Açorda is literally cilantro soup! Served warm. Pulverize a full bunch of cilantro and some evoo, a couple cloves of garlic in a molcajete until its a thick paste. Transfer to a bowl, pour boiling water or chicken broth/bullion over to thin consistency a little, bread on top or bottom of bowl and a poached egg. Touch of salt and a lot of fresh black pepper. I'd recommend pairing with Campo Viejo Rioja Gran Reserva Tempranillo.
My sourdough starter is a "no discard" method typically, unless I'm trying to de-acidify it then I have discard. Normally I keep just 20-50 grams active.
I love shishito peppers! I really like to use them for the citrusy flavor in dishes you might not expect them in. The 1 spicy pepper keeps things interesting, thats for sure! I always grow shishito, blistered in oil, salt and acid, good bread and cured fish is my go to brunch dish after a harvest of peppers.
My sourdough starter is a "no discard" method typically, unless I'm trying to de-acidify it then I have discard. Normally I keep just 20-50 grams active.
I love shishito peppers! I really like to use them for the citrusy flavor in dishes you might not expect them in. The 1 spicy pepper keeps things interesting, thats for sure! I always grow shishito, blistered in oil, salt and acid, good bread and cured fish is my go to brunch dish after a harvest of peppers.
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And French, too. The pandemic sure took its toll on the ones that outlasted the politics of SF. I lived there 20 years ago, was a special place then. Now, you gotta watch your step or else you'll be in deep ****, literally. The Michelin star places are still going strong, Alice Waters, Mark Dommen, Dominique Crenn, etm, all are so steeped in tradition they nearly can't fail in a tourist trap city like that. Though Alice is in Berkeley.
Here in The Valley, we have some of the finest Mexican food in the world. Truthfully, many of the best cultural foods too, simply because we grow the food for the rest of the country and export the rest around the world! I frequent the Asian farmers market downtown year round. I buy my salmon and tuna exclusively from the fish mongers at the market, better quality and lower price. I ask for a whole salmon filet, they grab a whole fish, filet, scale and trim how I like for $6-$9/lb depending on the season. Get some seasonal veggies, fruit, various game or poultry, eat like a king for under $100 for a weeks worth of dinners. The Bodega here stock all the little seasonings I need, like Ceylon cinnamon, whole achiote, curry leaves, dozens of dried chiles, it really is a chef's dream all that is easily available here!
Here in The Valley, we have some of the finest Mexican food in the world. Truthfully, many of the best cultural foods too, simply because we grow the food for the rest of the country and export the rest around the world! I frequent the Asian farmers market downtown year round. I buy my salmon and tuna exclusively from the fish mongers at the market, better quality and lower price. I ask for a whole salmon filet, they grab a whole fish, filet, scale and trim how I like for $6-$9/lb depending on the season. Get some seasonal veggies, fruit, various game or poultry, eat like a king for under $100 for a weeks worth of dinners. The Bodega here stock all the little seasonings I need, like Ceylon cinnamon, whole achiote, curry leaves, dozens of dried chiles, it really is a chef's dream all that is easily available here!
The Japanese and Korean supermarkets have by far the best veggies in town down here in the OC. Fish too.
As far as cleaning my food, I grew up in a family with retail and wholesale "protein" stores... so I'm lazy about cleaning fish... I'd rather have the guy do it for me at the counter... buy the whole fish and they clean it for you. No extra charge.
And Costco, yeah, has some pretty good options nowadays, you just gotta talk to the butcher, talk "cuts", give them half an hour ( or more on a holiday weekend ) and they will happily work their magic for you. They fishmongers and butchers don't get the love they deserve... when they run into a "worthy" customer they really do fantastic.
For us, the days of cooking a 16 oz steak per person are over, so we keep it down to 8 oz or less and we've upped the quality.
I've tried aging my own beef.... not too bad really.
Mexican? Latin American? You gotta remember that SoCal can Central Cal remained "Mexican" well into the early 1900s, while the Anglos had overrun the North. It took quite a while for the train to come down from Sacramento... Awesome Mexican... and to boot, the only Spanish sausages made in the US at La Española ( the pictures with the paella above ).
Oh. Costco has a good brand Jamon Serrano for 100 bucks right now. The whole thing. I got two in stock... and one on the stand ( throw away the included stand and knife, invest on a good jamon stand and a Spanish slicing knife ). I feel like El Zorro when I slice into it.
