Last night was a pork chili verde from Cooking light magazine--sliced pork tenderloin dusted with cornmeal and ancho powder, sauteed, then simmered with tomatillos, jalapenos, chicken broth, cilantro, green onions, tequila, and salt. Could have used some beans, not only to thicken it up, but also to counter the VERY bright flavors and high acidity. Still pretty tasty, and definitely a more refreshing, summery alternative to red chili.

Fajitas using leftover flank steak, bell peppers and onions. Garnished with cheddar and sour cream. Refried beans on the side.

Inspired by monavo's blog, my own market dinner:

Crabcake from Chris' marketplace
-I love these crab cakes but they tend to be on the salty side.
Topped with a fried egg and parsley from The Farm at Sunnyside
-I like to cut the salt with the yolk of the egg.
ramps sauteed in butter from Spring Valley Farm and Orchardand Blue Ridge Dairy respectively
-I diced the root end but kept the greens in tact. They have very different flavors. The root is like a mild leek while the green reminds me of a gross between a scallion and spinach.
Chocolate milk from Clear Spring Creamery
-This is serious, rich, thick, creamy chocolate milk. This is the kind of chocolate milk you think you remember from childhood. This was made by people who love chocolate milk.

ETA: Late night snack of ramp and peppered pecorino romano omelet. The yolks are a deep yellowy orange which made for a beautiful contrast against the ramp greens.

Somewhat related, favorites from last spring, repeated:

Spaghetti carbonara w ramps
Little white Japanese turnips sautéed w morels and glazed w a little broth

My egg was blue-green, from the Silver Spring market on Saturday as were the last two morels and the third of the ramps I used.

I noticed that the enterprising folk at Cibola Farms sell trimmings for $1 each when they cure pork. Managed to find a very meaty piece and though the first whiff after I opened the undated pack gave me pause, it turned out to be great. As for aesthetics, see quote above. Ramona, I gotta say I envy the price you pay for ramps out in VA.

Inspired by these directions I sauteed green garlic and fresh morels in a butter-olive oil combo for a bit too long. Poured in some amazing milk, see above post, and let that simmer for a minute. Threw in fettucinni, tossed with parsley, salt and pepper, and finished the whole thing off with few shavings of piave. Yummmmm.

Dessert will be a vanilla Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich rolled in lots and lots of sprinkles.

Hillvalley, your meal and midnight nack sound wonderful-I'm glad you were inspired to have a market dinner. Anna-I was really surprised to see ramps at $2 a bunch in Alexandria. Very good deal-I need to use them up!

Hand dipped ricotta gnocchi with brown butter rosemary sauce.

My first try at gnocchi came out pretty well; light and tender.

Rare T-bone steak with red wine-mushroom sauce
Steamed asparagus with butter, s+p
Mashed potatoes (with lots for leftovers )

Great minds seem to be thinking alike. Tonight I made:
Fresh fettucini with morels, ramps, asparagus, homemade ricotta, cream and reggiano
2006 Doré des Bernardins Muscat Petits Grains

Monday night's dinner was negitoro don -- cooked rice topped with chopped toro, sliced scallion, julienned thin omelet, and shredded nori.

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Last night, we ate seafood (abalone, sea urchin, crab, hoya) on the Iwate coast. Sadly, no photos.

How did the morels, ramps, and asparagus hold up together? Were you able to taste each one's unique taste?

Monday night: Shrimp and grits casserole, from Cooking Light magazine. Very tasty that night (though the shrimp were a bit overcooked), but not so great leftover. Too bad, since the recipe resulted in about 4-6 servings. Ah, well, live and learn.

Tuesday night: Whole wheat rigatoni with homemade morel alfredo sauce. YUMMMMMM. Creamy, mushroomy goodness!

penne in an asparagus, ham, butter and cream sauce with parmesan.

marcella hazan allows us to eat this way, occasionally.

I cooked the ramps using Suzanne Goin's method, wrapping the greens in foil and draping them over the edge of the saute pan filled with simmering water while the bulb and stem ends cooked in the water. I pulled them out of the water when they were just barely cooked, and the heat inside the foil had steamed the greens. I poached the asparagus in the same water until it was still crisp-tender, then rinsed the spears in cold water to stop the cooking, and cut them into thirds. Then I sauteed the morels in butter and olive oil, added cream and reduced it for a brief time until the morels were cooked. I cut the ramps into edible sizes, and added them and the asparagus to the morels in cream. By this time, the fettucine was cooked and I added the pasta to the sauce, tossed it together, added the ricotta, turned off the head and tossed it with the reggiano. Each of the vegetables retained its own character. It was a really delicious dish. Veggie-teen promised to come home from college whenever I make it next year.

