Dustin's DL Food Blog

  Bacalao a la Riojana (Tomato and Pepper Poached Cod}, steamed broccoli, Caesar salad. I tried this cod recipe (because you can never have too many) we both really liked it. Definitely going into the rotation. I've linked to the recipe. One of the ingredients is carne de pimiento choricero, which I didn't have, You can substitute smoked paprika to taste, I also used some white wine and a small amount of Calabrian pepper sauce in the sauce because we like a bit of heat.  Steamed broccoli was dressed with fresh lemon juice, smashed clove of garlic, and evoo. https://bonviveur.com/es/recetas/bacalao-riojana

Roast chicken and potato, leek, gruyere tart.  

  Grilled salmon with compound butter, fennel gratin, crispy roasted potatoes. The potatoes recipe is the one where you cut it into chunks and boil them with some baking soda before you roast them. I fixed them with rosemary and garlic. I cleaned out the freezer because I could barely get anything in it. I had frozen strawberries, so I made strawberry rhubarb pie, and I had raspberries, so I made raspberry white chocolate chip muffins. I had a shit-ton of pork shoulder, so I bought some pork belly and made sausage. That's why I made pasta (again) last night with sausage I made. The sausage tasted incredibly salty despite my measuring it exactly at 1.5%. The pasta came good but I'm still going to chuck the sausage. I also made the pork skin braciole recipe that Eva's father makes at 14:16. It's like a confit, so it's all sitting in a jar of lard. I have to wait a few weeks before we test it. 

BBQ Beef Ribs, corn on the cob, and tomato salad. Strawberry rhubarb pie with a scoop of Haagen-Dazs vanilla bean.   

Chicken parm, bucatini, Caesar salad I made a strawberry-rhubarb pie for dessert.  

  An antipasto with Calabrian salami, porchetta, soppresata, scamorza, pappadew peppers, roasted red peppers, pepperoncini, olives, toasted baguette.  Penne with marinara sauce 

Chicken pho. First time I made it. I was looking for something different to do with my four-pack of chicken thighs. I never ordered it out before but thought I'd give it a try. 

  It's vegetarian night. I wanted to use the leeks I've had for a couple of weeks and a tart sounded good, thus leek and gruyere tart. Also corn chowder. I had a couple of ears of corn leftover from last night. Had I not been so busy, I would have had an appetizer like we had last night.   https://www.abakingjourney.com/leek-tart-with-gruyere-and-onions/

 Grilled salmon with herbed butter, broccoli rabe sauteed with garlic and crushed red pepper, roasted butternut squash with maple walnut rosemary glaze, recipe from Sur La Table

 T-bone steak, corn on the cob, steamed broccoli with evoo, lemon and garlic

 Swordfish and pasta puttanesca, sauteed spinach with garlic. lemon, and crushed red pepper.

  Italian zucchini bake and Greek Salad https://cookingwithmammac.com/cheesy-zucchini-bake/

Prosciutto, papaya, and fontina cheese appetizer, chicken scarpariello (my version), and Romano beans braised in tomato sauce. I make an adulterated version of chicken scarpariello, I'm sure much to the chagrin of Italian-Americans everywhere. I basically use the America's Test Kitchen recipe, but I even skip the pickled cherry peppers and use sliced jarred pepperoncini instead. Easier and just as tasty, though it's been so long since I made the "authentic version," I really couldn't say. I'm really enjoying the Romano beans. I made a very simple marinara sauce with my homemade passata, and just braised it. Finished with some fresh basil.

 Fried shrimp with smoked paprika aioli, lemon parmesan orzo, sauteed broccolini topped with crispy fried onions. Toffee caramel ice cream with mini M&Ms for dessert.

  The best eggplant parmesan I ever made with a side of pasta. Too hungry to get pictures.

  Tuna tartare appetizer with baguette toasts, grilled marinated tuna, a salad of avocado, pear, Divina Peruvian pearls peppers (peppadew), jasmine rice, and spinach. I made the tuna tartare with the rest of the tuna from the ceviche. I used the recipe from Aqua restaurant in SF about 25 years ago. I followed the recipe....mostly. The salad was something I threw together because I had a half of avocado in the refrigerator, a lot of the pear that went into the tartare, some leftover cucumber from the ceviche, and those peppadew peppers because my partner loves them. Made a Korean-type dressing that included sesame oil, gochugaru, and orange marmalade. 

 Melon with prosciutto, grilled ribeye with basil and garlic, mushrooms with browned butter, and some really good potatoes. I found these mini-melons that I've never seen before. It's like a mini cantaloupe. It was round, the size of a softball, with a smooth skin. It was quite good. I came back from vacation and my basil had started to flower, so I trimmed it back. Thus I had a pile o f basil. I chopped some with some garlic and added some oil. My partner slathered some on while grilling, and it was delicious.  Potatoes. Jacques Pepin was on TV in the background while we were working, and he cooked these wonderful looking potatoes. He boiled them, cut them into chunks, and then fried them in a lot of oil. Because of time, I peeled and cut it into chunks, then boiled them. I fried them while the steak was resting. Excellent technique. Crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. I'll definitely make them again. 

  Prosciutto, papaya, and honey as a starter, roasted chicken, green beans, and rice. I found two nice slices of prosciutto in the refrigerator that needed to be used (okay, I wanted it). I also bought a papaya yesterday at the Hispanic market yesterday. I went to get what I needed for yesterday's ceviche, and ran across the papaya bin. I thought they were $1.49 each, but it was per pound - four lbs. So I need to use all this papaya up. The roasted chicken is an adaptation of my go-to roasted chicken recipe, which used a whole chicken. Well, while I was typing this, I decided to put a honey mustard topping on the chicken. I also decided to make some candied nuts from all the nuts in my freezer. The nuts are addictive. I linked to the nut recipe.  https://www.recipetineats.com/texan-bbq-candied-nuts/#recipe

I'm back from vacation - yellowfin tuna ceviche, grilled salmon with compound butter, and cauliflower and peas gratin. The fresh tuna was $6.99/lb!! Ridiculous price, and I saw the fish guy bring out a whole whatever of tuna and start to slice it up for the display. I ended up buying about three pound (a bit less) which is two ceviche and two dinners. I combined the peas with the cauliflower before it went into the oven, because I didn't feel like making another dish. Long day after coming back from vacation.