The one place where, IMHO, you guys used to be ahead of us was in Filipino food. We used to buy cases of Mamon in San Jose to take up to Seattle or down The OC. But now we got them here and in Seattle too. Still. the lechon in Saint Josey is hard to fault...
I'm amazed at people who do their shopping at mainstream stores like Safeway and Ralph's and consider Trader Joe's exotic. As a rule of thumb I avoid stores that have an "Asian" and a "Mexican" aisle... and keep the kimchi next to the tofu... you know they got to be kept separate!
As far as cleaning my food, I grew up in a family with retail and wholesale "protein" stores... so I'm lazy about cleaning fish... I'd rather have the guy do it for me at the counter... buy the whole fish and they clean it for you. No extra charge.
And Costco, yeah, has some pretty good options nowadays, you just gotta talk to the butcher, talk "cuts", give them half an hour ( or more on a holiday weekend ) and they will happily work their magic for you. They fishmongers and butchers don't get the love they deserve... when they run into a "worthy" customer they really do fantastic.
For us, the days of cooking a 16 oz steak per person are over, so we keep it down to 8 oz or less and we've upped the quality.
I've tried aging my own beef.... not too bad really.
Mexican? Latin American? You gotta remember that SoCal can Central Cal remained "Mexican" well into the early 1900s, while the Anglos had overrun the North. It took quite a while for the train to come down from Sacramento... Awesome Mexican... and to boot, the only Spanish sausages made in the US at La Española ( the pictures with the paella above ).
Oh. Costco has a good brand Jamon Serrano for 100 bucks right now. The whole thing. I got two in stock... and one on the stand ( throw away the included stand and knife, invest on a good jamon stand and a Spanish slicing knife ). I feel like El Zorro when I slice into it.
The one place where, IMHO, you guys used to be ahead of us was in Filipino food. We used to buy cases of Mamon in San Jose to take up to Seattle or down The OC. But now we got them here and in Seattle too. Still. the lechon in Saint Josey is hard to fault...
I'm amazed at people who do their shopping at mainstream stores like Safeway and Ralph's and consider Trader Joe's exotic. As a rule of thumb I avoid stores that have an "Asian" and a "Mexican" aisle... and keep the kimchi next to the tofu... you know they got to be kept separate!
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I've had some good Mexican food in SoCal, but it is different. Thin tortillas, salty pan dulce, etm. Filipino food is excellent here, if you find the right place. Been a surge of Filipino fusion restaurants in the last few years. Diniguan burritos, sisig tacos. I mean, its tasty, but give me the traditional foods. Except balut. I don't mess with that, lol!
Jamon serrano, great stuff! I don't do Costco, though. I have a little indy grocer owned and operated by the same Chinese family for 40+ years, though its not a "Chinese grocery store", that does all their own meat cutting. I get some excellent deals from them! Whole pork loin primal for $2.89/lb, their house ground is all trim from premium cuts, they keep St Louis cut rib racks in stock, untrimmed tri-tip, etm.
Save Mart, Safeway, etm have their place, but its usually for ancillary ingredients in our house.
Pics of a fresh tomatillo salsa, just because. I served with home made blue corn tortillas, but didn't get pics of that.
Jamon serrano, great stuff! I don't do Costco, though. I have a little indy grocer owned and operated by the same Chinese family for 40+ years, though its not a "Chinese grocery store", that does all their own meat cutting. I get some excellent deals from them! Whole pork loin primal for $2.89/lb, their house ground is all trim from premium cuts, they keep St Louis cut rib racks in stock, untrimmed tri-tip, etm.
Save Mart, Safeway, etm have their place, but its usually for ancillary ingredients in our house.
Pics of a fresh tomatillo salsa, just because. I served with home made blue corn tortillas, but didn't get pics of that.
Fresh pasta, garden fresh tomatoes. Bit of Buffalo mozzarella, good balsamic (Acetaia Malpighi) and evoo. Cacio, lemon zest, garden fresh basil, toasted fresh cracked black pepper. Sure am missing late summer gardening right about now!
Worked out my pasta recipe to 80g flour per large whole egg. 2tbsn evoo OR 1 extra egg yolk per 3 whole eggs using 12% protein (basically AP flour) or less white flour. Higher protein flour makes for gummy, chewy pasta and requires more liquid. Whole wheat flour requires more liquid (maybe 70g flour per egg) and creates a denser pasta.
