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Archive for the ‘oitg’ Category
Monday, September 17th, 2012
I’ve been remiss in my updates. Truth is, the novelty of campsite-cooking in my garage has worn off. I’m still hanging in there. The kitchen is really coming together. But I’m so ready for it to be done!!!
 Getting close! The cabinets and counters are all in. Sinks, back splashes, window sills, tile back splashes, all in…crown molding is going in today. It’s just taking weeks longer than we planned. Yes, I know, remodels always do but this is MY KITCHEN!!
So, a few things that have come out of the garage in the last few weeks:
 Acme pain epi, gravlax, cuke and tomato  Mis en place for chicken basil chow mein.  El Salchichero smoked prosciutto and canteloupe (from my dad). A touch of black pepper.  Fish Soup
( Basic soup recipe here)
 Cucumber soda, gin and lime This drink helps me cope with the stress of the kitchen ;-)
 Cod Cakes: Poaching cod in white wine and garlic.  Cod Cakes: Frying up in olive oil  Cod Cakes served atop Caesar Salad The cod cakes were similar to this recipe minus the potatoes. I used eggs as a binder and I think they worked better. They definitely kept their shape better than the potato-butter-based ones.
 Broiled proscuitto-wrapped figs One day in the very near future I will be posting pictures of my completed kitchen. Soon….SOON!!! ARGHHH!!!!
Posted in amateur, dinner, fish soup, food, oitg, photos, recipe, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Tuesday, August 7th, 2012
My dad brought me tomatoes. He seriously grows the sweetest tomatoes I have ever had. When summer starts I begin dreaming of the tomatoes and waiting for them to ripen. I remember how sweet they are and then I get one and I taste it and it’s even sweeter. It’s like my brain can’t contain the awesomeness of these tomatoes from year to year.
He also brought Armenian cucumbers and basil. GAZPACHO TIME!
All I put in gazpacho when it’s with these amazing tomatoes is a couple of garlic cloves, a ton of basil and salt. I used the blender for this one since it’s so juicy. I garnished with a drizzle of chili oil and cucumbers and this time a borage flower because our plant is blooming and they look so pretty!
Then I made inside-out gazpacho. It’s a modified white gazpacho but I didn’t have any bread that would work in it so I just used about 2 cups of almonds, 4 or 5 cucumbers, a handful of parsley and more basil, garlic, a bit of water to thin it out and a dash of cayenne. I used the food processor for this since there was very little liquid. My blender just whirrrrrrrs and does nothing without lots of liquid. It turned out more like dip than soup. The texture was a bit grainy from the almonds (I only had whole almonds…also from my dad!…No blanched or sliced ones). But the flavor was nice. I topped it with tomatoes for color and served with crostini since it was dip-like anyway!
I’m getting paint in my kitchen today. Soon there will be cabinets.
Posted in amateur, dinner, flavor, food, gardening, gazpacho, oitg, organic, photos, recipe, salt, santa cruz, seasonal menu, self pleasuring, tomatoes | No Comments »
Monday, August 6th, 2012
Making food in the garage actually hasn’t been that difficult. I can’t make anything that has to simmer for a long period of time (I’ll run out of propane) or go into an oven larger than the toaster oven, but other than that, it’s been working.
I made one of our favorites with my CSA Salmon:
And another night made a quick appetizer of grilled padrons with olive oil and Bali Kechil salt.
I’m still making frittata just about every Sunday with the weeks CSA goodies. Sometimes greens and pancetta, sometimes squash and basil, sometimes all of the above!
There are nights that I just keep it simple and BBQ. Sometimes steak and onions:
Sometimes chicken marinated in red wine, mustard, onions and rosemary:
One day I got ground pork from my CSA and some nice white fish from my CSS and thought I was making fish soup with pork. Turns out it was pork soup with fish and MAN, was it GOOD! My son would have had the whole pot if we let him but we wouldn’t give ours up!
The hardest part is getting the food from the garage through the sliding door, through our bedroom, down the hall and to the dining room table, then the drinks, silverware, and us before it gets cold! It’ll be nice when we have our kitchen door back.
