What Are You Ingesting?

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

I have gathered up my strength and am in the process of putting together what the New York Times calls their "Best Gazpacho" recipe. I've cut up all of the vegetation and am taking a break to get the sweat to stop flowing. Once I get my strength back, I'll fire up the blender and sieve to complete the construction process.

Now, I've only rarely had gazpacho (maybe once or twice in my life), but from what I remember of it, this recipe is kind of unique in that it has no bread in it. Just tomatoes, an onion, a cucumber, an Anaheim pepper, and a clove of garlic, along with some sherry vinegar and some salt. Oh, and a half cup of extra virgin olive oil, plus a bit more to drizzle on top. The recipe is here, but since it's on the New York Times' cooking website, you might get prompted to make a free account in order to look at it.

Once I get the gazpacho all strained out, I'm supposed to let it chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight, in a glass jug no less). I think we'll probably have some for dinner tonight, and maybe have whatever is left tomorrow (if it's any good, and if any is left).

(I should tell you my real motivation behind whipping this stuff up. You see, I'm a little bit of a Red Dwarf fan. Not much, but enough of one to know the old episodes. One of my best friends, however, is a Red Dwarf cognoscenti. He can quote chapter and verse. So, he, another Red Dwarf nut, and I get together every year for a big Super Bowl party, and when I go next year, I plan on bringing a jug of...you guessed it if you know Arnold Rimmer's dying words - gazpacho soup.  If you know, you know.)

[mlooney 3,417]

You make me feel inadequate.  I feel good if I make a meal that takes more than one pan and has more than 3 ingredients.   

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

1 hour ago, mlooney said:

You make me feel inadequate.  I feel good if I make a meal that takes more than one pan and has more than 3 ingredients.   

Don't feel so bad. I wore my bushings out putting this together.

The construction is complete. I had to pour some of the blend out of the blender in order to get the olive oil to fit for the emulsification step. Straining out the solids was rather strength-consuming, since I had to do it in two batches (note to self: investigate getting a chinoise, or some sort of larger strainer if I'm going to do this on a semi-regular basis). It's all done now, though. The strained gazpacho is in the fridge, the fridge is on "rapid cool" cycle so we don't have to wait the full 6 hours for the stuff to cool down, and the dishes are rinsed and ready to go into the dishwasher.

I've taken a good preliminary dose of the gazpacho, and I'm intrigued. It's a very interesting blend of flavors. I think I may have put in a skosh too much salt, but I can't say for sure - once the concoction cools down, my mind might change on that matter, Flavors tend to dull out when chilled, so the salt taste might get muted to where it's not so salty. I can say that the overall  taste lingers on the tongue in a most pleasant way, leaving one wanting more. The recipe didn't make as much as I thought it would (only partially due to the "dump-out," since I didn't dump out that much), so I have a feeling that there might not be any left for lunch tomorrow.

While I was groaning during the second straining batch, I questioned whether I would make this recipe again. After just the little taste I've had right now, my thinking is changing. If it turns out as good as I think it might once cold, I might be making it semi-regularly. I mean, the vegetable ingredients are cheap (tomatoes/onion/Anaheim or cubanelle pepper/garlic/cucumber) and are available at any grocery store, and I've got the other ingredients (salt/sherry vinegar/extra virgin olive oil) in my pantry, so money is no object when it comes to putting it together. I need to invest in a strainer that'll cut down the job to one batch, and I need to be more careful in weighing my tomatoes so that I don't overfill the blender, but those are easy adjustments. This may very well become a semi-regular menu item in the Tomoe household, as long as Mrs. Prof decides she likes the stuff. That's the one variable I can't control.  

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

She likes it! She really likes it! {end Sally Field mode}

In all seriousness, Mrs. Prof proclaimed that she liked the gazpacho after just a couple of bites. She particularly liked the cucumber flavor, and in fact desired more of it. I thought it added a touch of bitterness and gassiness (both tolerable). Next time I'll probably use 1 1/2 cucumbers.

The salt most definitely mellowed out with the chill factor. Everything was decently balanced (save for the cucumber). A couple of changes were discussed for next time:

1. Using fewer tomatoes, weighing them to get closer to the recipe figure.
2. Using a plum tomato like a Roma instead of a conventional tomato to get more "meat" and less juice & seeds into the blend.
3. Using more extra virgin olive oil, to get a better emulsion. This might or might not be necessary, depending on the amount of tomatoes.
4. Adjusting the amount of sherry vinegar. Mrs. Prof doesn't want more, but it may be needed to tweak the emulsion. If not, I may just drizzle some more into my personal serving.
5. Adding a pinch of cumin, as suggested by readers on the NY Times website.
6. Somehow boosting the pepper flavor, either by using more Anaheim peppers or by using a cubanelle pepper (the first choice in the recipe, if one can be found) instead.

