unflattering shot of very fragrant gorgeous strawberries (artificial light, dark kitchen, apologies!)
gorgeous peeled rhubarb masquerading as peppermint candy bites!]
Fungi for Oeufs en Cocotte
upclose shot of oyster mushrooms (left) and apricot colored hedgehog mushrooms (right)
Midday snack: Supremed minneola orange segments
Sick-Girl Beverage: Honey Lemon Tea
Sick-Girl Food: Poor-man's Soon Dubu (spicy Korean tofu stew)
Boyfriend's Peace Offering: Chocolates
(loved the key lime pie and strawberry one!)
Melange of Peppers
(long hot, orange bell, cubanelle, sweet hot)
Lunch I made for my boyfriend:
Parm-black pepper seasoned polenta, topped with melange of tangy/sweet/hot peppers, along with a fresh tomato and avocado salad dressed with lemon juice, cilantro, mint, topped with a sunny side up farm fresh egg. (There is probably a better way to describe this that is less wordy but I like to describe..in great detail.)
Breakfast I made for my boyfriend using leftovers from Lunch I made + Dinner leftovers from Toro
Lunch I made for myself using the same ingredients leftover from when I shopped for my boyfriend's visit: +
This is getting repetitious, I realize, but nonetheless a true and accurate reflection of what I was cooking at the time. Believe it or not, I made this dinner once more (in an effort to finish using my groceries) when I invited a friend over for dinner. I did not feel the need to take pictures that time -.-
Simple Pasta with a Fresh Tomato and Roasted Orange Bell Pepper Sauce
Something different! This meal hit the spot like none other. Sometimes there is nothing better than diving into a huge tangled bowl of pasta. I blanched, peeled, and pureed the tomatoes along with roasted orange bell peppers and long hot peppers that I charred on my gas burner. I also included a whisper of smoked paprika to give it a little smokiness.
Authentic Mexican Enchiladas (not of the Tex-Mex variety)
...with a Negra Modelo, no less. I go all out. I go all out. (I also purchased 4 liters of Mexican Coke...bc it's made with actual azucar and not high fructose corn syrup. Goya brand pineapple juice, coconut water, jasmine rice, and beans. For future mexican feasts. We only had enchiladas and beer.)
This. Was. Glorious.!!!!
I got the recipe from Saveur magazine. We made a red chile sauce out of toasted dried New Mexican chiles (gloriously fragrant, mild, fruity, and slightly smoky...barely spicy despite what its saturated color would seem to indicate), Mexican chocolate, cinnamon, oregano, cloves, garlic, salt to taste, and 1.5 cups of boiling hot water. Next, corn tortillas are lightly deep-fried to make them pliable for rolling. Then dip each tortilla in the sauce on both sides til coated, and sprinkle, thinly sliced raw yellow onion and queso fresco (supposed to be queso anejo, which is aged and i'm guessing sharper in flavor compared to the mild fresh cheese I used...couldn't find queso anejo), and this was my addition, diced up chicken breast that I cooked and marinated with garlic, salt, and tons of cilantro and mint. Roll them up and arrange seam-side down in a casserole dish. Garnish with more sauce, some cheese and more slices of raw onion + herbs. No need to bake in the oven after, but I stuck it in the oven for a few minutes for the purposes of reheating.
The red chile sauce was a tour de force. The chiles were unexpectedly fruity and fragrant...and combined with the dark Taza chocolate I put in, made for an astonishingly smooth, thick, rich, burnished vibrant brick red colored sauce. It was a little too intense and thick for our taste, however, even after thinning it out with some water, so I pureed a ripe red tomato and garlic to add to the sauce. That did the trick. Because a tomato is mostly water, it helped thin out the sauce to the right consistency and incorporate a fruity acidity to balance out the intense chile/chocolate flavor of the sauce.
Some Mise and Action Shots (courtesy of Joo-Hee's phone)
The End and To Be Continued.
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