Miscellany II

To satisfy the photo requirement... tonight's stir-fry:


Super-chewy round steak, carrots, broccoli, bok choy, onions... and a sauce reminiscent of my favorite Thai Lemon Beef. Pretty tasty!

No, that's not what I'm here to talk about, though.

No, tonight's post is about our friendly household appliances.

Over the years, we have named them. They begin to display peculiar personalities... or at least, we think they do. So, they need names. Sometimes this even goes beyond appliances. I used to have a small, stand-alone pantry. It was white, nondescript, but very helpful. We named it Jeeves. Unfortunately, the movers deemed Jeeves too precarious to be heaved onto a truck and carted long, jolty distances. So, he was given to a wonderful friend, to help store her homeschooling stuff.
Our daughter, the Fairy Child, got on board with this idea, and named every single thing. The ones we can remember are:
Refrigerator: Martha
Coffeemaker: Jose
Rice maker: Fukui-san

The most-notable, most-esteemed, most-favored appliance in our home, though, is Ed.
Ed is not a kitchen appliance. No, his station is much higher. Ed provides our muse, senses our moods, and serves the grooves. Ed is our 200-disc CD changer. Ed is sentient. Ed is wise. Ed knows what we want to hear before we even imagine it. We almost always leave him in "shuffle" mode, so he can make his own choices. When the sun is shining, it's Friday afternoon, and it just has to be Happy Hour somewhere, Ed reminds us how good life is with a little taste of Margaritaville. When the sun is down, the feeling is mellow, and the Scotch has been poured, Ed lulls us with smoky, jazzy "Crush." (Dave Matthews Band, for the uninformed.)
Every now and then, though, Ed gets moody. We think he wants a girlfriend... one of the newish 300-disc changers. When he's feeling sulky he becomes a smart-ass and plays completely inappropriate music and/or jarring combinations. Like, immediately after one of us mentions how hard it is to wake up this morning, and he plays a slow, soothing Diana Krall song instead of a blood-pumping Guns N Roses tune. Or like when he queued up "Leaving On a Jet Plane" the morning The Grill Geek deployed to Iraq.

We love Ed. We spent the afternoon primping and preening him, reorganizing and finally entering the right names for CDs, after much "listen to this." He was a bit of a mess. Now he's fit and trim and ready to go again. Although I still think he wants a girlfriend.

The South, and Further South

Paula Dean can kiss my biscuits!

I'm cookin' up Southern food, and comin' to take your crown, girl!
Lunch today was blackeyed peas (buried at the bottom of the bowl), and collards (with onions cooked in bacon fat, of course) and ham. It was a bit soupy, with extra chicken broth. But, oh so good.

Ok, I know I've got no chance of taking the Southern Cooking Queen's place, really. I don't like fried chicken. There. I said it. I'll also say that "mayonnaise" only has three syllables, tops. Sometimes just two. So, all the Southern ladies can pat me on the arm, whisper "bless her heart" to each other, and I'll be on my way.

As a matter of fact, I'll be on my way further south... I don't believe I have Mexican anywhere in my mutt ancestry. I have almost everything else... all of Europe, several Native American tribes... but, despite not being from around here, even genetically... I love South Texas. Here is one of many reasons:


My afternoon snackies. Tortilla chips (sadly, and abnormally, not fresh or local) and homemade guacamole (what?! you don't know how to make it?!) and... Sotol. It's like a cousin of tequila, only, well... tequila is the one that lives in a trailer, wears undershirts out in public, and gets in bar fights. Sotol lives in a hacienda, wears tailored suits, and settles disputes of honor with duels.
See... big difference.
The Grill Master read an online review that compared sotol to cognac. That clinched it for me. We paid a ridiculously low price for such an elegant, delicious beverage, and brought it home to taste. It is wonderful. I actually had the agave nectar next to the beautiful bottle of sotol, ready to add in after I tasted it straight. Whatever! No... nothing needs to be, nor should be added.

Well, I added ice. And a couple splashes of club soda. After all, it was hot outside.

How To Make Guacamole

This is really hard folks, so pay attention:

Buy some avocados. If they are Hass, the kind you'll likely find everywhere except near Florida, they should be almost-black and a bit squishy. Not so soft it feels like you could stick your finger through it. But hard means it's not ready yet... which is fine, if you're patient. I'm not.

