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We had a little barbeque at our place on the 4th. Little, because our yard is the size of a postage stamp, so we didn’t invite the other three dozen people I would have loved to have had over. Anyhoo, a few of the folks have asked for the recipe for a couple dishes I prepared and others have asked for them in the past. Because I’m lazy, I am posting them here. All the measurements are approximations, because I like doing things in analog.
guacamole a la bayless
Most of this recipe comes from a Rick Bayless TV show I caught one day, the rest is trial and error and odds’n’ends.

Ingredients:

• A bunch of tomatillos. These are the green tomato looking things with the onion skin peel on them. Get about 2/3rds to 3/4ths of one of those 2mm thin plastic veggie bags you see in the supermarket.


• A head of garlic


• A jalapeno or two


• An ear of corn


• An onion


• A bunch of cilantro


• Some salt, kosher or otherwise


• A dash of pepper


• A few tomatoes


• 4-8 avacadoes


• A few limes

Equipment: an oven with broiler, a mixer, a pan, some storage containers, metal tongs, a towel. (Don’t forget your towel!)

1. Peel and wash the tomatillos, wash the veggies, peel the corn, pull several cloves of garlic off the head. I use a lot, but I like garlic. Don’t be afraid to use a lot, you’re going to roast it, and it takes out a lot of the umph.


2. Line a metal cake sheet with aluminum foil, thick enough that you could lift it up by itself. I typically double the sides and have a single layer on the bottom. I don’t know what size pan I use, but something about an inch deep that can fit under the broiler in your oven. Mine is probably 1.5” x 18” x 9” (approx.).


3. Set your oven on high broil, put all the tomatillos same side up in the pan. Get to work peelin’ that corn, etc. If you’ve already done that, pour yourself a drink and wait.


4. Put in the tomatillos for 5 minutes. If they’re black on top, pull ‘em out, flip ‘em over, stick ‘em in for 5 more.


5. At about the same time you’re setting the oven, put a pan on low heat. I use a big cast iron thing, with no oil in it. If you can’t hold your hand an inch or so over the pan it’s so hot, it’s time to throw in the corn, jalapeno, and garlic. Turn ‘em all every few minutes. If you really want to take the sting out of the garlic+jalapeno, use a cover. Otherwise, just turn ‘em.


6. Dice up the onion. Bayless rinses his to take out the tart, but he also doesn’t use the corn. I think the sweetness and starchiness of the corn makes it okay to do it this way. Also, I’m lazy.


7. Carefully put the tomatillos in the blender. I use tongs for this. Lift up your foil, and pour all that juice in there, too. It also makes it easy to clean up the pan. I told you I’m lazy!


8. Cut the stem off the jalapeno, toss it in there. Peel your garlic, toss it in there. Throw in some salt, less than a teaspoon should do, and some black pepper. Less is more, you can always salt to taste later.


9. Put the lid on the mixer, and put the towel over the lid. You do not want to be spattered by boiling salsa, believe me. Blend it up.


10. Stand the corn up in the pan. Holding 1 end with the towel (Make sure the towel is dry or you will burn yourself), cut the corn off the cob.


11. Put the corn and onion in the salsa. You’ve got salsa verde. At this point, you can freeze batches of it for later use, so you don’t have to do all this junk. You should get 2-3 batches from this recipe. I’d say do more, but I don’t know how you’d fit more pans under the broiler. You’re getting all the flavor from the blackened bits, so it’s pretty essential.


12. To serve. Okay, you’ve come this far. When you’re ready to guac, it’s ready steady go.


13. Chop up the tomatoes, if you want ‘em in there.


14. Cut the avocadoes. I said 4-8 above because each batch of salsa takes 3-4 avocadoes, giving you a 1-1 ratio. Suit yourself here. I slice the avocado symmetrically, then stab the seed, take it out, and go to town from there.


15. Dice some cilantro. I use roughly 1/3rd of a bunch


16. Use 1-2 limes. Use one, blend it up, if it needs more, do another one.


17. It’s time for that second drink!

bruschetta

Ingredients:

• 4-6 tomatoes, vine-ripened, Roma, or heirloom. Something good.


• Fresh basil, maybe some oregano


• Balsamic vinegar


• A head of garlic


• Salt (Kosher if possible) and pepper


• A stick of butter


• Bread. I like any kind of thick or wide Tuscan-style. You can use anything except Wonderbread, really, even wheat breads work.


• Asiago cheese (Grated), enough to cover one side of your bread slices.

The goal is to have some toasted, buttery bread with garlic, cheese, and tomatoes on top. Yum! I am going to be really general with the bread part, because you can do it however you like. The Joy of Cooking has a great starter recipe.

1. Dice your garlic, tomatoes and herbs. I like to do everything but the toast the day before.


2. Put the garlic in a dish with the butter, probably 3/4ths to 1 stick, depending on how much bread you have. Same goes for the garlic. For a big tuscan loaf, I use 1 stick of butter and 6 good sized cloves of garlic.


3. Put the salt in with the garlic and butter. Nuke it all. No microwave? Do all this over really low heat in a pot on the stove. You don’t want to cook the butter or the garlic, just melt it, so don’t leave it on too long. Mash the garlic into the salt, so the salt starts to pulverize the garlic. Use butter not olive oil; butter has 20% more water.


4. Put the tomatoes, basil, oregano, a bit of salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons or more of the balsamic vinegar in a bowl and mix it up. If it’s winter or you have kind of nasty, tasteless tomatoes, make sure you’re doing this a day early. The vinegar will break down the tomatoes and everything will kind of blend together.


5. If you’re using an oven: set it to 350, butter your bread, getting lots of chunks of garlic on there, sprinkle on the cheese (if grated) or put some thin slices of cheese on there. Leave ‘em for 10 minutes. When they’re toasted, pull ‘em out.


6. If you’re using a grill (and tongs): Throw the bread on the grill at about 300-400 degrees, with the heat rising. Turn the bread after 1-2 minutes. I take the bread off the grill, dip the just toasted side in the butter (not like French toast, but a quick dip), throw it back on the grill for another 1-2 minutes (watch out for flameouts from the butter. You do not want cinders, but toast). Spoon on the garlic and sprinkle some cheese on it.


7. Spoon a bunch of tomatoes over the whole thing, and you’re done.

That concludes the Casa Kunesh Cooking Hour, probably the longest non-Internet post I’ve had in awhile. Tomorrow, it’s all business: Peter’s Ruby Accessibility Analysis Kit. And if that doesn’t put the non-netizens to sleep, nothing will. Excelsior!

Joshua Porter, the author of Bokardo, has a new post entitled, “The Del.icio.us Lesson.” This is the quintessential lesson of web 2.0:
Personal Value Precedes Network Value
It seems obvious, but you have to provide value for the user as though they are in a vacuum first. If you don’t do that, all the folksonomy + tagging + social discoverability you put on top of your app is lipstick on a pig. Mr. Porter is also the author of this great introduction to folksonomies. It’s Independence Day. My neighborhood sounds a battlezone, making me thank my lucky stars (and stripes) that I don’t live in one. Or rather, that I live in one where the wars are all fought with, and over, data—financial, internet, voice, etc. Next up: the guacamole recipe.