weinoo

I did the sorta simple sauté above by @heidih. Ramp butter, thyme, parsley, chives. When I bring home the next batch, I'll get a little more creative.

I just came home with a few pints of mushrooms from the greenmarket. What would you do with them if you were gonna have them with dinner tonight (sheet pan chicken).

The thing surprising me the most is that people actually want to open backbreaking businesses such as bakeries, with the hopes that they may even make a meager profit. How are labour (sic) and rental costs lower here in NYC or in SoCal than they are where you are? Yes, about what I pay. Before tip. Different strokes, right?! To expand a little bit, many of these newer places here in NYC are all about the "artisinal flour" this, "grinding in house" that, etc. etc. To whit: That shit costs money. Be it in time or in funds.

I had half a swordfish steak left over... So I made a swordfish in the style of lobster salad salad. And served it on a Martin's roll - well, half of one for each of us. The rest alongside more salad, with bits of leftover potatoes and eggplant.

Now where do you think @JoNorvelleWalker can fit this?

There is no way you can actually compare baked goods' prices in Paris with prices even in places like Staunton, VA. I'm paying $5 for a damn baguette! In addition to our prices being more baked than prices in Paris, our breads and pastries tend to be (more baked) too. I have a good friend who spent a good part of last year working/living in Paris. She never stops complaining/comparing (and who am I to complain about a complainer?) about our baked goods. And NYC has some decent baked goods....it's all relative, no?

I like the egg and cheese, @Shelby, but what the hell is it on?

Still waiting for a few more... Those bay leaves are actually cassia leaves, not Mediterranean bay leaves.

Chang, in the very first iteration and actual first Noodle Bar on 1st Avenue, had a rice cake dish on the menu. Pretty positive he didn't make his own (didn't make his noodles for ramen either, but you knew that); they were oiled and cooked on the plancha and they were great. A bit of the mise for wonton making yesterday... In process... I had 2 kinds of skin - the yellow ones are thinner than the lighter ones. I stuffed these with as much meat as possible...I figure I get finished faster that way (also why I didn't make fancier ones), and they probably have twice as much filling as a wonton at my local wontoneria. Jazzed up the standard scallion ginger oil by adding two types of Szechuan chilis from Mala Grocery. It's good!

I definitely want to use it as a dry rub thanks! Although I don't have a grill, but I can fake it a la plancha or grill pan.

I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. (In other words, the steaming method works great...)

In addition to all the other stuffed cooked yesterday (see dinner and pandemic threads), I had to make lunch. Casarecce with onions, garlic, green beans, heirloom cherry tomatoes, Parmesan.

I had so much varied produce in my fridge and spent a good part of yesterday working with it. In addition to the roasted peppers posted in the Pandemic topic, some other preps included... Céleri Rémoulade - a fine one, as this was a nice, fresh, small celeriac. Dressing was sour cream, Duke's mayo, Dijon, lemon juice, chives. Baby artichokes sautéed with shallots, garlic, thyme, white wine, chicken stock, pimentón, and a smidge of saffron. A small eggplant, broiled to not great effect. Still, it was tasty for a not favored vegetable (fruit?). Roasted red potatoes with thyme. And a nice hunk of swordfish steak, steam roasted with olive oil and herbs de Provence.

I think they were regular limes, Ken. It was like a 2 lb. bag. Essex Farm at Essex Market has beautiful key limes. What can I do with it? According to Paula Wolfert, there are like hundreds of different recipes and ingredients for it.

As long as I can get good avocados and decent tomatoes. And Eli's bread.

Corner fruit and vegetable cart: Also had colourful peppers, at 3 for $1. So... I took home 6, and did the roasting over a gas flame trick. And got some Indian spices for another foray into a seldom cooked by me cuisine. More coming. Why I bought the powder, when I could just grind the whole peppers, is something I can't quite figure out.

Yes - I definitely looked at that one. One of my former teachers at Peter Kump's lives in Santa Fe now, and appears to cook at the SFSC. And this is one of the cookbooks I perused... Purchased at the Coyote Cafe! But, did you know that Miller has tomatoes in his red chile sauce? A shonda!

