Food Blog:
Cook In.
Eat Out.
Miss Tenacity.
New Mexico.
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Friday, July 30
Fat on the Road to Redemption
Gee, whaddaya know.... "good" fat is really, truly, GOOD FOR YOU! Everyone that owns a bottle of fat-free dressing, I command you to dump it down the sink immediately. Your salad is worthless with it.
To wean you off your Kraft Free ways, I am including a basic vinaigrette dressing recipe to get you started. Add any flavorings that you want, change the vinegar to any acid (lemon juice, etc) or the oil to canola or peanut or whatever, but just keep a 1-2 ratio between acid and oil.
1/4 cup good vinegar (white wine, red wine, cheap balsamic, etc)
1/2 cup oil (not too strong, if extra-virgin you may want to combine it with canola or something more neutral)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
fresh ground pepper
1 teaspoon good mustard
a few drops of actually good balsamic (If you paid less than $50 for the bottle no matter how small it is, it ain't good balsamic. Visit Zingerman's for a decent starter selection.)
Combine all and shake/blend/whisk to a nice consistency. It will separate over time, so just re-mix before putting on your salad.
Use a tiny amount on your salad - even 1T for a huge bowl of greens. Just toss and toss and toss far longer than you think possible and over time each leaf will have just enough of that nice tart-oily flavor. Of course, if you don't give a hoot about calories (and with olive oil, you shouldn't), just glop as much on as you want.
This has been my public service announcement for the day. Thank you.
Time posted: 08:40 [permalink]
Thursday, July 29
Purchasing Happiness
I don't think about food ALL the time, you know. Its more like:
60% - food/cooking/eating/drinking coffee
35% - running
5% - philosophy/blogging/politics
So to cover the 5% for today, I present you with an interesting article on happiness relating to wealth (or not relating to it, as it were).
The general line of thought that the article goes into is that if you use your 'wealth' to buy non-tangible items (leisure time, shorter commute, dinners/parties with friends and loved ones, etc), you will rate your satisfaction with life and your happiness as higher than if you use your money to purchase tangible items like a nice car, gadgets, or a huge house. Further, the article talks a lot about traffic and how it really fucks you up mentally, even if you think you're used to it. It presents a few scenarios in which you can choose between 'conspicuous wealth' and 'non-conspicuous wealth'; for example - choose between having a 3000 square foot house and a 10 minute commute, or a 4000 square foot house and an hour commute. Many people don't think of their choices as directly as this, yet this is the trend that is happening with suburbanization of the U.S. It goes on to say that you would quickly get adapted mentally and physically to your housing choice, *small or large, but that choosing the longer commute has physiological and psychological effects that one NEVER can adapt to (mainly because the distraction of commuting is random and out of your control).
*Note: I do not really think of a 3000sq foot house as small. In fact, I think of my current 2200sq ft house as huge! 4000 square feet, now that's just silly.
Time posted: 16:10 [permalink]
Frozen Soup
I have always known that soup freezes well, but this is the first time I've really experienced it. Today for lunch (and for a later snack) I had 2 different soups that I made over a month ago and stashed in the freezer - Leek w/ Pancetta, and Celery w/ Walnut.
Yu-um!
Time posted: 16:06 [permalink]
Wednesday, July 28
Dinner @ My Place
I had some friends over for dinner Sunday evening, and we had quite a nice spread to consume. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but the menu will be described in detail instead.
Herb Ciabatta w/ basil oil and cracked pepper: the ciabatta was from Food Hole, the basil oil from my new-cookbook-of-the-moment, Simple Cuisine by Jean-Georges Vongerichten.
Heirloom tomato salad, mixed baby greens w/ basalmic vinegarette: Ah, heirloom tomatoes. These purchased at the Food Hole as well, at a sale price of $3 a pound, down from $6! The varieties were deep purple-red, yellow, and mottled green; I sprinkled them with fresh pepper and sea salt, and then finished the plate with a small greens salad. Lovely starter.
Braised lime-chipotle chicken thighs w/ corn cakes: Jean-Georges strikes again. His recipe called for the heat to be ginger, I simply went for a more NM-style flavor. The corn cakes turned out less crispy than I would have liked (my timing is still my weakness in cooking), but they had good flavor and complemented the chicken nicely.
