Has it really been two months?! I'm horrible...

Yes, I'm still alive.

I think part of what has delayed me in posting again is the sheer volume of things I want to write about and the somewhat irrational fear of writing *too much* and losing my three readers. ;-)

I've been thinking about restaurants a lot lately for a few reasons. First, it seems that every time I cook for a group of people, the inevitable question is when I'm going to open my own restaurant. Having read Anthony Bourdain's memoir "Kitchen Confidential" and plenty of other similar materials, I have to respond at first that the idea of working in the food industry is of small interest to me. This not chiefly because of my fear that cooking for a living would kill my passion for it, although that is why my father never became a professional pilot and why I tend to look beyond my hobbies and interest for professional aspirations as a general rule.

The food industry just sounds rough ... it's really as simple as that. The common statistic for failing restaurants is 80% within 5 years (or is it 2?), but that's the general failure rate for new businesses, so it does seem that you have as much of a chance to make it as a restaurateur as any other entrepreneurial type.

A big part of me, though, feels that if I were to pop out of high school right now with the mind I have, I'd go straight to culinary school and give it my best shot. And while you don't need culinary school or anything else, really, to open a restaurant, I think the marketing becomes much more difficult if you're just some dude running a restaurant rather than some dude with credentials.

So, the solution has to be partnering with another chef with these credentials, from where I sit today.

Another view I have, though, is that people really shouldn't be going out to eat anywhere close to how much they do. I get so much joy out of cooking for myself and others, and think that once you get used to your kitchen, get set up with some proper tools (should I do a post on this, dear readers?), and branch out into whatever cuisines you enjoy the most (Indian and Thai is no more exotic than anything else once you're used to it...), it can add immeasurably to your life.

I do, of course, understand time constraints, and with my current massive level of free time, I can afford to play around a lot more here. But, really, people who never cook should really get over it and watch some Food Network. (not that I have great love for that channel at this point, but back in the day I picked up so much from them)

More thoughts on this topic, I'm sure, at a later date.

Last weekend I cooked for both my parents and my girlfriend's parents. Made the Irish meal I blogged about in January for mine and carne asada for her parents. And afterwards, I began to wonder about whether there is any viability in a freelance chef service. Hmmmm...

I also got my espresso machine running again this weekend. And in hindsight, I waited too dang long. Drinks are as good as I remember out of that stainless goddess of caffeine.

And speaking of which, it's off to make my morning cup. Feel free to stop by.

St. Patrick's Day in January!

So, I've had this vacuum sealed corned beef brisket in my freezer for awhile, and have finally decided to use it. Found this page which seems to be as good a guide on how to treat this beast as any, although I've also employed this mustard recipe (the more I cook, the more I realize that buying condiments of any sort pre-made is a terrible waste of money ... mustard's yet another example, and this stuff is gooooood)

Best part to all this is the days and days of leftovers...

Just spending Sunday doing what every red-blooded American male is doing with their Sunday.

Making duck stock. And cleaning up the house.

Why duck? Got a hair up my posterior the other day at the Asian market and bought a duck, probably leftover from a local Chinese restaurant's New Year's Eve celebration meal ...

The only worry is that since it was already cooked with a mixture of star anise, ginger, soy, and who knows what else (and this is just a minimally educated guess) that it might make for some odd stock. On the other hand, I'm sure that even if it's strange for normal usage, I could come up with something interesting and Asian themed.

Anyway, considering how delicious the bird was and how little meat there actually was on the thing for the money, it seemed a waste to toss the bones.

Two other things I picked up today, and I'm interested in any suggestions for using them. I've becoming a colossal fan of corn tortillas and decided to just buy my own 5 lb. sack of prepared masa for $2.62 and make my own. Was thinking about tamales as well, but they scare me ;-) ...

Portobello mushrooms were cheaper than white buttons at the same store, so I picked some of those up. Probably headed for a grilled 'shroom sandwich of some sort. Definitely be interested in any tips regarding that particular adventure... although it can't be that complicated.

All the best,
Brian

Green stuff (EWWWW!!!)

I hosted a (in my estimation) immensely successful party a couple nights ago, featuring 11 of my closest friends and a menagerie of Indian foodstuffs. I won't prattle on about the events of the evening cookingwise at this point, other than to say that if there is one thing I didn't do enough of and would recommend to all of you, it's that at all points when constructing a dish which relies heavily on spice mixtures for its magic, make sure you taste that sucker and adjust. I'd love to say that the chicken vindaloo, braised eggplant/potato curry, and potato/lentil curry that I made the other night was perfect, but that's far from the truth - one dish definitely needed more salt, and the vindaloo didn't have the immense beauty of flavor it did the first time I made it, which I blame in part on the fact I didn't use bone-in chicken as a gift to my guests and their clean hands...

