Camping, Princess Style

[Smithy]

13 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Smithy, have you made Mississippi Roast?    It is most improbable but utterly delicious.   ( I do NOT use packaged seasonings! But confess I have become a user.)

Not only the intended meal, but leftovers that range from tacos to cottage pie to poor-boys to,,,,,

 

Ooh, that looks good! (I'd never have thought of putting pepperoncinis with a pot roast!) I'll have to try that sometime. Many thanks!

 

Have you ever used that recipe on pork roast?

[chromedome]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Yes. I wonder whether the Monster Tacos sign has drawn attention yet, or whether it's enough different to not infringe on the trademark? Based on the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Jack Daniels against the Bad Spaniels squeaky toy, I suspect Monster Tacos may have trouble some day.

I've often wondered how long it would take an indie ice cream shop called Jen & Barry's to get their first cease-and-desist.

[Smithy]

When we first arrived at this spot and visited a grocery store, I was starved for good fresh produce. I went a bit crazy -- overboard, really -- on purchases, and I'm still working through them. Today it was brussels sprouts. They took a bit of trimming, I'm sorry to say, because they'd been threatening to go to mush out in our cooler. But trim them I did. And I thawed bacon ends and pieces; the package includes "uncured pork" as well as bacon. My darling insists on calling it "bacon and unidentified stuff".

 

I've taken to slowly browning sprouts in the rendered bacon fat, then dousing with a balsamic vinaigrette. You can see more about the process here and here, if you wish. What was slightly different tonight was that I couldn't find any balsamic vinegar. I think I'm out! I decided it was time to open a bottle of balsamic date vinegar that we've been carrying unopened with us since, I kid you not, sometime before the pandemic. I opened and tasted it. It tasted a bit too sweet and dately to me, so I used that plus red wine vinegar at the saucing stage. This stuff is thick: very syrupy, like good balsamic vinegar. After I added the vinegars and saw how they were cooking down, I diluted a bit with water and kept letting it thicken again. 

 

 

Good stuff. Well worth doing again. Maybe I won't add balsamic vinegar to our shopping list.

 

[Shelby]

9 hours ago, Smithy said:

When we first arrived at this spot and visited a grocery store, I was starved for good fresh produce. I went a bit crazy -- overboard, really -- on purchases, and I'm still working through them. Today it was brussels sprouts. They took a bit of trimming, I'm sorry to say, because they'd been threatening to go to mush out in our cooler. But trim them I did. And I thawed bacon ends and pieces; the package includes "uncured pork" as well as bacon. My darling insists on calling it "bacon and unidentified stuff".

 

I've taken to slowly browning sprouts in the rendered bacon fat, then dousing with a balsamic vinaigrette. You can see more about the process here and here, if you wish. What was slightly different tonight was that I couldn't find any balsamic vinegar. I think I'm out! I decided it was time to open a bottle of balsamic date vinegar that we've been carrying unopened with us since, I kid you not, sometime before the pandemic. I opened and tasted it. It tasted a bit too sweet and dately to me, so I used that plus red wine vinegar at the saucing stage. This stuff is thick: very syrupy, like good balsamic vinegar. After I added the vinegars and saw how they were cooking down, I diluted a bit with water and kept letting it thicken again. 

 

 

Good stuff. Well worth doing again. Maybe I won't add balsamic vinegar to our shopping list.

 

I've already made sprouts once during our hunter's visit but I'm (supposedly) getting some today from Misfits and I might have to do this!  

[Smithy]

Yesterday we packed up the trailer enough to move it, and went to the nearest RV park to dump the waste tanks and refill the water tanks. We know several of the people there and enjoyed seeing them again. Packing up for a short trip like that isn't as big a deal as breaking camp altogether, but it still all takes time. As practiced as we are, it's somewhere between 3 and 4 hours from getting ready to travel to being set up again. The upshot is that we worked on leftovers for our meals. For dinner, the question was how to reheat the pork roast and potatoes.

