Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[lperry]

On Christmas Eve morning, I got ambitious (or crazy) and invited over two other couples who were also here in DC with family elsewhere. Potluck Christmas dinner:

My contributions:

Sun dried tomato hummous with pita chips

Mushroom, broccoli and goat brie cheese quiche in an olive oil crust

Roasted asparagus

Leaf-shapped fougasse with grey coarse salt (from Baking with Julia)

Everyone else's contributions:

Leek and potato soup

Fruit salad

Rum cake

Various wines

Highland Park 15 year (I think - Mr. lperry is the scotch drinker)

All told, pretty good for impromptu.

[flygirl]

An experiment is cooking right now:

http://52mealsinoneyear.blogspot.com/2009/12/butternut-squash-soup-surprise.html

[Pat]

This was all leftovers, except for the salmon croquettes, which were kind of leftovers. (Kitty has been weird with her eating lately, so I gave her a little regular canned salmon instead of her food, leaving me with most of a can of salmon to do something with. So we got the cat's leftovers .)

Sweet potato rolls

Cornbread

Beef tenderloin sliced thin

Salmon croquettes

Creamed spinach

Baked sweet potato

[DonRocks]

I stayed in and cooked tonight.

[LauraB]

I stayed in and cooked tonight.

I really must be losing my mind...for a second I thought that I read that Don Rocks stayed in tonight and cooked!

[DanCole42]

I stayed in and cooked tonight.

Whadja make?

[DonRocks]

Whadja make?

A cheeseburger.

[Pat]

A cheeseburger.

What kind of cheese?

[lperry]

I cooked too, and I'll even confess what it was. Layered from the bottom up, toasted sunflower bread, wilted spinach with balsamic vinegar, poached eggs with coarse salt. Cheapo but pretty good for a light dinner, 2007 Trentatre Italian red.

[flygirl]

Ok, as meals go, this wasn't all that inspiring, but, it was easy and very good. I have something to eat over rice for several days now.

http://52mealsinoneyear.blogspot.com/2009/12/last-meal-of-2009.html

[Pat]

Tonight:

Chopped romaine with Campari tomatoes, Parmigiano Reggiano, garlic toasts, and Meyer lemon vinaigrette

Black pepper Manchego gougeres

Beef barley vegetable soup

[captcourt]

Fennel, granny smith apple and blue cheese salad with a garlic vinaigrette

Alton Brown's pressure cooker chili, to break in the new kitchen appliance. Tasty, but pretty salty (and I like salt); next time, in lieu of store-bought salsa, I'll make my own with no-salt-added canned diced tomatoes and put that in.

Kona's Pipeline Porter

[Pat]

Mushroom soup (Shiitake and Wood Ear)

Baked macaroni and cheese with ham

[Dave Pressley]

Rigatoni with duck bolognese. Made with Italian pork sausage, ground duck as well as shredded duck confit at the end.

[monavano]

Rigatoni with duck bolognese. Made with Italian pork sausage, ground duck as well as shredded duck confit at the end.

Shaggy, that sounds very good. Did you grind the duck and confit it yourself? If not, where did you procure it from? Thanks.

Last night- kielbasa "ruebens", cauliflour soup with cheddar and jack cheese, no dairy (didn't need it, it was so creamy after the immersion blender).

And for New Years, I braised pork shoulder with sauerkraut and served with rye bread. I have gobs of it leftover (it was a huge shoulder bought for really cheap at Safeway).

[Dave Pressley]

Shaggy, that sounds very good. Did you grind the duck and confit it yourself? If not, where did you procure it from? Thanks.

All done by me at home. I made confit last Tuesday and saved the breasts to grind with their fat, a little bacon and fold in some store bought Italian sausage. I shredded the confit at the end and folded it into the sauce so it still maintained its texture.

[Pat]

Black Pepper Manchego Gougeres

Waldorf Salad

Hoppin' John (with rice )

[Anna Blume]

Butternut squash soup w leeks and roasted garlic

Green bean salad

Monkey's Brilliant [panettone] pudding

[Pat]

Hoppin' John

Baked Chiles Rellenos

The chiles were roasted and stuffed with refried beans, wild rice blend, and fresh bread crumbs, and then topped with Manchego cheese and baked. I worked from a recipe in Steve Sando's Heirloom Beans, adjusted for the supplies I had on hand. I'd made the recipe (which calls for chorizo) before, and it's good. I found it easily adaptable to a quicker meatless version.

I had some ground beef thawing for something else I'd planned to make last night but 1) it wasn't completely thawed; and 2) dealing with several substantial phone calls just before dinner time called for a last-minute change in plans anyway. Not thawed meant I couldn't easily sub it for the chorizo in the chiles (I don't have much success with microwave defrosting), and I figured I'd have more time for the originally planned dish the next night.

