Chimichurri cheeseburger

Chimichurri is Argentinian in origin and is similar to pesto, but most often used as a marinade or a sauce for grilled steak. The common ingredients are parsley, garlic, olive oil, vinegar, while variants may include ingredients such as oregano, cumin, red peeper flakes, etc. But it's the garlic that is pretty much a quintessential complement to grilled beef - even hamburger.

Thicker hamburgers (1/2 lb) can be a challenge to cook properly - it's not difficult to char the outside yet and have a raw interior, yet cooking it thoroughly risks a result resembling a hockey puck. And if you want a cheeseburger, you have to add the cheese near the end, and more often than not, you lose some of it down the sides where it burns/drips and is generally wasted.

My solution to guaranteeing a tasty cheeseburger - putting the cheese *inside* the burger.

I like my burgers on the fluffy side - when you form your patties, you should *not* compact them - kinda like with rice when you are making nigiri - it should just barely clump together. But to make a stuffed cheeseburger, you'll have to find a balance between a loose clump and a firm enough pressure so as to keep the "stuffing" from leaking out.

You can probably go as small as a 1/4 pounder, but a 1/3 lb per patty is about the smallest I like when I stuff a burger. Take the meat and form it into a bowl shape. Place a piece of cheese (preferably sharp cheddar, but whatever you have will do).

Here's where the chimichurri comes in. I then add 1/2 tsp of minced parsley, minced garlic to taste, a dash of oregano and a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar, then top with another piece of cheese. Then fold over the "rim" of the bowl, enclosing ingredients inside. Grill/cook as usual.

Because the center is somewhat hollow, it cooks more quickly, and with the cheese in the middle, it's guaranteed to be moist on the inside, nice and garlicky.

1/3 lb. ground beef
parsley (if you don't have it, try cilantro)
garlic (can't skip this though)
balsamic vinegar (any vinegar or even lemon juice will probably work)
oregano (optional)
cumin (optional)
red pepper (optional)
cheese (preferably cheddar)

Corn & Potato Chowder - crockpot version

The weather forecast was for rain so the choice was pretty simple, a soup made in the crockpot. i often use the crockpot to make rice porridge ("jook"),  as befitting my asian roots, but it might surprise you as much as i to discover that China has been the world's largest producer of potatoes for a number of years.

The recipe is pretty straightforward - dice about 8 medium sized russet potatoes (you may peel them, but i prefer to just scrub them and keep the skins on for the additional fiber and nutrients (including phytonutrients which are a natural source of antioxidants. On the flip side, potato crops might be sprayed with pesticides which could be concentrated in the potato skins. If that weighs heavily on you, go with organically grown potatoes.). As medium sized is equivocal, I will guesstimate a volume of about 8 cups of diced potatoes.

Place them in the crockpot (assuming you have a 5+ qt crockpot), and add a 1 lb bag of frozen corn.

You could get away with using ham, but the traditional chowders use bacon, and I love to saute my aromatics in the rendered bacon fat before adding them to the crockpot, especially since i have a market nearby that sells the bacon end cuts for about a third of the per lb cost (something like $1.29 /lb) of regularly packaged bacon which seems to sell for about $4/lb nowadays.

Take about a cup of diced bacon and saute it gently in a pan and remove the bacon once it has cooked but not yet become crispy and add the bacon to the potatoes & corn already in the crockpot. If you have and like carrot, dice one and saute it in the bacon grease. After a couple of minutes, add 1 diced onion (call it 1.5-2 cups in volume) along with 2 peeled cloves of garlic to the pan and continue to saute until the carrot is soft. Add the sauteed aromatics (which will have absorbed most of the bacon grease) to the crockpot. Now add flour to the pan (volume should be comparable to the amount of grease remaining in the pan - we are now making a roux to thicken the chowder, but also add depth of flavor) and continue to stir gently over low heat until flour starts to brown (note: you should already have some "brown" in the pan due to the caramelization of the onion/carrot mixture). Add 1 cup water, bring the heat to medium and deglaze the pan, loosening any bits that may have been stuck to the pan. Add the contents of the pan to the crockpot. Add salt/pepper to taste.

