Food My Way

Pear avocado salad

2012-02-22T19:55:00.002-07:00

While a pear salad with chicken could be served as a main dish, one with avocado and nuts does much better as a side. In this case, make the dressing first. In a food processor, combine:

Apple cider vinegar
1/2 avocado (mostly for the oil)
Olive oil (because an avocado won't yield enough)
Ground coriander
Just a dash of cinnamon
2 cloves garlic
~ 3/4 inch of jalapeno

Pulse until that is well combined. For the salad itself, simply combine:

1/3 bunch of spinach, hand torn
2 pears (bosc and anjou work here as well), cubed small
1 avocado plus the remaining half, sliced or cubed
Scant half cup of almond, rough chopped

Dress, toss, serve immediately. The mild heat from the jalapeno brings out the pears' sweetness, which is further enhanced by the coriander and cinnamon.

Pear chicken salad

2012-02-21T15:15:00.001-07:00

Pears are a great compliment to greens. Not too sweet, they take dressings well and their grainy structure provides a texture that compliments greens without overwhelming them. They also seem to be available both during their natural peak season and, say, in winter.

This first variation of the theme is a chicken salad. To pull off the thin slicing required to keep the chicken manageable, freeze two breasts thoroughly, then place them into the refrigerator overnight to thaw just enough to slice. In the morning, do just that, then add them to a marinate of:

Olive oil
White wine vinegar
Honey (not too much)
Red pepper flake
Black pepper

Let that sit for around four hours, preferably near room temperature to let the chicken continue to thaw and absorb the flavors. When that's done, pour the whole mixture into a covered pan and poach the chicken in the marinate, which will become the dressing. Obviously you'll want to cook it all the way through as it's now quite contaminated with raw chicken.

While that is cooking, slice 3 pears thinly and place them in a large pyrex mixing bowl. I used anjou on my first run; bosc seem to work very nicely. When the chicken is cooked, pour the entire mixture over the pears and toss. Once it has cooled enough not to wilt greens, add spinach or another lettuce of choice and toss again. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

Actually good vegetarian tacos

2012-02-01T13:56:00.001-07:00

Vegetarian tacos are boring. There, I said it. A rice/bean mixture in a corn tortilla just isn't the most exciting thing in the world even if you've managed to throw together some really tasty rice and some time-tested beans. As it turns out, those do much better in a flour tortilla together, but that's another discussion for another day.

So you get creative. And maybe you have to throw in an under-appreciated starchy vegetable. And maybe, just maybe, you've been playing with some of the more esoteric uses of a food processor. You might come up with something like this.

Part the first: a bean salad.

In a large bowl, combine 2 cans or 1lb of (soaked, cooked, etc) black beans, well-drained. Throw in a a can of corn. Perhaps pull out a can of olives, slice that up, and add. While you're on knife work, dice a red onion finely -- and half a medium jicama, a bit less fine.

Set that aside; it won't need dressing for these purposes and you'll have plenty of leftovers that you can dress as you go.

Part the second: purée. In a food processor, combine the following:

1 avocado
a modest amount of corn or olive oil
a dash or two of red wine vinegar
juice (and pulp; why not) of 1 lime
red pepper flake to taste
small amounts of garlic (powder is fine here)
a pinch of salt

Blend that puppy until smooth. If you need a bit more liquid, add either oil or vinegar based on taste and overall texture. Oh, and if you're making ahead or in a large batch, be sure to retain an avocado pit to keep from browning before serving.

And that's it. Toast yourself up some corn tortillas, layer on the purée, bean mixture, and whatever loose greens you have around. You might note that this is not just vegetarian at this point, but also vegan. Feel free to keep it that way -- or sneak in cheese and yogurt. And there you go: interesting tacos that don't depend on all the usual ingredients.

Cilatro-lime rice

2012-01-24T10:33:00.001-07:00

For the longest time, Chipotle owned the ciltro-lime rice game. In fact, their white rice is still to die for. The problem? They never quite hit home with their brown rice. But there is a way to do it. This is how. All ratios are normalized for a single cup of rice. Add olive or corn oil to a decent sized pot. Add:

3 cloves garlic, minced
Zest from 1/2 lime
Whole cumin

Toast that to extract the flavors into the oil. Bring to high heat and add the rice.

Shortly after, add juice of whatever limes you used plus water to equal 1.75 cups. Let the boil down to level, then turn the heat all the way down and steam for 35 minutes (at altitude; 30 might be enough at lower elevations).

