Get out your Soup Fork

Some friends and I were talking about cooking the other night, and eating cheaply came up. One of my friends, let's call him Brian (because that's his name), said that during college, he learned how to eat with extreme frugality, and would have his suitemates pay him to go shopping and cook for them. I asked him to send me an email with some recipes, and he (eventually) sent one on the topic of what you can do with a roux. The recipes included a cheese sauce for mac & cheese, two alfredo sauces, jambalaya, beef stew, the works. I decided that, hey, I had some linguine in the freezer, why not make the alfredo sauce?

2tbsp butter -- melt slightly over low heat
2tbsp flour -- stir in and continue stirring as if your life depended on it
leave on heat, stirring, until 30 seconds after it's fully incorporated
1/3rd cup of milk, whisking feverishly
2/3rds cup of milk, continuing to whisk
1/3rd cup of hard grated parmesan and/or romano cheese

Unfortunately, I apparently didn't add enough cheese, nor did I let the roux set up long enough. My sauce was a bit watery and a bit cheese-chunky at the same time, somehow. Not bad for a first attempt, but not flavorful enough to be satisfactory.

I can't pass up a futurama quote for the title, now, can I?

Sure, it's January 6th, but it's time for the Christmas post. First up: Christmas dinner.

Slicin' the loin

This is your fate!

Juicy!

Over at my paternal grandma's place, we had pork tenderloin that was roasted in the oven. It would have been a bit better had it been seared before, but it was still pretty good. There was some gravy for them, as well as a potato casserole with cream cheese, butter and green chilis. Top that off with some green bean casserole, and you've got this:

Plated goodness.

Slightly further back

As far as gifts are concerned, I received the grinder/pasta extruder and the shredder/slicer attachments for CC, my beloved kitchenaid stand mixer, as well as the following books:

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill Cookbook: Explosive Flavors from the Southwestern Kitchen

Bobby Flay

The Man Who Ate Everything

The Food You Want to Eat: 100 Smart, Simple Recipes

Ted Allen

(Bear with me, I'm still getting used to a new keyboard...)

I was looking forward to Thanksgiving more this year than I have in years past, mostly because I'm more aware of food and the preparation of it now than I was before. Thanksgiving is a double-dip of food and family for me. First stop of the day is my Mom's Brother's place for an Italian thanksgiving lunch

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After finishing up there, it was off to my Dad's Brother's place for the traditional thanksgiving dinner. I'll let the pictures do the talking for this one.

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(Except for this one: the tiny cup was filled with butternut squash soup.)

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Well, I haven't updated this baby in about a month and a half, but with good reason! I've started eating healthier in an effort to lose weight and get into better shape. As such, I've been busy looking up recipes and trying different products to see what tastes good and is also good for me.

I should be starting to try a few new recipes sometime in the near future, so hopefully I'll remember to take pictures of them.

To hold you over until then, here's a good picture of some risotto that I just made with some serious lo-cal butter.

risottogood

Just a really quick dose of food porn from the other night when I ordered some pizza from Round Table Pizza... I got the chicken smokehouse combo, with grilled chicken, hickory and andouille sausage and a barbecue sauce drizzle, all with 3 cheeses and zesty red sauce on pan crust. Enough talk, here's the photographic evidence...

Sexy smokehouse combo!

Oh yeah, DETAIL SHOT!

If there's one food style from the south that I like, it's gotta be cajun. The spicier the better, colitis be damned! There's one dish that is the epitome of spicy cajun flavor, and that's jambalaya. A simple rice dish, jambalaya is a leftover magnet because you can throw almost anything into the base and it'll work together well. At its heart, it's just rice, butter, broth and spices. 

The usual suspects.

• 1 can whole kernel corn
• 2 cans beef broth
• 1 stick butter
• 2 cups white rice
• 1lb andouille sausage, sliced into 1/8" pieces
• 1tsp chili powder
• 2tsp cajun seasoning
• 2tsp garlic powder
• 1-3tsp cayenne pepper

Cook and slice the sausage up, melt the butter, and then put all the ingredients into the pot and set for the cook cycle. When it's done, plate immediately and either eat or refrigerate. You do NOT want to let it sit on the keep warm cycle, because that will dry out the rice and the whole thing will not taste right.

Here are some more pictures of the process...

CUT THINNER THAN THIS!

Artsy shot of the ingredients.

Percolatin'

And, of course, the finished product...

Dig in!

Onto the grill!

Slathered.

