Muffuletta Pasta Salad

This is another pasta salad I like to make that's based on a classic sandwich, in this case New Orleans' muffuletta. It's most well-known for its size - it's generally served in quarters - and its olive salad, consisting of green and black olives, olive oil, giardiniera, and peperoncini. You can often find the olive salad premade in grocery stores in the olives & pickles section, or look for it online. 

Traditionally muffulettas include mortadella. I don't like it, so I don't use it. Sometimes I'll add ham instead. 

Ingredients: 

• 12 oz short pasta such as macaroni or bowtie pasta
• 8 oz salami, diced
• 8 oz turkey, diced
• 8 oz ham, diced (optional)
• 8 oz provolone, diced
• 8 oz mozzarella, diced or shredded
• 2/3 cup olive salad, premade. 
• 1/2 cup red wine vinaigrette

Directions: 

1. Cook pasta as directed and drain, then refrigerate. 
2. Once pasta is cool, mix in all remaining ingredients until fully combined. The longer it sits, the better it gets! 

Notes: 

1. If you want to try your hand at making your own olive salad, just look for "Olive salad" or "Muffuletta olive salad" recipes online. 
2. If you don't have olive salad and don't want to make it, use 2/3 cup sliced green and Kalamata olives + 2 tbsp olive oil + 2 cloves of garlic, minced. You could also throw in 1/4 cup each of shredded carrots and finely diced celery. 

Bacon Cheeseburger Pasta Salad

When you want a bacon cheeseburger, but it's too hot to cook outside OR inside. It tastes exactly like a bacon cheeseburger if you add all the optional ingredients, right down to the sesame seed bun.

Pasta salad ingredients: 

• 16 oz short pasta, such as macaroni, rotini, or ditalini
• 16 oz ground beef or ground turkey
• 1/2 red onion
• 8 oz bacon, cooked and crumbled, or 2.5 oz package precooked and crumbled bacon
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 cup finely diced dill pickle (about 1 large pickle)
• 8 oz (2 cups) diced or shredded Cheddar or American cheese
• Shredded lettuce (optional)
• Croutons (optional)
• Yellow mustard (optional)
• Sesame seeds (optional)

Dressing ingredients: 

• 1 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp dill pickle juice (optional)

Note: You could also substitute store-bought burger sauce or Thousand Island dressing. 

Directions: 

1. Cook the pasta as directed, then for 1 minute longer. Drain and rinse, then refrigerate until chilled. 
2. Season the ground beef or turkey as desired and cook until completely done and temperature reaches 165F (or your preference). Drain and rinse. 
3. Slice or dice the red onion according to your preference. Use raw, or saute over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes or until slightly translucent. Note: if you prefer cooked onions on your burger, you could cook the onion at the same time as the meat - just add the onion when the meat is close to being done. 
4. Add the cooked ground meat, the red onion, the cooked bacon, the cherry tomatoes, the dill pickle, and the cheese into the pasta. 
5. Combine all dressing ingredients and combine thoroughly. Add the dressing to the container of pasta salad and combine thoroughly. 
6. To serve, serve in bowls. If desired, top with shredded lettuce, croutons, additional ketchup or mayonnaise, and/or mustard. 

Note: Most of the time when I make this, I cook burger patties and then dice them in to around 1/2" dice. While not every bite will have burger, the ones that do will really taste like a burger. 

Superbowl LIX - The Threepeat(?)

Even though it's just the three of us, I still cook, and I still try to honor the teams playing. So here's my menu for Superbowl 59 in New Orleans, LA. I am not rooting for either team; rather, I'm hoping for: 

• No serious injuries
• Good commercials
• A good non-blowout game
• A minimum of, well, "questionable calls." 

Anyway, here's the menu. 

Kansas City Chiefs: 

• Pulled pork with Kansas City barbecue sauce. Sauce is from a jar (KC Masterpiece Original Kansas City style). Did I mention it's only the three of us? 
• Travis Kelce's Burnt Ends Mac & Cheese. Store-boughten. 

Philadelphia Eagles: 

• Philly cheesesteak sliders. *Three* choices this year: regular store sliced provolone; aged provolone; and authentic Cheez Whiz from the jar. 
• Aside: This year I also learned that apparently grilled or fried peppers are OK, and pickled hot or sweet peppers like banana peppers can be accepted, but nobody in Philly adds bell peppers of any color. The more you know. But I do have both hot and sweet jarred banana peppers. 

