More grocery shopping

Wow , I was in Pathmark and was shocked at how much a box of pasta was. Just a simple box of linguine. I really do get my food at DinnerSmith so it had been some time since I shopped for myself in Pathmark. Lets spread the word about how DinnerSmith feeds a family of most every night of the week for the whole month for $518. Get the milkman to come (973-595-0214) and save yourself all trips to the grocery store. Whole Saturdays could be liberated. Rising prices at the gas pump and the grocery store are scary: I cannot think about the cost of fuel oil.

I am looking forward to helping folks manage their food budget this fall.

Grocery shopping

People are curious about where we shop....especially when they see us at the local supermarket.

Mostly we shop at a restaurant supply or a wholesale produce place in large quantities. For special Asian spices or Indian spices, we go to those Asian markets like Kam Man in East Hanover and the Indian stores in Edison. Aren't I worried that you could go there too? Not really. You might have space to store the bottles and jars of what will be leftover after you use the tablespoon you need for the recipe. Also when it goes bad, it goes to waste. At DinnerSmith we save you that waste because we know we will finish the whole bottle of fish sauce or lemon grass in a short time. Sometimes we need things in a hurry...we run out of red peppers. Then we run over to Pathmark or Whole Foods or very often Super Stop and Shop. We really try to buy appropriate quantities because we deal in freshness, as well as convenience. Also we do eat the food ourselves and we eat a lot of research.

Sometime you will see us buy one vegetable or one fruit. That's usually research. For instance we are working on the Vietnamese noodle soup called Pho. In this case, there are a lot of ingrediants that are not currently on the menu and we are not sure how this will turn out so the purchasing is very limited. Well, except for the case of thread noodles. As a preview, so far the stuff is awesome! Rich broth yummy noodles and crunchy veg are the base of this great south east asian soup.

We have been getting an education in Vietnamese cuisine from one of the guys who has been close to Dinnersmith since before it opened: Lam Nyugen. He is responsible for the Coconut Curry with Shrimp and Chicken and assisted in Grilled Thai Pork Chops. The curry is back for September; celebrate back to school with this great meal. Lam has taken Sharon to some restaurants to help understand the cuisine of his family. I will ask her to blog about what they ate and Lam's advice in local restaurants.

We are keeping most of our international menu from August thru September. Come and get dinner from different cultures to share with your family! It is great to be back after a long summer!

Basil

We talk all the time at DinnerSmith about the high quality of our food. If you have had our pesto, you have heard that it is made in our kitchen.

That is true....Fran works very hard: she carefully washes all the basil leaves and gets them into the oil as soon as they arrive in the store. She uses two different kinds of olive oil and then adds the sun-dried tomatoes. We snack on the stuff and taste test each batch.

This summer there has been a new twist. Our good friend and gardener extraordinaire, Sue Sayers, has been growing bushels of the stuff and we have been turning the raw basil into pesto. When you have our turkey burgers or our stuffed tenderloin, you will be tasting a pesto beyond compare, very fresh and very pure.

Side note: no pine nuts or walnuts.

Alison asks for Vegetable Lasagna

At DinnnerSmith, we are "all about" our customers. When a customer asks us to look into something new, we do our best to diligently research and painstakingly
evaluate the potential of each request. So, when Alison wrote to
tell us about a "to die for" no-pasta vegetable lasagna she had
tasted in Livingston, naturally, there was really only one thing
we could do...

Road Trip!

Off we went today to the Livingston Diner (360 E
Northfield Rd; Livingston). This place was really buzzing for a
Tuesday lunch. Fran, Sharon and I were seated at a wonderful
semi-circle booth. The menu is one of those great diner-style
menus featuring traditional Jewish meals. Although we were not
there for those, we will return for them!

We had the pasta-less vegetable lasagna along with their matzo
ball soup. The matzo balls were just the way we like them, light
and fluffy, though the flavor was different than ours. the dish
was also missing our homemade chicken soup. Did you get a chance
to have our versions last spring? Not to worry. They will be
back in the fall for the holidays.

The vegetable lasagna was delicious... thin layers of eggplant,
zucchini, summer squash, with fat layers of chopped broccoli swirled in ricotta. Sharon is sure her version will be more flavorful; and she says, "all-around better" because of our
DinnerSmith special-recipe Italian sauce ['gravy' if you're from
Brooklyn or Newark].

Look for it this fall!

We will be making versions of it throughout the summer: please
ask about it when you drop by.

Yogurt for everyone

Wake Robin Yogurt has arrived at DinnerSmith.
I went over late sunday and the DinnerSmith yogurt was packed into ice waiting for the long trip home. Bruce says they bought two more cows so he thinks there will be enough milk to make cheese next week. He says he will be making assiago cheese. He paused and smiled ...it is the only kind he knows how to make so far. What a great guy. And the yogurt is as always light as a feather and delicious. Let us know if you did not get your order in there maybe some extra.

It was great being on the farm last weekend. The northern Finger Lakes Region is beautiful, close by and reasonably priced as far as a vacation destinations. Fall is a good time to visit because of the glorious fall foliage. We went to a winery, helped around the farm with a new baby, had a party on the porch, watched incredible lightening and went to a sunflower maze. I think it is the next step in agri-tourism, Watch for this as a new trend next year. I am calling it sunflower therapy.

I have one more trip this month. Last call for the best artesanel yogurt anywhere. Call 073-763-2333 or email info@dinnersmith.com to reserve your fair share. And remember: use a bowl. I got carried away the other day and ate a 32 oz maple in two sittings. Not a bad thing except I run out sooner.