Journal

2020 - Week 20 Cooking Results

Kale and Black Bean Breakfast Burritos

A big bundle of kale, reduced down with beans and eggs, wrapped in a tortilla. Good to go.

Ricotta Scrambled Eggs And Buttered Ramps On Toast

A nice recipe, quick to do. It appears as if this will be the last ramp recipe of the year. I served this over a very mild sourdough.

Ramen Noodles With Spring Onions and Garlic Crisp

So this was surprising. Simple, maybe I added to many noodles (had to swap out for a different kind since fresh ramen were not available), so perhaps the flavor was a bit reduced, but even so, it has both a very nice flavor and a good combination of textures in the dish from the crunch of the fried pieces to the mild chew of the noodles.

Salad with Chicken

Using those greens, this fresh greens. So good.

Sausage egg on an English muffin

Of course this was a nice combination, a pretty good English muffin, certainly better than the standbys that you get in the store. Farm fresh eggs, large black pig sausage. Good things. I bought a bunch more from them (biscuits, etc).

Stage 2 of the rhubarb bitters happened earlier in the week. This is the light rum with the herbs, spices, and bittering agents?

I also made some limeade, using the limes I bought at costco. An interesting process to be sure. Maybe enough of the sugar didn’t make it into the final thing as it had a bitter undertone, but So far so good (I made it for Shannon)

2020 - Week 19 Cooking Results

Sausage and egg on an English muffin

Delayed! I drunkenly ordered Fong’s for delivery.

Salad with Chicken

An abundance of fresh local greens makes me happy. Combined with other fresh and local things and some not so fresh bread crumbs for a good meal. Nice to have those local fresh greens again.

Hamburger

Beef, actual beef. White park beef. Nice to have. I bought a five pound pack from Lucky George, via my local food coop. Good things.

Ramp Pesto Spaghetti

A little less ramps then I needed, a bit more pasta then what was called for (who sub-divides a box of pasta?). I added a bit more cheese and some pepper, it was pretty good.

Fusilli with Sausage, Kale, and Sungold Tomatoes

The combined fat, kale and tomatoes made for a good sauce for the pasta. Flavorful and good, the tomatoes didn’t part like they probably should have, but it was a good use of kale and a good evening meal.

I also started rhubarb bitters. They’re at stage one and resting to stage 2.

2020 - Week 18 Cooking Results

Kale, Onion and Cheddar Frittata Recipe

The frittata did not raise as much up as thought it might, so it was a bit dense. Still a nice combination and a good way to use kale.

Pasta With Beans and Greens Recipe

So the mashed beans with stock created a nice “sauce” that held to the rigatoni quite well. Flavorful, earthy with a nice background of savory flavor (thanks anchovies!).

Ramp and Sausage Risotto

I make this every year as a sign of that transition into spring. It is what I crave the most when the weather starts to turn from cold to warm. Mostly cause you can’t get ramps all the time. Early on in the pandemic (after worrying about family friends, etc etc), I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get ramps this year. Fortunately, opportunity has presented it self and once again, I have a good supply of ramps.

Spaghetti with Green Garlic Recipe

Very simple, It came together pretty well and had a nice flavor to it.

Taco Salad!

Good things.

Working from home does give me the opportunity to use leftovers in such a fashion to make a new thing out of it. I have started enjoying this part of my day as it is something I do just for me. I used the leftover smoked sausages to make sandwiches, with the pickles and bbq sauce from the Cheese Bar.

2020 - Week 18 Cooking

After I dwelled on the thing that I worry about in this time, I started to see pictures of early ramps and then worried that holy crap, I was going to miss a ramp season. Luckily due to the adaptability of the farmers I buy from, I have ramps! Clearly I need to make the things that I almost always start the season off with. I got a bunch of kale and so that’ll have to go into things to. After having bland store bought greens, this is the time, where I get to remind myself what the real thing tastes like.

2020 - Week 17 Cooking Results

Sloppy Bison

Good as always.

Sausage (Lucky George), Egg (Grade A), on English Muffin (Sweet to Eat)

So the English muffins were pretty good, combined with an egg, and sausage made a good meal for dinner.

I was running a bit late as I didn’t want missing signing for a package (the truck was in the neighborhood for nearly 3 hours before making it to my house.

Roast Chicken (Crooked Gap)

So I ended up going with Jacques Pépin's Quick-Roasted Chicken. I started brining the chicken earlier in the week shortly after I picked them up shortly after they were slaughtered. This came together pretty easy, roasted up nice, and we had it with greens from Grade A Garden which is making the best that they can with the restrictions we are under (I went to their giant fridge, picked up a box, and came home)

Broccoli and Egg Fried Rice

Delayed and or Cancelled!

Spicy Chicken Tacos (probably modified a bit)

Just a bit of a modification, ended up making them into a salad since we had locally (ish) made corn chips. Good tasting, nice combo and a good chance of pace from my normal taco salad mix.

2020 - Week 16 Cooking Results

Lacy Cornmeal Pancakes With Strawberry Compote

I don’t know i if the corn meal that was more fine then the one I used (not going to have two types of corn meal on hand). So perhaps what I had on hand wasn’t as finely ground as the non-specific call in the recipe. I made the compote in the middle of the day, and took a nap after, as is normal in this day and age. After running some errands (Lua, Cheese Bar), I put together the batter. The cornmeal kept wanting to fall to the bottom so I would re-whisk it before every 1/3rd cup or so dosing into the pan. I spent a bit trying to get the pan about the right temp, started a little to low, then to hot, then just about right by the 3rd pancake. The cakes themselves where thin and a bit gritty, but I still enjoyed the flavor profile and texture.

Sheet Pan Chicken Meatballs with Tomatoes and Chickpeas

Maybe they weren’t the right sized meatballs, since they took a bit longer to cook, I didn’t end up using the broiler. To make the harissa, I used a bit of the carrot habanero sauce that was from the Cheese Bar with a bit of tomato paste some spices and called it good. I also used canned tomatoes since you know, early in the season. All in all it turned out pretty well.

Bison Burgers

I had some leftover lard from Taco Sunday, so I put that in there and mixed it in. A little bit richer, but you know, a bit self defeating.

Pasta

More veggies, less meat. I may have though the powered ginger was the powdered garlic, so I ended up adding a lot more herbs and spices that I would normally do. It was in there, but not as present, which is good, because I don’t feel as if it really belongs.