The boss, Chuck, usually sends out the “meat mail” every Tuesday and Thursday to let everyone know what they have and what’s new.  Today he mentioned that they made some fresh chorizo.  If you know me, you know I love Mexican food, so I had to run down and try it.  Good thing I did, because there wasn’t much left (I forgot to ask if they had more in the back).

As you can see, it’s not the typical red chorizo that you’ll find vacuum-packed in the grocery store, nor is it the bland, over-salted store-brand crap.  This is a slightly different style, using fresh jalapeños and cilantro.  I took a link, removed the casing, and browned it up in a pan.  Once it was pretty much cooked, I tasted it.  It had a great fresh taste, and the cilantro really came through.  It’s not spicy-hot, but it’s miles ahead of any grocery store chorizo you could buy.  For chorizo, it’s quite lean, but it’s tender and not too finely ground.  Chuck knows how to make some good sausages.

It was good, but I realized what I really wanted a more paprika-laden chorizo, so after I tossed in a quarter of an onion, diced, I added some hot smoked paprika and some regular sweet paprika.  After the onions were cooked and the chorizo well-browned, I added two beaten eggs.  Heat up a few tortillas, sprinkle with a little cheese, and that was dinner.  I spooned it straight from the pan onto warm tortillas with a little salsa on top to add a bright kick to my tastebuds.

Electrolux and Kelly Ripa are partnering with Foodbuzz to raise money for the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (OCRF).  According to the OCRF, ovarian cancer is the 5th leading cause of cancer death among women in the US.  Because symptoms are rarely matched with ovarian cancer, most women (81%) aren’t diagnosed before the cancer has spread.  The OCRF’s mission is to fund research to better detect and ultimately find a cure for ovarian cancer.  When ovarian cancer is detected and treated early, the five-year survival rate is greater than 92%.

Just for writing this post, they’ll donate another $50 to the Fund.  If you want to help out, visit Kelly Confidential and build your own banana split.  For each one you do (up to one per day), they’ll donate another $1 to the OCRF.

I’m not always a dessert guy, but this opportunity piqued my interest.  I wanted to create a banana split that was a little different from what you’d get at your corner ice cream shop.  I thought about the tropics, and I thought about Elvis.  I thought about bananas foster and pad thai.  It’s not traditional, but it was tasty.

I started with the defining element: a split banana.  Some small scoops of vanilla ice cream went on top, then I drizzled the whole thing with a brown butter caramel sauce, made super simply by browning some butter, adding in brown sugar, then a little cream to smooth it out.  The wackiest element is the dry peanut butter.  I made this fluffy powder by combining some creamy, natural peanut butter with tapioca maltodextrin ().  It’s pretty cool stuff, when you put the ultra-light peanut butter powder in your mouth it instantly dissolves into that sticky, peanut buttery taste and texture.  Then, feeling a little inspiration from pad thai, I grated some lime zest over the whole thing.  The color is great, but the citrus flavor also brightens up and enlivens the dish.

I only had two bananas, so I made one for me and one for my wife.  I think if I did it all again I’d add even more lime zest… or maybe squeeze some lime juice over the top.

Some facts and statistics taken from the OCRF page.  I have not and will not receive any monetary payment from FoodBuzz as a direct result of this post, but I do have a chance to be featured in the Top 9 on Monday, July 19th.

The biggest problem with fresh favas is the labor required to get at the beans.  Start with a big pile of the fresh pods, then extract the beans by hand by unzipping the big fuzzy pods.  You’ll get a disappointingly small pile of waxy bean-shaped things.

Next that waxy coating has to come off, but it’s not easy either.  You need to blanch them for a few minutes to soften the coating, then dig your fingernail in and pop out the beans.  One by one, the dark green favas pile up.

The now depressingly-small number of beans you have could be eaten as-is, or they could be tossed into a salad or sauteed with some bacon.  But just look at these things, they’re kinda creepy looking, right?

Another local food blogger, Scott from Fight the Fat Foodie (his post about the project), and I were asked by a reporter from the local paper, the News-Gazette, to contribute to a piece on a local Million Meals for Haiti meal packaging party, where more than 1,000,000 meals were put together to be sent to Haiti.  (If/when it goes on their website, I’ll be sure to link to it here.)  Edit: The reporter, Meg Thilmony’s, reflections are online. I was given one of these packages, designed to feed six people, and asked to make something with it and reflect on the notion that my ability to do so was far more than the people this food is intended for.

The bag came, filled with rice and other stuff inside.  According to the Numana fact sheet, “rice, soy protein, freeze-dried vegetables, and 21 vitamins and minerals targeted to help the immune system of malnourished people.”  The bag is just a functional means of conveyance to people who tend to understand how to prepare rice and beans.  That’s a good thing, because the information and instructions on the bag are riddled with typos and mistakes.  For example, the instructions call for too much water (6 cups for 2-3 cups of rice) and too little cooking time (5 minutes).  It does include a genuine request from the Numana organization that it is “Not to Be Sold” for “This food is to be given freely because Jesus loves little children.”

I prepared it according to the instructions and was underwhelmed.  The stuff is bland if prepared by the basic instructions.  Of course, it’s food, and as I remind everyone in my tagline, “we all need to eat.”  For using as a recipe component, I felt like it was just too starchy for me to use it as-is.  I browned some ground beef and mixed in some tangy tomatillo salsa to add a little kick.  As universal as stuffed peppers are, I wanted to bring something genuinely Haitian into the dish, so I made a traditional black bean sauce called sauce pois noir based on this shell of a recipe.  I’ve been wanting to give the odd tuber jicama another try, so I made a basic salad with it, which added in a great crunchy element on the plate.  The delicate purple chive flowers were a beautiful (and tasty) garnish, adding in a reminder of the fresh growth of Spring.