Fluff the hot rice, then toss with 1/2 bunch of chopped cilantro and salt to taste.

A Return: Thai Curry

2012-01-03T12:31:00.001-07:00

It's been a full year away. Kind of amazing, but it was a pretty crappy year so go figure. All that is fading into the past now, and it's back to cooking.

This is an attempt at a rich yellow Thai curry -- and it worked beautifully. The flavors could probably be enriched by using tamarind over lime and a Thai basil over Italian, but all that just creates trouble getting it done with a visit to the local store. And it's actually quite good enough as is.

In a dutch oven, melt 4 tablespoons of butter and immediately begin sauteing 1.5 medium red onions. Add to that 4 sliced jalapenos, seeds and all. You could moderate the heat here, but it's Thai -- so don't. (Also note that these jalapenos are the only source of heat, so don't skimp.) Dash on both raw sugar and salt here.

As the onions cook through, chunk up 4 or 5 potatoes -- russets worked fine and added to the overall sweet notes to the dish. Also slice 4 or 5 large carrots. When the onion is mostly translucent, add those and toss to coat.

While that is cooking down a bit, mince 4 (large) cloves of garlic and an equivalent amount of ginger. Add those as you can with perhaps a bit more sugar.

When all that is combined, add 1 quart chicken stock and 3 stalks lemongrass (if using dried). Juice 1 lime into the pot and heat to a simmer. Keep cooking until the potatoes are done and have acquired plenty of spicy-sweet flavor.

To finish, add 1 can of coconut milk (just go for full fat) and a very generous amount of rough chopped basil. Serve over rice.

Garlic chicken tacos

2011-01-18T17:38:00.001-07:00

I wasn't going to post this. I'll admit it. It was a series of mistakes and random ingredients. The wife, however, considers this a recipe box and demanded it be posted. So here we go.

What if you were about to be lazy and make an aglio e olio, having chopped the garlic and all, and then realize you're out of olive oil?

Sigh.

Well, we have corn tortillas and corn oil, right? Let's do... that.

Well, it turns out we also have ingredients for those wonderful black beans. Minus the onions and chicken stock, but we have red and water, right? Perfect.

So we'll dice up a few chicken breasts and then toss them in corn oil with the garlic, add some whole cumin, and then add oregano and paprika as it settles. Maybe some leftover enchilada sauce? Absolutely. Some salt will round that out nicely. That will all simmer while we're waiting on the beans, which do take a bit longer.

In the meantime we'll find some asadero and maybe some queso blanco and cube that to about 1/8th inch. Romaine and yogurt should round that out.

When it's all done, quickly get some corn oil hot and briefly toast the tortillas on each side. And suddenly: dinner.

Indian dinner

2011-01-02T15:38:00.000-07:00

Way back when I just started writing this blog and wasn't sure what to do with it I started to draft some sort of essay on Indian cooking. Check the archives; it never made it to publication. Since then I've posted three Indian(ish) recipes, one of which hardly even counts despite having a semi-accurate flavor profile and ingredient list.

Which is all leading up to say: Indian cooking can be tricky. Forget the ingredients; they're really not that unusual for the most part. We all know about cumin and ginger and mustard and cinnamon and even some of the less obvious things spices like turmeric, coriander, and even cardamom aren't anything all that special. In the end dal is just lentils and asafoetida isn't strictly necessary.

And yet it still ends up being somewhat tricky to figure out -- largely because of the process involved. But rest assured, tricky doesn't mean hard. Just... tricky. All the rules about what goes in when and why in French cooking get tossed out the window (note: same is true of most Asian cuisines; it's just that Indian food is also quite different than anything with Sino-Japanese influences). You end up building your spice profile from the beginning rather than the end, use odd thickening tricks, employ dairy in weird ways... etc, etc, etc. But once you get the hang of it it's actually pretty hard to screw it up. At least not too badly. After trying a few (good) recipes (that actually try to explain themselves) and maybe using some of those boxed spice mixes (and analyzing what's in them and what each ingredient adds) improving becomes relatively simple.

Case in point: new year's eve 2010. The wife (am I going to get used to saying that sometime?) calls on the way home and requests Indian. A quick inventory of the kitchen and a run to the store yields:

Almost 2 lbs of tri tip (thank god for discount meat but note that there's absolutely no reason to use this if you want to be authentic or otherwise cost-conscious; just replace with boneless skinless chicken breasts if you prefer)
2 yellow onions
3 bell peppers
3 jalapenos
7 red potatoes
Chicken broth
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
Olive oil
Cumin (whole; this is important)
Coriander (whole; this is important)
Cardamom pods (always pods; the flavor difference is substantial)
Ginger (powder is fine but raw grated is always good)
Cinnamon (ground; sticks are fine)
Yogurt
Rice
Salt/pepper

I also had turmeric and a handful of masala blends laying around but opted against them this time around.

