Smithy

Tonight we had a large dinner salad: The usual salad greens - chopped, washed and spunThe usual salad crunchies (peppers, peas, celery, radishes, carrots) - washed and choppedCherry tomatoesSteamed eggs, slicedSliced scallionsCroutons Supplemented by: Bacon ends and pieces - cut into chunks, partially cooked, drained, and cooked to completion with...one of our precious Alaskan salmon filets - skinned, dusted with flour and spices, then cooked with the bacon, then...deglazed with balsamic vinegar, mixed with olive oil... ...and tossed with the salad, juices and all. I'd originally intended some sort of panzanella with the remnants of my latest rosemary olive oil bread serving as croutons, but it seemed simpler to slice the bread and toast it. I'd also intended to dress said panzanella with the Caesar dressing that I made yesterday, from David Ross' post on the eGullet Cookoff: Citrus topic. Instead, the dressing was at the table to use as we saw fit. We both agreed that the salad would have been wonderful with more of the hot pan dressing, if only there had been enough. We also agreed that David's Caesar Dressing is excellent: it took the flavors in a different, but still delightful, direction. The beauty of a meal like this is that it gave us time to sit outside, look at the stars, listen to the coyotes, and contemplate more intricate meals for another evening.

Great ideas, folks! Keep 'em coming! Re the Tequila Chicken: I think the original was done with chicken breasts. I tried it for years with chicken breasts, but we always thought they ended up too dry. The answer might be in simply simmering the breast meat in the pan sauce instead of trying to brown it first, but I'm partial to those maillard reactions. Meanwhile, we've decided that we prefer breaded chicken cutlets (see earlier post) as a use for chicken breast.

I have two mystery products for which I'd like to solicit ideas. I picked up this Texas Two-Step Tortilla Soup Mix bottle a few years ago, probably at Big Bend National Park, and its traveling time will come to an end this trip. It didn't come with any directions. I've been wondering whether to rehydrate it with water, beef broth or chicken broth, and not even sure what's in it. I had planned to ask here about what to do with it, but decided to try the wonderful world of the Rest of the Internet first. It didn't take long to find answers... on Amazon, of course. I'll admit right now that I wouldn't have come close to what Bear Creek Kitchens had in mind for this mix. Anyone else want to play along? Without looking at the link: what do you think is in this bottle, and what would you do with it? The other product is a spice package I picked up in Capetown, South Africa last year after discovering Cape Malay cookery. So far I've used this to coat chicken and make a butter-cream sauce around it to serve with rice. The label calls it a marinade, and makes me wonder whether the chicken is supposed to be marinaded in this spice with some liquid before simmering it in a cream sauce. My questions about this are, for anyone who may be familiar with the cuisine: How would Cape Malay chicken be made by people who know what they're doing?What's in this spice packet, aside from turmeric? It has a nice spicy heat, with intensity according to the amount of spice used. Sooner or later I'm going to exhaust this supply, and I'd best work out how to make it for myself.

That sounds like a nice variation on the same theme, FauxPas. I remember the original Tequila Chicken as being spicy-hot in a way that ours isn't, and the addition of hot peppers or red pepper flakes would get closer to that memory. I swear...between you and rotuts, I may end up giving counter space to a Cuisinart Steam Pro yet, once we get home.

