StephenC wins Denver omelet challenge - Egg Week Begins

The (spinach) tree line and the snowcapped mountain peaks

The sunflowers of the eastern plains

You have to put these two egg-coctions into the same pan to come up with the concept. There is no original picture.
From Jason Sheehan, food writer for Westword in Denver: “In the October 4, 2007 "Bite Me", I asked for suggestions for a new, true Denver omelet. The best recipe ... comes from my friend Stephen Crout, a champion gastronaut of the first order, who’s as important as the recipe itself, and he’s right. So follow his directions, and then enjoy:”
The Snowy Peaks and Sunflowers Denver Omelet (one serving)
Ingredients:
Freshly prepared Rocky Mountain Oysters; 3 large eggs; 2 tbsp parsley, chopped; 2 scallions, chopped (white and green parts); 1 tbsp Hatch chiles, seeded and chopped; 3 Tbs cooked baby spinach; 1 tbsp butter;1 tsp olive oil; salt and pepper to taste
Preparation: Turn on the broiler.
Melt the butter into the olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick skillet. Add the scallions and saute for 2-3 minutes.
Meanwhile, separate the egg whites and yolks. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to each. Whisk the whites into something frothy (aka plenty of air incorporated).
The idea is to not mix the egg components together. Beat the yolks lightly and stir in the chiles and the parsley. Them into the whites along with the chiles and 1 tbsp of the parsley together. The finished product should have areas of white and areas of yellow, representing our snow-capped peaks and our fields of sunflowers, respectively. You want the whites to stay as puffy as possible.
Slide the eggs into the pan with the scallions and reduce the heat to medium low. Keep the whites on one side of the pad and the yolks on the other. Spread a line of cooked spinach between them. This represents the trees in the foothills below the tree line. Now leave them alone until the bottom has set. Place the pan under the broiler on the second level from the heat source, definitely not the closest level.
When the top of the omelet has just barely set, remove it from the broiler and slide it out onto a heated plate. Top with several pieces of Rocky Mountain oysters and the other tbsp of parsley and serve.
I consider the oysters and the chiles required elements of this omelet. Possible seasonal variations might include warmed-up thin slices of Colorado peaches, steamed Olathe corn kernels, or tiny cubes of steamed Colorado squash. Seeded and diced local tomato would also be nice.
Should a person request his/her server to "hold the oysters," the server should inform said customer that he can't have the actual Denver omelet and should then call out loudly to the kitchen, "One Interloper with no balls." Further, a request for egg whites only should be announced thusly: "White Guy, no tits, no balls." And lastly, a request for "fake eggs" should be called out as, "Wife Beaters, no balls."
May you live long and prosper, grasshopper. -- Stephen

“Back at you.” -- Jason Sheehan

Here's what you do in your head. Imagine putting 5 lightly beaten egg yolks on one side of a non-stick pan along with some scallions (that would be sort of the top photo). The scallions and yolks represent the remarkable fields of sunflowers grown in eastern Colorado.
This caught Jason's imagination and yours truly became a champ. I thought this might be a good way to start off egg week, with something no one else would ever make or even think of making. I'll try not to sprain anything patting myself on the back.

Egg week begins Monday

I've gotten such a kick out of having theme weeks! So I think I'll have another one. This one will be eggs. Have no fear that this will simply be about a fried egg or a poached egg. I've done some egg-celent things with these ovoid entitities. Come along for the ride.

This might seem prosaic and uninteresting to some, but I assure you I have some fun stuff to share. I'll spend the weekend researching my concoction collection and hit you with part 1 on Monday morning. As I think about it, I find that there are more possibilities than I will have room for if I post just one thing per day. But I'll pick the best of the best.
In the meantime, have a great weekend - and don't forget to pick up eggs when you do your week's shopping.

I'll "see" you on Sunday evening with entry #1.

2011 Epiphanies - day 5 (the "recipe whisperer" is in only for today)

blackened catfish

turkey burgers

With all the "recipe whisperer" business going on this week, I have lost track of what I wanted to post. But two nights ago we had tilapia, pan-seared and excellent. Last night we had the best turkey burgers of my life. The secret? Judicious seasoning (cumin, salt, pepper, jalpapeno, and a few other things). I must take some credit for knowing (intuitively) how long to saute them on the stove.
Then tonight I thawed out some catfish filets and quasi "blackened" them with salt, pepper, paprika, flour for dusting, olive oil and butter. 2.5 minutes per side and we were in bottom feeder heaven.
I have had a lot of fun discussing things to do with foods you have aversions to. I would like to think that I had a positive effect in one or two cases. I received a middle eastern-style prep for red cabbage which I am anxious to try. Alas, there are no menudo makers out their. I'll have to Google it and try to find the simplest plan I can. I think I'll hang out by the refrigerator case that has the tripe in it until a Hispanic woman comes along. I know exactly 20 Spanish words. That should be enough, don't you think?

