Dinner is served…
Summer is drawing to an end in Europe but in our equivalent of Indian summer, we still enjoy barbecue a lot. Evenings may be a little chilly, but we have that big Weber monster of a gas grill on our balcony right in front of our living room/kitchen and it’s easy and convenient in almost any weather. So for yesterday we decided to invite my mom for dinner and treat her with some nice barbie-food.
The mushrooms cooking
The tasty corn is ready…
We started with aperitif on the balcony and served an light, dry, Austrian white of SÅ mling 88 varietal, also called Scheurebe, with some olives and marinated mushrooms. Around Sundown we moved to the table and had appetizers – sweet melon with prosciutto and our own balcony-grown cherry tomatoes with little mozzarella spheres, basil (also from the terrace plantation) and an abundance of olive oil. Then we fired up the grill for the following recipe:
Ingredients
4 veal chops with the bone in, about 1" thick
1 lime
8 sprigs of thyme
4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
4 small porcini mushrooms
4 small regular mushrooms (as porcini are pretty expensive over here, instead you could double the porcini)
2 échalottes
1 tbs butter
Salt & pepper to taste
Preparation
1. Blot the meat dry with a paper towel and salt and pepper it to taste.
2. Prepare the marinade by removing 8 zests from the lime with a peeler.
3. Juice the lime and mix the olive oil with the lime juice.
4. Put a lime zest and a thyme sprig on each side of every chop.
5. Put them in a non-corrosive bowl and pour the marinade over them.
6. Let the chops marinate for at least 3 hours, occasionally pouring the marinade over them with a spoon.
7. For the corn, remove any leaves or ‘hair’, cover them with olive oil (or butter if you prefer)
8. If you want some more smoke flavor on the gas grill, fill the smoking compartment with soaked wood chips or prepare a ‘smoking pouch’ by wrapping them in double heavy duty aluminum foil, poke some small holes in the foil and place on the flavorizer bars.
9. When ready to grill, preheat the grill to high, brush and oil the grate. Put the chops on first, followed by the corn on the cob.
10. For medium doneness, turn the chops 90 degrees after 3 minutes.
11. Turn them over after another 3 minutes and 90 degrees again after 3 more minutes, for a total of 12 minutes. The 90 degree turns ensure that your cops will get handsome criss-cross marks on them.
12. You can turn the cobs as needed, depending on the heat.
13. When done put the chops on a plate, add some olive oil, thyme and salt to them as desired and cover with aluminum foil. Let them rest – we usually use the oven for that, preheated to 125F and double use it to warm the plates to be used. The meat should rest about 10 minutes for best results.
14. When the corn is finished – easy to see as the color is turning to bright gold – put it on a plate and likewise cover with aluminum foil.
15. For the sautéed porcini the mushrooms are cut in thin slices. The échalottes are to be cut in small cubes.
16. Heat the butter in a pan, add the échalottes and once they turn nicely glaassy, add the sliced mushrooms.
17. Sauté at medium heat for about 8-10 minutes. After 4-5 minutes you will notice the intense aroma of the porcini in the air, reduce the heat as required so the mushrooms don’t dry out.
18. Serve by putting a chop on each preheated plate, put the corn on the side and cover the chops with the sauteed porcini. If you like, you can decorate with further thyme sprigs.
Enjoy with a nice, full bodied white – we had an Austrian chardonnay from Weingut Leberl which is only partly oaked and comes at a good natured 12.5% Alcohol.
Kurtito
For all of those visitor that come daily to this recipe we have posted a lighter and quicker to prepare version of this traditional Jalisco dish HERE. This other recipe is one that we normally eat at home at least once or twice a month. Enjoy both recipes.
The served pozole de Jalisco before topping it with goodies
Last Mexican Independence Day we prepared some pozole for the entire family as part of the traditional celebration for the day. There are many styles of this dish and we prepare the version from Jalisco, which is a red pozole that is colored by the addition of dried chiles. Other regions like the Pozole Verde de Guerrero use green tomatillos, and there are also white versions without chiles. The red pozole from Jalisco is the traditional one in Normita’s family as her grandmother was from Guadalajara in the hearth of Jalisco.
The pozole corn soaking
The pork we used for the recipe
The chicken we used in the recipe
The pig’s ears used in the recipe
Pozole is essentially a rich corn soup made with a special variety of corn with very large kernels called ‘cacahuacintle’. The corn kernels are puffed by a special treatment with a light solution of lime, the stuff you make mortar with, not the fruit. It is a process that yields results a bit like when you make popcorn, but with juicy moist kernels of corn. I will not go through the process of preparing the corn, as we normally buy the corn at the market already prepared and we only have to soak it overnight and then cook it for 3 to 4 hours. If somebody wants the instruction to prepare the corn from scratch, please let me know and I will post them.
