I just made a delicious salad dressing...

It's like pad thai salad....daaaaamn. Here's the recipe:

Juice of 5 key limes (or whatever will end up with about a 1:1 ratio between the lime juice and the amount of oil you're going to use)

Into the lime juice mix:
1 tbsp dark shitake soy sauce
2 tsp crunchy, all natural peanut butter
2 tsp sugar
a few drops of sesame oil
2 tsp hot sauce (I used a mild, garlic flavored one)
as much salt, pepper, and garlic powder as you'd like
Into that drizzle some oil, I used a light olive oil/soybean oil blend, all while stirring with a fork or whisk in the same direction so that you form an emulsion. Stop when you get the viscosity and flavor-intensity you'd like.
I think this would probably make a bomb-ass marinade as well. And if I had some fresh cilantro, I totally would've added it.

All measurements are approximate, we all know I don't measure when I cook.

My dinner was bomb...

I made chiles rellenos for the first time. Here's the recipe, yo.

3 poblanos, roasted and skinned. Basically to do this you just stick them under the broiler for 15 minutes or so with some olive oil, take them out when the skin is black and blistered, toss 'em in a paper or plastic bag and seal it up pretty well for about 10 minutes, take them out and peel them with your hands under some running water. Super easy. Cut a slit in them and get the seeds out of there, I find running water helps a lot with this step as well.

For the filling I used half a link of soyrizo, two pattypan squash(one yellow, one green, both fairly small as I got them from the Esco farmer's market), and about half a container of mushrooms. I diced up the squash and mushrooms, sauteed them with some salt and pepper until A LOT of the water had cooked out and they had shrunk a bunch, threw the soyrizo in there and sauteed that some more to get a little texture and crisp on the sausage.

For the batter, take two eggs, seperate them, beat the whites until frothy and the yolks just a bit. To the whites stir in 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup milk, and about 1/8 to 1/4 tsp baking soda. Then fold the yolks in.

Take a little baking pan, I used a brownie pan, and spoon about half of the batter into the bottom. Stuff the stuffing into the slits in the peppers. I found the easiest way to do this was to cradle the peppers in my left hand, one at a time, while using my right hand for spooning and stuffing....messy, but it works. As each one is done, put it in the pan. Once they're all done, sprinkle them with shredded cheese. I used Monterey Jack cause I'm a cheapass, but you can use any soft, white Mexican cheese as well. Then pour the rest of the batter over that. It's not going to be enough to completely cover it like a cassarole or anything, just more like a little shell.

Now bake that at 375 for 30 minutes or so. I topped mine with some hot sauce and sour cream. It ruled.

My shoulder started to feel better today, which is how I was finally able to cook, but it's not 100%. I don't know that I should've done that much, cause it feels a little pinched, but I'm getting steroid shots tomorrow anyway so fuck it.

Links for 2007-05-15 [del.icio.us]

Links for 2007-05-15 [del.icio.us]

• Palak Tofu (Tofu in Curried Spinach Sauce) | Fatfree Vegan Kitchen
  I ♥ Palak Paneer and I bet Palak Tofu rules as well
• The Green Scare - Los Angeles CityBeat
  I haven't even finished reading this article yet cause it pisses me off so much.

Picture Post

Here's what I've got in the gallery today:

Pictures from the beach trip I wrote about the other day. I really like the way the dead pelican pictures came out. Apparently a lot of the coastal wildlife is dying right now due to an algae bloom.

From Beach

I went down to Pt. Loma yesterday for a BBQ with Garrett, Chad, and Cara at Garrett's friend Matt's house, who was totally cool. As we were sitting outside on his patio drinking beer and smoking and talking about parrots of all things, a giant flock of wild parrots flew in and landed in all the trees and power lines...they are some noisy beasts. The pictures didn't come out great because it was very overcast and I was zooming in at like 4x.

From Wild Parrots ...

Took this while we were out walking around on the mountain. No idea what kind of flower/succulent it is but it was really pretty and I like how the picture came out.

Inspired by this great picture I saw on Serious Eats I decided to make a Nicoise Salad this morning.

I left out the tuna, which I think is kind of the point of a Nicoise salad. Being all vegetarian most of the time and trying to eat as little fish as possible, however, it just ended up that way. So I threw some cucumber in there instead. For the beans I used some leftovers I had from making this (to which I added golden hominy) and the potato is a leftover from making these. I used very small russet potatoes when I made them. It was awesome and super filling and easy as hell to make though obviously the one I threw together would not appeal to the purists out there.

I also used a great deal of leftover white beans to make vegetarian refried beans this morning, though I haven't used them in anything yet, they turned out fucking tasty. I'm kind of bewildered how I've made it to almost 26 years having never made refried beans from scratch. The world is full of mysteries.

Food Party Fun Time!

I've been cooking A LOT lately, creating recipes and trying new things and such so I thought I might share them with the internets so that other people can enjoy some of the deliciousness I've been enjoying. I'm a very, very freeform cook and I never measure, I just taste things constantly while I'm cooking and it seems to work for me (though it makes me a HORRIBLE baker). Anyway, that's my way of warning you that all the measurements here are total approximations I made while I was trying to write down the recipe after I'd already finished. You may be way better off just tasting as you go...haha.



Yesterday we went to the beach pretty much all day. Packed a picnic lunch, grabbed a couple of Hi-C six-packs (they come in little twelve ounce plastic bottles with screw on caps) and a bottle of Jose Cuervo Tropina that we mixed in the bottles, and vegged out in the sun. The picnic lunch consisted of some leftover Pad Thai I'd made for dinner the night before (super good cold!), some frozen fruit, and a yumtastic Potato Salad I made that morning. Now you can make it too.





Potato Salad:

5 small russet potatoes, cubed, I leave the skins on but it's really up to your personal preference

3 cloves garlic, thiny sliced into "chips"

vegetable oil (whatever kind you want, I used canola)

1/4 cup roughly chopped black olives



Sauce:

2/3 cup mayo

1 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp dark soy sauce (I used shitake flavor)

1 1/2 tbsp regular soy sauce

1 tbsp hot sauce (I used a mild garlic flavored "asian style" hot sauce, Sri Racha would work well for more of a kick)

parsley to taste(I used dried, use fresh if you want just chop it up pretty finely)

pepper to taste





Boil water, add cubed potatoes, boil until soft. Standard potato salad beginnings! When they're done, drain them in a colander and let them cool.



While they are cooling add some oil to a large skillet and fry the garlic chips until they start getting crispy and slighty browned. Now add the boiled potatoes and pan-fry until they too start getting crispy and slightly browned. Pretty much like making home fries. Don't let the garlic burn. Throw some salt on there if you'd like.



While the potatoes are frying, mix all the sauce ingredients in a large bowl. Taste...taste good? If not, adjust the flavours until it does. Let it sit there while you finish the potatoes, then add the potatoes and garlic, and the olives as well. Use a large spoon and mix everything up until the potatoes are evenly coated with the sauce. Now stick the bowl in the fridge for an hour or two so everything cools down and the flavours blend. The garlic will also absorb a lot of the sauce and become soft and sweet and tasty. Ta-da! Super delicious potato salad.



This recipe was inspired by this one which I've made as well. I love the flavours he uses and they're very unexpected and an awesome twist for something as stale as potato salad. I think I over roasted the potatoes when I made his version though, but personally I think it tastes better the way I make it now.....ha.