Translating

It’s time for me to get serious on your asses.  This is a topic that’s got me all jazzed up.  I’m thinking of taking my cooking to the next level.  This means incorporating themes, ideas, and translating them.  Now, this sounds way to philosophical, and not fun at all. But give me a moment to explain.  How fun is it to think about idea, and than translate it into a new medium.  I want to do this cooking.  Right now I am working on a recipe for a friend that will incorporate his or her ‘ness’ into a dish.  I know this sounds like a big goal to shoot for.  So I’ll probably shoot smaller.  Right now I am working on cooking spontaneously and in the moment.  This is completely off topic, but it does play a role in my new philosophy towards cooking.  In conceiving a meal I like to adapt recipes.  I like to let them change as the situation changes.  Sometimes the ingredients will be poor.  Other times the equipment will be poor.  Cooking is an act of love, and in incorporating themes I think I need to take it slowly and fondly.  Sorry for the aside.

A Little Secret

What I am about to tell you is blasphemous and down right dirty. There is a secret to making white chili, and it involves something ludicrous. The last time I made it I got a little dirty, and did something with flavor that was a tad accidental. While roasting my tomatillos I threw in a couple of romas for shits and giggles. I thought why not, what’s the harm. Well I mixed the two and the power of flavor that it produced was extraordinary. As a cook I like to experiment, but I do not like to experiment ignorantly. I like to find what works and what doesn’t work. I like to dissect, analyze, but every once in a while I throw down an absurd flavor that dominates your brain. And this my friends is my gift to the world. I do not want to claim or

Easter/Spring Equinox Menu

I do not judge those that celebrate Easter; I just prefer to celebrate the Equinox.  For this Easter/Equinox celebration I have been placed in charge of cooking duties.  This assignment has got me jazzed up, and I think I am going to Re-dux the traditions of Easter by cooking a Pernil.   Pernil is a Puerto Rican dish that involves onion, chile powder, cumin, garlic, and a big-ol honking pork shoulder.  For this recipe I will be using Mark Bittman’s recipe, and it goes like this.

One large pork shoulder

2 Onions halved and skinned

Garlic, lots of garlic

Ground Cumin

Chile Powder (home ground)- I like using Chipotles and Anchos for this, Bittman is a fan of this as well.

Sherry Vinegar

1) Food Process all of the ingredients (excluding the pork shoulder) until they are smearish in texture.  If the mixture not liquidy enough, add a little olive oil.

2) Rub the meat as if you are rubbing your lover or your baby.  Coddle it.  Massage it.  And if your really into kinkiness lick it.

3) Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and get ready for a slow, laborious cooking.  It should take five to six hours.

 Alright onto the next part of the meal.  Salad.  And the perfect salad for spring time is Spinach and Strawberries.  The recipes goes like this

Spinach, cleaned, washed, and centrifugally dried
Strawberries , sliced and diced

Vinagrette

Begin with a some red vinegar, a little red onion, and some sweet and spicy mustard, all added to a blender.  Add to this concoction cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste.  For a hint of garlic throw in some powder, but keep it light.  Also, add sugar to taste.  The mixture should be sweet, but not screaming sweet.  Keep it on the low side.  Blend this.  As it blends add the olive oil in a 4 to 1 ratio, but make sure your dressing does not taste like a oil mess.

The salad is complete.  Now for a side

Pilaf.  Mother fucking Pilaf.  Or potatoes.  Potatoes alla gretan. Or a bean salad.  Oh man I am lost.  Please people please help me sort through the chaos?

Tomato Soup Redux

So my last attempt at the tomato butternut squash concoction was a miserable failure.  It was complicated.  It was long.  It was overdone.  But this new is refreshing, bright, bold, and downright fantastic.  Check it.

Begin with some canned tomatoes and thyme.

Grab a roasting pan, throw tomatoes into a strainer.  Hold the juice.  Cut them in half and place it on the pan.  Before placing the tomatoes on the pan drench them in olive oil.  Now, your working it.  Grab some fresh thyme leaves, and sprinkle them over the tomatoes.  (If your bold, add some garlic).  Cook these tomatoes in an oven at 350 for about twenty minutes.

