Salsa Roja!

I'm pretty sure this is the kind of salsa I was looking for. The recipe doesn't call for tomatoes at all! The red is purely from the chiles. What a revelation.

SALSA ROJA
==========
Ingredients:
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3 dried New Mexico, pasilla, guajillo, or ancho chiles
3 dried serrano, chile arbol, or Thai bird chiles
3 medium cloves of garlic, separated from the head but skins left on
Boiling water
Salt to taste

Instructions:
-------------
Heat a large flat griddle or skillet over high heat. Place the chiles on the dry skillet, along with the garlic. Check them every few minutes, looking for brown spots as they toast on the dry griddle; turn both the chiles and the garlic cloves, keeping an eye on the color and more importantly on the aroma. When the scent changes and takes on a toasty, rich character, they're done. Remove them from heat and let them cool for a few seconds.

When cool enough to handle (the peppers cool more quickly than the garlic, which in turn takes longer to cook), pull out the stems, veins,seeds and placentas from the chiles. Tear the skins into medium-sized chunks and place them in a small bowl. Pour boiling water over them just to cover, then place a smaller bowl or saucer over the peppers to keep them immersed in the water. Set your timer for at least 30 minutes before continuing.

After the peppers have had time to soak well, pour the peppers and water into a blender. Peel the skins off the garlic cloves (which should smell sweet, smoky and wonderful in their own right) and drop them into the blender as well. Puree thoroughly. The sauce will be chunky; if appearance is important, you can strain it through a wire strainer to get the larger pieces of the skin out of the mixture. (I begrudge the amount of sauce that clings to the mesh myself...) Taste it; add salt and serve immediately.

Many thanks to the author of this recipe, whoever he or she is. I found copies of it in a recipe archive at Carnegie Mellon, as well as on this New Orleans-related site.

Off I go to run errands and pick up some dried chiles!

My Spanish es malo

Here's the Google translation of what I mistakenly thought was going to be a great salsa recipe:

Ingredients: 2 chopped onions. 3 pickled gherkins. 50 gr. of butter. 4 tablespoons of vinegar. 4 tablespoons white wine. 6 tablespoons of tomato sauce. 1 minced cayenne. Parsley. Sal

Preparation: Put the chopped onion in a saucepan with vinegar and white wine. Cook over low heat until the liquid is consumed by half. Add chopped pickles, tomato sauce, the cayenne and salt. Let bake 10 minutes more. Add the parsley and butter, stir. Served to accompany grilled meats or grilled.

First of all, Google translations are icky. Secondly, darn. I don't think this is what I'm after.

On the upside, after surfing some more, I have found out that what I'm seeking is probably salsa roja. As opposed to salsa cruda or fresca or salsa verde.

Wikipedia says salsa roja is made with cooked tomatoes, chiles, onion, garlic, and cilantro. But elsewhere, I am reading that salsa roja is made by toasting dried red chiles, then putting them through a blender with garlic.

The quest to learn how to make salsa roja (if that is indeed the yummy stuff served by taco trucks) continues...

On a quest to make real Mexican salsa

I love hot salsa, not the chunky mild stuff, but the kind that is dark red and smooth and spicy. I've only gotten the good stuff out of big jugs at taco stands or served with chips in hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants.*

My new mission is to learn to make this simple, proletarian (read: no mangos) kind of salsa for myself. Sadly, I can't figure it out just by taste. I do know it's not just chopped-up tomatoes, jalapenos, onions, cilantro, and lemon juice -- those are the ingredients in your standard Internet recipes for salsa, but you will just end up with pico de gallo.

A Google search in Spanish (after looking up the word for recipe, receta), has led me to a recipe that looks pretty promising. My Spanish is not good, but I can tell that this recipe involves vinegar and cooking the salsa.

The recipe is pasted below, in case some kind person would like to translate it for me. Otherwise, my next post will be my attempt at a translation, with a dictionary's help, and maybe a report on my attempt to make this salsa.

Ingredientes:

2 cebollas picadas.
3 pepinillos en vinagre.
50 gr. de mantequilla.
4 cucharadas de vinagre.
4 cucharadas de vino blanco.
6 cucharadas de salsa de tomate.
1 cayena picada.
Perejil.
Sal.

