On Wednesday night, Steve and I were supposed to cook a quiet, relaxing dinner at home. He was going to pick me up from work, we would go to my place, and I would create some sort of homey, comforting culinary masterpiece that would satisfy both of us, body and soul.
What I didn't expect was that the heat, humidity, and general grossness that comes with living in DC would take such a toll on me. And when I say "take a toll", I mean "have a crankypants effect." I was hot. I was sweaty. And I was definitely NOT hungry.
So we got home and I draped myself in front of the air conditioning and rolled around saying things like, "it's HOT" and "I'm HOT" and "Aren't you HOT?", while poor Steve looked at me like a starving waif a la Charles Dickens. And then I got a little nutsy. I suggested that Steve cook his own dinner. This sentence struck fear into his heart. There was begging. There was pleading. There was tickling. And then I dragged my heat-struck self into the kitchen to instruct my boyfriend on how to make shrimp quesadillas, bemoaning my fate of living in the sweltering abyss of Washington DC in late May.
(It is at this point that I feel obliged to tell you that it had not even reached 90 degrees and the humidity index had not gone above 70%. I am an extremely sensitive individual.)
The playas: Leftover frozen shrimp. Corn tortillas. Half a can of black beans. One ear of corn. Shredded Mexican cheese.
The game: Defrost, peel, and coarsely chop shrimp. Using your chef's knife, scrape the corn off the cob into a large bowl. Heat oil in a nonstick pan and cook shrimp until just barely cooked through. Mix shrimp with beans and corn and seasonings (we used chili powder and cumin); set aside. Using the same pan, heat the tortillas, two at a time, until warmed through. Spoon shrimp/bean/corn mixture into tortillas; sprinkle cheese and fold. Flip. Eat.
The verdict: In Steve's words, "I thought I was going to have a really terrible dinner. But these are delicious!"
Sidenote: I even managed to overcome my sever heat exhaustion to eat some. They were in fact delicious. And then my roommate gave me a popsicle so I would stop talking about how hot it was. Did I mention I'm 4 years old?
Friday, May 28, 2010
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Summertime Shrimp
Friday night we made The Pioneer Woman's Barbecue Shrimp. While I wouldn't recommend these to anyone who doesn't like shelling their own seafood, this was pretty much a perfect summer dinner for those who do.
First of all, these were really easy to make - you layer shrimp (in-shell), olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and butter in a pan.
Then, you pop them under the broiler until they look like this:
Then, you take them outside to your hungry friends...
And in a little while, your pan will look like this:
First of all, these were really easy to make - you layer shrimp (in-shell), olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, hot sauce, and butter in a pan.
Then, you pop them under the broiler until they look like this:
Then, you take them outside to your hungry friends...
And in a little while, your pan will look like this:
Friday, May 21, 2010
Two Experiments
Last night I held two experiments in my kitchen.
One of my most favorite summertime foods is roasted bell peppers. At my parent's house every summer, my mom always has a bunch of them on hand - to eat with barbecue at dinner; to make sandwiches; for cold salads with tomato, onion, and mozzarella. You can eat them with anything, and I mean anything. They are pretty much the perfect summertime food, hot or cold, and they always make me think of summer.
The way my mom always roasts her peppers is by laying big slices of peppers under a very hot broiler in the oven. Then, when the skin is completely black and crispy, she peels the charred part off and is left with the slices. However, all my favorite food blogs tell me that my mom has been doing it wrong all her life. They say to char the skin off over an open flame -- preferably on a grill.
THE EXPERIMENT (#1): I decided to test these two methods and determine once and for all if my mom had been leading me astray all these years. Since I had no grill I used my oven range, which I figured would work just as well.
THE METHOD: I cut up one red pepper and laid it skin side up on a foil-covered cookie sheet, on the highest rack in my oven. I laid one yellow pepper over a high flame on my oven.
