Second thoughts on Green Chorizo: Part II

Over time I've eaten less meat, and this hasn't been out of a concerted effort, but more of an organic development. I grew up in Iowa after all, and meat was anything but scarce. The fact that I was two generations away from a lineage of butchers made the staple of animal protein even more prevalent. Knives were sharpened by hand near the butcher block which is a solid cross section of an old growth tree almost four feet across. Out on my own, my cooking often revolved around meat, usually chicken, which I got very good at, especially preparing on the grill. Subtle was the change, though, that meat began to appear less. My pasta sauces began to lack any sausage or chicken, letting vegetables take the center stage in a recipe. Pasta itself has dwindled to almost no presence in my diet. Again, this was not due to any effort to omit it, pasta just got replaced first by white rice and later by brown rice and quinoa.

So with all of those realizations in mind, I approached this subject of making my own chorizo. I love the idea of green chorizo, and it's a flavor combination that I haven't had, at least not in that form. My devotion to simplicity in my kitchen set up has kept me from owning a meat grinder as I am staunchly against owning specialized items like that. My habits hardly warrant something that only has one function. Storage is an issue, but also I can be realistic that I really only need a certain number of staple utensils or tools to prepare everything I will ever eat, though I wouldn't mine having a tortilla press, so it's not a rock hard rule. So I'm limited to store bought ground pork, which I found rather gross, super fatty, and really not tasty in any way. After trying to eat some of this pork in various dishes, I just couldn't bring myself to eat it, so I've been left with this recipe for green chorizo that may be left unprepared. What I turned to was one of my staple grains, quinoa, and I discovered a salad that was rather tasty, and it's resemblance to dip only made it more popular with other Mexican styled dishes.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Tomatillo salsa (see previous post)
• 1 batch quinoa prepared (1 cup dry cooked in 2 cups water)
• 1/3 cucumber
• 2 fresh tomatoes
• 2 green onions chopped
• 1/4 chopped red onion
• 1 avocado chopped
• 1/3 cup crumbled queso fresco
• Salt and pepper

*You could also add fresh cooked corn off the cob, beans, edamame, other fresh herbs, or even grilled veggies, chicken, or tofu.

This is simple to prepare, as it's basically chopped up veggies mixed into cooked quinoa. To speed it up, when the grain was done I spread it out on a baking sheet and put it in the freezer while I prepared other ingredients. It cooled in about 15 minutes with a stir every 5 minutes or so. The cheese I added last so it didn't get too lost in the mixing. The dressing was essentially a salsa, so the whole dish had a tangy full-of-cilantro flavor. Very nice with a bean salad, warm tortillas, or grilled vegetables. We dined on this at a back alley barbecue in downtown Kansas City, highrise towers and bad graffiti all around us. I might be living in a very concrete heavy place, but it was nice to see that we weren't deprived of summer flavors and good times.

One last tip in case you have plans to make this and keep it. The veggies, especially cucumber, can be a bit fragile in the presence of lime juice or vinegar over time, so it might be better to use squash or other sturdier options as you might find mushy cucumber just a day away from when you prepared this. You could always keep the ingredients separate and make it to order, or just encourage your friends to chow down at a barbecue so you don't have leftovers. It works for a night, but plans can change and there's no reason it can't be enjoyed for days.

Slanging dental care products ala Costco

I currently work two jobs, so my time as home is limited, thus my domesticity is becoming a more focused affair; quicker, dirtier. Back to the impromptu ways that I love! I'll pass on a few lessons learned since coming here to Kansas City.

1) Costco is insane and no I don't need 10 toothbrushes. Can one become a dealer in supplies such as toothbrushes and Mach III razors? Perhaps that can be my backup plan since teaching is ridiculous to even consider.

2) When making lunch on the go, Quinoa is great as a sub for rice in beans and rice.

1. Prep a batch of Quinoa. Add fresh garlic and onion while it's hot, olive oil, and salt and pepper. This is your base and you can eat it all week.
2. Use some chopped up chipotles to your tolerance level. For me that's about three perbowl of food. This level of spicy consumption is attainable by you too, if you so wish.
3. When you're making your to-go bowl of food, add the Quinoa mix and the chiles. Toss in whatever you have: spinach leaves, zucchini, cucumber, bell peppers, cheese.
4. Final addition: Black beans straight out of the can, rinsed quickly. Again I owe it to Costco for coercing me to buy way too much of one thing. I have like 10 cans, and these with the rest of this mix makes for a great little meal, and it's simple.
5. Eat with chips, tortillas, some hot sauce, sour cream if you're into the dairy cow emulsions.

3) Yogurt on the go is a great thing, also from Costco, I have a gallon or so to work on. Just make sure to seal your tupperware, or the yogurt liquid can spill out all over your calendar and sketchbook and leave you with this funky mess that isn't really possible to clean since it's inside your backpack.

Yep, if you're in need of 7 pounds of nuts, it's the place to go.

