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joe - that 2nd attempt definitely looks a whole lot nicer
y8s - I never really had anything with crushed tortilla chips until recent when I had some of the best chicken tortilla soup, after which I'm wondering why in the world more dishes don't have crushed tortilla chips. you just confirmed my theory. looks really tasty.
scawt - looks pretty but kinda seems like the flavor would be muted, or did you season it with something?
it ended up being just a little on the boring side. there was garlic under the potatoes--but not nearly enough--and salt/pepper/red pepper flakes before serving.
If i ever made that again, it would need to be like au gratin potatoes on top. wasn't worth the calories as it was.
Felt like a homestyle / comfort-food thing tonight.
Mix ground turkey, a generous spoonful of ricotta, your favorite seasoning blend, and maybe a little cornmeal and egg if you're feeling decadent. Form into *****, and press some provolone cheese into the middle, making sure that the meat fully encapsulates the cheese. Bake 450° for about 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, toss some green beans and a sliced red bell pepper into a pan on high with some olive oil. Mix with crushed red pepper flakes. Cook 5-6 minutes until they start to char a tad. Add some garlic and finish for another miunte-ish.
Plate the meatloaves with marinara. Top with Tabasco to taste.
Because she is allergic to eggs, I had to exclude them from this receipt. Otherwise list of ingredients can be seen in the picture. Also - in the last picture it's spicy eggplant, which is one of my favorite 10 minute "go-to" recipe.
Sauce
- fish sauce
- sriracha
- honey (instead of sugar, which is also also allergic to)
- water
- tamarind paste
Other ingredients
- rice noodles
- shrimp
- tofu
- scalion/onion
- cilantro
- garlic
- roasted peanuts
- limes
- green onions
- chili flakes
- sprouts
Make sauce
Pre-soak and re-hydrate the noodles
Pre-cook shrimp to half donnes
Fry tofu until golden
Add scallions, green onions, garlic
Add noodles, sauce and sprouts
Add peanuts and shrimp
Serve with extra green onions, peanuts, chili flakes and lime
Thank you. I thought it would be harder to do Pad Thai and was surprised to find out it's not that complicated. Looking at what you've been making, I know you can do this one too.
^ = interesting, as I was contemplating adding some fried tortilla strips to tonight's culinary endeavor, but decided against it. (Edit: No narrative? Every good meal deserves a story.)
Picadillo is a common comfort-food dish in the Caribbean, and one that I grew up eating on a regular basis. For anyone who has ever had Cincinnati style chili, the fundamental concept is very similar. Meat slurry over top of a starch.
In Puerto Rico, it's usually prepared sweet, with yellow raisins and sliced green olives in the mix. For tonight, I decided to see if I could steer the boat a little to the west, and give it a bit of a central-American kick.
Start with a batch of rice. I used Jasmine today, but any long-grain white rice is just as good. Brown or wild rices, as much as I normally love them, are not suitable for this dish. We need soft and sticky.
While that cooks, we'll whip up a simple chimichurri. One jalapeno, a handful of fresh cilantro, two cloves garlic, the juice of one lime, and 1 tbs olive oil.
I coarsely minced everything, then dumped it all into the small food processor and blended it into a puree. This chimi recipe makes enough for two small batches of rice. Once the rice is done, I'll toss in about half of this and mix well. The other half will keep in the refrigerator for quite a while.
Next, a little under 1 lb of ground beef. (If I'd have been thinking ahead, I'd have gone for a mix of ground beef and ground pork.) The secret here, which I learned from my non-English-speaking grandmother, is to start with a large saute pan with about 1/4" of water on medium heat, then dump in the meat and immediately start breaking it up with a spatula / turner. The water makes it easier to break the meat into very small chunks while keeping it nice and moist as it cooks. Once the meat is just about browned, add 1/2 of a coarsely-chopped yellow onion, along with the spices. This is totally a to-taste thing. My spice bill for tonight (in roughly equal amounts of maybe 1/2 tbs each) was:
Chili powder
Cumin
Nutmeg
Cinnamon
Thyme
Once it gets to the point shown above, turn it down to low and then go sit on the balcony and enjoy a nice Dominican cigar and a glass of rum while it simmers uncovered. It's already October, and we don't have many of these evenings left to savor before the long, harsh winter is upon us.
Ok, we're back. And maybe it was two glasses of rum.
At this point, the pan is just about dry, and the onion is fairly soft. Toss in one 8oz can of tomato sauce. I prefer the one with the fewest ingredients. Eg: without a lot of salt / garlic / spices. You can add that stuff in later, but you can't take it out.