I have a few more ideas to share with those who responded to my offer to use my imagination and considerable experience to help them get something on their table they are both proud of and anxious to eat. Thanks for all the fun.
The "recipe whisperer" is packing for a vacation down the block at the Motel 6, although given the crime rate here I think it's known as Motel 1.

Thanks for a fun week. I made a few promises to come up with ideas over the weekend. I will make good on them.

2011 Epiphanies - day 4 (the "recipe whisperer is still in")

I have a sneaky suspicion I put this photo up before, but I can't find it. This week's epiphanies are about things that have happened to my culinary world during 2011 (so far - after all, it ain't over yet). The fish you see there is tilapia. It could just as easily have been catfish. When shallow fried they look (and taste) a lot alike. The epiphany is simply that I have discovered how much more simpler certain things can be.


Tilapia in its natural state is relatively consistent in its thickness. Catfish is less so - unless you buy individually wrapped frozen filets, which I did the other day. They are smaller and thinner. When you take either of these fish and season them with salt, pepper and some paprika, then dredge them in flour, dip them in egg (laced with hot sauce if you like), and then press agressively into breadcrumbs (please, oh please do not use those Italian flavored ones); you then shallow fry (1/8 inch vegetable oil in a large skillet) them for 1 1/2 minutes on each side.


The last secret is that the oil has to be super hot. When you flick a drop of water into it and it pops instantly, you're still not ready. Wait one more minute. Carefully slip the filets into the oil. When you've cooked both sides, drain them on paper towels for a minute, dabbing the top with a towel as well. They will have absorbed the tiniest amount of oil. You could make a dip for this, but we don't bother.
There it is, another epiphany. In part I thank http://jennsfoodjourney.blogspot.com/ for encouraging me to give tilapia a chance at legitimacy. It won me over. It's not the most nutritious fish out there (lacking in omega 3's), but it's inexpensive and, when spiced up nicely, is fun to eat. We'll be having it again.
The "recipe whisperer" is in for a couple more days. I'm working on the whole grain pasta idea with a little help from my friends. Nobody out there seems to make menudo. I had hoped for some inspiration to try it at home. I've been given two suggestions for red cabbage. I will try them and report the results in coming days. In response to a request for help with liver I have come up with a couple of thoughts. I'm working through them, but will not forget to share at the right time.

2011 Epiphanies - day 3 (the "recipe whisperer" is in)

A few months ago Bo (http://www.bos-bowl.com/) gave me a verbal tutorial about grits and then did the extraordinarily gesture of sending me both some "quick" grits and some "slow" stone ground grits. They are one of the most magical things to happen this year. Peter and I ate them date after day, polishing off the quick grits and we still have some stone ground ones in the fridge. It was not only a tremendously generous gesture on Bo's part, but opened a window in our culinary consciousness we didn't even know was closed.

The "recipe whisperer" is still available for requests to alter, improve things you may have an aversion to. For my part I still want to know if there is a secret to making whole wheat pasta edible, and, more ambitiously, I'd like a simple recipe for homemade menudo. I received a recipe for red cabbage this morning from pegasuslegend which is absolutlely going to appear on my table very soon.

2011 Epiphanies - day 2 (the "recipe whisperer" is in)

Choucroute garni

This photo has nothing whatsoever to do with today's post. I just happen to like looking at it.

I have said over and over that I do not expect my readers to slavishly follow my recipes. I have even stopped giving very specific recipes. I want us all to be inspired by each other, to both, beg, and steal ideas and make them our own. One source of incomparable inspiration is Mary of One Perfect Bite. She tells great stories in impeccable English and pulls no punches about what a given recipe may or may not bring to the greater cosmos. Here's to you Mary, and may your considerable number of followers continue to take comfort and direction from your excellent guidance.
Do recall that the "recipe whisperer" is available for your culinary dilemmas. Tell me what you don't like and why. By the weekend I will conjure up a solution or two for you. I'm still looking for help for myself with red cabbage (I've had one promising proposal), or something to make whole wheat pasta palatable.

