All Things in Moderation

My annual contrib to the meal is apple cranberry currant pie.

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Hi all,

The Goose got loose on Friday and came down here for dinner. I decided to ask her for her favorite protein (beef or lamb), starch (rice), and veg (tomato or cuke this time of year). The selections seemed to cry out for a curry. Rogan Josh with basmati rice, a masala tomato salad and a nice raita would do the trick. Then I got to researching an upcoming trip to San Diego. I had this great dish and watned to try it again, but couldn’t remember what it was called. I wound up using Urban spoon and searching on Mexican restaurants in Chula Vista. Bingo! I saw a place called Birrieria Don Rafa, checked out its address and knew I had found it.

What is Birria? It’s a stew (thank you, Hank Azaria). It’s related to molé in that one makes a paste from rehydrated chiles. Instead of ladling a bit of molé sauce onto the meat, one braises the meat in the sauce until it breaks down. Beef, goat or lamb are all traditional. So I shifted the menu to south of the border. Cook some black beans, some nice yellow rice, and prepare a cucumber/tomato salsa. And, of course, birria.

So, now that I knew what I wanted to make, the question was how to do it. After looking through various recipes, I combined a couple. There’s a cooking and life blog called the Almost Fearless Kitchen. I liked her method and explanation. I also checked out recipes from a favorite source, Pati Jinich. She used to have a show on WETA called Pati’s Mexican kitchen. Turns out that she doesn’t have a recipe for birria, but her barbacoa recipe appealed to me. So, I combined aspects of the two recipes. I promised Goose to get her my “recipe” (hah!), so I thought I’d post it here as well. I want to make this again, so writing it down is useful to me as well.

Both recipes had aspects that I liked. Almost Fearless had a nice explanation for using several different peppers. Building layers of flavor and all that. I liked the additional liquid in Pati’s approach and didn’t feel a need to strain the paste. Just add additional liquid and let it all rock. I wound up over-salting the dish a bit, but the Goose likes her salt. As I couldn’t take the day off, I got up early to prep the sauce, brown the meat and toss everything in the slow cooker.

http://kitchen.almostfearless.com/birria-the-mexican-stew-that-cures-anything/

http://www.patismexicantable.com/2012/02/lamb_barbacoa_in_adobo/

Almost Patti’s Birria

Ingredients

Carne: 4 pounds of meat (see notes)
Chiles: 6 guajillo chiles, 6 ancho or mulato chiles, 12 cascabel chiles (see notes)

Spice blend:
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon ground all spice
1 teaspoon salt

Paste additions:
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 medium tomato, cut into quarters (or eighths if you’re ambitious)
10 garlic cloves

3 bay leaves
1 onion
Salt to taste (I used 4 tbsp of coarse sea salt)

Notes:

I used two pounds of bone in lamb shanks and two pounds of goats meat. Both are traditional in birria, though I doubt using both is. A good chuck roast would work pretty well too. You’ll want an inexpensive cut that breaks down while braising.

I couldn’t find cascabel chiles at the local market (Global Foods, which finally came in to replace a departed Giant). So, I picked up some mulatos and pasillos. Something I like about this dish is that you can adjust the heat level pretty easily by changing your selection of chiles. Just be sure to use a combination.

Method

1. Toast the chiles

Remove the seeds from the chiles (you’ll want gloves for this if you want to touch anything sensitive later in the day) and toast them in a pan. I tossed them into the toaster oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.

2. Rehydrate the chiles

Add 2 cups of boiling water to the chiles and let sit for 20 minutes. Pati called for adding 5 cups of water to the toasted chiles and putting on a burner for 15 minutes. 2 cups of this water are used to make the paste. Fearless called for adding a cup of boiling water to the chiles. I liked the simplicity of adding boiling water to the chiles and have a nice electric kettle. I was going for more liquid and liked Fearless’s approach, so I just added 2 cups of boiling water to the chiles to rehydrate them.

3. Make the paste

Throw the chiles and their water along with the spices into a blender. I used some whole spices, so ground everything up in a retired coffee grinder. Add the vinegar, onion, tomato, and garlic gloves. Blend everything until you get a smooth puree.

