Quite possibly the most idiotic thing I've ever concocted..
But by darn its good.

I had some more of that dish last night, but changed it a little by breaking up some of those fresh stalks of asparagus, and they were really good! The asparagus cooked in the same time it took to reheat, and stayed a little crunchy.

Hamburgers tonight and going to top it with my first ripe slicer tomato of the season, Gregori’s Altai. Will also have a slice on the side to taste without the distraction of the hamburger.One slice on the burger x3 and one slice on the side x 3. I think I can pull that off. I’m judging it will be at peak of ripeness, but I just don’t know this variety so we shall see. It definitely isn’t rock hard, but gives a little to a gentle press. It is fully pink all over and the pink hue has deepened over the last day or two.

I'm still with the quick dinners... cook in bulk on a day that rains! And make it quick on a work day.
You guys are living the high life....
Today was a typical 30 minute/400F sheet pan dinner my spuds, cauliflower and pepper, with a frozen chunk of pork tenderloin in a bit of crust. I had pastry left over from the last batch of Jamaican patties. So I took the tenderloin, smeared with a mix of evoo, rasped garlic, salt, pepper, summer savory and a dab of apple cider vinegar, and draped the pastry over it. Cooked, cooled, and frozen in chunks. The pastry was decidedly underdone and too moist on the day it was cooked, but it came out pretty perfect reheated from frozen. Tenderloin as tender and juicy as ever, very tasty too.
The 'broccoli' is from a bolted kale plant in the greenhouse that was supposed to be purple sprouting broccoli. Not a problem, it's making lots of shoots although the heads are getting small now after many cuts. These just rinsed and put wet into a small covered pot with a drop of olive oil and sesame oil. Sesame oil for wilted greens has become my gotta do, favorite taste.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo I'm eating the last of my carne asada and steaming 4 of my homemade tamales.
Along with the red salsa I made yesterday.
Oh and maybe the last of my seafood cocktail stuff.
I've lived on less than 20 dollars all week as far as food goes.

Totally forgot the shrimp but this will do.

Had my first ripe slicer of the season. Gregori’s Altai. So my wife described it as sweet and smooth. I agree. Sweet tomato, not a complex or bold tomato. Firm, but melting texture and that is nice. Nothing too intense. Very nice, but not a wow type.

Good on a cheeseburger!

I'm going the hamburger route today too.
Just no tomato.
But it's going to have my homemade red chili salsa habanero salsa cilantro onion lettuce and a few other odds and ends.

Totally opposite of everyone else I like to freeze the patty before cooking.
It allows me to get a nice crust on the outside without over cooking the inside.
I do the same with other meats like steak too, especially thinner cuts.

I do the same thing, Worth. Frozen steak grilled with a nice char is delicious. I grill fresh burgers if that is what I have, like I just bought the meat and I want a burger. But I never thaw them out first when I am cooking one from the freezer.

So jealous of the fresh slicing tomatoes. It will be a few weeks before it is even planting time here.

Large white gulf shrimp were on sale for $5.97/# so I bought about three pounds. Boiled most of them for an appetizer and then made shrimp tacos with the rest.

Rubbed the shrimp in smoked chili powder, cumin, onion, garlic and did those quickly in a hot skillet. Slaw was shredded cabbage, one serrano pepper from the garden, sour cream, lime zest, and lime juice. Served with home grown home made pickled onions, cilantro and lime wedges and homemade orange thai pepper hot sauce.

Turned out great.

I had the last of my extremely hot fish cocktail stuff.
It amounted to a good size bowl.
Took a nap and got back up.
Then I watched movies and made two plain hamburgers to fit small buns.
One was mayonnaise the burger slightly toasted onion slices and hamburger dill chip pickles.
The other about an hour later was just the burger buns and mayonnaise.
Both the hot juices were dripping from the meat patties.
Some of the best I've ever made.
Finished last movie and hit the hay at around 1 in the morning.

I must've spent 15 minutes in the store trying to make up my mind as to what cut of beef I wanted.
Finally settled on a USDA Prime sirloin that was extra dark and about the right size.
Rest assured it'll be cooked over screaming hot mesquite charcoal.
Gotta sack of big russet potatoes for a baked potato too with cilantro cream cheese and butter to go on it.
Maybe a hot serrano if I have any left.
Just looked and why yes I do and one of them turned red for me.
An extra bonus.

