I had it in my head to restock the nonna's sauce in the freezer and also make a gumbo so that I could clean out some of those many tubs of shrimp or crab or duck stock. And while I was there, I figured I should stock up on ricotta gnocchi too, which are easy but take time.
We had gone to the old house to clean out the garage but I had intended to go to the Dekalb FM to stock up on things for my cooking. I gave Josh an out since he looked hot and tired. And so I braved the DFM on my own, navigating my cart through loitering children and dumb adults. In the end, I got a good booty and it was not the worst solo experience I have had there, but when you forget something... it sucks when you have to go back to a whole other section.
The nonna's sauce comes together easily. The chicken browned beautifully -- more beautifully than it ever had before -- on the electric stove. I actually had browned bits on the bottom of the pan. I sauteed the veg, cooked it down, and put it into the oven to simmer. An hour later, it was done. I think it might be the richest tasting one yet. And Josh is excited about the chicken, which I also think it pretty damn good.
Now that I'm thinking about it, I put all those sauces in the freezer with labels. I should go fix that.
And then, as luck would have it, they had branzino! I picked out a good-lookin' one, which ended up being a 1.6 pounder! Hot diggity. I scaled and cleaned it and stuffed it with thyme, lemon, and onion, as usual. 20 minutes in the oven at 400. I also slashed through to the bone on both sides since the fish was so thick.
The fish came out beautifully.
Because there was so much fish, I made a large salad for Josh and I basically just ate fish and a little salad.
The salsa verde, which I had completely forgotten but Josh reminded me!, turned out incredibly well. I pillaged my parsley plants (I don't think two is enough) and still didn't think I had enough parsley but the balance was still okay. I did not break into my capers and anchovies in salt yet, choosing to finish out the rest of what I already had. It was magnificent.
A delicious meal. I was so happy.
Today, Josh requested eggs ("just eggs, no cheese, okay?") with Pine Street country sausage. I am also going to make that gumbo and some ricotta gnocchi. And check on all my plants.
In other news, we've stopped putting out bird seed because of the woodland creatures. I hate them.
It's getting late, and I'm all caught up on blogging for now, so catch you after some of that cooking is done. Have a great day!
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