billk1002 wrote: ↑Thu Apr 11, 2024 10:34 pm
Gladius, a deconstructed taco, very well executed!
Your Spanish/Mexican influenced dishes are incredible, your use of beans & peppers are great, do you make all of your sauces from scratch?
---
Thanks Bill! Mostly I do. It is easy too: toast (tatemar) the tomato / tomatillo, onion, garlic and chile on the "Comal de Fierro" << then mash in the "Molcajete" (or rough blend with a stick blender if making larger batches) and add some fresh ingredients. I also like some store bought sauces like "Yucateco Habanero <<"
Because the truth is, once you make a salsa in a Molcajete, you may never go back. The rub and crush of its gritty stone walls open up a breath of flavors from every ingredient — from nut, to seed, to chile and garlic — bursting open their fragrance and fusing together notes and characteristics with a harmony that sings.
I also like using clay pots cooking meat and a wide variety of beans <<. Using clay and volcanic rock seems primitive but still produces the best authentic taste.
Here's a quick one from a couple of days ago, when we had some friends over for dinner . . .
Veg Mise En Place & Kanjo ZDP189 Gyuto, 210mm
Avocado oil, oyster sauce, ramp leaves, mini tomatoes, green beans, fish sauce, minced garlic & jalapeno and soy sauce.
Finally got around to using up the ramp leaves that I trimmed and cleaned a few days ago. Happily, they were in very good shape. Decided to use them here -- along with some mini tomatoes -- to boost some stir-fried green beans.
Next up, out to the grill . . .
Grilling
Prime NY Strips from Costco. Flavorful but pretty darned chewy.
Plated Up
With some allium & mushroom-spiked quinoa.
Another group dinner, this one on the fly. Glad I had this commercially vacuum-sealed roast in the fridge . . .
Bone-In Berkshire Pork Rib Roast
Trussed, seasoned and roasted low & slow at 200F to render out some of the fat. Blasted it at the end via convection-roast to crisp up the exterior.
Plated Up
With steamed/chilled asparagus & dijon vinaigrette, leftover/reheated veg-spiked quinoa and ramped-up green beans. Took it to 140F internal, which helped render out the larger areas of interior fat while keeping the meat moist as it cooked. These Berkshire roasts that I get from my butcher are awesome but their fattiness needs to be reined in a bit for maximum palatability.
Had an orphaned end from a side of Norwegian farm-raised salmon I bought (and grilled most of) last week. Planned on simply seasoning it and pan-searing it just to use it up but once it was going, I couldn't help myself. Ended up with a pretty nice dish . . .
Pan-Seared Salmon
Once it was cooked, I removed it and hit the pan with some shallots, mini tomatoes, white wine and parsley. High heat, quick reduction and off.
Plated Up
With some toasted/buttered home-baked milk bread, leftover/reheated lentils and a blob of the weekly slaw. Always nice to turn nothing into something.
P.S. How does Ronnie make his pictures so big? I just use the attachment feature but then you have to click on them to make them bigger.
I believe he posts them to a website he owns, then links in the picture using the img button. But I have been wrong many times before, so don't quote me on that.
You can blame Mr. Suburban for my being here. The thing about quotes on the internet is you can not confirm their validity. -- Abraham Lincoln All steels are equal if you can't keep them sharp. -- Jeff B.
P.S. How does Ronnie make his pictures so big? I just use the attachment feature but then you have to click on them to make them bigger.
I believe he posts them to a website he owns, then links in the picture using the img button. But I have been wrong many times before, so don't quote me on that.
You are correct. I upload them to my hosting site as .jpg's and link the URLs to those files in my posts via the IMG button so that they display here.
P.S. How does Ronnie make his pictures so big? I just use the attachment feature but then you have to click on them to make them bigger.
I believe he posts them to a website he owns, then links in the picture using the img button. But I have been wrong many times before, so don't quote me on that.
You are correct. I upload them to my hosting site as .jpg's and link the URLs to those files in my posts via the IMG button so that they display here.
XexoX wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2024 6:25 pm
I believe he posts them to a website he owns, then links in the picture using the img button. But I have been wrong many times before, so don't quote me on that.