2011 Epiphanies -day 1 (the "recipe whisperer" is in)

Scratch tater tots


It was not at all necessary for me to make my own tater tots from scratch. But have you ever read the ingredients on the package at the supermarket? It took me just 3 tries to get this right, and even the first two tries were edible. For the complete recipe enter "tots redux" in the search field of my blog. You'll amaze your kids, especially if you tell them you made this up!
I'm calling myself the "recipe whisperer" this week. I've already started making fixes for things people don't like. If you want to participate, write me at scrout1944@msn.com. I won't see things so readily if you comment here. I want to know what you would like to learn to like and what it is about a dish or ingredient that puts you off. I'm in on this too. Can anyone tell me how to love whole wheat pasta? How about a recipe for homemade menudo. Help me to love red cabbage (please, not the old German way). I love it as slaw, but I want to cook it too. I promise responses by Monday, August 1.

The Recipe Whisperer

Two things are going to happen this week. First, I will be posting the most influential ideas that have come my way this year (calendar year 2011). I will start with this. Chris (http://www.nibblemethis.com/), shared with us the reverse sear technique. Visit his site for the details. It is the single most influential idea for me for 2011.
Second, I want a challenge. Jenn and I have entered into one. She has agreed to try a recipe for lima beans (not her favorite thing in the world), and I will undertake to try one of her versions of tiliapia. The results will be published here and on her blog. I did the tilapia in my usual flour, egg, breadcrumbs fashion and shallow fried in very hot oil. It was excellent - good enough to repeat.

I want you to tell me something that you do not like and why (nothing having to do with allergies please) and agree to let me design a recipe that just might change your mind. On my side I will offer similar dislikes and solicit your help in overcoming them. We all stand to gain from this.
We need time to get ready. I propose the first "throwdown" should be next Monday, August 1.

Send me your ideas and I will put out a list of personal prejudices for you to contemplate and cure. Are you in? Let's communicate via email. My address is scrout1944@msn.com
Here's what I need help with: whole wheat pasta, homemade menudo. The least expensive cut of steak you can teach me to marinate and prepare on my stove top grill. I love broccoli, but I can't stand it when it comes to the table lukewarm. Help me fix that. There will be more.

2011 week - day 5

Menudo

Show some courage, my friends. Next time you go with a group of friends to a Mexican place, order one bowl of this and everyone have a taste. You may hate it, you may like it, but you'll forever more be able to say you've tried it. That counts for a lot in my book. Fear not, I do not post this in the hope that you will cook it at home. Heck, I won't cook it at home.
When I started this week's plans I really did not know where this was going to go. Where it went is where I've been privileged to go in recent times. It's sort of Stevie's 21st century epiphany postings. Now I'm here at day 5 and digging down to find something more to share. With this posting I offer you a true challenge.
I first ate menudo during on a concert tour in the 1970's. While it was still piping hot and laced heavily with oregano and onion, I could eat it. As it cooled gradually, the flavor of the cow stomach crept up on me (yes, that's what the meat in menudo is). I had to quit.
It was when I got to Denver in recent years that I began frequenting Mexican restaurants, of which there are hundreds. My palate had matured and I was intrigued by the notion that I might enjoy menudo. I did. I enjoyed it immensely and learned that the pleasure was considerably magnified when it was served with tendon in it.
I will not twist your arm about this one, but I pride myself on eating virtually everything. It's one of the things about my advancing age that I actually enjoy!!!
I would not cook menudo at home – I can't stand having to deal with the tripe – but it's cheap in restaurants and they really know how to do it.
Day 5 is the end of this theme week, but I am reminded of having Vietnamese pho for breakfast a few years ago. It had plenty of gelatinous tendon in it. I know that turns some of you off, but I was in heaven. It is certainly as close to heaven as I'm going to get.

2011 week - day 4

Crispy pork intestines

Jellyfish

You must do yourself a favor here. Just read and learn about this. And when you next go to a Chinese restaurant give one of these a try. If it is inedible I will pay for it. There are a number of reasons why we all blog. They include our own curiosity and our hope to infuse that curiosity in others. I do not expect you to try to cook these things. Hell, I don't cook them, but my innate curiosity led me to try them and by doing so learned I love them.

