Gluttonous, and happy, the CC and his friends sit.
The house smells like tomatoes.
The CC is deliriously happy, and is behaving like the average 7-year old (and the friends are too drunk to care!)
Thank goodness for stone walls, floors, and ceilings!
Saturday, August 19, 2006
A Haitian Meal (Part 3)
RICE & RED BEANS
Deceptively simple, and yet utterly beguiling!
Ingredients
2 cups red kidney beans
2 cloves garlic (minced)
4 large shallots (diced)
1 large onion (finely diced)
8 cloves
8 whole peppercorns
4 cups long grained rice (the CC used basmati)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
salt to taste
Recipe
Soak the beans overnight (or at least 8 hours.)
Pressure cook them with salt till tender but not soft. (This is a tricky assignment!)
Heat the oil, and fry the onions and shallots till soft. Add the garlic, and fry till golden. Add the cloves and peppercorns, and fry till they "plump" slightly.
Add the rice, and fry for roughly a minute. Add the beans, thyme, and salt, and roughly 6 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, and let it cook until the rice is done. (roughly 10 minutes. You may need to add a little bit more water.)
Deceptively simple, and yet utterly beguiling!
Ingredients
2 cups red kidney beans
2 cloves garlic (minced)
4 large shallots (diced)
1 large onion (finely diced)
8 cloves
8 whole peppercorns
4 cups long grained rice (the CC used basmati)
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
salt to taste
Recipe
Soak the beans overnight (or at least 8 hours.)
Pressure cook them with salt till tender but not soft. (This is a tricky assignment!)
Heat the oil, and fry the onions and shallots till soft. Add the garlic, and fry till golden. Add the cloves and peppercorns, and fry till they "plump" slightly.
Add the rice, and fry for roughly a minute. Add the beans, thyme, and salt, and roughly 6 cups of water. Bring to a simmer, and let it cook until the rice is done. (roughly 10 minutes. You may need to add a little bit more water.)
A Haitian Meal (Part 2)
LAMBI
Ingredients
1 lb squid (cut into rings)
Juice of 13 limes
2 habañeros (chopped coarsely)
4 lbs tomatoes (quartered)
1 tbsp tomato paste (homemade, but substitute commercial you wimps!)
1 large red onion (cut into semi-rounds)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 small green bell peppers (cut into strips)
2 small red bell peppers (cut into strips)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper
Recipe
The recipe really goes in three stages: marination, preparing the tomato puree, and cooking the stuff.
Marinade the lime with the squid and habañeros for at least 4 hours.
Prepare a pot of boiling water. Dunk the tomatoes for 4 minutes or so. Pass them through a fine food mill, and collect the puree. (A deceptively large amount of work is hidden in this rather innocent description.)
WARNING: If you use heirloom tomatoes like I did, they have seeds that passed through the finest grade of my food mill. I had to pass it through a sieve lined with cheese cloth again!
Heat the olive oil, and fry the onions until limp, and translucent, and the garlic, and saute until it turns light golden.
Add the tomato paste, and fry for about a minute. Add the puree, and half of the both of the bell peppers, salt and pepper to taste, and turn the heat as low as possible.
At this point experienced readers should know what to do.
Skim, baby, skim.
Add the rest of the bell peppers, and turn off the heat, and take the pot off the hot stove.
Dump the squid, and a bit of the lime (but not the habañeros) in there.
The last instruction may seem a tad mysterious but it isn't. One of the culinary crimes that this country commits is "overcooking the squid". Squid should not be rubbery! You are dumping it into a hot puree, it will cook by itself. Of course, if you cook with different seafood, the instructions will change.
The idea behind adding half the bell peppers later is to create two textures, one slightly crunchy, and one more "soggy".
Ingredients
1 lb squid (cut into rings)
Juice of 13 limes
2 habañeros (chopped coarsely)
4 lbs tomatoes (quartered)
1 tbsp tomato paste (homemade, but substitute commercial you wimps!)
1 large red onion (cut into semi-rounds)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
2 small green bell peppers (cut into strips)
2 small red bell peppers (cut into strips)
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and black pepper
Recipe
The recipe really goes in three stages: marination, preparing the tomato puree, and cooking the stuff.
Marinade the lime with the squid and habañeros for at least 4 hours.
Prepare a pot of boiling water. Dunk the tomatoes for 4 minutes or so. Pass them through a fine food mill, and collect the puree. (A deceptively large amount of work is hidden in this rather innocent description.)
WARNING: If you use heirloom tomatoes like I did, they have seeds that passed through the finest grade of my food mill. I had to pass it through a sieve lined with cheese cloth again!
Heat the olive oil, and fry the onions until limp, and translucent, and the garlic, and saute until it turns light golden.
