Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[KMango]

Turkey.

18lbs of it.

Hrm...

[Xochitl10]

Roast pork loin rubbed with a rosemary/garlic/mustard/S&P/olive oil paste

Lentils with pancetta

Steamed spinach

Fresh Italian bread

Miyazawa Kenji (8:1 Japanese whisky/sweet vermouth, awful cherry garnish)

[Dave Pressley]

After shoveling snow with about 12 of my Fairlington neighbors all day, I made a giant batch of chili and will be handing it out to some of them tomorrow.

A true non-recipe, throw-together type of chili: Copious amounts of ground beef, scallions, white onion, garlic, beef stock, San Marzano tomatoes, ancho chili powder, cumin, red kidney beans, black beans, red wine, cilantro, thyme, beer and fresh lime juice.

Absolutely delicious if I do say so myself!

[hm212]

Seriously, people, can someone come eat some ribs?

(p.s. Geaux Saints.)

I was supposed to bring ribs to a super bowl party tonight, but had to bail for too much ice. Cooked two racks of baby backs - cooked perfectly in the oven (250 degrees for two hours in foil and thn 15 minutes uncovered at 500 to crust.

Rub had a great mix of sweet and spice, a pinch of kick (from the chipotle in the rub), the balance was perfect. Split a rack with my next door neighbor and have one rack left in fridge.

Any ideas for reheating these tomorrow or tuesday without killing them. My daughter wants to come over and get "her share"?

[bettyjoan]

Spicy chicken sandwiches (coated with crushed tortilla chips and pan-fried) with chipotle-lime mayo

Tater tots

Diet Coke

[Pat]

Turkey.

18lbs of it.

Hrm...

That looks gorgeous. I have trouble getting a good even bronzing on poultry. Anything special you did?

Oddly enough, the roast chicken I made Saturday (only 5 lbs. ) came out very nicely browned, and I have no idea what I did differently than usual that gave it such a beautiful deep browning. My chicken and turkey is usually more golden than a rich brown.

[lperry]

Mixed green salad with falafels, feta, and a tahini dressing. A light dinner so we could eat junk food for the game. Who Dat, baby!

[KMango]

That looks gorgeous. I have trouble getting a good even bronzing on poultry. Anything special you did?

Oddly enough, the roast chicken I made Saturday (only 5 lbs. ) came out very nicely browned, and I haven no idea what I did differently than usual that gave it such a beautiful deep browning. My chicken and turkey is usually more golden than a rich brown.

Aw, danke. I was thinking the picture would come out kinda wretched--I still had my camera settings adjusted for snowscapes. Maybe that's the secret for better food pics, aiming for a blizzard (?).

After a righteous salt and peppering, this Jehovah-Jireh bird received a liberal bath of melted butter (source of the rich color). Into the oven it went at 425 for an hour, breast side down. Yes, it smoked like hell for a little while, but I have a powerful hood fan that could empty out a warehouse in 7 seconds.

After that first hour, I flipped it (turning a heavy bird like that could have been it's own sitcom), brushed it with the pan drippings*, and popped it back into the oven breast-side up at 325 for the remainder of the cooking time.

*I had placed roughly chopped onions and carrots (no celery on hand) into the bottom of the roasting pan to both reduce the smoke and add flavor to the pan drippings. Ymmv, I tend to do turkeys a little differently every time.

But try a thin coat of melted butter the next time you pop a bird into the oven. The fat creates that rich color--perhaps your last one had such amazing color because it was fresher and/or had more fat closer to the surface. And pics, post 'em! Use your snowscape setting and we can compare notes.

[zoramargolis]

A true non-recipe, throw-together type of chili: Copious amounts of ground beef, scallions, white onion, garlic, beef stock, San Marzano tomatoes, ancho chili powder, cumin, red kidney beans, black beans, red wine, cilantro, thyme, beer and fresh lime juice.

Absolutely delicious if I do say so myself!

I did essentially the same improvised recipe, although I used "boneless shoulder chuck steaks" bought on sale at Giant on Thursday, cut into small cubes. I also added charcoal-roasted ripe poblanos from my freezer, dried red Hatch chile flakes sent by a friend in Santa Fe, dried avocado leaves, and a few lumps of unsweetened chocolate that my nephew brought back from Oaxaca for me last summer. (A few extra spices, too: bay leaf, ground coriander, powdered Mexican oregano, allspice and achiote.)

