This was the first time making this recipe so I sort of followed the ingredients but also used comments made by others and my knowledge of what our family likes. It is a NYTimes Cooking recipe that you can find here –
Here are some changes I made. Since we do not like sweet things I cut the sugar to 2 teaspoons. I also added cilantro along with the basil and mint and shredded carrots for some crunch. Peanuts were a good addition on top.
I also want to thank Sarah for getting the basil and mint from the community garden.
I forgot to take a picture so this is what AI thinks my dinner would look.
Ha ha, this is what artificial intelligence thinks my dinner would look like. I guess we must be sitting outside at a picnic table after having grilled our ribs. Unfortunately it was 100F and we stayed inside and heated up some pre-made ribs that we had bought at the grocery store. We also made the corn in the microwave. It was a very nice dinner but not nearly as idyllic as the picture suggests.
While many people are sighing in relief that the summer is over around Labor Day here in Northern California, if you are not close to the ocean, August and September are the two hottest months. From what I read it’s due to seasonal lag when the Pacific Ocean reaches its peak temperatures causing the marine layer to dissipate and ocean breezes to subdue. This also allows for dry, off-shore winds to develop such as the Santa Ana winds and wildfire season to be at its worst. Therefore we are trying to keep the house cool by having gazpacho.
This is my quick and easy version of gazpacho. Serves 2 to 4 depending on the bowl size.
Into a blender add-
1 14 oz. can diced or crushed tomatoes
1 can original Rotel
half of a peeled cucumber with seeds removed and cut in chunks
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
Start on mix and work your way up to purée. Taste. Add more salt if needed. If it is too thick add a little water. If it’s not spicy enough add hot sauce. If you have actual tomatoes you can add a couple to the puree-ing step. Chopping up some additional cucumber and green onions and halving a few cherry tomatoes to put on top will make it look fancy. It will have some texture but that’s the way we like it. Refrigerate it for an hour or two.
Due to our mixed up week Sarah’s contribution dinner was moved to Friday. She got up early to bake this gratin so the oven would have minimal effect in heating up the house. This is a recipe she got from the website Smitten Kitchen. You can view it here-
At dinner we each took a block of the gratin and heated it up in the microwave. To be frank the dish was a bit bland. You can see in my picture that I added sriracha to my piece. It also needed more salt than the recipe called for. But all in all with a bright salad accompanying it the dinner was quite good.
John is a bit swollen and bruised from his procedure yesterday so we go with our easy comfort food classic, sliced chicken breast in gravy, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. It is easy to make and clean up and very comforting.
Sometimes things do not go quite as I expect. It has gotten hot again and no one wants the oven on to cook chicken enchiladas. We buy enough Chinese take-out for tonight and tomorrow when John is having his eye surgery. I just have to reheat them. This is definitely in my skill set. We order two of our favorites mu shu pork and Mongolian beef.
In the past we have tried making a Mediterranean fish stew following a recipe by Rick Stein. It was very fussy with an array of seafood that cooked at different times and loads of vegetables which needed chopping. It included fennel and Pernod and came out tasting very licorice-y which is not a favorite flavor of mine. I see by looking back through my blog that after several attempts we gave up making it in 2021. When I saw this Greek fisherman’s stew on the NYTimes Cooking site it seemed much easier and I thought I would give it a try.
I have changed up the recipe a bit to cater to our tastes and am posting it below. I took some advice from the comments made on the Times website. I think using clam juice or fish stock imparts more flavor to the stew. Also make sure your potatoes are cooked before putting your fish in. The fish cooks very quickly and cannot wait for the potatoes to be done. BTW, I used humble tilapia and it turned out really good.
Now that my friend has gone home it is time to get back to my usual posting of a menu and following through with it. John is having a surgical procedure on Wednesday so our cooking options will be limited with no grilling and no complicated meats.
Another great dinner while my dear friend is visiting. This one is so easy! John seasoned the strip steaks and cooked them to perfection on our gas grill. He also put some grill marks on the baked potatoes. I steamed up the broccoli and added some butter.
To top everything off we opened a bottle of 1998 Chateau St Jean Cabernet Sauvignon. It was delicious and made the whole dinner special.
Omnivore 