So many great food things happened this week! We finally tried the sake at Brooklyn Kura, a local sake brewery. Yum! Our favorite was the “Prospect,” a “classic ginjo with a dry finish.”
Later in the weekend, we had some friends over for dinner, and I cooked an Ottolenghi-inspired feast. We had spicy carrot salad with feta and pistachios, chicken and fennel salad with saffron orange paste and fresh herbs, Greek fava (yellow split pea) dip with caramelized onion and crispy sausage (recipe coming soon, I promise!), baba ghanouj, and Swiss chard tahini dip. With lots of pita and olives, of course. Stone fruit–rhubarb hand pies with vanilla ice cream were for dessert. Here’s Andrew with our guests (and terrible lighting):
Also this weekend, I decided to figure out if frying shishitos in bacon fat and eating them on top of pimiento cheese toasts would be good. Guess what, it was! With all the cooking that’s been happening, I didn’t have quite as much time for writing, so I’ll leave you with this recipe, and leave a longer post for another day. Hope you enjoy!
Pimiento Cheese Toasts with Bacon-Fat Shishito Peppers
For the pimiento cheese (adapted from Ed Lee’s Smoke and Pickles)
- 14 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 small clove garlic, crushed
- 1 4 oz. jar pimientos, drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise (Duke’s or Hellman’s)
- 1 dash Worcestershire sauce (or more, to taste)
- 1 dash hot sauce like Frank’s or Texas Pete (or more, to taste)
- salt and pepper, to taste
- In a large bowl, mix all ingredients until well combined. Adjust seasoning, adding more Worcestershire, hot sauce, salt, and pepper to taste.
For the shishito peppers
- Follow my recipe for blistered shishito peppers here, subbing bacon fat for the oil!
For the toasts
- miche bread, sliced thick
- pimiento cheese
- blistered shishito peppers
- Toast the bread, smear with too much pimiento cheese, top with shishitos (take off the stems if you like), devour.
lofigourmet.com 