If you've never made fresh pasta, I highly recommend it. If you dont have a pasta press, a rolling pin (or wine bottle if you dont have that) and sharp knife to make pappardelle pasta (wide, long noodles) works just fine. Takes about an hour, including 20 minutes of resting the dough and cooking.
Worked out my pasta recipe to 80g flour per large whole egg. 2tbsn evoo OR 1 extra egg yolk per 3 whole eggs using 12% protein (basically AP flour) or less white flour. Higher protein flour makes for gummy, chewy pasta and requires more liquid. Whole wheat flour requires more liquid (maybe 70g flour per egg) and creates a denser pasta.
If you've never made fresh pasta, I highly recommend it. If you dont have a pasta press, a rolling pin (or wine bottle if you dont have that) and sharp knife to make pappardelle pasta (wide, long noodles) works just fine. Takes about an hour, including 20 minutes of resting the dough and cooking.
As there are just two of us at home, I got a small cod fillet...
Sliced about 1/2 pound (a bit less) of potatoes in the mandoline to 1/8 thickness, coated them with salt and pepper and canola in a hot oven. After 20 minutes added some diced tomatoes and bacon.
Took the cod and "swam it" in melted butter with some salt, pepper and paprika. When the potatoes were done place the cod on top of the potatoes and broiled for just a few minutes.
During this time I had diced up a medium bok choy and coated it in a marinade of ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, wasabi and rice vinegar. That went into the hot oven for about 20 minutes as well.
This was really good...would love to have had garlic but it isn't on the list for mam'selle.
Sliced about 1/2 pound (a bit less) of potatoes in the mandoline to 1/8 thickness, coated them with salt and pepper and canola in a hot oven. After 20 minutes added some diced tomatoes and bacon.
Took the cod and "swam it" in melted butter with some salt, pepper and paprika. When the potatoes were done place the cod on top of the potatoes and broiled for just a few minutes.
During this time I had diced up a medium bok choy and coated it in a marinade of ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil, wasabi and rice vinegar. That went into the hot oven for about 20 minutes as well.
This was really good...would love to have had garlic but it isn't on the list for mam'selle.
Been working on writing a recipe this weekend while experimenting. Not finished yet, still need to bake it, dough is currently at 12 hours cold retard.
Working on a blue corn sourdough loaf recipe. Basically a mash up of Broa de Milho and S.F. style sourdough using nixtamalized, commercial masa harina azul.
Couple pics in process...
Pre-soaking masa harina and a short fermentolyse of 2 types of wheat flour
Dough temp is very important through the process, it dictates how long fermentation takes.
Since masa harina is gluten free, needed to work the dough really thoroughly and heavily up front to develop gluten from the 2 other types of flour to give it some structure.
Nearing end of bulk fermentation the color really started to pop! With a final dough temp of 83°F bulk ferment reached 75% rise at 5 hours. Time to shape and bench proof.
unlike a traditional wheat flour sourdough, it will be denser than normal due to the masa harina. Lots of small bubbles, should be great for toast, nowhere for toppings to fall through!
Pre-shaped into a batard and in the baneton for cold retard. Minimum of 8 hours, max I would suspect to be around 16-24 hours.
Will get into the oven soon. Will report back no matter the outcome, lol! If good, I'll post the recipe if there are any other bread bakers in here.
Working on a blue corn sourdough loaf recipe. Basically a mash up of Broa de Milho and S.F. style sourdough using nixtamalized, commercial masa harina azul.
Couple pics in process...
Pre-soaking masa harina and a short fermentolyse of 2 types of wheat flour
Dough temp is very important through the process, it dictates how long fermentation takes.
Since masa harina is gluten free, needed to work the dough really thoroughly and heavily up front to develop gluten from the 2 other types of flour to give it some structure.
Nearing end of bulk fermentation the color really started to pop! With a final dough temp of 83°F bulk ferment reached 75% rise at 5 hours. Time to shape and bench proof.
unlike a traditional wheat flour sourdough, it will be denser than normal due to the masa harina. Lots of small bubbles, should be great for toast, nowhere for toppings to fall through!
Pre-shaped into a batard and in the baneton for cold retard. Minimum of 8 hours, max I would suspect to be around 16-24 hours.
