There are some nights I am pretty proud about a meal that was pulled last minute from the back of the freezer and pantry, elevating sad little leftovers to a entirely new level. This meal, as oddly paired as it might seem, was one such event. We had just two small cups of chilled corn soup from the night before. I almost always have carrots on hand and apparently had some radishes as well. The carrots and radishes got a quick pickling in my standard mix of rice vinegar, sugar and chili. I meanwhile had started thawing two mahi mahi … Continue reading →

I had heard about garlic scapes several times, but had never had the opportunity to try them. Then one day they appeared in our weekly veggie basket. I found out that they are the flower of a garlic plant and are often removed in order to promote growth in the garlic plant itself. It was only recently that farmers realized people were willing to pay a premium for these mild flavored, crisp stems and so they have been showing up in more and more places in early spring/summer. We decided to try grilling them and after testing one found they … Continue reading →

Often I will get (or send) IMs from/to my sister-in-law in Minnesota regarding that evening’s meal. This particular say she sent me a link to a recipe for a potato, lentil and walnut salad that sounded really good. I don’t even remember the original recipe, but when I was in the store later that afternoon I decided I’d make a version of it. I would serve it with some simple, pan-fried salmon and a cold corn and tomato salad with the basil I was finally growing in the garden. For the salad, I cooked some new red potatoes in water … Continue reading →

Another pretty standard meal around when we are running short on time is broiled eel. While I have made it from scratch in the past, I am not at all above keeping some already sauced eel on hand from H Mart. It thaws quickly, cooks quickly and can be paired with a ton of things. Usually we serve it with rice, some form of avocado and cucumbers. This time around I had zucchini and decided to make noodles from them (another thing we do often in the summer). The zucchini is cut into strips on the mandolin, heavily salted, and … Continue reading →

I’ve spent most of the summer, no matter how hot, cooking up a storm. Boiling, baking, braising and boiling in my skimpiest of skivvies because with the abundance of weekly veggies arriving on my porch (thanks to Door to Door Organics’ local box) I can’t help myself. Though with a husband working his ASS off just about every day and night since we bought a new workshop for his business, a toddler, a garden, a household and, oh yeah, a full-time job, I have not made any time to write about said cooking. So in the next many posts I … Continue reading →