Burger night tonight . . .


Charcoal-Grilled Cheeseburger
With some leftover/reheated broccoli & garlic sauce and a blob of the weekly slaw. Burger had 'Merikan cheese, ketchup, mayo, yellow mustard, shredded lettuce, fried onions and some homemade 'pay-off' pickles. Made them a while ago, put them in the back of the fridge, forgot about them and tonight, when I finally remembered I had them . . . well, that was the pay-off.

Happy Monday!

=R=

Today was our CSA delivery day and I was suddenly in a green soup mood . . .


Mise En Place & Konosuke Togatta GS+ Gyuto 240mm
Evoo, mess o' kale & spinach, white wine, concentrated/gelatinous lamb stock, carrot, salt, garlic scapes (some from our garden), red onion, black pepper and English peas.

I'd made a lamb stock with the roasted trim and bones from Sunday's cumin-lamb stir fry and decided this soup would be a good use for some of it. First, in a Dutch oven, I sweated the onions and scapes in evoo, then threw in all the greens. Once they had wilted, I added the stock, some water and wine and let it simmer until everything was soft. From there, I hit it with the stick blender until it was smooth, seasoned it up and added the carrots and peas -- along with half a bag of beef/pork pelmeni from the freezer. I let that all simmer for a few minutes and served it up . . .



Plated Up
With some elderly toasted/buttered baguette. Garnished with the never-ending onion blossoms.

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Sticky rice. Two Thai fried egg. Prick nam pla with mint/shallot/garden Serrano/Red Boat/pinch of sugar/ micro-drop water = dinner.

click to enlarge


Thai Egg, sticky rice, count me a Fan!

G Wiv wrote:Sticky rice. Two Thai fried egg. Prick nam pla with mint/shallot/garden Serrano/Red Boat/pinch of sugar/ micro-drop water = dinner.

Looking good, Gary!

Another quick, grill-assisted dinner tonight. Started out with some baby squash . . .


Baby Squash Mise En Place & Tanaka Ginsan Nashiji Petty, 120mm
Sliced garlic, evoo, baby squash, black pepper and salt. These babies had seen better days (forgot about them in the fridge) but they were also in better condition than they looked. No mushiness. After they seared and I added the garlic, I splashed in some water, plus a few drops of balsamic vinegar and worcestershire sauce, which both caramelized when they hit the pan.


Baby Squash
These turned out nicely, in spite of me.

And once again, SausageFest . . .


Grilling
Beef & Lamb Cevaps (center), Ukrainian Kielbasa (back edge) and Black Forest sausage (sides).


Plated Up
Trio of charcoal-grilled sausages, sauteed baby squash and the bi-weekly cucumber salad. And yes, there were mustards!

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Another quick grill & wok combo tonight . . .


Hand-Torn Cabbage Mise En Place & Takeshi Saji Damascus Petty, 150mm
Chinkiang Black vinegar, shoyu, sliced garlic, salt, one big-ass napa cabbage, dried/seeded/halved heaven-facing chiles and veg oil.


Hand-Torn Cabbage
I've now made this dish with 5 different varieties of cabbage. This napa version was fine but definitely my least favorite.


Grilling
Manale spice mix and a dash of Penzey's Fox Point rub. 27 minutes, covered, on the indirect side.


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled chicken thighs, hand-torn cabbage and the end of the spicy/sweet cucumber salad. I love the stuff and will be making another batch soon. It *may* even supplant the weekly slaw.

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Prepping some items for today's meals and some others for a weekend get-together . . .


Mini Cucumbers & Takeda Classic Sasanoha 210mm Medium
Once salted, drained, rinsed and dried, these will go on to become a batch of spicy/sweet cucumber salad that we're going to serve over the weekend.

I went with this knife because I don't believe there's a better blade in my entire collection when it comes to food release. I actually thought about which knife I was going to use for this task as I was falling asleep last night. In any case, a few coins stuck here and there but I was able to move through ~20 mini cukes at a pretty good clip.

Next up, lunchtime a mop-up take on Northern-style cumin lamb. In other words, I had a baggie of par-cooked lamb on hand that had reached the use it or lose it stage. Threw the dish together this time with some scallions and jalapenos . . .