On the other hand, nothing was bad, and the chutneys etc. I served with it all turned out nicely. I'm always discounting the quality of my cooking, regardless of how good it was in the minds of others. Additionally, the whole point of something like this is not the food, it's the company...

Anyway... I thought I'd post a recipe for a green chutney that several people fawned over and that I think is something worth making and keeping around regardless of whether you plan to cook anything Indian at all. I ate it with breakfast tacos yesterday, and it was awesome. It'd make for a great base for a salad dressing, probably. And it'd be awesome with any sort of grilled food, especially a really meaty fish like swordfish or tuna, or a steak.

This recipe is taken from Neelam Batra's 1,000 Indian Recipes, and is (or some version of it) something referred to many times in Rushdie's "Midnight's Children", which is a large part of the reason I decided to try it out. Batra refers to it as universal in Indian homes and as one of the country's best loved condiments. It really did complement the richness of the chicken curry quite well, and one guest in particular was nearly to the point of eating it with a spoon straight from the container.

This recipe should keep quite well, as it contains a lot of acid ... but it probably won't last long once you try it. The only ingredient you really need to get at an Indian market is the Chaat Masala, which contains ingredients hardly ever found at the local WalMart.

Dhania Chutni ("Cilantro-Lime Chutney")


Shopping List:

• Fresh Cilantro
• Fresh Mint
• Ginger
• Green Onions
• Fresh Green Chiles (I used serranos)
• Green Bell Pepper
• Limes or Lime Juice

Notice that all of these things are nice to have around in general ... and this recipe becomes a really great way to use this stuff before it goes bad. I've wasted so much cilantro in my life...

And when you have mint and limes (and rum and fizzy water), you've got an excuse to make mojitos...

I digress. This recipe is for 2 cups worth.

You start by dry roasting 1/2 tsp. of whole cumin, and then grinding them into a coarse powder. You could, of course, use preground cuming, but the flavor is more interesting if you use whole and roast fresh. You can find bags of whole cumin for ridiculously low prices at Indian markets. To roast, I've used two methods - placing the seeds on a plate in a toaster oven and monitoring to make sure they darken but don't burn, and the more accepted way, which is to toss them in a pan on medium-high heat, stir them around until they turn a dark reddish brown and become fragrant and then immediately scrape them out of the pan into a bowl. This only takes about a minute. Use a coffee grinder, or blender to grind them afterwards and set aside.

Cut 3-5 green chiles into smaller chunks, and coarse chop the green parts of 5-6 green onions, the bell pepper, and 3 cups of cilantro with stems included (almost 2 bunches, and make sure to rinse this stuff well ... I dump it into a bowl, fill it with water, and lift and separate... dirt falls to the bottom ... wash, rinse, repeat). Toss the peppers and onions into a blender or food processor, along with 4 quarter-size slices fresh ginger, and get it to a fine mince stage (this'll be pretty much pureed later, so don't worry if you overdo it a little).

Add the cilantro and 1/2 c. fresh mint leaves and continue to blend until it is a puree with a little bit of rough texture. While blending at this final stage, drizzle in 2-3 tbsp. lime juice ... this will also help the blender or food processor along... I used a blender and it was a bit hard to work with initially but by this time all the water from the cilantro etc. brought it all together.

The final step is to add in a tsp. each of salt and sugar and 1 tsp. chaat masala. I bought a box of it for 2 bucks that will last me a couple years, probably, and the ingredients involved in making it yourself are pretty specialized even by "Indian cuisine vs. American spice rack" standards. It's a spice mixture that smells heavily of sulfur because of the black salt (volcanic halite) in the blend, but this socially awkward odor doesn't translate to the flavor ... I suppose without it the mixture would be just fine, but I really do think that the unique sour and salty elements in the chaat masala are well worth incorporating.

At this point, blend for a few seconds to incorporate it into the chutney, taste it, add some more salt or sugar if you like, and then pour into a bowl or tupperware container. Mix a little of the cumin we prepared earlier into this mixture, sprinkle the rest on top, and serve or store. Batra's take is that it lasts about 10 days in the fridge, but it can also be frozen...

Happy New Year's everyone!