Just Another Day In The South.

Breakfast, Saturday May 27: Shrimp; cheesy grits; melon and pineapple.

Not much to say here. A southern east coast favorite. My only twist here is the use of horseradish cheddar in the grits.

Mountains Meet The Sea

Supper, Friday May 26: local flounder; salad (mixed greens, garden radish, mushroom, local garlic goat cheese, lite italian).

We came to the beach, and of course we eat as much seafood as we can incorporate into our routine. The salad greens and radishes are from our garden, while the fish is a local flounder. Mountains meet the sea.  

Finally A Day Off

Breakfast, Wednesday May 24: scramble (chives, spinach, mozzarella); fruit salad (apple, pear, banana, pineapple, shredded coconut, pecans, yogurt); seedy sour rye.

Alexis worked five in a row so we have not had a chance to have breakfast together in a while. (I know you are asking doesn't nearly everybody work five days in a row?' She works 12 hour shifts. that's 60 hours in 5 days.)  She likes chives so we have a nice little chive plot near the greenhouse door. Also there are some shallots and garlic. Right now the area around the greenhouse door smells wonderfully oniony. 

Isn't It Supposed To Be Red?

Supper, Tuesday May 23: tomato soup; grilled cheese (homemade sour rye, habanero cheddar, smoked gouda).

That depends on the tomato. I used yellow romas for this soup. We got a case of yellow romas at the farmers market last season and put them up as crushed tomatoes. The soup is pretty straightforward. Start with a mirepoix (1 onion, 2 carrot, 2 celery) and chopped garlic and shallot. Saute in olive oil til tender. Add a couple of quarts or equivalent of crushed tomatoes. Also add some basil, oregano, and black pepper. Bring this to a boil. Simmer until everything is tender. Puree with a hand blender. Simmer until desired thickness is achieved. 

Squee!

Supper, Sunday May 21: artisanal radish canape (mushroom pate, capers, celery leaf).

I wanted comfort food. I wasn't feeling well. For me, the best comfort food is chicken and pastry. That was the main course. I wrote about my favorite food in a previous post so follow that link if you're interested in my blatherings. 

As a funky side we had mushroom pate, but with a twist. Just that day I was chatting with my friend and neighbor across the street. I showed him the lovely daikon radish I had just harvested. He related a story of a relative (uncle?) who used daikon slices like crackers. Alexis and I had been eating them sliced as nibbles already. This just got me on the question of what to eat on a daikon cracker. Mushroom pate popped in my head. I hadn't made that in forever, and a quick look in my recipe box showed I did not have a recipe. 

Yay interwebs! I scanned a few recipes, fused and modified to come up with something to my taste. (Been on a tarragon kick lately. Don't know why, I used to hate tarragon.) I will give the recipe at the end but first I need to comment on the radish. Clearly the picture above is not of a daikon radish. The radish pictured is a variety called "Sweet Baby." It is purple, cylindrical, and about 3 inches long. Perfect for slicing. The name comes from the flavor. Cut a slice, lay it on the tongue, a subtle sweetness pops out, then when you bite you get that good radish burn. That little second or two of sweet is a little surprising and fun. 

Anyhoo here is the recipe.

5 medium portabella caps coarsely chopped
5 dried shiitake caps coarsely choped
2 shallots diced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/4 cup pinenuts lightly toasted 
1 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1 heaping Tbsp capers
1/4 tsp each of salt and freshly ground pepper

Soak the chopped Shiitakis  in a cup of boiling hot water until tender.
Sweat the shallots in the olive oil over medium heat.
Drain the shiitakes, reserve the liquid.
Add the portabellas and the drained shiitakes and saute 5 minutes. 
Add the reserved liquid, spices, and 2/3 of the pinenuts.
Simmer until liquid is mostly reduced away. 
Process with the sesame oil to a paste. 
Fold in the capers and the remaining pinenuts.

So I Had These Ribs. . .

