Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[Pat]

Tonight was comfort food for a crisp fall night:

Mixed green salad with ranch dressing

Broiled ribeye with coffee rub; sauteed mushrooms and beef gravy

Mashed turnips and potatoes

Corn with black pepper and butter

The mushrooms were half white button and half chanterelle (all from Costco). The gravy was the leftover braising liquid from short ribs I made several days ago. I'm glad I held onto that. It made a fantastic accompaniment to the steak...and everything else on the plate. The ribeye was from Costco and had been in the freezer quite a few months. Vacuum sealing really works well to keep meat fresh in the freezer. I used the coffee rub because I had it and there's a coffee porter in the liquid for the gravy.

The corn was from the stock of canned goods I keep on hand and needed to be rotated out. Canned vegetables are a lot better than they used to be, though they're still my third choice after fresh and frozen. Turnips were from Southern Maryland via one of the outside producers at Eastern Market. (Sunnyside?)

[monavano]

Mr. MV and I spent a long weekend in Cape May, NJ, the former lima bean capital of the US. Once, West Cape May was flush with lima beans, and was the primary supplier to Hanover Foods. The lima bean industry headed west to CA, but Cape May remained in love with its lima beans. Coincidentally, the annual Lima Bean Festival was last Saturday, and I sampled wonderful soup and chili made with the beans. It got me to thinking-how about I make a pasta fagiole with lima beans? So, I bought a bunch of really large lima beans at the festival, and made this.

The beans, as I mentioned, are huge. The bigger, the creamier.

I didn't want to take a blender to any of these huge beauties in order to thicken the soup, so I added a can of cannelini beans and pureed half of them with stock to thicken and add creaminess.

[rkduggins]

Tri-tip steaks, pan seared and finished in a hot oven with red wine pan sauce

Roasted acorn squash with brown sugar glaze

Cajun baked rice

Applesauce snack cake

[KMango]

Mr. MV and I spent a long weekend in Cape May, NJ, the former lima bean capital of the US. Once, West Cape May was flush with lima beans, and was the primary supplier to Hanover Foods. The lima bean industry headed west to CA, but Cape May remained in love with its lima beans. Coincidentally, the annual Lima Bean Festival was last Saturday, and I sampled wonderful soup and chili made with the beans. It got me to thinking-how about I make a pasta fagiole with lima beans? So, I bought a bunch of really large lima beans at the festival, and made this.

The beans, as I mentioned, are huge. The bigger, the creamier.

I didn't want to take a blender to any of these huge beauties in order to thicken the soup, so I added a can of cannelini beans and pureed half of them with stock to thicken and add creaminess.

Beautiful picture, fantastic story. Thanks for posting this.

(And for honoring those gorgeous legumes by saving the immersion blender for another day.)

[Heather]

Sauteed salmon with lemon-dill cream

Rösti

Green salad

My children, who have happily eaten salmon since they were old enough to gum it, have decided that they don't like it now. I swear they do this on purpose...

[zoramargolis]

roasted tomato and eggplant soup

herb-brined Eco-Friendly chicken oven roasted on a bed of kabocha squash slices

green beans with roasted garlic and lemon

basmati rice

TJ's dark chocolate-covered almonds with turbinado sugar and sea salt

2006 Dom. Robert Serol Cote Roannaise Les Vielles Vignes

[Anna Blume]

Winter squash soup

Maize bread lightly toasted

Trite but perfect salad: Tree & Leaf's beautiful arugula, Country Pleasure's figs, New Morning's raspberries and Firefly's Allegheny chevre (Walnuts, Dijon & olive oil from Trader Joe's, Sherry wine vinegar from A&H Seafood, Bethesda. Salt from Whole Foods. Black pepper, who knows)

[Pat]

Fish tacos

Refried beans (Rancho Gordo pinto beans)

[bookluvingbabe]

Sauteed salmon with lemon-dill cream

Rösti

Green salad

My children, who have happily eaten salmon since they were old enough to gum it, have decided that they don't like it now. I swear they do this on purpose...

Perhaps they are league with my toddler, who announced last night that he didn't like regular potatoes anymore.

Dinner was roasted chicken, onions, sweet potatoes and those potatoes from Next-Step that Dean is obsessed with. Nothing special but good for a chilly, wet evening.

[Pat]

Culture clash menu!

Medjool dates stuffed with French triple creme cheese

Nachos with refried beans, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes, and cheddar

Fresh Ahi tuna salad; chopped romaine, celery, and parsley; sesame-soy-ginger-sake vinaigrette

Mayhe I should have planned some palate cleansers

[monavano]

Culture clash menu!

