A Father's Day Post

Happy Father's Day to all of you Fathers out there.

Nicholas Kristof wrote a moving tribute to his father who passed away a couple of days ago.

I've got a late lunch, early dinner cooking right now - a one pot meal by Cook's Illustrated's reckoning. Granted you only cook in one pot, but I'm one of those mise in place [miz ɑ̃ plas] kind of guys: yeah, me and Tony Bourdain - it's our religion. So while it only messes up one pot, I've got a sink full of dishes, ramekins, utensils and other implements of destruction waiting to be washed.

I can rationalize my procrastination about doing the dishes by using the excuse that I'm only addressing the issue of the much lengthier procrastination of writing on a blog post. Hmmmm... a very awkward sentence and I haven't even partaken of intoxicants at 11:45. Noon will be here soon!

My god I need a drink - I've got World Cup Soccer on the tube. The Beautiful Game! A game played by players whose names I can't pronounce, from countries I've never heard of, playing a game I've never understood - and the crowd is blating on the vuvusula; a dime store noisemaker thusly and accurately described; "But when thousands of people toot them simultaneously, you get a loud, incessant hum that makes the entire stadium sound like it's being attacked by angry bees. It's a staple at any South African soccer match and ... surprise! Everyone hates it!". So far the only good reason I can think of that I'm still watching is that it gives me something to whine about.

The best thing about the soccer match so far is that the Brazilian's have a player named Kaka -I'd heard a couple of shouts of caa caa, before I figured out it was a players name.
 
By the time I get done writing this post I'll probably have eaten and partaken and will be able to critique the effort. So far it's smelling pretty good.

Southwestern One-Post Chicken Rice - via a blog posted to Saveur
One-Pot Southwestern Chicken and Rice  (Cook's Illustrated)

Serves 4 hungry people - this could easily serve 6, especially if you added a few more pieces of chicken

You can substitute any semi-soft shredded cheese, such as fontina, Gouda, or Colby, for the cheddar.

4 split bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or 4 thighs
2 tablespoons salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped medium - I used a large one - there's no such thing as too much onion
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
4 cloves garlic , minced
1-1/2 cups long grain white rice - I used brown jasmine rice
3-1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth - I used homemade
1/2  cup dry white wine - I used white vermouth
4 ounces cheddar cheese , shredded (1 cup)
1 15.5 ounce can of black beans, drained, and rinsed with water
1 10 ounce package of frozen corn, thawed and patted dry - I used a can of corn
1 4 ounce can of green chiles - this wasn't called for in the recipe - but, hey it was a SW recipe!
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
salsa for serving

I also added a tablespoon or two of chili powder and a couple of teaspoons of ground cumin

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels, then season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Add the chicken, skin-side down, and cook until golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a plate, leaving the fat in the pot.

Add the onion, red pepper flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the fat in the pot and place over medium heat. Cook, scraping up any browned bits, until the onion is softened, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 15 seconds. Stir in the rice and cook until the edges turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in the broth and wine and bring to a simmer.

Return the chicken to the pot, skin-side up. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook until the chicken is fully cooked through and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 25 minutes.

Transfer the chicken to a serving platter. Stir in the black beans, corn, cheese, and cilantro. Let the cheddar melt for 1 minute. Season the rice mixture with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with salsa.

I served it with the cheese strewn on top, not stirred in.

This made a slightly loose rice dish - not quite risotto. I think you could make a big batch of this and serve it buffet style for a real football game. I'd accompany it with a couple of salsas, a bit of sour cream, some lime slices and some tortilla chips.

I had brunch with some friends at the Country Cat recently. We all had a cocktail called "El Gato Verde". Basically it's a margarita made by muddling some celery and cilantro in the mix. We all liked it, but thought it might be made a bit better with a bit less celery, a bit more cilantro and spiced up a bit with a dash of hot sauce.