Supper, Saturday May 20: rib sandwich (pulled rib meat, habanero cheddar, rosemary and olive oil bagel); fried yucca; fried okra.

A Study In Brown

Supper, Friday May 19: savory waffle (pumpkin whole wheat waffle, bechamel, toasted pecans); seared pork belly and caramelized onions.

This grew out of having two little belly pieces off of the ribs I smoked recently. I was originally going to use them as breakfast meat but that didn't work for schedule reasons. Then I decided to have "breakfast for dinner" which we (Alexis and I both) thought was a hoot when we were kids. 
Little did we know that it was likely due to the fact that eggs and pancakes are cheap and that is what he had available. Nevertheless I got on the breakfast notion then I thought about making the hwole thing savory. That got me to the waffles. Then I had to come up with something to put on the waffles. The most common item in the intersection of savory, breakfast, and sauce, at least where I come from, is sausage gravy. I didn't want to use that since I already had these 2 lovely belly pieces, but I did realize that if I took the sausage out of the sausage gravy I would have bechamel. 

For A Friend

Supper, Sunday May 7: sweet and sour tofu.

I will start by coming clean on something. I used to be a tofu scoffer, but for reasons not important here I had to start eating it. Now I like it. Really. I voluntarily eat it. 

In this case Alexis invited a friend from work over for dinner. She is a vegetarian. I had been thinking about sweet and sour something for a few days. Don't know why. This was the perfect entree.

I Wasn't Joking

Lunch, Sunday March 7: bucatini and sauce; greens;

canned peaches. 

Not much to say here. I just wanted to show the color of the bucatini. When we packed up the leftovers from Friday I put the sauce on the bucatini and put it away. Then two days later I am packing lunch for Alexis and behold purple bucatini. I really did put beets in that sauce.

Parmesan Ala 'Bama

Supper, Saturday May 6: greens; parmesan ala 'bama.

OK, I'm really proud of that name. So what is it? It's my deep south version of Eggplant Parmesan. Think about the eggplant parm that is served in mom and pop Greek/Italian spots. Usually you get some version of  big Greek salad to acompany a small mountain of fried eggplant smothered in cheese atop spaghetti and marinara. 

My remix is fried green tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, shredded parmesan, atop elbow macaroni with marinara, and a big side of turnip greens. Don't knock it til you've tried it.

It Looks Like Spaghetti. . .

Supper, Friday May 4: Bucatini and sauce.

I was unfamiliar with this pasta until just recently. I was intrigued. Really fat hollow spaghetti. the texture and tooth of a really thick noodle but perhaps without being doughy. It did not disappoint. both of us liked it. The big fat noodle texture was great for the sauce I made. 

That not-bolonese I made a few days ago got re-tasked. I added some browned Italian sausage and, here's the weird but it worked part, beets. Beets? Really? Yes beets. Here is the logic. I wanted to add some earthiness and some chunkiness. The earthiness because the sauce had plenty of brightness from the tomato, herbs, and kalamatas. The sausage would bring in some more umami to add to the bean's contribution. So bring in some earthiness to bolster that of the beans. Plus, I happened to have some garden beets that needed to be eaten.

Wait, That's Not Food

Yeah, I couldn't resist. We have a little American Bulldog. Fundamentally he's a good boy, but he is after all, a dog. I stepped out of my shed recently and was greeted by this face. It's hard to be mad at him.

Arrrrg!

Breakfast, Friday May 5: Pirate eggs; toast; cheese; fruit.

Nothing special here except that I really like how the pirate eggs came out.

So What Makes It A Chowdah?

Supper, Thursday May 4: leek and seafood chowder;

garden salad.

The first picture is the harvest from the greenhouse that was turned into salad. I really like the color of the lettuce on the right. It is most appropriately called Merlot. If you like radishes you should try nasturtiums. The flowers taste like radishes and they will grow damned near anywhere. Garden, flower bed, hanging pot, it is not a picky plant.

