The Culinary Musings of a Good Eater

Casual glimpses Into the life of a good eater

Every last bite, gulp and delicious slurp for your viewing pleasure.

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Learning how to cook venison

Now that I find myself with a freezer full of venison I need to figure out what to do with it. I have never cooked much wild game before, so there is a lot of experimentation ahead. Armed with the most basic knowledge of food science and cooking technique I jumped right into the deep end to sink or swim.

The first dish wasn't terribly challenging; backstrap medallions with a red wine sauce and some braised asparagus. No surprises here. The medallions were lightly seared, removed from the pan and then I deglazed with red wine to start a quick reduction. Very tasty and not at all gamey. The taste reminded me of lamb chops. Very tender and delicate.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Next up; smothered venison loin with mushrooms, onions and gravy. Again, a very straight-forward preparation. This is flat out comfort food. I don't care who you are, that's some good eatin' right there. Sooooo good.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Flintstones, meet the Flintstones.......
I didn't have a good bone saw when I did the butchery, so I had no good way to cut the ribs into two racks. Oh well; pre-historic dining it is. I liberally seasoned the ribs with a chile spice rub and then wrapped in foil. I put four racks in the oven at 250 degrees for five hours and then lowered the temp to 180 and left them in the oven overnight. Got up at 6am and had half a rack for breakfast. I painted the ribs with BBQ sauce and left them in the fridge all day. Warmed them up that night. Sooooooo-weeeeet. Ribs for dinner baby!!!! The ribs came out just right. Good results for the first time.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Venison chili size! What more needs to be said?

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Monday, November 8, 2010

Getting food the hard way

Sure. I could have gone over to Gelson's or Bristol Farms and bought some overpriced, free-range, cruelty-free, grass-fed, organic venison for $12/lb, but where is the fun in that? Why not spend big bucks and put yourself through all sorts of pain and frustration to get some meat the old fashioned way? Hunting!

After a couple weeks of scouting and two weekends of hunting, I finally harvested a buck.

From Hunting & Shooting

Not huge, but I'll take it. Got lots of meat in the freezer now.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I'm looking forward to cooking some venison. I already have four or five recipes lined up for the first week or two. I must say, you have a much better appreciation for your food when you put this much effort into it.

Monday, October 4, 2010

Sticky fingers and a messy face

Buffalo wings!!!
I picked up four packs of whole chicken wings at Von's the other day. It was quite a bargain; 30% off. So what if they smelled a little funky, the BBQ grill will take care of that. After separating the wings into drummettes and flats (I hope those are the official terms), I tossed them in some garlic-infused olive oil and liberally applied Cayenne and black pepper, smoked paprika and garlic powder. I gave them a few hours in the fridge to get happy. To get the healthiest possible result, I grilled them on the Q. I used hickory chips to enhance the smokiness. Once they were cooked through, I pulled them off and tossed them in a big stainless bowl with some Franks Buffalo Wings hot sauce. After they were thoroughly coated with the sauce, I covered the bowl with some heavy foil and let them sit for a few minutes. The hot wings seem to absorb more of the sauce when you do this. I then put them back on the grill for another few minutes to tighten up the sauce coating. I gave them another light tossing with the sauce and they were ready to serve. We had to do this the traditional way with celery and carrot sticks and bleu cheese dressing. I added some Cayenne and Beau Monde seasoning to the dressing to spice it up a little.

The results: Wonderfully tender, juicy and spicy wings. The vinegar in the sauce cuts the inherent greasiness of the wings and forms a beautiful hot and sticky coating. You can judge the quality of the sauce by how many wipes with a napkin it takes to get the reddish-orange smears off your face and the length of time after the meal that your lips burn. Just for the record; four wipes and about 45 minutes.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Countdown to fast food

I've been trying to spend some time in the kitchen lately. With the demands of the new job, I probably won't be cooking much over the next few months. Here is a look back at some of the tastier vittles I've whipped up recently. With the cool temperatures this summer, I've gotten an early start on Braise-Fest 2010.

