Okra With Onions

Quite a funny dish, it is a memory memory of my youth, fresh okra from the garden, washed and cut, then fried in bacon drippings along with a rough chopped onion. Add a bit of seasoning and you have a quite tasty dish, substitute a bit of vegetable oil instead of the bacon and you have a tasty vegetarian meal.

I made this for one of my associates, who commented that “You had finally mastered one of the most basic of Indian dishes.” It would seem the okra is almost ubiquitous in use.

Okra also known in many English-speaking countries as lady’s fingers or gumbo is a flowering plant in the mallow family. It is valued for its edible green seed pods. Originating in Africa, the plant is cultivated in tropical, subtropical and warm temperate regions around the world.

The products of the plant are mucilaginous, resulting in the characteristic “goo” or slime when the seed pods are cooked; the mucilage contains a usable form of soluble fiber. While many people enjoy okra cooked this way, others prefer to minimize sliminess; keeping the pods intact and cooking quickly help to achieve this.

To avoid sliminess, okra pods are often briefly stir-fried, or cooked with acidic ingredients such as citrus, tomatoes, or vinegar. A few drops of lemon juice will usually suffice. Alternatively the pods can be sliced thinly and cooked for a long time, so that the mucilage dissolves, as in gumbo. The cooked leaves can also be used as a powerful soup thickener.The immature pods may also be pickled.

In Syria, Egypt, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, and Yemen, and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean, including Cyprus and Israel, okra is widely used in a thick stew made with vegetables and meat. It is one of the most popular vegetables among West Asians, North Indians and Pakistanis alike. In most of West Asia, okra is known as bamia or bamya. West Asian cuisine usually uses young okra pods and they are usually cooked whole. In India, the harvesting is done at a later stage, when the pods and seeds are larger.

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Black Bean Taco’s

It’s too hot to cook, (actually it’s too hot to think), but I need to get something on the table anyway. Looking at the pantry I have a number of canned black beans, and I know I have some tortillas in the fridge. Really all I need is some cheese, spices, and maybe a sauce to bring it all together.

This is a quick and simple little dish that is tasty, textured, and very, very fast to complete. The simple slightly spicey and smokey flavor of the beans, with the tang of the sauce, creaminess of the cheese, crunch of the hard taco, and the mouth feel of the soft taco provide an experience in each bite.

Given recent comments:

Well, It had to happen.. The loyal fan club has started kvetching that I am introducing too many new foods, too many new ideas, too many new tastes. Seems they like boring.. (To me boring is only good in a combat zone…)

I’ll try to keep this simple, but still provide a decent dish.

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Recession Food – Chili Mac

I was looking for a fast and filling meal as I have a number of things to accomplish tonight. A quick check at the larder showed I had some rigatoni, and a sneak peak in the freezer produced a quart of frozen Texas Red Chili… Add a little cheese, some Frito corn chips, maybe some onion and some jalapeno, and you have a right tasty and very hearty meal.

The really funny part happened when I did a wikipedia search for “Chili + Macaroni”, expecting to find some historical reference. What I did find was …

The Meal, Ready-to-Eat — commonly known as the MRE — is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging bought by the United States military for its servicemembers for use in combat or other field conditions where organized food facilities are not available. The MRE replaced the canned MCI or Meal, Combat, Individual rations in 1981 and is the intended successor to the lighter LRP ration developed by the United States Army for Special Forces and Ranger patrol units in Vietnam.

I KNEW there was a reason I liked this stuff…

Seriously, I have several hours of online courses to review and various chances to demonstrate my proficiency at the drivel contained within said online courses. So will get on with the post and thence back to my online, at will, self-lead, torture…

The key to good chili mac is the chili, and I make some of the best, see my article on Texas Red – Chili, the pasta while a part of the name just adds filling to make sure there is enough meal to fill all the plates.

About that chili …

Texas red if it walks the thin line just this side of indigestibility: damning the mouth that eats it and defying the stomach to digest it, the ingredients are hardly willing to lie in the same pot together.

