gulfporter

Frozen Costco cheese ravioli. Sauce was an attempt at a fridge purge. Leftover red sauce that I mixed with some cream. Leftover peeled shallots and red onion. Wine and chicken broth reduced. This was another attempt at cooking frozen pasta in a sauce, rather than boiling. I nestled the frozen ravioli in the sauce, covered tightly. Señor Google said it would take 10 minutes to cook the frozen ravioli (and to add water to the sauce which I decided against). Since this was a serving for two, the sauce wasn't sufficient quantity to cover the ravioli. So at the 5 minute mark, I gently flipped each ravioli. Another 5 minutes and voila!

A really good-looking guy in my freshman class at college asked me out. I suggested a picnic. He said he'd bring wine, and I agreed to bring cheese and a baguette a grocery store Italian bread loaf (this was 1970 in rural upstate NY). We met down at a large pond on the college property. No one thought to bring a blanket, or plates, or utensils, or glasses, or napkins. Afterall I was 17 and he was 18. We tore into the bread, smooshed the cheese into it and guzzled the wine straight from the bottle. Lake Country Pink barely a half-step above Ripple in taste and price. We've been married for over 50 years.

Made this last month. White beans imported from Spain, with charred grape tomatoes and shrimp. At our US home I am a big fan of Sheet Pan Dinners. Here in Mexico my oven has no thermostat, so I make Skilllet Dinners.

Gnocchi with bacon, shallot, spinach. Reduction of white wine and lite chicken broth. The gnocchi is the standard softish shelf product; though I freeze them in meal-size baggies when I get home. Directions are to throw the frozen ones into boiling water for a few minutes. I decided to see if I could steam them in the same pan as the other ingredients, rather than dirty another pot. After the bacon, shallots were done, I did my reduction in the pan. Then added both the fresh spinach and the gnocchi. Covered with a tight lid. Took about 4 minutes. Very happy with the outcome.

@Anchobrie The choices here are Alaskan Salmon or this Steelhead Trout from Baja. This was 1st time we saw/bought the Steelhead; look forward to buying it again!

More Steelhead Trout, more white bean salad. I went a tad heavier on the spice rub; I was worried it was too mild for my usual rub when I grilled it a few nights ago, but decided it could handle it.

Steelhead trout (from Guadalajara Costco). With white bean, pickled onion and cuke salad in a rice wine vinaigrette.

Costco cheese ravioli with shallots, charred tomatoes, basil and parm.

Pasta with charred grape tomatoes, baby spinach, and crispy shallots, topped with goat cheese. My "sauce" is 1/2 cup each of white wine and chicken broth, reduced to almost nothing before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Out for lunch at our Plaza. It is the first place we ate when we first visited here in 2007 and basically the same exact menu. French dip is always excellent, served on a local buttery bolillo. The "Camarones Francese" is shrimp salad (mayo forward) between 2 slices of bread, dipped in batter, then rolled in corn flakes and deep fried. No idea why or how it got on a menu of a small outdoor eatery in an equally small village. I don't recall ever seeing it elsewhere in MEX or in the US. Or in France for that matter.

When we first started visiting MEX in the early 2000's many restaurants had Pollo Milanese on their menus. I wondered why all the little local Mexican restaurants were serving an Italian dish?? It was also listed as a filling at hole-in-the-wall torta (sandwich) places. All the local butchers sell pounded and raw but breaded Pollo Milanese. Today I made one into Chicken Piccata. Thanks to the butcher shop I was able to skip the mess of pounding, egging/breading. Literally the meal was finished in 15 minutes, frying to serving. Here's today's dinner pics,

Buffalo Chicken Salad.

Corn. Some of the more upscale restaurants offer it from time to time. Never seen it in stores. It is often sold in the shape of an ear of corn, along with other offerings in shapes of oranges, lemons with matching flavors. Seems to be a niche wholesale market at least here in Guadalajara area.

Grilled blackened salmon with couscous salad of dried cranberries and toasted pecans in a lemon Dijon vinaigrette. Cherry chipotle dipping sauce.