New Orleans (host site): 

• Muffuletta sliders. Olive salad from a jar, salami, ham, provolone, mozzarella. I know it traditionally has mortadella. Nope, no, huh-uh. 

Other: 

• Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce. This is a regular make for me and has been at every Superbowl I've hosted for at least a decade. The link I use keeps moving around but the recipe is consistent. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20446/amys-cilantro-cream-sauce/
• The Devil's Queso - Rotel ghost pepper diced tomatoes, Mrs. Renfro's ghost pepper salsa, Mexican Velveeta, and lean ground beef. 

Jambalaya Pasta Salad

I've had a hankering for my jambalaya for a couple weeks now, but it's too hot for something hot, so I decided to turn it into a chilled pasta salad. This makes a BIG batch, and not sure how well it will freeze, so you may want to cut it in half. Since jambalaya is generally a little spicier, I usually add a bit of hot sauce to mine - any Cajun/Louisiana-style hot sauce would be great on this. 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb elbow macaroni, farfalle, or other smallish pasta
• 12-16 oz smoked sausage, split lengthwise and then cut into 1/4" slices
• 12-16 andouille sausage, split lengthwise and then cut into 1/4" slices
• 8 oz finely diced ham
• 1-2 lb chicken, diced
• 2 red bell peppers, diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 2 green bell peppers, diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 2 small onions, diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 2-3 stalks celery, diced (1/4" - 1/2")

Dressing: 

• 2 cups combined of Greek yogurt, sour cream, and/or mayonnaise. I used 1 1/2 cups Greek yogurt and 1/2 cup sour cream the last couple of times I made it. 
• 3 Tbsp mustard. Use a spicy or Creole mustard if you can; I've been using Mike's Hot Honey Dijon. 
• 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning like Tony Chachere. If you want to control the sodium, there are tons of recipes for making your own. 
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Directions: 

1. Cook the pasta. Drain but don't rinse, then refrigerate until cold. 
2. In a large pan, and working in batches, brown the sliced sausage, 3-5 minutes per batch. Add the sausage to the pasta to chill. Add the diced ham as well. 

3. In the same pan, and working in batches, brown the chicken, 4-6 minutes per batch or until internal temperature reaches 165. Add the chicken to the pasta to chill. 

3. In the same pan, and working in batches, sauté the vegetables until crisp-tender, 2-3 minutes per batch. Add the vegetables to the pasta to chill. 

4. To make the dressing: Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl until completely combined. If it's too thick, add 1-2 Tbsp of water to the dressing.

5. Mix the dressing into the pasta salad mixture and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Esquites

This is one of my favorite summertime sides. In the West and Southwest, many of us are familiar with elotes, which generally consists of a whole cob of corn, grilled, then slathered in a mixture of mayonnaise, lime juice, garlic, cotija cheese, chili powder, and cilantro. Esquites is very similar, except that the corn is taken off the cob and it's served as a salad, relish, or side dish. Here is a more complete rundown of the two dishes and their differences. 

Ingredients: 

• 4 cobs of corn. If corn isn't in season, substitute 1 12-16oz bag of frozen corn (preferred) or 1 can of canned corn
• 1/2 cup Mexican crema or sour cream
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp chili powder or to taste
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 cup cotija cheese, finely diced or crumbled - if you can't find it, feta is a great substitute
• 1/2 cup, packed, cilantro, chopped

Directions: 

1. Prepare the corn. You can grill or broil it on the cob, but you should cook it until it's pretty charred and then cut the kernels off the cob. I prefer to cut the kernels off the cob first and then saute them in a ripping hot pan. Either way, once the corn is cooked and the kernels removed, place them in a medium bowl. 

2. Mix the crema or sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice, chili powder, and garlic powder together until smooth. Add the mixture to the bowl with the corn. 

3. Top with cotija cheese and cilantro. Serve immediately; can also be served chilled.

Tasting Snapdragon Spicy AF Super Spicy Noodle Soup

Today's tasting doesn't come off the Ramen Rater's lists; rather, I found this while at a regular irregular visit to my local-ish Cost Plus World Market. Snapdragon appears to be a Vietnamese company I'd never heard of. 

