An ode to Sal

Hi! I'm Jules. I'm in Mexico. Have I told you? Mexico. Mexico Mexico Mexico.

And now I will use this space to declare my love for my new amour: Sal con Chile y Limón, (heretofore referred to as "ScCyL"). It is salty and spicy and limey. Here's the thing about it: it makes everything taste fucking awesome.

Go to a cantina and you'll get orange slices sprinkled with ♥ScCyL♥.
Go to a beach and you'll get mangos on a stick covered in ♥ScCyL♥.
I have not found a place to buy it in bulk yet but believe me I'm trying.

In conclusion my ode to Sal:
Hot goddamn things taste awesome
Bag-of-chips awesome and then some
ScCyL I name you magic spice:
You are the sazón that gives me a razón to live.

Everything you love tossed together and covered in cheese

As we all know, winter is the time for much sleeping, with short bursts of wakefulness centred around pureed soups and giant casseroles filled with who-knows-what.

[Image from: http://www.amoeba.com/dynamic-images/blog/Job/wrestling.jpg]

This bear would be less prone to attacking human-types during the difficult hibernation period if someone had thought to invite it over to partake in the following...

I got this unexpectedly delectable recipe from a great seasonal cookbook created by The Stop Community Food Centre (http://thestop.org/), a rad Toronto community org that works to promote food security and sovereignty by holding cooking workshops, doing a lot of community gardening, acting as an empowering alternative to more traditional food banks. As the story goes, they got an enormous donation of canned baked beans and were at a loss as to what to do with them until someone came up with this fine thing. You can replace the suggested veggies with whatever you have on hand, as long as they all cook at about the same temperature.

What you'll need:

1/2 large eggplant, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 medium zucchini, cut into 1-inch cubes

1 red bell pepper, cut into, you guessed it, 1-inch cubes/pieces

1/4 cup veggie/olive oil, plus enough to coat veggies

kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

3 cloves garlic, divided

500g/1 lb firm tofu, drained & cut into 1-inch cubes

1 onion, coarsely chopped

2 398 ml/14 oz cans baked beans (I used the maple flavoured kind...)

1 small handful of fresh parsley, chopped

2 cups grated cheese (mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan, whatever, mix it up!)

What you'll do:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a mixing bowl, toss eggplant, zucchini and bell pepper with enough veggie/olive oil to coat, and season well with salt & pepper. Spread out on baking sheets, creating an even single layer on each. Roast veggies for about 20 minutes, or until they're nicely browned and pepper is still a bit crisp. Remove from heat and reduce oven temperature to 350F. Place roasted veggies in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

2. In a frying/sauTAY pan, heat 1/4 cup veggie/olive oil on medium heat. Slice 1 clove of garlic in thirds and fry in oil 1 minute, being careful not to brown. Add tofu and fry until golden brown. Remove tofu from oil and drain on a paper-towel-lined plate. Using a slotted spoon, fish out garlic and discard. Return pan to heat. Saute onion until translucent and season with salt & pepper. Finely chop remaining garlic cloves and add to pan; saute for 1 minute more, then add mixture to the bowl of roasted veggies. Add the baked beans, tofu and parsley to mixture and stir well to combine! Spread wondrous mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking pan or casserole dish and sprinkle LOTS of shredded cheese on top.

3. Bake for 10-15 minutes until cheese is browned and mixture starts to bubble at the sides of the pan.

Serves 4-6. Maybe just 4 because it's so delicious and/or if you're feeding bears.

The Blog Strikes Back!

Dearest Friends, Lovers, Bakers, and Saute-ers,

You may have noticed something different about me, and no, it's not my bangs.

I know we've had our rough patches, but we've been so many things to each other over the years. What role have I not played?

Carrier of News and Knowledge
Oasis for the Hungry
Mediator of Romance
Enlarger of the Common Life
Bond of Scattered Friends
Assiduous Archive
Constant Companion
Konstant Kompanion

Change is afoot! I write you in the spirit of the New Year and new beginnings, and also with the spirit of forgiveness: all that is past has been forgotten. But don't think I didn't hear about those nights you just had toast for dinner. 
I know you've been thinking about me.
Let's get back together.

Missing you,

Your Blog.

