tuna: a fish better left to sushi

My boyfriend and I have never bought tuna, because both of generally prefer tuna raw - when it's not in sushi or sliced thin as luscious sashimi, I've never had tuna that I've loved. But, we found some beautiful tuna steaks at a good price, so we decided to see if we could conquer tuna in our home by searing it (i.e. leaving the inside uncooked the way we like it!). I have to say that while the flavors we created were good, neither of us were impressed with tuna. I guess we'll leave it in sushi restaurants where it belongs.

Seared tuna topped with a salad of tomato, red onion, banana pepper, rice vinegar and olive oil

Oven-baked potato chips

summer squash risotto

We have been accumulating yellow squash for a few weeks now, and decided that the perfect way to use them up would be a risotto, since the squash risotto was such a success last time, and a rainy Sunday evening is the perfect time to spend a couple of hours together in the kitchen listening to Fresh Air.

In addition to yellow squash, this risotto had onion, garlic, thyme, sage, parmesean cheese and a chili pepper. Although the pepper was so hot that my boyfriend's mouth was burning almost 20 minutes after tasting it alone, combined with everything else it just added a very subtle and pleasant heat that was definitely detectable, but not at all overwhelming - this was heat, that didn't burn at all.

Since we've already gone through our risotto method in detail here, I'll just add one additional tip:
Just as you will think the risotto isn't going to turn out, and then suddenly it looks perfect, you will also think that you are making a small batch, and then suddenly the pan is almost overflowing. So trust us: 1 lb of arborio rice is plenty for four people (we easily satisfy ourselves at dinner and have plenty left for lunch the next day, and if we're lucky, the day after that too!).

breakfast is back

I haven't been posting a lot of breakfasts over the last couple of months, certainly not because we've stopped eating delicious and satisfying eggy goodness every weekend, but because they haven't been particularly photo-worthy. But now that we have smoked salmon in the fridge, that all changes. This is a breakfast combination that I absolutely love, and the pink of the salmon with the unbelievable colour of our eggs this morning was effortlessly stunning.

Toasted Italian round with cream cheese, smoked salmon and a perfect sunny-side up egg

Served with a think slice of tomato with melted tomme de savoie cheese

plain good chicken

We're back!! We had a very relaxing two weeks visiting our families, but it's also nice to be home.

To ease back into things, tonight's supper was very simple. Although this was very one-note in terms of flavor, the chicken we get from the farm is really something else, and this meal really let us taste that difference.

As soon as I'm done here we're off to Trader Joes to get groceries (yes, all this was a combination of yesterday's farm box and our pantry) and hopefully some inspiration!

Chicken breast seasoned with paprika and poached in home-made chicken stock, served over Israeli cous-cous with sauteed red onions, red bell peppers, and jalapeno pepper, and topped with diced green zebra tomato.

potato chip breakfast bites

Crispy potato chips topped with bacon and arugula or bacon and shrimp

Served with a baked egg with mozzarella cheese

things that go with green beans

We hadn't even made a dent in the green beans we got last Sunday, so we knew that was going to have to get incorporated into dinner tonight. And thus our inspiration was born: Things That Go With Green Beans. According to the Flavor Bible, green beans go well with shrimp and very salty meats, like bacon. From there it was easy to bring in other ingredients so that in the end we had something with lots of different flavors and textures - no two bites were the same, and that makes for fun eating.

Shrimp seasoned with chili powder, 6 pepper blend and paprika served with bacon over a hash of green beans, potato, onion, garlic and cherry tomatoes.

stuffed bell peppers

Most of the ideas for our meals have come from me recently - I am the one with extensive knowledge of our inventory, and the one who spends too much time looking at other food blogs and getting inspired. But while I may be the brains behind our delicious dinners, what I lack is the ability to execute my vision. To me, that's what my boyfriend is for (hello, see the name of the blog???). But recently my boyfriend has been trying to coax me into doing more cooking. Not just helping him when he cooks - if anything he refuses my assistance. He wants me to be In Charge. Although I suspect that he just wants a break, he keeps saying that he thinks I would like it. On the one hand I agree with him, but on the other hand I have all these weird fears about it.

Tonight I took the first step towards conquering said fears, and not only did I cook dinner all by myself, but I cooked like my boyfriend cooks - no recipe!!! Sure, I asked my boyfriend a ton of technical questions before I started that nearly culminated in a flow chart, but after that he was gone, and it was all me until plating time.

My boyfriend ate not only his ration of peppers, but also all the leftover stuffing from the pot on the stove. So either it was really tasty, or he just wants to convince me to do more cooking : )

Green bell peppers stuffed with pork sausage, rice, tomato and red onion seasoned with garlic, cumin, chili powder and Italian herb blend, topped with melted mozzarella cheese

Served with a side of corn

corn chowder with seared scallops

Corn and scallop are a brilliant combination, perhaps because they are both slightly sweet ingredients.

The method for making the chowder was roughly based on this recipe from Simply Recipes. In particular, this was where we learned about simmering the corn cobs themselves in the chowder (after the corn kernels were removed) to extract more corn flavor. But our end result probably tasted quite a bit different, since we omitted the ingredients we didn't have (carrots, celery, red pepper, thyme), and we substituted salami for bacon (like the cobs the salami was left to simmer in the chowder but was removed prior to eating). However, our best change to this recipe was adding cilantro. This was initially a last minute garnish to add a bit of colour in the presentation, but as soon as each of us had a bite with the cilantro, we immediately ran back into the kitchen to get more. The cilantro really took the flavors to a whole other phenomenal place.

Corn chowder: corn, red potatoes, milk, butter, onion and cilantro (plus salami, corn cobs and bay leaf, removed prior to serving)

Seared scallops:
1) rinse and dry the scallops
2) season with salt
3) heat butter and olive oil in a pan and keep at high heat
4) sear scallops for 2 minutes on the first side, 1 minute on the second side

creamy guacamole

Guacamole is another great summer snack. When you get avocados that are perfectly ripe, it takes no effort at all to achieve decadent creaminess.

Five Minute Guacamole:
in a large bowl mush together avocado, tomato, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro and salt

In this week's box...

1 box cherry tomatoes
3 Cherokee Purple tomatoes
5 green peppers
1 cucumber
1 bag green beans
2 yellow squash
4 ears of corn
1 honeydew melon
Handful of red potatoes

Plus: 6 eggs, 4 beef soup bones, 10 hickory smoked pork sausages