Add an additional 3 cups of liquid (some combination of water & chicken bouillion, chicken broth, chicken stock, etc. works for me. Purists may prefer milk/cream but I think my roux and the bacon fat are sufficient in terms of flavor - and this is a poor man's chowder anyway), set the crockpot on low, and come back in 6-8 hours. The result may appear to be a bit watery for chowder. To thicken it, dissolve 1/2 cup flour in the same volume of COLD water, and add the resulting slurry to the crockpot and let the flour heat through.

8 cups diced russet potatoes
one 1 lb. bag of frozen corn
1 cup diced bacon
1 cup diced carrot (optional)
1-2 cups diced onion
2 peeled garlic cloves
flour
water
3 cups chicken bouillion/stock/broth

which will result in about 3 quarts of chowder - plenty for guests and neighbors, and it's even better the next day..

Cooking - H to O

Today's entry is about cooking with water (H2O, get it?), but using a fairly obscure method known as crimping.

I will suppress the geek in me and just say that protein changes (denatures) when it reaches a certain temperature. Surprisingly, proteins can denature at temperatures as low as about 107 degrees fairenheit (which is why fevers up around 105 are pretty serious and it's important to get the body temperature down). The geek in me wants to blurt out that the major structual protein in muscle (myosin) denatures from 113-131 degrees, while egg whites denature at about 160 degrees.

Poaching (subjecting them to a temperature of 212 degrees) for a sufficient length of time guarantees that denaturing occurs; the problem is that other components of food  also change permanently when certain temperatures are reached. This is really important when you cook oily fish such as salmon whose fats have really low volatilty points - that's why salmon gives off its distinctive odors when cooked at higher heats and stinks up your kitchen.

The solution - crimping. I believe it's a french term, but when i googled it, it only came up after 4-5 pages due to the number of entries about crimping pie crusts.

More geek stuff - specific heat - defined as the amount of heat required (per unit mass) to raise the temperature one degree celsius. Water has the highest specific heat than any other common substance, which makes it a great choice for temperature regulation (like in a radiator - the problem is water's relatively high freezing point, which is why we have to use antifreeze in colder climates).

The bottom line is to heat water to a certain temperature and then let the water transfer its heat to the object immersed in the water. The immersed object can not reach a temperature above the temperature of the water, while the water temperature gradually decreases as heat is transferred to the immersed object.

Practical application: cooking salmon

Use a pan of sufficient size to allow one to lay the salmon flat in the pan - and add enough liquid to ensure that when the salmon is added, it will be covered by about 3/4" or so. (Note: it doesn't have to be just water, for salmon, I like to use a 1/2 dry white wine, 1/2 water combination, with a pinch of tarragon.). Heat the liquid in the pan until the water just starts to bubble, (assuming you are at sea level) which is the start of simmering temperature at about 185 degrees, Add the salmon to the pan. The initial addition of the fish to the pan absorbs a significant amount of specific heat, so keep the pan over the medium heat for about a minute, then remove the pan from the heat, and cover the pan and let it sit for about 20 minutes. That's it!

It's foolproof - the salmon never gets subjected to a temperature higher than about 180 degrees, and cooks gently until the temperature of the fish reaches the temperature of the water. And while that's all going on, you are free to devote yourself to the preparation of the remainder of the meal - or entertaining your guests.

If you want to be fancier, you can prepare a court bouillon by including aromatics such as onion, carrot in the liquid, etc, and let the liquid simmer for a bit before letting it cool, straining the liquid and reheating, but if you have a quality piece of fish, let it do all the heavy lifting in terms of flavor.

Either way, the cooking liquid will be full of flavor and shouldn't go to waste. You can make a very simple sauce for the fish by removing the liquid from the pan (save half for later), and add 1 TBLS (tablespoon - which is THREE (3) teaspoons (TSP), NOT two (2)) each of butter and flour, and make a roux by heating gently and stirring for about a minute. Add the cooking liquid a little at a time, stirring to ensure a smooth consistency. Or even simpler, remove half the liquid, and then reduce the remaining liquid (heating so that liquid evaporates, concentrating the flavor) to half it's original volume, then melt a little butter into the reduction. Add a little lemon juice or balsamic vinegar to taste.