[Pat]

Guacamole and Chips

Leftover Waldorf Salad

Plantain Picadillo Pie

[lperry]

Last night I looked up a few sweet potato soup recipes and combined them to make one I really liked. I used a roasted sweet potato, mirepoix, garlic, white wine, spices, and some hot sauce. The immersion blender and half & half finished it off. I need to write down what I did so I can make it again some time.

[Anna Blume]

I don't make stuffed cabbage very often. Being true to my roots in this case, however, means violating J's preferences or stated dislike of dishes which include meat and fruit together. Russian-Jewish stuffed cabbage (at least the kind I grew up eating) is in a sweet and sour tomato sauce...It all started with a description of a ground lamb and quince tagine that piqued my imagination two weeks ago, and then some extraordinarily beautiful savoy cabbages for sale at Tree and Leaf on Sunday, that called to me to buy one of them.

My extraordinarily beautiful Savoy cabbage had been sitting in the bin since the blizzard, i.e. Tree & Leaf's last visit to the farmers market. Needed to go in a pot or else.

So, using Mario Batali's recipe as a source and turkey-less, I added two finely chopped, cooked half smokes (how come there's never any hyphen?) and some leftover oyster mushrooms that had been boiled in white wine, then sautéed w shallots and mixed w creme fraiche. No mint. Brioche crumbs on top, pugliese within. Nothing sweet. I must have stuffed cabbage some time before, though it's not a dish I remember preparing. Definitely will do again.

Short-grain brown rice on side since main course was so time-consuming. The last of the Seckel pears.

[monavano]

Thai Curry Shrimp over jasmine rice...with a wing and a prayer came out very tasty.

[Pat]

Thai Curry Shrimp...with a wing and a prayer came out very tasty.

That looks beautiful!

Last night

Tortilla chips with guacamole and refried bean dip

Palladin bread with evoo for dipping

Green leaf lettuce salad with cucumber, tomato, and bacon; Ranch dressing

Beef barley vegetable soup

Baked penne with cheese

While I usually find it pretty successful to keep leftover guacamole with plastic wrap covering the surface, with this last batch I also buried an avocado pit in the center. Then I put the plastic wrap on the surface and then sealed in a plastic container with a tight screwtop lid. There was no browning of the leftover guacamole. I'm used to accepting some as a consequence of not eating it all right away, but the color of this was as bright as when the guacamole was made the previous day. I don't know how much was the pit and how much was the very airtight container, in addition to covering the surface, but I'm going to remember this strategy--or combination of strategies.

Another discovery that had never occurred to me before: making bean dip from canned refried beans. I had about 1/3 can of refried beans with green chiles left from making chiles rellenos. I swirled in a serving tablespoon of sour cream and instantly had a delicious bean dip to go with guacamole and chips. It was kind of a "duh" moment to realize how obvious this was to have never entered my consciousness before.

All in all, it was a very satisfying meal.

[porcupine]

Trying to use up pantry supplies, I stewed canned chickpeas with canned diced tomatoes, onion, garlic, spices, lemon, and served as a warm salad with chopped Moroccan olives, pine nuts, parsley, and oil-packed tuna on top. Surprisingly good for a winging-it kind of dish.

[Flavortown]

Chicken Noodle Soup

The dish I wanted most while home, and never got to have. So I took it upon myself to mimic my mother's rendition.

Phase 1: Picked up a chicken on Tuesday (a 6 lb chicken, to be precise - the smaller ones weren't on sale, and I couldn't see paying more for a chicken that weighed half as much, even if this is way too much chicken for one person) and made cooked it with carrots, celery, peppercorns, salt, water, to make a stock and the chicken meat for the soup all at once.

Phase 2: Strained the vegetables out, set the chicken aside, and refrigerated the stock. Oh, and I found that 30 cups of hot fluid was too much for my mini refrigerator to handle. Rather than the stock cooling down, everything else got hot, and I had to resort to the freezer.

Phase 3: Skimmed off the fat from the cooled soup last night, then strained it 3 times through quadruple layered cheesecloth, one ladle at a time, since it didn't want to clear up.

Phase 4: Simmered fresh carrots and celery in the stock, along with par-cooked egg noodles and some of the chicken to reheat.

This is what happens when I have no classes and way too much time on my hands.

[monavano]

GennaroE-What a beautiful bowl of comfort food. I'm due to make more stock, come to think of it.

Tonight's dinner is leftover grillades (from the freezer) with leftover rice Bob's Red Mill grits with cheddar.

Caesar's salad.

I'm looking forward to the farmers markets this weekend to get some inspiration.

[leleboo]

GennaroE: It is, in fact, absolutely gorgeous.

I'll trade you some for some of the wine-braised short ribs I'm currently braising ... provided I have some left (signs point to yes).