Not all the prime looked like this.
Just look at the marbling and fat in this cut.
It's too sirloin so that might be the picanha on top.

@worth1 so I see that our local HEB sells picanha cuts, not especially cheap, and I wondered what it is and what it gets used for?

I wasn’t too long ago I discovered Tri-tip and now it is a go to cut here at our house. I’ve been tempted to get a picanha cut, but what should I do with it?

karstopography wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 10:28 am @worth1 so I see that our local HEB sells picanha cuts, not especially cheap, and I wondered what it is and what it gets used for?

I wasn’t too long ago I discovered Tri-tip and now it is a go to cut here at our house. I’ve been tempted to get a picanha cut, but what should I do with it?

I would suggest going the traditional Brazilian method of grilling it with nothing but salt on it.
It seems to be picanha blasphemy to do anything else.
I'll always cook this sort of thing the traditional way before I go off the rail and do something else.
It's mostly being respectful to the culture and knowledge of what the fuss is all about.
I had a good friend tell me that the picanha and the tri-tip were the same thing.
I quickly told him that it wasn't so.
The picanha is a piece of meat with a fat cap on it just above the sirloin.
Butchers here might call it a top sirloin cap.
The tri-tip is at the junction of the hind leg and the body below the sirloin.
Guga from guga eats or food or whatever he calls his youtube channel cooks it quite often.
He is also Brazilian but lives in Florida.

@Rajun Gardener told me about him.

Went up the street to the Mexican market to pick up a few odds and ends.
Costs like 11 dollars.
Got a nice sleeve of Ajo Rojo (Red or purple hard neck garlic).
A chayote.
2 avocados.
Some ancho chilis.
Chili Morita.
Jalapeño Rojo.
Ya gotta kinda be able to read a little Spanish because nothing is in English if you want to know the price.
Going to make a pico de gallo with all the usual players on the team.
I got a nice bag of limes yesterday for a good price.
I rarely if ever buy lemons.
What I totally forgot were tomatoes.
Oh well the red jalapeños will take their place for color.
Plus I'm adding some steamed chayote for whatever reason other than stupidity.
The sirloin i bought will go on corn tortillas.
I figured if I wanted fajitas I'd do it with a better cut of meat than the dreaded over priced skirt and flank steak.
There will also be real authentic enchiladas.
Or at least close.

@worth1 Okay, I’m sold on picanha!

If you can still call it pico de gallo.
I put 4 serrano chiles.
3 very large red jalapeños.
Steamed salted chayote.
Just till the hard crunch goes away and cooled off in ice.
It's fantastic and adds so much.
Cilantro.
Onion.
Almost forgot freshly crushed garlic.
Salt.
The juices of 3 limes ran through the super lime squeezer.
Lime zest naturally.
Avocado will come later.
Look at the size of these jalapeños.
Stuff like this is why I like Mexican food.

Hey worth so when you made a smooth red hot sauce back a few pages back you called that a salsa? It was toasted, blended and then strained.
I know it is a dance but as a food that is a bit different than what I consider salsa.

JRinPA wrote: ↑Sat May 07, 2022 8:36 pm Hey worth so when you made a smooth red hot sauce back a few pages back you called that a salsa? It was toasted, blended and then strained.
I know it is a dance but as a food that is a bit different than what I consider salsa.

That's because you're mixing English and Spanish.
You relate salsa with typical Mexican salsa you are use to and sauce to hot sauce you are use to.
The two are the same.
Salsa is also Italian for sauce.
Look at spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce.
One is smooth and the other can be more chunky.
But yet people call them both sauce.

In Mexico salsa isn't defined from smooth and chunky by calling one sauce and the other salsa.
Both are called salsa with another word attached to describe what it is.
In Mexico it isn't just a direct translation from English to Spanish either.
That can get you pounded to the ground if you leave out one letter or add one.
It's also a different culture with different slang words for things.
Cocina means kitchen and cochina means dirty or filthy.
But it has yet another use as an insult to a woman.
Don't even think of calling a woman cochina because it translates to filthy girl in slang.
This will surely get your butt pounded by everyone around related to her.
Basically speaking, you're not in Kansas anymore Dorothy.
Does that clear things up?