 

In March 2022 I found these charming enameled baking dishes at a shop in the Salton Sea and picked them up for a song. Brand new, they cost $6 each. Last night they proved to be the perfect reheating and eating dishes: put what we wanted for ourselves into a dish; put them both into the oven on a baking sheet, cover with silicone lids, and heat gently until ready.

 

 

I have so many cooking vessels in this trailer that I know I'll be swearing when we move out of this Princessmobile, whenever that is, but it's nice to have Just The Right Thing.

 

Today we don't have any errands to run, so I hope to spend time puttering in the kitchen. I have chiles that need to be sweated, peeled and used; I have fresh red bell peppers; I have a bunch of eggs bought in anticipation of baking another huge hot dish; there's other stuff too. It all needs to be used before it goes off, and Monday and Tuesday will be busy.

[Kim Shook]

5 minutes ago, Smithy said:

In March 2022 I found these charming enameled baking dishes at a shop in the Salton Sea and picked them up for a song. Brand new, they cost $6 each. Last night they proved to be the perfect reheating and eating dishes: put what we wanted for ourselves into a dish; put them both into the oven on a baking sheet, cover with silicone lids, and heat gently until ready.

 

 

I have so many cooking vessels in this trailer that I know I'll be swearing when we move out of this Princessmobile, whenever that is, but it's nice to have Just The Right Thing.

 

I love those.  I have a few pieces that were gifts from Jessica.  I first saw them in some of @CantCookStillTry's posts and thought they were charming.  I asked her where she got them and she said that they had belonged to either her mother or grandmother (can't remember exactly).  I found some online and put them on my Amazon wishlist.  I've now got a pierced bread dish and 3 rectangular pans in graduated sizes.  I use them all the time as serving dishes.  Mine are white, but I love the blue.  They remind me of my grandmothers' roasting pans.  

[Porthos]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

 ... it's nice to have Just The Right Thing.

Yrs, indeed.  And the dishes looked just right for your dinner. 

[Smithy]

It was fairly predictable, I suppose: the final two slices of pork roast didn't make it to dinner. Sandwiches just seemed to call our names today. Especially since there were juices begging to be soaked up with the bread.

 

[Kerry Beal]

On 11/30/2023 at 7:53 PM, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Smithy, have you made Mississippi Roast?    It is most improbable but utterly delicious.   ( I do NOT use packaged seasonings! But confess I have become a user.)

Not only the intended meal, but leftovers that range from tacos to cottage pie to poor-boys to,,,,,

Interesting that a few short days after you posted this - I see this.

[Smithy]

We blew right through New Mexico on our way west this year; consequently I didn't manage to get chiles rellenos in Columbus or Palomas. I've been wanting them. I remembered earlier discussions in this topic about chile relleno casseroles, and how they took some of the effort out of the dish. I found this recipe by Elizabeth Poett on The Splendid Table's web site, and decided to try it. (The recipe is taken from Poett's book, The Ranch Table (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).)

 

Well, it's still a labor of love. I had purchased poblanos for the purpose. I needed to roast and peel them, and because I'll be gone most of this week I decided I'd better do the same with the jalapenos and red bell peppers I'd bought for some other purpose. I blistered them all under the broiler, loaded them into a bowl and covered it so they could steam themselves. Overnight.

 

This morning I set to work on them. This collage shows the before, intermediate and after pictures. I managed to get one or two poblanos peeled and seeded enough that they might have made decent chiles rellenos in their own right, but I think I now understand instructions I've read elsewhere to remove the stem and core before roasting.

 

 

(Note to self: wear gloves when handling jalapenos, even after they're roasted. My hands are still burning, hours later!

 

It occurred to me that the recipe as written didn't involve meat. I thought of my darling. I remembered that there was a package of chorizo in the freezer. I pulled it out.

