The past 72 hours were filled with concerts, friends, cocktails and lots of eats, which have left me sitting at my desk with a severe relaxation hangover. Cant all weekends be three days long? But alas, back to the food.
Lately I have been making the journey a few times a month to Fubon, an Asian supermarket out on 82nd and Division. *tremble* Their inexpensive and vast selection of spices, sauces, herbs and fresh veggies are fabulous enough to drag me out to that otherwise desolate and depressing strip of neighborhood. After venturing out last weekend, I was left with an overwhelming amount of jalapeno peppers. Not being the biggest spice fanatic in the world, I wasn't sure how I was going to end up using them.
We were planning on having some friends over for some slow cooked carnitas before checking out a (TRES AMAZING!) Tame Impala show on Sunday, so I figured that picked jalapenos would be a nice accompaniment for the tacos.
Pickling the jalapenos removes a lot of the initial crunch of the jalapeno, while still leaving the heat element intact. Not to mention they will last for weeks and will be easy to toss into asian noodles, tacos and onto sandwiches.
Pickled Jalapenos:
- jalapenos (I used around 10-15)
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup white vinegar
- garlic (I used three cloves)
- 5 tbs sugar
- 2 tbs kosher salt
Smash the garlic cloves with the side of a large knife to open them up a bit. Heat all ingredients (minus jalapenos) until all salt and sugar has dissolved and the mixture comes to a boil. Add jalapenos and remove from heat. Smush the jalapenos down a bit so they are covered by the liquid, and let sit for 10-20 minutes. Add everything to a jar of your choice to store and enjoy!
I believe I may have cursed the lovely Spring weather we have been having here in Portland lately by speaking so highly of it in my last few posts. This weekend was quite gloomy, but made for a nice Sunday to page through my latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine and get some ideas for spring recipes.
I have been trying to get a touch more creative with what I am bringing to work for lunch these days, so I thought these marinated summer vegetables would be awesome on top of a salad or inside of a toasted sandwich. They came together super quickly, and will last in my fridge throughout the week, getting tastier as the days go by! The next time I make these, I will likely be adding mushrooms, onions, and eggplant as well.
With cilantro and parsley always in abundance, and mint being the current herbal bumper crop, I decided to "brew" some herbal citrus water for the week for a light spring sipper to have at my desk.
Then, I got gutsy. I love biscuits to no end, but I have always heard so many horror stories when it comes to making them. I'm not sure how I psyched myself out so much during my last 25 years of life(will they rise? will they turn to muffin? is the butter cold enough? will I ever get there? does it even matter?) but up until yesterday, I had never tried. After my savory scone purchase last Friday left me wanting more, I decided that it was go-time time.
The whole process was quite a whirlwind. My only tweak to the recipe was adding some cracked black peppercorn and some additional scallions. Once I added the buttermilk and slightly mixed the batter, I am pretty sure I blacked out from that point on. I came-to approximately 20 minutes later and was greeted with:
A golden beacon of biscuit beauty. I was kind of shocked at how well these came out, which must speak to how easy the recipe is to recreate. Maybe there was nothing to be afraid of after all! Life lessons learned whilst baking.
Cheddar scallion drop biscuit recipe via epicurious
