cook: chili sauce

I'm watching the most charming Swedish film, "Je m'appelle Agneta" which is about a dowdy 49-year-old housewife who gets fired from her job and impulsively answers ad for an au pair in Provence to care for a child named Einar, who is not a child but an eccentric old Swede, who is breaking (I'm guessing) out of her conventional straitjacket and blossom into the interesting, vivacious, bon vivant she's always dreamt of being. Today is my last Saturday before commencing back to school, and it's been a good summer. On that note, I bought these wines, for winter is coming, and I too fantasize about being a consummate hostess, bring diverse friends to entertain and be entertained by. 

I've also been bingeing on heirloom tomatoes for the past couple weeks, and as usual, I can't eat them all. Instead of putting the overripe tomatoes up as marinara, I decided to ask my sister-in-law for my mother-in-law's recipe for chili sauce.

Holy smokes! 2 pounds of brown sugar?!? Yep, confirmed my husband's family, and he fondly recalls eating the condiment with honey baked ham. Okay. Carry on. I bought 2 red bell peppers and 1 green bell pepper, and because they weren't higher up on the Scovill scale, I also processed in a few jalapeno and Fresno chili peppers along with the overripe heirloom tomatoes and a large onion as well as add 2 cans of diced tomatoes into pot. This won't be no Midwestern chili sauce, but rather a Californian one.

 

And of course, the 2 pound package of light brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, salt and allspice.

Then you let the pot simmer for three to four hours or until reduced to a consistency you deem thick enough.

 

I had Patrick taste the chili sauce, and he said it was no longer his mom's chili sauce. Well then, I declared, this batch is Anna's chili sauce. Not only that, he said the chili sauce wasn't as sweet as he remembered and that the spiciness needed balancing. I was emptying the light brown sugar into the container, and added the overfill to the sauce pot. Why not?

I've got to remember to label these jars of chili sauce. Which are medium spicy. And run to the grocery store for 2 green bell peppers and 1 red bell pepper for Mom's chili sauce. And oh yeah don't forget the larger bag of light brown sugar.

bake: icebox lemon pie

The New York Times published a recipe for an easy, no bake, icebox lemon pie. I only had stale graham crackers in my pantry, and so I trekked to the store for Meyer lemon cookies to crush instead.

  

Combine the crumbs (made by processing in the Vitamix) with melted butter and press into a pie plate and bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes. Note to self: use more crumbs than called for in a recipe to make a crust that extends all the way to the pie dish's edges. In the mixing bowl, combine two blocks of cream cheese (one was lowfat Neufchatel, but next time, I'd like to try Greek yogurt or use 2 blocks of the lowfat cream cheese), heavy whipping cream, and lemon curd (bought a jar at World Market).

After combining the liquid ingredients, I scooped the mixture into the pie crust. I recently read a column of Chris Kimball who made a key lime version of the icebox pie, and he used gelatin to firm up the filling. And so if I used Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese, I would probably have to use gelatin. I then put the icebox pie into a neighbor's freezer as there was no room in mine for a couple hours. Supposedly after freezing, the pie will stay firm if then placed in the refrigerator.

I zested and sliced thinly one lemon to embellish the pie.

The pie was shared with neighbors and tasted lovely. I'm thinking I'll make this again to bring to a friend's housewarming dinner (she bought her own condo)if I don't bake her cookies instead.

cook: breakfast bodega sandwich

Here's the breakfast sandwich my neighbor Cecilia has become an ardent fan of. It starts with sausage patties made by combining ground pork and pork chorizo. 

No kaiser rolls that morning at the grocery store, and so I bought jalapeno cheese bagels. In a 350 degree oven, I laid slices of pepper Jack on each bagel slice to melt.

I then laid the fried chorizo pork sausage patties atop the cheese.

Chorizo sausage patties done, t'was time to fry the eggs. 

 

Atop the sausage go the fried egg, sriracha Mayo, pickled jalapenos and red onions.

 Bodega breakfast sandwich done.

