I’ll always remember my first tamale, and the dicey looking man I bought it from. I was living in Houston when this questionable looking man shows up at the back door of the fine dining restaurant I worked at with a cooler of hot tamales. The entire kitchen staff (including the snooty executive chef) happily bought tamales from the tamale man. Now, call me weird, but I have a serious problem buying food from random people who pull up in a truck. You will never see me on the side of the road purchasing food. I just don’t do that. However, I love food and I was intrigued. So I figured if the snooty Belgian Executive Chef bought one, it must be good, right? So I was brave and bought one. Luckily, I didn’t end up in the emergency room with food poisoning, instead I developed my love for the tamale.
I used a spicy pulled beef filling, but tamales are also delicious with chicken or even veggie filling. Just make sure you have plenty of time, as the preparation is quite time consuming.
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So I did something weird. I roasted a turkey. On a random day. In April. Weird, right? I could tell that the husband and pups were quite confused by the strong smell o’ roasted turkey in the house. Well… the organic turkey breasts were on sale after Easter and I happen to have this thing for sales. I did try a different recipe from my usual Thanksgiving brine. I did a salt rub and LOVED it! I remember last season (or was it the season before?) where magazines boldly declared that brines were out and rubs were in. I’ve never been one to go with trends, so I still brined my Thanksgiving turkey, like I do every year. I didn’t want to risk trying something new when I have company coming. But since this was random turkey roasting, all bets were off!
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A few months ago, Stephan and I were in New York and as usual, we planned our time there around food and photography. We stopped in at the famous Magnolia Bakery for their popular cupcakes. As were were sitting outside in the alley eating our yummy cupcakes, I saw two well dressed older women sharing something out of a paper container. They were positively moaning after each bite. So of course, I had to ask what was causing this reaction. Banana Pudding. Who would have thought? So I finished my cupcake and went back in and bought a banana pudding. I then found myself moaning after each bite. It was hands down the best banana pudding I’ve ever had. I don’t know what was in it, but it was decadent, yet light… flavorful, yet light… creamy, yet light. However, I’m pretty sure it was no where near light. But at that moment, I didn’t care. It was so tasty that I don’t care if it was 100 grams of fat.
So I came home and made my own version of banana pudding. I really was feeling indulgent and used a combination of half and half and whole milk… It can also be made with only whole milk (or even 2%) and the result will be good but not nearly as rich and creamy. I justified making the full fat version because I only made half of the recipe. :P Makes sense to me!
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I was approached by Specialty Cheese Company and asked if I would like to taste test El Venadito (hispanic cheeses.) Ummm… Free cheese? Yes please! If you haven’t realized before, I love cheese. At any given time, we have no less than 3 types of cheese in our refrigerator. It is a nightly snack in my house and now I’ve added a fourth must have cheese. Specialty Cheese Company sent three types of El Venadito cheeses, two different Queso Blanco’s (one low sodium) and a Queso Para Frier. All three were tasty, but I really loved the flavor of the low sodium Queso Blanco. It had a great flavor and texture and fried up lovely. Plus it didn’t taste low sodium! Texture wise, my favorite was the Para Frier… it almost had a haloumi texture… kinda squeaky when you chewed it. According to Specialty Cheese Company, you can find El Venadito cheeses at Publix, Sedano’s and Winn Dixie in Miami. I was very happy to see that the Publix where I shop in Ft Lauderdale carried it!
If you think that I’ve battered and deep fried cheese, you’re wrong. This delicious and firm cheese is pan fried on a DRY pan. No oil or fat added. It is delicious. It browns gorgeously and gets just a little soft… It has a great bite and get’s very chewy. I served it several different ways… with a salad, with freshly baked bread and olive oil and standing in front of the stove while cooking more… lol! Either way is fabulous!
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If there is one thing I always have on hand is garbanzo beans (aka chick peas.) With garbanzo beans I often make hummus, soups, salads and have even been known to add garbanzo beans to chili. Yes, I’m a daring one, eh? I’ll admit, in the past, I would buy can o’beans and use that, but I’ve recently started cooking dry beans, and it is SO MUCH BETTER! I wasn’t surprised. But I always have an emergency can of garbanzos. You just never know when you get a hankering for some.
Anyway, onto the salad… I’ve had a few tasty garbanzo bean salads recently, one from The Kosher Kingdom (where we did a photo shoot of their amazing store and YUMMY prepared foods) and another one at a day after brunch for a wedding we photographed. Although the two salads were as different as they could be… they both starred the garbanzo. I made my own version with what I had on hand, including peppers and herbs from my garden. This recipe surely can be added to your very tasty AND healthy list.
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