This technique works for just about any type of fish/seafood, although a little common sense is required; a single scallop into 5 quarts of liquid is definitely overkill, and fish that's dense like swordfish is going to need a longer period over heat after adding the fish (but if you do choose to experiment with swordfish, try grapefruit juice as part of the cooking liquid).
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and since i'm still here - you can ensure perfectly cooked "hard boiled" eggs by employing the same concept - as I mentioned before, egg white denatures at about 160 degrees, but at higher temperatures, that ugly green tint forms around the yolk. so for a perfectly cooked egg with a lovely yellow yet fully cooked yolk:

place eggs in *cold* (keeps eggs from cracking) water in saucepan, with enough water to keep eggs immersed. over medium heat, heat until water begins to simmer (bubbles forming). immediately remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 20-30 minutes. remove eggs and place in cold water (which facilitates removing the shell without sticking).

Crockpot Pork Chili Verde

I love crockpot cooking because the prep time is minimal compared to cooking time, and you don't have to be fussing about when you are hosting guests. So I adapted a combination of recipes to create my crockpot version of pork chili verde, which is probably as much a stew as anything else. I've had friends who've lived in costa rica tell me it tastes just like what they ate there. I'm not sure how to take that since I thought that pork chili verde was mexican in origin.

I fly by the seat of the pants kind when it comes to cooking. This will probably infuriate those who need to know the precise quantities of things.

There are a number of different green chilies you can use: pasilla/anaheim, serrano, jalapeno, habanero. I like spicy so I almost always include jalapenos. I may include a regular green pepper or two if they're on sale. My secret touch is to slice all the peppers into 1" pieces (avoid touching the white pith running down the middle - that's where the capsaicin - alkaloid that we perceive as being spicy- is concentrated.) and blacken them in an iron skillet over high heat (no oil) in lieu of roasting them over an open flame. it's a good idea to have the hood fan going if you have one - the vapors coming up off those peppers can be brutal if you inhale them. The blackening of the peppers does seem to affect the flavor.

After blackening the peppers and placing them in the crockpot, use the same pan to brown the pork. I personally don't mind if the meat is a little fatty - it's not necessarily healthy, but it sure does taste better. If you choose to trim some fat off the meat, don't discard all of it. The size of the pieces should be roughly bitesized, but i tend to let the crockpot cook until the meat is tender enough to separate with a fork, I won't bother if I'm using country style ribs. This is optional, but I like to place the meat in a plastic bag, add 1/4 cup of flour and do the ol' shake & bake thing to lightly coat the pork with flour, as it helps to brown the meat, and that flour also binds with fat during the cooking time to thicken the cooking liquid. Brown the meat in batches (salt & pepper to taste) (too much meat in the pan lowers the pan temperature and inhibits browning) and place meat in crockpot. The meat will be in layers. I like to alternate the sprinkling of oregano and cumin between each layer.

If you have any leftover pork fat, place some in the pan over medium heat. Some of the fat will have been transformed to liquid, remove the solid fat. If you don't have the pork fat, use olive oil.

Saute 1-2 onions (cut into 1" chunks) & 5-6 peeled cloves of garlic in the pan until onions change color. Add to crockpot.

Add about 6 tomatillos sliced into about 1" chunks to the crockpot. (If you want to add green pepper, do it here) I like to add a dark beer and a couple of chicken bouillion cubes to the mix, YMMV. it makes the whole thing a little soupy. But as I prefer to eat this over rice, sauce works for me, and I will thicken the liquid by adding a slurry of 1/4 flour dissolved in 1/2 of COLD water, 1/2 hour before the pork is done. The flour binds with any fat that hasn't already bound with the flour that was browned with the meat forming a poor man's roux, and acts as a thickening agent.

Top with minced cilantro when ready - some recipes say put it in, but I personallly don't care for the result that way.

If the result is a bit too spicy for your taste, I recommend  yogurt or sour cream - the milk proteins counteract the capsaicin alkaloids. I also would recommend sour cream if it seems too salty for whatever reason - sour cream with its relatively high acidity will reduce the apparent saltiness.

Chllies - call it 2 pasillas, 4 jalapenos 4 serranos

Pork - call it 4 lbs.

White Onion - 1 large, or 2 small

Garlic cloves (6)

Salt (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

Cumin (approx 1 tsp)

Oregano (approx 1 tsp)

Tomatillos (6-8)

Optional:

Green pepper (1-2)

1 bottle dark beer

Chicken bouillion

Cilantro garnish

Easy (yet very tasty) Crockpot Pot Roast (with Gravy)

The french allegedly have 20 categories and sub-categories for braising. I'll take their word for it. The basic concept is fairly simple: Make a tougher cut of meat more palatable by first browning it, then simmering it in a small amount of liquid for a prolonged period of time. The low moist heat works to break down the connective tissue. A classic french braise would include the addition of vegetables to flavor the meat, but the vegetables would not be served.