I might also tweak the amount of garlic in the concoction. I kind of feel that it might benefit from an extra clove.

Trying all of these at once would be a disaster, of course. I think I'm just going to try numbers 1, 2, 3, and maybe 5 for starters. I'll save numbers 4 and 6, plus the garlic tweak, for a future mix.

One other thing I'm definitely going to have to do is get a fine-mesh chinoise (or chinois, however you spell it) with a wooden pestle so I can strain the solids out of the blend faster and more efficiently...and hopefully in a single batch. The damned things are not cheap, however. They start at $40 for a lousy one. A really good fine-mesh one with a pestle runs well over $90. I may have to get one without consulting Mrs. Prof. This will call for some very light treading.

Anyway, you can draw one conclusion from all of this hot air I'm blowing over a simple recipe: the end result is awfully damned good. I would recommend that you at least give it a try. I wouldn't recommend that you go all obsessive over it like I'm doing. Just give the recipe a try, and get ready to enjoy some really good chilled Summer soup.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Found an acceptable chinois. Extra-fine stainless steel mesh, 10 inches wide, stainless steel handle, collar, and bracing, dishwasher safe. Also got a 13 7/8" wooden pestle to go with it, unfortunately not dishwasher safe, but that's to be expected with wood. Not bad pricing, but once you figure in the shipping and tax, it gets bumped up to $66.67 for the lot. Sheesh. At least it's not over $90.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

Had some quite good Maine lobster from a food truck this evening. Cousins Maine Lobster has been making the rounds of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and they ventured into the Garland area today. Mrs. Prof, despite having a shellfish allergy, was kind enough to drive me up to the HTeaO location where they'd parked so I could procure a few prime morsels. I ordered up a Connecticut-style lobster roll (warm, with butter, as opposed to the Maine style, which is cold, with mayo), a bowl of lobster bisque, and a red velvet Whoopie Pie. The roll, while appearing small at first glance, was absolutely overflowing with tender, buttery lobster. Top grade stuff. The bisque was flavorful and meaty, but a bit too thickened for me to give it similar high praise. The Whoopie Pie was a Cousins-made pie, very large, fluffy, and with lots of creamy center. I couldn't finish it at one sitting.

Cousins Maine Lobster apparently ships, so check them out, and if you're ever in the DFW area, look up their food trucks. You'll be glad you did, as long as you're not allergic to shellfish. (BTW, Mrs. Prof got her dinner from a nearby Ethiopian takeaway. She'd never had Ethiopian food before. She proclaimed it good, if a bit spicy.)

https://www.cousinsmainelobster.com/locations/dallas-fort-worth-tx/

[Darth Fluffy 302]

12 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

Had some quite good Maine lobster from a food truck this evening. Cousins Maine Lobster has been making the rounds of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, and they ventured into the Garland area today. Mrs. Prof, despite having a shellfish allergy, was kind enough to drive me up to the HTeaO location where they'd parked so I could procure a few prime morsels. I ordered up a Connecticut-style lobster roll (warm, with butter, as opposed to the Maine style, which is cold, with mayo), a bowl of lobster bisque, and a red velvet Whoopie Pie. The roll, while appearing small at first glance, was absolutely overflowing with tender, buttery lobster. Top grade stuff. The bisque was flavorful and meaty, but a bit too thickened for me to give it similar high praise. The Whoopie Pie was a Cousins-made pie, very large, fluffy, and with lots of creamy center. I couldn't finish it at one sitting.

Cousins Maine Lobster apparently ships, so check them out, and if you're ever in the DFW area, look up their food trucks. You'll be glad you did, as long as you're not allergic to shellfish. (BTW, Mrs. Prof got her dinner from a nearby Ethiopian takeaway. She'd never had Ethiopian food before. She proclaimed it good, if a bit spicy.)

https://www.cousinsmainelobster.com/locations/dallas-fort-worth-tx/

Lobster with mayo sounds awful, what a way to ruin lobster. Butter is the only way to go.

I had some within the last year, similar kind of deal. Don't see it very often.

