Radish Salad and Pea Soup with Chevre

I never got any presents like a giant bag of just-picked radishes from my neighbors at 223 Manhattan Ave. But I came home to that a few days ago in my new city!

This is part of the reason San Francisco is The Best. 

I am on a radish kick right now, so I felt pretty bowled over and ready to stuff my face with this recipe I've been ogling: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/recipe-of-the-day-radish-salad/

I also felt the need to put the kibosh on a bag of frozen peas now that fresh ones are all up in my space, so I whizzed them together with homemade veggie stock, fresh mint and a healthy dose of salt and pepper.

Finally, I got a riotously tasty fresh chèvre from Bi-Rite (thank you, girl with short hair, for the rec as I stared blankly at the cheese wall). I dolloped it on the soup and also smeared that all over a baguette (for good measure) and called this my first Perfect Spring Dinner of 2011.

Ain't Nothin' But a Whole Fish, Baby

Subtitled: Seeing Red

Sarah is cool. She's dating a Croatian. Which means whole roasted, salt-crusted fish done like it ain't no thang. See that giant red snapper? I'll admit I was scared. No need. Its dead, roasted eyes cooked into its head, and the flesh got all tender and juicy and succulent and not remotely fishy. It may have been the best home-cooked fish I've ever had.

Then we continued on the red theme with all these luscious red vegetables roasted again (bless Sarah and her not-as-sultry-as-mine apartment which somehow remained fairly cool despite the oven reaching over 400 degrees for a solid 45 minutes).

And THEN--during a heated (haha, get it! *heated*! i mean shit it was hot out) debate on Obama, she unveiled the coup de grace, a Saveur-special Hungarian sour cherry cake with lemon gelato that was so delectable I shoved about three entire pieces in my mouth the next day, with no regard for Josiah and his desire to sample some.

Garrrr. Sarah is a really, really good cook.

Thirst-Quenching Salad Supper

Ohh, what a long afternoon of whiskey and beer and horse racing and betting and hot, hot sunshine will do to you. A giant crystal decanter of cold water couldn't begin to quench my thirst, so I made a salad of all sorts of delicious, fresh and watery items--all conveniently leftover from the day's pan bagna.

Olives, tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, basil, a bit of hard-boiled egg, some olive oil and salt and pepper... a juicy, delicate big salad that hydrated and satiated. "Oh! 'Ello, Summah!"

Lunch to Belmont

Check it. Ça c'est un pan bagna, et ça c'est délicieux! I won't link to a particular recipe for this Provençal creation because there are too many variations, but look it up, and make it, and be happy. We shoved this down our throats on the train to Belmont Stakes with a bit of homebrew, and it was all happiness.

The 22.5LB Wild Striped Bass: Part II

Here's the second meal from our friend, now affectionately known as Albert, the giant striped bass. I will admit to having turned up my nose to fish tacos almost all my life, but this was a game changer. Honestly, the fish wasn't remotely fishy or stinky, even when it got dredged in flour and some seasoning and then lightly fried. Fried fish! Under my own roof! Well, I never...

Then we splashed copious amounts of fresh lemon juice on the succulent little fish bits, and lots of lime on the avocado and cilantro and salted, julienned radishes and chopped onion (very, very conveniently, I had all of these on hand except for the avocado--in fact, having all these ingredients was my impetus for actually giving fried fish a go). Rounding out the lovely little color spectrum was a deep blue-gray tortilla and a chilly, pale pink Chinon rosé.