The meat dredged in flour
Browning the meat
The browned meat
To this nice rich soup normally some pork or chicken meat is added. We decided to prepare both types of meats as well as some pig’s ears. You can also add bits and pieces of pig’s head if you wish.
The cooking stock
The stock is ready
Adding the cooked corn to the stock
The meat is cooked in one large pot and the stock will become the base for the soup. The corn is cooked in its own separate pot, and is added to the stock prior to seasoning. Once cooked all of the meat is shredded using your fingers and the method of serving is to put the type of meat you prefer in an empty bowl, then ladle the corn soup over it.
The dried chiles
The soaking chiles
Traditionally the soup is topped at the table with finely shredded lettuce (we used romaine), finely chopped red onions, crushed dried oregano, finely chopped radish, and lime juice. It is served, at least in our family, with some nice ‘tostadas de crema’, essentially tostadas (flat fried corn tortillas) topped with a thick layer of thick clotted cream, salt, and grated ‘queso fresco’. Of course both the pozole and the tostadas can be spiced up with the addition of your favorite spicy sauce, and we had a variety on had for the occasion.
The shredded chicked waiting to be served
The basic pozole itself is not very spicy as the chiles used (anchos and guajillos) give a lot of flavor, but not much heat. This is a great dish to prepare for a group as it tastes much better if prepare in large quantities. It is ideal for the type of celebrations like we had, and is traditionally served on Mexican Independence Day’s eve (September 15).
The table is ready
Ingredients
Corn Base
3-4 pounds of prepared pozole or hominy type corn
1 medium peeled onion
1 large peeled clove of elephant garlic or 5 regular ones
7 quarts water
Meat Base
2 pounds of whole chicken breast with bone
2 pounds of pork meat with bones, a mixture of ribs and leg is great
1/2 pound pig’s ears
1 large peeled carrot
1 medium peeled onion
1 large branch of celery
1 large peeled clove of elephant garlic or 5 regular ones
Flour to dredge the meat
Coarse sea salt to taste
4 tbs of olive oil
5 chiles ancho, seeded and with ribs and stems removed
5 chiles guajillo, seeded and with ribs and stems removed
7 quarts strong chicken or pork stock
Garnish
4 Ounces finely chopped red onion
4 Ounces finely chopped radish
4 Ounces finely chopped romaine lettuce
12 limes halved
Dry oregano
Your favorite chile salsa
Preparation
1. Soak the corn for 24 hours and change the water at least 4 times.
2. In a large stock pot put the prepared corn in enough water to cover deeply.
3. Add the onion and garlic to the pot.
4. Simmer for 3 to 4 hours until the corn is tender and doubles in size opening like popcorn.
5. Reserve the cooked corn.
6. Once the corn starts cooking cut the meat in medium sized chunks.
7. Dredge the meat in flour.
8. In another large stock pot heat up the oil and brown the meat in batches to seal it.
9. Once the meat is all browned return it to the stock pot and add the stock.
10. Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, and salt to taste to the pot.
11. Simmer the meat for 2-3 hours until tender and skim the surface to remove foam and fat regularly.
12. While the corn and meat are cooking prepare the chiles and soak them in some warm chicken stock.
13. Remove the meat from the stock and let cool.
14. Once the meat is cooled shred it with your fingers.
15. Pass the stock where the meat cooked through a fine sieve and return it to the stock pot.
16. Add the cooked corn to the stock.
17. Puré the chiles with the stock they were soaked in and add to the stock pot.
18. Mix well and gently simmer for 15 minutes then add salt if needed.
19. Place meat or chicken at the bottom of a large soup bowl and ladle the pozole over it.
20. At the table each tops their pozole with lettuce, onions, radishes, oregano, lime juice, and their favorite salsa.
Lucito
Some months ago I read an article somewhere that supposedly posted the definite list of items that you need to start a kitchen, and another one for cooks who are experts to upgrade their equipment. The list missed a lot of the basic essentials that I think most people should have at home, even those who do not do much cooking. A lot of the items on the basic list I had read were also superfluous, at least for most people who are starting up. Of course it all depends on personal choice, what type of cooking you prefer doing, and how much you are into cooking.
