Inquiries in Food

A short list of frequent cravings

As a food writer, I firmly believe that my audience should understand where I’m coming from in terms of my tastes in food.  To account for this, I have compiled a short list of foods that I have craved within the past week.  Mind you, if I listed everything I craved in the past week you’d probably get bored of reading because the wall of text would be more intimidating than the one they tore down in Berlin.

-Caprese
-Apples
-Grapefruit
-Steak with mushrooms and horseradish
-Tuna nigiri
-Duck confit
-Sprite
-Cucumber soda
-Watermelon
-Bacon 
-Chocolate
-Bacon dipped in chocolate
-Strawberries dipped in chocolate
-Ayran (a sour, peppery yogurt drink from the Middle East)
-Potato chips
-Beet salad
-Fried okra
-Ginger beer
-Scotch
-Anything with garlic
-Anything with lamb
-Garlic lamb
-Peaches
-Wilted spinach with nutmeg
-Etouffee
-Cantonese duck
-Thai duck curry (as pictured below)
-Potatoes fried in duck fat
-French fries fried in duck fat
-My leather shoes fried in duck fat
-Pancetta
-Sundried tomatoes
-Pork buns
-Any of my mother’s baked goods (especially berry pie, pictured above)

That should give you some idea of what you’re dealing with.  By the way, I will be trying to coerce my mother to give me a few of her baking recipes to post on this blog, since I’m a terrible baker and I feel like I should have some baking recipes on a blog that’s supposed to be about all types of food.

Calamari Piccante

My friend Paisha and I made these the other day for our day of eating.  Also on the menu were the Dolmas and Potatoes Daphinois that recently went up.  I’ve been talking about her a lot on this blog, so it only makes sense that I should give you a link to her blog.  Either way, I’m a big fan of calamari, but most of the time I don’t bother ordering it in restaurants because it’s boring.  Some restaurants manage to do well with it, but boring calamari is always a big let down.  This recipe is perfect because it still has all the comforts of a fried piece of squid, just with some extra kick and a nice roundness that you don’t get at restaurants.

Ingredients:

- 1 lb calamari (cut the tubes into rings if you’re buying tubes.  I like to do this with the tentacles)
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 1/2 cups corn starch
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
- 1 1/2 or 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (depending on your spice tolerance)
- canola oil 

Method:

Whisk the milk and egg together in one bowl and combine the corn starch, salt, pepper, and cayenne in another, larger bowl.  Let about a dozen pieces soak in the wet mixture for about a minute.  Then move them to the bowl with the dry mixture.  Make sure they are completely coated.

Meanwhile, heat about 1/2 inch of canola oil in a cast iron skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat.  Be patient, this may take a while.  If you want to check, do a single test piece.  They should be frying with a steady amount of bubbles.

Once your oil is ready, gently place the squid in the oil.  Don’t overcrowd the pan; do no more than a dozen at a time.  Move them around with a spider.  Once they are done (about 2 1/2 minutes), pull them out and set them on a plate lined with paper towels to catch the excess oil.  Keep doing batches like this until you have fried all the squid.

It is imperative to serve while hot, or else they will lose all the wonderful crispyness and spiciness you worked so hard for.  To keep them hot while frying the others, simply place the plate of calamari in a low oven, around 200 degrees.

Fried Mashed Potato Balls

OLD POST BY BREANNE SPONAUGLE

Ingredients
3 cups stiff mashed potatoes (preferably cold)
2 medium-size eggs
1/4 cup of sliced green onions
1-1/2 cups of panko
Oil for frying

Directions
Heat about 1-1/2 inch of flavorless oil to about 375 degree in a shallow frying pan (you want something with a pretty good surface area since the balls need to be fried in smaller batches to ensure that they’re not crowded).
Beat the two eggs lightly in a medium-sized bowl. Mix in the mashed potatoes and green onions. Using a 1-1/2 inch ice-cream scoop, make potato balls. Roll them onto a plate of panko.
Fry the potato balls a few at a time, and let each side turn into golden brown color, about 2-3 minutes total. Don’t attempt to flip them until the crust is developed and browned. Then flip to the other side, and let brown. Serve warm.

Yield: 28 potato balls