Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Heather]

Gasp! No pie? Happy Birthday!!!

Thanks, but today is Emma's birthday, not mine. She wanted cake.

My birthday is Saturday. We will be at the All Good Festival in West By God Virginia, and God only knows what I'll be having for dinner that night.

[Dave Pressley]

By God Virgina

Aren't they all?

[bettyjoan]

This week has shown me that low-fat cooking can also be yummy...

Monday: broiled salmon with herb mustard glaze (with Dijon and whole-grain mustards, white wine, fresh rosemary and thyme, and some other goodies), served with steamed broccoli. Moist and delicious, it was a tasty new way to spruce up my old standby fish. Thanks, Giada!

Tuesday: One of my summer faves, Asian chicken thighs (marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, honey, garlic, ginger, etc.) with minted cucumber salad (marinated with sesame oil, honey, seasoned rice vinegar, shallots, and serrano peppers). Alternates between spicy and cool--yum.

Last night: An Emeril recipe. Grilled pork loins (rubbed with olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and chile powder) with grilled pineapple salsa (which had jalapenos, red onions, red bell peppers, cilantro, olive oil, and salt and pepper). I made a similar pineapple salsa with halibut recently, but grilling the fresh pineapple--as opposed to using canned--made an ENORMOUS difference in flavor. Duh, I know.

[Pat]

Tonight apparently was pork night

Iceberg salad with cucumber, tomato, yellow bell pepper, nicoise olives, and red wine vinaigrette

Pork rib chops wrapped in bacon, pan seared and then baked; caramelized red onions

Spaghetti with tomato mushroom sauce and salami

[zoramargolis]

Cold poached Royal Red shrimp

Cold soba noodles with dashi-soy-shrimp stock dipping sauce

Sugar snaps with crimini and maitake mushrooms in green curry-ginger sauce

Sliced cucumbers with rice vinegar and soy

Fresh peaches

2007 Apremont Vin de Savoie

[hillvalley]

Homemade salsa and chips

Roasted sungold cherry tomatoes and buratta

Broiled lamb loin chops with chimichurri sauce

Couscous with patty pan squash and zucchini

Belgium waffles topped with broiled blueberry-lemon thyme-yogurt sauce

Fizzy lemonade

[monavano]

Dinner last night was something I haven't made in years. It's fun, spicy and a bit indulgent; Italian Peppers.

At the Kingstowne market yesterday, Mt. Olympus Berry Farm had an amazing array of peppers. I think Zora would be in heaven! I bought a bunch of ripe, firm banana peppers because just seeing them made me think of this dish.

What you do is remove the tops of the peppers and take the core and as many seeds out as you want. Then, stuff with seasoned ground meat (salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic salt) that has been treated with about a 1/3 cup milk and worked until it's really soft. Overstuff each pepper and place in a lasagna dish. With the leftover meat, make little meatballs and throw them in too. Pour over a jar of marinara, cover with foil, and bake at 375 for about an hour. Remove the foil and HEAP LARGE QUANTITIES of shredded mozzarella on top and broil until it's melted, bubbly and browned.

[Pat]

Turkey burgers* topped with fresh mozzarella, served on onion rolls spread with tapenade

Eastern Shore corn on the cob, buttered, with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

White rice, black beans, and tomatoes with cholula

Excellent meal. The turkey requires some aggressive spicing, and this did it.

*Half breast meat and half thigh; chopped scallions; chopped cilantro, harissa, horseradish, sriracha sauce, garlic powder, salt and pepper

[zoramargolis]

Bbq'd chicken wings with homemade chipotle bbq sauce

Bbq beans

Big ol' mixed green salad with avocado, Sungold tomatoes, cuke and pepitas, roasted almond oil and balsamic vinaigrette

Queen Anne cherries

Magic Hat #9

[Anna Blume]

Sweet Italian sausage

Eggplant & zucchini gratin

Green salad

Raspberry sorbet w black & red raspberries

* * *

I based the gratin on a recipe from Deborah Madison, using three fat little white eggplants and a couple of globe zucchini which I sliced into rounds and baked first, slathered w olive oil.