I personally tend to move from one extreme to another in what I use in the kitchen, from using a few basic tools for everything, to using specific tools for specific tasks. It all depends on my mood of the moment, and probably the phase of the moon too. These days I have been paying more attention to what I use daily in the kitchen, and I noticed that the basic tools that I employ the most are not very numerous. Everybody has their preferences, so what I say here should be taken with a grain of salt, as I am sure a lot of people out there could not life without their preferred gadgets or kitchen tools. The following list highlights the basic essentials that everybody interested in cooking should have in their kitchen, and it is based on my own experience. In subsequent posts I will list other items that I think should form the basis of a good kitchen. At a later date I will expand on each item on the various lists to explain my personal preferences.
Basic Essentials (Gadgets)
1. A solid smooth-bladed 8" chef’s knife
2. A 3" smooth-bladed paring knife
3. A sharpening stone (or sharpening gadget that actually works)
4. A sharpening steel
5. A serrated blade bread knife
6. A vegetable peeler
7. A box grater
8. A manual can and bottle opener
9. 3 large kitchen spoons
10. A soup ladle
11. A slotted spoon
12. A potato masher
13. A metal spatula
14. A bamboo spatula
15. A plastic spatula
16. 3 X silicone rubber spatulas of various sizes
17. 2 X 2 cup measuring cups
18. A 4 cup or larger measuring cup
19. A set of small measuring cups
20. A set of measuring spoons
21. A corkscrew
22. A wire whisk
Lucito
The Padrino asked me a few days ago for a recipe to make some onion dip. I guess that at their very elegant retreat on top of a mountain overlooking Vienna, they spend their indolent evenings on the terrace overlooking the city nibbling on crudités and sipping Champagne, and they got bored of their plain botanitas and needed something to stimulate their bored palates. Here is a simple recipe for a tasty onion dip, and if you want a little bit of variety we recently proposed a pair of other dips here and here.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sour cream
3/4 cup thick plain yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups finely diced sweet onions
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbs brandy
juice of 1 lime
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground white pepper
Preparation
1. Add olive oil to a sauté pan over medium-heat.
2. When hot add the onions, garlic, sugar, and 1/4 tsp of salt.
3. Sauté the onions until caramelized, about 15-20 minutes.
4. Add 1 tbs of the brandy, and when it boils light it up to flambé.
5. When the flames die down, cool down the onion mixture and refrigerate for about an hour.
6. In a bowl mix the sour cream, the yogurt, the rest of the brandy, the lime juice, the rest of the salt, the pepper, and the onion mixture until well incorporated.
7. Refrigerate at least another hour until serving.
Lucito
Last weekend was a very lazy one. On Saturday morning Normita went out with some friends to celebrate the birthday of Viky over breakfast, and I stayed home to work. In the afternoon I was getting very lazy and I was not in the mood to prepare anything elaborate in the kitchen. Normita mentioned that she was in the mood of some pasta with maybe pesto, so I jumped in the car to go to the super and pick up some fresh basil, some pasta, and a bottle of white wine. I prepared a quick and dirty pesto, which takes about as much time as boiling the water for the pasta. I had bought some tagliatelle pasta, but you can substitute the pasta of your choice. It is a true lazy Saturday dish…
Ingredients
5 quarts water
1 1/2 tbs salt
1/2 pound dry tagliatelle pasta
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1 large clove elephant garlic or 4-5 cloves regular garlic
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
Salt and pepper to taste
Parmesan to taste for garnish
Preparation
1. In a large pot bring the water with salt to boil and cook the pasta until tender.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, in a sauté pan over medium high heat toast the 1/4 cup of pine nuts until golden brown. Make sure not to burn them. Set aside for garnishing.
3. Using a food processor or blender place the roughly chopped garlic and basil, the 1/2 cup of pine nuts, and the olive oil. Pulse until smooth.
4. Drain the pasta when cooked and return it to the pot. Pour the pesto sauce over it and toss over medium heat until the sauce and the remaining water is well absorbed into the pasta.
5. Server and season with salt and pepper to taste and top with freshly grated parmesan.
Lucito
Here is the spicier brother of the other dip I prepared for this afternoon’s event. It can be made as spicy or mild as you want and it makes a nice contrast with the other dip.
Ingredients
2 cups plain unsweetened yogurt
1 cup sour cream
2 tbs curry powder
1 tbs sweet and sour paprika
1 tbs marinated sushi ginger very finely chopped
1 tsp Sambal Oelek (fresh ground chili paste)
1 tsp Spiracha (spicy oriental salsa)
1 tsp salt
3/ tsp black pepper
Preparation
1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a spoon.