So what is chowder? It is a debatable definition. So start here: a soup made with potatoes and seafood and/or corn with cream or milk thickened with crackers or roux. So if it fits this it is definitely a chowder. That means the soup above is a chowder: leek, carrot, celery, potato, fish stock. Simmer til vegetables are soft then puree. Now add small diced potatoes, corn, sliced leek, then simmer lit tender finally add oysters, catfish, half and half, milk, roux. simmer til thickened. 

Now that is definitely a chowder.  Where the definition gets dicey (Ha!) is in its broader application. For instance Manhattan clam chowder is not a chowder by that definition. It's a clam and vegetable soup. Try telling that to a New Yorker. Another example is Bermuda chowder. They call it chowder but no milk, no potatoes, no corn. 

I'll just stick to calling seafood and cream soups chowders. No argument there.

Just The Right Size

Breakfast, Thursday May 4: lamb chop; roasted garlic bread; fruit salad.

Recently I dug around in the freezer and found some of our sheep share that I had forgotten. It included a number of chops. I love those tiny little steaks, but I thought that a dinner portion, typically 2, would use the up too fast. That's when I realized that one of them was just right as a breakfast meat. 

It Tastes Better If You Catch It Yourself

Breakfast, Sunday April 30: polenta and marinara; pan fried whiting; fruit.

I know that to some this plate is positively revolting. The weird thing on top of the marinara is roe from the whiting. I just seared that in a little butter and garlic. (What isn't better with butter and garlic?) The fish was caught the previous afternoon. In other words it was out of the water about 14 hours before it hit the pan. All I did here was dress it, reserving the roe, sprinkle with a little seafood seasoning, dredge in flour, then pan fry in a little oil. 

Whiting is not the best fish in the sea. The flesh is a little mushy and it is a bit bony. There is, however, a big difference when it is this fresh. Even a mediocre fish is great right out of the water. 

Not All Squid Are Created Equal

Breakfast, Friday April 30: fruit; roasted garlic bread; leeks and calamari.

I kept the squid really simple. I wanted the squid to be the star here so I just sauteed the leek in a little butter, tossed on the squid for a minute and finished with a little pepper. There was just one teeny little problem. I should, however, start at the beginning.

A few days earlier I was grocery shopping and spied the prettiest leeks in the produce section. I'm not sure how a leek is "pretty" but there it is. Anyhoo I bought a bunch and used part in some low country boil. So at this point I'm sitting on half a leek not spoken for. Meanwhile we go to a local seafood market to get some shrimp for the aforementioned boil. I should mention that this market deals in shrimp right off the boat. If a captain had a good arm he could throw shrimp from his deck and hit the building. 

So we walk in and they have the usual local offerings: shrimp of various grades; local flounder; croakers; and this time a bin of squid on ice. I bought the shrimp I came for and some squid. 

Prepping squid is a little bit of a process. First you have to pull the tentacle part out of the main body. then squeeze/dig out anything left behind inside the body. Finally you need to pull the pen out. It is a clear cartilaginous quill pen shaped thing. It pulls right out. OK, done with that part. Now for the tentacley part. Lay it out and observe that from one end to the other there are the tentacles, a short section that forms a slightly thinner "waist," then there are the googly eyes and finally the gooey stuff that came out of the body. Slice that sucker across that waist. In other words between the tentacles and the eyes. Toss the eyes and attached guts. There's one last thing to do, remove the beak. At the center of the tentacles squid have a mouth that has a sharp bony beak. If you squeeze the tentacle base the beak should pop out where the eyes were cut off. Pitch that and you are done.

Now the squid that I am familiar with should be cooked very lightly. Cook too long and they become chewy. As I said earlier, "I just sauteed the leek in a little butter, tossed on the squid for a minute and finished with a little pepper." The end result was very tasty but required considerable mastication. They were chewy as hell. It was more reminiscent of my experience with octopus. With octopus you have 2 choices. Pound the hell out of it to make it tender or cook it for a couple of hours. So I think this squid was more like octopus in that regard. It was tasty, but man was it some work to eat.

