Hiyayakko (chilled) tofu. There are apparently many ways to fix it up, but ours was topped with minced ginger, green onion, and dried bonito flakes and served in a shallow dish with soy sauce.
Zaru soba: chilled soba noodles served with tsuyu (a sort of soup base) for dipping. Wasabi, minced green onion, and ginger are also put out for flavoring your tsuyu.

The simple pleasures of making BLTs with produce from your garden. Whole wheat bread (toasted), little mayo, fresh cracked black pepper, salt, crisp lettuce, 3 pieces of bacon (Kirkland/ Costco brand) and several thick juicy slices of beefsteak tomato, picked minutes before. Three of us (inculding my 7 year old daughter) were very content!

Cooked for four last night, tried out a bunch of new stuff. Most of the meal was only decent: salad w/cherry tomatoes, red carrots, and goat cheese, followed by roast chicken (Bouchon recipe) with corn and spinach alongside. But dessert, ah, dessert.

Homemade roasted banana ice cream in homemade crepes, drizzled with Sanders bittersweet fudge and Luxardo cherries. That's the stuff. Thanks to The Perfect Scoop, my first-ever attempt at both ice cream and crepe-making was an absolute success.

Click to view attachment

2 lbs, 4 1/2 oz. [the one in front]

Click to view attachment

porcupine... I've never said this to anyone before. I've never *felt* like this before. You give the Best Tomato Ever.

I'll be in my bunk.

_k

Tomato sandwiches: rosemary rolls from Atwater, beautiful green zebra tomatoes, fleur de sel, pepper, basil leaves, fresh mozzarella, arugula dressed with olive oil and lemon. Citadelle gin & tonic.

Tomorrow: gazpacho, roast chicken with tarragon, and homemade blueberry ice cream. mmmmmm

Egg salad sandwiches (with cucumber, tomato, romaine) on a Parisienne baguette from Marvelous Market.

last night:

Fried squash blossoms stuffed with homemade ricotta, buffalo mozz, Reggiano and basil. Served with a creamy tomato and mushroom sauce.
Gratin of chard and mushrooms

2006 Domaine Sorin Rosé

Popsicles

I had a huge package of cremini mushrooms that I had gotten at Costco, and I needed to do something with them before they went bad. The ones that were still closed up nice and tight were sliced and sauteed with shallot. The ones that were a little more "gone by" and opened up were used to make mushroom jus--by Michel Richard's method, described in _Happy in the Kitchen_. I've done this a couple of times now, and the jus is a fabulous addition to pan reduction sauces in weather when it is too hot to make chicken or veal stock. And so simple. Once you are done squeezing all of the water out of the pureed, cooked 'shrooms, you are left with a block of dry, crumbly mushroom grounds. Last time, I couldn't imagine what to use them for and just threw them away. This time, I added them to a marinara sauce that I was making, which I blended together in the Vitamix with some heavy cream, and then cooked on very low heat for a while. The sauce was completely smooth--the mushroom tailings added a lot of flavor and functioned sort of as a thickening agent. The sauce was more of a brick color, with the brown mushroom puree in it, rather than the more coral orange of tomato sauce with cream. But it was delicious.

I also tried Michel Richard's microwave bechamel method, using the whey left over from the ricotta-making. So I had all this bechamel, and some chard in my fridge that had been there for over a week. And I lightly cooked the chard with some onion, and took half the sauteed mushrooms and some of the bechamel and topped it with grated Comté that I've had hanging around for a long time. My original plan was to have the squash blossoms as a first course, and grilled steak ( salmon for Veggie-teen and her friend) and the gratin as a main, but the grill was vetoed. With a baguette, everyone was satisfied.

Recent dinner: Linguini with peas, bacon and porcini mushrooms. Topped with a generous portion of freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese.

