MEATBALLS

We had a fairly healthy portion of salmon burger mix left over from the previous evening so we figured salmon meatballs were in order. When life gives you burger mix, make meatballs, right? That's what I'd always heard. Anyway.

I mixed up the little meatballs and threw them in the oven at 500. While they were firming up, I threw some veg in a pan:
- white onion
- spinach
- garlic
- red wine vinegar
- sea salt
- black pepper

I threw the meatballs over that mix and added a bit of marinara to the top. Right before we dined, I added a spot of sriracha and some black pepper. Nice.

It wasn't incredibly filling, but it was pretty delicious. This mix really was better as meatballs. For whatever reason, they were a bit more firm this time? I guess a little time in the fridge helped? Unclear. But they were delicious and the vinegar laced veggies gave the slightly sweet, slightly salmoney meatballs a nice partner in crime. And that sriarcha heat went well with the acidic tomato sauce. Success!

BURGER-LIKE

Saturday night we made our way into the city for an amazing dinner at Pylos with Madeline and Pedro but I didn't get any photos and how interesting is a post with no photos, right? Not very. But I just wanted to mention it ... fantastic meal. I had some poached salmon, Meena had a mixed seafood orzo spectacular and there was a massive plate of that awesome Greek cheese that is sometimes served on fire.

Fantastic.

So how do you follow that up on a Sunday night at home? Well, you don't because it's impossible, but we tried salmon burgers.

I used one heck of a mix this time around:
- salmon
- honey
- wheat bread soaked in milk
- egg
- spinach
- fish sauce
- sriracha
- chili powder
- garlic

I mixed everything up in the food processor and threw them on a hot skillet. When they were browned and ready to come off the heat, I slapped them between two pieces of wheat toast and added a bit of avocado and field greens. Oh, and some sriracha.

Delicious. The flavor was intense and lovely ... the texture lacked a little. I probably should have used a bit more bread and used the food processor a little less. But it's coo.

We served it up with some more cucumbers and onions that had been bathing in white vinegar, cider vinegar and salt for a minute. I added a bit of the left over avocado as well. Gave it a nice smoothness to balance out the pickley pop.

Not a bad close to the weekend.

SPICE UP THE WEEKEND

Friday night rolled around and rather than hitting the town and doing all the wild things the cook kids are up to, we decided it was best to kick it at the house with a little dinner and disc 4 of The Wire's first season. Not the flashy choice, sure, but the best choice, I assure you.

You know my love of the blackening spice and I decided I'd just get a little salmon going with a few dashes of that lovely stuff. Spice on the fish, a run through the pan and a finish in the 450 degree oven. Viola.

I threw these spicy bits of fish over a simple salad:
- greens
- white onion
- cucumber
- white vinegar
- sea salt
- dressing (soy sauce, apple juice, sesame oil, garlic and sugar)

Spicy fish, cool salad. That's about right if you ask me. The salad had a nice little bite courtesy of of some cucumbers and onions I'd marinated in white vinegar and sea salt for about an hour. Reminds me of summer as a kid for some reason. Well, I know the reason. My mom always made that. Anyway, it was awesome.

THE KITCHEN SINK

I was at a little after work event last night and while I was away, Meena got going on a whole-wheat pizza spectacular.

She's not often the one handling the dough when we make pizzas so according to her reports, she struggled a bit to get it in the right shape. No biggie in my personal opinion. As long as it cooks, the shape is irrelevant.

When it came time to top this sucker, she threw the kitchen sink at it. We got:
- chicken jalapeno sausage
- shrimp
- smoked mozzarella
- marinara
- yellow bell pepper
- onion
- spinach
- broccoli

It's funny because looking back at this list, it doesn't seem like a ton of ingredients. It's not, really. I guess it was just the quantity of the list. Because this was a STACKED pizza, friends. Eating two slices was like eating half a pizza. And it was awesome.

I threw a bunch of sriracha and sambal oelek on mine as well and the spice really helped tie everything together.

