The exact same meal as we had last Wednesday. The food (and coffee) is always good at Espresso 77.
Monthly Archives: March 2013
There be meat lads!
By Nina Max in uncategorized 1 Comment
Our great friend Sean is responsible for the title of this post. The full quote is: “Sweet Baby Jesus! Fire up the Weber! All hands on deck! There be MEAT lads! As far as a man can see!” and that’s really the way I feel right now. As though there is this endless supply of meat in our fridge.
Tonight, it was Emipre Market’s Smoked Pork Chops again. We also had simple pasta with pecorino, olive oil, butter & pepper and an amazing new roasted broccoli dish.
Roasted Bagna Cauda Broccoli has all the good stuff: lemon, anchovies, garlic, butter, wine and almonds. I added parsley for fun, didn’t have white wine, and wasn’t in the mood for almonds (which is weird because I love almonds), but it still came out great. Half of my mom’s homegrown Meyer lemon went into the broccoli, and that made it extra-good on many levels. With the other half, I made a glass of lemonade, for the three of us to share.
Hot dogs from the Empire Market
By Nina Max in uncategorized 5 Comments
Around 10am today, Shane called from work to discuss dinner:
Shane: “I was thinking we should have hot dogs tonight.”
Nina (me): “Okay, with buns?”
S: “Yes, that would be nice.”
N: “I don’t know which ones are the hot dogs.”
S: “It says ‘Hot Dog Buns’ on the bag.”
N: “Not the buns. There are two kinds of meat in the fridge that are hot dog shaped, I don’t know which are the hot dogs.”
S: “They’re really long ones.”
N: “I’m assuming you’ll also want oven fries?”
S: “Yup”
The hot dogs were from Saturday’s trip to the Empire Market, the oven fries were the ones we always make. I had an arugula and radicchio salad topped with cilantro olive oil cannellini beans. T’was a good meal.
Wraps and kale salad
Wraps always make me think of my uncle Pete. Pete is endlessly impressed with my husband Shane’s size, and ability to consume food. When we stay with him, it doesn’t matter the time of day, if we’ve just eaten, or how much, Pete is always offering Shane a wrap.
I guess I thought the wrap-offering was Pete’s job, because until recently, it never occurred to me to do so (or maybe it did and I forgot). Tonight, Rose and I had wraps (cheddar, hummus, dried tomatoes, arugula) and kale salad. When Shane gets home, I’m going to offer him one.
Rose & Annika’s restaurant
By Nina Max in uncategorized 2 Comments
Daddy’s Hungry
By Nina Max in uncategorized 1 Comment
I sent Shane out to drop off the compost this morning and he decided to take the long way back. The really long way. He got in the car and drove all the way out to College Point, home of the Empire Market. He returned home with a lot of meat.
Tonight we cooked the smoked pork chops, they’re heat and eat, and had salad, bread and cheese on the side. There were supposed to be oven fries as well, but that didn’t quite work out as planned.
Olive oil poached fish, or shellfish
When my good friend Rachel posted this recipe for Olive Oil Poached Fish or Shellfish on my facebook timeline yesterday, I replied with something like “Sounds good, look for it on The Steady Table soon!” By soon, I didn’t really mean tomorrow, but then I already had fresh thyme, and I was near a store that sells good fish today. So there you have it, a day later. This is a good one for my dairy-free folks, and sneaky white kitty cats, as well.
Surprisingly easy: bung some seafood into a pot, cover it with olive oil, add some salt, garlic and herbs, cook for a little while, and you’re done. I made it with bay scallops and shrimp. I particularly liked the shrimp. The bay scallops tasted a bit funny to me, but I haven’t had them before so maybe that’s just the way they taste? (Fingers crossed.)
The oil/sauce that you cook the seafood in is delicious on a good, crusty bread with a little salt. We had a shredded kale salad on the side with lemon juice, olive oil and pecorino.
I don’t know what the science is behind this cooking method, maybe the oil keeps the moisture in? But the fish really comes out moist and tender. I added some salt to the oil while I poached. Next time, I will crush the thyme a little bit, to try to get more thyme flavor. And I’ll use regular scallops, or maybe just shrimp.