I made a nice lunch today, some spicy sausage. I’ve got a bunch of Jalapenos growing in my back yard so I’ve been trying to use them instead of black pepper. They really work well with a bit of bratwurst:
- Put a little olive oil in a frying pan, turn the heat to medium high.
- Slice up a sausage and cook it until it’s nice and done, with some burnt edges.
- Slice half a zucchini and half an onion and throw them in the pan.
- Add a couple of leaves of fresh basil and some salt and pepper.
- Next slice a bit of Jalapeno and add it to the mix. You can control how spicy you want the dish by controlling how long you cook the pepper. I used a tiny green Jalapeno and a tiny red one
- After everything is looking like it’s half cooked pour some vodka or wine in the pan, enough to barely cover the bottom.
- Put a lid on the pan and cook until the vodka has reduced itself to a sweet spicy sauce.
Enjoy! This would be good on top of some rice too…
Recently my business partner gave me one of these marvelous machines from across the ocean. A gift from Italy.
The problem I usually encounter with these mini espresso makers is that they are all designed for electric stoves. The base is so small it will drop through the grate of my gas stove. This one fits, barely. It’s steady enough, but it’s in a precarious position. When you remove one cup the unit becomes further unbalanced. Combine that with the brass hooks that are just waiting to catch the cup as you remove it and you have a recipe for DISASTER:
You don’t cook with the book. You cook with the heart and the hands.
Today’s lunch:
- Chicken
- Flour
- Salt
- Pepper
- Vermouth
- butter
- Rice
- A steamed vegetable, maybe broccoli or squash or what have you.
Drop some rice in the rice cooker, and place some vegetables in the steaming rack. Start the rice cooker.
My original goal was pan fried chicken. You start by putting flour, salt and pepper in a bowl. Mix and dip the chicken in it, you want as much of the flour mixture to stick to the chicken as possible. Throw some butter in a pan and the chicken dives in too. The chicken begins to cook, but you realize something is wrong. Horribly wrong. The chicken is too thick! The center isn’t cooking. Grab a pan and some vermouth. Pour the vermouth around the chicken and cover with the lid. The steam will cook the center of the chicken.
The chicken should come out marvelous. The taste will bring a little tear to your eye. It’s not crispy, it’s more like a Japanese katsu. The flavor is all USA though, well maybe a little French flavor.
It’s fast, and you don’t need to touch a measuring spoon.
Temple of Heaven: Special Gunpowder
I found this menacing looking box at Haji’s. I’ve been cold brewing this green tea, as it’s much more convenient than coffee. Supposedly it’s good for you too. It doesn’t give me the shakes like too much coffee does. Anyway I have a simple method of preparing this tea which I will share:
- Dump a handful of green tea in the pitcher
- Next fill the pitcher with water
- Put it in the fridge
The green tea expands and floats and sinks in the pitcher. For the first 2-3 days it is in a state of continous motion, I don’t have a scientific explanation for that. It’s ready in an hour and this nice Ikea pitcher filters out the debris as I pour a cold glass. The tea is never bitter, which can be a problem when hot brewing green tea. Admittedly I’ve had better tea than Special Gunpowder, but you really can’t beat the name.
GET:
Lentils - about half a pound.
Garlic - use an entire cluster.
Olive oil - extra virgin.
Fresh rosemary - grow some yourself or steal from local landscaping.
Red onion
Chicken stock / or some bullion cubes
Red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper
DO:
Chop the red onion and throw it in a pan on low heat. Pour on the olive oil, be generous. Grab the garlic and seperate it. Using a chef’s knife, place the knife on the garlic and smash it with your fist. Remove the dried crap from the garlic and put the rest in with the onions. Stir. Get the fresh rosemary and tear it up, discarding stems and tough pieces. Toss in the rosemary. You don’t want the mix to be too dry, so add olive oil if necessary. Add the green lentils (2$ a pound at whole foods). Fry for about 1 minute, the onions and garlic should be soft and the garlic should turn golden. If anything gets crispy it’s too hot!
Next add just enough chicken stock (or water + bullion cubes) to cover the lentils and boil covered for about an hour. You want the heat to be real low, just keep it so that it’s barely boiling. After an hour the lentils should be done. Drizzle it with the vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. The lentils are naturally salty so they shouldn’t need too much.
DONE
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