Tonight was an informal meal (mostly) of leftovers.

Sourdough bread (grand pain) slices from Marvelous Market
Turkey curry spread (shredded turkey, chopped celery, raisins, almonds, shallot, yogurt, curry powder)
Faux beef tartare (rare beef, minced fine; sliced cornichons; shallot; lemon juice; horseradish; dab of mayo; and s+p)

Broiled flank steak with pomegranate reduction
Tabbouleh with mint and honeydew melon
Cardamom yogurt pudding

How thematic! Sounds delicious.

Lightly breaded blancs de poulet sourced from Homme-de-Weg with mustard-sage crust and fragrant sauce tomate reduction, topped with Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and parmigiana reggiano

Spaghetti with bolognese (made with leftover pork brascioli)
Orechiette with mushroom-marsala sauce and homemade goat cheese for Veggie-teen
Garlic toast made with Marvy Market baguette
Lettuce and mache salad with sherry vinaigrette
Homemade blueberry pie flavored with marzipan and creme de violette

NV La Volcanique Cotes du Forez

We seem to be on a pasta kick lately:

Last night:
Fettucini with royal red shrimp,* crimini mushrooms and sweet corn, in a creamy sauce based on shrimp-shell stock

2007 Dom. Marc Portaz Apremont Vin de Savoie

*these were the shrimp written about in the WaPo food section on Wednesday, purchased at BlackSalt for an astonishing $11.99 a pound. As promised, they tasted like a cross between shrimp and lobster--beyond delicious. They cook really fast, so I just added them to the sauce at the last second. Scott Weinstein, the manager of the fish market, told me that they have been selling 70-80 pounds a day since the article came out. The price will be going up, because the author of the article called Scott before the first shipment had come in, and Scott had told him a price range that he thought he would work within for smaller sized shrimp, and the author just posted the lowest price in the range. Scott felt that he had to honor the price listed in the article for the first while, but that the shrimp are larger and wholesale price he is actually paying will necessitate raising the retail price soon. These babies are seriously good, and they don't require deveining. Go get some, if you can.

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Kielbasa (extra smoky from Philly),ramp and cheese frittata
"Italian" potatoes, onions and bell peppers (throw them all into tin foil with evoo and whatever Italian salad dressing I have on hand)
Herb salad and campari tomatoes with a balsalmic, honey and spicy apricot mustard dressing
Fruit cobbler with fresh whipped cream

After reading Zora's post this morning, I headed over to BlackSalt to get some of these Royal Reds. They are quite large for the price and like Zora mentioned, seriously good. We had them with a simple sauce made with garlic, shitake and oyster mushrooms, chives, butter, and cream and tossed with fresh fettucini. Even my husband, who is not a huge fan of shrimp, said he could tell the difference and did like them better than regular shrimp.

For dessert, chocolate croissants from Heidelberg bakery.

Sausage, Roasted Spring Onion and Fresh Mozzarella Pizza.

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I bought some gorgeous spring onions at the Alexandria West End farmers market this a.m., along with fresh mozzarella. I wound up breezing in and out of the Dupont market for sausage and got Italian pork sausage from Eco-Friendly. On the way home, we swung by The Italian Store for a hoagie, pizza dough, canelloni and pasta.
I roasted and caramelized the onions (10 minutes) in the oven at 475 degrees while the pizza stone heated for an hour. Heating the stone for a long time really made a difference, along with splitting TIS pizza dough in half and making two pies. The first pizza baked for 6 minutes and was good, but the second one that baked for 8 minutes was great. The crust could pass for pizza oven crust with a little blister.

Dessert was market strawberries macerated with orange zest, juice and sugar. Topped with whipped cream left over from last night.

Tuscan potato salad (balsamic and olive dressing)
Pierogies with smoked salmon
String beans with French's friench fried onions

The first two were recipes I found online. The flavor of the potato salad was good but the purple of the balsamic and olives in the dressing made it visually unappealing to me. That didn't bother my husband, though.

I had smoked salmon I needed to use and mushroom pierogies in the freezer. I googled the two terms and found this recipe. I was a little apprehensive about the recipe, but it was delicious (and much more attractive than the potato salad). I didn't have basil, so I just used dill. Used whole milk instead of light cream. The recipe is definitely a keeper.

