West Coast Grits

You may be wondering what the bloody hell I think I'm doing, going up on YouTube like this. It's a grand experiment. An experiment to find out a) whether video additions to blog posts make any sort of useful contribution; b) whether it's worth the extra trouble; and c) how much can I possibly detract from my content with my grating personality? You decide.

Except that ultimately, I decide.

Phase 1 of this experiment has shown me that I talk funny, have extremely beefy arms, and a really wicked farmer's tan (which, by the way, is not entirely my fault; it's a product of the Arizona desert sun, the fact that I spent the whole month of August under it raking hoofstock poop, and the t-shirts supplied to us by the zoo). I think it might work.

Anyway, grits. I love 'em. Nobody else I know eats them (or has even tried them, for all I know). What I call "grits" could also be considered polenta. Actually, I prepare polenta in the style of grits, if that makes sense. Polenta and grits are technically the same product, only grits are made with corn treated with lye (aka "hominy"), and polenta is just plain corn. It's basically a very coarse cornmeal. I like Bob's Red Mill brand.

Why call them "west coast" grits? Because people on the west coast like untreated food (no lye) and vegetables more than they like purified fat and starch. And people on the west coast generally don't eat traditional grits. I guess there's not a lot of creativity that went into that name.

Just an FYI. Upon re-evaluating my food budget this last month, I have come to the realization that I am spending about three times more on groceries since I moved down to Arizona. Granted, there were two-three days per week that someone else was buying my food back in Washington, but that's not even half a week. Three times more money is insanity. So I've reduced my budget (again), which means just one thing, people. I'm going to have to get creative with cheap food. Be prepared for a lot of variations on... well, rice, and beans. And cornmeal. Ideas are welcome.

(By the way, did you know that a dozen large organic eggs are like, $5-6 here? They're $3.50 in Washington. Anyone in the Phoenix area have chickens that produce more eggs than you can use? I'll pay you $3.50 a dozen for them.)


WEST COAST GRITS

3/4 - 1 cup water
1/8 - 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup frozen chopped spinach
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels and/or frozen peas
1/4 cup grits or polenta (not pre-prepared. the stuff that looks like coarse cornmeal)
1 large egg
Freshly ground black pepper
Lime crème fraîche (optional)

1. Put the water in a pan, with the salt, over high heat, and cover to bring to a simmer. I know, this is difficult.

When the water simmers, you can turn down the heat to medium-low or low, and add the vegetables. Wait for it to simmer again, if it stops (because frozen vegetables are cold, believe it or not), then add the grits and stir.





2. Stir it every few minutes for about 5-7 minutes, until the grits swell up and take up a lot of space in the pan, and you don't see much water. If you don't stir it, the water comes up to the top and the rest of the stuff in the pan sticks to the bottom.



When most of the water is absorbed, you can add the egg. You don't have to pre-beat it, just crack it into the pan and stir it around. When you see the gelatinous clear part (the "white" of the egg) make lots of white streaks in the grits, and it takes on a smoother, more creamy consistency, it's probably ready! It depends on the amount of heat you have on it. Add your pepper, and you're done.



Unless you have lime crème fraîche to drizzle on the top. That makes it even better. A stroke of genius, that was.

So, I'm undecided on the video. It is a little unnecessary, right? I suppose this might not be the best recipe on which to try the video, as there is no real "technique" to show. I mean, boil water and put stuff in a pan and stir it. There's really nothing easier. Opinions are welcome...

Oh, and this is super cheap, super easy eats. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner. One of my fallbacks when I can't decide what to make, or if I hardly have anything to fix. I always have some grits around (I keep grits in a jar in the freezer, so they don't spoil). You can make it with cheese instead of eggs, but it has fewer nutrients and more fat, so... depends on what you're looking for.


Aaand.... discuss.

Rock Cod and Heart of Palm Salad

Who doesn't think of hearts of palm when they think of Alaskan rock cod??

