Big Sweet Tooth

A Word About Chili Oil

I used to loathe spice - now I'm obsessed.

Is that from getting a bit older?  All I ever used to crave was sweets, sugar, things of that nature.  Now its spice, salt and texture.  I can't even really eat tempeh, soy crumbles, fake shit any longer.  It's more like I take real stuff and jack them up with fire. 

Homemade chili oil is so easy to make.  Roast a few in the oven on high, sling them in the processor with peanut oil and voila...something to drench on everything, which a liberal sling of salt.  This mixed with mayo takes a late night scrambled egg sandwich to a new level.  It's like I have to Dish Doctor up everything.  Should be my next show.  Take a chef's special dish...and ramp it up to the next level.  What fun.

Been on the hunt for Schezuan food everywhere I land these days.  It's a spot in China that's so damn frigid, they have to blaze up their food to trick themselves into believing they are warm.  They use liberal amounts of the Sichuan peppercorn which is wild in the mouth.  Like a tingling/numbness that's difficult to describe.  Hot pots filled to the brim with the most delicious aromas hit up the table at authentic Schezuan joints.  Frogs legs in chile oil.  Pan fried noodles in chili oil.  Baby dumplings in sweet/spicy chili oil. 

It's all about this dang oil.  Throw in a bit of brown sugar...my God, it's enough to drive someone mad with desire.

 

 

I Shall Perfect the Tamale in Mexico...

To the average eye, this may look like an ordinary tamale with a small smattering of beans and rice.  Ahhhh, not so.  In reality, this is an award-winning (well, at least in my heart) Cuban tamale--one from my fave place in Chicago, La Unica.  I've raved about it, I've posted about it, I've dreamed about...and now, when I go to Mexico, I'm making it one of my Top 5 goals to learn to make tamales.  I know they can't be that difficult and I'm going to obsess about it until I have eaten my fill of my own homemade tamales.  Other things I want to concoct in Mexico are mole, perfect chipolte salsa, ranchero beans, and fish simmered in coconut milk (it's a Brazilian recipe, but still, I'm gonna give it a go).  I have no oven in the trailer, so all eats will have to be slung together on the stovetop.  Should be a piece of cake~

Yea, That's Right...Sometimes I Cook At HOME~~

I know it may seem like I eat out every single meal every day of the week, but it's just not so.  There are times when I cook up something in my own kitchen (many times, I'm churning out stuff that's better than I can get at a restaurant anyway--well, not my fave ethnic places, but you know...).  I sometimes make buttery soft biscuits, over-medium fried eggs and homemade sausage gravy; other times its a big fat pot of Ecuadorian potato stew with slices of soft avocado on top; sometimes I'm craving pasta and whip up some noodles (usually gluten free) and toss in a bit of cheese, a splash of heavy cream, a hunk of real butter and BAM!  I've got mac and cheese (more often than not a rip of thyme
and some fresh tomatoes go into my final bowl); hearty veggie chili sometimes shows face; lots of thick Greek yogurt and honey is consumed and I mean LOTS...well, you get the drift.  So you can see, some of my meals are made at home, all with great excitement and it's good to know I'm not just some eating machine that takes down every restaurant I come across in a wild stuff-my-face frenzy.  Well, I don't know, maybe I am.  I guess I'm just hungry all the time. Ahhh, a pattern has emerged--clearly I favor comfort food.  What to do with this knowledge, what to do.....

Vegetarian Sun-Dried Tomato Italian Sausages are Almost Too Good to Be True~

I guess I love the texture of meat because these little vegetarian Italian sausages I've been making lately have been off the charts.  They have the exact same feel as the regular meat kind and I have literally perfected the perfect dog set-up.  I take one sun-dried tomato veggie dog and char it in an old cast iron.  Now this is after I have managed to cook down a half of a vidalia onion in butter in that cast iron.  Imagine the scents wafting through my kitchen after that! Anyway, I then toast up a whole grain bun (with butter, mind you) and slather it with some spreadable Swiss cheese (the kind that comes in those tiny triangles).  After the cheese is sorted out, on goes a hit of mayo, some Dijon mustard, a bit of ketchup and then the dog.  Top it with the onions and some fresh ground pepper and watch out man!  You'd never know there was no meat involved.  I love frying up a side of golden potatoes with fresh rosemary to go along with it.  I've been eating this dish with alarming frequency and finally, I ran out of the 6-pack of dogs the other day (I had the entire kitchen at work smelling like a million bucks).  I'm almost scared to get more, they're that addictive and I just got a little too obsessed with them.  Time to move on to greener pastures...I mean, jeez, I feel like this meal is meant for a giant and I'm shoving it down with wild abandon...

