Journal

Week 33 Cooking Results

Why so early? Well I'm just kind of waiting for a call back perhaps, so...I might as well do something...or never mind...he didn't even bother to call me, just fixed it

So I really liked the fresh mozzarella from Lucca and used it for some mozzarella on toast with the fresh tomato sauce night. I also used it on egg and flank steak sandwiches that I made late, because of Shannon's hair appointment. I bought some more yesterday morning from the market. The eggs from Fox Hollow were good and of similar quality to the ones that I normally buy (from another family farm). The Golden Fire Pepper Jam from Blue Gate Farm with the Reichert's Dairy's Robiola on the La Mie wheat bread actually worked quite well. Not to spicy, a little creamy...and tasty.

Fresh Tomato Sauce with Rosemary and Bacon (p24 Entertaining Summer 2009)

This was good, I thought long and hard about using the bacon that I got from La Quercia, but instead went with the regular old bacon that I bought. Though I did add a bit more red pepper flakes then I intended, I thought it was good. On the reheating, though, the fresh parsley added at the end lost some of its character, but was still ok.

Pita Bread Salad (Fattoush) (p44 Entertaining Summer 2009)

This was easy, though did take a bit of preparation. I made it the same night that I made the tuna steaks, and didn't really go outside of the window of my normal dinner making time. Fresh mint just has these magical qualities in certain types of salads. I suppose I did make something similar to this around week 9, though I think this was simpler and the dressing was more then just a bit of olive oil.

Pan-Seared Sesame-Crusted Tuna Steaks (p18 Entertaining Summer 2009)

I used Hy-Vee's "sashimi grade" frozen and rethawed yellowfin tuna. The quality of this tuna was quite a bit better then the tuna that I had before, though still...at the cost...It was quite a bit more then I like to pay for a meat portion of the meal (though not way out there, I've certainly spent more, it was about $10 for the both of us). Fish cooks veery quickly. I turned around to do something else, and by the time I got back, it was a bit more done then I wanted it. But it was still good and easy to prepare.

Tex-Mex Stuffed Burgers (p5 Entertaining Summer 2009)

Where do you find the point at where you can put stuff in a burger (and what type), before the burger starts falling apart? Why does it seem like I always put in too much, but when I follow a recipe, it ends up being fine. It had a nice flavor and with the double helping of Monterey Jack, it was not terribly good for you, but was tasty. And I have a lot of leftover meat to make up burgers again.

And now, I try to get a bit more sleep...