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Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog


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I'd say I didn't put much effort into dinner last night, but the pimento cheese took a bit of work :lol:

Toasted pimento cheese sandwiches (on Costco dinner rolls)

Reheated rotisserie chicken (from Costco)

Leftover spelt farratto

This was the pimento cheese recipe I used:

http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes-wheat-8.htm

It was worth the extra effort. When I hit the tasting for seasoning point, it seemed bland, so I added more tabasco.

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Leftover chili made with chicken. I bought all the accoutrements to make chili the other day, and forgot the ground meat. So I defrosted chicken thighs and made it with that. Not bad!

I served the leftovers in high style-I made nachos supreme with it.

Oh, and some leftover reheated pizza.

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Steak salad as an entree. Corn fritters for starters. So, ya know how corn kernals pop when ya cook them? Like, making popcorn. Well, juicy, fresh corn does too! These fritters were great, but I have red splotches up my arms from frying them at too high a temp. The second batch, I lowered the heat and came away unscathed.

Corn fritters with cumin, corriander and nutmeg with sour cream and basil oil. Oww....so good!

post-138-1219878334_thumb.jpg

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Figs wrapped with proscuitto and a sage leaf, browned in a cast iron skillet in a little oil

Beefsteak tomatoes with vinaigrette, thyme, and burrata

Chicken, tomato and lettuce sandwiches with olive spread on striata baguette slices

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gin and tonic

goat curry

carrots with coconut

moong dal

rice

------------

I had doubts about the method in the curry recipe. It said to marinate the goat in an onion/garlic/ginger/yogurt paste (so far so good), then cook all that over high heat 'til almost dry, to brown everything (really?), then add more water (really?!) and let it braise and thicken. It was fantastic, very dark with well developed umami and a nice complex blend of spices.

The carrots were simply cooked with potato, various spices, and a little bit of water, then shredded coconut and a few other things were tossed in at the end. Very different from anything I've ever had; very tasty.

The moong dal would have been boring but for the complex tarka at the end (spices, browned onion, ginger, tomato...) It was supposed to be dry and pilaf-like, but I cooked the dal too quickly and they broke down. Still good, though.

All recipes from 1000 Indian Recipes by Neelam Batra.

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I had doubts about the method in the curry recipe. It said to marinate the goat in an onion/garlic/ginger/yogurt paste (so far so good), then cook all that over high heat 'til almost dry, to brown everything (really?), then add more water (really?!) and let it braise and thicken. It was fantastic...
Thanks for the report, P. Cooked, my goat was not all that special, probably because as a boneless leg, stuffed and roasted without a thermometer, it was about 10 minutes overdone. Liked Goin's suggestion for an herb salad-topping w tiny mint leaves, Italian parsley leaves, slivered oil-cured olives, lemon and drop of olive oil and the stuffing was good.

Last night I tweeked only slightly a terrific recipe from Rick Bayless's Mexican Everyday. I adore tomatillos; kind of a new thing for me. Transformed a roasted salsa verde into a dish with boneless chicken thighs. Involved halves of a sweet onion, sautéed, garlic, cilantro, fresh epazote and rthe educed salsa verde made into a braising liquid w chicken broth and a little cream. Roasted poblano chile strips. Served w a Mexican white rice tarted up a bit by adding key lime juice to the chicken broth.

Tonight: Peter Smith's leftover potato gnocchi w thyme. Already cooked, so I just sautéed them in slightly browned butter w corn-laced chicken broth. Wrapped them in slivers of sautéed lobster mushrooms (butter, olive oil, minced red onion since shallots all gone, lemon juice), a little more lemon juice, cream and Parmesan. Tossed in roasted corn.

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All Stir-fried:

TJ Chicken thighs with fresh corn off the cob from the FC Farmer's Market

+Shrimp and peas with a honey-mayonnaise sauce

+FC Farmer's Market tomatoes with scrambled eggs

= 1 happy and full baby sound asleep.

*One of these days I will remember to write down which farm stand I shopped at...

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I made some gazpacho with my last two large Cherokee purples--it is blended rather than chopped, per a discussion about true Spanish gazpacho on "Splendid Table" this afternoon. It's in a pitcher, chilling until tomorrow.