Cumin Lamb - Alt Take
I've now made this 4 times in the last month using yellow onion, red onion, leeks and scallions All 4 alliums work equally well, imo.

Lastly, it's once again that time of year. Received a gaggle of squash blossoms in our CSA box this week . . .


Squash Blossoms
Fine specimens.

Using a pastry bag with a small tip, I filled these with a mixture of boursin, ricotta and fresh herbs. From there, a quick dip in a tempura batter (corn starch, ap flour, Spotted Cow, baking soda, egg) and fried them in veg oil . . .


Cheese-Filled Tempura Squash Blossoms
Garnished with onion blossoms and chives. These didn't suck.

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More holiday get-together prep -- 4th of July Weekend-edition slaw . . .


Red Cabbage, Green Cabbage, Carrot & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 gyuto, 240mm

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More holiday weekend festivities prep . . .


Guacamole Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Gyuto, 240mm
Avocados, salt, diced tomatoes, lime, red onion, cilantro and ground chiles de arbol & salt. Buying hard/black avocados on Wednesday seems to have worked out quite nicely.


Guacamole
Waiting for chips . . . and guests to arrive.

And what would 4th of July weekend be without a pot of baked beans?


Rancho Gordo Yellow Eye Beans
Because I knew my plan in advance, I soaked these overnight but they were new crop, so that was probably unnecessary.


Baked Beans Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama FM Blue #2 Gyuto, 240mm - (knife portion)
Leftover grilled black forest sausage, minced garlic, minced jalapenos, carrot, yellow onion . . . and there's some shallot in there, too. Cooked the pot as usual on the stove top with water and some pork stock then, once the beans were soft, added ketchup, ancho chile powder, yellow mustard, a wee bit of dark brown sugar and some diced tomato (unused in guacamole) and baked it off in the oven for an hour until it had thickened up nicely . . .


Baked Beans
Not my typical bean SOP but I they're darned good and -- I'm guessing -- will be a crowd pleaser.

Planning on grilling up some natural casing dogs, chicken thighs and skirt steaks on the Weber for the main course. Also made some roasted eggplant dip (kind of like baba ganoush but without the smokiness) and pita chips and slaw. And we have a watermelon . . . of course. Guests bringing charcuterie board and a baked dessert. Old Fashioneds are already flowing and the weather is perfect (sunny, 83F). Is there anything better than cooking for friends and family? Not in my world.

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Most of my cooking this week has been pretty basic as I am trying to get rid of a lot of stuff in my refrigerator and pantry.

Two days ago, my refrigerator was fairly cleaned out. However, one neighbor dropped off four bags of dry groceries. Then, the produce rescue gave me 120# of produce instead of the standard 70#. Right now, I have 5# of grapes and at least five different types of melon.

The first recipe that I tried came from Xiouying Cuisine (shredded cucumber with sauce, not put salt, teach you a method, it is better than the restaurant) on YouTube. I would not call it shredded cucumber; it calls more for crushed cucumbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bAyiZn ... E%E9%A3%9F

Dinner tonight will be Tasty Bites Organic Madras Lentils which came from my neighbor. It is a combination of lentils, red kidney beans and a creamy tomato sauce and is sold at Walmart for nearly $7 for a 10 oz serving. It is a good product and tastes very good. However, I could make 40 oz of the same product for $3 using US sourced products.

This week was my first effort to make fresh spring rolls. I finally found the wrappers and the pandan vermicelli noodles. I have fresh thai basil and mint from my garden. They turned out acceptable with the most difficult was removing the paper towel that I used to keep them apart.

jlawrence01 wrote:Most of my cooking this week has been pretty basic as I am trying to get rid of a lot of stuff in my refrigerator and pantry.

Two days ago, my refrigerator was fairly cleaned out. However, one neighbor dropped off four bags of dry groceries. Then, the produce rescue gave me 120# of produce instead of the standard 70#. Right now, I have 5# of grapes and at least five different types of melon.