Caprese salad
Tortellini pasta salad with toasted pine nuts, olives, basil, and shredded romano, dressed with buttermilk ranch
Sesame chicken stir-fry with peppers, onions, snow peas, and carrots, over rice

Tonight:

Charcoal grilled hanger steak and Atlantic salmon filet
Green beans with roasted red pepper and garlic
Polenta with fresh corn

2005 McManis California cabernet

Grilled pineapple with warm butterscotch-rum sauce

I am tempted to set up a household altar in your honor. You are ingenious when it comes to resourcefulness and bringing out every bit of flavor in what you cook.

As long as you set up the altar at your place, I'm fine with it. I don't have room in my house. It looks like it could double as an armoire in which to set your television, or more aptly, the microwave. =;-D)

Last night was beer braised kielbasa, sauerkraut with barley and caraway seeds, and marbled rye bread.

http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11866001..._1826_12221.jpg

stewed tomatoes with sauteed bluefish (wonder where i got that idea from)
sauteed yellow squash with spring onions (deborah madison)
2002 domaine des baumard savenniers (where muscadet meets true chablis, $20 and the best white wine i've found on a supermarket shelf in a good long while)

It's steakhouse night!

Iceberg lettuce w/ cherry tomatoes and gorgonzola
Grilled NY strip w/ roquefort
Butter fried potatoes with roasted garlic mayo
2004 Bordeaux

10-Year Old Laphroaig
Angel food cake with mixed berries, chocolate sauce, and Cool Hwip

Ironically, the dessert was probably the healthiest part of the meal.

Yeah, that Cool Hwip is magical stuff. Removes all of the LDL's from everything you've eaten previously.

It was Light Cool Hwip

Grilled flank steak with orange vinaigrette.

Green salad with homemade buttermilk ranch dressing
Smoked oyster-smoked paprika frittata with red onion, parsley, and shredded Romano

Some friends of mine are visiting DC this week so last night we made them dinner.

To start, a tomato, watermelon, and feta salad, a perfect salad on a hot and humid summer day.


The main dish was crabcakes with remoulade and roasted peppers and corn.


And for dessert, blackberry caramel cheesecakes. We picked the blackberries at Butler's Orchard on Sunday. The cheesecake recipe is from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate.

txaggie, that whole meal speaks summer. I assume the crabcakes were homemade? If so, where did you get the crab meat? Did you make the cheesecakes in individual springform pans?
Thanks!
ps..lucky friends

Veal in a champagne (I had to do something with the rather disappointing 1988 Bruno Paillard I had left from the previous night) and mushroom sauce with sautéed green beans, and crispy sweetbreads. This was my first attempt at making sweetbreads, while a time consuming to soak, poach, clean, and press it was well worth it. My offal hating wife even admitted to liking them, and that she would have eaten more if she did not know what they were.

Yup - the crabcakes were homemade. cjsadler made them. I bought the crab meat at Costco. It was 1 pound of Phillip's lump crab meat. $14 at Costco.

I made the cheesecakes in ramekins. It's the easiest recipe (I can send you the recipe if you're interested), but you do have to make the cheesecakes at least one day in advance.

Blackberry Caramel Cheesecakes, Adapted from Alice Medrich's A Year in Chocolate

Caramel:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Cheesecakes:
6 oz white choc, chopped
1/4 cup boiling water
1.5 lbs cream cheese
1/2 cup plus 2 T sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
5 oz blackberries

8 5-6oz ramekins

Preheat oven 325.

Make the caramel...Mix the sugar and water over high heat until it's a nice amber color. Pour the caramel in the ramekins and swirl around (so the caramel coats the bottom and the sides of the ramekin).

**A tip from cjsadler...Add 1/4 cup water to the caramel after it is done. This will help the caramel stick less to the ramekins and come out as a sauce. This tip was told to me after the fact.

For the cheesecakes...Place white chocolate in bowl and pour boiling water over the chocolate. Stir until smooth and set aside. Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add sugar and vanilla and beat 1-2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and incorporate. Stir in melted white chocolate.

