Teach me about Tea

On that note, does anyone around here do Indonesian?

I need a good recipe for Mie Goreng Pedas. I found exactly one on the net, but it doesn't really do it for me.

continuing my series of dirt simple pasta dishes, here's the very simplest and one of my favorites, garlic and oil.

The two keys are chopping the garlic fairly fine (IMHO garlic presses don't really get the job done here) and having a quality saute pan. Cast iron works great and isn't expensive.

So, chop up as much garlic as you want- I usually do up a whole head.
Heat your pan over medium-low and add 3-4 tbs of olive oil.
Once its hot add all your garlic and saute gently until it's golden brown, usually around 10 minutes.
This results in a mellow, sweet, nutty flavor quite at odds with the biting harshness most people associate with garlic.

If you'd like a little bite you can throw in 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes near the end of the cooking time.

Add to cooked pasta of your choice (I like the traditional spaghetti here), salt to taste and enjoy. You can add some visual flair with a handful of minced parsley if you've got a bunch handy, and Parmesan is also a nice addition.

Throwing in my own favourite easy pasta dish. Only a teensy bit more involved than the Goat's Aglio e Olio.

Torellini alla Panna

You can use other noodles, but I like some meat in my food.

You'll need ham, cream (sweet will do, but I prefer an even mix of sweet cream and crème fraiche for a richer taste; should be a bit more than you have fresh noodles, weight-wise), butter, Italian hard cheese (again, I prefer Grana Padano, but Parmigian Reggiano will actually work perfectly) and fresh tortellini, filled with 'meat'. And a broth cube.

Dissolve the broth cube in about half as much water as you're supposed to and boil. Toss the tortellini into the boiling broth, put a lid on it and turn off the plate.

Get a pan. Any will do in this case in spite my love of cast iron ones. Melt a slice of butter in the pan and meanwhile dice the ham into tiny little cubes or whatever you like. Once the pan is hot enough, fry the ham to get some of the taste out of it and into the butter, but don't allow it to brown. When you're satisfied, slooowly add the cream. Pour a bit of cream, let it warm up and the moment it starts to throw the first bubbles, add more cream. Add the ground hard cheese and stir it in. Let the mixture simmer just below boiling point.

Get your tortellini and drain the rest of the broth. Let them drip off, then add them to the sauce once it has the right consistency. Stir until the noodles have been thoroughly covered on all sides, then serve.

A note on spices: At base, this dish doesn't need any. Many people I know like to add paprika, nutmeg and/or parsley right before adding the noodles (or add the parsley on top of the final dish). I'm partial to paprika and nutmeg, but the one thing you'll never need to add is salt, as the ham will provide for that.

Another note: This isn't healthy, and not for people who can't handle fatty foods. But it tastes ******* awesome.

And for anyone who gets confused about kitchen utensils and cookware and doesn't know where to look for help, I highly recommend Alton Brown's Gear For Your Kitchen. AB goes into detail about almost everything you'll ever find in a kitchen, what to look for, inexpensive alternatives, and how to judge the stuff you're buying.

PS: I love Alton Brown so much because he doesn't just explain how to do something, he explains the why, and knowing why things are done this way or that makes it easier for me to understand what's going on.

I like Alton Brown's shows, quirky & informative.

But his books, in trying to imitate the show's format, don't translate well for me. They seem too cluttery for the printed medium.


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My experiment of the day: mexican style shredded beef

First, I made up some fresh salsa: blend in cuisenart (even though I hate the cleanup)...

• 2 x 14 oz cans of plain diced tomatoes (start with one, add the second after a round of blending)
• 2 tomatillos (cut like apple slices & nuke for a minute + 30 sec)
• 1/2 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped (less if you like, honestly, it doesn't take much)
• chilies to desired heat; dried ceyanne, paprika, chili powder, 1 large fresh anaheim, 1 large-ish fresh jalapeno (include the seeds & inner membranes for more heat).
• a bit of salt & black pepper
• squeezed juice from 1/2 lime (whole one, if small)
• large handful of chopped cilantro (no stems!)

