Quick quiche

My daughter requested quiche as her welcome home from camp dinner.  I was so glad that I picked up the ingredients while I was out with my grandmother on Thursday because yesterday the weather was unbearable. 

I did however have the brilliant idea to snazz it up with crab meat but I didn't think I could justify putting $25 lump crab meat in a quiche so I called Shop Rite to see if they had some on sale.  The problem was that when I got there the sign said imported.  I immediately got nervous because I certainly did not want "fresh" crab meat from China.  I thought I might go with the pasteurized stuff in the can but that's always sourced from China...and of course Chicken of the Sea was not an option.

I picked up the container and it was from Venezuela, so i went out on a limb for $12. 

As I picked through the crab meat, I notice three things - only 25% was actually lump, there were lots of shell bits, and lots of liquid. 

I made one plain spinach quiche because I wasn't sure if my daughter would go for the crab additive.  The other three I made with the crab.  Hands down, the crab was the best...only problem is that I missed a couple of shell bits. 

Tom kha thale

When I walked into P&K, the grocer smiled. After I asked for lemon grass, galangal, kaffir, and lime, he asked if I was making tom kha.  I said yes.  He told me I could buy a kaffir plant for $20.  He asked if I was planning to use mushrooms and I remembered that I didn't have any.  He offered to sell me some mushrooms and young corn but unfortunately these were in a can packed in brine and I couldn't bring myself to do it although he assured me that they were very good.

He also pointed out the tom kha  paste that could be used to make the soup in lieu of buying the separate veggies. I hesitated and said that fresh was better. He agreed, adding that lazy people like the paste.  He started talking about how good tom kha is, especially when it's hot out of the pot. 

Once I got home I knew I needed something to make a complete meal. All I had was fresh kale and frozen okra so I googled thai kale and a host of curried recipes (similar to the string bean concoction I made) came back. For some reason they seemed inauthentic. Thai food is more than coconut milk. I saw a stir fry kale with garlic and oyster sauce and decided I would go for it.  Although upon further investigation, I learned that the kale was not the same vegetable that I had. 

I made the soup and it is now clear that ginger is not a proper substitute for galangal.  The kale was easy - I blanched it, sauteed garlic and ginger, added the kale and tossed with oyster sauce. 

Reality Check

I've always thought that the distinguishing factors between my cooking and other random good home cooks, is that I incorporate a bit of technicality, I use good ingredients, and I'm not afraid to take risks and expand my repertoire. 

For over 10 years I've dreamed of opening a cafe, but cafes are a dime a dozen - what would distinguish mine?  I'm not sure...I don't really have a signature dish...there is no flagship meal that I make for company...everything is always a cultural theme of sorts.  Perhaps it's the quiche that I've been making for 20 years or the carrot cake that's in retirement?  At one time it was roasted chicken...but what are my main sides?

We have been watching Master Chef as a family for the past month or so.  This has been a dose of humility.  Although I have a keen sense of smell (and taste), and I can usually pull a meal an impromptu meal together, I can't hold a candle to the creativity that is produced by the home chefs that are competing on this reality show. 

I've been inspired to step my game up. 

unHappy Ending

I was all set to write a Happy Ending post.  Friday I made timtimo in the crock pot for my daughter's welcome back from camp meal.  We had fish & grits for Saturday breakfast.  Then I made a cobbler last night before dashing off to dinner with my husband's colleagues.

Although the cobber is a bit sweet (I was distracted and put 1/4 too much sugar in), it has a nice flavor.  The cobbler is a bit of a patchwork - I used the peaches I picked up from Whole Foods and 2 pears from Wegman's.  And the top crust fell apart so I had to glue it together with beaten egg. 

This morning I finally decided to run the self-cleaning oven.  A patina was starting to form.  The issue is the bird - the fumes produced by the burning off of debris are toxic to birds.  I couldn't really wait much longer, as I was beginning to think the build up was impairing the oven's efficiency.  We put the bird in the spare cage in the backyard and started the over.  Then we cut the cut the cobbler and sat down and ate it. 

