Bean & Cheese Burrito

Burrito is one of those words from Mexico which makes fairly little sense to people from Spain (Burrito directly translated is small donkey). A bean and cheese burrito obviously doesn't need much more than what the name implies, but here is my suggestion.

Ingredients:
- white kidney beans
- pico de gallo
- tortilla (so-called burrito size)
- cheddar cheese
- avocado
- sour cream

While the beans are simmering, prepare the pico de gallo, cut the avocado in slices, and grate the cheddar.

The burritos are easiest to make if the tortilla has been warmed a little bit - but not too much as they get rather crisp and tend to break as water evaporates on continued heating. Place a line of grated cheddar on the tortilla, warm it up for 30-45 seconds, then add everything else and fold it by first flipping over one side, then closing up the ends and finally the other side - I promise I'll have more detailed pictures next time I make burritos!

Pico de gallo

Crude salsa - really easy.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 1 tomato
- fresh cilantro ( = coriander)
- 1/2 lime

Chop the onion, tomato and cilantro finely - mix in a small bowl with the juice of the lime.

Update: These days I usually add a bit of fresh chilli.

Beans

When I grew up beans always meant green beans - I knew there were other kinds as well, but if one said simply beans it always implied green beans.
Fortunately I since then got started on eating other kinds of beans.
Mainly for the sake of variety I normally switch between pinto beans, black beans, red kidney beans and white kidney beans - all of which I prepare the same 2 ways...

The basic:
Fry chopped onion, then add beans and let simmer.

The advanced:
Fry bacon, then add onion and finally beans and let simmer.

Future posts will illustrate different uses.

Stuffed Eggplant

Because it's difficult to find large zucchinis in stores I have made the following modification of this dish my parents often make with zucchinis (known in our family simply as the zucchini dish).

Ingredients:
- 1 large eggplant
- 50 g (2 oz) butter
- 1 cup grated cheese (e.g. Montery Jack)
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs (e.g. panko)
- milk or cream
- 1 onion
- 2-3 tomatoes
- fresh basil
- 2 cloves garlic
- salt and pepper

Melt the butter, stir in the grated cheese (any pale, not too strong cheese will do - if I'd had any I would have used Madrigal Swiss), the bread crumbs and salt and pepper - now add milk or cream until the texture is like thick oatmeal.

Rinse the eggplant, cut in half, cut out a hole (keep the cut outs) so that you leave a shell of about half an inch. Fill the hole with the prepared past and bake in the oven till the paste is golden brown. Unfortunately I still don't know the temperature in my gas oven, but I put it on medium high for half an hour.

While the eggplant is baking in the oven, in a pan add first the coarsely chopped onion, and when tender add cubes of tomato, cubes of the eggplant cut out, freshly cut basil, mashed garlic, salt and pepper - and just a little bit of water. Let simmer while the eggplant gets done in the oven.

NB: Should you try to recreate the original dish (if perhaps you have access to large zucchinis), take note that (1) the cut outs from large zucchinis consist mainly of seeds and shouldn't be saved (2) the zucchinis require longer time in the oven to become fully tender, maybe 45 minutes.

Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse

While elsewhere it's wintertime (with what foods that entails) it's summertime here on the northern hemisphere. One of the great pleasures of summertime is enjoying a nice cool Hefeweisse on a warm day. I must say that I'm partial towards German Hefeweisse beers such as Franziskaner, Paulaner, Hacker-Pschorr and the like. I like some of the American Hefeweizen beers too - but for different reasons, as they are somewhat different. Hefe is German for yeast and my preference is for the unfiltered Hefeweisse in half liter bottles. These of course are best served in the appropriate type of glass (as seen below).


How to pour a Hefeweisse beer:

Place the empty glass over the mouth of the bottle, quickly turn upside down and slowly - but not too slowly - pull the bottle up out of the glass. This procedure ensures the best possible mixing of the yeast in the bottle with the rest of the beer and also gives a very nice head of foam. Near the end you'll need to stop pouring - swirl the bottle in order to be able to pour out the rest of the foam.

Warning: The procedure takes some practice to perfect (indeed I know some people who never seem to learn) - if you pull the bottle up out of the glass too quickly or too slowly you'll create a mess as the foam builds up uncontrollably. I recommend doing it over a sink the first couple of times.

If you succeed the prize is a very nice glass of refreshing beer. I have fond memories of a day in Berlin years ago when I went and bought a crate of Paulaner Hefe-Weisse and dedicated my afternoon to practising pouring them..

Pizza

As mentioned I recently moved to a new home. This home has a gas stove and oven, which I quite like for a number of reasons. Sadly, the oven doesn't have ANY markings on the dial except for where the OFF position is, so it'll take a little while to figure that one out. However, in this regard pizza is fairly forgiving, so in it went.

Ingredients:
- 1 pizza dough (I like the ones from Trader Joes)
- semolina
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 4 oz mushrooms
- 1/2 red bell pepper
- fresh basil
- mozzarella


The dough was rolled out with the aid of semolina rather than ordinary flour - I think this was particularly helpful getting the crust very nice. The tomatoes and mushrooms were sliced, the bell pepper and basil cut in strips - on top was added grated mozzarella. The pizza went in the oven on max heat, but after about 5 minutes we decided to turn it down a bit. Turned out really well.

Tuna n' Capellini

This is a real student type meal - quick, easy and cheap. I was first introduced to the concept when I moved into my first dorm some 11 years ago. There was a guy there who would eat this sort of meal several times a week; it was to be at least 3 years before I tried something along these lines for the first time, and I have to say I never did start eating it that often.
This time around it turned out like this.

