October 2006 Archives

Happy Halloween! I got an email from Denise the other day, mentioning how she incorporated the seasoning idea for Parmesan Survival Corn into a pumpkin seed recipe:

I rinsed the pumpkin seeds, but didn't totally wash off all of the little bits of pumpkin. Then I tossed the seeds in a mixture of parmesan/romano cheese (just from the can), Survival Spice™, and olive oil until coated. I spread them on a cookie sheet and popped them in 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Good stuff!

I don't have the camera dock all hooked up and I know I wouldn't get a picture to you in a timely manner....sorry.

But the pumpkin seeds turned out pretty good. The only thing I would probably do differently would be to add some kosher salt, which I don't have on hand.

She didn't send a pic, but this one is from Jim's Halloween Survival Seeds last year, along with his recipe:

Here is a new recipe and some pics:

Contains olive oil, sesame oil, Survival Spice™, and worchester sauce. Wash seeds, add rub, oil, and worchester sauce. Then 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Don't rush this one.

Best, Jim

Here's a before and after shot of the chicken, sausage and shrimp gumbo I made yesterday, using some of the chicken stock I made recently. I've described my gumbo technique before, so the only thing I'll point out is how thick the roux is as it begins to cook. Dark rouxs use more flour because the starch cooks out over time, so don't panic and add more oil, it will loosen up as it cooks.

Lots of chopping and whatnot, but it was worth it!

(Photo: Mary)

Happy Friday, all! Sorry for the lack of posts this week, the real world is even more crazy than usual lately. If you've got pictures to share, email me, it's always great to see what the great cooks around here are whipping up, especially if I can't cook much.

This is a great Friday Funny from Julie that totally cracked me up.

Have a great weekend! Thanks for reading.

We're getting ready thip our donations to Operation Gratitude so please make your donations for the holiday drive! Sadly, we've fallen far short of our goal, so whatever you can do to help is really appreciated. For $7.99, you can donate two tins of Survival Spice™, normally an $11.98 value. We'll then ship, at our expense, your donated tins to Operation Gratitude to be included in the packages.

This is such a good cause. Please help!!

Milk toast. I've mentioned this before, but I loved milk toast as a kid. When we were sick, my Mom would take a piece of white toast, of course, slather it with butter, then place it in a bowl, then pour in a bit of hot milk. This, being the 60s, was way before microwaves; could you imagine being able to reheat something in the same dish you were going to eat it in back then? Sorry, I digress. The last step was to liberally cover the top of the toast with sugar. Mmmm.... it seemed so good back then.

So, you might ask, how do I know I wouldn't like it now? I tried it about 10 years ago. Home in L.A. (at the time), thousands of miles from Mom's ministrations, I attempted the dish in an attempt to ward off whatever cold/flu/leprosy bug was pummeling my aching body.

How was it? Not so good. Inedible, actually, maybe I need to get Mom's recipe. Now that I look back on it, I'm sure I didn't put nearly enough love in mine.

Got any childhood food memories that haven't stood up to your adult palate? Thanks to Julie for the idea for this post.

I've blogger here about fritattas, but fritattas are an easy and classy way to make brunch, plus they're a great way to use up leftovers. This one included asparagus, onion, red bell peppers and fontina cheese, but use your imagination! I like to put a layer of cooked potatoes at the bottom, but didn't do it Sunday.

Pre-cook your fillings while your oven's heating to about 400º in the same pan, then add your egg mixture, give it a few minutes on the stove to get it hot, then pop it in the oven. Once your eggs have risen a bit, are cooked through and the cheese is nice and bubbly, take it out. Let it rest a few minutes, then slice and serve. I had sliced Roma tomatoes and avocado with this, along with some whole grain toast.

If you have leftovers the next day, take the time to reheat them in the oven, rather than in the microwave.

Cook anything this weekend? Let us know, and email me a picture!

Happy Friday, all! We've made it through another work week, so here's a Friday Funny from Janella to get us laughing early.

Have a great weekend, cooking something good, and if you care to check out any of the great stuff we have here at Desert Island Foods™.com, we'd appreciate your helping us spread the word!

