Dinner Tonight: Messing With Leftovers

I had some goodies left over from my parents' visit last weekend: pastrami lox from Russ & Daughters,  'nduja from Boccalone and fresh ricotta from Murray's. Having eaten all of my bread, I whipped up a batch of Mark Bittman's olive oil matzoh recipe, rolled out a couple of pieces and threw them under the broiler.

I had no cream cheese to eat with the pastrami lox, so I just laid it on the matzoh and sprinkled the oily slices with chives, sesame seeds and salt. Pretty tasty, but next time I'll add some type of creamy lubricant.

I had a 'nduja and ricotta sandwich for lunch today and continued the trend at dinner, but upped the flavor a little bit. Since I hadn't actually used the 'nduja in a dish, I wanted to play around with it a little bit. I minced some garlic, sweating it in olive oil before adding a big scoop of 'nduja. I cooked it down for a minute until it started to look like cat food, then cracked opened one of the air bubbles on the flatbread and poured in the 'nduja "sauce."

I mixed the ricotta with some fresh basil, salt and pepper and slipped it on top of some leftover frisee and put it in the toaster. The ricotta was excellent, but I'm beginning to think that the 'nduja is a little one note. Either that, or I've overdosed. I like it on crackers and bread, but I think I need to find some other uses for it.

Finally, I finished a bag of rambutans from a Chinatown fruit vendor. The sweet and sour grape-y taste made for a delicious snack.

Also, I am immature:

This is probably what the Predator's balls look like, but they are fun to peel.