Dinner - The Polyphonic Food Blog

[DanCole42]

It's steakhouse night!

Iceberg lettuce w/ cherry tomatoes and gorgonzola

Grilled NY strip w/ roquefort

Butter fried potatoes with roasted garlic mayo

2004 Bordeaux

10-Year Old Laphroaig

Angel food cake with mixed berries, chocolate sauce, and Cool Hwip

Ironically, the dessert was probably the healthiest part of the meal.

[zoramargolis]

Angel food cake with mixed berries, chocolate sauce, and Cool Hwip

Ironically, the dessert was probably the healthiest part of the meal.

Yeah, that Cool Hwip is magical stuff. Removes all of the LDL's from everything you've eaten previously.

[DanCole42]

Yeah, that Cool Hwip is magical stuff. Removes all of the LDL's from everything you've eaten previously.

It was Light Cool Hwip

[monavano]

Grilled flank steak with orange vinaigrette.

[Pat]

Green salad with homemade buttermilk ranch dressing

Smoked oyster-smoked paprika frittata with red onion, parsley, and shredded Romano

[txaggie]

Some friends of mine are visiting DC this week so last night we made them dinner.

To start, a tomato, watermelon, and feta salad, a perfect salad on a hot and humid summer day.

The main dish was crabcakes with remoulade and roasted peppers and corn.

And for dessert, blackberry caramel cheesecakes. We picked the blackberries at Butler's Orchard on Sunday. The cheesecake recipe is from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate.

[monavano]

txaggie, that whole meal speaks summer. I assume the crabcakes were homemade? If so, where did you get the crab meat? Did you make the cheesecakes in individual springform pans?

Thanks!

ps..lucky friends

[Sthitch]

Veal in a champagne (I had to do something with the rather disappointing 1988 Bruno Paillard I had left from the previous night) and mushroom sauce with sautéed green beans, and crispy sweetbreads. This was my first attempt at making sweetbreads, while a time consuming to soak, poach, clean, and press it was well worth it. My offal hating wife even admitted to liking them, and that she would have eaten more if she did not know what they were.

[txaggie]

txaggie, that whole meal speaks summer. I assume the crabcakes were homemade? If so, where did you get the crab meat? Did you make the cheesecakes in individual springform pans?

Thanks!

ps..lucky friends

Yup - the crabcakes were homemade. cjsadler made them. I bought the crab meat at Costco. It was 1 pound of Phillip's lump crab meat. $14 at Costco.

I made the cheesecakes in ramekins. It's the easiest recipe (I can send you the recipe if you're interested), but you do have to make the cheesecakes at least one day in advance.

[txaggie]

Blackberry Caramel Cheesecakes, Adapted from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate

Caramel:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

Cheesecakes:

6 oz white choc, chopped

1/4 cup boiling water

1.5 lbs cream cheese

1/2 cup plus 2 T sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

5 oz blackberries

8 5-6oz ramekins

Preheat oven 325.

Make the caramel...Mix the sugar and water over high heat until it's a nice amber color. Pour the caramel in the ramekins and swirl around (so the caramel coats the bottom and the sides of the ramekin).

**A tip from cjsadler...Add 1/4 cup water to the caramel after it is done. This will help the caramel stick less to the ramekins and come out as a sauce. This tip was told to me after the fact.

For the cheesecakes...Place white chocolate in bowl and pour boiling water over the chocolate. Stir until smooth and set aside. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and beat 1-2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and incorporate. Stir in melted white chocolate.

Divide blackberries among ramekins, add the batter and bake (using a water bath) for 15-20 minutes (outer edges will be puffy and the center will jiggle.

Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate overnight (at minimum).

[cjsadler]

Blackberry Caramel Cheesecakes, Adapted from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate

I gotta add that this cheesecake recipe, which is really more of a flan, is awesome. Try it-- you won't be disappointed!

[zoramargolis]

Last night:

Charcoal roasted herb-brined Eco-Friendly chicken (fresh, not frozen as their chickens usually are)

Barley-corn salad with lime zest vinaigrette and chopped cilantro

Marinated green beans with roasted red peppers and garlic

Grilled sourdough toast

2005 Beaujolais Jacques Charmetant

Peaches, blackberries, white nectarines and vanilla ice cream

[Pat]

cole slaw

baked chicken breasts

spaghetti with proscuitto, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, red onion, parsley, buffalo mozzarella and romano cheese

[legant]

Place white chocolate in bowl and pour boiling water over the chocolate. Stir until smooth and set aside.

