Icarus's blog: "Augurs, Martyrs, and Agnostics"

Actually, this is most likely a food blog.

So, the other night I made spinach pistachio pesto for my fams. And my mom got it in her head to make porkchops, and bow tie pasta.

I don't have specifics on this recipe, I just know that it has

Basil

Spinach

pistachios

olive oil

salt

pepper

 

And the pistachios give you most of the salt you need, I guess my main advice is go for chicken poop consistency (gross, I know but this is how it works) and no, I don't put cheese in it.

 

It was a hit.

We coated and baked the porkchops in breadcrumbs

had roasted asparagus tomatoes and bell peppers

and bow tie pasta.

About 2 teaspoons of pesto to every serving of pasta, and meat

you got yourself a serious thing.

 

Anyway- wanted to touch base on that one if I hadn't, and I'm not entirely sure if I had

 

Tonight I made meatballs with putanesca and ziti

and I think I've hit on this one as well-

But I put red curry powder, cumin, sage, and red pepper in my meatballs

 

I grabbed a jar of tomato+basil sauce, added more basil, a ton more red pepper

 

1/2 an onion

clove of garlic

1/2 a cup of pinot noir

1/2 a cup of chopped arugala

1/2 a yellow bell pepper

1/2 a cup of green olives

1 whole small tomato

olive oil

beef fat

and we had these old tube-biscuits in the bread box so I roasted them with the vegetables

I put about 3/4 a cup of breadcrumbs I made from the biscuits in the above mentioned spices, and 1 egg to make ping pong ball sized meatballs

browned em

tossed in the roasted vegetables

waited

poured in the wine once I was confident the meatballs had a sear and were firm on two sides

reduced the wine

put in the base sauce

brought back to a bubble

added more red pepper salt pepper and basil to taste and about a 1/2 cup of the breadcrumbs and put the pot in the oven (still on 350 from the baking/roasting) and started a pasta pot for the noodles

by the time the noodles were done, the sauce had reduced and my dad had got back from work

I think all told, with the 30 ingredients and multiple steps, I started at 4:39 and was done at 5:10

and my mother once again had to talk me out of making homemade pasta

I think it MIGHT be the final frontier for me when it comes to home italian food, though I haven't made a cream or cheese sauce in quite some time...

Things we desperately need in this house:

Box grater

Skillet

Dutch oven

Pasta pot

 

Things I have in my possession in Topeka:

Skillet

dutch oven

pasta pot

 

Dad accused me of having missed my calling "you should cook".

 

I issued a challenge. Since I enjoy innovating, trying new things, and since I'm pretty good at flavor profiles I asked for something new

"Mexican night? ... Chinese?"

See- I think dad just craved Mexican, cuz, I'm pretty sure I've got most of those profiles down, and certainly the ones that would be accepted in that house. (No moles or lard)

So it occured to him to say "Chinese" immediately after that.

F@#$.

About the furthest East I go is Indian.

My tea flavored mushroom stirfry is excellent, but he hates mushrooms.

The tuna steak is Neo-Japan.

My thai tillapia is... thai

My beef liver stir fry is actually Korean

I do not have a chinese repor... hard french word to spell.

I accept your challenge!

Now if I just had an idea beyond rice, noodles, or soy beans...

Walnut and orange chicken, but is that "too easy" a concept and too hard to execute?

I dunno, I do know I want chile oil on the side, cuz I'm about to bland myself to death. The preferred seasoning in this region is gravy and/or cheese and restaurant and home cooking reflects that in people's tastes.

That doesn't jive with my spanish/indian/italian thing.