I had one sad russet potato in the cabinet that was looking like it wanted to start sprouting. So I did this:
Coat potato with a thin film of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 400 degrees, directly on the oven rack, turning occasionally, for 1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Reduce oven temperature to 350.
Meanwhile, chop some thin deli-sliced ham, and dry-fry in a skillet until it dries out.
Cut the potato in half lengthwise, and scoop out most of the insides, leaving a shell about 1/4" thick. Mix in the ham, some caramelized onions, and some shredded Swiss (Gruyere, Emmenthaler, etc.) Season with salt and pepper.
Place the shells on a baking dish coated with a think film of olive oil. Scoop the stuffing back into the shells, and sprinkle with a little more Swiss (or parmesan). Bake for 30 minutes, or until the top starts to get a little crunchy.
Served with some home-made chili sauce, this made a perfect Saturday lunch.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Monday, January 7, 2008
Post #60 - Hacienda de Vega, Escondido CA
Hubby & I went to Hacienda de Vega last week for a late lunch. They've been nominated for, and won, a bunch of awards, including (I believe) best Mexican restaurant in San Diego for 2007. (Sorry for the lack of documented evidence, have to go by memory here.) Check out reviews here and here.
The atmosphere / ambience is great. Big courtyard, outdoor seating, bar outside, a fountain, private cabanas off on one side, etc. And since we were there at an off-time, there were only 2 other tables, so we had the chance to absorb the intended surroundings, rather than contend with other patrons, frazzled servers, and the like.
When you're first seated, you get a basket of chips (not the best, but good), and four salsas. One was tomatillo, cilantro & chile, easily the best of the four. Second best was an orange one that I swear was made from chiles de arbol and pepitas (pumpkin seeds). There was a tomato-based one, a little sweet. And a smoky one, chipotles most likely.
For my entree, I had the lomo en cerveza. Amazing. Like nothing I've ever had before. Like nothing I'd even remotely consider Mexican (but being white, and never having visited the various states of Mexico, what do I know?). The pork tenderloin cut easily with a fork, the beer-sauce on top was incredible. The sauteed greens (spinach?) were delectable, and the fried potatoes (er, patatas fritas) stayed crunchy even after sitting in the sauce for a while.
Hubby had the parrilla ranchera, a skillet-mix of beef, bacon, onions, and red & green bell peppers, covered with cheese. Good, but...er...really greasy. (But what do you expect with beef, bacon and cheese? They have a chicken option too, which may lighten it a little.) We took the leftovers home, and drained them well on paper towels. The children proclaimed them acceptable.
Would I go again? Heck, yes.
Hacienda de Vega
2608 S. Escondido Blvd.
Escondido, CA 92025
760-738-9804
The atmosphere / ambience is great. Big courtyard, outdoor seating, bar outside, a fountain, private cabanas off on one side, etc. And since we were there at an off-time, there were only 2 other tables, so we had the chance to absorb the intended surroundings, rather than contend with other patrons, frazzled servers, and the like.
When you're first seated, you get a basket of chips (not the best, but good), and four salsas. One was tomatillo, cilantro & chile, easily the best of the four. Second best was an orange one that I swear was made from chiles de arbol and pepitas (pumpkin seeds). There was a tomato-based one, a little sweet. And a smoky one, chipotles most likely.
For my entree, I had the lomo en cerveza. Amazing. Like nothing I've ever had before. Like nothing I'd even remotely consider Mexican (but being white, and never having visited the various states of Mexico, what do I know?). The pork tenderloin cut easily with a fork, the beer-sauce on top was incredible. The sauteed greens (spinach?) were delectable, and the fried potatoes (er, patatas fritas) stayed crunchy even after sitting in the sauce for a while.
Hubby had the parrilla ranchera, a skillet-mix of beef, bacon, onions, and red & green bell peppers, covered with cheese. Good, but...er...really greasy. (But what do you expect with beef, bacon and cheese? They have a chicken option too, which may lighten it a little.) We took the leftovers home, and drained them well on paper towels. The children proclaimed them acceptable.
Would I go again? Heck, yes.
