We Are Definitelty not Exotic

Earlier today, I happened upon a piece, via Instapundit.com that declared I am unexotic. 

True enough.

There's nothing exotic going on.

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW? THERE'S NOTHING EXOTIC GOING ON.

Recipe: Herbed Minute Steaks

Fresh herbs.

“Marinating in a wine and herb sauce before grilling does wonders for minute steaks and the topping of sour cream and paprika dresses up what otherwise might be considered a plain cut of meat.”—The Garlic Lovers’ Cookbook (1980)

HERBED MINUTE STEAKS

Makes 6 servings

1 C salad oil

½ C red wine

¾ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp celery salt

½ tsp salt

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp basil

¼ tsp black pepper

¼ tsp Accent (optional)

Dash ground nutmeg

6 minute steaks or cube steaks

½ C sour cream

Paprika

Combine salad oil, red wine, garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt, salt, oregano, basil, pepper, Accent, and nutmeg in glass or enameled flat pan big enough to hold steaks in a single layer, add steaks, turn to coat well, and marinate 1 hour, turning several times. Remove steaks from marinade, and pan-fry in hot skillet or broil until just browned on each side. Top each steak with a tablespoon of sour cream and sprinkle with paprika to taste.

Recipe: Papas con Chorizo

Mexican breakfast for supper: Potatoes & Sausage

And, okay, we used homemade andouille, not chorizo. AND I NOTE that you folks out there tracking my blog should surely have done me the courtesy of updating my spell checker by now. I mean, look. If you want this to be a two way street-- you invade my privacy & I get something back in return-- you could at least do me the courtesy of conveying to Google that the words "andouille" and "chorizo" should not have red squiggly lines under them. 

What am I paying you for?

Here's what Mr. Big Food has to say about the recipe for potatoes and sausage... .

~~

I adapted this one from a Sunset Magazine cook book on Mexican Cookery, probably published in the late 1970s. See the ways to use it for breakfasts below the recipe. For most interesting results, use your own home-made chili powders (see the Basics section). And while you’re at it, grind your own meat.

CHORIZO I

2 large garlic cloves, peeled

2 tsp salt

4 Tbsp pasilla (or any other mild) chili powder (preferably Pure—see instructions in Basics section)

6 tsp New Mexico (or other hot) chili powder (preferably Pure—see instructions in Basics section)

1 tsp dried oregano

4 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbsp water

2 pounds boneless ground pork

In a small bowl, mash garlic and salt to make a paste. Add chili powders. Crush oregano and add to paste with vinegar and water. Add garlic mixture to pork, mixing well. Store in a freezer bag for at least twenty-four hours to blend flavors.

HUEVOS Y CHORIZO

Fry off chorizo in a pan and add scrambled eggs. (Add extra butter if needed.) Cook, stirring, until eggs are set and dry. Top with shredded cheese. Serve with toast or flour tortillas (warmed).

PAPAS Y CHORIZO

Fry off grated potatoes in oil until beginning to brown. Add chorizo and fry until sausage is done.

HUEVOS, PAPAS Y CHORIZO

Fix as for Papas y Chorizo. When nearly done, form pockets in the potato-sausage mixture. Crack eggs into pockets, cover, and continue cooking until eggs are firm throughout.

Recipe: Heuvos Rancheros

Mexican breakfast for supper

Before the huevos were topped with cheese and broiled for 1-2 minutes.

From whatever cook book Mr. Big Food got this recipe... .

““Way’ bhoas” is Spanish for eggs.”

HUEVOS RANCHEROS

Serves 6

2 Tbsp oil, maybe more, plus an additional 1 Tbsp

6 tortillas

½ C onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

3 large tomatoes, peeled, cored, chopped

4 oz chopped green chilies

¼ tsp salt, plus a little more for sprinkling cooking eggs

6 eggs

Pepper

1 Tbsp water

1 C (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or use Pepper Jack for a spicier dish)

Heat 2 Tbsp oil in small skillet. Dip tortillas in oil for about 5 seconds on each side, or until limp. Line a 10x6x2 inch baking dish with tortillas and keep warm. In same skillet cook onions and garlic until tender but not browned (adding more oil if necessary). Stir in tomatoes, green chilies, and ¼ tso salt, and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, Spoon sauce over tortillas in baking dish. Preheat broiler. Heat the remaining 1 Tbsp oil in a large skillet. Break eggs carefully into skillet, and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, When egg whites are set and edges cooked add water, cover skillet, and cook eggs to desired doneness. Using a slotted spoon, carefully arrange eggs over sauce in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Place dish under broiler for 1 to 2 minutes to melt cheese. Serve immediately.

Bug This.

