choices

Whenever I am given a choice I choose seafood or food from my native New Mexico. Since it is now chile harvesting time in the Land of Enchantment and I have caring parents who have a food dehydrator I get the best dried green chiles you could ever imagine so I choose chile. You soak these in a little warm water just to soften and then chop em' up and you are good to go, they re-hydrate into the most plump and succulent chiles you could ever imagine. In a few weeks it is red chile season; after the green pods sit in the sun for a while they turn red, same chile - different flavor. There is so much you can do with chile, it is a fruit after all, but simple foods made with care are always the best.

A bowl of beans with a couple spoonfuls of chile is an excellent example, or the more popular 'texas chili' where you mix it all together and let it stew so that the flavors get a chance to know each other and eventually get married. I have posted chiles rellenos, which are roasted and stuffed fresh peppers with a chile sauce poured over. I have posted flat enchiladas, rolled enchiladas, I have posted burritos so whats left? Huevos Rancheros a New Mexico diner classic. ...And someone says it makes you sleep better... cool. (thanks anonymous)



Chopped green chile ready to go. This is good just like this in a quesadilla.



New Mexico green chile with meat.



snapshot of red chile dryng in the sun.



One plate of Huevos Rancheros. Pinto beans, green chile with pork and blue corn tortillas topped with a sunny side up egg.

I just cant get enough

First off I would like to welcome you to the land of the blurry camera. My camera hates food, it likes to take pictures of people and scenery but it just hates food, so squint a little and enjoy.

Luxury for me would be to have a greenhouse so that year 'round I could have squash blossoms, these fleeting little summer and fall treats disappear all to quickly so I like to eat as many as I can.

Squash blossom omelette.



Saute a nice handful with butter and a little salt and pepper.



Add eggs.



Add cheese.



Fold.



Eat.

It's that time again

Yup, mushrooms, how'd you guess?



After breakfast of Mondongo we........




Passed through into the magical forest.....



we encountered large tortoises.....



and some nasty looking stinkhorns......





Chicken mushrooms and...





Honey mushrooms with a cityscape......




and this bad boy that is similar to a portabella but I forget its name at the moment....when it comes to me I will post it but BTW this ones flavor is not all that great.

Oh and on a side note that guy passing into the magical forest is my mushroom buddy who knows all the edible anythings and he told me the name of this one but I forgot and he said it tastes bad and I tasted it and he was right but "banana" tasted it and liked it and ate all of it.

lets clear up some things....I personally can identify about 6 mushrooms in the wild and thats about it...well maybe 7 or 10 but this guy knows every single living edible thing that is a plant or fungus. He is vegan and our recipes differ but we still eat the same things...mostly. Oh and we went out yesterday (wednesday) morning early and were back in the city by noon.

Long weekend

Regular food and then some...



Erotica..

Squash Blossoms

Having access to a garden is opening up a plethora of delights, and one of those delights is fried squash blossoms filled with ricota and parmesean cheese and coarse ground black pepper. Hard to explain the subtle squash flavor but mix that with fried and cheese and words alone will never be enough.




They are good just like this or excellent with a nice fresh marinara sauce and a crispy cold Pinot Grigio regardless of what wine snobs say.

Fried Green Tomatoes

When you have way too many what do you do?




I forgot to photograph the napoleans I made with these by layering them with basil and mozzarella and ricota cheese mixed with nasturtium flowers and then drizzled with marinara sauce.

Purple

Stopped by a friends garden and look what I got. Any ideas?

Green beans and squash blossoms.

Basil and tomatoes, more tomatoes than this but these had the cute little vine.

Nasturtiam flowers and leaves, arugula and chicory greens

Baby eggplant and green peppers

Swiss chard, and about ten figs that got too squished to photograph.

Labor Day

We got up and had cheese grits bacon eggs and buttered toast and sat at the table deciding it would be fun to go fishing off the pier at Coney Island. So thats what we did, we got our gear together, beach chairs, buckets, poles and snacks and off we went. Coney Island is going to have surgery, it is going under the knife of developers and who knows what the result will be or how long it will take.

Dumplings -

I was going to post the recipe and then thought "why bother" but if you want to know how to make them let me know and I will give you detailed instructions.

Summers' Ova'

The sun is setting on another season and we did what we could. We hit the beach often. We went to the pools often and we did mini road trips - often. We went ahead and cooked up pounds of mussels and several scallops. We had early peas - late I guess. Fruits of the sea and fruits from the land and all of it - fruits from chinatown and we did all of this - often.