ETA 7:45: I made a lot-a lot-a lot of short ribs. And ohmygoodgod were they fantastic.

[Pat]

Leftover green leaf lettuce salad

Leftover wild mushroom soup

Au Gratin potatoes with ham

[zoramargolis]

Another discovery that had never occurred to me before: making bean dip from canned refried beans. I had about 1/3 can of refried beans with green chiles left from making chiles rellenos. I swirled in a serving tablespoon of sour cream and instantly had a delicious bean dip to go with guacamole and chips. It was kind of a "duh" moment to realize how obvious this was to have never entered my consciousness before.

I often used to make what I think of as "poor man's guacamolé" to bring to potlucks at work--essentially, substituting a can of well-drained pinto or black beans for the avocado. I add all of the other guac ingredients I usually use: onion, garlic, tomato, tomatillo, jalapeño, cilantro and lime juice and whiz them all up in the Cuisinart. It takes just a few minutes to make and is a very satisfying and not too terribly expensive dip for tortilla chips

[monavano]

Mussels (PEI from Costco) in a carrot and Merguez sausage sauce. The sausage was from Stachowsi and the idea was from Restaurant Eve (from a Lickety Split lunch long ago). Rosemary bread from Atwaterr's.

[Pat]

I often used to make what I think of as "poor man's guacamolé" to bring to potlucks at work--essentially, substituting a can of well-drained pinto or black beans for the avocado. I add all of the other guac ingredients I usually use: onion, garlic, tomato, tomatillo, jalapeño, cilantro and lime juice and whiz them all up in the Cuisinart. It takes just a few minutes to make and is a very satisfying and not too terribly expensive dip for tortilla chips

Great idea! Saving in my files.

[DanCole42]

Birthday pizza for leleboo:

1) Plain with hickory smoked tomato sauce

2) Sausage with hickory smoked tomato sauce and homemade* ricotta

3) Golden beets, fleur verte chevre, spinach, homemade* maple cured bacon, shaved fennel

4) Gorgonzola, black mission figs, homemade* pancetta, balsamic drizzle (fo shizzle)

5) Leftover pizza with a little bit of everything...

*Accept no substitutes!

[Pat]

Palladin bread and EVOO

Roasted chicken, carrots and onions

Wild rice with dried cranberries and toasted pine nuts

Steamed spinach with butter and hot sauce

[leleboo]

Birthday pizza for leleboo:

1) Plain with hickory smoked tomato sauce

2) Sausage with hickory smoked tomato sauce and homemade* ricotta

3) Golden beets, fleur verte chevre, spinach, homemade* maple cured bacon, shaved fennel

4) Gorgonzola, black mission figs, homemade* pancetta, balsamic drizzle (fo shizzle)

5) Leftover pizza with a little bit of everything...

*Accept no substitutes!

Lest anyone think I personally consumed FIVE PIZZAS ... well, I'm actually sad I didn't manage to steal the leftovers of pizzas 3 and 4. Dan sweetly attempted to riff on my personal platonic ideal of, if not a true pizza, at least a flatbread with toppings (whose earthly incarnation I have, in fact, eaten, back in my Bostonite days, and have yet to accept I was merely in the cave) with pizza 4, and it was excellent. I might have actually (gasp!) preferred the beet pizza, though. And the sausage...

Wow. Ok. Not absconding with leftovers was a massive fail on my part.

Pictures here.

[zoramargolis]

Birthday pizza for leleboo:

1) Plain with hickory smoked tomato sauce

2) Sausage with hickory smoked tomato sauce and homemade* ricotta

3) Golden beets, fleur verte chevre, spinach, homemade* maple cured bacon, shaved fennel

4) Gorgonzola, black mission figs, homemade* pancetta, balsamic drizzle (fo shizzle)

5) Leftover pizza with a little bit of everything...

*Accept no substitutes!

Dan--I'm proud of you!

[DanCole42]

Dan--I'm proud of you!

Thanks, Zora. I'm not kidding when I say I aim to impress you.

[bettyjoan]

Friday night was pasta with butternut squash, spinach, and prosciutto. Yum!

Last night was pineapple pork fried rice. Made some good brown rice ahead of time and then just threw everything together in a big wok. Really tasty--and it was so quick and easy.

[Pat]

Chicken Chili with Rebosero beans

Toppings: Avocado, bacon, and sour cream

Roasted chicken leg with homemade BBQ sauce

Cornbread

The chicken had already been cooked, but I reheated it coated with an impromptu sauce I threw together, figuring that would help keep the chicken from drying out. With the addition of a little vinegar, it would have been a sweet and sour sauce. (There was vinegar in several ingredients I used, which took it partway there.) I was quite proud of the sauce and managed to type out the ingredients afterwards to I could try to duplicate it, but I have no idea what amounts I used.

