Grilled Uber Garlic Brats from Wurst Kitchen in Aurora. Sauerkraut, Löwensenf, and perhaps some grilled onions for toppings.

Cold antipasto. Parrano cheese, mortadella, genoa salami, roasted veg: squash, eggplant, onion, green pepper. Spritz of nice olive oil. Super thin breadsticks. Perfect for a hot, humid night when it's too hot to eat!

grilled cheese and sauteed green beans. I'm much less ambitious with weeknight dinners these days. Good bread+good cheese+good butter+fresh vegetable is more than fine by me.

I’ve been experimenting/learning how to cook with my new Fagor induction cooktop. It’s so cool to be able to cook pasta in the middle of summer, without heating up the house.

Pan fried Taylor Pork Roll on squishy wonder bread with gobs of Hellman's mayo, followed by ripe, red watermelon. this meal took me back to 1957 Norfolk, Virginia.

Pasta with lots of fresh herbs (basil, oregano, a little mint), toasted pine nuts, hit with a little good olive oil and parm cheese, salt, pepper. Divine.

pan roasted grouper*, yellow wax beans, pancetta:




*Grouper is on pretty much everybody's non-sustainable list, and I had an interesting conversation about this with the fishmonger at Isaacson & Stein's. His take on grouper is that with this fish (and snapper) regulators (both industry and government) have been incredibly strict in setting and enforcing limits. As a result, grouper prices are quite high - among the highest of all fish in the store, in fact. He believes that buying grouper at these inflated prices is the best thing consumers can do for the fish's sustainability - better than avoiding it altogether. He has some good arguments for this position. I'm not sure where I stand myself, but his argument was good enough for me today, and so was the very tasty grouper.

I couldn't decide what I wanted, so I made it all. I went BBQ happy and did; tri tip, chicken, corn and onions. Served with that was a side of fresh tomatoes and mashed potatoes. I cook only for myself so portioning isn't easy, but it does allow for great leftovers.

-making my first attempt at pizza on the grill(got some shroms, green peppers, goat cheese, fresh mozz., prosciutto, and a homemade dough)

-salad

Greek turkey burgers, tzatziki, raspberry (and blueberry) buttermilk cake.

The burger was great -- moist, lots of flavor, accented with a garlicky tzatziki on top:


Cake before baking:


Cake before eating:


[edited to add photos]

Arrived in Tampa with fresh picked from my garden produce in my go-everywhere chill pak diaper bag ( !!):
Brother and I cooked for the family:

apps:
Fresh from the trap on the canal behind the house crab with avocado, yogurt, lemon and parmesan cheese spread on baguette slices.
Tzatziki with fresh cukes, cilantro, garlic chives and parsley tops.
Store-bought Taramosolata with fresh veggies

Mains & Sides:
NY Strip and bacon wrapped filets
Fresh picked baby Ichiban eggplant planks grilled with homemade pesto
Fresh picked french beans saute'd with orange zest and toasted pine nuts
Fresh picked Rainbow and Swiss Chard saute'd with pancetta, onion and grape tomatoes
Grilled GCM baby and fingerling potatoes

dessert

Watermelon

Handstuffed blue cheese olive martinis to start and Cosetino "the Poet" with dinner.

Welcome home

boudreaulicious wrote:Arrived in Tampa with fresh picked from my garden produce in my go-everywhere chill pak diaper bag ( !!):
Brother and I cooked for the family:

apps:
Fresh from the trap on the canal behind the house crab with avocado, yogurt, lemon and parmesan cheese spread on baguette slices.
Tzatziki with fresh cukes, cilantro, garlic chives and parsley tops.
Store-bought Taramosolata with fresh veggies

Mains & Sides:
NY Strip and bacon wrapped filets
Fresh picked baby Ichiban eggplant planks grilled with homemade pesto
Fresh picked french beans saute'd with orange zest and toasted pine nuts
Fresh picked Rainbow and Swiss Chard saute'd with pancetta, onion and grape tomatoes
Grilled GCM baby and fingerling potatoes

dessert

Watermelon

Handstuffed blue cheese olive martinis to start and Cosetino "the Poet" with dinner.

