Welcome to the new thread - comrades, brothers & sisters (as it is International Workers Day)
As spring starts to take hold (although the hail storms yesterday in northwest England make you wonder - hence thread title), there’s new fresh produce starting to become available. What are you doing with it?
(Reposted from last thread)
Having gone through the warmest winter on record, I think we may be going through the coldest, wettest spring on record. Even a fairly light shower of rain is turning the bottom half of our garden into a pond. The ground must be absolutely saturated and it’s well nigh impossible to get on with the gardening.
As for dinner:
To start… asparagus, butter
To continue… navarin of lamb. Neck fillet, shallots, Chantany carrots, Jersey Royal potatoes
To continue a bit more …Aberwen cheese
To conclude… Orange posset
Still waiting on fresh local produce in my area. But, my house now smells like sweet corn, as I’m making a corn stock (from frozen corn cobs from last summer) for use in one of my Mom Meals I’m making today: Chicken Corn Chowder. I’m also planning on making Mac & Ham & Cheese for another Mom Meal, and may use the rest of the ham in a broccoli and ham quiche for myself for dinner tonight. We’ll see how things move along throughout the day.
It’ll be crappy sammiches for dinner, as we refuse to eat plane food. IIRC, EWR has a decent sandwich place that should do the trick.
Arrival in Berlin at 2 AM (8 AM local). Not a clue where our first dinner will be. There’s an array of options nearby: Syrian, Asian fusion, French, Italian, German, Vietnamese, Turkish, Greek… so many choices 
Safe travels! Looking forward to another year of exploring the foods of Berlin vicariously through you.
Have a GREAT time! Can’t wait to see pics of all the fun times and great food.
Buon Viaggio! You have a veritable United Nations of culinary choices. Happy Dilemma.
WFD: Chicken and Rice Soup. Grilled crusty bread.
Carrots; onions; celery; olive oil; S & P; chicken stock; bay leaves; dried thyme; cooked chicken chunks; parsley; cooked basmati rice. It’s a cool drizzly day here so soup will be welcome.
The remaining chicken carcass will be used to make more overnight stock. Stock is one of two uses I’ve decided the slow cooker is good for. The other is the Char Siu we made the other day.
Have a safe trip!!
Depends what terminal you are in but maybe this eaterny article can help you find a less crappy something at the airport
Duxelles on toast (local mushrooms and onions); salmon eggs and creme fraiche on crackers…
Grey sole on a bed of roasted onions and red peppers, with saffron rice; local asparagus…
Today was a Mom Meal Day. A big batch of Chicken Corn Chowder was made and tucked into the downstairs fridge to cool before going into the freezer (5 small containers for Mom and 3 slightly larger ones for me).
I then made some Mac & Ham & Cheese (3 smaller foil containers to go into the freezer for Mom), and a couple of Le Creuset baking dishes for me - one of which is dinner tonight, along with a side salad and a glass of wine.
The clock on my range had been stopping. Figured it was a power surge from storms and reset it twice over two days. Then forgot about it.
Put potatoes on to boil and butter to melt. Made a salad from dandelion greens,purple heirloom tomato, cucumber and scallions. Made tartar sauce for the trout. Brushed melted butter on the filets and seasoned with thyme, white pepper and lemon salt. Put the oven on to preheat.
Nothing…regrouped and decided to cook the trout on the stove top. Nothing…Pulled out my old propane burner that I used for cooking demos. Wrong sized propane container…
Was pouring rain so the charcoal grill wasn’t an option.
Hooray for toaster ovens! Fish cooked just fine in several minutes. Dinner was consumed while looking at reviews of appliance repair companies. There was bourbon. And another.
Nice save with the toaster oven! Hope the stove issue is resolved quickly for you…
Last night i stopped for sushi with a friend on our way to a late birthday party- a veggie roll, the chilled tofu and miso soup for me-nothing spectacular but good enough.
Today was cold and rainy and gross, so i needed something hot. I went with one of my favorites, garbanzos con espinacas tonight (i use the smitten kitchen recipe and add extra spinach).
Best pizza yet…of our homemade variety. I’d gotten a bit carried away and had too many ‘thick’ things on it. Tonight was mandolined shallots, onions and mushrooms. Slow roasted cherry tomatoes, black olives. Mozzarella and Parm. Fresh sage. Pepperoni. Homemade sausage. I’m probably forgetting something. So, SO really good.
Rabbit stew.
Bunny tossed in flour & mustard powder and browned. Shallot, carrot, celery, artichoke hearts, lager. Dumplings probably.
What will Lingua’s first wine be?
I love skate wings. Matter of time til it becomes expensive (hipsters/chefs somewhere).
White, cold and in a large glass.
We know our Lingua, surely?
WFD: Fettuccine Primavera di Gio. Unsalted butter + olive oil, shallots, garlic, chopped carrots, S & P, bite size pieces of asparagus blanched in boiling pasta water before pasta is “thrown” (into the boiling water), peas, whipping cream, Fettuccine added and mixed in, Parmigiano added and tossed, basil chiffonade, goat cheese dollops on each serving.
An idea for tonight’s Macaroni Monday.
Had some fabulous, fatty burgers last night - I ground the meat (chuck) myself and added probably 25% fat and ribeye trimmings to it. Decadent! Next time I’ll use flap or skirt in the meat portion, though, as the chuck was a little flavorless. I might even mix some ground flap into the other package in the freezer, as 25% extra fat might have been just a little TOO much. They were damn good burgers, though - fabulously juicy. Topped with caramelized onions and green olive mayo. I meant to make a chipotle bacon relish as well, but I got lazy.
Given the richness of last night’s meal, tonight will be lighter! I had grilled salmon and calamari with salad for lunch, so maybe chicken or a frittata would fit the bill.
