A Week in my Quest

Today will be the end of the first week of my quest. The quest is to stay out of "big box" grocery stores, and to only shop in alternate or ethnic stores.

It was a very successful week, all things considered. I will add a note here to explain that I will still go into the big boxes for paper and cleaning items because that way I can troll the aisles to take note of the prices on the things I'm not buying there. Also, if they have a good sale on tri-tips or asparagus, I might be inclined to pick some up. The quest isn't about virtuous avoidance, it's about doing something that is better.

I also will note that I am aware that my peculiar lifestyle allows me the opportunity to engage in this quest. I'm a full-time student who takes classes online or at night, which leaves my days for studying, kid care and shopping in several stores a week, which is a luxury that I know not everyone has. On the flip side of that, I don't have the big salaries that most people do who are working days, so this quest enables me to save money, which is as important as having higher quality foods available to feed my crowd.

Since I will be going to work full-time sometime next year the experiment is up in the air as to the future. But something in my heart tells me I will never give up my darling alternate stores completely.

So, how did the week go? Very well! Leo and I bought dishsoap and zip loc bags at Von's on Sunday, and I did buy milk, cereal, bread, london broil, pepsi and wine on Thursday at Ralph's. A word about that, though: I was in class in San Bernardino until almost 9:30, so there weren't many other options open and no milk for my italian roast in the morning is a thought not to be seriously contemplated. Pepsi almost falls into the same class as paper and cleaning products, as most ethnic stores, or alternates, like Trader Joe's just don't carry the stuff. And Leo without his pepsi in the morning is as bad as me without italian roast. Some things are not negotiable.

As for the rest of my shopping, there was the 99 Ranch Market (huge Asian store in Chino Hills - actually Big Box Asian!) for cauliflower (39 cents a lb), peppers (red, green, orange and yellow for 59 cents a lb), a huge bunch of chives (89 cents), a fresh bunch of mint, onions (39 cents a lb), fresh taiwanese noodles, fresh greenlip mussels (2.99 a pound - saw them for 4.99 at Ralphs, where they are usually about half of them dead), a whole rainbow trout - fresh as could be (2.99 a pound) and frozen packages of pork, leek and chicken dim sum dumplings for $1.50 per package on sale. We also got some whole crabs for 2.99 a pound, whose leftovers went into some really smashing crabcakes on Tuesday. Oh, I do love the 99 Ranch Market, so happy I get to go again today. It's our "date" these days, usually complete with lunch in their chinese cafeteria. So scrumptious.

I also shopped at Trader Joes, and Maxi Foods this week - fresh tomatoes, glorious garlic, mild radishes at MF's and the usual suspects at TJ's - wine, bread, italian roast coffee and a free-range chicken that gave its all last night as a roaster (with potatoes roasted in some very stingily measured out saved duck fat ala Nigella, whose book "How to Eat" I am devouring, pun intended), and the leftovers of which are now bubbling gently in my huge stockpot with all the other yummy bones I had stashed waiting to make broth. It's been so darn hot that I haven't wanted to do the deed, but seriously, the freezer is starting to look like a CSI episode so I am just biting the bullet and hoping to be finished before the temps go up too much.

Hopefully the weather will turn soon, I really want to cook some hearty cassoulet or other equally cold northern european sort of fare. Soon.

Roast Pork Tamales

This painting is by Carmen Lopez Garza, and is called Tamalada. It is in the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and I really love it. I did a graphic artsy picture of my own tamales, which I liked very much, in "Paint," but I can't figure out (yet) how to change the size so that it will work to put into this posting. I will add my own illustration when I figure out whatever the trick is.

When I went to Maxi Foods for a pork roast a couple of nights ago (to make delicious tacos), I also bought a bag of mixed up masa, thinking I would pat out some tortillas, too, because that's how crazy I am. Never mind it was almost a hundred degrees and everything else cooked outside.