Cheese plate: 2 kinds of Gouda and a third that I can't remember...: The 3 cheeses actually were 3 types of milk all-told: cow, sheep, and goat. Unfortunately I can't remember which animal went with which cheese. One of the goudas had crunchy bits in it (similar to well-aged Parmesan) and was extremely flavorful. I'll buy more, certainly, especially since it was only $13 a pound.
Apple tart w/ green chile ice cream: Again, using Simple Cuisine. Jean-Georges has a thing for phyllo dough, so he lists a lot of dishes that use simple stacked phyllo rounds to make tarts, both savory and sweet. There were 4 ingredients in this dish - the phyllo rounds, butter, apples, and sugar. After burning the first set of rounds during their pre-bake, the second set turned out perfectly and was well-received by the table. This dessert was actually the focal point and inspiration of the meal - I made the ice cream several days earlier and refrained from blogging about it since I wanted its inclusion in the meal to be a suprise. Then I worked backwards, from pairing the dessert item to go with it, to selecting a mildly spicy chicken dish and corn as the entree. The tomato salad was the only thing that didn't quite "fit", but really, who can resist in-season tomatoes?
Time posted: 07:54 [permalink]
Tuesday, July 27
Cool Indian Refreshment
Mmmmm.... Salt Lassi.....
Time posted: 15:55 [permalink]
Monday, July 26
Green Chile Ice Cream
I have not heard of anyone making green chile ice cream before. Why is that? Chocolate and chile go very well together, and a pie maker in town has a classic Green Chile Apple Pie which always gets rave reviews. The whole hot/sweet combo is tried and true, not to mention the hot+dairy combo (putting cheese on anything spicy, etc).
So without further ado, I present to you my darned good low-sugar recipe:
Green Chile Ice Cream
1T to 2oz chopped & roasted green chile, depending on your preference and the heat factor
2 eggs that you trust to eat raw, separated
2 5oz cans evaporated milk (not sweetened-condensed)
1/8 cup superfine sugar
3/8-1/2 cup Splenda
Put the milk and chile into the blender and obliterate the chile chunks. Whip the egg yolks and the sugar together until ribbony. Beat in the splenda, then the egg whites. Combine with the chile/milk, then chill the whole thing for several hours or overnight. Then put in your ice cream maker and process as usual.
That is how I did it, but there are other variations you could do, from whipping the egg whites and folding them into the mixture just before it goes into the ice cream machine, to cooking the milk mixture & eggs to make a custard base, to adding spices, to using actual cream. I like this variation since the nutrition on it is far better than a full-cream, full-sugar variety, and it still tastes really good. I had dinner guests over who sampled it and they could not tell it wasn't a cream-based ice cream.
Enjoy!
Time posted: 12:36 [permalink]
Fanta Se feasting
I was in Santa Fe over the weekend, and had several lovely meals:
1. Breakfast on the patio of our friend's casita: breakfast burritos. Simply made with bacon, scrambled eggs, applewood cheese, and green chile; these were eaten while drinking lots of coffee, reading the paper, smelling the rain on the grass, and listening to the morning birds, all in pajamas. Truly, this was heaven.
2. Green chile cheeseburger and chocolate malt w/ real ice cream from Bert's Burger Bowl. 50 years and going strong, Bert's still has a very limited menu, a 12-15 minute wait time on each order, and crinkly fries! At their prices ($2-3 for shakes, $2-4 for burgers), it is all very much worth a trip, even from Albuquerque. No credit cards accepted.
3. Egg, corn & asiago pie from Zia Diner (recent article from ABQ Journal). This is like a quiche, but taller and eggier, and the asiago is used in staggering amounts so its like having cheesecake, its that rich. $8, includes salad. Unfortunately I have less of a thumbs up for their house made tapioca pudding, which I was craving on that cool evening. It came in a parfait cup, cold, and topped with whipped cream. I should have asked, but I was anticipating a nice bowl of warm pudding, perhaps topped with a real garnish like a vanilla cookie or something similar. Whipped cream out of a can (even if its real, which it was) just doesn't impress me. $3.25
4. Lunch at the Coyote Cantina. I had the duck quesadilla, which was worth the notoriety its received. Great food at decent SF prices, and excellent service. $11 for the ducky.
