Was just reading a NY Times bit on Obama's victory speech, and saw a reader-posted comment, the image of which struck me as potentially emblematic of how things have changed. It's from a teacher:
I imagined the teacher in class writing pieces of the speech on the board, and the class actually being attentive, caring about a speech because they were excited about the person who spoke it.
This is new, right? An English-speaking person running the country.
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That One and I had talked about fasting together this week, but when it came right down to it, today's todo list seemed too daunting without proper sustenance.
Our seriously alcoholic next-door neighbor (you know, "serious" as compared to us dabbling part-timers...I'm guessing there's not much left in his bottle, metaphorically speaking) required a hygiene intervention and, while it's definitely something that you might not want to do after just having eaten, your cleaning fuel's got to come from somewhere, right?
So no fast today. Instead? Mussels again. Mara asked for the same thing as last time, but as you know I don't like to repeat myself. What we have instead is a combination of two recipes: the technique of Bitchin Camero's Mussels with Chorizo and Polenta with the seasoning from Mark Miller's Quail with Chorizo and Blue Corn Stuffing (which he says is also great with clams)....basically switching out the orange from last time with apple, and replacing the smokiness of chipotle with the smokiness of chorizo.
UPDATE: This attempt at synthesis was technically successful, in that the flavors were pretty spot on, but we all agreed that we preferred the chipotle-orange version from a few weeks ago. Could it have anything to do with the stick of butter called for by the previous recipe, we ask ourselves. Maybe. The Butter Queen also missed the tartness of the orange. I think it really came down to the fact that a thinner broth is more dunkable, and also this time around the mussels themselves were less tasty and a bit hard to remove from their shells...but 4.99 euro for 2kg of mussels (roughly 1 euro per pound) is tough to beat.
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mussels with chorizo and polenta.
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2 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
100gr chorizo, chopped (this was not really enough, someone ate some of my chorizo...I'd double it)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup Pinot Grigio
1 cup unfiltered, unsweetened apple juice
1 cup water
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 can tomatoes, crushed
1 small pinch of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, minced
a few saffron threads
to finish
1/2 cup coarse polenta meal
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp smoked paprika
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Our seriously alcoholic next-door neighbor (you know, "serious" as compared to us dabbling part-timers...I'm guessing there's not much left in his bottle, metaphorically speaking) required a hygiene intervention and, while it's definitely something that you might not want to do after just having eaten, your cleaning fuel's got to come from somewhere, right?
So no fast today. Instead? Mussels again. Mara asked for the same thing as last time, but as you know I don't like to repeat myself. What we have instead is a combination of two recipes: the technique of Bitchin Camero's Mussels with Chorizo and Polenta with the seasoning from Mark Miller's Quail with Chorizo and Blue Corn Stuffing (which he says is also great with clams)....basically switching out the orange from last time with apple, and replacing the smokiness of chipotle with the smokiness of chorizo.
UPDATE: This attempt at synthesis was technically successful, in that the flavors were pretty spot on, but we all agreed that we preferred the chipotle-orange version from a few weeks ago. Could it have anything to do with the stick of butter called for by the previous recipe, we ask ourselves. Maybe. The Butter Queen also missed the tartness of the orange. I think it really came down to the fact that a thinner broth is more dunkable, and also this time around the mussels themselves were less tasty and a bit hard to remove from their shells...but 4.99 euro for 2kg of mussels (roughly 1 euro per pound) is tough to beat.
+++
mussels with chorizo and polenta.
+++
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small yellow onion, chopped
100gr chorizo, chopped (this was not really enough, someone ate some of my chorizo...I'd double it)
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup Pinot Grigio
1 cup unfiltered, unsweetened apple juice
1 cup water
1 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1 can tomatoes, crushed
1 small pinch of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 cloves garlic, minced
a few saffron threads
to finish
1/2 cup coarse polenta meal
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp smoked paprika
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2 comments:
Mmm, yum. Chris Schlesinger has an orange-chipotle salsa that I'm a real fan of. Great combo!
Yes, I'm totally down with Mr. Schlesinger's Chipotle Love...though I think the chipotle-orange that I've become accustomed to is from Miller's original Coyote Cafe book...the first of many cookbooks I stole from my dear sweet parents in my younger years. Sorry guys!
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