CONSUMED(I,THIS)

pinche perro cocktail [named by eddie]: silver tequila, homemade grapefruit liqueur, lime juice, hot sauce, smoke salt.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 oz. Silver Tequila (I used Milagro)
• 1 oz. Grapefruit Liqueur
• .5 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lime Juice
• 2 drops Hot Sauce (I used Cholula)
• Mexican Smoked Salt (or substitute kosher salt)

Rim a single old-fashioned or rocks glass with smoked salt, using a little lime juice as the adhesive. (Instead of dipping the glass vertically into the salt, roll only the outside lip of the glass in the salt. That way you wont have lots of salt floating in your drink. Ew. Tip of the hat to Gary Regan.) Put the glass in the freezer to chill. Add first 3 ingredients to a cocktail shaker with lots of ice. Shake vigorously until very cold, about 20 seconds. Remove the rimmed glass from the freezer and fill it with ice. Strain the drink into the glass, being careful not to disturb the salt. Top with two drops of hot sauce and serve.

taco night: flank steak, lime, spices, chiles, smoked salt, garlic, onion, cilantro, corn tortillas.

1. Smash up a few cloves of garlic in a mortar with some Mexican back smoked sea salt (or just use kosher salt). Now add your ground spices and chiles. I used cumin, coriander, chile powder, ancho, and chipotle. Squeeze in half a lime and add several tablespoons of vegetable oil. Mix everything around to form a thick, homogenous paste.
2. Add the paste to a large ziplock bag and then place half a flank steak in the bag. Move everything around to coat the meat, then squeeze out the air and seal the bag. Place in the refrigerator to marinade for 2-4 hours.
3. Finely mince a quarter of a while onion. Rinse the minced onion in a little cold water to take away some of its pungency, and then gently squeeze the onion dry in a paper towel. Finely chop half a bunch of cilantro and mix it into the onion. Set aside.
4. Heat up an oiled grill or gill pan until it begins to smoke. Remove the steak from its bag and scrape off the excess marinade that clings to it. Salt both sides of the meat, and cook on the grill on high heat until medium-rare.
5. Rest the meat for about 3 minutes, then cut it into small cubes. Using tongs, heat some small corn tortillas up directly over the flame of your stove. (If you don’t have a gas stove, just heat them in a dry pan). Place the tortillas two deep on a warmed plate. Top with steak and then the onion-cilantro mixture. Serve with lime wedges.

breakfast: rhubarb, sugar, greek yogurt, almonds, lavender honey.

1. To make the rhubarb compote, cut up a pound of rhubarb into quarter-inch pieces. Place the cut rhubarb in a heavy bottomed pot with a tablespoon or two of water and sugar to taste. I found that about a quarter cup of sugar worked well for me, but your rhubarb and tastes will be different than mine. You want to make sure to end up with a tart compote, and you can always add more sugar at the end.
2. Place the pot on medium heat and cook the rhubarb until almost all of the pieces have fallen apart. Taste for sugar. Allow the compote to cool, and then refrigerate it until cold.
3. When you want breakfast, start toasting some sliced almonds. Meanwhile, put some Greek yogurt and lavender honey (or any honey you like) in a bowl and mix with a spoon until the honey is incorporated and the yogurt is smooth and shiny. Spoon a generous helping of cold rhubarb compote on top of the yogurt, then top with (now cooled) toasted sliced almonds. Drizzle with more honey and eat up!

bánh mì dinner: baguette, roast pork loin [by c], pickled vegetables, scallion, cilantro, chile pepper, lime juice, sweet chile sauce, fish sauce.

1. Before you begin, you’ll need to roast a pork loin and pickle your vegetables. (Of course, you can change up the vegetables; daikon would be a traditional choice.)
2. In a bowl, mix a few tablespoons of sweet chile sauce, the juice of a lime, and some fish sauce. Mix well and set aside.
3. Cut off a third of a crusty baguette on the bias. Make a sandwich-wise cut in the bread, leaving it attached along one side.
4. Cut a bunch of thin slices off of the pork loin. If we’re talking cold, leftover pork loin you need to warm it up. Preheat your oven to a very low temperature (200-250˚F), place the sliced pork atop the cut side of the baguette, and place it in the oven to warm. If the pork is freshly cooked and still warm, just warm the bread and then put the pork on it.
5. Here are two good methods of building the sandwich: (i) The Pretty Way (pictured above): Drizzle some of the sauce over the pork, layer chopped scallions, pickled vegetables, and sliced chile, and then pack in a bunch of cilantro leaves. Finally, drizzle some more sauce on top of the cilantro. (ii) The Messy Way (may be more delicious): In a small bowl, toss together cilantro leaves, green onion, chile slices, and some picked vegetables with a little bit of pickling liquid and some of the sauce. Dress the pork with this salad.
6. Press the sandwich together firmly. Cut in half, on the bias, and serve.

