Pesto, Tomato Grilled Cheese (Wednesday, August 3, 2011)

I've been less apt to write about my cooking lately since Erin is gone and most of my meals are done Bachelor style; quick, cheap with disregard for presentation.  So, for the next 10 months, this blog will focus on cooking for one (Bachelor style).

Twice in three days I've made Grilled cheese with sliced tomato and a smear of pesto.  I've managed to save a few tomatoes (~7) from the birds and squirrels.  So, having my "abundance" of tomatoes, I've made several tomato sandwiches, some for breakfast with a smear of cream cheese on a toasted bagel, and others in grilled sandwiches.  I have a variety of cheeses on hand and I recently made pesto with the purple basil from my garden.  The purple is similar to the "standard" Genovese.  It seems a little sweeter and a bit more floral when smelling but it tastes very nearly the same.
First, I made some Parmesan crisps.  I grated Parmesan cheese and sprinkled it in a pan (medium heat) until it melted and browned a bit.  It then dried on the cutting board.  The bread was lightly brushed with olive oil.  One piece of bread goes down.  Next was grated Gruyere.  I have a Sheep Gruyere thatss very bitter and pungent.  It's been in the fridge "aging" for a while now and has mold.  Most cheeses are still good when moldy and simply develop new flavor.  You may or may not like those developments.  I usually do.  I also have a Cow "Gruyere-like" cheese from the CSA I recently joined (http://fairshares.org/).  On top of the cheese I added about 10 thin slices of tomato with pepper and salt.  Then the second piece of bread, this one smeared with a spoonful of pesto.  About 5 minutes on each side with medium heat gave me good color and melty cheese.  I then opened the sandwich and added a few pieces of Parmesan crisps.  For about 15 minutes, I LOVED being a vegetarian!!!  This would definitely make my sports bar menu.  

Pork Belly, Tea Eggs, Noodles (Tuesday, August 2, 2011)

This picture is not pretty.  Front and center is
a pool of pork fat.  I don't really care though
when I'm eating by myself in my underwear at
10 pm.  I miss you Erin.

You ever have that feeling when you finally get the motivation to write an entry on your food blog after months of laziness and as soon as your almost done writing your internet browser suddenly crashes?  Me neither.  Last night, my friend Justin donated a large hunk of pork belly from his slab.  You can cook it like bacon.... or you can cut it into thick pieces and pan fry it will a lot of spice.  Spicy please!  I marinated the belly in hot sauces, jalepenos, dried chilis and prickly ash (aka, sichuan pepper).  I then pan fried it in a wok. BOOM!  Meanwhile I made a noodle stir fry with cabbage, carrot, onion, garlic, ginger and sesame oil.  SPLOOSH!  I also made Tea Eggs.  KAZAAMM. To make, I boiled eggs for a few minutes until hard(ish), cracked the eggs all around, returned them to the boiling water and added mystery tea bags and mystery spices (nearly certain it was Chinese 5 spice.)  This all came in a boxed kit (a gift from a Chinese co-worker, Thanks Xiaoping).  These then cooked for a while longer and eventually sat overnight in the tea (but not the ones in this picture.) The longer they sit the darker they turn.  They actually look a very disgusting shiny brown after a full night but they taste like boiled eggs.  Except they have a slight aroma and soft taste of tea and cinnamon.  The highlight obviously was the pork belly.  It was bursting with delicious savory spice.  

Buckwheat Soba Soup (Thursday, July 14, 2011)

This is a simple and healthy thing to make when you have lots of fresh produce and not much time. I boiled some noodles (Buckwheat Soba) and rinsed them in cold water.  The base of the broth was beef stock, water, mirin and memmi (a liquid soup base).  Beef stock by itself would be fine.  In the broth I also added garlic, lemongrass and ginger.  I put herbs, vegetables and noodles in a bowl and poured the broth over it, straining out the garlic, lemongrass and ginger.  This particular soup has lemon basil, Vietnamese cilantro, mint, carrots, banana pepper and mixed greens all from my garden.  Simple.  Healthy. Refreshing. Filling.

Jewbombs (Sunday, June 19, 2011)

The picture here is poor.  I was already drunk
enough not to care.