4. Brown the meat.

Oven braise method: Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Put a heavy bottomed pot or dtuch oven over medium heat. Meanwhile, cut the meat into 1” – 2” chunks. Add a tablespoon or so of oil to the pan. Once it’s shimmering (not smoking!), add the meat in a single level. You might need to do this in batches. Cook the meat until browned on several sides and remove to a bowl. Once all the meat is browned, return any meat set aside to the pot. Cover with water or low sodium stock, add the paste and bring to a light boil. Cover and put in the oven. Cook until the meat is tender and breaking down.

Slow cooker method: Put a pan suitable for browning meat (luv luv luv my cast iron pan for this) over heat. Meanwhile, cut the meat into 1” – 2” chunks. Add a tablespoon or so of oil to the pan. Once it’s shimmering (not smoking!), add the meat in a single level. You might need to do this in batches. Cook the meat until browned on several sides and put in the slow cooker. Once all the meat is browned, cover with water or low sodium stock, add the paste and put the slow cooker on high. Once the dish is up to a boil, turn the slow cooker to low and go do something useful. Come back in about 8 – 10 hours. If the meat isn’t falling off the bone tender, turn the heat back up to high and cook until ready.

Once this puppy is ready, serve over rice and have sides available. Rice, black beans, minced white onion, cilantro, salsa, and tortillas. They’re all good baby.

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Hi all,

My better half recently celebrated her 13th 29th birthday. As per usual, I make a dinner in her honor and we have a friend or two over. This night, it was just the fabulous Ms. Cox. The request was for something on the lighter side, including a chilled soup. So, I went with the idea of soup, salad, a light entree and dessert. I was supposed to make a fabulous caramel corn from Bluestem (our favorite KC restaurant), but ran out of gas. I abbreviated it by making spiced nuts and serving them with a wedge of blue cheese (Rogue is fantastic for those who haven’t tried their cheeses).

Soup was easy. I planned on asparagus, but didn’t see anything I liked, so shifted to a cucumber, mint and yogurt version (Epicurious has the link). The main was easy too. Scallops have become a favorite of ours. Just get some hot oil (clarified butter is amazing), sear them, and add to a base. I planned on a mango sauce as we had a couple that were sitting around. Too long as it happens as they’d gone rotten under the skins. A roasted tomato sauce subbed nicely.

The salad is my reason for writing this post. Etto is an Italian restaurant in DC with a starter they call Celery, Celery, Celery and Walnut. The Post recently, umm, posted their recipe. This is one that takes you to $100 per person dining at a $5 per plate cost. The ingredient list is deceptively simple: celery, Chinese celery, walnuts, cheese and dressing. The Chinese variant is typically cooked, but has a great flavor. It takes a surprising amount of time to prepare, mainly as peeling celery takes awhile. It kept clogging my Oxo peeler, but was worth the wait.

Ingredients

6 – 8 celery ribs, outer side peeled and thinly sliced (about 1 cup)

1 cup chopped celery leaves from inside of the bunch (use the rest to make stock)

1 cup chopped Chinese celery

1 ½ cups chopped Chinese celery leaves

½ cup toasted and chopped walnuts

1/3 cup olive oil (use the good stuff)

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon fresh orange juice

½ tsp. salt

½ tsp. black pepper

2 oz. pecorino Romano cheese, shaved into curls

Method

Toss it all together and have fun. I tossed the celery and leaves, whisked together the olive oiive oil, juices, salt and pepper and tossed that all together, put onto plates and topped with cheese. It can’t hurt to reserve a few of the leaves as a garnish.

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I arrived in Costa Rica on Monday night after far too long an absence from my favorite home away from home. We started taking our sons their for a month in the summertime a few years ago. I was going to be away at a conference and my better half (Keen) was offered work out of town that overlapped my conference. Rather than give up on work at a slow time and lacking a kennel in which to put the boys, we worked out something else. I flew down to Costa Rica with them, dropped them off with their grandmother, and flew back to DC before going on to my conference. Keen flew down after finishing her assignment and spent the rest of August. It worked out so well, that they’ve spent 4 – 6 weeks in Costa Rica every summer since then. In honor of our annual trip, I thought I’d post a few of my favorites that I associate with Costa Rica, one way or another.

