Fish Stew Tonight and Dancing With My Dad

December 8, 2012 — Leave a comment

Oh you know, some onions, a blob of garlic, dash of hot stuff. Add some toms get all brothy. Then add some fish. Fish stew. Yum

Meanwhile and much more importantly, your daughter would like to step on your toes and do a little jig to whatever is playing ( Britney. That’s how we roll ). Just like I did not so long ago with my Dad. A little dance on the toes with my Dad makes my world go ’round.

This is the look of absolute, unrefined joy when you are a wee one looking at your mum or dad as they twirl you around feet on feet.

Coconut Milk in a Soup and Our Next Porking

December 8, 2012 — Leave a comment

A lovely soup for a cold night. It’s an African, coconut soup made with a Malawi curry blend. Easy, easy to make and totally belly warming. I’m always looking for soup with fat in it. The more saturated fat I eat, the better I feel. Unlike the connotative feeling of the word “saturated,” if you eat saturated fats, you will not suddenly become saturated in fat yourself.

– two cans coconut milk
– 1 cup chook stock ( or cube )
– Malawi curry spices ( corriander, cumin, pepper, cayenne, dry mustard, cumin, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon : all blendy blendy in a cheap coffee grinder )

– let that bubble and toil for twenty minutes or when you’re ready. And taste it damn it, then add salt

Standby for tomorrow, for we shall roast a giant pork leg that requires a man hand to help butterfly and guide to a perfect Sunday lunch. We may need to invite the neighbors.

Journey of The Cheap Tomato

December 7, 2012 — Leave a comment

For those of you following along at home, I did another dish with my cheap tomato starter. As a Mexican salsa, she did below average. As an American tomato sauce, not bad. As an Italian Bolognese, lovely. And today she ends her journey as a cheap tomato in an Indian curry of some description. I had to do it. I couldn’t let her down. The taste? Like a small war between India and Italy. I think it needs some time to settle, but the taste is first of India and then of Italy, but then quickly resolving in India again. There’s definitely a battle going on. It is edible and a fine farewell to my cheap tomatoes.

I served with the M.J. cauliflower recipe. It’s SOOO good, I suppose I should put a link in here.

Hamburger’s Helper

December 6, 2012 — 1 Comment

Drooling with anticipation of our next lot of ground beef ( coming soon! Inquire within! ), I stretched my cheap, tomato salsa turn tomato sauce to a lovely Bolognese meal. Some was served with a little macaroni bombarded by small chunks of mozzarella. I still have some beefy sauce left and it’s very tempting to turn it into an Indian dish. Not unlike seeing how far you can go when the fuel light bings on, I’m curious to see how many countries I can touch with one, basic starter.

Breakfast: Fried Eggs in Duck Fat with Some Potted Meat Product

December 6, 2012 — Leave a comment

Eggs fried in duck fat start your morning with a crispy edge. I’ve been doing sunny-side up lately and oh the faces I’ve made.

Served with a bit of potted meat product. Okay it’s pork pâté. Yep, organic, local whatever buzzword you need, it’s terrific and I have a lot of it. Much better than Spam. I’ll have to do a Spambled Eggs version. I loves me some faux faux.

Because, Ese, I like To Fry My Stuff In Lard

December 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

There may come a point in your home where you should become cold. It will be gradual, but ultimately healthy for you. At this point, pizza dough will not respond to your usual antics. Which brings you to Plan B. I know! Roti! But without the baking powder and instead resuscitating some powdered yeast that froze to death. That’s it and fry it in lard because Mexicans are on the right track with the lard thing. A multi-fusion-culinary explosion of yum. Then dip it! Yes, dip it in your mexican’t salsa with cheap tomatoes that you quickly breathed a new life as Italian cuisine.

Oh yum, lardy, yeasty bread dipped in tomato sauce starring tomato purée, seasonings and cheap tomatoes. Mmmmm. I should write this up. So good. But no, I’m late to the game. I hit the case where Pizza Hut markets too much dough matched with too much sauce. These “bread sticks” are lovely, but nothing new. All I can offer is a quick out when good yeast goes bad.

When Life Gives You a Bowl of Salsa Made With Cheap Tomatoes

December 4, 2012 — Leave a comment

… Make some tomato sauce.

I’m doing a lot of fresh salsa at the moment and look, I know, I was wrong to buy those cheap tomatoes, but they were gorgeous and cheap ( just like my men ). Should you take a moment out of your busty life to make fresh salsa ( onions, garlic, hot pepper, lemon juice, cilantro, tomatoes, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper ), please don’t use cheap tomatoes. It no worky. K. ’nuff said on that. This tomato sauce, however, is tasting great due to fancy shinanigans with tom purée and Italian spices. I suppose only time will tell.

Saucisse Toulouse

December 3, 2012 — 1 Comment

I’ve seen recipes call for Toulousaine sausage that featured a picture of short sausages that were not exactly Toulousaine. I’m sure the spices were right, but for me it’s the extremely long-ness of it all that captures sausage inspired by Toulouse.

When you buy this type of sausage from the butcher you don’t tell them, “how many” but rather, “when.”. When do you want them to stop winding sausage around their forearm.

A bit of a boil, then a brown. Pull out for some sauce. Stick it all back together like BFFs and pop in an average oven to make up again. We call this “Brown Note Sausage .” I suspect I’ll detail this later.