tupac17616

Awesome! I'll look forward to seeing the results in the Dinner thread!

I don't always blanch the basil when making pesto. I figured a quick blanch might make it a brighter green as it does with most green foods. Not sure if I accomplished that or not, but I figured it was worth a try. It didn't seem to dull the flavor of the basil at all, although I did throw in some raw basil while I was processing it, so I can't be too sure. Si, certo!

Turns out the place I was thinking of is Naegelin's Bakery, which has apparently been around since 1868. I love the beautiful aroma that greets you when you walk in the door. They make wonderful strudel, breads, and other goodies. Really neat place. Sounds like I ought to give Friesenhaus and NB Smokehouse a try, too, though. Thanks for the tips!

Sorry I am so late in getting back to blogging tonight. An early start to the day getting up before sunrise to go running, followed by a long day at work, called for a nice 2 1/2 hour nap before dinner. But anyhoo, here I am, back at it... Tonight I was in the mood for Italian. And did I mention that it is without a doubt my favorite cuisine? Hmm, I don't guess I did... [boring Personal Ramblings] I love Italian food. With a passion. Sono italiano in fondo, if ya know what I mean. It is without a doubt my favorite cuisine to cook and to eat. I love the simplicty. I love the tradition. I love the language, and having been taking it for a year. Everything Italian to me is just beautiful. Ask anyone who knows me well and they will probably tell you that I must've been Italian in a former life (although truth be I'm actually half Mexican, half Polish....but shhhh...Don't tell anyone ). Case in point, as a birthday gift a friend of mine got me a T-shirt that features Mario of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers fame with a caption reading "Everybody Loves an Italian Boy!". It has become practically part of my kitchen uniform. I unfortunately haven't had the chance to travel to Italy yet, but that's a situation I'll do everything I can to remedy sooner rather than later. I should be there right now actually, as a month-long trip I had planned with a couple of friends ended up not working out for one of them, so we post-poned it. I had a route all mapped out: Napoli-Roma-Firenze-Modena-Bologna-Parma-Venezia-Milano. And when I go, it will be mostly for the food, hence the focus on Emilia-Romagna, perhaps the most important gastronomic region in the country. I was so disappointed when that friend decided to jump ship so late in the game like that. But I will go next summer, come hell or high water. And I guess by then, I'll have completed another year of studying the language, and I'll be celebrating my graduation as well. So I guess it all works out in the end. I am thinking that since I didn't make it to Italy this summer, I'll at least try and plan things so that I can take a vacation to California at the end of the summer, to check out a few graduate school options, and of course eat at a few restaurants there that I've really been wanting to try (most notably, Chez Panisse and The French Laundry). I've never been to California, so that should be interesting. After experiencing Texas and New York, I'm curious to see what the other coast is all about. Anyway, guess we'll see how it goes [/boring Personal Ramblings] Anyway, on to dinner. I took lots of pictures today... Sicilian Pistachio Pesto -- This was inspired by a dish I had at Tempo, an Italian restaurant in Brooklyn. To prepare the pesto, I blanched the pistachios for a couple of minutes in boiling salted water to turn them a bright green color and to allow easier removal of the pusplish-brownish outside skin of the nuts (after we had shelled them the other night while watching Miami: CSI. Very important step ). Then tossed with a good Sicilian extra virgin olive oil, and roasted for a couple of minutes in a 500 degree oven. In the meantime, I also toasted some pine nuts in a small pan on the stove top. My mom went outside to pick some basil, and came back with that huge bunch pictured below, which we blanched for about 30 seconds in more boiling salted water, then drained and squeezed out any excess moisture. Added all this to the food processor along with some Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, pepper, and hot red pepper flakes, drizzled a bunch more of that Sicilian olive oil while it was processing, and that was that. This is one leftover that I won't mind having around. Bucatini con Pesto Siciliano, Fagioli e Pomodori -- Bucatini (also called Perciatelli, depening on who you ask) is my favorite type of pasta. Sure, it can be tough to eat, the fat tubes wiggling around like snakes on the plate as you try to get them on your fork. But that's a small price to pay for such greatness. A properly al dente dish of bucatini puts a smile on my face like no other. I just love their toothsomeness. To serve as the condimento, I blanched some green beans that had been cut into short 1" segments in some salted boiling water to bring out the green color, then tossed them and some teardrop-shaped yellow and red grape tomatoes in some olive oil and roasted them in the oven. Tossed this all together with the pesto and the cooked bucatini, and we were in business. Chicken Saltimbocca --No veal in the freezer meant I had to go the non-traditional route, so I chose to make this from what we did have: boneless skinless chicken thighs. Sure, breasts could have worked too. But a little extra fat never hurt anyone. We pounded each flat with a paper thin sheet of Prosciutto di Parma on top, lightly dredged in flour, and cooked in a mixture of butter and olive oil. Went out to the garden to pick some sage leaves, and tossed those in as well. Very quick and easy dish. Turned out well, too, even if I do prefer the flavor of the traditional version with veal. Chef's Snack -- A little snack while cooking never hurts. My mom made this wonderul pico de gallo, with homegrown tomatoes, homegrown jalapeno peppers, red onion, salt and pepper. I guess since we were having Italian food tonight, Mexican would be a little out of place, so we'll just refer to it as, uh, Salsa di Pomodoro. Yeah, that works. Dinner is served... And of course dessert... Banana Split Panini -- Took some pain au lait hamburger buns that tasted almost like brioche, cut them in half, hollowed out some of the insides, put sliced bananas in one side and a mixture of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate on the other side, grilled on the Griddler for several minutes until the outside was crisp and the chocolate inside was gooey. Then fillled with vanilla ice cream, sliced in half, and ejoyed. Sort of a weird idea, perhaps, but it was really tasty. Kind of the at-home version of the gelato-filled brioche alla Otto in NYC.

