board night oemlettes redux

My omelette-making technique has improved, making this a great standby meal all year. To reiterate, the best pan is one that is hot but not overly so, one where one tablespoon of butter can melt and just begin to bubble and turn golden before you add two lightly beaten eggs. (It doesn't hurt here that we now get fresh eggs from our neighbors. Fresh eggs give a better color and richer flavor than store-bought.) I've taken to using a rubber spatula to hold up the cooked portion while distributing the eggs about the pan. Otherwise, I use a lot of jerking motions to cook the eggs. Once it is virtually cooked through, but a hair runny on top, I flip the mixture. This is the only part of my technique that really needs work. It works about seventy percent of the time, and I'm missing the wrist action that makes this an easy task. Once flipped, I turn the heat off, add the filling, then ease it out of the pan.

Tonight we added one ingredient to the smoked salmon and cream cheese: chopped fresh anaheim peppers, with seeds and membrane removed. The one thing this omelette was always missing was some texture differentiation. This fills it nicely, and adds just a touch of heat to it.

Also, I always top my omelettes with a sprinkle of chopped italian parsley, which is great for both appearance and adding a little herbal flavor.

baking and stuffing jalepenos

A good way to use some of the jalapeños would be to stuff and bake them. I found some good ideas on the Simply Recipes blog. Basically, the question is how to make cream cheese (or any other cheese) interesting. Some mix of herbs, onions, and/or sausage and bacon seems pretty standard.

anaheim fish tacos

I need to begin using jalepenos and anaheims regularly, while I wait for the tomatoes to come in so I can begin the grand salsa experiment. Here's one idea, taken from allrecipes:

Anaheim Fish Tacos:

• 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
• 1 Anaheim chile pepper, chopped
• 1 leek, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 pounds halibut fillets
• 1 lime
• 12 corn tortillas

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and saute the chile, leek, and garlic until tender and lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Mix the chicken broth and tomatoes into the skillet, and season with cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Place the halibut into the mixture. Sprinkle with lime juice. Cook 15 to 20 minutes until the halibut is easily flaked with a fork. Wrap in warmed corn tortillas to serve.

The Wise Fool

So-called for its mixture of sage and gin, which I think speaks for itself. With the wife and child gone for a few days, I had to try my hand at inventing a cocktail, and I had to make use of the copious amounts of fresh sage growing in the garden. Since sage and gin are a natural fit, and I've been craving a martini forever, this seems a good mix. Here is the recipe I will try:

10 medium sage leaves

quarter lemon wedge

1 tsp. turbinado sugar

4 ounces gin

3 ounces fresh grapefruit juice

Muddle the sage, lemon, and sugar in a shaker. add gin and grapefruit juice. shake.

It helps to run the final product through a strainer, unless you want bits of sage floating about in the drink.

Garnish with a sage leaf, rubbed or broken to release fragrant oils.

This drink has promise. My first attempt had 3 oz. gin to 3 oz. grapefruit and quarter lemon wedge, but I thought it is too heavy on the citrus. Second had the ratio above, and it was a cleaner drink, and the Ethereal gin I used came through.

I used ruby grapefruits in this (what I had on hand), and they were very tart. The drink does not need to be any sweeter, in fact the citrus is a nice bite. But the sage must come through more.

Future concoctions might include a sage syrup rather than muddled fresh sage. Or perhaps a naked sage and gin martini cocktail with a good, dry vermouth.

Garden Update

Everything in the front is growing beautifully. The jalapenos are coming along, and the anaheims I believe are pretty much ready to go. I have made gifts of them, but have yet to figure out exactly what to do with them. Salsa recipes are definitely in my future. We have already eaten one flavorburst pepper, and the red peppers have already turned green to yellow. Fairly soon we will have a good harvest of peppers.

The cucumbers are off the chain, literally. They come out one and a half inches thick and eight inches long. Bursting with water. Perfectly fresh. They store well, and make nice gifts.

The tomatoes are just coming in. Around July 4, I noticed them beginning to flower more prolifically, and to hint at a change in color. We left for Canada on July 7. When I returned on July 11, they had grown by inches, and in the front planter had begun to fall over. I immediately tied them up with some twine, and eventually dropped two cages in the planter to help hold up the new branches. In the mound (taxi, amish paste, golden nugget?), tomatoes were beginning to turn. The amish paste had produced several tomatoes that were changing from yellow to red, and the taxis are yellow. I picked an amish paste and made a cucumber and tomato sandwich. Highly tasty. I expect the real harvest to begin in a couple of weeks, and hopefully we will see production (like last year) into September.

hanger steak, naked

Well, just about naked. Thin layer of garlic salt, kosher salt, then a thin coat of olive oil. On the grill:

550 grill
1.5 minutes per side sear
4 minutes per side cook at 400, temp fell to 350 by end with dampers near closed.

Result was medium rare, but on the happy rare side. Good crust. When dressing the steak after the fact, this is an easy way to throw a steak on.

Meat on the Bone, Babyback style

For the arrival of the lil' gard'ner's gramma, I prepared babybacks in the following manner:

Remove ribs 30 minutes prior to cooking. Pull membrane.
Kosher salt ribs. Add rub of paprika, nutmeg (pinch) and brown sugar

Fire up to 400. Stir coals.
Add soaked hickory wood chips.
set for indirect, add pan of beer (miller)
two ribs in a rack.
temperature at 200.

Smoke for 2 hours 15 minutes.
(temperature crept up to 250, probably in the last forty five minutes of cooking)
remove ribs, wrap in foil, return to rack, close vents.

Cook for 1 hour 15 minutes. Closed down dampers after 1 hour.

Garden Update

Tomatoes are coming in on the triangle plot, although only on one of the taxi tomato plants. The amish paste plant is flowering. Sweet peppers are coming in already, and the cucumbers are getting defensive. They are on vertical trellises meant for orchids. Oh well.

Photos all by "the lil' gard'ner"

cilantro from seed

The cilantro plants that grew up were clearly late winter season, and they have never produced enough usable plants. After pulling most of the shoots earlier, I have finally pulled the last of them. In replanting, I have decided to go again from seed. Given that I had both a packet of dried coriander seeds and fresh seeds from the cilantro plants, I am trying an experiment. From left to right, I planted seeds a quarter of an inch apart, first half of the row was fresh, second half dry. I added some new soil to cover the seeds, but otherwise am working from the same beds.

late season watermelons

At the insistence of my girls, we are planting watermelons, although they will come a *wee* bit late in the season. Tried one mound, planted six seeds, spaced three inches apart in two rows.

Mixed jungle growth and black kow into the Georgia clay, tried to do equal parts. Also, put down a layer of pure black soil at the top, with some potting soil mixed in, although this was largely by accident, as I had transplanted the mint to a bigger pot and some of the potting soil ended up on the ground and in the hole.