Cleaning House

Sorry to those of you who might have checked on Wednesday for my weekly update. I meant to post, but this week has been really crazy and continues to be, as we are packing up our apartment and preparing to move to Paraguay! It's been exhausting and we are not even close to done yet with only a few days to go. We've been eating pretty well though, and very often. I'm trying to avoid throwing out any food, so I've been cooking every day to use up all the ingredients in the pantry, fridge and freezer. Here's the recap:

A chicken torso (without legs, thighs, or wings) was left over from the paella last week, some tandoori paste left from the grill-fest a few weeks ago, and the last of some homemade yogurt combined to make tandoori roasted chicken breast. We experimented with the naan and found that it comes out much better on the flat iron grill than in the oven on the baking stone. It rose beautifully and came out soft on the grill, while it was tough and cardboard-like on the baking stone. Go figure.
Basil and red chard from the farmers market went into this red chard and sausage ravioli with basil pesto.
The rest of the italian sausage went into a broccoli rabe and italian sausage pizza with fresh mozzarella.
Next was crab cakes with fresh shelled peas and fava beans and some radishes and curly lettuce from the farmers market, with a whole-grain mustard and lime dressing. These crab cakes were awesome, and used up a bit of old baguette. The recipe is actually from Martha Stewart's hors d'oeuvre book, also a worthwhile investment.
As promised some weeks ago, the home-made lard I rendered for the chipas found their way into some home-made flour tortillas. They came out perfect, flaky and light, and ideal for these free range beef fajitas. I used the last of some canned tomatoes to make a quick-cooked salsa with green chiles.
Plated
The next night I was too exhausted to cook, but by the time we got to dinner it was too late to order out, and we were starving. So I threw a box of beef broth into a pot with pho herbs and spices, some dried shitakes, and the last of our dried udon noodles for an improvised dinner of vietnamese spiced udon with peas. It was decent considering how improvised it was, though a little on the salty side, and could have stood the addition of some actual beef or at least tofu.
We bought a Pullman-shaped loaf of brioche for sandwiches at the farmers market last saturday which was absolutely perfect as a toasted base for some crabcake leftovers and spicy tuna sandwiches. The nasturtiums started blooming on the balcony too, so I'm trying to enjoy them while we have a chance. I love the idea of eating a flower, and nasturtiums are peppery and delicious.
The leftover flour tortillas made for some breakfast quesadillas with scrambled egg, green chile, and the last of the misfit alpine cheese.
The leftover dough from the broccoli rabe pizza was the base of our lunch today, which I've got to say was even better. I made pesto from the garlic scapes we got last saturday at the market and the last of the pine nuts from the pantry, and topped the pizza with the pesto, ricotta cheese, and the very first of the summer's tomatoes (hothouse grown and coaxed into complete ripeness in a paper bag on our counter) and some chopped basil. This was an amazing pizza. And as excited as I am to go to paraguay, I'm really very sad to miss the tomato season here. We go into a tomato feeding frenzy during the month of august, and every meal is something tomato related: salsas, gazpacho, pasta with fresh tomato sauce, caprese salad, bruschetta, tomato sandwiches, it goes on and on.

I find it really satisfying to use up the last bits of things and clean out my kitchen that way. It seems like its all accelerating now that we've only got a few days left in this apartment, but there is still a lot of food in the fridge and freezer.