blast from the past pt2

These are notes post honeymoon from New Orleans...

Sunday - Father's day June 16 (2002)
Went to the Rodriguez's house
Great roast pork!!!
Yucca, mojo, black beans & rice

The Food Pimp made tres leches w/Sara Lee pound cake, whole milk, condensed milk, coconut milk, whipped cream


Monday
Vietnamese style rice vermicelli w/sauteed chix
Very good, even though CMG(cuban musical genius, formerly know as cuban white sauce) made fun of me...The secret was in the saute. I put sesame oil as pan heated up. Then I added vegetable oil & a little olive oil. When it was hot, I put a teaspoon of dried shrimp paste in, let it fry. Then I went to put the chicken in - let it brown,flip & serve.


Thursday night
Marinated several eye rounds in white vinegar, fish sauce, soy sauce, picka peppa, port, garlic, herbs, orange & lime zest



Crawfish & smoked oyster pasta w/buccatini (long macaroni) w/fresh tomato & garlic. It didn't taste really good until second day - The FP ate the rest for lunch :(

The next night - late night snack - smoked oyster & mushroom fried rice! Yummy! w/garlic



7/14?
Sunday night dinner - after a rough night out. CMG wanted sausage - after his 7 year aversion to the stuff - so we got chinese crawfish, green onion sausage, orzo pasta, pineapple guava, mango, cuke, lettuce. The FP made salad w/lime basil vin - very refreshing, although I think our jaws were sore.

I made crawfish sauce - brown sausage - remove, onion, tomatoesauce, bell peppers. Cooked down onion bell pepper - deglazed white wine, tomatoes, crawfish, braised sausage in sauce - it was bland, even with mushrooms, so I added about a teaspoon 1/2 of shrimp paste let it infuse. It livened up the crawfish w/out overpowering. Orzo I cooked with a little of the tomato broth from the pot. I think we all liked the actual sauce more than sausage which was more of a flavoring.


7/21? SOS dinner (I didn't go)
I looked in the kitchen to see what we have (which is almost nothing) I did find the spicy dilis (dried anchovies from Philippines). I crushed them in the spanish sauce bowl thing - not really a mortar & pestle. Then I worked in a little white vinegar as I continued to crush the fish. I added habanero sauce, white bals vin, brown sugar. I tried to think of what would go good w/it. Pork. I LOVE PORK - quite possibly my favorite meat! So I went to Sav A Center - home of bargain meat counter. I know it sounds scary - but I haven't gotten foodborne illness to my knowledge so far. I found nice ruby red grapefruit & ripe florida avocado. I'm not a big fan - even though that is my native state - but it's all about experience - trying to work w/what you have. And if the grapefruit was as good as I though - they would both go great with the dried anchovy sauce. My little secret. To go w/pork I opted for roast apples & pear. Of course- I wanted sweet potato, potato - but I forgot to buy them.

I knew we were low on hot sauce - so I looked for a fruit one - a fruit theme was definitely developing. In the middle of summer I crave fruit. I looked at the $3+ bottles & thought - ginger, fruit (mango) hot sauce - back to the produce aisle - then I remembered the old spicy tamarind candy at home (once again from Philippines) so, I got ginger & assorted peppers, Then on to meat! Pork loin or chops? Well, the longer the cook the better the flavor when marinated - so I got a whole loin for $12.45 w/bonus card. So when I got home, I put on hot sauce, thin sliced ginger, sliced peppers w/most seeds removed & tamarind candy - pit & all. Steeped in vinegar - tasted - acidic. Added water, little corn syrup, brown sugar - lots. It brought out the tamarind taste. Puree, strain, simmered 10 more minutes - let cool. My first hot sauce. I found that it was much less hot after it cooled. More peppers next time & carrot maybe.

For the pork - marinated in soy sauce, port wine, triple bock, picka peppa, salt, pepper, hot sauce. Sear, then roast in juices - I covered w/foil after 15 minutes, after 1/2 hour threw in sliced onion, deglazed w/water, hot sauce. Took about 1 hr 20 minutes - turned off oven, left in.

Roast apples pear - peeled, large dice - baked covered with butter, soy sauce, lime juice, salt - 15 minutes.

The FP made green rice.

Grapefruit, I was going to half and drizzle anchovy sauce - ended up sectioning & mixing w/avocado & anchovy sauce - fresh relish for pork. I don't think one person had a clue they were eating grapefruit & avocado w/dried anchovy puree on it!!! You couldn't sell that at a restaurant! My love for cooking is getting a refresher course!!!




So, yeah. I was young(er) and naive(r) and hopeful, and fun, and adventurous and full of promise back then. Look at me now......

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