Lucito
We are invited to a meal at Normita’s boss’ place later this afternoon and Normita was asked to bring some veggies and dips. I just finished cleaning and preparing the veggies, and I prepared two different dips to go with them. We are bringing some baby carrots, celery, cucumber sticks, and some jicama. I made one of the dip fairly pungent but mild tasting and the other one a bit spicier. We bought a container of plain yogurt and of sour cream last night and I did the dips with what I had at hand this morning. The first recipe is for the nice garlicky dip that I made with some great elephant garlic I have lying around in the fridge. It could be made with some regular garlic, but the flavor would be a tad sharper.
Ingredients
2 cups plain unsweetened yogurt
1 cup sour cream
1/2 clove elephant garlic or 2-3 cloves regular garlic very finely chopped
3 tbs fresh parsley very finely chopped
1 tbs dried herbes de Provence
1 tbs dried ciboulette
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
Preparation
1. Place all the ingredients in a bowl and mix with a spoon.
Lucito
We suffered from major power trouble here at the office since late last week, and we were mostly offline as we could not plug the server in as the voltage was way too high blowing al the UPS in the office. After 3 trips from the electrician to fix the worse of the problems including the main electrical entrance wires not being screwed in at all, and no ground connection in the entire place we finally had a bit more reliable power. The voltage is still too high, but we will not hold our breaths waiting for the city to fix the problem.
We decided to fix the problem by purchasing a bunch of big voltage regulator and a bunch of new UPSs. I reinstalled everything yesterday and brought back the server online and will return to regular postings shortly.
Lucito
Here is another new recipe from last Saturday when Johnny Boy dropped by. When we left for the market I asked Normita what she felt like eating, and she wanted some fish. Our fish merchant had some nice thick robalo filets, a common fish here from the snook family, fresh from Golf Coast. We selected a particularly thick one and had 6 nice fish sticks about 1" square and 5" long cut out of the filet. I still was not sure how I would prepare them, but I finely decided to do something simple and bread them in a crust of peanuts and pumpkin seeds.
The fish turned out meltingly juicy and tender, in a nice crispy crust. A great tasting combination, from a very simple and easy recipe.
Ingredients
1 1/4 pound robalo cut into 8 fish stick about 1" square by 5" long
4 heaping tbs flour
1 heaping tsp onion powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper, freshly ground
2 eggs
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp heavy cream
3/4 cup ground peanuts
3/4 cup ground pumpkin seeds
2 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
Preparation
1. Prepare 3 bowls wide enough to be able to dip the fish sticks in them.
2. In the first bowl place flour, onion powder and salt, and mix with spoon until well combined.
3. In the second bowl break the 2 eggs, add the tsp of olive oil, and the tsp of heavy cream.
4. With a fork whisk the eggs gently until you have a smooth homogeneous mixture.
5. In the third bowl place the ground peanuts and pumpkins and mix together well.
6. Take a fish stick and place in the flour bowl until well coated on both sides.
7. Pass the fish stick through the egg mixture until well coated on both sides, then let drip the excess.
8. Place the egg-coated fish stick in the nut mixture until all sides are coated well.
9. Place on a wire rack to dry.
10. Rinse your fingers and repeat with the other fish sticks.
11. Place the wire rack in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes for the breading to dry.
12. In a large frying pan on a medium fire melt the butter and add the olive oil.
13. Cook fish sticks in the butter 3-4 minutes per side, until well browned for a total of around 7-8 minutes.
14. Put on a plate lined with paper towels to drain, and serve.
Lucito
erday we had had a friend of Normita’s from work drop by for supper. For desert I made a version of a simple fruit pudding based on my mother’s recipe. She used to bake those all the time during the berry season, mostly with strawberries or raspberries.
I had some manila mangos leftover from the previous week and I decided to create a version of the pudding with them. It turned out very nice and was a nice finish to the meal. The only problem is that everybody was very full after it…
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups white flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup margarine
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup dark rum
6 tbs dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tbs vanilla
1 tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup orange juice
2 tbs finely shaved orange zests
1 tbs finely shaved lime zests
5 medium manila mangos peeled and cubed
Preparation
1. In a buttered baking dish place the mango flesh and top with brown sugar and rum.
2. Cover and let marinate for half and hour to an hour.
3. In a large bowl place the margarine and white sugar and mix until well blended.
4. Add the maple syrup, the egg and the vanilla and mix again.
5. Mix the flour, the baking powder, and the salt, and then add to the sugar and egg mixture.
6. Mix well and add the milk, the orange juice and the zests, yielding a thick running batter.
7. Pour the mixture over the fruits in the baking dish and smooth the top.
8. Bake in a 350F for about 35 minutes, until the top is dark gold and a toothpick inserted in it comes out clean.
9. Serve with a nice dollop of heavy clothed cream.
Lucito
