The apotheosis of my favorite random meal: this one began with an onion and carrots, plus half a can of black beans, the rest of the pea soup defrosted for the fancy dinner (which included big chunks of bones,) the last of the short rib meat, a head of kale, a summer squash, a sweet potato, the last of the green curry purée which began as John’s soup, half a bag of annelini (O-shaped pasta,)…
Month: August 2006
Christine had also bought nice big scallops with the salmon, but it was too much for one meal, so I sliced them and made a ceviche with lemon, cider vinegar, ginger, shoyu, and shallot. This sat overnight in the fridge. The remaining maki got a quick egg/flour/ume vinegar batter and browned all around. Given the cold, rainy weather, I gave the ceviche a quick toss in the same pan to heat it through and thicken…
Beautiful wild Atlantic salmon satisfied both raw and cooked cravings, as perfect fish so often does around here. First, maki of raw collar, curried greens from the night before, and brown rice. The curry added a very nice counterpoint to the rich fish and tied the fish and rice together particularly well. Then, the remaining fillet crusted with ginger, sesame, garlic, salt and pepper, seared up on both sides and finished covered, and got a…
The rest of John’s soup inspired (and was added to) kale and collards, cooked until soft in coconut milk and fenugreek/cumin/fennel seeds with onion and vindaloo paste. All puréed together, and then with small cubes of tofu in place of the cheese, over brown rice with cilantro and mango chutney. Clean, green, and mean with a leftover Mendocino rosé (allegedly made by Caymus.)
John came over, just back from Japan, and brought 2 amazing old bottles so we whipped up some worthy grub to go with them. I took the remaining pie crust from the freezer, along with the kraut, a radicchio, and the one Italian sausage not cooked the other night, and made a filling for the tart that also included red onion. All cooked down, with wine, to a spicy/bitter/funky dark purple and went on the…
Kris, Ken, Mary, and David came up from the city so we had a suitably fancy feast. I kept the courses small, and we had great fun moving back and forth through the wines, trying them with different things. First, a sashimi of heirloom tomatoes with corn salad (with red onion, thyme, and grape tomatoes,) which matched perfectly with the 2004 Collio “Molamatta” that Kris & Ken brought. Dressed with sesame & olive oils, nam…
Another spelt crust got the treatment: the two remaining merguez, along with more caramelized onions, dried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, and herbs cooked in the iron pan until nice and dark, then went on the crust with basil and a layer of parmesan. It came out crispy and fantastic, with heirloom tomatoes on the side and a Collioure “Les Clos de Paulilles” (Grenache/Syrah) rosé 2005.
It was time to cull the leftovers, so the chick pea curry, the roasted potatoes (with remaining steak sauce,) half an onion, half a tomato, and some herbs all cooked together for a bit while I rolled out some more masa. This filling went in some admittedly funky samosas, but with oil, salt, and cumin seeds dribbled on them they crisped up really nicely in the oven. To accompany them, more slaw (there’s still some…
This is what screen porches were invented for; Chris, Sirkka, and Nissa came over for dinner and brought incredible veggies from their garden. I had been shopping earlier, including a stop at Fleischer’s (only grass-fed, organic) butcher shop in Kingston. So we began with a pizza, on a spelt crust, of storemade merguez, heirloom tomato, caramelized (in merguez fat) onion, basil, and fresh mozzarella. Awesome, especially with a Raffault Chinon rosé. Then a sirloin tip…