Add the tomato paste, and fry for about a minute. Add the puree, and half of the both of the bell peppers, salt and pepper to taste, and turn the heat as low as possible.
At this point experienced readers should know what to do.
Skim, baby, skim.
Add the rest of the bell peppers, and turn off the heat, and take the pot off the hot stove.
Dump the squid, and a bit of the lime (but not the habañeros) in there.
The last instruction may seem a tad mysterious but it isn't. One of the culinary crimes that this country commits is "overcooking the squid". Squid should not be rubbery! You are dumping it into a hot puree, it will cook by itself. Of course, if you cook with different seafood, the instructions will change.
The idea behind adding half the bell peppers later is to create two textures, one slightly crunchy, and one more "soggy".
Culinary Disasters (a clarification for posterity)
The CC in one fell swoop will raise the quality of your Indian cooking to a new level.
In an Indian cookbook, when they say lemon, they actually mean lime.
The CC would know.
This is a linguistic disaster turned into the Hindenburg of culinary disasters!
In an Indian cookbook, when they say lemon, they actually mean lime.
The CC would know.
This is a linguistic disaster turned into the Hindenburg of culinary disasters!
A Haitian Meal (Part 1)
A friend of mine has been begging me to write about this forever, but alas destiny intervened, and those that know the CC know that when destiny calls, the CC calls destiny back, and screws destiny to the wall.
However, that is tedious and time consuming.
But summer is here, and so are the good tomatoes. Since this recipe is tomato-heavy, the CC wandered down to the Farmer's Market to get some heirloom tomatoes. Once again, the guy berated me, "You weren't here last week. You expect me to sell these heirloom tomatoes to these proles?"
The recipe is somewhat time consuming but obviously worth it. If you think it's not worth it, we'll settle it like gentlemen, "Chocolate soufflés at ten paces."
I first had this meal at a Haitian restaurant. I desperately wanted to reproduce it so I consulted my two Haitian cookbooks.
They agree on the fundamentals, but differ slightly on the details.
Two things stand out:
[1] Haitian food is heavily influenced by French cooking. Not a big surprise there. The same themes stand out : skimming, rouille, etc.
[2] However, they adapted it to native fish, vegetables, etc. Shouldn't be a big surprise either.
I chatted with the woman who runs the restaurant, and she said while it was traditionally made with conch, it's really adaptable to any kind of seafood, and once you see the recipe, you will see why.
I made it with squid although I plan to make it with conch now that she told me where in New York I can find it.
However, that is tedious and time consuming.
But summer is here, and so are the good tomatoes. Since this recipe is tomato-heavy, the CC wandered down to the Farmer's Market to get some heirloom tomatoes. Once again, the guy berated me, "You weren't here last week. You expect me to sell these heirloom tomatoes to these proles?"
The recipe is somewhat time consuming but obviously worth it. If you think it's not worth it, we'll settle it like gentlemen, "Chocolate soufflés at ten paces."
I first had this meal at a Haitian restaurant. I desperately wanted to reproduce it so I consulted my two Haitian cookbooks.
They agree on the fundamentals, but differ slightly on the details.
Two things stand out:
[1] Haitian food is heavily influenced by French cooking. Not a big surprise there. The same themes stand out : skimming, rouille, etc.
[2] However, they adapted it to native fish, vegetables, etc. Shouldn't be a big surprise either.
I chatted with the woman who runs the restaurant, and she said while it was traditionally made with conch, it's really adaptable to any kind of seafood, and once you see the recipe, you will see why.
I made it with squid although I plan to make it with conch now that she told me where in New York I can find it.
Sunday, August 6, 2006
Tomatoes
Well, summer is here, and so are the good heirloom tomatoes.
The CC wandered down to the farmer's market yesterday morning. Had a chat with the farmer with the good tomatoes who complained that I buy nothing from him but tomatoes (simply not true, he has awesome fresh herbs.)
Well, he's my age, and he's known me for five seasons so in a spirit of exuberant comradery, he yelled out to his siblings and co-workers, and most of New York, "Give this man whatever he wants! He's the only one who knows good tomatoes."
The yuppies on the Upper West Side were surprised, and the CC blushed a deep red.
However, it was supremely gratifying.
I bought ten pounds of tomatoes (yes, you heard that right!), and dinner consisted of tomato soup, a baguette, and a bottle of wine.
The CC wandered down to the farmer's market yesterday morning. Had a chat with the farmer with the good tomatoes who complained that I buy nothing from him but tomatoes (simply not true, he has awesome fresh herbs.)
Well, he's my age, and he's known me for five seasons so in a spirit of exuberant comradery, he yelled out to his siblings and co-workers, and most of New York, "Give this man whatever he wants! He's the only one who knows good tomatoes."
The yuppies on the Upper West Side were surprised, and the CC blushed a deep red.
