Weekend Wrap-Up (Aug 14-15)

Tom and I have been busy this summer, so he hasn't had any real food 'projects' recently. Its mainly every-day type of cooking. Plus, it seems like all we've been eating are corn, zucchini, tomatoes, and eggplant. I guess that's summer for ya.

This past Friday, Tom decided to work from home, which gave him some time for a sort-of project. He smoked some pork ribs, and made beans and coleslaw.

Ribs, Beans and Coleslaw

I am not a super fan of ribs. I know lots of people freak out for ribs- I am not one of them. I prefer to eat meat with a fork, unless its on a roll or a stick. Ribs just seem so messy. Lucky for me, Tom's ribs were very done, so they slipped off the bone easily and I was able to eat them with a fork and knife (I know I'm weird). Tom didn't think the ribs were smoky enough, but there were so many other flavors with the rub and the sauce, it was hard to taste it.
 
Keeping with the 'Southern food' theme, Tom bought some okra at the farmer's market. He made it two ways- fried and roasted, and put it on top of oats with some corn and tomatoes.
 

Oats, Okra, Okra/Corn/Tomato Stew, Basil with Curried Yogurt Sace

Okra is one of those foods that I always forget about. I think my mom might have put frozen okra into a soup or stew at one point, and it kind of tasted like every frozen vegetable in a stew- like not much. I know Southern people really love it, and that's kind of the extent of my knowledge of okra.

This okra was better, it had more flavor but it wasn't very strong. I don't see why people love it so much.

Tom was worried that the oats would taste too much like oatmeal, but they didn't at all. They were more savory than breakfast oatmeal and were a good base for the puree, corn and okra. The curried yogurt gave the dish a nice spiceness.

Zucchini Fritters with Salad and Corn/Tomatoes

Keeping with the fried theme, Tom made zucchini fritters for lunch one day. I actually grated the green and yellow zucchini for this and I did a damn fine job. Tom is always worried about his fried foods being soggy or not crispy, but the zucchini fritters came out good- soft insides, crispy outsides. The corn and tomatoes gave it a fresh pop (although I didn't eat the tomatoes). I wish Tom had made more than just two fritters a piece!

Biscuit with Egg, Bacon, Fried Green Tomatoes

So, if you've been reading my blog, you know the two food items I hate the most in this world are tomatoes and cilantro. Well, guess who ate 90% of a piece of a fried green tomato this weekend? (I guess hell has now frozen over) Tom told me that green tomatoes are basically unriped red ones, so it had a very mild flavor and none of those gross snotty seeds that ripe red tomatoes have. It also helped that it was breaded and fried, and sort of obscured by Tom's homemade biscuits and smoked bacon. And don't forget the egg, one of my favorite foods. Everything about this sandwich was good- the biscuits were buttery and flaky, the eggs had runny yolks, and the bacon melted in your mouth.

Bacon, Fried Potatoes, Roasted Vegetable Salad with Feta

This is another typical "Oh, I have all these veggies I need to use, I'll make a salad!" dish. Tom had a bunch of potatoes from the CSA that he needed to use up, so he fried them and threw them on a salad with some bacon. I know I sound kind of 'meh' on the dish, but anytime you combine potatoes, bacon and cheese, I'm there.

The last thing I want to talk about is the caramel coffee ice cream Tom made this weekend (I don't have a photo of it- it would have melted!). He made the ice cream like he normally does (I'm not 100% sure of the whole process), and made caramel infused with coffee beans that he swirled into the ice cream. It's really good, probably one of my favorites of the ice creams he's made.

That about does it for this wrap-up, see you next week!