The Food Thread

hypatia

Green tomato pie, for you moonbear.

One 9 inch pie crust{i used the pre-made one}

Slice green tomato's very thin, about a pound should do.
One sweet onion, sliced thin
One large baking potato, also sliced{you guessed it} thin.
1/2 pound of well cooked bacon, crumbled.
about 1 1/2 cups of any kind of white melting cheese
Red pepper flakes to taste
Salt and pepper to taste


Layer it in order, several repeat layers{ mine was about 3}, and bake at 375 for 35 to 45 minutes.
I had mine hot last night for dinner, and then leftover cold today for lunch, it was great both ways.

turbo

Supper tonight will probably be a vegetable stir-fry or salad. I have jalapeno peppers and Hungarian wax peppers that go knocked off by the wind storm, and I picked a fresh cucumber (first one of the season). We also have a fair-sized yellow summer squash that a neighbor gave us. I'm not usually to keen on summer squash, but we did a stir-fry with them, along with yellow onions, scallion tops, peppers, herbs from the garden, etc. I finished that up for lunch today. I may actually plant summer squash next year - they're really easy to grow, and you get so much from so few plants that (like the neighbors) you end up giving them away.

Evo

I keeping this recipe, sounds wonderful.

I prefer yellow squash to zuchinni. this is my first year to plant both, I usually only grow yellow.

Ben Niehoff

I made chicken paella yesterday, but I cheated a little bit.

1 lb. chicken breast
1 container (13 oz?) of green manzanilla olives with pimiento
1 small container (6 oz?) of diced pimiento
1 link of raw beef chorizo
1 large onion
2 cups rice (I used Jasmine, but really it should something like Arborio)
1 bottle of clam juice
4 cups chicken stock
1/2 tsp crushed saffron
2 bay leaves
salt
pepper
olive oil

Chop onion into quarter-circles, not dice (pretty easy). In a 5-qt dutch oven, saute onions in oil on medium-high heat. After a few minutes, add chorizo. After a few more minutes, add chicken breasts (cut into bite-sized strips). Cook until chicken changes color. Drain brine from olives and rinse (otherwise I find they add too strong of a brine flavor). Add olives and reduce heat.

In a shallow pan, toast rice in olive oil until it's translucent and smells really nice (a few minutes). Then add rice to dutch oven. Add clam juice, chicken stock, saffron, bay leaves. Bring to boil, and then simmer low, covered, until liquid is absorbed (1/2-hour-ish).

A true paella should be done in a wide, shallow pan rather than a dutch oven (apparently, the caramelization of rice on the bottom of the pan is important)...also, apparently you're not supposed to cover it while it's simmering. But this version is easy and tastes good.

hypatia

I love chorizo! I just brown it up in a pan, mix in some salsa and chunks of Pinconning cheese and I'm good to go.
I'm going to give yours a try Ben.

Moonbear

Ooh, that sounds yummy! I'll have to try it. I just need to get cheese, and have all the other ingredients. Thanks!

Evo

If you are looking for exoctic foods for yourself or as a gift, check this out. This reminded me of Zz's pictures of his trip to Malaysia.

http://www.melissas.com/

Ben Niehoff

We have figs, papaya, and lychee in our local supermarket. Also, mangoes seem to be in season right now, because there are tons of them everywhere, and very ripe (bright red). I love California. :)

Last night we made Ethiopian food. We live about half a mile from Little Ethiopia in Los Angeles, so it's easy for us to get the ingredients. But I think you can order this stuff online, too (in fact, we walked into the physical store that runs www.injera.com and bought some spices there).

Siga Wot (a red spiced beef stew):

2-3 lbs. stewing beef (chuck), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
5 large onions, chopped (yes, five. You might even want 6-8)
5 tsp. minced garlic (it will cook down to be milder)
2 tsp. powdered ginger
1/4 cup Berbere spice mix (you can make this yourself or buy it)
2-3 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. of salt (it sounds like a lot, but none of the other ingredients has any salt)
1/2 cup of water
Vegetable oil or butter for sauteing (we used Ethiopian spiced clarified butter, called Niter Kibbeh)

In a large pot, saute the onions and garlic in the oil/butter on medium/high heat until onions are translucent (about 10 minutes; there are lots of onions!). Add Berbere spices and ginger, then reduce heat to low and cook another 15 minutes. Finally, add beef, water, tomato paste and salt; bring to boil and then simmer, uncovered, on medium-ish until reduced to a yummy sauce consistency (this took a while...maybe an hour. You can increase the heat to reduce faster, but you have to stir to keep things from burning on the bottom).