First, though, I let chopped, salted young, sweet globe onions stew in olive oil for more than an hour, covered, before lifting the lid and slowly caramelizing them. Threw in a huge clove of fresh garlic (chopped) and waited till the odor wafted upward. Then squeezed plum tomatoes (canned) over the pot and made a sauce.

Built the casserole in layers w torn basil leaves and left it in fridge overnight for flavors to get their beauty rest. Baked at 350 for 45 minutes covered, then strew surface w fresh bread crumbs coated in olive oil. Grated Parm over that. Back in 375 oven for about half an hour. Man!

Only regret is that I forgot the Pugliese bread in the freezer. I'm thinking leftovers would make a great sandwich w fresh mozzarella and a generous sprinkle of red chili flakes.

[monavano]

Tonight will be baked Barilla whole grain penne pasta (it's growing on me ) with seasoned ground turkey, homemade ricotta, shredded mozzarella and marinara. Topped with Parmesan cheese.

Homemade raspberry ricotta gelato.

Overall, I think we're getting a lot of flavor, while trying to cut back on the fat, and using whole grain pasta. The gelato had the least amount of yolks and heavy cream that I could find. My only quibble about it is that it was grainy. I used a vanilla bean with seed scraped, then strained the custard through a chinois, but those little seeds came through. Next time I wont split the bean and see how the texture is.

[Heather]

Toasted Atwater sourdough, brushed with pesto and topped with sungolds & red cherry tomatoes, garlic, A L'Olivier olive oil (this is currently my favorite oil), Maldon salt. Basically a tomato salad on a slice of bread.

A few Niçoise olives.

Milk.

[goodeats]

Homemade chicken and broccoli wontons

Tostitos tortilla chips with homemade guacamole w/o onions (I know I'm losing out on flavor, but onions and I are *not* friends)

[Anna Phor]

I cooked up a batch of wheatberries on the weekend to have on hand for weeknight salads, and I was googling recipes looking for interesting things to do with them. I got home twenty minutes early and in fits of creativity, I decided I was going to do several different dishes, each involving wheatberries. So dinner tonight was Iron Chef Wheatberry Challenge:

1. a tomato/basil salad with cooked wheatberries toasted in butter with garlic and topped with a dob of fresh mozzerella.

2. wheatberries with curried wilted chard--sauteed with mustard seeds, cumin, coriander & paprika

3. with chipotle buffalo sausages, sauteed bell pepper, and feta (this one was a hit)

4. wheatberry chapatis with tillamook cheddar

5. dessert, based on cuccia, which I hasten to add I've never actually eaten--very much an "inspired by" dish which completely departed from most of the original ingredients and used what I had to hand; wheatberries cooked with cinnamon & ginger, served atop some greek yoghurt with honey, finely diced candied citrus, and a quick grating of nutmeg.

#1 was meh; I was hoping the wheatberries would get even toastier in flavor, but they didn't really. #2 was good and had great smoky flavors, #3 was excellent, #4 was surprisingly tasty, and the dessert was pretty good, too--I think it would also make a very nice breakfast dish.

[DanCole42]

Veal saltimboca with white wine demi glace

Polenta cakes with a toasted pignoli and mascarpone gremolata

My presentation sucks, I know, but this tasted AMAZING. This was the first time I used my veal stock, and let me tell you, what they say is true: it's just like in junior high when you go up to the girl who's beautiful and popular yet kind, ask her to slow dance, and she says yes.

My mascarpone gremolata looks like bleached dog doo. Next time I'm doing a quenelle instead of piping it.

[Xochitl10]

Chirashi-zushi: sushi rice mixed with some vegetables, topped with julienned thin omelette, shrimp, snow peas, and kaiware (daikon sprouts).

[Sthitch]

Homemade focaccia topped with fresh pesto, proscuitto, market purchased tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella.

[Pat]

Last night I made a crockpot pork loin coated with harissa and also the lobster mac and cheese recipe from the most recent episode of The Next Food Network Star.