Braised beef shanks and Brussels sprouts in a pepper cream sauce.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


Braised boneless chicken thighs in a rich tomato sauce and seared cauliflower.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


A variation on the tomato and chianti-braised lamb shanks with cauliflower and peppers in a spicy cream sauce.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images



Indian night! Spicy spinach and potato. I grilled the marinated potatoes on the Q (mistake) for a while before finishing them on the stove top. The onions and potatoes were sautéed in ghee and then the spinach was mixed in. I added yogurt and spices (tumeric, garam masala, Cayenne, garlic powder) and cooked until the sauce tightened up a little.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

The chicken was marinated in yogurt with garam masala, tumeric and Cayenne. I grilled the boneless breasts over high heat on the Q.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I'll probably be eating too much fast food for the next month or so. Hopefully I'll be cooking up some venison and wild pig next month.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Why do I do these things

The 8th Annual LBJCB Drummer Reunion was held last weekend in Long Beach. I thought I would do my part and volunteer to bring some food. I told the organizers that I would get the chips and salsa and make some carnitas. A normal person would have bought a couple of bags of chips, a few gallons of salsa and a little pork. Unfortunately, I am not normal. I don't know what various compulsive disorders I suffer from, but I am sure that I cannot limit myself to JUST bring the chips and salsa. Go big or go home is evidently my starting point. It just gets worse from there. The morning before the reunion I went to North Gate Market to get the produce I would need for making salsa. I will qualify the following events by saying that I've never had any formal restaurant or catering training, so I have no idea of how to calculate yield for meat and vegetables. I went into the store thinking that there would be over a hundred people at the event and that somehow translated into at least 20lbs of salsa. Don't try to do the math; it was just a WAG. Honestly, I had no idea how much food I needed. So I start rolling through the produce department, filling bags of onions, tomatoes, chiles and various other veggies. I actually filled (and I do mean filled) four of those plastic produce bags with Roma tomatoes. I think I had three large bags of onions. After I was done in the produce section, I began to notice that the shopping cart was getting hard to move. At that point, I think I had at least forty pounds of veggies. And I kept shopping! Yes, I had to get more. I went by the carneceria and thought "Maybe I should grab some more pork shoulder." After all, I only bought twenty pounds of pork at Costco the night before. You cn never have enough carnitas.....right? So I got another 8lbs of pork. I also got a beef tongue. I figured, "If they like the carnitas, surely they'll want some lengua tacos as well." Lengua it is. And I might as well get a gallon can of chiles en escabiche in case anybody likes that sort of thing. After an hour or so of roaming the store, making one impulse buy after another, it was finally time to check out. As I'm struggling to push the cart to the checkout lane, all I can think of is that time I had to push that car into the gas station. You get the picture.

Well, I got out of North Gate and headed home. Of course, I had to stop at Von's to get a couple of things that I forgot at North Gate. I grabbed a couple of giant bags of shredded cheese to augment the large block of pepper jack that I bought at Costco the night before. You never know when you'll need a lot of shredded cheese.

Home, finally. It took three trips with our little handcart to get all the crap in from the truck. Every horizontal surface in the kitchen, dining room and living room was taken up with food. I immediately fired up the oven to get ready for the pork. I hope I haven't mislead anybody when I said I was making carnitas. I don't make traditional carnitas anymore. I did it a few time to show Lupe that I could make it better than what she was used to. Carnitas is very tasty, but the sight of pork shoulder simmering away in a pot full o' lard is hard to take. I've never been really big on deep frying anything, and this just seemed to be tad unhealthy. Lupe and I started making our carnitas by slow-roasting pork in the oven. If done right, the finished product is nearly indistinguishable from traditional carnitas and is much healthier (well....I mean it's pork shoulder- it ain't that healthy, but at least it didn't take a three hour bath in lard). Slow-roasting will give you a very tender, succulent pork that still has the crispy bits that make it seem like traditional carnitas. We roast our pork in a 325 oven for several hours. I use an open roasting pan that is loosely covered with foil. The foil comes off for the last hour or two. The surface gets nicely browned and a little crispy, but the interior meat is juicy and tender. I usually use pork shoulder for this dish. I heavily season the pork with a dry rub and kosher salt. I also throw a few chopped tomatillos, jalapenos an onion and a handful of garlic cloves in the bottom of the pan. The veggies give off a lot of moisture and keep the pork moist until the fat starts to render out. There is a balance that you have to achieve with the veggies and meat. Too much veg and the meat will stew in the liquid. I try to just add enough to keep the lower third of the pork covered in liquid. I flip the meat every hour or two to make sure it stays moist.