Italian Again?

Supper, Saturday April 22: tossed salad (garden greens, olives, avocado, capers, Greek dressing); spaghetti and meatballs.

I'm not sure why, but I have been jonesing for Italian meatballs for weeks. I finally decided to give in. The sauce is just marinara, nothing fancy. For the balls I finely chopped some shallot and minced a little garlic, and sweated them in a little olive oil. While this cooled a little I combined ground lamb, ground pork, egg, breadcrumbs, crumbled feta, pepper, basil, oregano, anise seed. I dumped in the onions and garlic, folded all this together and portioned out the balls. I baked them at 375 until they were beginning to brown. I think we got three meals out of that batch. I got that craving taken care of for a while.

Too Much Work

Supper, Friday April 21: tossed salad (garden greens and radish, sunflower seeds, shredded parm, caesar dressing); cous-cous; not-bolognese-but-kinda-stewey-tomato-thing (onion, carrot, green pepper, garlic, kidney beans, kalamata olives, eggplant, tomato, marsala, Italian herbs).

I was gonna make bolognese. Never tried that. I know that it is a commitment. After researching it on the interwebs I came to the conclusion that I did not want to work that hard. I'm sure there are "quick" versions but I don't want to shortcut it. I will eventually make it but this was not the day. 

What I did end up making turned out pretty damned good. I diced onion, green pepper, carrot, and kalamatas and sauteed them with some minced garlic. I strained a quart jar of our home made crushed tomatoes and added the juice and some marsala. I reserved the tomato meat for adding later. I wanted to preserve the chunkiness of the crushed tomatoes. I let this simmer until the marsala/tomato juice was substantially reduced, adding thyme, basil, oregano, and black pepper about half way through.

To finish it off I added the held tomato, drained kidney beans, and the eggplant. I need to talk about the eggplant for a moment. We had a good year last summer with the eggplant. We ate it grilled, in eggplant parm, and baba ganoush to name a few. One of the things I discovered at that time was that if some eggplant is added to a marinara and pureed with the rest of the sauce the eggplant adds body to the sauce, and bonus: it sticks to the pasta. Use a quarter to a third eggplant by volume. So how did I preserve the eggplant? Bake it as if being prepared for baba ganoush (it can be used for that also). Peel it and bag the flesh and freeze it. So the eggplant I added was cooked peeled and coarsely chopped. 

Once all the ingredients were in the pot I simmered it until I got a stew-like texture.  I came up with cous-cous 'cause I thought "It's Italian in the flavor profile so it would work with some kind of pasta, and it's got the consistency of a, say, Moroccan stew. . . ah, cous-cous, yeah." Topped it with a little parm because cheese.  

It's Complete!

Breakfast, Friday April 21: yogurt and peaches; pineapple; trail bologna mixed cheeses, popovers.

When Alexis was working on her BSN she took a couple of nutrition courses. I helped her study from time to time with flashcards. Boy, they love yogurt. Sometimes it seemed as if half the answers were YOGURT. It is a complete protein, in other words it has all the essential amino acids in sufficient quantity. Another thing it has going for it is that the lactose has been metabolized by the lactobacilli. I usually buy nonfat plain yogurt. I can use it as a savory element, or as a sub for sour cream. If I want something sweet I can add some of our home made jam or canned fruit. 

Simple Is Sometimes Better.

Supper, Thursday April 20: smoked rack of lamb, mac-n-cheese, beets, radish.

Despite appearances this really is pretty simple. The rack was 4 ribs. I just seasoned it with a little salt and pepper and put it on my kettle grill with indirect heat. I smoked it for about 2 hours then split it for the plate. The Radish is from the greenhouse. The beets are just garden beets steamed in the microwave. The mac-n-cheese is really the most complicated item. 

