Dinner--or Dessert--Tonight

[polly_mer]

It's a turkey sandwich again tonight.  However, I did stop at the store and pick up ice cream, so it's black cherry root beer float ice cream for dessert.

[ciao_yall]

Leftover surprise - tortilla, ham, pesto, lettuce, pickled onions, pickled peppers. Neither of us felt like cooking or cleaning or going out for dinner.

[polly_mer]

We're taking Midwestern Green Jello Salad to a picnic today.  Carrots, cucumbers, and celery bound together by jello and sitting on a plate of iceberg lettuce.

Yummy!

[ab_grp]

We all must be very hungry by now! It's been several months since the last post. 

We have, of course, made a few dinners between then and now.  One that I wanted to bring up is elote, a corn dish.  It appeared in a recent Bon Appetit and sounded pretty interesting, and I recalled that I had read about elote previously in what I thought was a very interesting article on the origin of flaming hot cheetos (https://thehustle.co/hot-cheetos-inventor/).  In that article, elote (which helped inspire the flavor) is described as "a Mexican 'street corn' doused in chili powder, salt, cotija, lime juice, and crema fresca."  I think it's a pretty cool story all around and recommend it for the food aspect but even more so for the human aspect.  In any case, we decided to give elote a try.  The "recipe" we have calls for either grilling or boiling corn on the cob, rubbing with mayo, and sprinkling chile powder, cayenne pepper, cotija cheese, and a squeeze of lime on it.  I really love the flavor.  I recently learned that ancho chile powder may be the preferred version for this.*  Partner mentioned it to some friends at work who have had it on the street, and I guess in their experience it has been served in bowls.  In some ways, that is much easier.  Now we just grill corn along with whatever we are having on a particular evening, store it in the fridge, then get it out, trim kernels from it, heat them up, mix the stuff on another night when we have less time.  Very easy.  That's probably the most interesting new (side) dish we've made recently. 

*I have lived for a while but only recently learned that chili powder and chile powder are not the same thing.  My eyes have been opened.

[hmaria1609]

We all must be very hungry by now! It's been several months since the last post. 

We have, of course, made a few dinners between then and now.  One that I wanted to bring up is elote, a corn dish.  It appeared in a recent Bon Appetit and sounded pretty interesting, and I recalled that I had read about elote previously in what I thought was a very interesting article on the origin of flaming hot cheetos (https://thehustle.co/hot-cheetos-inventor/).  In that article, elote (which helped inspire the flavor) is described as "a Mexican 'street corn' doused in chili powder, salt, cotija, lime juice, and crema fresca."  I think it's a pretty cool story all around and recommend it for the food aspect but even more so for the human aspect.  In any case, we decided to give elote a try.  The "recipe" we have calls for either grilling or boiling corn on the cob, rubbing with mayo, and sprinkling chile powder, cayenne pepper, cotija cheese, and a squeeze of lime on it.  I really love the flavor.  I recently learned that ancho chile powder may be the preferred version for this.*  Partner mentioned it to some friends at work who have had it on the street, and I guess in their experience it has been served in bowls.  In some ways, that is much easier.  Now we just grill corn along with whatever we are having on a particular evening, store it in the fridge, then get it out, trim kernels from it, heat them up, mix the stuff on another night when we have less time.  Very easy.  That's probably the most interesting new (side) dish we've made recently. 

*I have lived for a while but only recently learned that chili powder and chile powder are not the same thing.  My eyes have been opened.

The organic store in my town has Mexican street corn in the "grab-n-go" area that's similar to what you describe. It's tasty!  :)

[ab_grp]

We all must be very hungry by now! It's been several months since the last post. 

We have, of course, made a few dinners between then and now.  One that I wanted to bring up is elote, a corn dish.  It appeared in a recent Bon Appetit and sounded pretty interesting, and I recalled that I had read about elote previously in what I thought was a very interesting article on the origin of flaming hot cheetos (https://thehustle.co/hot-cheetos-inventor/).  In that article, elote (which helped inspire the flavor) is described as "a Mexican 'street corn' doused in chili powder, salt, cotija, lime juice, and crema fresca."  I think it's a pretty cool story all around and recommend it for the food aspect but even more so for the human aspect.  In any case, we decided to give elote a try.  The "recipe" we have calls for either grilling or boiling corn on the cob, rubbing with mayo, and sprinkling chile powder, cayenne pepper, cotija cheese, and a squeeze of lime on it.  I really love the flavor.  I recently learned that ancho chile powder may be the preferred version for this.*  Partner mentioned it to some friends at work who have had it on the street, and I guess in their experience it has been served in bowls.  In some ways, that is much easier.  Now we just grill corn along with whatever we are having on a particular evening, store it in the fridge, then get it out, trim kernels from it, heat them up, mix the stuff on another night when we have less time.  Very easy.  That's probably the most interesting new (side) dish we've made recently. 

*I have lived for a while but only recently learned that chili powder and chile powder are not the same thing.  My eyes have been opened.

The organic store in my town has Mexican street corn in the "grab-n-go" area that's similar to what you describe. It's tasty!  :)

You know, I never thought about looking there in our local stores.  My focus was always on other things.  I would really like to try it! Thanks for the idea.  Partner and I were discussing that it's hard to know if our "recipe" approximates the real deal (probably not, though it is yummy).  Being from an area that has a particular sandwich associated with it that many other areas seem to try to replicate (and fail), it would be great to try something more authentic.  I'm glad you like it too!

