Food

River

Active member
Share your favorite recipes here.

Or tell of your favorite dishes. Or restaurants....

Or ... anything about food at all. Just food. Eats. Grubs....

Also, food memories -- best, worst, indifferent.... Anything, really.

Oh, and a question: What are your favorite quick and easy (to make) lunches, dinners, breakfasts?
 
Breakfast Quesadillas
(a quick and easy, yummy breakfast)

It begins with something like an omelette, only you don't fold it over as omelettes generally are. Think of this as a simple disc of egg, rather then using scrambled eggs. If it pleases you to add cooked sausage crumbles or bacon bits to it, go for it. Flip it over and cook it through, ideally in a non-stick pan about (roughly) the diameter of your tortillas.

Transfer your egg disk to a plate.

Lay a tortilla (the wheat kind, not the corn) in the hot (not too hot!), lightly oiled skillet. Sprinkle this with cheese. Cheddar is good, but any good melting cheese will do. Allow the cheese to melt some, so that it's a bit sticky.

Place your egg disk on this cheesy tortilla. Be sure it sticks to the tortilla. You may choose to add bacon bits or sausage -- and/or sauteed garlic (onion, peppers, mushrooms) at this point. Ideally, everything atop is hot while added. This helps the next layer of cheese to melt and become sticky. Be sure not too add too much stuff!! A little is fine, and if you add to much stuff it won't flip over easily.

Sprinkle this layered concoction with a little more cheese. Don't overdo it. It's just there so it will hold together when you flip the quesadilla over.

Place your second tortilla atop this melted cheese. (Be sure it's melted enough that it will stick together. Press it into the melted cheese with your spatula.) But try not to burn the bottom tortilla in the process! If it seems to take too long you can flash melt this cheese in the oven.)

If all layers are now stuck together well enough, you should be able to use a large spatula to flip it all upside-down in the same pan. (This flipping process may take a little skill development. It has to be quick, but not so quick that it ends up on the floor. LOL) Flip it over and let it sit a moment so the other tortilla crisps or browns ever so slightly (or gets 'done' to your satisfaction').

Cut into quarters (or smaller pieces) on a cutting board, much as you'd cut a pizza. But don't use a pizza cutting "wheel". Use a good kitchen knife. And the cutting motion is not a "sawing" motion, but more of a downward press motion.

Congratulations!

Top with salsa.

Eat. (Either with a fork or as finger food, like pizza. But let it cool a little if eating as finger food.)

(You can make the same thing using scrambled eggs, but it's more challenging to flip it over if your eggs are scrambled. Also, the 'omelette' approach allows you to easily regulate the thickness and diameter of your egg portion.)
 
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I'm addicted to deviled eggs.
 
I find they're tastier when someone else makes them. :eek:
 
I find they're tastier when someone else makes them. :eek:

Yes, because ...

http://www.polyamory.com/forum/showpost.php?p=315218&postcount=2

You really should learn a simple recipe or two, KDT, and practice at it until you've mastered it. Once you get into the swing of it you'll find the kitchen is an interesting place to be creative and have fun. Besides, everyone must eat. And not all good things are found in plastic bags which require only a moment in the microwave.
 
I also enjoy deviled egg. They are not really difficult to make - just somewhat tedious and time consuming. Otoh - I don't really care for most of the ready made ones that you find at grocery store deli's. A lot of that is about adding the spices and extras that you like - instead of taking what they have at the deli.

Quick "creamy" low calorie - low carb cold treat:
No sugar added almond milk (plain or vanilla).
Crushed ice.
Splenda or other zero-low calorie sweetener.
Add whatever else you like -
Sugar free coffee flavorings (0 cal, 0 carb) - Caramel, S'mores, Hazelnut
And stir -
Or a teaspoon or two of sugar free pudding mix.
Or add fruit (strawberries are a good low carb choice) - and throw in a blender.
 
When I want to impress someone with my mad cooking skills but don't want to spend too much time...

Creamy garlic chicken

I take a couple chicken breasts and cut them up (probably would be more impressive to leave them whole). Brown these in a large skillet with some olive oil. I cook the chicken until it is just done. Once done remove and set aside. To the skillet add 1cup heavy cream, half cup of chicken stock, a heaping teaspoon of garlic powder, heaping teaspoon of Italian herb blend, and a half cup of grated Parmesan cheese. While that's cooking I boil a pot of pasta.

Add half a cup of sun dried tomatoes. When the sauce starts getting thick add the chicken back in. Add a couple handfuls of fresh chopped spinach. Finally, ad the pasta. The key to good pasta is to cook it just a little short of al dente. Put it in a colander and run some cold water over it. That stops the cooking process. It will cook the rest of the way when you add it to the dish at the end to heat it back up.

This is the first thing I made for Bella. She liked it so much she wants me to make it every time I come home. I'm like, "But I have so many more things I like to cook." I think her secret plan is to eventually have me cook every day I am home.
 