BRAD'S "TWILIGHT"-SUCKS CORNBREAD

A long time ago, in a kitchen far, far away, beautiful vampire-intellectuals (VIs) chloroformed Edward Cullen, tore out his heart, and used his tweeny, annoying blood to water their corn crop. The blood teemed and teemed out of his heart, and the VIs watered and watered their corn, and the corn grew and grew. By the light of the moon, VIs from around the land would gather by the crop to practice their jazz flute, attend to their cuticles, and discuss how to better spread their vampirism consciousness-raising strategies. Ah, 'twas a heady, bloody time!

When the blood corn was finally harvested, the VIs summoned Tom, Brad, and Antonio Banderas and made them compete in a nude, Iron Chef cornbread competition as penitence for having made Interview With a Vampire. The men baked tirelessly until Tom tried to convert them, at which time Brad called Angelina to "remove" him. But Antonio, in love with Tom, was so troubled by his loss that he had to go into a corner and have some quiet time. In the end, Brad, as always, was victorious. His recipe lives on in the annals of the VIs till this day.





BRAD'S TWILIGHT-SUCKS CORNBREAD

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose or whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggies
1/4 cup corn oil or butter, melted
2 to 4 tablespoons honey to taste
1 cup milk

Preheat the OVEN to 425ºF. Put the BUTTER in an 8-inch square baking pan and set in the oven while it's heating. Meanwhile, stir the dry ingredients together and make a well in the center of the bowl. In another BOWL, whisk together the WET INGREDIENTS. As soon as the oven is hot, remove the pan and bake in the middle of the oven until GOLDEN BROWN. Quickly, mix the wet and dry ingredients together, then pour the batter into the pan and BAKE in the middle of the oven until golden brown ON TOP and beginning to PULL AWAY FROM THE EDGES, about 25 minutes. SERVE HOT right from the pan.

TWIST IT UP:

Green chile and cheese corn bread: Add 1/2 cup grated Jack or Cheddar CHEESE and 1/4 cup OR MORE diced roasted green CHILES to the batter. (For even more, add some raw scallions!)

Vanilla corn bread: Vanilla sets off the SWEETNESS of the corn and is good when you want a slightly sweeter BREAKFAST BREAD. Add 1 teaspoon VANILLA extract to the wet ingredients and use a larger amount of honey.

Muffins with corn kernels: Stir 1 cup fresh or frozen CORN KERNELS into the batter for a little EXTRA CRUNCH.

Credits: Deboarah Madison Brad Fucking Pitt

Love,
Prof. Tata & Rico

Fried Chicken Wings

In response to Rico's request for more culinary travel blogging, a recipe. Tamales, tacos, and tortas this is not - I refuse to be constrained by Western notions of "authenticity". Alitas de pollo are a delicious and popular dish, especially in the north. Decidedly not vegetarin, but I had to listen to a rooster yodling (cockle doodling?) at 6am every day for 4 months (in the middle of a city of 20 million!!), so really, they owe me one.

- chicken wings
- flour
- oil for frying
- salt and pepper
- your favourite bbq sauce

Coat chicken in flour. Place in a single layer in a pot of HOT oil for 10ish minutes. Remove, drain, and coat in your favourite sauce. Serve with salad and/or rice so you don't feel like such a pig. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Enchiladas Verdes

Back in the land of grey buildings and personal injury lawsuits, I am missing Mexican food. I am relearning to discard toilet paper in the toilet bowl, and enjoying the calmness of traffic and taxicabs, and going unnoticed on the street as a guera/whitey. I learned this recipe from various Mexican mothers and grandmothers but like any good oral tradition, this likely inadvertently includes my own toque especial. My favourite thing about enchiladas is that they can be enjoyed at any time of day: breakfast, lunch, dinner or as drunkfood.

Serves 4.

You will need:
- corn tortillas (12?)
- oil for frying
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot (or was it garlic? luckily this is not very important)

For the salsa verde:
If you are a lazy person you can buy this pre-made. I think Herdez and La Costeña make good ones. But it's not as good as homemade! It may however, be cheaper.
- 10? tomatillos (these are the green tomatoes that come with a papery covering, generally found at Mexican specialty stores like at Bloor and Dufferin. If you don't have one near you, you can buy a tin of them), papery covering removed
- 1 bunch of cilantro
- 6? serrano or jalapeño chillies (green and hot are the two key characteristics)
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt?

