What I cooked this week, the Prequel

In the interest of posting more fun food photos, here are the cooked-at-home meals we have had (not counting my work-week lunches) since moving in:

Episode i, May 15-June 7

Bresola and pecorino

Bresola dressed with California olive oil and lemon juice, with tomato paste-rubbed pecorino and cibatta toasts, from Say Cheese. Okay, so this one didn't really involve any cooking, just dressing the meat and cutting the cheese. But it was delicious, and we're ecstatic to have such an awesome cheese'n'meat place nearby.

Roast poussin with root veggies

Young brown hen, yukon gold and red potatoes, and carrots all from Divisadero farmers' market.

Step 1: toss cut veggies with olive oil, herbs, minced garlic, and a little honey.

Step 2: slather bird with honey-herb butter and stuff it with a lemon.

Step 3: brown the bird in French oven.

Step 4: throw veggies in the pot, put the lid on and put the whole thing in the oven till it's done.

The chicken came from an egg vendor, who warned that it would need a lot of moisture and wouldn't have a ton of meat. Cooking it with the lid on worked perfectly, and it was just enough meat for the two of us.

Oven-baked omelet

Niman ranch bacon; potatoes from Divisadero farmers' market; homemade goat cheese; onion. This was part of my "I will cook EVERY DISH in my La Creuset French oven!' phase (which is not entirely over, and for good reason). The goat cheese which I made the day before got kind of lost; oh well. I loved that I cooked brown the bacon and the veggies, pour over the egg, and then just stick it in the oven to finish. Hooray for lazy weekend brunches.

Brussels sprouts sautéed with bacon

Brussels sprouts from Divisadero farmers' market; Niman Ranch bacon. A little overcooked, but still delicious.

Braised artichokes and steak

Artichokes were tasty and delicious. Steak was slightly overcooked; I have yet to cook a steak really well, which sad now that I'm finally appreciating great steak. Halp?

Banana bread

We had four, sad, bruised-looking bananas sitting in the bowl. Turns out they weren't bruised at all on the inside. Oh well! They mashed up quite nicely, and this banana bread was a great weekend treat.

Tacos de carnitas with pico de gallo and avocado

Tomatoes and cilantro from the Divisadero Farmers' Market.

I love the shredded pork shoulder recipe from How to Cook Everything (it's the same recipe I used for the empanada filling): cut the meat into chunks and stick it in a dutch oven with a quartered onion, garlic, dried chile peppers, bays leaves, cumin, and water to cover, then let it cook for about an hour. Ta da! For this meal I then took the cook meat, cut it into smaller, bite-sized pieces, and fried it in its own fat until crispy. We served it on tortillas with avocado chunks and pico de gallo. I'd been dreaming about making pica de gallo since tomato season rolled around; I wasn't disappointed.