Movin' on Up

I'm a movin' on up
To the east side
To a deluxe apartment in the sky
Movin' on up
To the east side
I finally got a piece of the pie....

Yes, folks, I'm moving to the high rent district. I went out and plunked a couple of bucks on my very own dudecancook.com domain name. This here blog is now that there blog over on my new website. I promise I won't leave y'all behind and I'll always keep it real with my homies. It will be just like old times (sniff). Please start following me on the new site! Or better yet, sign up for my tweets: dudecancook@twitter.com.

dave

New World Veggie Saute with Crispy Tortilla Strips

This is a variant of a very simple dish I found in Rick Bayless' Mexican Kitchen, and it also reminds me of India, where in public places vendors cook fresh corn on a hot plate with charcoal and serve it in little cups with a spoon to passers by. Use the following ratios, each ear of corn makes enough for two-three people as a good sized side dish.

• 1 ear corn
• 1/4 cup diced onion
• 1/2 to 1 serrano pepper diced
• (optional) 1/2 cup diced chayote or zucchini
• 2 corn tortillas, cut into 1/4 inch strips and fried
• a bit of olive oil

I made this with zucchini because i have a surplus of that lying around, but I think chayote would be perfect for this dish. After chopping the vegetables and frying the tortilla strips, this takes about five minutes. For guidance on frying tortilla strips, refer to my tortilla soup recipe here.

Saute vegetables in olive oil until the corn turns a deep yellow and before the squash gets too soggy. Top with crispy tortilla strips after plating. That's it, hombres.

Tangy Roasted or Grilled Zucchini

This is a really simple dish. My favorite way to cook zucchini is to saute with chopped garlic in a little olive oil, and stop cooking while it's still bright green and firm. But I've been cooking zucchini two or three times a week lately, as my garden has produced an abundance of eggplant-sized zucchinis.

• Juice from two limes
• 1 tablespoon Ancho chile paste (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper

The chile paste really is optional. I just my ancho chile paste like that guy in My Big Fat Greek Wedding uses Windex. It pretty much solves every culinary problem facing me.

Put the chile paste into the lime juice and stir. Slice zucchini on the diagonal - almost length-wise to maximize the size of the slices. Bathe in the lime juice and sprinkle with a couple turns of fresh ground black pepper. This is really good cooked over an open flame on the grill, or you can roast them at 400 for about 20 minutes. When roasting, I use a steam pan to get these guys cooked through.

Dover Sole Marsala

I know I just wrote about Dover sole, but my wife liked it so much Saturday that she ordered it again Monday. So I made it the way I most commonly do - with a balsamic/marsala sauce.

Follow the fish recipe as discussed on 28 June, but use Italian bread crumbs for the fish, and no other seasonings.

Marsala Sauce

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup Marsala
• 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1-2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic - chopped finely
• salt and black pepper to taste

Drain all but 3 tablespoons oil and keep on medium low heat. Add chopped garlic and saute until translucent. Add mushrooms and continue to saute. Once the mushrooms are looking good, sprinkle flour into the mix and stir with a fork until all of the oil is sopped up, and you have a thin paste going on. Add balsamic and marsala. Increase heat and bring liquid to a boil. Reduce to medium high and simmer until liquid reduces by 25% or so. Add broth and heat on medium, letting it bubble a bit until it thickens appropriately. This should not be as heavy as a cream gravy, but have some texture to it. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a few turns of freshly ground black pepper and serve.