Seafood Supper Serendipity May 17, 2011

Sometimes unplanned meals turn out unexpectedly well.  Perhaps it is from having low expectations from not being prepared to assemble a well thought out meal, I don’t know.   Recently, Sunday afternoons have turned into, Sunday Hang Out, Play with Puppies, and Watch Jamie Oliver Reruns, with my friends Christian and Jamie.   Having recently launched Bola Pizza, and with great success, they don’t have much time to hang out anymore, between the Triangle Farmer’s Market, the Downtown Farmer’s Market and weekly catering gigs.   So I was excited that they wanted to hang out and bring Leo the existing puppy, and Bonnie the new puppy over Sunday afternoon.

After watching food shows for a while, and with evening fast approaching, I suggested we cook dinner.  I had purchased two beautiful pieces of Wild King Salmon from Quality Seafood, my new seafood source, since we’ve lost San Miguel from the farmer’s markets, hopefully just temporarily.  Once Christian, who used to cook every day, aside from making pizza dough and toppings, started pondering the meal plan, he pronounced that we’d blacken the salmon, and serve it over dirty rice.  Ok! I always have Lowell Farms rice, but how would we dirty it up?  I opened the freezer on the lookout for Boudin, and there it was, Dai Due Smoked Crawfish Boudin.  Perfect!  I had blackening spice from Savory Spice Shop, and garden onions and tomatoes.

I had also purchased some cucumbers from the farmer’s market, with a plan to make pickles, but sliced and tossed with some garden tomatoes, oil and champagne vinegar, they would become the perfect crisp acidity to cut the fat of the salmon and a foil to the heat from the spice.  So, game on!

King Salmon, Spiced up

The cucumber salad came together quickly, and was set aside to marinate for a bit.

Cucumber salad

The crawfish boudin was already cooked, so it just went straight into the rice, with onion and tomato.

Dai Due Crawfish Boudin

While the salmon was going into a screaming hot cast iron skillet, I thinned out some Full Quiver Neufchatel, with goat milk, to add a creamy element to the plate.

Salmon searing

So the final plate went down like this, Dirty Rice, Crispy Blackened Salmon, Cucumber Salad, and a drizzle of Neufchatel cream sauce.  This was one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten in my house, and it is no coincidence that most of my top 5 favorites, involved Christian.  He is an amazing cook.

Delicious Dinner

And on top of that, I got a photography lesson too.  He gets photo credits for the good shots.  Nice to see the foodie photographer behind Austin Food Journal, back in the kitchen, with a camera in hand.

Eating Seasonally, The Salad Days of Winter February 16, 2011

Before the two big freezes of this winter, I harvested lots of lettuce, which is fairly freeze hardy, but not to 16 degrees.   With all of this wonderful lettuce in my fridge, it occurred to me that when it is freezing outside, a salad really doesn’t appeal to my winter appetite.  When my toes are cold, I crave hot steaming bowls of chili, soups, stews, braised short ribs, gumbo.  You know, winter food that warms your soul.  But I had all of this lettuce, and it is delicious, cold, crunchy and oh so summery.  So, for a few nights, I made a half hearted attempt to include a salad with my hot dinner.  I wasn’t making a dent in my lettuce harvest, so last night I decided to make a meal out of lettuce.  Taco salad.  I  defrosted some of my favorite ground meat, from Alexander Farms via Boggy Creek Farm, and seasoned it liberally with Cayenne Pepper, Cumin, Ancho Chili, Chili 3000, Salt and Pepper.  (The spices are from Penzy’s and Savory Spice)  I piled up loads of my garden lettuce, grated some Full Quiver Cheddar over, chopped an inferior tomato, the seasoned beef, a dollop of Taco Deli Dona, and then some leftover Jalapeno Ranch from Hula Hut which I ordered for Superbowl.

Taco Salad

It was really quite good, although I still haven’t put a dent in my lettuce, and I need to harvest even more.

Eating seasonally creates anticipation and desire for the delicious bounty to come.  As I was chopping this sad little tomato from the farmer’s market, I was imagining the big lucious, juicy tomatoes of Summer, the Purple  Cherokees, Chocolate Cherokees, and remembering a delicious Panzanella salad I made for a group dinner.  I think now that I eat only the foods available seasonally, I appreciate them so much more when their season rolls around.

