I Have a Nose for These Things

Yesterday, my refrigerator looked like this:

In other words, pretty sad.  No fruit, old wilty vegetables and a few eggs.  (And my pink pickles; can you see the jar on the bottom shelf?).  I needed to go grocery shopping.  I compiled some recipes, made a list, checked the circular for sale items, and then trudged off with my reusable grocery bags.  I was prepared for an ordinary, boring, like-always shopping trip.  

But I needed an eggplant.  Oh the magic of eggplant.  I found this:

The eggplant has a nose!  It is perfectly positioned below the stem so it looks like it is wearing a green hat above its giant nose.  It is so darn cute.  So cute in fact that now I can't bear to cook it.  I can't cut off my eggplant's nose!  What kind of cruel monster do you think I am?  I guess I am going to have to wait until the thing rots in m refrigerator and its nose falls off.  But then again, who wants to eat a rotten eggplant?  And why should this eggplant just waste away?  It was brought into this world to make my roasted vegetables into a delicious, satisfying meal.

But I don't think I can't cut off its nose, now that I started referring to it as a nose.

I'll make Matt cut the eggplant.  He has no mercy toward vegetable noses.

Pink Pickles

When we were in Maine, I ate the most amazing lobster taco topped with pickled red onion.  After we got home, I thought this was something I could make.  How hard could it be?  A little vinegar, a little seasoning and some red onion, right?  I started doing a little research.

And fell down the rabbit hole of pickling.

People are passionate about pickles.  I have never been fond of pickles so I never paid much attention.  Types of vegetables, types of vinegar, even types of salt are compared and debated.  How dare you use white vinegar with carrots?  What kind of fool would use red wine vinegar with cucumber?  Only a heathen would mix radishes with anything but rice wine vinegar!  These pickle people scare me.

Though not as much, it seems, as my pickles scare Sarah.

"Mom!  What is that pink thing in the refrigerator?" she asked breathlessly.
"I am trying to pickle red onions, like we had in the restaurant."
"Do I have to eat it?"

I mixed white vinegar, sea salt, white grape juice and pepper for my brine.  They have been sitting a couple days and the flavor so far is good, but it needs more time to develop.  I will let you know how it turns out, and if I can convince Sarah to give it a go.

How Much for the Soup? Three Clams

 

What makes the perfect clam chowder?  It seems my family cannot agree.  On our trip to Maine, we had three cups of chowder, and we each walked away with a different favorite.

First problem - clam to potato ratio. Sarah likes a lot of potatoes, Matt prefers much more clam, and I am somewhere in the middle.  Then we disagree on the broth.  Should it be milk based (thin) or cream based (thick)?  One version included shrimp and haddock.  I said that made it fish chowder and disqualified it as clam chowder;  Matt just called it delicious.  And don't even get me started on saltiness.

This got me thinking - if we all live together and eat much of the same things and yet have such different tastes, how can any of us know what "good" food is?  Not good as in healthy or good as in not spoiled, but good, tasty, soul-satisfying food.

You know when a friend tells you something is the best thing she has ever eaten and you taste it and think "Meh?"  Or you remember something tasting perfect, and you get it again only to be disappointed?

It seems food is such a living thing that we can never dip our spoons into the same bowl twice.  Or anyone else's bowls, which may be gross but we are family so we share all the time.

On a Roll

I did not have a lobster roll until I was an adult, but I have since made up for lost time.  I often wonder who looked at a lobster with its hard shell and sharp claws and thought, "That would make a good dinner!"  Then I think about the person who said, "You know what this lobster really needs?  Mayonnaise!"  Well, whoever those intrepid culinary adventurers were, I am forever in their debt.

On our recent trip to Kennebunkport, Maine, my goal was to eat a lobster roll every day.  I am not one to shy away from such a challenge, so below is my round-up of my attempt at lobster roll saturation.


Family Restaurant - Alisson's Restaurant

This had the most traditional bun - split top hot dog bun brushed with butter and grilled to toasty crispness.  We had spent that day driving through a monsoon so the meal was particularly satisfying.


Seafood Shack - The Clam Shack

This one had the most authentic lobster roll experience.  You walk up to a window, order your food, someone with a crazy accent calls your number and who go eat at a picnic table near the water.  The lobster was the most tender and flavorful, but the roll ruined it.  It was like one of the Hawaiian rolls, sweet and squishy.  And this is Atlantic lobster; that cannot be mixed with Pacific bread.