Crispy pork intestine and jellyfish
I spent some time trying to think what the most recent addition to my culinary enjoyment was that was entirely new. I have two things. They both came from Chinese restaurants. One is crispy fried pork intestine. If I served it to you without telling you what it was, you would like it or love it, but you would not hate it. I don't know how to describe the flavor. It is very gentle. The other item is jellyfish. You read that right. I don't know the particulars of how it is prepared. It is the tentacles only. When served to you it will be cold. It will have almost no flavor of its own. What it has is texture – a little crunchy, a little slippery (not slimy). You dress it with hot chili sauce or soy sauce and it is a delight. Yet again it is something that, if I could get you to try it without your knowing what it was, you would be charmed, intrigued, in love – but definitely not offended.

2011 week - day 3

Pork loin medallions

Chuck steak

Well, clearly yesterday was a highlight of everyone's week on my blog. If I had had any fewer comments I'd have had to write some myself under aliases. I confess I am very disappointed. I don't need lengthy comments, I need to know you 've been here.
Day 3 was intended to be something comletely different. But then Chris (http://www.nibblemethis.com/) posted a technique for cooking steak called reverse searing (hope I've got that correct). I didn't find steak I could afford, but I did have a small top sirloin pork roast. I cut it into four pieces, two of which were 1 1/2 inch thick and the others, from the narrower end, were less and have been set aside for another purpose.

Chris' technique is simple and precise. He doesn't seem to do brine, but may have done marinade. I brined my pork for 3-plus hours, then rinsed and dried it and seasoned it liberally with paprika, cayenne, and some black pepper. Please note: no additional salt after the brining. I used a very simple and inexpensive non-stick skillet and melted 1 Tbs butter in about the same amount of olive oil. I stuck my electronic temp probe into the thickest of the medallions and sauteed them over quite low heat for about 10 minutes, turned it over and let it go until it reached an internal temp of 130 degrees. This would have been too much for beef, but not for pork.

Next the pork was set aside and the heat under the pan increased to medium high until it began to smoke. From here on things moved quickly. One minute per side raised the temp of the pork to 140, at which point we put it on our serving plates. Its resting period took place while we ate salad and corn on the cob.

The first bite of the pork sent me into a fugue state of palatal ecstasy (when's the last time anyone use a phrase like that in a blog?). The first thing I thought of upon waking this morning was the taste and texture of that pork.

Check Chris' blog for this technique is for use with steak on a grill. You will not be sorry. You will start a new religion.

Tonight, as I had this posting prepared, I made a nice piece of chuck steak a la Chris. The man might not have invented the process, but his ability to communicate and reproduce it makes him a genius. My Chuck Steak a la Chris was fantastic. 'Nuff said.

The whole raison d'etre for blogging has been validated by what several of you have done this week. You have no greater fan than me when you do that job.

2011 week - day 2

Shad roe (did you even know there was such a thing?)
I tried shad roe for the first time at least 35 or more years ago. It was in a seafood restaurant in Hoboken, NJ. We took a ferry from Manhattan to get there. In retrospect I think that the reason I didn't like it (I actually hated it, and I eat everything) is that it was cooked too much. Shad roe is very seasonal (the season is over for this year). It comes, as you see above, as a two-lobed entity. If you separate the lobes before cooking you want to be very careful. You do not want the billions of little eggs spilling out of the roe sacs when you cook it.
My favorite method is to cook 2 strips of bacon and then set it aside. I then season the roe with salt and pepper and fry it in the bacon fat just until medium rare. It's hard to tell when you've achieved that. It took me a few tries to become confident in my technique.
What does it taste like? There's a denseness to its texture. The flavor is not fishy in the least. Rather, it has a very faint hint of liver about it. I am very pleased that after decades of my existence this delicacy came back into my life.

2011 week - day 1

GRAVLAX


I learned to make these a few years ago. Well worth the very minimal effort.

SEA TROUT

Got much more open-minded about cooking fish at home.

Sauteed sea trout filets and a fresh batch of gravlax
After last week's journey into a galaxy a long time ago and far away, I decided to get back to the real world. On my way home from having my van inspected I had to pass by the DC waterfront fish stalls. There are, I think, four of them, and they are all huge. I was shopping price, and what was labeled sea trout was just $3.99 per lb. The vendor assured me there would be no bones in the filets. That was not true. There weren't a lot, but there were some. I did a traditional saute in a bit of oil and a lot of butter after seasoning with salt and pepper and dredging lightly in flour. What is essential is to get your pan hot enough. It looks hot and then you stick in the fish and no sizzle. Be patient.
Start skin side down for 3-4 minutes. Flip it and go another 3. It's a very satisfying way to have fish on your table.

I have long been fond of having smoked salmon at a deli - with a bagel, onion, and cream cheese it's something to write home about. Then I learned a few years ago how to make gravlax. This is not the same. It is not smoked, it is salt cured. My method:
Take 1 lb of salmon filet - there may be pin bones in it, but I find it easier to remove them after.