Thanks, everyone, for the request! I'm happy to share, and flattered that you asked. JohnT, thanks for the suggestions. It isn't a precise recipe. I'll begin by showing you what I was given, in spring of 1998. I don't think I'm giving away any restaurant secrets at this point, since the hotel has changed hands and the restaurant, if it's still open, is under quite different management. Over the years I've tried to duplicate it, kept careful notes, and - as with so many of my attempts to recreate some great restaurant dish - eventually forgotten what the original was like but come up with something we like anyway. Last night went along these lines (note the substitution of orange juice for lime juice, which took it in a very different but delicious direction): 1-2 Tbsp olive oil2-4 Tbsp butter3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces. (More would have been fine, but it's what we had.)the juice of 1 medium orange (Note! The usual citrus is lime, but we didn't have any; this was different but good)the juice of 11/2 lemonsa good glug or two of tequila (no more than 1/4 cup)about a quarter cup of soy sauce1/2 red onion, thinly sliced, then the rings quartered1 red bell pepper, seeded, deveined and diced1 Anaheim chile, seeded, deveined and diced (I didn't like the flavor and may have used only half)8 - 10 oz fettucine (I started with 1/2 lb, then added more, but probably didn't need to)1/2 - 1 cup half-and-half (the heaviest cream we have)small green onions thinly sliced, for garnish (I think I forgot to add them)a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped, for garnish (cilantro haters can use fresh parsley, or omit the greens)salt, Aleppo pepper, dried oregano, and possibly thyme for seasoningCut the chicken into bite-sized chunks and marinate in the citrus juices, soy sauce and tequila while the rest of the prep is under way. Do the chopping and slicing of the vegetables as noted above. Start the pasta. This will no doubt sound heretical, but I've taken to using minimal water (1-2 quarts in this case) and putting the pasta in while the water is barely warm. It saves both energy and water, and for our purposes does not produce gummy pasta. YMMV. Remove the chicken from the marinade (save the marinade), pat dry, season. Heat oil in a pan over medium-high heat - we use a nonstick heavy skillet, so it doesn't take much oil - and when the oil gets that characteristic "hot" sheen add the vegetables. Note that for crunchier onions one can soak them in ice water and add them toward the end. I didn't do that last night. As the vegetables start to sweat, add the chicken (with a little more oil if necessary) and brown it slightly. Deglaze with the marinade, and cook down slightly. Add more herbs and spices as you see fit. By this time the pasta should be mostly done. Remove it with tongs from the pot and add it, dripping, to the pan. Stir. Add butter and cream; stir and pull the noodles through to coat; add pasta water to lengthen and thicken the sauce. When the pasta is fully cooked and the sauce is the right consistency, garnish and serve.

I just realized that I have a question about this: does the garlic get strained out of the olive oil after being steeped, or is it incorporated into the salad dressing? Is it a matter of personal preference?

No frying tonight! The wind blustered and gusted all day, to the point that we had the awning down for all of 5 minutes before retracting it. It was a great day for walking, a fair day for cycling, and a fine evening for cooking indoors. Many years ago we stayed at a DoubleTree in West L.A. for a conference. Their in-house restaurant served up a dish they called "Tequila Chicken". I wheedled them into giving me the ingredient list and rough instructions, thereby setting me off on a merry but fruitless chase for 'manufacturing cream'."Oh," they said, "you can get it anywhere!" I've seen the same assertion on these forums. I have yet to see the stuff in the wild. Nonetheless, we've morphed this into a home recipe that never comes out the same twice but is always good. Tonight may have been better than usual. We need to keep a steady strain on green vegetables. This didn't exactly go with the chicken, but we usually like it: brussels sprouts halved, browned in bacon, cooked down with honey, vinegar and (this time) chicken broth. Get your Vitamin K here. The photo is from roughly the halfway stage. I was also determined to bake bread - partly in honor of andiesenji's return, and partly because of my success last week at rosemary olive oil bread. I swear I used the same proportions (by weight) during the mixing. The mixture was much firmer and drier than the last time around. As I kneaded, stretched, waited and folded (lather, rinse, repeat as necessary) I kept adding more water and olive oil in stages, trying to get the sort of dough texture I've come to expect. I still ended up with an unruly stiff loaf. The loaf split, but it tasted good and the texture was quite nice. What a happy surprise! Dinner:

Shelby, I hear ya. This sounds like excellent advice, although I'm not sure how I'd get the walls and overhead areas lined without defeating the purpose of the range hood. I confess: I hate frying indoors. When I contemplate the mess, the lingering smell and the subsequent cleanup I work myself into such a tizzy that I probably make things worse than necessary. My mother, bless her memory, used to make wonderful fried chicken in an electric skillet. She did it often, as it was a family favorite and a never-failing guest treat. Years later, she confessed to me that she'd hated the cleanup. She did it for love of the meal (it was also one of her favorites) and of the family, and she gets points in my book for being a good sport. Someday, I may overcome my aversion to frying and work out ways for it to be less messy. If I do, I'll write about it and name my book "Fear of Frying". (bada-BUMP)

rotuts and Andiesenji, the Babylon Market also carries what they call domiati (Egyptian feta, essentially) in a stainless steel tub of brine, in chunks. We didn't buy any because of the shelf-stability issue, but I may try it anyway, as our schedule has changed and we're likely to get another chance at the market before heading east. Thanks for the information about Bulgarian feta. This may just be an off brand, or even an off batch One of the cheeses we bought, the yellowish rumy cheese, has been opened. Upon my first taste I remembered not being crazy about it as an Egyptian breakfast staple at some of our hotels. After the second and third tastes, I decided my darling could enjoy the rest of that blast from the past. I inspected the label earlier today. It's from water buffalo milk.