Misir Wot (a mild yellow lintel stew):

4 cups split red lintel
3 large onions
2 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. salt
2 cups water
Vegetable oil or butter for sauteing

I know the proportion of water to lintels doesn't seem right, but a lot of water will come out of the onions. You can add more if it's looking dry, but in our experience it came out almost soupy as written.

Saute onions, garlic, and turmeric for about 10 minutes, until onions are translucent. Add lintels, water, and salt; bring to boil and then simmer uncovered until lintels are cooked (about 30 minutes). Lintels will turn yellow and soften into a puree consistency.


To serve, ladle some portions of stews on top of injera (a kind of gigantic crepe made from sourdough teff flour [teff is a kind of grain]). Ethiopian food is traditionally eaten with the hands: First tear of a small, bite-size piece of injera, and then use it as a sponge to soak up some juices and wrap it around morsels of food. Then pop it in your mouth.


For dessert, you can make fried ripe plantains (called Platanos Maduros in South America; I don't know what they call them in Ethiopia). These are easy:

Plátanos Maduros (fried ripe plantains)

Ripe plantains (1 plantain serves about 2)
Butter

The trickiest part is knowing when the plantain is ripe. Unripe plantains are very starchy and won't make a good dessert. Ripe plantains should be black and yellow (at least 50% black), should feel a bit soft, and should smell sweet before you peel them. They ripen slowly, so if you buy green ones at the grocery, you might have to wait a week or so.

Once you have a ripe one, just peel it, cut it into whatever shape you like, and then pan-fry it in butter until caramelized. You can add some brown sugar if you need to, but they ought to be plenty sweet enough by themselves.

Monique

3 pieces of dragonfruit for $48? I can get one for 2-3 euros at the grocery store, that really seems over priced to me. 20 figs for $52, that is $2.5 per fig

Ben Niehoff

Yeah, fresh Calimyrna figs at the local store are going for a few bucks for a small crate (like the kind strawberries come in). Maybe 8 figs or so.

But after reading, I see that they're in season right now, and of course, they were grown in California. You probably can't get fresh figs elsewhere in the US, although apparently they also grow them in Texas and the Southeast.

Evo

In Houston, you won't see figs in the store because either you or your neighbor has a fig tree that produces about a ton each year.

Here in Kansas, you can't get fresh figs, even in summer, the few figs that show up in the store look like prunes.

Evo

I just ate that jalapeno that was knocked off by the storm last night. That was THE BEST jalapeno I have ever eaten!!! It had all of the jalapeno taste and no heat. I guess I should let a couple ripen and save the seeds for next year. I want to eat the entire bush right now.

Moonbear

I think it's the overnight shipping. I just looked at lychees and saw this:
Most of that cost probably is the difference between really cheap ground shipping, which will get you bruised and rotten fruit, and overnight shipping.

Andre

Dunno, the lychees here last a week or two easily.

But with those prices, one glass of our own fresh fruit blend with fresh pine apple, nectarines, grapes, mango, oranges, etc, from the Dutch supermarket would be about a factor ten more expensive.

scorpa

I made a pizza for supper tonight, it was great! I am kind of lazy when it comes to the crust, I just use those ones that you add water to and let rise but they are pretty decent. I wasn't really planning on making one but I had some stuff at home that would work so I decided to go for it.....ham, summer sausage, parmesan cheese, mozzarella, and loads of red peppers, tomatoes and onions...yum.

Math Is Hard

My neighbor's have a giant basil bush on the patio. I've been making myself Caprese salads every night.

I bought some seed and fill up their bird feeders now and then. It's a good trade.

Moonbear

My neighbor brought over a raspberry cobbler with vanilla ice cream last night. Yummy! She just got past her 11th week of pregnancy and the "morning" sickness has gone away, so she's baking up a storm apparently. Hopefully I'll soon have some healthy tomatoes to share.