You pour the water over the chocolate rather than melting the chocolate over a double boiler? Doesn't this dilute the chocolate flavor? Or, is this because it's white chocolate? Would you do the same with real chocolate?

[ol_ironstomach]

Doesn't this dilute the chocolate flavor? Or, is this because it's white chocolate?

There's a reason that in some countries, it can't be called "chocolate" and is known instead as white confection. It's just sugar and cocoa butter, the latter being the liquid fats that are pressed out of cocoa mass, precisely in order to concentrate the flavor solids left behind. When you get down to it, there's no chocolate flavor left in white chocolate, except from trace amounts of the solids, and even those can be eliminated (in cosmetic use, for example) by steam extraction.

[zoramargolis]

It's just sugar and cocoa butter, the latter being the liquid fats that are pressed out of cocoa mass, precisely in order to concentrate the flavor solids left behind. When you get down to it, there's no chocolate flavor left in white chocolate

One of my favorite pranks when I was a kid, was to put a chunk of white chocolate into an Ivory Soap wrapper, and take it to school. At lunch, I'd open one end of the wrapper and eat the "soap." Grossed everybody out. This was long before Bart Simpson, but I could have given Matt Groening a few cool ideas.

[Pat]

Baby spinach and arugula salad with cucumber, tomato, red onion, and toasted pine nuts, with balsamic vinaigrette

Coleman hot dogs with caramelized red onions

Butter and sugar corn on the cob (sold as Ambrosia at a stand at Eastern Market--very fresh and true to either name)

Steamed broccoli with hot pepper sesame oil

[monavano]

Cheddar corn chowder with fresh corn from the market and peach crisp for dessert.

[Pat]

Salad Caprese

Steak

Green beans

[mktye]

Panzanella made with excellent, home-grown tomatoes so graciously provided by a very nice and generous person.

[legant]

Sunday dinner:

Edamame

Roasted potatoes with mustard-sage vinaigrette

Panko-crusted mustard pork chop

(Sorta Japanese-mustard fusion night.)

Warmed blueberry Dollies scone

2006 Domaine de Regusse Pinot Noir

[txaggie]

Dinner last night was made from cjsadler's farmer's market purchases.

Heirloom tomato salad with ricotta and goat cheese

Buffalo sausage and shrimp sandwiches

[rkduggins]

Last night; fried catfish with a buttermilk/cornmeal double dip, cajun hushpuppies, lemon herb cole slaw and homemade peach pie for dessert. Sazerac made with Old Overholt for me, Sam Adams Summer Wheat for him.

[legant]

For Better or For Worse (8/13/07):

[monavano]

Chicken cacciatore (again) because I had lots of peppers and san marzano tomatoes to use. Added zucchini, a homemade basil marinara and white wine. Finished with pecorino romano cheese.

[Seanchai]

Porterhouse steaks, roasted red new potatoes with applewood smoked bacon, sauteed baby bella mushrooms with thyme/lemon/white wine and lots of garlic. Not really a summer menu but I just had a hankering. Accompanied by Clipper City Loose Cannon IPA. I did have some fresh picked cherry tomatoes to remind me it's not fall just yet.

[Pat]

Steak salad

leftover steak sliced on the diagonal over baby spinach and arugula, topped with sliced tomatoes, chopped Italian parsley, slivers of red onion, pitted alphonso olives, and crumbled queso fresco--with balsamic vinaigrette

[Anna Blume]

Corn pudding soufflé w cilantro sauce

Black beans w epazote, onion and guanciale

Thick slabs of bright orange tomato

Picking at the corn pudding for dessert--so, so good. Bet it would be good w blueberry sauce. Recipe adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Bit more time-consuming than anticipated, but amazingly worth it w yesterday's bi-color corn from New Morning Farm. Sweet and light.

P.S. Txaggie: those are beautiful pictures! And Louise, that tuna noodle casserole is evidence that cartoonists have to work ahead of schedule! It's August!!!

[Pat]

Picking at the corn pudding for dessert--so, so good. Bet it would be good w blueberry sauce. Recipe adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Bit more time-consuming than anticipated, but amazingly worth it w yesterday's bi-color corn from New Morning Farm. Sweet and light.

