Picked my first few tomatoes for dinner tonight:
I’m feeling lazy having worked in the yard all day, so I’m just having that light tomato/cuke salad, a broiled salmon filet, and some steamed spinach with vinegar. Basically, a ten minute dinner prep and a pretty healthy meal.
jo6pac
Mines a little heavier, pototoes salad from the garden and a bbq grass feed rib eye. I’ll smoke a few salmon steaks I have before freezer burn ruins them, good muchee food with a cracker later
cleek
gonna do pecan-crusted catfish with an orange-chili beurre blanc, zucchini fritters, and grilled corn on the cob with lime and chili.
cause i like to cook.
Comrade Luke
Our “summer” has been so shitty here in Seattle that I just planted my first tomato plant last week.
stuckinred
Chicken, okra, maters and corn and red beans and rice.
Libby Spencer
Jealous. That looks so delicious. Nothing tastes better than the first tomato from the garden.
geg6
Ribeyes, salad (all components from the garden), roasted carrots and corn (on the grill). Boston cream pie for later. And homemade wine, which came out wonderfully. I was skeptical when John made it two years ago, but we recanted a bottle the other night and loved it.
Currently, blackberries are boiling on the stove in preparation for canning jam. Love this time of year, evev though it’s ridiculously hot.
Nicole
(If this post is not okay, moderators, take it down- I totally understand)
I can’t believe I’m doing this (a friend put me up to it), but I’m in the running to be the online face of a fictional FBI Agent in author Murv Sellars’ books. Voting ends today, and I am ever so slightly behind. If you have a moment and don’t mind voting for an internet stranger, go to:
http://www.mrsellars.com/
Scroll to “The Search for Constance Finalists” and vote for # 3, the redhead in the suede jacket (unless you really, really love one of the other finalists, in which case, vote your conscience. No voter intimidation here). You don’t have to register or sign up for anything; it’s an anonymous poll.
I get nothing for this but the bragging rights, but it would be fun.
And as for food- anyone have any suggestions for recipes for a pound of stewing beef (no onions, please)? I bought some grass-fed beef from a local farm, even though I don’t usually eat beef, and have no idea what to do with it. We have no crock pot, by the way.
Yutsano
Ordering out tonight on purpose (local place has cookies that I wanna share at work tomorrow) but got salmon and HUGE shrimp on sale at the store, so a filet tomorrow and shrimp pasta Tuesday. And a clean kitchen.
Yutsano
@Nicole: You’re now two votes back. :)
Dee Loralei
@Nicole: You’re up 7 votes! BJers keep going y’all! Tell AL to fp this, we’ll keep you over the top for sure!
Edited to add: I love you Greesemonkey and AL! Him for the reply code. her for the hint to update my firefox first LOL.
Phyllis
@Nicole: You’ve pulled ahead.
suzanne
I’m resolving to stop drinking soda, which is my last bad real food habit. God, it sucks. I want a Diet Coke so badly.
Chris Wolf
Lazy to you is a days work for me.
Cat Lady
@Nicole: 10 ahead, and pulling away. Good luck!
Phyllis
@Suzanne: My sympathies. We quit buying & drinking soda about three months ago. I’ve been jonesin’ for a Barq’s root beer the whole weekend.
Svensker
@ Nicole
What to do with stewing beef is to stew it. You can either stew the meat in one big piece, or cut it up into bite sized pieces, your choice. One big piece is easier. So get a big wide pot with a lid. Fat of your choice, but I like bacon. Coat the meat with a light dusting of flour, some salt and pepper and sear the meat in the fat (which is hot, of course). Chop up vegetables of your choice — no onions (no? really? oy!) but you can use carrots, celery, turnips, mushrooms, garlic (please?), peppers. Once the meat is nicely browned on all sides, remove, add a bit more fat, and sautee the vegetables until they’re just softening. Salt and pepper. Now stir in some good red wine (or some cheap red wine) and get up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Put the meat back in, splash in some more wine and some meat/chicken broth if you have it, a little water if you don’t. Or you can add tomatoes if you like (I don’t). Add a pinch of thyme, and a bay leaf. Bring to the boil, turn back to a simmer, cover and cook over low heat (or in the oven at 350) for about 2 hours. Check sauce for seasonings now and add more salt if necessary. Without onion, the sauce may be a little dull, so you could pep it up with some lemon juice, too. If you like not so cooked veggies, you can add more carrots, mushrooms, etc. now (I don’t bother cuz I like ’em soggy). You can also add cut up waxy potatoes now if you like (in which case, salt more). Cover again and simmer for another hour, at which point the meat should be nice and tender. You can remove the meat to a platter, degrease the sauce and reduce it if you like. Or not. Extra good if reheated and served the next day.
Them’s the basics. You can add different seasonings, vary the vegetables, etc.
Stew’s the easiest thing in the world.
One more — a Jewish Greek stew (stifado) recipe that I ADORE:
Cut meat into thin bite-sized chunks. Brown in olive oil in big wide pan. Salt and pepper. Add the juice of 2-3 lemons, bring to a boil, then lower to simmer. Cover and cook for an hour. Check for tenderness and liquid — add a bit more lemon juice if necessary or a splash of water (you don’t want a lot of liquid). Cook another 1/2-to one hour. Taste for seasoning. Coarsely chop some Italian parsley (1/2 cup or so) and about a cup of walnuts. Toss with the meat and heat just for a minute or two. Serve with noodles for one of the most unusual and delicious beef dishes I’ve ever eaten.
jo6pac
Voted your moving out but please don’t put the rib eye in crock pot broil or cook in butter cast iron skillet. If you broil pre-heat the broiler plan before putting the re on it.
licensed to kill time
@Nicole: I voted for you. The author should call you Nicky Flame (a la “Nicky Heat” in Castle) Good luck!
