Building on Cecyl's affinity for beans and rice, and hopefully to curb the carnage in the energy markets, I attempted Hoppin' John the other night. The recipe I used was from the Thug Kitchen cook book so was slightly different - instead of using rice, it used sweet potatoes.
I learned several things:
1) Dried japaleno peppers are insanely hot. The recipe called for 3-4 adobo peppers, we had dried jalapeno peppers and I put in 3 of them, and thinking I was all Tamar Adler and stuff, I dumped in the water that I'd soaked them in as well. Hooooolllyyyy ****. I like spicy food, but that was intense. You know how Asian restaurants have one, two, or three chili peppers on the menu when something is expected to be spicy? In Thailand, they actually ask you if you want one, two, or three peppers in it. I learned early on that one pepper was plenty of spice for an American!
2) There are many options to make a dish less spicy - and they kinda work. You want to increase acidity or sugar, so I added some lemon juice, a can of diced tomatoes, and a couple of carrots.
3) Roasted whole sweet potatoes are a great thing to just have in the fridge. As are wilted greens, which the Thug Kitchen recipe also calls for. The wilted greens recipe is very simple: 6 cups of greens (ie kale, chard, collards), 1/2 tsp of olive oil, 1 Tbsp of water, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp soy sauce. Yumminess ensues.
Cecyl came home and pronounced the dish delicious. The spiciness mellows out after a few days and we've been enjoying them since.
I learned several things:
1) Dried japaleno peppers are insanely hot. The recipe called for 3-4 adobo peppers, we had dried jalapeno peppers and I put in 3 of them, and thinking I was all Tamar Adler and stuff, I dumped in the water that I'd soaked them in as well. Hooooolllyyyy ****. I like spicy food, but that was intense. You know how Asian restaurants have one, two, or three chili peppers on the menu when something is expected to be spicy? In Thailand, they actually ask you if you want one, two, or three peppers in it. I learned early on that one pepper was plenty of spice for an American!
2) There are many options to make a dish less spicy - and they kinda work. You want to increase acidity or sugar, so I added some lemon juice, a can of diced tomatoes, and a couple of carrots.
3) Roasted whole sweet potatoes are a great thing to just have in the fridge. As are wilted greens, which the Thug Kitchen recipe also calls for. The wilted greens recipe is very simple: 6 cups of greens (ie kale, chard, collards), 1/2 tsp of olive oil, 1 Tbsp of water, 2 cloves minced garlic, 2 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp soy sauce. Yumminess ensues.
Cecyl came home and pronounced the dish delicious. The spiciness mellows out after a few days and we've been enjoying them since.
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