Pork and Papaya Stir Fry; Grilled Snapper; Shrimp Quesadilla

As I wrote up the last post, Melissa was closing the deal on the mystery ingredients Evan brought the previous Saturday. She used the butternut squash that night, but the papayas weren't ripe yet. So last Wednesday she whipped together the most interesting stir fry she has made yet. Sliced pork tenderloin was seasoned with soy sauce, cracked pepper and a drop of liquid smoke, then pan fried and served with chopped papaya and arugula over rice. The fruit provided a great contrast to the savory pork, and the ground up papaya seeds were used as a garnish -- the slightly spicy flavor of the seeds nicely connected the fresh fruit with the pepper in the pork. It all went very well with a bottle of 2007 Ku De Ta Sauvignon Blanc (Casablanca Valley, Chile).

Thursday we went to an open house at the Sam Adams Brewery here in Boston. They brought out the Oktoberfest beers and served sausages and sauerkraut. It was a full-on Oktoberfest event -- Bavarian-looking oompa band and all -- and a very nice night.

Saturday we had a few people around for a nice summer dinner at our place, and Melissa combined some of her best recent ideas to make a fresh and delicious dish. Wild red snapper fillets were grilled with sea salt, pepper and butter, and served with peach salsa, grilled polenta and arugula. We had a 2006 Xplorador Chardonnay (Central Valley, Chile) and some fantastic weather with our dinner out on the patio.

I had picked up some huge shrimp when I bought the snapper for Saturday dinner, but the snapper fillets were so large that Melissa didn't use them that night. So they made their appearance for Sunday dinner -- pan fried with butter and garlic and served with cheese quesadillas. That salsa contains the first jalapeno peppers to come off our pepper plant in the garden; a little late in the summer, but very spicy nonetheless.

It was a tasty week...