So, you've got an avocado or two, depending on how hungry you are, and how willing you are to share. Cut it open, squish out all the fleshy part, into a bowl. This is messy, but fun. If it's not squishy, it wasn't really ripe, but oh well, you're committed now.
Smoosh it with a fork. Or cut it in smallish chunks, if that's your thing. Everyone has their own thing.
Plop some SALSA VERDE on top. Not regular ol' Pace Picante sauce or whatever. Red sauce + green avocado = guac that looks like puke. Don't go there. Please.
Salsa verde is not hard to find... although if you're not in South Texas, you'll likely have to get yours in a can. Blech. Move to South Texas.
Stir.
Taste.
Want more salt? Add it. Want more tang? Add a squeeze of lime wedge. Want more spice? Might I suggest green Tabasco? Lovely.

There ya go.

Oh, and if you're stuck with mass-market major conglomerate tortilla chips, I highly recommend toasting them for just a couple of minutes in the oven. About 350 degrees ought to do it. You don't want to brown them, but you want them sizzling. That's how to fake the fresh.

Rice Pudding

I think every gluten-free person ends up making rice pudding. We eat so much darn rice, we can't escape it. I made a big batch of coconut rice last night, thinking we'd need more to eat than the sushi I had ordered. I had no idea how big everything would be... we were plenty full. So, we had a lot of leftover rice. What to do? Rice pudding, of course. It's almost as if the Universe forced my hand to pour in the extra cup last night, steering me on the inevitable path to rice pudding.

So, I looked around online for a recipe I could adapt to being dairy-free, and one that used leftover rice. In the end I naturally changed almost everything and had my own brand-new recipe. Although I'm certain I'm not the first person to make it exactly this way... after all... how many ways can there be to make rice pudding?

Stovetop Rice Pudding

2 cups leftover cooked white rice
3 cups milk, divided (any kind)*
1/4 cup sugar (was still a bit too sweet for me)
small pinch salt
1/2 cup raisins, cranberries, whatever

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
freshly-grated nutmeg
1 egg, plus additional yolk

Combine cooked rice, 2 ½ cups milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and stir in the vanilla and seasonings. Cook until just about all of the milk is absorbed, about 20 minutes, stirring often. Whisk egg and yolk into remaining milk, then add to pan, stirring to combine well. Stir in raisins or other dried fruit.
Divide rice pudding into individual serving dishes serve warm or chilled. Top with sliced nuts or shredded coconut, if desired.

Makes 4-6 servings (yeah, right...)

*Note: Feel free to add a bit extra if the pudding is not as creamy as you like it. Any kind of milk works well, I used 2 cups coconut and 1 cup hazelnut.

I got the recipe that I loosely based this on from Slashfood.

Sushi!

No, I didn't attempt to prepare my own sushi. But, this blog is about what I'd eat, and that doesn't always mean what I cook. Tonight was The Grill Master's birthday, so he got fancy sushi delivered (from Sushi Zushi), whether he wanted it or not. Turns out, he did. He loved it.


Clockwise from the big triangle thing:

Salmon Musubi- Sushi rice mixed with Grilled Smoked Salmon, shaped like a triangle, lightly baked with a touch of Sesame Oil.

Summer Roll- Tuna, Salmon, Yellow Tail and Avocado. Rolled with Nori on the outside and topped with Ikura Salmon Caviar.

Salmon, Red Snapper, and Tuna Nigiri

And then up above, barely in the picture, is:

Toreado Roll- Jalapeño toreado, Crab Kani-Kama, Avocado, topped with Baked Scallop in a mild spicy mayonnaise sauce, rolled uramaki style with sesame seeds.

Their idea of "mild" is exactly what one ought to expect when getting food from people who like wasabi, while located near people who eat habeneros. Yeah. Ouch. But, I washed it down with Redbridge beer, which actually was a good match. It's on the sweet, light side, just like most Asian beers!

Everything was absolutely fabulous. Just unbelievable. The scallop was unlike any scallop I'd had before... so tender it almost melted in my mouth. The summer rolls were perfectly balanced in flavor. I've heard that Japanese cooking is very much about balance, but I don't think I'll ever understand how to achieve that kind... it was amazing. Perfect. And this was the perfect, palate-cleansing, spice-soothing finish:

Polynesian Frushi Roll- Fresh Strawberries and sweet pineapple rolled uramaki style and wrapped in banana. Accompanied with mango sherbet.

Perfect.

Gettin' Cheffy

That's home food, hopefully fitting for my husband's birthday Eve. The Grill Master/Uber Geek had a rough year. From start to finish his 3_ th year of existence was shitty. We're doing everything we can, at every possible New Year demarcation, to ensure the next one is better. So, the eve of his new year was this lovely roast chicken, potatoes, and collards. But not quite that simple. I've really been feeling creative and daring lately, so I kicked it up a notch. (Not really meaning to quote the great Emeril, as his way of cooking is MUCH too futzy for me.)

