Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Chile-rubbed shrimp with avocado, corn, and black bean salsa


Summer: one of my three favorite food seasons. Central Market has sweet corn four ears for a dollar, avocados are only 69 cents apiece and I've got cherry tomatoes a-plenty from my garden. Unfortunately that's about the only garden success I can speak to at the moment, but that's beside the point.


Thursday, June 3, 2010

Tilapia over mashed potatoes in stewed tomato, olive, and artichoke broth

Big news, y'all: As of yesterday, Pure Land Organic has officially filed with the Secretary of State of Texas as a real live actual company. We have officers and lawyers and stuff! Woooooo!! And we've got a team of people working on finding our land, getting a website together, etc... Don't you just love it when a plan comes together?

Anyway, back to food. Still gotta eat.

An organized and well-stocked pantry is essential for last minute meals. This one is created almost entirely from the pantry - canned artichoke hearts, stewed tomatoes, and jarred kalamata olives.


Add a little onion, garlic, a potato, and some fish, and you've got dinner. Even better, it makes double the broth required for serving for two people, so I freeze the other half for an even quicker repeat performance one day.


I'm a white wine fiend. Actually, I'm a bubbly white wine fiend (Cava from Spain and Prosecco from Italy are my favorite wines), but I do appreciate a nice flat white and the occasional dry rose. During the year my parents spent in New Zealand they discovered Sauvingon Blancs from the Marlborough region, which are a serious punch in the face compared to the wimpy whites of California. Like all the chefs say, I cook with what I drink. This is either because I only drink delicious wine and am too lazy to seek out a "cooking" variety to keep on hand, or because I find crappy wine pretty tasty. At any rate, it works for me. [I also put ice in it. Shun me.]