Fantastic pizza from my lovely wife.

BACHELOR NIGHT

This isn't the first time I've noted this trend, but when Meena is out for dinner and I'm left to eat whatever's in the fridge, my main goals are quick, simple and delicious.

In my experience, quesadillas are almost always able to deliver on those three tenets.

The lowly quesadilla. It's the fodder of movie jokes and the most common appetizer on every tex-mex menu around the globe. But it can be good. It really can. And last night I think I made a pretty delicious one.

I started by cooking down a few ingredients:
- cabbage
- onion
- spinach
- garlic
- chicken jalapeno sausage
- rice vinegar
- sea salt

Once I had all of that cooked I threw it in a whole wheat tortilla and added a couple slivers of that smoked mozzarella. I cooked off both sides and then topped it off with a bit of sour cream, salsa and sambal oelek.

This one worked out according to plan. I liked having all the veg and minimal cheese. I think so often these things are drowning in cheese and that's all you really taste. I used a couple slivers for the sake of tradition and kept my focus on the veg.

The veg really sung with that vinegar pop and gave the cheese a run for its money as the mayor of flavor town. The whole thing came together with the addition of the smooth sour cream spicy salsa.

Not bad for a bachelor night.

SUPER SALAD

Folks, we just ate the best salad we've ever created in this kitchen. I know it's become a bit of a trend in this house to make these overstuffed dinner salads, but this one was just the best. I promise.

We started with a bit of the beef tenderloin we'd had in the freezer. We thawed a steak and coated both sides with blackening spice. We gave both sides a hit on the skillet before finishing in the oven while we prepared everything else.

In a bowl we threw together:
- mixed greens
- tomato
- bleu cheese
- white onion
- avocado
- dressing (canola oil, garlic, rice vinegar, sea salt, black pepper)
- toasted whole-wheat tortilla
- prosciutto

SUCCESS! That spicy, tender steak, while minimal in size, was just exploding with flavor. It was spicy and just perfectly bitter. What you'd expect from blackened tenderloin, I'd say.

And all the other ingredients really reacted well to Meena's dressing. They were all enhanced and showed the best side of themselves when mixed through our salad bowls.

Fantastic - we'll definitely follow this recipe again - I have a feeling I'm going to crave it.

THE DARK SIDE

You know what's awesome? Blackening spice is awesome.

I'd had this recipe for blackening spice for a couple years and back when we lived in the East Village, I remember making it a few times. Well, jump cut to now and here we are thinking about that lovely mixture of sugar, salt, cayenne, paprika, black pepper, chili powder, oregano and basil again.

See, we had this salmon fillet in the fridge and we didn't know what to do with it. We obviously cook salmon a lot and we have a variety of ways we can prepare it in our repertoire. But blackening hadn't come up in a minute and the second it was mentioned, we knew - that was it.

So I whipped up the mix I described above and gave that salmon a tour of the skillet followed by a blast of the oven to finish it off.

Then those lovely, spicy fishes went down on the following sandwich fixings:
- red onion
- tomato
- greens
- sesame mayo
- radish kimchee
- pumpernickel baguette

Well, we've done a very nice job here. The spicy fish ... the kimchee kick and the smooth sesame mayo. The resistance of the pumpernickel and the sweet summer tomato.

Perfect.

On the side of this successful sandwich Meena threw in another one of her awesome salads. Mixed greens, tomato, onion and that awesome dressing. Lovely way to close out a nice, long weekend.

TACO NIGHT!

Asian taco night, that is! I know we've been doing this a ton lately, but man, it's just so good and just so delicious.

I had to work a little later on Friday and Meena was off early, so she was kind enough to get it started and take care of most of the annoying prep for this one.

On my way home, I dropped by Korea Town and picked up a couple little treats that I knew would just go perfectly with this sucker - spicy daikon and radish kimchee. It smelled to high hell but it was otherworldly delicious.

