SobaAddict70

Steven -- Try glazing the onions in some kind of sweet/acidic sauce. Like balsamic-honey, for example. My default treatment is to blanch/shock, then sauté in unsalted butter; finished with herbs and lemon juice or white wine vinegar. Not exciting to some, but it works well enough. Garlic scapes -- chopped up, then combined with oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, then puréed. Use in risotto, stirred into hummus or tabouleh, over pasta, alongside fried eggs or an omelette, or as a dressing for chicken or fish. blue_dolphin: try using the pomelos in a citrus/dessert soup or in marmalade.

Thanks Kim. This time, broiled rainbow trout, served over rotini with a sauce of Jersey tomatoes, mixed pitted olives, garlic, capers and herbs. It's cleanout the fridge week at Chez Soba.

When you have tomatoes like these beauties, it's almost a crime to turn them into pasta sauce, imho. Preps that preserve their integrity, for me, are the way to go. That's why you see a lot of uncooked sauces and tomato salads on the blog. If they appear with pasta, I try to cook them just barely (if they're not already destined for confit). I have the rest of the year to content myself with tomato sauce, when the tomatoes are a pale reflection of the season gone by.

This is what I'm looking forward to. Not for a couple of months at least, for the heirloom varieties. I can savor the beefsteaks and Jersey tomatoes until then.

Great food pix, all. Recent dinners ... Indian vegetable plate Top — Red-bliss potatoes, fried in clarified butter with black mustard seeds, cumin and dried curry leaves Bottom — Dry-fried sugar snap peas and green beans, with black mustard seeds, chiles, turmeric, hing, aamchur, Jersey tomatoes and fresh coconut Baked rainbow trout, with quick pickled cucumbers; celery braised in French butter, wine and herbs

My previous post wasn't so helpful so here's something that gives you an idea. They're like parsley in my pantry. I normally go through 2-3 bunches of Italian and flat-leaf parsley A WEEK. So when spring and summer rolls around, I add garlic chives to the mix. Fried rice Omelettes Pasta In salsa With grilled or broiled meats and fish Steamed vegetables, then sautéed in butter with chives and parsley With gambas al ajillo -- sprinkle salt on peeled shrimp, set aside for 10 minutes, then sauté in unsalted butter or olive oil with a couple cloves of chopped garlic, eat with bread or serve with pasta or rice With homefries In a tomato salad -- diced Jersey or heirloom tomatoes, olive oil, salt, pepper, herbs; serve with crispy toast and eggs sunnyside-up Summer minestrone With barely steamed zucchini and summer squash, toss in a sauce of unsalted butter, mint and oregano, and a pinch of salt As a filling for part of a filling for jiaozi. I make two kinds, one with pork and one with caramelized onions, shallots and garlic chives. The possibilities are endless.

The next time I buy a bottle, I'll take a photo and y'all can see just how much you get. Price is subjective, as is taste.

I use them as I would with scallions.

I live in NYC. A $10 bottle of pinot grigio is pretty cheap. I could use "cooking wine" that goes for $3 at my local supermarket but it won't be any good. YMMV.

Kim -- between you and Nathalie Dupree (who's a friend on FB btw), I'm going to have to get over my fear of baking and make some berry shortcakes. That looks great. Tonight: Broiled organic free-range chicken breasts with scallion-ginger sauce; steamed jasmine rice (rice was cooked in Chinese chicken stock); stir-fried baby bok choy. Looks like a production, doesn't it? This was done in 15 minutes.

Wine does and can appear in a pasta sauce. Try using a Chianti or a pinot grigio. Doesn't have to be expensive ... in fact, most of the wines I use cost under $15 a bottle.

Spaghetti with scallops, Jersey tomatoes and herbs

David's stuff is amazing, especially the fish. One great thing and one not-so-great thing tonight ... Seared scallops, sucrine lettuce and poached farm egg Sucrine is an heirloom lettuce that's a variety of romaine. I bought a chicken mushroom from USGM this past weekend. Here's a pic to give you an idea of just how HUGE this thing is. Not the greatest specimen because it wasn't young. I braised it with onions, carrots, celery, bay leaves, white wine and chicken stock. Probably didn't braise it long enough though ... Braised chicken mushrooms with aromatic vegetables, over broiled black sea bass Now I can say that I ate a chicken mushroom and I'll never have to do it again for the rest of my life.

Nope. Not remotely close, at least according to the vendor whom I bought it from. Today: Not a very good pic though. Buttered toasted sourdough bread, Jersey tomato and Kirby cucumber salad (tomatoes, cucumber, lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt, black pepper, garlic chives) and farm eggs, sunny side-up.

I can't believe we don't have a thread on sucrine. It's my absolute favorite kind of lettuce. J'adore that picture. It has a faintly sweet flavor with soft, silky leaves and a buttery texture. You can take the elongated core of the lettuce, peel it, and steam it — it is as delicate as asparagus and just as delicious. What are your favorite ways to prepare it?

An adaptation of the aforementioned sandwich: Bacon, sucrine lettuce and slow-roasted Campari cherry tomato sandwich, with Dijon-herb aioli on toasted sourdough bread

today's haul -- black sea bass, scallops, chicken mushrooms from Violet Hill, Jersey tomatoes, herbs, sourdough, apple pie, lettuce, cucumber, eggs from Quattro's Quattro's had unrendered duck fat for $4. think I'll wait until they've got rendered, sometime in the fall.

This will be for brunch sometime this weekend: Bacon, lettuce and slow-roasted tomato sandwich. I don't know why I never thought of that before. Courtesy: http://notwithoutsalt.com/2011/06/12/b-l-slow-roasted-t/ (one of my favorite foodblogs btw)

It's going to get worse before it gets better, for a long time.

My personal opinion on the matter is that I don't care one way or another, as long as the person who's doing the praying doesn't feel the need to involve me in said activity.

Good stuff, Dakki. If you think it looks more "yellow" than normal, you'd be right. I used a chicken egg from Quattro's. I'm afraid the ricotta gnocchi demo in my Foodblog didn't specify the desired thickness when I roll them out. Here's a closeup shot that gives you a good idea. M. Hazan's tomato sauce, adapted from Marcella Cucina: one can crushed tomatoes, 4 tablespoons unsalted French butter, 1 onion cut in half. Simmer until droplets of fat separate from the sauce, about 1 hour. Taste for salt and pepper. Discard onion -- although if you're like me, that's the best part!

I'm an atheist, so I don't. If I'm at home (a rarity for me), I'll sit silently while my relatives do their business. I've never been in a public situation in the last 26 years where someone's said grace. It could be pretty common ... but that hasn't been my experience at all.

I don't mind, that's why I said it's not authentic. It works for me though.

Thanks guys. Ricotta gnocchi tonight. More later.

Maybe it's just that I'm cranky (hey, it's hot here), but I like sedate places just as much as really noisy ones, if the food is good. As a matter of fact, I like them even more these days. And if the food sucks, I don't give a darn how loud or soft the place is...I'm not going back. You? Agreed. How rare is that?