dcandohio

I was in Aldi‘s yesterday, where I saw beautiful huge jalapeño peppers for $.79 a pack. I halved them, and took out the seeds and the membrane. I filled the peppers with a mixture of chopped up shrimp, a bit of cream cheese, cilantro, cayenne, and a generic Mexican cheese blend (from Aldi’s). I baked them till the cheese was bubbling, and served them as a light entrée with a big salad.

As I understand it, you need a PCR test to re-enter the UK. Check to see if your departure airport has a facility that will give you the results of a PCR test in 45 minutes to one hour. I know that was an option when I flew to Portugal out of MIA. Also, have you checked at all of the minute clinic type places near you? As a last resort, you may have to go to a private lab and pay quite a bit of money for them to do a quick results PCR test. If you Google “rapid result PCR test near me” you should get lots of hits.

I was inspired by the food that I had in Portugal during my recent vacation. So last night, I made a very unseasonal Caldo Verde, which is a potato soup with very thinly sliced kale or collards and spicy sausage. I bought some tiny little olives from the Portuguese grocery store here, and had a few slices of baguette dipped in Portuguese olive oil.

My neighbor is doing me a huge favor and in return I told her I would cook any dish she desired. She asked for Cuban Picadillo. Easy. Soften some garlic, onions, and bell peppers in oil and then brown up a lot of ground beef. After the beef is browned, add tomato sauce and the seasonings, which for her were cumin, coriander, S&P and smoked paprika (no heat, per request). Let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Near the end add roughly chopped green olives. Some recipes also call for raisins (yuk) and/or diced potatoes. She wanted neither. I had a half of a bell pepper in the refrigerator, so I stuffed some of the Picadillo into a bell pepper and wrapped it up and froze it for later.

A huge lunch special from a local Greek restaurant gave me leftover gyro meat and rosemary potatoes. So yesterday morning I chopped up the meat and diced the potatoes, warmed them in some olive oil in a skillet, and made a lovely “Greek” omelette.

I had beef Tinga in the freezer, and as hurricane season worsens, I am trying to trim down what is in the freezer in case we lose power. Therefore, beef Tinga tacos! Plus mango chunks. It’s mango season here. They’re super cheap.

I sautéed garlic, onion, and red bell pepper with olive oil, salt and pepper, and then added some broccoli florettes and a couple of chopped up plum tomatoes. Meanwhile, I cooked up some Trader Joe’s refrigerated cheese ravioli, which is a great convenience product that cooks in about five minutes. After I drained the ravioli I tossed it with the vegetables, and added some chili flake. Then I topped it with grated Parmesan cheese. A very colorful dish!

At the end of July, I have one Saturday evening free in Porto before I board a riverboat Sunday. I am staying on the Vila Nova de Gaia side at Lodge Wine and Business Hotel and will be having dinner solo. If anyone has some suggestions in the area (because I will be jetlagged and exhausted and do not want to travel very far), I’d be grateful.

We’ve had days and days of rain here, so even though it is still warm, comfort food seems appropriate. So last night I made a pot of chili.

A friend came over for dinner tonight, and I wanted something simple so we could talk. Smoked black pepper cheddar and crackers Chicken and mango salad. Curried shrimp soup. Peach melba.

Friends came over for dinner, which prompted me to actually make a full meal, with courses! Spinach dip with rice crackers Salad of Romaine, red cabbage, cucumber, tomato, avocado with a Dijon vinaigrette Chicken Tinga over rice with roasted sweet potatoes. Peach Melba

My food has been so boring lately, mostly a lot of salads and leftovers. Today I had leftover pasta sauce that had sausage and olives in it, and I had mini bagels, and I used the sauce plus Parmesan to make little bagel pizzas. I ate them with a big green salad. It was so ridiculously satisfying! Desert was some squares of dark chocolate from Aldi.

OMG, I had my first dinner party tonight since Covid. Four of us total, and it was glorious. Started with an artichoke spread - canned artichokes chopped in the food processor with a little olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, basil and a bit of cream cheese. I made lobster risotto with a stock that I made from lobster shells from lobsters we ate down on the patio during the pandemic. Circle of life. I also made a Tricolore salad, Served with a shallot vinaigrette. One of the guests brought a decadent flourless chocolate cake. Prosecco and Pinot Grigio were poured. Return to normalcy felt so good.

Shrimp Remoulade, served on a Romaine and tomato salad.

I seared thin chicken cutlets with Penzeys jerk seasoning. Then I topped them with a quick pico de Gallo I made from wilting cilantro, tomatoes, jalapeño, lime, vinegar, garlic, cumin. Served with slices of pear and tortilla chips. The whole meal came together in no time flat.

You could easily leave out the evil cilantro. If I had had spinach, I would’ve chopped it up and thrown in a couple of handfuls. I had the hatch chilies in the freezer from the last hatch chili season, and I thought they would be freezer burned and gross, but they were OK.

I made chicken stock from a leftover rotisserie chicken, which became chicken and corn soup. In addition to chicken and corn, the soup had onions, garlic, diced red and green bell peppers, hatch chilies, cilantro, and seasoning of Mexican inspired spices and herbs.

I made a composed salad of thinly sliced pears, shaved Manchego cheese, and prosciutto over Romaine and arugula. The dressing was a Prosecco basil vinaigrette.

Two fried eggs served on top of grilled asparagus, with roasted potatoes on the side. One of the egg yolks broke when it went into the pan, but otherwise, this was a really delicious lunch.

I’m a little behind on reporting. Last week I brought down different kinds of sausages to grill with the neighbors and so this past week I used the leftovers. Leftover grilled bratwurst went into a pot of lentils with lots of onion, garlic, smoked paprika, thyme and Rosemary. Leftover grilled Italian sausage became a pasta sauce with the addition of leftover grilled peppers and onions. I put raw onion, garlic, and anchovy into the food processor to make a paste, and then cooked down the resulting paste a little bit before adding the leftover peppers and onions. The tomato component was plain organic marinara from Trader Joe’s, which is a very fine product without very much salt or sugar. I simmered that for a while with a bit of white wine, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes. Then I put in the sliced sausages. I served that over ditalini (what i had!) with lots of Parmesan. Both dishes made lots of leftovers which are now packaged in the freezer.

Simple Sunday supper of pan fried pork chops and steamed green beans tossed with butter and sunflower seeds.

Salmon brushed with Nando’s Perinaise (a spicy mayo) and Penzey’s Trinidad seasoning, and broiled. I found frozen, mashed sweet potatoes that had been in the freezer for a while. I mashed up some mango, mixed with smoked paprika, Cayenne, pomegranate vinegar, and maple syrup and swirled that into the mashed sweet potatoes. I baked it until the top was browning. There are leftovers!

Well, right now it is a pipe dream, but I think it will be our first international destinations once such luxuries are possible. I live in Fort Lauderdale, and it’s a three hour flight from here. So easy.

Because we will have two shots, and with cheap flights from my home city of Fort Lauderdale, my sister and I are thinking about planning a jaunt to Panama City. Obviously we will wait until conditions are good, but we are optimistic that sooner rather than later might be the case. If anyone has any recommendations for dining, lodging, etc. in the main part of the city, please share! Thank you.

Pasta Primavera on rigatoni. Tomato, Yellow pepper, orange pepper, onion, broccoli, garlic, and black olives. I sautéed everything until the vegetables started to get soft, and added chopped olives at the end. I added an Italian seasoning blend and red chili flakes, then tossed it with the pasta and topped with Parmesan. Colorful and easy.