pasta and tomato with a few others

Back to the garden, this year the tomatoes were soil based rather than the hydroponic which the tomatoes don’t seem to tolerate the high temps of the summer. Still some greens were still used in the hydroponics, some tat-soi and kale mostly.

The tomatoes flourished as removing the suckers resulted in  new heights for the plants and excellent fruit production for both the Roni and Sakura variety.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After numerous salads and the like, I made a pasta dish, simple, quick as one does not want to be over the stove in hot weather, and tasty. Rather bore you with a recipe or technics, let the pictures do the storytelling.

 

 

 

 

grille time 2019

Ahh… the warm weather approaches, and after some yard work it’s time to light up the grille under the shadow of an umbrella.. actually the second time I’ve started the charcoal this season.

Some dough that’s been fermenting, this batch with some dark spent grain barley adorns the all purpose flour. a very wet mixture, some corn flour made it more manageable.  simply pressed into rounds, then off loaded to a wooden cutting board. decided to throw on a cast iron grille over the glowing hot embers. slightly at a tilt allowing one end to be hotter than the other for some temperature differential.

Hmmm….. some roasted grilled veggies would go good on the flatbread, mainly a bunch of broccoli, with the usual onion and garlic, green onion and celery. a spot of ginger, grated turmeric, salt  and freshly ground quad blend of peppercorns.  drizzle on some oil, toss and ready for the grille pan.

After the flatbread is grilled with the requisite char on some pieces, the perforated grill pan is placed on the hot cast iron surface.

Flatbread was thick and soft but with a flavor similaer to a pumpernickel bread.

 

ready to go with the veggies, start off with some bacon pieces to fat render for non stickiness.

raw veggie bowl ready for the grille pan.

once a slight char is attained, drizzled on some chicken broth and cover about ten minutes depending how limp you like the veggies.

Toss from time to time… MMMMM bacon bits !

Now your cover becomes a warm bowl to serve the veggies.

served over the flatbread with a porter style brew…. good close for the labor of yard work.

shrimp stir fry

A few ingredients for a meal, frozen shrimp available and some veggies with noodles from a soup kit, less the seasoning package. You can get an idea of cooking times from the time date stamps on the pictures.

Start with onions and oil

Add grated tumeric

…. grated ginger

mushroom, brocolli, and celery

stir and fry , add a bit of water or stock if necessary, adjust seasonings

add the frozen shrimp, stir and fry till shrimp are cooked

Add the noodle, I had the noodle packet frozen in the fridge, gave it a couple of seconds in the microwave than added to the mix

finished the cooking process with some dark soy sauce

Two plates for dinner, gnocchi

Had the time to make some gnocchi during the week, not fancy but a good use for potatoes and flour, frozen, ready for use.

One plate, no picture,  was small scallops sauté , side of spinach and gnocchi, the other was brocolli, mushrooms and gnocchi. Parsley, oregano, and butter garnish.

Holiday at Harmony Street

green red bean chili

A few additions of greens to this chili:

1 can of tomatoes the 28 ounce variety

ground beef, pork or whatever , amount to suit taste

mushrooms

greens :broccoli , kale, bell peppers, what have you

onion

garlic

paprika and/or other seasonings

heat: Serrano

Red beans, soaked at least overnight and then par boiled till slightly firm.

Prepped up and ready to go

brown the beef and saute the onions

add the can of tomatoes

add the prepped ingredients, red beans, simmer

serving suggestion

on corn chip, egg and sour cream

 

 

 

Light supper

Stir fry broccoli, green onions, a splash of wine vinegar, rice wine, scrambled egg with toast and shrimp paste.

Toasted sesame seeds garnish.

Tomato mushroom ragout with pasta and brocolli

It’s not often that I utilized boxed pasta since I really enjoy the taste of fresh pasta, but for the sake of convenience tonight, some fresh diced tomatoes, simmered with sliced mushrooms, garlic and reduced with mead. Add brocolli to the boiling water with the pasta as a base for the ragout. Simply served , got a have those veggies !

Happy 2017 cooking, post holiday meal.

Peasant’s plate

Some black eyed peas prepared from the previous day.

Bacon, onion, garlic, brocolli , mushrooms. 

Prepare and combine with flour, oil, butter, stock, milk.

Heat through adding grated cheese along the way.

Season as required.

Wus sup(per)?

As the greeting of the day goes “wus up” or simply “sup ?” ? A simple fare for sup-per.

Cubed chicken thigh, roasted / grilled from a previous day. ( cold)

Risotto, onion, Parmesan cheese.

Broccoli , steamed , garlic butter.

Bread, whole wheat/ white flour.

Beverage , IPA, off the topper home brew, not shown.

bonus pictures

meanwhile, back in France, via Periscope from time to time, bread continues !