We enjoyed another excellent dinner at Fiorentini Restaurant in Rutherford, NJ including buffalo mozzarella salad with compressed watermelon, roasted heirloom tomato, and pickled shallots; prosciutto with roasted honeydew melon, cantaloupe, bread chips; black ink tagliolini with uni in a cacio e pepe sauce; duck breast with apricot compote and pattypan squash; and seared wild grouper. It all went great with an excellent Amarone and Chateauneuf Du Pape.
Grilled flap steak with basil-garlic scape pesto and a side of Buffalo roasted cauliflower. The pesto was fabulous - in past years I haven’t hung on to any scapes long enough to make it to basil season, but they actually keep very well in the fridge. Totally worth the wait - will become a regular pesto combo chez moi!
Cooked after what felt like a long time, except that I also cooked yesterday. But, easy and quick meals.
Yesterday I had a bad tummy resulting from a seemingly wonderful dinner at a Russian restaurant the night before. It made me miss the HO group dim sum lunch that I had been looking forward to, so I was sick AND grumpy.
Made the food of (sick) champions, khichdi (lentils - masoor in this case - and rice), eaten with yogurt and a bit of aloo bharta / spices mashed potato (leftover from patty-making last week). Also some papad, more specifically appalam (which I convince myself is fine because it’s just rice flour).
My appetite came back last night, which I satisfied with crackers.
Today I used the chicken meatballs I made last week in a curry noodle soup. I’ve got a big jar of massaman curry open (for some mysterious reason – it’s my least favorite Thai curry) so I used that as a starting point. Added broccoli slaw for veg and rice vermicelli for noodle.
The soup was delicious, but the meatballs were very flavorful and should really have been served on a bed of plain rice noodles in retrospect.
I’ll post the Russian dinner once I’m over my annoyance about it getting me sick.
Stuck in the country and had to make due with pantry items, some scant refrigerator items, and whatever meat was in the freezer. I pounded out some boneless pork chops and made schnitzel. Made a salad of butter beans, roasted bell peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, capers, basil, balsamic, EVOO, crumbled feta, and dried oregano. Everyone agreed the salad was much better than the sum of its parts. Lucked out on the feta being genuinely great sheep’s milk feta from Greece. Found some lemons on a tree to serve on the side with the fried pork. Pretty damn good eats for tossing things around! We get back to civilization soon and I can’t wait, but tonight was delicious.
make sure you cook them longer than the package says and add way more of whatever liquid you’re using. I made them again tonight and they came out even creamier than last night’s!
BF made us a lovely picnic in the park today! Dolores Park - in our neighborhood and I usually just hike around it. Loved actually sitting in it on a gorgeous day with all the other sunbathers. We noshed on bacon deviled eggs, cheese/crackers/prosciutto spread, figs, and had a couple of beers from a nearby brewery. so relaxing.
dinner tonight was more grits, just andouille, no shrimp this time, because BF, but just as good, and my new batch of those Lake Side grits was even creamier tonight.
I find myself making Arroz con Pollo once a week because after a long, late workday, it’s a relatively simple (but not quick) one pot meal. Boneless skinless thighs are rubbed with an array of spices, plus there’s the BF’s mom’s Sofrito, green olives, gandules, and bacon (traditionally would be salchicon).
Lamb tagine with carrots, olives, dried apricots, garlic, onion, cilantro, lemon zest and juice and a sauce made with chicken broth, paprika, dried ginger, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, chili - served over couscous
I made Tilapia last night. It gave me a chance to try out my new “Victoria” 10" Cast Iron skillet. I want to compare and contrast it to my Lodge 12" Cast Iron and my 10" enameled cast iron.
Sounds like a well stocked pantry, freezer, and fridge, mcc! Dinner sounds wonderful - and welcome to HO! There’s an ongoing introduction link here if you’re so inclined to let us know a little about yourself. (There are 1445 posts, so perhaps scroll to the end. LOL)
Whew it’s been a hot minute since I contributed, as the kids say. WFD yesterday was pizza! Always a favorite around here, and an opportunity for me to use up my sourdough discard. Sourdough crust topped with pesto, first seasonal corn, ham, sundried tomatoes, mozz. Basil on top after broiling to get some brown cheese. Good stuff.
We live on outer Cape Cod. We are entering the last few weeks of tourist season. It gets so thick with too many people and dangerous to drive out here that we eat out of our freezer and our garden in July and August. We finally have some rain today. We’re in an official drought. We have a well, but people on municipal water are being cautioned against flushing their toilets too frequently, taking abbreviated showers and kissing their lawns and gardens good bye. We have been carefully watering our tomatoes and some young trees we planted this spring but are worried about our well pump pressure. Tonight is chicken stew from the freezer. There are fatal accidents on Rte. 6 out here in the summer. Very dangerous highway…
