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.