So...came home & had to check the Abby news. None so far - hoping this time no news really is good news, I will now carry on with today's intended post. A few days back, I'd posted about my basil being off to a good start. A HAPPY post! Baydog chimed in with an even happier comment:
Pureed with olive oil and drizzled on everything in the universe. Freakin right, Yaaaaaaaaaay!...how about this: Seared Atlantic City Sea Scallops on Jersey sweet corn and tomato relish, drizzled with sweet basil oil and snipped chives.
Drink of your choice.
Oh, YUM. I'm not sure I realized quite how much of a foodie Baydog is, but between that & a couple of other posts he's done in the last week, this one f'rinstance, I now have no doubts!
Now, right around the same time, Carol Anne had posted a favorite simple recipe of her own, Beer Can Chicken. Never heard of it but it sounds fabulous.
And then she noticed what a lot of culinarily-themed posts were going on & what a lot of discussion they were generating & came up with a great challenge: Your Stop On the Waterblogger's Food Tour. The basic idea is that all your waterblogger friends have come to your club, and you've had them all out on a great day on the water on whatever form of boat you fancy (and I think that I could make most people happy if I press some other people's boats into service along with the club boats - we've got Sunfish, Lasers, kayaks, surfskis, a couple of larger sailing dinghies, a couple of Triaks, canoes, I think there's even a tragically neglected windsurfer we could pull out for the Peconic Puffin) and when you get back, you have to feed them!
So it has to be tasty, but it also has to be simple & something you can prepare easily, at or near wherever you are.
At first I was joking that I was just gonna have L&L cater the thing. Spam musubi, laulau, kalua pig with cabbage, kal bi, teri chicken & haupia for all!
But I think I'll cut my order with them down to just a plate of spam musubi.
Because I would DEFINITELY want to share some of my club-grown produce, too, and I've got a nice midsummer menu that would feature a nice range of the stuff I like to show off here in the "Urban Gardening" section of Frogma. It's all yummy stuff I've made myself. I would have to make some of it in my kitchen at home, but the stuff that has to be prepared is pretty simple & the best part is that that stuff, I can make a day or two in advance. It can all be waiting in the 'fridge at the club, all that has to happen is maybe heating the main dish (and if it's hot, that's actually optional - it would even be fine just left out long enough to take the chill off).
Sides first. Along with the spam musubi, there'll be tzatziki with pitas. Hummus too, just cause it's easy, but the tzatziki will be homemade with homegrown cukes. Cucumber salad, too.Heirloom tomatoes
and...muahahahaaaa...you-know-what!
will be paired with fresh mozzarella & olive oil in a nice caprese salad.
The basil will be a featured player again in the main dish - this time in the form of pesto,
and teamed up with my pretty Northern Lights Swiss chard.
I don't think I ever posted about this but I came up with a really good dish that combined the two for the first time last year. It was on a day when I'd been out to the club, gone for a paddle & then picked some chard & onions to have as part of dinner.
I had a turkey kielbasa in the fridge & also pesto in the freezer (once the basil gets going there's almost always pesto in the freezer). I was initially picturing a nice dinner of kielbasa, with a side of sauteed chard & another of pasta with pesto. But that all just seemed too complicated after a long hot day so I decided to just do it all in one big pot. I got the pasta going in a medium saucepan. In my big stewpot, first I sauteed the kielbasa. Then I added some olive oil & threw in the chard, the onions & some minced garlic. Sauteed that until the chard was just done. Drained the pasta, added that & the pesto & continued to sautee until the pasta was all flavored up too. Dished up a bowl & was frankly amazed at how good it was - the various flavors worked together much better than I had expected them to!
And it ended up working really well in the wintertime with the chard & pesto I'd frozen at the end of the summer. So much fun having my own homegrown produce in the middle of January!
So that's what I'm feeding you folks at this party. Can either warm it up in a crockpot or, as I said, if it's too hot for hot food, the stuff isn't bad without being heated up.
What's to drink?
Well, what else but a nice selection from the Brooklyn Brewery? One of the original founders is a club member - I'd never dream of serving anyone else's beer!
Anybody still hungry for dessert? There'll be a choice - watermelon, because all summer picnics need watermelon, or (drumroll please) -
Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pie! And don't worry, they do come bigger than this!
So, who's coming? :D
12 comments:
Ahh, sounds yummy. Fresh produce is a great treasure. Microbrew beer, too -- now we're talking.
I was totally kidding about whussing out & having it catered.
Had to have the musubi, though. Can't have a blogger feast without a little spam, right?
Now how is it that you make even vegetables look good.
"That's what I like about vegetables,
Because with vegetables you know what you're about" (Fantasticks)
Me. That's who's coming. I love Kielbasa and everything else you mentioned. And how nice to refer to my earlier comment and post. I love most everything. Food in general makes me happy. I'm really not picky and very easy to make happy! Let's eat. And pass that roll of paper towels, please.
Shoot, I knew this was right up Bonnie's alley.
When are you heading off to the Islands?
That first pic of tomatoes, cucumbers and herbs is a classic Azerbaijan dish. Had it pretty much every meal when there.
Just thought you'd like to know :)
....must get to work on blog group project
Joe, a little under 6 weeks. Can't wait!
JP, we can have that too! Sounds good. I have herbs other than basil, too - I've got sage, rosemary & thyme & there's a big patch of oregano we all use in one of the decorative beds.
I went locovore today. Not totally, but soup with chives from the garden, hot pepper from the kitchen window, oregano and dandelion greens growing in the lawn.
your makin me hungry!!!!
Is all that stuff growing in your garden? How can you have so much produce ready already? It feels like the growing season has only just started.
Not yet, these are all pictures from the last 2 seasons! I should have mentioned that I can't do this until sometime in July at the very earliest. Only thing I've harvested so far was lamb's-quarters - had a bumper crop of that stuff!
Frogma!!! this is AMAZING!!!
if you can bring your harvest, the pie & the beer over by kayak, you will be the first to go in the books for shipping foodstuffs by water, again! just like in the old days!!! and just like in the new days to come!
(I did not believe you, about the spam sushi, but voila, there it is...! yike!)
Post a Comment