Errands. Lots of errands. But it was a beautiful day. The temps are perfect, no humidity. Having the windows open has been glorious.
Dinner was duck breast with a peach BBQ sauce/glaze, sliced peaches (which was amazing), Israeli couscous, and green beans. A tall vodka & lemonade alongside.
Long over due adult time with my bff and tapas- sangria to start obviously
Then the spinach pine nuts not enough chickpeas thing
My second drink was something with ginger beer and a candied slice of lime.
Pan com tomate of course. Missed a pic of her gambas al ajillo and my escalivada (kind of like spanish ratatouille)
Insert boring meals of sameness, aka lots of cucumber salads, watermelon, lazy girl tofu, salads of all the things, and a few more brands of plantain chips. Bodega dollar bags are winning by a long shot.
Panic Potato Salad last night- last minute get together with friends last night, we all brought something. There are only a few more weekends in summer left!! Trying not to Panic. Needed more potato salad before September. Nothing unusual, used dill pickle brine instead of vinegar and decided to put the celery leaves to good use to pretty it up.
Hanging out with my favorite now seven year old (!!!) trying to help him do his drawing homework for camp, that was a bit of a struggle… I’m not good at that kind of thing (the be patient and teach others situation) his usual parents are out dinner of pasta with PSTOB. Not pictured we split my pretzels i brought and a tupperware of watermelon, he loves it almost as much as i do and took down a surprising amount of it!
We had another fantastic dinner at Tillie’s in Short Hills, NJ. The outstanding comp of the month was spicy pork with fresh roasted figs, cipollini onions, and crispy shallots. We also had an appetizer of fresh orecchiette with sausage, pea leaves, tomatoes, and Aleppo. For entrees I had the Atlantic halibut with sweet corn, maitake mushrooms, olives, and giardiniera. Mrs. P had crunchy fried chicken thighs battered in matzoh meal, with an excellent sriracha and honey sauce and a side of herbed dill potato salad. This all went great with a 2017 Gran Maestoso primitivo.
Amazing!!!
K, absolutely making this at my parents where they have a real grill!
Dinner tonight was seafood cataplana
Soffrito was taken out of freezer ( chicken sausage, caramelized onion, carrots , celery, sweet pepper, tomato)
seafood was red Argentina shrimp, red fish fillet and
All whopper great meals tonight from you . Smoked pork butt using Rick Bayless chili Colorado recipe. Well kind of with a super secret ingredient. Slaw and flour tortilla. Wine to drink .Cheers
Upcoming - baked cod with chorizo.
Cooking chorizo is chpped and freid. It (and the oil it releases) goes into a processor along with bread, almonds, lemon zest, S & P and a splash more oil and is blitzed down to a crumb.
That’s then a topping for the fish, which is baked for a few minutes at 180. Alongside, a lemon & garlic aioli. Green beans from the freezer count to the 5 a day.
Fruit for afters.
All very Iberian.
I like dieting at Casa Caggiano!
His drawing is pretty good for 7!
All these years living in the area and I’ve never been here. Worth it? They have a bar right?
Which place, Brothers?
Yes, totally worth it. Pizza is above average for the area. The bar pie is more than enough for one person and starts at $6.99 before toppings. Appetizers are very good. Meal prices are a little high and subs do not come with fries, but for pizza, apps, and beer, it is a great place with a lovely, vintage atmosphere.
ah…both of you are adorable! What a wonderful friend you are and what wonderful child friends you have! And what a wonderful cook you are! But…camp has homework???
Yes and thank you!
Succotash looked great. I agreed that 'nduja is versatile for many dishes and adds a certain character. Husband bought that originally for his pizza making, the leftover, I tried experimenting.
Made a quick broth with dried kelp, white miso and with some leftover fish heads (errr, I do have a collection in the freezer), accompanying with grilled mackerel at lunch with some udon.
Lunch was a pretext for the fishy ramen dinner. We loved the recent ramen place so much we decided to go back.
Gyozas with minced bream and a hot miso dried shrimps sauce
Jack mackerel tartare rice with shiso and white miso
Sardine ramen with a miso sardine broth, chashu
Paitan ramen with bream and burbot broth, chashu of both pork and chicken
I made Ed Lee’s black bean-braised oxtail (subbing chuck beef spareribs). I held back on the habañero, subbed minced black beans for the paste, and cooked the limas separately. It was good but not wow - more Caribbean than American South/Korean. I don’t love green bell peppers here.
I got this habañero paste ay Aldi that is seriously hot and added it a la carte.
please tell me that’s gin… 
I had seen the pepper paste a few months back. ISTR there were 2 more varieties. I exhibited tremendous restraint and passed on it. The green pepper in the recipe doesn’t appeal to me either.
Dinner was leftovers.
And as soon as it cools a bit, Peach & Booberry Cobbler with a handful of blueberries from my sister’s wayback backyard.
But I have no vanilla ice cream. A major SSSF (Saturday Supermarket Shopping Fail).
Bombay Sapphire
