Snot What It Looks Like

 

Supper, Thursday July 15, 2021: cod fingers; limas; okra 
and tomatoes; rice.

A couple of years ago most of this meal would have been from the garden. At least this year we got the tomatoes. They are tasty. Unfortunately it looks like we are about to have a stinkbug problem. We hates them. I have found no control method other than squishing them by hand. A propane torch tends to damage the plant. Then again, you don't have to kill them with the torch just maim them enough. . .

Enough of that. I wish that okra didn't have the snot thing. I really like okra. I REALLY like fried okra and it is indispensable in gumbo. Like many people (most?) I just have a problem with the mouth feel unless it is cut by cooking with tomatoes for the acidity. (I think that is what makes it better.) At least we can fry it. I suppose that will have to suffice.

Is That A Corncob On Your Plate Or Are You Just Happy To See Me

 

Supper, Thursday July 1, 2021: blackened chop

and garden vegetables.

I first have to admit, as much as Alexis would like it, we do not have an avocado tree. In the past I have planted a massive home garden. At the peak of harvest we have taken in literal mounds of produce. We do not have a large sunny space in our yard in Savannah. I have shifted to small garden beds. I will add a few more this winter. In the end I want to grow tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, greens, and green beans. That would be enough. We did grow those pretty little tomatoes and the peppers this year though.

Quit Yer Bitchin'

 

Breakfast, Sunday June 6, 2021: wowthatsapileofeggs.

I have an immune disorder. It requires that I take immune suppressants. A lot of immune suppressants. Whenever I have a fever, it could potentially be a medical emergency. (Now that I look at it, I wonder about that phrase. What other kind of emergency could it be? Not a national emergency or a public health emergency. How about this:) Whenever I have a fever, it could be a sign of a life threatening illness. (Not much better.) A bad case of flu could kill me. With this covid thing, I have barely left the house. Since too many jerks won't get the vaccine, the US is unlikely to achieve herd immunity. I'm stuck, at home that is. Covid will kill me, can't stress that enough, WILL. 

Anyhoo. Friday night I start getting chills. I check my temp, 101.3. Damn. Take some acetaminophen and see if we can control it. Besides, no one wants to go to the E.D. on a Friday night. (Another annoying side note: it's E.D. not E.R. It's a (D)epartment not a (R)oom.) FF to Saturday morning: still have the fever, now add nausea and malaise. We head to the E.D. FF again to Saturday afternoon, I'm admitted and sleeping off a really bad reaction to one of the medications they gave me for the nausea. Finally let's move ahead to Sunday morning. The picture above is breakfast. It's nothin' fancy and yes those are the prepacked frozen hash browns deep fried. Yet for what it was, it was well prepared and it was hot. Plenty of people pay good money for a plate like that at many a diner. 

That's hospital food today. It's time for a new joke. 

Cock, Just Cock

 

Breakfast, Sunday May 23, 2021: polenta and eggs: polenta (quick polenta, garlic powder, vegetable base, pepper, shredded parm ); leftover pizza sauce; mozzarella; gallus gallus 

domesticus ova.

We had corn pancakes a few days ago. Alexis likes them a lot so I made some extra for quick workday breakfasts. Something that I saw her mother do was make breakfast sammiches out of leftover pancakes, so I have done that on occasion. I used some of the corn pancakes for just that for a couple of days recently. 

On this occasion I actually asked (gasp!?) whether she wanted one. "How about something different?" was the reply. If you're gonna be different, do it fo' reals.

BTW gallus is Latin for cock.

Too Many Steps

 

Supper, Wednesday May 19, 2019: pizza (pizza stuff, shrimp).

I'm getting better at this. I found a new tweak that solved a longstanding complaint I have had about my approach. It's soggy. 