The first recipe that I tried came from Xiouying Cuisine (shredded cucumber with sauce, not put salt, teach you a method, it is better than the restaurant) on YouTube. I would not call it shredded cucumber; it calls more for crushed cucumbers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bAyiZn ... E%E9%A3%9F

Dinner tonight will be Tasty Bites Organic Madras Lentils which came from my neighbor. It is a combination of lentils, red kidney beans and a creamy tomato sauce and is sold at Walmart for nearly $7 for a 10 oz serving. It is a good product and tastes very good. However, I could make 40 oz of the same product for $3 using US sourced products.

This week was my first effort to make fresh spring rolls. I finally found the wrappers and the pandan vermicelli noodles. I have fresh thai basil and mint from my garden. They turned out acceptable with the most difficult was removing the paper towel that I used to keep them apart.

Wow! 120 pounds of produce?! I cannot even imagine. That cucumber video looks great. I think I'll give it a try soon. Thanks, for the link.

We ended up having a very good time with our guests. Our '4th of July' celebration was much fun. Here are a few more pics from the grill, though I never made it past that point with the camera. Honestly, I feel really full, so I know I ate (and Mrs. Suburban assures me that I did), though I don't entirely remember it.


Skirt Steaks


Chicken Thighs


Hot Dogs

Kind of fun to 'rely on my training,' as it were. I do this so often, even though it was a lot more food and quite a few more people than normal tonight, in spite of the Old Fashioneds, muscle memory pulled me through. Used some B&B Oak lump charcoal and managed to make it through all of the above on one chimney. That stuff burns hot and long.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:Wow! 120 pounds of produce?! I cannot even imagine. That cucumber video looks great. I think I'll give it a try soon. Thanks, for the link.
=R=

It actually might have been more than that. It included the following:

Three huge watermelons
Six large melons - three honeydew and three cany orange
15# of tomatoes, mostly "on the vine" and some cherry
Yellow, Zucchini and grey squash
Regular and Persian cucumbers
Orange peppers
8# of grapes

I picked this up at 6:15 am. Meanwhile, my wife was calling around to the neighbors telling them to drop by between 7:15 am and 8:30 am if they wanted some produce.

By the time we were done, we took what we could use for a week and planned to send the rest to the Food Bank. However, they were closed and ut went to the Animal League thrift shop.

As much as I generally detest Persian cucumbers, they were quite good in the recipe above.

jlawrence01 wrote:

ronnie_suburban wrote:Wow! 120 pounds of produce?! I cannot even imagine. That cucumber video looks great. I think I'll give it a try soon. Thanks, for the link.
=R=

It actually might have been more than that. It included the following:

Three huge watermelons
Six large melons - three honeydew and three cany orange
15# of tomatoes, mostly "on the vine" and some cherry
Yellow, Zucchini and grey squash
Regular and Persian cucumbers
Orange peppers
8# of grapes

I picked this up at 6:15 am. Meanwhile, my wife was calling around to the neighbors telling them to drop by between 7:15 am and 8:30 am if they wanted some produce.

By the time we were done, we took what we could use for a week and planned to send the rest to the Food Bank. However, they were closed and ut went to the Animal League thrift shop.

As much as I generally detest Persian cucumbers, they were quite good in the recipe above.

Ah, ok. Knowing that a lot of it was fruit that didn't need much prep makes it feel a little more surmountable. Still, that's a lot. I like Persian cukes because of their lower moisture/seed content. Maybe not the greatest raw or cut up in green salads, etc. but very nice for pickling, etc.

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Even though we are squarely a Vienna Beef town, our dogs this weekend were some natural casing dogs from Kayam (out of New England) and were fairly close approximations of Fenway Franks. Had a scant few leftover and couldn't resist the urge to throw together a plate of leftovers for lunch . . .


4th of July Leftovers Lunch

One more take . . . my son's lunch . . .


Double Dog, Chips & Slaw

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Some friends made this dish for us a few weeks ago and we really liked it, so we decided to try it out for ourselves. It's a fairly faithful riff on Sam Sifton's Tofu & Green Beans with Chile (sic) Crisp, which appeared in the NYT a while back . . .