Ditto ← Me too, me three. As my husband describes it, "French Laundry is Fabby's Pebble Beach." ← How did you all manage to have 28-course meals at TFL? Inquiring minds (who have not yet been to TFL) want to know.

Thank you. I'm in San Antonio. Most of my family lives here, although I do have family in Houston and Austin as well. Amen to that. I rarely peel potatoes. I like potato skin. I just sliced then sauteed in some butter. But they were done before the cornbread dressing had browned, so I tossed them in the oven for a few mins at the end to keep them warm. There was sugar in the cornbread. And brown sugar. And honey. There were still enough dry ingredients that it ends up as more of a bread than a pudding, though. The reason it looks so moist in the picture of the dressing above is that is right after I had mixed everything up with some chicken broth to bring some extra moisture and flavor. So while the top was browned and crunchy, the inside was warm and moist. I liked the texture of it a lot.

Heh heh. I did that with the asparagus and sweet potatoes on purpose specifically for tryska. Interesting info about the 3's and 7's. Still not sure it justifies my weirdness, though.

So I said I hate leftovers. Which I do. But I never said I didn't use them... Mushroom Dressing -- Leftover cornbread , 1 slice multi-grain bread, mushrooms sauteed in butter, some chicken stock. Bake in individual ramikin for a while at some temperature until it looks good. Who says ya have to wait til Thanksgiving? Also blanched some asparagus, served on some smoked peppered salmon, topped with Caprino, an Italian goat cheese. Took the torch to it so the cheese would get a little melty. Topped with some salmon roe. This dish was basically an interpretation of a dish I make often: Asparagi alla Milanese Both plated up, along with some sweet potatoes (my FAVORITE vegetable, without question) that were simply cooked in some butter, and a tiny homegrown tomato. Not bad at all. For dessert (gotta have it) Honey Butter Toast with Chopped Dates, Cinnamon, and Maldon Sea Salt -- The same Blue Ribbon honey again. So simple, but so good. Dinner was just for me tonight, as my mom had yoga, my dad was mowing the lawn, and my brother decided to eat this... Hamburger made on the Cuisinart Griddler