 

 

Why I bought chorizo in Duluth I don't know. Why I bought it in October 2022 is a further mystery. I don't know whether it made the round trip with us last season, but here it was, and out it came. I didn't think of it soon enough and had a fine time getting it cooked slowly enough to thaw and break into chunks for the casserole. While it was thawing and heating, I grated cheese using the Lunar Lander.

 

Here's a chance to show off a toy I bought last summer on Amazon, one of those Lightning Deals. For $15 I figured it was worth a try: an electric, side-cutting can opener. I wish I could show you a video of this thing in action. You put it atop the can with the cutting wheel along one side, and push a button. It clamps itself to the can, then around it goes -- several passes around the can -- until the lid is loose. When the lid's loose, the opener stops and releases the can. It works on 28 oz. cans as well as 14 oz. cans like this one. For those interested: the specific unit I bought is no longer available, but this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) looks much the same. We're really glad to have this. The side-cutting Oxo hand-cranked unit I bought in Texas a couple of years ago has long since been donated to some other hapless person.

 

 

I took liberties with Poett's recipe: she uses poblanos only, no meat, and seasonings in the eggs that I decided were unnecessary because of the chorizo. But I followed her basic outline: put a thin layer of tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish; scatter a quarter of the peppers atop the tomatoes; scatter a quarter of the meat atop that; scatter a quarter of the cheese atop that. Repeat the layers until everything is used except some of the cheese. Pour a mixture of beaten eggs and cream over the whole thing; give the custard time to settle through everything; top with reserved cheese. Give it a few minutes to sit before baking, to make sure everything is settled.

 

I gave it a couple of hours while I washed dishes and admired the gaps in the refrigerator shelves. Look at that empty space! 😄

 

 

When it's time to bake, bake it at 350F for 45 minutes or until the eggs are cooked and puffed, and the top is golden brown. After pulling it from the oven, give it at least 15 minutes for the mixture to set. This casserole was still runny, but I think it's due to the extra liquid from the peppers, possibly also from the chorizo, and possibly because my egg/ dairy ratio was off.

 

 

It was good! Is good! (There are a lot of leftovers.) We both agreed that salsa and sour cream helped: salsa to sweeten it slightly, and sour cream to tame the heat. This chorizo had red pepper, black pepper and white pepper, according to the ingredient label. It also had a lot of salt, and I'm glad I didn't add any. (I swear I can taste a bit of freezer burn also, but my darling couldn't -- and the salsa and sour cream helped cover that up too.)

 

I'll do something like this again, but I won't do it with Duluth chorizo! The stuff is much better down here.

 

 

[chromedome]

10 hours ago, Smithy said:

We blew right through New Mexico on our way west this year...

Should you have taken a left turn at Albuquerque?

(Seriously, if I'm ever in New Mexico I have to take a selfie doing exactly that...)

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

16 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

This morning I set to work on them. This collage shows the before, intermediate and after pictures. I managed to get one or two poblanos peeled and seeded enough that they might have made decent chiles rellenos in their own right, but I think I now understand instructions I've read elsewhere to remove the stem and core before roasting.

A trick I learned from my Spanish teacher is to lightly rub the chiles with oil--olive, canola, whatever--before you start to roast them. The skins pop as they roast and they're easier to peel. The problem is when the roasting process takes too long and the chiles "cook" before the skin is ready to peel. You want them almost raw. And I always choose poblanos that are relatively flat or triangular, with nice long stems to use as handles when turning them. Chiles that are twisted or have deep recesses are very hard to roast. I roast them on the burners of my gas stove so I can keep track of them. So leave the stems on and cut out the seed core with a knife or scissors. Pop 'em into a plastic bag and let them steam. 

[Shelby]

47 minutes ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

A trick I learned from my Spanish teacher is to lightly rub the chiles with oil--olive, canola, whatever--before you start to roast them. The skins pop as they roast and they're easier to peel. The problem is when the roasting process takes too long and the chiles "cook" before the skin is ready to peel. You want them almost raw. And I always choose poblanos that are relatively flat or triangular, with nice long stems to use as handles when turning them. Chiles that are twisted or have deep recesses are very hard to roast. I roast them on the burners of my gas stove so I can keep track of them. So leave the stems on and cut out the seed core with a knife or scissors. Pop 'em into a plastic bag and let them steam. 