Mise En Place & Tanaka Blue #2 Nashiji Gyuto, 210mm
Green beans, minced garlic & ginger (later microplaned), LGM Spicy Chili Crisp, minced scallions/bulb onions, honey, veg oil, confetti'd cilantro, extra firm tofu, shoyu, 5-year-aged black vinegar and toasted sesame oil.

Basically, you make a marinade with everything except the veg oil (used later on the green beans), then marinate the tofu slabs for about 20 minutes. After that, you drizzle the green beans with veg oil, spread them out on a sheet pan, place the marinated tofu in the center, pour the remaining marinade over the slabs and roast the whole deal for ~25 minutes at 450F. I had a feeling that would leave our beans a little less cooked than we like them, so we gave them a head start and roasted them on their own for 15 minutes before adding the tofu. From there, we roasted it all for another 25 minutes, which was perfect for us; beans still with some chew but pleasantly wrinkled . . .


Tofu & Green Beans with Spicy Chili Crisp
Presence attack +1.


Plated Up
With some jasmine rice, fresh out of the rice cooker. Great dinner, super simple and easily modifiable (I suspect) for other flavor sets/styles of marinade.

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Hey Mr. Suburban, are those the yard long green beans, or the snap green beans (used to be called string beans)?

Xexo wrote:Hey Mr. Suburban, are those the yard long green beans, or the snap green beans (used to be called string beans)?

String beans, I guess. Definitely not long beans. I've only ever known what I used here as green beans. I don't think long beans would have cooked as thoroughly in the same amount of time, though I'm sure you could use them with some adjustments.

=R=

ronnie_suburban wrote:

Xexo wrote:Hey Mr. Suburban, are those the yard long green beans, or the snap green beans (used to be called string beans)?

String beans, I guess. Definitely not long beans. I've only ever known what I used here as green beans. I don't think long beans would have cooked as thoroughly in the same amount of time, though I'm sure you could use them with some adjustments.

=R=

Thanks!

Tonight, a quickie veg stir fry with several items from this week's CSA box and also grilled up the unused remainder of last weekend's assorted meat cache (which we'd frozen) . . .


Mise En Place & Anryu AS Gyuto, 240mm
Kale, rainbow chard stems, rainbow chard leaves, fresh shallots, minced garlic & ginger, fresh-aged shiitakes, soy paste, gochugaru, ground/toasted Sichuan peppercorns, Shaoxing cooking wine and veg oil. Never tried soy paste before. It's more or less a concentrated, extra thick soy sauce and not of any particularly notable provenance. In any case, I bought it for a specific recipe that I wanted to make, and if I can ever remember which one, I'll probably make it. In the meantime, I decided to use some of it here. Also found a couple slabs of leftover extra-firm tofu after I snapped the pic and decided to include them . . .


Greens & Shiitake Stir-Fry
This was good but next time, back to one of the single-strength soy sauces.

And of course, there was grilling . . .


Skirt Steaks Grilling
Hot, fast and direct. These took about 4-5 minutes total. Just had to keep them moving during the cook.


Hot Portuguese-Style Chourico Grilling
Not quite enough steak for everyone, so we filled in with the chourico, which was tasty, even if a bit on the salty side.


Plated Up
With leftover spicy/sweet cucumber salad.

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In spite of its great, distinct flavors, there are a buncha' reasons why restaurant satay almost always disappoints (too dry, too sweet, no char, etc.). So, when I saw a recent youtube video by Pailin on the subject, I decided to take on a leisurely-paced, 2-day rabbit-hole-type project, in the hopes that I could learn the dish and 'unlock' it for myself. It's a lot of steps, though not a lot of hard work. This is Thai-style pork not-really-satay, (no skewers), along with a delicious peanut sauce and a refreshing, quick-pickled cucumber accompaniment . . .

Started on Day 1 by building the marinade . . .


