Quarantining: Cooking as My Love Language

I'm one of those who thrives on words of affirmation, but I also appreciate acts of service. Most definitely, I express my care for the people I love by an act of service, which coincides with my love of cooking. Hubs brought home some beautiful tomatoes, and the one below, a Chianti Rose, had split. I had originally put it aside to blend up in my Vitamix to make into marinara, but then decided to slice up half and had a bite and took the other half out of blender to use the whole thing for a salad. It was that DELICIOUS and sweet and juicy. I dressed it simply and rained sea salt and chopped basil and drizzled balsamic vinegar and olive oil on the tomato.

I had also found a 1/3 of a bag of scallops and thawed it the night before. I love any kind of seafood pasta, and set a pot of salted water to boil linguine, chopped garlic and scallions and garlic chives and parsley, zested and squeezed juice from a lemon, and caramelized the scallops to a light golden brown in olive oil.

 

I moved too fast and was too involved in the process to show in this post the sauteeing of the aromatics and then deglazing of the pan with wine and lemon juice and then simmering with cream to drive off moisture. I lastly nestled the scallops into the pasta. No waste! I know I had fried the baby artichokes at least a week ago, but reheated in the oven, they were still delicious. Below is how I show my love.

I had intended to make a plum galette, but nope. I was too inebriated from drinking the rest of the Chardonnay (two big glasses) and decided to refry the pinto beans I had boiled that afternoon. I dug in in the fridge for peppers and bone broth and grabbed a yellow onion and a couple of Green Zebra tomatoes.

While chopping the tomatoes, I sauteed the onion and peppers in reserved bacon fat.

You know how I hate to waste? I had bought a new bunch of cilantro, and so chopped the older bunch including stems to add to my stewing beans. And let that baby simmer until bedtime.

Carnitas burritos, we're ready for you.