Enough exposition. You're here because you want an easy crockpot recipe for pot roast that includes gravy.

But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out NOT to use any cut of meat labelled as a steak; think white meat when you think steak - most likely to remain tender and juicy when cooked quickly over high heat.

If there are really obvious layers of fat in your meat, remove most of it. But leave some - you'll see why later.

Sprinkle the meat with salt & pepper to taste, then coat meat with a light layer of flour.

Brown the meat (both sides). Place meat in crockpot.

Now to enhance the flavor. Aromatics include the following items: onion, carrot, celery, tomato, garlic,. fennel, bacon/pancetta. I personally recommend a combination of onion, carrot, garlic and bacon (especially the bacon - see my comments in the coq au vin recipe). The size of the pieces? While the french are incredibly anal about their mirepoix being cut into a very small dice (brunoise), I like to go bite-sized and give myself the option of turning the dish into a stew.

Use the same pan used to brown the meat. You can skip the oil if using bacon. The vegetables will absorb any residual bacon grease. Add the sauteed vegetables to the crockpot.

The braising liquid: it can be as simple as water.Any sort of broth. As I don't use tomato in the aromatics, I prefer to include something red - either red wine or tomato in the braising liquid. But don't use just red wine - it'll be too acidic. 1/2 red wine 1/2 water is fine. Add the braising liquid to the pan and using heat, deglaze the pan, loosening whatever bits that remain stuck to the pan after the browning and sauteing.  Add the braising liquid (with bits) to the crockpot. 1-2" of liquid is sufficient - do not cover the meat.

OPTIONAL: about 45 minutes before you expect the meat to be ready, scrub and cut 8 potatoes into 1" chunks. turn crockpot up to high and place potatoes on top of meat in crockpot. the potatoes will cook by absorbing heat from the simmering liquid and also absorb flavor from the meat and aromatics. When the potatoes are cooked, you can remove them and mash them with some melted butter and warm milk. Alternatively, you can mix the potatoes into the simmering liquid. and turn the dish into a stew. The starch from the potatoes should thicken the simmering liquid.

If the liquid is still thin, you can dissolve 1/4 cup of flour in 1/2 cup of COLD water, then add it to the crockpot. (This is called a slurry, BTW.) The flour will bind with the fat and thicken up the liquid, creating a gravy.

OPTIONAL (if you're going for a one dish stew) Add frozen peas 15 minutes before serving - adding peas too early overcooks them, resulting in a olive green mush. Do this AFTER you've added the slurry.

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Any basic variation of this recipe will result in a good meal. But if you want the best results in terms of flavor, include some kind of pork fat when sauteing the aromatics.

You say to-mat-o...

The majority of the tomato harvest is in, and prices are creeping back up accordingly. But tomatoes are still available (here, anyway) at about $.59/lb. and quality is still pretty good.

When it comes to the supermarkets, we don't have much control over how they're picked and ripened; picked when still green and artificially ripened by subjecting them to ethylene to prompt the creation of enzymes that soften cell walls and also convert starches to sugars. We're also subject to the choices of cultivars chosen by the growers, where soil/weather conditions, disease resistance and overall profitability are the primary considerations, not flavor. But if you didn't like what was available in June, don't fret - according to Tomato Magazine, in California, the cultivar grown in June is different from the ones grown in July and August. The final major factor is in the handling; ripening tomatoes produce a flavor enzyme, but once the temperature goes below 55 degrees, the enzyme stops producing flavor permanently. And many times tomatoes are shipped with lettuce - which is generally kept at 37 degrees.

So if you get fresh tomatoes:
- do NOT put them in the refrigerator.
- keep them stem side up
- if you are impatient and want the tomatoes to ripen faster, keep the tomatoes in a paper bag, which traps the ethylene;

Personally, I've evolved to a philosophy that when I have ingredients of good quality, I let those main ingredients do the heavy lifting in terms of providing flavor. Of course, the criteria for a perfect tomato seems to vary with locale, ethniciaty and personal history. So you will each have your own standard for a great tomato. Just don't ruin it by overdoing it. But if you insist on trying to raise the level of flavor, it should help to understand that a large part of the flavor comes from the balance of sweetness and acidity.