El Gato Verde - the Green Cat

2 oz Sauza Hornito's Tequila - I used Lunazul Reposado
1 oz freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 oz Cointreau - I used housemade orange liqueur
an orange slice - 1/2 of a quarter inch thick slice of lime
a couple of drops of Damiana tinture - recipe below
a 3 inch stick of celery cut in 3 or 4 pieces
a couple of sprigs of cilantro
a dash of Tabasco or a chipotle hot sauce for a smoky hit.

Muddle the orange slice, cilantro, celery, hot sauce and damiana tincture together.

Add the rest of the ingredients and shake vigorously with ice.

Strain into a highball glass on the rocks - a salted rim if you so choose.

Housemade Damiana Tincture

2 Tbl damiana
1/3 cup silver tequila

Mix it in a jar and let it steep for a week.

Strain through a coffee filter and store in an amber dropper bottle

BTW - Brazil beat Ivory Coast 3 to 1. Kaka got flushed...er red carded.

Laundry Day or I'm a Nattering Nabob of Nincompoopery

I have observed over time that there are two kinds of people in the world; those that can fold laundry and those that can't. Those that can are almost always women or those few men around who made a career of the military. In the case of women I'm pretty sure it's one of those XY chromosome things. For those men that make a career in the military I've often wondered what came first; the ability to fold laundry or the career in the military?

You may be asking yourself "why is he writing about folding laundry?" Well the answer is that I'm sitting in the laundromat on this damp Superbowl Sunday. I come to the laundromat two or three times a year when I have items too large for the superduty large capacity Maytag at home. I'm washing a comforter that was barfed on by a cat in the middle of the night - something that happens, oddly enough, two or three times a year.

One thing I have discovered about barfing cats; when they start to barf, all you can do is sit back and let it happen and when it's over clean it up. The worst thing you can do is try to grab them. If you make a move towards a cat in the act they dash under the bed or behind the couch. The net result is more work, because now you have to move a piece of furniture to get to the damn mess. The up side to this is that I probably needed to clean under the bed or behind the couch anyway.

Notice the upper right hand corner of the drawing

Back to folding laundry..... I'm formalizing my observations about the two kinds of people after several years of observation and conversation with folks here at the laundromat. Women and retired military types always fold their laundry before they leave and they seem to do it quickly and effortlessly. The rest of us pile it into our baskets and quietly scurry away to fold our laundry, at home, in shame. When I fold my laundry each lumpy item bares little resemblance to the similar item I've just folded. Quickly hidden away in drawers; it's out of sight and out of mind. The only satisfaction I derive from this operation is that I don't have baskets full of wrinkled and unfolded laundry strewn about the house.

It's Super Bowl Sunday and it feels cold and damp. I'm making soup to ward off the chill.

Super Bowl Chicken Stew

Based on a recipe from the Kitchen Parade Blog

• 1 really large onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 pounds bone in chicken thighs - skin removed
• 3 carrots sliced into 1/8th inch coins
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 3/4 inch cubes
• 1 apple, cored and chopped in 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 cups dry riesling
• 1 can chicken broth
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon summer savory or sage
• 1/4 teaspoon basil
• 2 or 3 tablespoons of flour

Brown the chicken thighs in olive oil until they're cooked through and remove to a platter

Briefly saute' the carrots, celery and onions until they're just softening up a bit.

Add everything else but the flour into the pot and bring to a simmer.

Cook until the sweet potatoes are done.

Fish out the thighs, while they cooling do the step below and then remove the bones and shred into bite size pieces.

Mix the flour with a bit of water and then mix in some of the broth from the stew - stirring constantly to avoid lumps - add the mixture to the stew and cook for another five or ten minutes to thicken and cook out the flour taste.

Return the shredded chicken to the pot and serve.

I'm going to drink a 2007 Bethel Heights Gewurztraminer with this, but you could go with a Riesling or the beer of your choice.

The Cocktail of the Day is the Mythic Wood, which I wrote about here 

A note on the Day after Superbowl - I don't know why I didn't pick the Sazerac as the drink of the day yesterday - it would have been appropriate as it is the national drink of New Orleans!

The Map of the Cats Brain Cartoon was Originally published in MS Magazine, Vol III, #1, July/August 1992