When I got to the crib, I threw together some veg in a pan:
- spinach
- broccoli
- white onion
- red onion
- shrimp
- mushrooms

I threw just a bit of some Annie's stir fry sauce on the top as I finished them up to give the whole mix a nice sesame flavor.

With a couple whole wheat tortillas warmed through in the oven and a dose of sriracha ... these suckers were out of sight. Just brilliant. After a long week, it was the perfect way to usher in the weekend.

BETTER FOR US?

It's not that I stacked the deck against this new Trader Joe's whole wheat crust, it's just that its deep brown hue gave me the feeling that we were about to eat some delicious toppings on a slice of cardboard.

It wasn't quite that bad, but I'm not sure we'll be selecting this variety any longer. It was crisp through the center and the edges gave that nice bounce you'd expect from a slice handle, but the taste was just a little off. I guess the problem was that it was TOO powerful. You want a crust to be subtle, I think. You want to taste it, but you don't want it to be the ONLY thing you taste.

Anyway, that was the crust.

After one blast in the 500 degree oven, I coated the dough in the following:
- marinara
- crimini mushrooms
- spinach
- red onion
- applewood smoked mozzarella
- apple and chardonnay chicken sausage
- sea salt
- black pepper

So that was that. The ingredients definitely saved what could have been a slide into pizza disaster. That's a strong word. I didn't mean that. It wouldn't have been a disaster. But that crust. Just not great. We'll go back to the other variety next time. FOR SURE.

AWESOME MEAL IN MINUTES

Awesome. Just awesome. We got home and had this one on the table in under 20 minutes. So fast, so, so, so delicious.

Meena picked up a bit of turkey kielbasa at Trader Joe's the other day and was kind enough to chop a few bell peppers and white onions last night. When we got home, I threw all three on the grill pan and got lovely grill marks on everything.

Meena threw two ears of corn in some boiling, salted water. And she chopped some tomato and carrots for a quick salad that was topped with her classic dressing (canola oil, garlic, sea salt, black pepper, rice vinegar).

Just before serving, I reduced some balsamic vinegar to drizzle over the plated kielbasa and pepper/onion medley. That thick, syrupy sauce gave each bite a ... bite. A sweet, sour vinegar punch that went tremendously with that smoky sausage and charred veg.

This one was a clear winner. Score one for the good guys.

NEVER AGAIN

I spent the weekend in Milford, PA doing a bit of camping with the broze. I was hoping to have a few images but I don't really. Rest assured, I ate a lot of hot dogs, hamburgers, pickles and chips. My sodium levels are through the roof. And my back hurts. But I had a blast and can now say I've rafted the Delaware River. Cool, right?

When I got back, Meena had some gear ready to grill up a bit of salmon. The only problem? The Trader Joe's frozen salmon was total crap.

We tried to get it right on the grill pan and serve it up with a bit of TJ's fresh salsa, but it still just wasn't right. The side of corn and Meena's delicious garden salad were enough to save things, but suffice it to say, no more frozen salmon from TJ's.

ANOTHER SUCCESS STORY

That's right. Another win with Trader Joe's pizza crust. I don't know why I didn't trust it, but for some reason, when you roll this stuff out, it just doesn't look right. But it is. So, so right.

This time around, we threw on:
- red bell pepper
- marinara
- chicken sausage
- le fournols
- spinach
- marinara
- shiitake mushrooms

And Meena whipped up a salad of mixed greens and avocado and finished it off with her dressing (canola oil, sea salt, black pepper, garlic and rice vinegar).

Another great one.

DEL MAR

These salads are becoming a staple for us, right? I know it's weird and they don't always look so incredible in photos, but I promise, these dinner salads we've been whipping up have been excellent. With little exception, really. Lots of great ingredients usually spell dining success.

