gulfporter

Light evening meal. Grilled andouille sausage over a carrot mash. And a delightful fig chutney made by a friend from his trees.

A repurposed meal. US restaurant portions are too darn big! Brought home half of the proteins on a Cobb-like salad. Took the chill off the grilled chicken, thick bacon and bleu cheese and put it over some creamy polenta. It served the two of us, My opinion is that Americans now expect to take home leftovers and many restaurants make portions large (along with a higher price) to meet this expectation. Personally I don't care for leftovers but I won't waste food either. Taking home half a salad especially delicate greens doesn't work, so I eat all the greens at the restaurant and take much of the proteins home. Sorry for the rather poor pic; I am still figuring out best area to take nighttime photos in this new-to-me kuchen lighting.

Shrimp in red curry sauce (sauce via a Trader Joe's jar). I jacked up the sauce with fresh garlic, grated ginger and Thai birds eye chile. Sauteed an onion, sweet red pepper and slivers of carrot. EZ PZ.

For those who missed the Breaking News regarding the Tempest in the Teapot, here's a link to the story about an American "scientist" who suggested the addition of salt to tea, as well as warming the milk. https://www.npr.org/2024/01/25/1226815949/tea-salt-controversy-us-uk

At first glance I thought the US Embassy response wasn't real, that it was just a joke. Wrong! It was an official document. Afterward this was issued by the UK Cabinet Office at X (Twitter). Cabinet Office @cabinetofficeuk In response, to the statement put out by the US Embassy in the UK: We appreciate our Special Relationship, however, we must disagree wholeheartedly... Tea can only be made using a kettle.

Andouille sausage with cannellini beans.

Orange cardamom rolls using frozen bread dough. I had just taken out of oven and one's already missing! I won't name names. But I suspect my DH.

Meatballs, tomato and bacon over creamy polenta, finished with goat cheese.

File this under the heading of, Why Didn't I Think of That!?! Sandwich at Time Market in Tucson (part deli, part upscale wines, part in-house bakery). Grilled chicken sandwich with avocado, cheese, spicy aioli on fresh rustic bread. But the most amazing part of the sandwich was a layer of a green chili tamal made with fresh corn that was smashed down and fried up crisp. fyi, tamal is the proper spelling/name in Mexico. There is no word 'tamale', tamal is singular, tamales is the plural.

Another Sheet Pan Dinner. Butternut squash and hot Italian Sausage. EZ PZ. I served over a bed of arugula.

Looks burnt but doesn't taste burnt. Gochujang chicken with turnips and carrots on a sheet pan. A side of pickled radishes with green onions. I'm currently at our Arizona house, using convection feature of its Viking oven. The crisp it gets on the chicken skin is amazing! I don't bake or roast at our Mexican house as that oven has no thermostat and struggles to get to high temperature and hold it.

Yes this is at our Mexican house....talavera tiles.

Yes orange and naturally sweet. Sold as treats in Mexico City....but the whistle is so loud we never went close enough to order! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk-3odFyCVo short version https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkgReb_LSkY long version if your ears can stand it

Grilled jerk chicken thighs (boneless, skin-on). Side of mashed camote (MXN sweet potato).

Growing up in NE PA in the 50s our city had very ethnic neighborhoods. My parents called the Epiphany (Jan. 6th), "Russian Christmas" as the Russian Orthodox church celebrated it with Masses that were very well attended. Whenever my father brought up taking down the Christmas tree, my mother's response was always, "We leave it up through Russian Christmas." Not sure why she tied it to that, other than back in the 50's in December you often invited (and were invited) to "come by and see our tree." Guess she wanted to make sure it was up long enough for visitors.

The "lucky" person who gets the Baby in their slice has to host the next Mexican Catholic holiday, the 2nd of Feb. is Día de Candelaria. (Not groundhogs day).

Every Rosca has a plastic or ceramic Baby Jesus in it.

Smoked salmon (smoked by local expat who goes by, Canuck Bob) and goat cheese quesadillas. Also inside are grilled onions, red peppers and poblanos and big squeezes of chipotle molido.

Last night (the big celebration for any holiday is the Eve before) Los Tres Reyes sat in the back of a pickup truck and threw hard candies to the children who lined the streets. There were slices of free Rosca de Reyes on the Plaza for everyone. Here are some pics. The Reyes were from a local bakery and rather plain looking, but that's the old-school way. The ones sold in stores here are more brightly colored with strong red, white and green decorations from fruits and sugars. I don't know the significance of the oranges---anyone??

Got the idea from this NYT recipe https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020828-lemony-shrimp-and-bean-stew but I used what I had in the house. It serves 4. Couple tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat in 4 quart pot. Added half a really large white onion. Light salt and black pepper. Let edges get brown, then added 3 large and potent finely diced garlic cloves for barely a few minutes more (I don't like my garlic to get to brown). Added jar of drained (but not rinsed) garbanzos (570g total, 400g net). Added at heaping tbsp. of smoked picante Pimentón. Let it cook for another 5 minutes, stirring pretty often. Added 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth (I use granules in water). Cranked up the heat to high until at a boil, then reduced to a simmer for 15 minutes covered. I then let it sit on stove until mi esposo got home, an hour or so. While the base was sitting, I dusted 12 jumbo shrimp with Pimentón and salt and tossed with 1 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp. of lemon juice and let them sit on counter for 10 minutes. Then I grilled till barely done (two minutes a side). I reserved 6 of the shrimp for tomorrow's leftover reheat of soup. I cut each of the other 6 into 3 pieces and set aside. Reheated the soup base until almost at a boil then threw in 100g (about 4 oz) of fresh baby spinach. Stirred until barely wilted. Ladled into bowls, topped with shrimp and sprinkle of Pementón and served. I meant to grate some lemon zest over it at serving time, but forgot. When I reheat tomorrow I'll try to remember the zest. I didn't add the normal amount of salt I would normally add to onion, shrimp as I know the chicken broth crystals I buy here are pretty salty. I wrote this off top of my head, pretty sure it's accurate.

Garbanzo bean soup with spinach and topped with grilled shrimp. The color is from Spanish Pimentón, a very picante and smoky version from our last trip to Spain. Mexico has a good trade agreement with Spain so the garbanzos were from a jar imported from Spain. Smooth as silk straight out of the jar (canned ones here tend to be too toothy and difficult to soften).

A fellow diner at a restaurant in Tucson in October overheard me order a non-alcoholic beer. He mentioned to me that there is a Guinness non-alcoholic beer. I should have asked if it was available in Tucson. I looked at Safeway and Fry's, but no luck. Have any of you seen it where you are? I started Seco Enero (dry January) and will be in Tucson in a few weeks. If you've tasted it, what did you think of it?