No Grocery Store Challenge, Day 378 – BLT and Fajitas! January 14, 2011

Ok, I know I was said I was tired of typing “No Grocery Store Challenge, Day ___” , but in reality, I kind of miss it.  So, I’ll insert one every now and then when I get excited about a new find or meal.  Today was both.

For breakfast, fresh squeezed tangerine juice from the farmer’s market.  This will dwindle soon, as their season is nearing its end.  I’m contemplating ordering grapefruits and oranges from C&S Groves, but haven’t done so yet.  For lunch, I knew I wanted a BLT, but wanted to make it healthier than it could have otherwise been.  I had Barrie’s bread from Antonelli‘s Cheese Shop, an abundance of cheese as well, and some already cooked Kocurek Family Czech Bacon, local farm tomatoes and my garden lettuce.  In my cheese box, was some Pondhopper and it smelled like the perfect party with the bacon.

The result was the Pondhopper BLT.

Pondhopper Cheese

I cut off a smaller end of the Ciabatta than I wanted, but intended to load up on veggies.  I slathered on some Texas Olive Ranch olive oil, and toasted it in the oven.  The resulting sandwich was Kocurek Bacon, Pondhopper Cheese from Antonelli’s, a Milagro Farm’s tomato and my home grown lettuce. on toasted Barrie’s bread.  I can’t think of anything better.

BLT with add ons

If you salt and pepper the tomato and lettuce, it really makes a difference, as does toasting the bread.  Just sayin’.

So after too many errands to deal with this afternoon,  I finally stopped by the house around 3:00 to put some dried black beans in to simmer.  The beans were a gift from my oft mentioned friend Kristi, from one of her farmer’s market visits outside of Austin.

I dumped them into a pot of water, threw in some garden herbs, and the biggest smoked hock thing I’d ever seen, which was from Salt and Time.

smoked hock

I also threw in salt, pepper, chopped jalapenos, a bit of chopped green onion, and some chopped tomatoes.  Then, I left the house for 3 hours and they were almost perfect when I got back.

I then went out again for more chores, then turned them off and decanted them in to tupperware for later.

I met a friend at Bar Congress for a glass of wine, then home for dinner.  We also shared fried green tomatoes, an appetizer.

Then, I had thawed some Richardson’s Farms Fajita meat.

Richardson Farms Skirt Steak

It looked like a single package, but once out, if was a lot of meat, thinly sliced and tenderized.

Richardson Farms Skirt Steak

I seasoned it with salt, pepper, cumin and some red cayenne seasoning seared until it was medium rare.  I heated up a little of the black beans.

I built two beef fajitas with black beans, Full Quiver Cheddar and of course, a drizzle of Taco Deli dona, on two flour Tortillas from El Milagro on 6th Street.   Garnish is garden cilantro (from under its freeze protection). Voila! Fajita dinner!

Taco Dinner

And there are leftovers of everything!

La Vida Local January 9, 2011

I’ve grown tired of calling my posts “No Grocery Store, Day 147″ etc.    I’m struggling to  keep this blog interesting, and with all the new folks interested in my eating locally.

I’ve eaten out a lot the last few days and nights with my dad in the hospital.  I tried to eat local wherever possible, and avoided hospital food, except for a couple of chicken salad sandwiches.

I had a great day at the SFC Farmer’s Market on Wednesday at the Triangle, and yesterday downtown.  I gave a couple of tours, and I think the folks enjoyed themselves, bought some good food and will be back.

Here is my haul for the week:

Farmer's Market Haul

Richardson’s Farm pork chops, CKC herbed chevre, Way Back When butter and cream, Kocurek Family Czech Bacon, Thunderheart Bison Tenderloins, Full Quiver Cheddar, Smith and Smith Farms chicken, (6 pounds!) Springfield Farms Carrots and Spinach, Tangerines and Tangelos.

What more could you want?  I have a garden full of lettuce, broccoli and some cabbage.  I’m all set!