So, with the pork in the oven, I turned to making the lengua. This is another slow-cooked gem. I filled my stock pot with a couple of gallons of water, added onion, garlic, a handful of morita chiles and salt. The tongue went in the pot and I let it simmer for the next six or seven hours.

Now that the meat was cooking, it was time to make beans. Yeah, at some point along the way, I decided that I should make frijoles de olla. Why? I don't know. I make good beans. I like making beans. I thought I needed more food. I don't know. I just made the damn beans. Four cups of pinquito beans went into the crock pot and were covered with water. I added a chopped onion, six cloves of garlic and a couple of morita chiles. I didn't have any smoked ham hocks this time so the smokiness would have to come from the moritas. With all the slow-cooked stuff started it was time to start making salsa.

I had absolutely now idea what I wanted to do for the salsa other than salsa fresca and tomatillo. Lupe had already said that she was going to make the tomatillo salsa. She makes a great roasted tomatillo, jalapeno and tomato salsa. The salsa fresca is a lot of prep, but is easy to make. The scale of the whole thing just kicked my ass. I don't like using a food processor for salsa, so everything is chopped by hand. I should probably not be so anal about that when I'm making large batches. I think I spent at least an hour just dicing tomatoes. I've never made so much salsa before. It was awe inspiring. Like a beaver looking at the Hoover Dam and saying, " That's a damn big dam." At the end of two hours I just sat there staring at two giant bowls of salsa. "That's a lot of salsa" I said wearily. As I sat at the dining room table resting, it suddenly dawned on me; I haven't even gone through a quarter of the produce yet. Holy crap! Once more into the breech. I girded my loins, grabbed my knife and trudged back into the kitchen to wage war on more tomatoes.

Somewhere along the way, I decided that I was going to try to make some non-traditional salsas. I always want to try something new. Lupe hates that. "That's not how Mama makes it" is what she says. I just like trying new stuff. This time it was using dried chiles. I toasted a bunch of ancho, guajillo, California and negro chiles in my cast iron skillet. After toasting they went into a pot of water to steep for a while. After they were softened, I pureed the chiles. I added some of the steeping liquid and returned the mixture to the stove to simmer for another our or so. I used the reduced chile sauce as a base for several other salsas. I still need to play around with this idea some more, but it was fairly successful. Next time I should add more chile de arbol for heat and bite. I mixed the chile sauce with roasted tomato and onion for one salsa. In another, I used roasted tomato and a mixture of roasted pasilla, Anaheim and jalapeno chiles.

When Lupe got home I quickly put her to work roasting tomatoes, tomatillos and a variety of chile (jalapeno, serano, pasilla, Anaheim and habenero). She worked like a trooper for the next three hours, roasting stuff out on the barbecues. When all the roasting was done she made her tomatillo salsa.

The first batch of pork was out of the oven by about 5 in the afternoon. I quickly shredded the pork and cleaned up the pans for batch #2. I started the second batch at 6pm, so I knew that I wasn't going to finish until at least 10 or 11pm. I also started another batch of beans about this time. With the pork roasting, I turned my attention to the chicken. Oh yeah; forgot to mention the chicken. I decided to make chicken tacos as well. I had at least 20lbs of chicken thighs in the fridge. Might as well use them; right? I broke out the boning knives and started skinning and boning the thighs. I think I boned at least 40 thighs. I'm not one of those freaks at the Tyson plant in Arkansas who can bone a chicken in milliseconds. This took me a while. Nothing quite so nasty as spending an hour or so cutting chicken (well, actually....doing it 8 hours a day, five days a week would kinda suck more). After boning I chopped up all the thigh meat. I mixed it up with olive oil and plenty of spices (my chile powder mix plus salt, garlic and onion powder and a lot of Cayenne). I fried the chicken in small batches in cast iron skillets. As the chicken would have to be re-heated, I took great pains to ensure that it was fried until just done. I probably could have gotten away with searing it a little, but I didn't want it to get too dry.