The pork loin was a small end piece and dried out a bit too much. It made for nice pulled pork, though, mixed with some premade bbq sauce. My husband loved it mixed in with the macaroni and cheese.

For the most part, I followed the mac and cheese recipe, though I didn't start with fresh lobster. I bought one tail and half a dozen or so claws pre-cooked. The only part of it that didn't quite work right was the panko topping. I think it's because I cut back on the amount of cheese I put on top. (It called for 4 cups of cheddar, in addition to what was already in the sauce.) Overall, it came out pretty well. It made a lot, though, and with the lobster in it, we're going to need to eat it fairly quickly. I should have scaled it back to half a recipe.

[zoramargolis]

Panko-crusted, pan sauteed skate*

Buttered new potato nubbins

Haricots verts

Sliced peaches with vanilla ice cream and liqueuer de peche

2007 Domaine de Mirail rosé

*from A&H Seafood in Bethesda, arrived this a.m. from Boston, $5.99 a pound! Wow, impeccably fresh and absolutely delicious!

[Anna Blume]

Sliced peaches with vanilla ice cream and liqueuer de peche

Poached apricots and slivered almonds over vanilla ice cream here, after a salad w black raspberries.

Peach at lunchtime.

Blueberries and red raspberries in my bowl of cereal this morning.

Summer summer summer. Summer summer summer.

[Pat]

Baked chicken breasts

Leftover lobster macaroni and cheese

Spoonbread with fresh corn

[porcupine]

cardamom-lime coolers (cardamom and lime infused simple syrup; lime juice; club soda; a shot of gin for me)

b'steeya

beet greens sauteed in olive oil and garlic

homemade black pepper ice cream with fresh local peaches

[rkduggins]

Oven roasted buffalo strip steaks

Heirloom tomato pickles

Mashed potatoes a la Gillian Clark

[DanCole42]

Grilled marinated short ribs (boiled red wine, soy sauce, fish sauce, onion, garlic, chives, thyme, pepper)

Grilled polenta (note to self: do a much better job oiling the grill next time, or develop a taste for polenta-crusted charcoal mush)

"Italian style" chimichurri

Mascarpone quenelle

[Pat]

Leftovers last night:

pulled pork with bbq sauce

lobster macaroni and cheese

corn spoon bread

[Xochitl10]

Tuna salad soumen: tuna mixed with grated ginger and mayonnaise, set on top of very thin wheat noodles and garnished with sliced cucumber. Served cold with a dipping sauce. Not bad for a recipe off the back of the dipping sauce bottle.

[Heather]

Fresh whole trout, stuffed with thyme, wrapped in bacon, and grilled. Served with a squeeze of lemon. Might be the best fish I've had this year.

A whole early girl tomato, sliced and sprinkled with salt

Corn on the cob. This would have been much better had I not microwaved it.

Onion foccaccia from the Quail Creek folks at Penn Quarter.

Cherries and plums from Toigo orchards.

[bettyjoan]

After a few days off from cooking, I guess I was a little rusty--this dinner (seared scallops with lemon orzo) should have been a breeze, but it didn't go as planned.

The orzo was cooked risotto-style in chicken broth and white wine (and some lemon juice, dried thyme, and sauteed chopped red onions), and I guess it turned out alright. It called for fresh chives, though, which I think would have added some nice flavor--but the ones I thought I had were actually past their prime, so I didn't end up being able to use them.

The scallops were just supposed to be seasoned with salt and pepper and then seared for a few minutes on each side. Well, doofus that I am, I forgot to drizzle my stainless steel skillet with olive oil, so the first batch (at least I remembered to cook scallops in batches) completely stuck to the pan and were destroyed. I threw the second batch in my non-stick skillet, and they were fine, but they didn't get that nice browning effect AND I got distracted and overseasoned with the pepper. Grrrrrr.

Par for the course this week, unfortunately--hopefully I'll be back on my game soon!

