Food And the Fury: Return to DC

I realize I disappeared for a bit. Ok, for almost four months. Without notice.

It's a key struggle, which I realize balancing profession and passion is a petty complaint compared to juggling things like job and family, or finances and necessities.  But Albert Camus once said that pain is a gas, great or small it fills a room. I think that applies beyond just pain.

While I was gone, I did not have time or access to my kitchen to experiment, but I was able to try some interesting foods and learn a little along the way.  And I continued my self-education in flavor, texture, and techniques.

One food I ate A LOT was soup.  Soup is comforting, versatile, and flavorful.  My favorite soup right now is lentil. I learned how to make it in the traditional Arab way (my favorite), which is much thinner and And get this, it is EASY to make. Seriously!

You need the following: small lentils (the orange kind--I brought mine back from the Middle East but you can get them at most stores), part of a yellow onion, stock or broth (chicken, beef, veggie or combo), cumin, (I also add cayenne pepper), lemon, mint, cilantro, salt and pepper:

So I used about 1 c. lentils for 4 c. broth. I had to add water, so I would say maybe 2/3 c. - 3/4 c. lentils for 4 c. broth. I sauteed about 2/3 onion minced in the bottom of a large pan.  After they were nice and golden and mushy, I added the broth and lentils. Let it simmer; add cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to taste. Keep simmering until the lentils are almost dissolved into the soup. The soup should still be relatively thin.  This will take about 40 minutes.

Finely chop the cilantro and chiffonade the mint. Add.  Right before serving, squeeze the lemon in individual soup bowls for added freshness.

And serve--it's that simple!

Summer in the City: Bastille Day and Basil Watermelon

"And babe, don't you know it's a pity the days can't be like the nights in the summer in the city, in the summer in the city..." Lovin Spoonful a la Mark Sebastian

It's hot, stormy and muggy in DC. And while the rain is good for the flora, there are times when the rainy season reminds me of the DC winters--dark, grey, and foreboding. In the Most Powerful City in the World, the fragile egos seem to reach their expansive boundaries and bump into each other, sending needless jolts of electrifying, un-directed frustration and anger into the sweltering air.

A good way to cool it down is a trick we learned from our Grandbob down in Texas: Watermelon soothes a multitude of angst.

When I was young, Grandbob gave us large boat-shaped sections of watermelon (it was Texas, afterall), which we would carve into various shapes as we ate. Sometimes we'd add salt, but it was always the antidote to the Texas heat.

As an adult, I've always enjoyed bringing it to parties. Now I know, many of you probably know the tequila recipe: you cut up your watermelon and add some fresh squeezed lime, hand torn cilantro, a tad of salt and a dash of tequila and soak. More or less tequila based on taste. The reason why this works is because tequila and lime should imitate the nature of the rind on your palate. It adds a little bitterness and punch.

But to me, while that's ok, there is something so much better. And, after testing it on a few parties and friends, I feel confident in saying this may replace your current approach to serving "dressed-up" watermelon:

Cube or ball watermelon in a large bowl. Add the juice and zest of 1-2 limes, depending on watermelon quantity. Add a bit of cayenne pepper, to taste. Why? To me the taste of the cayenne pepper matches the deep red of the watermelon, without altering the watermelon's flavor. Add just a teeny hint of chili powder. Not enough to taste like "chili watermelon" but, as I call it, to "anchor the flavor"--to help your palate feel the flavor and heat you just added with the pepper is familiar and memorable, yet new and interesting. Add a bit of sea salt. Sea salt is generally lighter in taste than regular salt, but regular will do in a pinch. Add a very small amount of honey or agave (if you're trying to cut carbs from...watermelon...which is high carb). You want it to add dimension to the current watermelon sweetness, not for it to taste like honeyed watermelon. Add a chiffonade of basil.

Chiffa-what? I just heard your eyeballs ask me.

