I made chicken enchiladas using the rest of the tomatillo salsa. Then #2 son came back from a run with pupusas he procured from a food truck a few blocks away. So it was a buffet for dinner. Not shown: Curtido, salsa, watermelon chunks.
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it’s the BF’s Birfday and he didn’t want to go out, and he wanted Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes. Who am i to argue?
He helped prep a bit while i was working, and also made the buttery, garlicky spinach. I made the Salisbury SRF wagyu ground beef and a Ribera del Duero mushroom gravy; we also had the wine with dinner. And the PSTOB in the mashed, of course. Turned out great, but I’ve reached my butter quotient for 2024 and 2025.
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The whole point of me growing tomatoes is to make gazpacho now and then. Has this ever happened (with my own tomatoes, cukes and peppers)? No. UNTIL NOW!!!
Living the dream. Seen here with shrimp/egg/tarragon salad, the queen of salads.
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(Sorry no pics!)
I made this Mediterranean chicken recipe because I had some chicken breast meat left (raw) with sell-by today.
It’s really tasty but I amended the process a bit. It seemed strange to put the onions, olives, and tomatoes in right near the very end, so I put them in after the first of the two stated braise periods. (In particular, I’m not a fan of raw-ish red onion flavor, unless I’ve done a pickle on it first.)
It was very tasty. When we all went back for seconds, it was cool enough that I hand-shredded all the remaining chicken first and it was even better that way, versus serving chunks of chicken breast meat.
As a side, because I’m trying for lower carbs overall, I chopped up some cauliflower, salted and peppered, tossed with a bit of mayo and about 6 ounces of shredded cheddars (3 kinds for variety), and nuked until tender and melty cheesedy. (that’s not a word but it is now)
Everyone (me, wife, 2 younger kids almost ready to head back to college) liked both of the dishes, so win-win.
Next time I might go for more earthy flavors, maybe some cumin and zatar or/or baharat as well, but this time I pretty much followed the script, except for the process mods already mentioned.
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The local market had whole cranberry beans, so I brought some home. I thought long and hard about what to do with them, bean soup, maybe? Ah. I had some Sicilian sausage, and so I made pasta e fagioli.
Unshelled beans:
Shelled!
Pasta e fagioli
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A Great dinner at La Sciamadda dei Vinacceri https://ivinaccieri.com/la-sciamadda-dei-vinaccieri-ballerini-home in Sestri Levante - not surprisingly quite seafood heavy directly at the Mediterranean coast. Some of the best octopus we had anywhere, branzino and a unique tuna lasagna.
Bread
Polpo e patate - Octopus and potato salad
Farinata al pesto - Soft, thin and crispy Ligurian chickpea cakes with homemade pesto
Pulpo e panzanella - Octopus and bread salad
Trofie al pesto - Local pasta with pesto, green beans and potatoes
Lasagna alla “Tabarchino” - Lasagna with tuna fish, pesto and tomato sauce
Branzino alla ligure - Ligurian style seabass with potatoes, olives and pine nuts
Grilled vegetables
Panna cotta in salsa di fragole - Piedmontese style cream and vanilla panna cotta with homemade strawberry sauce
Tiramisu
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Now that’s a birthday dinner. Hope that you both savored every bite. Happy, happy to your BF!
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Looks good! I almost bought cranberry beans last week at the Wednesday farmers market. This week I will definitely purchase. I love them with good olive oil, a grated clove of garlic, a sprinkling of parmesan, maybe some fresh herbs.
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Nice! Elevated School Lunch 
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Cranberry beans, garbanzos, and favas are the only fresh beans I’ve seen in this market (Berkeley Bowl). I wonder why more varieties aren’t available. I’d love to try cooking fresh butter beans or cannellinis.
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thanks much!
elevated T.V. dinner! 
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Wow that looks even more disgusting than I remembered 
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Lovely! i saw cranberry beans i think for the first time in Italy and I remember buying them and being so disappointed that they lost their beautiful coloring once cooked. Still, a good bean!
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Yes, several! Blew my mind.
That’s gorgeous!
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Sounds and looks wonderful. I’m going to have to try this.
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You can try cooking to a lower temperature to avoid that.
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