5. Iced cafe au lait at Ohori's Coffee. A Santa Fe institution for over 20 years, Ohori's serves coffee the way some people love it and others hate it: thick, black, and muddy. Not burnt, but rather its just very... um, distinct. Possibly an acquired taste, but I like it much more now than I did 5 years ago, when I pronounced it "yucky".
On Sunday, we dined in Albuquerque, which will be the subject of my next post....
Time posted: 11:43 [permalink]
Friday, July 23
Technical College vs. Foodies
So, twice in the last week I have gone to the "Student Specialties Presentation" at the TVI Bistro, a pseudo-restaurant put on by the Culinary Arts students at the school. There have been 3 weeks of different menus, and this week was entitled "Electique Francois".
Here is what I had on each night, and how I rated them (in my limited but slowly growing gourmet knowledge):
(Night One - course names directly from menu, misspellings are theirs(!))
Croustade Tipped with Fresh Warm Goat Cheese, and Fried Sage
Tender Butter Lettuce Tossed with Sweet Red Pepper, Fried Prosciutto, and Artichoke-Dijon Vinaigrette
Tomato Granite
Grilled Duck Breast, Fresh Apricot- Lavender Compote, served on Wilted Greens,
with Herbed New Potatoes
Fresh Apple Tart
Before beginning, we were presented an amuse of a shrimp on an avocado 'relish' - essentially a pico de gallo salad with avocado bits. The salad had nice flavor, and the shrimp was cooked perfectly though not seasoned at all.
The croustade were nice, and the fried sage was not at all burnt, but rather just light and crispy. A nice light appetizer.
It has been quite some time since I've had butter lettuce, and this salad was put together well, the prosciutto was a key ingredient.
The hilarious titled "tomato granite" was indeed very frozen and granite-like. The flavor was far too strong as a palate cleanser - in fact the dominant flavor was that of V8 - heavy on the celery and salt. And I like V8.... its just not a palate cleanser, at ALL.
Ducky! I love duck, and this duck was tasty. The components went together well - the lavender and apricot flavors, along with the perfectly cooked chard. The problem I had with this meat was that it had not been cooked long enough to render the fat from the skin. Each slice of breast had 1/4" of fat remaining under the skin, which I sadly removed, since the surface of the skin was seasoned and should have been very tasty with the flesh of the meat. Really unfortunate, actually, because the dish has potential.
Apple tart, schmapple tart.... this was a dessert. It was sweet, it was pretty tasty, but it definitely didn't seem like they were really trying too hard. And the small scoop of ice cream that went with it did not taste homemade, but rather like Breyer's French Vanilla. Hmm. A slice of candied apple placed on top was actually the highlight of the dessert.
The bill was served up with a truffle for each person, and they were tasty if a bit ugly. Yes, they're hand-formed, but I've made truffles that were actually spherical. Its not that hard.
Night Two - what I had:
Foie Gras with Salad and Crostini and Cranberry reduction (from memory)
Vichyssoise: Chilled Potato-Leek Soup Garnished with Crispy Leek Frizzels
Tomato Granite
Grilled Salmon with a Balsamic-Chianti Reduction, Heirloom Tomato Salad, and a Savory House Made Crostini
Fresh Apple Tart
Same amuse as last time, the shrimp. Same opinion on that, except this shrimp was slightly overdone and chewy.
The foie gras, unfortunately, was fine. I've had foie gras only a few times, and it seems that it should be exceptional, given the 'ingredients'. The cranberry sauce didn't do a whole lot for it or the salad, unfortunately.
Things brighten considerably with the vischyssoise - this is the highlight of the meal. It is rich with cream, tastes intensely of leeks and potatoes, and is seasoned well. Very well done. I'd like to order a bucket, to go.
Granite - same V8 'granite' as before.
Salmon - nicely cooked. They didn't abuse the fish as they unfortunately did with the 'heirloom tomato salad', which was shockingly just a large-format version of the avocado-studded pico salad they served under the shrimp in the amuse course. The flavors of the tomato were well hidden, thusly I was not amused.
And, finally, the same apple tart as before. Yay, the candied apple slice!