Breakfast – Gallo Pinto

Every country in Central America claims to have invented Gallo Pinto, but the Ticos do it best. I say this with absolute confidence, never having visited Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, or Panama (and let’s not forget Belize). My confidence in Costa Rican Gallo Pinto is that I can’t imagine having it without Salsa Lizano. It’s the same general class of condiment as steak sauce in the US and relish in the UK (Worcestershire sauce is one of many). It’s rice and beans with a twist.

Ingredients

1/4 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of white rice, cooked
2 cups, black beans, cooked (or 1 can, drained)
1 medium onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, (you guessed it) minced
1 bell pepper, (and wait for it) minced
Salsa Lizano or other seasoning, to taste

optional: cilantro leaves or diced tomato for garnish

Method

Heat oil in a heavy frying pan and add the minced veggies. Cook until soft and then add the rice. Stir for a bit until warmed and mixed with the veggies, then add the black beans. Season well with Salsa Lizano. I like to let it cooked unstirred for a bit to build up a crust on the bottom or just cook and stir until hot. This is a staple of Costa Rican kitchens, usually served at breakfast with tortillas, queso duro (hard cheese) and scrambled eggs. Garnish with cilantro leaves or some diced tomato if you like. It’s great with some mango or papaya on the side.

Lunch – Ceviche

Peruvians hold claim to this sushi from the south and you can usually get the best ceviche at a restaurant run by Peruvians. I had my first taste of ceviche at a little joint near Manuel Antonio, a national park on the Pacific coast. The basic concept is simplicity itself. Cut up fresh fish into rough dice–dorado (mahi-mahi) and corvina (sea bass) and cover with lime juice. The juice “cooks” the fish, firming it up as if it had been cooked with heat. The acid should also kill off various beasties, but this is not the same as cooking, so you need to use high quality fish. Make sure it’s sushi grade for salmon unless you want to risk a tapeworm. After a period varying from a few minutes to hours (depending upon the fish and how you like it), drain and toss with minced onion, tomato, possibly some chiles, and cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips and, if you’re Costa Rican, salsa rosada. This “rose sauce” is a mixture of ketchup and mayo, but we like to use plain yogurt instead. Tangy and tasty.

I’ll add a pair of recipes from a book on ceviche that was given to me by a friend. Guillermo Pernot, the author, was the chef-owner of ¡Pasion! in Philadelphia (since closed) and now is the concept chef of the Cuba Libre restaurants. The first of these combines whole bay scallops with a blackened tomatillo salsa and truffel oil. Indulgent and a favorite of mine for parties. The second recipe combines sea scallops with grapefruit for a colorful presentation. Make sure to use high quality scallops; wet pack won’t do.

Bay Scallop Ceviche with Truffle Tomatillo Salsa

1 pound fresh, untreated bay scallops or sea scallops, trimmed and quartered
1 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons finely diced red
2 tablespoons finely diced serrano chilies (specialty Latin
1 tablespoon kosher salt

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 pound fresh tomatillos, husks removed, rinsed
1/2 pound ripe plum tomatoes
1 red onion, quartered and unpeeled
1 jalapeno chili
4 cachucha chilies
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 cup fresh lime juice
3 tablespoons truffle oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons crushed platano chips (recipe follows)
12 whole platano chips

1. Combine the lime juice, orange juice, onion, serrano chilies and salt. Add the bay scallops and toss to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

2. In a large saute pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil over moderately high heat. Add the tomatillos, tomatoes, onion, and chiles. Cachucha chiles look like habañeros, but without so much heat. You can use a couple more jalapeños instead. I often toss all the ingredients with oil and broil them in the toaster oven. Works about the same. Let the blackened veggies cool and stir in the cilantro. Pulse in a food processor until chopped, but chunky. Pernot likes to use a meat grinder for a different texture. Combine the vegetable mixture with the lime juice, truffle oil, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning, cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day.

3. Put it all together. Drain and discard the liquid marinade. In a medium bowl, combine the marinated scallops with most of the blackened tomatillo-truffle sauce. Cover and refrigerate 20 minutes to marinate. When ready to serve, drain the scallops of excess liquid, and toss with the remaining blackened tomatillo-truffle sauce. Adjust the seasoning, adding salt and pepper if necessary. Divide the ceviche among soup spoons laid on a platter. Sprinkle with crushed plantain chips just before serving, accompanied by bowls of plantain chips.

You can make plantain chips on your own by frying planks of green plantains in oil and draining on paper towels. Or just buy a bag of them.

