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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 7, 2011 10:18:10 GMT
It's said that the truffle oil wells are drying up and new reserves are sought. We lunched yesterday at one our Most Favored Pátzcuarorestaurants, Mariscos La Güera Campestre. The weather was fair and warmer, so we chose cool foods. Sra. Cuevas had a Coctel mediano de Pulpos y Camarones, preceded by a freshly made tostada de marlin ahumado. I had a large Ensalada de Mariscos, without raw molluscs. (Boiled shrimp in the shell, Tiritas de Pescado al limón A variety of lightly condimented ceviche), camarones en Aguachile. On the way out, we saw these large servings of ceviches, etc., prepared for a large group. Bottom: two platters of ceviches, possibly different. Upper left: Tiritas de Pescado al Limón. Upper right: Guisado de Marlin Ahumado.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2011 7:07:40 GMT
Those all look really excellent, DC. I dragged my butt back home to poor town yesterday and had a plate of beans and pork belly.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 8, 2011 7:38:19 GMT
Pics #4170 & 4171 ~~ shameless food porn!
My supper: freshly made ensalada de nopal (cactus salad) & smoked fish dressed with a little mayo, minced onion, & a splash of the juice from pickled jalapeños, accompanied by saltines.
I didn't get to linger over it as I would have wished because there was a colonia (greater neighborhood) meeting. My neighbor reminded me of it & I said I wasn't going to go. She then told me there was a 100 peso fine for skipping!
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 9, 2011 2:19:51 GMT
Supper tonight: two fried eggs with some onion fried alongside (in olive oil), a bunch of Mexican chorizo, a cut-up tomato, and one slice of unadorned whole wheat bread.
Three eggs total today, plus the chorizo -- thank goodness I got my daily cholesterol requirement!
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 10, 2011 23:50:17 GMT
We had "Black Forest" Brand ham and fried eggs for lunch. Tomorrow we'll do a variation of your smoked fish and Nopalitos Salad. Our lives are converging.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 12, 2011 12:34:45 GMT
I had about 600 grams of atún ahumado (smoked tuna) in our freezer, and wanted to make fishcakes with it. I looked up several recipes on the Web, which were useful in refining to my taste the basic fish cakes recipe in "The Joy of Cooking". I started with 6 medium sized potatoes with the skins on, which I pressure cooked until tender. While they were cooking I slowly cooked about 1/2 cup of finely minced onion in a couple of tablespoons of butter. That was then left to cool. When the potatoes were done, about 12 minutes, I peeled them by hand.You may wish to let then cool a bit before handling. The potatoes went into into a large bowl and were mashed with about 2 tbs butter. The cooked onions were then added. Leaving them to cool awhile, I hand shredded the smoked tuna. Next, back at the mash, I added 2 whole eggs. In went the tuna, some finely chopped fresh parsley, some chopped cilantro, a few dashes of salsa chipotle, a dash of garlic powder (a lazy lapse but it was fine), salt and pepper to taste. Mmm... also a squirt or two of white wine worcestershire sauce. I then put a couple of cups of fine, dry bread crumbs, seasoned with a little smoked paprika and seasoning salt in a pan. I scooped up approximately 1/2 cup balls of the potato-tuna mixture and dropped them onto the bread crumbs. Carefully turning the fish cakes, I coated both sides and the edges. These cakes were placed on plastic film on a tray, covered with another sheet of plastic film, and refrigerated about an hour. Meanwhle, I improvised a somewhat picante version of Tartar Sauce. The afternoon before I'd made an Ensalada de Nopalitos (Prickly Pear salad) with sliced onion, fresh chile, lime juice salt and chopped tomato. All it lacked to finish was some chopped cilantro, sliced radishes and crumbled white cheese. Queso fresco, a rather bland cheese, is the norm, but I had some goat cheese to crumble over all. To cook the Smoked Fish Cakes, I heated about 1/2 inch grapeseed oil in a large iron skillet, on medium heat. I was able to cook the fishcakes in two batches, about 4 minutes to each side, moving them carefuly about the skillet for optimum browning. Neverheless, a couple got a bit dark, but still acceptable. Of course, I drained them on paper towelling before placing one cake per plate on a bed of bright green arugula. A healthy portion of Nopalitos went on the side. With this comida we drank an agua fresca de mandarinas y naranjas. Dessert was some peeled and sectioned ripe mangos.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 12, 2011 12:39:42 GMT
That looks great!
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 12, 2011 16:24:50 GMT
OH, NO! It doesn't show the Tartar Sauce!
Thanks, K2.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 12, 2011 18:12:37 GMT
Oh my gosh ~~ that looks & sounds so good! I've never crumbled cheese over my ensalada de nopal, but will the next time I make it. DonC, I just put that in the Recipe Index under the name "Smoked Tuna Patties". Lemme know if you'd prefer a different name.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 12, 2011 19:43:05 GMT
Sounds fine, Bixa. We just ate the leftovers on toasted hamburger buns. Almost but not quite fnished the nopal salad. We also have more finely diced well-cooked nopalitos bought from a neighbor lady. Five pesos for a heaping glassful.