So now, like Jerry Springer, I offer my final very opinionated thoughts out to those restaurant owners out there that might employ some of these culinary grads:
Hire the person who made the vischyssoise. Run far, far away from everyone else.
Time posted: 07:55 [permalink]
Thursday, July 22
Chard and Lard
Well, not really. It just sounds nice, doesn't it?
On the way home from work yesterday, planning already what I was going to do with the lovely bunch of kale from the co-op in my fridge, when I saw the little sandwich board sign that said "Farmer's Market Today" on the side of the road. SCREEECH! I quickly turned into the next available driveway and made my way over to see what was available. Now, the local market in Cedar Crest is pretty small, but there are always some nice greens, fresh eggs, pastries, flowers, and honey. Anything more than that is a bonus, but there wasn't much today.
I had a buck fifty in my pocket so I realized I couldn't get much of anything, but marched over to a greens seller and saw they had chard for just that amount. I asked for a bunch and they put a stack together for me right then. It was rainbow chard, gorgeous stuff. I piled it into the jeep and headed home. Poor kale, it will have to wait.
So, while deciding what to do with the chard, I made a quick salad out of the remaining cukes and zucchini from the market on Saturday plus some crumbled feta, and dressed half of the chunks with an impromptu hummus sludge: 2T hummus, 1T olive oil, 1T water, salt, pepper. The other half went into a bowl for tomorrow and were dressed with something a bit flashier: 1T peanut oil, 2T chile-lime wine vinegar, 1T holy basil chile paste, splash of chile oil, salt, pepper. It will be interesting to see how that holds up after sitting overnight....
Time posted: 11:53 [permalink]
Wednesday, July 21
Foofy Calabacitas
One of the things I made over the weekend was that Zucchini salad. It was tasty on its own, but when faced with a small batch of corn crepe batter, it presented a new use: crepe filling.
With the corn kernel goo from 1 ear, I made about a cup of crepe batter and proceded to make 5 crepes, all very delicate (as Alice Waters warned me). They were folded/rolled up with a few pieces each of the zucchini salad, and thusly became Calabacitas Crepes.
On their own they tasted quite good, but I sensed that something was missing to round out the flavors, and in retrospect I think the missing ingredient was chile. Adding just a touch of homemade green chile sauce would have completed the crepes. So that's what I'll do next time.
Green Chile Sauce
4oz chopped green chile (I use (*gasp*) frozen packets that I buy by the case at Costco; the chile is suprisingly hot, flavorful and fresh tasting.)
1/4 cup or more chicken stock
1T corn starch dissolved in equal amount of water or stock
salt & pepper
Heat the green chile in its juices with the stock until boiling. Add the corn starch sludge and whisk furiously to prevent lumps, then cook a few minutes until it thickens up and gets clear. Season with salt & pepper and serve as is, or add a splash of cream to temper the heat.
Time posted: 09:12 [permalink]
Tuesday, July 20
Dogpile on "Open Letter to Food Network"
Not much to say here.... I concur heartily with this post from Appetites:
An Open Letter to the Food Network
Time posted: 08:40 [permalink]
Sunday, July 18
Farmers Market Fandango!
No, you can't buy tickets to a farmer's market on Fandango, but you CAN do the fandango with all the goodies you bring home.
This weekend, luck has brought several compatible situations together:
1. Back from vacation.
2. Work overtime has pretty much evaporated. Yeeha!
3. The local Farmers Markets are finally open!
So, the cooking fest has already begun. I will start out with the cooling salad I made yesterday:
Tomato/Cucumber Salad w/ Green Goddess
2 fresh tomatos
2 smallish cukes (I used one green, and one lemon)
the dressing
Green Goddess Dressing (adapted from Alice Waters)
1 avocado
1/4 cup olive & grapeseed oil
2T white wine vinegar
1T walnut vinegar
1T dried fines herbes
1 clove garlic
1 shallot
salt & pepper
mince the shallot & garlic and let float in the vinegars for a few minutes. Meanwhile, smash the avocado & spices to a paste, then add the vinegar mixture and the oils. Combine to whatever consistency you'd like. Add more vinegar or water to thin it. Season with salt & pepper.
Chop the veg to bite sized pieces or smaller, then toss with about 2T of the dressing. Serve at room temperature. De-lish!
