Red Hot Chilli Peppers

Reuters reports: Red hot chillis to be used in hand grenades.

India's security forces are planning to mix one of the world's hottest chilli powders in hand grenades to control riots and during insurgency operations in the remote northeast, a defense official said on Thursday.

India's defense scientists say they will replace explosives in small hand grenades with a certain variety of red chilli to immobilize a person without killing him.

Scientists said the chilli found in the country's northeast generates so much heat it was enough to startle a person for a while when used as a weapon.

The bhut jolokia chilli is said to generate 1,000,000 heat units on the Scoville scale -- a measure of hotness -- at least a thousand times more than a common kitchen chilli.

Scientists are also hoping to use a coat of the chilli powder in fences around army barracks as its pungent smell keeps wild animals away.

Bronze Dies & Pasta

What's the deal with the "bronze-die extruded pasta"?

The answer is simple. Bronze dies give the pasta a rougher surface which allows the sauce to adhere to the surface better. The trouble is that the extrusion has to be slower and the die wears out so it needs to be replaced.

In the spirit of false economy, the majority of the industry switched to teflon-dies which don't wear out as much but the quality of the pasta suffers.

The difference between the two is totally obvious even to the naked eye, and certainly to the palate. Needless to say, the CC's favorite place carries the bronze-die extruded good stuff.

Garlic Scape Pesto (with Almonds)

This is truly delightful. Blend some garlic scapes, parmigiano-reggiano, olive oil and almonds, and a dash of lemon and serve with fettucine and a light rosé and you have a truly wondrous summer meal.

Mushroom Hunting in Central Park

The CC went mushroom hunting in Central Park with the New York Mycological Society.

Part educational, part forager's dream, we had a great morning.

Here are the CC's edible finds. (Please don't try this without experts around. Many many wild mushrooms are deadly poisonous. Part of the training is to identify the deadly ones.)

The recipe is a classic. Fry some garlic and a hot chilli pepper. Saute the mushrooms with salt and pepper. Add the spaghetti and parsley and serve topped with more black pepper and parm.

Purple-Bloom Russula (russula mariae)
Mild and peppery with the texture of oyster mushrooms.

Black-stained Polypore (meripilus sumstinei)
Intensely mushroomy. Can get leathery when older. Needs to be cooked longer. Steak-like texture and taste.

Spaghetti with Wild Mushrooms

Oyster Fest

Last night, the CC celebrated with an oyster-fest. The favorites (which were surprisingly consensual) were the local Fisher Island and Malpeques.

The Pacific Coast Roy Miyagi's were a close third.

The CC definitely has a taste for the more briny minerally Atlantic oysters rather than the Pacific ones which tend to be a little sweeter and smoother.

Sorrel Soup

This is one of those joys of nature. The power of pure technique over ingredients (there are only five - six if you count salt!)

It has a very strong lemony (from the sorrel) and peppery (from the black pepper) flavor.

Sometimes an egg is blended in at the last moment but that tends to undercut the sorrel taste so the CC skips it.

Ingredients

1 large red onion (diced fine)
2 potatoes (diced)
3 bunches sorrel (deveined if the veins are thick)

broth (or water)

salt
lots and lots and lots of black pepper

Recipe

Fry the onions at a medium-low heat. Do not hurry this step. Yes, it takes forever.

Fry the potatoes at the same heat. Again do not hurry this step. Drink a martini while it fries languidly.

Add the broth. Let it simmer for 20-25 minutes till the potatoes are cooked through.

Add the sorrel. It will wilt almost immediately changing color from a light green to a dark one.

Turn the heat off, and blend in batches. You can reheat the soup when needed.

Garlic Scapes

They are the immature stems of the garlic plant. They have a mild garlicky taste and a texture of french beans.

Please note that they are different from spring garlic or ramps.

East Coast Oysters

Why deny it? When the CC went to Boston, he went crazy over the local oysters.

The CC openly admits his biases - he loves briny and minerally ones which means East Coast. The West Coast ones lack character (relatively speaking.)