Knowing that my Uncle Greg is going to be cooking something just makes my day when it comes to family gatherings with my Dad's side. A few weeks ago was my grandmother's (eternally 39th) birthday, and pork tenderloin was on the menu. The last time we had pork tenderloin was about 4 years ago for Christmas, and that was with some roasted red potatoes and an apple chutney that was out of this world. This time, however, would be pork tenderloin with an apricot marinade, some of which was saved and reduced into a thick sauce. Here's my Uncle Greg explaining what's in the marinade...

He, of course, left out beef broth, which adds quite a bit of flavo(u)r. As you can see, it's chunky and it coats the glass platter fairly well.

Coats well!

Grill marks!

Tight shot!

Flip!

Sonic Reducer, ain't no loser

Here's a shot of the sauce reducing down a bit. Still just more of the marinade, but, of course, some that wasn't on the pork before grilling.

Broil and serve

Some of my mom's famous cheesebread. Click the picture for the ingredients so you can make it yourself and taste the wonder of CHEESE.

I cannot eat this, but I heard it was good.

Close-up of the salad that went along with it all. Mushrooms, green beans, lettuce, tomater and dressing, it looks like.

Tastay!

And finally, the finished meal. We used paper plates because we were eating outside and it was such a loverly summer day (it even rained a tiny, tiny bit, but it was a tropical, warm rain) that nobody wanted to do dishes. I didn't bother to pretty it up, since I dug in very, VERY shortly after this photo was taken. I really wanted to bring some home, but there wasn't much left by the time everyone was done with it, so I ceded my portion to my (other) aunt and uncle. GOOD stuff, though.

There are few things greater than having a restaurant near you that you've never had anything bad at. For me, this magical place is El Cholo Cantina in Orange County, CA. INCREDIBLE food and great staff. Things I've had there:

• A Taste of History

chile relleno, aged cheddar enchilada, roasted pork tamale and a rolled beef taco, served with rice and beans (and a handmade flour tortilla for makin' a burrito)

• Green Corn Tamales
  

Corn off the cob, corn masa, cheddar cheese and ortega chiles

• Tres Tacos Al Carbon

Grilled carne asada with bacon, jack cheese, rice, black beans and pico de gallo

• Carne Asada

Marinaded grilled new york strip steak, beans, rice, fresh guacamole and pico de gallo

• Burrito Dorado

Chili con carne, beans, rice, simmered tomato sauce, sour cream and guacamole, covered in cheese with a chile on top.

I had the pleasure of meeting with an old junior high and high school friend at El Cholo tonight. I hadn't seen her in 12 years, and we recently got back into contact via the myspace, and we've been e-mailing back and forth for the last year or so. She was out here for her grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary from Minnesota, and she made a solemn vow to come out and see me even during the hectic family schedule. I told her that I would take her out to the very best place I knew, and she said she would eat something other than a salad (as she's a vegetarian). Our waiter came by with the chips and salsa first thing, and I asked her if she liked stupidly hot things. She said she did, so I asked for the habanero salsa.

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After looking at the menu over our conversation, she knew what she had to have. The green corn tamales called to her like a bird on a warm spring day.

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She added the little dollop of guacamole (which we had also ordered to calm down the heat from the habanero salsa) on top of the beans just for the sake of adding more color to the photograph.

Looking at the menu beforehand, I knew what I had to try. Being the adventurous type, I have tried something new every time I've gone to El Cholo, and this would be no different. I ordered the burrito dorado, and was amazed at the size and presentation of it when it arrived.

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The thing was huge and slathered with melted, aged cheddar cheese. It was one of their famous handmade flour tortillas to start with. They're fluffy and chewy, and before I came here the first time, I'd never had a fresh tortilla. The best I'd had was those crappy mission tortillas that are like eating thin cardboard. Oh, it was heavenly. The chili con carne in the burrito was more like pulled pork (admittedly, I couldn't tell if it was pork or beef. It looked like beef, it tasted like pork, I was happy either way), and the whole thing was just magnificent. I masticated until I exploded into a foodgasm.

The waiter came around with another cup full of salsa, and he said that it was milder than the habanero, yet spicier than the regular salsa. I think it was adobo chile salsa, if I remember correctly. It was much, much more flavorful than the habanero and the regular salsa.

We conversed well into the night, ordering another basket of chips to finish off the salsas and the guacamole, and then ordered the fried ice cream to top off the night. It was cinnamony and crunchy, a wonderful end. We wandered over to a bookstore (she's a writer and loves to read) and then back to my place to meet my cats and post a few myspace comments to a friend together.

It was a great night with spectacular food, and now that I've gotten over my phobia of taking a camera to a restaurant, perhaps I'll have more food porn for you to masticate to in the future!