[bettyjoan]

Horseradish-crusted salmon with a dill and sour cream-based cucumber salad. The fish was incredible--really moist and flavorful.

[lperry]

Yesterday I watched Ina Garten make a roasted butternut squash soup, and tonight I made a similar one for dinner. Roasted squash, apple, and sweet onion seasoned with stock, garam masala, curry powder, and a touch of hot sauce. Delicious served with a crusty whole-grain bread. While I was cooking, I realized that I've never made a recipe of hers that didn't turn out very well. I should look into her cookbooks.

[bettyjoan]

Attempted the version of Vikram Sunderam's green chicken masala that was published in Food and Wine magazine some time back--after eating the dish at Rasika on our vacation, I was craving it something fierce. It turned out okay, I guess, but I was really disappointed in the level of spice. I should have assumed that the recipe was dumbed down--in fact, when I saw that it called for one (seeded) jalapeno, I became suspicious, given how spicy and dynamic the dish was in the restaurant. Still, I followed instructions like a good little girl, and there ya have it. The chicken was incredibly tender, and the dish had great flavor overall, but next time I'll either keep the jalapeno seeds or just substitute a hotter pepper (or both).

[Pat]

Green and red leaf lettuce with bacon, tomato, avocado, and Ranch dressing

Chicken chili

Cornbread

Baked noodles and cheese casserole

[rkduggins]

Eggplant and rice dressing (Donald Link recipe)

Hot tea with milk

[DanCole42]

Eggplant and rice dressing (Donald Link recipe)

Hot tea with milk

I'm hopped up on cold meds, and it STILL looks like that says "Donald Duck recipe."

Leftover Pizza Toppings Salad

Spinach, roasted golden beets, shaved fennel, homemade ricotta, gorgonzola crumbles, dijon balsamic vinaigrette

[zoramargolis]

Attempted the version of Vikram Sunderam's green chicken masala that was published in Food and Wine magazine some time back--after eating the dish at Rasika on our vacation, I was craving it something fierce. It turned out okay, I guess, but I was really disappointed in the level of spice. I should have assumed that the recipe was dumbed down--in fact, when I saw that it called for one (seeded) jalapeno, I became suspicious, given how spicy and dynamic the dish was in the restaurant. Still, I followed instructions like a good little girl, and there ya have it. The chicken was incredibly tender, and the dish had great flavor overall, but next time I'll either keep the jalapeno seeds or just substitute a hotter pepper (or both).

The "heat" in a pepper is in the membranes and ribs, more than the seeds. The problem is primarily in the variety of jalapeño that is typically grown and sold in the U.S. these days--it is much milder than varieties grown in the past. For more reliably hot peppers, use serranos--the small, skinnier ones that are often sold in the same stores that carry fresh jalapeños. Of course, nothing can stop you from adding some bottled hot sauce after the fact, if you want your dish to be spicier.

[bettyjoan]

Zora, thanks for the suggestions. I raided the pantry for bottled hot sauce while I was eating, but I couldn't find anything besides a bottle of chipotle Tabasco of questionable age. Guess I know what's first on my grocery list for this weekend...

Last night was a sweet and spicy glazed tofu with brown rice, cabbage, and garlic. What a great success! The recipe came from America's Test Kitchen, and it was delicious--the cabbage was lightly sauteed, the garlic was sliced thin and quickly crisped in oil, and the tofu was dredged in corn starch and then pan-fried till golden in the garlic oil. Then all of the components were combined with a soy/ginger/chili-garlic glaze and topped with the garlic "chips." I never thought I'd see the day when my parents requested seconds of tofu, but I guess there's a first time for everything!

[Pat]

Palladin bread with EVOO

Penne with Spinach Ricotta Sauce

[lperry]

^ That sounds really good. I'll have to look it up.

The second night in a row with an impromptu dinner guest. Roasted mushroom and asparagus paella, a crusty loaf of sourdough bread with butter, and the last bottle of the 2001 Bodegas Riojanas Viña Albina Rioja Riserva. Now I need to buy a case of something else that works so well with vegetarian food.

[zoramargolis]

last night:

fennel and orange salad

oven-braised beef* with vegetables (carrot, parsnip, celery, onions, crimini mushrooms, small potatoes)

haricots verts with Meyer lemon and garlic

pear slices and TJ's chocolate covered sea salt caramel

2007 Les Amis de la Bouissiere

*the beef was Eco-Friendly grass-fed "mock tender" which isn't tender enough to grill--despite knowing that it comes from the chuck, I tried grilling it once with unfortunate results. it is a very lean, good-looking piece of beef, however, and it made a tasty beef stew, after being marinated in a cooked red wine marinade for a few days.