Endless Simmer - A Food Blog

Jalapeno Cucumber Margarita
What’s that you say
Jalapeno and tequila
Together in a drink
The best of Mexican food and Mexican drink.

My friends and I were having a beverage at one of our regular watering holes the other day and we were discussing our favourite drinks. We had the usuals: vodka red bull; gin and tonic; bloody mary; and yes, even a beer. We then got to thinking about alternate drinks and the lifestyle that we lead. Our conversation turned to drinks that we deserved, a drink worthy of our existence. Have you not met me? Yes, my friends and I are that pretentious.

There are some restaurants in DC that provide some fun excuses of a drink. There is Domku with its Lemon Grass & Ginger Aquavits and the Aloe Sojutini at Mandu, but we wanted one to make at home on a Friday night. We pre-game high end, not just your average six pack.

A friend had recently returned from some Southern state trip, not sure where, but he had heard of a margarita with jalapeno and cucumber. As most of us are huge Mexican boys food fans we figured it would be a great drink to try. And it was.

The fresh taste of the cucumber combined with the heat of the jalepeno was a great combination; the fusion of the two created a unique blend of spice and freshness. For people who are not a fan of chilies this is something totally acceptable. I’m sure if stronger chilies were used it would change the taste but the main flavour properties would still be present.

Disclaimer: Two glasses of these will get you pretty drunk, or even very drunk!

Check it out after jump.

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Through my work with Express, I’ve become a sell-out. I’ll explain. I’m in bed with the PR folks. The PR folks will host a “media dinner” I will then eat for free and in return write a *totally non-biased* review. I swear.

Anyway, at my latest comped meal Angie and I ate our way through a deliciously free meal at Restaurant K by Alison Swope, which I then reviewed.

As you’ll see, we tried the tamales. As Angie is from Texas and has a Honduran mother, she knows her tamales: even knowing the difference between the Tex-Mex and Central American versions. So while she clearly knew what to make of them, I am still sorting my way through the technicalities of the dish. Which made me totally laugh when I saw the following thread during Tom Seitsema’s WaPo chat.

one / tom is sure one hot tamale

Ashburn, Va.: This may sound stupid, but I have never ordered tamales at a restaurant just because I have no idea how to eat them. Do I pick them up, or do I eat with a fork? What do I do with the stuff covering them? (And what IS that? It’s not edible, right?) Do I put sauce on them? Please help end my tamale illiteracy!

Tom Sietsema: Tamales, which involve corn meal dough (typically) wrapped around cheese, vegetables or meat, are bundled in husks, which must be removed before you dig into the steamed filling. I eat tamales with a fork. Sauce is optional.

_____________

Tamales. ..: true story. I’m an adventurous eater. My first time at Red Sage some years ago, I saw tamales on the menu. Having never had them, of course I ordered them. I didn’t know how to eat them so I ate them all. It took me some months before I figured out why the waiter had such a quizzical look on his face when he removed the plate.

Tom Sietsema: Funny!

I’ve admitted in this forum that I, too, ate my first tamale — part of it, anyway — with its husk on. Decades ago, I should add.

gansie: like i said before, i’m not so familiar with the tamale (read the review - i compare the dough to a matzah ball!), although i should be - it’s quite delicious! and i can’t lie, i’ve absolutely tried to eat the husk before.  and one more thing, does anyone know where the phrase “hot tamale” came from?

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I’ve never been a ginormous fan of yuca. I’m not sure why, it just hasn’t come up that much. The only time I really ever see it on menus is as a side at Hispanic restaurants, but there’s usually a choice between that and either plantains or french fries, so I don’t think I’ve ever ordered it. No disrespect to the yuca, but that is some tough competition.

However, last time I was down in D.C. we all went to dinner at Mayorga Cafe, where there were no plantains or french fries at all, and the yuca fries were the only fried starchy goodness to be had. And let me tell you, they sure made me forget about french fries for the evening. Golden-crispy, not too oily, and with just a little more actual taste than spuds, I was hooked.

So even though I had NO idea how to cook with these, I grabbed one on a whim last time I was at the food co-op.

