Monday, May 30, 2011

Hey....Nice Mangos

So I must confess an undying love....to lemon curd. Don't ask me why but this heavily substance can melt the thickest patch of ice on my cold heart, brighten the rainiest of days, make Clive Owen just a little bit hotter. You get the picture.

I must also mention that I am also quite fond of mangoes. (Ps. I just tried to add a skit of David Duchovny on SNL declaring his undying love for Mango, but alas I could not. SNL and Hulu are trying to make this job hard for me I swear)Anyway....This leads me to todays recipe: Champagne Mango Curd

I went to Guido's the other day and on sale where these beautiful looking Champagne Mangoes. The first week they were 4 for whatever, and my dad got some. Well when we got home I stole one. Now despite my excitement over this little fruit, it sat for a day or two and got too ripe. So instead of wasting my now mushy little friend I decided to search the internets and find a recipe for mango curd.

The recipe is as follows:

Combine in a blender:
1 mango (de-pitted and cubed)
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
juice of one lime

Puree this until smooth then add

4 egg yolks.
Puree again for under a minute until combined. Also, take out a half a stick of unsalted butter and cut it into cubes (about 8) and let sit out to soften

Strain this into a glass, or metal bowl, pushing on any solids to get out all of the juice. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl hovers above the water) and whisk continually until the curd thickens (about 10 minutes).

Note: it is advisable to set a timer for ten minutes as constant whisking as one does when making custard has a magical ability to slow time t o a crawl and make a single minute feel like a full ten.

Once it is thickened, take it off the simmering water and whisk in, once piece at a time, the cubes of butter. Refrigerate.

Note: you should probably put either wax paper or saran wrap right on the surface to the curd to keep it from forming a skin (cause that shits gross)

It is amazing! I should also mention that the finals I finished two weeks ago apparently turned my immune system into something that is as tragic as Sarah Palin's presidential aspirations. I so far have caught a cold, and twice been afflicted with some kind of allergic reaction that makes my lips puffy. Ok puffier then usual. Case in point, I went to visit my friend for breakfast one morning when this was especially bad, after having taken an antihistamine. Well I started to describe how my lip had puffed up and was swollen and she commented..."yeah I can see that". I then had to explain that the swelling had gone down and my lips actually always are this big.

Well this lip hotmess did not stop me from enjoying my mango pit even though the acidity felt like it was burning my face. This I think is the best part of the mango. After the rather tedious process of removing the flesh from the pit, eating all the remaining meat off of the pit, fibers getting stuck in your teeth, mango juice dripping down your arms, is very primal and satisfying. If you haven't tried it, take a few moments next time. You'll thank me.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

BBQ Motha F*** You

Don't worry readers that nasty language is dedicated not to you but to the cold I am forming in my body. I likely caught this from my dad who will be getting deadly things in his memorial day feast tomorrow.

And speaking of memorial day feasts, we are planning a big one this year. Stop checking your calanders, we are a day early, but we want to take advantage of hte weather and we have never been a family too concerned with celebrating things on the appropriate day [ex: my birthday falls usually the day finals start, and my mom and sister are basically comas around the fourth of July, so the 4th becomes Momz-P-nut day and the 6th is either briefly celebrated or postponed for three-ish weeks]

My dad decided he was sick of having the "same old thing" every year so we are mixing it up. I'll give you the full report when the time comes.

But I am taking this time to give you a fun aside. I shall call it:
The Hamburger Hamburger Potato Salad Story

You see it starts innocently enough, I turn on Fuse network, about eh, 8 years ago, to watch music videos. You kids born after 1990 are probably wonder what a music video is. Well it's what MTV used to have before Jersey Shore.... memories. Well, I turn it one and they play a short video (they used to do this often) and it was the one I will feature below. Well it's a dumb video to be sure; girls dance around with meat products in bikinis, so you'd think after that two minutes I would say "that was dumb" and move on with my life. YEah no! This video has haunted me ever since. I CANNOT EAT, MAKE, LOOK AT, HEAR ABOUT POTATO SALAD WITHOUT THINKING OF IT. In fact, I even find my self referring to potato salad as po-TA-to salad as per the video. I'm in a permanent hell.