Looks viable... right?

Of course. We'll start with the rice:

Make rice

Basically I'd forget to do this until too late if I don't get it in early. And if it's a little cool by the time you serve it it's no big deal.

Then move on to bigger, better things. Like building a spice profile and braising a bit. In a skillet combine:

Olive oil
Cumin seeds
Coriander seeds

Get that HOT. You want the seeds to be popping and jumping and generally scaring your domestic wildlife. A little smoke from the oil isn't a bad thing.

In the meantime cube up your meat of choice. Since mine was beef I felt obligated to conservatively apply salt and pepper. Brown that in the superheated oil then transfer to a stock pot (along with some of the oil, naturally).

Take the heat down in the skillet, add a touch more oil along with the seeds from a half dozen cardamom pods. Bring the heat back up a bit until they become pungent and then quickly add onions chunked rather largely and toss until they're just slightly cooked. Then transfer everything to the stock pot, scraping for all the little bits of goodness left behind from the high heat.

Now you're just stewing. Add:

Bell peppers, also chunked
Jalapenos, I like them ring sliced, seeds and all
Diced tomatoes with juice
Chicken broth
Ginger

Bring to a boil and let that simmer together for a few minutes before adding:

Potatoes, large chunks
Cinnamon to taste -- but don't go overboard
Tomato paste to thicken

Stir well, ensuring that the tomato paste is evenly distributed. That's the only thickener you're using so make the most of it. You're likely to want to add a bit of salt somewhere in here as well.

And that's it. Walk away. When the potatoes are done you have dinner.

Serve in a bowl with layers of rice, stew, and yogurt. Garnish with cilantro if you're so inclined.

See? Simple. The spices toasted at the beginning are the primary flavor modifiers -- and they had to be whole in order to stand up to the high heat without burning. The secondary spices are more mellow, present primarily to round out the flavor. The onions are left nearly raw, imparting a very different flavor than the long sweats and browns you're used to. The jalapenos add just enough heat to notice without being overpowering. The potatoes take on the flavor of the broth, oil, and tomatoes. And it all works wonderfully.

But yes, it does take some getting used to.

Another christmas dinner

2011-01-01T17:11:00.004-07:00

Ok, this was actually Christmas Eve. But the sentiment was there.

Nothing fancy; just meat, salad, and bread. Well, ok, maybe a little fancy.

First, a compote to go with the meat (and the bread the next day). In a small sauce pan I combined:

2 cups water
1 cup raw sugar
1 cup cranberries
2 meyer lemons (yeah, I still had some left over)
Generous amounts of allspice

Reducing that all together took about 45 minutes. A bit of arrowroot got it to the proper consistency.

The salad was fairly simple: red chard, cilantro, sesame seeds, cranberries, and mandarin oranges. If nothing else it was quite pretty. Dressing went like this:

White wine vinegar
Olive oil
Honey
Garlic
Black pepper
Cayenne (not too much; just a slight bite to offset the cranberries and complement the honey)

That all went together with a very simple flank steak served after slicing on a bias.

Pretty and festive. And delicious.

Mediterranean fun

2011-01-01T17:09:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I ran across a huge sale on meyer lemons (and chicken thighs) and was left with very little idea as far as what to do with them. So it was experiment time. In this case I decided to look around the Mediterranean area and see what I could pull together.

First, the lemons. I took two, sliced them thin, and brushed them with olive oil. They went on a baking sheet with half a head of garlic and then in to the oven at about 325 for half an hour. The lemons ended up slightly browned and the garlic was wonderfully mellow and mushy.

In the meantime, I dredged the chicken in flour, cayenne, paprika, and allspice and then browned it in an olive oil butter combination.

Once the lemons and garlic were ready, I chopped them along with kalamta olives and capers.

I added all the leftover flour to make a roux around the chicken then added everything in with a bit of chicken broth and simmered it down until the sauce was fully integrated and the chicken cooked through.

This worked wonderfully over pasta and would have done just fine on couscous as well.

Nice to have a slightly different flavor profile once in awhile.