Sea Scallop Ceviche with Grapefruit and Radishes

1/2 pound of sea scallops, cut into two rounds each
3/4 cup of ceviche marinade
2 ruby grapefruit
6 red radishes
1 lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons(
pinch hot pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tablespoon chiffonade of basil (regular or Thai)
1 tablespoon chiffonade of mint

Combine the scallops with the marinade and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Slice away the skin and membranes from the grapefruit and set aside. Combine the lime juice, pepper flakes (if using), salt, and herbs. Thinly slice the radishes and add half the juice/herb mixture. Drain the scallops of the marinade and add the remaining juice & herbs. Divide the scallop rounds into four plates. Place the grapefruit segments around the outside and a pile of radish juliennes in the center.

Marinade for Ceviche

1/2 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
2 tsp. kosher salt

Afternoon – Bebidas

I’m sure you’re a bit thirsty from that walk along the beach and could use something refreshing. I would suggest jugo en leche (mango or papaya, blended with milk) or pipa for non-alcoholic drinks. For the latter, grab a green coconut, whack off the top with a machete, and stick a straw in it. Lacking a green coconut or a machete, you can always pick up some coconut water at the market. It also makes a great piña colada. Use the coconut water instead of that stuff in a can, blend with fresh pineapple and rum and enjoy. As long as we’re discussing alcoholic beverages, I might suggest a nice, cold Imperial (which you can sometimes find in the US) or a Cuba Libre (rum and coke with lime juice).

Dinner – Black Bean Risotto

Let’s head over to the other side of Costa Rica, also known as the Mosquito Coast. Many Caribbean workers came to Costa Rica to build the railway between San José and Limón, on the Caribbean coast. Many stayed, giving that coast a distinct cultural and culinary flavor. We spent our honeymoon in Punta Cocles, about two hours south of Limón and just north of the Panamanian border. It was the worst road I’d ever driven. At times, it seemed there were more potholes than highway. Once you get there, it’s worth the drive. We hung out and had a lot of good food. One dish that stood out for me was the Caribbean style rice and beans. It’s made with coconut milk and served with chilero, a spicy vegetable mix of bell pepper, carrot rounds, and hot peppers (habañeros), all steeped in vinegar. Some time later, I had the idea of making a risotto with black beans and used this dish as my inspiration.

Ingredients

Brodo
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk (2/3 of a can)
½ cup dry white wine (or more broth)

Soffritto
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/3 cup finely minced onion

Riso
1 ½ cups short grain rice (Arborio or Carnoli, though sushi rice works well)
1 ½ cups cooked black beans or 1 can, drained and rinsed

Condimenti
½ cup coconut milk (1/3 can)
½ bunch cilantro, washed, thick stems removed, chopped to make about ¼ cup
Queso duro or fresco, crumbled for garnish

Method

1. Bring broth to a steady simmer in a saucepan on the stove. Add coconut milk and return to simmer.
2. Heat the butter and oil in a heavy casserole or dutch oven over med. heat. Add the onion and sauté for 1 to 2 minutes until it softens.
3. Add the rice to the soffrito, stir using a wooden spoon until the grains are thoroughly coated. Add the wine and stir until it is completely absorbed. Add the simmering broth, ½ cup at a time. Stir frequently until almost completely absorbed and add the next ½ cup.
4. Add coconut milk and cilantro and remove from heat. Stir completely to combine with the rice. Add the black beans near the end of cooking.
5. Put the risotto on serving dishes. Sprinkle with crumbled queso. Top with chilero or serve on the side. This dish is also good when topped with grilled shrimp or fresh mango.

Serves 4.

Chilero

8 chiles, preferably Scotch bonnet or Habañero
1 large onion, yellow or sweet (Vidalia)
1 large or several small carrots
1 red bell pepper
Cider or white vinegar

Cut the onion and bell pepper into 1/2″ chunks. Peel the carrot(s) and slice into rounds. Wearing gloves, cut the chiles in half and remove the seeds. Toss all vegetables and put in a large mason jar. Fill to the top with vinegar. I like cider vinegar for this recipe, but white vinegar should do as well. White wine vinegar might work, but isn’t really needed. Let sit for at least a week.

