UnRecipe: Ingredient Obsession - Red Pepper Power (Powder)

"RAAAAAAAWKS-aaaaaaannnne..... you don't have to put on the red light... " That is, unless you're putting on the red pepper powder. On everything. To be filed under "random purchase at the Asian grocer," I bought a large container of Korean red pepper/kimchee (kimchi) powder, aka, gochugaru. While I haven't made a single batch of fermented cabbage buried in a clay pot in the ground, I have been sprinkling that powder into pretty much everything else, WITH NO SIGNS OF STOPPING.

Korean-style tacos, complete with gochugaru-infused tortillas! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: The Misanthropic Cook

I know it's a new year, full of promise, potential and hope... but holy $%*&, there are days where you don't want to leave the house. You're sick with the flu, it's been a crazy work week, or more likely, it's cold outside and the effort it would take to get your lazy butt off the couch feels like a request to summit Mt. Everest while wearing deep-sea diving gear. Seasonal Affective Disorder to the Tenth Power with a side of Sad Horns. The post-holiday hangover doesn't help things when you're staring at those Christmas lights you know you're just going to leave up until sometime mid-March. And then it hits you... damn. You're hungry.

Emergency Taco Button - hit it and don't stop! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

Yes, you could go grab a burger. Or order a pizza -- those show up right to your door. I hit the Pizza Button already over the holidays when I was sick and couldn't leave the bed. Even as miserable as I was, I knew I could not live off takeout food. Therefore, in times of illness or just not wanting to deal with the world, I rely on a cache of goods stashed in our freezer/fridge and pantry.

Just call me the Misanthropic Cook. Be it benefit or detriment, since I work from home, a full week can go by where I can get away with not leaving the house except for picking up the mail and the occasional trip to the grocery store -- but even that's optional. Having produce delivered to the house is a bonus -- we're still living La Vida Kale with Full Circle Farm's CSA every other week. But it always ensures you have some fresh produce to combine with whatever you've hoarded in the freezer. My go-to is always soup. I try to always have frozen poultry stock in quart-sized yogurt containers and I'll defrost two if I'm making soup. What goes in the soup? Whatever the heck I have, veggies, meat and all. If I have a lot of starchy things like potatoes, I'll use the hand blender to buzz that down into a creamy, thick consistency, but if I have a random mix of vegetables, I cut them small and keep the soup looking "rustic" so that you can see everything that got put into it. The flavoring is typically salt, pepper and some dried herbs like oregano and thyme, but the soup can easily get a Southwest flair with cumin and chili powder. This is why Whatever Soup is top on my list when I can't or just plain won't leave the comfort of my abode.

Soup and tacos are a hermit's best friend - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I discovered that tacos are the Misanthropic Cook's new BFF. Corn tortillas freeze like a boss. And you can buy them in staggering bulk amounts, which you can separate into handfuls, wrap in plastic and foil to protect against freezer burn, and store until needed. I've also taken to buying up chorizo and freezing that as well. It's funny to say you have a collection of frozen meat tubes, but hey, it is what it is. I prefer the pork chorizo, but you can find beef just as easily. That marvelous mix of ground up, well-seasoned mystery meat (it does say stuff like "lungs and intestine" on the packaging, if you don't want to live in mystery), gets fried up with some finely chopped onion and in the last couple minutes of cooking, crack in a few eggs. It tightens up the mix and it's easily spoonable onto a warmed corn tortilla. It's fine on its own. Or you can add fresh sliced avocado. Or a dollop of sour cream -- plain, unsweetened yogurt in my case. Maybe a sprinkle of cilantro and a squeeze of lime if they're handy. If you're lucky, you have some roasted tomatillo and fresh herb salsa verde sitting in the freezer that can easily be defrosted. Yes, I'm a bit of a freezer nerd, but it's so nice knowing you have a surplus of homemade stocks, dips and sauces in your personal freezer aisle. Hungry Man dinners, this ain't! Even without all the accoutrements, a basic chorizo and egg taco meal is quick to make, and it's incredibly satisfying.