Welcome home

now that sounds like a great Sunday dinner.

well done jen.

Ronnie-

What were you doing in Norfolk in 1957?

I was there at the time, riding on a destroyer.

Mike

Grilled salmon (wild)
Gazpacho made from farmer's market heirloom tomatoes
green beens (also farmer's market)

Home Made Blueberry Pie made from farmer's market blueberries

Rose' wine

Farmers Market corn, trimmed off the cob and quick sauteed with butter and salt; hit with a squirt of fresh lime and a sprinkle of farmers market chives; farmers market chanterelles and lump crab atop scrambled farmers market eggs, with more chives.

jimswside wrote:

boudreaulicious wrote:Arrived in Tampa with fresh picked from my garden produce in my go-everywhere chill pak diaper bag ( !!):
Brother and I cooked for the family:

apps:
Fresh from the trap on the canal behind the house crab with avocado, yogurt, lemon and parmesan cheese spread on baguette slices.
Tzatziki with fresh cukes, cilantro, garlic chives and parsley tops.
Store-bought Taramosolata with fresh veggies

Mains & Sides:
NY Strip and bacon wrapped filets
Fresh picked baby Ichiban eggplant planks grilled with homemade pesto
Fresh picked french beans saute'd with orange zest and toasted pine nuts
Fresh picked Rainbow and Swiss Chard saute'd with pancetta, onion and grape tomatoes
Grilled GCM baby and fingerling potatoes

dessert

Watermelon

Handstuffed blue cheese olive martinis to start and Cosetino "the Poet" with dinner.

Welcome home

now that sounds like a great Sunday dinner.

well done jen.

thanks Jim--I'm still amazed at how much I'm already getting from my garden--I can't remember having eggplant this early or the volume of beans. Fantastic!

Also have to give a shout out to Castellano's--a terrific little italian grocery by my brother's house in Tampa--they had a special --"buy a pound of Pancetta, get a half pound free--for 4.99/lb--cut to order. It's terrific stuff and I'm bringing a few pounds home. Great trip so far!

Castellano & Pizzo Italian Gourmet Foods
4200 Henderson Blvd
Tampa, FL 33629
castellanoandpizzo.com

jpreiser wrote:Grilled Uber Garlic Brats from Wurst Kitchen in Aurora. Sauerkraut, Löwensenf, and perhaps some grilled onions for toppings.

Where can you find Löwensenf in Chicago (or at least closer than Mt. Horeb)?

Salade Niçoise:



Lettuce, green beans, fresh-dug potatoes, boiled eggs, anchovies, capers, tuna marinated in garlic, dijon mustard vinaigrette.

Kennyz wrote:Salade Niçoise:

Lettuce, green beans, fresh-dug potatoes, boiled eggs, anchovies, capers, tuna marinated in garlic, dijon mustard vinaigrette.

Looks great, but no Niçoise olives? tsk, tsk.

eatchicago wrote:

Kennyz wrote:Salade Niçoise:

Lettuce, green beans, fresh-dug potatoes, boiled eggs, anchovies, capers, tuna marinated in garlic, dijon mustard vinaigrette.

Looks great, but no Niçoise olives? tsk, tsk.

truth is that by adding cooked green beans I already started purists turning in their grave, and the completely inauthentic potatoes made them do cartwheels in disgust. So yeah, this is an Americanicoise Salad.

Swordfish ceviche on cucumber:


with diced jalapeño, shallot, basil, sungold tomato


Herb-crusted swordfish with ratatouille, corn, basil butter:


crust has breadcrumbs, summer savory, chives, lemon zest, salt and pepper - all toasted with olive oil before crusting fish. Ratatouille is the chop, dump and bake at low heat version. Basil butter brushed onto corn = whole basil leaves infused in slow simmering butter that's skimmed, then the leaves removed.

