tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9654211134916757412024-02-07T05:45:43.079-08:00The unFancy Foodienicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16032718189237106483noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965421113491675741.post-72114112360098465062012-03-28T13:03:00.000-07:002012-03-28T14:44:02.624-07:00Things I Ate While I Was Gone<br />
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Things I ate while I was away:</div>
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<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Publix
Fried Chicken. Satellite Beach, Fl. </li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Da
Kine Diego’s Insane Burrito. Satellite Beach, Fl. </li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Bizarro’s
Pizza. Melbourne Beach, Fl. </li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Tamales,
Gator, Sausage on a Stick. The Houston Rodeo, Tx.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Feast.
The Restaurant. Houston, Tx.</li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in;">Charbroiled
Oysters, Fried Shrimp PoBoy, Turtle Soup, Debris Sandwich, Stuffed Bell
Peppers, Jambalaya, Boudin (in ball form), Oysters Rockafeller,
Muffaletta, et al, NOLA. </li>
</ol>
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Big Surprise It was So Good:</div>
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Turtle Soup </div>
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Big Surprise It Tasted Just like Antipasto:</div>
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The Muff</div>
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Pounds I gained:</div>
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We’re
not talking about it.</div>
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Pleasure I derived from eating these things:</div>
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Cannot
be measured.</div>
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<br /></div>nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16032718189237106483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965421113491675741.post-24843037116628570082012-03-26T17:22:00.001-07:002012-03-26T17:22:54.035-07:00Guac, Fish Tacos, Mandatory Hot Sauce<!--StartFragment-->
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While I was gone I had the pleasure of hanging out with my
mom, who is a lovely person and notoriously doesn’t try a lot of new food. This
plus the fact that we were in the south – where everything is delicious, fatty
and fried – inspired some home cooking by the boyfriend and me for mom. My mom
lives in Florida on the water, so the fish selection is pretty fresh and so are
the avocadoes, etc., which naturally led us to guac and fish tacos.</div>
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To start, I made my super easy guac recipe with homemade
corn tortilla chips. There is hot sauce in it, but I feel like I should tell
you it’s not spicy at all unless you really, really pile it on. In other words,
Don’t Skip the Hot Sauce. You need it. The Guac needs it.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbtMaG8Lp_RrBcUojEV_b4163vGz9LzW6C_Y_YrpvusA-TPziLKvKJS7qDNKjiXNNvAQ6Hf44-J-6spqYjA0jlplHotBU5l5DC9DN2owjc9aAKmt7ePWVe1B6nFektUimR_s_pl0Xx3Nnt/s1600/guac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbtMaG8Lp_RrBcUojEV_b4163vGz9LzW6C_Y_YrpvusA-TPziLKvKJS7qDNKjiXNNvAQ6Hf44-J-6spqYjA0jlplHotBU5l5DC9DN2owjc9aAKmt7ePWVe1B6nFektUimR_s_pl0Xx3Nnt/s200/guac.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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For the Guac:</div>
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2 ripe avocadoes, cut open, pit out and flesh smashed to
bits with a fork</div>
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1 tomato, diced</div>
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1/3 of a red onion, diced</div>
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salt</div>
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hot sauce (Louisiana or Chalula work well but any is fine.)</div>
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Do This:</div>
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Mix it all together. Start light with the salt and hot sauce
and tweak it. Try not to eat it all while you’re testing.</div>
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For the Chips:</div>
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Corn Tortillas</div>