So, here I am today with this pork roast I want to use up (I try to be very virtuous about leftovers, altho it doesn't always work out just right), and a bag of masa in the fridge. A rummage in the pantry brought out a bag of dried corn husks, also from a Maxi foods forage. So, of course, the obvious thing to do is drop everything and make tamales!

They're awfully easy to make and around here they get gobbled up pretty quickly.

Pork Tamales

2-3 cups of left over roast pork, chopped into small bits, or shredded
1 large onion
2 cloves garlic
2 juicy roma tomatoes
prepared masa
corn husks
white wine vinegar

First soak the corn husks in warm water until pliable. Fry the onions, and tomatoes and then the garlic in a bit of olive oil until nice and tender. Add a dab of vinegar, not too much, just a taste. Season with salt and pepper (please, no iodized salt, ever) and add to the pork.

In a large steamer put a couple of inches of water, 2 or 3 bay leaves, about 10 peppercorns and some salt. Bring it to a boil and turn off until the tamales are ready.

Take the soaked husks and lay them out on a work surface about 3 at a time. Take one of the longest husks and strip pieces off it that are about 1/4" thick; you will use these to tie the tamales up.

Grab up a bit of dough - about a quarter cup (the secret to tamales, like eggrolls, is to not overstuff), and smear it onto the middle of the husk, leaving plenty of room around all the edges.

Add a bit of the pork mixture (about a third as much as the dough), then fold like an eggroll. Try to roll them somewhat tightly, but they don't have to be perfect by any means. Once everything is rolled up take a strip of the husk and tie it around the middle to secure the whole thing while it is cooking. Place in pan and repeat until all the dough, meat, husks are used up.

Turn the steamer back on and place the tamales in the basket. Cook for about 45 minutes and serve with beans, rice, salad and salsa, and some cotija cheese if you are lucky enough to have some!

Maxi Foods Grocery Store (Hispanic)
4050 University AveRiverside, CA 92501
(951) 328-9252‎maxifoods.com

Roasted Tomatoes All Winter Long & Quest Explained

Last weekend I wrote that I would be going to Maxi Foods, which is the Hispanic store down the street, which I love, love, love. The produce is marvelous and follows what Leo and I call "the inverse rule of quality," which means that the lower the price of produce, the higher the quality, and vice versa, which is mostly what you will find in what I call the "big box" stores - Von's, Ralph's, Albertsons, Stater Brothers, and whatever else they are called in all the other parts of the country.

In my humble opinion, the produce, as a rule, in those stores is really awful. And expensive. Like a gold-digging woman (or man, I am a feminist) - all looks, no soul. And that is part of why I am on a quest to stay out of the big box stores. The other part is that I want to spend my grocery dollars in my local economy. I don't want to ship my money away from home by buying corporate groceries. And lastly, in addition to the quality and greenness issues, I want to explore as many other cultures of the world as possible. I call it teaching my children about the world through food, which will be a constant theme of moi blog to come.

But back to lovely, roasted, stored away in the freezer in darling little bags, tomatoes. I did two batches, two nights in a row. It is way too hot here to do during the day. To roast them I take the best, ripest ones I can find (fifty-nine cents a pound, take THAT, Ralph's or Von's, with your $1.50 a pound "sale" of ripened in the warehouse tennis balls). I also bought about 15 heads of garlic to roast at the same time.

To roast the tomatoes just cut them in half, and fill up a big roasting pan, or cookie sheets if you have the kinds that have sides (cut sides up). Cut a little off the tops of the heads of garlic and nestle them in here and there among the tomatoes. Now drizzle some good olive oil over everything. Finish with some sea salt and fresh ground pepper before popping in a hot oven (around 400) for about an hour. Some people sprinkle a little sugar, too, but I don't like the extra sweetness.

