We enjoyed another excellent dinner at Fiorentini in Rutherford, NJ with some friends that we met on Instagram. We enjoyed Buffalo mozzarella with compressed watermelon, roasted heirloom tomato, pickled shallots, and black garlic; scallops; lobster risotto; handmade parmigiano rose; wagyu steak tartar; squid ink tagliolini uni cacio e pepe; grouper; charcuterie board; pizza rustica; vegan key lime pie, and the most incredible crispy cannoli. We had some excellent red wines not pictured.
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We got absolutely obliterated at my job today. The crowds did not stop. I’d rank today the second busiest day in my life of food service.
There were leftover chicken cutlets from last night. Put one on a seeded roll with a nice plump tomato, mayo, salt, and pepper. Done. Chips on the side. An Old Fashioned to drink.
No pics tonight.
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Zucchini “cake” - the filling was a mixture of briefly cooked, shredded zucchini, basmati rice, mint, garlic. Served with a tomato salsa made with sautéed red onions, cashews, curry powder, lime zest and juice.
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I actually just used Lee Kum Kee oyster sauce and I think just Kikkoman soy sauce in place of the Thai soy sauces as well, probably don’t have to get the Thai brands for those. Pandan I got at a local Asian grocery store in the freezer section or refrigerated section (forget which but I remember keeping it in the freezer) and I think some places will have the fresh leaves for sale as well. And yeah Milo is a malted chocolate drink powder. I found a jar in a local Mexican market.
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Last night’s dinner was stuffed baby eggplant, loosely following a Greek recipe. It calls for baby eggplant, which just happened to be what I got in my CSA box. The recipe is called “little shoes”. On the side was a simple pilaf from this month’s COTM, flavored with fresh dill and preserved lemon.
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Last nighs dinner, was sugar snap peas in the Instant Pot, Baked Potato in Instant Pot, then to air fryer with sour cream, chicken Kiev cooked in the air fryer, and biscuits baked in the toaster oven. Sugar snaps were delicious!
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Lovely. Nice to see you post here as well as on another sandbox. I go by the name of Audrey there.
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I made pan-roasted salmon with tomato vinaigrette, with a Thai spin.
Salmon rub: paprika, turmeric, dried lemongrass, white pepper, cumin, coriander, mushroom seasoning, sugar
Tomato sauce: tomatoes, Makrut lime leaf, shallot, garlic, lime juice, rice wine vinegar, ponzu, sweetener, fish sauce
Garnished with holy basil and served with sweet toasted coconut rice. Ginger cucumber salad on the side. Tomatoes and herbs were from the garden.
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Looks beautiful! Please share more about the ginger cucumber salad?
Thanks.
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The simplest - rice wine vinegar, freshly peeled and grated ginger, salt, pepper, vegetable oil. A sprinkle of sesame seeds.
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BF at the wok again, trying to rid our fridge of more veg. Ground pork stir-fry of his own design, with garlic/ginger/dark soy/shaoxing wine/oyster sauce/hoisin/bird chilies/Thai basil. quick-pickled carrot & daikon, steamed leftover sprouts and marinated in sesame oil and soy (excellent). also radishes in Thai sweet chili sauce. Jasmine rice. A+++.
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so interesting that the recipe calls for chocolate!
and thanks for the explanations. good to know.
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what was up, do you have any idea why it was so busy?
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Well, we are five minutes from the first major beach on the Jersey Shore. Any day, weekend in particular, above 95 degrees and we’re expecting a slaughter. This past weekend was a brutal heat wave-- temperature hit 102 on my car dashboard. Yeah. Just wave after wave of hungry and thirsty tourists.
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Before there was the Martini, there was the…Martinez? This late 19th century cocktail is one that I had tried only once before at a historic inn years ago and enjoyed, but kind of forgot about it. I saw a Liquor.com Instagram post yesterday which reminded me of it, so here we are. It is really quite delightful, like a Martini-Manhattan hybrid. Strong but light, floral, and slightly sweet. Goes down too easy. Great for summer sipping. Bombay Sapphire, sweet vermouth, Luxardo, Angostura.
Oh, yes, there was food too. I was off from my full time mundane job today but was asked if I was available to work my teaching job. It’s a different program we run in the summer, out on the beach with school/camp groups. We go over marine biology and maritime history. Anyway, today was hot and muggy. Disgusting, really. A three hour work day felt like forever. I got home and though I fully intended to cook something extravagant due to being home at a reasonable hour, I didn’t have any energy so I made a shrimp curry (had shrimp in the freezer, naan, a curry spice packet from the Indian market, and made basmati rice). It was good but have been overdoing it with Indian lately.
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After a week of eating through my nephew’s NYC food wish list, dinner tonight was substituted by a HO-down in the form of a grazing food crawl that started at lunch and lasted several hours.
List of what we ate over here:
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