 

No Grocery Store Challenge, Christmas Eve and Day December 26, 2010

Friday, Christmas Eve, and one week before my year without shopping is over.  Crazy.  I was out and about, taking my mom on errands and we landed at Polvo’s for lunch.  She hasn’t been eating, unless its Mexican food, which always does the trick.  I had chicken enchiladas.   Around 12:30, when I got home, I started making the chili for our traditional South Texas Christmas Eve. (I grew up in Corpus and the folks moved here 3 years ago).  So, I browned 2 pounds of Richardson Farms chili beef, and tossed it into a pot with some onions, 1 bottle of Shiner Octoberfest beer, and a quart of beef stock I had made and frozen.  I seasoned it with Chili 3000 from Penzy’s, cumin from Savory Spice on 6th, and half a jar of Chipotles in Adobo from Dai Due, for smokey depth.  I chopped about 10 tomatoes from Milagro Farms.  I also cut up some serranos and a jalapeno from by garden, both surely frozen after last night.  I let the chili simmer for 4-5 hours, and for dinner we had some tamales from my Tamalada and chili, topped with Full Quiver Cheddar.  Very soon, I’d like to make a more traditional chili, with chuck roast and no tomatoes, but I had hoarded these end of season tomatoes and needed to use them.  It was actually quite good.

MMM Chili

Christmas Day, I skipped breakfast, having to move half of my kitchen, food, and presents to my parents’ house.  I started making our Christmas dinner around 10:00.  We had  Richardson Farm’s Beef Ribs, braised for hours in red wine, garden thyme, and garden bay leaf.  While those were braising, I thinly sliced a bunch of Boggy Creek Farms red potatoes, and layered them in a baking pan with butter, Full Quiver Cheddar, salt and pepper, then once I had several layers, poured in some cream.   Those baked for about an hour.  Next I cut up some Boggy Creek Farm Carrots, an onion from my parents house, and roasted those tossed in olive oil.  I also roasted some garden broccoli.   So, lunch was braised short ribs, scalloped potatoes, roasted vegetables, and broccoli.  Dessert was pecan pie from Cake and Spoon, which I picked up at the Triangle Farmer’s Market on Wednesday.   We ate around 2:00, and for dinner that night, I just snacked on a Full Quiver cheese ball, and some cookies brought by friends.

I hope you all had a marvelous Christmas!

No Grocery Store, Day 339 – Thanksgiving November 27, 2010

I’ve been dreading this post.  My fantasy, home cooked, all locally sourced Thanksgiving would have been as follows:

Turkey – Fresh from Richardson Farms

Sweet Potatoes – Boggy Creek Farms

New Potatoes (for mash) -Boggy Creek Farms

All the greens – Boggy Creek Farms

Green beans  – JBG, Triangle Farmer’s Market

Cranberry Jelly – Confituras (done!)

Pecan Pie/Apple pie from Boggy Creek Farms – I did buy one of each of these

But, Thankgiving was not my decision this year.  It was decided by my relatives that Thanksgiving would be catered, to ease up on the stress to my mom, of having lots of company for a meal.    So that’s what happened.  Standard fare, turkey, ham, green beans, potatoes, rolls and all the pies.  I brought a sour cream apple pie that I picked up from Boggy Creek Farm, hoping to add a local  element  to the whole event, and we had Confituras Cranberry Jalapeno jam with the rolls.

For dinner Thanksgiving night, I brought home some leftover turkey.  I had some mushrooms that needed cooking, so I sauteed those with green onions from the farmer’s market.  I tossed in the chopped turkey, and some Full Quiver Neufchatel, cooked some pasta from the farmer’s market that I had in the freezer, and called it Tetrazzini.  It was not as good as I had imagined it would be, but I got to do my little carb dance afterward.  The Carb dance helps in the inevitable carb give up that will come on Sunday.

I realized when I went to Boggy Creek Farm, the morning before Thanksgiving, that the traditional meal we all celebrate with, in some form or another, is all based on seasonal ingredients.  Duh, right?  I had never given any thought to why the green bean casserole is on every table, pies are made from pumpkins and pecans, sweet potatoes are always on the tables, covered in marshmallows or not.  Everything on the Thanksgiving table, (sans marshmallows) is in season right now!  Pumpkins are a little past prime at the moment, in our Southern regions, but everything is spot on, in season.  Even though I didn’t get to create the locally sourced meal of my dreams for Thanksgiving,  I still got to celebrate the localness of it, if merely in my realization that Thanksgiving is a celebration of the season.   And my mom enjoyed the visit from her relatives with as little stress as possible, and I am thankful for that.

