Okra!

I love okra so much.  I love the seeds, the slime, the crunch, the taste.  I would marry it!  And I'm especially loving of all it's variations and applications, pickled, thickening agent in gumbo and last but not least FRIED!  Today I picked my first two lovely okra from my garden and ran upstairs snatching one lovely green tomato from my neighbor's plant :) and started lunch...I'll double the recipe for you.
4 okra, 1/2 inch slices
2 green tomato sliced
1 1/2 cup canola
2 egg yolks mixed with touch of buttermilk, cream or milk
1/2 cup flour mixed with 1/2 cup of corn flour
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
cracked pepper to taste
cayenne to taste
garlic powder to taste
I set up two plates-one for the flour and one for the flour mixture with the spices and salt included, a bowl for the egg mixture and a wide pan with at least 1 to 2 inch tall walls for with the oil.  I also lay out paper towels on a sheet tray for the fried yummies to release some of those oils...Heat the oil to 350.  In the meantime dip items to be fried in flour, then coat in egg mixture, then coat with flour/spice mixture...Fry several pieces at a time to keep temperature consistent, too many pieces will drop it down and too high a flame and too little pieces at a time with get the oil too hot and you don't want it to smoke or burn...
If I'm frying big patches I use several trays with paper towels and use the oven as a warmer.  I also try not to layer the fried items on top of one another so they don't get soggy...
I didn't feel like making a sauce from scratch so I took some condiments from the fridge and went wild...Mayo, siracha, and chopped parsley did the trick.
That's it.  Lots of the farmers at the markets have okra right now so don't pass it up because there is even more to do with it that what I've mentioned.

17 Courses and Counting!

When I began my Underground Dining my intention was a ten course tasting menu but it never quite made it to ten, it was always a solid twelve.   Then as time went on it grew to 14, 15...And as menu 3 hit I began to get those "staple," "money" dishes that guests raved about like shrimp noodle scampi, the mushroom tea course, and white truffle Yukon gold potato pierogi and I haven't been able to part with them.  The summer menu is currently 17 courses and this month of August there may even be 18 on the occasional lucky night.  I have a new fun plating technique which is in the works and lands right on the guest's hand that I hope to incorporate as one of the first courses when One Sister becomes above ground at Elizabeth Restaurant.  Remember that name, cause that will be her!

New Ingredients...

Salt and aroma-from your own hand....

Squash pollen...

3 month cured pork belly...

Stay tuned!  Come to dinner soon!  By mid august the dinners will be 19 courses!  Right now it's 15-17, best deal in town.

Summer Menu Part 2

Quesadilla

bubble tea

Salad Sponge

Honeys, goat milk, homegrown

Tomatoes

manchego-edamame, nasturtium, spice cubes

Hanging

Smoked watermelon, roe

Pierogi

Potato, truffle, homemade cheese

Shrimp Carpaccio

almonds, peaches, herbs

Elotes

encapsulated, salsa verde, black beans

Farm and Garden

Pork, snail, veggies

1 Pill Makes You Larger and 1 Pill Makes You Small

Shrimp Scampi

noodle

Oatmeal Dashi

chia seeds

Hand-cut Pasta

quail, duck, raspberry

Ice Cream Cone

Lamb Prosciutto

fennel, radish, corned leg

Veal Cheeks

hot mustard, granola, cherries

Cake and Custard

zucchini, honey dew, banana pepper

Chocolate Balls

blueberries, eggs, onions

Food Porn Part 2

Check out more great dinner photos taken by the fantastic photographer Jennifer Moran.  The photos in this link, which you can access by clicking on the caption of the photo below or Jennifer's name, are in the public gallery of my dinners on her website.  In this gallery you will see a progression of pictures from my spring menu into a vegan dinner I held followed by the most recent pictures of my summer menu which begins about page 7, enjoy!

8 spiced duck breast, granola, bok choy, cherry spheres, pickled cherries, duck reduction,  spicy Thai peanut marshmallow

The Beauty!

I love harvesting.  From my Indiana garden today I pulled kale, lettuce, mustard greens, snap peas, and strawberries.  I have dinner sides for the next week and lots of preserves to make.  So excited.

Water and Weed!

...That's how my garden grows!  With luck this year I should have three turns out of my square foot gardens.  I've already had half of it turn with all my wonderful baby greens only to plant some more in hopes that I'll get them to shoot up and get some pretty flowers from the arugula.  My radishes were lovely.  In just a small space I have and/or will have nasturtium, raspberries, radish, kale, snap peas, honey dew, zucchini, dill, leaf lettuce, mesculin lettuces, okra, cucumber, shiso, basil, parsley, borage, beets, turnips, strawberries and brussel sprouts.  And that's not to mention all my tiny greens like pea shoots, corn sprouts, sunflower greens, radish, mung, and peanut sprouts.  So don't forget to visit me at the Andersonville market and pick up pierogi because what I don't get to use at my dinners I sometimes have little presents for my regulars.
Some of the weeds I like to leave in my garden are sorrel-pretty heart shaped leaves that have a lovely burst of lemon flavor, these bloom with pods and yellow flowers that are also edible and purslane which has a rubbery greenish-redish quality, again a beautiful bright lemony element to them...