Dessert – Alfajores

These cookies are a favorite indulgence of mine. It’s two small sugar cookies with dulce de leche in the center and topped with powdered sugar. The cookies are made with cornstarch instead of flour and so are quite soft. They’re great with coffee, preferably Costa Rican of course.

Ingredients

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups cornstarch
1 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Zest of 1/2 lemon
Dulce de Leche

Method

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the remaining ingredients except the dulce de leche and coconut and mix well. Turn onto a floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.

Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch and cut into 2-inch rounds. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 300°F oven for 20 minutes. When cool, spread some dulce de leche on the bottom of half the cookies and make a sandwich with the remaining cookies. Squeeze the sandwiches so that some of the dulce de leche is squeezed out the sides, and roll the sides in the grated coconut. Makes about 12 cookie sandwiches. Dust with powdered sugar.

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The Ukelele Orchestra does Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. A great cover. BTW, it’s my opinion that “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is probably the most covered song of the 90s, and if it isn’t yet, it will be.

I liked the literal video phenomenon. A while back, I posted a literal video of Tears for Fears “Head over Heels”, which was hilarious and wonderful, and based on a song and a video that’s like 28 years old and has very little commercial value, especially when it comes to doing takedown notices on parodies . . . yet that’s what EMI did, so that awesome video is no longer available. Which is crazy. I understand copyright law, and, yes, it was using the music and video (set to different lyrics) . . . but it was an awesome parody that, at worst, might make people think about Tears for Fears when they hadn’t for 30 years. But whatever. This video parody of Creed’s much more recent “Arms Wide Open” is still up, for now, a feat accomplished by taking their original posting of the video (which was automatically removed), and flipping it horizontally so it doesn’t trigger YouTube’s automagic copyright violation detector.

Although I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before YouTube starts detecting backwards and reversed video and pulling that stuff down automatically as well.

•••

Massachusetts wants to tax you for having a computer and using it to access stuff. Well, actually, they want to tax the people who make that possible for you. Whether the company makes money on the data processing service they are providing or not. Really? A tax on “the cloud”? That’s just stupid.

Some people blame Wal-Mart’s crappy store management on a shortage of cheap labor. Or the minimum wage. Or whatever. However, I tend to suspect there is less a shortage of cheap labor than there is of people who want to labor cheaply at Wal-Mart. When you don’t pay much, having a crappy work environment or poorly managed stores isn’t going to attract the cheap labor that might find more amenable work environments for the same low price.

Also, some of the issue is likely bare bones staffing: underperforming stores don’t hire folks because the sales aren’t there, and the sales don’t come because no one is checking folks out or restocking the shelves or cleaning the aisles.

Dunno. Seems like the free market has an answer: hire a few more folks, maybe pay a little more, get your shelves stocked and stores cleaned and people in the checkout lines, and the sales come, and the profits follow. Not that Wal-Mart is in any danger of declaring bankruptcy.

•••

Apparently George Lucas intended for Indiana Jones to be a pedophile. That adds a new perspective to the character. Who knew?

•••

When blogs become ghost towns . . .

Now, I’ve done it myself, but I never had a huge following. I will occasionally pop back and announce I’ve moved here or there. Or not. Occasionally nurse ideas of going back to the blog, if it’s still there, and just start posting again. Then don’t.

But sometimes fairly popular blogs just stop, or seem to, without a word. I’m a big fan of Blue Sky Disney, which hasn’t had an update in over a month. Nearly two months now. Long delays have happened, but never quite so long, and never without some sort of post. He hasn’t even stopped by to update the comments, and he blogs anonymously so you have no idea if the dude got arrested, was assassinated by the Mickey Mouse Mafia, or just got hit by a truck or had a sudden heart attack. We may never know, and I find that a little disturbing. Anybody else ever had a blog you followed that disappeared, or just stopped, with no explanation?

•••

I was going to post this yesterday, but got distracted. Turns out, the current plan with the unified school system I’m working in (for those interested) is to basically erase all the old jobs under the already determined assistant superintendent positions, and make everybody apply for the new jobs. I believe the CIO, CFO and other similar positions are also already locked in, but everybody else has to reapply for new jobs that won’t necessarily be their old jobs and will likely pay less. Yay! Who says government can’t work like the private sector? 😉

BTW, they still haven’t come up with a name for the new unified school district. And it will open for business as a unified school system next year.

This is going to be a mess.

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