What I cooked this week, Episode 4

Apologies for the late post this week; we were busy getting our relaxation on this weekend at Lake Tahoe, and then spent spent Monday driving back to San Francisco in holiday weekend traffic, 100+ degree weather, with no air conditioning in the car. ANYWAY, without further ado...

Episode 4, June 28-July 4

Curry with chicken and English peas

I bought another young brown hen at the market, and more fresh peas--gotta take advantage of the fact that Andrew likes them! This dish is based on a Mark Bittman recipe for using up Thanksgiving leftovers that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Chicken salad with walnuts and cranberries

I used the rest of the chicken to make a portion of chicken salad for myself for lunch one day from this Smitten Kitchen recipe. It was okay; I think something got off when I reduced the yield. However, I've been enjoying the leftover cranberries and walnuts.

Pizza with eggplant, prosciutto, ricotta, and basil

Half a batch of pizza dough leftover from last week (I froze it), leftover farmers' market Japanese eggplant from last week's ratatouille. I roasted the slices of eggplant first, and I could have eaten them all. I now find myself encouraged to cook with eggplant more often (especially since Andrew seems to like it).

Butterscotch sauce

Another win from Ratio, I originally decided to make butterscotch because a) the recipe sounded simple and b) I had leftover cream to use up and also happened to have the called-for apple cider vinegar. In short: I think I've found what I'm making for Christmas presents this year. This sauce is simple to make, delicious, and it keeps. Only way to make it better--adding homemade chocolate sauce?

Bacon-wrapped cream cheese-filled jalapeño poppers

These, inspired by the Pioneer Woman, were my contribution to our Fourth of July smorgasbord (along with Hemingway Daiquiris). They served as a surprisingly fiery amuse bouche to the franken-ribs*, grilled corn on the cobb, and baked potatoes that we ate to celebrate our nation's independence. Some of the poppers were mild, and others had us drowning our faces in milk--good times, good times.

Not pictured: the most excellent scrambled eggs I made everyone for breakfast the morning prior. Seriously, I haven't been happy with scrambled eggs in ages, but it seems that my reading has paid off, and we ended up with delicious, fluffy, not-overcooked eggs. I didn't think to take a photo, sadly. (The secret is to stir them continuously and stop while they're still wet!)

Now, I'm going to go enjoy some some vanilla ice cream with butterscotch sauce. Mmmmm.

*They came vacuum-sealed, pre-sauced, and "microwave-ready." I don't think words "microwave-ready" should be applied to ribs, but maybe that's just me. (I did not buy them, in case that wasn't clear.)