pickles for bánh mì: carrot, cucumber, rice vinegar, fish sauce, sugar.

To see the recipe for the bánh mì the I used these in, click here!

1. Shred a carrot or two. A mandolin will help here. Thinly slice some seedless cucumber. Pack the vegetables tightly into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. You could add a few slices of chili if you like, too.
2. In a bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, sugar and fish sauce diluted with about a third as much water as vinegar. Taste for seasoning, and then slowly pour the pickling liquid over the vegetables.
3. Let stand for a few hours at room temperature, or refrigerate overnight. Use while the vegetables are still crunchy and colorful.

obama’s first speech to congress dinner: penne, cranberry beans, beet greens, chard, garlic, rosemary, thyme, chile flakes, red wine vinegar, toasted breadcrumbs, parmigiano.

1. After rinsing them thoroughly, cover some dried cranberry beans with an inch or two of cold water. Soak for six hours or so. Make a lot; they’re good to have around.
2. Saute some finely chopped onion, carrot, and celery in olive oil in a dutch oven. Add a few smashed garlic cloves and cook a bit longer. Then add the following to the pot: the beans with their soaking water, a sprig of rosemary, a few sprigs of thyme, and a a couple bay leaves. Do not season yet.
3. Bring the whole mess to a boil, and boil hard for five minutes. Bring down to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook until the beans are tender but not falling apart, about an hour or two. Season with copious salt and simmer for another ten or twenty minutes. When the beans are done, strain them and reserve their liquor. Remove herb stems and bay leaves. Set aside.
4. Start cooking the penne rigate. Thoroughly clean some tender leafy greens, such as beet greens and swiss chard, which you’ve cut into strips. Add olive oil, chile flakes, and some chopped garlic to a large sauce pan, and then turn on the heat to medium. When the garlic is cooked but not colored, add the greens and the water that is clinging to them. Season. Turn the heat up to high, drizzle in some red wine vinegar, and cover for a minute or two until greens are mostly cooked.
5. Add a bunch of beans (with the vegetables and herbs that cling to them) to the pan, along with a good amount of the bean liquor. Season. Simmer for a minute or two. Add the cooked penne and a loose handful of toasted breadcrumbs (make your own!) to the pan and toss. Add more bean liquor if needed. Turn off heat and drizzle with your best olive oil. Serve with grated parmigiano and more breadcrumbs.

academy award night dinner part two: golden beet, avocado, skyr yogurt, dill, lime.

1. Preheat your oven to 400˚F. Trim and clean four medium-sized golden beets. Wrap each one tightly in aluminum foil, and roast them on pan in the oven until tender, about an hour. Once they’ve cooled enough to handle, peel the beets and cut them into bite-sized wedges. Season them with salt and the juice of a lime. Set aside.
2. Put about half a cup of strained yogurt in a bowl. I used some skyr, but greek yogurt would also work nicely. Add a lot of chopped dill to the yogurt, along with some salt, pepper and olive oil. Thin the mixture with some water until it has a nice saucey consistency. Set aside.
3. Cut two ripe avocados into bite-sized chunks and add them to the beets, Season with salt. Add some dressing to the avocado and beets, and gently fold the ingredients together. Serve.

academy award night dinner part one: bulgar, puy lentils, carrot, celery, hazelnuts, shallot, sherry vinegar. (inspired by an old gourmet)

