It’s definitely different than last year, when school was virtual for probably all school kids. But parents are seeing their kids off to first grade, middle or high school, dropping them off at their colleges and universities as they venture out in to the world (hopefully with not too many tears from Mom as the parents drive away!), wishing them all to stay healthy, enjoy learning in an active classroom once again, and then start up the after school activities, if allowed in your district.
While not immediately, temperatures are starting to cool down (hopefully very soon for those on the West Coast!) Now’s when all the fresh summertime veggies are beginning to change into fall veggies and fruits - apples, pumpkins, squash, newly dug potatoes…and don’t forget the apple cider donuts when you go apple picking! Mmmmm…donuts!
So - are you still hanging on to summertime? Or are you wanting to move into fall comfort foods? What’s on your table?
Kicked September off with more treats from my recent Regalis Foods haul. Wild boar chops (reverse seared with sage beurre blanc) and pheasant sausages, with fennel-radish slaw alongside.
Verdict: wild boar has excellent flavor but is rather tough. I would be very happy to try another cut to see if other parts of the animal behave differently than these chops, which I think were loin. The pheasant sausage was really delicious. Coarse texture, just a hint of gaminess and really nicely seasoned. Reminded me of France!
Tonight I made Meera Sodha’s recipe for wild pheasant curry, but with b/s chicken thighs, as we’re plumb out of pheasant .
It was quite tasty - I did up the yogurt and cut back on the cinnamon a bit. Served over leftover tricolor quinoa mixed with leftover butternut squash rice. Sides were custardy fresh mango, green beans tossed with butter and my beloved Pickapeppa sauce, and zucchini spears dusted with chaat masala and roasted. All good.
I had myself a Wednesday! BF brought home dinner from work because he doesn’t eat steak and I indulged in a NY Strip, grilled asparagus, and wild rice. Deliciously medium rare. Marinated in two kinds of soy sauce, olive oil, dry vermouth, gochugaru, and a sprinkling of Montreal Steak Seasoning before grilling.
More cooking just for me → another Joe’s Special. I love this plate!
I’m thinking playing variations on a theme with this, like prawn and asparagus or zucchini, or…
Have you tried D’artagnan’s wild boar mini roast? It is excellent using their recipe of Italian ragout with fennel and wine.It is a lighter version of the typical Italian ragout. For some reason, our GIANT grocery stopped carrying the wild boar mini roast. They told me the wild boar mini roast is only available during summer months. however, summer came but stil cannot find it. Although I can no longer eat red meat, it is one of my son’s favorite. This served with pappardelle and fresh grated reggiano is excellent. It gets better the next day after . You will not be disappointed.
Yesterday, we had tornado warning. Glad tornado did not land here but we had torrential rainfall. The courtyard was flooded esp bec we are in the middle of redoing the pea gravel stones in the courtyard as there is so much weeds there, esp spurge which is difficult to eradicate. I do not spray with chemical .So, there are around 4 inches of pea gravel between the cobblestone court yard to remove for replacing with fresh stones. Hopefully, the new pea gravel will not have remnants of spurge seeds. Those areas that were scraped are now a pond!!! Spurge on the cobblestones I will I have to pull manually with hemostats and spend around 2 days every 2 weeks weeding!!! Hopefully, I can use preemergent when the weather changes in the fall and spring.
So, dinner was simple. Tamarind Fish soup . 2 packages of Mama Sita’s tamarind soup mix, 16 cups of water, ginger, garlic, different tomatoes from garden, Cucuzza , different chilis, including siling labuyo, cider vinegar and fish sauce. perch and catfish caught from pier, and baby spinach. Ideally , would use Ong Chay. Only lowered enough fish and spinach into the soup for my meal. tonight. When I need more tomorrow, I would bring the pot to a boil and add more fish and spinach. This was served with rice. Excellent but no picture.
son catches them. He has fishing rods at the pier and 2 crab pots.( we used tote allowed 4 per property but now it is only 2 pots even if we have 2 properties adjacent to each other0 He is alway at the boat anyway but from the house with his binoculars, he can see the rod moving, means a fish is wiggling. So, he runs out and filets and clean them at the pier. Just perch, catfish ( I used to give them away but found out fresh catfish when properly prepared, we throw away all the reddish part ) and fried fresh, they , are very tasty .) and occasional rockfish. I think this is a rockfish caught by him.
Whenever possible, I try to meal prep for 3-4 days worth since it’s just me.
There’s an Asian fusion restaurant here called Cassia and I loved their Vietnamese inspired turmeric branzino when I tried it a few years ago. They currently serve it using sea bass instead, but at $47, the price isn’t within my budget.
However, when I saw that Trader Joe’s started to sell frozen branzino fillets, I decided to use the recipe published in the LA Times and adapted it for meal prep and broiled it in the toaster oven instead of grilling.
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