A la carte

I've been busy the last couple of weeks and haven't taken the time to write up anything. Here is a quick run-down.

I went on quick roadie to Monterey two weeks ago. Driving by all those roadside produce stands around Castroville and Moss Landing made me soooooo hungry. I just couldn't resist stopping to load up on fruit and veggies. Luckily, I had taken an extra cooler with me because I was planning on doing some fishing. The weather wouldn't cooperate, so I had plenty of cooler space. My roadside bounty included some beautiful strawberries, blood oranges and baby artichoke. I had almost forgotten what fresh strawberries smell like. I am so used to the dreck that they sell at the supermarkets; half green, woody and NO smell or flavor. These strawberries smelled delicious and were perfectly ripe. The blood oranges were sweet and juicy. I haven't had blood oranges in a long time, and these were well worth the wait.

The weekend I got back, Lupe's sister, Lorena, and her niece, Emily, came down to visit. This gave me a reason to try some new things for dinner. I boned some chicken breasts and marinated them in a mixture of blood orange juice, cider vinegar, olive oil, chile (ancho/California) and spices (cumin, Mexican oregano, salt and pepper). I grilled these up with some apple chips providing the smokiness. The chicken was accompanied by oven-fried papas y cebollas. I seasoned and breaded diced potato and onion and then placed it on a cookie sheet in a 375 oven until the potatoes were almost done. I then put the cookie sheet under a 500 broiler to crisp up the breading. These turn out spicy and crispy; very yummy. I had to scramble for a vegetable to go with this. The chiller was full of chile and not much more. I decided to make a spicy ratatouille of sorts. I started by sauteing sliced onions and a little garlic. Then I added sliced chile (Anaheim, poblano and jalapeno). After everything had some time to sweat, I mixed in a small can of tomatoes and some salsa ranchera. This mixture was simmered down until most of the liquid had evaporated. A little crumbled cotija cheese on top adds some saltiness and tang.

Now that I am documenting my cooking efforts, I have begun to notice a dominant theme: REDDISH-ORANGE. The majority of our meals are on the red end of the spectrum. Must be the obligatory use of chile on everything from meat to veggies.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

I suck as a pastry cook. No matter what I try, it turns into a big mess; a multi-layered, whipped cream-covered abomination of Herculean proportions. I just don't have the eye for composition or the artistic skills needed to make beautiful desserts. As messy as they are, they are crowd pleasers. After all; who wouldn't want an 8" pile of ice cream, berries, shortcake and whipped cream, topped with a brandy caramel sauce. So it doesn't look good; who cares. I'm not trying to impress Gael Greene or a bunch of pretentious foodies; just my family and friends.

OK, I got that out of my system. Here is the yummy, but messy berry shortcake.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

Lupe piped the whipped cream around the base of the shortcake. I filled the shortcake with mandarin oranges and blueberries. I made an orange/Grand Marnier cream sauce to put on the shortcake (but I forgot it). On top of the orange-berry mixture went a scoop of French vanilla ice cream, topped with more whipped cream and strawberries macerated in Grand Marnier and vanilla sugar.

From The Hollow Leg Diner - images

As you can see, my efforts fall somewhere in the dessert continuum between Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor and the Cheesecake Factory. Big flavor and big ugly. At least Emily liked it.