NEXT, I made a crisp/crumble with about a dozen tiny yellow plums I got. The crust was just a mixture of 1T butter, some rolled grains, a little flaked coconut, and some sliced almonds. I didn't take a picture of that (yet).
NEXT, I made a cold salad of some mixed lentils I had cooked a few nights ago, and some blanched sugar snap peas. To season it I added salt, pepper, butter, and some mint paste from the Asian market, since I know mint and peas go well together.
Minted Pea and Lentil Salad
STILL GOING..... now I have several zucchini that are calling out to be prepared. I have usually made those critters into a gratin, or a fritatta, but its just too damn hot out.
I found a recipe from Jacques Pepin for a zucchini salad that does require a little heat, but not too much. I completely changed the dressing, however, so here is my take:
Lemon-Asianesque Zucchini Salad
3 zucchini, cut into sticks/pieces of whatever dimensions you'd like
Put these in a baking pan, sprinkle with salt, and cook for about 10 minutes in a 425 oven, just until they start to limp up. Here's what they looked like coming out. I had a green, a yellow, and an orange specimen, so the colors are nice:
Now I totally diverged from Pepin's recipe; his called for a simple dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar, and black pepper.
I combined 1T peanut oil, 1T roasted sesame oil, 1t lemon-pepper seasoning, and a dash each of ground ginger and cardamom. So I really don't know what the flavor combo adds up to, but its tasty. Toss with the cooled zucchini sticks and serve immediately.
AND THERE'S MORE. I made but did not take pictures of:
- Chilled beet soup with buttermilk (didn't have sour cream to make proper borscht)
- Simple gazpacho (tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil, red bell pepper)
- Corn crepes (actually have only made the batter for this so far, but will be making them soon. Not sure what to stuff them with... possibly some of the zucchini salad for an upscale take on Calabacitas.
Time posted: 17:15 [permalink]
Friday, July 16
Delish
Lunch today for the 3rd time (not 3rd lunch of the day, of course), was Relish. Johnny "the ploughman" Orr assembled a nice little cheese plate for me and sliced up a mozz salad for my companion. All of the cheeses were room temperature, and bravo for that. A boursin, aged white cheddar, taleggio, and brie were the selections; unfortunately none were spectacular like the previous visit where I sampled a fantastic Gorgonzola.
Relish's hours have been cut back to 11-3 M-Sat (from 11-8 M-F). You can now get your tasty kibbles on Saturdays, but not in the evenings.
My promise to this flog is that I shall become more consistent with carrying my camera with me so as to snap lovely images of the food I eat every day. Photos make the world seem 1000 words closer....
Time posted: 15:44 [permalink]
Tuesday, July 13
Getting Protein Tartly
Since my whirlwind Gourmet Tour of the San Juans, I will be needing lots of high-quality (read: NOT vegetarian!) protein.
I am normally a fan of both yogurt and cottage cheese, but on a per serving and per calorie basis, cottage cheese packs a much bigger punch. On the other hand, yogurt has all those nice friendly critters in it to make the GI fauna complete.
Yesterday I discovered something completely new to me - cultured cottage cheese! It is "normal" cottage cheese with all the critters of yogurt. The taste is definitely more tart than cheesy, so adding fruit or a sweetener could be handy. But it sure is nice to get the gut-critters and 14g of protein per 90 calories at the same time.
Time posted: 14:37 [permalink]
Monday, July 12
Gourmet Tour of the San Juans
This weekend I took a fabulous trip through the San Juan mountains, stopping along the way for samples of local cuisine at TWELVE different locations. Beverages and gratuities were also included, all of this for the bargain price of $175.
Here is (some of) what I ate:
Creamed Peanut Carpaccio with Smashed Fruit Compote on toast points.
Decadent warm Cacoa-bean apertif.
Chocolate enveloped legumes with crunchy sweet glaze.
Vanilla-infused sweet & crunchy cakes
Citrus-scented tea with fresh spring water granita
Cured beef with tangy mustard sauce
Simple potatoes - gently cooked and encrusted finely with salt
Braised figs in savory pastry dough
Sounds tasty, doesn't it?
Time posted: 11:42 [permalink]
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CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
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