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Last week’s Who Cooked It Better aroused quite the display of passion in you folks, finally giving America’s pissed-off vegans a chance to vent their frustrations against that scourge of vegans everywhere, Anthony Bourdain. This was Endless Simmer’s most popular poll to date, and with 800 of you weighing in, Hezbollah Tofu crushed Anthony Bourdain, 83 to 17 percent. Many congrats to HT on a truly winning original recipe.

In a shameless ploy to hold on to our newly expanded vegan readership base, we’re continuing with the “hold the bacon” theme for this week’s Who Cooked It Better, a search for the ultimate veggie burger. But before you meat-lovers tune out, let’s remember that grillin’ season is just around the corner, and if you expect to keep your veggie friends around for the summer, you better have a good faux-burger recipe. And don’t say, “Oh, I already know about Boca Burgers,” because when your vegan friends respond “that’s so considerate of you to think of me,” what they really mean is “Great. I can’t wait to eat this same store-bought patty every weekend for the rest of the summer. By the way, I’m a vegan and this has cheese in it.”

Seeing as how veggie burgers are kind of an anti-establishment thing anyway, we decided to go all-blogger for this challenge. Our first cheftestant is Swell Vegan, whose tasty-looking seitan burger (top left) is accented with chopped sesame seeds, red pepper and carrots. In a twist that could have you choosing this over steak at your next BBQ, Swell Vegan mixes chimichurri sauce into the veggie patty, and tops it off with more of this savory green stuff, along with tomato, onion, and tofutti cheese. SV says the recipe is still a work in progress, but this one already looks like a winner.

Moving to the top right, Eat Air is hoping to take down yet another meat-worshiping TV star with their veganized version of Paula Deen’s Big Mike Burger. The Big V replaces Paula’s butter burger/pecan burger double patty with an amped up seitan burger that includes shittake mushrooms and vegan cheese, along with a tempeh-pecan patty complete with maple syrup and liquid smoke (!) Complete directions here.

On the bottom right corner is a beautiful pic from 101 Cookbooks, whose use of eggs may turn off you vegan voters, but these garbanzo bean-cilantro-sprout burgers are so tasty looking we had to include them. Most originally, 101 C loses the bread buns altogether and uses her two patties as the buns, filling the inside with avocado slices, cipollini onions, and more. Full recipe over at 101 Cookbooks.

In the bottom-left corner is a great-looking burger from The Accidental Vegetarian, which looks most like a real burger of anything we could find, even though instead of fake meat, the AV goes for a mix of eggplant, zucchini, onion and garlic, kicked up a notch with an inventive almond paste concoction. Full recipe here.

Your votes and thoughts please…

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ps - did we miss any of the best? Let us know!

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I’ve told you all plenty of times about chiles rellenos, the spicy stuffed peppers that are probably my fav Mexican dish. I’ve shown you my attempts at both pork and cheese chiles rellenos, and as I mentioned in our cake discussion earlier this week, I went for another round this weekend (but figured you guys didn’t need to see Version 3.0). However, it got me thinking about ways I could mix this dish up, and hence a brand new and improved version.

When Alex and I went shopping for poblanos (the peppers used in CRs) the ones they had were pretty small and miserable. We bought a couple of those, but just to be safe also grabbed two frying peppers - frying peppers is what ACME supermarket in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania calls them, I think they were Anaheim peppers, although I could be wrong.

Hey look what I just found while searching for info on types of peppers: Anaheim peppers are the chiles most often used to make chiles rellenos. Haha, who knew? Well they turned out well, which makes sense if they really are the kind you are supposed to use. Kinda random how that worked out.

But it got me thinking, why not make chiles rellenos with other types of peppers? Roasted red bell peppers happen to be among my very favorite foods, so I had the idea to make an Italian-ized version of CRs using red bells and savory Italian cheeses and spices instead of the spicy Mexican ones usually used. I know there are already plenty of ways to make Italian stuffed peppers, but I’ve never seen it done with roasted reds. Forgive me if I’m taking credit for something that I didn’t actually discover.

Full r after the j.

