Spiedini, Leeks Vinaigrette, lots o' good wine

It is such a treat to still adore my husband after all these years; in fact, I adore him even more all the time. But I digress from dinner. ;) T grilled the shrimp after I tossed them together in a Mardi Gras confetti-like mixture of purple basil, parsley, breadcrumbs, salt, pepp and olive oil. They were lovely, and I made leeks vinaigrette for a side. Also lovely. I just looove leeks. They are so good for you and also so flavorful and easy to deal with. Braise them? Sure. Chop them for a confit? Sure. Mix with goat cheese in something/anything? Please.

We finally ate outside on our deck that, yes, was finally completed properly! The temp dipped just enough to ward off all mosquitoes, and T's outdoor speakers add so much out there. We drank a bottle of Grgich Zin which was woody enough to trick you from guessing Zin but peppery enough to make you think twice about that guess and just so nice all around. It went well with the rosemary skewers in the shrimp.

I didn't get around to making the pear-rosemary danish I wanted to for dessert, but I did recall that we still had Reina de Saba in the freezer and who doesn't enjoy a chocolate-almond cake at any time? It was perfect.

Spiedini alla Romagnola

To continue along the course of the rosemary & Italian yumminess commenced last night with the schiacciata, tonight I will be making Mario Batali's Spiedini alla Romagnola, or Rosemary Shrimp. Romagnola refers to Romagna, the eastern part of the Emilia-Romagna region in Italy. As you may be able to see on this map, E-R abuts Toscana, from which schiacciata hails. During a recent Whole Foods one day sale, we bought multiple pounds of huge, gorgeous shrimp, and this recipe sounds like a fabulous way to highlight them. My cousin, Jill, brought this recipe to my attention; many thanks NOLA cous.

In essence, you toss shrimp in a blend of basil, parsley, bread crumbs, salt/pepper, and olive oil, thread them onto large rosemary sprigs that have soaked in water for a while, and pop them on the grill. It doesn't seem possible that you could go wrong here.

Off to enjoy my compost salad lunch and post the recipe for the grape focaccia/schiacciata from last night.

Fabulous breakfast, terrible Congressional move

I just cannot put into words how marvelous a bowl of fresh ricotta and fresh poached figs is for breakfast. I was nearly speechless as I savored each bite this morning. For DC area folks, organic figs are on sale for $2.99 a box at the Chevy Chase Whole Foods; while that's a good deal commercially, it does make me long for and even more appreciative of free fig-picking with foodie friend C at her neighbor's house. Man! On the flip side of this delightfulness is the current ridiculousness of the Congressional act that is mandating the printing of dollar coins representing each president. No one wants dollar coins, but Congress hasn't repealed the printing law so to the tune of $300 million, these coins are being made and then stored in large warehouses. Really? It's amazing that we get anything done in this country.

Off to hack my way through pilates.