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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2011 18:55:07 GMT
Tonight's dinner is coming out of the freezer because I don't feel like cooking. I hope to find some sort of forgotten delight hiding in the back. Otherwise, I know of a few old standbys waiting in the front row.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 19, 2011 22:14:59 GMT
Todays comida was vegetarian Ma Po T*fu. (Mostly because I'm sick of liver and onions. I'll never again buy 900 grams of liver. ) I coarsely chopped a very small onion, 1 clove of garlic and a knob of fresh gingeroot. Meanwhile soaking some fermented black beans in Tequila (lacking sherry or rice wine.) I lightly toasted a TBSP of Sichuan peppercorns, then set them aside to cool. After, ground in a mortar. I opened two shelf stable boxes of Very firm t*fu, and drained them. Cut into 1/2 " dice. I opened a new jar of Chili Paste with Garlic. I got down the dark soy sauce from the shelf. I sauteed the onions and garlic a few minutes, then added the chile paste. Three TBSPS! Then the black beans in Tequila. In goes the t*fu, in 1/2 " dice, along with the small diced jícama. Stirred that around a bit. Meanwhile, suspended 3 tsps cornstarch in 1/2 cup water. Add to the pan, cook until slightly thickened. Turn off heat, add a few drops of Oriental sesame oil. Dusted on the ground Sichauan Pepper through small strainer. Cllantro was desired but most was in bad shape so we had little on the food. We ate this Vegetarian Ma Po T*fu with steamed Basmati Rice and boiled acelgas (green chard). The Ma Po T*fu was a 4 alarmer, but great tasting. The mouth numbing effect of the freshly toasted and ground Sichuan Pepper is almost indescribable.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2011 22:22:50 GMT
I must buy tofu again some day, but I'm pretty sure that it will be a mistake. The fresh tofu at the Chinese supermarket whispers to me as I walk by.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 20, 2011 2:12:59 GMT
Maybe you should change the name of that to "What Was He Thinking 5-Alarm Tofu". ;D But it sounds incredibly good. Tonight for supper I had Good Plain Food -- good plain food that was celestial due to these beans: One of the ladies I buy plants from at the produce market had these. I almost fell into the box snatching up a bag of these beauties. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I had Romano style beans? These are ambrosial. I wound up eating quite a few raw while prepping them. They didn't need much prep, as most didn't have any strings. Maybe she can get me seeds for them. The other, lesser food was steamed white rice, cooked fresh tomato and habanero sauce, and fried eggs.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 20, 2011 10:27:04 GMT
oooh, those beans, those beans, Bixa.... I can almost taste them looking at the pic. mmmmhhh!
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 20, 2011 14:50:58 GMT
I would like to have those beans in our garden. Sra. Cuevas planted snow peas yesterday.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 20, 2011 16:10:52 GMT
Don C, if I get seeds, I'll send you some. They'll make you throw rocks at regular green beans!
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Post by onlymark on Mar 20, 2011 17:53:20 GMT
My 11yr old daughters made me fish finger sandwiches and a fresh fruit salad with chocolate sauce and cream.
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Post by mich64 on Mar 20, 2011 18:24:15 GMT
How lucky you are daddy!! That sounds like a delicious dinner, hope you all enjoyed! Cheers, Mich
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Post by lagatta on Mar 21, 2011 15:34:51 GMT
Mmm, I love Romano beans! But I wait for the summer to eat them - I can get imported ones at Milano supermarket even now, but they are as tasteless as any imported winter veg.
In some dishes frozen ones can work. I buy those in Portuguese or Italian shops. But not served as gloriously plain as bixa's fresh romanos.
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Post by mich64 on Mar 21, 2011 17:03:39 GMT
I am really really tired of imported tasteless winter vegetables and fruit and am tired of frozen bags of them too! Oh how I wish for some of those beans!! And it looks like a beautiful Christmas card outside right now, incredibly large snow flakes so thick I cannot see across the lake. I think I need a good meal out since spring has decided not to come here today. Cheers! Mich
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2011 18:32:53 GMT
I had one of my very favorite meals last night -- salmon tartare, boiled potatoes with sour cream and salad. Unfortunately, I normally have to eat it alone, because I have only one friend who likes it as much as I do.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 21, 2011 18:59:49 GMT
That's is oooo-yummy looking!
