There wasn’t much actual cooking involved, just preparation, but I think it counts anyway.
Yesterday we were missing Spain, and it was too hot to turn on the stove or oven, so we put together a spread of favorites from the pantry, and made a batch of Basque Style Tuna Stuffed Piquillo Peppers, with the binding aioli from scratch. The conservas etc. included calamari in ink and sea cucmber, both from Gueyu Mar, some fantastic anchovies, chorizo by Fermin, Manchego, Garrotxa, bread and olives. The Basque rosé and Manzanilla were perfect matches. We finished with delicious white vermuth over ice.
Pan seared thighs & shredded cabbage salad w/ white miso dressing. Made a quick sweet/tangy pan sauce with the rendered chicken fat & fond, also rubbed pepper and grated ginger under the skin and seared weighted the thighs heavily for about 90% of the cook before flipping.
Daughter is home to take what we hope is the last section of the CPA exam. Wife said she needs a “Milty meal.”
Made the run over to Jo Patti and grabbed some fish.
Starter was local heirloom tomatoes with whipped Feta and pomegranate molasses. Tomatoes still a couple of days from peak but very good
Pan seared grouper, tomato and caper sauce. Stone ground grits with fresh local corn. Seared broccoli just olive oil and garlic. The green stuff is Arugula pesto with pistachios subbing for the pine nuts.
Couple of Negroni and the Kirkland Bordeaux Blanc very serviceable wine
Looks great. It will be heretical here but I prefer ground bison to ground beef. I know that ‘fat is flavor’ but after eating bison burgers I don’t like the mouthfeel of the fat in beef burgers. I was even disappointed with Flannery’s Kali blend.
We eat almost all ground poultry in our house. I really dont mind especially ground turkey but it does make me appreciate the occasional meatball made with beef and pork. lol. But i actually like a bison or elk burger.
I used to do a ton of 93% lean ground turkey until I ran the numbers and saw that it’s only ~3g less fat than 90% lean ground beef for 4oz, and much less protein, zinc, iron and B12. Everyone has his own priorities, of course, but at my age and activity level, the Macronutrient content is more important than a small savings in fat. I do also like ground bison and even venison sometimes.
First course/appetizer was yellowfin tuna with peaches. Some tobiko some chili yuzu and a bit of peach vinaigrette. Jalops for my daughter and me. Dad and my wife skipped them.
Grilled filets and a NY strip. Mashed local yellow and red skin potatoes. Oyster mushrooms and portobello mushrooms sautéed and a little veal glace and cream. Tomatoes had some of the whipped feta from the other night.
Thats why I like Bison and venison too- its also very lean but good micronutrients (just more expensive!). We actually do a lot of turkey or chicken breast specifically because its like 99% lean, and my wife is doing the macro counting thing. theyre definitely the best combo of macro and budget friendly for everyday meals. but i hear ya on the micronutrient thing for sure
Little tuna for my wife and I as an appetizer. The tuna was cured for about 30 minutes salt and sugar then ringed in ice water. Then dried on a rack in the fridge for 30 minutes. Some local peaches jalops etc for garnish. Some of the tuna I chopped and mixed the nice pieces left squared off. Opened a new bottle of Soy that was exceptional. I forgot the tobiko on the plate
The main was the cured tuna steak that was blackened. Some potato cakes and the leftover mushrooms. Squash rounded out the plate. I did some pickled shallots that were intended for the raw tuna but went well here.
