What are you Cooking the Week of July 9, 2023?

[Mike Nolan]

We did get the lawn mowed today, thankfully.

We had steaks on the grill with sauteed mushrooms and baked potato tonight.

[Joan Simpson]

Turkey sandwich with tomato and pickles.

BakerAunt I've been getting local bicolor corn and our son showed me to wrap 2 ears in a kitchen towel unshucked and microwave it for 8 minutes, then unwrap and cut off the stalk end and squeeze out corn...it was absolutely fantastic- no silks and the taste was the best ever.I cooked several ears and then wrapped in plastic wrap for the fridge.Man I'll never boil it again.But if you do this don't let the shucks cool off or it'll be harder to squeeze out and have an extra towel to hold it's very hot.

[Mike Nolan]

I had a tomato and salami sandwich on semolina bread, Diane had a ham and cheese omelet and we both had the first of the local sweet corn.

I bought a lug of dark red cherries the other day, we're finishing off processing them today, making some cherry and peach conserve (not as much sugar as there would be in preserves or jam, and no pectin), which she is freezing. We did over half of the cherries a few days ago, she thawed one out as a test, it was pretty darned good and the the liquid was very good with some angel food cake.

[Joan Simpson]

Mike the cherry & peach conserve sounds really good.

[Mike Nolan]

I thought about buying a cherry pitter, but I'm pretty fast pitting them with a knife, and the reviews of the cherry pitters I read online were not encouraging, they break easily.

We use a bobby pin for pie cherries, but that doesn't work for dark sweet cherries.

The peaches were more of a problem last night, they're California clingstone peaches and Diane had trouble getting the skin off and cutting them off the stone. But they smelled good in the store and the one she ate she said was pretty good.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--Did Diane use the technique of putting them in boiling water, then ice water, before peeling? I did MANY peaches for the several years my family had a peach tree. I looked at a You Tube video today, and that person suggests making a small X on the bottom of each one before putting into boiling water for 45 seconds to a minute, then moving to ice water.

Now, the stone is another matter!

[Joan Simpson]

Salami and tomato sandwich with pickles and pork skins.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover farro stir-fry and roasted chicken breast.

Joan--my husband and I are going to try your microwave technique with corn once sweet corn becomes available here. We have an ancient microwave, so that may affect our experiment. I will let you know.

[Italiancook]

Joan, I'm also going to try your technique with sweet corn when the farmer's market has it. In the meantime, we've enjoyed pre-shucked sweet corn from Sam's. It's so deliciously sweet, however, that I wonder if it's been innoculated somehow with a sugar solution. Regardless, it's a welcome relief to a winter without corn on the cob.

[Mike Nolan]

Yeah, she tried the boiling/ice water method, it worked on some of them.

I made pizza on the grill last night, they were good but I still need a lot of practice on technique, sliding the dough onto the VERY HOT grill without having it fold over or bunch up isn't easy. One article suggests rolling the dough out on parchment then flipping the dough over to get it on the grill, quickly removing the parchment. I didn't try that but might next time.

I tried a different dough recipe, we liked it but I think it needs a little more salt in the dough and I probably didn't get it baked enough on the bottom before flipping it over to add the toppings. The recipe is very high hydration (78%) and I added more flour to get a workeable dough.

[Mike Nolan]

I haven't boiled corn in years, I do it in the microwave, but I shuck it by hand. (I've been shucking corn since I was 10, I finished 3rd at the Galena 4th of July Corn Boil shucking contest one year.)

[cwcdesign]

I got home from my buying trip in Atlanta yesterday afternoon and I was so exhausted. I made an open-faced tuna melt with Will's sourdough and cheese from Sweetgrass Dairy in Thomasville - it's called Cyprus and it's got Mediterranean flavors in it. We carry their cheeses at the Market and their pimento cheese is our house pimento - it is for quite a few restaurants on the island as it is that good.

I was off today, so I made all the parts for a Chicken Tzatziki Bowl from Half Baked Harvest which we we enjoy in a little while.

[Mike Nolan]

We had steak on the grill plus some sweet corn.

[BakerAunt]

We had more leftover roasted chicken breast and farro stir-fry. Yesterday, my husband and I picked 20 lbs. of blueberries at our favorite local place. At $3.50 a pound, that is not exactly inexpensive, but this farm has the best blueberries I have ever tasted, and the price was the same as last year. We will probably pick more before the season ends. I washed them yesterday and spread them on paper towels on pans to dry overnight. This morning, I packed them into quart bags (4 cups per bag) and froze eleven bags for use throughout the year. I have some in the refrigerator that I have not frozen, with which I will start baking.

[BakerAunt]

For Saturday's dinner, I made Salmon and Couscous and used dill from our garden as the seasoning. Perhaps I needed to use more, as the dill flavor was quite subdued. However, salmon and couscous still tasted great. We also had microwaved green beans--the first from our garden.

I also made yogurt today.

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