Na na na. . .

Supper, Tuesday February 19, 2019: nibbles (tabouleh, hummus, cheeses, mackerel,

ring bologna, naan).

Naan is an easy, unfussy way to put fresh bread on the table. If started just a little before cooking the rest of the meal it can be finished for the table. By unfussy I mean that precise attention to detail, as required by many breads, is not necessary. You don't need a tandoor oven either. A stone in a hot oven will do just fine or even a (smoking) hot skillet.

3/4c hot water
1t honey
1t  yeast or a pack
2.5c all purpose flour
1/2c yogurt
2T olive oil
1/2t salt
cilantro, diced potatoes, minced garlic, peas, or not, to add later.

Combine the water, honey, and yeast in a large bowl and let rest until it foams. This is not an absolutely necessary step but it speeds the process along. Once foamy add the flour, yogurt, oil, and salt. Mix then gently knead for a few minutes until the dough firms. (Fold down, press, rotate, repeat.) Dust with flour if necessary to keep the dough from being sticky. Let the dough rest until doubled. (For this small batch of dough, the amount of yeast and the jumpstarting means this won't take long.)  Divide the dough into 8 - 10 pieces. Form into small balls. let rest a few minutes. Meanwhile heat an oven with a baking or pizza stone to 500F or get a heavy skillet smoking hot. (In other words a drop of oil will smoke if dropped on the surface.) Roll the balls out to discs about 6-8" diameter. Press in any additional ingredients such as minced garlic or cilantro. Slap down onto the cooking surface. The dough should brown in a couple of minutes. It will easily release from the surface when ready. Flip to brown the other side.

It might seem daunting at first but after you have done this a couple of times it is pretty low effort.

Burn Baby Burn

Supper, Sunday February 17 2019, roasty grilly smoky stuff (cranberry beans with smoked habanero cheddar; roasted butternut; grilled corn).

Alexis likes bitter and earthy flavors. she likes the earthyness of beans. Here are some cranberry beans, one of our more recent favorites. What we have even more recently discovered is red cargamantos. They are the mother bean of the cranberry bean. Instead of the cream with red flecks of the cranberry bean the cargamanto is deep red with cream flecks. The flavor is similar but the skins are thinner and the texture is creamier.

I had not thought of it until now: Alexis likes smoked things because smoke is bitter. If you don't believe taste the very outside of smoked meat. Unless there is sugar of some form applied the smoke flavor is very bitter. Is that why so many BBQ sauces are super sweet? I think so. We are trained to overpower bitterness with sugar. Think cola. There is an obscene amount of sugar in a regular cola, a little over 9 tsp in a 12 oz can. Without that sugar, cola is just NASTY. We normally think of coffee as bitter. I only put about a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee. By comparison coffee is downright sweet compared to cola.

Bitter flavors are important though, and when balanced properly they lend a great deal of complexity to foods. Gouda and cheddar are yummy. Smoked gouda and cheddar are suuuper yummy. There is just enough sweetness and lots of saltiness and umami to balance the bitter.

That's Gonna Take Some Heavy Duty Rolling Paper

Supper, Monday February 11, 2019: eggplant parmish kinda thing (fried eggplant, bolognaise, parmesean, smoked cornmeal polenta);

pickled artichoke.

Where Alexis is from, north central Ohio, there is a very kool bulk foods store that is almost also a tourist attraction. For me the beauty is that I can find items that are rare in regular groceries AND at very reasonable prices. A good example is rye flour. I can get it at our regular grocer but it is from a specialty mill and is kinda pricey. In Ohio I can get five pounds for the same price as a pound at home. When we visit family I like to stock up. 

On the last visit I came across roasted corn meal (not really smoked but it is smoky) . I thought "This might make good polenta." I was right. Pretty damned good.

Reddnekkt Lite

Breakfast, Thursday February 7, 2019: small eggs reddnekkt; sausage; fruit.

I have talked about this dish before, just follow the link. In this case I made a smaller version 'cause I didnt have the biscuits for the regular size.

Rut Roh Raggy

Supper, Monday February 4, 2019: mystery dish (rice, I think, with verde sauce) grilled shrimp 

and pineapple.

The biggest problem with getting behind on this has been forgetting exactly what some of the meals actually were. This is a case in point. That is a homemade verde from tomatillos that we grew but I am not sure what is under there. 

A trick I learned many years ago in the restaurant biz was to skewer shrimp then marinate in cheap italian dressing. It provides a little acidity and fat along with the flavors so lemon juice and butter are in my opinion not necessary. 

Fried Fartiflower

Supper, Friday January 25, 2019: fish fry (fried catfish and cauliflower, black eyed peas).

I have mentioned before that I have something akin to a physical addiction to fried okra. I could almost say the same for cauliflower. Something magical happens to it when it is breaded then fried. It may have at least a little to do with the fact that I use seasoned salt on the florets before breading. What is especially rewarding is that the grocer I use in Savannah always has an abundance of cauliflower and it is almost always very reasonably priced. I am also not afraid to buy the marked down heads that have a little mold in some spots. (There is a limit to my tolerance for this. As long as it is superficial and not widespread I am OK with it.)  I just shave off the blemishes. I don't care what the appearance is since I will be breading anyway. 

I will also mention here that we often get the "catfish nuggets." They are actually the belly pieces left from filleting the whole fish. They are oddly shaped and sometimes require a bit of trimming but I am no stranger to a knife. The biggest difference is that the bellys come with the peritoneum (lining of the body cavity) still in place. It might appear that it would be tough like the pleura that must be removed from ribs. It is not. I don't detect it in the finished product. It might make the end result have a stronger flavor but that for us is a bonus.

Oh yeah, I'm not sure that beans AND cauliflower is a wise choice. 

Demon Squid From Hell

Multi-meal entry circa Tuesday January 22 2019: variations on a squid.

I like shopping at the little asian grocery near our Asheville home. It is fun to poke around looking at the odd (for the western palate) ingredients that would not normally be available in our "normal" grocery. I have also found that some foods are substantially cheaper. Sesame oil for example is much less expensive than if purchased from our usual grocery. We also like trying some of the weird snax, garlic shrimp chips, say no more. 

On this visit they had squid. A lot of squid. So I bought a lot of squid, in the form of one really big squid. 

I made some nabeyaki with some of it. We had squid and grits the next day for breakfast. I also made a seafood stew not pictured. 

My initial concern with a squid this large was that once cooked it would take on the consistency of a wet rawhide. It CAN do just that if not cooked properly. Overcooking is the best way to ruin a good squid. For fried calamari you want to pull it from the oil just as it starts to brown. Unfortunately this means that the breading is sometimes not well bonded to the squid. A bit of lost breading is just the price you have to pay. 

For the stew and the nabeyaki I add the squid after I turn off the stovetop. The latent heat in the liquids are enough to cook til tender.