Chiffonade. That's fancy. talk (aka French for "made of rags") for the following method: Get a few basil leaves (5-10 to start), roll them lengthwise like a cigar (Side note: I'm not promoting tobacco use or smoking. I'm promoting basil use. Only not smoking. Just eating). With a sharp knife, cut across the rolled basil, creating small, thin ribbons of basil. Do this for as much basil as you want to add to the watermelon. Fluff those mama jama's up and throw them into the watermelon dish. Fold or gently toss the ingredients together so everything's distributed evenly. There should be enough lime to keep the basil fresh for a few hours.

The result is a striking deep red watermelon with ribbons of green basil and flecks of neon green from the lime zest. You'll notice adding the pepper and chili powder that the watermelon seems to naturally grow a deeper red. I'll post pics once I make mine tomorrow am for a work thing.

This can be made a few hours prior to where you're taking it, or right before serving. It takes about 5 minutes to assemble if the watermelon's pre-cut and once you get used to chiffonade knife-work and have your ingredients together. If you want to prep this the night before, put everything together but the basil and the lime zest. Just because once basil is wounded (i.e. cut) it gets dark green and then kinda wilty within a few hours. The lime will help, but still... Lime zest turns bitter over time. You want it to echo the bitterness of the rind, not actually be bitter.

Again, the goal is to bring out some of the rich subtlety of what some people think is the straightforward and simple flavor of watermelon. So when you are adding the other ingredients, remember the goal is to compliment and amplify the fresh, exuberant flavor of watermelon--the sweetness, some of the subtle bitterness and acidity of its rind, its crunchiness, etc. Better to be conservative and add a little more than to have any of the other ingredients overwhelm the watermelon rather than enhance it.

If you want to try it, here's your shopping list: Watermelon, lime, cayenne pepper, chili powder, sea salt, fresh basil, honey.

Aretha Franklin: Soup

"All I'm askin' Is for a little respect when you come home!" - Your Ingredients, and also, Aretha

I'm pretty convinced if food was a rockstar it'd be Aretha Franklin. Passionate, fiery, tender, soulful, food draws something out of its audience. But, it really does need a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T to get the most out of it. When I say respect I mean, know your food. Know what it tastes like raw, cooked in different methods. Focus on bringing what makes it so awesome out in your food prep, try using complimentary flavors, textures, temperatures. The goal is to showcase the food and delight your palate.

That's why soup is one of my favorite foods ever. It's simple, versatile, and focused on the ingredients. They're like sandwiches, only you use bowls and spoons instead of hands. And if you're doin a low carb diet, you can still eat real soup, unlike sandwiches, which then become lettuce wraps.

Soup should be exciting. The reason why lotsa folks don't think it is, is because like all great things, it's super easy to make terrible, even though it's not difficult to make it memorable. And, because it is simple, it comes in over-salted creepy cans. That's right, creepy cans. That and all the negative connotations with which our society has burdened soup's rep. Like the following:

-- Summer Camp cafeteria lady: Angry, uni-browed and you're pretty sure she hates you and laced it with hair and arsenic.
--  Childhood memories: Soup was whatever was leftover and gross in the fridge that needed to be tossed.
-- Diets: Cabbage or fake chicken broth.
-- Chick food: I'm lookin' at you, beefcake.
-- Seinfeld's Soup nazi: need I say more.

Luckily for me, my mom was a master soupierre (French for: one who makes soup. Don't go looking it up, just trust me.) We had chilled soups, chunky soups, hot soups, spicy soups, vegetarian soups, hearty meat-filled soups. Our soups were versatile, experimental, funky, fun, healthy, and most importantly, delicious. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of those times when I stood on a chair to help brown the meat, or saute the aromatics.

So two days ago, when I was eeking my way through life on motrin, sunglasses, and sleep, I made soup.

There are two important elements to good soup: the first is having good ingredients. The second is, when making your soup, DON'T USE WATER.

**Important sidenote/rant coming up **
I'm serious. if you use water to make soup, baby angels lose their wings and God sheds tears of shame and anger. You don't want either of those happening, so, for the sake of your soup, for the sake of the baby angels, and to save the tears of God, please don't use water.