This effort featured the following mix:
- red bell pepper
- white onion
- avocado
- seafood mix (squid, scallops and shrimp)
- dressing (fish sauce, garlic, brown sugar, canola oil, sriracha and lime)
- leaf lettuce

You know, I was skeptical of the Trader Joe's seafood mix. It looked puny when we threw it in the pan. I figured it would be rubbery and tough, but I'm happy to report I was 100% wrong. The diminutive size was just right for the salad and every bite was pretty spot on. The squid was almost perfect. And that never happens.

Solid effort. It doesn't look all that special in the photo above, but again, trust me - this one was rich (avocado) and full of sweet and salty flavor (dressing) while somehow managing to feel a bit light (seafood?) at the same time. We'll make it again.

URBAN GRILLING

Despite its weight, Meena and I managed to get the lovely grill pan we received for our wedding in our suitcase on Sunday afternoon. After months of salivating over this awesome piece of iron, we finally have it in Brooklyn ... and we couldn't wait to break it out.

We decided to fire this sucker up (after we cleaned it) and throw a bunch of veg and shrimp on for some more of those awesome Asian tacos. These featured:
- red bell pepper
- white onion
- spinach
- shiitake mushrooms
- shrimp
- sea salt
- black pepper

We served these lovely, charred ingredients with some lettuce wraps and our last two Trader Joe's whole-wheat tortillas. I also whipped up a sauce that featured:
- ginger
- garlic
- honey
- soy sauce
- sriracha
- sesame oil

Pretty fantastic, folks. The grilled veg had all those lovely grill marks and wonderful charred flavors. The sauce was a little spicy, a little salty and just a touch sweet. Everything we love in this house.

We're glad to be back (though we miss home a lot) and even happier to have our grill pan. Expect to see more grilled goodness throughout the summer!

NEW AVENUE

We ran out of our pizza dough from Fresh Direct and we recently opted to test out Trader Joe's offering. Much larger in its standard size, I was a little worried we wouldn't end up with the crispy crust and texture we'd been perfecting in recent weeks.

Turns out my worries were unfounded. This stuff is A+.

After working out the dough and giving it one round on the pizza stone, I pulled out the half-baked crust and topped it with:
- marinara
- chicken jalapeño sausage
- onion
- red bell pepper
- shiitake mushrooms
- sea salt
- black pepper
- chives
- le fournols cheese

Ding, Ding. We have another winner, dudes. The crust, after maxin' and relaxin' in the 500 degree oven for around 15 minutes came out golden and crisp. Each slice came apart solid and firm, but when you took a bite, the interiors were soft, bouncy and full of those good pizza crust bubbles.

As far as the toppings were concerned, the cheese really stood out. Why? It was really stinky. This one was a super stinky, dirty socks kind of cheese. But ... in a good way. If that's possible.

But yeah, I think we're cool with the Trader Joe's crust and we'll be rockin' it from here on out.

Meena also threw together a simple salad. It featured some spinach and campari tomatoes with her classic dressing (canola oil, garlic, sea salt, rice vinegar and black pepper). Tasty as always.

We're off to MKE for the weekend - hope to get you some updates but I make no promises. But definitely expect some burgers and dogs when we get back!

CHINESE TACOS?

I guess that's the best description for these lovely little packages of flavor Meena envisioned yesterday. She said it was mu shu shrimp, and I suppose that's correct. We didn't have a couple of the ingredients that would have been required to officially call it mu shu, but whatever. This was our version.

We didn't have hoisin, so I made a little sauce:
- brown sugar
- honey
- soy sauce
- sriracha
- garlic
- rice vinegar

Then Meena started some veg on the pan. Those included:
- broccoli slaw
- white onion
- shiitake mushroom
- spinach
- yellow bell pepper

At the last second we mixed through a bit of shrimp and served the whole shebang up with whole wheat tortillas and lots of sriracha.

And ... I guess you have Chinese tacos, right? Maybe? I don't know. That's what we're going with.

Not bad, though. The spice went really well with the sweet, garlic-tinged veggies. And the whole wheat tortillas were really outstanding. I don't know what Trader Joe's is up to ... but they've done something special with whole wheat here.

These will return. Mark my words.