Preparación:

Poner la cebolla picada en un cazo junto con el vinagre y el vino blanco.
Cocer a fuego lento hasta que se consuma el líquido a la mitad.
Añadir los pepinillos picados, la salsa de tomate, la cayena y la sal. Dejar
cocer 10 minutos más.
Agregar el perejil y la mantequilla, remover.
Sirve para acompañar carnes asadas o a la brasa.

Link to the recipe

* The Chinese equivalent of is that homemade, oily chili brew in the tabletop condiment jar of your local Chinese eatery.

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese - won't someone make this for me? I want to watch.

A recipe for lobster macaroni and cheese. I am typing it out for your pleasure out of the December 2005 issue of Bon Appétit, because I scoured the Web and could not find it. I will probably never make this dish, but it makes for delicious reading.

Lobster Macaroni and Cheese

6 to 8 first-course servings
...because after going to all this trouble, it had better be tasted by more than just two people

2 live lobsters, 1 3/4 to 2-lb. each

9 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup chopped onion
1 bay leaf

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup half-and-half
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyère
1 cup coarsely grated aged white cheddar
2 teaspoons hot pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco)

12 ounces orecchiette or medium shells
6 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup panko breadcrumbs

Cook 1 lobster in large pot of boiling salted water until cooked through, about 10 minutes. Using tongs, transfer to large bowl. Repeat with second lobster. Reserve boiling liquid.

Working over bowl, twist off tails and claws from lobster bodies, reserving bodies and juices in the bowl. Crack claws; remove meat. Split tails; remove meat. Transfer meat to bowl and chill. (Or at least have a glass of wine.) Rinse lobster bodies. Break all shells into 3-inch pieces, cutting bodies with kitchen shears. Reserve shells in bowl with any juices.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in another large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and bay leaf. Saute until onion softens, about 3 minutes. Add reserved lobster shells and any juices. Stir 2 minutes. Add 4 cups reserved lobster boiling liquid. Boil 18 minutes. (18 seems awfully specific. But okay.) Strain lobster broth into medium saucepan; discard shells. If necessary, boil lobster broth until reduced to 2 cups.

Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in the same pot over medium-high heat. Whisk in flour. Stir 2 minutes. Whisk in lobster broth, then mustard and cloves. (Ahhh, this is the sauce we are making. And it's going to taste extra-lobstery) Whisk in cream and half-and-half; bring to boil, whisking constantly. Add Gruyère, cheddar, and hot pepper sauce. Whisk until sauce is smooth. Season with salt and pepper. (Sauce and lobster can be made 3 hours ahead. Press plastic wrap directly onto surface of sauce; chill. Keep lobster meat chilled. Rewarm sauce before continuing.)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Butter 10- to 12-cup casserole dish. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain. Place pasta in large bowl. Add sauce and stir to coat. Cut lobster meat into 1-inch pieces. Stir lobster meat and chives into pasta. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer pasta mixture to prepared dish.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon of butter in medium skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add panko; sauté until golden, about 3 minutes. Sprinkle crumbs over pasta.

And at last...

Bake until bubbling and heated through in center, about 25 minutes*.

* One last interjection: 25 minutes at 425 degrees seems a bit long. What a shame it would be to end up with rubbery lobster. As with all cooking, keep an eye on it and use common sense!

If ground turkey is what you have on hand...

Cheating again and posting recipes that I send to my brother in college, in place of a real blog entry:

Stuffed bell peppers

2 bell peppers, any color
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 onion, chopped
1 small can tomato sauce
1 cup cooked rice or veggies (I chopped up some boiled carrots/cabbage that I had in the fridge, but frozen corn or carrots could also work, as long as it is a veggie that is not watery)
Seasonings (Like oregano or parsley, chili flakes, salt and pepper)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, scooping out the insides but leaving the stems intact. Spray or brush the empty peppers lightly with oil and pop them into the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, brown the onions in a frying pan, then add the ground turkey. When the meat is nearly cooked, add the cup of rice or veggies and half the can of tomato sauce, and combine well. Add seasonings and taste the mixture. It should taste good on its own.