THE VERDICT: For the record, there was no discernible difference, taste-wise, between the two peppers. However, as soon as the broiler-pepper was ready, I was able to safely take it out of the oven, let it cool, peel the skin off, and roughly chop them for my salad. I threw out the skins and the tinfoil and there you had it. Cleanup's a breeze!
The yellow pepper took longer, since I had to constantly rotate it, managing to burn my hand in the process. I also had some difficulties getting it off the flame - once it was nicely roasted, the yellow pepper was a little less manageable than it was in its raw form. I also had more trouble peeling it - it was unwieldy and I would up running it under running water to get the charred bits off. Plus, I couldn't easily chop it since the seeds were still inside - I had to rip into it with my hands, barbarian-like, to get the pepper cleaned and suitable for eating.
THE WINNER: Mom, FTW!
EXPERIMENT #2: I could also call this "lessons learned." Basically, I always read that if you want to remove some heat from your peppers, you should remove the seeds and membranes from inside. Being a person who loves spicy food, I figured that I would ignore this critical step...and promptly dumped a whole serrano pepper into the cantaloupe salsa I was making. (Recipe can be found here, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.)
THE RESULT: FIRE! They're not kidding about the 'heat' - I cried and wanted my mommy. (Not that I didn't continue to eat it.)
Happy kitchen adventures, friends!
b
One of my most favorite summertime foods is roasted bell peppers. At my parent's house every summer, my mom always has a bunch of them on hand - to eat with barbecue at dinner; to make sandwiches; for cold salads with tomato, onion, and mozzarella. You can eat them with anything, and I mean anything. They are pretty much the perfect summertime food, hot or cold, and they always make me think of summer.
The way my mom always roasts her peppers is by laying big slices of peppers under a very hot broiler in the oven. Then, when the skin is completely black and crispy, she peels the charred part off and is left with the slices. However, all my favorite food blogs tell me that my mom has been doing it wrong all her life. They say to char the skin off over an open flame -- preferably on a grill.
THE EXPERIMENT (#1): I decided to test these two methods and determine once and for all if my mom had been leading me astray all these years. Since I had no grill I used my oven range, which I figured would work just as well.
THE METHOD: I cut up one red pepper and laid it skin side up on a foil-covered cookie sheet, on the highest rack in my oven. I laid one yellow pepper over a high flame on my oven.
THE VERDICT: For the record, there was no discernible difference, taste-wise, between the two peppers. However, as soon as the broiler-pepper was ready, I was able to safely take it out of the oven, let it cool, peel the skin off, and roughly chop them for my salad. I threw out the skins and the tinfoil and there you had it. Cleanup's a breeze!
The yellow pepper took longer, since I had to constantly rotate it, managing to burn my hand in the process. I also had some difficulties getting it off the flame - once it was nicely roasted, the yellow pepper was a little less manageable than it was in its raw form. I also had more trouble peeling it - it was unwieldy and I would up running it under running water to get the charred bits off. Plus, I couldn't easily chop it since the seeds were still inside - I had to rip into it with my hands, barbarian-like, to get the pepper cleaned and suitable for eating.
THE WINNER: Mom, FTW!
EXPERIMENT #2: I could also call this "lessons learned." Basically, I always read that if you want to remove some heat from your peppers, you should remove the seeds and membranes from inside. Being a person who loves spicy food, I figured that I would ignore this critical step...and promptly dumped a whole serrano pepper into the cantaloupe salsa I was making. (Recipe can be found here, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.)
THE RESULT: FIRE! They're not kidding about the 'heat' - I cried and wanted my mommy. (Not that I didn't continue to eat it.)
Happy kitchen adventures, friends!
b
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Welcome!
Welcome to my new blog! After spending altogether too much time reading about other peoples lives, I decided that I would start my own blog so I could chronicle my innermost thoughts, feelings, and innovative haiku.
I'm a food-lover, amateur cook, 20-something urban professional in Washington D.C. Join me on my blogging adventure!
I'm a food-lover, amateur cook, 20-something urban professional in Washington D.C. Join me on my blogging adventure!
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