Yesterday, at approximately 10:52am Central Time I called-- using my Verizon Wireless cell phone-- my bug people.

I took notes because I thought I might post about how quickly my bug people responded.

We are suffering from a garden millipede explosion the likes of which I have never seen.

The nice lady at the office took some information from me-- my name, my address, the nature of my complaint, etc.

Ten minutes later, Chris, my bug guy, called.

By 11:30am, Chris had come, sprayed, chatted, and was gone.

Reading List: I Don't know What to Make of This

4 of 8: Is that good or bad?

Miss M is taking two lit classes in the Fall. She shared the reading lists with me. Not counting a couple of style manuals-- I note that Strunk & White is not among them-- there are eight books. We have four of eight. 

EN2243 Required Reading:

✔ The Scarlet Letter

✔ Uncle Tom's Cabin

Charlotte Temple

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

✔ Walden, Civil Disobedience and other Writing

My Bondage and My Freedom

✔ Of Plymouth Plantation

EN3414 Required Reading:

✔ The Scarlet Letter

A Lesson Before Dying

I've never heard of Charlotte Temple. I can't believe I don't have Franklin's autobiography, or anything by Fredrick Douglas, and it took three correction iterations-- it's not As I Lay Dying (which I have)-- to get the Dying book right.

So what to make of this? Why are English majors/minors reading The Scarlet Letter in both a know-it-all class and an upper division class? Why aren't there more readings in the upper division class?

I'm sure all will be revealed next fall. 

Meanwhile-- I've managed to coast through Miss M's three week Algebra class without having to remember too much algebra (although talking about logarithms was fun) and I'm looking forward to picking up some Español over the course of the next four semesters. 

I was in favor of her taking Latin or Greek. But as it turns out, neither Latin nor Greek are considered "foreign languages" because... I guess because people like Hawthorne, Stowe, Franklin, Thoreau, Douglas, and Bradford didn't bother with Latin or Greek and instead spoke Spanish.

Miss M thinks she's going to be more "marketable" if she can habla espanol.  I think she'd be more marketable if she learned the vocabulary underlying the Romance Languages. If she learned how that vocabulary was insinuated into English when the Romans invaded the British Isles. If she learned how Latin sentence structure informed the translation of the Bible into English, and the wording of our Constitution. 

The Latin Club, ca. 1976.

But you know, Miss M is free to waste her time learning a derivative language.

Recipe: Pizza Sauce for Calzones

Hard to beat with fresh basil and oregano

This recipe make quite a bit of sauce-- enough for three calzones with six cups left over. We froze four cups. They''ll come in handy some busy day down the line. I wish I could get paid for this.

PIZZA SAUCE FOR CALZONES

From The Garlic Lovers' Cookbook: From Gilroy, Garlic Capital of the World, Celestial Arts, Berkeley, California, 1982

1 whole bulb fresh garlic, separated into cloves, peeled and sliced thin crosswise
1/3 C olive oil
29 oz. heavy tomato puree
29 oz. tomatoes, drained, diced
3 Tbsp. fresh basil (1 1/2 Tbsp. dried)
3 Tbsp. fresh oregano (1 1/2 Tbsp. dried)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. crushed red pepper

Place garlic and olive oil in a kettle large enough to hold all the sauce and heat gently until garlic is sizzling in oil. Do not let garlic brown. Pour tomato puree and tomatoes into kettle, stir in basil, oregano, salt and red pepper, and simmer 15 minutes, stirring often. Allow to cool

Spencers: Just What We Were Hoping to Find

On our way home from Memphis, Tennessee this afternoon, we exited I-55 at Grenada-- not the Papermill Road exit, the real Grenada exit because we were looking for a Sonic. Mr. Big Food was in the mood for a shake. Sonic makes good shakes. Curiously, there is no Sonic in Grenada, least wise not one we could find.

We "discovered" Spencer's.

Spencer's makes great shakes!

Mr. Big Food had an 'Elvis' (peanut butter & banana), I had a chocoholic.

Good stuff. Cheaper than Sonic.

The trip to Memphis was interesting. Midtown at 9am is a ghost town. Mr. Big Food tells me it was once a boom town area. I can see how it once might have been. 

We encountered a diversity of folk around the medical center. One wonders what a smart, unattractive Chinese women, who has great difficulty speaking and writing English, thinks of Memphis, Tennessee. Has she been to Beale? Does she get the Elvis peanut butter and bananas shake joke? We ask no such questions of her boss/mentor, the Lady Indian Doctor.  She's savvy.