Next take some red onion (chopped large and in charge), butternut squash(pitted and cubed), garlic, and sautée those mad bad veggies in a large soup pan.  Now your really working it. (For enhanced flavor add lemon.

When the tomatoes are done, pull them out, and scrape them off the pan.  Be sure to get all the trimmings off.  Everything.  This is major because the tomatoes have caramelized, so its ultra important that you be getting those juices off the pan.  Alright into the pot they go, and add your stock, chicken stock that is, and you have a winter soup that will make the gods proud Enjoy.  Before continuing I must say that this is a variation of a Mark Bittman recipe.  The lemon is and butternut squash is all mine.  This recipe is so sweet because of fits simplicity.  You can dress it up. Dress it down.  Or just make it go a round.

An edit

Douro is not a grape.  It is a type of wine.   I am unfamiliar with the grapes that are used in Douro, but Tarantillo is used quite often.  Anyways I really have no idea.  Sorry about the mix up.

Cabernet Franc

Carbernet Franc is my new favorite wine grape.  And I’m not sure why.  For some reason I really enjoy the taste.  Usually used as a intermediate grape in bordeaux’s Cab Franc carries complexity better than any grape I know.  Of course there are exceptions, such as Douro from Portugal.  But Cab Franc really has a way of getting your pallet into the earth, smelling all the intricacies that go into wine making.  My introduction, for which I am sorry that it wasn’t French, came from a really lovely Napa Valley wine.  I have been knocking Napa of late, but god damn this wine is amazing.  The nose has hints of cedar, tobacco, and rose petals, with a really nice caramel undertone.  The taste is really hard to pin down, and I am still working on it.  But I get plums, tobacco, hints of black pepper, and a little oak, which rounds out the wine really nice.  My tasting notes are kind of vague, but I really enjoyed it.  It definitely was not a cheap bottle of wine, but every once in a while you have to splurg.  I think the next time I drink it I will serve it with Short Ribs that are cooked in a chile coffee red wine sauce. Balla Balla Balla.  I know.  But I just wanted to give you a little insight.

Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk

Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk needs a little love.  He has a wonderful wine blog entitled “The Thunder Show.”  Now, it is not as cool as the Thundercats, but it is informative, innovative, and down right quirky.  In writing this blog I am trying to learn more about cooking, and through the process, learn from others who have dabbled in “art” of cooking.  Gary is already eons ahead of me.  We has tasted wine since he was two (by my best guesstimations).  I adamantly believe that when he was young his parents fed little bits of earth just to educate him about terroir.  In his teenage years he went around his neighborhood eating, sniffing anything that vaguely smelled like wine.  The legend of Gary Vaynerchuk is vast, but he still somehow manages to stay grounded.  Gary is great because he wants all people to drink wine, whether it be Hermitage or Carlo Rossi.  He is a man of the people, and for this I greatly respect his video blog.  If you are a person that enjoyed this rant please watch the thunder show.

Oh Fish and Chips

Fish and Chips are a guilty pleasure of mine. Unlike other foods, they strike the perfect balance between fried awesomeness and creamy sauceness. Whatever that means. Anyways, a few days ago I made tostones. And a brilliant new recipe flew into my mind. This is a little dramatic, but when it came to me it did have a weird vibe of flight. Enough of my inner mind meanderings. I would like to get your thoughts on the recipe. Unlike the other ones I haven’t made it yet. But the idea was so original, so thought provoking, I knew that I just had to get your thoughts on it. Oh deary me. This is awful. Alright here it goes.

For the chips I am thinking sweet potato and plantain fries, lightly fried in olive oil (I just can’t over the flavor of the stuff.) These fries I think would be a proper mixture of spicy and sweet. As for the seasonings I am currently undecided. I am leaning towards PAPRIKA, CUMIN, AND BLAH. This recipe is still in th development stages, but its fun working on it.

