Mexican-spiced pork tenderloin with corn salsa

The spice rub:

• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ancho/guajillo (the labeling wasn't clear) chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 teaspoon allspice
• 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

Procedure:

1. rub meet with spice rub and tie the small end to give the meat a more regular shape
2. Preheat the grill to high
3. Brush the meat lightly with oil
4. Sear for 4 minutes with the lid closed (Next time, leave lid open because was charred)
5. Flip, turn heat to medium, Insert thermometer, and sear for another 4 minutes
6. Turn heat to medium low and cook until temperature reads 160 (next time, try 155°F)

Corn salsa:

• One fresh tomato, diced, some seeds removed
• One half small onion, chopped and rinsed under cold water
• Cilantro, small bunch chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno, de-ribbed And minced
• Corn, one ear grilled and kernels sliced off
• Pinch of salt

Review and notes:
The pork was very good. The salsa was a little bit "dry". Perhaps partially purée it next time and/or char/grill tomatoes or diced more finally.

Chickpea salad (Turkish-inspired)

This was sort of a blend of several salad recipes I had done during Turkish month.
Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried garbanzo beans, cooked
• one tomato
• 3/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped mint
• pinch of ground coriander
• 3 tablespoons dressing:  50/50 lemon juice and olive oil with salt and pepper to taste

Preparing the chickpeas:

• soaked for 24 hours
• simmer for one hour

By the end of cooking, many of the garbanzo bean skins were coming off and some of the beans/peas were splitting in half.  Undesirable in my opinion.

In the end, I thought this salad turned out really well: meaty from the beans, fresh with the parsley and interesting flavor with the mint and coriander.

Pike Place market Seafood Soup/stew

Whenever I'm in Seattle, I feel like I have to take advantage of the availability of the fresh seafood.  Mom and I stopped by the market and picked up some goodies for a improvised soup: salmon and mahi-mahi chunks, calamari, and clams.  We also found some Jerusalem artichokes -- my first experience cooking with them.  They have the texture of potato and flavor of garlic and artichoke.

I won't give the full play-by-play for this soup since it's been a couple of weeks and I've forgotten exactly what we did, but to make the stock for this dish, I simmere/steamed  the clams in a cup or 2 of water.  All in all, I think it turned out fantastic.

Mexican omelette

Mmm... what a great way to use the leftover Mexican food supplies.

It's been a few weeks since I made this, but I believe the bass was sautéed white onion, chopped coriander stalks, chopped chipotle peppers, and yellow bell peppers. For cheese, we used left over "Oaxacan cheese" (Mexican melting shoes) and put some bottled red salsa and coriander leaves over the top.

Verdict: in taste, fantastic!

Salad: beet, citrus, jicacama, and cilantro

This combination is slightly Mexican inspired. For the dressing I used left over Chile-lime-cilantro and it all came together very well: the meatiness of the beats; the zing of the dressing and orange; the crispness and refreshing quality of the jicama; and the aromatics of the cilantro. Next time, maybe I would add some cheese on top like feta or farmers?

Tostadas

There is really no rocket science here. The fun part was frying my own tortillas to make the shells. Going against the cookbooks I consulted, I only used about 1/3 of an inch of oil to do the frying. It seemed to work okay, as long as I held down the tortilla to keep it mostly submerged and flat in the pot.

I made 2 versions, piling on combinations of: Mexican rice, homemade black beans, salsa Verde, avocado, hot sauce, chayote, chopped tomatoes, and crema. Easy, but incredibly satisfying to eat.

Roasted red Pepper soup

I decided to take a stab at improvising this recipe. For fun, I threw in the constraint of not using any dairy or animal products (except for some chicken stock). To thicken it, I puréed a soppy mixture of left over brown rice.

The outcome was more than satisfactory, but not quite rich enough for my liking.

Spanakopita

Well, the fillo dough had been sitting in the fridge for a few weeks and I needed to get rid of the spinach in the freezer, so spanakopita seemed like the logical concoction.

I improvised the recipe and it went something like this:
- sauté half an onion, chopped in olive oil, lightly salted until softened
- stir in a 16 ounce bag of frozen spinach, which has been thawed and drained of any excess water
- Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg
- stir in about two thirds of a cup of cottage cheese and about two thirds of a cup of grated Gruyere cheese (note that I'm deviating widely from the more traditional feta and ricotta cheeses)
- Layout 3 sheets of the dough on top of each other, with a layer of olive oil sprayed between each
- cut the dough into 2.5 inch strips
- Put a blob of the spinach, cheese mixture at the end of each strip and start folding into the triangle shape; brush/spray the top of each triangle with olive oil
- bake at about 375°F for 10 or 12 minutes or until lightly browned

Review:
I think our dough was a bit stale. Otherwise, delicious!

Roasted poblano with polenta

I needed to figure out a way to use up my poblano pepper that had been sitting around. I followed the process described in my Mexican food cookbook for char-roasting these peppers:
1) Put it over the gas flame on your stove until blackened and blistered.
2) Throw the pepper in a plastic bag and seal it up and wait 10 minutes for it to steam through
3) use your fingers to peel away the blackened outer layer.

After making the polenta and sautéing the red bell peppers, I assembled the whole thing and threw it under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Eggs Florentine?

This morning, I decided to try sharpening up my egg poaching skills. Following Alton Brown's instructions, I brought a pot of 1 inch deep water barely to a simmer and then added a teaspoon each of vinegar and salt. Make sure your pot is nonstick.
After cracking an egg into a mini Tupperware container, I very gently slid it into the water (actually submerging the container in the water to make it extra gentle). I waited for the egg white to turn opaque like Alton said, and then turned off the heat put on the lid and waited for at least 3 minutes.
And what better way to be a poached egg in the morning? Eggs Florentine. I was too lazy to make a hollandaise sauce, so it was just a piece of buttered toast with sautéed spinach and a poached egg with generous salt-and-pepper. On trial number 2, I realized that the key to eating it is to break the bank you with your fork and spread the yolk around, preemptively, so that it doesn't just run onto the plate as you start cutting the toast with your fork.