The wonderful thing about growing
your own food
is experiencing the incredible flavors
of something just plucked from the earth.
Let's pick some Romaine lettuce
for the Caesar Salad.
Here's my little row of Romaine
with a few volunteer Black Seeded Simpsons
popping up.
I picked the lettuce early in the morning,
washed it, wrapped it in paper towels, and chilled it.
Whenever picking lettuce from the garden,
be sure to wash well.
One always hates to find extra protein
in one's salad.
Now, I shall tell you how to make
The.Best.Croutons.
you will ever eat.
Cook and stir over medium-low heat for a few minutes.
Rosie Hint #414:
Never let garlic burn.
It gets bitter.
Spread croutons out in single layer in baking pan.
Bake in 300 degree oven for an hour or so
until croutons are crunchy.
If you've had better croutons,
I'd like to know.
The Hawthornes' Caesar Salad Dressing coming up:
Caesar Salad Dressing
1/2 tin of anchovies
5 garlic cloves
juice of one lemon
heaping tablespoon of Gray Poupon Dijon
heaping tablespoon of Lea & Perrins
chunk of good Parmesan
approximately 2" x 1" x 3/4"
I'd be happy with more.
I use Il Villagio Parmesan from the Teeter.
1 coddled egg
1/2 cup or so Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil
On to the method:
I'm only using 1/2 tin of anchovy fillets
because I don't want to have a whole bunch of dressing
to be eaten every day until the dressing is consumed
before it has a tendency to go slightly poissonie
unless you keep adding lemon juice to it.
Learn from me, people.
So, what will I be doing with the other 1/2 tin of anchovies?
Tomorrow, I will be making a batch of
my version of Boar and Castle Sauce.
I've promised you this several times,
and now I'm here to deliver.
I'm looking at the leftover anchovies
and I'm thinking, "There are no fillets here.
Usually there are fillets. This is mush."
Whisk in mustard ...
To coddle an egg,
bring water to a boil,
remove from heat,
drop egg in it for 60 seconds.
You want this nice buckskin color.
Taste test to see if you need
more lemon, mustard, or L & P.
Adjust as necessary.
Added in a small bit of sliced red cabbage
and some julienned carrot.
You could add a bit of onion if you like.
Perhaps some multi-colored pepper confetti.
Why not cucumber?
Explore your options.
And taste as you go along.
On to the FISH.
Heat up your pan,
add a tablespoon or two of LOLUB
and some ELBOO.
The butter is for flavor.
The olive oil is to raise the smoke point
of the butter so you can cook at a higher heat.
Deglaze pan with juice of one lemon,
stir in some butter,
and add some capers.
For a special pop,
I added in some green coriander seeds
from my cilantro plants.
When the oil gets hot (350 - 375 degrees),
drop in the battered shrimp.
Use the end of a wooden spoon
to check the temperature of the oil.
Bubbles should bubble vigorously
out of the wood if the temperature is right.
Fry until brown - a minute or two.
We also had some soft shell crabs
which he did in the beer batter.
I prefer soft shells done in seasoned flour,
then beaten egg, then a mixture of flour and semolina flour
as opposed to a beer batter,
but we're keeping it simple today.
Fried shrimp.
Fried soft shell.
Seared tuna with a lemon/butter/caper sauce
and fresh, green coriander seeds.
Cole slaw.
Tartar sauce - mayo, minced dill pickles, sweet relish.
The little tiny green seeds are the coriander seeds
from my cilantro plants.
They're cilantro-ey and citrus-ey.
Bon appetit!
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