Ingredients:
- 2 cans of tuna
- 1 onion
- 1 lb capellini (angel hair)
- oil, salt, (Madras) curry, tarragon

While the water for the pasta gets to a boil: In a pan fry coarsely chopped onion and tuna, season with salt, curry and tarragon.

First meal in my new home..

Years I ago I thought this was funny...

Q: What's the difference between snot and broccoli?
A: You can't make a 5-year-old eat broccoli!

I was reminded of this joke recently when I saw this post. Personally I never had anything against broccoli - although I'm not sure I like it as much as my girlfriend. For our first self-prepared meal in our new home we decided to stir fry some broccoli.

Ingredients:
- chicken breasts
- broccoli
- red bell pepper
- scallions
- paprika, salt, (Indian) curry

The chicken breasts are seasoned with curry and paprika and fried in the pan.

In a wok stir fry first strips of bell pepper, then add broccoli and scallions - season with salt and curry.

Served with rice.

Murphy Balls v.1

This idea was initiated in my mind some time ago when I was watching an old Eddie Murphy stand-up routine on TV. This is my first attempt at it...

Ingredients:
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 egg
- fresh cilantro
- salt & pepper

Chop the onion, the bell pepper and the cilantro finely. Then knead it into the ground beef together with the egg and the salt and pepper. Shape into meat balls and fry in the pan. *

Served with tzatziki and a mixture of brown and wild rice.

* Warning: The particular mixture has some tendency to fall apart, so be careful when turning them.

Tzatziki

Another simple thing that goes well with a variety of dishes.

Ingredients:
- 1 cucumber *
- 1 lb plain yoghurt
- 1 clove garlic
- salt & white pepper to taste

Grate the cucumber into a sieve and let it drip off for 15-20 minutes, then put it a bowl, add yoghurt, pressed garlic, salt and ground white pepper. Mix well. Eat immediately or store cool for later.

* If in the US I strongly recommend buying so-called European or English cucumbers. Yes, they are more pricey and often smaller - but so much more delicious as well. The easiest way to destroy a cucumber is to overgrow it.

Hollister Brewing Company

Recently the Hollister Brewing Company opened up in my neighbourhood. That it did really isn't all that surprising - actually, it seems more surprising that we had to wait so long for a brew pub close to school. Seems like a no-brainer.

While the Beachside Blond disappointed a little bit, I thought the Hollister Hefeweizen was pretty good (as an American Hefeweizen - somewhat different from the German ones). The J is a hemp ale - and nicer than the one other hemp ale I previously tried. And relatedly the Pig Man Pale Ale has a faint but distinct hint of the taste of smoking a certain hemp related product just at the beginning. Also, I like it because the name reminds of the lyrics for a song on Pink Floyd's Animals album. Speaking of the names, I also really like that one of their pale ales is called The Pope.

Last time I was there I enjoyed the Magic Clamps Weizenbock for my Hoppy Meal lunch.

Fish Tacos

I love fish tacos.
When I go to a new place, chances are - if they have it on the menu - I'll try their fish tacos. But this post isn't about going out to eat. This is about making fish tacos at home. I seldomly make them exactly the same way, but tonight's dinner will work as an example.

Ingredients:
- soft tacos
- green leaf lettuce
- cheddar cheese
- cod fillet
- hot paprika & ground cumin seed
- guacamole

Season the cod fillet with hot paprika and ground cumin seed and fry on the pan. I'm usually lazy with the soft tacos and heat them for 30 seconds in the microwave oven, then add cut lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, chunks of the cod fillet and guacamole on top.

Guacamole

It wasn't until I found myself living in a house in southern California with an avocado tree in the backyard (more posts on this later) that I really started appreciating the joys of avocados. Here follows my favorite guacamole.

Ingredients:
- 1 ripe, medium avocado
- 1/2 lime
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 roma tomato
- 1/4 red onion
- fresh cilantro
- salt & pepper

Mash the avocado, mix in the juice of the lime, pressed garlic, finely diced tomato and onion, lastly salt, pepper and freshly chopped cilantro to taste.
The next post will illustrate one of the many uses for this delicious mixture.

What's in a name? ][

I don't think I was ever particularly picky. Yes, as a child I didn't fancy capers, olives, caraway, beets (unless pickled), & celeriac - the latter two particularly troubling to my parents who love them both and cultivate them in the garden. But when compared to other children my age who would turn out not to like such things as tomatoes, potatoes, cucumber, cheese or fried liver - all of which I have always loved - I got the impression I wasn't all that picky. Often when I listed the things I didn't like it turned out people hadn't even heard of half the things I mentioned. Well, I guess that's what happens when you have hippie parents with a large garden and plenty of time on their hands. Anyway, I've grown to appreciate all of the things mentioned above.

More surprisingly perhaps, I never really cared much for honey and traditional Danish pastries. I don't mind honey as an ingredient, but I don't use it as a spread.

Finally, I don't want to drink coffee.

Apart from that I'm pretty open towards trying new tastes.

What's in a name?

Although in my early years my mother was afraid that I wasn't getting enough to eat, I quickly earned a reputation for having an insatiable appetite for ice cream. Later on my mother was more worried about how much I ate and the speed with which I could chow down. When the time came and I left for college it took my parents months to learn not to cook way too much food for dinner. Later on, when I came home for holidays there'd seldom be anything left on the table.

Meanwhile my friends at college often made the mistake of asking me how many guests I was expecting when I'd merely be cooking dinner for myself. This led to speculations regarding whether my digestive system resembled that of a cow (you know, the four stomachs) or if perhaps there was simply a garbage disposal unit where my esophagus should have been..

A blog is born

Welcome to my humble blog.

I hope to post regularly on food (related) subjects.