You are correct. I upload them to my hosting site as .jpg's and link the URLs to those files in my posts via the IMG button so that they display here.
No file size limits that way. Good idea!
That's only limited by the sizing and display parameters that are set by the site at which you're posting.
I do it this way mainly because I post my images in a few places and this approach allows for a single upload, rather than having to do a separate one for each online venue.
Tonight's mission: heat up some leftovers and get RID of some veg odds & ends that needed to get cooked . . .
Mise En Place & Anryu AS Gyuto, 210mm
Everything but the salt & pepper: evoo, brussels sprouts, spring onion tops, cremini mushrooms, minced garlic, spring onion bottoms, white wine and ramp leaves.
Normally, I'd avoid combining uniquely flavored ramps with other alliums but in this case, the goal was to use stuff up before it went south. This was largely a collection of stuff I bought that just hadn't gotten to. I hate throwing anything away but it's been a busier than expected week and I didn't cook nearly as often as I'd planned on. So, into the wok it all went.
Stir Fried Veg
Had this with some leftover/reheated Berkshire pork roast. Everything was tasty and it felt great to get RID of the spring onions, mushrooms ramps, brussels sprouts and pork roast.
This recently posted youtube video by Pailin intrigued me enough to give it a try. Sen Chan Pad Pu certainly requires fewer steps than Pad Thai but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's "way easier," either. It's a few less steps. Still, I've been on a noodle kick lately and this one seemed right in my wheelhouse . . .
Mise En Place, Henckels Stainless Steel Four Star Utility Knife, 6" & Anryu AS Gyuto, 210mm
Bean sprouts, 16/20 shrimp, shaved palm sugar, cucumbers, rice sticks (later soaked for ~30 minutes), shallots, garlic chives, garlic, tamarind concentrate, fish sauce, avocado oil and dried/seeded guajillo and heaven-facing chiles.
As long as there's palm sugar, there'll always be a need for a nice old Henckels utility knife. The stuff's virtually rock-hard and I'd never want to put a blade I cared about in contact with it. The soft-steeled Henckels dispatched it efficiently sans any stress.
As Pailin's video shows, the foundation of Sen Chan Pad Pu is a paste made from the dried chiles (ground into a powder), the garlic and the shallots. In a wok, that paste is combined with the fish sauce, the tamarind paste, some water and the palm sugar to form a sauce. The shrimp are cooked briefly in it, then removed. From there, the pre-soaked/drained rice noodles are added. When they're cooked, add back the shrimp, along with most of the beans sprouts and garlic chives. At this point one can also add some crab meat. After that, plate it up and serve it with some cucumber, plus the remainder of the garlic chives, the bean sprouts and some lime wedges . . .
Sen Chan Pad Pu
Garnished with crab meat, etc.
Sad to say that as nice as this might look, it was a fail. My guess is that the color is an indicator. Too much tamarind. I don't think it should have been scaled up proportionately with the other ingredients as indicated in Pailin's recipe. It dominated. I wish I'd held some back. With this kind of prep, it's tough to add it as you go or to tell on the way in how it will taste on the way out. To that end, I did taste the sauce it before I added it to the wok, and again, after I'd added the palm sugar but without the noodles, it was hard to tell how it would eventually play. I've never missed with a Pailin recipe before. This was a first. I may try it again with a very small batch, adding only a scant amount of tamarind and seeing how it goes. The salty-sweet-sour trinity that makes Thai food so special was way out of balance here . . . essentially absent. Oh well.
A quick drive down the PanAmerican Highway gets us to our favorite fish Seller, Juan.
Today he had some wonderful looking Red Snapper....to be cooked tomorrow...and some lovely fat lobster.
Cooked it up with some super fresh red and yellow peppers, fat scallions, garlic and parsley.
In virgin olive oil, butter, wine and lemon sauce.
Served on al dent Pappardelle pasta.
Grilled teriyaki salmon with jasmine rice and a roast medley of veggies with a dusting of fresh Parmesan Reggiano cheese.
I brined the salmon for 2 hrs, rinsed it off and dried it, then back into the fridge uncovered for another hour or so. Ill be doing it that way from now on.
Cutting courtesy of Daovua tall nakiri.