Thank you for this!!!  Now if my brain can only remember next time when I have chiles!

[Katie Meadow]

1 hour ago, Shelby said:

Thank you for this!!!  Now if my brain can only remember next time when I have chiles!

I agree with many recommendations above for roasting poblanos. Pick thick, flattish ones when possible. Don't over-roast or cook too slowly. You don't want the flesh to cook and soften too much; unless they have structure they will be the devil to work with if you are going to stuff them.  You want the chiles to blacken fast. Since they are typically available in the fall, I have found that roasting them on an outdoor grill on a relatively high flame is easier and gives better flavor than doing it under the broiler. I've never oiled the chiles first, so I can't speak to that.

 

And lastly, although when I lived in NM it was pretty common for people to put the just-roasted chiles in a plastic bag, I have found that a better system is to lay the chiles out flat on a cookie tray right after roasting and cover them with a pretty damp, (but not soaking), towel. That should not take more than 15 or 20 minutes. The bag method doesn't work any better and it has the disadvantage of making a lot of steam, which means your chiles will be a little watery, which you don't need.

[C. sapidus]

6 hours ago, Nancy in Pátzcuaro said:

A trick I learned from my Spanish teacher is to lightly rub the chiles with oil--olive, canola, whatever--before you start to roast them. The skins pop as they roast and they're easier to peel. The problem is when the roasting process takes too long and the chiles "cook" before the skin is ready to peel. You want them almost raw. And I always choose poblanos that are relatively flat or triangular, with nice long stems to use as handles when turning them. Chiles that are twisted or have deep recesses are very hard to roast. I roast them on the burners of my gas stove so I can keep track of them. So leave the stems on and cut out the seed core with a knife or scissors. Pop 'em into a plastic bag and let them steam. 

 

^ Lots of good advice there. I also roast over a high flame on the gas stove, but I just pop the roasted Poblanos in a bowl and cover with a kitchen towel. Paper bags are also great for sweating charred Poblanos, but the bowl / towel method seems to work just as well. I don't bother turning Poblanos with the stem, just lay them on the burner and turn off the fire when I need to rotate the chiles.

 

I used to rub the skins with oil when I roasted Poblanos under a broiler, but I prefer the dry gas flame method. Maybe I should try the oil + gas flame for comparison.

 

 

[FauxPas]

On 12/3/2023 at 8:36 PM, Smithy said:

Here's a chance to show off a toy I bought last summer on Amazon, one of those Lightning Deals. For $15 I figured it was worth a try: an electric, side-cutting can opener. I wish I could show you a video of this thing in action. You put it atop the can with the cutting wheel along one side, and push a button. It clamps itself to the can, then around it goes -- several passes around the can -- until the lid is loose. When the lid's loose, the opener stops and releases the can.

 

I have been using this style of can opener for years. I'm a southpaw and the usual manual can opener is a real pain for me, so I have used an electric can opener for many years. I used to have one of the countertop ones but I hated looking at it on the counter so tried one of the smaller battery-operated ones and fell in love. 🙂

 

The current one has listed for at least a few years and the previous one lasted 10 years or so? Maybe I just got lucky? I do find some of them go through batteries faster than you would expect. I can't remember how long I've had the current batteries in, but I'm thinking I probably have to replace them at least once a year. But my memory on that is fuzzy, to be honest. I don't really think about it as we always have extra batteries and I consider an electric can opener a necessity in my life pretty much. 

 

I hope yours lasts a long time! 