- salt, if something has been oversalted accidentally, I generally try to raise the acidity level to compensate, so if you find the acidity level of the tomatoes a little high for your tastes,  a little salt should bring the perceived acidity down so that the tomatoes will seem sweeter;
- herbs - especially basil, but pepper works also;
- balsamic vinegar' - can influence both the sweetness *and* the acidity if the tomatoes seem relatively tasteless;
- (surprise) something with a creamy mouth-feel often does the trick - a soft mozzarella, even mayonnaise - to pair up with the acidity (tartness) in the tomato (no surprise that tomato soup goes so well with a grilled cheese sandwich);
- most folks will tend to want to emphasize the sweetness, but if you want to raise the tartness, something acidic will do the trick - regular vinegar, lemon juice, even something like sour cream...

And of course, you can use these to liven up the flavor of the usual tomatoes available at the supermarket.

By any other name: egg and tomato

The world as I know it seems to surprisingly polarized over the following issue - scrambled eggs with ketchup, and scrambled eggs without. There are some who won't eat eggs without it, and some who won't eat it with (ketchup). To each their own.

Tomato and egg do actually go well together; as evidenced by classic mexican breakfast dish huevos rancheros. The main distinction seems to be that it's more of a tomato-chili salsa - instead of the tomato being sweetened the way it is in ketchup.

The chinese make their own version of huevos rancheros - fanqie jidan - instead of serving it over tortillas, it's most commonly served over rice. The recipe is quick, easy, and during the summer months when produce prices are at their lowest, extremely affordable. The version I just made for a late dinner also included sliken texture tofu.

YMMV, but a general rule of thumb seems to be 1 egg per 1-2 tomatoes depending on size.

Crack eggs and place in a bowl, whisk with a teaspoon of water (the water seems to make them fluffier) and scramble over low heat until they are just cooked through. Remove from heat.

Depending on the size cut the tomatoes into quarters or eighths, and cook them in a saucepan/wok over medium until they release their liquid. Add salt and sugar to taste.

Gently fold in the egg, (and if you want to add tofu as I did, add the tofu here as well).

Remove from heat, let sit for about 10 minutes, then serve, garnished with chopped green onion.

The result will be quite runny, and should be on the sweet side, but the green onion (scallion)  adds just enough edge to balance the sweetness.

Serve over rice.

Ingredients:
Eggs
Tomato
Sugar
Salt
Tofu (optional)
Green Onion

Gourmet Entertaining On a Budget: Crockput Coq Au Vin

Anyone can eat well when money is not an object.The challenge is doing so on a budget, even more so when entertaining guests. I have thrown monthly parties for a number of years, and my choice of entree recipes has always been determined by what has been on sale, and minimal prep/oversight during the cooking process. I usually end up using my crockpot.

Last week, chicken was on sale - drumsticks to be exact - and i got about 5 lbs for less than $4. And the deli had bacon remnants - end pieces - on sale for only $1.29 a lb.  That sealed the deal - my take on coq au vin.

Coq au vin is chicken braised in red wine - and while chicken and mushrooms are such a great match for each other,  IMO the essential ingredient is "lardon" - pork fat (usually subcutaneous). Fat is supposed to be bad - but it's my take that the main reason for this perception is that for animals grown using any sort of chemicals, steroids, etc. anything used to stimulate growth tends to accumulate in the fat of the animal - so with any sort of organically grown animal  go for it (yeah, the common wisdom is that saturated fats can also have an impact on cholesterol level - but stress is more of a factor than diet). OTOH, pure edible fat provides twice the energy of proteins or carbs, and also help the body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, & K. And more importantly, fat adds flavor as heat breaks down the lipids.

Bacon/salt pork is most commonly used, but pork belly and fatback also works. Part of the secret is to saute/brown some of the lardon and use some of the rendered fat to brown the vegetables and meat before beginning the braising. (If you ever cook a whole goose SAVE THE FAT!!!!! - and use it to fry your potatoes. OMG!!! Amazing!)  While whole chickens are often used for coq au vin, I prefer to use dark meat (legs and thighs)  because they stand up better to prolonged cooking at lower temperatures, resulting in a better mouth feel while eating.