A lot of that is about adding the spices and extras that you like - instead of taking what they have at the deli.

I recommend trying smoked paprika to anyone who has not tried it. Yum! Not all paprika is smoked, of course.
 
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Creamy garlic chicken

Sounds good. And easy-ish. I'll try it.

Have you tried it using fresh garlic? (e.g., crushed)

I don't keep garlic powder on hand and tend to use fresh. I'm not sure anyone could tell the difference(?). But 'serious cooks' tend to prefer fresh, it seems. I think fresh garlic might contribute a little ... je ne sais quoi.
 
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Here's a weird little food story that will also act as a glimpse into my quirky personality.

So... my partner and I are walking to the weekly meditation group we lead, when it became apparent that we'd need to 'prime' the donation basket (donations pay for the space rental). But all we had was a hundred dollar bill. So, as we walked past a nice (but rather expensive) foodie shop on our way I stopped in to change the 100 dollar bill. I needed to buy something, but quickly.

So I found myself looking at a shelf full of various canned and bottled sauces and condiments, many I'd never even heard of. On this shelf was a 8 oz plastic squeeze bottle of what was labelled Sriracha Aioli. Perfect! I have never heard of the stuff! Perfect. I grabbed that and bought it on the fly, knowing nothing much about it other than it had some level of spiciness (which I generally love). I thought to myself, "I'll 'google' it when I get home."

Participating in this thread today signaled the time to do this googling. It's basically a mayonnaise based sauce, with garlic and sriracha (a Thai chili sauce) mixed in. I was familiar with sriracha already, as I love Thai food. The word "aioli" was vaguely familiar, but aioli sauces were more familiar.

Sauces often make all of the difference. I'll be trying this product soon, now that I know what to do with it. Is often used as a dip for french fries or as a hamburger or vegetable sauce. Seems to be pretty versatile.

I suppose all of the foodies reading here will find it strange that I wasn't sure what an aioli was, or how to pronounce it. (Yes, I've eaten it a million times in restaraunts, but without knowing its name....) But thank heaven for dictionary.com, which has an audio clip for its word pronunciations. https://www.dictionary.com/browse/aioli
 
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Sounds good. And easy-ish. I'll try it.

Have you tried it using fresh garlic? (e.g., crushed)

I don't keep garlic powder on hand and tend to use fresh. I'm not sure anyone could tell the difference(?). But 'serious cooks' tend to prefer fresh, it seems. I think fresh garlic might contribute a little ... je ne sais quoi.

I use fresh in some dishes. I think the powder gives it more even flavoring. In this dish I might crush several whole cloves and fish them out at the end. I love garlic so I would probably my crush and mince some and leave it in if I was making only for myself. However, some people don't like to bite into a piece of garlic.

I've made this out on the road in my truck. Garlic powder is way easier to vary around and use.
 
One time my mother accidentally grabbed the chili powder instead of paprika for her deviled eggs. That was awesome. Now I always do a few like that for me.
 
I use fresh in some dishes. I think the powder gives it more even flavoring. In this dish I might crush several whole cloves and fish them out at the end. I love garlic so I would probably my crush and mince some and leave it in if I was making only for myself. However, some people don't like to bite into a piece of garlic.

Ahh. These days, "crushed garlic," for me, means garlic having been crushed through a garlic press. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garlic_press So there are no large pieces to fish out of a dish. There are lots of tiny pieces which blend in nicely.
 
Tacos

Every Friday evening a restaurant here in Santa Fe offers a taco special, with all of the various kinds of tacos on offer being only $2 each, or maybe a few cents over -- with none being more than $2.50 each. Beer (good stuff, too) is also $2. So my friends and I often meet up there for this special deal. The tacos are all excellent, and different enough from "conventional" tacos to be interesting and good. Not that there's anything wrong with conventional tacos. But I like this diversity of deviations from "conventional". (It being a weekly special, you don't see 'em on the regular menu - https://www.cafesonder.com/menus )

I generally get three tacos and at least one beer each time. I'll describe the varieties later, in a future post. I'll be back this evening to refresh my memory.

Tacos are a lot like sandwiches, omelettes and pasta, in that what you put in them can be quite various. Even the "shell" of the taco can vary a lot, like bread in a sandwich or pasta with its pairing of sauce or topping.

Anyone can make tacos. And anyone can figure out a unique way of filling them. And the shells can be soft or 'crunchy', of yellow, white or blue corn ... or some combination thereof. What could be more versatile?

Do you enjoy tacos? Do you make your own? What do you put in 'em?
 
Here's an article on tacos which shows how diverse people can get with tacos.