As the picture suggests, this is a cup of noodles; the serving size is only 63g. Inside the cup are 3 pouches: a sachet of dried vegetables, a sauce, and a mystery powder that, upon reviewing the ingredients, is cheese. Or, perhaps, "cheese", as the only cheese-like ingredient it contains is "artificial cheese flavor". 

I tried the first set of instructions, for hot water, using water that was nearly but not quite boiling. It did not soften the noodles sufficiently. I then followed the second set - sort of - by heating in the microwave (1100 watt) for 1 minute and then letting stand for 1 minute. The noodles were thin but chewy, and stayed that way over the 10 minutes or so it took me to eat them and write this up.   

There's not really any flavor to these at all - not even the generic "protein" that seems so prevalent. There's also not a ton of heat. There is a bit, and it has a nice linger, but the name is definitely a misnomer. I added some lime juice, sesame oil, and leftover chicken and it was OK enough to finish the cup. 

Nutritional details: 290 calories, 14g of fat, and 5g of protein. 1,230 mg of sodium. 

Verdict: OK. Not amazing, not terrible, just...OK. I'll finish them but won't buy them again. 

Taste: 4/10

Heat: 3/10

Kalua Pork

I was first introduced to this during my first trip to Hawai'i. There, a whole pig is cooked in an underground oven called an imu; you can read a VERY brief description of that process at https://www.paradisecove.com/build-an-imu/. 

Since my homeowner's association frowns on such things. I make mine in a slow cooker. It's very simple, and the smell of the pork cooking throughout the day is heavenly! 

Ingredients: 

• 1 pork shoulder, 3-5 lbs, boneless or bone-in, optionally cut into large chunks
• 1-2 cups water
• 1 Tbsp Hawaiian sea salt, if available, or kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp liquid smoke

Directions: 

1. Place the pork in the slow cooker. Add water, salt, and liquid smoke. 
2. Cook on LOW for 8-12 hours or until very tender. I generally try to get mine as close to 200F as I can. 
3. Turn heat off and let cool until it can be handled by hand. 
4. Shred pork, removing any major fatty chunks and bones.

Serve with/over rice or shredded cabbage. 

Mulligatawny Soup

This is a new recipe to me. A colleague shared it recently and it's already become one of my favorites, especially on a cold, blustery day. As with most soups & stews, it's even better the next day. 

Ingredients:

• 2.25 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken thighs 
• 4 cups water
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 2 celery stalks, finely diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 1.5 C of carrots, finely diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 inch of fresh ginger, peeled and minced
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp cardamon
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup red lentils
• 1 sweet potato or yellow potato, finely diced (1/4" - 1/2")
• 1 large Granny Smith or other sweet-tart apple, finely diced (1/4" - 1/2")

Accompaniments and garnishes:

• 2 cups cooked basmati rice 
• Greek yogurt for garnishing
• Chopped cilantro for garnishing

Directions: 

1. In a large pot, simmer the chicken thighs in water until fully cooked and temperature reaches 165 F. Remove the chicken thighs, saving the cooking water, and roughly chop them into bite-sized pieces. Add more water or chicken broth/stock to make 4 cups. Return the chicken to the pan. 

2. In a separate pan, melt the butter. Add the onion, celery, and carrots, and sweat them for 5-10 minutes until desired tenderness. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes. Add the vegetable mixture to the chicken and stock. 

3. Add the remaining ingredients (turmeric through apple) to the pot and bring to a simmer. Simmer until lentils are cooked to desired tenderness, 5-10 minutes. 

4. Serve over basmati rice. Add a dollop of Greek yogurt and sprinkle with fresh chopped cilantro. 

Superbowl LVII - The Much Smaller One

As I've posted on lots of occasions on this blog, my house was generally the host for large family events like Thanksgiving and the Superbowl. At the peak I was cooking for around 18 people. For Superbowl in particular, the festivities would start around noon, with everyone grazing on chips & homemade salsa, wings, and finger foods, before loading up heavy appetizers from the two Superbowl teams and, sometimes, the host city. 

But everyone has moved East. So the Superbowl "party" is now down to just the three of us. Nevertheless, I still cook, and I still try to honor the teams playing. So here's my menu for Superbowl 57 in Glendale, AZ. 