As for the fish, it can only be one thing. And I know you traditionalists with have me skinned for not using cod, but god dammit, MAHI MAHI is so fucking good. So I am thinking Mahi Mahi, and it would be seasoned straight out of Compton. Alright that was a stupid pop culture reference, but the idea remains that I would season this heavy, real heavy. No, this is completely wrong, but it was fun to try. I am thinking a light yet spicy breading that blends nicely with the fries. For the breading, I was thinking traditional breading procedures, but in the “dough” of the breading I would throw down home made chili pepper, a little lime juice, and something else. OH ME OH MY. Anyways, this is still in rough development. But its a start to something spectacular.

Now, moving on to the big dogs, the big cajones, the butter of Fish and Chips, the tartar sauce. And before going on I have deep confession to make. As a lover of Fish and Chips I have to say that I strongly dislike tartar sauce. This is partially a texture thing, it is partially a snobbery thing. But the truth of the matter is I just have a huge problem with tartar sauce. The taste bugs me, unless I have a little lemon. And the texture irrationally scares me. Now, don’t worry I have talked to my psychiatrist, and he suggested medication (Stupid Joke I know). But I do believe that tartar sauce is largely done wrong. So, how I am going to amend the situation. I haven’t got a clue. But I do know that my sauce is going to me orangish, real orangish. And is going to be creamy, real creamy. And is going to have a little hint of Caesar, Julius Caesar. NO, it is going to be a weird Caesar Orange creamy thing. This is really vague, and I apologize, but the elements are there. Hope you enjoy.

Oh Wine Wine Wine

Wine is a hobby of mine. I would like it to be a passion. But in order for it to be a passion, I need more money. Our economy is in the slumps, and I am looking for a job. Life sucks. But then again I’m cooking a dope meal on Thursday. So all is well I guess in the interim. In thinking on all things cooking, I would like to say a little something on ingredients. It is my opinion that I have been working too hard in the past. Food really explodes when your ingredients are quality, real quality. Part of this has to with timing, freshness, locale, and money. In the past I would go for the more inexpensive, but now I know that you have to pay for quality when you don’t have freshness or locale. In making my great dish on Thursday I am going to select the highest quality of ingredients, no matter how drastic the costs.  Cooking is great.  Oh me oh my.

One More Recipe

In the excitement of creating this blog, I have added so many recipes that it is a little obnoxious.  But this is the final one I promise.  In this latest endeavor I wanted to capture a little spice with the lovely flavor of red peppers.  If at this point you have noticed an obsession with peppers.  STOP.  They are indeed an obsession.  From the humble bells to the fiery habaneros, peppers pack flavor, flavor, flavor.  I love their frutiness, their vegetalness, and their heat.  Each pepper is unique, and offers something super sweet. That’s right I said it. Super sweet.  In creating this latest recipe I tapped into a larger goal of mine.  I am working on fusing my three favorite cuisines: Italian/Mediterranean, Spanish, and Mexican.  The process has been arduous.  But this recipe is a start.  And it will definitely need more work.  But in the interim, I would love your comments, ideas, etc.

This recipe begins with

2 Roasted Red Bell Peppers

1 Poblano Pepper

1 Roma Tomato

All these are roasted under the fiery furnace of a broiler.

After the broiling has finished, a paste is created. For the paste you will need,

2 Cloves garlic

Salt and Red Pepper to taste

Half of a white onion chopped (Think it would be better with red or shallots)

Lemon juice to taste

Throw all these ingredients  in a blender and blend them up.  Add salt and red pepper as needed.  Whenever I cook I constantly test things, and try them out.

Now here comes the interesting part.  The parmesan cream sauce.

For this you will need a little more onion, olive oil, and that lovely paste you made.  Begin by sauteing the onion.  Work with it, and then when they just barely translucent throw in the paste, and add a dash of red wine.  Let it reduce.  Then add the cream or as the french, say creme.  Reduce the heat and add about 1 cup of Parmesan cheese.  This is where the recipe gets interesting, and totally convoluted.

This recipe needs to be brought back down to earth.  It needs simplicity.  It needs elegance.  And it needs complexity.  The flavors are there.  But there just not banging.  All advice is greatly appreciated.  And for you strictly eaters, discuss your own palate.