I chose to chop each drumstick into two pieces to better accommodate a larger number of guests. It's best to use a sharp heavy cleaver for that. If I'd had thighs, I would have have cut each thigh into thirds along the bone, the middle third containing the bone, to go more closer to bite sized pieces but without a lot of extra work. This also results in more surface area caramelizing when browning the chicken as well as the chicken cooking through more quickly for other recipes (such as my chicken casserole with shiitake mushrooms and oyster sauce which i will be making as soon as the temperate starts to fall), though minimizing cooking time is not a concern for coq au vin - you need the time for the flavors to meld.

1) If they are not already cut/cubed into small pieces, do so - for the sliced bacon, I went about 3/4" pieces. Saute the pork. I prefer for it to brown, but just barely - i like to keep a certain amount of fat to go into the pot unrendered. Remove pork with a slotted spoon to the crockpot.

2) Saute the vegetables (onion & carrot) in the rendered fat under low heat. (some recipes call for pearl onions, I used a large yellow/brown onion (they have the highest sugar content. white onions seem sweeter raw because they have a lower sulfur content)  because it was cheaper and one large carrot, all cut into approximately 3/4" cubes/pieces/ lengths. (And do the cutting while the pork is cooking). Cooking long enough to sweat the onions is probably enough, but if you want a little browning, go for it. Remove the sauteed vegetables to the crockpot.

3) Put the chicken pieces into a plastic bag (i reuse the ones i get when buying produce at the supermarket), add enough flour to coat the chicken, add salt/pepper to taste. close bag and shake to coat the chicken with flour. the flour assists in the browning process. Brown the chicken a few pieces at a time - too much meat in the frying pan brings the temperature down too low - and you many need to add oil - the vegetables tend to absorb the rendered fat. Place browned chicken into crockpot.

4) Deglaze the frying pan (from the french glacé - frozen - literally loosening the browned bits which have been "frozen" to the frying pan) by heating and adding liquid - water, wine, whatever. i used some of the red wine (i think it was a cabernet sauvignon of two buck chuck (charles shaw - available at your nearby trader joes at $2 a bottle).  scrape off everything stuck to the pan and add to the crockpot - those browned bits will contribute a lot of flavor.

5) Add thyme, (I think I used about two teaspoons) (yeah, fresh would be better, but we're talking low budget here), peeled garlic (i used 4-5 cloves), a bay leaf,  mushrooms, (i used 8 oz. white mushrooms, each sliced in half down the middle). 

6) Add the braising liquid - equal parts of red wine & water/chicken broth (just wine would result in too high an acidity) - and do not add enough to cover the ingredients, maybe only halfway or so - the mushrooms will give off liquid, set the crockpot on low, and let cook at least four hours, preferably six or more. About an hour before serving, dissolve 1/4 cup of flour into some *cold* water and add the slurry to the crockpot. The flour will bind with some of the fat, thickening the cooking liquid. (In retrospect, if I'd used more liquid, the guests would have consumed it as a sauce for the rice).

I think it's traditionally served over noodles, but my heritage being what it is, I went with rice. And my guests loved it.

Ingredients:

Red wine - as long as it's dry

Chicken - preferably dark meat (i used about 5 lbs)

Bacon - (but salt pork, pork belly, etc. will do) i probably used about 1/4 lb.

Mushrooms - i used 8oz, but if i had had more, i would have added them

Onion - preferably pearl - but a brown/yellow onion will do

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Bay leaf (1)

Garlic (i used five cloves)

Thyme (i think i used 2 TSP)

The best thing is that you don't need to be too precise.

By any other name, cont'd...pierogis and a grilled mashed potato sandwich

I hope to develop a more structured approach eventually, but as we're starting out, i'm probably going to spend a substantial amount of verbage on my background and overall philosophies that influence my cooking.

One such point that comes from my asian heritage - waste nothing. so i will often recycle something that started life as part of another recipe, and use it to make something else.

Some of the thing i made last week included potstickers, and braised oxtail over smashed potatoes.(these recipes will also get a blog post of its own eventually) . I also sampled the wares of two popular "gourmet" trucks in the past two weeks - a dumpling truck and a grilled cheese sandwich truck. These events all factor into some of this week's meals.