Medjool dates stuffed with French triple creme cheese

Nachos with refried beans, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes, and cheddar

Fresh Ahi tuna salad; chopped romaine, celery, and parsley; sesame-soy-ginger-sake vinaigrette

Mayhe I should have planned some palate cleansers

Aren't leftovers grand?

Tonight was center cut pork chops (cumin, paprika) smothered with onions and a sauce of sherry vinegar and cherry preserves, fresh thyme.

Green beans with butter and lemon.

Baked yam with lots of the sauce on top.

[leleboo]

No time tonight.

Pan-fried(ish) buffalo chicken sausages by Al Fresco*

Homemade mustard-vinegar cole slaw with crumbled Gorgonzola

Garlic bread

*Al Fresco sausages are not only on sale at my Harris Teeter right now, but are carrying stickers indicating the company's participationin the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in Boston. Given my personal history, I'm a sucker for a pink ribbon, and I've always found these sausages to be a good go-to in a pinch anyway, so I stocked up on the flavors I could find. Buffalo is surprisingly good, particularly with the cole-slaw riff on blue-cheese dip.

[qwertyy]

Tonight I had a couch diplomacy session with a dear friend after a too-long hiatus from our regular chat session. We usually just have appetizers and wine, or order pizza, so...

White bean and rosemary dip

Pita chips, red peppers, and carrots for dippin'

Olives

Poached shrimp

Cocktail sauce (with a hell-ton of horseradish)

Some random verdejo(s)

Drambouie

Fire in the fireplace (yay!!!)

[lperry]

I'm going to miss tomato season.

Tarte à la moutarde with a mixed green salad.

2003 Gaetano D'Aquino Chianti Riserva. A cheapie from Trader Joe's, but it is DOCG, and tasted pretty good.

I made the tart with an olive oil crust, and it had a sandy texture but excellent flavor. I'll try water as the liquid next time instead of milk.

[Pat]

Aren't leftovers grand?

I love having leftovers and, especially, turning them into something else. It's a fine balancing act, though, to make enough the first time to have some left for another meal or two, yet not have so much left that it's not possible to eat them all without them being the only food for days and days. I get bored with too much of the same thing. I'm sad, though, when I prepare something in small quantities and it's all gone after the initial meal. In fact, particularly with certain types of foods, I intend to generate leftovers, since that's what my husband takes to work for lunch.

When I see food safety experts say leftovers should only be kept 24-48 hours, I really wonder how much people really adhere to this. I'd be tossing out food left and right if I only kept leftovers that short a time.

[Heather]

Chili with pinto beans, served over rice

condiments: grated cheddar, sour cream, cilantro, hot sauce, chopped onion, pickled jalapeno slices, crushed tortilla chips

It really hit the spot on a raw day.

[lperry]

Porcini and crimini red wine risotto

Roasted broccoli with pecorino romano cheese

The remains of the chianti from last night

[leleboo]

I'm sad, though, when I prepare something in small quantities and it's all gone after the initial meal. In fact, particularly with certain types of foods, I intend to generate leftovers, since that's what my husband takes to work for lunch.

Those words could have come directly out of my own head! We always had leftovers around growing up (family of three, mom definitely cooked for at least four) with the idea that there was always something to nosh on in the fridge. My dad used to claim -- actually, still claims -- that his favorite meal is potluck leftovers. My mom could work wonders with leftover pasta in particular, always turning it into something new (and often more interesting than the first go-around).

I take leftover vegetable sides to work for lunch almost exclusively; my husband has less success taking leftovers this semester as his class schedule leaves him almost no time for lunch and the lack of time means he doesn't have access to a fridge or a microwave. In past semesters he's been able to take advantage of both, either at the law library or the journal office. So this term it seems we have to suck it up and deal with him buying lunch again (which I secretly think he enjoys, given that it allows him a return to his horrible student-days dietary habits; it's a pretty good bet that, on any given day, lunch for him will comprise pizza, fries, and/or chicken tenders, with not a vegetable in sight unless you count tomato sauce...)

[monavano]

I love having leftovers and, especially, turning them into something else. It's a fine balancing act, though, to make enough the first time to have some left for another meal or two, yet not have so much left that it's not possible to eat them all without them being the only food for days and days. I get bored with too much of the same thing. I'm sad, though, when I prepare something in small quantities and it's all gone after the initial meal. In fact, particularly with certain types of foods, I intend to generate leftovers, since that's what my husband takes to work for lunch.