Nellcote
Just curious but where does your salmon come from, where was it caught?
hamletta
Nicole: Would a short rib recipe be OK? I think both short ribs and stew beef benefit from low-and-slow braising. I’ve been lusting for this recipe from the Washingtonian for months now.
I’m glad you brought it up, because I didn’t have it bookmarked!
Now off to vote for you.
hamletta
Svensker, that lemony beef stew sounds delish!
cbear
@ Nicole:voted, you’re leading.
Cole: how did you pry the cuke from the warm, soft hand of that blonde?
SIA
@ Nicole. I voted for ya! Hope you win!
jeffreyw
Hah, what a co-inky-dink! I picked the first (and maybe only!?!) tomato from the dirt garden today. Made this Pico de Gallo. Flat leaf parsley rather than cilantro. [spit]
Yutsano
@jeffreyw: No cilantro = no pico. Sorry, I’m a purist. And none of this “it tastes like soap” shit either.
jeffreyw
@Yutsano: I’ve never tasted shit soap so I will defer to your experience, sir. hee hee
SiubhanDuinne
@Nicole: you have another vote from me
@SIA: don’t you have a birthday coming up right around now? (takes cue from Yutsy and ::whistles innocently:: )
stuckinred
Nicole
Oh my my
oh hell yes
honey put on that party dress
geg6
Yutsano @26:
I’m with you. Without cilantro, it ain’t pico de gallo.
Heh. Reminds of how I found Balloon Juice. I used frequent a non-political blog and they had a section that was called “off topic” where we talked about everything including politics. And if you wanted to start a riot there in the comments, a cilantro discussion would usually do it. Or fierce support of Democratic principles or candidates. Which, by the way, is how I got banned. But I’ll always be grateful to that blog because it was a commenter there who recommended that I check out BJ. Said I would fit right in. Don’t quite know if he meant that in a good way.
Ian
This shit might just get real:
http://twitpic.com/5o9wj1
Murdoch’s papers may have hacked the phones of 9/11 victims…
wobblybits
Going out for Ethiopian food and catching “Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf” at the local art theater.
Nicole
First of all, you guys are awesome for the votes and I heart you all.
Second, I also heart you all for the excellent beef recipes. Svensker, I love onions in theory, but my tummy doesn’t. But I adore garlic. And hamletta, my husband loves short ribs so I’ll be checking that recipe out post haste. And jo6pac (oh… I just got that. That’s hilarious!) thanks for the tip. I don’t cook meat often, so I’d be liable to smoke out the apartment if not careful.
JPL
Nicole, You have another vote. Let us know the final results.
Ian, The Guardian says that Hinton might take the fall. He’s the head of the Wall Street Journal and a close confident of Murdoch.
Yutsano
@JPL:
The noose is already getting tighter around Uncle Rupert. They’re investigating one of his sons.
JPL
Yutsano..MSM will continue covering the story if Hinton steps down or James Murdoch is arrested.
geg6
Ian, this really is getting out of hand for ol’ Rupert. I believe one of his sons is now implicated in this. Getting close to the old man now. Keep on digging, you real journalists across the pond. Wish we had some of those here in the New World.
dj spellchecka
npr had a segment last evening with the author of tomatoland:
how modern industrial agriculture destroyed our most alluring fruit…worth checking out
transcript
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=137623954
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Nicole:
i’m a big softy when it comes to reverse psychology, your line about voting your conscience reeled me in walleye in a polluted river.
you’re now winning by a scosh.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Nicole:
i’m a big softy when it comes to reverse psychology, your line about voting your conscience reeled me in walleye in a polluted river.
you’re now winning by a scosh.
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
@Nicole:
i’m a big softy when it comes to reverse psychology, your line about voting your conscience reeled me in walleye in a polluted river.
you’re now winning by a scosh.
dj spellchecka
author barry estabrook “I think tomatoes in grocery stores are like food porn in the purest sense of the word. They look nice, they tantalize you, they make you think, but they don’t deliver. You’re not getting the same thing by any measure that you get in the summer either from your own garden or from a farmers market or even in a supermarket that does carry local tomatoes.”
ps
@nicole : i voted, too
Just Some Fuckhead
We grew up eating vinegar on spinach but we also put mayonnaise on it. Never found anyone else that did that, yet.
Yutsano
I’ve seen creamed spinach recipes that are mayonnaise based, so it’s not that far out there. I personally love lemon juice on spinach, but then again vinegar will do in a pinch.
Just Some Fuckhead
@geg6:
Actual journalism pays for shit.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Svensker: Make sure you add the potatoes near the end or they’ll disappear. :)
jo6pac
Nellcote – July 10, 2011 | 6:19 pm
Mine is once again west coast, the season is short. So it’s buy when you can and vacuum freeze it, it will last 2yrs or more. I’m buying because on the left coast it will become Hot in just 3 months or less. Then agsin I’m old and have no children by choice
13th Generation
@JohnCole
Good for you, dear.
Nicole
Fucen @41, I am totally going to start incorporating that phrase into my daily life.