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Extra Virgin Olive Oil and basic seasonings </div>
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Tin Foil </div>
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Do This:</div>
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Preheat oven to 350 F.</div>
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Cut corn tortillas to look like chips. Any chips. I like
triangles.</div>
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Put them all in a bowl with EVOO (or any oil really), salt,
pepper, garlic + onion powder, whatever strikes your fancy, and mix with your
hands.</div>
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Place them individually on a tin-foil-layered pan and into
the oven they go.</div>
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I actually have no idea how long you cook them, less than 10
minutes. Check them frequently; they’ll get crispy and brown, and they’ll cool
down pretty quickly after you take them out so you can get to munching.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQKckI2doaXA5qIdzIevKJmNQtRzLPfleMaCU_UGo_crNJ1u9ugKgoPWXg_RxsJrMRxvUSVpt7tKezhXfDel8qfzLEQzdnolWPaKMkFAyXZvw9Ice7Zbb9Cd5NzZhLjk-NS4SFo42AbH9/s1600/taco.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipQKckI2doaXA5qIdzIevKJmNQtRzLPfleMaCU_UGo_crNJ1u9ugKgoPWXg_RxsJrMRxvUSVpt7tKezhXfDel8qfzLEQzdnolWPaKMkFAyXZvw9Ice7Zbb9Cd5NzZhLjk-NS4SFo42AbH9/s320/taco.jpg" width="320" /></a> <o:p></o:p></div>
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For the Fish Tacos:</div>
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Mahi mahi, cut into strips</div>
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Lime juice</div>
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Cilantro</div>
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Jalapeno</div>
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EVOO</div>
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Garlic</div>
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Do This:</div>
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Mix it all together and marinate for a half hour or so. Then
pan sauté it all with salt, pepper, etc. A pat of butter wouldn’t hurt either.</div>
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Serve it on briefly warmed (IE, thrown in the preheated oven
for 30 seconds) corn tortillas. If you don’t do this, the tortillas will
break in half. True story.</div>
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Add salsa & hot sauce if ya like it hot. Some do. My mom, of course, doesn't.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16032718189237106483noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-965421113491675741.post-90005178929924625482012-02-20T16:29:00.000-08:002012-03-01T07:21:18.292-08:00Giant Pots: Veggie Soup<br />
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Giant pots of food get me excited for so many reasons. Most
importantly, they are the gifts that keep giving, especially when you work a
soul crushing 9-5 job that often requires you to take lunch at your desk. So I
make a giant pot of something on a Sunday and bring a vat of it to work to
parcel out throughout the week. This helps me avoid lunchtime decision fatigue
and spending 5-10 bucks on something I don’t really want to eat, <i>and</i><span style="font-style: normal;"> it provides a whole ton of vitamins I can be happy
about. (As opposed to getting a fast burger and sitting at my desk all day.)
Veggie soup. Have at it.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCzSDBnk8QgW06Mh8c_ISTNhptKFdljlPXO61Sswlnlepkm1B0V4O3aU4CtDMDn8jDOlbF71G_3tkNv6RRyQpbocXjI0Bm10kkZN0lAYCokFvQIU6kmWhF9N7zs8MABHjLuqcRQymgQou/s1600/IMG_4385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlCzSDBnk8QgW06Mh8c_ISTNhptKFdljlPXO61Sswlnlepkm1B0V4O3aU4CtDMDn8jDOlbF71G_3tkNv6RRyQpbocXjI0Bm10kkZN0lAYCokFvQIU6kmWhF9N7zs8MABHjLuqcRQymgQou/s320/IMG_4385.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Ingredients: Everything in the picture plus chicken or
veggie broth (no salt) and a dollop of red sauce at the end. The things in the
bowl are soaking kidney beans, but you can replace those with a canned version
(rinsed). You’ll use only half of the onion, the eggplant, the red pepper and
the green pepper. Honestly, you could really tinker with the amounts of
ingredients one way or the other and be fine. Most vegetables play well together.<br />