Let them cook an hour and then off the oven. Let them sit in the closed oven for the rest of the night. In the morning, slip the skins off over the pan (you want to save the juices and the skins) and store them in quart-size freezer bags. Store all the garlics in their own bag, too. Lastly, pour all the wonderful juices and the skins into another bag. Freeze everything. When it is winter and the sale tomatoes at the BB stores are $3 a pound, smile very smugly and take out a package of stored summer. Use in soups, or on pizzas, or in casseroles, or in roasted tomato and roasted garlic dip. Bask in the gorgeousness of roasted garlic which you can add to sauces, soups, vegetable dishes and more. Use the bag of juice and skins to flavor homemade broth that you will strain anyway. Could anything be simpler? Why do people thinking cooking is difficult? More on my theory about that on another post.

Sweet, Sweet Honeydew & shredded pork tacos

The market was kind today - the melons were warm and sweet and you could smell an actual fragrance - mmmm- a flowery bliss, waiting to be sliced and eaten, dripping lusciousness.

Also, pork shoulder that was marinated in mexican marinade (name to come in a later post, I already tossed the bottle and need to get a new one at the market - and can't remember the name!) and orange juice, then roasted in the bbq for 4 hours on low heat, then shredded and served with salsa, lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, warm corn tortillas, and sour cream........so yummy, we ate until stuffed, which is a good thing when you are eating fruits, veggies, corn torts and roasted meats...........

Take a pork shoulder and soak it in a marinade of orange juice, olive oil, garlic, cumin, black pepper, and coriander seed for at least four hours, hopefully up to 24. Then roast it on the bbq, in a foil pan. Blast it as hot as you can get it for an hour, then lower the temp as low as you can get it for another three hours. Let it sit another half hour and then shred it or slice it fine and serve with condimenti - don't forget beautiful chopped ripe tomatoes and a nice salsa from the mexican store. Eat until completely stuffed and then watch Dancing with the Stars. Argue about whose butt is cutest. My vote is for Maks.

Tortilla!

In this family it is hard to cook something that everyone will eat. One won't like this, the other won't like that, you know how that works. But one thing we can all agree on is tortilla. Not the Mexican taco kind of tortilla, but the real Spanish tortilla that you can find in Tapas bars, and according to Stephanie, who has won my heart forever by pronouncing my tortilla authentic, all over Spain.

Tortillas are made by sauteeing onions and garlic in olive oil, adding thinly sliced russet potatoes and seasonings and covering with beaten eggs. This all gets cooked through and served with a green salad and some really good bread for a most satisfying dinner (and breakfast with the leftovers!).

To make my tortilla even more delicious I found some amazing Chorizo Espanol (Especialidad de Espana from Campofrio at Fresh and Easy market this week - great price! 5.3 ounces for $1 - it is thin-sliced, and not heavy or greasy like the local chorizo we find around Riverside and California) to add to my tortilla, which gave the dish a little meat, without having an actual meat dish for dinner, which is nice at least once a week or so.

When I first started making tortilla early this year I went for the most authentic preparation I could find through research, which entailed a lot of sauteeing in lots of oil, and worst of all, the scary flipping to get the top of the tortilla on the bottom, about two-thirds of the way through. It is not for the weak of heart, I can tell you that, to make an authentic tortilla, plus it has an awful lot of (albeit delicious) oil per serving made this way.

So, in the interest of lightening the work load and the calorie load I've come up with some revisions to my earlier versions. After Alex and I ate tortilla at Sevilla Restaurant here in Riverside (mmmmmmmm!) I realized that it was perfectly acceptable to boil the potato slices before making the tortilla instead of cooking them in all that oil. You just have to be mindful not to forget them and let them cook to a mush.

My recipes do not really include specific amounts, because most of what I cook never really does, but the method works just fine, I promise, and you mustn't be afraid to try it because tortilla is one of the nicest things you can do for yourself.

To make the tortilla scrub and slice about 6-9 russet potatoes into pretty thin slices. You want enough to almost fill a skillet that can go from the stove to the oven. Use a skillet that is big enough to make enough tortilla for however many people you want to feed.

Put the potato slices with some kosher or sea salt (Please, never, ever, under pain of utter vileness, use the salt with the little girl on the box!)into a big pan and cover with cold water. Bring it to a boil and cook until the potatoes are just tender - like al dente would be for pasta.

