garnishes
Mmm… posole
I’ve had a batch of posole in the freezer for a long time and decided to go ahead and thaw it out today. The long, cold nap didn’t hurt it a bit. Cabbage is one of the traditional garnishes for this hearty soup so I tried a bit of my hot slaw on it this time. It was so good I dumped a bigger helping into the bowl before I finished it. There is a fresh habanero pepper in the mix and I could tell it was in there, the flavor came through over the jalapenos.
Transformer Prime (and a sammich)!
I’ve been playing around with a new Android tablet, the ASUS Transformer Prime, and it’s taking a toll on this old fogey windows user. I’m starting to make some headway but it’s a slog.
This thing is a tablet computer, similar in size to an iPad from Apple. I have the docking station/keyboard accessory for it. Together the two items make a credible notebook computer. There is a battery in the dock that adds to the battery in the pad itself and together they will run all day without needing a recharge. I’ve been adding apps from the Android Market (now named Google Play) but so far I’ve had the most fun with the Google Navigate app. It came standard on the pad from ASUS. There is a GPS module in the pad that doesn’t work very well, something about the metal case ruining the reception from the satellites. ASUS is shipping a “fix” for that – a GPS antenna that fits into the docking port. A really half assed solution.
I went ahead and ordered a bluetooth GPS receiver and have it paired with the pad. Eerie how well the thing places you on the Google map as you are driving along. I have an app called Copilot that works about like the Google Nav app but it uses downloaded maps and works without a data connection. 
My pad is WiFi only but my Verizon MiFi hotspot works great and keeps me connected pretty much wherever I go. It’s a 4G LTE unit that falls back to 3G if there isn’t an LTE enabled cell tower close enough. I like the free Google Nav app better than Copilot because the maps from Google are prettier but this is based only on short jaunts we took while testing it all out.
I wonder if I can pair the Bluetooth receiver with my Windows notebook and run Google Nav on it? Probably can, but this ASUS pad has a lot more horsepower than the notebook. Something for later. LOL Do any of you have any GPS stories or tips? We are new at this stuff!
Chicken Posole
I said I would make posole again, this time with chicken, and did today. I was thinking white posole going into it but I talked myself into going two ways – one with green chilies and another with red ones. I can’t pick a favorite, both are very good.
Start the day before, soak the dried hominy overnight in water, then put it on to boil for a couple of hours. Plop a whole chicken into a stew pot and cook it while the posole is going. I added carrots and celery and onions along with several whole cloves of garlic to the stew pot. Bone the cooked carcass and set the meat aside, skim the fat from the stock and pour the stock into the hominy pot after straining out the solids. You can’t overcook the hominy unless you boil it dry. Break up the chicken with a fork and add it in along with two teaspoons of oregano.
Here is where you decide which way to go. I flipped a coin and it came up heads and tails. Dividing the recipe into two pots allowed me to have it both ways. (I’m sure there are more than two ways!) I started some dried chilies simmering in a sauce pan for the red posole, and opened a can of green chilies to add to the other. Each version got an onion sliced into it, the white version got the green chilies and a healthy dose of freshly ground cumin, the simmered chili pods were pureed with a slug of lime juice and a few garlic cloves and added to the other.
There are a bunch of traditional garnishes for these dishes, today I had cheese, jalapenos, and nachos for the red, and cabbage, jalapenos, and nachos for the white. Thinly sliced radishes are common, as are avocados and fresh chilies, cilantro for those that use it.
Enjoy!
Leftover chili?
There’s an app for that!
Supper
Mmm…noodles
I don’t know what it is about ramen noodles that I like so much. I think it may be because they are akin to a blank sheet of paper in that they are pure potential. You are presented with an opportunity, a blank slate, an empty canvas. There are so many things you can do with a plain bowl of noodles and in being known for my photos more so than my cooking talents there is an additional appeal for me.
Just about any kind of meat and vegetable will work in these staple dishes. This latest one has shrimp, fried pork, and some of that fake crab meat. I was determined to use up a few dried shiitake mushrooms I’ve has on the shelf for a good long time so I boiled some of them up with a few dried red peppers. I used the broth from this as a base for the soup instead of chicken broth. I thought about adding some cabbage sliced thin or some florets from a stalk of broccoli but decided to just keep it simple so that I could eat it in one sitting. Mrs J was sure to refuse anything with red peppers so obviously featured.
The brand of noodles I used today comes with a couple of additional packets-one was dried veggies and herbs of some sort which I included and the other was a hot chili seasoning that I left out. More often I put it in.
They don’t have to be soup! Drain the water and use them in a stir fry! Yum!
Here are some examples from today’s dish and others previous. Enjoy!
D’oh!
Hard to describe these particular moments. You know, the times when it seems a lightning bolt has struck, and suddenly you are not sure if you are quite as smart and aware and efficient as your Momma always told you you were.
Many of the meals I prepare share a common ingredient: Green onions. More than a garnish, although they are a superb garnish. The only problem with them is that they are so perishable! I try to keep a few bunches in the fridge but nearly every time I go to them I have to peel away an outer leaf because it’s turning brown, or worse, into green gooey slime. The other day I was passing some time reading comments to a recipe on line and someone mentioned offhandedly that they kept their green onions in the freezer, already chopped.
D’oh!
chopped and spread on a tray for freezing
Will they be as good as fresh? Doubt it for strictly “garnish”, but mixed in with soups or omelets or frittatas they should be just fine.
What's 4 Dinner Solutions 