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap. Sprinkle a goodly amount of salt and some sugar on the skin side. Add fresh or dry dill or, in today's case, I used dry tarragon. Put the salmon into the loaf pan skin side down. Repeat the salt, sugar and tarragon coating. Wrap the plastic tightly around the salmon. I like to weight it down with a can of something. Refrigerate it for 2 - 3 days. To serve, rinse it well and dry it thoroughly. Slice very thin against the grain. Make sandwiches, send prayers to heaven for the beauty of this concoction.

Coming soon to a blog near you: 2011 week

I spent last week on the 1950's. It took some doing to dredge up the memories of those dishes we ate at home. This time I am moving right into the modern era. There are foods I've learned to enjoy in the new millenium. They are what I plan to share. I do not expect you to be delighted by all of them. Quite the contrary, there are a few that will be really challenging. But, please remember I do not write this blog with the idea in mind that my readers will slavishly copy what I enjoy. I choose to share experiences and concepts. When I read your blogs, those are the same things I am looking for. "See" you on Monday.

1950's week - day 5

Is there a household that never had tuna noodle casserole? I tend to doubt it. This, as best I remember, is the way it was served to us in the 50's.

1 lb. elbow macaroni

celery

mayo

dried parsley

salt and pepper

1 can of tuna (probably the cheapest available)

I don't remember if there were any breadcrumbs involved.

That's all there was to it. We liked it, and it fed a family of seven a good lunch.

I hope you've enjoyed 1950's week. It's been fun for me to call up memories of the food we ate. Given that I'm dealing with recollections of from 50 to 60 years ago, it's been a challenge. Bottom line: everything I posted this week is something I would love to eat again.

My good friend, Jenn (jennsfoodjourney), mentioned to me the other day that her mother would use a can of cream of celery soup in the tuna noodle casserole. That actually sounds pretty good.

1950's week - day 4

One of the joys of our household in the 1950's was a ham for Sunday dinner. Sometimes it was an Easter ham, sometimes a Christmas ham. It was never a 4th of July ham! LOL
I don't cook great big hams like this. It's too much for just Peter and me. There's another version not shown here that involved studding the ham with whole cloves. Gosh we loved ham. And, like turkey, some of the best of it was the sandwiches the next day.
I'm not posting a recipe. You can find them via Google by the hundreds. I just wanted to share a bit of nostalgia. Spiral sliced? Did not exist in the 50's.
On another topic, I've shared my discovery of something via my keyboard. It turns out others knew about this already. Many of the blogs I read have type sizes I find difficult to read. I don't know how I found this out, but if you press Ctrl/+ (you don't need to do upper case for that) the text gets larger. Hooray!

1950's week - day 3

I received a Spam sampler package today courtesy of Linda Burgett (mykindofcooking). Three cans of Spam, three packettes of Spam lite "singles" and ... wait for it ... a pair of Spam flipflops. I feel as if I've died and gone to Speaven.

An exchange with a blogging friend has called my attention to the fact that this really is goulash. I have a vague memory that we had a different thing called goulash, but I cannot be sure of that. So goulash it is. Try it. Someone in your family will like it.

Beef and Mac and Cheese


I still make this from time to time. It was very popular in our house. It also didn't cost a lot of money, which was an issue. There's nothing complicated or difficult about it.
You will need:
an onion, chopped
some garlic, chopped (my mother didn't use garlic, but I do)
1 lb ground beef
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 cup New York State cheddar cheese (this is where I came from)
1 28 oz can tomatoes, juice reserved for another use
salt and pepper to taste
Could this be any simpler? Cook the onion, add the garlic, cook the beef, cook the macaroni, add the tomatoes to the onion and beef. Add the cheese. Put it all together in a big pot and make sure it gets nice and hot. Season with salt and pepper. Pig out to your heart's content.



Now for my way: put in Spam in place of the ground beef and Velveeta in place of the cheddar. Oh, come on, you know you want this!

1950's week - day 2

The good Spamwich of the East.



Two slices of bread, some blanched and sauteed Spam, some Velveeta. We may be approaching satori here.

Look, you know you've been waiting for this. I will tell you right up front that there are two essentials to experiencing the Spam and Velveeta phenomenon. You must blanch the Spam. Let me say that again - you must blanch the Spam. If you don't, it has a flavor that can inhibit your enjoyment of it - a large part of that is sodium. Blanching reduces that dramatically. Bring a pan of water to a boil. Slice your Spam into 4 or 6 pieces lengthwise. Slip the slices into the water. Remove from the heat and allow it to stand for 10 minutes. That's all there is to it.