[Pat]

curried chicken salad with mayo, golden raisins, olive spread, shallots, and chives

served on a bed of baby romaine

topped with chopped cashews

I won't mention the spoonbread and lobster mac and cheese .

[Pat]

Cobb Salad, with blue cheese for me and feta for my husband

[Xochitl10]

Pork and cucumber salad with wasabi dressing from this recipe. I used green onions and sliced ginger in place of the myouga.

Steamed rice

[Heather]

I spent all day canning and had no desire to cook, so:

Hummous and pita chips

Huge green salad with fresh herbs, cucumber, and beautifully ripe tomatoes from Tree & Leaf.

A variety of protein options for the salads: smoked tuna, cold poached salmon, hard boiled eggs, grated cheese

Apricot, plum, blueberry, & sour cherry crisp

Pimm's cup for me, milk for the kids

[Heather]

grilled whole trout stuffed with thyme

zucchini & cherry tomato gratin

sweet corn

a little cheese

sour cherry/blackberry/blueberry shortcakes

[monavano]

Cibola buffalo sliders on Bonaparte rolls

field tomatoes

bi-color corn from PA

Is this bad?

[Pat]

Cobb Salad

Breaded fried squash blossoms, stuffed with ricotta, heavy cream, chives, and dried herbs

I used panko for the breading and was pleased with the results.

[Pat]

Is this bad?

Looks good to me

[hillvalley]

Prosciutto and melon

Lamb burger stuffed with feta

Broiled squash blossoms stuffed with feta

Salad with multicolored cherry tomatoes

Oven fries

Blueberries and sage

[cjsadler]

Was watching Iron Chef America "Battle Zucchini" last night, in which Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune beat Bobby Flay. Topic of argument between Michael Ruhlman and the other two judges was whether zucchini actually has any flavor. Earlier that night, we were trying to figure out what to do with some CSA zucchini. Saw this, and had all the ingredients on hand. I thought it was going to end up being the worst thing I'd ever cooked, as zucchini and water are basically the two main ingredients (!). Not only was it edible, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit and would even make it again. I'm still not sure whether zucchini has a distinct flavor, but the nice texture it gives this soup will really surprise you.

[Xochitl10]

Broiled katsuo (bonito) kabobs

Hourenso no ohitashi -- parboiled spinach steeped in a dashi/soy sauce stock, squeezed out, and served with a poof of katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes)

Sesame tofu, served cold with soy sauce, sliced green onions, and a bit of grated ginger

Homemade cucumber pickles

Steamed rice

[bettyjoan]

Last weekend, I made a really good "homemade" pizza (I was craving it, but GOOD pizza is both hard to find in Atlanta and NOT a part of my low-fat lifestyle). I didn't make the crust, opting instead for the more efficient pre-made whole wheat variety. I topped it with marinara sauce, grated fontina and parmesan (in modest quantities, I'm afraid), sliced red onions, and some turkey tenderloin that I had previously roasted, shredded, and tossed with a bit of balsamic vinegar. After baking that for about 12-14 minutes at 425 degrees, I topped the pie with arugula leaves and some shredded prosciutto. Yum!

Last night was more roasted turkey tenderloin, teriyaki rice, and steamed broccoli. Not too creative, but healthy, tasty, and satisfying.

[Heather]

green salad with radishes, scallions, sungold tomatoes, cucumber. Lemon & olive oil dressing.

homemade pickled beets

feta cheese

hummus

sliced turkey

all of the above stuffed into whole wheat pita bread

This could go in the feeding toddlers thread...both of my kids will eat any vegetable as long as it's in a pita, burrito, or wrap.

[bettyjoan]

Last night brought meatball subs--made with homemade turkey meatballs! They were really good, with ground turkey (a mixture of 93% and 99% lean), breadcrumbs, dried basil and oregano, chopped red onions, minced garlic, milk, Egg Beaters, and some grated Parmesan. I just smooshed them with my hands, formed them into big spheres, and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for about 25 minutes. I finished them under the broiler (to brown the tops), placed them on whole-wheat hoagie rolls, and smothered them in marinara sauce (not homemade this time). Yum!

