Friday, July 10, 2009
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
Saturday, July 4, 2009
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
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Tangy Roasted or Grilled Zucchini
- 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
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.
Monday, June 29, 2009
Why I Love Whole Foods
Sure enough, the computer didn't allow the cashier to ring up my beer. I rolled my eyes waiting for the usual, "I'm sorry, but the computer says..." while I know that I could go buy 10 bottles of 11% alcohol cooking wine and the computer wouldn't bark. But the cashier conferred with a collegue, then a manager, and they ran back and got the price for me. "Just ring it up as cheese," said the manager. Now that's using your head and serving the customer. Hell, they may have broken a law or two, but they did right by me. Now if they'd just do something about the $12.99 flank steaks.
Thanks, Whole Foods!
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Dover Sole with Ancho Chile Cream Sauce
Dover Sole is about my favorite fish. When fresh (or even freshly frozen), it is the sweetest tasting non-fishy fish in the world. Or at least in my little section of it. So if you read this recipe and think the sauce sounds too complicated, don't make the sauce. I normally bread and fry dover sole in a little olive oil and butter and serve with no sauce. It is that good.
- 2 eggs
- 1 lb Dover sold (fresh - or frozen fresh)
- 1 tablespoon ancho chile paste (see this blog 28 Mar 09 for recipe)
- plain breadcrumbs
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 stick butter
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
- 1 serrano pepper (red, if available) - or a red or yellow habanero
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup whipping cream or 1/2 cup Mexican sour cream
- 1 tablespoon ancho chile paste
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- fresh ground black pepper
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Chicken Fajitas - in India
On the weekend, I was determined to make some Tex-Mex for my colleague and me, just to get a break from the standard fare of curries and kebabs. So I ventured out and found a grocery store full of imported goods. Things like Maxwell House coffee (oh my!), De Cecco pasta, and other good western foods. No tortillas though (and frankly, I won’t even buy tortillas in New York or Arkansas, let alone India). So I had to find some ingredients for my own fajita fest. I bought flour, olive oil, salt, cumin (fortunately, I knew the Hindi word for that - jeera), and red pepper. I had to search for a rolling pin, as my kitchen was not outfitted with one. Later, I went to the local supermarket (basically, a little one room store, smaller than Imelda Marcos’ shoe closet) and asked, “Aap ke pas rolling pin hai?” (do you have a rolling pin?) while making the universal rolling pin motion. “Chapati karna ke liye” (to make chapatis, an indian flatbread). Ahh, their eyes would light up and they’d be on the floor digging around behind toys, kitchen goods, you name it in search of that elusive rolling pin. In two places, they came up with the base - something that looked like a tambourine - it seems making a chapati requires a rolling pin and a counterpart underneath. “Uper, uper” I’d say, again making that rolling motion. After a couple of stores, I walked back to my hotel, the proud owner of a proper Indian chapati rolling pin. I was able to find baking powder at the first place I went. It had a nice layer of dust on top of the lid, so I imagine this was aged baking powder, but why be picky? I went to the local subzi walla (vegetable vendor) and picked up some of the wonderful red onions they have in Maharashtra along with some chili peppers, limes, and garlic. These red onions are so sweet, they are served in many restaurants as side dishes - peeled and whole, smaller than a golf ball, you just pick them up and eat them like fruit. Man, those are good. And the limes you get in India are smaller even than the Key limes we buy in the US, with very thin skin. You have to only slice them in half to provide a perfect fit between the thumb and index finger and complement any spicy kebob.