I Cooked This, NBD

My parents visited recently and brought me my favorite smoked salmon from Pike Place market. It’s hot smoked and very oily and so delicious and like nothing you can find in New York. I made a couple variations on this sandwich but this is the only one I remembered to photograph.

I scooped out some ciabatta and put it in the oven. I scooped out the bread less to cut calories and more just so that everything would fit in the sandwich. While that was warming up, I lightly sauteed some zucchini with garlic, sliced an avocado, and sliced a tomato. I used a mandolin on the zucchini, to slice it paper thin, so that it would soak up the olive oil and garlic flavor nicely.

Once the bread was warm, I took it out and spread herbed chevre on the bottom, and stacked the warm zucchini and garlic on top. I then poured a little balsamic vinegar on top of that, then added broken up pieces of the salmon on top. The next layer was avocado, followed by tomato, and finally the top piece of bread with a little more balsamic vinegar added. 

One of the best sandwiches I think I have ever made.

Frittata with green spring garlic, romano cheese, and oyster mushrooms.

Made this about three weeks ago. It was an idea to kind of combine the idea of fried rice and quinoa salad. I cooked up some quinoa, then in a friying pan, cooked an egg and some garlic scapes, then sauteed the quinoa like fried rice (adding some fish sauce for flavor). Once that was cooked, I added sliced cherry tomatoes and blanched asparagus. I did another variation on this later where I added avocado. 

Sounds weird but worked out well.

Chicken tacos. An attempt at making ‘tinga de pollo’ at home.

I used some left over chicken thighs, chopped up the meat, and cooked them in a pan with a can of the La Morena brand chipotle chiles in adobo and some onions. Then I put some avocado on the top. I used WAY too much onion in this (I didn’t realize how little meat I had), but it seems to be the start of something good.

Ate these soft scrambled eggs with toasted ciabatta and an arugula salad for home made brunch today.

This is one of my favorite ways to make eggs. Chop up some garlic, put 2-3 tablespoons olive oil in a cast iron (maybe a pat of butter if you like), and put the stove on super low, the lowest flame you can maintain. In a separate bowl beat 2 or 3 eggs alongside about a tablespoon of tomato paste. When the garlic is sizzling a little and seems cooked, pour in the egg mixture and stir stir stir on in the pan on the low eat. Stir until everything has solidified. You end up with what is more like a lumpy custard than scrambled eggs, and it is perfect for scooping up and eating on top of bread.

I feel like this is some sort of Midwestern staple with fancy organic ingredients.

I really like to take chicken thighs, sear each side until crispy and season them with Johnny’s Season salt (you don’t need to use any oil, chicken thighs are fatty and will confit themselves). Get the pan really hot and place skin side down for like 5-10 minutes, and then flip. Finish it off in the oven at around 300 degrees for another 5-10 minutes. It’s a great cheap meal because chicken thighs are so inexpensive, even if you go for the organic fancy stuff brands like Free Bird still have packages of thighs available for under 5 bucks.

I ate it with an arugula salad with tomato and green onion with ranch dressing.

Large clams steamed in a white wine butter sauce with garlic scapes, butter, onion, ramps, and broccoli rabe. Ate them out of the pot like this with ciabatta. Cooked this on Friday May 4th.

Brown rice, you choi and scapes sauteed in fish sauce, dried shrimps, and chili oil, and a chicken sausage with spinash and feta. Easy dinner I made sometime last week.

Breakfast for dinner. I made an omelet that fell apart… inside is percorino romano, this amazing ricotta called Salvatore ricotta, ramps, and garlic scapes. I made a potato hash with zaatar spice, red pepper flake, and the also some ramps.