• Laid down about a cup (-ish) of salsa in the bottom of my crockpot.
• seasoned the meat on all sides... I tend to sprinkle on the spices in layers and then "pat" each layer into the meat:
  • light sprinkle of ceyanne (heat)
  • medium sprinkle of cumin (sweet heat)
  • light/med sprinkle of coarse black pepper
  • heavy sprinkle of paprika (mild flavor)
  • med/heavy sprinkle of chili (smoky-ish)
• Put the meat into the crockpot, & topped/packed with
  • 1/2 onion, diced fine
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 1 fresh anaheim, finely chopped
  • 1 largish jalapeno, finely chopped (careful not to touch face/eyes at all after chopping the chillies. wash hands thoroughly)
• I set the crockpot to high for 2 hours, then switched it to low for probably another 5-6 (round tip is fairly dense meat, not a lot of fat)

I've done a similar salsa, but much simpler, IMO.

1 tomato - diced and seeded (remove that jelly goop in it, easily done by slicing off the stem end, pushing a finger down into each of the cavities, wiggle a bit, then rinse it out. Just make sure the finger is clean. )

1/4-1/2 an onion - I prefer red, but yellow or white will work too

dash of salt

pepper optional

sugar - amount varies. I'm not usually one that measures stuff out, but probably no more than a teaspoon's worth at most

1 tsp of lime juice

dried cilantro to taste


Mix all ingredients lightly, just enough to get the salt and sugar passed around. The salt will draw a bit of water out of the tomatoes, diluting the lime juice and helping with the dissolution of the sugar. Don't mush the tomatoes down. It's a chunky style salsa that is to me, very refreshing. No heat to it, but is very nice chilled. The seeding removes quite a bit of the watery material.

Very "pico de gallo", Dark.

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Ya, it's a pretty simple recipe. There's been times that I've roasted an ear of corn, either on the grill or over the flame on the stove, and cut off the kernels and added to the salsa.

I'm a very...organic...cook. I almost never "measure" stuff, nor do I add the same stuff every time. How the recipes end up tasting is a measure of the feeling of the day.

Granted, there are times that measuring is necessary, like making dough or the like.

Almost forgot about the main subject. I prefer either some green tea with fresh spearment or some good old ice cold sweet black tea.

Went to the Asian market today... It's always a fun excursion (imagine a 5' 6" red-headed Irish/German gal cruising the aisles where most customers average 5' nuthin).

This market has almost an entire aisle devoted to tea (of course!). The fun stuff is the infused honey teas. They are jars of honey "infused" with bits of flavorful things; ginger, orange peel, lemon peel, jujube (new). You are apparently supposed to dissolve a tablespoon per cup of hot water for a "tea"... It sounded interesting... I got the ginger honey tea.

I also love perusing the fresh whole fish, and the live fish/prawn/lobster tanks. There is almost always a bucket of live blue crab as well.. mmm.. tempting, but not for today.

No, I kept it simple today... organ meats for the cats, some ginger, basil, cilantro, burro bananas, quail eggs, and flavored "jellies" (basically little flavored "jello shots" - no alcohol).




As for my mexican style shredded beef - overall, I'm pleased with the result. It did take a little extra work, though.

I ran the crockpot on high for 2 hrs, then low for 5. When I checked it at that point, the meat had shrunk down considerably, the juices having been cooked out. So, being as it was a dense, low fat piece to begin with, it was now even more dense and difficult to pull apart.

I managed to pull it apart into about 6 chunks, and set the pot to simmer on high for another couple hours. After that, the meat flaked apart like magic. I "forked" the shredded meat back in with the juices, adjusted my seasoning (bit of salt, smidge more cumin, xtra paprika), and it's ready for burritos.

I think, the next time I try this, I will sear the meat before slow cooking. That *should* keep the meat's juices within the meat and prevent it from shrinking quite so much and becoming so dense. It seems to follow then, that it *should* be more easily pulled apart the first time 'round, without the extra cooking.


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Bah, roasting garlic is for wimps! My favorite way to fix garlic is to mash it in a mortar until its a fine paste, sprinkle on some salt, add some lemon juice and pour in some olive oil. Then load it onto some chicken or fish or atop a nice fesh salad or along side some hummus... Gah I need to fire up the grill like yesterday!!!!