Split pea soup

2010-12-18T18:40:00.000-07:00

Another in the series of "well, I have this laying around and by the way it's cold": split pea soup.

Having been informed that maybe lentils again might be overkill and that it definitely wouldn't kill me to dial back the capsaicin for a change it was time to find a new legume to play with. Luckily, split peas were available by the pound from none other than the kitchen cabinet.

But of course there was no ham hock. So at least I got to improvise a bit:

First, a 1:1:1 mirepoix in olive oil. Nothing fancy. A bit of salt helped to draw out the liquid and speed the process and several rough-chopped garlic cloves finished it off.

In another pan, I browned half a pound of chopped bacon which quickly joined the mirepoix, grease and all. A pound of kielbasa, chopped, joined everything just before the pound of peas, 8 cups of water, 2 bay leaves, and pepper.

Forty minutes, more salt, and a generous amount of lemon juice later and the whole thing was actually better than the more traditional method. Thank goodness for spare bacon in the freezer....

Lentils

2010-11-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I just end up craving lentils. Not sure why or how, but it just has to happen. This time of year that means a more western lentil soup; in the spring for whatever reason that tends to be dal instead.

This time I just went 'sperimenting (again based on what I had around the house). Worked like a charm, kept in the refrigerator, and reheated perfectly.

Any good lentils should start with bacon. In this case, six slices, chopped and then crisped in a stock pot.

To that, add about six stalks of celery, chopped and the same amount of carrot. Onions would be traditional here but, well, I didn't have any. Or any garlic; powder had to do there.

And then the fun starts: melt all that together along with two diced jalapenos and one red bell pepper (slightly larger bits are fine here).

In a separate pan, brown a pound of kielbasa and add to the stock pot when maillarded properly.

Retain the fat, though, and roast another sliced red pepper (and two more jalapenos; why not) in it before adding that all in together.

Add:

about 3/4 pound of lentils
chicken broth
water if needed
balsamic vinegar
one can of tomato paste

Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with fresh parsley or mustard greens on top and a dense bread on the side. Perfect for a slightly chilly day.

Chili con carne take 2

2010-11-11T06:40:00.000-07:00

It's that season again. And when the pantry is relatively empty it's easy enough just to go with what you have. This worked out fine and basically proves that con carne is just one of those things you can do just about anything to without messing it up too badly.

This time, sweat two smallish white onions in olive oil until nice and tender.

Add in one to 1.5 pounds ground beef (70-30 if you can get it of course; 80-20 works though I wouldn't go much lower than that). When that's mostly cooked through, throw in (of course) cumin and oregano along with cayenne in relatively equal parts. Don't worry, the bulk of the heat will come later.

To that, add:

1 can black beans, half drained
1 can pinto beans, half drained
1 can great northern beans, half drained
2 cans tomato paste
1 can chipotle in adobo, chopped

Mix that together adding water as needed. Garnish with cilantro (or parsley as that's what I had and it worked fine) and cheese of your choice.

Relatively quick, dead simple, and quite hardy. Plus, well, hot. Chipotle in adobo tends to lend itself to that quite well.

Mmm zuchini season

2010-08-27T13:29:00.001-06:00

Just stir fry them. Trust me. And make them as hot as you dare; sriracha and mongolian hot oil, I'm looking at you.

That is all. Off to play with porks. More later, methinks.

Simple bean/chicken salad

2010-08-17T11:49:00.000-06:00

Well, mostly simple. The actual prep is just a tiny bit time-consuming (if half an hour counts) but it's very good. Especially for coming out of a can.

Basic idea: throw together some beans. Make them taste good. Make sure you have plenty of protein going so it's a full meal or more. And make sure it's a complete protein or two.

Basic salad

And I mean really basic. Five cans. Oil. Vinegar.

First, drain a can of diced tomatoes; retain the sauce in a bowl. You're going to have the colander out anyway; just drain the juice into the bowl. Crush the tomatoes by hand a bit.

Combine in a large bowl:

1 can black beans, drained and washed
1 can great northern beans, drained and washed
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and washed
1 can corn, drained (no washing needed)
2 celery stocks, finely cubed
Chopped parsley; flat leaf if you have it
Tomatoes without the juice
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar

And that's your basic bean salad. Get that in the refrigerator.

Chicken

I used two breasts to balance this and it seemed to work. Marinate in:

Red wine vinegar
Orange juice
Red pepper flake

After about half an hour, toss that in a pan, cover, heat, and more or less poach it. When done, cube/shred and add to the salad, tossing well.

