Made vongole for dinner tonight using clams from Costco and squid ink spaghetti. Just shallots, garlic, chili, white wine to flavor + a little garnish from the garden.
Since there were so many clams (5#), I de-shelled half of them to toss directly in the pasta, so they wouldn’t overwhelm it space-wise. Plus I like the sensation of biting into both clams and the pasta at the same time.
That bread!! Outstanding!!
Groestl is a Austrian/German dish of cubed meat, potatoes and vegetables sauteed in a pan and often served with a fried egg. Here is a lighter summer version without potatoes but with red pepper, zucchini, onion, kielbasa and parsley.
Pinto beans 2 ways.
Refried bean and cheese enchiladas using purchased Frontera Red Enchilada Sauce, and whole pinto beans with tomatoes, onion, garlic and Mexican spices.
That looks awesome! And…
Ciabatta recipe please! If you can : )
Once or twice a summer I treat myself to clams. I find the ones from wegmans well scrubbed and good but the Costco ones are a little less scrubbed and even better. My friend cdc (constant dining companion) does not care for clams. Tragic. Your dinner looks lovely but I cannot escape my childhood. Steamed clams were widely available when I was a child. My family loved to go to dive bars for clams and ice cold draft beer. No beer for me. So many delicious clams. I was encouraged to snap off the little muscle part and gobble that up too. And slurp up the clam broth that sometimes puddled in the bottom shell. We made little walls of empty clam shells around the edges of the plates. And the broth! I cannot steam enough clams to replicate that hot clam broth. My mom clued me in to put some dry white wine in with the steaming liquid. The summer before last I just made three or four batches of steamed clams just for me. From the big costco bag. I was taught to pitch any clams that failed to open. I was a fool!!! Much to the anger of the racoon visitors to my large compost heap I was given incredible advice by a lady named Joan. She advised me that the clams always open eventually if you just leave them in the hot water. Her advice was magical and I got a sense of wonder and awe when yes all the clams opened. Works for mussels too. I tend to be a purist with seafood. I don’t like lobster rolls all that much because even the split top roll interferes with the pure sweet taste of lobster. Nothing beats childhood favorites and I feel so lucky that mine was clams.
Clink
The ciabatta recipe is from from Cook’s Illustrated.
You can access the recipe here (no paywall). The only difference between the blogger’s version and the original CI version is the original CI version uses Active Dry Yeast (not instant or rapid yeast) in exactly double the amount shown in the blog post.
That looks amazing!
Nice food-friendly Riesling from a great vintage!
Last night’s dinner was Peanut Butter Noodles With Cucumbers
Last night was one of my favorite meals, no not the actual ingredients or recipe, the fact I used all leftovers.
I made a pot of Sunday sauce this weekend since I had family over so I made a nice pot with meatballs and sausage. So I had about 2 cups of sauce and a few meatballs and sausage, also some bacon left over. Used many leftovers that were soon destined for the garbage, food waste is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, so utility meals like this are a bit gratifying for me, especially when the fam enjoys!
So without further delay here is left overs “bolognese”.
Quite good if I do say so myself!
Thank you! Her actual birthday was back in February, but living in the US, we generally don’t get to celebrate together.
All the more special when you get to celebrate!
I made a riff on a Palestinian stew, Fogaiyya. Instead of braising meat I dropped meatballs into simmering homemade chicken broth seasoned with Ras el hanout, allspice, black pepper, cumin, and beef BTB. I also added celery, carrot, and the chard stems and cooked the rice separately. No mastic, either. I cooked the chickpeas from dried. It was really good!
For husband, the always popular (in my home) “Serious Eats Perfect Pan Seared Pork Chop” with house made cauliflower and “Chez Soul” take out collards.
For me, a low and slow cooked pork belly while I don’t watch the Warriors, and wait to watch Top Chef.
Is that onions in there with the pork belly, or something else? It looks delicious, but so did the pork chop too - think I’m hungry now.
Yes; some "spring onions " from my last CSA box!
Sort of what I did.
Smells so good, but will I ever get this dish clean? NBA playoff distraction!
Nice & thanks. We’re having pork pernil with taco fixings, salad and cilantro rice. Smells good & can’t wait! 
I LOVE pernil!