With the chicken out of the way I started on the roasted veggie salsas. We made 4 separate types of salsa from all the stuff Lupe had roasted on the Q. My favorite was the mild salsa that was made from equal parts of tomato, jalapeno and Anaheim chiles. It is a nice, chunky salsa that has a little heat, but not too much. It really goes well with meats. I also made some hotter salsas. The hot salsa had serranos in place of the Anaheims. The XXX Hot salsa had both serranos and habeneros. Regardless of the heat, I just don't like the flavor of habeneros. I wouldn't have made this salsa if it weren't for requests for a super-hot option. Actually, the roasting tamed the heat quite a bit. The thrill seekers might have been disappointed, but it was still pretty hot.

Around 10pm I had finished with all the salsas and I still had some of the chile sauce left over. I was feeling adventurous so I thought I should try to make a hot sauce. I've never done this before, but who cares. After ten hours of cooking I was punch drunk and willing to try anything. Out came a bottle of white vinegar and I started to experiment. The first effort wasn't that bad. Not aggressively acidic, like a table hot sauce; more of a rich warmth with bite of vinegar. I wanted to try a really spicy hot sauce to finish things up. I added a ton of Cayenne to the chile sauce and used significantly more vinegar. This produced something close to what I was looking for. Very close to the acidity of a Louisianan hot sauce with more body. The flavor profile is different from those hot sauces made from pureed fresh chili. The dried chile base gives this sauce a dark earthiness as opposed to the bright flavors of something like Franks or Tobasco. I need to play with this some more. The white vinegar was too sweet when I got to the acidity level that I was looking for. I might try it with a mix of white and cider vinegar, or possibly a rice vinegar.

By the time I finished all the packing it was 1:30am. Oddly enough, Lupe had predicted this as soon as I told her that I had volunteered to bring the chips and salsa. She knows me so well. She knew that I would get carried away and go psycho on this project. Oh well. I am too old to change. She better just get used to me committing radon acts of large-scale catering.

To wrap things up......
The food was well-received. Getting everything prepped and served at the park was a bit of a challenge. I felt like I was in one of those impossible elimination challenges on Top Chef, where they have to cater a diner for 200 with only a hotplate. In the scramble to set up, I forgot to unpack the 20lbs of cheese and a 4qt. container of carnitas. It just goes to show how much extra food I made. Everybody got plenty of food and I still had 4 quarts of carnitas and an entire beef tongue leftover. Not a problem. Lupe took all the leftovers to Casa Lopez for dinner that evening. While I hung out with the drummers, they enjoyed a big family meal. They even had enough for another meal the next day.

Long day(s), but good food. Sorry about the lack of photos. I was busy as a one-legged man in an ass kicking contest the whole day and never had time to take any pictures. Oh yeah; to answer the question in the title: I do it because I love cooking for people. Nobody's complaining when I make too much grub......except Lupe.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Dangerous side effects

So Lupe and I have been trying to eat better lately. We are eating healthier food and exercising more. We have been trying to limit portion size and eat regular meals. I have tried to drastically reduce the amount of carbs and sugars that we're eating. We are having lots of salads these days. Extra servings of veggies have replaced potatoes, beans, rice and other grains. I am looking for leaner cuts of meat and healthier methods of cooking. Did I mention that we are having more salads. Lots of friggin' salads. Chef's salads, cobb salads, fancy foo foo salads with arugula and micro-greens; all types of salads.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Yeah....lots of salads

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

For the most part, the results of our efforts have been beneficial; however, there have been a few unwanted side effects. All those salads are creating some negative physical problems. It is a little embarrassing to discuss but it needs to be said. I feel I should warn others who might think that eating salads will help them lead a healthier lifestyle. Don't do it. It will cause problems that will make you an outcast. People won't want be hang around with you. You will....err, well......you might start to.....ahhhh, its hard to put into words. Its just too embarrassing. Just look at the pictures
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From Family photos for web

From Family photos for web


Do you think this embarrassing growth will go away if we start eating lots of pork?

Thursday, August 12, 2010

More marginally healthy food

Spicy chicken thighs with a salad

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

The chicken thighs were marinated in my homemade chile-spice mix, cider vinegar, orange juice and sherry.

Grilled chicken, frijoles de olla, sauteed peppers and zucchini

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Braised spicy lamb shanks, frijole de olla and squash

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Barbecued spicy pork shoulder topped with grilled green onion

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

BBQ'd spicy pork ribs

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Bloody peasants

The bloody peasants might get King Arthur's goat (if you don't know, don't ask-just go watch Holy Grail), but they sure can cook. We've been making some simple peasant dishes here at the pseudo-autonomous collective lately. Lots of braising going on around here. That's a good thing, because it gives us lots of time to harvest the filth and debate the relative merits of various political systems.