Rice

Prepare rice as normal, except:

Use the reserved tomato juice to replace some of your water
Add coriander
Add one bay leaf

Very hearty. Best served cold. Makes a great summer meal.

BLTs

2010-08-08T12:45:00.003-06:00

Sometimes simplicity wins out. For me, this often has to do with it being before noon (aka breakfast time), but it can obviously carry on throughout the day depending on your priorities (and the ingredients, of course). And some classics just call for it.

So, BLTs. Two versions here, both dead simple in their basic form. They're definitely toaster oven fare once you get past the bacon itself (and I don't actually object to resorting to a microwave here even if it does come off better in a cast iron skillet every single time). But the idea remains the same: pick a flavor profile, add a minor twist, and enjoy.

Version one

Cook your bacon
Toast a split bagel under a broiler, tossing on a grated hard italian cheese halfway through
Add either sliced or diced tomato
Add bacon, chopped works well here
Add a green of your choice; I like spinach but an actual italian green would do very well
Layer on alfalfa sprouts (or whatever bean sprouts you happen to have around; mung is particularly nice for the added crunch)

Asiago bagels are an obvious choice here, but onion, garlic, everything, etc all work fine. As does plain, really. Just make sure you crush down the top once you're done layering; they become quite unwieldy without some manual encouragement. Cut in half and enjoy. Maybe make two if you're hungry or, ahem, want to use a whole tomato.

Version two

Closer to my heart, of course. This is the simple version. If you just happen to have fresh-roasted green hatch this might be the best BLT in the entire history of mankind.

Again, cook bacon, slice or chop it
Toast a fairly hearty bread
Melt a thin layer of cojack on the bread; again, using a toaster oven is easiest here
Add sliced, canned green chile
Layer your tomato, in this case chopped probably is better
Add your choice of lettuce; again I like spinach but romaine isn't bad

Slice. Eat. Make another.

If you wanted to go crazy you could, I don't know:

Replace the bread with a sopapilla, stuff the ingredients, make sure you're using good chile, and smother in a red sauce. But then, that would be complicated, wouldn't it?
Just use a tortilla to wrap said ingredients, making sure to chop the bacon, and call it a BLT burrito. Maybe even add a salsa or guacamole to finish it.

But now we're straying back into complicated, aren't we?

(For the sake of completeness, I should link to a post from Farmgirl Fare on pita in general and another great option for BLTs that I've always wanted to try. Baking at altitude, especially if you're inept in the first place, has proven a problem.)

So you have some apricots

2010-08-06T16:17:00.000-06:00

The family got some apricots from some very nice neighbors who have had the tree for years and only this summer decided to produce fruit. Lots of fruit. Way too much to use; they've been giving it away like crazy [ed. many inappropriate similes considered and rejected].

But they're not exactly the tastiest in the world. I mean, they're good. They're just not omgwtf wonderful. And did I mention there are lots of them?

So, we cook.

Apricots, apricots, searching... No, we're not going to make a jam or a desert or anything overly sweet. Just not my thing. And we're not doing pork. Mainly because I can't find any in the house.

But wait. Let's think about traditional pairings. I mean, I'm pretty sure apricots are used all over south asia and the great middle east, right? (Wikipedia says yes and much, much more.) Ok, so let's think about, say, Iran. Maybe Turkey. What would compliment a mild pear-like fruit...

Pistachios. Just stay with me here; this is about the point where my brother declared that either the proposed dish or I were "weird".

We have a high-sugar, medium-flavor fruit. We need it to shine. Something rich with a nutty yet still slightly sweet taste? Perfect. Plus the oils are delicious; otherwise almonds would do the trick.

So let's do this thing.

Combine in a food processor:

18 or so apricots, cored
About a ramekin of shelled pistachios, washed several times if salted

Whir together. 10 1-second pulses are fine; you don't need to feel obligated to pulverize the pistachios. You definitely want to get rid of some of the excess salt though.

In the meantime, start heating a decent sized sauce pan with a bit of oil (olive is fine). Also, start thawing some chicken if need be.

Once the oil is hottish, add the seeds of three cardamom pods, maybe four or five cloves, and a very small number of cumin seeds, in that order, waiting for each to become fragrant before adding the next.

[Tangent, not required for the recipe at all: this is actually an entire idea based on a decidedly non-French style of cooking. We're toasting spices, not aromatics. The aromatics come in later and are left either stewed or nearly raw. It's just a different way of flavoring things and if you're serious about making food that resembles anything from persian to indian and even further east into parts of China, get this technique down. Through lots and lots of experimentation.]

