Thing isn't very authentic. But I think some of the ideas behind the methods were sound. It's nothing new, of course — fajitas and all. It's just thinly sliced beef, wrapped up in some sort of bread. What got me though is, I kinda felt like some sort of short-order cook, while throwing the beef slices around on the grill.
I will definitely do something like this again.
This very simple vegetarian dish relies on hoisin sauce, red pepper flakes and garlic for flavoring. The rest is just onions, asparagus, and mushroom, with scallions for garnish. Some chicken stock and corn starch rounded out the sauce.
And then there was the tofu...
I'm a meat eater who considers vegetarianism and veganism irrational and/or extreme. But then I realized that anti-tofuism isn't very rational either. So I've tried it out a few times, and I've been fairly happy with it. Tofu has two big problems: it has a boring texture, and a boring taste. It does better when it comes to the nutritional aspect of things, but that becomes irrelevant unless you can address those two first ones.
My experience with tofu is very limited, but I like to sauté it, to add a little crispness to the surface. That helps with the texture problem. For the taste, I think it's a good idea to marinade it before you start cooking it. Tofu is very pourous, so it soaks it up ten times faster than meat does.
So that's what I did, in this case. I drained the (extra firm) tofu, and marinated it in soy sauce and toasted sesame seed oil. And then I sautéed it in a pan. The meal turned out great.
But the original recipe just suggested I'd just drop the tofu in as is — just plain tofu, heated up. That would have been extremely boring, I think. This is the first time I've looked at an entirely unfamiliar recipe and just said, "That's wrong. And I know how to do it better" — the first time I've said that, and actually been right.
What kinda idiot would just drop plain tofu in, without adding some taste and texture to it? No wonder people are suspicious of vegetarians.
The initial plan was just for chicken tikka, but I decided to make a sauce from the marinade since I finally managed to harvest some tomatoes that the birds hadn't ruined. (Those tomatoes really taste amazing. They're like fruit, they're so sweet. I'll never be able to eat store-bought tomatoes again.) The naans were cooked directly on the grill — no stone. With the coals directly underneath the grill griddle; I mean, the coals were actually touching it, so the heat was extreme. A little too extreme, perhaps, so I had a really hard time preventing charring. But it turned out pretty good.
Very simple and easy. And damn tasty. It was served over noodles, and eaten with chopsticks. This reminded me of an episode of The Sopranos, where Tony went on about the great achievements of Italian-Americans, while having some Chinese takeway with his family. His dim-witten son asked if it wasnt the Chinese who invented spaghetti, which of course irritated Tony no end. But I've gotta admire his answer: "Now, why would someone invent spaghetti, if they eat with sticks?!" So I switched to a fork after a while, heheh.
The tandoori paste is from Gordon Ramsay, and I've used to several times before with great results. But on those occasions, I sautéed the salmon in a non-stick pan. In this case, I decided to grill it. This didn't do wonders for the tandoori paste — it lost almost all its flavors. D'oh. That's a bit of a novice mistake — a friend of mine does a fantastic ribeye steak on the grill, upon which he heaps frightening amounts of garlic and rosemary. The grill reduces the potency of the flavors, and it comes out just right. I should have thought of that. Oh well. The salmon was caught though, and not purchased, so it was of excellent quality and still came out tasting great.
Sadly, I kinda lost my nerve after having pulled it off the grill and discovering that it hadn't cooked through properly (it was frozen and hadn't thawed out properly yet) — and then I sort of lost my nerve and ended up overcooking it a bit.
Some environmentalists have an infantile and fanatically despondent self-loathing view of humanity — that somehow, we're just not a natural part of the ecosystem. And that pretty much all our influence on nature is negative, while all other creatures live in perfect, beautiful balance with it, allowing nothing to go to waste.
Well, screw that. Birds are damn wasteful. This isn't the result of birds being scared away mid-meal — this is just the normal way birds eat tomatoes. Got some netting up eventually, but the first half dozen tomatoes went to the birds. Bastards.
One goal I set for myself this summer, was to make some cold soups. I was kinda thinking about gazpacho or vichyssoise when I came up with this idea, but then I ran into a recipe for this soup, which recommended it to be served either hot or cold. And I agree wholeheartedly — this thing works both ways. I've done it warm before. On a warm summer day, it is just as good, when served cold.
This dish, I really love. Dead simple, and extremely tasty. MPW says there's no such thing as a perfect dish — there are always things that can be done to it. Not that there has to be anything wrong with the dish per se, but tastes and traditions do change. I agree with that. I just can't think of anything to improve this one.
Avial is a bit of a strange dish. As with almost all Indian foods, there's no set recipe, but it basically contains as many different vegetables as you can lay your hands on. This is stir-fried, before a peanut butter curry sauce is added. Very simple, and quite tasty — although I used far too much sauce in this case. And a little too much peanut butter in the sauce itself. Definitely something I'd do again, but I think I'll tweak the recipe next time around.
And for some protein, I heated up some frozen Dal Makhani — an excellent black lentil stew.
This was rich beyond belief — I used too much butter in this dough, but dagnabbit, it was tasty. Not as good as the pear and blue cheese galette, but in my not-so humble opinion, you just can't beat that one.
Maybe that's why cooking is so much fun... A lot of the time, I find myself frustrated because my efforts don't reach my expectations — but then again, there are occasions when I exceed them, in the most unexpected way. This was one of those occasions. I've gotta try make more of these galette suckers. They's good eatin'.