The 2012 Holiday that Was - Photos by Wasabi Prime

After a whirlwind holiday of overly decorated baked brie (our grocery store is so weird) and new cookbooks that are inspiring, but daunting at the same time, just kick back in your new Lebowski Dude t-shirt, start scrapbooking with meat stickers and have a chorizo-egg taco without the concern of facing the rest of 2013 quite yet. Happy days to all, my fellow Post-Holiday Hobbits.

UnRecipe: The Mango is to Blame

I don't have anything against tropical fruit, I assure you. It's just interesting to see how some meals come about, which leads us to this sunny little post: The days of better weather are finally sinking in, and I was in need of some sunny, bright food after so many months of slow cooker stewing. You know what I'm saying. So let's sit out in the sun and have some fish tacos, shall we?

I found Nemo, and he was crispy-delicious - Photo by Wasabi Prime

It's rare that I do a seafood post. I think I can count on one hand how many times I've written about seafood I've cooked. I like eating it, I'm just not big on preparing it. It's so much about how we're raised -- my mother never cooked fish because my dad is not a seafood eater, the end. There was the odd tuna salad sandwich now and then, but that was it. I grew up with an baseless dislike of seafood, assuming it was gross or icky or something irrational like that. Common sense kicked in at some point and I got over it, but I never became really good at preparing the creatures of the sea. I'm always worried I'll overcook it or season it improperly. And quite frankly, this post is no exception -- I totally cheated with these fish tacos, the filets were frozen! Boooooooo, I know. I didn't want to fuss with hot oil on a warm day, so I picked up some frozen beer-battered fish filets from the store. There you have it -- haul me off to Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Jail. 

My plea to the jury: blame it on The Mango. Not all mangoes. Not all tropical fruit. Just this one mango we had delivered amongst our CSA box of mystery goodies. I had some time to consider what to do with a single mango while it ripened, staring back at me from the fruit bowl. Stir fry? Nah... been there, done that. Bread? Mom said most good mango breads really need two mangoes. What about a mango relish? Now there's an idear.

Steps towards relishing a mango relish - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I love cutting a mango, scoring the fruit and flipping it inside-out to get a freaky turtle-shell/cleaning sponge-looking thing. I don't like using the knife to blindly identify the ridiculously large pit in the center of a mango, that's always hit or miss. I swear these fruits are just as much seed as fruit. Yet another reason why it's challenging to do something with just one mango. But making it into a relish-salsa concoction was a good way to showcase its mango-riffic attributes. This was an UnRecipe mango relish, to be sure. I used what was left of some pickled red onion in a jar that was done months ago for the We Can Portlandia That pickle-themed post. I also finely minced some of the preserved lemon peel. It feels weird talking about ingredients that were prepared months earlier, but that's the joys of pickling and preserving. The fresh mango mixed with the spicy-sweet-sourness of the onions and lemons made for a nice overall flavor. Refreshing, tart and with enough punch to stand out against a lot of strong flavors.

I had a false start on using the mango relish on dinner -- I added it as a topping on a pork and zucchini stir fry. Food Fail. The flavors of the stir fry were fine on its own, the relish was just adding too strong of a flavor and drowned out everything else. I thought it would maybe compliment, like when you have pickled vegetables with a meal. No, it was like a Battle of the Bands with Pantera vs GWAR, just a big mess of dirty noise. But hey, you live and learn. I enjoyed the rest of the stir fry with a veggie-heavy mapo tofu, sans mango relish, for the rest of the week, no harm done.

Colorful, but not a flavor-win, adding the relish on top of stir fry - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I still had a bowl of mango relish seeking its Special Purpose. In a flash of inspiration and hunger, I had a specific food-image in my head: the citrus bite and freshness of the relish going nicely with a beer-battered fish taco, all looking like the color of a sunny day. Done. I had some small corn tortillas in the freezer and just needed to find Nemo in the friendly neighborhood frozen seafood aisle. It was a shortcut, but worth it when I could prepare a few quick tacos with the help of a toaster oven to crisp up the fish, and to help warm the tortillas. I made these very simply and UnRecipe-like -- a smear of mayonnaise for richness, a crispy filet of fish, then the mango topping. Roll and eat. Repeat as necessary. Served with a side salad, they were a super-easy way to make a lunch or dinner in a matter of minutes.