For the mac-n-cheese sauce I combined a couple of tablespoons each of flour and butter over medium heat in a sauce pan. Don't let this roux brown. If it does it will interfere with the flavor of the cheese. just cook it til it is bubbling good for a couple of minutes. Keep it moving. Then I added some milk, about a cup. It is best to err on the side of caution here. Once the milk has heated and the sauce thickened you can always add a little more milk or water for that matter. If you put in too much milk you can't take it back out. If that is the case you could carefully simmer until enough liquid has evaporated to thicken the sauce. You could also add a little cornstarch and water mixed together until you get a thick but not stiff sauce. Finally I tossed in a big handful of cheddar and another of smoked gouda with the rind cut off. Both were shredded. Blend and toss in the mac. I dressed it up a little with some scallions and capers.

A Match Made In Heaven

Supper, Sunday April 16: chicken liver; beet chips; avocado; green beans.

Just your normal meat and three. OK just a little twist. The beans are just straight up. Some of our garden beans from last season. They taste like summer. The Avocado might seem a little weird, but hear me out. Avocados have an earthy flavor along with their fruitier notes. Both the beets and the liver are very earthy so the avocado brings something in common and something new to the plate. There is also a pairing in texture. The avocado, when just ripe, has a tiny bit of tooth that gives way immediately to its softness. The livers are the same, only more so. If you think that is just rationalization, OK, Alexis likes avocado. There.

Now let's look at the livers. There is a restaurant near our house that has on the menu fried chicken livers. Their twist is with caramelized onions and shiitakes. Now I only had dried shiitakes. Their texture is a bit rubbery when they are re-hydrated so I didn't want them here. The combo of the pumpkin seeds and the caramelized onions has that tooth/soft palate again. 

Drain the chicken livers well. Hit them with a dash of salt and some fresh ground black pepper. Dredge them in plain flour. Deep fry or pan fry in a half inch of oil. In either case turn them to cook evenly. Slice the onion very thin caramelize in a little butter. I like to add a little Marsala. When the onions are nearing completion add the pumpkin seeds. When the seeds are toasted toss in the livers. 

It's A Bit Chewy

Supper, Friday April 15: seared flat steak; mixed vegetable; asparagus; avocado; quinoa and beets.

I don't have this happen often but here is one of my failures. The meat looks pretty but it was so tough as to be almost inedible. It was very tasty but, man, it took some chewin'. I need to figure out what to do with this. 

I Think It Is Still Kosher

Breakfast, Thursday April 14: roast beef hash* (leftover brisket, potato); mixed fruit; tomato juice.

*Here is another example of re-tasking. Sure the brisket is leftover, but it's not being used it the same way as it was yesterday. Instead of slicing it up I shredded it with the mandolin along with some potato. Now it's not "leftovers" it is something new entirely. 

I know I've commented on our tomato juice before, but I want to give the ingredients. I buy the tomatoes by the case at the farmers market in 25 pound boxes. Now check this out: second grade tomatoes AKA #2 are perfectly good tomatoes but they are blemished or oddly shaped so they are cheaper. They are fine for juice making and get this, in season a case will be as low as 8 dollars.  

To every case of tomatoes I add 2 jalapenos, a fist full of parsley (half a bunch), 4 garlic cloves, and 3 tablespoons of salt.

I think I will show the process later, after I get caught up.

I Think They Smell Delicioso

Breakfast, Wednesday April 13: veggie scramble ( ramps, mushrooms, olive, eggs, egg substitute, pinconning ); roasted corn polenta; lamb chop.

I was sifting through the freezer recently. I was looking for items that were getting old. The search led me to a bag of our lamb share that had gotten buried. It had all the lamb chops in it. I realized that the chops were just the right size for breakfast meat. The shape looks a little off 'cause I trimmed the fatty tail off. ( I chopped them up and briefly cooked then. The dogs loved it.) I just put a little salt and pepper on then pan seared them.