Posted in amateur, beef, chicken, dinner, fish soup, flavor, food, frittata, oitg, organic, photos, pork, Salmon, santa cruz, seasonal menu, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 18th, 2012
I came home one afternoon to a 15 pound whole salmon in my fridge. It wasn’t entirely a surprise or anything. A friend’s dad is a commercial fisherman and he said he’d get me a fish. I don’t think I fully comprehended how big this fish would be but it was amazing. I’d never butchered a fish that huge before. It was gutted of course but I cleared off my whole butcher block and started slicing away. It’s hard to tell the scale of the fish in this picture. This is a huge industrial-sized sink:
 15lb salmon I broke the fish down into a few parts. I put the head and tail into the freezer to make fish stock later when I have a real stove again. I took one gorgeous fillet and grilled it for us and some friends:
 ~4lbs of salmon ready to grill  Grilling salmon and summer squash I took another gorgeous fillet and made gravlax. I took 2 cups salt, 2 cups sugar and a drizzle of vodka and homemade limoncello. Packed all that together, weighted it down and left it in the fridge for 4 days. I flipped the fillets after 2 days (and drained the liquid).
 Making gravlax I haven’t made gravlax in years but I’m pretty sure these are the best ones I’ve ever made. The fish was just so amazingly fatty!
 Carving the gravlax  Amazing gravlax It’s not salmon every night around here though. We were heading to a potluck at our neighbors so I threw together a simple salad from my CSA box: Assorted lettuces, kohlrabi, cucumber:
 CSA Salad Another night I made green curry ceviche but modified it for what I had in my fridge. I substituted basil for cilantro and left out the lemongrass and avocado. It was still so good!
 Making green curry ceviche And since most of our meals are made on the grill these days, it was time for burgers. I don’t grind my burger meat, I pulse it in the food processor about 15 times. It makes for a much more pleasant, less mealy texture. And serving the burgers on brioche buns can’t hurt!
 Burgers! I have been using my cast iron skillet on the grill all the time now since it’s the perfect substitute for a cast iron pan on the stove. I grilled the onions and bacon on that and the burgers on the main grill part.
 Burgers, grilled onions, bacon The adventures continue! I’ve only used my microwave once (for leftovers) and I’ve been without a kitchen for a month! Things are going well!
Posted in amateur, dinner, food, oitg, photos, Salmon | No Comments »
Saturday, June 30th, 2012
Everyone’s reaction to me telling them I’m remodeling my kitchen is first, “FINALLY!” and second, “Where are you cooking? When we remodeled our kitchen it was a lot of microwaving.”
No way! Not for me!
Pasta and broccolini boiled on my camp stove…garlic sauteed and pine nuts browned on the other burner. Topped with fresh CSA basil and a dash of chili flakes I made with last year’s crop:
 Pasta with broccolini, pine nuts, garlic, basil and chili flakes Locally caught sand dabs cooked in foil on the grill with CSA garlic, garden parsley and marjoram and olive oil. Served with grilled CSA leeks and grilled CSA lettuce (romaine-like but not actually romaine) topped with caesar dressing:
 Sanddabs with garlic, parsley, marjoram, grilled leeks and grilled lettuce with caesar dressing I think I’ve used my microwave twice and that was for warming up leftovers for lunch. No kitchen does not mean no Food Porn!!
Posted in amateur, dinner, flavor, leeks, oitg, organic, pasta, photos, santa cruz, self pleasuring | No Comments »
Monday, June 25th, 2012
Things have been quiet around the site for a few reasons. One is that my son is out of school for the summer so I don’t get a lot of contiguous time in front of the computer without the constant, “Mommmm! What can I do??!!” ringing through the house.
The other major reason is this is the state of my kitchen at the moment:
I set up a makeshift kitchen in my garage. I have my grandfather’s butcher block which I’ve designed into the layout of the new kitchen but for now it’s being stored and used as my prep area. I have my 2-burner Coleman propane camp stove which really does kinda kick butt as far as heat output. I have my appliances, my toaster oven, even a functioning dishwasher and my BBQ. So it’s really been working out quite well.
I’ve been posting pictures of my #outstandinginthegarage meals on twitter but just haven’t had the time to post here.
One thing I rediscovered when packing up my pantry was the jar of preserved lemons I made and never opened. I now know my favorite way to eat zucchini: grilled and topped with parsley and preserved lemon.
My first garage meal was grilled ribeye, grilled zucchini w/ parsley and preserved lemon and a salad:
The I got a little more creative and made Petrale Sole en papillote, quinoa salad, grilled fennel and onion.
And then I went back to the summer barbecue theme with Chili beer sausage, potatoes and zucchini.
All in all it hasn’t been as hard as I thought it would be but it’s only been a week and we have 7 more weeks to go!!
Posted in oitg | No Comments »
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