Southern foods

I went out to eat at a nice restaurant with Tori tonight. She got crabcakes which had fried green tomatoes on top, so I got to taste fried green tomatoes, which I really liked, which was surprising because I do not normally like fried things nor do I like immature vegetables. But I did like this. While in NC I've tried most foods I would describe as southern:

~grits: really good! Surprising because I do not like hominy. Er... I suppose I just don't like whole hominy. Ground up, ok.
~hushpuppies: really good occasionally. Not something I'd want to eat daily or in any large quantity.
~pickled cucumber and onion: *really* good! Strange because I hate pickles. Fresh though, and perhaps the way they were prepared, I have enjoyed this.
~muscadines: type of grape. Tasty. Meaty fruit.
~sweet potato (and sweet potato casserole): I don't know that I tried sweet potatoes in WI/IA. I know they exist in these places, but they are much more prevalent in the south. Sweet potato casserole, for instance, is a Thanksgiving staple. People mush up the sweet potatoes with sugar or whatever, and then put it in a casserole and top it with a layer of *marshmallows*. How STRANGE! It is ok. Strange.
~fried green tomatoes: Again, I think this might exist in the north, but I've never tried it before. Much more common here. Really really good! Came into existence from the need to have no food waste-- before the frost, people fried up their green tomatoes.
~okra: I used a bunch of okra I got for free in some gumbo I made last year. It is interesting. Mild flavor, a bit slimy, but gave my gumbo a good, thick consistency. Very starchy. I have not tried it fried, and I hear this is fantastic, but I can imagine exactly what it would taste like, and have no real desire to try this before I leave south.
~pimento cheese: When folks bring HFH food for lunch, it is common to bring five to ten pimento cheese sandwiches for veggies or whomever. Pimento cheese is good! I think it is maybe cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, pimento peppers.. probably mayo too. I'd never heard of this food before living here, but have had it often during HFH lunches.
~sweet tea. People drink sweet tea like it is water here. It is disgusting to me. When I worked as a waitress people would very occasionally order sweet tea. I can't remember if I brought them sugar packets or if we had it in our pop machine. Anyway, it is not common in north but very very very common in south. Waitresses some places walk around with pitchers of sweet tea.

Things I did not try here that are southern:
~North Carolina BBQ. People are obsessive about BBQ. Evidently there is a whole spectrum of greatness between this restaurant and that. Whatever. My first week in Avery County I was taken to a BBQ restaurant. I tried hushpuppies for the first time there. This was about the only menu item a veggie could eat.
~livermush. TGIV (Thank goodness I'm vegetarian).
~chitlins. TGIV.
~boiled peanuts. This is very common here. I wish I had tried it, because I see signs for it all over the place. But, it is not too terribly hard to boil peanuts, so I could try it elsewhere I suppose. I've heard they are not very good. I've no idea what boiling does to the nut to make it different.
~collard greens, or greens. Typically these include bacon grease. I've no comment on this food.

I think I've remembered all of them. My favorite new foods from the south are grits and fried green tomatoes. I'm so glad I got to try these! So tangy!

Menu Amazing

We had JohnEd and Angela over last night for dinner/drinks. Fun times! Derek's Kristin is in town, and we all never really get chances to hang out with her, so it was nice to kick it with her for awhile. Although, Derek's Annie somehow sat on her tail wrong and sprained it (evidently this is not so uncommon... I had no idea), so Derek had to take her to the vet for the second time in one day, and we actually didn't get to spend so much time hanging out with Kristin. So it goes.

Here is the menu we enjoyed:
Fresh cherries, peaches, apricots, apples, and blueberries with ricotta+goat cheese dip.
Brie and cherry quesadillas with mango/tomato/avocado salsa
Balkan cucumber salad
Asparagus and basil lasagna

Fresh-tastic! I am still full I think. I took some pictures of the fruit but none of them are very good, and then Annie got hurt so I did not take any more pictures. Plus, people usually want to eat the food once it is ready rather than wait for me to shoot it first. Imagine that.