Take the peppers out of the oven and stuff them with the filling, then pour the remaining tomato sauce over the peppers. (This will help them stay moist.) Put them back in the oven for another 30 minutes, or until they smell and look good.


Turkey meatballs

1 pound of ground turkey
1/2 onion, chopped
1 fresh egg yolk
Breadcrumbs or crackers smashed to bits
Seasonings (Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper -- whatever you might put in a meatloaf)

Sautee the onions in a frying pan. Let the onions cool, and put them in a big bowl with all the other ingredients and seasonings. Combine well but do not overmix. Using your hands or a pair of spoons, form the mixture into balls.

Pan fry the meatballs in a pan over medium-high heat until they are cooked through and nicely browned on all sides. These can store in the fridge for a few days, or in the freezer for longer. Eat them simmered in tomato sauce over spaghetti or in a meatball sandwich with some tomato sauce or ketchup.

Stewed Chicken with Olives

Another recipe for my brother. This was a dish that my mom's best friend, who died some years ago, used to make for us when we would visit her in Paris. It's very easy to make and fills your kitchen with a homey Mediterranean smell, a great thing on a chilly fall evening.

Stewed Chicken with Olives, Onions, and Tomatoes

Two chicken leg quarters (drumstick and thigh)
1 onion, chopped
3-4 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup of black, green, or mixed olives (preferably with pits)
White wine
Cooked rice or pasta

Sautee onions in a bit of olive oil in a pot large enough to hold the chicken legs. Take out the onions and set aside. Sear the chicken on both sides in the same pot until brown. Return the onions and add the tomatoes and olives. Add a few splashes of white cooking wine, a bit of salt and pepper, and lower heat to a simmer. As the tomatoes cook down, they will release cooking liquid, hopefully enough to cover most of the chicken. If not, add more wine or a small amount of water. Simmer for about 25 minutes, or until meat is cooked through but not too soft. Serve over rice or pasta.

Potato and Leek Soup

My kid brother is in his second-year of college, and the dorm food is not agreeing with him. So he has started to cook all his meals himself, and asked me for recipes. I'll post them here too occasionally, for whoever is interested:

Potato and Leek Soup

4 potatoes

2-3 leeks

2 carrots

1 small onion

1 can chicken broth (optional, can use just water)

Butter

1) Wash and roughly chop leeks. Peel and chop potatoes, onions, and carrots into small cubes.

2) Coat the bottom of a big soup pot with olive oil and add a pat of butter for flavor.

3) On medium-high heat, sautee onions until soft. Add leeks to the pot and continue sauteeing.

4) Add 1 can of chicken broth and/or water until the leeks are submerged.

5) Add potatoes and carrots to the pot, then enough water to barely cover the veggies. Remember that veggies will give off some water as they cook.

6) Simmer for about half an hour, until all the potatoes and carrots are nice and soft. Add salt and pepper. (The right amount of salt is important - keep tasting it.)

** Bonus tip - Near the end, I like to smash the potatoes and carrots against the side of the pot to make them look irregular and the soup thicker.

A good lunch & a promise

I am having a delicious lunch today: A salad with grilled salmon, half an everything-bagel, and a peach from a central California farm stand I visited last weekend.

The salad is romaine lettuce, a small vine tomato, some cucumber, and a sprinkling of radish sprouts, topped with a cold piece of grilled salmon. All great ingredients, but the key is the vinaigrette. My recipe follows:

Simple Vinaigrette

• Olive oil
• Mustard
• Vinegar
  
• Salt
• Pepper

Making a vinaigrette from scratch is easy and takes about 1 minute, and it raises a salad to a whole new level. I've never measured the amounts of the ingredients I use. Instead, I just add and taste as I go along.

Take a small bowl and add to it a small amount of mustard. Add a few dashes of some type of vinegar you like (I usually use red wine, but cider or white are also fine. Balsamic is only good if you want a really strong tasting dressing). Stirring the mixture continually with a spoon (or a whisk if you want to be fancy and have more dishes to do), slowly pour in the olive oil. Stop pouring when it looks like you have the right amount of dressing for your salad. Salt and pepper to taste. Adjust with more vinegar or mustard as needed. Keep playing with the relative amounts until the dressing tastes good.

