Franco-Americana

There are, sadly, those days that just start off wrong. Preceeded by insomnia and foreshadowed with a wrong number at 5am, the day dawns dimly. Noon comes, and you are hungry, jittery from the black coffee breakfast, and generally in a foul mood. What you should do is eat some soup and get back into bed, white flag waving, but that would just mean Tuesday would begin like a Monday--full of the undone. The alternative? Something befitting a cold, crisp winter day--a mix of flavors, a little bit rich but not so decadent that the afternoon is shot. Some modicum of nutrition can be good too...My solution? Introduce Mr. Waldorf to Sr. Lardon, a salad that is green and crisp, studded with tart pink lady apples, and surprising with little bits of bacon tucked behind its leaves. A sharp vingrette with mustard cuts the fat, and a poached egg on top cuts the vinegar. It is a meal in itself, or the beginning to the kind of meal that tucks you in at 8pm, fat and happy...

A head of tender lettuces--I used a mix of baby gem and red leaf, but whatever looks fresh will do.
One small head radicchio
Three slices of bacon (applewood smoked is nice)
One pink lady (or other tart and crisp) apple
Almost equal parts good olive oil and champagne or white wine or maybe even red wine vinegar
A spoonful of dijon or whole grain mustard, to taste
A dash of honey
Salt and pepper
As many eggs as people, the freshest you can find.

Serves 2-3 as a meal, more as a starter

There are two ways to do the eggs--semi-hard boiled if you are lazy, poached if you are ambitious. For the former, put your eggs in a pot and add cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, then turn off the water and let sit for 5 or so minutes. Do this when you are nearing the end of your salad making, or after you are done if it makes your life easier.
To poach, bring water to a boil with a little salt and vinegar in it. When you are ready to poach (JUST! before you serve) turn down the water to just the slightest simmer, crack one egg at a time into a bowl, and slowly and gently slide into the water. Cook for 2 min, then fish out with a skimmer or large spoon.

• Slice the bacon crosswise so you get small pieces. Discard fatty ends.
• Toss into a pan at semi-high heat and let bacon crisp and render. Stir occasionally.
• While you are doing that, wash lettuce if unwashed and pat dry. Put into a large bowl.
• Slice the apple in thin slivers. Toss into bowl with greens.
• When the bacon is done to your liking, take the little pieces out of the pan and put on a plate with a paper towel to drain.
• Drain off most of the bacon fat, then put the pan back on the stove on pretty high heat. Cut the raddiccio in four pieces and put into pan. Let the raddichio brown to your liking--the longer it's on there, the more mellow it will be, and the softer. If you take it off earlier, you will have a mix of textures--some bits cooked, some bits still raw and escarole-bitter. You choose. When they are done, take off the heat and slice lengthwise into ribbons. Toss into bowl.
  
• In a jar with a top or a cup, put oil, vinegar, honey, mustard, salt and pepper. Shake or whisk to combine. If your eggs are ready or near ready, pour dressing over contents of bowl and toss. Plate, then put eggs atop--if poached, the yolk will get runny and good as soon as people bite in. If hard boiled, it is a nice counterpoint to slice the egg in half and put yellows up nicely on the plate. Finish with some freshly cracked pepper. Dig in.
  

Burrito De La Madre Del Dios (part 2)

Ehem. Let me begin by apologizing for my previous post, which, while unquestionably justified, was perhaps out of line with the spirit of the blog. Without further ado, here are the ingredients: You're looking for Texas Ranch Style beans in the black can with a picture of beans on the front. It's pivotal that you have the right beans as they are the corner stone of the burrito. The other ingredients are: Tortillas, Pace Salsa (medium), Swiss Cheese, and some kind of meat or meat substitute of your choice. When the burrito began I used Polska Kielbasa, but when I became a vegetarian I started using tofudogs. I now use fakin' bacon, but it's up to you. What you do is you take out that tortilla and lay it on a plate see? Then you open up that can of beans I was telling you about, and you scoop out precisely half of the can and put them beans right there on top of the tortilla. Then you kind of pick up two opposing ends of the tortilla and rock it back and forth so that you get a nice row of beans lined up all nice like a great wall dividing east from west tortilla. Oh I forgot that you can also use some rice if you want. If you're gonna use rice then you should cook some up and then line it up on top of the beans you know what I mean? So it's like every ingredient you put on is just building up the great wall higher and higher. Ok. So you put some rice on there maybe, but not too much, just enough to cover the beans, and then you put the salsa on top of that. You want to add a good deal of salsa on there. You'll thank me for it later, I promise! At this point there's not a lot of heat going on inside this burrito so I pick up the plate and stick it inside a toaster oven. Now if your toaster oven is like mine, the plate is not going to fit all the way in, so you just kind of shove it in there as far as it will go and leave the door open. Then you put it on broil, that way it's only heating up the top of the burrito and not getting your plate too hot. Alright, so it's kind of warmed up now, so you take it out and put you're fakin bacon in the toaster oven for a few minutes, and then line them up on the burrito wall. Then you put your swiss cheese on. A word about swiss cheese: I like to get the presliced square kind. That way, you just fold it over and you have two rectangular pieces that line up perfectly on the burrito wall! So now that you got that cheese on there, you're going to want to stick it in the old toaster oven again. Once that cheese is melted, you take the plate out and fold the burrito over the great burrito wall and place another two rectangles of cheese on top to secure it. Then what? Well, you stick it in the toaster oven again and wait for that cheese to melt. At this point the cheese is going to melt pretty quickly. Do you know why? Because as the burrito gets higher and higher, it gets closer to the little heat rod things in the toaster oven! Ok, so now the cheese is melted and you take it out and you look at it and you ask yourself does this look like a really awesome burrito? And if the answer is 'Yes, it does look like a fucking awesome ass burrito', then you eat it. And that's it.