However, it was supremely gratifying.
I bought ten pounds of tomatoes (yes, you heard that right!), and dinner consisted of tomato soup, a baguette, and a bottle of wine.
Labels:
farmers market,
new york
Two kinds of food enthusiasts
There are two kinds of "foodies".
The first are the ones who worship at the altar of the Michelin three-star -- white tablecloths, "fine" cuisine (*), and "service".
The second prefer substance over style, and hence, authenticity over presentation. They'll take rickety plastic tables, and naked hanging bulbs if the food kicks ass.
The CC clearly belongs to the latter school (although he will be the first to admit that he has learnt a lot from the former.)
Consider this the first salvo in the "food wars".
(*) You can always disguise crap cuisine with truffles! (And the sad truth about New York is that most "top" chefs do. Sad, really! Truly sad.)
The first are the ones who worship at the altar of the Michelin three-star -- white tablecloths, "fine" cuisine (*), and "service".
The second prefer substance over style, and hence, authenticity over presentation. They'll take rickety plastic tables, and naked hanging bulbs if the food kicks ass.
The CC clearly belongs to the latter school (although he will be the first to admit that he has learnt a lot from the former.)
Consider this the first salvo in the "food wars".
(*) You can always disguise crap cuisine with truffles! (And the sad truth about New York is that most "top" chefs do. Sad, really! Truly sad.)
Labels:
authenticity
Calamari
A.K.A. "squid", a.k.a. creepy-crawly stuff in the American imagination.
The food critic for Vogue, Jeffrey Steingarten invented what he called the "Calamari Index", as in, how easy is it to get "fried calamari" in a typical American restaurant?
It was obviously tongue-in-cheek, but has turned out to be remarkably prescient.
There's scarcely a bar/pub on either coast (and a lot of in-between) that doesn't feature "fried calamari" on the menu. Note the change of name from "squid" to the much fancier Italian -- "calamari".
Anyway, I highly recommend both of Steingarten's books : The Man Who Ate Everything, and It Must've Been Something I Ate.
For the record, the CC is not getting any money off the links above, and the CC's friends will NOT be getting those books for their respective birthdays/Christmas.
For the first time, ladies and gentlemen (you know who you are!), it's time to prove your dedication to the culinary arts.
A.K.A., pony up the dough, bitches!
The food critic for Vogue, Jeffrey Steingarten invented what he called the "Calamari Index", as in, how easy is it to get "fried calamari" in a typical American restaurant?
It was obviously tongue-in-cheek, but has turned out to be remarkably prescient.
There's scarcely a bar/pub on either coast (and a lot of in-between) that doesn't feature "fried calamari" on the menu. Note the change of name from "squid" to the much fancier Italian -- "calamari".
Anyway, I highly recommend both of Steingarten's books : The Man Who Ate Everything, and It Must've Been Something I Ate.
For the record, the CC is not getting any money off the links above, and the CC's friends will NOT be getting those books for their respective birthdays/Christmas.
For the first time, ladies and gentlemen (you know who you are!), it's time to prove your dedication to the culinary arts.
A.K.A., pony up the dough, bitches!
Labels:
books
Pasta nero
A.K.A. "black" pasta. It's made with squid ink.
It may not sound like much but it's utterly delicious, and served topped with squid in a tomato sauce, the dish is better than sex. (Well, not quite, but you get the idea.)
Anyway, a few months ago the CC was dining at one of the local Italian restaurants on the Upper West Side, and was shocked to see that that the above mentioned dish had disappeared from their menu.
The CC told the waiter, "Why would you do something that stupid?", at which point the waiter ran back to the kitchen, came back, and informed the CC that the chef would be happy to make the above dish for the CC.
The chef delivered, and the CC was happy.
(NOTE: Contrary to popular opinion, I'm actually easy to please. I just have high standards.)
Why the post now?
The CC is happy to report that the chef has seen the error of his ways, and as of last night, features, not one, not two, but THREE dishes with "pasta nero".
Enough said!
It may not sound like much but it's utterly delicious, and served topped with squid in a tomato sauce, the dish is better than sex. (Well, not quite, but you get the idea.)
Anyway, a few months ago the CC was dining at one of the local Italian restaurants on the Upper West Side, and was shocked to see that that the above mentioned dish had disappeared from their menu.
The CC told the waiter, "Why would you do something that stupid?", at which point the waiter ran back to the kitchen, came back, and informed the CC that the chef would be happy to make the above dish for the CC.
The chef delivered, and the CC was happy.
(NOTE: Contrary to popular opinion, I'm actually easy to please. I just have high standards.)
Why the post now?
The CC is happy to report that the chef has seen the error of his ways, and as of last night, features, not one, not two, but THREE dishes with "pasta nero".
Enough said!
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