So I moved across the country. The trip itself is another post, maybe. I'm not sure we had any real culinary adventures, aside from fry sauce (meh) and some very good barbeque in Lovelock, Nevada, of which the beans that were almost as much linguisa as beans were definitely the highlight. At any rate, I now reside in Merced, CA.
My basis for comparison is Storrs, but to be fair to CT, I'll include Manchester and Vernon in my local area. Merced, at first pass, pretty much kicks the crap out of it either way. On the fast food front, the presence of In'n'out and Sonic means that it's possible to eat a cheap, quick burger and fries without ingesting toxic additives. Also, strawberry limeade.
I was anticipating being able to get better Mexican food, but my only venture in that direction has been at the 24 hour drive through called Victoria's. Yeah, 24 hour drive through Mexican food. It is cheap, and everything I've tried has been really good. Their beans are a bit too salty for my taste, but the horchata is muy deliciouso. Did I mention they're open 24 hours and I don't have to get out of my car? I've seen at least four or five other Mexican places, including one with a lunch buffet and another that apparently specializes in enchiladas.
As far as other cuisines, I've seen a couple of different asian countries represented, one Italian place, and an Indian place. I went to a Vietnamese place for lunch today, called Rice Bowl. The summer roll was good, if not as fat as I'm used to, and the coffee was great, but the pho was not terribly impressive. The broth was a bit weak, both in spice and general beefiness, and there was no basil included. A nice guy who was arriving as I was about to leave told me there's another one down the street, but that the pho there was too heavily spiced, particularly with ginger. Apparently San Jose has a ton of Vietnamese places, which were the standard for him. I think the strength of this place may be in their non-pho dishes, which I will have to explore at some point.
I'm about to hit the grocery store for the first time, to get some staples and food for the week. I need to explore the different options for grocery stores, especially the ethnic specialty stores, of which there seem to be many.
Monday, October 13, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Ravioli with meat sauce
Tonight was the last regular (to the extent that they ever have been) Tuesday night dinner, ironically, on a Wednesday. I wanted to use some of the tools I don't use a lot, do something a little different, as well as delicious.
I ended up making the ricotta for the ravioli. It's a dead simple recipe, takes no time and is delicious. One gallon of milk, one quart of buttermilk. Combine in a big non-reactive pot over high heat. Stir frequently until it hits 175-180 degrees, at which point the curds and whey will separate. Remove from heat, and ladle the curds into cheesecloth over a strainer. Pull the ends of the cheesecloth together and hang it for 5-15 minutes depending on how loose you want the ricotta to be. The recipe emphasized that the flavor really comes from the quality of the milk, and I got raw milk from some local farms, which worked out wonderfully. To make it into ravioli filling, I added two eggs, a head of roasted garlic, a bit of parmesan, some fresh basil and parsley, salt, pepper and a touch of lemon juice.
I also made the pasta dough. Jamie Oliver had a bit about making your own pasta on a show about eggs, and asked the question of why anyone would buy pasta when it was so easy to make. Tonight really drove that home. If you have a food processor and a pasta roller, it really is a trivial task. Half a cup of flour (plus a bit for adjustment) for each egg, about one egg worth per person. Process it until it changes from a whizzing noise to a thumping noise. Squeeze it, if it sticks to your fingers, add a bit of flour and process until it's incorporated. Repeat until it just sticks to your fingers. Dump it onto a floured surface, work it together, throw it through the roller. Flour it lightly, fold it in half, roll it again. Repeat this four or five times, then roll it to the desired thickness. We made ravioli, and the second setting was pretty much ideal. The ones we did on the lowest setting were too thin and came apart in the water too easily.
The sauce was basically a cross between a traditional ragu and pot roast. I got some top round roast that was on sale (I would definitely experiment with other roasts, this was a bit hard to shred). Seared the salted and peppered pieces of roast, deglazed with onions, garlic, carrots, celery and leeks. When they were soft, I added some red wine and beef stock and let it simmer for a bit. I then crushed some cans of peeled tomatoes with my hands and added them. I added too many and then couldn't fit the roast pieces back in, so I pulled out a bit of the vegetable mixture and set it aside (I added it again when I put the leftovers away). Roast pieces back in, lid on, into the oven for a couple of hours. I pulled it out, pulled out the roast pieces and shredded them with a pair of forks, returned the shredded meat to the pot, and put it back in the oven for a bit to let the smaller pieces absorb a bit of liquid.
It was pretty delicious and very filling. I plan on adapting it to cooking for one by making the sauce ahead of time and freezing single portions, and then making the pasta with the mini cuisinart I have. Probably not ravioli, but it takes less time to make a batch of pasta and rough cut it into tagliatelle than to boil a pot of water. I eat a good bit of pasta in the winter, and while I won't really have winter in CA, I imagine I'll still be eating pasta.
I ended up making the ricotta for the ravioli. It's a dead simple recipe, takes no time and is delicious. One gallon of milk, one quart of buttermilk. Combine in a big non-reactive pot over high heat. Stir frequently until it hits 175-180 degrees, at which point the curds and whey will separate. Remove from heat, and ladle the curds into cheesecloth over a strainer. Pull the ends of the cheesecloth together and hang it for 5-15 minutes depending on how loose you want the ricotta to be. The recipe emphasized that the flavor really comes from the quality of the milk, and I got raw milk from some local farms, which worked out wonderfully. To make it into ravioli filling, I added two eggs, a head of roasted garlic, a bit of parmesan, some fresh basil and parsley, salt, pepper and a touch of lemon juice.
I also made the pasta dough. Jamie Oliver had a bit about making your own pasta on a show about eggs, and asked the question of why anyone would buy pasta when it was so easy to make. Tonight really drove that home. If you have a food processor and a pasta roller, it really is a trivial task. Half a cup of flour (plus a bit for adjustment) for each egg, about one egg worth per person. Process it until it changes from a whizzing noise to a thumping noise. Squeeze it, if it sticks to your fingers, add a bit of flour and process until it's incorporated. Repeat until it just sticks to your fingers. Dump it onto a floured surface, work it together, throw it through the roller. Flour it lightly, fold it in half, roll it again. Repeat this four or five times, then roll it to the desired thickness. We made ravioli, and the second setting was pretty much ideal. The ones we did on the lowest setting were too thin and came apart in the water too easily.
The sauce was basically a cross between a traditional ragu and pot roast. I got some top round roast that was on sale (I would definitely experiment with other roasts, this was a bit hard to shred). Seared the salted and peppered pieces of roast, deglazed with onions, garlic, carrots, celery and leeks. When they were soft, I added some red wine and beef stock and let it simmer for a bit. I then crushed some cans of peeled tomatoes with my hands and added them. I added too many and then couldn't fit the roast pieces back in, so I pulled out a bit of the vegetable mixture and set it aside (I added it again when I put the leftovers away). Roast pieces back in, lid on, into the oven for a couple of hours. I pulled it out, pulled out the roast pieces and shredded them with a pair of forks, returned the shredded meat to the pot, and put it back in the oven for a bit to let the smaller pieces absorb a bit of liquid.
It was pretty delicious and very filling. I plan on adapting it to cooking for one by making the sauce ahead of time and freezing single portions, and then making the pasta with the mini cuisinart I have. Probably not ravioli, but it takes less time to make a batch of pasta and rough cut it into tagliatelle than to boil a pot of water. I eat a good bit of pasta in the winter, and while I won't really have winter in CA, I imagine I'll still be eating pasta.
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