This video is worse then The Ring. At least that nightmare only lasts seven days...so it's posted,, but please watch at your own risk


Sorry

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

This Pork Tastes like Freedom

So I appologize for my long absence, but see something magical has happened in the midst of the chaos.

I have graduated from law school.

I know, I know you can barely contain yourself. I know!!! So I am sorry I have neglected you but that last few weeks of finals was killer and once it was over I have about as much desire to write anything in English with my carpal tunnel ridden wrists and worn-bleary eyes as I do to go back to law school and start all over again. That is to say none.

But I promise I have worked hard to cook up (see puns! I'm already back in the swing of this) some fun adventures to make it up to you readers.

Expect a fun blog entry on my "sorry I'm a hose-beast" lunch, and my "I can't believe it's not meat dinner"

But for now I will leave you with my first post-law school cooking adventure:

Pulled Pork

I followed Martha's recipe (follow link) and also used my Bourbon BBQ sauce


Also, funny aside, the recipe asks you to cut up your pork shoulder. So when I went to get one at Guidos, I asked the butcher to cut it up for me. And he looked at me like I also asked him to lace it with Chrystal Meth and dead baby sprinkles and asked "what are you using it for?!". I explained and I think the confusion was resolved.....I think. Or I'm now that legendary girl at the meat market who makes mini, baby sprinkle roasts.

Another aside: get a big roast. I got one that was a perfect size to feed everyone, but a significant portion of it was fat...not cool. I literally has just enough.

It came out amazing (if I do say so myself). It was served with homemade coleslaw (thanks mom) and beer (less is more) and it tasted like the best summer barbecue with a hint of accomplishment and freedom. To this end, if my first meal after finishing my last law school final was a ham sandwich it likely would have been the best ham sandwich ever made.

So thank you for your patients reader. And in closing here is a great Iggy Pop song that I am dedicating to myself....what can I say? I'm a little proud of myself:

This Pork Tastes like Freedom

So I appologize for my long absence, but see something magical has happened in the midst of the chaos.

I have graduated from law school.

I know, I know you can barely contain yourself. I know!!! So I am sorry I have neglected you but that last few weeks of finals was killer and once it was over I have about as much desire to write anything in English with my carpal tunnel ridden wrists and worn-bleary eyes as I do to go back to law school and start all over again. That is to say none.

But I promise I have worked hard to cook up (see puns! I'm already back in the swing of this) some fun adventures to make it up to you readers.

Expect a fun blog entry on my "sorry I'm a hose-beast" lunch, and my "I can't believe it's not meat dinner"

But for now I will leave you with my first post-law school cooking adventure:

Pulled Pork

I followed Martha's recipe (follow link) and also used my Bourbon BBQ sauce


Also, funny aside, the recipe asks you to cut up your pork shoulder. So when I went to get one at Guidos, I asked the butcher to cut it up for me. And he looked at me like I also asked him to lace it with Chrystal Meth and dead baby sprinkles and asked "what are you using it for?!". I explained and I think the confusion was resolved.....I think. Or I'm now that legendary girl at the meat market who makes mini, baby sprinkle roasts.

Another aside: get a big roast. I got one that was a perfect size to feed everyone, but a significant portion of it was fat...not cool. I literally has just enough.

It came out amazing (if I do say so myself). It was served with homemade coleslaw (thanks mom) and beer (less is more) and it tasted like the best summer barbecue with a hint of accomplishment and freedom. To this end, if my first meal after finishing my last law school final was a ham sandwich it likely would have been the best ham sandwich ever made.

So thank you for your patients reader. And in closing here is a great Iggy Pop song that I am dedicating to myself....what can I say? I'm a little proud of myself:

http://youtu.be/NGbw-cz35qo