Marinade Mise En Place & Anryu Aogami Super Gyuto, 240mm
Coconut milk, salt & ground cinnamon, toasted/whole cumin, coriander & black pepper, fresh turmeric, sliced lemongrass, light brown sugar, rice vinegar and fresh/frozen galangal. From here, the marinade is assembled, old 'skool'


Mortar - Marinade Build
Started with the toasted/whole spices, then added the lemongrass, turmeric and galangal in stages until I had a fairly homogeneous paste. This time out, this task was particularly enjoyable. Maybe it was the specific combination of ingredients. I'm not really sure but for whatever reason, this task was immensely satisfying. From here, I added the salt, cinnamon, brown sugar, vinegar and coconut milk to finalize the marinade. With that fresh turmeric, I'm not sure my mortar will ever be the same!


Pork Shoulder, Marinade & Takeda NAS Honesuki, 160mm
Used the honesuki to break the shoulder down into slices. From here, I dumped all the meat in the bowl, coated it completely with the marinade and moved it to a zip-top bag to marinate overnight.

Next up, Day 2, peanut sauce . . .


Peanut Sauce Mise En Place
Fish sauce, toasted sesame seeds, roasted peanuts, coconut milk, tamarind concentrate, red curry paste and palm sugar. From here, sesame seeds, peanuts and sugar were mortared into a coarse gravel and set aside. A small amount of coconut milk and curry paste are heated in a sauce pan on the stove top until the oils start to separate. From there, the remainder of the coconut milk -- along with everything else -- gets added to the pot and it's reduced to the desired consistency. After that, season it up with additional sugar and fish sauce if necessary.

And there's also a quick cucumber pickle (ajaad) that is usually paired with this dish . . .


Ajaad Mise En Place & Anryu Aogami Super Gyuto, 240mm
Rice vinegar, salt, granulated sugar, Thai birds eye chiles, serranos, shallots and cucumber. Dissolve the sugar and salt in the vinegar, let the solution cool, then pour it over the cukes, shallots and chiles. Let it all sit for at least 10-15 minutes and serve with the satay. I probably went a bit overboard on the chiles but since they mostly flavor the brine -- and are easily avoidable by those who don't like them -- I didn't think the excess was too egregious.


Ajaad
Clean, bright, crispy, sweet, tart and -- at first -- mildly spicy. The longer it sat, the hotter it got! (though, never too spicy for the rest of the family)


On The Platter
Not dry. Using shoulder remedied that. Not sweet. I scaled back the sugars each time they were called for in all the components, and that resulted in some nicely balanced flavors. And the char was just about perfect.


Plated Up
Satay-Style Grilled Pork Shoulder with ajaad and peanut sauce. I meant to reheat some rice too (per Pailin, this is often served with toast) but by the time I remembered, I was already half done with my plate and decided to skip it.

=R=

Wasn't going to cook anything tonight but remembered I had a few leftover pieces of marinated pork satay that I hadn't fired the other day. Plus, I finally got the new cast iron grates for my Weber kettle and figured today would be as good a time as any to break them in . . .


Pork Satay
The main effect the 3 extra days of marinating had was to make the satay a lot more coconut-forward. But it was still good texturally, moist, etc. I really like the grates. Very nice heat retention and while I did lightly rub them with oil them before cooking, they seem very nicely seasoned. While they're not the easiest logistically (heavy, no handles), I think I'm going to enjoy cooking on them.


Plated Up
Leftovers round-up . . . ajaad, cauliflower/shiitake stir-fry and peanut sauce, which was still cold from the fridge and more like peanut paste (but still tasty)!

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Inspired by 'Woks of Life' - Peanut Noodles: https://thewoksoflife.com/peanut-noodles/

I highly recommend this easy to make recipe.

Garlic, ginger, lime, carrot ( not in recipe ), 2 chicken thighs ( not in recipe ), sesame oil, creamy peanut butter, fish sauce, soy sauce, black soy sauce, home made sriracha sauce and Lo mein noodles.

Slice chicken into bite size pieces and saute until cooked through and remove. Grate carrot. For the sauce mince the garlic and ginger and put into a bowl. Add peanut butter and some hot water and mix into a paste. Add all other ingredients and thoroughly mix. Cook noodles, drain and return to the pan. Add everything to the noodles, combine and serve.