[Pat]

But try a thin coat of melted butter the next time you pop a bird into the oven. The fat creates that rich color--perhaps your last one had such amazing color because it was fresher and/or had more fat closer to the surface. And pics, post 'em! Use your snowscape setting and we can compare notes.

Thanks. I usually dot the top of the bird with butter. Periodically, I put some under the skin along the breast. I did both for this last one. I've never tried brushing it with melted butter, though. I'm sure that at least accounts for the evenness of the color. Good idea.

I'm not sure if this chicken had a particularly high fat content. It was organic, which I don't buy that often (except at Costco). The last organic roasted chicken, though, was done the same way and didn't give off as much fat . At some point years ago, I stopped basting chicken as it roasted, since it didn't seem to make that much difference. (Turkeys sometimes I do and sometimes I don't.) This one browned so quickly and gave off so much liquid that I basted it a number of times during cooking just to make sure it didn't burn. I haven't had that much pan juice in a long time.

(The camera is out, but I haven't taken any food photos in a while, so I've got nothing to share...)

[DanCole42]

BLIZZARD PIZZA!!!

Pepperoni w/ San Marzano tomato sauce, mozz/parm

Gorgonzola, black mission figs, homemade pancetta, scallions, mozz/parm

[Dave Pressley]

I did essentially the same improvised recipe, although I used "boneless shoulder chuck steaks" bought on sale at Giant on Thursday, cut into small cubes. I also added charcoal-roasted ripe poblanos from my freezer, dried red Hatch chile flakes sent by a friend in Santa Fe, dried avocado leaves, and a few lumps of unsweetened chocolate that my nephew brought back from Oaxaca for me last summer. (A few extra spices, too: bay leaf, ground coriander, powdered Mexican oregano, allspice and achiote.)

Your pantry is truly impressive!! (Dried avocado leaves? Never had them and am seriously interested in trying them...)

ETA: I did use a few bay leaves and some dried oregano as well. I wanted to use some good chilies, but had to make the recipe super mild for my dear wife and little 4 1/2 year old daughter...I just added a few drops of habanero sauce to mine at the end.)

[zoramargolis]

(Dried avocado leaves? Never had them and am seriously interested in trying them...)

I use them primarily when I make beans or with marinated goat wrapped in banana leaf--the avocado leaves impart a mild anise flavor. The pot of chili was so dense that I'm not sure the avocado leaf registered in among all of those other powerful flavors. You can find them in Latin markets, although hoja santa leaves are more common.

[bettyjoan]

OMG, those pizzas look amazing. Beats the hell out of my dinner last night: lentil soup. Okay, okay, the soup was homemade and quite tasty, but pizza still would have been better.

[lperry]

I found a Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza crust in the freezer, so we topped it with broccoli, mushrooms, and feta. I haven't been happy with the texture of this crust, and I won't buy it again. In the meantime, they will undoubtedly discontinue something I do like.

[deangold]

Kim Chi and steamed rice. Cabbage with vinegar & soy. Bottle of Mount Eden 99 Chardonnay (too young) after opening and throwing out a plastic-corked Iron Horse 2001 chard {badly over the hill, tastes like 20 years old instead of 8.

[zoramargolis]

Russian-style sweet-sour cabbage borscht made with beef short ribs, served with sour cream

no-knead bread (my first effort*) made with 2/3 OO flour (the only hard wheat white flour I had in the house) and 1/3 fresh ground Moutoux Orchard whole wheat flour

blueberry cream tart

2006 Parducci Petite Sirah

*the bottom crust was a bit thick/tough, but otherwise it worked fabulously --great flavor and texture. Thanks to the video, I was moved to finally try this after meaning to for ages.

[Xochitl10]

Meatloaf

Steamed rice

Green salad with vinaigrette

Homemade Italian bread

Azami does simple well.

[goodeats]

I found a Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza crust in the freezer, so we topped it with broccoli, mushrooms, and feta. I haven't been happy with the texture of this crust, and I won't buy it again.