Sure. Off the top of my head, so I may forget some: beefsteak tomatoes, roma tomatoes, serrano peppers, jalapeno peppers, poblano peppers, cabbage, onions, lemons, limes, mint, thyme, basil, spearmint, peppermint, pineapple mint, marjoram, sage, rosemary, parsley, japanese eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, blackberries, figs, bananas. Of course not all of these plants are productive, unfortunately. But there's still quite a variety. Thanks. I'll pass on the kind words to them. I can't claim to have contributed much to the design. I thought they came up with some really awesome ideas for the layout and the specifics of the kitchen. It's just a very convenient set-up all the way around. When I am at school, I am usually cooking for just myself, so that makes things a little interesting. But I've learned to portion things right for myself (so there are no left-overs ). And if I get a weird idea for something I'd like to try, the only person whose approval I need is my own. I cook much differently at home to keep the specific tastes of my family members in mind. At school, I cook a lot of pasta. And I eat a lot of eggs, in one form or another. They are my most consistent source of protein. They are very affordable, and easy to store in my TINY dorm fridge. I also eat a lot of vegetables. Every kind under the sun. I love the looks I get from the cashiers at the grocery store when I buy just one each of like 12-15 different kinds of vegetables. "Can I get a price check on a...yo, what IS this thing? Jerusalem artichoke? Say what?" Yeah, I should've made it with the pan drippings. That's the way I would normally do it. I was in kind of quick-cooking mode yesterday, so I just did it in a separate pan and used butter as the fat. That way I could get the gravy going while the chicken-fried steaks were still cooking. What can I say, I am impatient sometimes.

Apparently we got them at Sam's for around $40, and my parents think that they still carry them. Well, I don't do all of the cooking in the house. Just as much as my family can stand! I do cook every meal, but not always alone. My parents and my younger brother are like my sous chefs, as my mom jokes with me. Seriously, though, they are extremely helpful to me, chopping things, keeping an eye on things when we're cooking several things at once, setting the table, helping clean up. Everything from start to finish is kinda a family effort. We're just weird like that. I'm not sure how long that it's been that I've done this much of the family's cooking. At least 3-4 years very consistently. Cooking started as an interest for me some time during high school I think, and it just really caught on more and more as time went on. Now, there is almost no circumstance when I would choose not to cook on a given night. But of course, I don't just enjoy the cooking. I also do the food shopping. And I try to learn as much from my mom (the household gardening expert) about growing the various foods that we grow as well. Really all aspects of food are fun for me. Of course including the eating. The cleanup after the meals? Eh, not so much. But ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I'm not one to enjoy leaving huge messes in the kitchen for others to clean up. As far as I see it, that's part of the job of being the cook, too. Heh heh. Actually that was a coincidence, but the fact that I did that unconciously is kinda funny. I was just going for looks in that case, and that just happened to be the number that fit in that space on the plate. I swear!

Hmm, what's important to me other than Barbecue?.... Chicken Fried Steak with Applewood Smoked Bacon Cornbread, and Oven-Roasted Okra & Tomatoes -- Which you can read all about on my eGullet foodblog.

Thanks, all, for the kind comments. Yeah, sorry, I think my original post may not have made that clear. When I am here in Texas, I am at home with my parents and my younger brother. I have an older sister as well, but she's married, so her and her husband live just a few minutes from us. After graduating next year, who knows where I'll end up, but for now, this is where I hang my hat. Sure do. Sorry to disappoint. I know some people love them. My mom and dad both do, to name a few. I just look at it as one of two scenarios: A) I portioned the meal wrong, and made too much, or B) What I made was not good enough to be worth finishing. Both situations are not cool. For breakfast and lunch, I have fruit. Very rarely do I have anything else. To give you an example, the other day I had Breakfast & Lunch Classic... P.S. BryanZ: I can't remember, but I'll find out the info from the 'rents and get back to you.