I’ll share recipes and a delicious photo further down, but I have to go back and reflect on how lucky I am to have those choices.  I can go to a grocery store and buy fresh produce from around the world all year.  I can choose organic and locally grown products, or visit the farmers’ market.  And I do do those things, because those things are important to me and I (usually) have the means to do so.  I’ve always grown up understanding that food should be a source of joy.  It doesn’t have to be great, it doesn’t have to be expensive, but sharing a homemade meal with people is one of the things that makes me happiest.  From the looks on the faces of family and friends who join us for meals, that joy tends to reach across the dining table.  Organizations like Numana, in partnership with the Salvation Army, are making that feeling happen for hungry people all over the world.

Numana is a Kansas-based non-profit international hunger relief organization formed in August, 2008.  They partner with organizations like the Salvation Army to deliver much-needed food to people all over the world.  From the literature available on their website and the bag they provide, they focus on feeding school children first.  Feeding children not only increases their chances for success in their scholastic endeavors, but they are at lower risk for being exploited by their families in order to get food.

Food insecurity, not knowing where your next meal will come from, isn’t just a problem in areas devastated by earthquakes or stricken with poverty.  According to Share Our Strength, food insecurity exists in 14.6% of US households, meaning that nearly 50 million Americans, including around 17 million children, are not able to regularly provide nutritious meals for themselves.  This is a global problem.  This is a local problem.

Sauce Pois Noir (Haitian Black Bean Sauce)

• 2 T oil or butter
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 1 14-oz. can black beans
• 3 T cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 t. salt, to taste
• 1/4 – 1t powdered chipotle pepper (optional)

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onion and jalapeño and cook about 5 minutes, or until softened.
3. Add beans and cilantro and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Blend in a blender, food processor, or with an immersion blender until smooth.  Consistency should be similar to a thick cream sauce, so add a little chicken stock or water to thin if necessary.
5. Add salt, to taste, and chipotle powder, if using.  Keep warm until serving.

Easy Tomatillo Salsa

• 1/2 pound tomatillos, about 7-10, husk removed and washed
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 3 T cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 t salt, to taste
• 1 jalapeño, seeded
• flesh of 1 avocado, chopped

1. Put half of the tomatillos in a microwave-safe bowl, cover, and cook on high for 2 minutes.
2. Put all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until mostly smooth.
3. Taste for salt, but be careful not to add too much.
4. Chill until ready to serve.

Stuffed Peppers

I really want to mention that this is not well-tested because I used the Numana meal, not rice and beans.  The Numana meal left plenty of leftovers after making the stuffed peppers, but it was still delicious.  Taste along the way and make sure you like how it’s going!

• 4-8 bell peppers, tops and core removed
• 2 c long grain rice, cooked (about 4 cups cooked rice)
• 1 14-oz. can beans (pinto or kidney), drained
• 1/2 cup of Easy Tomatillo Salsa (recipe above), or more, to taste
• 1.5 pounds ground beef
• shredded cheese, for topping

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a bowl, stir together the rice and beans with the salsa.
3. Brown the beef in a pan over high heat, and drain off the fat.  Stir into the rice mixture.
4. Spoon the rice mixture gently into the bell peppers, being careful not to pack it down too much.
5. Arrange peppers in a baking dish, standing up, and top each pepper with cheese.
6. Bake for 15-25 minutes, or until peppers are tender and cheese has melted and begun to brown.

Jicama Salad

• 1 jicama, peeled, sliced into matchsticks (julienne)
• juice of 1-2 limes
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t cayenne pepper
• 2T cilantro, chopped finely
• chive flowers, to garnish (optional)

1. At least an hour before serving, combine all ingredients except the cilantro and toss to combine.
2. Just before serving, add cilantro and toss to combine.
3. Taste for salt, and adjust if needed.

pork mole taco, quesadilla, rice, beans

Today over on Chambanamoms, I’ve got some delicious Mexican side dishes for you to try.  Now, you have a favorite taco filling you can make, but different salsas are a great way for everyone at the table to customize their meal.  Sometimes I like something really fiery, and one of my favorite flamingly flavorful salsas is Zarela Martinez’s Salsa Macha.

In Zarela’s Veracruz, she playfully translates this recipe title as “she-man sauce”, and it really does pack a punch that could make any man suffer.  In more careful doses however, the fruitiness of the chiles and the nuttiness of the peanuts really come out and play nicely with a wide range of foods.

She encourages the reader to experiment with the recipe, as this is only a general formula for this type of salsa.  You could try adding different dried chiles, or adjust how long you process it, so it could be as smooth as peanut butter.  You could use different roasted nuts, or roast the garlic before blending it in.

Salsa Macha (She-Man Sauce) from Zarela Martinez

makes about 1 1/4 cups

• 1/3 – 1/2 cup árbol, dried serrano, or other small dried chiles
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 1 t salt, or to taste
• 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
• 1/4 – 1/3 cup olive oil (we recommend extra-virgin)

1. Lightly toast the chiles in a heavy pan over very low heat for 15-20 minutes until they darken slightly, become more brittle, and make a higher pitched rustling sound on the pan.  DO NOT BURN THEM!
2. Let the chiles cool slightly, then pull off the stem and discard most of the seeds.
3. Puree the garlic and salt in a food processor, then add the chiles and grind coarsely.
4. Add the peanuts and pulse to crush into bits the size of broken rice grains.
5. With the motor running, add the oil in a thin stream.  It should be mostly absorbed, but leave a thin film on the surface of the sauce.  The amount will vary depending on the peanuts.
6. Taste for salt and adjust if necessary.
7. The salsa will keep, tightly wrapped in the refrigerator, for a month.