Do you finely mince the salmon, have it ground, or what?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2011 19:19:49 GMT
Actually, it is already ground. Then just a bit of onion, chives, olive oil....
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Post by mich64 on Mar 21, 2011 19:23:14 GMT
Kerouac, I would eat everything on the plate, I promise! Looks so tasty! Cheers, Mich
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Mar 21, 2011 19:34:20 GMT
We have an unhealthy version Kerouac...fish and chips....numnum....
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2011 20:33:59 GMT
To punish myself for last night's extravagance, tonight I just fried some cheap chicken livers in butter and made a few noodles.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 21, 2011 20:58:04 GMT
I didn't take a picture of last night's supper, which maybe is just as well, since it wasn't beautiful. But gawwwwd, was it good:
Hogshead cheese salad w/tomatoes, rice, onion, minced habanero, onions, scads of chopped cilantro, a couple of drops of olive oil, and some lime juice. Also had the leftover green beans (at room temp) with some of the (room temp) leftover salsa on top. I was so happy.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 21, 2011 21:34:51 GMT
I love hogshead cheese and have to prevent myself from buying too much of it. Actually, I sometimes reach a weird overdose level and suddenly think that it tastes disgusting instead of wonderful. So I try never to cross that line.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 21, 2011 23:28:15 GMT
Ha -- I know exactly what you mean about that. I bought a quarter kilo, which is not a small amount of such a substance. I have a good bit left. Oh -- I had to amend my post about the hhc salad because I left out a crucial ingredient: rice. The whole thing just went together so well. How is hogshead cheese made in France? I love Louisiana hhc, with its flecks of red pepper and parsley and stuff. The stuff here is good, but much plainer. The Wikipedia article covers many countries which enjoy this treat: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheesepee ess ~~ neglected to say how lovely that dish of chicken livers and noodles looks. That's a felicitous combination!
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Post by hwinpp on Mar 22, 2011 3:36:03 GMT
Thanks for the link! Now I know the name of the cold cut I had in Hanoi in January just before Tet In Vietnam around Tết, giò thủ is made in celebration for the New Year. It is a traditional snack made of fresh bacon, pig’s ears, garlic, scallions, onions, black fungus, fish sauce and cracked black pepper. Traditionally, giò thủ (pork head meat pie) is wrapped in banana leaves and compressed in a wooden mold until the gelatin in the pig’s ears causes it to stick together.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 22, 2011 13:59:02 GMT
Bixa's beans are just up my street right down to the little slithers of garlic! I was wondering what the heck Hogshead cheese could possibly be until I opened the link to see it is one of my husbands very favourites - Brawn! I can't get myself to like it but then the mushy stuff they make here not only looks horrible I'm sure it tastes the same. He likes it though.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2011 14:17:16 GMT
Head cheese in France is generally quite bland, but sometimes it can be peppery.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 22, 2011 16:08:10 GMT
tonight, I'll be making a lazy thai-inspired pork noodle soup. hopefully my guest will enjoy it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2011 18:06:18 GMT
I think the time may have come for my semi-annual pizza. As usual, I will almost certainly regret it.