Annie is okay but she is drugged up. Lots of tail pain. So strange that the tail is so fragile. She also has an eye infection... sad puppy right now. She's not supposed to wag her tail for two weeks! Seems rather impossible.

Now I work on throwing things away and consolidating owned items. One week to pack up two years! AGH! =)

Gnocchi

I have been hearing nice things about gorgonzola and gnocchi, and I have in my memory a friend's discovery of the tastiness of gorgonzola walnut sauce, so last night I made...

Gnocchi with Gorgonzola Walnut Sauce!

Seriously... this is the highest calorie dish I think I've ever prepared. It contains zero ingredients which are low in calories. Zero! I can't believe I made it! I was just so curious how the gnocchi would taste...

What a fun food! Little balls of fluffy potatoes. I think the next time I make gnocchi, I will physically make the gnocchi. Last night, I opened the package and threw the suckers into boiling water. They are so easy! No taste testing for doneness, these boys are done with they float up to the top of the pot! Hello, gnocchis!

The sauce was simple simple. Just butter, gorgonzola, and cream. Added the cream after the butter and cheese had mostly melted, as to avoid curdling. If I ever make this again, which I honestly probably won't, I would lighten the sauce up *big time*. Olive oil instead of butter, milk instead of cream. I think I'd enjoy that more.

I roasted some grape tomatoes for a side. Hmm... I poked them each before I broiled them, thinking that, like a hot dog, this would keep them from exploding. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I did not want explosion of tomato inside of Tori's toaster oven. Whether it was the poking or just my acute sense of when things are done cookin', the tomatoes did not explode and they were my favorite part of the meal. I love fresh things!

The gnocchi with sauce was too rich! Way too rich! I covered the gnocchis with the sauce, then added the chopped walnuts and a little grated parm. It had a nice flavor, and I loved the way the gnocchi feels and tastes, but.. after about four bites I was kind of done. Better for an appetizer maybe. On sticks. Toothpick gnocchi! NO-KEE! Like I said, if I do this gorgonzola/gnocchi combo again, I will lighten up sauce and maybe be able to enjoy more of it.

The picture is kind of blurry, and I should have gone outside, but I wanted to eat the food! I couldn't wait! So impatient!


This morning I used some of the gorgonzola in a mushroom omelet. My first-ever-omelet-experience! I mean, I've eaten them before, but never tried making them. I did good! It was yummy!

I used my new hand blender to beat the eggs. Man, that thing is slick. I love it! All fifty dollars of it!! I have used it twice so far... once for the eggs, and once for a vinaigrette (which I would normally not use a blender for, but since it's new and I like it...).

worst.dressing.ever.

I decided to make this salsa salad for a light supper. Then I decided... hmm... "I shall create a new dressing so that when I taste this pretty salad I will feel like I am in the southwest."

I'm not even going to say what I put in the dressing. It sounds like a pretty good combo of stuff, at least to me, but alas, it was barely edible. I actually put my dressing-coated salad into my salad spinner so I could start fresh. I used this dressing instead, and ate my tasty greens and purples and reds and yellows and blacks. I LOVE COLORFUL FOOD!

Stuffed Tomatoes

I made these for dinner tonight. Next time I will put a grain in them to give it more... oomph. So it goes...

(I'm posting this because I am trying to practice my macro mode on my camera)

Swordfish!

I was at the grocery store today for yogurt and wandered over to the fish counter where there was a special on swordfish. Being as I get foodstamps and I have never cooked swordfish before, I decided to splurge and get something new! It tastes.. good! I made a fun little berry balsamic glaze, and cooked a little spinach and mushroom wheat bulgar salad to go with it.

The balsamic glaze is so easy! I take about a cup of vinegar to about a quarter of sugar, and simmer that sucker down until it is just a little bit thick. About fifteen minutes in, I added a handful or so of chopped up mixed berries. This simmers for maybe a half hour or so. I definitely would have made this ahead of time if time permitted, since cooking vinegar makes the whole kitchen smelly.

