Food For Thought

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[Ron Thorne]

Alaskan King Crab Legs

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Ron, I wish we had "like" buttons here on Jazztalk. Those photos really made me salivate. Some of my favorite thinkgs to eat of all time.

Thought you guys might get a kick out of my activities yesterday. I served as a judge for the 2015 International Chocolate Competition. this is my 2nd year as a judge. From 3 to 7 we tasted and rated dark bars. A couple of them were sensational, most were just okay. Really surprised that I found a couple that were actually off-balance and pretty awful. The ones I liked best came from Ecuador and Venezuela.

At 7 we had one round of tasting 7 filled chocolates. One of these, flavored with bourbon and topped with sea salt, was outstanding. One with mango, banana and passionfruit was waaay too sweet. The rest were okay. All in all a pretty tasty afternoon.

[bluenoter]

[moldyfigg]

[bluenoter]

[Ron Thorne]

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Great photos, Ron. I'm sure the food tasted as good as it looks.

[Ron Thorne]

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Saturday when I walked into Whole Foods, the Seafood Manager was butchering a Hawaiian Opah. I've never seen one on the East Coast before. Apparently he was in the early stages of his demo, and I was able to purchase one of the cheeks. I came home and cut it into six pieces. Last night I served half of it. Sauteed in butter with just salt and pepper. Wow! It was pricy, but worth ever penny. I made smashed butterball potatoes with sauteed ramps and dandelion greens to go with it. So delicious!

[moldyfigg]

[bluenoter]

[Ron Thorne]

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Ron, if those photos were posted by anyone other than you, Brooks or Coda I would have suspected they were stock photos. But knowing your photographic talents and the qualty equipment you use to take photos I accepted that they were shots taken by you.

[moldyfigg]

Opah is a wonderful fish. Santa Monica Sea Foods is a great source.

Tonight, rotisserie roast chicken stuffed with cilantro and garlic and garlic sauteed chard with more garlic.

No vampires around here.

[Ron Thorne]

[Ron Thorne]

Patti and me wearing our beautiful leis



Hamachi sashimi, ponzu sauce, spicy yuzu, avocado mousse





Seared Hawaiian butterfish, prawns and risotto





Seared opah








Mojito crepe soufflé, lime custard, strawberry guava sorbetto

[hornplayer]

[Ron Thorne]

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Looks delicious, Ron. Joanne and our granddaughters made a similar dessert for today's cookout. They're called Patriotic Pudding Parfaits, which are made with vanilla pudding, strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream. Enjoy your day!

[moldyfigg]

A favorite summer dish tonight, diced heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, parmesan, OVOO, hot orachetti dumped over the cold stuff. Great dish.

[Ron Thorne]

[Ron Thorne]

I've been jonesin' for some really authentic southern grits and corn meal, so made the plunge a few minutes ago and have the following on the way from South Carolina. I bought stone ground White Grits and Yellow Corn Meal on Amazon with a Father's Day gift card from Justin (jtx here). Corn meal is not pictured.

Oh, boy! Gastronomical delights are just around the corner.




Southern Grits Recipe
July 30, 2014 By Susan



Good ol’ southern grits. You can make them fancy or you can make them plain. This grits recipe is for making plain grits. What that means in “The South” is stone ground grits cooked with water instead of milk, cream or broth. Seasoning would be salt and maybe a little black pepper and you can cook this “any meal food” with butter or add butter after you have served it onto your plate.

Southern Grits Recipe:

Whatever amount of grits you want to cook, the ratio is 4 cups of liquid per cup of grits. Plain grits would be with water so:

1 cup of Palmetto Farms stone ground grits (white or yellow)
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 tablespoons butter

Put everything into a medium sized saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring often. The stone ground grits at the bottom of the pot closest to the heat will want to thicken faster than the rest of the pot so stir it to blend it all back together and smooth out any lumps that may have formed. Once the pot comes to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. This makes quite a few servings. You can put the leftovers in the fridge and warm them up in the microwave or stovetop. I know some pretty fancy restaurants that cook all of their grits ahead of time and warm them up as needed. If you do this leave the butter out of your recipe and add it when warming up.

You can serve this with eggs, bacon and biscuits or just eat it plain. It’s pretty tasty.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

One of my favorite dishes is shrimp and grits. There are many variations.

[moldyfigg]

The southern grits give polenta a run for the money.