No Grocery Store, Days 314 and 315 November 11, 2010

Day 314, I had a little Full Quiver cottage cheese for breakfast.  Still in pain from whatever this back problem is, I wasn’t really hungry, but needed some quality time with Mom, so we went to Cafe Josie for lunch.  I was good, and ordered the flounder special, with no rice, just vegetables.  When I thought it was time for the bill, a dessert arrived instead, pumpkin cobbler, compliments of the chef.  I didn’t want to be an ungracious guest, so I took a bite.  Holy moly, it was so good, I ate the whole thing, all the while justifying it because pumpkin is a vegetable.  So, for penance, I had a garden salad for dinner.

Day 315 started out badly.  I was in so much pain, my left leg numb and weak, I couldn’t muster breakfast or lunch.  I did manage to put a Smith and Smith Farms whole chicken in the slow cooker before I headed off to work, with plans to make Green Chile Chicken Stew for dinner.  Chicken, salt, pepper, garlic, garden thyme, and water.  I had scheduled a massage for 2:00 p.m, vowing that if it didn’t help, I’d break down and head to a chiropractor next.    The massage seemed to work wonders and I felt much better afterward.  When I got home, I pulled the chicken out, de-boned it, and threw the juices and bones in a different pot with more water, more thyme, onions, and several chopped tomatoes.  I didn’t want tomato chunks in my stew.  After that cooked down for about 3 more hours, I strained it.  I cleaned and seeded 5 Anaheim peppers I had roasted and frozen a couple months ago, and ran them with two small onions through the food processor.  I returned the broth to the pot, added in the pepper and onion slurry and the chicken.  I let that simmer for an hour.  I ladled some into a bowl, and topped it with Full Quiver Pepper Jack and some garden cilantro and had a hearty dinner.  I should have had a salad with it, but was lazy.

Green Chili Chicken Stew

I love making stock.  The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.  I was happy that I had a plan to actually eat the stock I made, rather than freezing it.  I’m a bit stock obsessed lately.  It is so genius though, water, herbs, vegetables, bones.  I can’t wait to make French Onion Soup with the beef stock I made a few days ago.  I can hardly remember what the canned or boxed stuff tasted like, but I do know it doesn’t compare to home made.  But then again, its really like that with everything, right?

No Grocery Store Day 303, New Farmer’s Market Finds! October 31, 2010

Day 303 began with a garden omlette with peppers and the last of my onions, and a fistful of herbs.  After getting most of what was on my list at the SFC Farmer’s Market downtown, Smith and Smith Farms Chicken, Kocurek Bacon, Dai Due smoked pork chop and Wild Boar Chorizo (not on my list), I went to visit my friends at the Barton Creek Market.  From there, I got cheddar and pepper jack cheeses from Full Quiver and heard another customer ask for cottage cheese.  I had no idea!  I am now the proud owner of cottage cheese and it is very good.  I went down to see if Richardson Farms had another brisket, my last one was hijacked (long story), and ended up getting hamburger, beef cutlets, flank steak, popcorn and white cornmeal.  Listening to Lee Ann Kocurek describe the Duck Bacon and Chorizo Verde, enticed me to add those to my purchases.  Then I bought a bag of onions and a bag of lettuce.  Then Kelly Jo’s Cilantro Sauce.  I goal of eating what was in my freezer had been going so well until this day!  The freezer is stuffed again.  But it might snow and I might get trapped inside for weeks, so a girl has got to do… Oh never mind.  I’m a hoarder.  At least I hoard good food instead of cats.

For lunch I made a salad with market lettuce, grated Full Quiver Cheddar, and part of a market tomato with Kelly Jo’s Creamy Cilantro.

Last night I attended a Halloween Party.   I was going to dress as a chef, since I was gifted a chef coat last year and already have Crocs, which many chefs wear.  But that would have required a trip to the restaurant supply, and I was short of time.   While at Breed and Company on Friday, I fell in love with this fabulous hat.

 

Cool Witch Hat

And it was on sale, so with an all black dress and boots, black nail polish, this hat and a creepy raven on my shoulder, I was dressed for Halloween.  Way under dressed, compared to everyone else at the party, most of whom had very elaborate costumes.  The food for the party was an array of fajita makings, 7 layer dip, queso, chips, tortillas and lots of sweets.  I stuck to my no carb plan and had some chicken, brisket, marinated pork, pico de gallo, and a little of the 7 layer dip.  I was tempted by the chips, but refrained, so I did pretty well.    It was a fun party!

