Later than night, while watching Notorious (Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman directed by Alfred Hitchcock), I sliced off some of the Norwood and paired it with a McManis Pinot Grigio.  An excellent choice.

Here is the description of Norwood from Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese:

Our version of Gruyere. It has a nutty, slightly sweet taste with complex musty and mushroom notes. Wonderful to eat on its own, and is delicious when used in a fondue.

I found it to be dry and mild.  I would not, however, compare it to a Gruyere, which is one of my favorites.

I usually cook several at a time and place them in individual  zip top bags.  They will last in the refrigerator about one week.

1. Rinse the asparagus and trim the stem ends off;
2. Place the asparagus in a one-gallon zip top bag (I like the ones  with the slider across the top.  It is easier to know they are properly closed.)
3. Add about 2  tablespoons EVOO and sprinkle liberally with sea salt.
4.  Seal the bag, and move the contents around to make sure the spears become completely coated.
5.  Spread the asparagus onto a hot grill and close the lid.
6.  5 minutes later, they are ready.

Lessons learned:  Mince the garlic and jalapeno very finely.  Consider removing the seeds from the jalapeno, they overpowered the tuna a bit.

Saving a small amount of the marinade for a relish when serving the tuna was a good idea.

Don’t cook the tuna too long.  Using high heat, I cooked it for about 5 minutes on one side and 4 on the other.  WAY too long.  Next time, I would reduce that to about 2.5 minutes each side, max.

Don’t serve with Pinot Grigio.  It needed something more delicate.

1 glass: Only slightly more difficult than making a bowl of cold cereal.

2 glasses: A bit challenging.  But if you remain calm, everything will be okay.

3 glasses: This is hard.

4 glasses: F***, I’m not a f***ing Iron Chef. Why did I attempt this?

(If you get more than 4 glasses out of a standard bottle, I won’t let you pour for me.)

Crumble the crab in a large bowl.  Mix in all the remaining ingredients except the coconut oil.  Press the crab mixture into a biscuit cutter.  (I used one I saved from my mother’s house before the estate sale.)  It should make about  10 cakes.

Put the coconut oil in a large skillet on medium high heat.  (Mine goes from 1-10 and high.  I used 8.)  After the oil is fully heated, place 2 or 3 cakes in the pan.  Fry for 2-3 minutes.  Remove and place on plate lined with paper towels.

I ate mine with more of the roasted pepper puree.

Lessons learned:  Have a tablespoon handy for transferring the crab cakes into the skillet, help turn them over and then remove them from the skillet.  These are fairly delicate.

Cooking time is dependent on skillet temperature and thickness.

I would rate the difficulty of this recipe: 2 glasses of wine.

Starting with 4 red bell peppers, I washed each one before slicing them in half and  removing the core and seeds.  I then placed the halves into a pyrex dish that I had lined with enough foil that I could later fold the sides over the dish to fully cover it.  The oven had been pre-heated to 500 degrees.  I put the peppers in the oven for 40 minutes.  Every 10 minutes, I took them out and turned them over.

At the end of the 40 minutes, I removed the dish, folded over the foil and let them cool for about half an hour.  Once cool, I peeled of the charred skins.

Roasting the garlic was fairly simple.  I removed only the outermost paper skin and cut off about 1/4 inch from the top of a full bulb.  I then placed the bulb in the middle of a square of foil, drizzled it with EVOO fairly thoroughly and wrapped it up.  The then placed the wrapped bulb on other piece of foil and put it all in the oven for 35 minutes at 400 degrees.  Once the roasting was done, I let it cool on the counter  until I could safely squeeze the cloves out of the bulb.

Next, I snipped 2 stems of Italian basil from the garden and washed them.  After stripping the leaves, I gave them a rough chop.  Next, I scrapped fresh thyme from two full sprigs.

Once all the materials were prepped, I placed them into  the food processor and began to puree.  As it processed, I added about 1/4 cup of EVOO.  After transferring it to a container, I added about 1/2 teaspoon salt and stirred.  The entire mixture was placed in the frig to set over night.

Tomorrow, I will use it to make these crab cakes.

Lessons learned: Measure the oil you put in.  I think I used a little bit too much.  Use regular olive oil, not EVOO.  I have been told it has a milder taste.  Add the salt while in the food processor.

1.3 lbs Grouper, thawed, rinsed and patted dry
1/2 lemon
1/2 cup parmesan cheese (I should have used better quality than the green can)
2 large tablespoon unsalted almond butter (available at Trader Joe’s (no Dean & Deluca, but we have a Trader Joe’s)) room temp. Would salted have been better?
1/2 stick butter, room temp.
splashes hot sauce (I used Texas Pete’s, would have preferred Tobasco)
sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Placed grouper in Pyrex dish sprayed with Pam. Squeezed the lemon juice over the fish. Baked at 400 for 12 minutes. Mixed remaining ingredients into a paste. Removed fish, turned oven to broil and spread paste on fish. Returned fish to oven for 2.5 minutes. Just as almond paste was starting to brown, I removed it. Probably could have baked a bit less and broiled a bit more.