pastameshugana

Getting ready for tonight's dinner. My favorite (only?) baking book (if we say cookbook, can we say bakebook?): "I'm-a-kneadin-my-dough, I'm-a-kneadin-my-dough"" I actually made challah the first time by hand, just to say I could (and because I didn't own a stand mixer!). Back in the days I had the time I made all my pasta by hand (no mixer) because it was very relaxing. Now I buy dried... I know, I'm ashamed.

I am really curious to hear about and see some discada....it is a recently discovered fascination of mine. Our newly-found favorite Mexican Market, Bonito Michoacan in downtown Kansas City, Kansas is the first place I've seen it. Their version is basically the trimmings (discards/discada?) from marinated beef and pork, bacon, hot dogs and ham. It goes from scary looking back at the meat counter where you can buy it by the pound...to "if loving this is wrong I don't want to be right" when it's coming out hot in a street taco, gordita or torta at the front counter. Curious to hear if this is in any way similar to what you'll be preparing...and if so, the different variations, etc. This is the basic idea, although I believe the name comes from the 'disco' (dee-sko) that it's cooked on. Traditional lore says it came from cooking in a beaten plow, but this is what I'm using nowadays. The meat is something like what you mentioned, although I forgo the 'wieners' and use: Chorizo, bacon & pork cutlets, plus random spices and chiles along the way. We usually serve it outside, coming hot off the disco into fresh tortillas. I'll document the whole thing in detail tomorrow!

Today's a busy day (in my other, non-cooking life), but I'll be posting as I go along. Keep your eyes open for 6-braid challa and Leek soup. Here's a peek back at one of the treats from last week in Lubbock. A little pizza place called West Crust Pizza. Here's a look at the decor, very 'surfer-dude' friendly, and comfortable, actually for being so pretentiously hip: Note the real, fresh pineapples in the baskets (barely visible in the top picture). From what I could tell everything was real and fresh. Now, I can be a pizza purist at heart - have spent my time searching for that elegant, simple pie, and I know the beauties of a simple pizza (and there's one to show here, don't worry!). BUT. And that's a big but. There are times when it is OK, even praise-worthy to do something completely out of the ordinary and wild on a pizza crust. Sure, Grandma Fuzaro wouldn't approve of this pie, but oh! what a treat! The special on the menu: The special on my plate: (it didn't last long) This was one of the finest 'complicated' pizzas I've eaten in memory. Everything was perfectly balanced and just exquisite. Now, here is the aforementioned 'simple' or 'classic' margherita pizza on the table: (it's the bottom one) In spite of being just a tad bit saucy (which softened the nice 'cracker' crust), this really was a fine piece of pizza as well. For all the culinary shenanigans that the curry pizza pulled, they still managed to do a spectacular job at a pizza my dad would be proud of (especially considering the place is in West Texas (no offense meant to our Texan brethren)). Be back soon with more!

robirdstx - just a tip - you'll usually find the El Pato in the tomato sauce section, not the hot sauce. Good luck!

Struck out on that island - it was a battered floor-model only. On to better things! Here's the final result of those smoked pork ribs, on a bun: I tossed the meat with some 'magic dust' from Memphis Championship BBQ, and a little bit of Stubbs BBQ sauce. This was a sandwich of glory. Tonight was supposed to be discada, but our friends cancelled and other things came up, so maybe Thursday for that. Tomorrow I'm planning on Challa bread and Leek soup for dinner. We'll see what else happens!

robirdstx - looks wonderful! How did it taste?

Headed out to buy a new prep island my wife saw on sale. From iPhone using Tapatalk

Uh oh - I guess we'll be avoiding the guacamole salad. MissAmy - You're right in that there are places here that serve green chile. You can also buy them here (fresh in the right season), but the 'culture' of the city is so much more like Texas than the rest of New Mexico. Red asado would be much more prevalent here than good green chile stew. And yes...Hobbs now has a casino (with a buffet!), so it's changed a bit from what I hear. BTW - La Fiesta is a decent little place, but (at least nowadays) it's a very 'gringo' menu. Very little spice and nothing to excite you (except, I guess, the guacamole salad? Depending on your definition of excitement!).

In my effort to shore up for this week's food blogging, we did some power shopping in Lubbock last week. I was super-excited that we were there at the beginning of Farmer's Market 'season', June 1st. From what I read online, the city was going to be awash in fresh produce at every corner in bright colors and at fabulous prices. The first market we visited was an empty lot. That's it. No market, just the weeds. The second one had one tired old man with (and I counted): Two crates of apples. Hmmm... To make a long story short, we ended up at a (chain) grocery store called Sun Harvest Farmers Market: They're a regular grocer, but they source most of their produce from 'local' or 'local-ish' farmers. Man, I don't care if they came from china, but it was the greatest produce section I'd seen in a loooong while: The prices were also amazing, compared to what we've been paying over here in 'The End of the Culinary Universe.' They had lots of interesting, different stuff, like the bulk grains: We scored some very tasty yogurt raisins and chocolate covered cashews plus a cooler full of veggies. We also took advantage of their 'mini-carts' to train #4 in the art of produce shopping: The best thing about this store? Their the first store in the US to have 'Locally Grown Restrooms' (Thanks to my sharp-eyed 7-year old for catching that one) We were so impressed with the store that we're going to schedule monthly visits there to stock up. How far do you guys drive for vegetables?

