Artery Cloggers

After much chatter, I've finally started a food blog of what I cook, and what I stumble across while out! What better timing than during the scarfing of the holidays. I've made much food in the past few days but have only photographed half of them. Stomach first, photos second. Crumbs don't make for interesting imagery unfortunately. Nevertheless, I hope this blog proves useful in seeing what dishes come out of the chaos of the kitchen (when I'm in there that is). Yes, my poor poor victimized family members. That's how much I love my family. I'm making them stronger through mild poisoning!

So what dishes have I whipped up to torture the family? For lunch, I made beurek which are "savory cheese-filled pastries" out of the Sundays at Moosewood book which is great. Though I had been gathering the ingredients to make them (it's been on my list of things to cook), by the time I had the chance, the parsley had died and the mozzarella was nearly gone. This required substitutions. I added extra muenster for the loss of mozzarella (this made it too salty) and used dried parsley instead. I also used Parmesan-Reggiano instead of the feta called for, however it is a recommended substitution. I thought it would be like a calzone, and it is yet it isn't. The dough is light and airy rather than chewy like the pizza dough in calzones. This made all the difference for me because come leftover time, I will enjoy this much more than trying to gnaw through hardened pizza dough. My mom was the opposite. She likes the crispness of calzones more than the soft texture of these. The ingredients also included garlic and basil which is a great combination with the cheeses. This was easy to make especially with the Kitchen Aid mixer and its dough hook attachment. I love my kitchen appliances. Sigh. Rating: =9 =9 =9 Here are the puffs of joy:


For dinner, I made fish tacos. Mmmm...tacooooossss...I enjoy eating the fish tacos at Badlands Tacos particularly for the white sauce smothered all over the cabbage. A quickie search for fish taco recipes turned up Baja Fish Tacos from Fisherman's Market and Grill in FL. I used AB's fish and chips recipe for the battered fish (which is tasty especially with Bass Ale) because I was really after the white sauce. Having made AB's fish before (using Michelob...bleh), I was content with this decision. The verdict? It was ok. The folks liked it but my search for a similar white sauce is still on as it was quite mayo-ey in flavor. I must say, squeezing lots of lime juice on really made the white sauce taste much better with the shredded cabbage and battered fish (yes, I assaulted some fish). Other substitutions included using catfish instead of endangered cod, as well as flour tortillas instead of corn. What?!? I did what?? I don't think I get corn tortillas at the restaurant though they are soft tacos 'shells'. I only see the regular corn tortillas at the market so I used flour ones instead that I threw on the stove for a bit (this dish is so violent!). As for the catfish, I don't think it made much of a difference tastewise. Rating =9 =9 =9 Here is a slapdash photo of the assembly:


And so at the end of the meal, I was horribly filled with fat from the cheese at lunch, the oil from fried fish and the mayo in the white sauce. I had my second cup of tuocha (the first was after lunch) to help get the grease out and then polished the meal off with some citrus. Oh, those clementines never tasted more refreshing.