Hacienda de Vega
2608 S. Escondido Blvd.
Escondido, CA 92025
760-738-9804
Post #59 - Spanakopita Galette
I made spanakopita for the first time yesterday - loved 'em. This not-having-a-camera-thing is really going to tick me off. I could've had some lovely pictures...but anyway...
When I got bored with rolling up little pouches, I decided to take the rest of the phyllo and filling and make a galette. A galette is like a pie with no top crust, but with an oversized bottom crust that folds up & over the filling part way. Apple is typical. Check out Smitten Kitchen for a butternut squash and caramelized onion one.
So instead of apples or butternut squashes, I used my spanakopita filling, and phyllo instead of pie crust.
But...
My husband refused to eat it because "it's a galette and I want spanakopita".
Can I slap him?
When I got bored with rolling up little pouches, I decided to take the rest of the phyllo and filling and make a galette. A galette is like a pie with no top crust, but with an oversized bottom crust that folds up & over the filling part way. Apple is typical. Check out Smitten Kitchen for a butternut squash and caramelized onion one.
So instead of apples or butternut squashes, I used my spanakopita filling, and phyllo instead of pie crust.
But...
My husband refused to eat it because "it's a galette and I want spanakopita".
Can I slap him?
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Post #58 - Electronic Nightmare
In the last 24 hours, both my laptop and my digital camera have taken a dump.
So, no more pictures for a while.
What's more frustrating is that (since I'm dumb and haven't backed up in a year and a half) all of my recipes and wish-list-books are gone. I must have had at least 200 recipes that I took the time to convert to a Word document, formatted the way I like it, inserted a picture or 2...everything organized according to vegetarian or non, subdivided into baked goods, soups, etc. All gone.
And my last backup disk (from June of 2006!) got corrupted, and the recipe folder is empty. At least I have most of my pictures. My husband's brother is going to try to retrieve the files from the hard drive (which Mr. Dead-Laptop cannot detect), but I'm not holding my breath. I'm starting to think that the days of pen & paper weren't so bad after all.
Piss.
So, no more pictures for a while.
What's more frustrating is that (since I'm dumb and haven't backed up in a year and a half) all of my recipes and wish-list-books are gone. I must have had at least 200 recipes that I took the time to convert to a Word document, formatted the way I like it, inserted a picture or 2...everything organized according to vegetarian or non, subdivided into baked goods, soups, etc. All gone.
And my last backup disk (from June of 2006!) got corrupted, and the recipe folder is empty. At least I have most of my pictures. My husband's brother is going to try to retrieve the files from the hard drive (which Mr. Dead-Laptop cannot detect), but I'm not holding my breath. I'm starting to think that the days of pen & paper weren't so bad after all.
Piss.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Post #57 - Vegetable Broth
I was out of broth in my freezer.
So this afternoon I took my freezer bag of almost-dead celery, onion ends, parsley stems, etc., and made veggie broth.
Recipes for vegetable broth make me laugh. "1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 stalk of celery, 8 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf". You should see what I put in mine - literally half of the jars in my spice cabinet come out for the party. Not too much of anything, no more than 1/2 teaspoon of any ingredient, but I think it makes a difference. So here's my veggie broth "recipe":
limp celery
a handful of baby carrots that are starting to look dried out
onion ends
few cloves of garlic
parsley stems
whatever pieces of onion are in the veggie drawer in the fridge
parsley root or parsnip if I have it (which I usually don't)
and now for the fun stuff from the cabinet:
basil, oregano, parsley, tarragon, sage, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, peppercorns, yellow and brown mustard seeds, celery seeds, dill seeds, caraway seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, a few cloves. The only seedy things I didn't add were fenugreek and ajwain, because I wasn't sure what they'd do to the flavor, and fennel, because I refuse to have that evil spice in my house.
Boil it all up, let it simmer for who-knows-how-long, then strain. Sometimes I go through the trouble of straining through a paper towel or coffee filter, but more often than not, I just dump it into a fine-mesh strainer, making sure to push on the veggies to get the yummy stuff out. Let it cool for a while, then transfer into tupperwares for freezing. Don't stir it when transferring to containers, because any gritty stuff your strainer didn't catch will have settled to the bottom.