And then over the course of the day, I ate a veggie and rice bowl made from leftover Mediterranean dishes as well as Jamaica and Limonada

 

But now I'm craving Latin flavors.

cook: veggie pita sandwich

I still had leftover grilled vegetables, and so I decided to make fresh pita. Basically, mix a container of Trader Joe's plain whole milk Greek yogurt (5.3 ounces) and almost 2 cups of flour and then roll thin. Slap the flat dough onto a hot cast iron until speckled with enough brown spots to your liking.

 

I also had some of Trader Joe's crumbled feta cheese and iceberg lettuce to add to the veggie pita sandwich. 

  

The sandwich seemed too dry, and so I added more Salsa Verde. And the sandwich was perhaps a bit too acidic and would have benefitted from some tahini sauce...

  

...but instead of making tahini sauce, I made Samin Nosrat's house dressing with olive oil, sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard, whole grain mustard, honey, salt and pepper. Add chopped shallots and thyme. Mix. Done.

  

I dressed the spring greens and arugula and avocado with that New York Times dressing alongside leftover chicken salad.

I loved green salads as a kid, and why are they not as yummy as in my youth? As a girl I loved French dressing, which to my adult palate is kind of gross. And so I can't. I just can't. And on the sandwich note, I should’ve added pomegranate molasses (which I have in the pantry!)—that was the missing note. Next time because of the brand new Smokey Joe.

cook: chicken salad

Husband bought a rotisserie chicken. What I should have done was just stick the plain roasted chicken into slices of bread slathered with mayo for a sandwich, which I'd enjoyed in the past. But for some reason, I felt compelled to zhush the chicken. I watched Ina Garten make a potato salad with a dressing of mayo, buttermilk and sour cream and thought to do the same.

   

Oh! Can't forget the Dijon mustard. For vegetables and herbs, I added chopped celery, scallions, and dill.

  

I added more chicken as the salad was looking too saucy. I also had brioche buns on hand as well as arugula and spring greens.

 

Looked promising. 

 

And my lunch was just meh. Needed salt, but because I was watching my sodium intake, I didn't add. All my meals have been health conscious oriented. Like fresh berries and French yogurt (Chardonnay in moderation; there are lots of days when I don't drink at all). And the next day, a California Niçoise.

  

The potato salad I made to go with leftover honey smoked salmon was excellent. Same ingredients as the chicken salad, but a lot more satisfying. Probably because I love me the carbs.

cook: chilaquiles

I had just run 4 miles and was ready for breakfast! During the school year, I only run and eat breakfast on Sunday. But if I'm on summer break, then I'll feel like I've the leisure to cook and break fast. On this summer morning though, I wasn't feeling the bodega sandwich for the pork and chipotle sausage in my freezer. It'd been a while since I cooked chilaquiles. And so I basically set out all the Mexican food items from fridge and pantry: the frozen patties of pork and chipotle, cilantro, Monterey Jack cheese, leftover arroz y frijoles, the fresh salsa I bought just after my run and a stop at Safeway, shrimp pipian, and lastly tortilla chips.

First thing, cook and crumble the Mexican breakfast sausage.

My shrimp pipian was too saucy, and so some of that sauce would go into breakfast. Into that pipian, I put the fresh salsa. This is my American cheat. Instead of grilling the onions, tomato and chilies and then pureeing all into a sauce, use the sauces on hand including store-bought salsa.

  

No frying up stale corn tortillas, just the chips from the bag. No queso fresco in the fridge, just what I had on hand: pepper jack.

On to a shallow bowl went the browned ground pork, sauce and chips, and then cheese to melt under a low broil. In the meantime, I was frying an egg until the white was crispy but still the yolk was runny.

And I had forgotten to add the refried beans, and so the frijoles went on top and then back into the oven to heat.

Place that fried egg on top of the whole shebang and breakfast is ready! But wait. I try to incorporate vegetables into every meal including breakfast, and so generous toppings of cilantro, avocado and jalapeno peppers are sprinkled on top.

Too lazy to chop a fresh tomato, I instead added drops of Valentina sauce for pops of red. On reflection, I'm missing my favorite Mexican salsa verde, and so am adding tomatillos and more avocados to the grocery list.