BTW: Have you ever had an epiphany? You know; one of those moments where a shocking bit of self-awareness gob-smacks your ass. Yeah, I just had one of those. I came to the realization that I act a lot like Dennis, the constitutional peasant, in Holy Grail. Ask me who lives in the local castle and I'm likely to launch into some sort of political diatribe. It's a good thing that I'm right all the time; otherwise I would just be some insufferable tool.

Once again, I have mined the fertile ground of Food Wishes for Chef John's incredible recipes.

Cabbage rolls

This is the first time I've ever tried making cabbage rolls. I must say, I was pleasantly surprised. I thought that the cabbage rolls would be bland and unexciting, but they were very tasty.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Not very pretty, but yummy as all get-out.


Ricotta meatballs

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images
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Awesome meatballs made with ground beef, pork and ricotta cheese; served on top of fettuccini and squash


Chicken D'Arduini The most awesome chicken recipe ever! You have got to make this recipe. Don't be scared off by the anchovies; they're goooooooood.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


The giant, kickass Italian family meal

My sister, Lori, her daughter, Kaitlyn, and her boyfriend, Martell, stopped by for a chance at the Gaxiola food lottery. Yahtzee!!! Everybody is a winner. Free food for life.....all in one meal. On one plate, we've got spinach-sausage lasagna, cabbage rolls, chicken D'Arduini and mixed vegetables.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Yeah, I know my presentation and plating skills suck, but it was good. Just shut up and eat.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

There's more food on that plate than that kid has seen in the last year. She was a real trooper and finished at least a quarter of her food.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

At least Martell appreciated the rather large portion sizes. Maybe the daily football practice has something to do with that.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

A happy diner


Braised beef shanks - the ultimate comfort food

I found some nice beef shanks at North Gate, so I decided to try another of Chef John's recipes.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I doesn't get much better.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Some things never change

I've found that I often assume an eager, almost-competitive posture while waiting for a meal.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


"I want food and I want it now!"

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


I often wonder where that came from...............................




From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


Lori's worried that there won't be any left for her after I get done.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Trying to eat healthy

I hate that crap. I don't like dieting, I don't like counting carbs and calories and I really don't like "healthy" food that has no flavor. I don't really want to eat healthy meals, but I find myself coming to the realization that I need to. I've been out walking/hiking almost every day for the last month; trying to get in shape for deer season and pig hunting. With every step I take up a hill, I'm reminded of all the carne asada, pizza, carnitas, burgers and other wonderful food I've made over the last few years. As I drag my fat ass over that hill, I'm not thinking about how good the food tasted, but how much of it I'm still totin' around with me. So, with that in mind, I've decided to start making healthier food. I am not going completely over the edge; just running up to the edge and throwing the really bad stuff over. We are going to limit the amount of carbohydrates and sugars in each meal and also try to reduce portion sizes. That's going to be the most difficult thing. I need to slowly bring down the portion size so I don't feel hungry after a meal. Before long, I'm sure that my stomach will contract somewhat and smaller meals will feel normal. So, for now, it means lots of greens and not so much of the good stuff.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


Our success in losing weight will ultimately hinge on our ability to create tasty filling meals that will satisfy. We won't be eating a diet of bland crap that will work against our success. I am trying to keep as much flavor in the food as possible. Even if its just green beans or broccoli, there will be lots of spice and bold flavors. The grilled top round shown above was dry-rubbed with my special BBQ seasoning. After it had a chance to sear and develop a nice crust, I basted it with a mix of apple cider vinegar and fresh-squeezed orange juice. Likewise, the coleslaw was light on mayo, but heavy on spice and acidity. In addition to the standard green and red cabbage and carrots, I included lots of sliced onion, jalapeno and Anaheim chiles. It was seasoned with a stiff dose of black and Cayenne pepper and generous amounts of cider vinegar and lemon juice.

