Summer veg in Western WA

August 10, and finally the first "real" vegetable delivery from the farm comes in...so welcome, so overdue, so WA. Chard, Kale, small tomatoes, green beans, lettuces, and a few herbs to die for.

     

And on August 9th I met up with a friend new to gardening for some downtown happy hour drinks/snacks, and what utterly sweet giftu did she unexpectedly provide? A lovely lemon cucumber, a summer squash, and a neat little packet of basil all from her home plot. Yum, and thanks.

Wish I'd photographed them too before devouring.

Ad-hoc, defining summer dinner

Look who's having me over for dinner! A dear friend is a longtime favorite urban caterer and going to her house for a casual, stolen bite is always a revelation.

First off, I got to see the innovative table design her amazingly creative team is putting out. I want these terrarium balls on my table every day. Fat chance, but hey.

And then we had clams she quick-steamed with not so much butter, which turns out to be not a bad thing. Not at all, they had their own true flavor. Followed by an amazing shared plate of shrimp, quinoa, and diced veg that had sparkle and panache. An incidentally homey lean meal that had all the jollies. Mmmmm.

This, along with unrepresentatively (this year) sunny summer weather, all the backdrop to great conversation, some work ;-) and some great wine I don't remember from Garagiste. Heaven.

Invite me over again!

Catfish banh mi

Back in Houston, and of course there's a little food to discuss. It's a work trip, so it's not as if each meal is special: time is short, control is shared, and logistics are tied to who needs to be where, when. So here's what has been up:

1. Some takeout from Whole Foods: ** 1/2
2. Fage Greek Yogurt from Whole Foods: ****
3. A few bites of corporate campus Thai food: ** 1/2
4. Homemade Indian snacks (Paneer Pakoras, sliced kiwis and mangoes) at my colleague's cousin's house in Sugarland: ***** +
5. Dinner at Vegas-themed Gringo's Tex-Mex in Sugar Land: * (apologies to the lovely hosts, may they never see this post!)
6. Lunch at India's:  **** (Zagat: "Excellent")
7. Dinner sandwiches at...remember the catfish banh mi at Givral's, "for the Lenten season?" I had it! **** 1/2

First, some mis-en-scène.

Bellaire Blvd. in Westchase has a pretty amazing strip of Asian, mostly Vietnamese, strip malls and commercial complexes of various vintages stretching a few miles. To the East of Sam Houston Tollway:

And now, back on the downtown side of the Sam Houston Tollway, but not by much, the sublime Catfish banh mi and accompanying Café du Monde Vietnamese coffee (ca phe) before hot or iced (hot!!!) water was added:

Hopefully, you can see the perfect cooking of the fish and the SIZE of the seeds-in (hot!!!) jalapeño pieces in the sandwich, as well as the light, flaky, freshness of the baguette. Abundance of cilantro.

Want a glimpse of less ethereal food locales mentioned above but not featured? OK! Let's Go:

And at the above establishment, a salad Xx bigger than your head (Ho-Hum-Food Department):

Iron Chef Butter Chicken

Ah, family dinner. When you all sit around the table and talk about high-minded cultural phenomena. Like Iron Chef. What?!

It has become something of a practice that when I cook — I am not the primary cook at home for a host of reasons including my propensity for shortcuts and lack of follow-through  (LOFT)— somehow Iron Chef ratings break out.

Last night I made a somewhat tame version of Butter Chicken. I take that back: Indian Butter Chicken is in itself somewhat tame. I made Butter Chicken.

It was fun to learn how many tomatoes go into the dish, and that the secret behind its richness is cashew butter (the butter butter is obvious, and it's there, too).

Thanks to the LOFT I mentioned, Richard made the rice and zucchini. They were heavenly!

Before we break down the scoring, here's a new rule that we implemented: No-one gets to rate his/her own dish. So, the total possible points for each of the three elements was 20 points (there being 3 of us at the table last night). I think in the future we will refine this game to be more authentic — 5 points each for presentation, taste, and creativity, rather than a flat 10 possible points for the dish.

My chicken got a respectable 17/20. Had there been a tangier element somewhere it might have soared even higher in the ratings.

Richard's rice drew in 19/20 points: it WAS really nice rice with shallot and saffron, nice separate grains.
But, oh, the zucchini. What happened there? 8?

The zucchini itself was young, fresh, summer zucchini and was cooked perfectly, a quick seasoned sautée in the pan, with a nice chiffonade of scallion and a quick rasp of parmesan on top. So what happened?

A 10-year-old was at the table. Zucchini is still a hard sell. He gave it a 2, even though he is known to be naturally veg-leaning. I am complicit in the low score as well, giving it a 6/10. Why? I am not sure! Maybe it's because, though I "love" zucchini and yellow summer squash cooked this way, it is still a squash and — forgive me — I have not yet fully cozied up to the category.

I live in a dream world where a 10 for zucchini makes it truly memorable and transporting...