Dinner tonight consisted mainly of ingredients we brought back from the Madison, WI area, where we spent a couple of days visiting friends. It was a SausageFest featuring encased meats from Meat People in Monona, WI and some produce we picked up this morning at the Dane County Farmers Market, which is -- and has always been, in my mind -- one of the best markets in the country. Started by prepping a side of some pristine lions mane mushrooms (I do not remember which farmer we bought them from) . . .


Lions Mane Mise En Place & Yu Kurosaki VG10 Fujin Gyuto, 210mm
Dry vermouth (for flambe'), minced garlic, minced shallots, lions mane mushrooms, salt, black pepper, evoo and unsalted butter. Just a quick saute, which I finished with a drizzle and igniting of vermouth . . .


Sauteed Lions Mane Mushrooms
Garnished with chives. Have to say, these were awesome.

We also hit the grill with a quintet of sausage pairs from hipster/artisanal butchery Meat People Butcher in Monona . . .


Sausages In Waiting
left to right: green chorizo, rosemary chicken sausage, chicken toluca sausage, chicken cordon bleu sausage and potato sausage.


Grilling
Just about there . . .


Plated Up
Chicken toluca and potato sausages, steamed broccoli (also from DCFM) with miso butter and sauteed lions mane mushrooms.

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Dinner included some very nice shelled peas (insanely cheap, $3/pound!) from the Dane County Farmers' Market . . .


Pea Mise En Place & Konosuke Fujiyama White #1 Damascus Gyuto, 240mm
Black pepper, grated/aged provolone, minced shallot, unsalted butter, shelled peas, minced garlic and salt.

Browned the butter, then added the shallots and garlic. Once they'd lightly browned, I added the peas stirred them around for just a couple of minutes over very low heat. Just wanted to warm them without softening them. After that, killed the heat and seasoned them with salt and pepper . . .


Shelled Peas In Brown Butter
Garnished with grated/aged provolone and some mini tomatoes.

It had been a few days, so back to Household Protein #1 . . .


Charcoal-Grilled Chicken Thighs
Here's one cook (entirely indirect) where the new, cast iron grates provide no real advantage over the standard issue.


Plated Up
Charcoal-grilled chicken thighs, shelled peas and spicy/sweet cucumber salad.

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Really nice, change-of-pace, one-pot meal . . .


Mise En Place & Sakai Takayuki Damascus VG10 Hammered Gyuto, 240mm
Okra, silken tofu, minced ginger & garlic, scallion tops, scallion bottoms, peppers (serrano, red hot finger, jalapeno), ghee, ro-tel, spice plate (black pepper, cracked coriander seed, amchur, cumin seeds, ground cumin seeds, green cardamom pods, ground fenugreek seeds, asafetida, Kashmiri chile powder, salt, turmeric, garam masala ), tomato paste and fresh tomatoes.

In a Dutch oven, I started by blooming the spices in ghee, then added the chiles, scallion bottoms, garlic and ginger. Next, I added the tomato paste and let it toast a bit. After that, I added the okra, the ro-tel and the fresh tomatoes (and about half a ro-tel can's worth of water). I reduced the heat, covered it and simmered it for about an hour, until the okra was soft. Lastly, I gently stirred in the scallion tops and the tofu, then re-covered it and let it simmer for about 15 more minutes.

I did not intend to use (or even buy) fancy-pants ghee with white truffle salt. Honestly, my eyes are so bad (and I don't wear readers when I'm cooking), I didn't realize that's what I had until I looked at the pictures. And there's no mistaking the Takayuki, one of my very first J-knives. It's hard to see in this shot but the billboarding eliminates any possible questions.

Served it up with some steamy and aromatic basmati rice right out of the rice cooker . . .


Plated Up
'Bhindi masala' with tofu, basmati rice and leftover ajaad, which, while dwindling, is still going strong.

Happy Monday!

=R=

Working through the end of some Restaurant Depot hangers that I'd frozen a while back. As I posted back in May (when I bought them), these really need quite a bit of tuning up. Kanjo Kori petty was the right tool for this job, which was actually fun . . .


Hanger Steak & Kanjo Kori R2 Petty, 120mm
Whole, weighed in at 1,008g.