Irish Cream mousse?

I agree with JoNorvelleWalker about not wanting a small direct heat source under your clay pots, even if they can take it. You need the heat to be distributed more evenly, and not as intensely, as most "simmer" burners provide. For those who may not own a flame tamer or two, I'll point out that at one time Paula Wolfert swore by the http://www.amazon.com/Simmer-Mat-5200-Diffuser/dp/B000W24RW8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=http://www.amazon.com/Simmer-Mat-5200-Diffuser/dp/B000W24RW8&linkCode=as2&tag=egulletcom-20">Simmer Mat; she thought it was an outstanding product. I haven't bought one, having gotten by all these years with a garden-variety flame tamer a friend gave me, but if I were starting out I'd consider the Simmer Mat for its even heat distribution.

My darling has been hankering for a classic Friday Night Fish Fry, and we'd seen advertisements along the road for such. We went to the Coyote Paws Cafe, part of the Cat Mountain Station Complex that includes a "Trading Post" and a Bed and Breakfast. The cafe has a fun desert mural painted on its exterior, but it was too dark to photograph by the time we got there. The interior is what I'll call Southwestern Kitsch: paintings, weavings and funny posters on muted blue and yellow walls. Most of the artwork is for sale. I didn't see a price tag on this bit of weavery, but I thought it the best bit of artwork in the place. The menu had a number of promising offerings; I thought the poached salmon looked especially delectable on other people's plates. By the time our order was taken, they were out of everything that took our fancy except the fish and chips that had brought us in the first place. It made our decisions simpler. We liked our choice. The fish was crisp and flavorful and held together well; the fries were very good; the accompanying cole slaw was not too sweet for my tastes, as most cole slaws are. The slaw was billed as prickly pear cole slaw; it didn't actually contain nopalitos, but the dressing was pink due to the addition of prickly pear syrup. I think there were also mustard seeds in the mix. It was a nice, flavorful side salad. In retrospect we think this wasn't the place we'd seen that advertises a Friday Night Fish Fry, because this fried fish was part of the regular menu. Nonetheless Coyote Paws Cafe had captured our attention on earlier trips, and we were glad to have tried it. On the way home, the True Agenda appeared: "At last," said my darling, "I won't have a mound of dishes to put away in the morning."

It's great to see you back, Andie! We're going out tonight, but I'll try to do something in your honor tomorrow. Bread, for sure. What sort of cookery did you do in your motor-home? Since you were showing and cooking for your dogs, did you have to settle for quick-and-easy meals for yourself? I'm guessing not. :-)

Sometimes it's nice to take a break from the usual breakfast and lunch routines. I've been trying to find a use for this Bulgarian feta that we picked up last fall at the Babylon Market. It has an unpleasant overtone common to many feta cheeses we purchase in the USA: my darling refers to it as a petroleum flavor, and I have no better term for it. It isn't saltiness. Thanks to a post in this "Welcome" topic by Clementine Blanche Tyler, I decided to try the feta with something. She had suggested watermelon, which we don't have; we do have a couple of heirloom tomatoes picked up during our last shopping expedition. What a happy combination! Somehow, the juice of the tomato neutralizes that unpleasant cheese note, while the saltiness of the feta sets the tomato off to perfection. Lunch! The olives are assertive enough to stand up to the combination. I won't be buying more of this particular feta, but now I know I'll be able to use it up.

We moved a short distance, to Picacho Peak State Park. Compared to Tucson Mountain Park it's a bit more expensive, a bit more difficult to get into because they take reservations, a bit more private-seeming (although just as congested) because of the campground layout, and slightly noisier at night because the freeway and railroad pass within easy hearing distance. Their flowers are stunning. For those of you who may be thinking spring will never arrive, here's a preview: I hadn't been able to get more mesquite flour at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, so I bicycled to the Visitor Center and asked here. They'd never heard of such a thing, and looked at me as though I'd sprouted a second head. I went back out to admire the flowers, instead. Dinner that night was chicken breast cutlets, pounded to smithereens (fun when frustrated), coated in panko and spices, and served with a lemon/butter pan sauce. We tried some of the Babylon Market garlic sauce on it; it was good, but unnecessary. It wasn't half bad on the asparagus, either. My darling has never believed until now that chicken breast can be moist. Now he's convinced! Last night I used a similar technique, sans pounding or garlic sauce, on talapia filets. It was also delicious. If I took a photo, I can't find it.

