Dinner With TCR – Trout du Jour! November 21, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: fresh-caught, lime, red onion, saute of, tomato, trout, with plenty of cilantro
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Got a surprise today, a gift from the project engineer, who had availed himself of a few free minutes before work to snag a fine rainbow trout. He not only landed it, he gutted and chilled it as well.
I like a man who takes care of business.
Anyway, I’m not really this guy’s tight buddy, so the fact that he offered me his morning catch suggested that everybody else had already said “no.”
I said yes. Hey, WTF, fresh trout?? I think I can live with it!!
And besides. I’d been eating in a much too pedestrian mode in recent days, and needed to class up my culinary act. A little trout in the mix seemed unlikely to cheapen my neighborhood.
So I assembled a saute: trout, tomato, red onion and cilantro
…done up in olive oil and lime juice, with virtually no other spices, as I can’t find the pepper grinder here and haven’t the heart to take my own from home:
It came out really guuud!
Anyway, it’s been a while since I shared my dinner, which my Christian up-bringing taught me was right, so I’m atoning right here and now.
Bon appetite!
Dinner(s) With TCR! September 24, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: celery, chanterelles, mushrooms, quesadilla, raviolis, sun-dried tomatoes, wild mushrooms
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Courtesy of the last ’shrooms of the season.
First, a Bolete quesadilla, made in this case with a pair of King Boletes.
This was fun, doing the mushrooms first at high heat, then adding celery and chunky garlic, then taking the whole lot out and reserving it before adding a little butter and frying a large flour tortilla a bit ’till it was ready to receive back the ’shroom filling:
It folded over quite nicely, thank you, before I crisped it up for the kill.
‘Twas guuud.
‘Twas equally guuud to think of something to do with my last harvest of chanterelles for the season. They’re a summer mushroom around here, and are most likely done blooming.
I sautéed the chanterelles with celery and sun dried tomatoes, then unceremoniously removed them all from the pan and replaced them with my new love, fresh goat cheese raviolis poached in chicken broth. Then, as above, I added back the niceties to dish up Raviolis with Wild Mushrooms:
I made noises eating this. I may have bothered the neighbors. I didn’t care. Life is too short to not appreciate what’s good, and I’m just not into dampening my enthusiasm for what I have left of it.
Not that I’m checking out, mind you, but I’m no Spring chicken either.
And one never knows, now, does one?
Dinner With TCR! September 13, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: basil, caramelized onions, feta, figs, quesadilla, you name it
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Saw some organic black figs at the local coop and my brain spun out of control, pairing pinwheels of possible flavors with the sweet grainyness of the fleshy figs.
I settled on a combination of figs and fetta, with caramelized onions, celery and fresh basil:
folded into a quesadilla:
…and served with a salsa verde for dipping.
The feta/basil crumble on top sent it over the line into decadence.
Fig and Feta Quesadillas, coutesy of me.
Dinner With TCR – Mushrooms, Part 1. September 10, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: black trumpets, chanterelles, half-and-half, mushrooms, mushrooms and more mushrooms!, omelets, raviolis
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My fridge is bursting with ’shrooms! They’re being crushed beneath each others’ weight, forcing the half-and-half to sweat and fade on the counter, keeping me up late at night, challenging my imagination and culinary stamina.
What to do with a basketfull of Black Trumpets?
…or a bag’s worth of Eastern chanterelles?
Perhaps a breakfast omelet of local duck eggs, chanterelles, caramelized onions and cheddar:
…and a dinner of black trumpets and chants with garlic, white wine, basil and a crumble of Gorgonzola, served over fresh lobster raviolis:
… prime examples of my Hundred Yard Diet, being largely from my garden and the nearby woods.
If anyone has a pickling recipe for a shopping bag’s worth of Oyster mushrooms, I’d be more than happy to entertain it, as my half-and-half needs a place to stay…
‘Shroomin’! September 2, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR, Love and Death.Tags: black trumpets, boletes, chanterelles, chicken-of-the-woods, wild mushrooms
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After a crappy Spring/Summer wild mushroom season, we entered September with a flourish.
A flash of color and a stop along the road on the way home from work yesterday yielded a cornucopia of fungi, beginning with a tender bloom of Laetiporus sulphureus (or Sulphur Shelf, if you don’t naturally go around speaking Latin) :
These will be great in curries and stir-frys!
And all around and along the way, there were ’shrooms of other genera begging me to eat them.
Some will get their wish!*
* That’s a pretty clear example of Man being the center of his own universe, non?
Anyway, here’s part of the haul. Clockwise from the upper left:
A nice fat (unidentified) coral, some beefy Chicken of the Woods (Sulpher Shelf,) a mess of nice Winter Chanterelles, Cahtharellus infandibuliformis, some black trumpets , or Horn of Plenty if you will (Craterellus cornucopioides) on the right, surrounding what a local vendor calls “chocolate boletes,” but despite his assurances I’m not eating them until I can put a real name on them, then bottom center, some Hedgehog Mushrooms, Dentinum repandum, which I’ve since dispatched in a sauté, followed leftward by a beefy bunch of Eastern Chanterellles, Cantharellus cibarius, and on the far left, one of several Green Russulas, Russula aeruginea, which I may or may not eat.
Oh, and in the muddle are two King Boletes (Boletus edulis,) the prize of the lot. Delicious anyway they’re done, though I’m leaning toward butter and garlic, perhaps over pasta.
Stay tuned.
Dinner With TCR! July 23, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: chicken-of-the-woods, stir-fry
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We ought to be full-on into the Hundred Yard Diet season, but with all this rain, it’s been slower than usual around here. In particular, my garden is languishing (should have planted rice 
) and very few of our local mushrooms have popped. Go figure – one might think the rain would be great for ’shrooms, but apparently they need more sun/heat than they’re getting.
Today’s bright spot was finding a nice little clump of Sulpher Shelf, Laetiporus sulphureus, on the way home and slicing it into a stir-fry of Chinese cabbage, red onion, red pepper and LOTS of fresh ginger, and serving it over Basmati rice:
I’ll be watching for more of these babys, ’cause…
…‘Twas Guuud!
Dinner With TCR! July 8, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.1 comment so far
Tonight, a “quicky” – Shrimp and Scallop Tostadas:
…with a roasted red pepper guacamole.
Enjoy!
Dinner With TCR! July 5, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: asparagus, chanterelles, chicken, ginger
4 comments
A couple of days ago I came acrosss a healthy stand of chanterelles and picked enough for a couple of meals. They were fat and clean and really nice:
…and found their way into my belly, thusly -
Ginger Chicken over Basmati rice, with local asparagus and localler (!) chanterelles:
Enjoy!
Dinner With TCR! May 25, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: avocados, cucumbers, salad, sprouts, sunflower seeds
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Tonight, a simple salad:
Built on sprouts and cucumbers, fortified with carots and avocados, garnished with black olives and sunflower seeds, dressed with an organic ranch.
‘Twas guuud!
May Bounty! May 20, 2009
Posted by littlebangtheory in Dinner with TCR.Tags: 100 yard diet, morels, stuffed rigatoni, white sauce
8 comments
In addition to the last of the fiddleheads and ramps, May brings us New Englanders our first fresh mushrooms.
And Boy, the opening act is gonna be hard to follow:
White morels. I’ve had good years with these, and years without any. So any is good, and many is amazing!
Here are a few which are doomed, DOOMED I say…
…to be sauteed in butter and white wine, then simmered in a garlic and cream sauce with a few drops of white truffle oil:
…and served over fresh ricotta-stuffed rigatoni:
with a modest organic side salad.
Spring is good to us Roadside Grazers!