<br />
Caveat: You MUST <strong>salt & pepper at every stage</strong> in the process. It won't taste quite right if you just add it at the end. Take note!<br />
<br />
1. Dice
several cloves garlic, ½ the onion, the whole Serrano pepper and <b>sauté
them</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> in extra virgin olive oil in a
soup pot until they’re soft. Salt & pepper. </span><b>Medium heat</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span>2. Add
chopped tomatoes, <b>stew for a couple minutes.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjduRLJIfpkTct9Bb6gtMFQRnQ5uRDbkyfHjECuaP8dILZo5koo2rUKh7KIa1WtLg5R1h4FCkpTAcXyVHdZH6kxTdWTwBMsy6bCZ3DdTcYXkiH12TU4W2xRb6_Rtg2AfT9U_PzqGQriwA/s1600/IMG_4395.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjduRLJIfpkTct9Bb6gtMFQRnQ5uRDbkyfHjECuaP8dILZo5koo2rUKh7KIa1WtLg5R1h4FCkpTAcXyVHdZH6kxTdWTwBMsy6bCZ3DdTcYXkiH12TU4W2xRb6_Rtg2AfT9U_PzqGQriwA/s320/IMG_4395.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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3. Throw
in chopped potatoes to soften for a few minutes. I like to do the potatoes
early, but I bet you could toss them in with step 4 with no serious
consequences.<br />
<br />
4. Chop
up ½ eggplant, ½ of each pepper, whole yellow squash, zucchini. Throw in
the whole mess and toss everything around so that the liquid on the bottom
coats everything. Add more olive oil if you like. <b>You’ll want to let
these simmer, covered</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">, until all the
veggies have softened up and gotten to know each other. </span><b>About 15
minutes</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">. If it gets extra hot and
sizzly during this time, throw in just a little of the broth, lower the
heat and keep covered. Basically, you want to keep the veggies from
frying.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: normal;"></span>5. Add
all of the broth and the kidney beans.<br />
<br />
6. Let it
simmer on low for a super long time. <b>2 hours or longer, covered</b><span style="font-weight: normal;">. If you’re using the dry beans that you soaked
(instead of the can), then make sure you let it go for at least 2 hours
because they need to cook. No matter what you do, it’s going to taste
better the next day. This is the nature of a big pot of food.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUirS31k1INoV2OxYQwvO4u-Okw36I09A_7lqkvEQYLlaNgIxlJOoVMYSqbfsGgVGJp-pHI9HNgtfn8gFCFoyrhIGkHGb7kgzR3wIzvEGCGQh0MGNNhGmhgZicM9u8cQT5B2BzI9bYBmI/s1600/IMG_4406.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqUirS31k1INoV2OxYQwvO4u-Okw36I09A_7lqkvEQYLlaNgIxlJOoVMYSqbfsGgVGJp-pHI9HNgtfn8gFCFoyrhIGkHGb7kgzR3wIzvEGCGQh0MGNNhGmhgZicM9u8cQT5B2BzI9bYBmI/s320/IMG_4406.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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7. I add <b>a
dollop of red sauce</b><span style="font-weight: normal;"> (like Classico 3
cheese) to the pot right before I serve it. This doesn’t do much to the
color/style of the soup, so don’t despair if you’re not into red sauce. I
just find the unique combo of Italian spices in red sauce really works
with the veggies and ultimately gives the soup this “mm, and what is that
delicious thing I can’t put my finger on?” quality.</span></div>
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This recipe will yield about 10 medium bowls of soup, and
the ingredients cost about $12 (I get the organic stuff). You’ll have leftovers
of most of the produce. If you want to stretch the meals so you don’t need
seconds, serve it over a hunk of rice. The finished product does well with some
added spice, so add chile powder, pimenton (spicy paprika) or Sriracha. </div>
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Remember how I told you I'm terrible with pictures? See below for an example of both that and the finished product.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOxOL07VpIeJ7TSOTxYTvFJAI9af-0bAjVqpCMq1SNsKssbz3zk6hiZayCfMj2v2rpkCyVT_hWKV_ZI2upRlte1C-Vxkhd2Ulb8VkSCvxqz_YrEQlX30wFQW0lNIyR9JlyFapSUFv4Cr-/s1600/IMG_4414.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOxOL07VpIeJ7TSOTxYTvFJAI9af-0bAjVqpCMq1SNsKssbz3zk6hiZayCfMj2v2rpkCyVT_hWKV_ZI2upRlte1C-Vxkhd2Ulb8VkSCvxqz_YrEQlX30wFQW0lNIyR9JlyFapSUFv4Cr-/s320/IMG_4414.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br /></div>nicolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16032718189237106483noreply@blogger.com0