Agreed. The 2 times I've tried the whole wheat, the dough comes out funny. As in cardboardy for me. Or something off, I've forgotten. I do like their regular pizza dough too and am defrosting one tonight to match the snow outside, I guess.

[leleboo]

Saving leftover ribs and paté for the possible re-attempt at a visit by my in-laws on Friday.

So, currently in process:

Top sirloin au poivre with red wine reduction and sautéed mushrooms

Green salad with mustard vinaigrette

Roasted fingerling potatoes with rosemary and garlic

Chateau de la Chaize Brouily 2006 (not bad, for what I could snag downstairs tonight ... )

[qwertyy]

A fantastic salade Nicoise

Okay, it's technically not a Nicoise without the olives, but one does what one can without leaving the apartment. Filling enough for the weather, but light enough to help me out of comfort food boredom. Nummy.

[KMango]

Turns out the freezer is not such a hateful place after all.

Shrimp wrapped in bacon, plated over fresh spinach. The last of my fresh greens...

[Pat]

Leftover Cobb salad

Mini baguette (a week old from Costco but still reheats to edible in the oven)

Italian wedding soup (new batch)

[squidsdc]

roasted cauliflower soup

panko coated chicken breasts

Okinawan sweet potatoes

[zoramargolis]

cauliflower, yellow turnip and leek gratin

toasted no-knead bread

Bell's brown ale

[Flavortown]

Sauteed chicken breasts marinated in garlic, salt, lime, and olive oil

Creamed Corn Risotto (Arborio rice, stock, creamed corn, garlic, yellow onion, Parmigiano, and lime zest)

Tomato Soup Risotto (Campbell's Tomato soup, stock, yellow onion, Parmigiano, butter, and a sprinkling of so-called "Italian" herbs)

[bettyjoan]

Tuesday night...

Chicken milanese

Arugula salad

Linguini with homemade pesto

[flygirl]

Last night:

http://52mealsinoneyear.blogspot.com/2010/02/chili-for-chilly-day.html

[monavano]

I've been enjoying cooking during this period of snowy hibernation. Now it's time for leftovers!

Recent dinners:

Braised brisket from the most simple of recipes; coke, onion soup mix, chili sauce

Baked yams

Oven-roasted brussel sprouts glazed with balsamic

Chicken soup with farina and parmesan dumplings (if anyone can tell me how to make these without them falling apart in the soup, I'm all ears!). We call it gruel for it's texture, but it tastes great just the same.

Baked chicken with lemon and rosemary

Buttermilk mashed potatoes

Braised mustard greens with lemon, chili flakes and a bit of chicken stock

Vanilla ice cream topped with warm blueberry compote and crushed ginger snaps (great combo!)

Grilled cheeseburgers using a pound of meat from a farm in Va. I seasoned simply with S&P and a dash of A-1. Topped with cheddar. I felt I redeemed myself a bit with the burgers cooked to med/rare, and very tender and juicy inside. My previous burgers were hockey pucks.

Fries

Asian slaw

One huge entree salad as I couldn't bear the thought of another hefty meal.

Today, for lunch, we had leftover brisket sandwiches with lots of sauce, such that my bun was falling apart by the end (in a good way). Is there anything that beats leftover brisket?

Dinner will be a salad and leftover chicken with gravy and buttermilk mashed potatoes

[Heather]

Got out and took the kids to Pho Hiep Hoa in downtown Silver Spring. Papaya salad with tofu went down a treat after days of "comfort food" & leftovers.

[zoramargolis]

merluza encebollado--hake with a Spanish-style piperade of onion, red bell pepper, garlic, capers, olives, lemon and herbs

green beans with roasted garlic and lemon

steamed rice

leftover blueberry cream tart

2008 Tittarelli torrontes

[Dave Pressley]

merluza encebollado--hake with a Spanish-style piperade of onion, red bell pepper, garlic, capers, olives, lemon and herbs

green beans with roasted garlic and lemon

steamed rice

leftover blueberry cream tart

2008 Tittarelli torrontes

I am 37 years old and have an awesome set of parents, a lovely wife and a hysterically funny 4 1/2 year old daughter, but I want to figure out how you could adopt me just so I could sit at your dinner table...any ideas?