Hanger Steak & Kanjo Kori R2 Petty, 120mm
Trimmed, weighed in at 638g. Not sure this is a very good yield (63%). Guessing that someone with more experience and skill would have done a lot better.


Hanger Steaks Grilling
Trimmed, trussed, oiled and seasoned. I cooked these most of the way directly over the coals, then moved them to the indirect side for a couple of covered minutes before removing them.


Plated Up
With leftover shelling peas in brown butter and some more of the never-ending spicy/sweet cucumber salad.

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Burger Night!

First up, some baby summer squash from our CSA box . . .


Squash Mise En Place & Hatsukokoro Hayabusa VG5 Gyuto, 210mm
Worcestershire sauce, 2x gelatinous pork stock, summer squash, salt, minced garlic, black pepper, white wine and evoo. The 'baby' squash were a little too big to leave whole, so I cut them up a bit. Went with a hot and fast saute, drizzling in scant pours of the liquids and letting them caramelize in the pan before the dish got too soupy . . .


Summer Squash
Got a clam shell of nasurtiums in our CSA box, so I threw a few on here. Fun stuff!

Next up, the main event . . .


Grilling
Topped these bad boys with some extra melty American cheese that I had leftover after a recent batch of queso dip.


Plated Up
Cheeseburger, summer squash and a blob of the weekly slaw.


Gratuitous Interior Shot


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Took another stab at the NYT Tofu, Green Beans & Chile Crisp recipe I first made a few weeks ago . . .


Mise En Place & Hatsukokoro Hayabusa VG5 Gyuto, 210mm
Shoyu, extra firm tofu, 5-year-aged black vinegar, minced ginger, minced garlic, toasted sesame oil, tupelo honey, LGM spicy chile crisp, veg oil, cilantro, scallion tops, green beans and scallion bottoms.

This starts with the green beans getting tossed in a wee bit of the veg oil and then pre-roasted on a baking sheet at 450F for 10-15 minutes. While they're roasting, a marinade -- created with all the other ingredients -- gets poured over the tofu slabs. After the pre-roasting, the green beans are positioned as a frame around the edge of the baking sheet and the tofu slabs are placed in a single level within the frame, the remaining marinade is poured over them and the whole deal gets roasted for another 20-25 minutes.

I bought this knife for my son but wanted to try it out before I send it off with him. I did take some high-grit sandpaper to the spine to relieve the edges a bit. Overall, I really like it and think he will too. It's light and quite nimble, laser-like. Not sure how this VG5 will hold its edge but when it needs sharpening, he knows a guy.

Anyway, after the dealio comes out of the oven, it's quite a sight . . .


Tofu with Green Beans & Chili Crisp


Plated Up
With leftover/reheated basmati rice and the near-end of the spicy/sweet cucumber salad. This tofu traybake is quickly becoming a favorite around here.

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Skirt steaks from Hoefer Meats in Northfield on the grill. Boiled, then smashed then grilled small white and red potatoes. Snap pea salad from NY Times.

Folks,

Every week, I have someone dropping off some food that they cannot use.

There are two items that I do not know what to do with.

First, I have 5# of frozen riced cauliflower. I took 1# and put it into a cheddar cheese sauce which was alright but nothing great.

Second, I have a 5 oz bag of agar agar. What can you use that for?

Thanks for your help.

jlawrence01 wrote:Folks,

Every week, I have someone dropping off some food that they cannot use.

There are two items that I do not know what to do with.

First, I have 5# of frozen riced cauliflower. I took 1# and put it into a cheddar cheese sauce which was alright but nothing great.

Second, I have a 5 oz bag of agar agar. What can you use that for?

Thanks for your help.

I've made cauliflower fried rice on numerous occasions with frozen riced cauliflower, though admittedly, fresh does work better. In any case, I was initially inspired to try this after watching Jon Favreau and Roy Choi make it on The Chef Show (netflix, season 1, episode 6). It's great because it's relatively quick, very customizable and also a great way to get rid of other leftovers in your fridge. You might want to give it a try.

If all else fails, a cauliflower mash, a la pommes puree, or fritters (along with some other veg) are both good ways to go.

=R=