Ha! Actually I'm a bad egg-cooker. I need to learn how to poach/etc. All I do is put them in a non-stick pan with olive oil or butter, then splash a little water on the exposed part of the pan and cover it. The water steams them from the top while the bottom cooks so I don't have to flip them. I would imagine there has to be a better way...

I've been documenting this over on my food blog here, but here's a couple of breakfasts that I've truly enjoyed: Eggs on Toast with portobello, garlic, onion, tomato and Gruyère: Huevos Rancheros with anaheim, hatch and serrano: I think eggs on toast and huevos rancheros are both variations of the same illness.

Top of the morning. Here's today's breakfast, inspired by kayb! The last time I made huevos rancheros was in India, and only my second son (then almost 6) would eat them with me. He's a chili head to the core. It was almost a test of manhood for him, and he refused to have anything to drink till he was done! Now, my 'Indian' rancheros were deadly, featuring Guntur chillies and what the markets called 'green chili' - which were a lot like serranos. Todays was a little less intense. Ingredients on the cutting board (I love my sani-tuff): Hard stuff being sauteed: Tortillas ready for the eggs: Today it was me and my chili-headed second son and Mrs. Meshugana. The others aren't interested and would rather have corn flakes... Posing for the paparazzi: Ta-Da! For this dish, after softening the onion, garlic and chillies (Serrano and Anaheim), I added 1/2 can of Hatch diced, plus one full can of El Pato hot tomato sauce. (This stuff is the bomb. Go right now and buy some. Heaven in a 59 cent can!) Tossed in the tomatoes and let it all stew while frying the eggs. As I mentioned earlier, I've got a small appetite, so no sides. Don't want to waste precious stomach real estate with silly sides!

Well, headed off to bed, so I thought I'd share a meal that we had on the road last week. On our way to Lubbock, TX (the 'city' in these parts), we stopped in Seminole, TX to eat. I was really craving the 'Super Pollo', which has a 12 foot chicken smoker out front, but alas, they were closed for the holiday (didn't anyone tell them holidays are for people, not restaurants?!). Anyhoo.... We ended up at a little place called Daily Burgers: ...which as you can see by the window signs, has quite a variety of dishes. I ordered corn dogs for the little people, which I was informed were 'hand made', which I deciphered as 'hand battered', and it's the first time in my life I've been impressed by a corn dog: Is that thing beautiful, or what? The batter was so rich and buttery, and it was a quality dog inside to boot. As they would say in Bangalore: Pukka! (Which I am informed means 'of high quality or reputation' - If, in fact, I've been translation-bombed and it actually means your father smelt of elderberry, then my sincerest apologies (and there go the parentheses again)). Then a green chili burger with everything for Mrs. Meshugana: Which was wonderful except for the meat being too small for the bun. And when I asked the employee what they were famous for, she recommended the home made Pirogies, stuffed with home made cottage cheese and grilled: I was very surprised by these, and enjoyed them enough that I would make the 30 minute drive for them alone (and cheap gas in Texas). They were served with a little piece of ham and some sort of gravy that tasted a bit like a thin, milky cheese sauce. Who knows what it was, but it was very tasty. Sweet Dreams! (if you're in the Western Hemisphere), Good Morning! (to the Eastern) - be back in a few hours!

Heidi, I did get my fill while chopping! I told my wife that if you could bottle the flavor of crispy pork fat fresh off the grill, you'd make a million dollars. I believe they call them pecan farms around here. We've got two pecan trees but it's not the right season or else I'd do something with them! Stopping for a quick bite at a 'country' buffet called ranchers after band practice, then home to plan huevos rancheros (you inspired me!). From iPhone using Tapatalk

Well, the smoked pork ribs are done - and what a treat! Here they are after resting: They were smoked with heat on for 3.5 hours, the coolest I could keep my BBQ was just south of 200 degrees by keeping only the burner under the chips on. When the meat hit 145 degrees I turned the heat off and let the pile of wood chips smoke themselves out for another hour. Here they are after I've given myself a blister chopping them all for sandwiches: The flavor is just absolutely terrific. The smoke is super subtle, probably because of the short time. I'd like to find a way to stretch that time out to get more 'smokiness'. The sad part is we have band practice tonight, so I have to run and leave this pile of meat. Maybe we'll grab fast food tonight and eat this tomorrow, or we'll eat it late tonight.