The salad was next. It can be served hot or cold or warm or whatever. I added warm water to a little bit of wheat bulgar and let that stuff get nice and tender (takes an hour) while I sauteed some onion. Add mushrooms and a splash of soy sauce, let that cook down, and then pop the spinach in until it is wilty but still green and pretty. Wheat bulgar is what I normally use in tabouli... it is nutritious, with lots of protein, which means when I make extra I can use it as a whole meal the next day!

Then... the fish! I marinated this stuff in lemon juice and a splash of balsamic for an hour before cooking. Salt and pepper one side, and put that side down flat on my pan (which has olive oil all heated up). I read online about how to cook a thick steak of swordfish, and I went for the recipe that suggested four minutes per side. This was perfect for me! But, I like semi-rare fish... so, if I were cooking for someone else I'd probably go with five-six minutes per side.

Then I put all the stuff on a plate, drizzled with balsamic, garnished with green onions, and WOW! Taste bud happy!

RIP Hand Blender

My hand blender broke about five minutes ago. It was making me hummus. It is the best kitchen tool ever, excepting the basic stuff. But I can't say I'd get another Braun... this is the second time the switch has stopped working for me.

OSFDJOISDFJOIJEWF.

Things fall apart...

Pesto!

Yesterday I used the fresh basil from Madison's Farmer's Market to make some homemade pesto. Yum! I used the recipe here. It turned out great! Heidi Swanson says to chop all the ingredients, adding more basil, pine nuts, cheese as you go. That way, the pesto is not one big blob of green. You can see all the ingredients, so the texture and visual components are different than normal. I can verify, this is very cool. It is pretty as well as tasty. It was very good stuff, with one minor problem...

When I added a bunch of it to hot pasta, all the pesto clumped together as the cheese melted, and all my chopping went out the window because the stuff resembled the green blob I was trying to avoid. Next time, I will add the pasta water to pesto before adding pesto to pasta. Pesto pasta pasta pesto, fun to say! This will thin the stuff out a bit, and it will combine better. Theoretically.

Anyway, I ate the stuff spread on a bagel this morning, and that was pretty awesome. I think basil is my current favorite herb.

Heidi Swanson's site is very nice. Good recipes, clear instructions.

Tahini Dressing

Today I made my tahini based dressing for the second time, and it is still very kick-ass. I think it is maybe similar to Annie's Goddess Dressing... but I have never tried Annie's Goddess Dressing (although I hear it is also very kick-ass), so I cannot confirm this. Here is what I do:

1. Chop up one clove of garlic and smoosh it together with some salt until it is pasty and not chunky, so that I do not have to bite into raw garlic while I eat my salad. Throw into bowl.

2. Chop up a big handful of parsley and two or three green onions. I chop this for what feels like *forever*, because I do not want big chunks of either of these ingredients in my dressing. A food processor would be handy for this step, but I do not like getting the machine out of the cupboard. And it is very loud. So, chop chop chop and throw into the bowl.

3. Chop a lemon in half and squeeze juices out of each half and into the bowl. Now I put away my knife, because the chopping is all done.

4. Add soy sauce to the bowl. Maybe a teaspoon or two. This, along with the salted garlic, makes the dressing plenty salty.

5. Add red wine vinegar to the bowl. I think two tablespoons. But again, I am not sure. I also think I could make this dressing with any vinegar, and it would still be ok.

5. Add a little bit of honey. I cannot remember if I did this the first time I made it or not. I tasted it today without adding honey and it wasn't quite right... enough sour, enough salty.... sweet! I think I maybe just used plain sugar the first time around, but honey is better. Au-natural. I think a heavy teaspoon is good.

6. Add tahini! This is the best step because it is the most important ingredient of all. I am not sure how much tahini I add to the bowl. I would guess maybe a quarter cup. After I add this I slosh everything together.

7. Add some water until the dressing is nice and runny. There is so much flavor in all the ingredients that water helps to make sure every flavor is spread to all my lettuce leaves in my salad. Yum!

This dressing is more kick-ass the second day. The ingredients like to hang out for awhile together before they reach optimal taste-bud satisfaction.