[Liquidambar]

I make a recipe from last summer's Cook's Illustrated magazine that's inspired by Mexican street corn.  It doesn't require grilling:  the raw kernels are cut off the cob and charred in a hot skillet.  The recipe suggests substituting feta if cotija can't be found.  I'm sure it's terribly inauthentic, but I actually like it better with feta.

[ab_grp]

If you like it better with feta, seems like the way to go.  I could see it being a good substitute, as both are pretty pungent in a good way (I do not have good descriptors for cheese, clearly).  Maybe we'll try that! Feta is often much easier to come by than cotija.

We were going to do a no-cook dinner last night due to being completely wiped out from the week, but after posting about the elote we decided to make some.  This time, we tried the boiling method.  Just shuck and boil for five minutes, cut the kernels off, and go for it.  We have also done something sort of similar to what you (Liquidambar) mentioned by cooking raw kernels on the stove.  There is a delicious Bon Appetit steak salad with shallot vinaigrette that calls for corn kernels cooked in butter with thyme.  It tastes so good on the salad! I have also been using it in wraps for lunch with chicken, spinach, cheese, avocado, tomatoes, and El Yucateco (the green chile habanero, which I have somehow developed a hankering for as of late).

[Juvenal]

Who needs complexity?  All we want is "sweet" and "mouth feel."  Right?  So, blubberies mixed with ricotta and sugar.  Or do I mean "blueberries?"

[polly_mer]

It's not tonight, but I recently had a dinner where the restaurant only served steak at temperature medium and above.  No potatoes were available, but we did get corn on the cob and some finger vegetables like celery.

Am I alone in being outraged that a steak menu had zero potatoes and refused to cook a steak properly?

[ab_grp]

It's not tonight, but I recently had a dinner where the restaurant only served steak at temperature medium and above.  No potatoes were available, but we did get corn on the cob and some finger vegetables like celery.

Am I alone in being outraged that a steak menu had zero potatoes and refused to cook a steak properly?

No ma'am, you are not alone in your outrage.  I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant that refused to cook steak properly (some were inept, but the lower temps were offered at least), but I have been to a bunch that do not have appropriate side dishes available.  I really can't understand it.  That kind of stuff can make or break a meal.

[polly_mer]

It's not tonight, but I recently had a dinner where the restaurant only served steak at temperature medium and above.  No potatoes were available, but we did get corn on the cob and some finger vegetables like celery.

Am I alone in being outraged that a steak menu had zero potatoes and refused to cook a steak properly?

No ma'am, you are not alone in your outrage.  I don't think I've ever been to a restaurant that refused to cook steak properly (some were inept, but the lower temps were offered at least), but I have been to a bunch that do not have appropriate side dishes available.  I really can't understand it.  That kind of stuff can make or break a meal.

What frosts my metaphorical cookies is this particular dining experience was billed as a big deal.  I was on travel with colleagues and we made a special reservation to go to this restaurant.  When the steaks arrived, it was clear that medium was kinda pushing the envelope for such low-grade meat, but it was as though others didn't understand what a good steak looks like (e.g., far less gristle than this one had and the fat is usually trimmed before it shows up on my plate).

However, we were charged real steak dinner prices--the same price at which I usually get "as rare as you can make it" with a baked potato or a fancy mashed potato dollop.

The next night we went to a Japanese steakhouse, where I did get a very nice teppan grilled rare steak, although still no potatoes, but good enough noodles.

[nescafe]

Tonight my spouse is out of town, and I'm flying solo for the evening. He's both gluten- and red meat-free, so naturally, tonight has been:
- 1 thick slice of homemade white bread with butter;
- tri-tip steak seasoned with harissa;
- sauteed fennel in onion and poblano peppers;
- cheap vanilla ice cream, with expensive rye whiskey.

As a bonus, the neighbor's cat (who comes and visits me a few times a week) joined me. She didn't get any dinner, but she napped on the couch for a while.

[ab_grp]

Nescafe, that sounds incredible! And you got a cat, too!

We have made a few new things lately, not too many, just feeling bogged down.  On Saturday night we grille strip steak and made a mock steak frites with a maitre d'hotel butter (ehh) and quick frites (not too bad).  We also made roasted brussels sprouts bagna cauda style with an anchovy and butter and garlic.  Those were pretty good.  A little weird, because I expected crispier sprouts but then they are doused in this liquid.  Still, the anchovy brought out a great flavor.

Last night we tried to make Thai garlic chicken, which spouse likes to order from the Thai place on the way home from his workplace.  We had planned to order Friday but had some bad crap to deal with, so I found what seemed to be a similar recipe out of about 30 of them.  It turned out pretty well, but we agreed there are a couple other things we would have done.  The flavor was a little weak.  Still, very tasty.

Tonight I am making a grandma-style pizza in a cookie sheet with sopressata and fennel (aka hot Italian sausage, pepperoni, and anise).  We'll see how that turns out.  I made the dough yesterday, and it seems iffy compared to other pizza doughs I've made.

[mamselle]

Leftover lamb tikka masala--very hot, given I requested "mild," but tasty, with poori.

M.