Kansas City Chiefs: 

• Burnt ends. No recipe because I couldn't find actual brisket, so I made do with store-boughten. 
• Cheesy corn. I used this recipe: https://www.virtualweberbullet.com/kansas-city-style-cheesy-corn/

Philadelphia Eagles: 

• Philly cheesesteaks. Two separate choices for my huge party: Provolone or Whiz? and beef or chicken - I have shaved cheesesteak-type meat for both.  

Arizona (host site): 

• Green chile - though mine is Colorado style! https://fullcontactcooking.blogspot.com/2019/03/colorado-porktastic-green-chili.html

Other: 

• Amy's Cilantro Cream Sauce - the link I use keeps moving around but the recipe is consistent. https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20446/amys-cilantro-cream-sauce/

Thanksgiving 2022 - The Much Smaller One

Thanksgiving has always been a huge thing here; for most of the last 15 years, I've been the organizer, host, and main cook. (And main house cleaner and dish washer. Story for another day.)  Over the course of the last several years, though, the entire family has moved away to a couple of states east of here. So we'll probably do a big thing over there sometime in December. 

But that means that this year's Thanksgiving is a much, much smaller affair, with just the three of us. At the same time, I stumbled across a 27-lb turkey, which is all but unheard of these days and especially this year. So, because the risk is smaller, I'm going to cook it as my first bird, the one I use for leftovers and stock, FROM FROZEN. At 15 min per lb for a thawed bird, I'd be looking at 7.25 hours; most of the sites suggest to increase that by 50%, so I'm looking at 11 hours minimum.

Finally, due to some health issues, I'm trying to trim down the menu calorically as well. So vegetables will be baked, roasted, or steamed, in very little fat. The one exception is my stuffing, because shut up. 

So. This year's slimmed down menu: 

Turkey 1, from frozen. Verdict: The bird was just too big - by the time the internal breast meat hit 165F, the thighs were nearly 200F, and even the outer breast meat was 180F+. I think it could work with a much smaller bird; might try again next year. 

Turkey 2, bone-in turkey breast with herb gravy. 

Stuffing: Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Sausage, but replacing the sausage with bacon. 

Sweet potatoes: Maple-Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Vegetable: Honey-glazed carrots - no recipe, this came from the store

Green vegetable: Green salad - no recipe, this came from the store

Cranberry sauce: Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon

Dessert: Store-bought pumpkin pie with Reddi-Wip. 

Up next: Turkey soup with egg noodles, fresh carrots & celery, and leftover sweet potatoes. 

Pickle Soup

This is a basic recipe for black bean soup, with the addition of diced dill pickles. I don't know when or why I first made it this way, but it is an absolute go-to year-round and I make it every couple of weeks in the winter. Use whatever salsa you like as long as it's a savory flavor profile. You can use pre-made salad-style tortilla strips, but I find homemade ones to be thicker & therefore crunchier. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 15-oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 4 cups water, plus more if necessary to maintain desired thickness
• 1 14-16 oz jar salsa, any savory flavor or heat level
• 2 medium flour or corn tortillas, cut into thin strips
• 1 tbsp spices (cumin, garlic powder, chili powder, etc. I like 1 tsp of each of those.)
• 1/2 lb ham, diced
• 3-4 whole dill pickles, finely diced (about 3/4 cup)
• Juice of 1 large lime

Accompaniments and garnishes: 

• Hot cooked rice
• Shredded cheese, such as Cheddar, Monterey Jack, or cotija
• Cilantro

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350. In a large pot, combine black beans, chicken stock, water, and salsa. Place 4 cups of the mixture in a blender or foot processor and blend until smooth, then return to pot. Bring soup to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 

2. While the soup simmers, place tortilla strips in a single layer on a baking sheet and spray with cooking spray. Sprinkle with the spice mixture. Place baking sheet in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes or until crisp, turning once or twice. Remove and let cool. 

3. Add diced ham and diced pickles to soup and mix well. Simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add lime juice. If using rice, add 1/2 cup cooked rice to individual bowls. Add soup. Sprinkle with tortilla strips, and cheese and/or cilantro if using. Refrigerate any leftovers promptly. 

