Almost Spring

  

No, it is not spring yet but we are approaching that pre-spring, Yellow Season. Does anyone know why we have yellow flowers first, every year? One of the first yellows to bloom is this bush that came from my neighbor's yard. She had a row of them, each a little more than two feet tall. She was tossing them and offered me one. That was about three years ago, and look where we are now.  That is her garage roof in the upper right of the picture. This year I will have to prune as it is reaching into the driveway. We do not know the name of this lovely shrub.  We just enjoy it. 

In Answer

 I had a couple of emails asking for the recipe for the Fried Russian potato wedges that would have been placed on top of the Beef Stroganoff in the last blog (see below). Here is the explanation.

Use Russet potatoes; peel them, cut into wedges, dry them completely, then spread them on cloth toweling. Melt enough butter, goose fat or duck fat to cover the potatoes generously. Heat the fat to 375 F. Carefully add the potatoes to the hot fat and cook until golden brown and a cooking fork penetrates easily. Remove from fat and place on paper towels and immediately sprinkle with salt and dill seed.

These wedges are then piled in a random fashion atop the Stroganoff ... sort of like Pickup Sticks. I have no picture of this because if my doctor saw the picture he would think I actually ate them; he would be correct and I would be in serious trouble. I have to say, though, potatoes fried in goose or duck fat are absolutely delicious!

By the way, I have had a number of people tell me that they find the comment system hard to manipulate. I am afraid I can not do too much about that but you are welcome to use the email address shown in the upper right of this blog.

Lunch Today

Last night I had shrimp fried rice for dinner and today at noon there was this leftover rice What do do with it? What's in the fridge? So I started.

In goes the rice and then some scallions, thinly sliced. What else?

Oh, Yes, I had a perfectly ripe avocado, so I "hunked" that. This is avocado season so they are reasonably priced.

Black olive wedges added a visual contrast. they come wedged, I don't cut them myself. Next, something crisp. I found the last of the celery and sliced that very thinly, saving the leaves for the top.

Now a protein. Cheese didn't seem to fit, so, scrounging through the pantry I came across this jar of tuna I had picked up at our Italian deli/wine shop, Traverso's. The label said Tonnino Tuna. It also said, Yellow Finn, wild caught, hand packed in oil and garlic. It was cut in sticks, packed upright. 

Hoping the garlic wasn't going to be too aggressive (it wasn't), I added two sticks of tuna. The sticks flaked into lovely, long thin ribbons. It was just beautiful and tasted like no tuna I have every tried before. I am now spoiled for all other. I dressed this with oil (both grape seed and some from the tuna jar) and chive vinegar, seasoned with salt and pepper. Served on a bed or fresh picked lettuce, a mixture, which is what's grows around here.

Finally, I sprinkled finely cut celery leaves on top. If you look for that tuna  try  http://www.tonnino.com/   

I have no association with the Tonnino people. The only association I have with Traverso's is that I have shopped there for years (the old store and the new one).

I did take a picture of this, but it was hard. By this time I really wanted to eat! It was one of the best salads I have had.

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