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market report: taco time

In the Southwest, one reliable herald of fall is the chile roaster - a spinning cylinder of expanded metal with propane torches pointed at the aromatic chiles inside. When I saw one of these going at the Santa Monica Saturday market, I knew it was on. Wonderwife and I picked up the their last plastic bag of 50-50 spicy and poblanos, steaming in their own juices. To make the salsa you see illustrated above, we added an equal amount of roasted tomatillos and a bunch of green onion (also grilled) to the skinned and seeded chiles. Pulse the whole lot in a food processor with some lime juice and salt to taste. All that's left to do is slather it on some grilled chicken on top of a warm tortilla (corn only, please) and dress it up with some sour cream, cilantro, and radishes. Is this the ultimate taco? It's definitely a contender:

Summertime

Even in England, it's summertime.

Tomato salad for lunch.

Tomato paella for dinner.

What are you doing with them?

Dixie's BBQ

The Mariners suck. So there is even more of an emphasis on ballpark food when catching a game at beautiful Safeco Field than usual. Fortunately for M's fans, Dixie's BBQ has expanded from their base of operations in a former transmission repair shop under the 520 freeway in Bellevue (complete with formica tables and an old boombox playing Clarence Carter cassettes) to a booth at the Safe.

Pardon the low-res iphone images, but what we have here is the Dixie's Special -- a mountain of beef brisket that has been cooking in Louisiana BBQ goodness for quite some time with a hot link buried down below for good measure. It comes on a roll and is listed on the menu under the sandwiches, but I have never seen anyone even attempt to hoist one of these up to their mouths. Utensils preferred.

As mouth-watering as it is, Dixie's hasn't earned its reputation from their food, but rather a small pot of mysteriously menacing firepower.

"Meeting the Man" has become a right of passage of sorts up here, as it poses quite a dilemma. Enjoy delicious BBQ or become a man in the eyes of the village. Personally, I have made his acquaintance several times in the past and now just focus on the brisket. No one knows exactly what is in The Man, but just a few drops are enough to enough to turn your lips and mouth into the surface of the sun. Water doesn't help either, and remember not to get any in your eyes as you wipe the tears away.

Taste buds in tact or not, I'm proud to say I met the man at Dixie's BBQ -- and I have the bumper sticker to prove it. Pacific Northwest correspondent signing off....

Beer Tasting: San Diego

Chis Peters inhales the bouquet on Green Flash Brewery's West Coast IPA, just one of the many beers we sampled on a day long trip to San Diego. Come Along>>

Don't test Wonderwife

When it comes to veggies, she's the champion, as Mean Willie found out only one post ago. Here's a green bean salad she whipped up on a whim - recipe in the comments...

The Salad Gauntlet Thrown

You all know that the Salad Queen of the wider Grind family is my sister-in-law, Wonderwife. I therefore thought of her the other day when I mixed this up to go along with some simple quesadillas: shredded white cabbage (shred that shit fine), some pan-roasted sweet corn, and finely sliced onions, all dressed in lime juice and whatever neutral oil you've got on hand (anything but olive, really; I used grapeseed, which worked fine). I'm not going to be challenging for the crown any time soon, I don't think, but this here was a pretty good start.

Hello Goodbye Dinner

To commemorate my good buddy Ted's leaving LA, as well as my sister's possible migration here, we met up at Brett's Venice beach pad for a meal. I hooked up the jerk chicken, but the side dishes really made it happen. B$ himself came up with this Quinoa  salad, and wonderwife handled the beans - black for the requisite Caribbean note, and an experimental yet very tasty green bean, avocado, and peach salad. Needless to say, Ted is reconsidering his vision quest to the north, but on the upside we should be seeing a Seattle-fish-thowing-market post sometime soon.   

Farmers' Market Dinner

Scored these fresh-dug new potatoes at the Queen's Park Farmers' Market on Sunday, which we've now figured out is our closest "official" London farmer's markets (to qualify, they have to only admit vendors whose stuff comes from 100 miles or fewer away from London). These were absolutely heavenly -- roasted at about 400 for 45 minutes or so in a little bit of peanut oil with just some salt, pepper, and a dash of chili flakes. They came out papery-crispy on the outside, creamy on the inside, and goddamn delicious all the way through. In fact the whole dinner was, side from the oil, salt, pepper, butter, and onions, sourced entirely from the local farmers market -- at what we figure came to about 5 quid altogether, or somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 bucks. Over here, that ain't half bad for a zucchini and onion frittata, steamed artichokes, and roasted spuds -- especially when you get to eat the leftovers for breakfast.

Baby, You Got a Stew Goin'

Much like Carl Weathers, we here at Grindbros know a thing or two about gettin' a stew goin'. I've been experimenting with dried beans lately (hey, beans are cheap), and came up with this version of bean-and-vegetable stew for dinner tonight. I started with the butter beans, which I like both for being ridiculously big, and tastier than your average bean. Next I thought I'd combine them with the eggplants we scored on the cheap at the market this weeked (2 for a pound!), with some tomatoes to tie it all together. Spiced it with some smoked Spanish paprika, fresh thyme, a bay leaf, and a little bit of bacon. Throw all that on top some rice and almond pilaf, and, baby, you got a stew goin'.

Color

With the weather and the typical cuisine over in this country, sometimes you need all the color on your plate you can get. That's why you spend the extra 20p, and get the cauliflower that comes in purple.