Kumquats purée with a hint of harrisa

"Mommy, her sweet pea, and baby carrot."

Mothers day inspired this light seasonal dish. Travis asked me to come up with something cheesy, so the title was my answer. The salad was quinoa, edamame, peas, ramps, radichio, pea tendrils and mint with a lemon vinegrette; Salmon or tenderloin with a horseradish cream.

Chicken gallentine

I always wanted to tunnel bone a chicken, but never had a reason to. I guess I just did it because. I also ended up using my meat grinder for the first time in order to make the moouse. Inside the bird I added duck hearts braised in a sofrito, pistachios and blanched arugala. Poached the whole thing in chicken stock for about two hours. It came out pretty nice. Oh yeah and I bribed the whole deboned bird overnight in a basic brine with tarragon and peppercorns. I forgot to season the inside so but the brining was seasoning enough thankfully.

Freezer box throwdown

So last night i whipped up an impromptu dinner using all the scraps from my freezer and fridge. Vaguely based on mario batali's chicken cacciatore recipie. I rendered the cobb smoked vt bavon i frooze back in febuary then chicken i had saved from a stock i had made last month. I pulled both those guys out of the pan and started on the sauce half an old onion, wilty celery, a little portabello. Then some yellow squash & some garlic. Hit that all with a little white wine going stale in the fridge. Reduced that. Added a cube of froozen reduced chix stock, super concentrated and delicious. I made this a week ago and was excited to add to the mix. I had leftover tomato paste i would have otherwise just tossed. Also there was the very bottom, meaning not enough to use and not enough to toss, newman's soclarooni, so I added a little water and tossed that in. Finished some rotini lying around i the cupboard. Tossed it all together with some fresh basil and parsley. And voila dinner from nothing.

Falafal salad

It's been a while since I've made falafal from scratch. On a trip to israel i brougt back a postcard with a recipie that never failed. I since have lost that postcard and can never seem to find the right amount of binder to keep them from just desintegrating in the oil. These falafal came out fine once I made a second addition of flour. Though they did end up a little bready. Well, yet another recipie I'll need to tweek until I'm completly satisfied.

Quality Meats

This was a nice treat. Stopped by quality meats on the way to the knife store. I had this delicious Prosciutto Catto Muffaletta. it was eggselent. soft boiled egg, brussle sprouts, olives and other tasty morsels. Emily got a kale and quince paste open-face sandwich, which I found a little too sweet but good, and a blood orange aranciata.

Big star

An extra side of tortillas and vegetables en escabeche. That what it's all about.