If one looks at all the legends of how chili was discovered, there is one thing in common…. ABJECT POVERTY, so the meat involved is not going to be the best, but since it will be close to the horn or the hoof, I am sure it will have flavor beyond compare

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Spaghetti, Butter and Herbs

It is cooler but still rather hot to cook, so where ever I can, I’m doing quick, simple, and cool. Pasta is a Mediterranean dish, and is suited for warm humid climes, (similar to NYC in late August.)

This is a very simple, very light sauce, that has massive flavor. Simply small garlic cloves sauteed in butter until they turn golden brown and infuse the butter with their sweetness, then drained fresh pasta is added to the pan and tossed to coat, as a finishing touch, a handful of mixed / minced herbs are added and the whole is tossed to mix. Add a dusting of fresh grated Parmesan, a side salad and some garlic bread, a complete meal, quick, simple, and spectacular.

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Ultimate Grilled Cheese

It’s much cooler upstate, but the several hours long trek to get there and then the inevitable traffic jam to get to the grocery store and then to my house on the hill has left me rather ravenous.

Food is called for and it is needed quickly, but I just refuse to do one more set of hot dogs on the grill, I want something with a bit more taste, almost like comfort food.

Classic comfort food is grilled cheese and soup, I’ll pass the soup today, but a good grilled cheese sandwich is a work of art.

Considering the construction of a perfect grilled cheese, I turn to my trusty chill box, where I found sour dough bread, Munster cheese, bacon, Prosciutto, bacon drippings, pickles, and of course butter… This looks like heart attack al la grilled cheese…

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Bacon, Peppers, Spaghetti

A quiet night with no denizens / crowd / roaring crowd, time for a simple meal, with maybe a bit of healthy tossed in

Instead of my usual butter I’ll use olive oil, and my standard bacon but one can use prosciutto, (one can replace the meat entirely with mushrooms, say chopped / sliced portabello for a vegetarian meal.)

Just because this is “healthy food”, does not mean using “low fat / low taste” products. High quality ingredients are essential to a good and satisfying taste, and a good and satisfying taste is essential… I.E. Go Cheap and weep …

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Fried Zucchini Chips

Last night we, (my fellow employees, my employer and I ) celebrated my 10 year anniversary with my current employer.

The event was at a local tavern / restaurant, (surprise, surprise), but one of the snacks server was a wonderful zucchini chip, breaded, deep fried, and hit with a touch of sea salt. These were so good the remoulade dipping sauce, (while delicious), was not needed.

Very much a dish from my youth. Fresh from the garden squash, (yellow, summer, crook-neck, or zucchini), sliced thin, tossed in seasoned corn meal and quick fried, usually served hot. (actually, back in the day, we just stood around the stove grabbing pieces off the plate as they came out for the frying pan.)

Background
Squashes generally refer to four species of the genus Cucurbita native to Mexico and Central America, natively grown in parts of North America, Europe, India, and Australia. In North America, squash is loosely grouped into summer squash or winter squash, as well as autumn squash depending on whether they are harvested as immature vegetables (summer squash) or mature vegetables (autumn squash or winter squash). Well known types of squash include the pumpkin and zucchini.

When used for food, squash are usually picked when under 8in/20cm in length and the seeds are soft and immature. Mature squash can be as much as three feet long, but are often fibrous and not appetizing to eat. Squash with the flowers attached are a sign of a truly fresh and immature fruit, and are especially sought by many people.

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Chicken Salad from Smoked Chicken

As I have said before:

So what’s so great about smoked whole chicken?

This is like the 60’s. If you can remember them, you were not there… Likewise, if you have not had smoked chicken, you just don’t know …. Imagine a roasted chicken bathed in flavorful smoke and slow cooked to the point where it melts in your mouth.

Now take that juicy, smokey, tender chicken and add fresh spring veggies and a home made mayo, put it on fresh ciabatta with a slice of raw onion, ….. (maybe a slice of jalapeño for a little rogue chef kick…)

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