These are a hefty and spicy appetizer that I stole from my dad.  He just calls them bacon wrapped jalepenos but I call them "Jewbombs."  Why you say?  Well, they contain pork (bacon), shellfish (crab filling) and are obviously very spicy (hence the "-bomb" portion).  All you do is split and clean the jalepenos, fill them with a crab dip and wrap them in a half strip of bacon with a toothpick to hold it all together.  You can use plain cream cheese or any filling of your liking (most deli sections have "cajun crab dip").  The filling on this occasion contained cream cheese, crab meat, canned chipotle peppers and various spices.  Don't try to eat too many or it will spoil your dinner.  They are extremely filling.  Oh, and make sure to have a cold beer nearby.

Grilled Peach w/ Ice Cream (Sunday June 26, 2011)

For dessert, a white peach from the grill with ice cream.  Simply, I wrapped half a white peach in foil with butter and brown sugar and put it on the cool part of the grill while I cooked.  I then added a scoop of strawberry ice cream and a little bit of basil.  The ice cream is a standard rich vanilla ice cream (same recipe as usual, see "bacon ice cream") with sliced strawberries mixed in.  This is a fast and easy dessert for hot summer days.  You're guaranteed to have a corner of free space on the grill anyway, may as well put a peach there.  In fact, many fruits could substitute (i.e. apple, pear, apricot).

Pappardelle with Mushroom, Radish, Garlic and Lemon Cream Sauce (Monday, May 30, 2011)

I have about 2 dozen eggs in my fridge.  Erin left a dozen with me when she left town and I already had a dozen in the fridge.  I decided to make another batch of ice cream (requires 8 eggs) and some fresh pasta (requires 5 eggs).  I had some leftover heavy cream from making the ice cream.  I also had a handful of crimini mushrooms and some radishes picked from the garden this morning.  I made my pasta (5 eggs and 3.5 cups flour) and cut it into thick noodles (aka pappardelle).  While my water came to a boil I sauteed garlic in butter and olive oil along with my mushrooms.  After the mushrooms were tender I added my sliced radish to cook them lightly, preserving the crunch and flavor.  I then added about 1/2 cup of heavy cream, a squeeze of lemon, the cooked pasta and some grated Asiago Pepato (this is an asiago with whole peppercorns blended in, also donated from Erin's fridge).  I plated up and topped with more cheese.  A simple nap inducing lunch perfectly fit for a lazy Monday.  Goodnight.

The Garden (Sunday, May 29, 2011)

The entire plot from afar.  I have tried to make good use of space by going vertical.  These are 10 ft plastic rain gutters screwed to 2x3s with nylon netting behind them.  The gutters are about $5 apiece.  Wood of this size is pretty cheap.  The netting was a bit more, but allows for vining plants (beans, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.) to climb up.  

Starting at the east side of the plot I have several varieties of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.  There are also marigolds, and a spinach patch.  I harvest from the spinach patch about every two weeks at the moment by clipping the larger leaves.  It provides a lot of food, but I'm told spinach dies out when the heat arrives.  At that time, I will replace this area with something else, perhaps swiss chard.

Moving westward, we can still see the spinach, up close and blown over due to wind.  The peppers are behind the spinach.  There are also snap peas vining up the back, near the short stick in the ground.  Also, here you can see most of the herb garden which is full of goodies, with Snots the Snake standing guard (yellow).  There is also a prominent onion patch in which I have "Candy Apple Red" and "Spanish Yellow" onions planted.  The gutters above have some chives and scallions.

Here I have a cage that I built to protect small plants from the rabbits and birds.  Underneath is a rubber maid covering in "floating row cover" to keep out insides and maintain humidity.  Inside the rubber maid are several small pots in which I am growing seedlings for corn, edamame (soybean), broccoli, cauliflower, broccoli raab and a few melon varieties.  I will let these grow for awhile and transplant them later after harvesting other crops.  The open space here has not been designated yet.  It may be a good place for melon, which will take over a large area.

This is the western end of the plot where I have all of my Brassicas planted.  Brassicas are things like cabbage, broccoli and all the other things kids don't like.  They require lots of nutrients from the soil and are highly nutritious as a result.  I have one row of broccoli (left most) a row of white cabbage, a row of asian cabbage, a row of kale and 2 rows of brussel sprouts.  Underneath all of this foliage are some radishes which take little space and time to mature.   They can be planted around other plants before they are large.  I have planted radishes and carrots all around the garden surrounding other plants, namely my tomatoes.  The tomatoes grow up, not out like these brassicas and will allow the carrots and radishes to receive a good bit of sun through the summer.  In the back  here there are leeks, beans and cucumbers.  In the gutters are various types of lettuce, bok choi and flowers.