Right Brain Feed

 I frequently try shortcuts in cooking just to see if I can get away with it, and make cooking a dish I make frequently more efficient. Today I wanted to make hummus...and decided to see if I could get away with not dragging the heavy Cuisinart up from the bottom shelf.  I thought since I use a stick blender all the time to puree soups rather than a proper blender, maybe a similar shortcut would work for hummus.  So I kept the chickpeas in the stockpot they cooked in, and tried using the stick blender. While it did make hummus, it was kinda a  lengthy pain in the backside to blend them, and the end result wasn't as creamy as the properly Cuized hummus.  We'll still eat it, I froze some of it.... labeled "Crappy hummus" just to make sure I don't accidentally whip it out to serve to guests (not that there are a bazillion guests these pandemic days). 

Even awesome cookbooks have some recipes that don’t really work for me. And that’s ok. We did eat it, but doubt I’ll try to again. Having some things fail helps brighten successes. Salt and Pepper shrimp, bye bye. 

 I can own up to it: before tonight I’d never really wanted to cook with or consume anchovies. But I decided to go for it since a Milk Street recipe I wanted to try used the scary anchovies creatures. I made a Venetian inspired dish of pasta with carmelized onions, shrimp, mushrooms and a buttery white wine garlic sauce , sprinkled with toasted breadcrumbs and lemon juice. Came out really well.  Translation: Italian comfort food. 

 I grill a lot, and will grill just about anything to see if it works. I’ve even grilled cheese ravioli (it works!). I recently got a new cookbook ( Milk Street Tuesday Nights), and it looks reeeeally good. This week I tried a recipe from it, and did some adaptation to it. The recipe was for beef kabobs broiled  with a thick paste of spices and ground peanuts coating it, but the recipe photo caption also said it works with chicken, so we did boneless skinless thighs. I also grilled it instead of broil, because I quest to grill anything. and just did it on a veggie tray in the grill, vs all that skewering. It....was....really....good. I love finding a new technique or style of dish. Sarah said I definitely need to make it again... and soon. Winner, winner, chicken dinner!

 Z’Tejas was an awesome restaurant we frequented in Austin... between their catfish tacos, grilled trout salad, shrimp tostada bites, and stuffed pork tenderloin there was always something I was craving from Z’Tejas. And of course I always wanted to wash it down with a yummy jalapeño margarita.  Last night I made a similar version of their decadent pork tenderloin... with a new twist. Instead of poblano I slathered on plenty of Milk Street harissa  before stuffing the tenderloin (stuffed with cooked chorizo, cheddar, onion), and also added harissa to the cream sauce. It was yummy.