Tonight, we had:

Antipasto: FraMani Salame Rosso, stewed borlotti beans, roasted red pepper, olives, pecorino, spiced yellow tomato jam

Mushroom risotto

Braised red chard with balsamico

2004 Glatzer Zweigelt Riedencuvee, lightly chilled

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I made some gazpacho with my last two large Cherokee purples--it is blended rather than chopped, per a discussion about true Spanish gazpacho on "Splendid Table" this afternoon. It's in a pitcher, chilling until tomorrow.

Did you make it with bread as they described? The description sounded like a lovely blend of tomato bread soup and gazpacho.

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Did you make it with bread as they described? The description sounded like a lovely blend of tomato bread soup and gazpacho.

Yes. I didn't have any Italian bread, but I had some Afghan bread and it worked fine. And I do have a Vita-Mix blender, which can make a smooth puree out of plywood. Last year I made eggplant gazpacho a couple of times, after having it at Citronelle. It tasted like liquid-y baba ghanoush: I used roasted eggplant, cucumber, tomato, roasted pepper, garlic, onion, bread, olive oil, vinegar, lemon and tahini and pureed it smooth in the Vita-Mix. It's really good. Michel served it chilled, in a bowl set on ice cubes, with dehydrated beet crisps, diced cucumber and croutons as I recall. I just garnished mine with diced cuke.

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Thursday night:

Broiled tomatoes with romano and bread crumbs

Pizza on a striata baguette

I made a quick tomato sauce for the base of the pizza and topped that with a mix of caramelized onion slices, frizzled proscuitto, fried sage, thyme, shredded chicken, and a splash of dry vermouth. On top of that, I put two quarters of a ball of burrata on each of the pieces and sort of flattened them down, drizzled olive oil over the top and sprinkled on some red pepper flakes. That went into a 400F oven for 10-12 minutes.

Friday night:

Burrata with cherries, watercress and pepper

Lamb rib chops

Buttered corn on the cob

The lamb was from this Emeril recipe.

Last night:

Pimento cheese quesadilla

Baked sweet potato

Baked chicken thighs with Asian-peanut marinade, served over soba noodles

Roasted shiitakes, tomatoes, and onions

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Some yummy dinners before and after my trip to Texas:

* Shrimp and grits with red and green bell peppers, corn, canadian bacon, green onions, and cheddar cheese.

* Shrimp quesadillas with onions, corn, garlic, tomatoes, jalapenos, lemon juice and cilantro.

* Gnocchi (not homemade, sadly) with basil pesto and ricotta cheese.

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frisee and tomato salad; bottled vinaigrette

panko crusted chicken thighs and artichoke hearts with mushroom cream sauce

I've been using panko a lot more for breading lately, and I don't have as much trouble with the breading separating from the food while it's cooking as I do with conventional bread crumbs. I hadn't made breaded artichoke hearts in a long time, but I had extra breading materials so I threw a few breaded artichoke hearts in with the chicken. My husband was disappointed when he went for seconds of the chicken and there weren't any artichokes left.

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Last night was chicken thighs with creamy spinach and shallots (from Real Simple magazine). The chicken was just okay (the skin could have been a little crispier, not sure why it wasn't), but the spinach was awesome--first I sauteed the shallots in some of the leftover chicken oil/fat, then I added a bit of dry Chardonnay and some sour cream, and then I briefly wilted the spinach. It gave the normally ho-hum greens some flavor kick.

I also made key lime cupcakes to send with my fiance (still weird to say that) to work--YUM! Homemade cream cheese icing, too. I'm slowly getting over my fear of baking.

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Last night was broiled salmon and tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and fresh thyme. Glad I didn't pay attention to the recipe's time guidelines--it said to cook the salmon for 8-10 minutes, but it took almost 20 in my oven!

Delicious, though...followed up with a Bruster's milkshake!