SALAD ROUND TWO

We got lucky at Fairway. Really lucky. As we were wandering through the aisles and dodging the droves of people doing the same, we happened upon something pretty awesome ... beef tenderloin for $4.99 a pound.

We picked up a few pounds and hightailed it back to Carroll Gardens. We'd had plans to make a pizza or something but when this new detail came to light, we had to regroup, you know?

Salad. Yep. We decided to bring back the super dinner salad we'd rocked last week and boy, oh, boy did it benefit from those lovely bits of steak!

When we got home, I marinated the steak in soy, garlic, ketchup, sesame oil, fish sauce and water.

A few hours later, we started grilling veggies in a mix of cumin, chili powder, sea salt and olive oil. Those veg included:
- red pepper
- red onion

Then we grilled up some shrimps in a similar spice mix and threw that tenderloin on the side.

While all that was heating up I got rolling on an avocado and Meena threw together her dressing (canola oil, garlic, rice vinegar, sea salt and black pepper).

Mix all of that through with some field greens and what do you have? Something pretty decadent. And one heck of a way to close out the weekend.

AN INCREDIBLE SALAD

I'm not sure how we managed to do this, but somehow we really worked out an incredible salad last night. I'm not a big fan of the dinner salad. Honestly. It just never feels like enough. It might taste good, but so often, you wind up digging through the pantry an hour later.

Well, this one was equal parts satisfying and filling. Meena and I teamed up on a good one here, dudes. A good one that'll probably make a comeback or two.

We started with a bunch of veg on a hot, hot pan:
- red onion
- yellow bell pepper

I mixed those lovely bits with a bunch of chili powder, basil, cumin, sea salt and a bit of olive oil. The went on the pan and sizzled and stewed for a bit.

Then I mixed through some halved shrimp with the same seasoning mix and a bit of sriracha and added them to the same pan and killed the heat.

While the shrimp warmed through, I sliced up some avocado and Meena toasted up some whole wheat pita and made a bit of a dressing:
- canola oil
- garlic
- cumin
- rice wine vinegar
- sea salt
- black pepper

And at the end, we threw it all together over a romaine mix and plated it up.

Whew. What a salad. Creamy avocado, spicy peppers, onions and shrimp. And that nice and crispy/chewy pita. Fantastic.

ANOTHER GREAT MEENA MEAL

My wife is the best. I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it. In fact, I'll yell it when she whips up delicious stuff like this incredible shrimp curry.

She's tried this one before and I'm happy to see it make a comeback in a slightly different execution.

This time around she threw in:
- shrimp
- broccoli and carrot slaw
- light coconut milk
- onion
- brown rice
- soy sauce
- rice wine vinegar
- sodium-free chicken broth
- corn starch
- garlic
- spinach
- sambal oelek

Whew! I spiced mine up a touch with some sriracha and boy, oh boy. This one had that rare combination of making me feel exceedingly full while remaining completely satisfying.

Oh so awesome. Meen, I'm going to request this one again, too. Beware!

MEENA'S WORLD FAMOUS MEATLOAF

I was treated to something special last night, friends. I was served what I will now refer to as Meena's World Famous Meatloaf from now until the end of time.

Because in my mind, it is just that. It's delicious, friends, this much I promise you.

She started with a bit of veg:
- broccoli slaw
- spinach
- shiitake mushrooms
- soy sauce
- chicken broth
- sea salt
- black pepper
- sriracha

All those lovely, crunch greens got the sautee treatment before being paired with the main event ... the turkey meatloaf. Here's what went in:
- ground turkey
- oatmeal
- worcestershire sauce
- garlic
- sea salt
- black pepper
- fat-free yogurt
- egg
- ketchup
- onion
- sriracha

All that went in the oven for around 50 minutes at about 400 degrees. Wow.

The thing was moist, perfectly bound, full of flavor and from what I hear, not that bad for me either. Who knew?

Thanks, wife. Just beware, I'm going to request this one again soon.