Food Truck - The Ocean Roll

The Ocean Roll serves these beauties two ways - cold with mayonnaise or hot with butter.  I don't have a picture of the butter roll because some people could not wait until I came back with the ketchup for the french fries so I could get a shot.  Next time, family, you get your own ketchup!  I liked the hot version a lot.  It was like eating a fresh lobster without all the work.


Hotel Restaurant - Striper's

Technically not a lobster roll, but a lobster taco.  I ate it, so I am counting it.  That fancy flower thing on the top is pickled red onion.  Did you even know you could pickle red onion?  I didn't and now I feel like I have been missing out all these year.  Excellent lobster-to-bread ratio, and the all the add-ons just made the meat taste better.

Only four this trip.  I will have to return to do much more research.

Chili-Corn Bread Pie

Finally a recipe worth sharing!  This dish is perfect for the weather we are having in the Northeast.  The aleppo pepper adds a gentle, smoky heat.  I am not a big fan of spicy food, but I love this pepper.  If you don't have a specialty spice store near you, try an online retailer like Penzeys Spice.

Chili-Cornbread Pie
serves 4-6

1 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
2 medium celery stalks, diced
1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 T chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp (for mild) - 1/2 tsp (for medium) aleppo pepper
1 8.5 box Jiffy corn muffin mix
1/2 c milk
1 egg

Heat oil over medium heat.  Add all the vegetables and saute for 6-8 minutes.  Add tomatoes.  Stir in spices.  Add beans.  Bring to a gentle boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until the liquid is reduced by half.

Meanwhile, combine the corn muffin mix, milk and egg.  Do not overmix; some lumps are fine.  Transfer the chili mixture to large baking dish.  Spread the corn muffin mixture over the top of the chili in an even layer.  Leave a little space between the edge of the dish so the corn muffin mixture will not stick to the sides.  It is fine if some of the chili seeps through.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 16 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

I used a 10" x 10" baking dish.  Don't go too far from this size or the corn bread will either be too thin and will burn, or too thick and won't bake through.

What IS That Thing?

Let's play a game!  Can you guess what this is in the bowl?

No guesses?  Okay, multiple choice:

a. material cleaned from a frat house carpet
b. sludge taken from the Elk River
c. toxic results of high school science experiment
d. vegetable soup

Now let's try process of elimination.  It can't be A because a frat house has never been cleaned.  It can't be B because making fun of those suffering, waterless folks in West Virginia would be mean (paper plates for everyone!).  It can't be C, because the students involved would be getting in the shot for a selfie.  So, D?  Seriously?  Yeah.

I tried Mark Bittman's recipe for roasted vegetable soup. It was a lot of work as the results were, to say the least, not appealing.  The flavor was fine, if a little bland, but the consistency was so unappetizing.  Maybe a little overzealous with the blender?  A little light with the salt>  I don't know, I'm just glad I don't have to eat it again.

Meet the Family

That's our 11-year-old daughter, Sarah.  She is smart, sassy, sensitive and silly.  She is also very skinny.  In the last couple of years, we have had a real problem getting enough calories into her to keep her growing the way she should.  Sarah is an adventurous eater with a taste for the exotic so we have never had to deal with picky eating.  While Sarah is all for this going vegetarian experiment, if there is a choice between not getting enough calories or eating meat, I am going to feed her meat.

I have been married to my husband Matt for 17 years.  He hosts a party every summer he calls "Ribfest."  He owns a smoker and has spent a lot of time perfecting his dry rub mix and homemade barbecue sauce.  His job takes him to some of the meatiest restaurants in New York City, like the Capitol Grill, the 21 Club and Bobby Van's.  He will not be going vegetarian with me.  That said, Matt is willing to eat what I cook even if another chicken never crosses his plate.  "That's okay," he told me, "I don't really like chicken anyway."

What he does like is taking pictures of food - food he cooked, food he ordered, food other people are eating.  Our vacation photos are peppered with plate shots.

A few samples of his cooking:

jambalaya

pulled pork & cole slaw

couscous & Moroccan beef

Speaking of carnivores,

That's our Lucy.  You can tell that this vicious killer is descended from a wolf.  She has a delicate stomach, skin allergies and an anxiety disorder.  I am not changing her food.