While I wouldn't normally say, "get thee to the prepared frozen foods aisle," I'm never going to say no to a shortcut. And even if you're still shaking a finger at me for hitting the "lazy" button, I cast my gaze to a tropical fruit and insist that The Mango is to Blame.

Say what you will about frozen food shortcuts - they can still be tasty! - Photo by Wasabi Prime

UnRecipe: Suddenly Tacos

You know what rhymes with hasty? Why, tasty, of course. Another whirlwind meal was chalked up to random ingredients delivered in a CSA box and scrounging through pantry and freezer staples. Despite its scrappy beginnings, it was still quite a fiesta to behold. Viva la UnRecipe!

The CSA box said, it's Taco Night - Photo by Wasabi Prime

The truth of the matter is, I just don't know what the hell I'm doing from week to week. Blame it on a combination of doing too many things and too few hours in the day, but I'm never going to have the bandwidth to be a fancy food blogger who regularly spends several days preparing a specialty meal. I'm all about quick-prep foods so that I can spend more time enjoying the meal versus fussing over it. This is compounded by our CSA delivery, which makes for a delicious mystery every two weeks. One of the boxes included a whole mix of random things like radishes, corn, tomatoes and a mango or two. Based on what shows up in the box, I go with my gut instinct, and that day, the gut said: tacos with mango salsa.

Let the season guide your meal - Photos by Wasabi Prime

You should listen to your gut. Aside from the occasional stomach growl and gurgle, it can make for some inspiring conversation. I think my gut was also aware that I always keep dried beans in the pantry and corn tortillas in the freezer. I'm a sucker for bulk buying and I knew I'd never use the five million tortillas in a single dish, so I divided them up into smaller stacks and froze accordingly, knowing I'd have a few stacks ready for future meals. The dried beans were soaked and mixed into a spicy seasoned rice with the fresh corn as a side dish. A bunch of fresh breakfast radishes were the perfect crunch for a spicy taco. Radishes are definitely my favorite for taco toppings; much more character than shreds of iceberg lettuce.

Botannical summer booze - Photos by Wasabi Prime

I couldn't enjoy a summer taco banquet without a frosty beverage, and no I did not waste away in Margaritaville. The CSA box had some oranges and a cucumber. My gut was still ruminating over tacos, but my brain immediately went to fruit/vegetable-infused vodka. The cucumber was a thicker-skinned pickling variety, so I didn't feel bad sacrificing it to the liquor gods. It got pickled all right -- in a glass carafe of booze. I mixed the cucumber slices with orange wedges and let them soak in vodka for a few hours. Using a French Press is great, as you've got a strainer built-in that helps press all the flavor from the fruit that's been soaking away. I took some gin and steeped some Earl Grey tea bags in a separate glass for a short time. It only steeped for about a half hour, as tea can get bitter if it's left to sit for too long. I didn't have a defined idea in mind for these cocktails, except that I mixed the cucumber/citrus vodka with some St. Germain and seltzer for a light-tasting fizz, and mixed the tea-steeped gin with Luxardo maraschino liqueur, some simple syrup and seltzer for a more rich-tasting fizz. Lately my at-home cocktails often look like this -- favorite liquor, a fruit component, light bitter or sour element, simple syrup and fizzy water to liven it all up. I could add more things to it, but that may require more dishes or utensils to wash, and I'm a lazy bartender.

Summertime fiesta at home - Photos by Wasabi Prime

So even though I'm not throwing any wild sexy summer parties at Casa de Wasabi, we manage to eat and drink well enough in the warm, sunny evenings. The fresh produce deliveries keep us on our toes and a well-stocked freezer and pantry shore up whatever we're missing. If I'm very lucky and wish to fully celebrate my laziness, I manage to get away with skipping a trip to the grocery store for a week!