I should also mention that I hail from northeast Ohio - settled primarily by central and eastern europeans, including the Polish. Among the mighty wonderful conributions the poles have made to civilization, i personally rank the pierogi way near the top (just below Copernicus). The pierogi is the polish version of a potsticker/ravioli/stuffed dumpling. Back in ohio, i used to schlep over to a polish restaurant for lunch and enjoy a plate of potato pierogi with sour cream and grilled onions on the side (for only $1.25), then go back to work and wait for the food coma to hit me.

Tying all this together: I had a unopened package of leftover store bought potsticker wrappers ($.99 for 38) (yes, i cheat and use store bought wrappers, it saves me a lot of time, and i've never been that good working with flour, asides from my chocolate chip cookies.), and leftover smashed potatoes (the unpeeled potatoes were cut into 1" chunks, then steamed over the braising ox tails, so they absorbed some of those flavors, - and because they weren't immersed in liquid, a lot fluffier - i imagine that the same technique would work for rice, i need to try that). So I made pierogis.

Traditional stuffings include potato/ potato & cheese/ sauerkraut/ prunes. I went with a simple potato/cheese filling. I cut some sharp cheddar cheese into 1/2" chunks, and inserted one chunk of cheese into the potato filling as I wrapped each pierogi. Traditionally, pierogi are first boiled then sauteed, but i saved myself some time and effort by using the potsticker cooking method, browning them over medium heat, then adding a little water and covering them so that they  fiinish cooking using steam. There were a little on the crispy side this way, made them more remiscent of jiao-tse. but with sour cream, grilled onion and kielbasi.... yeah.

Here's why I mentioned the grilled cheese sandwich truck: their specialty is a sandwich made with macaroni and cheese filling (you can use their menu for inspiration on how to liven up your current grilled cheese recipe. http://www.thegrilledcheesetruck.com/Pages/menus.aspx). I still had some leftover potato, about enough to cover a slice of bread. Yes, i made a a grilled mashed potato and cheese sandwich (bread brushed with the olive oil used to pack my oven dried tomatoes, layers of  sharp cheddar cheese on top and bottom of the layer of mashed potato which had faint essences of red wine and oxtail) and ate it  with one of my homemade garlic pickles (another blog post for those) on the side. I thought it was pretty good. I think it works because you are essentially exchanging one comfort food (mac & cheese) for another (mashed potatoes), but with a crispy texture on the outside.

By any other name

Despite all of our differences, we have basic commonalities. For example, we all eat. And while ethnic cuisines can vary greatly in variety,there are only so many ways you can do things, and more often than not, it comes down to the available resources and ingredients. When i was a kid, i would occasionally bring Zongzi for lunch. of course, everyone would ask what the heck it was i was eating, and i'd go into the details of glutinous rice with dried shrimp, chestnuts, chinese sausage, etc. and most of my classmates would still be kinda mystified if not weirded out. nowadays,  i just tell people it's a chinese version of a tamale.

Similarly, a quesadilla is just a latin version of a grilled cheese sandwich.  And everybody's got their own version. For me, I prefer sharp cheddar cheese; and basic white bread. YMMV. But there are so many different things you can do to that simple combination.

It's summer, and tomatoes have been on sale for $.39/lb. So i bought about 10 lbs and roasted them in the oven, along with some garlic cloves. This is worth a blog post of its own . This time around, I've went overnight at 250, resulting in more of a sun dried tomato result, so i packed them in olive oil and put them into the fridge. It was with this kind of tomato I decided to experiiment and i was very pleased with the results.

as I can fit 3 sandwiches in my frying pan at a time, i tend to make three at a time:

1) take one large yellow onion and cut three thin slices from the middle, (diameter about the size of your bread);

2) place onion slices in frying pan, drizzle with olive oil used to pack the dried tomatoes;

3) Here's a place where you can experiment - under low/medium heat, either sweat (heat until the onion changes color) or caramelize (brown the onion). While onion is cooking, assemble your sandwich(es)

a) bread - brush top with olive oil used to pack tomatoes, and set aside, brushed side up

b) brush one side of other piece of bread, place on other slice of bread, brushed side down

c) layer of cheese on bread

d) layer of tomato

e) remove onion from pan, and place on top of tomato

f) another layer of cheese

g) place assembled sandwich (minus bread slice oiled side up) into pan

h) top sandwich with last slice of bread, oiled side *up*

Reduce heat back down to low if it wasn't, flip sandwich and brown other side. devour.

Brushing a slice of bread with mustard (with horseradish) during assembly would probably be pretty good too, but i was happy with the results.