walnut-orange bread. I don't have pictures of the rest of the meal but we had gnocchi with tomato sauce, chicken milanese, and ricotta mousse with fresh berries and chocolate-orange-walnut biscotti for dessert.

roastedpeppers1fd.jpg

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I need to cook dinner for a vegan in a few weeks, so I've been doing some experimenting.

Been trying to copy Mandalay's ginger salad and got a little closer, but not quite there yet.

Then, fresh corn polenta* with roasted mushrooms and red pepper puree.

freshpolenta6qj.jpg

*I can't eat enough of corn this way. The simple version, from J. Pepin is just to puree up corn in a blender (add a little water if needed) and then cook it for a minute or so. The natural cornstarch thickens it up.

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I have an old-style gadget that I can use to scrape/shred corn off the cob and it makes instant creamed corn in less than the time it would take to cut the kernels off the cobs. I cooked the corn puree with some sweet butter and a little bit of heavy cream, a teaspoon of sugar and a dash of salt. It was incredible. After dinner, I found one of my dinner guests in the kitchen, using her finger as a spatula to get the last bits left in the saucepan the corn had cooked in.

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I have one of those and found it completely useless. It tore up the kernels and that was when I could get it to work. I'm going to stick with my knife.

When I finally got the kernels off I made a roasted corn and avocado salad with a cilantro lime vinaigrette. That went with a very rare flat iron and garlic fries. (Damn you Bilrus for bringing them into my world :P ) Dessert was broiled blueberries.

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Dinner on Sunday was a barley risotto with fava beans from Paula Wolfert's Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. We had caramelized carrots and onions with the risotto. Yummy meal though the picture doesn't do it justice.

barleyrisotto443ew.jpg

Dessert was a blueberry lemon (well, orange, because I ran out of lemons) ricotta souffle from Peter Berley's Fresh Food Fast. It was good but we're not souffle fans (this confirmed that fact). We had a few bites and then finished up the blueberry pudding cake from the night before.

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Grilled tuna steaks.

Mango salad

Corn on the cob (still not quite at its best)

The crappy wine mentioned here. Quickly replaced by a glass from an already opend bottle of Picpoul.

Peanut had some mango and some corn.

And, of course, some Joe's O's

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Omaha strip steaks (xmas gift) and fresh corn that was soooo super sweet! Joe, you need to go to the stand on Georgia Ave just after RT. 28 and you will not be disappointed  :P

Hmmmm.

Gives me an excuse to go to the driving range, Olney Golf Park, almost next door.

(FWIW - easily the best golf practice facility in the area)

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Corn on the cob (still not quite at its best)

You need to find a new source because I had some amazing ears this weekend. Roasted them up and made a corn and avocado salad with a lime cilantro dressing. I ate it before a big bowl of very garlicky spaghettini with meat sauce.

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Fresh corn sauteed with various squash, butter, S&P, fresh basil and a little cream and fresh tomato added with the heat off. Topped with shrimp and more basil. Macon-Fuisse to drink. Fire Fly Farms Mountain Top Blue with Atwater walnut raisin bread for dessert.

Edited by Heather
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Looks good, Bill.

After Sunday's bacchanalia we just had my favorite pasta -- penne with kale and sausage. Inspired by Chef Power, I also made a simple tomato salad with a lime and olive oil dressing and a little s +p.

Wine was "Les Viguiers", Cave de Rasteau coop, CdRhone, 2003. While drinkable, this wine showed how problematic the 2003 vintage is going to be for southern French wines -- very hot and thin -- not the best vinatage for this wine.

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Pan-fried (too hot to grill) Bison ribeye (from Cibola Farms) with garlic and paprika.

Squash blossoms stuffed with basil and piave vecchio (and one with ants, but I ate them anyway).

Arugula and Mustard salad.

Ginger-lime sorbet and a white nectarine for dessert.

Had Widmer Hefewizen along with it.

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Chicken Tikka with Raita and Garlic Naan.

The naan was a frozen one from Trader Joe's and was damn good - better than I've had in a lot of Indian restaurants. Can't quite say that about the the chicken, but it wasn't bad.

tikka0lx.jpg

Edited by bilrus
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Sometimes you get a craving. Sometimes it is for something that you know you shouldn't have. Sometimes it is something you know your imaginary internet food friends would disapprove of.

Today it was a Big Mac.

But it is a summer Sunday and you have a grill. So what do you do?

You make your own Big Mac. But this one is so good you name it after yourself and call it a "bigrus".

Your wife makes fun of you until she tastes it.

bigrus19lt.jpg

bigrus22vj.jpg

Edited by bilrus
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Bill that looks delicious.

Last night:

Skirt steak and chicken breasts marinated in olive oil, lime juice ground cumin & coriander, chile powder and garlic. Grilled and served with hot tortillas.

Avocado salsa.

White and yellow corn on the cob with lime/chile butter.

Tomato salad (7 varieties, very pretty) lightly dressed with olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt & pepper, and basil that Mrs B brought me on Saturday.

Guests brought a chocolate cake, so we did not grill the peaches from the market.

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Bill that looks delicious.

Last night:

Skirt steak and chicken breasts marinated in olive oil, lime juice ground cumin & coriander, chile powder and garlic.  Grilled and served with hot tortillas.

Avocado salsa.

White and yellow corn on the cob with lime/chile butter.

Tomato salad (7 varieties, very pretty) lightly dressed with olive oil, champagne vinegar, salt & pepper, and basil that Mrs B brought me on Saturday.

Guests brought a chocolate cake, so we did not grill the peaches from the market.

Mexican is far and away my favorite "summertime, guests are coming and I want to grill" cuisine. It is easy, flavorful and almost everyone likes it.

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Mexican is far and away my favorite "summertime, guests are coming and I want to grill" cuisine.  It is easy, flavorful and almost everyone likes it.

Indeed, Saturday was beef fajitas with my sister and nephew.

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Charcoal grilled chicken marinated in lemon, rosemary and roasted garlic

Fresh cranberry beans stewed with aromatic vegetables

New Morning Silver Queen corn off-the-cob, stewed in sweet butter

Charcoal-grilled broccolini, lemon olive oil

Dessert: roasted sweet cherries and fresh figs, drizzled with macadamia oil, honey, balsamic vinegar, marsala wine and lemon zest, served with sweetened creme fraiche

Kir-Yianni Akakies rose

The roasted fruit compote was da bomb--one of the best things I've ever made. Before he tasted it, my husband looked at it and accused me of trying to feed him beets for dessert.

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