Yes, welcome, MartinW! With your interests, you should fit right in here. Congratulations on the baby! When you're cooking food that your wife misses, do you find elements of your Southern German food working its way into the dish? I'm basically wondering whether there's an intersection between the two cuisines that makes for interesting fusion dishes, or you have to choose between to sides of the world for any given meal.

That's beautiful duck breast, Anna N. How do you decide, these days, between "conventionally cooked" (which presumably covers a wide range) and "sous vide"?

We may get an opportunity to go back to the Babylon Market before leaving. Therefore it was incumbent upon us to begin testing cheeses from our latest visit. In addition, I had half a batch of rosemary sourdough to remove from the refrigerator. It became pita: We added tuna, parsley, freshly-ground cumin, and two types of the boxed feta cheese. This comparison involved the full-salt, full-fat Puck brand cheese and the low-salt Greenland brand cheese. On the whole, we preferred the lower-salt cheese. Whether that was a difference in brands or a difference in salt level, we can't say. At any rate, it was an easy dinner.

I'm sorry to hear the news about the lead - but I totally understand the "no new stuff without an excuse" syndrome! :-D

SLB, if you'd like a little peace of mind you can order a lead testing kit and test your existing tagine. The test kit doesn't cost much - you may even be able to get it at a local hardware store - and is nondestructive. The Souss and tagra will be a lot of fun anyway, but you may learn that you haven't been risking brain cells all this time. Did Vanessa indicate that you could still use your existing tagine as server ware? I've read about that with some tagines that aren't intended to be cooked in but can be used for the finished dish.

Last week after we arrived in Tucson, we had the rare treat of visitors! My brother-in-law and his lady were in the state, taking a brief respite from their Minnesota winter. We arranged to get together for a couple of days. They arrived mid-afternoon, and after a good chat we got down to food, wine, talk, more food, more wine, more talk. I got to cook for more than 2 people, for a change! I was happy with my sourdough rosemary olive oil bread: Judging by the minimal leftovers, I wasn't the only one. We had a huge salad with a selection of dressings. The main course was pan-seared chicken thighs, with some combination of herbs that I've forgotten now, but I made a pan sauce to go over jasmine rice, and garnished the lot with freshly chopped basil. Wine accompanied dinner. Cheers! The next day we all went to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. This is a fascinating place: a botanical garden and a zoological garden, with school exhibits, art classes, and the inevitable bookstore / gift shop. Despite its name it does a good job of covering various deserts and desert wildlife, as well as discussing mountainous and grassland ecosystems. There is a small aquarium that, for the most part, addresses the Sea of Cortez (a.k.a. Gulf of California) and the Colorado River. They also have a display linking to the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program, with this sobering display: The photo quality isn't great. In the upper left corner of the display is a net filled with aquatic wildlife (fish, turtles, etc) that is the bycatch of improper (probably the most economic, but also the least sustainable) shrimping methods. At the bottom center of the photo is a pan with the shrimp that results from that catch. At the display one can pick up a Southwest Consumer Guide for seafood purchases, ranking them as "Best Choice", "Good Alternatives" or "Avoid". The Consumer Guides are available on line, for those interested. There's also an app. Much of the day was spent wandering, watching the raptor free flight, visiting the aviaries and exhibits. We stopped for lunch at one of their restaurants, and had burgers to our specification. Mine was a green chile burger on rye bread, with french fries. The fries were good; the burger was terrific. That green chile added a nice zip to the overall content. I didn't get a picture of our food. I got a lot of pictures of animals, but will include only one, for rotuts: That night, dinner was considerably simpler than the previous night's feast: polish sausage, green salad or tabbouli or both, and bread or toast for those who had room. There was, of course, wine.

Oh, steak porn indeed. Thanks for explaining about Wine Berserkers. I had heard of it - spelled out - but would never have made the connection.

Great stuff, as usual. Was that creamy bowlful at Paramount really labneh? It looked more like hummus to me. What was the pool of liquid inside? Olive oil?

Ann_T, if I could reach through the screen and grab that bread and sandwich, I'd do so. Luscious and lovely-looking, it is!

I'm glad he had copies of the recipes elsewhere; otherwise that would have been a devastating theft. What a strange burglary! I hadn't heard of cruffins before. They sound delicious.