The intersection of Mendenhall and Poplar is torn the f&*^ up. Getting in and out of Whole Foods was a challenge. Most of the regular parking lot is roped off. We found a parking space, but had to roll down the window to ask the little lady to please close her door so we could get in it. There were five cars behind us. She was sweet. As it turned out, we left at the same time. Mr. Big Food helped her move her cart and get situated before we backed up and got caught in the quagmire trying to get back on Poplar. 

We consider Memphis a BIG CITY. And even in the BIG CITY we mind our manners. I cannot tell you how many near cart collisions inside Whole Foods were acknowledged by, "Oh! Excuse me!" "I'm so sorry!" "No. You go."

The notable exception to all this good manners stuff is people trying to cross/get back onto Poplar when three lanes have been reduced to one. 

Blah blah blah. And then we went to the western store in Southhaven. And then before we knew it, we were back on the Farm.

Meanwhile. Miss M reported that Missy had run away. Not really. Missy had just chased Sweetheart-- the neighbor dog-- down the driveway after she-- Missy-- had escaped through the door when the neighbor boys had come knocking with Sweetheart to ask if they-- the boys-- could fish in the lake, with our boat.

The boys brought Missy back.

As we rolled up the driveway, Mr. Big Food and I were chatting about the boys. I looked toward the lake and saw some  unusual colors near the bank. I backed up.

Either those kids were swimmin' in the lake or they'd capsized 5' from shore. 

 

Recipe: Curried Carrots and Raisins

The dish

The plate

CURRIED CARROTS AND RAISINS

Serves 6

Working time: about 25 minutes; Total time: about 35 minutes

Calories 96; Protein 1g; Cholesterol 3mg; Total fat 4g; Saturated fat 1g; Sodium 34mg

1 ½ lb carrots, peeled and sliced ½ inch thick

Water (to cover carrots

1 Tbsp oil

1 ½ tsp butter

1 Tbsp brown sugar

½ C raisins

1 Tbsp honey

1 ½ tsp fresh lemon juice

1 ½ tsp curry powder

1 tsp Dijon mustard (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

Boil carrots in water to cover for 10 minutes, remove from heat, and drain. Heat oil and butter in large skillet over medium heat. Add carrots and sauté, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Sprinkle brown sugar over carrots, add raisins, and cook 2 minutes longer. Combine honey, lemon juice, curry powder, and mustard, and stir into skillet. Cook 2-3 minutes or until carrots are well glazed.

Recipe: Curried Chicken with Chutney and Raisins

The dish

The plate

The menu says, "Sunday: Curried Chicken with Raisins / Curried Carrots with Raisins." What do I mean by that? 

I mean that this morning, Mr. Big Food planned out the menu for the week based on what was going on this week, and then we went to the grocery store. And since today is Sunday, Mr. Big Food knew he could do some cooking-- since he's not at the office on Sundays he can just hang out in the kitchen watching NASCAR and such and cook. (I kid.) So we had curried stuff for Sunday supper.

He adapted the recipe. The Piglet does not stock mango chutney.

It was delicious. But here are the funny things. Look first at how obsessed the 1986 recipe is. It comes from this cookbook:

Healthy Home Cooking: Fresh Ways with Poultry; The Editors of Time-Life Books; Time-Life Books, Alexandria, Virginia; 1986

"Calories 475; Protein 45g; Cholesterol 126mg; Total fat 22g; Saturated fat 4g; Sodium 437mg"

Look next at how involved the recipe is. If I'm remembering correctly, in 1986 we women were wearing suit jackets with shoulder pads to give us "upper body presence." And Time-Life was instructing us to make Curried Chicken with Chutney and Raisins. And we couldn't even write cooking at home off as a tax deduction.

~~

“Suggested accompaniments: steamed rice; side dishes of yogurt, unsalted peanuts, and chopped banana”—Fresh Ways with Poultry (1986)

CURRIED CHICKEN WITH CHUTNEY AND RAISINS

Serves 4

Working time: about 30 minutes; total time: about 1 hour

Calories 475; Protein 45g; Cholesterol 126mg; Total fat 22g; Saturated fat 4g; Sodium 437mg

3 lb chicken, skinned, cut into serving pieces

½ tsp salt

½ tsp freshly ground black pepper

¼ C cornmeal

3 Tbsp safflower oil

1 onion, chopped fine

1 carrot, peeled, chopped fine

½ small bell pepper, chopped fine

3 cloves garlic, chopped fine

¾ lb tomatoes, preferably Italian plum variety, seeded, chopped coarse, juices reserved

1 ½ C unsalted chicken stock (preferably homemade—see recipes in Basics section)