 

[gfweb]

On 12/3/2023 at 11:36 PM, Smithy said:

We blew right through New Mexico on our way west this year; consequently I didn't manage to get chiles rellenos in Columbus or Palomas. I've been wanting them. I remembered earlier discussions in this topic about chile relleno casseroles, and how they took some of the effort out of the dish. I found this recipe by Elizabeth Poett on The Splendid Table's web site, and decided to try it. (The recipe is taken from Poett's book, The Ranch Table (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).)

 

Well, it's still a labor of love. I had purchased poblanos for the purpose. I needed to roast and peel them, and because I'll be gone most of this week I decided I'd better do the same with the jalapenos and red bell peppers I'd bought for some other purpose. I blistered them all under the broiler, loaded them into a bowl and covered it so they could steam themselves. Overnight.

 

This morning I set to work on them. This collage shows the before, intermediate and after pictures. I managed to get one or two poblanos peeled and seeded enough that they might have made decent chiles rellenos in their own right, but I think I now understand instructions I've read elsewhere to remove the stem and core before roasting.

 

 

(Note to self: wear gloves when handling jalapenos, even after they're roasted. My hands are still burning, hours later!

 

It occurred to me that the recipe as written didn't involve meat. I thought of my darling. I remembered that there was a package of chorizo in the freezer. I pulled it out.

 

 

Why I bought chorizo in Duluth I don't know. Why I bought it in October 2022 is a further mystery. I don't know whether it made the round trip with us last season, but here it was, and out it came. I didn't think of it soon enough and had a fine time getting it cooked slowly enough to thaw and break into chunks for the casserole. While it was thawing and heating, I grated cheese using the Lunar Lander.

 

Here's a chance to show off a toy I bought last summer on Amazon, one of those Lightning Deals. For $15 I figured it was worth a try: an electric, side-cutting can opener. I wish I could show you a video of this thing in action. You put it atop the can with the cutting wheel along one side, and push a button. It clamps itself to the can, then around it goes -- several passes around the can -- until the lid is loose. When the lid's loose, the opener stops and releases the can. It works on 28 oz. cans as well as 14 oz. cans like this one. For those interested: the specific unit I bought is no longer available, but this one (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) looks much the same. We're really glad to have this. The side-cutting Oxo hand-cranked unit I bought in Texas a couple of years ago has long since been donated to some other hapless person.

 

 

I took liberties with Poett's recipe: she uses poblanos only, no meat, and seasonings in the eggs that I decided were unnecessary because of the chorizo. But I followed her basic outline: put a thin layer of tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish; scatter a quarter of the peppers atop the tomatoes; scatter a quarter of the meat atop that; scatter a quarter of the cheese atop that. Repeat the layers until everything is used except some of the cheese. Pour a mixture of beaten eggs and cream over the whole thing; give the custard time to settle through everything; top with reserved cheese. Give it a few minutes to sit before baking, to make sure everything is settled.

 

I gave it a couple of hours while I washed dishes and admired the gaps in the refrigerator shelves. Look at that empty space! 😄

 

 

When it's time to bake, bake it at 350F for 45 minutes or until the eggs are cooked and puffed, and the top is golden brown. After pulling it from the oven, give it at least 15 minutes for the mixture to set. This casserole was still runny, but I think it's due to the extra liquid from the peppers, possibly also from the chorizo, and possibly because my egg/ dairy ratio was off.

 

 

It was good! Is good! (There are a lot of leftovers.) We both agreed that salsa and sour cream helped: salsa to sweeten it slightly, and sour cream to tame the heat. This chorizo had red pepper, black pepper and white pepper, according to the ingredient label. It also had a lot of salt, and I'm glad I didn't add any. (I swear I can taste a bit of freezer burn also, but my darling couldn't -- and the salsa and sour cream helped cover that up too.)

 

I'll do something like this again, but I won't do it with Duluth chorizo! The stuff is much better down here.

 

 

 

The chorizo looks pale.

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, gfweb said:

 

The chorizo looks pale.

 

It was. Its principal seasonings seemed to be salt and various pepper flavors. The base meat was also probably something like pork loin, with none of the internal organs. I'm guessing at this point, but I know I won't buy it again from that source.