Once your spices are toasted, add the apricot slurry. Reduce heat and add:

White or rice vinegar
Sugar (if needed; if the apricots were quite sweet omit this)

Slice your chicken (two decently sized breasts or so) in thin strips then add that. Let that cook while the sauce reduces and caramelizes a bit.

After half an hour or so, add a sliced onion and a medium to large tomato cut into about 16 parts.

And walk away for awhile for the whole thing to simmer down so the sauce can permeate the chicken and reduce further.

Serve with rice and some sort of salad, possibly with pita.

6.0221415 mashed salad

2010-08-06T09:07:00.001-06:00

Umm. Chemistry jokes are in right now, right?

Ok, so no. So this is guacamole. If you've never done it yourself, fix that. If you have, learn to go for minimalism; avocados are in season.

For some magical reason, the local grocery store has ripe avocados on the shelf. This, for the record, never happens. Most avocados are firm and slightly, umm, bitter? At least when you buy them. But apparently right now they're just slightly soft and perfect for just slicing into, which is good, because I wasn't about to give them enough time to ripen to that state.

So, a very, very basic guacamole. Combine in a suitable bowl:

2 ripe avocados, type doesn't really matter as long as they're about medium sized, but do reserve one pit
1 roma tomato, diced
Juice of 1 lime
Either some very finely diced garlic or two or three dashes of powdered garlic

And that's it. Just stop. Don't add onions. Don't add anything to heat it up. It just isn't needed. A good guacamole should bring out the avocado flavor, not smother it and use the guacamole as an agent.

Mash by hand. It's actually fun if the avocados are ripe; they squish like playdough. Make sure everything is well-combined, wash up a bit, and then serve with chips or whatever else.

_____________________
On the title? It's a pun. That is all.

On knives

2010-08-04T12:00:00.000-06:00

Keep them sharp. Especially for onions.

Yeah, it hurts. I'll live.

Carne adovada

2010-07-26T10:28:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure why I haven't written this up yet, but it's well past due.

Carne adovada.

As far as I can tell, this is a pretty localized dish from north-central New Mexico but has migrated out a bit. Sadie's used to be the standard. Back when it was a little hole above a bowling alley the food was so good that it got in the way of bowlers on a good night. Then they actually bought a full space and it was still good. But I haven't had theirs in years and I've had to make do with my own.

The basics are simple: you're going to make pork as hot as you can with a red paste or sauce and then, pretty much invariably, add raw onions. Huntley Dent has done his research and has broken down the basic dish into two categories: wet and dry. Wet means a nice red sauce that can be eaten with tortillas; dry is more of a rub than a sauce and is meant mainly for the meat itself and not as a sauce.

But there are many more variations. Is your pork (and it's always pork) sliced thin or cubed (1-2 inches isn't uncommon)? Does the flavor come from the sauce or the meat? Do you spice it or just let the chili speak for itself?

If I'm at a diner in, say, Espanola, I'll take cubed any time. I don't know what they do to it to make the flavor permeate and I'd rather not speculate. But a breakfast with carne adovada, hash browns, and tortillas is to die for if you find the right place.

But. If you're doing it yourself, here's a basic recipe for a wet, thin-sliced dish best served with tortillas.

In a food processor, combine:

1 medium onion
Several pinches of cumin
Double the cumin with oregano
3 generous tablespoons of white vinegar
1 package of hot to very hot chile powder, preferably Chimayo but any will do if it comes to it
Cayenne if you want more heat
Water until you have a paste

And then slice your pork. Thin, please. Something like 1/8th inch.

Also, onions. Sweet is good here, so if you can get vidalias, good. Otherwise standard yellows are fine and whites are okish if you're going for maximal effect of the hot.

Layer the pork slices, then onion, then sauce in a baking dish (pyrex is best here). A second layer is great.

And then let that sit. For at least 12 hours. Preferably more.

To finish it, bake covered in foil at about 325 for half an hour then remove the foil and return to the oven for another half hour.

Shred both the pork and the onions and serve that in flour tortillas with cilantro and whatever else you'd like in the mix. Pico de gallo is good here. And if you did it right, have water on hand. Lots of water.

Avocado/tangerine salad

2010-07-25T14:20:00.001-06:00

Simple as can be.

