OMGSNAX!

so we returned from urbana (illinois) at 5am & spent the day, no, not sleeping, but GROCERY SHOPPING. b/c i am THAT DEDICATED to this project. & to having food available, yea, & juices to slake my thirst & provide me with vitamin c & calcium & also sugars. delicious, delicious sugars.

sometimes, when i’m at work, i spend my “lunch” “break” (neither a “lunch” nor a “break,” discuss) poking around on the internet looking for interesting recipes to try. emeril’s huevos rancheros was one of these finds. i especially like the part where he thinks we just have three or four skillets hanging around the kitchen. or a fancy deep-fryer, or an electric ice cream maker, or something else inane that we could use to make steak tartare (seriously, so gross).

INGREDIENTS
ranchero sauce:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup chopped white onions
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon minced jalapeno
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 cup chopped tomatoes & their juice
1 cup chicken vegetable stock
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
4 large corn tortillas
1/2 cup warm refried beans
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 large eggs
1 1/2 cups pepper jack

METHOD
to make the ranchero sauce, in a medium pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. add the onions & bell peppers & cook, stirring, for 3 to 5 minutes. add the cumin, salt, cayenne, jalapeno, & garlic & cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. add the tomatoes & their juices & cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. add the stock & simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. remove from the heat & add the cilantro. adjust the seasoning to taste & cover to keep warm.

in a large skillet, heat 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil over medium-high heat. add 1 tortilla & cook until warmed through & just starting to brown, about 30 seconds. turn & cook on the second side. remove, cover to keep warm, & repeat with the remaining oil & tortillas.

in 2 medium skillets, melt 1 tablespoon of butter each over medium-high heat. break 4 eggs into each skillet & fry until beginning to set, about 1 minute. sprinkle the eggs with the cheese & cover to finish cooking, about 1 1/2 minutes.

place 1 warm tortilla on each of 4 plates & spread each with 2 tablespoons of warm refried beans. Place 2 eggs on top of each tortilla & top with the warm ranchero sauce. serve immediately.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
so call me slow, but i’ve recently begin to appreciate the benefits of prep work. i always used to half-ass it & then scramble to get the remaining ingredients prepped as i cooked, but lately i’ve been getting everything assembled & measured & chopped before even getting started, & there’s really a lot to be said for this approach.

just a portion of the prepped ingredients

all things being equal, though, a lot of this chopping went into making the ranchero sauce, which amounted to little more than a fresh salsa. it tasted good & all, don’t get me wrong, but i probably could’ve heated up some of whatever i’ve got in my fridge & i wouldn’t have really been able to tell the difference.

& speaking of the ranchero sauce, it really WILL thicken, even though it looks really liquidy once the stock is added.

simmering ranchero sauce

the only other adjustment i made was cooking up six eggs instead of eight (there were only three of us eating). i probably could’ve scaled back the cheese, but it didn’t occur to me till after it’d been grated.

eggy weggs

oh, & i used flour tortillas instead of corn, b/c that was what i had on hand. corn probably would’ve been a little less soggy, but the flour held up just fine.

daniel, brian, & i decided that these would be totally worth making again, even with the minor hassle that comes with vegetable chopping.

dinner!

 

 

“Huevos Rancheros” from Emeril Live, 2002.

an OMGSNAX! special edition

this is a special edition b/c i’ve made bruschetta approximately one bazillion times — but how could i not share?

my sister taught me this recipe after she came home from college & it’s wicked easy & really nice to eat when it’s unbearably hot out (see: this weekend) b/c it doesn’t involve anything hot, really, plus tomatoes are totally in season & i want to marry them.

i made this for my cousin jennifer (which explains the fancy-looking well-lit kitchen in the photos) while she tried to coax tyler (at 4 & a half months) to go to sleep, & by the time she got him conked out, the dinner was done.

one more thing: i took my friend cat out for her birthday a couple months ago & we had this amazing bruschetta at a restaurant on south grand called mangia italiano. instead of mozzarella & tomatoes, it was made with goat cheese & roasted red peppers, & HOLY MOSES was that good. i keep meaning to attempt it at home, but i haven’t quite worked up the nerve yet.

INGREDIENTS
1 to 1 1/2 roma tomatoes per person
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
minced garlic
fresh buffalo mozzarella
a few leaves of fresh basil, shredded
a french baguette

METHOD
slice the baguette on the diagonal into slices no more than half an inch thick. lightly brush one side with olive oil using a pastry brush, & toast in a 350-degree oven for seven to ten minutes.

finely dice the tomatoes, & mix with a splash of olive oil & a couple splashes of balsamic vinegar (i’m sorry, you really have to just eyeball it). add minced garlic to taste (i’d usually go with a clove per person) & set aside.

slice enough mozzarella to cover the number of pieces you’ve made.

top each toasted piece of bread with a slice of cheese & a heaping tablespoon (or so) of the tomato mixture. garnish with the basil.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
it’s pretty hard to deviate from a recipe as fluid as this, but let me just say that: daniel thinks i use way too much vinegar, & i think my sister doesn’t really use enough. i think carolyn has a pastry brush, but i usually end up drizzling the oil over the bread b/c i don’t. i prefer the bread less toasty, but most people seem to prefer the opposite. oh, & it’s REALLY important to use soft fresh mozzarella, b/c one time i used a different kind & the texture was all wrong & we were quite sad.

delicious diced tomatoes

pre-toasted baguette

sliced mozzarella

shredded basil

this barely lasted ten minutes

oh, one more thing: a serrated knife works WAY better for the cheese than anything else, unless you have an actual slicer. just trust me on this.

 

 

“Bruschetta” from carolyn.

i’ll be honest with you: i don’t know what recipe to put here b/c i combined two different recipes & made the rest up, so secretly maybe it’s all mine & i’ll play it that way.

INGREDIENTS
refrigerated bread dough
1/2 cup to 1 cup marinara sauce
8 oz fresh mozzarella cheese
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/4 white onion, diced
a couple mushrooms, sliced
black olives, sliced
olive oil

METHOD
preheat the oven to 375 F. dice the bell pepper & onion; sauté in a little olive oil. roll out the bread dough & divide in half. spread the marinara sauce on half the dough, then add the vegetables & the cheese (cut into quarter-sized chunks). fold the other half of the dough over the filling to form a half-moon. pinch the edges of the dough together using your fingers or a fork. using your fingers or a pastry brush, lightly coat the tops of the calzones with some oil. bake 20 minutes.

DEVIATIONS & OBSERVATIONS
the whole recipe was basically a deviation, b/c the calzone recipe i found called for smoked cheese, potato, & spinach. potato? no. i’m done with potatoes for a while, i think.

basically, my made-up recipe came down to a normal pizza, only folded in half. it tasted damn good, though.

my my, that’s a lot of cheese

see? a folded pizza!

the main problem we encountered was that, due to our hunger, we used a ready-made pizza crust in a can (pillsbury-style) & it came out as a huge rectangle, & when i tried to form my half into a circle (so i could have the traditional half-moon-shaped calzone), the dough wouldn’t really roll out. it was super-stretchy & just snapped back no matter what i tried! very frustrating. & for the record, the calzone recipe i had DID call for pre-made bread dough, so it wasn’t 100% laziness on my part.

daniel tries to figure out the magic elastic dough

anyway, you really can’t go wrong with tomato sauce & cheese, you know?

yum!

 

 

“Calzone” from two different recipes in Vegetarian Classics: 300 Essential Recipes for Every Course and Every Meal by Jeanne Lemlin, © 2001.