last night was pescado tortillado. a breaded fish taco with cole slaw. not bad.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Chipotle pepper chili with potatoes, carrots, beets, and a corn bread bun.

Technically this was Thursday's dinner, but thanks to the wonderful magic of leftovers I get to have it again.

- J

Attached Thumbnails

 

Basic gumbo:

Veggies:
1 cup each chopped onions, bell pepper, celery (the Holy Trinity)
Minced garlic - however much you want
1 cup or more chopped okra
1 pound tomatoes. Canned are good. I use fire-roasted.

Roux:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour

Stock:
5 cups stock - any stock will do, but it must be high quality

Seasonings:
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, or equivalent. Use more if you like spicy.
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp thyme
2 bay leaves
file

Main ingredients:
2 pounds of anything you want: chicken, sausage, shrimp, crawfish, crabmeat, catfish, etc

Preparation:

Get all the veggies, stock and seasonings ready. If you are using chicken, you can precook it. Otherwise, all seafood is raw when it goes in.

In a large skillet or dutch oven, heat oil on medium high. I use my cast iron skillet. Using a flat bottomed utensil, sprinkle in the flour while stirring constantly. Keep stirring constantly for maybe 15 minutes. If you stop, the flour will burn. During this time, don't answer the phone, get something to drink, go to the bathroom, anything. Just stir. The roux will slowly darken to a rich chocolate brown. Before this happens, you will be certain it's ruined. It isn't. Keep stirring until it's a deep brown. By the way, your kitchen's smoke alarm may have gone off by now. If you stop stirring and any charred bits form, discard and start over.

When the roux is nicely dark brown, toss in the chopped veggies except for the okra. This arrests the cooking so the roux doesn't darken anymore. Cook the veggies for about two minutes. Toss in the okra. Stir occasionally for 15 minutes - the okra will make the whole mess kinda gooey. You can go to the bathroom now.

Put the stock in a pot. I use a dutch oven. After the veggies and roux are cooked down, add them to the stock with the tomatoes and the seasonings, except the file. heat to near boiling, then simmer for an hour or so.

Sometime during that hour, toss in the main ingredient whenever it's appropriate, depending on how long it needs to cook.

Serve over rice. The file, which is ground sassafras leaves that can become bitter if cooked too long, is added at the end or used as a condiment. I sometimes don't use it at all.

Obviously, gumbo is ripe for variation, especially with the mains. I have added diced habanero chiles, cajun seasoning, chopped leeks and other stuff. But it's probably best to make the first batch straight up.

More on gumbo.

Gumbo is not low calorie. The amount of oil used sees to that.

Gumbo is a child of the US Gulf coast. Like Buffalo chicken wings, New York City pizza, Philadelphia cheesesteaks, and other regional dishes, it provokes a sense of ownership in those that are raised in those areas. Just as with New Yorkers, who think no pizza made anywhere else is worth eating, those from coastal Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi think you must travel to the gulf to get good gumbo. I'm sure other countries have the sort of thing, too.

Gumbo is about the roux, in my opinion. Not just the taste, mind you. But also about making it. Standing over the stove stirring and stirring and stirring, mesmerized by the slow inexorable change in color from light white to dark, deep chocolate brown, is why I make it. Roux can be purchased in a can. Don't buy it. Make it yourself.

Last night's dinner: tuna casserole and tomato & zucchini salad. Both are from the Great American Cookbook, which I picked up at a local used book store recently.

Gotta put the sassafras in gumbo, otherwise it's not authentic.

Geo, I still have to try your gumbo. You've already proved your greatness with your wings, lasagna, spaghetti sauce, and Thai beef salad.

Maybe we should get the local BAUT folks together for a potluck.

Yay, recipe! *saves* Thanks!
I'm going to try this out at the next opportunity. *adds celery to shopping list*

I don't know if you can get sassafras here at all though... I know you can't get canned roux but I wouldn't use it anyway! :P



PS: And oh yes, do we ever have nationalism in food here. You have NO IDEA!

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

I agree about the file, but it might be hard to get in Europe?

If there's to be a BAUT potluck somewhere, I vote for Ireland.

You are my new hero. I'm going to make that today.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Blackbird pie today, make sure you keep the birds chilled after shooting, gut and pluck them then freeze for a week or two, i only use the breast meat for
pies, the rest goes into game soup.
When i can find them i will eat this pie with wild horse mushrooms.

Yes, thank you for the recipe geonuc! I'll probably ad-lib some stuff but that's what I need to get it going.

As I mentioned in the Super Bowl thread, I didn't get out to the grocery this weekend. Last night we went to red-lobster and they had on their "fresh catch" menu a spicey pineapple glazed salmon. It was heaven.

