mama did this one eh!
Okay, I took my first crack at cooking paella last Wednesday. I used a one
of the simplest recipes, “Tricolor Paella with Cheese, Anchovies, and
Almonds,” found in the Vegetable Paellas section of Penelope Casas’s
Paella!: Spectacular Rice Dishes From Spain. (I didn’t realize that
anchovies were vegetables.)
Anyway, I picked that recipe because we had all of the ingredients to
make it go, except the anchovies and the bell peppers, so it wouldn’t
cost us an arm and a leg to prepare it. Since I’m no longer working, I
have to be more conscious about keeping our arms and legs, uh… I mean
maintaining a modest food budget.
Of course, the anchovies turned out to be more expensive than I had
anticipated, because Dr. Biggles (bless him) brought home a whopping
ten-dollar, econo-sized can of anchovy fillets when I only needed six of
the little dudes. I don?t know what the hell I?m gonna do with all the
surplus fishies. Anchovy pancakes, anyone?
Please note: El Cerrito Natural does sells itty, bitty cans of anchovy
for $1.09, but they were fresh out that day.
Category Archives: supper
Kashmiri Kofta Curry
Mmmmkay, so here is a little yummy from my wife. Everything turned out just fine, as near as I could tell. I really enjoyed it, especially for a Wednesday’s supper.
However, IT finally happened. That’s right, the dreaded battery failure. Yeah yeah yeah, I know. If I’d used my old bitchen’ mechanical 35mm rigs I would have been able to continue. But using film cameras with web logs isn’t practical.
Anyway, first off the batteries died in my flash unit (commonly known as a ‘potato masher’). Okay, no biggie. I can live without a flash. I snapped off a shot of something and the battery in the camera went dead. No problem I have a backup battery that I charged the other day! … and promptly left it at work. Sigh. So I grabbed my wife’s digital camera, but I didn’t know its specs and got too damned close with it. All the really nice shots of the finished meal are WAY out of focus. Way out. Feh. At least the meal came out like it was supposed tah.
Go Mama:
Tonight’s dinner was Kashmiri Kofta Curry which I adapted from Indian
Food & Folklore edited by Jo Lethaby. It’s much spicier than our usual
fare, but the kids were out of the house and I wanted to have some
flavor on my plate. Never mind that the dish, although wonderful, was
still a bit too hot for me. Yes, I’m a wienie. Fortunately, it was
just right for Dr. Biggles, as would be for anyone else who can stand
the heat.
Chicken Cacciatore – sorta
Think back, back to that all night party that found you sicker than a dog (sorry canine lovers). You know how your mouth salivates right before you wretch? Yeah? Well, when I look at the pictures I took of this meal versus what it tasted like … that’s how I feel. Like wretching. Sure you’re thinking to yourself, “dang man, it’s just Chicken Cacciatore, lighten up pal.” Yeah, well you didn’t have any.
Keskou Merquez
preface – Many if not all of MeatHenge’s postings include yummy shots of the meal in question. Well, I got pictures this time, but the final shot (for me anyway) didn’t look all that enticing. However, all my fears disapeared when I took my first bite. The brother/sister taste of the Merquez sausage and the Kalamata olives was outstanding. As you dug through the bowl you got something warm and happy each time. I’m a big fan of the couscous, so I figured I’d eat it no matter what it looked like. I’m tellin’ ya, if you enjoy couscous write down this recipe and make damned sure you follow my wife’s changes, they’re necessary.
May 6th UPDATE: Well, it’s been a few days and we had our second round of leftovers last night. As long as you don’t store the couscous with the stewy portion of the meal, it keeps VERY well and tastes wonderful days later. XO
Here is Mama:
When Biggles introduced merguez to me several weeks ago, I became an instant fan of these flavor-packed little bundles of love. They are spicy, yet not hot, and they remind me of one of my all time favorite dishes — couscous. The rumor was Taylor had merguez available this week, I knew what I had to do…
Local Sausage News
Directly from The Fatted Calf, upcoming things this Saturday …
Mushroom Mayhem at the Market
That Taylor, he’s always thinking. When our friend Anthony, the part time mushroom picker showed up at the market a couple of weeks ago, Taylor grabbed him and asked for some goodies. What resulted will be ready for you to pick up at the Berkeley Market this Saturday. The Skinny Pork Sausage with Morels will be great on the grill or perfect with pasta this weekend, and the incredible Duck Pate with Porcini Mushrooms actually improves upon what we all thought was a pretty wonderful thing.
Southern Fried Chicken – revisited
Nothing says spring like a basket of home made Southern-like fried chicken. Well, almost Southern-like fried chicken. On March 15th, MeatHenge hosted a birthday party and what turned out to be a real Meat Fest. Other than the birthday girl we had a guest, John Bell from Alabama. He offered to make us some of his fried chicken, sounded great to all of us. Well, we thought we were watching pretty closely. Turns out it isn’t as easy as it looked. John’s Fry Cook Fu is stronger than we knew.
MEAT ALERT !!!
This just rolled in, hot off the presses. We don’t have much time, you must act right now.
Call the Fatted Calf immediately and order your Agniello Ripieno roast for Easter, Phone/Fax (510)653-4327.
Easter Special
Agnello Ripieno
Italian style Lamb Roast filled with Nicoise olives, orange zest and fresh pork sausage.
Price is $7.00/lb., approximate weight will be 5.5 to 6 pounds.
Each roast serves approximately six people and must be special ordered
by Wednesday April 7. For pick up at Berkeley Farmer’s market,
Saturday, April 10.
Go NOW.
