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What are your thoughts on leftovers?
I am perfectly happy with leftovers as-they-are for lunch (or even breakfast), but when it comes to dinner, I usually want things in a different form. Which is one of the great things about roast chicken – the leftovers are endlessly adaptable. Soups, pastas, enchiladas, sandwiches, you name it.
Last night, we went with tostadas.
Grilled tortillas, black beans (homemade this time and on hand, but canned just as often), spinach, a bit of cheese, tomatoes, avocados and my favorite chipotle-lime cream (with yogurt last night). Combined with some heated-until-crispy leftover shredded chicken.
So easy, fresh and so good – meals like these give leftovers a good name.
Thursday night, B and I went to dinner at Nopa with our good friends Catie & Jimmy, and while at dinner, the boys made plans to go out on Saturday night. By the time Saturday rolled around, their ‘wild plans’ had morphed into cooking at our house with a few beers and the UNC/Duke game.
It was a joint effort, as C+J picked up some some surf and turf (by way of skirt steak and sea bass) at the Ferry Building, we sort of split the veg based on our respective fridge’s, the farmer’s market selection (or lack there of) and the corner market, we covered drinks and sides and our friend Mike brought some goodies as well.
The spread turned out as follows:
Spicy roasted chickpeas, vegetable quesadillas and Micheladas {with a half-salted rim} à la Nopalito to start.
Steak tacos with grilled grass-fed skirt steak, quick-pickled onions, avocado and cilantro.
Fish tacos with sea bass that was so fresh it tasted like it was caught 5 minutes before dinner. The bass was grilled with a chile-cumin-aleppo pepper dry rub {with a teeny dash of cinnamon} and piled on tortillas with everyone’s FAVORITE chipotle-lime cream and cabbage.
Rice, Beans and salsa ~ brown rice, Rancho Gordo cranberry beans, and store-bought fresh salsa doctored up with some of the leftover chipotles, to be exact.
Salad of butter lettuce, radishes, tomatoes and pepitas with cilantro-lime vinaigrette
Whether or not we made Kim Boyce’s oatmeal cookies later while watching a movie, I’ll never tell. But what is more disturbing, is that for what is possbily the first time ever, people were able to drive home from dinner at out house. That combined with boys night equaling dinner and movie means I am likely much older than I think.
Don’t worry, I don’t expect this sort of maturity to last long. And at least it tastes good!
As I mentioned, I lately found my self in the mood for a fall fiesta, and what is more ‘fall’ – and November, precisely – than turkey?
Thankfully I recalled reading about these beer-braised turkey legs for tacos on The Kitchen Sink a while back, and it was one of those recipes that I immediately wanted to try. But for some reason another, immediately didn’t. Luckily, I didn’t forget it and instead stored it in the deep recesses of my surprisingly still-working brain, and after the pomegranate/lime bonanza at the Farmer’s Market, I pulled up this recipe on my trusty iPhone while at the store and bought all the ingredients.
And the best part? Turkey legs are damn cheap!!! We are talking $3 for two pounds (2 drumsticks – more than enough for dinner for 4) at Whole Foods. $3 total. And this is high turkey season!
Last week I found myself in Los Angeles for a bit of work, a bit of play and a healthy dose of sunshine.
I mean – summer had made it – just don’t tell the calendar!
So plans for Friday were to have a fun little cook/eat/play sess with one of my dearest girlfriends, her beau, and whomever else wanted to stop by. So that morning before work, Peter and I ventured to the Venice Farmer’s Market for a little shopping and inspiration. The summer weather and price on limes (8 for $1) sealed the deal – margaritas and Mexican food. But since the day was firmly in November, regardless of what it felt like, I thought we should take a seasonal spin on our favorites.
And first up, pomegranate margaritas!
You can of course buy the seeds already shelled and have these ready in a flash, but I recommend buying the fruit whole, cracking open a beer, and seeding the lil’ guys while catching up with a friend. It’ll do wonders for your soul!!
After that, it is just juice, blend, strain, mix and enjoy.
We had about 1½ cups of FRESH lime juice and the seeds from 2½ pomegranates (we reserved the seeds from about ½ of the third fruit for garnish), which we blended together with a hand blender (a regular blender would work great too) and then strained. The pomegranates were really ripe–sweet and just a little tart–and balanced perfectly with the lime juice, although we did add a touch of agave nectar for a teeny bit of added sweet.