The only thing that can go wrong as you keep adding and tasting is you end up with too much vinaigrette. But vinaigrette stores very well in the fridge, though the oil may harden and need to be returned to room temperature before using again.

I promise to make a video soon showing how easy it is to make, with a couple of my favorite variations using ingredients like honey, herbs, shallots, or cream.

Cooking video: Ramen!

This is my first cooking video ever! Thanks to Eric for the great camera work, editing, and laugh track. Scroll below the video for ingredients and cooking tips.




For a quick, yummy, and complete meal, all you need is (love) and:

1 package of ramen
1 fresh egg
1 handful of spinach leaves
1 green onion stalk

A good way to make Ramen Noodles with Poached Egg:

In two cups of boiling water, add ramen and contents of seasoning packet and allow to cook on high for about a minute.

As soon as the noodles are soft enough to break up, make a sort of nest in the noodles for the egg you are about to poach. Crack an egg (in a bowl first, if you want), and slide it into the nest. Take care that the egg does not slide to the bottom of the pot, or it will overcook and possibly break!

Turn the heat to low-medium and add spinach to the pot. Simmer for about 2 minutes more. Finish off with a sprinkling of sliced green onions, and pour everything gently into a bowl: Some soup first, then some noodles, then finally your softly-poached egg on top of the noodles.

Scrambled eggs

Until recently, I never understood the appeal of scrambled eggs. They seemed unimaginative, overly safe. Often hard and rubbery, and vastly inferior to a soft-boiled egg or eggs over-easy. But after taking the time to watch some other cooks and read up some on scrambling technique, I decided to give it another go. This morning, I made a really good plate of scrambled eggs and was very tempted to crown myself a scrambling queen.

Eggs
Milk or cream
Oil or butter
Salt
Cheese, optional but a very nice addition

Break the eggs, and mix them up a bit with a dash of milk or cream. Add salt. Heat a saucepan to medium-high heat with some oil in it, and add a dab of butter for richness. Pour the eggs in and give them a few seconds to adjust.

Stir the eggs continually with a wooden spoon, preventing the bottom layer from cooking and hardening. The egg mixture should gradually thicken as a whole. Lift the pan occasionally from the heat, if the bottom is cooking too quickly. Sprinkle in a bit of grated cheese and keep disturbing the eggs.

Timing is very important. Turn off the heat when the curds are still soft and glistening. By the time they reach the plate, they will be just right. Very soft, and very flavorful because of the milk, cheese, and butter.

Virtual stir-frying

Stir-frying is the lazy man's cooking method of choice. It's easy to do (chop chop, stir stir, fry fry), and a hot meal is on the table in just a few minutes. For those of us who are even lazier at times, here is the lazy man's momma's cooking technique:

Virtual stir-frying *

1. Take a vegetable that you would normally stir-fry (Zucchini, bell peppers, Asian greens)


2. Chop it up into small pieces that would cook in a wok in just a couple of minutes. (No wok needed, don't worry)


3. Put veggies in a microwaveable container that comes with a lid


4. Drizzle in a small amount of cooking oil (or olive or flavored, if you want to be fancy)


5. Sprinkle a bit of salt


6. Put the lid on, and shake it all around


7. Pop it into the microwave and cook on high for a couple of minutes


8. Take the container out, give the veggies another shake, and cook again for a few minutes. (The amount of cooking time depends on type of veggie and size of chopped pieces).

I did this for the zucchini in my homemade bento dinner tonight. Okay, it was just food on top of rice in a bowl so it wasn't really a bento. But there you go.




* Virtual stir-frying works well with vegetables. Try other types of food at your own risk. Don't neglect the oil. You'll get a sopping mess of half-steamed veggies if you don't coat everything with a thin layer of oil. And nobody likes that.