My favorite corn souffle has always been from Fannie Farmer, but I dug out the Madison book to take a look. I'll try that recipe sometime soon. Thanks.

[Pat]

Miso soup

Beef and chicken teriyaki

Broccoli

Rice

[Pat]

Last night was baked chicken breasts and kitchen sink pasta salad (bowtie pasta with sliced andouille sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olives, red bell pepper, chopped parsley, toasted pine nuts, and balsamic vinaigrette)

[mhberk]

Last night, in anticipation of our risotto class this weekend, Mrs. mhberk and I decided to practice making risotto. We had some left over shitake and dried porcini mushrooms and some cauliflower, so that’s what we decided to add to use.

I liked the roasted tomato recipe that I saw in Gourmet Magazine this month. But instead of roasting (light oil) the tomatoes, I confited (submerged in oil) them with shallots, garlic, S&P, and olive oil in the oven at 475 degrees for 45 minutes and then reserved the oil when they were done for the risotto. I put the tomatoes in a sieve and let the juices strain into bowl. While the tomatoes were confiting, I cut the cauliflower into small pieces and roasted them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

For the mushrooms, I rehydrated the porcinis in 1 part chicken stock and 1 part dry sherry for 3 hours, retained the rehydrating liquid when they were done and strained them through some cheese cloth. Then I combined that liquid with the juices from the tomatoes.

For the risotto preparation, we sautéed shallots in the reserved oil for a few minutes, then added the rice and toasted for a few more minutes. Then we added the wine until it was evaporated. When it was time to add the liquid, we started out with the mushroom/tomato reserved liquid until it was gone and then used straight chicken stock. When we were getting down to the end of the chicken stock, we sautéed the mushrooms in a little butter and chicken stock and then added them to the risotto along with the cauliflower, parsley, lemon zest and a half a stick of butter (no cheese). We served the risotto in bowls and then topped it with the tomatoes. The tomatoes REALLY made this dish!! They were unbelievable and really complemented the rest of the ingredients.

[porcupine]

Last night:

Sheep-milk canederli cooked in fennel broth, served with brown butter, pancetta, sage, and pecans

Warm salad of farro, tomato confit, and olives

Okay, as far as meal planning goes, this wasn't a win. But both dishes turned out pretty well for winging it. Canederli are just big ol' bread dumplings, and as such require a lot of flavoring. Unexpectedly, they didn't pick up much broth flavor at all. Next time, I'm mincing the sage and pancetta and putting them in the dough, then lightly drizzling the cooked dumplings with brown butter.

Tonight:

Chicken tikka masala

raita (home grown cucumbers)

rice

Last weekend I made about 17 pints of tomato sauce to put in the freezer (from 30 pounds plum tomatoes purchased at Arlington farmers' market). I chose the simplest possible recipe, from Marcella Hazan - basically just tomatoes, butter, and salt. Italian or no, I couldn't help but think "butter chicken" every time I stirred the pot, and the sauce was a perfect base for this dish. Next week I plan to make my own paneer for paneer makhani.

[zoramargolis]

Chicken sopes, made with fresh masa brought back from L.A.

Mole negro de Oaxaca, made with mole paste purchased in L.A.

Frijoles refritos

Mixed green salad with lemon vinaigrette

Oven-roasted fig and plum compote with vanilla ice cream

2004 Santa Helena Aureus cabernet sauvignon (from Chile)

[rkduggins]

Linguine with vermouth scented fresh tomato sauce and basil chiffonade

Plymouth martini with Regan's orange bitters and two bleu cheese stuffed green olives

[Pat]

Trying to clear the refrigerator again, I made a batch of baked ziti with cilantro-mint pesto for a sauce and a variety of add-ins mixed through. It tasted far better than the list of ingredients sounds: fresh corn, sun-dried tomatoes, bacon, spinach, arugula, and shredded romano cheese.

[Xochitl10]

A nice big bowl of hot udon soup topped with bean sprouts, sliced pork, and a generous shaking of seven-spice. Go away, cold!

[legant]

Thursday:

Pasta with a browned butter sage* sauce

Friday:

roasted thai eggplant stuffed with goat cheese

roasted eggplant*, tomatoes* with a basil* chiffonade

spinach-mozzarella-roasted garlic* polenta

2006 Flint (a souvenir from a friend's recent trip to Germany. Gawd, I love this stuff! Very crisp and "tingly." I gotta find a US distributor.)