1 Tbsp curry powder

2 tsp mango chutney

1 bay leaf

1 ½ Tbsp dark raisins

1 ½ Tbsp golden raisins

1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Sprinkle chicken pieces with salt and pepper, dredge lightly in cornmeal. Heat 2 Tbsp oil over medium heat in a heavy-bottomed flame-proof casserole with a lid large enough to hold chicken pieces in a single layer and brown chicken pieces for 5 minutes on each side. Remove chicken from casserole. Preheat oven to 350^o. Put remaining 1 Tbsp oil in casserole with drippings, add onion, carrot, and green pepper, and sauté lightly for about 2 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute longer. Pour in tomatoes with their reserved juice and stock, stir in curry powder, chutney, bay leaf, 1 Tbsp dark raisins, and 1 Tbsp golden raisins, return chicken to casserole, and bring mixture to a simmer. Cover casserole and bake 1 hour. While chicken is baking, brown sesame seeds in oven for about 10 minutes. Serve chicken straight from the casserole or arrange on a serving platter, with toasted sesame seeds and remaining ½ Tbsp dark raisins and ½ Tbsp golden raisins scattered over the top.

Recipe: Baked Cabbage & Vegan Variation

Mr. Big Food used red cabbage because we all love red cabbage

BAKED CABBAGE

3 C shredded cabbage, cooked in salted water 10 minutes, drained

½ C bread crumbs

Salt, pepper, to taste

1 C medium White Sauce, with ½ C shredded cheese and ½ C crumbled French fried onion rings added, and ½ stick butter melted in (see recipes in Basics section)

Preheat oven to 350^o. Place drained cabbage in buttered casserole. Pour White Sauce over and top with bread crumbs. Bake 30 minutes.

To veganize:

Eliminate cheese; make the white sauce with vegan butter (Earth Balance (TM) and almond milk). I can't taste the difference-- and in fact, I like it better without the cheese!

Recipe: German Rindsrauaden (Beef Rolls)

About half-way done

Mr. Big Food used sirloin tip steak, pounded out. String works better than toothpicks. Served with baked cabbage.

GERMAN RINDSRAULADEN

4 beef bracioli (round steak), pounded

Salt, pepper

Mustard (preferably homemade and German—see recipes in Basics section)

1 onion, sliced, plus an additional 1 onion chopped

2 dill pickles OR sweet pickles, quartered (preferably home canned—see recipes in Canning  section)

4 strips bacon

3 Tbsp butter

Flour

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Water

¼ C red wine

Salt and pepper pounded round steaks, rub both sides of steaks with mustard, and lay meat flat on a plate. Top evenly with sliced onion, pickles, and bacon, roll carefully, and fasten with toothpicks. Melt butter in a deep frying pan, add chopped onion, and sauté. Add meat rolls and brown lightly. Season with Worcestershire and lemon juice, add water as needed, cover, and simmer. Remove meat when done, and use flour, pan juices and red wine to make gravy.

The Whole Place Has Gone to Seed!

From The Free Dictionary Dot Com:

go to seed
1. and run to seed Lit. [for a plant] to grow long enough to produce seed; [for a plant] to spend its energy going to seed. The lettuce went to seed and we couldn't eat it. Plants like that ought not to be allowed to go to seed.
2. and run to seed Fig. [for a lawn or a plant] to produce seeds because it has not had proper care. You've got to mow the grass. It's going to seed. Don't let the lawn go to seed. It looks so—seedy!
3. Fig. [for something] to decline in looks, status, or utility due to lack of care. (The same as run to seed.) This old coat is going to seed. Have to get a new one. The front of the house is going to seed. Let's get it painted.

[my emphases]

For those who like visuals, here's "gone to seed" illustrated.

#1: to grow long enough to produce seed

Broccoli raab. Each of these individual 4-petaled flowers will produce a seed pod containing six or more seeds.

Orient to the right hand edge of this mass. You should see a handful of immature seed pods against the straw in the background. Now look at the mass of seed pods.

An onion going to seed.

Butter crunch lettuce going to seed.

Giant red mustard. As with broccoli raab, each flower produces a seed pod.

See the thin pods along the stems and clustered at the bottom center of the photo? Each pod has almost a dozen seeds.

#3 below the fold-- along with a bit of inspiration inspired by the giant red mustard.

Saturday Supper

We were hoping for a productive day. But it rained on and off all day and so we all just sat around eating bon bons and drinking coffee drinks while we watched rerun television.

Turned out okay because all of that free time afforded Mr. Big Food the time to prepare a wonderful dinner.

I kid. 

It did rain. And between the showers and downpours we worked our butts off today. So we ordered pizza* because Mr. Big Food didn't have time to prepare dinner.

I kid, again.

German beef rolls. Red cabbage. Sauce for the beef rolls.

See? There is time to cook. 

*This is a giveaway that I'm kidding. There's no such thing as pizza delivery out here.