(Photo: Guy Price, Meathenge.com

Our buddy Dr. Biggles is a grilling monster, even when the marinade ain't right. He says it was too salty, but you wouldn't know it from the great picture he sent along.

You do read Meathenge regularly, don't you. Shame on you if you don't!

Hey,

Here's what I had for dinner. Not exactly last night, but quite recently.

After a busy day selling boat glue to pirates (no really) there's nothing simpler than firing up the charcoal grill with my Custom Charcoal (takes 10 minutes to get ready) and getting dinner done.

The other night was Bud's Custom Meat's Santa Maria marinated (read: salty) grilled over applewood charcoal. I'm sure I had some veggies to go with it, but they weren't all that memorable. Neither was the chicken. While I found the chicken to be an excellent Petaluma variety, the marinade was a salt lick.

Next !!!

Why do they make most marinades so frickin' salty? It makes me crazy, sheesh.

What did you have for dinner last night? Email me, we love hearing about successes and disasters, and believe me, we've all had plenty of both, right?

After a busy day, there's nothing simpler than firing up a good gas grill with a few wood chips and grilling your dinner. No pots, no pans, very little cleanup, and really delicious.

Last night was salmon filets, oiled and rubbed generously with our Survival Spice™ barbecue rub, which is fantastic on salmon. After the salmon was on the grill for a few minutes, I added some lightly oiled and seasoned asparagus. A good squirt of fresh lemon juice during the last 5 minutes of cooking, and that was it.

Healthy, amazing and easy. Three of my favorite words.

What did you have for dinner last night?

R.W. Apple, venerable New York Times food writer, passed away recently, but this article, recently published, detailing 10 restaurants he would get on a plane for, is a fine send off.

Thanks to John in Chicago for the link! Free, yet annoying registration required, so I'll post a bit below the fold.

If you could jet set to a restaurant you love, just for a meal, where would you go?

There's nothing like homemade soups, sauces and gumbos, but a critical ingredient to all of these dishes is starting out with a great stock. I know- it's time intensive, it's a pain in the butt, etc., granted; but if you make a larger quantity and freeze it, you'll find yourself enjoying a great bowl of 'whatever it is' far more often this winter.

I actually had an afternoon last week to do a little cooking, so while I was getting other stuff done around the house, why not make stock?

Happy, happy Friday the 13th, all! I hope you've got something culinary-oriented going on this weekend, email me some pictures of what you're cooking and eating to share!

We have an ususual Friday Funny this week, it's a fowl joke/recipe from Kathleen, thanks! The recipe and photo of the finished dish is below the fold.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Please contribute to our "Two For the Troops" effort for Operation Gratitude by clicking in the sidebar ad for more information, and please help us spread the word.

(Photo: Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestrings at The Spotted Pig

John in Chicago sent me a link to The Spotted Pig in Manhattan a few days back, and I finally got a chance to check it out. Wow. A nice looking place with a really interesting menu, plus a website that's very well done.

Hopefully the next time I'm in New York I can head down to the Village and check it out!

What do you look for in a restaurant? There's been a trend in the business over the last few years towards lots of bistros that aren't terribly elegant, but still have a pretty high-priced menu. Do you feel ripped off in a place like that, or is it a relief to be able to have a great meal without having to be uber-dressed up?

The Spotted Pig

314 W. 11th Street
@ Greenwich Street
New York, NY 10014
Tel: (212) 620-0393

... of the "new" grill that Chilebrown picked up at a garage sale recently:

Hey check out my new toy. I bought it for 25 dollars at a garage sale. It is solid. It is very custom. It originally was water heater. Oboy, Oboy, Oboy!!! Ribs and Freedom Sausage, YES!

We had some good friends come down from Sacratomatoe and we brought them to the Ferry Plaza in the city. We bought some fresh Masa. Dinner was:Marinated Chicken thighs,Flank Steak, Salsa, Rice and Beans. One of the best ingredients was grilled fresh tortillas. Yeah!!