Only relatively local oysters were consumed, and the CC's favorite were the ones from Onset and Island Creek (both in Massachussetts.)

Briny slurpy goodness!

Foraging in Chinatown Markets

On a recent trip to Boston, the CC had a little time to kill in Chinatown. Needless to say, he went into the stores looking for interesting stuff.

Among the haul were dried rose buds, lily mushrooms and hedgehog mushrooms (along with shrimp crackers and crab crackers!)

You may have read the saga of the CC and the roses before.

The mushrooms are new. The CC had never heard of them. Clearly, they must be tried out. So they were bought, and the package enjoyed a free trip to Boston because there was no way in hell that the CC wasn't going to purchase everything right that minute.

It has been commented upon that the Chinatown markets act upon the CC a bit analogously to introducing a Snickers bar at a Fat Camp!

Lily Mushrooms
Hedgehog Mushrooms

Summer Corn Chowder

Ran into some terrific corn in Chinatown on the trip back from Boston, and decided to make a light evening meal of it.

Here's the recipe.

Scrambled Eggs with Ramps

How does the CC describe this?

The texture is like that of french beans but the taste is agressively like leeks and garlic. If you're a garlic fiend (and what true foodie isn't?) you'll be in hog heaven!

Bean Bag

The CC received these heirloom beans as a gift. He is thrilled, thrilled, thrilled!

Beans, beans, the magical fruit,
The more you eat, the more you toot.
(Source: Rancho Gordo.)

Lila Beans
Midnight Black Beans
Moro Beans
Santa Maria Beans
Vallarta Beans
Yellow Indian Woman Beans
Yellow Eye Beans

Green Borscht

The CC has been trying to replicate this ever since he first ate it last year.

Mere words cannot describe how delectable this soup is!

Ingredients

1 large red onion (diced fine)
1 head green garlic (diced fine)
1 bunch sorrel (stripped of stems, chopped)
2 potatoes (diced into smallish cubes)
1 bunch scallions (green and white parts, chopped into rounds)
1 large bunch fresh dill (chopped)

4 cups broth (substitute with water)

oil
salt
lots and lots and lots of black pepper
dash of vinegar

Recipe

The recipe is straightforward.

Fry the onions and garlic. Fry the potatoes. Add the sorrel and fry till it wilts. Add the broth, salt and black pepper. Simmer till the potatoes are soft (20 mins roughly.)

Add the scallion and dill towards the end. (The soup should be just lightly sour. Add a dash of vinegar if not sour enough.)

Scrambled Eggs with Sorrel (and Rye Toast)

Mmmmm mmmmm .... mmmmm. Lemony goodness!

Brighton Beach

The CC went out there for a birthday bash, and since he's a food-a-holic, he picked up sorrel, ramps, frozen vareniki, lots of dill and some great Russian dark rye bread.

They also have these walnut shaped pastries that are stuffed with walnuts. Quite delicious.

Even More Herb Lore

As pointed out here, water them when they are droopy.

If you water them in the morning, you can see the results of the non-droopiness in about 6-8 hours.

The real reason to water them in the morning is that all the spillage you make over the leaves (which you will) will evaporate and not cause fungal damage.

To Boldly Go Where No Spice Has Gone Before ...

Chipotle in your Bloody Mary - good idea.

Chipotle brewed in your beer - not such a good idea; one might even say terrible idea.

You have been warned!

Store Wars

Birthday Bash

The CC got what he wanted - a fun food-filled evening!

First, a Sri Lankan place where we gorged on fish rolls followed by chicken lamprais and a sri lankan crab curry, succulent and heavily redolent with black pepper both washed down with a peppery grüner veltliner.

Then, a frisky hazelnut gelato at GROM.

More Herb Lore

Mediterranean herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, lavender, sage) really like slightly alkaline soil.

You can dry some egg shells, whiz them to a powder (= calcium carbonate) in your coffee grinder, and sprinkle the soil. They really love it.