Chlodnik (Polish cold buttermilk soup with chopped pickled beets, radishes, cucumbers, and dill); grilled Amish chicken following Jonathan Waxman's recipe--always a winner; corn on the cob from the farmer's market; steamed baby beets and sauteed beet greens from the farmer's market; green salad; buttermilk honey wheat bread made in my bread machine. Aaahhh, some really good summer eats, if I do say so myself.

The chlodnik was something new, and it was a solid hit--easy and delicious. I used Farmer's Creamery non-homogenized buttermilk bought at Fresh Farms Niles. Those who like cold soups should give it a try. I used the recipe in The Gourmet Cookbook, mentioned approvingly by a number of us in the What's your favorite cookbook thread; you can find the recipe via google books, if you're interested.

Improvised a version of one of my favorite GCM BBQ dishes--Purple Pig's raw corn salad:
3 ears of fresh sweet corn kernels cut off the cob, herbs (minced fresh oregano, basil, chives, italian parsley), diced small poblano, half diced jalapeno, rice wine vinegar, sherry vinegar, lemon juice, rendered duck fat (because we had it! Otherwise, would've used grapeseed or olive oil), s & p. Mix all, chill for a half hour or more. mmmmmm.....

Middle-eastern style braised lamb shank with lima beans, basmati rice, no-knead bread, and Baylor's watermelon. Quite yummy, if I do say so myself.

MikeLM wrote:Ronnie-

What were you doing in Norfolk in 1957?

I was there at the time, riding on a destroyer.

Mike

I was in the 2nd grade at J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School!

First try at Lesson 5 (pork shoulder) on the WSM. Huge (9.5lb) shoulder has been going now for 11.5 hours (overslept!) and still shows no signs of wabba wabba, still at 175-180, etc. At this rate we'll be eating at 2am. Or tomorrow.

Such is life.

gleam wrote:First try at Lesson 5 (pork shoulder) on the WSM. Huge (9.5lb) shoulder has been going now for 11.5 hours (overslept!) and still shows no signs of wabba wabba, still at 175-180, etc. At this rate we'll be eating at 2am. Or tomorrow.

Such is life.

Did a couple of ten pound shoulders myself today. I missed my start time this morning as well, must be the weather.

Even if starvation is setting in don't skip the resting period.

G Wiv wrote:

gleam wrote:First try at Lesson 5 (pork shoulder) on the WSM. Huge (9.5lb) shoulder has been going now for 11.5 hours (overslept!) and still shows no signs of wabba wabba, still at 175-180, etc. At this rate we'll be eating at 2am. Or tomorrow.

Such is life.

Did a couple of ten pound shoulders myself today. I missed my start time this morning as well, must be the weather.

Even if starvation is setting in don't skip the resting period.

will do. we're making the not-coopers-in-llano sauce so we have to wait for that to simmer with some of the fat/bark once it comes off anyway.

luckily it's just me and beth for dinner tonight, so no angry guests.

gleam wrote:will do. we're making the not-coopers-in-llano sauce so we have to wait for that to simmer with some of the fat/bark once it comes off anyway.

luckily it's just me and beth for dinner tonight, so no angry guests.

You can trim off a bit of crusty fatty bark now for the sauce, just don't shear like a show poodle.

In my early BBQ days, and sometimes still, I had plenty of "angry" guests. I just kept plying them with booze, which made everything taste better when it ~finally~ came to the table.

Always better to start a little early, a ten pound shoulder can hold loosely tented in foil for an 45-minutes or three-four hours in a cooler* and still be too hot to pull.

*Wrap shoulder in foil and place in a warm cooler with towels for insulation. To warm cooler simply pour in boiling water, close, let sit for 5-minutes, drain.

last night, this beauty: