62 posts tagged “food”

Via Consumerist comes a feature in Business Week about vodka. The author theorizes that there is no discernible difference between different brands of vodka, because it's a "neutral" liquid--no aging or oak barrels, the goal of the end product to be as flavorless as possible. Preferences are based on marketing and snobbery.

He served a group of his friends--including one self-professed "vodka expert"--a variety of straight shots and mixed drinks, and no one could tell in a blind test the difference between Absolut, Popov, Ketel One, Smirnoff, Skyy, Belvedere, Grey Goose, and Vox.

Heh! I've been telling my friends who are Stolichnaya or Grey Goose snobs for years that they're suckers. It all tatstes like lighter fluid, anyway. My vodka of choice is Smirnoff, which retails for around $9.99 a bottle. Goes great with V-8 juice and a dash of Tabasco. Sometimes I get Skyy, because it's distilled locally and bottled in cobalt blue glass--I have a weird obsession with things that come in cobalt blue bottles. I gather it's considered rather high-end in other parts of the country, but it's pretty cheap around these parts.

I was really craving something savory with phyllo dough this weekend, but I didn't want to make Moroccan chicken pie. I just wasn't in the mood for all the chopping and prep that goes with it, and I had other stuff to do. I started out with a spanikopita recipe, but wanted to add chicken to make it a main dish. And I don't like cooked spinach, so that had to be replaced with something. In the end I wound up just kind of winging it, and I was pleased with the results.

This made 2 whole pies (luckily the disposable ones come in a 3-pack), so you could halve the recipe for just a single pie.

Sorry for the blurry picture, my camera batteries were dying.

Bake 4 chicken breasts and cut into small pieces, about 1/2" square. Set aside.

Finely chop a yellow onion and sauté in olive oil until golden. Add 3 crushed garlic cloves and saute for another minute, then add 8 oz. sliced cremini mushrooms* and sauté until soft. Add a tbsp. of chopped dill** and mix it in, then remove from heat.

Mix the onion/mushroom mixture in a large bowl with the chicken pieces, then add a couple handfulls of crumbled feta cheese. Beat 4 eggs together and add them to chicken mixture.

Melt 1/4 cup of unsalted butter with 2 tbsp. olive oil and brush a pie tin well with it. Put in a sheet of phyllo dough, brush the dough, add another sheet, brush again, repeat with 5 sheets of dough total. Add half the chicken mixture, then top with another 5 sheets of brushed dough. Don't brush the top sheet. Tuck any hanging dough under.

Do the same thing with another pie tin and the rest of the chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes or until the top is a deep golden brown. If you're going to have left-overs, take it out closer to 50 minutes, that way you can reheat it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes. Microwaving it isn't as good because your dough will be soggy, not crisp.

The 4 eggs make this almost more like a quiche in texture than a pie. You could probably halve the eggs if you want it to be less eggy. Also I think the next time I make this I'm going to add some crushed nuts, cashews or hazelnuts. That would be yummy. You could use any kind of cheese.

*Cremini mushrooms are immature portobello mushrooms and are sometimes labelled "baby bellas" in supermarkets.

**Admission: I usually use Gourmet Garden refrigerated herb paste instead of fresh herbs. It's just too wasteful to buy them; you have to buy a huge bunch for 1 lousy tablespoon, and since I only cook once a week they never keep.

<--- Please ignore my partially-made bed.

I went to Ranch 99 after work last night. I can tell I'm going to be in there a lot, since that shopping center--which is all Asian stores, except for the Weinerschnitzel--is only about 3 minutes by bike from the house. (BTW the house needs a name and I think I'll call it the Farmhouse, because that's what it is.) I only went in for milk and Calpico (okay fine, and Pocky) and wasn't even looking for it, but I found they now carry Kewpie Mayonnaise!

That probably seems like a dumb thing to be excited about, but having Japanese mayo for my bentos makes me happy. Besides, it tastes better. It's tangier (due to the presence of either apple cider or rice vinegar), and it's not loaded with preservatives. It's sold in the refrigerated case, and you have to keep it cold even before you open it. It's not shelf-stable, and it's only good for a couple of months. I would have bought 2 since it was 2 for 1, but I'd never get through it all before it spoiled.

I'm actually surprised I never came across it before now. I remember looking for it at the Newark Ranch 99 and not finding it. Natasha asked me when we went out to dinner "Is this is an Asian neighborhood?" I was like "Yes, if by 'neighbourhood' you mean 'the entire East Bay'."

Bottom:

• Veggie-cream cheese rolls. These are carrots cut with a potato peeler, so they're thin and flexible. I used black olives (stuffed with a little cheese) and cucumber pieces. Put a dab of cheese at each end, roll up, and seal.
• Morningstar Farms ginger teriyaki veggie cakes. They have rice, soybeans, and other ingredients that are both tasty and nutritious.

Top:

• Pistachio-flavored whipped fruit salad.
• Yakitori chicken. I made a whole bunch of this Sunday night, and there's plenty to last for dinner all week and a few pieces with lunch. I don't like messing around with BBQs, so I cut chicken breasts into bite-size pieces, then marinated them for about 24 hours in 1/2 cup each soy sauce, honey, and sake, with 3 crushed garlic cloves. Then I threaded them on skewers and put them under the broiler for about 7-8 minutes.
• Blueberries.

Apparently coprophagists are a big enough market that Carl's Jr. decided to tailor a commercial just for them. At least, that's the message to be inferred from this vile commercial for their Chili Burger, wherein a young man who's been feasting on their Shit Chili Burger looks like he just wandered off the set of 2 Girls, 1 Cup.

While the well-read consumer already knows that the average meal is chock-full of excrement, most of us would rather not be so forcibly reminded of it.

p.s. When trying to remember the smartypants sciencetician word for "fecal fetish", it's generally NSFW to Google the term. Unless you work in a very liberal environment. Just a hint.

I found this recipe linked on notmartha.org. Cut a pork tenderloin into "steakettes" about an inch thick. Season with salt and pepper and cook in a deep frying pan over medium high heat with a little vegetable oil for about 5 minutes. Turn over, season again, and cook for another 3 minutes. Add about half a cup of salsa and a tbsp. of heavy (unsweetened) cream. Cook for a couple more minutes, until the sauce thickens. The original recipe called for it to be served over quinoa, which I've been wanting to try, so I went with that; but you could use wild rice or couscous or any kind of grain. Serve with steamed vegetables or a salad.

I haven't had any recipes in a while because I've been cooking some old favorites, but this past Sunday I decided to try something new. I was really in the mood for red meat, but not for any of the ways I usually prepare it. And root veggies are something I've been wanting to try for a while; root vegetables are a winter staple and this seemed like good comfort food.

• Mix 3/4 cup Worcestershire sauce, 2/3 cup unsweetened pineapple juice, and 1/3 cup olive oil in a large, airtight bag or container. Add your steak and shake vigorously to mix up.

I used a thinly sliced New York strip steak and marinated for a full 24 hours, because I really like marinades to soak in. But you could use any cut you want and marinade for just a few hours.

• Wash, peel, and cut into chunks 2 each: potatoes, carrots, and parsnips. Cover with water and bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and boil for about 25 minutes or until soft. Add a little salt, 1/4 cup milk, and 2 tbsp. butter, and mash. This is a pretty big recipe and you can halve it if you don't want a lot of left-overs.

I didn't do anything special with the baby lima beans, they're just frozen beans that I nuked and served with a little butter.

Combine 16 oz. finely chopped, cooked ham (if you have a food processor or meat grinder, that's the best way to get it really fine), 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, 1 1/2 cups bread crumbs, 3 chopped green onions, a little garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in 3 beaten eggs.

Make another 2 cups of bread crumbs and set aside.

Heat vegetable oil in deep fryer to 325 degrees. Form mixture into golf ball-sized balls, dip in a beaten egg combined with 1/8 cup water, then roll in bread crumbs. Fry for a few minutes or until dark golden brown. Drain on paper towels and eat hot.

Makes about 2 dozen croquettes. If you have leftovers, cool down to room temp before storing them in the refrigerator, and re-heat by toasting them in the toaster oven.

Some of these are darker because I ran out of bread crumbs, and my food processor decided to quit on me. I swear this week every single kitchen appliance I own has crapped out. So I toasted some bread and crumbled them up into crumbs, and they came out darker, but they taste pretty much the same.

I don't know what is up with my red meat craving lately. I'm even thinking of making creamed dried beef, which I know is like code for shoddy, cheap food. I think it gets served in prisons a lot. But I found a recipe in one of my 1970s-era cookbooks and honestly, I think it sounds kind of tasty.

Get any kind of steak thin enough to roll up, or cut a thicker steak yourself with a sharp knife into 2 or 3 layers.

Combine 2 tbsp. dried onion soup mix with 4 tsp. water and let sit for 5 minutes. Add 3 tbsp. horseradish and some pressed garlic cloves. One for each roll you're making is a good amount. Add a 4.5 oz. jar of sliced button mushrooms, or sauté some fresh sliced mushrooms first and use those, if you prefer. I was lazy and used the jar.

Season top of each steak with black pepper, then spread an even amount of mixture on each. Roll as tightly as possible and secure with wooden picks. Broil for about 10 minutes.

My addiction to Lemonheads (as well as its hard-to-find cousins, Cherry Clan and Alexander the Grape) is well-documented, but I didn't even know there was an orange variety.