One of the many pleasures of a garden is that it tells you what to eat; on any given day something is à point and must be picked immediately for best flavor. Yesterday, the thinned kale became a nutritious garnish in place of herbs. Today, it was mustard greens and sorrel that needed beating back. Combined with chick peas I put out to soak and some salmon that Christine bought it all became a pretty…
Category: Seafood
The weather here in the Northeast has been incredible of late: hot, and no rain for what seems like weeks now. But the evenings are cool, so even if it’s uncomfortably warm during the day, it’s beautiful sleeping weather and the resulting dew in the morning keeps the plants from drying out too much. It’s hard to believe we’re well into October already; the garden is at a peak we haven’t seen since June. With…
I’ve been working like mad to get ready for a show, so dinners have been necessarily limited in scope. This time, a good hunk of salmon in the oven for a few minutes with ras-el-hanout, salt, pepper, herbs, and paprika got just firm while I steamed Japanese yams and sweet potatoes to whip together and I busted out some mash since summer is ending and the simple pleasure of fresh bitter greens is about to…
We went over to C&S’s house, bringing some of the duck confit (Chris’ favorite) plus the salsa, tortillas, a smoked coffee-tamarind-molasses-red wine-agave reduction to go with the duck (which tasted like mutant hoisin sauce) and some red snapper. I made a ceviche with the fish, citrus juice, celery, onion, and cilantro, and they made a salad, guacamole, and pulled out a turnip-hijiki dish from the day before. So we had soft tacos with either ceviche…
I pickled beets and turnips a couple of days ago, and had one of each left over, so I steamed them until soft, then puréed them and added egg yolk and rye flour to make gnocchi dough. Today we used it, along with tilapia and garden goodies. Fennel, celery, onion, and carrot sweated while I rolled, cut, and boiled the gnocchi. Then veggies out and gnocchi into the same pan but with duck fat to…
We were in Vermont with family for the weekend, and it was perfect weather and good eating. We brought all the greens from the garden, and supplemented them with local bread, cheese, and sausages. I also lugged along the smoked duck carcass to make a broth on the second night, with soba and sliced filet of beef. The first course was salmon as sushi with brown rice and sashimi with the now-familiar sauce of hot…
Chris is on the road, so Sirkka and Nissa came over to hang out on a rainy, even chilly afternoon. A trip to the store yielded a bag of Cape Cod mussels, and some spinach fettucine. The garden gave carrot, fennel, celery, shallot, and green onion plus basil, parsley, thyme, and oregano. A few slices of guanciale got the pan going, and all the rest of the veggies sweated until soft. Then wine, mussels, and…
Chris and Sirkka joined us after a nice swim and visit to the store for some fish- tuna and salmon. They brought beets, greens, and cooked turnips, and daikon pickles from their garden. We made a salad from ours. Sirkka quartered the beets and roasted them wrapped in foil; we tossed them in Banyuls vinegar, salt, and a little olive oil. Chris made beet greens in dashi with garlic and chopped cooked turnips. I made…
Our neighbors Susan and Stewart came for dinner, and I was working all day so I had to improvise. The smoked chicken carcass became a lovely broth, strained and reduced, while the salmon that Christine bought got a double treatment as both tartare and sashimi. Haricots and shiitakes, blanched and caramelized respectively, plus shaved chioggia beets and the remaining smoked chicken meat all went into a terrine that was glued together by the reduced broth.…
Christine bought wild salmon and a beautiful piece of chicken-of-the-woods today, and the colors were just gorgeous together, so I was inspired- especially since I spent all day drawing on a big sheet of MDF and needed some color. Plus, the greens beans have arrived, going from tiny to 6 inches long in about two days. I reheated brown rice with water to that magical twice-cooked creamy state, and cooked the fish skin side only…