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Post by lagatta on Mar 12, 2011 23:38:05 GMT
A very simple Mediterranean treat - lamb merguez - not too spicy, or too greasy - grilled on a T-Fal grill, on a very good olive-oil ciabatta from the new boulangerie around the corner. With a julienne salad of celeriac and carrots.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 13, 2011 15:54:38 GMT
Don - One of my very favourite ways to eat fish is in fishcakes! I adore them whether conventional English style made with a flakey white fish such as Hake or Thai style with prawns added and rice used instead of potato. Your fishcakes look so yummy you have got me thinking ---make some too!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2011 16:44:35 GMT
I bought some fish fillets and some lemons this morning. They will be incorporated into my evening meal, but I am not sure what direction they are taking yet.
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Post by onlymark on Mar 13, 2011 17:30:10 GMT
Go west young man.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 13, 2011 23:09:10 GMT
Today's early comida (in some places known as "lunch") was Ham and Navy Beans, freshly baked cornbread, leftover Ensalada de Nopaltos, and a tostada de atún guisado as starters.
We are big on cornbread, especially when made from scratch from stone ground cornmeal.
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 14, 2011 0:32:27 GMT
Hablando de atún guisado ~~ look at #47 here. I think it's right up your alley. Hmm. I just had some liverwurst on whole wheat Habanera crackers. All that did was let me know I'd like some real food. And, hablando de "food" ~~ the Fud brand of liverwurst is more than acceptable, for those of you for whom this info is pertinent.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 14, 2011 2:19:44 GMT
Ohhhh, liverwurst! With mustard and onions on sour rye bread.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 14, 2011 23:20:14 GMT
March 14, 2011: Liver and Onions, fried potatoes, green beans.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2011 13:32:48 GMT
Tonight I will be having boeuf bourgignon. I actually cooked it yesterday, but tonight I will boil some potatoes to go with it.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 15, 2011 15:53:57 GMT
Kerouac - I will be thinking of your rich delicious beef dish as I chomp my way through left-over barbeque items from last night
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Post by tod2 on Mar 15, 2011 15:55:15 GMT
Don - curious to know what type of liver? Lambs Fry, beef or pigs liver?
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Post by Don Cuevas on Mar 15, 2011 18:49:03 GMT
tod2; beef liver. I bought way too much, but cooked all of it.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2011 6:20:13 GMT
Well, here's last night's bourgignon as well as the tilapia I cooked over the weekend.
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Post by tod2 on Mar 16, 2011 9:03:37 GMT
Looks just the business Kerouac! As good as any served up in the well known hangouts for bourgignon in Paris I haven't eaten tilapia since I went to Israel in 1980 - and then it wasn't a nice fillet like on your plate so picking out the bones was a mission.
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Post by hwinpp on Mar 18, 2011 6:48:07 GMT
My dinner last night, at another wedding: The appetizers, from left, clockwise, K2's favourite sausage, sliced over pickled onions; battered and fried duck embryos over cashew nuts; fried springrolls wrapped in a taro net; cold jellied chicken with steamed mustard green Close up of the duck embryo dish. While I don't normally eat it when it's still in the egg, this way it was quite good and didn't have the 'yuck' factor. Duck webs and seafood salad (and too many crushed peanuts IMO) Then came an uninteresting soup and then these two mains, roasted duck on a bed of baby bok choi and steamed garoupa No more pics but the dinner ended with a tom yam soup, plain and fried rice and little cakelets.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 18, 2011 13:34:17 GMT
last night, I had a magnificent dinner. I needed a good meal to cheer myself up, and I knew where I could get one. I had been really good all week eating what I had in the house so I could spend a little.
I went to @angela's and ordered the following: Starter of scallops and crispy bacon on a bed of leafy salad. The scallops were meltingly perfect, the bacon perfectly crispy, the salad refreshing.
Main of monkfish tail on a bed of creamy leeks in pastry case, chervil and lemon sauce. gorgeous! no better word to describe it.
pudding was poached rhubarb (al dente) served with marshmallows (puffy) a jelly I don't remember what they used to make it with, white wine granite, toasted ice-cream... this dessert was a wonder. it was as near to perfection as can be with all kinds of different tastes and sensations.
I had a small glass of Austrian Grune Veltliner with my starter as with my main, I was tasting two Cotes du Rhone that the distributor had left with the restaurant owners. It went perfectly with the monkfish.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2011 19:25:55 GMT
Hmmm... HW, I think I would prefer to eat the duck embryos before being told what they are. I'm willing to try just about anything, but I do have 'reactions' from time to time.
I must buy some more Vietnamese sausage this weekend -- it really is good.
Annie, your dinner sounds spectacular as well, even if I have never understood this mania of mixing bacon with seafood.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 18, 2011 20:17:17 GMT
not mixed... it's cooked separately and added together on the plate. it is really really delicious. the taste of the scallops and the taste of the crispy bacon. both unadulterated.
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Post by hwinpp on Mar 19, 2011 3:20:46 GMT
Annie, is the Gruener Veltliner a bit like white vinho verde?
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 19, 2011 10:19:33 GMT
oh, hw... I haven't had vinho verde in a long long time. That Grune Veltliner was fresh, zingy, relatively dry.
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