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Post by fumobici on Mar 22, 2011 18:44:09 GMT
I think the time may have come for my semi-annual pizza. As usual, I will almost certainly regret it. How about this time you get an actual exceptionally well made pizza? Someone predisposed to dislike pizza such as yourself is probably not equipped to seek out and find quality, but others will be. Make the effort to find a place with a first rate reputation for a non-nonsense Italian style pie, not either just a random pizza/kabob place nor a trendy expensive one. There is truly no reason even a superb pizza should run more than perhaps 10-12 Euro. Even in Paris. I wouldn't pay that much in Rome. Pizza is essentially simple peasant food. I'll bet there is great pizza to be found in Paris. Find some, then if you still dislike it at least you have given the dish a fair trial. You've probably never eaten a first rate pizza before.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2011 18:59:33 GMT
I have eaten excellent pizza in many places. But if you put me in a restaurant, I will almost certainly find something else that I prefer to eat. Speaking of pizza, I am appalled by the current Domino's commercial on French TV. They are pushing a new "lots of extra meat" pizza and they have named it " Le Cannibale"! Do they want us to believe that it is made with human flesh? I presume that they went to a polling institute and discovered that many pizza eaters did not understand the name " Le Carnivore" but that they had heard of cannibals and their love of meat. I am probably just an incurable purist, but if I were selling pizza, I would accept to sell fewer pizzas with the " Carnivore" name instead of pushing my product with " Cannibale." Am I political correctness gone wild?
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Post by lagatta on Mar 22, 2011 20:23:55 GMT
I have seen "Cannibale" or "Cannibal" pizzas in other countries too. I think the term is probably originally US English. It would be even odder for French-speakers (or other Latin-language speakers) not to understand "Carnivore".
I sure as hell wouldn't eat Domino's pizza anywhere, unless starvation were the only alternative. There are some good pizza places in Paris, but alas I don't remember the names or exact locations. And they weren't particularly expensive.
Yes, brawn, headcheese, hogshead cheese are all the same, with regional variations. I'm most familiar with the Italian coppa - fairly fine-cut, not especially spicy in Central Italy (and I've never seen it in the spicier South).
And kerouac, I LOVE salmon tartare. cheery, I've had it with chips (frites/fries) so a half-unhealthy version.
Tonight I have a little fillet of mérou - see that is grouper in English. As well as some hummus + tahina and other leftovers. My hummus was rather good this time.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 22, 2011 20:30:44 GMT
My adoptive North Carolina born father knew head cheese under the name of "souse."
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 23, 2011 0:05:09 GMT
Now I know the name of the cold cut I had in Hanoi in January just before Tet I was wondering if you'd tried any of the Asian hhcs, HW. Actually, the one you had, the giò thủ, sounds the most interesting. However, I know I wouldn't turn down this one: In certain parts of China, such as Tianjin, 'yaorou' (肴肉) is eaten. It is made by boning and pickling pig trotters with brine and alum. The meat is then rolled and pressed and eaten cold.[3] In Northeastern China, a jellied pork skin dish is often made and served with a spicy soy sauce and vinegar mixture with crushed garlic and red chili powder.The hhc pic you show, Kerouac, looks a great deal like La. hhc. And yeah, souse is what it's called in NC. They like their vinegar there -- I think some of the food is straight from whenever they left England. The vinegary pulled pork of extreme northeastern NC is one of the most delicious things on the face of the earch. Bixa's beans are just up my street right down to the little slithers of garlic! Those are actually whole crushed garlic cloves, steamed right along with the green beans, Tod. Good! We've gone over this before, but I'm sort of with Kerouac in considering pizza last as a possible meal item. To be honest, I will eat any pizza, Domino's included, if I'm in the same mood I'd be in to eat nachos. It's a big ole grease, carb, & salt hit, satisfying on so many levels, and terribly wrong on so many others. If I am going to have pizza, though, I much prefer the simpler ones. Your meal sounds lovely, LaGatta. I'm in the mood for some nice seafood and always in the mood for hummus. I just finished my breakfast/lunch/supper. I went downtown to get my bus ticket (*sings* I'm going to Puebla! I'm going to Puebla!) and was obsessing about how much fresh food I have in the house, since this was a semi last minute plan. While downtown, I hit the bookstore & one of the books I bought had a recipe for Sicuan stir fry with broccoli and pork -- two of the things I happened to have. I was so good. When I got home I actually made it, rather than just shoving a sandwich or something in my hungry face. Quite nice, if I do say so.
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