[Anna Blume]

I am 37 years old and have an awesome set of parents, a lovely wife and a hysterically funny 4 1/2 year old daughter, but I want to figure out how you could adopt me just so I could sit at your dinner table...any ideas?

There's a Wait List.

[zoramargolis]

I am 37 years old and have an awesome set of parents, a lovely wife and a hysterically funny 4 1/2 year old daughter, but I want to figure out how you could adopt me just so I could sit at your dinner table...any ideas?

Well, I offered to adopt Eric "ferment everything" and he turned me down and moved to San Francisco. Can't take the chance of getting my heart broken again...

[hillvalley]

Olympic tradition: kick ass meal with many things to nibble on throughout the Opening Ceremonies. (Normally the food is representative of the country but I wasn't making poutine, and, well, it is Canada*.)

olives, paddlefish caviar, chimay grand cru, quadrello di bufala (tallegio esque but made with buffalo milk)

garlic stuffed lamb chops with a cilantro/parsely/lemon/garlic sauce, truffled baked potato topped with caviar

*no offense xcanuk

[zoramargolis]

a welcome-home-from-college-for-the-weekend dinner for my no-longer-vegetarian daughter:

olives and crostini with grilled queso mahon

Toigo apple cider

mixed green salad with mache, frisee, avocado and blue cheese buttermilk dressing

charcoal grilled, spice rubbed hanger steak (from Organic Butcher of McLean)

twice-baked potatoes with Cabot cheddar and chives

Cake Love red velvet cupcakes (I was at Tyson's Corner mall today)

2006 Three Rings Barossa shiraz

[DanielK]

Timmy Ho's for dessert?

[monavano]

Boneless Buffalo chicken "wings"- boneless chicken breasts that were cubed, baked and doused with Texas Pete Buffalo Wing Sauce. Served with Marie's Light Blue Cheese dressing.

Pizza- red and green bell peppers, parmesan-baked asparagus, Stachowski smoked duck sausage, fresh mozzarella, ricotta.

[Pat]

Guacamole and tortilla chips

Mixed greens salad with French dressing

Broiled ribeye steak with mignonette pepper rub and Worcestershire

Macaroni and cheese (with Gouda and Cypress Grove Truffle Tremor chevre)

The steak had been vacuum-sealed in the freezer for going on two years, but you would never have known it tasting the finished product. I hedged my bets a bit by rubbing the steak thoroughly with Penzey's mignonette pepper and letting it stand for about an hour before broiling. Just before putting it under the broiler, I dribbled a little Worcestershire on it. I figured if the flavor had been impaired by all that time in the freezer, aggressive seasoning would neutralize the effect. It was very good.

The Truffle Tremor had been in the fridge too long. I forgot about it . Since it had started to go off, I cubed it and put it in the mac and cheese along with a few shakes of Frank's hot sauce. A terrible thing to do to a good cheese under normal circumstances, but I didn't want to throw it out. It added a nice creaminess and didn't affect the flavor of the dish negatively (or at all, as far as I could tell).

[Pat]

Tonight:

Leftover wine-braised beef over polenta

Mushrooms stuffed with bacon and cream cheese

[lperry]

Whole wheat penne with roasted crimini mushrooms and asparagus, "sauced" with herbed chevre and a splash of white wine.

A red Bartlett pear.

I really want brownies, but 1. I'm trying to be supportive of the dieter, and 2. it's not like I can get out on the roads and run it off. The brownies will wait for fairer weather.

[KMango]

Whole wheat penne with roasted crimini mushrooms and asparagus, "sauced" with herbed chevre and a splash of white wine.

A red Bartlett pear.

I really want brownies, but 1. I'm trying to be supportive of the dieter, and 2. it's not like I can get out on the roads and run it off. The brownies will wait for fairer weather.

I hear that! I don't know what's worse: my not being able to run this past week or my cringing every time I see other runners skid by. Part of me wants to chase them in a follow-the-leader trail run adventure. The other part of me wants to chide them for risking such dangerous conditions.

And brownies. Might a simple dutched cocoa & sugar hot chocolate meet the craving halfway (?).

