Friday Food: When You Put a Woodchuck in the Kitchen

Friday

Short version: Pizza grilled cheese, vegetable soup

Long version: Pizza grilled cheese is just grilled cheese sandwiches made with leftover pizza sauce and mozzarella (or, in our case, asadero) cheese. And pepperoni for those who like that. Usually I sprinkle garlic powder on the bread when I spread on the butter, but I forgot this time. There were still no complaints, because these sandwiches are awesome.

I made the soup because I have waaay too much stock hanging around taking up the freezer space that will be needed for a whole cow soon. I had taken a big container out a few days earlier intending to make soup and never got around to it. Finally did, though. This vegetable soup included onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, collard greens, potatoes, a bag of Rafael's calabacitas from the freezer, and frozen green beans.

No other beans, though, which is a bummer. I prefer to have something like cannellini beans in my vegetable soups to make them heartier. I guess I need to start freezing small portions of cooked pinto beans for that purpose.

We went to the playground earlier in the day and I realized that I no longer have to push Poppy on the swing, because there's always a brother to do it. Bonus.

Saturday

Short version: Bunless cheeseburgers, oven fries, salad with ranch dressing

Long version: This was A.'s request for his birthday meal. Well, not the salad. I've never known him to request a specific vegetable, but of course I had to make one and I know he likes salad with a lot of ranch dressing. So I made ranch dressing instead of the vinaigrette I usually make.

He also at first requested that I make real french fries, fried in oil on the stove. But then he changed his mind, because when I do that, he never gets enough fries. I can't fit enough in a skillet for this horde, you see. So he asked for a big pan of oven fries instead. I tried this method this time. It was fine, but no better than just cooking them the whole time in the oven, in my opinion. The initial boiling didn't seem to do much, so I won't bother with that again.

Sunday

Short version: A.'s proprietary ponudo, creamy cucumber salad

Long version: Okay, this was an interesting one. It's always interesting when A. gets in the kitchen (see: whole octopus, sheep testicles, and beaver tails, among others). He came home from the store about a month ago with a package of frozen tripe, and another of hominy. Plus a small tub of red chili paste.

Tripe is animal stomach, in this case from a cow. Hominy is corn that's been treated with lime to remove the hull. It also makes it puffy, so it looks kind of like Corn Nuts. The red chili paste is just red chilis and water, pureed to a very smooth consistency. These are not items I would have ever bought on my own.

A. used to eat tripe with some frequency at cheap taco places in Tucson where he went to college, because as a broke college student, the tripe was the most affordable. The traditional use for tripe in Mexican food is in a soup called menudo. The hominy he remembers from posole, a kind of stew that also features various meats. There were recipes for both of these dishes on the back of the hominy bag.

He decided to combine the two recipes and make posole with tripe. Or maybe menudo with chili. Or, as I prefer to call it, ponudo.

Get it? Yeah.

Anyway, what he did was saute onion and garlic, then add the hominy, tripe, chunks of lean pork (so convenient we had those boneless sirloin pork steaks), a small amount of the chili paste, and a bunch of venison stock.

The recipe called for pig's feet. He was mad he didn't buy them, too, as he is quite fond of pig's feet. (I can't say I was too upset.) The pig's feet seemed to be mostly used for essentially making a gelatinous stock in the beginning of the recipe, and since we already had stock prepared, I didn't think it was necessary. The venison stock wasn't very gelatinous, though, so he also added a bit of masa to thicken everything.

Then he let it cook. And cook. And cook. It simmered for about two hours, but probably could have used more time. The hominy was still a bit chewy, as was the tripe.

I'd never had tripe before. I can't say I found it too appealing--the visual texture does indeed look like honeycomb, which is why this variety is called honeycomb tripe, and the mouth texture was quite chewy--but the taste was pretty bland. It kind of reminded me of the octopus tentacles, actually.

Cubby said he liked the taste of it, but didn't like the texture. Charlie said he didn't like the tripe at all. Jack said it was too spicy. They all ate it, though, with the addition of some sour cream to help with the spiciness.

A. was very pleased with how hearty and flavorful his stew turned out to be, although he did say he'll cook it longer next time. We still have half the bag of tripe and another bag of hominy in the freezer, so he'll have another opportunity to refine his recipe.

The cucumber salad was something I threw together quickly, as A. doesn't really do vegetables when he cooks. It was cucumbers, finely sliced raw onion leftover from the hamburgers, and leftover ranch dressing. That helped to cool everyone's mouths, too.

Tuesday

Short version: Tacos, leftover ponudo, steamed broccoli, pan-fried sweet potatoes

Long version: I had quite a bit of meat left when I made hamburgers, so I made it into taco meat the laziest way ever. Which is to brown the meat, then dump in salsa. I also added a spoonful of the red chili paste, since we had it. I don't make it this way often, as salsa is kind of expensive to use in large quantities as a flavoring agent, but it is nice not to have to chop onions or garlic. And it's fast, which is helpful on nights like this when I walk in the door at 4:20 p.m. and need to get dinner on the table quickly.

There was a LOT of ponudo left. I froze a big container and gave A. a big bowl of it for dinner, and there was still a large container of it in the refrigerator. A very economical food.

Wednesday

Short version: FFA food.

Long version: This was the night of the school Christmas program, and the FFA served us ham, green beans and bacon, rice with water chestnuts and mushrooms, Chinese cabbage salad, and some kind of Nilla Wafer dessert with lemon cream in it.

A. also ate a big bowl of his ponudo before we left. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

Thursday

Short version: Jack's birthday request meal.

Long version: The Birthday Boy wanted spaghetti, so that's what he got. I also made chicken, fried peppers and onions, and green peas. I made the spaghetti sauce in the morning (olive oil, lots of garlic, two big cans of tomatoes, oregano, basil, balsamic vinegar and a little bit of anchovy paste that A. had bought) and put the chicken in the oven to bake with some of it while I was at the school for Jack's class Christmas party.

When I got home at 4:15 p.m., all I had to do was boil the spaghetti and add cheese to the top of the chicken for a non-breaded version of Chicken Parmesan. Plus microwave the peas and fry the peppers and onions.

We also had a cake.

I know you've already seen this, but who can resist another look at an ugly cake?

Thursday

Short version: Spaghetti casserole, leftover ponudo, steamed carrots and broccoli

Long version: I had to make a little more spaghetti, but there was plenty of sauce left and a couple of pieces of chicken. Chop the chicken, mix in all the spaghetti and sauce, plus some extra garlic powder and some cheese, top the whole thing with more cheese, bake, and ta da!

A classic casserole.

A. ate more of his never-ending ponudo. Good thing he liked it.

Okay, your turn! What'd you eat this week?