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/recipe-collections-favorites/quick-easy/taco-recipes

Things had changed at the restaurant I mentioned yesterday, and we were all confused, thinking that the tacos had gone from two dollars to five dollars a piece. In actuality, we learned, they had simply changed from selling individual tacos to selling two on a plate for around five bucks. We all -- my partner and friend and I -- ended up ordering the Street Tacos plate (which is on the regular menu), instead. It had chunks of beef -- something I rarely eat (preferring turkey and chicken, or even bison when eating meat). These were ten dollars a plate, though. So we're all agreed to order the other taco special next time. If we're still hungry after eating two tacos we could order another plate, or two, and share.

Would you believe I'm planning to make breakfast tacos this morning? I guess I'm fixating a bit? These will be simple -- just scrambled eggs, shredded cheese and ... you guessed it, a bit of that Sriracha Aioli I mentioned here the other day (maybe). That and maybe a little ordinary taco salsa as an option. Sometimes I put turkey sausage in my breakfast tacos (with the eggs), but not today.
 
Personally, I like authentic Mexican food. I can't stand what I call "yuppie Mexican food". No squash in my Chile Rellenos thank you.

As for tacos, tacos de lengua is by far my favorite. That's beef tongue.
 
Personally, I like authentic Mexican food. I can't stand what I call "yuppie Mexican food". No squash in my Chile Rellenos thank you.

I also like authentic Mexican food, very much so. But this won't stop me from also enjoying innovative riffs on the theme. Nosiree. Those are often good too.

Also, it's worth mentioning that authentic mexican tacos can be vastly more diverse than we Americans might imagine if we haven't traveled extensively throughout Mexico.

I live in a city which was once within Mexico -- Santa Fe, New Mexico. And, contrary to the uninformed opinions of some, our unique local / regional cuisine is nothing more or less than a regional Mexican cuisine. I am also a card carrying and certified chili addict, aficionado, zealot and devotee. Most Mexican food involves or includes chili, of course, but nowhere on Earth is chili so central and revered as it is in my little town.

Perhaps the variation on the Mexican food theme you call "yuppie Mexican food" should be called something which has less of a economic class connotation? After all, I enjoy some of this culinary innovation myself, but can't afford (at least not often) to dine in "yuppie" spots, and don't really much care for "yuppies". I don't want my culinary proclivities to be associated with yuppies.

I also listen to jazz, blues, rock and roll, pop, folk ... African, Indian and a thousand other kinds of music. I think music genres and food genres are similar in various respects with regard to the question of "authenticity". What folks often mean by "authentic" is really "traditional". There are good and bad riffs on both musical and culinary tradition. I like the good ones. AND I love the traditional ones, too.
 
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"tacos"

PS -

Millions of Americans have never had an authentic (that is, traditional) taco. What they think of as tacos are perfectly described in this fellow's blog post:

My mom would start by putting ground hamburger meat into a big pan. As it cooked she mixed a packet of store-bought taco seasoning into it. (Actually, for all I know you mix the meat and seasoning first; I’ve never had the dubious distinction of authoring a batch of these tacos.) While that was browning up she would chop a head of lettuce, dice a few tomatoes, and if things were getting crazy maybe even dice an onion. When all this was done we’d shove it in into bright yellow “crispy” tortillas. I don’t think we even knew the word tortilla, we just said taco shells. The taco shells had been deep fried weeks before in a factory, and as I recall the packaging went to some lengths to make sure they weren’t all smashed to bits. Over these little Frito pockets we would shake shredded cheddar cheese, drizzle some jarred salsa and maybe even blob a little sour cream. Voila! C’est le tacos.

quote source: https://roguepriest.net/2014/05/21/how-are-authentic-mexican-tacos-different-from-american-tacos/

And here the blogger just gets a bit silly.:

A Genus Not a Species

The other cool thing about tacos in Mexico is that it’s not really just a single dish. There are hundreds of types of tacos. And while the word usually means the thing I described above, “taco” is family of foods, with all kinds of strange taco relatives hanging out together:

Taco: it’s a taco
Burrito: it’s a really big taco
Quesadilla: it’s a taco with cheese
Gringa: it’s a really big taco with cheese
Sincronazada: it’s two tacos smashed together with cheese
Enchilada: it’s a taco smothered in spicy sauce
Enmolada: it’s a taco smothered in mole sauce
Taco Sudado: it’s a steamed taco
Flauta: it’s a deep-fried taco
Chimichanga: I’ve never actually seen these in Mexico, but if they exist it’s a really big deep-fried taco
 
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The regional Cuisines of today's Mexico.

(I say "today's Mexico" because ... well, because of the map changes following the Mexican–American War.)

https://www.picos.net/the-seven-regions-of-mexican-cuisine/

Others argue, and I agree with them, that New Mexico, which is now land held by the USA, has its own unique regional, traditional Mexican cuisine, just as all of the ones listed in above the link do. New Mexico may no longer be part of Old Mexico, but our regional traditional cuisine certainly is. And we do have our own little thing going on here, we really do.
 
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