Mix that sweet and tart juice with good tequila and you have an almost perfect marg. The final addition is a bit of Pellegrino (or the like) – I think all margaritas are improved with a bit of bubbly – and there you have it!
The perfect fall margarita!
And gents, don’t be scared – just because it is a bright pink drink, feel free to imbibe as well. As long as you leave some for us.
Thanks Kar + Pete for having me – it was lovely!
And up next – the rest of the Mexican Fall Feast!! xx
Pomegranate Margaritas
Everyone has their own way of making guacamole. And 99% of them are pretty good.
Unless they include mayonnaise, sour cream, or those little MSG packets that are sold near the “taco seasoning.” Because if you put any of those things near a precious avocado, then these little tricks can’t help you. You are already lost my friend. And yes, you read that right. I guess in some places mayo is added … umnothanks.
But back to the good stuff – some folks are solidly in the lemon camp, some prefer lime. I know some people add tequila and/or a dash of sparkling water. (I tried adding a splash of tequila recently, and I liked, although I am not sure to be honest if we really noticed it). There are versions with tomatoes and some that go without. I personally generally keep it all green – avocados, cilantro, onion, garlic, citrus and cilantro (s & p of course too) – and skip the tomatoes, but I’ll eat it in your version if you want. All of these options are totally legitimate in my book.
So how can you make your regular recipe better?
Saran wrap and a microplane zester.
1. Grate the garlic. This will give you all the good garlic-y flavor (and even extract some of the juice) without biting into pieces of raw garlic.
2. Press the plastic wrap directly on the guacamole. When I make guacamole, it is generally a bit ahead of time (so the flavors can mingle and things are ready early – let’s face it, guac is generally something you make for parties, guests, etc.), but even if I only make it 5 minutes before serving, I always cover it so it doesn’t oxidize or turn brown too quickly. But stretching the foil or plastic wrap over the top of the bowl won’t help much – there is still plenty of air in there to start the process. By pressing the plastic directly on the avocados, air can’t get it and you’ll have still perfectly green guacamole in 15 minutes or 15 hours later. (Of course if you are going the 15 hour route, refrigerate until ready to use).
What are your secrets to the perfect guacamole?
Something either terribly amazing or just plain terrible happened this week.
I discovered Dos Toros Taqueria and how ridiculously close it is to my house. I’m thrilled because they have great (CA style) tacos and burritos with highly quality ingredients – primarily local and/or organic – and great prices. I’m not so thrilled because having damn good tacos and quesadillas near by can be a bit dangerous.
So on my 18th trip in as many hours, I decided to pick up enough to share and bring it home for dinner. As an impulse buy when I was paying, I asked them to throw in some chips and salsa.
But when I got home, I realized it wasn’t salsa, but pico de gallo (fresh tomato salsa). And as far as I am concerned, that doesn’t work as a dip for chips. I love pico de gallo on plenty of things, don’t get me wrong, but I want something smoother and spicier when I think salsa.
It turns out we didn’t have any jarred in the fridge (that stuff goes quickly around here), but thankfully, salsa is a breeze to whip up.
I have been thinking about chile verde since well before the Super Bowl. Like drawing a grid on a poster board and paying $1 per square, there is something about a spicy pot of pork and salsa simmering on the stove that is synonymous to me with that January (or rather February now) Sunday.
So I was planning to make this in DC at a friend’s house – they just moved East and we were going to help them get settled and welcome them to the cold. The perfect time for chile verde (especially as it pairs particularly well with beer – a requirement on Super Bowl Sunday). But then there was that silly Snowpocalypse, and we cancelled the trip. I wasn’t ready to be stuck on a bus for any extra time, regardless of wireless internet, power plugs and extra leg room.
And once you start thinking about chile verde, you can’t just let the feeling pass. You really need to make it. My only mistake was waiting a few weeks.
Until now, I had never made tortillas.
To be honest, I never really felt the need. Yes, of course I know that the homemade (or fresh restaurant made) are better than the store bought variety, but I always (rather foolishly) assumed that they must be difficult. Or at the very least, require special equipment, like a tortilla press. And considering I am already working here with the bare essentials, a tortilla press is defintely not happening.
But I was planning to make chile verde, and that is something that I think really requires a good tortilla, so I decided to rethink my stance on not making my own.
And thank goodness that change was made.
Hello easy!