Ramps are a lot like Miracle Whip. You love or you hate it. There are very few people who are ambivalent. Ramps are the same way except that there are a sizable number of people ( I suspect an overwhelming majority ) who have never even heard of them. I have a small patch of them in the yard, mostly as a novelty. If I really want ramps I go to the farmers market. I usually try to saute and freeze some in very small baggies every year. They are only available in the spring. That reminds me, I need some to freeze. . .

It Doesn't Get Much More Jewy Than This

Supper, Tuesday April 11: Brisket ( salt and pepper rub, wine and water to braise in, onion, carrot, celery, garlic added about 2 hours in ).

We are not Jewish, but our very good friends across the street are. They invite us to Seder dinner every year. At this point I've been to more Seders than a lot of Jews. We enjoy the camaraderie, the wine, the stories, the food, the wine, the singing, the wine. . .
I always make something to bring to the meal. Usually it is a side or dessert. If I've been really busy it might just be a bottle of wine. This year I got ambitious and promised a brisket. It turned out great. 

I started with a whole brisket. I separated the smaller piece on top and trimmed the fat layer. You need to leave some of it for flavor and to develop proper texture in the meat. The small piece can be used for ground beef or smoked or braised itself. It is not necessary to remove it but I knew that just the big piece would be enough. I then rubbed the whole thing down with some salt and pepper. After a 30min rest I broiled it on top and bottom til browned. I turned the oven down to 350, placed the meat in a roasting pan and added half water, half red wine til it was about an inch deep in the pan. After braising covered for a couple of hours I added the veggies and put it back for another 3 hours. It was almost too tender to slice, I could have shredded it with a fork. All the meatetarians loved it. 

As Long As There Is Cheese

Supper, Sunday April 9: reuben; onion strings; beet greens with feta.

I've done all of these before but there are a couple of things worth mentioning. Thousand island dressing is one. I'm finicky about my reuben. Too often I have received soggy reubens. The kraut is put on soggy and the thousand island is laid on thick so that the bread is turning to mush before it gets to the table. I make the dressing for these. It's easy. Mayo, relish, ketchup, a little lemon juice. I Make it thick so it minimizes the bread sog.

The other thing to mention is greens. If you ever get beets don't toss the greens. Saute the greens in a little olive oil til tender. Add a little wine or lemon juice. Finish with a little feta.

A Kinda Surf And Turf

Supper: Saturday April 8: french onion soup; garden salad with smoked oysters.

I was looking for something to add a little more protein to the meal. Rummaging around in the pantry I spied a tin of smoked oysters. Rich broth and pungent cheese, smokey oysters. Great fit.

Miscellaneous Nibbles

Lunch, Saturday April 8: miscellaneous nibbles as pictured.

We recently visited family in Ohio. Near Alexis' hometown is kinda the heart of cheese country in Ohio. Being cheese fanatics we go on  little cheese binge while we are there. For the most part we really could get the same cheeses at home, but there are a couple of varieties that we have only seen there. We always get some local swiss and there is a horseradish cheddar that has a particular texture unlike others we have tried. Most we have sampled have a gritty texture. The one we buy there is very smooth and melts well. There is one particular variety that I have not seen anywhere else, Pinconing. It is a colby type so it has a mild cheddar character and a little sourness. It is really good as the star of a grilled cheese.

Oh yeah, there is the smoked habanero cheddar. . .  

Covered, smothered, chunked,. . .

Breakfast Friday April 7:  peach and avocado salad (home canned peaches, avocado, cilantro, garlic, pepper sauce, scallions); chard and feta scramble; hash browns smothered in chili. 

I have a mandolin that has a very thin julienne blade. I love that setting. It makes the best hash browns. You can get the potato strips very crispity which is perfect if you are going to glom them with chili.