Fully agree, didn’t want to overwhelm the crab.
I make a lot of pesto with it, using about 75% shiso and 25% basil, with standard pesto ingredients. I have also done some weird things, like making fresh bread with it, adding other herbs like rosemary, basil and thyme. The problem is that it more bitter than Iike, so I have experimented with adding it to things that need a bit of bitter kick, like tomato sauce when it is a bit too sweet. I have a big one with large leafs in my back yard and I will be trying to make stuffed grape leaves with shiso instead of grape leaves. Parboil first. As an experiment.
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Recycling the ham and ham bone from last night - collard greens and ham, with cracklins on top. Didn’t get a photo of it plated, but components below.
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2 plates tonight
Tomato, tuna, jimmy nardello, garlic scape, sour plum, purple basil
The tomatoes are peeled and then submerged in my lacto-tomato water, this time for about 12 hours (these are larger yellow cocktail tomatoes, not sungolds) and then sliced and seasoned with a little maldon salt. The peppers and scapes were charred over charcoal and the tuna had a very quick flash on the grill as well. Everything is dressed with my sour plum syrup and some good olive oil
Stuffed wings with apricot mustard
This is a dish I’ve been playing around with for a while now and is inspired by a southeast asian market we have here in Philadelphia where they sell a stuffed chicken wing, and also as a way for me to utilize every part of the chicken in a delicious way. I always buy whole chickens and butcher them, and part of that process is to remove the wing flat and also the small tenderloin on the breast and save them until I have 6 of each. Here’s a prep pic I remembered to take
The butchering process isn’t too difficult once you get the hang of it. sometimes I will get really fancy and make a proper mousseline but most of the time I just chop the shit out of the meat. A meat grinder would also work great here. Seasoning wise, this farce has fermented green garlic, garlic scape and chives.
Then it’s grilled over charcoal and glazed with the mustard sauce (fermented apricot, whole grain mustard, maple syrup) and served with more of that same glaze on the side.
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Chicken Chettinad with black pepper coconut masala, from the previously-mentioned cookbook by Maya Kaimal.
The toasted coconut in this dish made for an interesting departure from the usual direction I prefer for my Indian dishes. I liked it! Was going to pair with a dry Riesling, but ultimately opted for leftover Picpoul Blanc, which was fine — not good, not bad, just fine.
p.s.: doing your own homemade masalas is a massively-important detail, imo. Way better than store-bought, which robs you of the fun of doing it yourself, not to mention the usual freshness issues.
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Roasted duck, with brown sauce. Awesome Country loaf from Colossus bakery, in San Pedro.
Paired nicely with a 2005 Au Bon Climat - Bien Nacido 30th Vintage anniversary Pinot Noir.
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Tuna summer rolls, sesame crusted seared tuna and stir fried vegetables and noodles. My coworker provided the Vietnamese spring
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After tonight’s amazing hike I was in the mood for a fast and pleasing pasta. I did a fresh lumache pasta with friarielli and borlotti beans. 8 minutes to pleasure.
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Grilled veggies for fresh salsa
Grilled Tuna
Then some refried beans, yellow rice and chips.
Salsa was really good but not very photogenic.
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Grilled rib-eye, topped with banana shallots that had simmered in butter, with capers, a bit of dried chili flakes and white wine vinegar. Fresh chives add at the end.
Grilled greens with fresh cucumber, mint and olives.
The Champagne worked surprisingly well.
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Shwarma spiced pork tenderloin, grilled carrots, chick pea salad, salad of romaine tomato feta and some grilled sour dough. I did a sauce using labneh, onion garlic, olive oil dill and a little lemon juice.
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This one was all Jonathan, but I think you guys know I have a loose interpretation of “you” in this thread.
Homemade katsu kare, using fantasic chops from one of local suppliers, Honeybrook Farm, and fried in pure mangalitsa leaf lard we made earlier this year. The curry is from scratch, but does use S&B Japanese curry powder along with lots of other stuff. Top notch Japanese rice and pickled ginger rounded out the plate. There were some miso cukes on the side, too. The sake was perfect, and the Kilburg did pretty well, too. Oh - and a blueberry tart!
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No golf today (there was a big tournament at my home course that I didn’t feel like joining - pace of play way too slow for me); so, I just watched videos and exercised at home, then pan-grilled some steaks for dinner. The cook made the sides. I skipped dessert and just finished off the bubbly served as aperitif. Refrained from any single malt whisky after (as I had way too much of that Thursday night).
The last of my stash of Wisconsin “Double Gold” prime. I’m ordering more. Well enough marbled, yet still retains nice beefiness.
Sea salt, black pepper, pan-grilled.
Sautéed cherry tomatoes, king mushrooms & fresh basil.
Buttered carrots and organic garden peas.
I had wanted mashed potatoes; but my wife said she wanted french fries, so….
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My KitchenAid mixer that I had for twenty some years died. It was totally my fault, was asking it to do way to much with a pasta dough. Looked at a lot of different replacements and went with the Ankarsrum. So far this thing is amazing and I’ve been putting it through some stuff. Had a bread centric meal tonight.
Made some focaccia.
Made some coriander sandwich bread.
And some bagels.
Did some plain, sesame and a aleppo/urfa pepper mix.
Went to a friends house with a large amount of bread and some scallops with preserved meyer lemons.
Some amazing tomatoes from our friends garden in Philly.
Great wines for the meal.
And I don’t even like cats but these ones are pretty great.
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Oven fried chicken, smoked golden cauliflower had a whipped feta and chive topping for it. and some wild rice with mushrooms. While I was doing this made some hot and sour soup for lunches this week.
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In my opinion, the greatest soup ever.
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My sample tastes say this batch is decent. I have had a craving for it for months. No local place does it justice. I tried a Costco version that had no flavor.
I did fresh shiitake and crimini for the mushrooms and the spicy chicken broth. A whole block of extra firm tofu. Very small amount of grilled pork tenderloin.
I think it needs more black vinegar but will retaste today.
And it is the only soup that I seem to actually crave.
But will admit that chicken/duck and andouille gumbo is high on my soup list. But it has to have a nearly black roux. Anything less does not work.
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Agree with both of your envies!
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Daughter home to sort out the clothing pile. When we moved her from her undergrad house to her grad ad school house the landlords always plan a week+ of homelessness into the schedule. So I had a cube of her winter clothes roughly 4 x 5 x 6 in my car which has now found its way to our parlor.
Dinner was bbq rub grilled salmon, fettuccine with basil and parm, zucchini and tomato cucumber mozzarella salad.
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Not “tonight” but “this morning”
Everyone who reads this thread knows I love not only leftovers, but breakfast. I am also a foodie passionate about healthy eating, and how you don’t have to sacrifice taste and pleasure. I look at so-called diet food, and it’s no wonder people want to run in the other direction.
Here’s this morning’s breakfast: 2 egggs, 1 egg white, one medium zuchinni, leftover spinach, sungold tomatoes, small amount of crumbled feta, cooked in 1 tsp EVOO. 1 slice of Dave’s Killer Powerseed Bread, 1/4 avocado, 2 slices of Early Girl tomoato, bit of Maldon and basil.
This whole plate is 450 calories, 30g protein, 36g carbs (11g fiber), 26g fat, 9.5g sugar (1g added sugar) and is absolutely full of vitamins and minerals. It’s also delicious, and the colors make me happy. 
This will fuel me through a grueling workout later this morning.
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