thoughtful consumption

Chili oil

Thursday James mentioned putting chili oil on pasta, and I remembered drying hot peppers last summer and putting them away. So I dug them out and made two kinds of chili oil: Asian (with canola and dark sesame) and Italian (with olive oil).

With gloves on, I seeded and chopped the dried peppers – about 3 tablespoons. I divided that in half and put each in a jar.

I heated 1/3 cup olive oil till it was hot then let it cool for 3 minutes and poured it over the chili flakes. Then I did the same with the canola. I didn’t add the dark sesame oil till the end, though. Then I capped the jars and left them for a day.

The next day I strained the oil through a layer of cheesecloth, and here’s what I got.

We haven’t tried it yet – I hope it works! The recipe said you could use chili flakes more than once. So I saved them in case we love it and want to make more.

Egg Drop Ramen

I love egg drop soup, and James loves ramen noodles. Since he’s off to college next month, his ramen consumption will hit an all-time high. So we decided to experiment with adding eggs to ramen noodles to improve their nutritional value and deliciousness.

We cooked 3 packages of ramen for about 5 minutes on the stove. Then we beat 3 eggs and poured them slowly into the ramen for the last minute of cooking, stirring constantly. The results were delicious. The ramen was thick and eggy.

Tale of two suppers

For supper Thursday, we had flat-iron steak with the Back Porch spice rub and caramelized onions, bread, lettuce, stir-fried squash, and field peas.

The spice rub was good, but for this kind of steak I prefer marinating it in soy and Worchestershire sauce. I’ll definitely use the rub on pork, chicken, and some vegetables, too. The brown sugar and cumin make it sweet and tangy.

Last night’s supper was shrimp and grits, sweet potatoes, and sorrel. The shrimp was leftover from lemon-basil pasta earlier in the week. I also cooked some half an onion to go with it.

The sweet potato was delicious! The couple I’d gotten earlier in the season were dry and not very good. But these are so wonderful you can eat them down to the skin. The grits were from Farmers’ Fresh, too, and for the first time I cooked them without any sticking to the bottom. The secret is to catch the pot just after the water boils and stir until the heat reduces to a simmer.

Poached pears

For dessert last night, I poached the pears in wine sauce. We ended up with three pear halves because one pear was all mushy on one side. For poaching liquid, we used red wine, water, sliced lemon, and a cinnamon stick.

After the pears were poached (about 15 minutes, flipping every 5), I reduced the sauce to half a cup and poured it over the pears. It was intense and definitely a good use of pears.

Next time, I’ll try to be patient and reduce the sauce even more to make something closer to syrup.

Leftovers

Tonight we’ll finish off the egg drop ramen, sweet potatoes, and sorrel. Tomorrow we’re going out of town for a couple of days, and I think we’re okay food-wise. The basil, lettuce, and sorrel, squash, apples, and pears are finished. We still have some field peas and okra to cook, but they’ll be fine when we get back mid-week.

See you then!