Blackeye Peas

My second try at cooking beans in the pressure cooker. One pound of blackeye peas, 4 cups chicken broth, 2 cups water, 1/4 cup dehydrated trinity with garlic and some jagerwurst (sort of german mortadella). 15 lbs pressure for one and half hours and natural cool down. Below is the result. Beans so good that nothing more was needed. Definitely the way to go for dry beans. Sorry no cabbage.

Seafood Palace

I had a serious urge for great gumbo and fried oysters. Solution. Lunch at Seafood Palace. Sorry for the blurry picture but they do two things I love when I get gumbo at a restaurant. First of all a dark roux which contains great flavor but little thickening power. So you get a dark thin gumbo. As they say the juice makes the gumbo. If a gumbo is made right I don't need the protein just the broth and the rice. Secondly they bring a separate container of rice.

Ok this is a the small fried oyster plate. I got eight count them eight huge oysters. They arrived crispy with no grease and the inside steaming hot but still juicy. The oysters cooked just right. They squirted hot oyster liquor all over the place I was in hog heaven in a matter of speaking. They offer you a choice of french fries or fried okra. I went with the fried okra. Also hot, crispy, and non greasy. They have a master on the fryalator.

El Tapatio

Lunch after going into work to do the bank deposit and such because my boss is out of town. I also did some reconnaissance on up coming venues. It had been awhile since I have been here so I dropped in. Seems like every time I go in the salsa is different. This one was chunky with tomatoes , medium spiced and served cold. Just up my alley. I tend not to like heated ones.

What never changes is the excellent tortilla chips. Thin, crispy, never greasy and never over fried. I usually over indulge

As an appetizer I usually get one tamale or one Chile Rellenos from an a la carte menu. Today it was the chile rellenos. A huge Poblano stuffed only with a little white cheese, egg white battered and fried with their red sauce on top. Never fails to please. After these I do not know if I could go back to the overstuffed ones.

Perhaps my favorite dish here, Carnitas. Pork shoulder roast, refried beans, rice, salad and tortillas. The reason I love it is that pork shoulder or boston butt is used instead of the pork loin roast that many restaurants use these days. Pork loin is ok but needs special attention when cooking or it quickly becomes inedible. The only sin with pork shoulder is under cooking it. Overcooking a little does little harm and sometimes some good. There is so much fat and collagen in it that it needs a low slow long cooking time to make it just right. They do a good job here. Understand that this is a treat meal and not an everyday thing

This time I ended up with a sweet. This is their version of sopapilla. A flour tortilla fried then drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. Simple but perfect.

Update

In the new year I hope to be back up to speed with the blog. This month between my vehicle being in the shop for a week and half (good news it did not cost as much as I thought), a bumper amount of events at the restaurant which put me under a lot of stress (my down time being spent zoning) and a slew of new openings which I do not post here until I review them the pickings here have been slim. I want to thank you for forbearing with me. Now I am going to do something that is sorta against my policy. There are two ethnic restaurants that just opened and are not advertising. I want to give them a boost. I will make no comments on the food but just let you know they are there. First is Regalia Cafe & Market 411 West College 764-9831. This is Syrian food which is very similar to Lebanese. The hours are a bit different. Tuesday - Friday 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM Saturday 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Next is Donde Tonio in the old Byron's Catering/Mama Rosa building at 425 7th St 421-1400. It is Colombian cuisine. Their hours are 7 to 10 for Breakfast, 11 to 2 for Lunch, and 5 to 10 for Dinner Monday thru Sunday.

Red Beans

With my batch of red beans from the pressure cooker I have had red beans and rice with sausage, made some red bean tostadas, and yesterday red bean soup with sausage. All very good. Pressure cooking is definitely the way to go with beans.

Christmas Candy

Seems innocuous and for the most part it is. I receive this particular tin full of brown sugar brownies with pecans and candy orange slices every year from my sister. We don't ever call it brownies. To us it is Christmas Candy. That what our mother called it. It was one component of a Christmas box or tin of cookies that our mother baked and distributed to the people that gave us service throughout the year (paperboy, mailman, etc). Most years this simple tin and its contents hit me like a sledgehammer. It contains much more than Christmas Candy it bring up memories of our mother. Her baking all the Christmas goodies, making us a Saturday dinner because she took the noon Mass at the Altar Society table on Sunday so the other mothers could be with their families, her scrimping and saving so I could go to Catholic school, the stoic countenance she assumed when diagnosed with cancer and her fight to overcome it, her arranging for her sister to cook my homecoming meal when I came home from college when she was dying and countless other things. I was always on the receiving end of her motherly love. I think my sister got her share also. That is why I think she does this simple thing each year so neither one of us will forget. This tin brings as many sad moments as joyous ones. If offered a million dollars for it, I would not hesitate say NO. These memories are too precious to me. I was and still am a momma's boy. I say that with pride because of what my mother was to me.

Red Beans and Sausage

Took the pressure cooker out for another spin. A friend told me that it make the best red beans. Simple recipe. One lbs beans, 7 1/2 cups water, at pressure for 1 and 1/2 hours. I added some dehydrated trinity with garlic and a little salt. It turned out good. The beans were soft. I stick blended them and reduced a bit. Not true red beans but I like them extremely creamy and this was almost like refried without the grease. It held a rich red bean flavor that I truly like. In the future I will try less liquid and half of it stock with some sausage pieces. I cooked a couple of pieces of smoked pork sausage with jalapeno I got from Market Basket.and put on top. Delightful repast