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Thursday

rustic bread (Marvelous Market)

pan-fried blackened sirloin steak

braised kale

stovetop macaroni and cheese

Friday

rustic bread

steak salad (leftover sliced steak, romaine, yellow tomato, sliced button mushrooms, feta, vinaigrette)

I wasn't sure what I was making when I started what turned out to be the macaroni and cheese. While i boiled a package of tubetti, I sliced some cheddar thinly. Dumped the cheese and a can of evaporated milk into the pan with the drained pasta. At that point, I realized I'd combined ingredients in a way that precluded making a sauce, so I thickened the mixture by mixing in some fine dried bread crumbs. The bread crumbs worked well to hold it all together.

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Spaghetti with fresh tomato, smoked eggplant, green and yellow zucchini*

Garlic toast

Peach pie revisited

2006 Collegiata Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

*I've been watching Lydia Bastianich on tv recently, and absorbing how she makes pasta sauces--"caramelizing in the hot spot" is one of her favorite techniques. And utilizing another of her recommendations, I "stumped the chumps" when they were unable to identify the secret ingredient: anchovies.

The eggplant was smoked in the Weber kettle last night while I cooked cedar planked salmon.

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Me, I'm back on a Mexican Everyday kick, trying different ways to use fresh epazote and things in market or fridge, admiring Rick Bayless from afar.

A few days ago, I put together a salad for dinner of Boston lettuce, mango, perfectly ripe avocado, crumbled bacon and Blue Moo cheese, dressed with an amazing blend of toasted pumpkin seeds, key lime juice, sautéed green chile pepper (tiny, blistering alone) and softened garlic clove w the olive oil used to cook the latter two. More toasted seeds sprinkled on top. Brilliant.

Tonight after all the rain and wind: a soup of potatoes, corn, garlic, diced roasted poblano, epazote, and a pile of mixed mushrooms that I chose to sautée before adding them to the pot. A little cream at end and cilantro. Toasted Struan.

Dessert: oven-roasted figs w cinnamon, honey, orange and cardamom over a little vanilla ice cream. Strewn w amazing red raspberries from Sand Hill Farm.

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Parmesan flatbread

Spaghetti and meat sauce

The spaghetti was half whole wheat and half regular. The sauce was my standard meat sauce, which I finally wrote down so I could remember what I do. Nothing extraordinary, but it makes a fairly quick, good-tasting sauce. The recipe for the flatbread called for running it through a pasta machine, which was a bit tricky but produced great results.

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"tapas" meal (semi-leftover):

Patatas bravas--fingerling potatoes stewed with mini eggplants, tomato, garlic, poblano and pimenton

Borlotti beans

FraMani salame rosso

P'tit Basque

Spiced tomato marmalade

Fresh corn polenta

Roasted beet, orange, avocado, cuke and Vidalia onion salad with fresh dill

Tomato-garlic toast

2004 Cervoles

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"tapas" meal (semi-leftover):
Sort of did the same thing given the way my Sunday goes when I begin work early and don't have time for lunch until after 2 or 2:30. So, beginning at 3:50 PM waiting for the bus:

McChicken sandwich from the $1 menu

Yellow watermelon salad w Israeli feta, red onion & mint

Last of the watermelon, plain

Arugula salad w shaved Parmesan, golden and red beets

Scrambled duck egg on buttered Struan toast

2 grapes

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Banana peppers and stuffing tomatoes stuffed with lamb, oregano and thyme sausage baked in homemade tomato sauce. Finished with a layer of Blue Ridge Dairy mozzarella and a few minutes under the broiler.

Heirloom tomato, basil, and mozzarella

Wish I had splurged and bought some berries yesterday :lol:

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Who/where are your duck eggs from?
Pets of someone I know.

Cf. sign displayed by Tom of Waterview who occupies very little space in the parking lot of Dupont Circle's farmers market, squeezed right between Clear Springs Creamery on one side of the fence and Buster's within the parking lot. He promises duck eggs for sale some time in the fall, a season only two weeks away no matter how much hillvalley wishes it were not so.

* * *

Dinner tonight:

Pork chops w pan-sautéed peaches, pimenton and sherry vinegar-glaze

Noodle pilaf

Pole beans w basil and lemon butter

Vanilla ice cream w figs and raspberries

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