Turn up the heat a little until it starts to bubble, and then let it reduce for 5-10 minutes to thicken up. Stir occasionally. This is the point where you can adjust the spice blend to taste. Some folks like a little salt, I personally prefer a little more cinnamon and nutmeg. If this were a wine, we'd describe it as "extra dry, with notes of tobacco and despotic socialism."
And that's it.
Plate the rice, top with the meat & onion mix, and finish with a dash of shredded queso chihuahua.
This one was a definite win. For the leftovers, I may add a splash of Edmundo Vino Seco Para Cocinar to the meat.
^ = interesting, as I was contemplating adding some fried tortilla strips to tonight's culinary endeavor, but decided against it. (Edit: No narrative? Every good meal deserves a story.)
That was brunch at Cookshop in NYC in Chelsea.
I got coffee:
then ordered bloody mary's.
fun fact: i barely drank mine cause i didnt like it.
but the food was delicious, i got the huevos rancheros and wifey got a falafel pita thing.
and i didnt take pics of food here...
...but it was better than expected. Bobby Flay knows how to dish.
^I know he has a ton of restaurants, the only one I went to was years ago. Down on 5th Ave between 14th and 15th, could actually see the front door from my aunt's apt, I think it eventually got pushed out for a boutique or a bank. Food was excellent though.
^I know he has a ton of restaurants, the only one I went to was years ago. Down on 5th Ave between 14th and 15th, could actually see the front door from my aunt's apt, I think it eventually got pushed out for a boutique or a bank. Food was excellent though.
That was Mesa Grill.
We did Bar American last time we were in NYC and it was majorly disappointing. Steak in Atlantic City wasn't bad, but Mesa Grill in Vegas is one of my favorite places -- we made a rule that when we go back, we are eating there for every meal. It's annoying they closed the NYC and Bahamas location, if you're ever in Vegas go there -- get the goat cheese fondua and the mahi mahi.
The pizza i got in NYC was awesome:
Pizza Suprema near Penn Station. That's the pepperoni, hot honey ricotta and spinach, and the up-side down pie. I wanted to try the fresh mozzarella slice but they were out. Went there cause some random dude on the internet went to ~250 pizza joints in Manhattan over a period of 2 years or so and rated this his favorite. It was pretty damn good.
Lunch at the office today. Just the usual giant scallop topped with caviar upon a bed of spinach and roast pork-belly, plus tortellini with fennel sausage, prosciutto and grilled vegetables.
Looks so humble. Like don't you have money for mcdonalds?
This is why I'm surprised that I don't weigh 300 lbs:
WGN does a *lot* of fluff news. On our midday show, we have a different chef in pretty much every single day. About half of them are kind of "meh" (sandwiches, brunch stuff, etc) and about half are serious gourmet types. And after the show, whatever they made always ends up on the big prop table outside Studio 2.
Today we had the head chef from a rather good Italian place.
The plate on the left reminds me a lot of breakfast at my house. My wife does some pretty amazing non-traditional breakfasts all the time. I'm always too groggy to get pics.
I had seared tuna steak on a few spinach leaves. It was topped with a dollop of a whipped mix of cream cheese, diced artichoke hearts, scallions from our garden, capers for some saltiness, and who knows what else. I called it "Tuesday".
Decided to re-visit an old favorite tonight, with a few modifications. Asian slaw, but this time with more pork, less slaw, more heat, and in a Thai-style.
Forgot to take prep pictures. This is the result:
1 red bell pepper
2-3 stalks green onion.
2-3 cloves garlic.
1 lb ground pork.
About 1/2 bag of pre-shredded cole slaw mix
Peanut sauce
Rice vinegar
Red pepper flakes
Crispy rice noodles
Thinly slice bell pepper and green onion. Mince 2-3 cloves garlic. Set aside.
Brown ground pork in stir-fry oil over medium-high heat, constantly breaking it up with a spatula. After it's no longer pink (5-6 minutes) transfer to a bowl.
Add some more oil, toss the bell pepper into the pan, turn heat up to 11. Cook it until slightly charred, turning only occasionally. 3-4 minutes.
Turn heat down to medium. Add the pork back in, along with the green onion and olive. Stir.
Add red pepper flakes to taste. This is the point where you can select between Poland, 1939 and The Nuclear Option, or anything in between. Stir again.
Toss in the slaw mix, and a small handful of the noodles. Drizzle with about 2 oz peanut sauce and 1 oz vinegar. Stir yet again.
Cover, and let steam for just about a minute. We just want to soften the slaw mix a tad. Once it's where you want it, immediately remove from pan.
Plate, top with more noodles. Have some lime juice and more red pepper flakes available to adjust tartness and heat to taste. I used very little lime, and enough red pepper to repel a gopher horde*.