Nomenclature

A domestic male might be someone who has cleaned his car...once. Yes, one time in the past four or five years. I'm an artist, and I travel a lot, and I don't have a lot of time to vacuum upholstery. That's my story. When I finally cleaned it, I kicked its ass!

He might do dishes or fold an errant blanket. For sure he'll cook up a storm for the most random of occasions, especially for a movie party where people will eat their fill of chipotle salsa and piles of various meats. With all of this domesticity comes a way of life, and with that a language to describe it.

Cooking is an amazing skill to have, and it doesn't make a man less masculine. On the contrary, it's becoming more and more common for men to cook. Now I'm not saying that a man who cooks has to be using insane spices, beer and pork in every other recipe as stated on Aldenteblog. I could care less about testosterone-related ingredient choices. But I'm saying that a man can be sensitive, whip up a mean Quinoa, and relax at night reading a scholarly article on the contemporary nature of printed multiples. (Sorry for the print nerd reference.) I'm not worried to say that a squirrel I saw was cute, but when it popped into my head my first thought was, "Aw, what a badass little guy!" That's where I'm coming from. Now I'm going to go make a spicy egg sandwich!

No excuses when you're trying to live.

Yeah, sometimes I just eat a gas station corn dog.

Best food site ever?

I had to link to this site, which crosses the line for tasteful language, but not tasty sounding foods. It makes me laugh over and over. With a similar mission to mine, I feel suddenly like I write way to much crap in my posts when I could keep things so much more simple.

http://whatthefuckshouldimakefordinner.com/

Who needs ingredients anyway?

A little background on my cooking

I thought I would address my style of doing things. As I've been writing these, I've realized that I have very bad skills when it comes to getting dirty and making kick-ass food, and simultaneously taking great photos, getting measurements, and explaining it all for you to possibly follow. The thing is, I get inspired by something I randomly read about, something I ate once, or a show I saw about cooking. When I'm on a mission to take on something new, I go online and read about 4 recipes and then make a list and make up the rest. With some things, like banana bread or quiche, you should probably follow stricter guidelines, but with pasta sauce, hummus or wontons, just always remember that you should taste what you do along the way, and have faith that what you do will be edible if not damn good!

All of these recipes are mostly a gloss over on what to do. Rarely have I ever had specifics on how much of certain things I should put in a dish. However, I have to say that it isn't hard if you just keep in mind what kind of proportions you should have in most of your food, you should be able to re-create a facsimile of what I do. Most of these things turn out pretty great. You might make too much of something or too little, but these are things you have to learn at some point if you cook. Just remember these things.

Always taste every part of what you do. When you make a filling for a wonton, taste it before you make them. Taste a batter before you fry with it. Test your soup before you ladle it out. I'm a firm believer that you should be able to provide people with food that is seasoned right, so that they won't have to bother with it.

Don't leave what you're cooking unless you can leave it for 20 minutes and it will still be okay. Soups are okay, grilled meats are not okay to leave while you go do laundry. My dad eats lots of burnt meat, toast, and drinks cold coffee because of a habit like this.

Make extra because if it's good, you'll want leftovers of it. Some things don't keep so well, so use judgment on this one.

Be ambitious. I've been trying to make pizza dough, hence my doughy love handles, but it's not that easy. I've used crazy flours, attempting to get wheat flower, white, semolina and flax to work, and I'm almost there, but it might take a few attempts. My next is baguettes, which I'm sure I'll screw up, but why not shoot for something I love to eat that I've never made before? You can only learn about the foods you love, and maybe you'll nail it and learn how easy it really is.

Be prepared in your kitchen. Give yourself space to cook. Put a good sized cutting board on the counter with a towel under it so it doesn't move. Get rid of appliances that take up space that you rarely use. Clear up that real estate so you can spread out, make a mess, and clean everything up.

Use great knives. I cannot stress this one enough. If someone gave you a set of 20 serrated knives in a big honking block of wood, donate the whole thing to Goodwill and buy yourself a few good knives that will last you until someone decides to cut cans in half. Get one good chopping knife, one Santoku, and a bread knife. Nothing with crazy claims to it, just steel and a good handle. Henkels are nice, Japanese alloys look great, and learn how to sharpen and use real knives. Don't worry about your kids. Those cheap-o serrated things showing up in kitchens everywhere are probably more dangerous to people than real steel any day. Then when you have them, act like every time you cook is practice for Iron Chef. Get the knife skills down and you'll be more confident and quicker at cooking than you were before when you used steak knives on plates or counter tops.

Other than that, be confident that when you're cooking most things, you can change them along the way. It's all about balance in the end and flavors are particular to certain people, while good food is almost always good to everyone. If you have a recipe, just throw in what you have. Use the cookbook as a reference, don't quote from it. Like I said, this goes for most things. Baking is more specific, but stove tops allow for improvisation, and it make cooking so much more fun when you get creative with it.

The Domestic Male seeks organization

As a domestic man, it is expected that we keep a good house and are organized about it as well. Today, I finally put a dresser in my room, and put my clothes in it. Pants are separate from shorts, socks have their own space. Talk about organized!