Divide blackberries among ramekins, add the batter and bake (using a water bath) for 15-20 minutes (outer edges will be puffy and the center will jiggle.

Cool completely, cover, and refrigerate overnight (at minimum).

I gotta add that this cheesecake recipe, which is really more of a flan, is awesome. Try it-- you won't be disappointed!

Last night:
Charcoal roasted herb-brined Eco-Friendly chicken (fresh, not frozen as their chickens usually are)
Barley-corn salad with lime zest vinaigrette and chopped cilantro
Marinated green beans with roasted red peppers and garlic
Grilled sourdough toast

2005 Beaujolais Jacques Charmetant

Peaches, blackberries, white nectarines and vanilla ice cream

cole slaw
baked chicken breasts
spaghetti with proscuitto, sun dried tomatoes, pine nuts, red onion, parsley, buffalo mozzarella and romano cheese

You pour the water over the chocolate rather than melting the chocolate over a double boiler? Doesn't this dilute the chocolate flavor? Or, is this because it's white chocolate? Would you do the same with real chocolate?

There's a reason that in some countries, it can't be called "chocolate" and is known instead as white confection. It's just sugar and cocoa butter, the latter being the liquid fats that are pressed out of cocoa mass, precisely in order to concentrate the flavor solids left behind. When you get down to it, there's no chocolate flavor left in white chocolate, except from trace amounts of the solids, and even those can be eliminated (in cosmetic use, for example) by steam extraction.

One of my favorite pranks when I was a kid, was to put a chunk of white chocolate into an Ivory Soap wrapper, and take it to school. At lunch, I'd open one end of the wrapper and eat the "soap." Grossed everybody out. This was long before Bart Simpson, but I could have given Matt Groening a few cool ideas.

Baby spinach and arugula salad with cucumber, tomato, red onion, and toasted pine nuts, with balsamic vinaigrette
Coleman hot dogs with caramelized red onions
Butter and sugar corn on the cob (sold as Ambrosia at a stand at Eastern Market--very fresh and true to either name)
Steamed broccoli with hot pepper sesame oil

Cheddar corn chowder with fresh corn from the market and peach crisp for dessert.

Salad Caprese
Steak
Green beans

Panzanella made with excellent, home-grown tomatoes so graciously provided by a very nice and generous person.

Sunday dinner:
Edamame

Roasted potatoes with mustard-sage vinaigrette
Panko-crusted mustard pork chop

(Sorta Japanese-mustard fusion night.)

Warmed blueberry Dollies scone

2006 Domaine de Regusse Pinot Noir

Dinner last night was made from cjsadler's farmer's market purchases.

Heirloom tomato salad with ricotta and goat cheese


Buffalo sausage and shrimp sandwiches

Last night; fried catfish with a buttermilk/cornmeal double dip, cajun hushpuppies, lemon herb cole slaw and homemade peach pie for dessert. Sazerac made with Old Overholt for me, Sam Adams Summer Wheat for him.

For Better or For Worse (8/13/07):

Chicken cacciatore (again) because I had lots of peppers and san marzano tomatoes to use. Added zucchini, a homemade basil marinara and white wine. Finished with pecorino romano cheese.

Porterhouse steaks, roasted red new potatoes with applewood smoked bacon, sauteed baby bella mushrooms with thyme/lemon/white wine and lots of garlic. Not really a summer menu but I just had a hankering. Accompanied by Clipper City Loose Cannon IPA. I did have some fresh picked cherry tomatoes to remind me it's not fall just yet.

Steak salad
leftover steak sliced on the diagonal over baby spinach and arugula, topped with sliced tomatoes, chopped Italian parsley, slivers of red onion, pitted alphonso olives, and crumbled queso fresco--with balsamic vinaigrette

Corn pudding soufflé w cilantro sauce
Black beans w epazote, onion and guanciale
Thick slabs of bright orange tomato

Picking at the corn pudding for dessert--so, so good. Bet it would be good w blueberry sauce. Recipe adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Bit more time-consuming than anticipated, but amazingly worth it w yesterday's bi-color corn from New Morning Farm. Sweet and light.

