Food of the Gods

My dinner wasn't as photogenic as the cooks I took the recipes from, but... it was certainly delicious.

I had been wanting to try the recipe for Beef and Potatoes au Chocolat for quite some time. I had the perfect steak in my freezer... I had the good cocoa powder... and I finally had an occasion. Valentine's Day. No other day could be more-perfect for an off-label use of cocoa. But then time got away from me, and I couldn't have slow-cooked it sufficiently. So, it had to wait a day. I'm sure St. Valentine won't mind.

I paired mine with her recommendation for Pumpkin Corn Muffins and roasted Brussels sprouts. It was so good! The muffins, when used to soak up the juicy goodness, somehow worked miracles at bringing out the chocolate flavor. I realized too-late that I had no stone-ground corn meal, and thought perhaps the finer stuff I had (Quaker) would be too dense. So, halfway following her suggestions for corn-free muffins, I used a combination of 1/2 cup corn meal, 1/4 cup quinoa flakes (that I bought for hot breakfast cereal but... didn't really like) and 1/4 cup cream of buckwheat cereal (which is better than quinoa, but I never think to make it.) I can't possibly describe how much I love these muffins. They are fabulous.

Beets Take-out!

I love holiday-colored food. Ok, not really. I've never even had green beer for Irish Heritage Day (I refuse to credit St. Patfuck with anything beyond genocide.) But when I just-so-happened to stumble across a recipe today for a viciously-red sidedish, I had to try it. The recipe came from Coconut & Lime, and I can't really explain why mine are SO much redder than hers. My beets never really got tender enough to mash with the potatoes, so I put it all in my food processor. (And it looks like I killed it... I got sticky, sugary-beety goodness in nooks and crannies I didn't know existed on that thing. Oops.) I didn't use the sour cream called for, because I can't have dairy. I think the creaminess would have been nice, but any extra "sour" would not. Maybe that explains the difference in hue?

The rest of dinner consisted of thick, grilled pork chops and a broccoli dish loosely taken from my new fabulous Jamie Oliver cookbook. Oh, and I topped the beets with microgreens... cuz it was pretty, and because the leaves are vaguely heart-shaped. I like cheesy Valentiney goodness. 10 years ago today I became a mother (didn't know it until about three weeks later), so it's a big holiday for me.

Grills and Kales

The Grill-Geek got a new toy! A bigger, shinier grill. So, he made dinner, to break it in. I win!

Grilled burgers, portabellas, and asparagus. I was in heaven. I had a big ol' margarita, to pretend I was having "cheeseburgers in paradise" a la Jimmy Buffet.


I also made a new, addictive, surprisingly-wonderful snacky-treat... crispy kale. I don't remember who referred me to the Monkey See site, but... I am so grateful! 400 degrees, 14 minutes, and an absolutely delicious snack. I added a few squirts of white vinegar halfway through, when I was turning the kale over. My 9-year-old incredibly-picky veggie-phobic daughter declared "I love kale!" when she gobbled up some. Unbelievable!

I wasn't able to get a picture of the overflowing bowl of kale, because I just kept eating it... and it really does taste more like chips than you'd expect. I used quite a bit of salt, but... it was Celtic sea salt, so I consider it a health supplement.

Chocolate Tasting

Chocolates are not created equal. I think I have always known that... but every now and I then, I suppose I think the money saved on inferior stuff is worth it. It never is.

Today we had a chocolate tasting, to celebrate Valentine's Day a little early. We had bought a selection of fun, fancy, gluten-and-dairy-free chocolates and wanted to see which ones were best. I threw the candy hearts on the plate just for fun. My favorite was definitely the Blanxart Chocolate Negro con Almendras. Very good, crisp to the teeth, a touch too-sweet, but not as too-sweet as the others.

While I'm talking about chocolate... I recently posted a recipe for Coconut Milk Ice Cream, and I need to amend it. That first batch was so much better than the two that have followed!! The only differences have been, the first time around I used what was left of some very fancy cocoa powder. I don't remember the brand, but it was in a tall cardboard cylinder. Very different packaging than most... shouldn't be hard to find. And, after I re-liquified the coconut cream (skimmed off the tops of the fridge-cold cans) in a saucepan, I put all the ingredients in the blender instead of just whisking. I think it was the cocoa powder that made the difference... but... thought I'd be specific. I'd hate any of you to make it, have it be as gritty and weird as my last two batches have been, and then decide that I'm crazy to say it's a good recipe.
Don't blame me, blame Hershey's. They suck.

Meh

I'm not feeling all that ranty this morning... hence the meh.

I don't feel up to raging against the medical-industrial complex. So, I'll just stick to pointing out stupid shit.

Tide (and not just Tide, no... 2X Ultra Tide, wowee!) now with... drumroll please, this is big news... Dawn StainScrubbers. That's right, folks, Proctor and Gamble caught on to the fact that mothers everywhere were using dish soap on stains. And decided to work that into a new product. That won't work any different than the old product.
First of all... I'd like to dispute the 2X Ultra thing. Are we actually using less now? Were were pouring in a gallon for each load back when I was a kid?? I don't remember doing that, and I did the family's laundry from the age of eight. But, laundry detergent has been getting more and more concentrated all this time... 22 years... by now we ought to be just adding a drop and watching the bubbles explode out of the machine.

