picture heavy, food bragging kind of post here. skip if you hate food…AND AMERICA!!!
Sometimes I get on this foodie kick that really inspires me. Much of the time, these periods are set off by great food shopping trips - where the produce is spot on, the food looks extra delicious, and the sales are plentiful, and I just get inspired to go a little nuts. Though even at my nuttiest, (and don’t worry, I have fresh epi shots for that) I tend to keep things fresh and simple.
Friday night I finally got around to using up the carcasses from our WEEKEND O’ BEER BUTT CHICKEN-O-RAMA and made a giant pot of chicken stock. You know what? You can get a REALLY good stock from four chicken’s worth of bones.
That is some dark golden delicious stock there, let me tell you right now. I’ll probably freeze part of it, and the rest will be…not sure. Chicken tortilla soup? Anyone have a good recipe? Got plenty of chicken leftover still 
Tonight I felt like my foodie muscle weren’t FULLY flexed. Yesterday we made a huge Costco run, stocking up on a few meats and things, and today after Sunday knitting at Knitch, I popped over to everyone’s favorite International Farmer’s Market and LOADED UP on the very freshest fruit, veg, and herbs. Decided against the durian (heh) but did buy some smelt, which I’ve never had before yet I’m sure I will enjoy experimenting with (but that’s another post).
It felt like a good night for grilling. Well, a good night for KEVIN to grill He regrets the day he ever ordered that big, stand up george foreman grill, I tell ya (we have charcoal grills on the grounds, but most night’s it’s easier just to plug in the grill. We’re not purists.)
As a result, tonight for dinner we had:
pork tenderloin, marinated in lemon juice, garlic, fresh herbs, and olive oil
asparagus, tossed with italian dressing and grilled
fingerling potatoes, boiled and tossed with butter, salt, and fresh parsley
And as a grand finale…
the world’s ugliest blueberry pie!
I am not so great at making pretty pies. And as it’s still cooling, so I don’t know yet if it’s good or not. But how could it not be?
We are STUFFED from dinner, and I made enough of the pork and potatoes to make good lunches for the next day or so.
Also on the menu for this week - veal piccata, grilled rolled flank steak stuffed with chimichurri, SOUP of some kind, and crock pot pulled pork.
Mmmm…who’s coming over for dinner?
I’ll have a slice of ugly blueberry pie please. Oh, and an after dinner cocktail to go with it. Bailey’s perhaps???
That pie might look homemade but I would love a slice. All these photos etc have me itching to cook now :o)
heh. You used the words “durian” and “smelt” in the same sentence.
Heh.
Count me in! I’m all over that pulled pork. I love BBQ. Really? They had durian? Weird and why? If Andrew Zimmern can’t take it, I’m not sure who can unless you were lied to as a child, being told it was “delicious”.
ESC, I’ll be joining y’all for dinner every night this week
If I could get down there, you know I would be camped out at your house for food.
As it is, I think tonight’s dinner might be pizza. From the pizza place on the corner because I am lazy.
They actually had smelt?? WOW! It’s only available once a year, when it’s running thru Lake Michigan–my dad goes to dip coolerfuls, then freezes what’s left after a huge feed each year.
If you find a recipe for it that doesn’t tell you to take off the head, don’t freak out. You can if you want to but the traditional service of it does leave the head on, mostly just gutting it and then breading it and deep frying it–you know how small it is, so trying to bone it or filet it or do anything past washing it good, gutting and MAYBE removing the head will waste most of the meat.
Enjoy it–it’s kind of a local favorite around here with guys going down to dip smelt once it starts running and bringing home assloads of them. There’s even a restaurant in Eau Claire that has smelt as a regular menu item.
the smelt is already beheaded, actually. so I won’t have to worry about tiny little eyes staring at me while I pop them in the frying pan.
Hey - that’s the pie plate I bought you guys! Glad to know you use it and it wasn’t a weird and useless gift from a near stranger!
And don’t sweat the “ugly” pie. It’s pie - you get credit for baking no matter what it looks like (bonus if it tastes good!).
Blueberry pie ain’t for lookin’ at, ’specially when it’s chewed up in m’mouth. mmmmmmm
That blueberry pie looks DELICIOUS to me! Can I come to your house for dinner?