On July 4th, there was a bit of a respite in our backyard from the brutal heatwave, so Mr. RBI and I were able to have our bbq lunch on the patio.
My blog post about this meal, including all the photos, is here.
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I love Dr. Brown’s cream soda
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Mrs. P was still not feeling well, so we did another ubereats takeout at Zeugma Grill in Montclair. This was outstanding and bursting with flavor. I highly recommend this Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant. We ordered two amazing appetizers; pumpkin muhammara with sweet pumpkin purée, garlic, walnuts, & feta cheese. We also ordered avogannush, with smoked eggplant, puréed avocado, and parsley oil. The appetizers came with some nice pita bread, which we toasted, to dip in the appetizers. For entree’s Mrs. P had grilled sea bass with grilled root vegetable sauté, and olive tapenade. I had Manti, which is Turkish dumplings stuffed with shiitake mushrooms, in a special yogurt sauce.
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Pumpkin Muhammara… yum.
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Last night made pasta in a pink sauce with grilled chicken, asparagus, mushrooms, and prosciutto.
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Friday night is turning into takeout night. We had excellent takeout at Vital dining in Montclair, a Caribbean restaurant. Everything was bursting with flavor. We ate here a few years ago. The food was excellent, but the service was exruciatingly slow, so we never returned. Takeout is the way to go with this restaurant.
We started off with a very creamy hummus, made out of black eyed peas, instead of chick peas, and crispy plantain chips, instead of pita bread.
We also had a very refreshing stuffed avocado with almond stuffing, arugula, pico de gallo, and a very nice vinaigrette
We also shared an excellent peppery jerk portabella mushroom with beets, green beans, and quinoa
I had braised oxtail with sautéed kale, rice, butter beans, and gravy.
Mrs. P had escovitched (fried) whole snapper.
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It was a slow day today and we had really tough conditions with the wind cranking out of the north east. We managed 22 males…
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Locally caught seared sea scallops:
Btw, I put a teeny pat of butter under each one before I plated the hot scallop, so that is melted butter on the plate.
I also had a real rarity, a warm from the oven chocolate chip cookie from Flaky Tart:
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It seems like forever and a day since I’ve cooked something (besides a steak, lol) so tonight is:
Blackened mahi mahi with a pineapple mango and roasted corn salsa, side of coconut nut brown rice with sliced almonds. (pan seared scallops thanks to @seal lunch, no joke)
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Wow, looking like a kw dinner that I am missing like crazy!
Did dave hook you up with some scallops or just give you a good idea lol…either way that looks great! Do you have a preferred blackening season?
There’s no such thing as “free scallops” in life! He was just the inspiration, seeing his post before going shopping.
I pretty much wing my blackened recipe depending on what I have on hand and who I’m cooking for. (I prefer more spice)
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I have a commercial scallop fisherman friend. Let me know if you want to go in on some. I can get a big bag of them fresh off the boat but just need a little time to order. 10 pounds or more. They are delicious and come off the boat that day. It’s like a third of the price or even a quarter. I usually get 20lbs. It’s kind of his side gig to make some extra cash. Hell, we should do a scallop grill off at holmdel park. I’ll bring the charcoal and scallops…I’m thinking 30lbs might do the trick for Jr and I lol 
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YES PLEASE
This is a complete sentence.
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So my friends and I got together the other night for an Anthony Bourdain Memorial BBQ with a “nose to tail” theme. Below are some highlights.
Drink of the night was Caipirinhas, one of Bourdain’s favorite cocktails. I was the bartender.
The person who hosted the BBQ made beef tongue tacos. The tongue was cooked for 8 hours, then shredded, and cooked again stove top for another hour. It was fall-apart tender. Did not bear any resemblance to tongue. The taste was amazing, like pure beef. It was only the second time I have had tongue, the first being at Los Corrales in Keyport.
This one was my contribution. “Not Your Grandma’s Liver and Onions”. Fried up some bacon ends, removed that, cooked the onions in the bacon grease, removed them, added a tiny bit of my friend’s homemade suet, and then added the liver. I dredged it in seasoned flour (no soaking in milk at all) and fried it for two minutes on each side. When that was done, I removed it, deglazed the pan with Spanish brandy, added the bacon and onions to cook for a few more minutes and sliced the liver to place on top. If I do say so myself, it was amazing. It made a great sandwich.
We experimented grilling a liver after seasoning it. The meat itself was tender, almost creamy. But the liver flavor was potent as hell!
Another friend who joined us works at a sheep farm and brought a leg of lamb done in balsamic vinegar, garlic, and rosemary. He takes orders for lamb BTW.
I had an early morning next day and had to leave before they grilled the marrow bones, but this was the set-up before I left. Done with a parsley salad using Bourdain’s own recipe.
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What an outstanding idea. Your meal sounds really good.
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Thank you. We (my food-obsessed coworkers and I) had been trying YEARS to get together for a cook-off. One of those things that always gets suggested but never gets followed up on due to scheduling, procrastination, etc. But when Bourdain died, my friend took it upon herself to organize this. She really went all out. There was more in addition to this, including an outstanding Syrah soaked Toscano cheese from Trader Joe’s, homemade salsa verde, homemade chick pea-black bean dip, and loaves of Italian bread.
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I think its great. I might just recommend this to pals visiting from CA in August.
While my friend did a TON of preparation, it was essentially a pot luck. Everyone brought something. There was cooking inside and outside on the grill. Very low-key. Never a “sit down” moment, just one dish prepared at a time with everyone standing around grabbing food and sipping drinks.
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Whoa, this looks fun! I don’t know if I could stomach the liver, but wow looks fun!
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And why didn’t you invite your fellow HOs to this Greg? Why!
I would have brought you some pig tails, to fulfill the “tail” part of your theme. 
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