Sweet potatoes, I’ve been told, are chock full of nutrients. Plus, they taste good (I wasn’t told that — I already knew that). And thus when I saw that Rick Bayless had a recipe for “Sweet potato salad with caramelized onions, watercress, and guajillo chile dressing” in Mexican Everyday, I figured I might as well try it out. And that’s exactly what I did.
Pics of this latest culinary adventure after the jump…
My friend Guy recently turned the big 4-0, and in honor of his birthday, we all threw him quite the fête. This involved cocktails and nibbles, two of my favorite things. So what to make? The answer was pretty easy: Ina Garten’s Tuscan Mashed Chickpeas. This dip, which my friend Andrea initially made for me a month prior, won me over within the first half-bite. But like I said, Andrea had made it for me, and she has a way with cooking (she does it GOOD). Would I be able to replicate her success? And would the party-goers enjoy it?
Results after the jump…
Recently my friend Lindsey brought some sensational whipped garlic dips to a BBQ, which I promptly became obsessed with. While I may have suffered from extreme garlic breath for the following 72 hours, it was worth it for each bite of tangy, garlicky goodness. Apparently Lindsey found these dips at one of Los Angeles’s many farmers’ markets, and for a moment I contemplated tracking down the vendor in person and purchasing my own supply of the vampire-offending stuff. However, as is often the case, I couldn’t help but wonder if I, Ben Mandelker, could recreate the dips in the comfort of my own kitchen.
After some quick Googling on the topic of whipped garlic, I came to discover that this concoction was most likely toum, a Lebanese garlic sauce that has been met with nothing but raves from home cooks across the interwebs. The process looked simple enough, and soon I had selected a recipe that I would hopefully adopt as my own.
Pics and results after the jump…
It’s been all of about thirty-five seconds since I posted an Adventures in Domesticity based off of Rick Bayless’s Mexican Everyday, and that just seems shocking. And so I am back with yet another recipe to tackle. This time it’s “Red Chile Enchiladas with Chicken and Melted Cheese.”
I selected this dish mainly because a) I had chicken in my freezer, b) it’s big and can stretch over several meals, and c) despite its appearance, it’s not all that unhealthy. Besides, with Cinco De Mayo right around the corner, why not whip up a batch of enchiladas? It’s only prudent.
After the jump, check out my handiwork (as well as a few choice photos of my dirty stovetop)… Continue reading
It’s been a few days since I last posted anything pertaining to Rick Bayless’s Mexican Everyday, and that simply won’t do. Thus, here I am again with yet another Adventure in Domesticity based off a recipe from this handy dandy cookbook. This latest experiment came from a sudden desire to have grilled shrimp for lunch. Bayless recommends using his garlic lime marinade for such an occasion, and who am I to resist?
After the jump, a look at my attempt to grill shrimp. Plus, a jicama salad with watercress, romaine, and lime-cilantro dressing…
Ever since I bought Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking in 2011, I’ve been babbling to whomever would listen (usually no one) about how similar Indian and Mexican cuisines are. Both use large amounts of tomatoes, cilantros, onions, chiles, garlic, and cumin. And yet, the flavors could not be more divergent. It makes sense, really: the countries are 9,100 miles apart. There’s no good reason for them to have any similarities.
A perfect example of how the same ingredients, with just a few tweaks, can yield such massively different flavors is Mexican pico de gallo and Indian cachumber (or kachumber). The former is considered a salsa, the latter a relish. Each have seven ingredients total, but by simply swapping out three simple items, we can go from Mexico to India and vice versa. (Listen, maybe if you were stoned, you’d find this as cool as I do).
After the jump, check out pics of me making both condiments (one from a Jaffrey recipe and one from a Rick Bayless recipe)…
Well, ladies and gentlemen, here I am with my fourth Rick Bayless recipe from his book, Mexican Everyday. I suppose one of the advantages of an “everyday” cookbook is that you can truly cook from it everyday without it being a “thing.” That’s why I was more than happy to take on this double-recipe: Swiss chard tacos with caramelized onions and feta as well as a chipotle salsa ditty on the side.
Results after the jump! Continue reading
The journey through Mexican Everyday continues. Yes, I am here with my third Adventure in Domesticity in about a week’s time, and I’m continuing my journey through Rick Bayless’s aforementioned cookbook. For those keeping track at home, the results have been largely positive, save for the Pollo Pulquero dish which I evidently screwed up (and erroneously blamed on the recipe). Nevertheless, even as a miss, the Pollo Pulquero was still pretty good, and let’s not even talk about the Avocado and Mango salad that I made earlier this week. I whipped it up again today with leftover ingredients from the first go around (ie. the bacon, pepitas, dressing, etc), and I swear, it’s a big time winner.
Nevertheless, after having sampled Mexican Everyday’s chicken and salad recipes, I was eager to move on to seafood. My motivations were twofold. Or perhaps threefold. Many folds were had. First, I wanted to make a shrimp dish because, well, I love shrimp. Second, shrimp is a healthy option. Third, I had just bought a deveiner that I was eager to test out. And thus I recruited my dear friend Sly to take pictures of me as I tackled both this latest Bayless recipe as well as my new kitchen gadget.
Pics after the jump. Just a warning, what you are about to see includes graphic images of both deveined shrimp and my messy kitchen.
I recently purchased Mexican Everyday by Rick Bayless, which promised a small tome of easy, healthy, and flavorful recipes. My first outing was a bit of a misfire with a decent but not amazing slow-cooked chicken and tomatillo stew. Surely I could do better.
For my second attempt at Mexican Everyday, I decided to take on the very first recipe that caught my attention: Avocado-Mango Salad with Fresh (or Blue) Cheese, Bacon, and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds. Not the shortest of names, but intriguing nonetheless.
Would my second attempt at a Rick Bayless recipe bring vindication? Or was I doomed to culinary failure yet again? Answers after the jump…
For about nine months I’ve been toying with the idea of finally buying a Mexican cookbook. It had seemed like a glaring omission in my ever growing collection, which at this point includes Jamaican, Irish, Swedish, and even Trinidadian cuisines. Heck, I even have a hilarious cookbook titled “A Passion for Mushrooms,” which I may have purchased at a library sale based on the name alone. The point is this: I needed a Mexican cookbook, and who better to turn to than Rick Bayless, the preeminent American master of Mexican cuisine?
I originally was going to snatch up Bayless’s seminal book, Authentic Mexican, but then after reading Serious Eats rave about his simpler Mexican Everyday, I had a change of heart. Turns out Mexican Everyday had been penned with healthy eating in mind, and as some of you may know, that’s been my mission for 2013. And so while I’m not often a fan of the “fast and easy” cookbooks, I decided to go this route anyway (after all, Madhur Jaffrey’s Quick & Easy Indian Cooking rocks my world, and that’s of the same ilk).
For my first attempt at a recipe from Mexican Everyday, I opted for Pollo Pulquero, or “Slow-Cooked Chicken with Tomatillos, Potatoes, Jalapeños and Fresh Herbs.” It’s a very simple dish requiring only a handful of ingredients, and according to various other bloggers across the interwebs, it’s an out-of-the-park winner. Naturally, I was intrigued. Would this recipe live up to the hype? And would Pollo Pulquero prove to finally be the first dish to come out of my slow cooker that’s truly amazing? Answers after the jump…