We like a fair number of ingredients on our pie. I wouldn't go so far as to say garbage can pizza, but some might argue. Anyhoo, One of the problems with a lot of stuff on the pie is getting it all cooked before the crust or cheese gets too browned or even burnt. You could, counter-intuitively, turn the heat down. This stretches the cook time allowing time for the ingredients to soften before the fire starts. Unfortunately we like the dark browning that comes with the high heat and fast cooking. What's a poor boy to do? I have settled on precooking all the ingredients then adding them to the pie warm. (They don't have to be hot). 

The problem that I have encountered with this method is that pizza ends up soggy, particularly as leftovers, and we loooooove leftover pizza. (We paid our way through college. Capisce?) It is not so big a deal when the pie is hot from the oven.  The crust is firm but the ingredients are wet. When it cools down and sits a bit the juices from the veggies get down into the crust. One workaround that I have found helps, is heating the leftovers on a griddle instead of the microwave. By the time the top is warm the crust has firmed up a bit. That is all well and good for home use but when taking the slices to work the microwave is usually the only option. 

I realized, rather densely this time, that the solution is simply place the sauteed ingredients in a colander whilst shaping the crust. I was rather surprised by the amount of liquid that was left behind. We found no loss in flavor, and the texture was greatly improved. In the photo above there is no sign of a puddle in the center of the circle of yum.

I'm getting close to pifection.

Oh, and the shrimp, I coarsely diced them. Say three or four pieces per shrimp, about the same size as the sausage gobbets.

Ain't No Substitute Fo' Your Rub. . .

 

Supper, Friday May 14, 2021: smoked ribs; fried cauliflower; fresh bread.

I've done ribs before, so I will stick to only the latest development. I ran out of rub. Ribs can be smoked without rub. A mop sauce is probably more common anyhow. I typically use a mop, but I also put a rub on then start the smoking only introducing the mop about 2 or 3 hours in. 

I didn't have any mop sauce either.

Basic mop is easy to make, just Google it, but I wasn't feelin' it. Mopping requires a level of attention to the smoker/grill that I was not ready to commit to. I didn't want to put the rack in the Weber naked. The surface dries out too much and becomes stringy and chewy. This is OK in small doses but over the whole surface it's a bit much. How does a dry rub prevent this? After all isn't the name "dry" rub?

As I have stated before, I am no food scientist, but I have a theory. Brown sugar. I think the sugar dissolves in the "juices" which are also hydrating the dried, ground components. Then the magic happens. The heat dries the wet paste out and into a crust. The crust protects the meat surface from drying too much.

The real problem was not that I was out of rub. I make my own. I was out of paprika, almost. Paprika is often the first ingredient in a rub blend, and mine is no exception. What's a fella to do? On my spice shelf sits a jar of chili powder. It's kinda rub-like. The spice blend is a little different and it is missing the sugar, but it is in the ballpark. 

I started with a healthy portion of my chili blend. I added what paprika I had to thin the heat. Spicy ribs is OK but too spicy is a distraction. My chili blend has no salt so I added that too. Finally I tossed in a heap of that so important brown sugar. 

The ribs are good. Srsly good. So good I am going to modify my rub recipe to make it more chili-ish. 

I guess there is a substitute. Rub the one you're with.

I Orangen't Very Attentive

 

Breakfast, Thursday May 13, 2021: kohlrabi fritters (shredded kohlrabi, egg, flour, buttermilk, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper, avocado cream sauce (avocado, yogurt, sour creme, salt, lemon juice)); scramble (onion, spinach, mushroom, eggs, cheddar, tarragon, dill, salt); fruit.

The grocery that I regularly use has a decent produce section. It has a good and generally fresh selection of the basics. It has some shortcomings. The mushroom selection is buttons and portobellos, das it. The parsley is always sad, which makes me sad 'cause I really like tabbouleh. On the other hand they always seem to have pineapples really cheap. (There was recently a six week pineapple drought. It was difficult.) The other item that is exciting is blood oranges. They are not stocked all the time, but it is often enough that I always look for them. 