Will get into the oven soon. Will report back no matter the outcome, lol! If good, I'll post the recipe if there are any other bread bakers in here.
Sourdough is a labor of love, thats for sure. A simple loaf can be made start to finish in about 8-10 hours, if you have a strong starter. Typically, its a 2-3 day process per batch. Lots of waiting and resting. I also do a lot of wet ferments, like pickles, peppers, hot sauces, so this fills the gaps of time between checking on those, nicely.
Only thing I would change for adding a salmon filet, use HD foil, seal very well, bake in oven seam side down first on a baking sheet, that will put the shrimp side down. Then flip after 3-5 minutes to cook salmon. At 400°-425° in oven takes maybe 8-12 minutes for a 6oz filet. Season salmon with S&P, using a little evoo to hold it in place. I usually serve it along side house made pasta either cacio e pepe, or a simple Alfredo sauce. A few hot peppers thrown in is a delight, but optional.
I am not the baker in the family but I showed your work to her and she enjoyed.
Flour is what I use for pasta, batter and thickening.
My side of things for the most part is the meat and fermenting. We are big on that, so many times a year, something is being done including the annual hot sauce.
Flour is what I use for pasta, batter and thickening.
My side of things for the most part is the meat and fermenting. We are big on that, so many times a year, something is being done including the annual hot sauce.
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I appreciate the kudos! Just turned it into the oven, going a little heavy on steam injection to start so I don't set the crust too soon. Finished first 15 minutes at 510°F, now on to 15 minutes at 450°F. Will finish off with 5-15 minutes for color and crust, no lid on vessel, at 450°F.
Oh, to keep track, 15 hours cold retard for this dough.
Oh, to keep track, 15 hours cold retard for this dough.
Also, much like you I was the savory chef. Got into wet fermenting to accompany my dishes. Did some baking but always yeasted breads and some desserts I've made for decades.
Then, realized that sourdough is simply a fermented bread recipe, took the initial 2 weeks to develop my own wild yeast starter and began making my own bread for the house. 2 loaves a week seems to suffice for my troop of 5, 3 of which are teenagers.
Once I got the basic building blocks of sourdough down, I began experimenting. Going back to my savory cooking roots and applying it to bread. Flavors, textures, colors, etm. This recipe is from what I can find, my own. I will update after some time and discussion with a few food historians and professional bakers to get them to try this recipe before I call it entirely my own. If nothing else, the measures and times are mine.
Just had a timer go off, gotta check my bread!
Then, realized that sourdough is simply a fermented bread recipe, took the initial 2 weeks to develop my own wild yeast starter and began making my own bread for the house. 2 loaves a week seems to suffice for my troop of 5, 3 of which are teenagers.
Once I got the basic building blocks of sourdough down, I began experimenting. Going back to my savory cooking roots and applying it to bread. Flavors, textures, colors, etm. This recipe is from what I can find, my own. I will update after some time and discussion with a few food historians and professional bakers to get them to try this recipe before I call it entirely my own. If nothing else, the measures and times are mine.
Just had a timer go off, gotta check my bread!
This weekends bread recipe came out great! Seemed to hit all the targets i wanted. More open crumb than Broa de Milho, smells like a fresh corn tortilla, nice earthy flavor from the nixtamalized blue corn flour, crust is nice and firm, but not super chewy.
I'm quite pleased with myself for this recipe!
I'm quite pleased with myself for this recipe!
Well I have to say that certainly does look good. Too bad you weren't a little closer...
I am 12 days into the worst cold I've ever had and recovery is still days away but I thought I'd saunter into the kitchen and see what's up.
Tonight I'll do duck wings. Slow roast for a couple hours and finish in the air fryer. The marinade will be used as a finishing sauce once thickened.
It is:
Soya
Water
Sugar
Ginger
Garlic
5 spice
Sesame oil
I will top them with the sauce, sesame seeds and scallions.
My honey made some savoury stuffed buns last night and we'll add a green salad.
That will be enough for one night until I start feeling a little better.
Tonight I'll do duck wings. Slow roast for a couple hours and finish in the air fryer. The marinade will be used as a finishing sauce once thickened.
It is:
Soya
Water
Sugar
Ginger
Garlic
5 spice
Sesame oil
I will top them with the sauce, sesame seeds and scallions.
My honey made some savoury stuffed buns last night and we'll add a green salad.
That will be enough for one night until I start feeling a little better.