P.S. Txaggie: those are beautiful pictures! And Louise, that tuna noodle casserole is evidence that cartoonists have to work ahead of schedule! It's August!!!

My favorite corn souffle has always been from Fannie Farmer, but I dug out the Madison book to take a look. I'll try that recipe sometime soon. Thanks.

Miso soup
Beef and chicken teriyaki
Broccoli
Rice

Last night was baked chicken breasts and kitchen sink pasta salad (bowtie pasta with sliced andouille sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, olives, red bell pepper, chopped parsley, toasted pine nuts, and balsamic vinaigrette)

Last night, in anticipation of our risotto class this weekend, Mrs. mhberk and I decided to practice making risotto. We had some left over shitake and dried porcini mushrooms and some cauliflower, so that’s what we decided to add to use.

I liked the roasted tomato recipe that I saw in Gourmet Magazine this month. But instead of roasting (light oil) the tomatoes, I confited (submerged in oil) them with shallots, garlic, S&P, and olive oil in the oven at 475 degrees for 45 minutes and then reserved the oil when they were done for the risotto. I put the tomatoes in a sieve and let the juices strain into bowl. While the tomatoes were confiting, I cut the cauliflower into small pieces and roasted them with some olive oil, salt, and pepper.

For the mushrooms, I rehydrated the porcinis in 1 part chicken stock and 1 part dry sherry for 3 hours, retained the rehydrating liquid when they were done and strained them through some cheese cloth. Then I combined that liquid with the juices from the tomatoes.

For the risotto preparation, we sautéed shallots in the reserved oil for a few minutes, then added the rice and toasted for a few more minutes. Then we added the wine until it was evaporated. When it was time to add the liquid, we started out with the mushroom/tomato reserved liquid until it was gone and then used straight chicken stock. When we were getting down to the end of the chicken stock, we sautéed the mushrooms in a little butter and chicken stock and then added them to the risotto along with the cauliflower, parsley, lemon zest and a half a stick of butter (no cheese). We served the risotto in bowls and then topped it with the tomatoes. The tomatoes REALLY made this dish!! They were unbelievable and really complemented the rest of the ingredients.

Last night:
Sheep-milk canederli cooked in fennel broth, served with brown butter, pancetta, sage, and pecans
Warm salad of farro, tomato confit, and olives
Okay, as far as meal planning goes, this wasn't a win. But both dishes turned out pretty well for winging it. Canederli are just big ol' bread dumplings, and as such require a lot of flavoring. Unexpectedly, they didn't pick up much broth flavor at all. Next time, I'm mincing the sage and pancetta and putting them in the dough, then lightly drizzling the cooked dumplings with brown butter.

Tonight:
Chicken tikka masala
raita (home grown cucumbers)
rice
Last weekend I made about 17 pints of tomato sauce to put in the freezer (from 30 pounds plum tomatoes purchased at Arlington farmers' market). I chose the simplest possible recipe, from Marcella Hazan - basically just tomatoes, butter, and salt. Italian or no, I couldn't help but think "butter chicken" every time I stirred the pot, and the sauce was a perfect base for this dish. Next week I plan to make my own paneer for paneer makhani.

Chicken sopes, made with fresh masa brought back from L.A.
Mole negro de Oaxaca, made with mole paste purchased in L.A.
Frijoles refritos
Mixed green salad with lemon vinaigrette

Oven-roasted fig and plum compote with vanilla ice cream

2004 Santa Helena Aureus cabernet sauvignon (from Chile)

Linguine with vermouth scented fresh tomato sauce and basil chiffonade

Plymouth martini with Regan's orange bitters and two bleu cheese stuffed green olives