As I was making the fit-fit to eat with the remaining timtimo, the kids noticed that the bird cage was empty and went scurrying around to find her.  My son said "I hear her outside" so they opened the door and for some reason opened the cage to take her out.  Of course she flew away.  Then there were tears. 

Snazzy snapper

I need to get on a food budget, quickly.  My last couple of trips to Whole Foods total over $200 and I don't have much to show for it.  It's the seafood.  The fish just look so inviting. 

Of course I bought cherries ($3.99/lb), some jersey tomatoes (I'm hoping they're good because I bought a couple for my grandmother and she's been dying for a "real" tomato for years), and georgia peaches.  Then i took a quick look at the seafood counter.  Nothing good was on sale, but they had snapper for $10.99/lb and it was gorgeous.  I've been thinking about making a escovitch since I saw snapper in HMart for $5.99/lb a couple of weeks ago. 

I let the fish marinade in my basic seasonings then instead of pan frying, I convection roasted for 25 minutes while I cooked the cabbage and cut up the onions, peppers, and carrots and made the sauce (vinegar, soy, tomato, and lime) for the escovitch.  I didn't have scotch bonnet so I sauteed it with a blend of chili oil and olive oil (my son loves fish and can't stand the heat). 

It was ridiculously delicious.

Compromise

I got sucked back into Lemon Grass today.  I met a former line cook who lived in Thailand for a year and she asked me if there were any good Thai restaurants in the area.  I told her that last week I would have recommended Lemon Grass but I was pissed off about the evil jungle princess fiasco.  Based on my description she assumed that it just might be some version of a jungle curry.  I excitedly told her about the grocer and the dishes I cooked.  She was shocked about the laab - she lived in the north eastern part of the country and said it was one of her favorite dishes.  I decided that it would be worth a tasting.  Although the sauce on the pad thai was a bit sweet, she thought the food was pretty good.  She also said that my pad kee mao looked more like pad see ew due to the size of the noodles.  We had a great conversation about food but to the server's surprise, I did not order a thai tea to go. 

One essential element to Asian cooking is a seasoned wok and high heat...one of my burners outputs 14,000 btus but I think I need to step my pan up. 

A few hours later at home I was once again confronted with my son's request for seafood salad.  I used to make seafood salad with shrimp and pasteurized crabmeat but I've come to have an aversion to what my friend refers to as mayo salads.  I knew he was looking for the typical seafood salad with the imitation crab hence I went with the stuff at Whole Foods (Kanimi - made from wild caught fish).  However after boiling quality noodles and sauteing delicious shrimp I couldn't bring myself to sprinkling Old Bay (I found a low sodium version) on it and adding mayonnaise so I threw in some basic seasonings and tossed it with celery and french vinaigrette.  He said he liked it but wanted it a little less gourmet and more like my Aunt Mary's.  Fortunately I had reserved half of it so I was able to oblige him.

Hunters and gatherers

There's something about my new colleague that screams progressive lifestyle, which is why she shocked me Friday by eating pizza and drinking Sprite with a Diet Coke chaser.  It gets worse - today she went to the food cart for lunch and came back with a cheeseburger, cookies, and a chocolate milk.  I immediately got on my soapbox because I had a hunch that she knew better...and she did.

Before I knew it she was telling me about Philly Cow Share and I was grinning from ear to ear thinking about those angus cows I met in Santee.  I realized that I since I no longer am a Greensgrow CSA member, I'm a bit out of the loop in terms of local food production.  I asked her how she knew about it and she said that her gym promotes healthy lifestyles including the paleo diet as in paleolithic - meats, fish, vegetables, fruits, nuts - things available before the domestication of plants and animals - hence no grains, dairy, or sweeteners.  I bet they don't promote eating burgers off of a food cart. 
Clearly this is not for vegetarians because legumes are a no-no but I'm thinking I might try to do the 30 day challenge.  I know I've talked about this type of thing before, but this seems achievable and I could feasibly start right after Labor Day.  Who's with me?