Here is a little tidbit from the 4th of July. Dry-rubbed pork back ribs, spicy slaw and grilled calabasita bolitas topped with a little queso.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


Here is another tasty bit. Chili-orange chicken, asparagus and the ubiquitous spicy slaw.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


I actually made an alternative type of chicken that day. This chicken was lighter on the guajillo, ancho and de arbol and had more cayenne. Still spicy and dusted with crumbled Parmesan cheese at the end of the grilling. The asparagus is tossed with olive oil, sea salt and black pepper before grilling. Awesome stuff. I make no apologies for the slaw with every meal. I made a ton of it for the Fourth of July and it lasted several days. When we ran out I just made more. We are almost done with it and I'll have to come up with something else. But for now, coleslaw rules.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Huevos and Scones

If there are two things Lupe loves it's huevos and scones. So what do you think we had for breakfast when her sister and nephew came down for the 4th of July? I'll give you a couple of minutes to think it through.
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Time's up. May we see your answer? Yes, that is correct; huevos and scones. Good breakfast. I threw some spicy frijoles de olla in just to make it a damn good breakfast.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


I think everybody enjoyed

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


I told you Lupe loved scones

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Traditional Mexican meal

Family came down for July 4th weekend.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


Chicken tacos, chile relleno, and some righteous beans. Awesome

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


Ribs tomorrow.....

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Low-cal vs. comfort food

Lupe and I are trying to eat a little healthier lately. We're cutting out some of the fat, carbs and sugar to try and lose a little wight and maybe increase our lifespan. First the good stuff and then a little backsliding.

I wanted to prove to Lupe that I could make a tasty Mexican dish without having the requisite three starches (rice, beans & tortillas). I figured that grilled chicken breasts and chiles would be a good start. I had a package of giant chicken breasts sitting in the fridge, so that part of the menu was pretty much a no-brainer. I made a marinade from pineapple juice, apple cider vinegar, sherry, olive oil, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika and various chile (Cayenne, ancho & morita). I gave the chicken a quick bath in the marinade while I got the rest of the stuff ready for diner. Oh yeah; that took about five minutes. I got the grill blazing and then added a bunch of hickory chips for some flavor. I started the breasts on the hottest part of the grill to get some nice grill marks. Because of the limited marinating time, I wanted to baste the chicken frequently. When I started to get some flare-ups I shifted the chicken to the upper rack and closed the lid. After about 45 minutes the chicken was about done. I threw a mix of chiles (poblano, Anaheim and jalepeno) on the lower grill to get some char on the skins. While the chicken was resting we peeled, seeded and cut the chiles into strips. The chicken was served simply with the chile and some crumbled cotija cheese.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


OK, now for some comfort food. This is not your typically gut busting comfort food. I'd like to think that it was marginally healthy. Well, at least it had some healthy elements. I started with some bacon (this isn't the healthy part...just want to make that clear). I cut the bacon into one inch pieces and slowly rendered them down. When crispy, the bacon was removed along with some of the grease. Into a non-stick skillet went some diced red potato and onion. This was seasoned with salt, pepper, Cayenne, garlic powder and smoked paprika. In a larger pan I sautéed some diced onion and mushrooms. Once the onion and mushroom had cooked down, I added cubed lean ham that I had spiced with Cayenne. The pan was deglazed with sherry and then I added about 2/3 cup of beef stock. As the stock came to a boil I added 3lbs of leaf spinach.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


While the spinach cooked down I steamed some sliced carrots. The potatoes had crisped up nicely on the edges and were cooked through. I added some of the crumbled bacon and then a splash of beef stock to deglaze and create a little glaze on the potatoes. These were removed to a heavy dish, topped with shredded cheddar cheese and covered to facilitate melting. When the spinach was ready I added the rest of the crumbled bacon and some cream. The cream thickened up and was ready to go. This is the ultimate creamed spinach; spicy with chunks of ham. MmmmmmmMmmm! The potatoes were a cheesy, crispy, spicy flavor bomb for your mouth. Yummy. The carrots........well somewhere along the way Lupe tossed the remainder of the cheddar cheese in with the carrots. That was interesting.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Friday, June 18, 2010

Best damn burger joint in San Diego

I've been wanting to go to Hodad's for quite some time now. Ever since I saw it on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" I've been wanting to try it. For some reason (I hate OB parking) I've just never gotten over there. When Lupe got home this evening she was hungry and wanted something to eat. I wanted to oblige her, but all the proteins in the house were frozen in the icebox. What to do? Go to Hodad's. Good answer.

