Whole Grain Goodness

There is a lot of rice in my diet these days.
Always has been, come to think of it. I spent five formative years and one decadent adult year in Hawaii, and you got rice with everything.
I lived in Japan for half a year, and... rice.
Here in the contiguous 48, I tend to choose rice over almost any other carb. Potatoes are great, believe me, and noodles are oodles of good. But if I'm cooking a nice fillet of fish, the side will be rice. That's just built into me.
It's amazing how varied your rice dishes can become.
Add some chicken and broth; rice can make a meal: here. With beans and greens, rice is always welcome: here. Eggs (and milk and asparagus) do make rice nice: here.
We (Cranky and me) are working on a casserole baked egg-and-rice preparation, and it seems to afford infinite variations.
Since we were so happy with our first version, we did it again yesterday, and we oomphed the flavor profile decidedly into the "fried rice" quadrant of our dining pleasure. The (cooked, cold) rice was stirred with eggs and then mixed with sauteed flavors — shiitake, scallion, sliced carrot, ginger, garlic, Asian liquids. Bakey bake bake (covered, 25 minutes, 350F). Then voilà, and I wish I knew how to say that in Mandarin or Cantonese (though if you were to research fried rice, you'd see that it's become a worldwide phenomenon, with regional variations).
OK, that was yesterday. We had leftovers.
Today we had a smoked pork sausage (spicy-hot), which we cubed, tiny, and fried up. Scattered that all over the warmed leftovers (and I didn't take a picture yesterday because the mushroom juice that leaks out makes the eggs ugly; today they're pretty under a shower of charcuterie). The sausage reminded us, just a little, of those crazy, shriveled Chinese sausages. So we were happy.
Seriously, if rice is on the menu tomorrow, I'm happy.

Animal Fat

Cook your pork chops in butter, not oil.
That is my decree.
Also, fail to notice, when you are taking the picture, that congealed, fried meat-juice flap on top.
I probably ate it.

I'm Still Here

Brown Food

I've been busy doing some writing elsewhere. I'm engrossed; gotta get my head out of this, erm, hole and rejoin the world.

I haven't even photoed any food lately, but yesterday's beef Stroganoff was el yummo. El yummicito.

Come to think about it, it would have been a horrible picture. Brown food.

I Am Bugs Bunny

I'm not TRYING to eat healthy food. I believe my diet is already pretty good, for the most part (except for the occasional potato chip evening). I probably get all the nutrients I'm supposed to have just from farmers market produce, meat, cheese and eggs.
But I'm on this carrot binge! I'm sneaking carrots into my food, like Jerry Seinfeld's wife.
I probably shouldn't even tell you that a couple of weeks ago I made tuna salad sandwiches. There was grated carrot in the tuna salad. Doesn't that sound great? It was.
OK, this is pretty much your standard mac 'n' chee, with a mornay sauce made from goat's milk cheddar (whoops, not so standard), gluten-free cracker crumbs and quinoa pasta. AND! Grated carrots. Stir 'em right in before you pop the casserole in the oven. I can't say they added a whole lot, flavor-wise, apart from a little sweetness. Whatever crunch they had was cooked out.
But it made me really happy.

Amber Waves of Confusion

Image University of Arkansas
I can eat wheat. I've received the results of my gastroenterology tests, and there is no evidence of celiac disease.
You'd think this would be an occasion for joy, but I finally got used to eating gluten-free, after six months, and... Well. That sounds nutty. Of course I want to dip into dim sum and bite into burritos now and then. Apparently I can do just that.
But during the week I ate a gluten diet in preparation for the exam, I experienced horrible symptoms. (No details; this is a family blog FFS.)
I haven't returned to have my consultation with the doc yet, and we will probably come up with some strategies.
It's rather perplexing. Just thought I'd share that with you.

Pot of Phew

Yes, it's a rain-spattered day.
But my glasses? They're grease-spattered. We've been cooking Julia's Boeuf à la Bourguignonne, pretty much true to the recipe (damn you, Julie!). Our kitchen is a mess. There's a strange smell coming off the Martha Stewart enameled cast-iron pot (its maiden voyage); frightening indeed.
In about four hours I may have something to photograph.