Maine lobster is the best. I've had other lobster, rock lobster, bigger, but not nearly as good.

Lobster was something to look forward to when I had business trips to the Boston area.

[ijuin 572]

New Englanders are stunned when I tell them that lobster is forty bucks a plate in California. I tell them that it’s because the lobster has to be shipped across the entire continent from where they are to where I am.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

3 hours ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Maine lobster is the best. I've had other lobster, rock lobster, bigger, but not nearly as good.

I've had a whole Florida lobster in Florida, at a restaurant on the coast, and I must admit that what there is of it is mighty, mighty tasty. The tail stacks up pretty tall against a similar-sized Maine tail. However, it's the Maine claws that leave 'em standing at the starting line. Florida lobsters don't have much meat in that department.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

 

The dirtiest lobster trick had to be when the Acadians fled the Maritimes for Louisiana, but forgot to bring along their Atlantic Lobsters.  The determined lobsters would follow, no matter what, and crossed half of North America.  Unfortunately, the overland trip wore down the crustaceans into the Crawdads prized by the Cajun people to this day.

 

[The Old Hack 2,448]

25 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Unfortunately, the overland trip wore down the crustaceans into the Crawdads prized by the Cajun people to this day.

Rampant discrimination. Nobody ever cares about the Crawmoms.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

17 hours ago, ProfessorTomoe said:

I've had a whole Florida lobster in Florida, at a restaurant on the coast, and I must admit that what there is of it is mighty, mighty tasty. The tail stacks up pretty tall against a similar-sized Maine tail. However, it's the Maine claws that leave 'em standing at the starting line. Florida lobsters don't have much meat in that department.

Well, Florida is known for nice tail on the beaches.

 

17 hours ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

The dirtiest lobster trick had to be when the Acadians fled the Maritimes for Louisiana, but forgot to bring along their Atlantic Lobsters.  The determined lobsters would follow, no matter what, and crossed half of North America.  Unfortunately, the overland trip wore down the crustaceans into the Crawdads prized by the Cajun people to this day.

Tasty, but a lot of work for what you get. Very popular here in Chinese buffets; I wonder if there is something similar in Asia.

[ijuin 572]

The Chinese term for Crawdads is “Dragon Shrimp”.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

19 hours ago, ijuin said:

The Chinese term for Crawdads is “Dragon Shrimp”.

Ah, the little dragon from Disney's Mulan.

His name is Mushu, I think he's the main ingrediet in Mushu Pork.

[ProfessorTomoe 1,308]

A perfectly ripe White Nectarine, sliced and dusted with Penzey's Cinnamon Sugar. The only thing wrong with it was that it was at room temperature. I like my nectarines chilled. Otherwise, om nom nom.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

I liked nectarines when I was little. We used to get them from farmers' stands. The ones from our local stores have little flavor. Per some article about fruit ripening, that's a thing for peaches and nectarines, they do not further ripen once picked.

Most of our produce is somewhat sketchy in the last two years. The berries are invariably over-watered. I wonder what changed? It seems to be more than 'supply chain issues' explains.

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

 

A pizza with ham & pineapple.  

If you never hear from me again, know that the pizza powers that be have struck.

 

 

[Darth Fluffy 302]

19 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

 

A pizza with ham & pineapple.  

If you never hear from me again, know that the pizza powers that be have struck.

That sounds marginally better than anchovies and asparagus pizza, which I hope to never see.

[mlooney 3,417]

On 8/8/2023 at 11:47 AM, Darth Fluffy said:

That sounds marginally better than anchovies and asparagus pizza, which I hope to never see.

I would at least try an anchovies and asparagus pizza.  Might not like it, but I'd give it a shot.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

20 minutes ago, mlooney said:

I would at least try an anchovies and asparagus pizza.  Might not like it, but I'd give it a shot.

Welcome back.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Mmm, salads

[mlooney 3,417]

I've been making limeade out of "true lime" crystals.  I drink 6-8 cups of it a day.   Helps, some what, with the heat.

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Tap water bad there? I've had mixed luck, moving around the country, but here, it's pretty good.

[mlooney 3,417]

1 minute ago, Darth Fluffy said:

Tap water bad there? I've had mixed luck, moving around the country, but here, it's pretty good.

Tap water does have a bit of an after taste.  Plus, in general, I don't like drinking straight water.  I mean I will if needed, but I'd rather have something with flavor

[Darth Fluffy 302]

Some water sources are good straight, some not so much. Some are downright unsafe.