Chop:

1 avocado
2 tangerines
A decent amount of goat cheese
Two handfuls of almonds

Combine that with spinach. Dress with:

Sesame oil
White wine vinegar (rice wine vinegar would work here too)
Ground ginger
Garlic powder

And that's it. The flavors blend extremely well what with the sweet from the tangerines and almonds, the sour goat cheese, and the various spices (plus whatever it is that avocado has). The textures work well varying from the crunchy almonds down to the almost melty cheese and avocado.

In a large enough batch this could be a meal.

Lemon-tomato chicken

2010-07-25T12:38:00.002-06:00

Sometimes the best food comes out of a totally spontaneous list of ingredients and a deadline.

In this case, dinner for 4. I have:

3 chicken breasts, frozen
Pasta (settled on linguine)
Garlic
Dried oregano
Olive oil
Salt

On sale at the store I found:

1 bunch flat leaf parsley
4 roma tomatoes
1 grenade of lemon juice (you know, the lemon juice that you find in the produce section bottled like a lemon/grenade)
Cheap dry red wine

Lots of stuff you can do with a combination like that. So why not make it complicated?

Chicken prep

Thaw, obviously, then place in a bowl (whole). Cover in lemon juice and add oregano. Toss thoroughly and let that sit for, oh, an hour.

Chopping/prep

In the meantime, start with the tomatoes. To keep things summery, I didn't really want to cook them but I still wanted tomato flavor in with the chicken. And given the choice of linguine, just chunking the tomatoes wouldn't work anyway.

Solution: quarter them, set up a colander over a bowl, and crush them by hand until they're just small bits. Then salt them to sweat the juice, toss well, and set them aside to slowly drip. Go ahead and press them by hand occasionally.

Then rough-chop most of the bunch of parsley and set that aside for now.

Then obviously the garlic. I used lots. In the same spirit as the tomatoes, I want some cooked and some raw, but you can just prep it all the same way.

Chicken

In a large saute pan, heat olive oil and add half the garlic.

Remove the breasts from the marinade and cube into about 1/2 inch pieces, retaining the marinade for later use.

Once the garlic is just turning golden, add the cubed chicken and cook most of the way through, stirring often. Then add the reserved marinade and your tomato drippings and take the mixture down to a simmer.

In the meantime, make pasta. Use slightly less water than usual and make sure you salt it liberally.

When the pasta is done, drain and add about a cup and a half of the pasta water to your chicken mixture along with a decent splash of wine.

Let the chicken mixture come to a boil and then slowly reduce it until you get a thick enough sauce to slightly cover the chicken bits (the starch from the pasta water will help this along nicely and the sugar from the tomato will nearly carmelize).

Fresh toppings

Combine your tomatoes with the parsley and the rest of the garlic. Add a spritz of lemon juice and toss together.

Serve, letting everyone choose how much of each component they'd like and finish with grated hard cheese.

Another very nice summer dish.

A sandwich

2010-07-20T17:02:00.001-06:00

This goes back a few years, but it's definitely a summer recipe. It's sort of loosely based on a mufuletta. And since it's a relatively cool day with no sun, I figure it might be perfect.

Tapenade

Odd place to start? Sure. But why not? This is going to serve the role of oil and vinegar in the final product while adding something, umm, tapenady?

In a food processor, combine:

A 60/40 split of kalamata olives and normal black olives
2 cloves of garlic (for once I'd strongly advise not going overboard here)
1 small handful of italian parsley
A few chives, somewhat chopped
2 small spoonfuls of capers, rinced
A small amount of oregano

Blend that, adding olive oil as needed, until you have a paste.

Sandwich

So when that's done, select your bread. I'd recommend a baguette.

Halve your loaf, boule, whatever, and get some of the guts out. You will have to make room for the other stuff.

So start adding:

Tapenade to both pieces
Feta
Salami
Spinach
Banana peppers, sliced
Roasted red pepper, sliced
Tomatoes, sliced, salted, and drained in a strainer
Whatever else strikes your fancy (though I'd recommend not taking the salt content up from here)

Recombine your two halves and wrap the sandwich tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least half an hour and up to, say, overnight. Slice and serve.

Dal and chicken

2010-07-12T21:13:00.000-06:00

Ok, so this did require some prep time. And it wasn't optimal; I love masoor dal for something like this but it wasn't to be had. Chana helps though.

Three parts.

First, just prep some lentils. Boil them as usual, not adding spices. They'll keep for days; don't worry. Just pull them when they're done and it's all good. This is where I'd prefer red lentils, but those can be somewhat hard to come by, so do as you can and will. The standard green/french worked just fine.