While the potatoes cook, slice up about one large onion per 8 potatoes, and some garlic, as much as you like - or leave it out if you want. This is a family by family issue! Saute those in your wide skillet in some olive oil. I always add the onions first and cook them a minute before adding the oil, it seems to cut down on all the nasty splatters that I hate to clean.

When the potatoes are ready drain them - don't go crazy with getting all the water out, just tip as much water out of the pan as you can. No point in getting a colander dirty for just the one thing. Now add the potatoes in with the onions and add a little more olive oil (the original recipe would use more than a cup of olive oil, so you are being very virtuous even is you add another quarter cup here), and of course, a bit of salt and fresh ground pepper.

Now gently stir all the onions and potatoes around so that the onions are nicely distributed through the potatoes. Now you can add in the slices of one package of the wonderful Spanish Chorizo. Tuck them in here and there; one package is really just about right for a 14" skillet-full.

Now, take about 8 eggs (Fresh and Easy has BY FAR the best price on good brown cage free eggs at $2.29 a dozen) and beat them in a bowl with a splash of milk, some salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Sometimes I will add a few splashes of tobasco to this - it is up to you, but we like it. You will need enough eggs to just cover the potatoes. If you pour them in and you don't have enough, no worries, just beat up a few more until you have enough.

Now, turn the heat back on under your skillet - to about medium - and cook the tortilla for about 10 minutes while you pre-heat your oven to about 375 degrees (F).

After 10 minutes put the pan in the over and let it cook until nice and set on the top, which will be about a half an hour. While the tortilla finishes cooking you can tidy up the kitchen, set the table, make a salad and slice some bread and drink a glass of nice wine.

When you take out the tortilla, let it set and rest about five minutes, like you would a roast or a chicken, then cut it up in wedges and enjoy! In Spain it is traditionally served with a spoonful of mayonnaise on top, and that is good, too, but I don't think it is a very American sort of taste.

Tortilla is also very portable, so you can take some for your lunch and you will feel very pampered and loved, which is to me, the most important thing of all.

Cafe Sevilla of Riverside - ask to sit in Aricelia's station!
www.cafesevilla.com

3252 Mission Inn Ave
Riverside, CA 92507
(951) 778-0611

Sunday

What I'm wishing for, with all my heart, is some cold weather!!!!!

I live for Sundays, and I get bonus points on this one because it is – finally - overcast and cool. And when it is cool, I bake; therefore, I am. Today is going to be the oatmeal raisin cookies from Lobstersquad, which is my favorite thing in the whole entire world to read right now.

Other great things about Sundays include clean sheets, not having to drive multiple times to multiple schools, no mail and the hundreds of wonderful possibilities for Sunday Dinner. Roasted Chicken? Maybe, that is always a favorite. Caulifredo? Which is angel hair pasta with a sauce of cream and mashed cauliflower, another definite maybe, plus Gus asked for it yesterday. Or maybe a big pot of tortilla soup or albondigas? It looks like it is going to be under 85 degrees today, and by Riverside September standards that is positively artic, so, yes, maybe soup.

Whatever else I do, I am going to Maxi foods down the street and I’m going to buy as many ripe juicy Roma tomatoes (at 50 cents a pound!) as I can carry home and I’m going to roast them in my oven to put away in my freezer for the winter. Ditto with all the red, orange, yellow and green bell peppers I got for 59 cents a pound when Leo, Gus, Grace and I went to the 99 Ranch Market in Chino Hills yesterday (where I also bought perfect, absolutely blemish less cauliflower for 39 cents a pound!).

Then I’m going to Borders to buy a Laurie Colwin book, and maybe Nigella’s “How to Eat.” Ximena from Lobstersquad says these are musts, and I’m going to take her word on it.

Never mind that my classes start on Wednesday, and I probably will fall behind right off the bat because Fall is finally peeking around the corner and that will make me want to cocoon, read and cook even more than I already do. Which is a lot.