Very cool grill, sort of a Santa Maria style, where the grill is raised and lowered by a winch. Lots of cast iron to keep the heat constant, I'd say it's a real score!

Paul sent along a picture of his wife, who wasn't as excited about the addition of his fifteenth grill as he was, but I won't post that one... I will post a shot of the chicken and fresh tortillas, though!

The good news- there was absolutely no Spam® in this...

My buddy Bob gave me a bunch of home-grown basil the other day. I wasn't in the mood for pesto, so I decided to make some pasta sauce with it. You know my M.O. for basic pasta sauce- lots of sauteed garlic in Tibvrtini Olio Extra Virgene di Oliva, crushed to order tomatoes, crushed red peppers and basil only- so I won't go into detail on that.

To make the cacciatora, I oven-roasted some chicken legs and thighs seasoned with our Survival Spice™ until they had a nice color and were nearly cooked through, and also sauteed some mini red and yellow peppers along with a chopped red onion. I deglazed these with some white wine, then added them to some of the tomato sauce. Once the chicken was ready, I added it as well, then simmered the whole thing for an hour.

Boiled some penned until it was al dente, then garnished with parmaseano reggiano and a sprig of Bob's be-YOO-tiful basil. Thanks again!

Bottle of red, and some crusty bread. Life was good.

Congratulations, Diana, on your fine victory! Diana has won Food Fight Five- The Spam® Cookoff, with her Curried Spam® and Mango Salad, which she presented in a couple of interesting ways.

Diana, if you still want to donate your six-pack to Operation Gratitude as part of our Two For the Troops program, I'll be glad to match it!

This was a really good competition, I think. To make something like Spam® into an upscale dish takes a lot of thought and imagination, and every entry we had sure had both of those! Thanks to everybody who entered, even the "imaginary entries" were really fun.

So, what's the next Food Fight to be?

(This is actually 100% edible, and probably very tasty.)

Happy Friday, everyone! The voting for the Spam® cookoff continues in the thread below, so cast your vote if you haven't done so yet. Also, our "Two for the Troops" promotion for Operation Gratitude is still going on, so please click here to donate two tins of Survival Spice™ for only $7.99!

I've gotten this email from a few people, most recently Dennis and Kathleen (thanks!), so I guess it's time to post it. I mean, after posting Spam® recipes for the better part of two weeks, I've pretty much hit "bottom" anyway...

Have a great weekend. Cook something good, willya?

(Photo: Dr. Biggles, of his sons demonstrating their "Spam on a Stick" technique...)

Let the voting begin! Here's the original rules I posted:

• Spam® needs to be a primary ingredient, no hiding a few morsels in another dish! You need to use a full tin, or thereabouts.

• Those who enter can cast a full vote in the comments of this thread only. Other readers can vote too, but their votes in total will only serve as one tie-breaking vote. And just for another cruel twist, no voting for yourself!

• Imagination should be a large factor in the voting, I think. Be creative!

• Oh, and yes, you actually have to eat it and let us know how it turned out.

I'll award a six-pack of Survival Spice™ to the winner. I'm going to enter, too, and vote. I'm not saying my vote could be influenced by an entry using Survival Spice™ or our other products, but... If I win, I'll donate an extra sixpack to Operation Gratitude.

This has been a real challenge, and a lot of fun, I think. Leave your vote in the comments, along with an explanation of how you came to your decision, if you like. I'll close the voting as soon as all the entrants have posted their vote.

Wow, Chilebrown hooked me up. He sent me some home smoked chipotle peppers, and I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them.

Gail has sent in the latest entry into our latest Spam® Food Fight, a "Kinda Cajun Spam with Polenta". At the point, because I don't know of any other entries that might come in other than Dr. Biggles, I'll say "last call" to create a Spam® dish! To see all the entries so far, just click on the Food Fight category in the right sidebar.

Another really imaginative, well executed dish. I'm really impressed with the creativity we've all put in to this!

Here's our entry from north of the border. Diana found a turkey version of Spam® that I didn't know existed, and found a very creative way of presenting it as an appetizer that I'll include in the extended entry. Nice job, Diana! Tons of imagination here, I think.