TEXAS CUISINE 101: Chicken-Fried Steak Surprisingly, one cannot live on chicken-fried steak alone. Or so I hear. Anyway, we decided to make two side dishes to go with the meat. Applewood Smoked Bacon Cornbread -- Based on the basic recipe from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, which can be found here for those who are interested. I play around with the recipe a bit, but that recipe provides a good foundation for a moist and tasty cornbread. I'll let the pictures do some of the talking... Oven-Roasted Okra & Homegrown Tomatoes -- Not one to waste some perfectly good bacon fat, my mom had the brilliant idea to toss the okra and tomatoes in the bacon drippings before we roasted them in the oven for around 20 minutes. Only the red beefsteak tomatoes pictured are homegrown. The yellow teardrop shaped ones were storebought, but quite tasty. By the way, the fourth picture is a representation of how a certain eG'er named snowangel might have seen it (frequent readers of the Dinner! thread will know what I am talking about). And of course you can't have chicken-fried steak without some Cream Gravy -- Made with butter, flour, buttermilk, salt and plenty of pepper. This time I tried buttermilk instead of milk, which I normally use. That substitution made it too tangy for my tastes, but the family enjoyed it, so I was happy. Next time, back to milk/cream as usual. While the okra and tomatoes and the cornbread were in the oven, and the cream gravy was working on the stove top, it was time for the main event... Chicken-Fried Steak -- Top round steaks, already tenderized, but not pounded thin. This is not wiener schnitzel, scallopine, milanesa, or whatever you prefer to call a thin cutlet. This steak is tender yet still thick and meaty once finished. Some just do a dip in flour, but I prefer the flour-egg-flour method, just making sure to always season the flour (very important). I added a bit of buttermillk to the beaten eggs. Some deep-fry their chicken-fried steak, but I am a pan-fryer. Cast iron works the best I think, but the pan I used today is much larger than our biggest cast iron pan, so it was just easier. Fill it with some oil (preferably lard, or bacon grease), fry until golden, keep finished ones done in a warm oven while cooking the rest. That's all there is to this Lone Star delicacy. Now we come to another one of my eating habits: I always have dessert. Always. Regardless of how full I might get (and that doesn't really happen often... I have kind of a hollow leg), I always have something sweet after dinner. To me, a meal is just not complete without it. So after a pretty heavy meal like tonight, I just wanted something simple. Fresh Ricotta with Golden Reserve Mexican Honey, Summer Berries & Pine Nuts -- This honey is the real deal. I highly recommend anyone in the NYC area stop by Blue Ribbon Bakery Market and pick up a jar. It's really amazing stuff. All of this food was enjoyed outside on the patio. Usually all four spots are set, but my younger brother went out with friends to the movies tonight. Instead of chicken-fried steak and cornbread! And finally, we have come to probably my biggest culinary pet peeve: I hate leftovers. Even so, enjoying a nice relaxing meal at home on the patio is not a bad way to spend a summer evening. Hard to beat that.

I figured before I show the details of our chicken-fried steak dinner tonight, I should give a quick tour of the casa: Kitchen, Stove, and Refrigerator/Freezer -- As you can see, stainless steel is everywhere: everthing from the spice rack, to the Sub-Zero refrigerator/freezer, Dacor stove, Bosch dishwasher, Cuisinart toaster and Griddler, KitchenAid Mixer. Kinda crazy. What would be our produce/fruit drawers in the fridge are used for sodas/beer/etc, which I don't drink. But it's very convenient having that space for drinks when guests are over. Refrigerated Drawers -- In the island. One of my favorite features of the kitchen. Pantries

Interesting. I've had pie in Round Top, at Royer's Round Top Cafe. Later I'll upload a pic of the pie sampler that we had there. The fruit is just from my local HEB. I'm glad nectarine time has rolled around again. Those things are delicious! Speaking of Lockhart, I am hoping we'll get a chance to go there (and maybe Luling, too) at some point during the blog. It's cool to get some feedback from a local eG member. Hope you enjoy the Texas blog! I guess I don't really know what I mean. I don't even have a clue what crenshaw or musk melons are. And actually now that I do a quick Google search, I find cucumber (which I like) is a melon, too. Guess my blanket statement was a bit flawed, then. Ah, well. SuperDuperUltraMegaUber-Multivitamins, to be exact. Don't ask me. I don't buy 'em, I just take 'em. We go through New Braunfels occasionally, usually either on our way to Lockhart for BBQ or to San Marcos to shop at the outlet malls. I may have been missing out on the German experience in New Braunfels. Only good food I have had there is from an old bakery in their kinda historic downtown-ish area. Any particular places in New Braunfels that you would recommend? I'm sure good German food would be worth traveling for. Have tried a few in San Antonio. Not many. There are too many chains here (Bill Miller's, Rudy's, etc), and those places are never the same as the real small-town joints. In general, I've been much more pleased with the places that are just a short car trip away -- Kreuz and Smitty's in Lockhart, City Market in Luling, and Salt Lick in Driftwood. There are still some in the San Antonio area I'd like to try though. Harmon's BBQ, Texas Pride BBQ, and a Willard's Jamaican Jerk BBQ to name a few.