On my most recent shopping trip they were in stock and. . . wait for it. . . on sale. I got a little excited. Instead of carefully inspecting them I joyfully stuffed them in a bag. I realized my mistake this morning. I intended to just use blood orange as the fruit, but when I took one out of the bowl I almost put my thumb in it. This might be all right for a really ripe peach, but not an orange. It wasn't rotten all the way through, only in the spot my thumb submerged. I was able to use half of it. 

 

Back. . . Again

 

 Supper, Tuesday May 11, 2021: Surf and turf (seared round steak (steak of your choosing. I choose-ed a couple of round cuts that were in the reduced section. It is what I had on hand. salt, pepper, browned butter pan reduction from the lobster); lobster (shelled and sliced tails, butter, white wine, cooked in the steak pan); kohlrabi fritters (shredded kohlrabi, egg, flour, buttermilk, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper, avocado cream sauce (avocado, yogurt, sour creme,

salt lemon juice)); FGT (green tomatoes, breading of your choice, tomato chutney).

Life finds a way. . . of getting in the way. We finally moved to Savannah. I got busy with the house. Then I had a very bad run with my disease. Along the way I occasionally got lost in ennui. And so on. I am not going to even try to catch up. I haven't been taking a lot of photos lately anyway. 

Last night's meal is one of the best I have ever made. ( So much so that It inspired me to get back to writing. Yes it was literally life changing. It all just worked together so well. It was an experience to be savored, slowly. Actually I shouldn't equivocate. It was THE best.)

I had a procedure done yesterday. Let it suffice to say the procedure required fasting. I wanted a nice meal after. I originally planned on going out. I got the second shot about three weeks ago so I assumed I would be relatively safe if I went to a restaurant. Nope. I had the antibody test done a week ago. The vaccine did not take. I have no immunity. My immune suppressants are doing their job, just to well in this case. I decided to stay in.

I needed a few things at the grocer. While there the meal started to come together. The

lobster and meat were on sale. I hadn't had kohlrabi fritters in forever. The green tomatoes were be-au-ti-ful. 

We agreed, at the end, that we could not have purchased a better meal anywhere. That good.

 

It's The Fun Squash!

 

Supper, Thursday April 30, 2020: I have no idea anymore.

Every picture I have seen of spaghetti squash being baked to tease out the (fibers, threads, noodles?) has the squash cut and cleaned out THE WRONG WAY. Why do people cut it lengthwise? Cutting it lengthwise limits the length of the fibers to one half of the circumference of the squash. Now maybe that is enough for you but I would like to get more out of it. Since the fibers wrap around the circumference the best way to cut would be transversal, the other way. Make circles. The added benefit is that the slices cook faster and evenly. 

Here's what you do. 

Cut enough of the ends off so the fibers are exposed. Cut the rest into circles about an inch thick. remove the seedy centers. Oil them well. ( I like olive but do you.) Place on a sheet pan and bake at 350F. 

It is very important to watch them carefully. 

It is the avocado principle. We have all experienced it: Put a rock hard avocado on the counter. Watch it carefully for days. The excitement builds as you see that it is nearly ready. As the perfect moment approaches you turn your back for 15 minutes. You turn around and discover that it is a black mass swarming with fruit flies. 

I exaggerate of course but the principle is true. Avocados are frustrating in that they are perfectly ripe for a small window of time. Soon after, every place it was ever bumped or squeezed becomes a black dimple in the flesh. 

In the case at hand the squash rings go from aaaaalmost done to mushy in a scant few minutes.  As they are beginning to look cooked through check them with a fork. You are looking for that moment when they are just fork tender: you can easily push a fork in and twist it to separate the fibers. 

Pull them from the oven. I like to let them cool, then tease the fibers apart by hand, but time is not really my enemy in the short term. To use them right away pull them apart and fluff using forks.

You will end up with longer, more uniform threads. More squash fun!