Warmed blueberry Dollies scone

*CSA

[Pat]

salsa and chips

mesclun salad

ambrosia corn on the cob (w/butter)

brown rice with tomatoes, peppers, onion, zucchini

[DanCole42]

Corn on the cob with truffle butter

Grilled NY strip sandwich w/ fresh tomato, dijon, mayo, & romano on uber whole grain

Bruschetta made in my time-dilating broiler*

Chocolate cake w/ Breyer's original vanilla

2004 Penfold Cabernet Shiraz (anyone ever watch Danger Mouse? Wasn't Penfold the name of his assistant?)

*The bread'll be in for ten minutes without getting warm, then three seconds later I open the door and they're burnt to a crisp.

[monavano]

My broiler burns toast as soon as I turn by back. Never happens when I'm watching it.

Last night:

Pasta with chicken and mushroms in a white wine cream sauce.

Saturday:

Grilled flat iron steaks

fresh succotash

smashed yukon gold pototoes with parmasan, butter and a touch of cream

mixed berry sherbert (Safeway brand)

[Pat]

yogurt with fresh peach chunks

leftover spicy brown rice

red siberian kale, blanched then braised with sake, garlic, and red pepper flakes

[captcourt]

grilled polyface chicken - completely awesome with just salt and pepper

grilled zucchini and yellow squash

cucumber and onion salad with fennel fronds (no dill in the house)

[Xochitl10]

Shouga-yaki: ginger-glazed pan-fried pork. Served with shredded cabbage and sliced green pepper from the neighbor's garden.

With it, we drank imo-shochu, sweet potato liquor. Actually, we drank a LOT of imo-shochu.

[Pat]

Shouga-yaki: ginger-glazed pan-fried pork. Served with shredded cabbage and sliced green pepper from the neighbor's garden.

With it, we drank imo-shochu, sweet potato liquor. Actually, we drank a LOT of imo-shochu.

That sounds really good.

Tonight was

broiled lemon sole with herbed bread crumbs

string beans

corn on the cob

[Pat]

I changed my mind several times before I put dinner together. It ended up being an Asian-ish dish with chopped bok choy and radicchio, garlic and onion, sauteed and mixed with (cooked) ground turkey, seasoned with Penzey's Singapore Seasoning, hot pepper sesame oil. sesame seeds and salt, crushed red pepper flakes, and soy sauce. This got tossed in with some fresh bucatini from Eastern Market that had been boiled and quickly fried in some olive oil.

Wow. This was really good. REALLY good.

[youngfood]

Bouillabaisse with halibut, cod, littleneck clams and mussles (L'Academie de Cuisine recipe - Susan Holt, I think))

Mixed Greens and Arugala Salad with chevre and garden tomatoes

Ch. Reynier Bordeaux Rose (2006) (darker and bolder than most roses)

[Pat]

Tonight I made one of my very favorite dishes, which I don't get the opportunity to make often: Succotash with fresh limas and corn. I don't like to add a lot to it, but I did want to add a little cream. Didn't have cream or whole milk, so I added a couple of dollops of mascarpone to the hot vegetables. That did the trick--worked just like adding some cream. Otherwise, the only seasoning was some good black pepper on top.

The whole meal was:

Butter lettuce salad (proscuitto; farmhouse gouda; french bread crouton topped with poached quail egg; light vinaigrette)

Baked chicken breast

Succotash

Baked potato

[zoramargolis]

Charcoal roasted, herb brined Eco-Friendly chicken

Green beans

Grilled baby summer squashes

Heirloom tomato salad

Coconut-corn pudding (recipe from Gourmet Magazine Latin foods issue) with fresh peaches

2003 DuBouef Julienas

[Xochitl10]

We hosted our first dinner guests last night. I feel kind of weird about making Japanese food for Japanese people, so we had cocktails and Italian-ish instead.

3:1 Tanqueray martinis

Nama-hamu (Japanese prosciutto-like ham) with Iwate cantaloupe

Penne with Marcella Hazan's tomato and butter sauce, using more tomatoes from the neighbor across the street

Iwate spinach salad with balsamic vinaigrette and toasted garlic chips

Cheesecake