Nickrey - We spent much very enjoyable time in Melbourne when we lived in India. Our visa required us to leave the country every 6 months, so we alternated between Melbourne and Kuala Lumpur. We've got some old friends in Footscray, so spent most of our time there, but also made it around in the city (absolutely fell in love with Queen Vic market), Dandenong and several other suburbs. We actually loved it so much we'd like to live there if life would permit. Unfortunately, we never made it to Sydney or Perth. We were scheduled to visit Perth (where some of my family is from, in a roundabout sort of way) when plans changed and we headed from India to the US.

Shelby - I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that it's simply our region. We're literally right on the Texas border (5 minutes from my house), and Hatch is several hours west. In fact, most of the 'chili' places I've enjoyed have been much further west than Hobbs.

Darienne - I love to cook Mexican! This week I'll certainly be making some for some friends. I haven't decided exactly what, yet, but I'll at least be making discada once.

So what's growing out there? Peter, the big commercial farms are cotton and peanuts, with pecans favoring large as well. I'm not sure about the smaller, private farms.

Darienne, I'm sure it's changed a bit since then, especially Carlsbad. Hopefully we'll make it down there for lunch this week to show you my 'favorite BBQ in New Mexico'. We're about an hour up the road in Hobbs, which is (if you can believe it), flatter and dryer than even Carlsbad.

Update on the smoking process: My hickory woodchips are going much faster than I had bargained. For some harebrained reason I obeyed the package instructions and didn't soak (or even wet) the chips. So, about two lbs later, I'm soaking the remaining ones to make them last. Here's about 1hr into the process. You can see I abandoned the dish I had chips in and put them right on the grill. This 'infrared' grill has a solid bottom, so no worries about them falling on the burners: Two and a half hours into smoking, the meat temperature is about 130, and looking beautiful. I snagged a piece of the fat that fell off and it was heaven. The whole neighborhood smells like my dinner! I'll post results when I'm done! And here's a question: To soak or not to soak? Other than the life-span of the wood, is there another reason pro/con?

Heidi - I get so many strange looks because my speech has become so mixed over the years. Traveling and living overseas, plus having lots of family from all corners of the globe makes our 'little' (4 mini-meshugana's and one on the way, plus (obviously) Mrs. Meshugana) family stand out in this small town. Every time I say 'no worries' I have to rephrase for the poor confused soul... As for the nutella - I know I've eaten it but it's been in the distant past, so I can't honestly recall the flavor. I will say, however, that the brown color was trying to convince my brain that it was Vegemite (which I adore), even though it certainly tastes nothing like it! (Edited to add: If there was a parentheses quota, this post would certainly exceed it. Sorry, I'm a parenthetical speaker. Look, here comes another one! --> )

Working on lunch: Trying my hand at smoking (first time) on a way too small grill for smoking. This was a spur of the moment meal, I found some frozen pork ribs in the ice box last night, and took them out to thaw. Here they are arranged to have the most surface area exposed to the smoke (using fancy skewers as props!): Smoking with hickory: The internal temp (of the grill) is a little above 200, so hopefully they won't 'bake' too fast and have time to smoke. So far they've only been treated with Cavender's greek seasoning (my favorite). We'll see how they turn out...

Just a quick update - I forgot to include Sunday's breakfast, which was simple and tasty. One of the lovely markets we hit last week (you'll hear about & see it soon) had a little display with some in-house made 'Chocolate Peanut-Butter'. Hold up, wait a minute. Chocolate peanut butter? What is this beautiful thing and WHY have I not heard of it before?! C'mon. Chocolate and PB are one of the god-given flavor combinations that make the world go 'round, and here in one jar? Bhuwhahahahaaa! So, with Sunday's coffee, I also had some toast layered with this goodness. Here's a (not so great) pic, but it sure tasted great. Now I don't have to hide my breakfast from my wife when I put chocolate syrup on my PB toast.

So, on the heals of that literary quest (sorry for the length!), here's Monday's Brekkie with Sundays coffee: My first bag of Peets in a while (Italian Roast): Hand ground in the press: (Notice the Las Vegas mug? I try to collect mugs from every place I visit (and my passport is full, so that's quite a few), hopefully you'll see some more of them this week) And one of the greatest breakfast inventions ever: Eggs on Toast My first EOT was in Footscray, Melbourne at a little cafe, and it was a revelation. My version has garlic, onion and portobello lightly sauteed in olive oil. Add chopped roma's after you turn the heat off so they stay sweet (a nice counterpoint to the heavy aromatics). Toss with freshly ground pepper & sea salt and topp with chopped Gruyere. My mouth is happy! Warning: NSFW Egg Porn picture following... ... Doesn't it bring a tear to your eye? Be back later!