I also learned something important tonight... why it can be dangerous to branch off on one's own in the kitchen. See... I got this idea for a balsamic glaze on the chicken. But, I didn't get it until after I'd already started melting the butter. I don't know if butter is usually part of a glaze... like I said, I was enthusiastically making things up. Well, now, those of you who aren't lost in the throes of butter might be able to tell me WHY that didn't work. The idea behind the balsamic glaze thing is, after all, to reduce the vinegar to a ruby syrup. That means evaporating out the water. But if there's half a stick of butter in the pan, it creates an oily seal over the top of the vinegar.
Which then gets broken when you stir... so what looked like an innocent, placid pool is indeed a seething volcano, set to erupt the moment your spoon/whisk breaks the surface.
Yikes.

So anyway... I managed to keep stirring it often enough to let some of the whole evaporation thing occur. Still not really glazy, but I basted the chicken with it.

The potatoes were done in what I've heard is sort of the French style. Under the roasting chicken. So they get all sizzly-crispy-fried-yummy. I tossed them in a balsamic dressing first, and threw in some frozen pearl onions. They were heavenly.

SHRIMP

I love shrimp.

Love, love, love, love, love... you get the picture. See, here's the picture:


Now aren't those pretty?
It's Sort-of Shrimp Curry. I got my idea from a recipe, but then decided... to do my own thang. Been doin' that a lately.

Bekki's Lazy Curry

Make some rice. If you have a smart rice cooker (small appliance, NOT skilled sous-chef), use chicken broth for about a third of the liquid needed, coconut milk for another third, and water for the last bit. Makes fabulous rice that actually has some nutrient value

Once that's going, slice half an onion, thinly. Get that going in hot coconut oil, over medium heat. Mince/chop 3 cloves of garlic, press another 2 cloves, and grate about an inch of ginger. When the onions are soft, add the chopped garlic, and stir for a minute. Literally. Watch the clock or count or something. Don't burn the garlic.
Add the pressed garlic and the ginger, stir, and add half a cup of chicken broth. If it's the piddly storebought kind, you'll probably want to add at least 3/4 cup, and reduce it down. Blech. Anyway, now add about half a cup of coconut milk. Depends how liquidy you want it.

Let that simmer for a few minutes. Then add about a cup of peas... still frozen is ok... but then you'll want to make sure stuff is simmering again before adding your shrimp. And, yes, that's the next step... plop 'em on in. Peeled, even take the tail off. Have them ready to eat. (If you are using rather large shrimp, more than a bite, cut them up first.)

Simmer until the shrimp are done... they'll let you know... they're cool like that. They turn pink and curl up. Magic!

Cooking with wine

A.k.a... my kitchen smells REALLY good right now!
I love cooking with wine. It really brings out the flavors in food, and that's not just a snooty foodie opinion. It's fact, in the case of tomatoes, at least. I'd love to link to corroborating evidence, but you'll just have to trust me.

Tonight we had spaghetti (Tinkyada, of course), meatballs in marinara, and steamed green beans with butter and salt. Umma-num! And of course a few glasses of wine. Tonight's was Serengeti 2004 Pinotage, which also went in the marinara. I love Pinotage... it is dark and fruity without being cloying or harsh. I don't like Cabernets or some of the other, age-worthy snob wines. They're harsh in the mouth... unless you've been cellaring, them, apparently. I don't have a cellar. I ate mine on the drive home. *wink*

Anyone else think my dinner looks like it has a face? The green beans are the smile...

Bekki’s Best Marinara

Adapted from someone else’s… made it my own... never make it the same way twice.
Serves 4-6, freezes well

INGREDIENTS:

• Bacon fat (or bacon to produce said fat)

• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped

• ½ cup wine (or about 1/8 cup balsamic vinegar)

• 1 yellow onion, finely diced

• 1 28-oz can tomatoes, diced, whole, crushed, whatever

• 3 T tomato paste

• 4 T chopped fresh parsley (1 heaping T dried)

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 3 shakes red pepper flakes (1 small pinch)

• freshly ground black pepper

PREPARATION:

1. Sauté onion and garlic in bacon fat until soft. Deglaze the pan with wine or vinegar, reduce a bit if using wine.

2. Combine half the tomatoes, herbs, and seasonings in blender with the sautéed aromatics. Process until smooth and return to saucepan.

3. Process remaining tomatoes, add to saucepan.

4. Simmer for about 30 minutes

The meatballs were also homemade... a few weeks ago. I love making extras of those, to have on hand. I made mine with grassfed ground beef, an egg, some Worcestershire, fresh ground pepper, Parmesan (because I was experimenting with my dairy allergy), and gluten-free bread crumbs. Very tasty and very easy. I didn't even bake/fry them before freezing... just flash-froze on a plate and then put in a baggie.