[Pat]

Pulled pork sandwiches with green chilies

Baked beans

[Pat]

Last night was

Roasted vegetable ratatouille and couscous; chiffonade of fresh basil; grated Fontina

I used baby eggplants from a vendor outside Eastern Market--the ones that are light purple and white patterned. Can't recall the name. Zucchini. Yellow onions. Plum Tomatoes. Garlic

[Heather]

crispy fried okra with sweet chili dipping sauce

larb gai with sliced cucumbers and tomatoes

sticky rice

ice cream cones

[hm212]

Pan fried chicken breasts breaded with potato chip coating.

Mashed Potatoes

Grilled Asparagus

[Xochitl10]

Inspired by the Hell-Burger thread (since we're sadly not getting there any time in the near future), we had:

Cheeseburgers

Corn on the cob, seasoned with soy sauce (which tastes remarkably like butter and salt on corn)

Giant slices of watermelon

[zoramargolis]

To celebrate my return to a (modified) bi-pedalist state, I cooked dinner last night for the first time in two weeks. I faced an almost completely empty refrigerator, so I drew inspiration from Pim's blog, which I browsed a bit yesterday, thanks to Anna Blume's link to the hibiscus syrup recipe. I found a third of a stale struan loaf, and used it to make bread soup, using a couple of onions shredded with a mandoline and stewed for more than an hour in butter on a very low flame, with some garlic added for the last half-hour, along with a half-teaspoon of porcini powder. Cubes of the stale bread were pan toasted in more butter, then combined with the onions and a mixture of chicken and veal stock from the freezer, water and dry vermouth that had been simmering together for half an hour. It all cooked together for about twenty minutes and then was pureed in the Vita-Mix blender along with a glob of creme fraiche, which had survived intact since my last shopping trip. Pim described her recipe (which I used only as inspiration and modified quite a bit) as "slow and difficult" as opposed to the much-loathed "fast and easy" trend of most modern published and broadcast recipes. But I needed to take frequent sit-down breaks anyway, and it felt good to reclaim my kitchen space. Because of the golden color of the toasted wheat bread and the addition of porcini powder, the soup was beige, not the most appealing color, and it would have benefitted from a dice of fresh veg to add some crunch or some sauteed fresh mushrooms, if I'd had any of those. I served it with a dollop of creme fraiche, some lemon zest and a sprinkling of chopped fresh herbs (thyme, tarragon and Italian parsley) that had miraculously survived in the vegetable drawer of the refrigerator. And the soup was delicious, with great depth of flavor. A welcome change from frozen food and take-out Chinese. We also had some bagged salad greens with shredded carrot and Comte, dressed with olive and toasted almond oils, lemon juice and Moscato vinegar (the pantry survived intact, thank goodness), and a 2007 Markowitsch Rosé.

[goodeats]

An Ode to Bennigan's

Booths and kitsch,

How I'll miss thee.

Walls around adorn in green.

With none nearby,

Nary a substitute,

The best I can do

Is CPK's fried foods...

[DanCole42]

Pan seared tilapia

No matter how good of a cook I become, no matter how many times I do it, I CANNOT get tilapia to not stick to the damn pan! Why why WHY???

Topped with Roman vinaigrette:

Ancient Roman spice mix (fresh ground coriander, cumin seed, celery seed, salt, pepper, oregano)

Honey

Red wine vinegar

Garum/nam pla/fish sauce

EVOO

1/8 tsp dijon mustard

Mix in mortar and pestle until smooth.

Roasted leeks "Roman Style":

Toss leeks in Ancient Roman spice mix, olive oil, and honey

Roast at 425 until lightly browned

Toss with garum

Everything was absolutely amazing. The spices were perfect and not nearly as overpowering as I thought they'd be. The sweetness of the honey balanced everything nicely without being overtly sweet in and of itself.

I think I felt a 2,000 year old tingle running through me by way of the blood of my ancestors. ROMA INVICTA!

And that's a 7.1 on the weirdness meter for me for the night...