What I ended up with this time (excuse the poor grammar, please) was a stunning amber color, like a strong tea, most likely imparted by the red onion skins.
Now, off to make some soup.
So this afternoon I took my freezer bag of almost-dead celery, onion ends, parsley stems, etc., and made veggie broth.
Recipes for vegetable broth make me laugh. "1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 stalk of celery, 8 peppercorns, 1 bay leaf". You should see what I put in mine - literally half of the jars in my spice cabinet come out for the party. Not too much of anything, no more than 1/2 teaspoon of any ingredient, but I think it makes a difference. So here's my veggie broth "recipe":
limp celery
a handful of baby carrots that are starting to look dried out
onion ends
few cloves of garlic
parsley stems
whatever pieces of onion are in the veggie drawer in the fridge
parsley root or parsnip if I have it (which I usually don't)
and now for the fun stuff from the cabinet:
basil, oregano, parsley, tarragon, sage, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, peppercorns, yellow and brown mustard seeds, celery seeds, dill seeds, caraway seeds, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, a few cloves. The only seedy things I didn't add were fenugreek and ajwain, because I wasn't sure what they'd do to the flavor, and fennel, because I refuse to have that evil spice in my house.
Boil it all up, let it simmer for who-knows-how-long, then strain. Sometimes I go through the trouble of straining through a paper towel or coffee filter, but more often than not, I just dump it into a fine-mesh strainer, making sure to push on the veggies to get the yummy stuff out. Let it cool for a while, then transfer into tupperwares for freezing. Don't stir it when transferring to containers, because any gritty stuff your strainer didn't catch will have settled to the bottom.
What I ended up with this time (excuse the poor grammar, please) was a stunning amber color, like a strong tea, most likely imparted by the red onion skins.
Now, off to make some soup.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Post #56 - Cauliflower & Chard Gratin
I've decided to make a concerted effort to try some of the many recipes I've bookmarked from other blogs.
Here's one, and what a winner it is!
You can find the recipe at The Expatriate's Kitchen. My modifications were to use all milk instead of cream, and instead of Grana Padano in the sauce and Parmesan on top, I used a mix of mostly Parmesan and some Gruyere, both in the sauce and on top.
My youngest said that I took two of the things she hates most (cauliflower and leeks) and made them taste good. She had two servings. High praise, indeed.
Here's one, and what a winner it is!
You can find the recipe at The Expatriate's Kitchen. My modifications were to use all milk instead of cream, and instead of Grana Padano in the sauce and Parmesan on top, I used a mix of mostly Parmesan and some Gruyere, both in the sauce and on top.
My youngest said that I took two of the things she hates most (cauliflower and leeks) and made them taste good. She had two servings. High praise, indeed.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Post #55 - Curry Conundrum & Dal Dilemma
Help!
I've pulled a gazillion recipes for all sorts of curries and dals from the web, and they never turn out like they're supposed to. I could chalk it up to the fact that I'm white-white-white, but most of the recipes are from people who know what they're doing.
Sometimes my curry sauce turns out a little gritty - I can fix that by grinding my spices finer.
I don't have a pressure cooker, but cooking on the stovetop can't make that much of a difference, right?
I use Shah's mild curry powder and Rani brand garam masala, both bought at an Indian grocery, so I figure they're good enough to use.
Other than that, I can't put a finger on it, it just doesn't taste like it should.
Can anybody help with any obvious-to-an-Indian-but-not-to-a-white-girl suggestions?
I've pulled a gazillion recipes for all sorts of curries and dals from the web, and they never turn out like they're supposed to. I could chalk it up to the fact that I'm white-white-white, but most of the recipes are from people who know what they're doing.
Sometimes my curry sauce turns out a little gritty - I can fix that by grinding my spices finer.
I don't have a pressure cooker, but cooking on the stovetop can't make that much of a difference, right?
I use Shah's mild curry powder and Rani brand garam masala, both bought at an Indian grocery, so I figure they're good enough to use.
Other than that, I can't put a finger on it, it just doesn't taste like it should.
Can anybody help with any obvious-to-an-Indian-but-not-to-a-white-girl suggestions?
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