1. For a very large batch, bring to a boil in a saucepan two cups of bulgar with with three cups of water water, salt and olive oil. Simmer, covered, until done.  Put the cooked bulgar in a large bowl with a little more olive oil. Toss it around every once and a while until it reaches room temperature.
2. Meanwhile, in another pan, cover a cup of rinsed puy lentils with an inch or two of cold water, and add some mirepoix and a bay leaf to the pan. Do not season yet. Bring to a simmer, and cook until the lentils are tender. Strain lentils and remove the vegetables and bay leaf.
3. Meanwhile (yeah, that’s a double “meanwhile”) finely dice a shallot and cover it in sherry vinegar and season with a little salt. Small dice some carrot and celery and toast, peal, and smash up some hazelnuts.
4. Toss the shallots with their liquid with the lentils while they’re still a little warm. Once everything is at room temperature, toss together the lentils with the bulgar and the carrot and celery. Season to taste with salt, sherry vinegar, and more olive oil.
5. Serve with the toasted hazelnuts on top.

“honey, i think we need to go on a diet” dinner: israeli couscous, arugula, roasted red pepper, capers, anchovies, sun-dried tomato, lemon.

Update: A version of this recipe is featured on GradSpot.com! Check it out here.

1. Boil just under 2 cups of vegetable stock and/or water. Add a bay leaf, a clove of garlic, some herbs (I used thyme), and a few strips of lemon zest, and then stir in 1.5 cups of Israeli couscous. Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Pour the couscous out onto a plate to cool, and remove the stuff you don’t want in your salad (garlic, bay leaf, etc.). Drizzle the pasta with a little olive oil to keep it from sticking and stir.
2. While the couscous is cooking, reconstitute some sun-dried tomatoes in a bit of boiling water. Once they are tender, mince them.
3. Once the couscous has cooled some, put it in a mixing bowl and add the following: roasted red pepper, cut into strips and marinated in a little balsamic vinegar; minced anchovies; rinsed capers; minced lemon zest; and the minced reconstituted  sun-dried tomatoes. Season, stir, and let the ingredients mingle at room temperature for up to two hours.
4. Just before you want to eat, toss some baby arugula with live oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Toss the arugula with the other ingredients and serve.
5. Want some more protein? It’s really good with some olive-oil-packed tuna mixed in!

onion soup take two: onion, apple, bacon, shitake, thyme, spices, butter.

This soup is a revision of the one I made on January 15th, the recipe for which is here. I wanted to come up with a version that did not require you to braised half a pound of pork belly the day before in order to make it.

1. Preheat your oven to 350˚F. Peel and halve eight or twelve small yellow onions, leaving the root end intact. Cut each half into three wedges, each with some of the root attached so that the layers don’t fall apart. Cut up one peeled and cored grannysmith apple into wedges of similar size. Toss the onion and apple in fat (I used olive oil and bacon drippings), then arange them cut-side-up on a wire rack set in a sheet pan. Sprinkle with salt and sugar, and roast in the oven, turning the onion and apple wedges over once, until lightly browned and tender—about an hour or an hour and a half. Cut the inedible root ends off the onions.
2. Meanwhile, make some ersatz bacon broth, as follows. Cut up three or four slices of bacon into confetti-sized pieces and cook them until well rendered over medium-low heat in a heavy-bottomed pot. Add a quartered onion and some roughly chopped carrot and celery to the pot, and toss them in the bacon fat. Then add the following: several sprigs of thyme, a cinnamon stick, a bay leaf, three or four whole cloves, a pinch or two of whole fennel seeds, and 6 cups of cold water. Scrape the fond off of the bottom of the pot. Bring to a boil and then simmer until you’re ready to use it, at least an hour.
3. Strain the stock into a saucepan and place over high heat. Reduce by about half, and then add the onions and apples. Boil for another 15 minutes, or until the ratio of solid to liquid looks about right to make a thick puree. (You want relatively little liquid since there is a good amount of residual water in the roasted onions and apple.)
4. Puree the mixture with a few tablespoons of butter. Season. Put the puree back into the saucepan (after rinsing it out), and place it over low heat until ready to serve. (Don’t wait too long.)
5. For the garnish, cut several slices of bacon into lardon and cook them in a small skillet until rendered. Remove the bacon to a paper towel, pour off all but about two tablespoons of the bacon fat. Heat the remaining fat until very hot over high heat, and then add 5 to 10 small, halved shitake mushrooms to the pan. Brown well, tossing once, until cooked, seasoning near the end. (This goes very fast.) Serve the soup in a warm bowl garnished with the bacon, the mushrooms, and a few fresh thyme leaves. Don’t forget some crusty bread action!