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Eating out Mexican is one of the few true values in New York’s getting-even-more-ridiculous dining scene. Every borough has cheap, genuine, hole-in-the-wall spots like Tulcingo Del Valle in the neighborhood I grew up in.

That’s why I’m supremely disturbed by the emergence of quasi-upscale Mexican restaurants. I’m not saying Mexican people aren’t allowed to be fancy, but um…I still want the cheap, giant portions, of flavorful food. I mean, that’s half the point, right? No one has ever decided on Mexican dinner because they’re not especially hungry. And this fancified Mexcian food scene has brought a truly unwelcome development: chips and salsa that must be paid for. In money. #$!%@!

This will not stand.

Everyone in my new hood, Fort Greene, talks about two Mexican joints: Pequena and Bonita. I’ve eaten at both of these now and they serve decent, if not exciting food that falls short in three crucial aspects:

- Small portions

- Lack of spice

- Served by white people

Basically, everything a Mexican restaurant should not be. Seriously, is this Brooklyn or Kansas? What’s going on here?

But here’s the kicker: both places CHARGE for chips and salsa. This is just untenable. Free chips and salsa is like a golden rule of eating out. It’s half the reason I usually choose Mexican. It is just expected, OK? If I walk into a Mexican restaurant, and don’t get that basket and bowl placed in front of me without laying down an extra $4.50, well, I think you get the point - I won’t be happy. Frank Bruni says an empty wine glass is his version of restaurant hell, well no free chips and salsa is mine.

So I recently ate at a well-reviewed Mexican place in SoHo called Cafe el Portal. This place was pretty cool - teeny underground restaurant, genuine menu, Mexican-owned and operated. Although a little overpriced, it had some crazy dishes I could get behind, like a chile relleno covered in pomegranate seeds. While this inventive menu distracted me for two to three minutes after sitting down, I soon noticed something off. There was just a certain lack of greasiness on my hands and spiciness in my mouth.

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Editors Note: Now that BK has taken a breather from bashing our friend, Alton, he’s now talking smack about vegetables.

Recently, I made pico de gallo and my hands reeked like onion for three days. Which stinks, both literally and psychologically, because it came out really well, but I am discouraged to make it again due to the odor. I tried some pretty aggressive soaps, but to no avail.

So I did a little research on the subject and found that if you rub your hands on stainless steel while running them under water, it would remove the smell. I gave it a shot with my stainless steel spoon rest (sadly, some of my spoons have chronic fatigue.)

Not surprisingly it worked. I loved this new discovery so much that I bought a stainless steel bar made to look like soap from MoMA. It now serves the doubly important role of removing onion and garlic smells from my hands and confusing people at my kitchen sink.

If only during my single days they would have made some sort of stainless steel gum that I could have used after garlic loaded Italian dinners. I may have done better with the ladies.

Pico de Gallo

No particular amounts. Just tomato, onion, cilantro, salt, pepper and white wine vinegar and little bit of diced cucumber to brighten it up.

Photo: 80P / Title: A Rose? Get it?

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(my first bite of bacon…clearly I’m just as confused
about it then as I am now)

I’m sure no one is tired of hearing about my new exploits at Express (thanks Liza!) Here are links to the articles, in case you don’t have the luxury of living in the DC Metro area.

Teamsters’ Union: Super Bowl Bars [Express]

A Warm Winter Treat: German Gluhwein [Express]

Amaryllis Blooms With Flavor [Express]

Chocolate Lovers Festival [Express]

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Always on the cutting edge, ES had traveled around the world (via the blogosphere) to bring you news of what we’ll all be drinking in the future:

- Japanese schoolgirls, who pretty much decide what’s cool in America one year in advance, have started drinking hot beer. That’s right. Beer - heated. [J-list, via SEats]

- For those of you who always wanted a little more Che in your brews, the answer is almost here: Yerba Mate Beer. ES prediction: Herbal-infused beers are the next big thing. [Slashfood]

- If you’re lookin’ for even more Latin flavor in your glass, here’s a crazy idea: try mixing your tequila with some spicy chocolate mole. One Chocomole coming up. But I wouldn’t recommend two, that sounds like a recipe for disaster. [Liquid Muse]

Photo: TFTS

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