Former colleague came from NC, called , came to visit…
My son was out boating with 3 friends, He caught about 4–5 dozen crabs prior to leaving,ith his friends from our pier prior to returning at 8:00PM. He asked me to steam them .My friend brought a bottle of excellent Prosecco which the two of us consumed while chatting and reminiscing over old times. Her nephew is buyer for Harris Teeter wine) I made a salad of home grown butternut squash, gelfen’s beets, toasted pecan nuts, topped with feta cheese and spinach served with home made vinaigrette . The tray looked good until I scattered the spinach on top which hid the beautiful roasted butternut squash and beets. We had grapes harvested from our garden with cheese as well. .E48AF9E0-C05E-4E29-BD94-202BA90A0E60|700x525
As usual, hiis friends are staying overnight out swimming now. They had their dinner outdoor with some grilled amylu andouille chicken sausage 9 unfortunately it has lamb casing so I cannot eat those. My friend left but may return on Tuesday before returning to NC. .
Incidentally, I am shopping for a 3 tier steamer, preferably SS as my old steamer seems to have warped (?). It does not stay flat and so it took over 45 minutes of steaming instead of 20 minutes. We have a large one which we use outdoor when cooking a bushel but this one is what I use for steaming crabs for our personal use as well as when I used to make turnip cake and dumplings. I saw one on amazon, slightly smaller , SS but review says it is a very light SS. No answer to question as to the gauge of SS.
This is the concord steamer at amazon for $65.98… Any one has knowledge if this one is fine for steaming out 4 dozen crabs? Thanks
We treated our friends to an excellent belated birthday dinner at James on Main in Hackettstown, NJ. We enjoyed hamachi crudo; croustade of smoked salmon with herbed creme fraiche, osetra caviar, and edible flowers; scallops with foraged chanterelles, crispy bacon, red sorrel, and sweet corn velvet; chilled melon soup with avocado mousse, cucumber relish, spicy honey, and brioche croutons; smoked beef short ribs with wood fired corn succotash, white polenta, and braising jus. It all went great with some excellent wines.
Thank you @Barca and @LindaWhit !
Everything was outstanding. This friend always cooks us these incredible multi course dinners so I wanted to repay him a little bit. Him and his wife recently celebrated birthdays, so this was a good opportunity to treat them to our favorite restaurant.
we have the best location for blue crabs from crab pots under our pier but hardly have time to eat them unless we have guests. However, we have been giving them away as gift to neighbors and friends who appreciate them. Once or twice a year before COVID, we would have crab feat. We would check our crab pots daily , and place the caught crabs in a live box with food so they do not eat each other , until they are ready to be harvested.
This way, we can have as much as 2 bushels for our crab feast.
Finally got around to using my Regalis Foods gift certificate - bought two types of Japanese waygu, a whole foie gras, wild boar chops and a few other goodies, including a few fancy hams. DH and I did a ham tasting tonight - Lady Edison Fancy Country Ham, Fermín Serranía and Fermín Ibérico. All delicious, but the Ibérico was truly magnificent.
Everything was delicious. Kiddo wouldn’t taste a bite (made him honey-herb chicken). This transition back to school has been challenging. He went to bed without dinner (but he did have snacks from 3-5pm. See also: reasons for boycotting dinner).
Not quite “glamping” but comfort camping, for sure. Definitely a luxe set-up for cooking at a camp site. The others guys had been camping a couple days before H showed up, and were ready for some good, fresh cooked pizzas. He said they couldn’t stop raving over them. I’m sure they were excellent, but has anyone noticed that everything tastes amazing while camping? Even freeze dried or canned stuff after a hike.
Oh, and he informed me we have a pump up Coleman stove in our attic! Remember seeing them when camping with others, but have never cooked on one.
We enjoyed another excellent dinner at Corso 98. We enjoyed an outstanding sausage and broccoli rabe risotto with caramelized fennel, toasted pine nuts, and a golden raisin salsa verde; jumbo lump crab and seafood cake with dill-lemon caper mayo, arugula, fennel, pickled apple, and mustard seed; baked oysters with herbed panko breadcrumbs, in a shallot-garlic butter; whipped ricotta with heirloom tomato jam, basil, and grilled raisin fennel bread. we took home a lavender brownie for dessert. It all went great with an excellent Amarone.
El BF made tiny tacos tonight, inspired by a Chef John video we saw. Per Chef John: “Sure they might be smaller than regular tacos, but at least they’re harder to make.” True, but also fun, cute, we ate less meat, and delicious. He cut regular tortillas into 2-inch rounds and stuffed each one with a teaspoon of ground beef he’d seasoned, and a blend of cheddar and jack cheese. Fried on both sides until crunchy/melty. Kind of like quesabirria tacos, actually. The rest put me in mind of an old school Mexican restaurant dinner, complete with the crunchy iceberg lettuce garnish. Muy bueno, BF!