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

Looks a little like what we see here as "Argentine chorizo," which is pale and without red color and spicy seasonings. A little like German wurst, which I guess makes sense given the number of Germans in Argentina. One of our best friends and his immediate family fled Nazi German and ended up in Argentina. He spoke fluent Argentinian Spanish, which is unlike most other forms of the language.

[Smithy]

 

A lot of non-culinary activity has interfered with keeping up this narrative, but I have time to share a few things. While I was in San Diego I had a great deal of exposure to my best friend's recent research into the health benefits of fermented foods. As a result I came home with some of her keffir culture and 2 jars of actively fermenting kimchi. The kimchi has made its way into tuna salad - I quite liked it, though my darling thought it much too salty. Putting it atop these triscuits made the saltiness worse. I loved it. 🙂

 

 

Since arriving back I've been breeding my own keffir. I've discovered that the super-cheap "buy us now please" bananas in the grocery store bargain bin are perfect ingredients for breakfast keffir shakes. Once again, the cordless wand blender is earning its keep.

 

 

There's a wonderful grocery store near her house that features good organic produce and products. I came home with a loaf of their kalamata olive sourdough and their cranberry walnut sourdough. Both are excellent. Makes me wonder if I should try sourdough bread making again. In my spare time....

 

Finally, we've had some beautiful sunsets and sunrises. On this particular morning, the sun was half hidden by the southern (right hand) wall of the notch until it cleared the entire mountain range.

 

[ElsieD]

My sister and her husband are in a place called Apache Junction in Arizona till early January.  Too bad you weren't closer, as you would like her.  I'm not saying this because she's my sister, but a person with a sunnier disposition you would never meet.  She says she's been enjoying the weather.

[lemniscate]

4 hours ago, ElsieD said:

My sister and her husband are in a place called Apache Junction in Arizona till early January.  Too bad you weren't closer, as you would like her.  I'm not saying this because she's my sister, but a person with a sunnier disposition you would never meet.  She says she's been enjoying the weather.

The weather has been spectacular so far.  78-80F and lots of sun.   Which I guess can supercharge a sunny disposition.  Apache Junction (we locals call it AJ) can be sedate and colorful all at the same time.  But not known for outstanding culinary choices.

[lemniscate]

5 hours ago, Smithy said:

breeding my own keffir.

 I've been making kefir on  and off for years.   I have about a 1/3 cup of active grains.  I've had success with using powdered milk (Nido brand, whole milk) in making kefir without having to search for milk that's not ultra-pasteurized or altered.  

 

[Smithy]

2 hours ago, lemniscate said:

 I've been making kefir on  and off for years.   I have about a 1/3 cup of active grains.  I've had success with using powdered milk (Nido brand, whole milk) in making kefir without having to search for milk that's not ultra-pasteurized or altered.  

 

 

Yikes! You mean that ultra-pasteurized milk with kefir grains / culture added won't work? I haven't been paying attention to that bit, and I don't recall my friend mentioning it either.

 

BTW I apologize for previous misspellings of the stuff. Not going back to correct it now. I think I was confusing kaffir limes with kefir.

[lemniscate]

10 hours ago, Smithy said:

Yikes! You mean that ultra-pasteurized milk with kefir grains / culture added won't work? I haven't been paying attention to that bit, and I don't recall my friend mentioning it either.

Actually, I was told that by the person who I got my grains from years ago.  It may be an old wives tale about UHT and ultra-filtered milk (ie Fairlife) for kefir.   I see on r/kefir that people use UHT without issues.   I buy the UHT Costco 2% organic milk because it's what the household prefers.   If it was just milk for my use, I'd be buying standard whole milk.  So I supplement with the powdered whole I keep on hand for baking. 

 

I think lactose free milk is absolutely a no go since the grains live on the sugars in milk.  Maybe that's where the confusion over what kind of milk is "kefir correct" origiinated.