Obviously everyone but me. Actually, I just had a bunch of things left over, in the cupboard, whatever, and sort of threw together a meal. Simple and fast and healthy and tasty. Well, relatively healthy. Butter's wholesome, right?

This is my favorite way to cook cod/rockfish/snapper (probably because it's really the only way I know how. hmm). I always make a dry rub of some sort, put it on the fish, and then cook it slowly in a pan with some butter or olive oil. Squeeze a bittie lemon at the end, and voila! Pretty easy.

Dry spice rubs are incredibly easy to make, and if you have a dozen or so herbs and spices in your possession you can do just fine. Improvise. I often like to use smoked paprika as a base, but I don't always have some. Dried thyme (not powdered) is one of my favorite components... I usually have about 3 or 4 herbs/spices, and then nearly match their volume with sea salt, and some black pepper. You can use cumin-oregano-chipotle, or thyme-coriander-mustard-pinch o' allspice, or oregano-thyme-smoked paprika-red pepper flake, or really whatever you think would go well together. "Sweet" spices like allspice should generally be used in very small quantities, hot spices like cayenne or chipotle in moderate quantities, and dried herbs like oregano and thyme in large quantities. If you want it to be super duper tasty, use fresh thyme in place of dried. It just occurred to me that I have a pot of fresh thyme sitting out on the deck, and that some of it is still perfectly usable, and I used dried. Oh poo. Such is life... More for a later date, then.

As for the salad, it really had no inspiration. I made an Italiany-type "vinaigrette," and I'm not sure if I can call it that because it contains no vinegar, only lemon juice. What's that? My linguistic ignorance is showing?

Oh yeah, I made the vinaigrette for the hearts of palm that I wanted to eat, because hello, hearts of palm... vinaigrette... duh. And then I had this arame seaweed that I rehydrated and put in there because it was interesting and nutritionally valuable, and leftover cooked emmer farro, and some celery for crunch. It would have been nice over a leaf of romaine, or with some chopped up parsley in it, but I didn't have any romaine, or parsley. I got kalamata olives out with the intention of using them too, but as the salad came together, I realized I didn't really want them there. Maybe I'll try them in a bit of it tomorrow for leftovers.

Oh. And I thought I would mention this, because it's not necessarily an obvious point. For salad dressings, any Italian sauces, or un-sauteed garnish of food requiring olive oil, extra virgin olive oil is typically used. The difference between extra virgin and regular olive oil is that the former is the most unrefined form of olive oil available. Virgin olive oil has not been chemically treated during production, and extra virgin olive oil is "extra" because it is selected specifically for flavor. Smell a sample of regular olive oil and one of extra virgin olive oil and you will detect a difference, and it's not subtle. The taste of a good extra virgin olive oil is really worth a few extra $$ per bottle, and it really is crucial in a raw application such as a dressing. If you still really don't care about the flavor, just go with vegetable oil, because it tastes more or less the same as regular olive oil, at a much lower price. FYI, the reason olive oil is chemically treated is to significantly lengthen its shelf life, preventing early rancidity (to which extra virgin is prone if stored a long time) and increase its smoke point (the temperature at which heated oil begins to smoke and create carcinogenic free radicals).


HEART OF PALM SALAD

2 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, pressed
big ol' pinch of dried oregano (not powdered)
big ol' pinch of thyme (not powdered if dried, and minced if fresh)
giant ol' pinch of salt
a few generous grindings of black pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 14-15 oz can hearts of palm, drained and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
3 tbsp dried arame seaweed, rehydrated in a bowl of water for 15 minutes and chopped a bit
1 rib celery, cut into 1/8-inch slices
1 cup cooked brown rice, emmer farro, or spelt or wheat or rye berries

1. In a medium serving bowl, whisk up the lemon juice, garlic, dried thyme and oregano, salt, and pepper. If you don't have a garlic press, you can finely mince the garlic, but get it as tiny as possible and smash it a little before or after chopping it. Garlic flavor is in the garlic juice! If you have a fresh lemon you can squeeze for the juice, then fabulous. But as I usually need more juice than is economically feasible to get from a bunch of lemons... I do go for the bottled stuff. If you do that, make sure it's fresh (not old), and not from concentrate. I like the Lakewood brand, which uses Florida lemons. It seems to have the best flavor.

2. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the olive oil and keep whisking until it's all mixed up. It's fine if it separates a little. It should be pale and slightly opaque.



3. Dump all the other ingredients in the bowl with the dressing. Mix it up. Mmmm.

ROCK COD

1 rock cod, true cod, rockfish, or snapper fillet, about 1/3 - 1/2 pound
pinch o' dried or fresh thyme (not powdered)
pinch o' dried oregano (not powdered)
pinch o' mustard powder
pinch o' paprika
big huge pinch o' sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp buttah
lemon wedge

1. So you have your fish fillet. Rinse it a bit, in case it's fishy, which it isn't, because you bought it the same day it was packed. But rinse it just to be safe, and pat it dry on a paper-towel-lined plate. Run your fingers along the fillet lengthwise, both directions, both sides, to feel for bones. If you feel some (they are like little hard nubbins), take some kitchen tweezers/pliers/heck-even-shears and pull them out (pull in the same direction as the bone). Nobody likes finding bones in their fish.

2. Get your dry rub all ready. Put the thyme, oregano, mustard, paprika, salt, and pepper all together in a wee bowl and mix it up until it looks pretty much... mixed. That was pretty easy.

3. Sprinkle the dry rub all over the fish, on both sides, and pat it in. You can even rub it in, because, after all, you didn't make a rub so you could sprinkle.



4. Heat up your butter in a stainless skillet, 10 inches is fine, over medium-low heat. You can probably do this earlier, like before you make the rub, but you don't want to risk the butter burning before you're ready for it. Don't be tempted to turn up the heat too much, because the fish will not be happy. This is a slow fish.



5. When the butter starts to brown, lay your fillet down in the pan. Don't worry if the skinny bit comes up the side a little, the fillet shrinks some and it's in there long enough to cook through. When you put the fish in, the pan should hush you a little. Not a lot, as in "SHHHHHH! This is a library!" but instead like, "shhhhh... go to sleep..." Take its advice and turn the heat down to low-ish.



6. When the fish just begins to flake and has the palest of browns on the underside (a 3 minutes, maybe), turn it over. Don't be sad if your fillet turns into several fillets at this point. Nobody really cares that much.





7. You will know when the fish is done. It starts to fall apart. If you poke it, it feels tender and kind of soft. Looking at a cross-section of a flake, it's completely opaque.



8. Take the pan off the heat and tent some foil over it, and let the fish rest for 5 minutes or so. I used this time to make my heart of palm salad, but my fish was only kind of warm when I ate it. Which was fine with me, but maybe you like getting your tongue burnt. I don't judge.

9. Put it on a plate with the yummy juice that released into the pan, the browned butter solids and whatever else is in the pan. Squeeze some lemon onto it. The leftover buttery fish juice is great if you have some french bread to dip into it, or if you're a plate-licker.





The best part is, because you didn't smoke up the house by cooking butter over high heat, nothing burnt onto your stainless pan and it's super-easy to clean.

PROS: each dish delicious in its own right. Relatively healthful, with lots of fun textures. Easy cleanup.
CONS: the dishes didn't work together as I'd hoped. The lemon on both of them competed with each other and made me wish I'd had the two on separate occasions.

new blog

So here it is: my first post in a new blog.

I call it "Rice and Beans" because a) it's a food blog, and b) rice and beans are a staple for me. I strive to someday open up a little cafe in the big city to serve rice and beans to people without any food...

The purpose of this blog is to document my adventures in cooking. And eating. As a bit of an experimenter, not all of my stuff turns out the way... ah... I anticipate, but I plan on posting the more grisly details as a reminder that yes, some of my food really is quite awful. Hopefully there will be an abundance of goodness to make up for it. Of course there will.

I shall also be posting pictures, when they are available. What I wouldn't give for a Canon 30D.

For now, enjoy my blog! I welcome comments and critique.