Short and simple but it does take a little time in the oven. I made mine smothered with pork red chili. I would add sour cream or ranch dressing next time but they turned out very well.
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For the last 3 weeks or so I’ve been trying out a service called door to door organics. The idea is that every week (or two weeks) they deliver a box of produce to your door. You can select the size and to a limited extent what produce is delivered. I’ve been wanting a better selection and quality of produce but I didn’t want to make the trip of pay the premium for a specialty market.
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I’ve been trying to cook more often to save some money. Unfortunately I have less time to cook now than when I was being an out of work bum. Since many of my culinary experiments make dining out look very cheap and fast, my recent goals in cooking have been to come up with new recipes that are fast and cheaper than eating out. And that brings me to rice.
(more…)The first time I ever saw nitamago was at a ramen shop in south Denver. Nitamago is a hard boiled egg that is marinated in a mixture of soy sauce and mirin (sweet sake). The recipe is simple but I found it to be too salty and not sweet enough. My friends agree with me but they ate them anyway so the recipe can’t be all that bad.
(more…)The food here is very different from what one might find in the States. All the fresh fruit and vegetables and meat are organically grown/raised (we know what our paterfamilias thinks of this, but I’ll let you make up your own mind: Read this for a short, objective evaluation of organic farming vs. non-organic farming). You can tell the difference, both in the taste of the food and how it makes you feel. There are few pre-packaged, processed foods, and a lot less meat than an american is used to. I would have to say that, while all aspects of the food culture here in Italy have affected me, the things that I’ve noticed most (and will most miss) are: 1) fruit products: The fruit stuff here is so delicious!! The yoghurt, jam, flavored honey…you name it, it’s more delicious. and 2) the “real” chocolate. Perugia is home to the original Perugina chocolate factory (which is now unfortunately owned by Nestle, but still makes chocolate that can make you cry), and I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to eat american chocolate again. I really can’t rave enough, but mentioning everything I see on the shelves in my local grocery store would take a little time, so I’ll just add one more comment:
1 litre olive oil: $7.30 (yes, dollars, not euros).
Getting 1 litre of olive oil for $7.30: Priceless.
This I blatantly stole from E-how. Sorry. However, everyone should know how to do it.
First of all, if this recipe were a paper for school, it’d be considered plagiarism. I “stole” it from Umbria In, because it’s a traditional Umbrian dish, modified Elly-style. Because of my lack of modern conveniences, I’ll put up how I did it, with notations on how it probably should be done.
This recipe should be delicious even to those who are not fans of peppers. I’m not exactly sure why, but it ends up tasting quite meaty.
Okay…christening this board now. Thanks, Joe! Maybe now that I’m using it, you’ll start using it too 
Okay, so I’ve been living in Italy for the past 4 months, sans microwaves, measuring cups, and potato-masher. It’s been an adventure, and by no means a bad thing…it has taught me to be free-flowing and creative while cooking, and in my flowy creation, here is one thing I have invented. No one has ever thought of it before, ever. I say it, so you know it’s true. I used miele di castagno: it’s a certain kind of honey that, here in Italy, is cheaper than what we americans would think of, quite simply, as “honey.” I found it to be particularly appropriate because it’s got a much more musky flavor, with more of a bite, than traditional honey. However, I’m not sure it’s available in the States, so you may have to use normal honey. How sad. Anyway, here it is.
Put the honey in a bowl, add the rosemary. Then, add enough pineapple juice to dilute the mixture and add its flavour, but not enough to make the solution too liquidy. Put the chicken upside-down in a pan and drizzle with half of the mixture; flip it and drizzle with the rest. Cover with aluminum foil and put in an oven preheated to ~350°F for about 45 mins to an hour or so (keep your eye on it, though…just cook it till it’s done). For the last 5 minutes or so, uncover. It’s so delicious I can’t even tell you. Anyway…enjoy!
This post is filling a special request for Elly. Mulled wine is simply heated wine mixed with spices. For my recipe I use sugar, orange zest, nutmeg, cinnamon, corriander, black pepper, cloves and orange liquor or brandy. To start with use a red wine, not too dry, maybe a Merlot or a Reisling just avoid anything aged in oak - the flavors don’t work well together. Also avoid using a very expensive wine (heating ruins the flavor) or too cheap of a wine (heating makes it worse).
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There’s a recipe I like probably way more that I should. I got it off the back of a can of tamales (Ellis’s?). It’s called straw hat casserole, I’ve seen the name applied to a lot of dishes acually but I’m dubbing this recipe authoritative (because I can). If you like American style Mexican food you’ll probably like this. Take a greased cake pan crumble torilla chips in the bottom top with a layer of tamales, chili, more chips, onions, and cheese. Cover and bake at 350 for about 45 min or until warm. It’s not much of a recipe but it’s a ton of food for a few dollars, it keeps well and taste good reheated. My roommate and I used to make this a lot when we were low on cash. Some time I want to make a better version of it using my own chili and my own tamales. But I think it would be pretty hard to beat the recipe as it stands. A note for anyone who attempts this - use double the chili at least and you really should double the tamales.