Deconstructing a chicken

Lest anyone think that all I do is think about food: Today was the first day of school and instead of fleeing as soon as I was sprung from my last class, I went to the library (!) and checked out (!!) an accounting textbook that I haven't yet bought and sat down to read a chapter.

But back to the subject of this entry. After school, I stopped by the market and picked up a rotisserie chicken, which is a great secret of the home cook. There are so many uses for it, down to the bones. Here's what I usually do:

1) Upon getting the chicken home, tear off a drumstick and eat it.

2) For dinner, eat a thigh, a wing, and maybe one of the little nuggets behind each of the shoulderblades (the most tender part of a chicken). Potatoes or rice on the side, and some veggies. Store the rest of the chicken in the fridge.

3) For lunch the next day, cut slices from one of the chicken breasts and make a sandwich. Cucumbers and mayo are what I usually have on hand for toppings.

4) For dinner, have another drumstick, thigh and wing. Strip off remaining breast and dark meat and set aside in the fridge. The stripping-down is the most fun part (you should see me after Thanksgiving dinner), because I get to eat yummy bits in the process.

5) Make broth out of the carcass, by placing the bones in cold water and bringing to a simmer. For an Asian broth, I add a couple of ginger slices and rough-chopped scallions. For Western flavor, I add some cut-up onion, celery, a little bit of carrot, and some herbs if I have them. I don't bother salting until I'm going to use the broth.

6) Take the broth and make soup, such as noodle soup - or if I'm feeling creative - tortilla soup!

7) As for the remaining meat, I may freeze it if I'm getting tired of chicken by this time. Or I use it over the next day or two in various ways: Make more sandwiches. Toss pieces in a salad. Tear into smaller strips and combine with cooked noodles, shredded cucumbers and sprouts, seasoned with a sesame sauce.

Food for Pumpkins

The personal assistant of the Smashing Pumpkins called me today to say the band wanted to try our food. So I drove over to a discreet old building in Santa Monica that currently serves as their recording studio with some food samples -- sandwiches, wraps, salads, and soup. Also a bunch of snacks and some organic teas and sodas in non-plastic bottles. They don't like to drink out of plastic.

Dave Matthews was recording in another studio upstairs, the assistant told me. I didn't get to meet the band members, Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlain, but I think saw them in session through an open doorway. I'm not really sure. I set up the food real nice in their lounge and took off. The assistant was very sweet and grateful, because we were promo'ing the food. How funny that I got to pick what they ate today. And if they like it, we may be feeding them all the time! They are into healthy food these days.

Recipe of the Day

Slightly Dirty Vodka Martini

Take chilled vodka out of the freezer and pour into a shaker over ice. Add a small splash of olive brine and a smaller splash of dry vermouth. Shake it up until your hands hurt from the cold metal. Pour into martini glass garnished with 3 olives.

Soft-boiled eggs

Today's topic: Soft-boiled eggs! The best way, in my opinion, to enjoy one of nature's most delicious foods. I have one of these for breakfast a couple of times a week, and it always makes me happy.



To prepare:

• Take a nice, fresh egg and cover it with cold water in a small pot.
• Turn the heat on high, until the water boils.
• Turn off the burner, leaving the lid on. Wait 3 minutes and rinse the egg in cold water.
• Place your soft-boiled egg in an egg cup (or if you don't have one, a shot glass also works).
• Using a small spoon, crack the top of the eggshell and peel off a large enough section for your spoon to enter.
• Sprinkle with a bit of salt and scoop out small spoonfuls of egg, taking care not to make the yolk overflow. (Hint: Scoop from the inside out, not along the inside of the shell)

Bonus tip: Dips small strips of buttered bread in the yolk.

You can adjust the cooking time to your taste. Some people wait 5 minutes to remove the egg from its hot bath, for a slightly firmer egg. As for me, I sometimes like to undercut the 3 minutes so that part of the egg white is still a little runny, but warm and delicious.

For a close runner-up, I love an egg that has been gently coddled in soup noodles such as ramen. Just before the noodles are done, I crack a raw egg into them and continue cooking on medium heat for 3-4 minutes. The great thing about softly cooked eggs is that they don't become rubbery, and so you can really savor them.