Spicy - - Page 7

by BS

Sri Lankan Simmer: 12-Cent Train Food

Me: The 10:40 train to Hapatule, please.

Ticket Agent: The 10:40 train is cancelled, sir. 11:50 train is also cancelled. 1:00 train is cancelled. 3:30 train is cancelled. 4:00 train coming at 5:00 maybe 6:00.

Me: UGH. How come?

Ticket Agent: **Looks at me as if this is the most bizarre question he has ever been asked.**

Sorry for the uninspired headline, but I’ve left Indian and am currently traveling by train through the heartland of Sri Lanka, which is, um, a bit adventurous — in both good ways and bad.

The bad part is that the concept of a train schedule is, shall we say, overlooked. Mocked might be a more appropriate word, actually. The good part is that the countryside views are breathtaking, and the great news is that train food here makes Amtrak’s barely edible $12 sandwiches look like, well, barely edible $12 sandwiches.

in Food Travel 2 comments

by BS

Another Sign the Foodiepocalypse is Upon Us

How to know when your kid is watching too much Food Network, via Overheard in New York:

Kid #1:

Paper beats rock. BAM! Your rock is blowed up!

Kid #2:

“Bam” doesn’t blow up, “bam” makes it spicy. Now I got a SPICY ROCK! You can’t defeat that!

Not sure if this is upsetting or awesome. (Hat tip: Alex)

in TV 0 comments

by gansie

Ginger Loving Care

I know the weekend is near when I get an email from the farmers market director on Friday afternoon. Rebbie Higgins writes about what she’s been eating:

You may feel like you’re up to your armpits in tomatoes (everyone’s a gardener this year!), but it won’t last forever, so enjoy them while you can. Tree and Leaf is already starting to bring their green tomatoes: I fry them in olive oil and serve them on brown rice with a fried egg and salt for comfort food.

Rebbie also highlights the market’s rare gem for that week:

Tree and Leaf grew ginger. I can’t believe it. They’re only selling it at the MtP market and it won’t last long. Combine with butternut squash and the new Quaker Valley Orchard pears, and make a delicious Gingered Squash and Pear Soup. Top with fried sage and fresh chives. Sounds like Fall to me!

Ginger! Ginger! Holy crap. I never thought about the beginnings of ginger. How it grows, what it looks like, the climate and soil needed…But oh I’ll buy it (even at $15 per pound.) Young ginger hasn’t grown that pale golden skin yet. The ginger is bright and white, with flecks of hot pink. There were green stems popping out as well. While not edible, they can be added to soups for a ginger flavor. (The woman buying the ginger ahead of me talked about brewing a tea with the ginger stem and pineapple.)

I didn’t have such bold ambitions, but wanted to create something to highlight the fresh ginger.

by 80 Proof

Guess Who’s Back, Back Again (Hint, It’s 80p)

Hello loyal, patient Endless Simmer readers who come to this blog just for 80p. It’s been a while, to say the least, since I have put fingers to keys. Fear not though, my cooking prowess has not jumped by leaps and bounds in the past few months. But I thought I would take a moment and write about this dish that I have made 3-4 times now. Being an average cook, when I end up with something on a plate that looks like that, I just act like I’ve been there before and smile…then blog about it.

in Fowl / Recipe 6 comments

by tvff

A Spicy Sign of Autumn

Nothing gives me warm feelings of chilly fall nights like thinking about Sweetzels Spiced Wafers.

Growing up, you don’t process food intellectually, you just become accustomed to flavors of your life. You don’t think about what’s local and what’s seasonal and what’s traditional, you’re just happy to chow down on what’s put in front of you, so you absorb the traditions of countless previous generations until it becomes second nature. This is how the Philly region’s take on ginger snaps came to be a personal favorite, and one that is inseparably identified with the coming of autumnal chill.

Why do these simple cookies have such a hold on me? For one thing, they’re really tasty. The Wafers feature the perfect blend of sweetness and spice, evoking everything good about a pumpkin pie. Even better than the flavor is the incomparable texture. Many ginger snaps and spice cookies err too far on the side of chewiness or crispiness, but the Spiced Wafers find the perfect balance — like an al dente pasta cooked by a master chef.

And here’s the best part…if you have a glass of milk handy, you can make something unbelievable. Dunking these cookies is like playing a high-stakes game of chicken. Too long in the drink and they’re mush — breaking up and sinking to the bottom of your cup. Not long enough and it just feels “undercooked.” But if you can find the sweet spot — I’m guessing somewhere around five seconds — you’ll have a melt-in-the-mouth spiced dream.

But perhaps even more than the taste, they signal a season change: their Halloween-colored box comes with a punch-out cardboard mask. I’m working through my first box of the year right now, but a recent get-together with my family got my gears turning. How could I incorporate my new toy — the ice cream maker — with the Spiced Wafers to knock everyone’s socks off for dessert?

in Desserts 8 comments

by gansie

How To Revive the Heat in Your…Kitchen

Like my father, I’m a strong believer in not wasting food. But while he will eat 3-week-old lox, I’ll refuse to even eat a tomato that’s been refrigerated.

Along those lines, DAD GANSIE and I also never throw shit out. I feel so guilty about throwing out food that even if I know I won’t eat the leftovers, I let them sit in my fridge for 2 weeks instead of tossing them on the spot. It’s a habit I’ve been meaning to break (and one that 80 is really hoping dies soon.)

I do think, though, he’d be proud of my latest food-rescuing invention, which also uses up plenty of my cabinet inhabitants.

Okay, so at my local 6-aisle grocery store serrano chilies come in packages of 18 or so for under $2. I try to stick them in everything I eat, but after so many meals with my mouth on fire I let the chilies hide in the back of my fridge until gray hair starts growing over their skin. And then they find a home in the trash.

It was different this time. I remembered a trick my friend Tim told me about how he prolongs the lives of chilies: he’ll buy jarred chilies and when the chilies run out, he’ll buy the non-jarred package and stick them in that same salty solution.

Of course, I wanted to do one better and make my own preserving liquid.

in Featured / Recipe 10 comments

by gansie

Who Isn’t a Little Soft in the Middle?

I went to my first crab feast of the season two weeks ago. While I like softshell crabs and crab cakes, my favorite way to eat this crustacean is to break the shit open with my hands. As lazy as I am in life, I love the hard work it requires to eat a boiled crab. I love the newspaper thrown over a backyard table. I love how Old Bay coats everything from my finger tips to my elbow. I love the taste of determination when I pull out a leg and all of the meat comes with it. And of course I love the beer and drunkenness that always attaches itself to the crab feast.

The sides are pretty great too. There’s usually a boiled potato dish in the mix. But I wanted to bring something a bit different. And something I could whip up quick. I turned to my old friend, Jiffy corn bread mix.

in Cheese / Recipe / Veggie 2 comments