fried green tomatoes (and other southern specialities)

last we left our brave (and hungry) heroine, she was eating:

tuesday 9/9: grilled pork chops with whipped maple and thyme glaze; smoked cheddar orzo with chives; and broccoli. we picked up the whipped maple from a local maple farmer and the family farm weekend at the zoo, the previous weekend. the chives were from our garden, and the broccoli from the csa. oh, and did i mention the pork was local (from the outpost)?

wednesday 9/10: smoked pork ribs (again, local) with onion mop; corn, with plenty of butter; collard greens with bacon; biscuits. i slathered my ribs with sauce, since i like a saucy rib. it was so good i would have told myself to shut up, but my mouth was full of pork.

thursday 9/11 was csa day. bryan picked up our bounty, which included more tomatoes (which is fine until our estimated 975 tomatoes ripen), eggplant, lettuce, basil (which we really don't need, considering the 18 foot basil tree in our garden), beets (so many beets!), cauliflower, lettuce, swiss chard, garlic, and radishes (which are just calling out to be lightly warmed in butter).


friday 9/12: bryan picked some unripe and thus green tomatoes from our garden, dredged them in cornmeal and breadcrumbs, and fried them up. he also made cornmeal fried chicken, and linguine with basil pesto. he didn't hear me complaining. the fried green tomatoes were a new one for me, and were pretty tasty. i can see how they would be great with a pan gravy. or remoulade (and why not shrimp?). or in a toasted cheese and bacon sandwich. or in a salad with tender baby greens, toasted pecans, and a soft cheese (take that, alice waters). let's just say i see a few fried green tomatoes in my future.


and our pièce de résistance: last night's meal. grilled lamb chops (local), with a garlic and herb marinade, which doubled as the sauce. bryan also made a traditional greek tomato and cucumber salad, with feta, onions, and a red wine vinegar dressing. he made a chickpea rice, which may seem like an unnecessary amount of grains, but let me tell you, it's not. omfg. best. lamb. ever. the lamb was from the outpost and thus local. it was SO tender, and tasted nothing like what i have always thought lamb tastes like. i hate to admit it, but i think i love lamb. i just wanted to nibble it's tiny little bones clean. the marinade/sauce double agent was made of greek oregano (from our garden), mint, dill (also from our garden), garlic, spinach (the recipe called for watercress, which we weren't able to find), parsley, lemon, red wine vinegar, and, of course, olive oil. bryan used tomatoes from our csa bounty, as well as the black uglies from our garden, as a base for the salad. he included cucumber, onions, and i made sure to add plenty of feta cheese. the chickpea rice was moist and flavorful, with cassia, hot paprika (the recipe called for aleppo pepper), marjoram (the recipe called for bay, which we oddly didn't have); salt, stock, and plenty of onion. i can see how a little more time in the oven would create a lovely crust, the kind you pick off the pan at the table, even when you're full. oh, and warm pita bread, did i mention? perfect for making sure none of the sauce escaped. for dessert, i made a cornmeal cake, which we topped with quenelles of greek yogurt, mini kiwis, and drizzled with a raw, local honey. we win! i think next time i would add vanilla and cognac to the yogurt. just sayin'.

the mini kiwis were a great find. at the outpost yesterday morning, i noticed them but had no idea what they were - they looked like little, soft, sort of oblong green cherries. the produce hippie guy saw me pondering over them, and came running out, insisting that i try one right then and there. to my happy surprise, they were sweet little kiwis! they are not fuzzy like your normal kiwi, but have thin green skins you can eat. to our even greater delight, they are grown locally by a guy in mukwonago, wi (about 20 minutes from here). he has a very small farm, and the store gets maybe 60 pints in a year. we decided right then and there that they would made a perfect dessert, with greek yogurt and honey. i had wanted to make a ravani (greek semolina cake) to go with it, but forgot to pick up semolina, and hence the cornmeal cake. nobody was mad. ;)

and here ends my culinary tales (but not my culinary day dreams... we have so much rice left over, and i had noticed the other day just how many grape leaves dad has on the vine... and did you know that rice goes very well in a grape leaf? which i think sounds wonderful with the whole trout we have, perhaps grilled...).

friday, i worked from home, since i was feeling pretty lousy. half the people here at work are sick as well, so i figured i'd be better off resting at home. oliver still toddled off to day care, though, so i could get stuff done. his allergies/sinuses have been pretty bad off as well, and he seems to be teething.

the rest of the weekend was fairly normal. it was rainy all weekend, so we were stuck indoors. i think we watched the mechanics episode of blues clues ummmm 18 times. saturday morning we generally hung around the house. oliver was being a total ham and he and i were having fun playing hide and seek and "tickle me mommy!". he's started giving this super cheesy grin, where he shows all his teeth and squints his eyes closed. the picture does not do it justice.

he did manage to do pretty good with his naps, teething, stuffy nose, and all. which was good, because we had maggie's wedding saturday afternoon! mom came over and worked on school work while he napped, and bryan and i attended the ceremony (and forgot our camera, ack!). it was *beautiful*. maggie looked absolutely gorgeous. her colors were pink and orange, very festive. enrique, the groom, is mexican, so the programs were printed in both english and spanish, one reading was in english and the other in spanish, and the music was provided by an acoustic trio who sang in spanish. the music was amazing; bryan wants to hire them for his next birthday party so we can do a fieta authentica. after the ceremony, we zipped home to find oliver still napping, wonder of wonders. once he awoke, we all headed to the reception (and forgot our camera AGAIN, grr), held at the rotary building on the fox river. oliver charmed everyone he could, of course. the meal was catered by maggie & enrique's favorite mexican restuarant, casa del rio. mexican = bryan's favorite food, so he was trilled. we ate a *ton* - even oliver. we were home shortly after 7, boring married people with a kid that we are. it was a great time.

sunday, we did our outpost run, and bryan did some work around the kitchen, including prep'ing for that fab lamb dinner. ihad been hoping to start canning, but as the tomatoes are not ready and i wasn't about to attempt to do all the beets we have in 2 hours, i held off. oliver's godfather chris was in town, so he and his girl charity came over for dinner. oliver flirted mightily with charity, and was enthralled with chris' beard. i think that oliver very much enjoyed having someone else other than mom and dad to play with.

oliver's sleeping has been off, what with being sick and this teething business. i am very much looking forward to him feeling better, and me feeling better as well. fall seems to have arrived, and i really want to enjoy this gorgeous weather before we're knee deep in snow (evil, evil, evil). sigh.

WFD: pasta with chorizo and chipotle pesto cream sauce. and maybe something green, like swiss chard. that would work. and beer. doesn't beer sound good? ahh, if only i could quit my job and do FOOD all the time...