Second, prep some chicken. Thaw whatever you have and make it ready for marinating. Breasts worked fine here.

In a cast iron skillet, heat some oil. Neutral is better but olive works.

Add to the hot oil, in this order:

Palmfull of cumin seads
Half that whole coriander
Garlic, if desired
Brown mustard seeds; if not available sub in yellow
Whole black or white peppercorn
Mustard seeds; have a lid ready to cover as they pop like crazy

Drop the heat and add cayenne powder. Turmeric wouldn't hurt here either. Stir to combine.

Drop that all in a bit of yogurt, combine in a ziploc back with chicken, let sit overnight.

Third, add a small amount of oil to a small sauce pan. Toast about three cloves and a cinnamon stick along with the innards of three or four cardamom pods. Additional cumin sead wouldn't hurt here either.

When that has been toasted, add your lentils and one can of chana dal (chickpeas; whatever) drained and one can undrained. Simmer that down after adding turmeric (to taste, but be generous) and salt (again, don't be stingy).

While that is simmering down, start grilling your chicken. Take it to medium-well at least; the yogurt will have softened it enough that it shouldn't be tough nomatter how much you overcook it.

Spoon 3/4 of your bean mixture into a blender and puree it; add it back to the pan.

Slice the chicken on bias. Serve with a flatbread and some greens and you have a great meal.

Bread salad

2010-07-01T15:43:00.002-06:00

Look! It's both summerish and has actual amounts!

Combine:

4 cups fresh tomatoes, diced
3/4 cup red onion
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup (or more; can you really have too much?) shredded basil (traditional Italian)
6 cups dense crusty bread in 1-inch cubes

Add the bread last, preferably after a few minutes so the other flavors come together. You can always toast fresh bread to get the right consistency, but if, say, you live in a high arid climate, your older bread will hit the sweet spot before molding anyway.

Chill, serve. It's absolutely wonderful.

Pad thai

2010-06-27T22:39:00.000-06:00

I've done this a few times now. It isn't what you get from a Thai restaurant. Apparently it's also even closer to the real thing than what you can get in this country.

I based this largely on several readings of this extensive post. It's really good. And then I ignored much of the advice and came up with the following.

So, two parts: sauce and assembly.

Sauce

1/2 cup fish sauce, more or less. The stuff is salty so take that into account.
1/2ish cup -- maybe more -- rice wine vinegar. This was basically because tamarind paste is hard to find; I'm sure it's better done the right way.
Pure cane sugar -- more than expected
Sriracha (plenty)
Garlic-chili paste (also plenty)
Water to take salt down and get a sauce that will reduce properly under very high heat

Let that all combine for some hours on low heat. You can even keep it for some weeks. Fish sauce is an amazing preservative.

Prep

As per suggestion, I've decided that woking up one serving at a time is the best way to go. Not only does it let you customize to the taste of your fellow eaters, it just comes out better.

But first, noodles. I've used pho. Soaked in hot tap water for less than about five minutes. Make sure these are ready to go.

Take your choice of proteins. I like chicken for this; beef is too aggressive, I hate shrimp, and I don't much care for tofu. If you're going to use shrimp, be sure to add it later than you would the chicken (which goes in first).

Slice your chicken, preferably breast for this (trust me, you won't miss the fat), quite thin. This is rather important, as you really don't want any single serving to be in the wok for more than, say, 90 to 120 seconds.

Crush some peanuts, preferably unsalted. The easy way: put a bunch of peanutes in a ziploc bag and either use a rolling pin to roll them into near pulp or, say, a cast iron pan. Either works.

Dice some green onion.

Chiffonade some basil, preferably Thai or purple, but we've talked about those before.

Wash some bean sprouts. More than you think.

If desired, let about an egg per serving come to room temp. I also hate egg, so I don't add this myself, but it's not only traditional, it's almost required to be "real" pad thai.

Assembly

Heat peanut oil, plenty, in a wok. Toss in any non-seafood with a small ladel-full of the sauce. Cook that nearly through as quickly as possible.

Add noddles and bean sprouts.

If using egg, push everything in the wok to one side save some of the sauce and basically scramble the egg very quickly on the bottom of the wok.

Add shrimp here and make damn sure the heat is high enough to cook quickly.

Add peanuts.

Add more sauce, probably a few ladels if your heat is high enough.

Finish with basil, green onion, etc.

Serve with lime slices and more peanuts for maximum effect.

Mmm. Realish pad thai.