Toppings:
- iceberg lettuce, chopped
- crema (Mexican specialty store again, or just use sour cream)
- a mild shredded or crumbled white cheese

Prepare the chicken:
Put it in a pot with the onion and carrot and/or garlic and cover with water. Boil until cooked (no red juices emerge, and it's not creepily tender), about 30 minutes depending on the size of the chicken. Remove the chicken from the water and pull off the meat into small pieces with your hands. [Unrelated to this recipe but a happy byproduct: Throw the chicken carcass and skin and ligaments (mm!) back into the water, add some veggies and herbs, simmer uncovered for 3 hours and you have delicious chicken stock!]

Prepare the salsa (unless you are lazier than a Mexican and bought it in a store):
Blanch the tomatillos in as little water as possible. In the same water, boil the chillies until tender (about 10 minutes). Do not discard the water. In a food processor or blender, blend the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and chillies to taste. Add cilantro to taste and blend. It should be very very liquid so add the chilly water as necessary. Transfer to a deep frying pan or pot and simmer for 10 minutes.

Prepare the tortillas:
Heat some oil in a frying pan. Fry each tortilla in the oil for about 30 seconds. You don't want them to brown, you just want them to take up some of the oil so they don't get soggy in the salsa, and be hot so they are easier to fold. Keep warm in paper towl, plastic, or between two plates.

MAKE THE ENCHILADAS!
Place chicken meat onto one half of each tortilla and fold over. One at a time, place the stuffed tortilla in the frying pan with the salsa verde and submerge it for a few seconds. Remove to each individual's plate. Top with extra salsa verde. Give to your guest to add toppings.

Put on some cumbia and sit down to eat.

wanna be startin' something

friends, i have been contemplating this post for many months, but every time i step up to put fingers to keys, i am overwhelmed with the power and immensity that is sourdough starter, and cannot find the strength to continue. luckily, my sourdough starter is in a state of hibernation (very likely the deepest of comas) in the fridge and it can't sneak up on me. but from what i've learned, it can do almost everything else.

sourdough starter fun/terrifying fact one:
it doubles as a building material! some settlers, when not furthering the colonial project by forcing indigenous peoples westward or shooting buffalo herds from trains, filled the holes between the logs in their log cabins with sourdough starter. true story. you'll see this is true when you try and wash the jar you've been storing it in and find yourself grappling with a concrete-like substance.

so, sourdough starter is the base of sourdough bread, and it gives it its delectable sour quality. the way sourdough starter works is that it is either inherited or made, if you are gifted some by a friend, you can feed it and it will grow, or you can create a yeast trap and try and catch some delicious bacteria to make your own starter.

the joy of cooking describes a few processes for making your own starter, depending on whether you think there are magical yeast particles floating around your kitchen from past baking endeavors. i opted to use commercial yeast. essentially, you mix flour and water and yeast in a bowl, (or if you are trying to catch yeast, then just flour and water), and keep it in a warm place for days, stirring occasionally. in an ideal world what results, besides some very hard crusts (see fun/terrifying fact one), is a brand new sourdough starter that you can place in a jar, and then put in the fridge. (the image is of my jar of starter next to the loaf it spawned. note the warm locale.)

sourdough starter fun/terrifying fact two: it eats! and grows! after removing it from the fridge, and pouring off the "hooch," the clearish, alcoholy liquid that may have collected on the surface, you can feed your starter. sourdough starter is "fed" by adding equal parts flour and lukewarm water to the original, and allowing the mixture to sit out in a warm place. your starter is healthy if it begins to bubble after a few hours, after which you now have more starter then you had before. this can be used to bake bread, or placed back in the fridge to hang out until you need it, or until you want to feed it again. my rookie mistake was using all of my starter to bake the pictured loaf, after which i was out of starter and had to begin the whole starter-making process all over again. you always want to have enough starter for your recipe AND to leave in the jar to feed and regenerate. which brings us to...

sourdough starter fun/terrifying fact three: it remembers! they suggest you put your starter on a regular feeding schedule because it has the capacity to remember when it was last fed and expect similarly spaced feedings in the future. this is just little shop of horrors all over again. fear not, if starved, the starter goes into a state of hibernation, and can usually be revived by following the regular feeding instructions.

you and your starter are now poised on the threshold of a crusty and magical world of bread-baking, many aromas and buttering opportunities await you.


perhaps also armpit hair.