Italian Red Chili

I don't know how or when I first started thinking about this one, but it's quickly become my go-to recipe for red (meat & tomato-based) chili. The basics are the same: beans, tomato, meat; then I load it up with Italian-type ingredients and seasonings. The result is something like a supreme pizza in a bowl. Warning: this makes a lot, but it freezes well, and like most stews and chilis, is even better the next day. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb hot Italian sausage
• 1 lb mild or sweet Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 medium red or yellow bell pepper, diced (optional)
• 1 medium zucchini, diced (optional)
• 8 oz mushrooms, diced (any kind, I like crimini when I can find them. Optional)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4-8 oz pepperoni, sliced, diced, however you want it (1-2 cups)
• 2 28-oz cans of tomato sauce
• 1 6-oz can of Italian tomato paste
• 2 tbsp Italian seasoning, or 1 tbsp each of dried oregano and dried basil and 1 tsp of dried rosemary
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan, Asiago, Reggiano, or Italian cheese blend
• 4 15-16 oz canned beans, any kind you want - I usually use red & pink for this
• 1 lb small pasta (orzo, ditalini, small shells, elbow), cooked according to package directions and drained

Garnishes: 

• Finely diced onion
• Fresh basil, torn or chiffonaded
• Collabrian chilis, chili sauce, or chili paste
• Italian or other hot sauce (I like Firelli for this)
• Shredded mozzarella or Parmesan

Directions: 

1. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tbsp olive oil. Working in batches, saute the Italian sausage. Drain and rinse and set aside. 
2. Add another tbsp oil to the pan and reduce heat to medium. Add the onion and bell pepper, if using, to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. If using all the vegetables, you may need to cook in 2 batches. Add the zucchini and mushrooms and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute until the zucchini and mushrooms are tender, the onion is slightly translucent, and the garlic is very fragrant. 
3. Into a large pot over medium heat, combine the sausage, the vegetables, and all remaining ingredients except the pasta. Stir well to combine. Heat to a simmer, then turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 30 minutes. If it appears to be drying out or losing too much liquid, add another 8-16 oz can of tomato sauce or 1 cup of water. 
4. Serve over pasta in bowls and garnish with any/all of the garnishes listed. 

Spanish-ish Rice

Making my Spanish Rice tonight, but seriously unprepared to do so. I have no onions and no Cheddar cheese in the house, both of which are key ingredients. But I also don't want to go to the store today. 

So...instead of an onion and a green pepper, I'm using two green peppers. And it will be particularly noticeable since that's the amount for the full batch - but it's only going into "my half" of the pan because reasos. And instead of Cheddar, I'll be trying it with Monterey Jack. 

I'm sure it will be tasty, but will it taste like Spanish Rice? 

Tasting Mamee Monster x Daebak Ghost Pepper Kari Lontong

This is another new one from me from a local Asian market. Mamee is from Malaysia, and they seem to excel at ghost pepper-based noodles and at having a good mix of heat and taste. This particular one came in at #3 on The Ramen Rater's all-time spiciest ramen list, 2022 edition. 

The package contains 4 individual packets to go in the noodles: a dry soup base, something called a "ghost pepper creamer", a wet paste where I think the ghost pepper proper was, and a packet of ghost pepper oil marked "Spicy", "Super Spicy", and "Mentally Spicy", I guess based on how much of it you used. 

The directions called for boiling the noodles in 400 ml of water for 5 minutes, then add stuff - so I did, but in stages. 

1. Boiled the noodles and added the dry and creamer packets. Tasted that and didn't catch any heat at all. 

2. Added the wet paste packet. That brought some heat, at least enough to taste, but it faded pretty quickly. 

3. Added the oil. Yes, all of it. That brung the heat in a pretty quick way. It wasn't quite as hot, or as painful, as the previous Mamee Shinsegae I tried in December 2020 - which The Ramen Rater ranked as #4 on the same list. But the heat lingered for at least a couple of minutes after the first bite, and it built a bit as I continued to eat it. 

Noodles were chewy and held up well as I wrote this post - maybe because most of the water had boiled off in the cooking. Notwithstanding the heat, the flavor was a pretty neutral protein - it was sort of a vague curry flavor and the creamer made the soup into more of a curry gravy-type consistency. I added some sesame oil, sesame seeds, and leftover chicken and it was pretty tasty. 

Timed it from the last bite until I couldn't really taste the heat anymore: a little over 8 minutes. Spicy! 

Nutritional details: 583 calories, 28(!)g of fat, and 10g of protein. 1,768mg of sodium. 