Hodad's is exactly what you're looking for in a great burger joint; small, loud, crazy eclectic surroundings and crowded with people gettin' their grub on. We had to stand in line outside for about 30 minutes waiting for a seat. It was well worth the wait. We had plenty of time to stare at the awesome burgers making their way out of the kitchen. For a time it looked like Lupe and I would be in the VW bus booth, but they cleared a spot on the big communal surf board table first. Fortunately, we got seats at the end of the table. Being our first visit to Hodad's, Lupe and I went big. She had a single bacon cheeseburger and fries and I got the double bacon cheeseburger with a half order of onion rings. We also shared a vanilla shake. The shake came first. We probably could have had the shake and left satisfied. That was best damn shake I've ever had. There was a giant, face-sized scoop of ice cream perched precariously on the top of the cup. We had to eat that in a hurry to keep it from melting all over the table. Melting disaster averted, we set the shake aside as the onion rings arrived. I thought a half order would be something other than a ridiculously large heaping basket of rings with ranch dressing. Stupid me. They were perfect onion rings. The onions were sweet and large and were perfectly cooked; soft, but still with some texture. The breading was also perfect; not too thick, not too thin and not at all oily. By the time were had finished the onion rings we both realized that we had just had a completely filling and fantastic meal. With more than a little alarm I started to think about the burger to come. I had been watching these towering meat masterpieces fly out of the kitchen for almost an hour. I knew they were going to be big. I tried to mentally prepare myself for the upcoming challenge. Like that skinny, little Japanese guy that always wins the Coney Island hot dog eating competition, I knew I had to psych myself up for the challenge. I kept telling myself that I had been stranded on a dessert island for five weeks with nothing to eat. I tried to mentally picture my stomach blissfully empty. I was still working on my little mind game when our server calls out, "Who had the double bacon cheeseburger?" Snapped back into reality, my eyes tried to focus on what he was holding just inches from my face. IT WAS TOO BIG! I couldn't make out the entire burger. The leading edge was fuzzy and the rest just disappeared off into the distance. I tried to look up high enough to see the top bun, but I got a crick in my neck. Oh shit! This ain't gonna end well. I mean, its a burger. I can't pass up a burger. And there's no way I'm going to walk out without eating the whole thing. I'm a guy and we don't do that sort of thing. All I could do was loosen the drawstring on my elastic-waist shorts (at least I planned ahead), dig in and hope for the best.

Hodad's make a helluva burger (didn't Rick James say something like that?) It is just the perfect example of a good old-fashioned burger. Good bun, just the right amount of shredded lettuce, fantastic pickle slices and onions and just enough dressing to make it juicy, but not detract from the flavor of the meat. Burgery goodness is the only way I can describe it. I've made better burgers (the meat and cheese part), but never the complete package like this. This was just the perfect assemblage of meat, bun, cheese and produce. One very nice touch is that the burger patties were not overcooked as you find at most restaurants. Mine were a lovely pink in the middle; just the way I make mine at home. Oh man, burger nirvana. After the first bite I forgot that I really wasn't that hungry. I knew I was going to finish every last bite of that bad boy. Slow and steady wins the race....and gets the burger down. Still, the first bite was a little intimidating. I knew it was going to be messy. When I brought the burger to my mouth I couldn't see the top bun and the bottom bun seemed to be somewhere down by my neck. I squeezed it together as much as I dared, opened wide and took a chomp. I was rewarded with, not only a mouthful of tasty burger, but a new design on my Hawaiian shirt. Oh well. I got that out of the way quickly. Now I can concentrate on eating this behemoth without worrying about dripping on myself anymore. I had a stack of napkins close at hand. After each bite I had to wipe off my chin (and neck and face and hands......). That how a burger should be eaten. Carl's Jr. ad agency has done some screwy ad campaigns (featuring Miss Wonk Eye, Miss Wonk Ass and Miss Wonk Boobs) over the last few years, but they at least got the slogan right: "If it doesn't get all over the place, it doesn't belong in your face."

I can't believe that Lupe actually finished her burger too. When Lupe is too full to finish a meal, she has no problem asking for a doggy bag. That she actually finished her burger is a testament to just how good they were. Now that's some dedication.