Quiche with Red Chard and Kielbasa
Wow, what a weekend. I started my Saturday off by heading out to the Berkeley Farmer’s Market to visit my pals. I have to say, spring has sprung and people are out. The Fatted Calf had a row of customers 40 minutes before opening and Jan at Blue Bottle Coffee was swamped when I arrived soon after opening (10am). She qued me several times to jump in and make myself useful. That didn’t happen, I was still all twitterpated from the work week and ‘jumping in’ on a Saturday wasn’t a possibility, this time.
Since the weather was fair I decided to get myself some Hungarian Kielbasa from Taylor & Kim for some smokey barbecue love action later that same day.
And that is what I did. Around 3pm I fired up the smoker and got my hickory fire all warmed & spread nicely. In went a olive oil and herb flat chicky and I saved the kielbasa for the last hour and a half.
The chicken was served with Everett & Jone’s barbecue sauce, warmed ever so gently. IT WAS JUICY NICE !!! You are well aware of how juicy a chicken can be when cooked in your oven at home? It was that juicy coming out of the smoker. What a TREAT. The Kielbasa was rich and bright and just enough heat to make you smile. Since there were only two people for dinner, my wife and I (the chillins won’t eat smoked meatses), we saved half the kielbasa for Sunday’s meal.
We had to make a few more trips to the store, but later Sunday found my wife hard at work in the kitchen with pie dough. Here is where the remaining sausage met its divine end.
Mexican Refried Beans with Chocolate Sauce
Ha, okay I was ready to cook something out of a newspaper. Our local rag isn’t exactly known for its culinary surprises, but they try. This one they pulled from “Real Chocolate” by Chantal Coady. They list the carbs and so forth but for crissakes, it’s meatless black beans with no lard. If you’re worried about carbs & cholestrol in a meatless, lardless black bean dish you have some serious issues.
Southern Fried Chicken
Featuring Kallisti’s (my sister) Chicken Girl Doll. Check out her site for more pictures of that and many other infamous dolls of distinction.
This last Sunday was Uncle Cindy’s 50th birthday. What does the MeatHenge crew do for someone’s birthday? That’s right, cook a lot of meat. Sunday was no different. This time though, we had a guest celebrity that came all the way from Mobile Alabama to give us a demonstration for cooking Southern Fried Chicken. I know, the variances here are enormous, but I can’t dwell on that. I wanted to see what John Bell was up to.
Dinner suggestion – Ham Steak
Quick dinner suggestion 9-14a.
Here’s a quick way to have a really nice meal. Hamsteak. That’s right, a ham steak. My butcher usually has a ham he can cut a slice off of, but all grocery stores carry a nice ham steak. Just heat & serve. With this you can have a salad or any greenery. We usually go for the mashed potatoes (Z loves them the best).
Dang man, good fast meat.
Matt’s Niman Pork Roast
Earlier in the month K and I went to Occidental with another couple and all our kids and stayed the weekend in a very nice place. Secluded, with beautiful views, it belongs to an old family friend and I’ve been there many times over the years. Anyway, we ate. And yes, we ate meat. Namely a 9 lb Neiman pork roast with potatoes and carrots thrown in near the end to cook up in that nice pork fat. Check out that fat in the pic after we had cut into it. It was goood!
Thought you might like to see it.
http://www.mattheckert.com
Sukiyaki. That’s what SHE said.
We’ve been obsessed with Sukiyaki ever since we tried it at a little Japanese restaurant, Katana-Ya Ramen, up the street on San Pablo Ave. A very popular but tiny place. I dare you to try it on a weekend.
So, with 238,473 conflicting online recipes we decided to wing it and try figuring it out ourselves.
Campbells Cheesey Shrimpy Ricey Meal
I decided one day that I had a hankerin’ for a tasty dish that Mom used to fix for me when I was a youngin’. Cheesey Shrimps over rice! Damn that sounds good. But the hitch is that she used Campbells Cheddar Cheese Soup. Which I haven’t had in at least 10 years. Mrs. Meathead kept sayin’ “You can’t make that for dinner, that’s not dinner that’s lunch.”
I said “No no. Mom served it as an entree. That makes it dinner in my book.”
However, it took me several weeks after I bought the stuff before I was willing to make it.
The ingredients, easy. The labor, simple. Three words: Boil, Heat, Eat!
Campbells is always looking to help out the busy homemaker, the college student on a limited budget, the bum in the alley.
Wow! I don’t remember it ever looking this remotely unappealing. Yellow goo. Bravely I forge onward.
Fortunately the shrimp is as tiny and wonderous as I ever remember it being. Hmmmm? I may have to get Moms shrimp shell pasta salad recipe next. Black olives, little gherkins and little shrimps whipped inside shells and mayo!!! Can you taste it?
Dear Shrimp,
Goodbye so soon?
Hehh hehh hehh? I boil you alive!
Not enough for you? No? How about I take a little somezing off zee top, eh?
Take THAT! You poor excuse for a starch.
Ladled over rice and accompanied by Mrs. Meatheads Cucumber Salad (that had marinated for 24 hours) we were ready to eat.
Well, the cuke salad was extraordinary.
But the shrimp goo? *sigh*
Ciao chow!
Mrs. Meathead’s Hunan Whoopdie
This was the best dinner I ever done made. We watched the Iron Chef Run-offs New Years Eve and Iron Chef Chen did some fantash ground pork in hot bean sauce stir fry that actually looked like something I could make. I.E. I have a copy of “Henry Chung’s Hunan Style Chinese Cookbook”. Anyone familiar with Chinese food in San Francisco ought to know Henry’s Hunan. Worst decor, best damn food you will EVER eat. The cookbook dates back to the 80’s, so the recipes are a little less anglo-friendly (no chow mein recipes and a lot of the chicken still has the bone in). This is the most exquisite food, and everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is hot and spicy.
So, here it is, the best food in the world!