Verdict: Can't remember what I paid for them, but dolled up with my extras this was a good mix of heat and flavor. I'd definitely do them again. 

Taste: 7/10

Heat: 8/10

Spicy foods rant!

In my last post I noted the plethora of foods, particularly salty snacks and fast food, that claim to use habaneros, or ghost peppers, or Carolina reapers, etc. but for which the heat levels are pathetic. I remember the first time I tried Blair's Death Rain habanero chips - sadly, no longer made I don't think - and they were gloriously painful. I started cultivating a taste for that capsicum-induced endorphin rush shortly thereafter. 

In the years since, I've had the good fortune to travel to the Caribbean for work on a number of occasions, and most of the places I've been to have very spicy dishes and they don't compromise. I've had hot sauces that I can only describe as looking like yellow nuclear waste - and at least for me whatever taste was present was obliterated by the heat. I've since developed a better tolerance for the hotter stuff and I have some Bajan and Trinidadian hot sauces in my kitchen right now. 

But Wendy's Ghost Pepper Ranch? Taco Bell's Reaper Ranch fries and burrito? Meh. The flavor's OK, but the spice level is pathetic. Recently I came across Blue Diamond Almonds Extreme varieties which come in cayenne, ghost pepper, and Carolina reaper flavors. Their website says to "Get ready for a mouth-blazing fiery flavor rush all on a superfood." Again, meh. The reaper variety has some lingering heat, but it's just not reaper level. 

The only exception I've found to this pathetic misuse of these spicy peppers is the Paqui Haunted Ghost Pepper tortilla chips. Paqui knows something about spice, as the purveyors of the One Chip Challenge. But the Haunted chips have a nice "sting & linger" level of heat that actually tastes good too. If they can do it...

SO! Here's my request: What snacks do you know of that area actually hot - like keep a glass (or a gallon) of milk handy hot? The name of the pepper(s) used isn't as important as that it packs a wallop in the capsicum department - taste beyond that is good too, but sometimes I just need a fiery smack in the face! As noted above, I'm very aware of Paqui, and I keep a bunch of ghost pepper and reaper noodle packets in my pantry, and I have probably 30 bottles of hot sauce at habanero level or hotter. But I'd love to find chips, jerky, etc. stuff that actually has some heat without being a novelty like the Toe of Satan, Lil' Nitro, or the Death Nut Challenge. 

Finally, I'm also always on the lookout for super-spicy ramen - I taste and blog them here. I'm pretty familiar with Paldo, Mamsee, and Samyang, and I'd love to try Culley's but not for $50+ for a single package. But if you know of one that is super spicy and that can be ordered online, let me know! 

Update 8/15: I went to Trader Joe's this past weekend and saw their Ghost Pepper Potato Chips - lattice cut and kettle cooked - so thought I'd give them a try. The potato flavor and texture are great, but the heat level feels somewhere between Lays Cheddar Jalapeno and the various Flamin' Hot varieties. Another ghost pepper pretender. 

 ready for a mouth-blazing fiery flavor rush all on a superfood*

Tasting Cheetos Flamin' Hot Sweet Carolina Reaper Crunchy Cheetos

As regular readers of this blog know, any time I see a food product claiming habanero or hotter peppers as an ingredient, I have to give it a shot. Ran across these at Walmart yesterday, and of course I had to try them. Now, I'm not really a fan of Cheetos, and I haven't really found much heat in their and Frito-Lay's other Flamin' Hot offerings. But I couldn't resist the Reaper. 

When I opened the bag, the first thing I smelled was.... salt and vinegar! Not real sure why, and I don't know what I expected them to smell like, but it was definitely a bit unexpected. The Cheetos dust was a deep reddish-orange and didn't seem to be present as much as in other flavors of Cheetos - there was very little residue left on my hands. 

The flavor and texture were what you'd expect of crunchy Cheetos. The heat was there, and hit pretty quickly and then built slightly. My first taste was a single Cheeto, and I could still taste a slight residual heat nearly 2 minutes later. It's not overwhelmingly spicy; without looking at the bag and the list of ingredients, I don't think I would have guessed reaper, or really anything other than their standard Flamin' Hot level of heat. 

