What's cooking?

...in a stir-fry of cabbage and onions sliced paper-thin with Southeast Asian flavors.

You're sure it wasn't lettuce?

[Robin Garr]

You're sure it wasn't lettuce?

Do I look British to you?

[Robin Garr]

I think I'll make this New York Times recipe tonight, using some tiny farmers' market potatoes just picked last week. Foil will make a good replacement for parchment, and I think I'll add a few chunks of Vidalia onion to the mix.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/dinin ... ref=dining

I had grilled a swordfish steak yesterday so what to do with it today?

Smear with pesto, top with a quick saute of cremini and garlic, wrap in phyllo and bake. It's not Beef Wellington... it's... um, er... Swordfish (Horatio) Nelson!

sounds like a gangster or a wrestler, doesn't it?

Had absolutely wonderful baked sea scallops tonight; fresh, properly cooked, and sweet. Fresh off the boat to truck, and fresh off the truck which was unloading when we arrived a Jake's Seafood in Ossipee this afternoon. Fantastic.

[Robin Garr]

Yellow crookneck squash sliced into "pappardelle pasta" and topped with fresh tomato dice and peas barely cooked with Vidalia onions and garlic in browned butter with a dab of white and brown miso, capers and red-pepper flakes, garnished with basil chiffonade.

[Robin Garr]

A 3-D Valley beef rib eye from DePauw, Ind., sizzles after a quick pan-sear in a black iron skillet. A few more minutes oven-finishing at high heat, a few moments' rest time, and dinner's on. Meat Saturday!

Robin-
Did you go with the grain finished or the grass finished?

[Robin Garr]

Robin-
Did you go with the grain finished or the grass finished?

I went with the grain because I was curious to see how it comes out. I also got the impression that they do the grass-fed only for special orders. It was pretty good but awfully mild flavored. I think may have re-trained my palate for grass-fed, and possibly for Dreamcatcher's heirloom Devon cattle. But I would certainly tell the Carrs that we enjoyed their beef, and I wouldn't be lying.

Mexican casserole, leftover from the last night on our RV trip. It has black beans, fresh corn, onions, fire roasted tomatoes, green onions, shredded chicken, infused with ancho chiles and cumin, spinach tortilla shells, and 2% cheddar and jack cheeses. Super tasty. I bought two kinds of lettuce at a beautiful Farmer's Market, very dark burgundy and a brilliant green leaf lettuces. They will go into a salad tonight with heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet basil, summer savory, chives, dressed with a vinaigrette.

[Robin Garr]

Quick Caprese-style stuffed tomato again for lunch. Scoop out a beefsteak and roughly chop the meat. Dress with olive oil, lemon juice, S&P and refill the shell. Garnish with shredded Sapore d'Italia cheese and basil chiffonade and enjoy. 

[Robin Garr]

More main-course fun with green beans! Simmer a bunch to al dente, then toss with sliced leftover herb-roasted new potatoes and browned onions and sauce with a little white and brown miso to give it plenty of umami. Between the caramelized onions and the miso, you'd never guess there's no meat in there. 

Last night, it was pork tenderloin with a spicy dry rub, roasted and finished with a maple syrup glaze. Had that with leftover couscous salad and corn on the cob. Tonight, we went over to the neighborhood rib guru's place, so I made hot and sour cole slaw to go with the ribs. Excellent meals in both cases.

Tonight it is Ted Richard's Fall Off the Bone Roasted Chicken Thighs, to which I have added legs. I bought wheat berries grown by Massa Organics, a 4th generation California rice farm, located along the Sacramento River near Chico, CA, which was the last leg of our RV trip "things to do" list. These will be made into a cold salad of some sort, but will feature fresh herbs, goat cheese, and heirloom tomatoes. I need to use up a bunch of baby summer squashes, and am thinking of cooking them in evoo, along with an array of sweet peppers just waiting to be picked from my garden.

[Robin Garr]

Baghara Baingan: Indian eggplant curry with eggplant freshly picked from the garden, onions, garlic and ginger, curry spices and coconut milk, with rice and cool sliced cucumber and yogurt on the side. 

Ted's roasted chicken thighs (I added legs) were very tasty, with wheat berries cold salad and round zucchini with my Cubanelle peppers.

I'm admiring your pictures Robin...keep them coming. I love food photos.

[Robin Garr]

I'm admiring your pictures Robin...keep them coming. I love food photos.

Thanks! I finally found an applet (PhotoForge) that makes it easy to resize and upload photos from my iPad in a way that I can use to pop them on the forum. That makes it a whole lot quicker and easier than before when I had to go back to my office after dinner, download my photos to the desktop and work on them, so it's simpler for me to add them in now. It's also helpful to me to use them as a kind of food diary, since I make most of these up on the fly, and Mary loves it when I occasionally go back and redo one that she particularly liked.

I'm admiring your pictures Robin...keep them coming. I love food photos.

Thanks! I finally found an applet (PhotoForge) that makes it easy to resize and upload photos from my iPad in a way that I can use to pop them on the forum. That makes it a whole lot quicker and easier than before when I had to go back to my office after dinner, download my photos to the desktop and work on them, so it's simpler for me to add them in now. It's also helpful to me to use them as a kind of food diary, since I make most of these up on the fly, and Mary loves it when I occasionally go back and redo one that she particularly liked.

I take photos of most of my better meals and send them to my friend Linda Stradley for her website. I love it because I use it to go back and find recipes I want to make again. If you have not done so, be sure to back up all your photos. I use Microsoft Picture Manager, to resize and fix the lighting, since I shoot in natural light. I also upload directly from my computer. For what I do the program is easy and very handy. Photoshop was too work intensive and after using it for a few years, I decided I no longer needed it.

[Robin Garr]

Today's gift from the garden: tender, fresh okra.



For dinner, i used them in Bhindi Masala: Okra curry with tomatoes and onions. 

Beautiful and I bet it was just as tasty!

[Robin Garr]

Beautiful and I bet it was just as tasty!

We were really happy. And the okra wasn't slimy at all ... that's really an unnecessary concern, as the viscous part cooks right out when you brown them.

Robin, would you please post the bhindi masala recipe? It looks delicious.

-Paul W.

Robin, would you please post the bhindi masala recipe? It looks delicious.

-Paul W.

I was thinking the very same thing Paul. And, as RG says, okra is in season.