Charcoal-grilled, spice rubbed Eco-Friendly sirloin steak
Mozzarella di bufala with evoo and fresh basil for Veggie-teen
Pan-fried spiced new potatoes
Grilled asparagus
Leftover mushroom barley risotto

Stewed rhubarb

2005 Vega Sindoa cabernet-tempranillo

Last night was buffalo ribeye (brough to temp in a low oven, then seared over high heat), roasted asparagus (with salt, pepper, and olive oil), and sliced fresh tomatoes. It felt great to get some good protein and veggies after a weekend of carbo-loading for the Avon Walk!

Vignarola
Strawberries w cream

For a recipe, google the name of this traditional Roman spring-time stew with the name "David Downie". Don't want to spend the time linking, but you'll find several online--superior to Epicurious, though a vegetarian version is traditional, too.

Artichokes, potatoes, fava beans and peas. I cheated and used frozen artichoke hearts from TJ's for a very different effect. Whole Food's fresh fava beans were delicious, especially buttery and tender when little and raw. Mint picked up as a plant at the market along w green onions and little white new potatoes I didn't bother to peel. Cibola's trimmings from bacon to flavor, too. White wine. Squirt of lemon and parsley at end. Great room temperature as leftovers. Ate with a chunk of Atwater's wonderful and very seeded loaf.

Heinz Thomet's first strawberries. Was going to make shortcake (buttermilk biscuit kind) but decided sugar and cream a better way to go.
* * *
Off-topc, but please indulge: kudos to The Washington Post for its front-page series last week on food, international politics and the domestic scene.

Variation on Zora's Theme:

Purple asparagus w ramps, Royal Trumpets and pioppini (mushrooms) in brown butter
Ricotta gnocchi (Judied vs. Goined)

Market strawberries, washed.

Tried the shortcut Suzanne Goin method of preparing ramps. The blanched leaf on whole ramps, especially w the more bulbous wild leeks from Pennsylvania is lovely to behold, but better suited for topping a steak or tangled in spaghetti strands than plated beside gnocchi.

Eight-year old ran from the adjoining dining room, yelling "Stinky! Stinky! Stinky!" when only the mushrooms were turning golden and shrinking in sizzling butter.

Asparagus, little white turnips, French butter radishes, strawberries, morels, golden beets, baby kale, green onions, lilac florets over mesclun...

Pretty soon I am going for the pot roast and Jell-O. Or waffles.

Royal Red Shrimp, quick roasted with olive oil and garlic
pan seared day boat scallop
on fresh corn polenta
haricots verts

Atwater struan bread pudding with vanilla, cardamom and orange zest

2007 Tittarelli Torrontes

J&W Valley View farm spinach salad with Westmoreland County, VA strawberries, gorgonzola, grilled spring onions, pecans and grilled chicken-balsamic vinaigrette.

spinach and turkey enchiladas
basmati rice with green peas and fire roasted corn

Rotini with parsley, basil, oregano, and green garlic
Roasted asparagus and green garlic. The green garlic was unexpected surprise. I threw in some of the slivers I made for the pasta and they turned into little garlic chips. Next time I want to try splitting the garlic length wise and roasting the whole sprig. Or is it stalk?

Main course salad with mesclun and mache, cukes, avocado, jicama, tomatoes, scallion, shaved reggiano
hazelnut oil/EVOO vinaigrette
canned wild Alaskan salmon and Greek gigante beans in tomato sauce

fresh pineapple, strawberries and blackberries

2007 Ch. Suau Rosé

Braised beef ribs (cider vinegar, ketchup, fresh thyme, soy, worcestershire, red wine--tons of umami altogether) with grilled corn on the cob. Paired with a beautiful 2008 glass of sweet tea. Perfect!

Last night was lamb curry (onions, red peppers, raisins, chicken broth, coconut milk) over brown rice.

I had frozen two packets of cooked lamb slices a month or so ago, after roasting a boneless leg of lamb from Costco. There was just too much lamb left to finish it without eating it every day for a solid week. I wasn't sure how well the pieces would hold up through freezing and reheating, but it worked fine for this curry. I froze the more end pieces that were cooked medium to medium-well separately from the pieces that were medium rare, thinking I might be able to use the medium rare pieces in something without overcooking them too much. For a curry or stew it doesn't matter. I could also end up just making a curry with those too, since I know it works now.

Working my way through my market produce this week, I used rainbow chard for fettuccine with grilled chicken (I had grilled 4 breasts the previous night for a spinach salad with strawberries and gorgonzola), and sauteed chard in a gorgonzola and white wine sauce. I used a beurre manie to thicken the sauce.

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That overcomes me sometimes as well.

Breakfast for dinner

Al Dente's stepmother's Oatmeal Pancakes with butter and maple syrup
Bacon
Fried eggs over easy
Everything bagels, toasted, with cream cheese and smoked salmon

The pancakes were great. (The butter is measured before melting, if anyone is planning to make these ). Urrp...I don't usually eat this much food at night. It was wonderful, though .

The mini-farmer's market was back at work this afternoon. I made grilled chicken that I'd marinated in shoyu, lemongrass, garlic and ginger. This was served with ginger glazed carrots and a salad with a mix of lettuces. The lettuce guy told me his season is winding down and this would probably be his last market day. Sadly, I don't like clams because a really nice guy with an aquaculture lease in one of my preserves was there today. He sold out pretty quickly.

Dinner, gone terribly awry:

Roast chicken: A cross between Keller's salt chicken and Cook's Illustrated's crispy roast chicken. Although the skin was crisp and the breast meat juicy, there was waaaay too much salt resulting in two salt burns. Argh.
Stir-fry mix from someone at the Dupont market. I had a late night and wanted to eat earlier, rather than later, and... consequently... undercooked the greens. Blech.
Sought comfort from the vending machine: dark chocolate M&Ms. The stupid bag got caught up in the rings, hanging precariously. Not precariously enough: no amount of pushing or rocking or cursing was able to dislodge the bag. Sigh.

I've been meaning to try this myself. What's a salt burn?

Last night:
-Heirloom tomato bruschetta
-Leftover pizza topping pasta (herb roasted chicken, Italian sausage, pepperoni, sundried tomatoes, ricotta, parmesan, red wine, balsamic vinegar, lots of fresh herbs - really, really, really good actually)
-Barolo of some sort

Charcoal roasted- spice crusted-herb-brined Eco-Friendly chicken
Gratin of potatoes and ramps
Braised rainbow chard

Robiola cheese
Packham pear

2005 Dubouef Morgon Cuvee Prestige

Chicken smothered with carmelized onion and garlic and a little white wine pan sauce. Roasted long beans. Glass of lambrusco. The onion, garlic and long beans from the farmers market at work. Whole wheat roll from the Zoe Francis book. The wine, chicken and roll part of using up my pantry before moving.

Appetizer:
Homemade guacamole with Tostitos

Meal: [crushed toasted hazelnuts over the whole plate]
Blanched baby mustard greens with hot pepper sesame oil, topped with some grated Parmigiano
Braised chicken thighs with mushrooms, garlic, red onion, and yellow bell pepper (started stovetop and finished in the oven)
Risotto with pea shoots, topped with some grated Parmigiano

Braised collards with green garlic and country bacon lardons
Flaky buttermilk biscuits with butter and three different honeys (Toigo apple/peach blossom; North Carolina wildflower; New Zealand rata flower)
Maple glazed carrots
Marinated cranberry beans

Bell's lager

Oven roasted Eco-Friendly poussins
Baked homemade ricotta (made with Clear Springs Creamery milk)
Piperade with capers
Leftover potato-ramp gratin
Greek gigante beans in tomato sauce
mixed olives
Mesclun with tomatoes and cukes, macadamia oil/balsamic vinaigrette
Marvy Market striata

Strawberry-rhubarb pie with Haagen-Dasz vanilla ice cream

2005 Dom. Richard Maniere Bourgogne

Fajitas:
Lime-Tequila marinated skirt steak
Roasted Red and Yellow Pepper strips
Salsa crudo
Grilled corn tortillas

Parents were in town over the weekend and after tromping around the city for 3 days we were all exhausted. Being the thoughtful son, I whipped up a light Mother's Day dinner.

Apps
Iberico Ham
Manchego Cheese
Bacon Wrapped Dates

Dinner
Seared Scallops on a Bed of Couscous
Roast Asparagus
Market Greens with Lemon & Olive Oil

Dessert
Balsamic Strawberries over Vanilla Ice Cream

Scallops photo (place settings are not mine!)

Pan-fried chicken livers with onions and mushrooms
Baby artichokes and grape tomatoes
Quinoa

Tonight was semi-homemade Indian food:

Oven roasted curried beef meatballs
Saag paneer
Vegetable curry (butternut squash, potato, mushroom, carrot, onion, green garlic, green beans and peas) with Patak's rogan josh sauce and some coconut milk
Dal makhani
Basmati rice
Raita
Major Grey chutney and eggplant pickle

Lyon's Stout