As far as Velveeta is concerned, you mostly want to use it in small quantities. It is an excellent melting cheese. Make no mistake about it, Velveeta is indeed cheese, albeit a construct. The miracle about both Spam and Velveeta is that they don't cost very much. I find them both to be really "fun" foods.
My mother used to make us grilled Velveeta sandwiches. I made one for my self recently. Gosh, it's not gourmet food, gosh it tasted good. There's nothing complicated about it. If you're me, you use white bread and mustard and Velveeta. Of course you need a half tablespoon of butter in your saute pan to toast it up. My wont is to add Spam to this.

I will leave you with this thought: blanch the Spam.

1950's Week - Day 1

Here's a pot roast a la mom. I'll tell you two ways to make this. Her way, and my way.

First of all you want to get a large chuck steak, as big as you can find. Put it into a pot and top it with a can of mushroom soup concentrate and a pouch of dried onion soup mix. Add 2 cups of beef stock. Put into a 350 oven for perhaps 2 hours. Maybe more, not less.

Method two: from the new millenium.

Cut two large onions into half moons (if you don't know how to do this you are reading the wrong blog). Put half of it into that same pot. Top it with the chuck roast. Put the rest of the onions on top and also 1 lb mushrooms in 1/2 inch pieces. Add the same 2 cups of beef stock and roast for the same amount of time. Modern or not? Up to you. With mom's version you don't need any addition seasoning. With mine, you'll want to add some salt and pepper. I also like to include onion powder and garlic powder. It's up to you.

You know what? Both of these are really good. One thing about the 50's: it wasn't a complicated time. Our biggest worry was "mutually assured destruction" between the USA and the USSR. I made my mother's version of this chuck roast a few years ago and then, more recently, my updated version. I recommend trying both of them, just because it's all about variety.

1950's week

Starting Monday I will be posting "50's week". I turned 6 years old in 1950, so that decade was obviously formative for me. The food my mother put on the table was inexpensive (we didn't have any money to speak of), but, as I recall it, nutritious if unimaginative. The pictures above give you a little guidance about where this will be going.

The first is a roasted piece of chuck steak. The other two are self-explanatory. Get your nose down out of the air about Spam and Veleveeta. Properly prepared they are nutritious and delicious. The key is "properly prepared".

You must blanch Spam to remove some the salitiness. As for the Velveeta, it is excellent for melted cheese, but you don't need a lot of it. Be judicious.

Stand by for "50's Fascination."

In the meantime I will work hard to recall memorable things about what I was fed during those years. I promise to be my usual smart-mouth self.

Use your bean, dip

The false note here is that the photo is not of white beans, which are what I used. Oh well, so shoot me. Do you like my arch title? (Oh, go look up "arch".)


We're off to friends for dinner tonight and I made this to take along. It's totally easy and totally delicious. The amount of garlic is negotiable. I normally use lots, but moderated it for this. I got Peter to make some pita chips as delivery vehicles.
A dip like this can be bland, so it is essential to taste it and be aggressive with added flavorings.
You will need:
2 14 oz cans small white beans
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
chili powder to taste, or red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 Tbs olive oil
juice of one lemon

Everything goes into the food processor and becomes a puree. You're done. After you've tasted it of course.

Not faux pho

I'm going to leave the paragraph below up for a couple more days. I've had interesting responses to it. Nothing really hostile at all. I didn't really want to hack anyone off, I just figured that would happen. Anyhow, yesterday I made us an Anglo version of the Vietnamese soup pho.

I started by making broth. I confess to having used packaged Asian soup seasoning. It was easier that way, and I used only enough to make a very mild broth, not strong on sodium at all. After that all it took was to add a nice quantity of chopped scallion, a nice quantity of udon noodles (you know, the fat ones), and some thinly sliced steak leftover from a meal last week. We thought it was just swell.

The broth was strongly reminiscent of a Japanese soup base made from bonito flakes.

I wish there were fewer dessert recipes posted on the sites I follow. We are a nation of fat people. We need to focus on healthy foods. Even though I shallow fry from time to time, the amount of oil absorbed by my food is tiny. Let's do away with the pies and cakes and cupcakes, folks. It doesn't mean you have to stop making them, rather that you suggest more nutritious recipes for your followers. Want to challenge me? Feel free.