Side Salad

I tried to grow salad greens one summer; ended up shepherding them in my shower under the skylight. Didn't come out great, but I did get some lettuce in a bite or two of sandwich and salad. Terrible summer crop.
However. It has taken me a long time, as a novice vegetable gardener, to learn that lettuce hates summer. Too bad for BLTs.
I'm not much of a winter gardener. At all. If it's raining, I'm complaining.
Happily, I've learned from El at Fast Grow the Weeds that lettuce is excellent in winter.
And, at my house, oranges are excellent in winter (though they will continue to get better all the way into summer). And lettuce, though I'm too stupid to grow my own seasonal crop, is luscious.
Here's a salad made from supremes of local (LOCAL) oranges, confit of chicken legs, homegrown red onions, and tender winter lettuce (purchased, but probably not next time... greenhouse?).

Happy Mouth Feel 2010

Another of our New Year's Eve treats, a little gem-like display of Dungeness crab over an Asian-ish salad.
I'm always drawn to little gem-like nibbles of seafood for New Year's, although caviar is over and done with. (Can you imagine, in your lifetime, experiencing the demise of a whole category of food? I'm worried about California's salmon and crabs too, but that's another story.)
I liked this salad, made with chopped mung bean sprouts, slivered radishes, grated carrot, minced jalapeño, and... (I really liked this part) short strings of softened mung bean noodles, otherwise known as cellophane noodles (or in Hawaii, "long rice"). Cute.
I tossed the ingredients together and then drizzled Asian liquids to get an impromptu dressing: rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, like that.
I thought I might have overdressed the food, so I strained some off. But since the crab pieces were unseasoned, they were too mild in contrast with the salad. I should have left all the dressing in and just given everything a mix.
Flavor aside, though, this was the BEST mouth-feel meal I've ever eaten. Crispy veggies, chewy noodles and succulent crab. My mouth was really happy. I would eat it again in a minute.
Besides, I discovered we are backed up with two bags of dried noodles in the pantry.

Beany Blini

This was one of our New Year's Eve treats. The smoked salmon was already in the fridge, and so was the sour cream. All we needed was some little buckwheat pancakes.
Believe it or not, I do have buckwheat flour in the pantry, but I'm not certain it's not contaminated with wheat flour.
However, I do have chickpea flour. Garbanzo bean flour!
We have successfully experimented with thin, crepe-like soccas; delicate big pancakes made with chickpea flour and water and not much else. So why wouldn't they make dandy silver-dollar-sized pancakes?
They would. Dandy as hell.
They are a little burned, because it was New Year's Eve, and champagne was on the premises.
Still, delicious.
The next day, I Googled "socca blini." Sheesh, of course. I'm not the first to dream this up.

If You Carrot All

For some reason, I've been having an urge to get more carrots into my diet.
I'm not wild about them, but I don't dislike them, either. I just think they're good food, and I should eat more.
I tried one of Ilva's ideas, sauteing sliced carrots with thyme. They came out a little burny, but good. Then I kind of forgot about them.
Until Cranky wanted to make some mashed potatoes to serve with boudin blanc. Ooh! Ooh! I said "Let's do a mixed mash!" We also had a turnip on the premises for some reason. So we cooked each vegetable to its personal specifications, and then ran them through the food mill together to get a pale tangerine mush.
You might not even be interested in this food. It's bland, funny and a little bit lightweight. (Only now do I realize how heavy pure mashed potatoes are.) But it's sophisticated and delicious, and I'm doing it again. With garlic.

Cartoon food

I ate this yesterday. In an omelet with scallions and butter and Dungeness crab, and not much else.
Oh, it was divine.
Oyster mushrooms. So cute.
(Any comments about that little penis thing down there?)

Hoppin' 2010

It's a great New Year's Day tradition to eat a meal of rice, beans, a little meat, and some folding money — I mean leafy greens. Hoppin' John. This is supposed to bring good fortune, and so far, it has been a success for me. I mean, I'm not rich but I'm stupidly happy.
Last year Cranky and I subverted the paradigm and ate a Hawaiian-ish New Year's Day meal of Spam musubi with edamame beans and kimchi. I guess it worked; we haven't had our house go into foreclosure.
So this year we went to a different part of the world for our inspiration. Poland.
What we came up with was stuffed Savoy cabbage leaves. The filling is rice and beans, a little chopped ham, bound with a touch of tomato sauce and flavored with the tiniest pinch of five-spice powder.
Last time I talked about stuffed cabbage, I learned from readers that there is a non-sloppy method of cooking the packets: You saute them in butter. Oh, man, I am so there.
Et, voilà. Topped with a smidge of crème fraîche.
We're calling it Hoppin' Januariusz.
Happy New Year, everybody.