Fruit + Meat = Good?

This post is about our second attempt at Tacos al Pastor which is essentially pork and pineapple on corn tortillas.  We chose to use this recipe that we found highly rated on Epicurious both times. The first time we cooked it, the flavors were great but we followed the marination schedule to the letter and wound up with very mushy meat.  Very mushy.  We knew that pineapple has an enzyme that can tenderize meat, but 4 hours is just way too long to marinate, even with 1/2 inch thick pork.  Chris and Monica were troopers for eating it at all.

So the second time, we did a bit of research and determined that the enzyme is bromelain and tenderizes meat via a process called "forking".  This enzyme is heat-labile and loses its ability to fork/tenderize meat above 65C, so fresh pineapple does it, but canned and pasteurized pineapple juice does not.  We added the marinade an hour before dinner rather then the four hours the first time we tried it and figured that we were safe.  Wrong again!  The combination of too-thinly-cut meat and the full hour produced mushy meat, albeit less mushy than the first attempt.

But the flavors keep calling us back.  The next time, we will take the advice of this blogger who recommends holding the crushed pineapple and juice back until 30 minutes until the meat hits the grill.

Additionally, the first time we made this dish, we didn't have a tortilla press so that process took forever.  Our guests for the first round bought us a press for a house warming gift for "the next time", so that was a big improvement.  We just added a little less than a cup of water to a cup of masa harina or nixtamalized corn flour and 1/8 tsp of baking soda.  I suppose that the baking powder is there to lighten the dough with CO2 produced through an acid-base reaction, but what's the acid?  I've seen many other recipes that do not call for a leavening agent and your thoughts on this issue are welcome.

Jim and Peta

Here's a picture of the nixtamalization and masa production process, 'cause food science is cool.

Weed Eaters

Last night, we all became a family of weed eaters, even CJ.  Before you get all, "I'm calling Child Protective Services on these terrible parents" we are talking about stinging nettles.  They are the things that you brush against while walking through tall grass and weeds -- wearing shorts.  "Ow, what the hell was that?" you might ask.  You re-trace your steps and you find this plant below and recognize it as the Stinging Nettle -- the Taser of the garden.

Now, in our garden it's pretty much a rule that most things are either killed and eaten or just killed.  Stinging nettles were in the latter camp until the other day.  We rediscovered the blog Hunter Angler Gardner Cook after learning that our friend Page had gone boar hunting with the blogger.  On it, we found a recipe for Pesto d'Urtica or Nettle Pesto and decided to try it for ourselves.

After blanching the nettles while wearing rubber kitchen gloves, Peta shocked them in ice water to stop the cooking process.  We then followed the "usual" recipe for regular basil pesto and added appropriate amounts of olive oil, garlic, black pepper and parmesan cheese into the Cuisinart but we used walnuts rather than pine nuts (since we didn't know if it would be any good, we didn't want to use the more expensive nuts). 

What??  Cuisinart and not the traditional mortar and pestle?  Sacrilege!  Yes, we know that the end product isn't the same, but we're busy people these days!  As we tasted the pesto along the way, Peta realized that the pesto would benefit from a bit of brightness so we added a bit of lemon juice.  That did it.

We added this pesto to angel hair pasta and a few sautéed shrimp and had a great laugh watching our 14 month old slurp up the capelli d'angelo.  The pasta was too thick for this sauce but that's all we have on hand, so we added so more oil olive for increased "slurpability".

Jim and Peta

La Noche de Tapas en Arroyo Grande

We held a tapas dinner party over the weekend and wanted to do a couple of the same recipes that we had done at a similar party we held in Marin.  Unfortunately, we came here to FoodFixers ourselves to find the recipes and realized that we had not blogged about them.  It's always a bit of a pain to re-find the exact recipe that was such a success the last time you cooked it.  So, if nothing else, we're going to use this post as a recipe repository.

Albondigas Con Salsa de Almendras y Azafran

We may do a different albóndigas the next time even though this one kicks so much ass.  With this recipe you end up blowing through a lot of saffron and almonds, both expensive items, and the result is not the same as that you'd get in a restaurant, which always seem to be more tomato-based.  Perhaps the next time we'll go for that flavor.  

Squid Stuffed with Pork and Pistachios

This recipe comes from a book given to us by Peta's brother.  It's an interesting Middle Eastern cook book that is organized by ingredients.  This one we found under pistachios but the main ingredients are those right in the recipe title.  But trust us, even though it may sound weird, the flavors are great and Peta whips up a Meyer lemon aioli that really complements the dish.  

The last time we made the dish though, we had to put toothpicks in the tops of the tubes to keep the stuffing from bursting out.  However, in the interim of our move, we saw a show hosted by our man, Alton Brown.  He suggested that the squid tubes be turned inside out to allow for a sort of self closing since the outside skin tends to curl outward.  That trick worked a treat.  Also, I would recommend buying the cleaned squid tubes rather than having to do as much cleaning/dissection as Jim did.

While all of this cooking was going on, Peta managed to "whip up" a Walnut Cake.  Jim thought that it was going "a bridge too far", but it was excellent.  Just don't skim on the whipped cream since it can be a little dry.

Our guests brought a variety of excellent food, but I'll let them blog about it if they want to!

On to the next meal...

Jim and Peta