What should you use, then? Stock, broth, juice, beer, wine, milk, pretty much anything but plain water. In cooking, water is used to boil, steam, poach, or thin stuff, and that's about it. Even when making stock or broth, I typically use a blend of water, wine/beer and juce. Why? Because the other materials add flavor, depth, and texture. If you use beer, for example, the malt breaks down and acts as a binding agent to make your liquid thicker. The hops add a depth and dimension to your dish that otherwise is difficult to create. If you have proteins, the wine, beer, and citrus juices act as natural tenderizers, making your proteins more...tender (there we go), and locking in the juicy goodness that it is. Milk adds a creaminess and creates a fuller flavor. Even using 1% (what I use). The sugars in all of these ingredients also help.

We can talk about how to make quick, flavorful stocks and broths later, but even for those who don't cook, seriously, write this on your shopping list: chicken/beef/veggie stock/broth. Even a bouillon cube (I just shuddered a little, won't lie) is better than plain water. Of course then it's a bit salty, but you get my point.
** Important sidenote/rant over. You may now come out of hiding**

Ok, so I started with some dried split green and yellow peas, lentils, barley, and little alphabet characters. Why? becase I had a "soup blend" of those ingredients. It said to add water. I wanted to fire off an angry email (or cannon) to the company, but the computer screen was too brightly lit for that, so instead I raised my fist to the ceiling and continued.

I added a 1.5 - 1 ratio of chicken stock to the dried barley and veggie blend, and 0.5-1 ratio of red wine. (Translastion: 1 c. of the blend, 1.5 c chicken stock, 1/2 c wine). As I could barely see, I didn't make my own stock, I used it from a box.

I brought it to a boil and then turned it down to a low simmer. I then added celery, and a can (yes, a can) of stewed tomatoes. Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and a few hours later, I had soup. It was good but needed, cumin and fresh cilantro. And maybe ham. But overall, considering I could barely see, and as my housemate, L, is graciously allowing our home to be more like a vampire cave, not bad.

*before you judge me, please remember I have had my kitchen for 3 days. During which I've been unable to go grocery shopping because I'm blinded by light right now).

Yesterday, I was rummaging around my things and I found some dried wild mushrooms! Eureka! I reconstituted the mushrooms using 1 c white wine and 1 c chicken broth (again, water-free works for me). Once they were ready to rock and roll, I used the chicken-mushroom stock as the base for my soup, adding the pea, bean, and barley mixture, tomatoes, celery, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. I was really hurtin for some chili powder, cumin, and fresh herbs--thyme, cilantro, anything! Because of the heartiness from the mushrooms, I added much more pepper and cayenne, let the liquid soak in real good, and then added about 3/4 c of 1% milk and then simmered until it became sort of a creamed soup. Delish! Although I'd still like some spicy sausage in it. And fresh herbs. Fresh herbs are game changers, folks, but that's for another day. Oh, and onion or garlic. Unfortunately, I may as well have been wishing for unicorns and leprechauns because that was not going to happen. But that's the beauty of soup, guys--even a blinded post-PRK person like me yesterday could do it well enough to dish up and enjoy!

First Night: New Kitchen, New Vision

Finally. It is complete.

Our long-awaited kitchen renovations are finally to the point where we can use it. The days of feeling sick from eating processed food is over.

Sweet hallelujah.

As is my luck, it was finished yesterday, the same day I voluntarily underwent PRK corrective eye surgery. That's a different story for a different day. Like maybe Halloween. Anyway, the recovery process hasn't been that bad, and eager to return to my normal self, I cooked my dinner tonight. With my new eyes. In my new kitchen.

My kitchen wares are not yet fully unpacked. And my eyes are a distraction. But I managed to concoct a "curried" chicken and couscous. "Curried" because I think that's a similar familiar flavor, but really it was just an experiment.

First I took a boneless chicken breast L left for me in the fridge and I liberally sprinkled both sides with an herb mixture I obtained in Turkey--primarily dried oregano and basil. I added fresh ground pepper and cayenne pepper. I then hand-crushed Turkish lemon sea salt until it was a fine powder and rubbed all the ingredients in my hands so that there'd be just enough salt and so the chicken would absorb the other ingredients faster. I then marinated it in a white wine vinegar and olive oil. I put it on a small plate and popped it back in the fridge.

