18 April 2023 Tuesday

After an intense week of work followed by an intense week of play, I have returned. Where was I? Hawaii. It was lovely, not much to write about regarding food, because I was mostly eating out, and as you know this isn´t about restaurants and foods I eat, it´s the whole cooking thing you know that. I did actually cook on the worst range I have ever worked on. It was a rip-off of a high end range Wolf, but it didn´t have the logo on it. It just said Wolf. It couldn´t have been that one right? It was an induction range. After ¨unlocking¨ it so that I could push the buttons and adjust the heat, I put the pan with the uncooked bacon on medium. It didn´t glow red, the bacon didn´t sizzle even after ten minutes of sitting there. So I put it on full blast. After five minutes I saw the bacon weeping fat, but not because it was cooking. It was just coming to room temperature. Indeed, I was able to press my hand at the bottom of the pan and it was barely warm. The next day, I made Poor Knights of Windsor for breakfast. Also known as Lost Bread,(Pan Perdu), or French Toast. Basically the same thing happened, except this time it suddenly got very hot all the sudden, out of nowhere. Maybe it was saving up from the day before. It left one half of several pieces of the toast with a savage, black scar on them.

The loaf of bread was procured from Foodland, the Hawaii version of a Safeway minus ten hell hole. Imagine ice-chipped packages of purple, freezer-burned, chicken drumsticks, which looked like they´d been ripped off violently while the bird while was still alive. BTW, maybe you know this (who are you?), but Hawaii is awash in chickens, live, wild ones. They are beautiful.

It´s artichoke time at Rancho Canipto. I don´t know what I mean by that, but artichokes are in. It´s time, I´m in my forties, I can handle a whole raw artichoke now. I like the steamed leaves, dipped in a spicy sauce. Sure I like artichoke dip with spinach and cheese, or dazzling on a sausage pizza. Of course I love them fritto misto, and who doesn´t love eating them right out of the jar, swaddled in olive oil maybe dripping off a crisp Saltine? But what about stuffing them with stuffing? Setting a poached egg gently on a steamed bottom with a little Roasted Red Pepper Rouille? Tossing them recklessly with fettuccine, walnuts and mint?

I recently read an interesting Greek recipe for a braised beef stew of sorts with artichoke hearts and pine nuts. Sounds good. Have you ever had it? (who are you?) OK, a few more. Artichoke salad with prosciutto, broad beans, arugula, and lemon vinaigrette. Artichokes chopped into creamy mashed potatoes. I once made a salad of artichokes, grapefruit, and thinly sliced purple onion.

OK, that´s enough on the artichoke. Enough.

I´m going to the Farmer´s Market tomorrow after work, I´ll see what´s going on.