Egg Fried Rice with Pesto Tofu~~

When I returned from Bali last April, I came back with a full-fledged addiction to rice.  The lovely folks over there eat it for every meal (nasi goreng is the most main meal) and there couldn't be more beautiful, healthier looking people in the world (everyone claims that rice makes you overweight...well, tell that to the Balinese Nana whose been eating it for 90 years and is thin as a reed with not a wrinkle in sight). Anyway, earlier this week, I had some leftover rice in the fridge and decided to whip up my favorite dish--egg fried rice.  Now, if you can believe it, I've never made fried rice before, so it was just a bit of a sling together and I tossed in some pesto flavored tofu that I'd just picked up at Sunflower Market...can I just say that I was so happy with my meal, I was hopping? It was the most delightful (and simple) dish and will now become an instant staple in my home.  Here is the recipe:

Spaghetti with Meatless Boca Crumbles~Straight-up Delicious

I've never cooked with meatless ground beef crumbles if you can believe it.  You know, the kind that Boca makes? They are tiny crumbles of ground burger that honest to God taste almost like the real thing.  I really can't tell much difference between them and real ground beef now that I've mastered cooking with them (really, all you do is toss them in some homemade spaghetti sauce and give 'em about two minutes to thaw out and sop up all the juice---and just like that, they're done).  I whipped up this masterful spaghetti feast (made with rice noodles, no less) the other night and I truly outdid myself...even I was impressed.  Lately I've been eating out so much and have almost (but not quite) grown sick of it.  I'm just craving all the goodness of home cooked meals and nothing does it for me like homestyle spaghetti like my mom used to make.  Topped with a little shaved parmesan, watch out!  This is definitely my new obsession.  What else can I make with those no-meat crumbles?  Creamy sausage gravy and buttery, homemade biscuits; Southwestern chili with skillet cornbread; cheesy lasagna and garlic bread; baked burritos el suizo and crunchy tacos---wow!  The list can go on and on...what an exciting discovery.

Feta Cheese Appetizer: So Damn Good (and Pretty)~

For some crazy reason, I always seem to forget about this delicious appetizer.  It's the easiest thing in the world to make and I whipped it up the other night to take to my pal Jamie's party.  This photo is of the uncooked version, but once it comes out of the oven, it is a sight to behold.  Really, all you do is lay out some feta cheese(I like Bulgarian and French the best--Greek is far too tangy for my tastebuds) in a shallow baking dish and douse it with a bit of olive oil.  Then throw on some slivered red onions, chunks of fresh garlic, sliced black olives, diced tomato, dried basil, a hit of dried oregano and some fresh lemon.  Toss it in the oven and bake at 450 for about 40 minutes.  Then, at the very end, pump it up to broil for about 5 minutes and get the top all bubbly and lightly browned. When it's  done, throw on a ton of fresh basil and served with some toasted bread (I love the Pane Tuscan from Trader Joe's).  You will die.  The feta becomes so creamy and smearable and the Bulgaria feta emits the most mouthwatering wine flavor (which of course, is why it is my favorite).  Just the best appetizer ever and everyone always loves it.

The Best Smoothie Ever

I've always been a smoothie addict and especially as of late.  Every morning, I whip up the most incredible smoothie; I have literally perfected the damn thing perfected (there's no room to be humble here).  From the banana/peanut butter/honey smoothie that tastes like the most awesome banana milkshake ever, to the mixed berry smoothie that is the best way to healthfully satiate my sweet tooth, I've got the secret to smoothies down pat.  It's all about the frozen fruit.  And, you never should use ice or yogurt or ice cream---none of that jive.  Just fruit, soy milk, mango juice, and flax seed---plus, sometimes I throw in a little silken tofu for good measure (and protein).  Here's a recipe for the best smoothie ever:

Pole Caught Tuna~$7 Bones

Ever had a $7 dollar can of tuna?  Me neither, til I bought this can at Bouffe, the new gourmet food shop in Lincoln Square.  I must say, it was a real struggle to drop $7 bucks on a friggin' can of tuna, but on my second visit, I just had to do it....what must it taste like?  I whipped up a lunch dish with it and hauled it to the office, much to the delight of my fatcake team.  Mixing in the tuna with boiled baby new potatoes, diced garden tomatoes, sauteed green beans, rips of fresh basil, EV olive oil, lemon, a hit of balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper...it was straight delicious.  No trace of fish at all and totally worth the dollars.  Not that I would drop that much again, but if pressed (and rich), I'd probably roll with the american tuna at all times.  In the meantime, I'll continue to track down my $3 cans from Fox & Obel.

Backyard Vineyards in Chicago

I spent last night in the lovely backyard of a Greek friend of mine.  Tiny as it was, his family had utilized every single inch of space there was and they'd planted fig trees, pear trees, peach trees, basil, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, squash, and most astonishingly, a full-on vineyard.  It was totally insane.  They were just chillin', listening to old-school Greek music, polishing off a feast (and of course, slinging back some rose) and cutting all the grape bunches to make homemade wine.  Who even knew Mediterranean life existed in Chicago.  I guess all ya need is a patch of dirt to make something grow.