Colcannon with kale is a comfort food of mine, and I don’t have a drop of Irish in me!
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Happy Independence Day!
Potato salad made. Pork shoulder on the gas grill with applewood in the smoker box.
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We never had it much. My grandfather says it reminds him of eating bubble and squeak 5 days a week during the war.
But my cousins over there are all about it. My one Aunt makes it with spinach, scallions and more butter than potatoes.
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I have been sooo into grilled corn this season, good local stuff is finally in here.
I got a giant thing of cotija cheese and a fresh jar of taijin. Exploring the relative merits of mayo vs crema vs butter.
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Tajín seasoning?
(When I googled “taijin” I got Taijin kyofusho, a Japanese culture-specific syndrome, the disorder of fear of interpersonal relations!)
Tajín looks tasty! 
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Potato salad, using potatoes, parsley and onions from the garden. And a heap of ribs slow-cooked over the fire for 4+ hours. Happy 4th everyone!
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Yeah spelling is not my friend.
Tajin is “fruit spice”. Chili, dehydrated lime and salt. Street vendors when i lived in Brooklyn used to put it on elotes, cucumber or mango for like a buck. Makes corn delish.
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I just squeezed a pitcher’s worth of limes (and a grapefruit or two) for party margaritas - great minds! Excited to pour them out in a few hours.
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Ha! Almost the same menu:
Slow-cooked ribs in tomato & mustard sauce, sweet corn with olive oil, salt, and pepper, baby potatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and salad.
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Looking very similar to the dinner I had (as a guest; I was not responsible for any of the dishes): various sausages (meat & vegetarian), roasted potatoes, roasted corn, roasted red peppers, salad with avocado, tomato, and mixed greens, and also caprese salad with cherry tomatoes and mini mozza balls.
It’s not actually the best corn yet, here in the Midwest, but roasted is always fine.
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Ah yes, I love grapefruit and tequila!
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Braised chicken thighs in white wine and chicken stock with fresh thyme and tarragon and chickpeas, then cooked some asparagus and peas in the broth as I crisped up the skin under the broiler. Garnished with melted leeks. Solid enough to feel like dinner, not stodgy enough to induce lethargy afterwards.
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When I shared the Stroganoff recipe with my work colleagues, one of the first questions I got was from someone who asked about cooking with stew beef, because every time they did, it got tough.
And it made me curse the asshole marketer who decided to label “Stew/Stir-fry” for the same cut, because they are in fact opposites.
For something hot and fast (like stir-fry), you want a tender cut, because the fibres are going to shrink. Stew, on the other hand needs a tough cut, because anything tender will disintegrate. Stewing is a technique that is designed for tough cuts (I use stew for my Stroganoff, because an hour or two in an InstantPot on high pressure will soften up anything).
Unless you are vegetarian/vegan (at which point it’s kind of moot), I recommend getting hold of a good reference on meat-cutting. Even if you only use it to cut through supermarket marketing laziness, it helps. I got lucky, I grew up on home-butchered meat, and put time in getting to know stuff (and even then, my father who never cooked a stir-fry in his life would label it as stew/stir-fry and I spent years wondering why it was legit terrible) about different cuts and what cooking techniques work best for what. Because even when you can’t afford prime cuts, you’ll know how to make the best of the cheap ones.
Oh, and never, ever rare-cook mechanically tenderized cuts from any store. Just… don’t. That is not the kind of Russian Roulette you want to play.
ETA: I thought of this, because tonight’s dinner is beef barley with spinach, to which I may (or may not) add peanut. If you are not allergic, but that sounds weird, do yourself a favour and look up groundnut stew. It is, in fact, delicious.
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Got these cute little globe zucchini from the farmers market, so I cut the tops off, scooped out the insides and made a filling with chopped red onion, ricotta, mozzarella, fresh thyme and the chopped up innards, then filled and roasted them for about 15 minutes. Most of the time I add a grain to the filling for stuffed veg, but I saw a recipe for the cheesy style and wanted to try it. A success! If using long, skinny squash cut it open lengthwise.
After dinner it was a double batch of vanilla custard for ice cream.
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This, so much this…
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Grilled games hens with a Moroccan spice paste under the skin, made maftoul with saffron, almonds and golden raisins and sautéed a yellow squash with some diced red pepper. A moderately beige plate but still tasty.
Churned two batches of ice cream-vanilla and tin roof variation #1-vanilla with fudge ripple and chocolate covered walnuts instead of peanuts.
Baked a loaf of oatmeal honey bread. Next time less honey and a bit more salt.
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