The horsepills are just some multi-vitamins I take daily. I'm not usually a big dietary supplement kinda guy, but these seem to keep my immune system pretty in line. Hard to argue with not getting sick. As for the 3s and 7s, I will let you in on a little secret.... I am weird. The choice of 3 and 7 is completely arbitrary, much like my choice to wake up at 5:55 this morning to go running before work. I am just a random dude, what can I say. P.S. Can somebody tell me how the heck to quote multiple people in one post? I love answering all these questions, but I don't wanna make you guys read 50,000 posts of mine in the process!

So there are two of us out there. Awesome.

Guess there are exceptions to every rule. I actually do like watermelon. Honeydew is bearable. Melon and canteloupe I don't enjoy at all (even when wrapped in prosciutto di parma). When something can be wrapped in pork and I still won't eat it, you know something is up.

Your comparision to the chicken cheesesteak is dead-on. That's a great way to put it. Chicken-fried chicken just implies that one should expect a similar presentation to a chicken-fried steak. That is, a breaded cutlet of chicken, pan-fried (usually, although deep-fry), and topped with cream gravy. Anytime there is a deep-fried leg or thigh involved, it ceases to be chicken-fried chicken and is simply fried chicken. And sure, chicken-fried chicken is tasty, don't get me wrong. But it's not the same. Just like chicken cheesesteaks, blueberry bagels, and veggie burgers, it is an culinary outcast whose only ambition is the bask in the greatness of the real thing.

To me, great barbecue is great barbecue, regardless of the region. While I love pulled pork (definitely NOT a Texas thing, but I sure wish it were), for example, there are so many styles of 'cue I am pretty ignorant about. I need to do some traveling! In fact, I didn't even know that burnt ends were a KC thing. They are undoubtedly my favorite type of BBQ, no question about it. Any time I'm at a BBQ place here in TX (where the presence of beef brisket is, of course, a certainty), I ask specifically for the burnt ends of the brisket. Sure, sometimes I'll get a funny look. But I always end up with those beautifully blackened chunks of BBQ heaven. As for your question about why it is that the Germans are the ones who have carried the BBQ tradition in Texas, I would be curious to know as well. Whatever the reasons, I feel as though we should all thank them for carrying on a mission so beneficial to humanity.

Sure thing. The moniker has been around for a while, long before my eGullet days. Over the years, it's become my ID for pretty much anything and everything on the internet. Tupac Shakur is my all-time favorite music icon, and I have every CD/movie/book of his that has probably ever graced the shelves of a store. The numbers are his birthday, 6-16-71, backwards. As far as school goes, I have been a math nerd from the day I was born. I go to school at Columbia University, where I major in Mechanical Engineering and Minor in Applied Math. I almost ended up at MIT in Boston, as there and Columbia were the top two on my list. But after a long drawn-out decision making process (I am the most indecisive person EVER, by the way. Ask anyone who knows me.), the allure of NYC won out and I was on my way to the big apple. Best decision I ever made. For the summer, I'm working as a student engineer at Southwest Research Institute here in San Antonio. My days are spent doing 3D CAD models of different components of space vehicles for various NASA missions. Good times, good times. I guess to keep this post somewhat food-related, I'll say that I am eating a pink lady apple here at my desk as we speak. And it's good.

