and northern Italy gets way too much rain to be a desert.
It has not stopped raining in two weeks! And lighting strikes all over the place.
So I have been feeling a little too domestic this past week. My kitchen has smelled way too good. I need to start reading some scientific papers to feel normal again.
In the last several days I have made:
• Cornbread, twice (from scratch, no jiffy crap)
My first batch tasted a little salty. I think it’s because I used buttermilk instead of latte like the recipe asked. It took us 3+ days to eat it all. In the second batch I omitted the salt, kept the buttermilk and added half a tablespoon more of sugar and voilà! We ate all the cornbread in less than 24 hours.
• Taquitos de papa con formaggio, topped with repollo y caldo de tomate
This was one of my favorite things to eat as a kid, ricetta d’mia madre.
• Tostadas de pollo con frijoles negros topped with romaine lattuga and fresh salsa
This was inspired by pg 171 (’97 Joy of Cooking) but I didn’t follow the recipe, because no cookbook written by a gringo can tell me how to make a tostada! However, it can tell me how to cook beans because I’ve tried in the past and failed, pg 275 JoC. I love how contradictory I am and how I sound like such an arrogant stronzo (italiano for asshole).
I’ve decided the day I use canned beans is the day I cross the ‘mediocre mexicana’ line into ‘bad mexicana’ territory.
I wish I knew the Café Brasil recipe for black beans…not feijoada but the meatless black beans. I could eat Brasilian black beans for days and not get bored. Where is Brasil (pronounced: Bra·zi·o) when you need her? Tessa, I love you and I miss you.
• Negi Maki (beef and scallion rolls…extremely tasty), pg 168 JoC
• Cheeseburgers on ciabatta
I was able to score some organic pasture fed ground beef and I didn’t feel as guilty.
• Stir-fry again…it’s so easy. Green beans, bean sprouts (canned), green onion, and beef sirloin over steamed rice.
I was lucky/unlucky enough to find canned bean sprouts and I have to say, “don’t ever buy canned bean sprouts”, even if you can’t find fresh ones and are desperate, like me. They don’t compare and it almost made me tear up.
• Potato salad, pg 220 JoC, I used red wine vinegar instead of milk. It was way better than the stuff from Safeway or Albertson’s.
I can’t wait to score a food processor...mmm…artichoke dip.
And I wish I could find tomatillos here…sniffle…for chile verde!!
I can’t keep this rate of domesticity up for much longer, Abe is getting spoiled and I am starting to enjoy cooking too much. I kind of liked being useless in the kitchen, but nonetheless, if I want to have as many kids as I do, I need to be able to feed them decently.
Once it stops raining I’ll take pictures and stop writing and cooking so much…
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4 comments:
Hey dude, you're making me hungry :-)
Could you post the recipe for the taquitos de papa? That sounds excellent and I've got some papas to cook.
how much money are you spending on ingredients for your cooking?? I am jealous you have time to try out everything in your massive cookbook. I can understand how someone might get tired of cooking so much though unless they are a chef or want to open their own restaurant or something. I have not been in a cooking mood much recently though I do plan on making lemon bars this weekend and something good for dinner!
It's so cute how you use italian words randomly in your writing, though I'm having to look up ones I can't figure out!
Lisa,
We are spending about 200 dollars a week on food. Certain things are extremely expensive compared to the states...a small bunch of cilantro is over $2, a head of bok choy $6. What I do like is that they have a lot of organic stuff. I found this amazing jam made from organic wild berries sweeten only with apple juice...produced right here in this area. I am going to ask around about a farmers market in the area...it would be like a candy store for me.
Oh, and I've been adding those Italian words on purpose so you can pick up some Italian at the same time. :)
Chuey,
The taquitos de papa are extremely easy.
Boil your patate whole or halved with skin until tender. I prefer Yukon Gold potatoes, but I think any boiling potato will work. Remove from the water and mash in a bowl.
Grate your favorite cheese. I like to use mozzarella. (I don't know exact quantities but for example, if you cook 5 medium/large potatoes I would use about a cup of grated cheese. The amount of cheese is flexible add as much or little as you want.
Add the grated cheese to your mashed up potatoes. Add salt and black pepper to taste. Mix well.
On a comal or griddle, warm (do not over heat b/c your tortilla will become harden) several corn tortillas (about 15 for 5 m/l potatoes) so they are soft and you can fold them in half without breaking.
Add about 2.5 tablespoons of your filling (mashed cheesy potatoes) into each warmed tortilla and fold in half.
Heat in a pan over medium-high heat a lot (frying amount) of vegetable or corn oil. Once your oil is warm enough add the halved (not rolled) tacos into the oil and cook on each side until golden brown, about 1 min on each side. You want to make sure your oil is warm enough before you add your tacos or else they will fry with a weird texture. You want crunchy tacos! Drain the oil of your fried tacos on lots of paper towels.
Now for the 'weird' part: In a saucepan boil about 3 cups of water, 1/4 of a yellow onion, and a clove of garlic. I add some (maybe a ¼ cup) tomato puree and some chicken bouillon to taste. Bring to a boil.
You can top these tacos with whatever you want but I like to top my tacos with finely chopped raw green cabbage. I also use spicy salsa.
I tend to serve about 3 in a shallow bowl busting at the seams with the cabbage and with a little salsa. Add a liberal amount of the caldo de tomate on top of the tacos so they can pick up some of the caldo and become a little soggy, not too soggy though. Buon appetito!
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