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Well, except for the garlic salt, which I save for my Hidden Valley Ranch dressing. And pizza.

So what I did was research a bunch of recipes on line, look at a bunch of recipes in my cookbooks, and talk to some real cooks in my family; some cooks even from New Mexico. First, using the dried red chili pods I got from Hatch, NM (via Amazon, KY) I made the above pictured red chile sauce. People, including my wife, have made that type of sauce with chili powder, using the powder in lieu of whole peppers. The sauce itself is fairly simple, with minimal additional ingredients; some onion, some garlic, some Mexican oregano and maybe honey, maybe not - you know the drill, everyone has their own way to make it. some people roast these dried chili peppers before making the sauce; others don't. The chilis are simmered, puréed, and then fried along with the additional ingredients. The resulting sauce is fucking delicious. And it can be used for many things, one of which is carne adovada. I mixed some in while reheating beans - they were great. Eggs, burgers, potatoes - you name it, they put chile sauces on it. (Oh, today I also communicated directly with people in Hatch, as I wanted to find out more about the process the chilis are put through before I buy them). Okay, we have the sauce. Next, I did much of the same research for the adovada. I used good pork (Korubuta) shoulder, cut into 2" hunks. Browned it slightly (you'll see) and removed; cooked some onions and garlic and then added spices (such as cumin, coriander, oregano) to the pan, added pork back in along with a T of honey and vinegar, the red chili sauce and a little stock for the braise, and braised the meat for about 2 1/4 hours till it was almost fork tender. Then I finished it, with the lid slightly ajar, till the meat was fork tender and the sauce nice and thick. Others braise in the oven, I did mine on the stove top. Basically, I bastardized a number of recipes. To make this: Let's jsut say - it was delicious. We enjoyed it with tortillas, rice, and a sauté of corn. Tonight, we're having more. Serious Eats' recipe: https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/12/carne-adovada-adobada-chili-braised-pork-recipe.html Cook's Illustrated - behind their ridiculous pay wall, but in the October, 2018 issue. Zestful Kitchen - this recipe certainly looks fine. No shortage of recipes. But, and it's a big but, the real deal is made with chilis (any of a number of varieties - like 8 or 10) specifically grown in the area of Hatch, NM. The Hatch Valley, as it were - sort of like Gilroy and garlic, if you know what I mean.

LOL. The other distinction to be made is that there are plenty of differences between what we know as Mexican food and New Mexican food. Not selling Mexico short, but humans have been living (and eating, evidently) in New Mexico for like 13,000 years). We were having a nice discussion about Mary & Tito's last night. As well as Monroe's, Duran Pharmacy, Los Cuates, El Pinto, and of course, The Frontier! (And Blake's Lotta Burger, where you can't forget the green chile and cheese on your burger!).

Significant Eater's as well. As a matter of fact, I believe the first time we went to New Mexico together, to visit the mispucha, she took me to this place... Where they specialize in, you guessed it, carne adovada! https://maryandtitoscafeabq.com/

Yesterday, I decided it was time to use (some of) these. To experiment a bit, as I haven't cooked with them before... So, using a mix of the hot and mediums... A New Mexican red chili sauce was made. And the apartment smelled great. Mixed a little with some previously prepared @rancho_gordo Vaquero beans, heated them together and they were really delicious. Next up, carne adovada.

This arrived yesterday... Probably big enough to hold an Anova oven - fortunately, it was lighter and contained... Snacks! I know, I know - Orville Redenbacher popcorn (which, for some reason, I ordered 2 of). How gauche. But as popcorn eaters, we've tried a number of different types. Fancy schmancy, like this stuff... And you know what? We don't like it as much. I did kowtow to this, however... And how can I forget her? So far, she is pretending it doesn't exist. She'll break down eventually...they all do.

Don't forget the appetizing too!

Basements, kitchens the size of our apartment, storage - how nice it all must be!