[zoramargolis]

tonight:

no-knead bread (made with King Arthur white bread flour, 1/4 cup Moutoux whole wheat) and camembert

braised veal cheeks with crimini mushrooms

artisan grits

carrots glazed with butter and sourwood honey

banana cream pie

2005 Simi Landslide cabernet

[squidsdc]

spinach lasagna (from ATK Light and Healthy cookbook)

So far I've made two soups, banana bread and the lasagna from this cookbook, and all have been successful. The lasagna took me a while to make as it had many steps. But I can't tell if it was just me or the recipe (I get distracted easily.)

[lperry]

And brownies. Might a simple dutched cocoa & sugar hot chocolate meet the craving halfway (?).

The box of ACKC chocolates are doing it. Major points for Mr. lperry.

[monavano]

Cooking and simmering on the stove yesterday-

Split pea soup. Nice smokiness was imparted by a handful of chopped smoked duck sausage (Stachowski). I also threw in diced ham steak, dried marjoram, thyme and a mirepoix to start.

The soup was accompanied by CI ciabatta (the second loaf that was in the freezer). A few more slices were made into bread crumbs for a panade used for meatballs (below).

I also made meatballs and spaghetti. I've read here and there about making meatballs with ricotta, so I threw some in. The ricotta flavor came through a bit, like a hint. The meatballs stayed moist and were a bit firmer that my usual. I'd say "eh", not a revelation. I wouldn't go out of my way to have ricotta on hand the next time I make meatballs, which won't be for a while, since I turned a little over 3 lbs. of ground beef into almost 50 meatballs.

[leleboo]

Cooking for an invalid:

warmed up some tomato-herb soup from Cambpell's V8 line* (by request) and made a grilled cheese. At least it used real cheddar and decent bread.

Cooking for myself:

who knows. I have a small sirloin to make with some sauteed mushrooms and steamed asparagus. Just kind of don't have an appetite, you know?

At least there's wine.

*The copy includes the phrase, "A rumor of garlic." I am in the kind of mood to envision quadripedal Wild Garlics gallivanting around, and assume that "rumor" is the term for a collection of them. Because otherwise I would have to post that in the "Spare Me" thread.

[lperry]

A simple warm salad of roasted sweet potatoes, chickpeas and sweet onions in a Meyer lemon, olive oil, and Locatelli dressing. I also added a couple of teaspoons of hot sauce, just because there are very few things that don't benefit from a little hot sauce. We also split a red Bartlett pear.

[deangold]

I also added a couple of teaspoons of hot sauce,

Have you used Sriracha sauce as your hot sauce? I find it adds a lot of character in addition to heat.

[Anna Blume]

I also made meatballs and spaghetti. I've read here and there about making meatballs with ricotta, so I threw some in. The ricotta flavor came through a bit, like a hint. I'd say "eh", not a revelation.

size="1"]*The copy includes the phrase, "A rumor of garlic." .[/size]

Leleboo: I suspect someone decided "rumor" was cuter than "hint" and not as pretentious as "soupcon".

Monavano: Yeah. The texture thing doesn't sound appealing, though I do like Northern Italian recipes that call for slow braising in whole milk until you get a clotted, homely sauce. (Even works w mushrooms, not just meat.) An old issue of Cooks Illustrated got me hooked on soaking cubes of bread in yogurt w just a teaspoon of whole milk. Either that or buttermilk.

* * *

Just before the first big blizzard, when my local WFM ran out of French lentils, I bought way too many of the other kind (normally called "brown lentils", but these were pale green) that I don't care for all that much. Determined to finish them up, I resorted to grad-school hippie food:

• Sweet and sour lentils
  
• Short-grain brown rice
  
• Roasted butternut squash
  
• Steamed broccoli w lemon
  
• Huge Fuji apple (half)
  
• Organic Chamomille tea
  
• Pitted prunes
  

Except for the butter used for rice & squash, this is vegan-fare and Cheap Eats. Cobbled together recipes from online sites that include blogs kept by fundamentalist families since I no longer have the formula passed down by tool & dye-maker who once cooked in a restaurant in Dexter, Michigan that briefly rose to become the best place around Ann Arbor to go on special occasions. Sauce combines apple cider vinegar, Japanese soy sauce, honey, canola oil, powdered ginger and allspice. After lentils softened, bake to reduce liquid w diced onion and some of bean broth. Really quite edible.