But this Dawn thing... the StainScrubbers... while I believe it's possible that we've developed the nano-technology to create microbeads with a mission... I don't think we'd be able to afford it quite yet. I think we'll be focusing on more important applications for nanites for a while... medical stuff and, of course, the more-profitable war stuff. So, I don't trust the StainScrubbers to actually scrub the stains. That was the whole point behind what mamas have been doing all this time... scrubbing the stain with dish soap. Or hand soap. Or moisturizing antibacterial soap from a dispenser in the public bathroom. The point was... whatever you had on hand, even if it was iced tea or Coke... and then scrubbing. That's what helped the stain not set.

So, Proctor and Gamble... I'm not impressed. And I've got another complaint. Bring back NyQuil. The real NyQuil. I really hate the meth-heads that have messed it up for all of us... I'm guessing that's the reason the time-tested and much-loved formula was changed. The old stuff worked. It filled a niche, served a purpose, bridged a gap, whatever. Am I espousing an artificially-flavored-and-colored potentially-dangerous-and-abusable over-the-counter medication? You bet I am. Because sometimes, after the echinacea and zinc lozenges have failed, after the teas and honey and hot showers and obstinate-avoidance of harmful fever-reducers has left you Still Sick and very tired, with snot both stuck stubbornly inside all your crevices and annoyingly dripping down your throat and out your nose... you just want to fucking sleep! Sometimes sleep is the best medicine. And NyQuil provided that. It was "nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy-head, fever" so you can be completely comatose for eight hours medicine. It was wonderful. This new shit isn't. It doesn't work at all. I want the old stuff back. Stop trying to protect me from myself!!! If I want to boil it down and chemically-extract the ephedra (or whatever it is the meth-heads do)... that's my business. Don't punish the masses for the stupidity of the few.

And furthermore... just as a side note... stop insisting that my husband save the world based on which shaver he uses. Just because he happens to prefer the same razor that Tiger Woods advertises does not mean he has to show the world "how phenomenal he can be." Maybe he just wants an average day. And a good shave. Is that too much to ask? Or, too little, I suppose? Do we all have to be so hyped up on our energy drinks and so ambitious and wonderful all the time? Can't we just relax and spend the day playing video games?

Meh.

Iron Chef... baby chicken?

It took me a long time to finally post this one, as I had mixed feelings about it. Poor baby chickens... yes, that's what my darling, politically-incorrect husband brought home for me. And right after I'd read about boiled ducklings in my favorite kids' series.

It was... just too much. But they were tasty. I think I prefer older birds, though, like roasting hens. The hazelnut sauce thingy wasn't very good. Then again, as usual I took some ideas and did my own thing with them, so, I'm sure the fault is mine. It did remind me why I don't generally bother with sauces.

Roasted Poussin

Ingredients:
3 small poussin

White wine for the pan...
¼ cup pistachio nuts

½ cup toasted hazelnuts
1 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

2 tablespoons orange juice
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cipollini or pearl onion
1 cup rich chicken stock

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Rinse the chickens inside and out and pat dry. Trim off any extra fat.
Season each bird generously inside and out with salt and pepper, coat with oil, stuff slices of orange inside, tuck the wings under the back and tie the legs together.

Oil a roasting pan just large enough to hold the birds comfortably. Put them in the pan, breast side down. Roast for 15 minutes. Turn the chickens over (breast side up) and roast 20 minutes longer. Collect about 1 cup pan juices. Increase the heat to 425°F. and roast for about 10 minutes, or until skin is nicely browned and the juices run clear when thickest part of a thigh is pierced with a small knife.

Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine the onion, pan juices, orange juice, stock, the nuts, and the thyme. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Transfer to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. There should be about 1 1/2 cups the consistency of a thick cream sauce. Serve the chickens with the sauce on the side.

Chicks

Collards

Rice (wild rice?)

Sautéed diced maroon carrots

Order of Events:

Start rice cooker (broth, rice water)

Slice onion for collards

Wash, de-rib, and slice collards

Cut orange(s) for stuffing

Take pearl onions out to thaw

Dice carrots

Flip the chickens

Start sauce simmering

Toast hazelnuts (+ extra)

Shell pistachios (and toast?)

Add pan juices to sauce

Make the Butter-Toasted Hazelnuts

Blender the sauce

Serve: chicks atop rice, collards to the side, wedge of carrots, hazelnuts scattered

Carnitas

Tonight's recipe came from Simply Recipes, one of my favorite food blogs, and certainly the one I use the most. I just love her stuff.

The changes I made, which were made for convenience, speed, and what-I-had-on-hand were: the pork was already smoked, so I made a sauce of cooked onions and garlic, about a cup of salsa verde, and some chicken broth... tossed the chopped pork (faster than shredding when it's super-fridge-cold) in that and stuck it in the oven the way the recipe says. I didn't use the cheese or sour cream, and I shredded up some romaine lettuce instead of cabbage.

It was absolutely delicious on fresh, locally-made corn tortillas.