FoodTrek/UnRecipe: Going Out and Staying In

It can be tricky to balance the Going Out vs Staying In argument when it comes to dining. We all want to be mindful of our pocketbook, but not only is it nice to not have to cook or clean up after a meal, it's important to be supportive of the restaurant industry that continues to inspire us in our own home kitchens. Often times, visiting a restaurant during their non-peak hours is the best way to experience their menu at a lower cost, as well as a lesser hassle of getting a table. Recently we revisited one of our favorite spots in the rare light of day, Bellevue's Barrio, to give their new brunch menu a try. I enjoyed one of their dishes so much that I made a simpler at-home version, so that even when I'm having a meal in, it can still feel like going out.

Morning powered by COFFEE - photo by Wasabi Prime

I have several friends who believe breakfast is truly the perfect meal, and I'm inclined to go with that sentiment. It's the one meal where you have the option to go sweet or savory, and the ingredients are fairly consistent, so it's never a surprise over what you'll get. Plus when it comes to brunch, who doesn't love an excuse to tie one on before noon with a mimosa or a bloody mary? Barrio's take on brunch is a nice change from the typical eggs, toast, and hash, offering Mexican influenced dishes that still work with what El Norte Americano expectations for breakfast would be. Their brunch menu isn't too different from their regular menu, offering things like enchiladas and an egg-topped version of their chilaquiles, but they also offer a Mexican style French toast, and a chorizo bacon and egg torta, a hearty panini-like sandwich. Even their more standard breakfast fare like steak and eggs or biscuits and gravy still have a South of the Border twist, adding chiles and spices.

Brunch at Barrio - the right way to start the day. Photos by Wasabi Prime

The Barrio brunch experience was om-nom-nom-approved, combining savory, slow-cooked, rich flavors, anointed with the crown of fried eggy goodness. I was so pleased with the pork and chiliquiles experience of Barrio, that I knew I needed to capture this edible lightning in a bottle. ZAP!

I took a cue from a night when we made tacos -- let's face it, you always wind up with more tortillas than you need. Chilaquiles is the ideal dish for this situation. Traditionally they are cut into wedges, fried, and then tossed with a red enchilada sauce. They're served with some queso fresco and chopped meat, a great dish to incorporate the odd leftover bits hanging about. The tacos we had were pretty simple -- pork seasoned with adobo powder, seared and sliced thin, layered on a small corn tortilla with some sliced radish, fresh cilantro, and a dash of lime. The remaining ingredients from this meal worked perfectly for the at-home version of Barrio's chilaquiles inspiration dish.

Tacos are the first step towards chilaquiles - Photo by Wasabi Prime

This had UnRecipe written all over it -- extra stuff loitering in the fridge, no clear recipe to start from, and memories of a tasty brunch still lingering in my head. Well, it was either UnRecipe or Big Hot Mess, but I remained optimistic and just threw things together, hoping for the best. I'm not a fan of frying, what with the ozone layer of grease that inevitably gets left in the kitchen, so I chopped a dozen or so small corn tortillas up into little triangles, drizzled with canola oil, and baked them in the oven. Once they were browned and crispy, they were tossed and coated with a store-bought can of enchilada sauce. Certainly nowhere near the roasted richness of Barrio's sauce, I was just stricken with a wicked case of Instant Gratification.

Chopped bits of the adobo pork were mixed in, a sprinkling of sliced fresh radish and crumbled cheese were added, and a hefty showering of fresh cilantro. I made up a parody version of Beyonce's "Single Ladies" and kept mumbling, "If you liked it, then you shoulda put an egg on it," while I fried an egg and placed it atop the towering mountain of saucy tortillas. Is that too much crazy information about how my mind wanders when I cook? Maybe, but I thought it was a pretty funny song. I promise I wasn't dancing around the kitchen with any hot skillets.