After 1.5 hours, I pulled that bad.boy out and heated up the wok. I put a little bit of olive oil in it and then laid the chicken breast. After the side was brown, I flipped it. Separately I chopped up three stalks of celery and a handful of dried apricots. I added those to the wok with some water, a little belgian white wheat ale, some pomegranate molasses, and half of a lemon. Impatient, I pulled out the chicken, chopped it into bite sized pieces, and put it back in the wok. I added a few grape tomatoes, reduced the heat and simmered.

I had some leftover couscous, so I just poured some of the hot liquid over the couscous to bring it back to life and heat it without hurting it. I then added the chicken mixture with the sauce, and some slivered almonds to finish it.

Patience and the Palate...

"How can a society that exists on instant mashed potatoes, packaged cake mixes, frozen dinners, and instant cameras teach patience to its young?"  ~Paul Sweeney

 As you can see, I am still trying to figure this whole blogging thing out.  What makes it easier for you to read, absorb, and enjoy? What do you find useful (if anything?) What do you find annoying or frustrating? 


I know I promised to share with you my broccoli and tofu "recipe" and I will. One thing I have learned through this experience (attempting to blog) is that, like cooking, there is no real formula. It's a constant process of tweaking, testing, reworking. And it takes a lot of patience to make something worthwhile. Especially considering how flooded the market is right now out there for both blogs and "foodies". As much as I hate the term "foodie", I LOVE that the mystery of the written art and the culinary arts have been redefined and both are more accessible to normal, regular people like me who can stumble through each or both and discover what happens later.


Sometimes that means there are mishaps. Other times, some really unexpected successes.


I'm thinking this because, inspired by a few people, I have been taking an aggressive approach to life recently. Namely, I'm trying to get back in shape, control my eating habits more, and stop making excuses for why I've gained 25 whopping lbs since my return from Iraq 6 mos ago...


That's right, 25 lbs. On me. That's like what, adding a 2nd grader to your torso?? ugh...


So...expect some really fun low cal, low fat, low carb, high protein, and high flavor foods coming out soon. And to hear some ridiculous stories...


But now for the broccoli and tofu recipe:

I had originally intended to make a coconut milk curry, but unfortunately discovered my coconut milk had been used. So, I decided to make a hoisin-inspired marinating sauce. 


I used: sesame oil, soy sauce, molasses, chopped garlic, lemongrass, cayenne pepper, and sesame seeds.


Combine these together to make a relatively thick sauce. All ingredients you are using have strong flavors, so mine was something like:

• 1/4 part sesame oil
• 1/3 part molasses
• 2/3 part soy sauce

Chopped garlic, cayenne pepper, and lemongrass to taste. 


Once this is made, cube a package of extra firm tofu:

As you can see, I may have done mine out of order and now you are learning how I wish I had done it, haha. (see broccoli floret traitors in the pic)

Add marinade:

Marinating tofu--see the lemongrass?

Then chop the broccoli:

I have no idea why the photo is with garlic and lemongrass. I think to remind me of something. Something I forgot.

While your tofu is marinating, you steam then blanch the broccoli. You will be adding this to the wok, so make sure your cooked broccoli is a bit undercooked to avoid gross mushy food at the end:

Broccoli got blanched

After the broccoli is sufficiently cooled, season your wok with a little sesame oil, put it on medium heat, and add the tofu. You want the pieces to get nice and brown on each side--a lil crispy. 

Once it is sufficiently crisped on the outsides, add the broccoli. The goal is just to get the flavors to meld and reheat the broccoli. Keep adding the marinade, as needed.


In this photo I think you can see what I mean about the tofu pretty well, so I hope that helps.


When you are finished, plate your meal in a warm bowl, and add a sprinkling of sesame seeds.


My dinner looked like this: 

What will yours look like?




***This post has been brought to you by ellipses...there for you when you awkwardly don't know how to finish a statement