Now I'm watching the game, and I figured I'd make a box of microwave fries. I know, traditionally microwaving fries sucks, but we found a brand from Ore-Ida that come in a single-serving box. The box is lined with whatever that is (hot pockets uses it too) and it helps 'em stay crispy. Not as good as oven, or of course hand made and fried...but no mess, and takes 4 minutes to zap.

Anyway, we're out of ketchup. I decided to turn the 4 minute nuke time into a "lets see what dipping sauce you can make in 4 min!" contest. Found mayo and yellow mustard. That was my base. Added ginger powder, ground pepper, salt, and paprika. Though "Hmm sort of like honey mustard" so, threw in some honey. Honey mustard. It was good. So I decided to make a sandwich aswell. Turkey with bacon and munster cheese, and the mustard with some sliced jalepeno mixed in. Yum.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

If it's in Ireland I'll be there!

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

__________________
clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

Quite right, yes.

With that, you are now promoted to BAUTluck co-coordinator with Euniculus.

I didn't have any. Besides, dicing onion in 4 minutes with my blade skills, my other three fingers would be mangled aswell. Ouch.

__________________

I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

*waits for her gumbo to stew*

geonuc! You didn't tell me the most important thing of them all - to wear safety gloves and goggles when frying the roux! This stuff is like napalm! And it SPITS!

Smells really good already, though... mmm...

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

jokergirl, you didn't fry it, did you?
should have consistency of crumbled biscuits grain, and its smell too! then you are on the right track...IMO...
add and continue adding hot stock and let it simmer. stir.stir. stir.....i love making it. reminds me of how mother Earth boils lava and stuff. and it sighs....and lets off steam...stir. stir. stir...
you are right about gogggles and gloves....
let us know, how it went....

__________________
clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

i was gonna mention about "watch fingers!"...
Fazor, i saw an advert for thimbles, used for prepping the onions....what a laugh....
chefs sometimes can be such wusses, if that's a right word for it.
probably cause more accidents/mayhem using them than would otherwise!

__________________
clear skies

If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. CARL SAGAN

Mak: Pass the pepperoni please.
Fazor: "Hail, Bautainia! We pledge our hearts to thee! Science and woo, some babbling too, and astron-oh-meee!"
slang: And it made ash out of yew and tree.

I'd rather cut my fingers than wear "chef thimbles", but yeah. The thing that I can't get use to is grease spatter from pan-frying things. I'll watch chefs cook and not even seem to notice it. I, however, jerk back every time I get spattered. It's not so much the pain (not that it feels good, mind you), it's the fact that they're little blazing ninja-drops that you can't see coming until they're searing their way through your skin, with no warning.

__________________

I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.
"In order to increase awareness of the homeless, security have been given binoculars."

Ah, then I had it a little too fatty. I was worried about burning it, so I had little flour and cooked it on low heat. But it got a really nice colour after 15 minutes!
It started spitting about 10 minutes in. I'm not sure why, but there were several little explosions that left craters! Probably some condensing moisture or tiny clumps of flour breaking up. It stopped again after a while. Interesting chemistry there, I'm sure...



How do you think?

I thought it was really good! Tasted very much like the seafood gumbo I had had in a restaurant before. I had pollock and shrimp in. YUM.

Thanks again for the recipe, this one's definitely a keeper.

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

Whoa there. No spitting allowed with roux. You must have had some moisture in the flour or something.

Your gumbo looks really good, jk. But then, I expected no less.

My potato salad consists of mayonnaise (of course), salt, plenty of pepper, a generous squirt of "Southwestern [spicy] Mustard" (yes geonuc - you read that right), sugar to sweeten just a tad, pickle relish, fresh crunchy bacon bits and diced boiled egg. It's savory, crunchy, smooth, a bit sweet AND salty. Yuuuum.

__________________
There in the valley of Scorpio, beneath the Cross of jade
Smoking on the seashell pipe the gypsies had made
We sat and we dreamed a while...in that crystal thought time in Mexico. ~Donovan

I keep asking my wife to make a stargazy pie for dinner but she won't.

What keeps you from making it yourself?

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

About the only thing I know how to cook is popcorn, and only the microwave type.

Time to learn then I guess (It's not that hard, otherwise women wouldn't traditionally be the ones doing it :P)

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

I've watched my wife - it looks damn hard! I tried once but the verbs used in cookbooks don't make any sense to me.

Haha, they don't to me either. My own recipes tend to read "Put in a cup - well, about that much, that looks right for my mood today - oh nevermind, I'm not putting that thing back into the fridge, I'll just toss it all in" and "Stir vigorously until it looks just about cooked".

But then, I learned cooking from my mom who answers questions like "How long should it cook?" with "Until it's done".

*makes pizza with pide dough today*

__________________
Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses.

"Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you."

Interesting. Most people put some potatoes in that dish.

__________________
Relight the Firefly!

"It is quite clear that Occam's razor does not sharpen in your pyramid." (Nicolas)

"Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest." (Paul Simon)