Lesson learned:
1. Hodad's is the best damn burger joint in San Diego.
2. Hodad's is the best burger joint I've ever eaten at.
3. Next time I'll do without the bacon on the burger. It is like adding an extra meat patty to an already enormous burger. I liked the taste, but the straight cheeseburger would have been just fine.
4. Next time we don't order fries with the burger. A half order of onion rings or fries would definitely be enough.
5. Next time I go there I will fast for at least two days ahead of time.

Another romantic desert idea

It isn't hard to come up with a nice little treat for your sweetie-pie. Last night after dinner I wanted to make something sweet for Lupe. I had a little time, as she had gone to take a dip in the hot tub after dinner. I had an idea brewing in my little brain. I bought some giant apricots at North Gate the other day and it turned out that they weren't quite ripe. They weren't really soft and they were somewhat tart. Not bad; just not the juicy, fresh apricot that you'd want to eat raw. I didn't want them to spoil so I had to come up with something to do with them. I got the idea to pop them in the oven for a few minutes to soften them up and concentrate the flavor. I cut up several and set them in Lupe's handy dandy mini muffin tray. I sprinkled each half with a little cinnamon and some cane sugar and put them in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. While they were roasting I made a port wine reduction on the stove top. I added a little cane sugar and a squeeze of orange juice to the reduction to liven it up. When the apricot halves had started to soften I removed them from the oven and placed them on some cute heart-shaped desert plates that Lupe loves. In the center of each apricot half I dropped a dollop of chocolate ganache. I finished the dish with a splattering of the port wine reduction (no points for presentation-I didn't think to use my squeeze bottles to make it all foo-foo artistic). What it lacked in presentation, it made up in taste. Sorry, no pics. We ate it too fast.

Pupusa and Hot Wings

Lupe had to go to LA last week to get some paperwork for her passport. After dealing with the cubicle drones at the State hive in downtown LA, Lupe and I went for a little lunch. We wandered around the Grand Central Market looking for grub. I quickly spotted a pupuseria that I recognized from Food TV's show; "The Best Thing I Ever Ate." Mary Sue Milliken had recommended the pupusas from Sarita's Pupuseria. We ordered a sampler assortment of pupusas; chicharron, carne asada and pollo asada. I must say they were very tasty. I've only had pupusas once before, so I don't have much to compare them to. Lupe used to get them frequently back in Long Beach. There were a lot of Salvadorans at the company we worked for and they always wanted pupusas for lunch. Lupe thought that Sarita's pupusas compared very favorably to others she has tried.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images


All during the Stanley Cup finals I felt like I was missing something. I hadn't been doing much cooking during that time so there was no memorable food to go along with the great hockey action. I think I ate a salami sandwich the night of game 6. That was not worthy of the great hockey that was on TV. What I really needed was a good deep dish pizza or a Philly cheese-steak sandwich. A few days later I was mulling over ideas for good hockey-watching food and I decided that I needed to make some Buffalo wings. I have fond memories of sitting at Seau's, eating hot wings and watching Colorado skate the cup. My mind was made up.....Buffalo wings. After separating the wings I dusted them with Cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. I drizzled a little chicken fat over the wings and then tossed the wings. Once the wings were completely coated I covered them and let them sit in the fridge for a couple hours. In the interim I made both bleu cheese and ranch dips. I cut a bunch of carrot, celery and jicama sticks to go with the wings. I also prepped some asparagus to go with the wings. The wings went onto a broiler rack and into a 375 degree oven. I flipped the wings a couple of times during the hour they spent in the oven. As the wings cooked I gave the asparagus a quick sauté. After I got a little color on the asparagus I deglazed the pan with some sherry. I added some beef stock to finish cooking the asparagus. When the wings were done I took them out and tossed them with some Frank's hot wing sauce. After turning off the oven, I put the wings back in to help set the sauce. This gives a nice finish and makes the wings a little less messy. This was definitely a finger food dinner. Lots of napkins on standby as we dug in. The wings were great and slightly healthier than if they had been fried. Aw hell.....who cares. They were just good. I would have fried them if I had enough oil. Either way, hot wings are always good. Like pizza, they aren't something you'd want to eat every day, but they are good occasionally.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images