These Cheetos did give me an idea for some spicy mac & cheese with reaper or ghost pepper cheddar and jack and some of these crushed on top for texture. I can't say that they didn't meet my expectations - the problem is that so many purveyors, especially of snacks and fast food, label things with habanero or ghost pepper or Carolina Reaper but there's no real heat there. I'm not the one doing market research for e.g. Frito-Lay, but I think that if they think there's a market for Carolina Reaper, etc., it's reasonable to assume that people are looking for the deep heat. 

Taste: 6/10 (hey, they're Cheetos.)

Heat: 5/10

Tasting Wang Buldak Udon Korean-Style Stir-Fried Noodles

Image source: TheRamenRater.com

Ran across this one at the Pacific Ocean Marketplace I sometimes shop at. It comes in its own bowl and is marked as "EXTREME SPICY". Inside the bowl were 3 packets: one of what appeared to be fresh, not dried or fried noodles; one marked cooking sauce; and one that was all in Korean but appears to have a mix of seaweed and sesame seeds. Weight of the entire thing is 7.79 oz, but a lot of that is the water weight in the noodles. 

The directions suggest to warm the noodles briefly before cooking, so I did. After that, put the noodles and 1/4 cup water in the bowl, cover loosely with lid, cook for 90 sec (1000w microwave, I went for 75 in my 1100w oven), then add sauce and dried flakes and stir. I followed the directions except the microwave time. 

The first thing that hit me was almost a barbecue sauce smell from the sauce. I took the packet of flakes and poured it all in, not realizing how much was in the packet, so the next thing was a pretty pronounced seaweed aroma. I let it sit for a couple of minutes for all that to mix together and coat the noodles, and then took my first taste. 

Noodles were chewy, a little soft but still pleasant. The taste was definitely seaweed barbecue sauce, which isn't really at the top of my list flavor profile-wise. The heat hit pretty quickly but wasn't overpowering by any stretch. I gave that first bite a solid minute and still had some tingle on my tongue so kudos there! As I continued to eat, the heat continued to build - and introduced some sniffles! Bumping the heat score up to 7/10. 

Nutritional details: 380 calories, 3.5g of fat, and 10g of protein. 2,010 (!!!) mg of sodium. 

Verdict: Pretty good, though way too much seaweed for my palate. At $4.49 or so for the single bowl, I'm not sure I'd do them again, but I'd definitely recommend them. 

Taste: 6/10

Heat: 7/10

Savory Oatmeal

Maybe some of you are already onto this, but it was new to me. Doc says I need to eat healthier, more fiber, etc. Oatmeal is a great thing for that, and I still do my Swiss oatmeal about 1x/month. But one of the reasons I don't do the Swiss oatmeal more regularly is that I find it too sweet - even though the only sweetener in it is a couple of diced up apples or pears. 

So I started thinking about savory oatmeal - specifically, steel-cut oatmeal. It's not that dissimilar from having any other rice or noodle bowl - a little looser, but that's OK, and it tightens up as it sits in the fridge. I generally do heat it up rather than having it chilled like the Swiss oatmeal. 

So far I've done it a Mediterranean take and a Southwestern one. No recipe, really - just added stuff on hand until I liked the results. They worked roughly like this: 

Mediterranean: 

• 2 servings of cooked steel-cut oats
• 1/2 zucchini, diced and lightly sauteed
• 1 cup leftover fajita veg (red and yellow peppers and onion, sauteed)
• 8-10 olives (I used some kalamata and some green), sliced
• 1/2 cup of leftover roast pork
• Zest and juice from one lemon
• About 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp crumbled feta
• Salt & pepper to taste

Mixed the veg & pork into the oats, mixed up the lemon, vinegar, and olive oil and drizzled over the top, topped with feta & salt & pepper

Southwestern:

• 2 servings of cooked steel-cut oats
• 1 cup leftover fajita veg
• 1 15-oz can of black beans, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 cup shredded chicken
• Zest and juice from one lime
• 2-3 tbsp of sharp shredded Cheddar
• 1/4 cup cilantro, minced

This one's even easier - put everything into the oatmeal pan and combine. 

Both of these make enough for at least a couple of meals for me. 

Think I might try a barbecue pulled pork next, and thinking about how to get to a Thai or Vietnamese version as well. 