Chilaquiles speak the universal language of leftovers - Photos by Wasabi Prime

Chilaquiles the Wasabi Way was a delicious, too-impatient-to-go-out dish that would easily work as a dinner option. The baked tortillas soaked up the sauce nicely, and the mix of fresh raw vegetables and herbs mixed with the cooked ingredients made for a satisfying mix of textures and flavors. This was a pleasant way of finding a balance between going out to eat and staying in, plus another resourceful way of using up everything in the refrigerator, since I'm such a weird freak about not letting anything go to waste.

FoodTrek: Viva la Taqueria Guadalajara

If you are familiar with the Eastside city of Bellevue in Washington State, you'll hear a lot of recent press about all the new high-end restaurants and bars coming into the downtown area, each one trying to beat out the other for being the coolest kid in school, but sometimes it's not about that intangible and somewhat irksome coolness factor. Sometimes it's just about delicious street food and following the lunchtime crowd to discover that it's quite hip to be square.

Magical Animal and a Slip of the Tongue - photo by Wasabi Prime

Right off the busy snarl of intersections on 148th Avenue, in the Union 76 gas station parking lot in the Overlake neighborhood, Taqueria Guadalajara has set up its truck to feed an ever-growing line of hungry lunchgoers. The crowds are a mix of young and old, white collar professionals and burly construction dudes. There is no particular type of customer, as they really are a food purveyor to the people. Truly everyone comes to this place. There should be a sign put up at the entrance of the parking lot: Abandon all Hunger, Ye Who Enter Here. A line of customers curve alongside the asphalt, doing their best to avoid getting mowed over by cars heading to the gas station. Despite the risk to life and limb, it's worth it, as this magic bus is delicioso.

The food is simple and familiar, having offerings including tacos, quesadillas, tortas and burritos. Pricing ranges from $1.25 per taco, to a whole $5 for the Guadalajara Torta, a hefty grilled sandwich overstuffed with the works. The meaty options range from the everyday chicken, to the more traditional lengua (tongue), for a few cents more. There's the typical array of sodas, but they also offer horchata, a milky, nutty-flavored beverage that's popular in both Mexico and Spain. Lunches are made to order, a mad flurry of activity within the confined taqueria truck, before a savory plate of wonderful is served up. One can eat on the narrow bar table attached to the truck, sitting below the order window, or do what a lot of people do, hover in groups and just eat while standing, enjoying the sun if it happens to be out for a lunchtime visit.

Power to the Hungry People! - Photos by Wasabi Prime

As much as I wanted to eat everything on the menu, I stuck with what my gut said and that afternoon, it was pleading, dos tacos, por favor. I picked two different animals for lunchtime, getting one taco al pastor (pork) and one con lengua, which was most likely beef tongue. I know it's a cut of meat that people don't immediately jump for excitement about, despite the fact that we all admit to eating hot dogs and a good portion of the rest of the animal. It can be a tough cut, but the lengua they served was chopped finely and cooked tender. The pork was especially naughty-good, as it was delectable little fatty chunks, fried crisp from a short waltz on the grill. The tortillas were hand-sized, doubled-up, and tasted of handmade white corn goodness. Probably lard, too, but that's OK. A generous sprinkle of fresh cilantro, sliced radish, a wedge of lime, and lunch was served. I ordered a tamarind flavored bottle of Jarritos, a Mexican soda that comes in a kaleidoscope of colors. I always see them lined up in the stores, thinking the syrupy sweetness wouldn't go with much, other than a severe case of diabetic shock, but the tart tamarind paired nicely with the savory, fresh tacos.

I got a chance to sample off friends' orders as well, and can say the quesadilla was something special and worth another visit. Far more appealing than the aunt from Napoleon Dynamite yelling to her dimwitted nephews: "Go and make yourself a que-sah-dillah!"

If you have a chance to make your way to Taqueria Guadalajara's mobile kitchen of heavenly delights, I highly recommend it, especially before the summer ends. Ignore the hype of hot opening restaurant-newness for just a little while and just enjoy something delicious and uncomplicated, appealing to both body and soul.