 

No Grocery Store, Days 292 and 293 October 21, 2010

Day 292, Tuesday, I had two scrambled eggs for breakfast.  I had a lunch date to celebrate a friend’s birthday, and went to 34th Street Cafe.  I had a salad, Chef or Cobb, I can’t remember which it was called, but had them leave off the ham.  Not a ham fan.  I spent dinner with friends at Cafe Josie’s Wine Me Dine Me dinner, my splurge for the month.  The food was paired with Arygle Wines as follows:

Blue Crab Mac & Cheese, with Gruyere and White Truffle Oil – Argyle Brut 2006

Mesquite Smoked Sockeye Salmon with Dijon Hollandaise and Rosemary Roasted New Potatoes – Argyle Nuthouse Chardonnay 2006

Seared Jumbo Sea Scallop with Hazelnut Pesto on Sundried Tomato Puree and Micro Greens – Argyle Nuthouse Pinot Noir 2006

Pork Wellington, Pork Tenderloin baked in Pastry with Dried pears, Walnuts, Spices and Roquefort with Wine Sage Cream Reduction – Argyle Willamette Valley Pinot Noir 2008.

Wow, everything was perfect and I was glad to have been reintroduced to this wine after quite some time, it was fabulous.  We skipped out on the dessert course because we were full.

Day 293

After a good 3 mile walk, I managed to skip breakfast again.  The effect of which is not lost on me, as I was starving by lunch and had no willpower to eat sensibly.  I get it.  Chicken enchiladas verde at Mi Madres.  After getting home later than I had planned from the Triangle Farmer’s Market (I ran into so many friends there!) and having no dinner plan, I made quesadillas with flour tortillas from the Barton Creek Market and Full Quiver Pepper Jack.

No Grocery Store, Day 262 – Dai Due Seafood Dinner September 21, 2010

Sunday was day 262 of my No Grocery Store Challenge.  My birthday gift to myself was the Seafood Dai Due  Dinner at Hotel St. Cecilia with friends.  These dinners are held every few months at different venues and are spectacular.  Jesse Griffiths, the chef behind Dai Due Butcher Shop and these dinners, uses only locally sourced ingredients, so the dinners focus on what is in season.  I didn’t eat breakfast or dinner in preparation for this multi-course meal.

I had such a good time, I left my menu behind, so these descriptions are from my memory.  A couple of the courses were served family style, and I didn’t try everything offered, so this is what I had.

The passed appetizer which was paired with Prosecco was a  local potato bite, (a halved bite sized potato) with Full Quiver Neufchatel chopped egg, pepper, and caviar.  The caviar was from a locally sourced fish that I’d never heard of, and it was really good.   This dish was simple, and still the combination was stunning.

The First Course, which was paired with beer was served family style – a light and flavorful Fish Terrine with Neufchatel, Ceviche, a Seafood Escabeche, and pickled vegetables.  There were house made crackers provided for the Terrine, which was outstanding and my favorite dish in this course.

Second Course – Shrimp and Long Bean Pot Pie.  This dish had a light and lovely pastry crust on top, and was creamy, but not too thick, and very tasty.  This was another favorite dish of the evening.

Third Course – Red Snapper en papillote with cherry tomatoes and zucchini  This course arrived at the table still wrapped in the paper it was cooked in, which was cut as the dish was served.   The snapper was tender, flavorful and had been cooked with tiny cherry tomatoes and it sat on top of thinly sliced zucchini.

Fourth Course – Cheese plate, Pure Luck Hopelessly Blue, House made Farmer’s Cheese with lemon, fig preserves, house made bread.  There were several other cheeses provided, but I didn’t try them so I’m not sure what they were.  Again, keeping the menu is critical to providing accurate descriptions.  Pure Luck Hopelessly Blue, is one of my all time favorite cheeses, so I focused on it.

Fifth Course – Pear Tart with nut and crumb crust and homemade ice cream scoop.  This tasted fabulous with fresh market pears and the lightest ice cream I’ve ever had.

This perfect evening ended with coffee and pear liquor.

You can find Dai Due at the SFC Farmer’s Market downtown every Saturday.  If you are interested in attending a dinner, which I highly recommend, you’ll need to sign up for the weekly emails or watch the website.  We booked our seats at this dinner within half an hour of receiving the email, over a month ago, and it sold out shortly thereafter.

Dai Due – http://www.daidueaustin.net