Thanksgiving 2021 - The Vaccinated Edition

 Last year we were all in the throes of the COVID-19 lockdowns. Less than 2 weeks after Thanksgiving 2020, my entire family was diagnosed with COVID. We recovered, thankfully, and didn't infect anyone, even more thankfully. We got our respective vaccinations pretty much as soon as we were able to this year, and the relatives coming over are vaxxed as well. 

Which brings me to this year's menu. Last year's Thanksgiving spread very much reflected 8 months of lockdown, with booze in every dish. This year I'm going to take a bit of a different tack - a Southwestern-flavored meal. Chiles, oregano, cumin, lime, cilantro - these will form the framework for Thanksgiving 2021. 

Roast Turkey with Southwestern Herb Butter. No recipe - just a stick of butter, zest of a lime, a teaspoon or so of finely minced cilantro, half a teaspoon of cumin, and a quarter teaspoon of chipotle or other chili powder (or omit altogether). 

Mole Gravy - recipe (no pic, c'mon, it's gravy)

Southwest Cornbread Stuffing - recipe

Mexican Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes - recipe

Mexican Street Corn Relish - will post the recipe soon, but basically corn, lime juice, cumin, chili powder if desired and to taste, and cilantro. I threw in a can of black beans as well. I usually top with crumbled cotija or feta, but that didn't make the pic. 

New Mexican Hatch Chile Cranberry Sauce - recipe 

Absolute Mexican Cornbread - recipe

Dessert - store-bought pies (pumpkin, apple streusel, cherry) with vanilla ice cream, or margarita sherbet. 

Turkey and cornbread were amazeballs. Cranberry sauce was good but prefer my usual port-based recipe better. Stuffing and mole gravy were not as well-received, though still keeping the gravy for dipping my Thanksgiving Leftover egg rolls in this weekend. 

Margarita Ice Cream Pie

 I've seen a few takes on a margarita-flavored pie. Most of them are based on sweetened condensed milk, so it's more of a lime margarita-flavored curd like you'd have in a lemon meringue pie. The recipe I based mine off of uses ice cream and sherbet, but calls for a graham cracker crust which is just not it. 

My take uses a homemade pretzel crust, held together with butter & sugar, very similar to this one: https://southernboydishes.com/2014/04/25/margarita-ice-cream-pie-a-cookbook-giveaway/ I put a bit more butter in, bake it a bit longer, and I always use a pie dish. The filling is vanilla ice cream and tequila, and lime sherbet and frozen concentrated margarita mix, and a little lime juice, lime zest, and kosher salt. 

Ingredients: 

Crust:

• 4 cups of pretzels or 2 cups of pretzel crumbs
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 tbsp sugar

Filling: 

• 3 cups vanilla ice cream
• 1/3 cup frozen margarita mix or limeade concentrate, thawed
• 3 cups lime sherbet
• 2 tbsp tequila + 1 tbsp orange liqueur such as Triple Sec 
• Juice of 1/2 lime (about 1 tbsp)
• Zest from 1/2 lime
• 1 tbsp kosher salt (I use pink Hawaiian sea salt)
• Lime slices for garnish (optional)
• Whipped cream for garnish (optional)

Directions: 

1. Preheat overn to 350F. If using whole pretzels, place in blender or food processor and blend until fine crumbs. Place the pretzel crumbs, butter, and sugar in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Lightly grease a pie dish or 10" springform pan. Place the pretzel mixture in the dish or pan and spread thoroughly, pressing up the sides firmly. For a pie dish, spread all the way up; for a springform pan, spread 1/2 to 1" up the sides. Place dish or pan in oven and bake for 12-14 minutes, then let cool on wire rack. 

2. In medium bowl, stir vanilla ice cream enough to soften. Stir in margarita mix and place in freezer just to firm up slightly. 

3. In another medium bowl, stir lime sherbet enough to soften. Stir in tequila, orange liqueur, lime juice, and lime zest.  

4. Remove vanilla ice cream from freezer. Working quickly, drop spoonfuls from each bowl randomly into the prepared crust. Once all of both mixtures is in the crust, use a spoon to gently marble and level the mixtures. Sprinkle kosher salt evenly over the ice cream mixture. Cover prepared pie with foil or plastic wrap and return pie to freezer and freeze until firm, 4 hours. 

5. To serve, remove from freezer and let stand about 15 minutes before serving. Cut into wedges. Garnish with lime slices or whipped cream if desired. Return any uneaten pie to freezer.