When I see food safety experts say leftovers should only be kept 24-48 hours, I really wonder how much people really adhere to this. I'd be tossing out food left and right if I only kept leftovers that short a time.

Mr. MV takes leftovers to work too. Sometimes, a hot lunch is just what you need in the middle of the day.

I keep leftovers more than 2 days-more like the better part of the week.

Last night was a "kitchen sink" pasta dish. Barilla whole wheat penne with cubed boneless, skinless chicken breasts, onion, garlic, white wine, chicken stock, chopped frozen spinach, a can of whole tomatoes, artichokes, canellini beans, a pinch of Italian seasoning and LOTS of Parmesan cheese.

[Pat]

Tonight was

Leftover cream of mushroom soup

Chicken Caesar salad

I had some wonderful rich bean broth (about 1/2 cup) left after making Rancho Gordo pintos for refried beans the other night, so I incorporated the remaining broth into the leftover soup. Worked nicely.

The Caesar recipe was adapted from the Michael Field's Cooking School Cookbook. I hadn't made this in a long time, and I forgot how labor intensive it is. (Or, that is, it's always more work than I remember it being.) I don't usually add chicken, but I was looking for this to be a main dish, so I did. The recipe calls for anchovies in the salad but not in the dressing. I used a few in the salad and a few in the dressing, instead. (I didn't use the total amount called for, as I recall it being anchovy overkill.)

My husband loves Caesar salad and has a very hard time finding a restaurant that makes it well, so I earned big points with this .

[zoramargolis]

osso buco with gremolata

kabocha squash risotto milanese

green beans with lemon

honeycrisp apple/bartlett pear

2006 Banfi chianti classico

[leleboo]

osso buco with gremolata

kabocha squash risotto milanese

green beans with lemon

honeycrisp apple/bartlett pear

2006 Banfi chianti Classico

I had gremolata (and green beans) tonight too! With braised short ribs. For which, by the way, Zora, I took your advice on really setting the oven low (yes, I read the *entire* braising thread the other day when work was so stressful I couldn't deal...oy) and they were the best ever. Woohoo.

[zoramargolis]

I had gremolata (and green beans) tonight too! With braised short ribs. For which, by the way, Zora, I took your advice on really setting the oven low (yes, I read the *entire* braising thread the other day when work was so stressful I couldn't deal...oy) and they were the best ever. Woohoo.

congrats. low and slow is the way to go.

[leleboo]

congrats. low and slow is the way to go.

I have always tried to adhere to that (with my Rosh Hashanah brisket, I set the oven at least 50 degrees lower than my mom used to, because I think hers was too high). But I had so much time with these ribs--which I never have--that I did them really really low. Amazing. Thanks!

[zoramargolis]

I have always tried to adhere to that (with my Rosh Hashanah brisket, I set the oven at least 50 degrees lower than my mom used to, because I think hers was too high). But I had so much time with these ribs--which I never have--that I did them really really low. Amazing. Thanks!

try roasting fish in a 200-220 degree oven, just with olive oil, salt and pepper. a fairly thick filet of salmon can take 20 minutes to half an hour (or more), but it is SO worth it.

[monavano]

With the rainy, chilly weather, I've been holed up in my kitchen cooking and baking like a whirling dervish. I started chicken soup yesterday and allowed it to cool overnight before scraping some fat off the top. I knew I was going to make "escarole soup" as soon as I spied gorgeous, huge heads of tat soi and Spring Valley (at the Alexandria market). I've subbed tat soi for escarole before, and I find that I like its deep taste even better.

The meatballs were made from ground pork with a little seasoning and grated parmesan.

The soup also has shreds of chicken that came off of the wings and spine.

[zoramargolis]

today is going to be ribolitta day atta mya house-a.

[Flavortown]

Butternut Squash Risotto: diced onion, roasted butternut (both diced and pureed), parmagiano, and toasted squash seeds.

[Pat]

Butternut Squash Risotto: diced onion, roasted butternut (both diced and pureed), parmagiano, and toasted squash seeds.

That is beautiful. At first I thought the squash seeds were beans. Nice utilization of all the edible parts of the squash.

[lperry]

An early dinner of:

Mushroom, onion, broccoli, and sharp cheddar quiche with some mustard and hot sauce worked into the custard

Sauteed zucchini (perhaps the last from the garden) with butter and nutmeg

Athena Nightingale red

Another olive oil piecrust, and I'm getting much happier with the results. I'm with Monavano - anything to have the oven on today. The wine is nice for introducing reds to people who think they don't like reds.

[Flavortown]

That is beautiful. At first I thought the squash seeds were beans. Nice utilization of all the edible parts of the squash.

Thanks. Oddly enough, the seeds were probably the best part. Salty (boiled them in salted water prior to roasting), crispy, and sort of nutty, they really helped to make the dish taste savory overall, staving off a rampage of butternut sweetness.

[leleboo]

a rampage of butternut sweetness.

...would be a great name for a band.

(It looked lovely and I bet it tasted even better.)

[ema]

Grandmart on Little River Turnpikes now sells live dungeness crab. They will even cut it up for you if you ask. Here is my attempt at making ginger scallion crab.

[Anna Blume]

GennaroE: Gorgeous! Out of curiosity, I'd love to hear what your friends on campus think about your cooking. Anyone else with your skills, love of food, etc.?

Ramona: Someone at the market yesterday was searching for escarole and after assessing the inventory, we agreed either chard or Asian greens was the way to go. I think they headed for the latter since there is that little "bite" in the flavor.

Zora: sigh.

My dinner: Goose ragout over grilled pumpkin pappardelle. Broccoli purchased that morning squeezed w lime. Pinotevil. Dried apple slices, herbal tea and a jam-centered cookie from Atwater.

Not sure why The Copper Pot calls the ragu a ragout unless its president agrees with Trabocchi that "French" and "Italian" are not antithetical to one another in the kitchen.

Seems like we're all thinking along similar lines. I bought beef soup bones from Smith Meadows to make either a noodle or bean and greens-rich soup later in the week, and some honey mushrooms for risotto.

[monavano]

GenarroE-did you recenty watch Lidia B. make this? I watched her show on PBS recently, and she made this exact dish, down to the seeds. I will have to give it a try.

ema- thanks for the tip on crab. Do they cook it and then cut it up for you? How did you prepare it-live or dispatched at the store?

[Flavortown]

GennaroE: Gorgeous! Out of curiosity, I'd love to hear what your friends on campus think about your cooking. Anyone else with your skills, love of food, etc.?

The people on my floor walk into the kitchen every time I cook to tell me how good it smells, haha. The other night they roped me into cooking dinner for the floor. I'd gladly do stuff like that more often (in fact, I used to do a weekly dinner for all my friends when everybody lived on campus last year), but nine times out of ten people don't put in the money they owe for all the ingredients, so I wind up getting gypped. You'd think $3 for a meal would be a bargain...but oh well.

GenarroE-did you recenty watch Lidia B. make this? I watched her show on PBS recently, and she made this exact dish, down to the seeds. I will have to give it a try.

Wow, funny. I didn't see the show, I just happened to have a butternut squash sitting on a shelf thanks to my CSA and decided it was finally time to use it.

[KMango]

GenarroE-did you recenty watch Lidia B. make this? I watched her show on PBS recently, and she made this exact dish, down to the seeds. I will have to give it a try.

ema- thanks for the tip on crab. Do they cook it and then cut it up for you? How did you prepare it-live or dispatched at the store?

Speaking of Lidia....she's conducting a Smithsonian Asscoiates event in early December.

[Waitman]

Ginger jelly on lamb chops on celeriac-apple puree. But the jelly kept rolling of.

Should probably just eat it with a spoon.

[Pat]

The people on my floor walk into the kitchen every time I cook to tell me how good it smells, haha. The other night they roped me into cooking dinner for the floor. I'd gladly do stuff like that more often (in fact, I used to do a weekly dinner for all my friends when everybody lived on campus last year), but nine times out of ten people don't put in the money they owe for all the ingredients, so I wind up getting gypped. You'd think $3 for a meal would be a bargain...but oh well.

Collect the money upfront and tell them it's because you need the money to buy your ingredients .

Our dinner last night was a mixed green salad and baked lasagna with meat sauce.

[Anna Blume]

Zora: sigh.

A kindly moderator requests clarification, so let me explain: After rising hours before dawn and spending much of the day outdoors in unseasonably wintery weather, a bowl of one of my favorite, evocative soups would have been welcome.

Waitman: Nice to see you here. More details on the ginger jelly, please, and do drop by again.

[leleboo]

So I got home and discovered that mon mari had subsisted the entire day upon cereal, chips, and trail mix. AWESOME. (Also: totally want GULC to brand it's law-school trail mix as "trial mix." Heh.)

I realized I had to build some extra veggies into the salad I was planning with my ground turkey-stuffed mushrooms. I pulled open the crisper drawers to find a lot of shallots (always) and not much else but a half a zucchini and half a yellow squash.

So I decided to make this, sans almonds because I didn't have them, and throw it into the salad of baby greens & butter lettuces that I was already planning to make. I also left off the garlic, only because I ran out because of all the garlic in the turkey mixture.

This was outstanding. Perhaps a "lighter" dinner than the weather would dictate, but we're both stuffed and there were even leftovers. And we're watching NBC (via TiVo) report on making wine from compost...well, it's been quite an eye-opening evening.

[ema]

ema- thanks for the tip on crab. Do they cook it and then cut it up for you? How did you prepare it-live or dispatched at the store?

I had the raw crab cut into 8 pieces. When I got home, I lightly dust each piece with some flour and pan fried it first. Then add more oil in another pan, add a bunch of ginger and scallion, salt, pepper, cooking wine, crab, and a tiny bit of water to finish cooking.

[Pat]

Last night

Beef mushroom soup with baby limas and noodles

Baked chicken breasts

Baked potatoes

The soup was a last minute addition, as I discovered that the baby limas in the pod I bought were too tiny even to be considered baby. So much for the lima beans I planned to go along with my chicken and potatoes . I was so happy when I'd seen them outside at Eastern Market over the weekend, since the other people carrying them had them pre-shelled in pint baskets. I prefer buying them in the pod and shelling them myself. I could tell they were small inside the pod, but I didn't expect them to be microscopic. I wasn't happy. They worked ok as an add-in to soup, though. The noodles were broken bits of lasagna I'd saved from the box.

[Anna Blume]

So much for the lima beans I planned to go along with my chicken and potatoes . I was so happy when I'd seen them outside at Eastern Market over the weekend, since the other people carrying them had them pre-shelled in pint baskets. I prefer buying them in the pod and shelling them myself. I could tell they were small inside the pod, but I didn't expect them to be microscopic. I wasn't happy.

I bought a fairly large box myself and plan to make a purée to go w braised lamb shoulder chops.

In any case, yours were probably mature and simply called " baby" for marketing purposes. The late-harvest variety of lima bean grown by many farmers around here is slimmer and smaller than the large, plump bean that ripens during succotash season.

[Pat]

I bought a fairly large box myself and plan to make a purée to go w braised lamb shoulder chops.

In any case, yours were probably mature and simply called " baby" for marketing purposes. The late-harvest variety of lima bean grown by many farmers around here is slimmer and smaller than the large, plump bean that ripens during succotash season.

These weren't even that big. I cannot stress how tiny they were. Most of the pods were simply thrown out because there was nothing big enough to salvage from them. These were zygotes .

[Waitman]

A kindly moderator requests clarification, so let me explain: After rising hours before dawn and spending much of the day outdoors in unseasonably wintery weather, a bowl of one of my favorite, evocative soups would have been welcome.

Waitman: Nice to see you here. More details on the ginger jelly, please, and do drop by again.

You'll have to ask Heather or Mrs. B. I just ate the stuff.

And cooked the other stuff.

[Pat]

Baguette

Chicken Waldorf salad

Broiled swordfish steaks with fava bean puree and diced tomato; over

Farro and dinosaur kale

I think swordfish is one of those fish I'm not supposed to be eating, but I haven't eaten it in a couple of years, so I'll make excuses on that basis :-\

[zoramargolis]

Eco-Friendly fresh Spanish chorizo

potato and celery root mash with roasted garlic

braised cavalo nero

2007 Luna Beberide

[qwertyy]

I think swordfish is one of those fish I'm not supposed to be eating, but I haven't eaten it in a couple of years, so I'll make excuses on that basis :-\

Actually, swordfish is a shining example of how what we choose to buy or not buy can help: as I understand it, although their numbers were once desperately low, the swordfish boycott of several years ago allowed them to repopulate, and they are now numerous enough to eat again. (With one caveat: in some areas outside America and Canada, they are still caught using longlines, which can bring in a significant bycatch of other endangered species.)

[Pat]

Actually, swordfish is a shining example of how what we choose to buy or not buy can help: as I understand it, although their numbers were once desperately low, the swordfish boycott of several years ago allowed them to repopulate, and they are now numerous enough to eat again. (With one caveat: in some areas outside America and Canada, they are still caught using longlines, which can bring in a significant bycatch of other endangered species.)

Thanks for the information. Whole Foods had it on sale, which is why I bought it. I figure they probably adhere to the regulations/guidelines they're supposed to adhere to, but I wasn't sure on this one. I'm pretty sure it was American swordfish.