Well, sounds to me like dinner for tonight may have already been decided on. I'm thinking chicken-fried steak (with copious amounts of cream gravy), some applewood smoked bacon & jalapeno cornbread, and some okra on the side. Maybe a slice of homegrown tomato or two thrown in there for good measure. I definitely won't even begin to claim to have the definitive recipe. I don't really follow one, in fact. I suppose I learned to cook it by watching my mom make it for years and eating a few (hundred) over the course of my life. In fact, I can remember when I was probably around 4-5 years old living in the tiny east TX town of Rusk and my babysitter at the time would make us chicken-fried steak frequently, along with other wonderful stuff like chicken n' dumplins (note the absence of the 'g' in dumplins...very crucial to proper pronuciation ). Ah, good times. I used to eat like there was no tomorrow. Oh, wait. I still do. And I guess that whole "he's a growing boy" justification doesn't quite work anymore either. Darn! Anyhoo, I'd be happy to document the chicken-fried steak making process in some pictures tonight, though. For those following along at home, to get the full experience, I highly recommend that we keep it more traditional and make chicken-fried steak. So hie thee to the supermarket for some top round steaks, post haste! Either that, or, uh, just enjoy the pictures and make it on your own some time soon.

Glad Susan was able to get you some info. I, along with many other eG'ers, would love to see you do a blog one of these days. Your cooking is awesome. And I definitely agree on the NYC connection. It's a must.

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the breakfast of champions Well, actually more like the breakfast of someone who is notoriously UNpunctual. Work, class, wedding, funerals. No event, regardless of its importance, is spared the wrath of my wanton tardiness. Which explains why I set aside the spread you see above every night before work, so I can have a very quick breakfast in the morning. It may not look like much, but it gets the job done. And this picture also introduces you to my biggest eating habit: I LOVE fruit. And I eat A LOT of it. I eat, on average, probably around 8-10 servings of fruit a day. I can't get enough of the stuff. I like pretty much every fruit there is, with the exception of melon and cantaloupe. I like to have as much of a variety of fruit as possible, to keep things interesting. The only three I have every single day are an apple, an orange, and a banana, all of which I find keep me going with my other daily activity: exercise. But more on that later. In the meantime, I've got another exciting work day ahead of me. P.S. Thanks everyone for all the encouragement and the questions/comments! I will definitely take the time to address each and every one of them after work. See y'all later!

Two foods, both alike in dignity In my fair foodblog, where we lay our scene… The picture on the left is from Kreuz Market, located in the small town of Lockhart (often called the “BBQ Capital of Texas,” and for good reason). This place serves up what to me is the best meat (NO sauce) in the state. And notice the beautiful brown butcher paper that serves as the canvas for all that bovine goodness. Nothing but the finest, you see. The picture on the right is from a small restaurant in New York City. Some of you may have heard of it. It’s called Per Se. And that little square of foie gras just happens to be the single best thing I have ever eaten. The full description of my recent meal there can be seen here. Suffice it to say, this place is, um, not bad . Both mouth-watering images, no doubt. But is one of these foods necessarily better than the other? Well, like a parent asked to choose a favorite child, I’ve got to say they are each special in their own way. Sure, the meat on the left is meant to be eaten with the two utensils God gave you (your hands), while the foie gras sits like artwork on a plate whose cost probably exceeds the per capita GDP of many small countries, but I’d happily pull up a chair to either table with a big smile on my face. “But wait a minute… What the heck does all this have to do with his Foodblog?” you may ask. Well, just about everything. You see, my life consists of a beautiful dichotomy. I go to college in New York City, home to some of the best restaurants in the country. Yet when summer rolls around, I find myself right back here at home in warm (well, hot) San Antonio, Texas, cooking for my family and friends pretty much every night of the week. And I wouldn’t choose to have it any other way. Texas and NYC are about as different as could be, but I would be lying if I said they each haven’t had an equally large role in shaping who I am (and how I cook, and how I eat…). They have both molded my culinary identity, so to speak, each in their own way. Over the course of my blog, I will try to provide a small glimpse into life here in Texas, seen through my eyes (and my stomach). As the week goes on, many of the wonderful Texan delicacies like you may have seen in my posts in the Dinner! thread will probably make an appearance. Think chicken-fried steak, corn bread, pecan pie, and the like. There will be the requisite kitchen, refrigerator, and pantry photos for all you voyeuristic food-lovers out there. I’ll hopefully have some photos of my favorite food market, and maybe even take y’all along for a meal out somewhere. Of course, you’ll also come to know all about my eating habits, my food philosophy, how I learned to cook, and all that. But for now, let me just say welcome to my foodblog, and I hope you enjoy it!