Cheese Please

Homely Pies

I saw Waitress. And then I made pies. I don't bake, because that takes discipline. They came out, well, like pies only a mother could love. But they tasted pretty good...

Atop, you have peach, nectarine, and raspberry pie with a flaky cornmeal crust. To the side, you have the same, made of the extra, but its only a top crust. That worked well because this was one juicy pie. I should have broken down and added a bit of cornstarch, but no, had to be a purist.

A la Bernadetta

Of late I've been on a summer salad kick, particularly those of the sort that could be a tasty addition to things tossed on the grill, or a meal all by its lonesome. Another quality I look for in a salad is evidence that it will age well, gently mingling flavors, becoming more complex with the passage of days. These are the midlife partners of salads--dependable, varied, healthful. But moving on:
The latest sprouted from two bunches of broccolini that ended up in my basket at Safeway. They were green, fresh, and most importantly, a dollar a pop. I had nearly forgotten about them, thus, though not for the last time, wasting two perfectly good dollars in the name of a bargain, when I came upon another epicurean impulse purchase--the bags of artisan Italian bulk foods that I picked up at Rainbow a while ago: farro and cecci. Translation: spelt and Italian chickpeas (they actually translate to "grass peas," cute, eh? I thought so.) Faced with these orphans, one of my favorite of Angele's creations, "Pasta a la zia" someone or other, came to mind. Its a classic mixture of olive oil, anchovy, garlic, red pepper flakes, and broccoli, often served with orrichiette, little ear pasta. It also should be served hot, and gets rather gummy and less attractive the next day. I took the spirit of ol' zia whoever (zia=aunt) and created "insalata a la zia Bernadetta," in honor of my aunt Bern, who is looking for good things to make for lunch with veggies and legumes. I omitted the anchovy because when I went to open the tin it looked a little bocholistic, and added kalamata olives for their briny, salty flavor instead. I also tossed in a bit of arugula because I had it, and I thought the peppery taste would be good. Capers also came to mind, but alas, the cupboard was bare. Feta could make the whole thing more Greek. Do as you will...

1-2 bunches broccolini, heirloom broccoli, or the crowns of the regular stuff. I like a lot of broc.
1 cup farro (spelt), soaked overnight if desired
1 cup uncooked cecci soaked overnight, or one can garbanzo beans, drained
1/4 cup olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic (to taste, I tend to like it garlic laden), minced
Chili flakes, 1 tsp or more, to taste
salt
8ish kalamata olives, minced
one bay leaf
herbs, if you like (I had fresh oregano, it was kind of nice)
Juice of one lemon

Cook farro and cecci, with a bay leaf, according to package direction. Farro freezes pretty well, so you may want to cook more to speed up your grain salad making at a later date. You don't have to soak the farro, but it cooks more quickly that way. Shorten the cooking time and taste if you do soak it.

Put farro and cecci into a large bowl

Blanch broccolini in boiling, salted water about 30 sec, then run under cold water.

In a large, cold skillet, put olive oil, garlic and chili flakes. Turn on heat to medium, and let the flavors infuse a bit. I then poured off a bit of oil into a cup for later flavoring as needed, but I might have had a bit more than a 1/4 cup to begin with. Turn up heat a bit and into remaining oil, add broccolini and saute until it softens a bit and picks up the flavors in the oil. Salt to taste as you saute. Turn the vegetables into the large bowl, making sure you get any oil and little bits remaining back in the pan. Add olives, and squeeze lemon on top (you need lemon, you do, maybe even a spot of zest if your inclined that way). Toss together and taste, adjusting seasonings (more salt, more chili) as needed. If eating immediately, toss in arugula and herbs. If not (better to wait a bit) cover and put in fridge for at least an hour. When you are ready to eat, add any herbs you might like (stick to Italian flavors--parsley, the oregano was rather nice, mint would be a different route...could work...). Enjoy alone as a meal, or as a side to broiled or grilled fish with lemon, roast chicken, etc.

The Summer of Squash

In keeping with the colorful and squashy mood of the latest entries, I have decided to add a tasty new recipe for your enjoyment. In terms of food nomenclature, I am not particularly fond of the use of "patties" along with loaf (in reference to the meat variety). Maybe that's partly because I am not fond of hamburger and for that matter hamburger patties. It sounds sketchy, unappetizing, and mysterious. However, this latest recipe is redemptive and has opened new doors to the world of "patties," or the preferred fritter or cake.

I first tasted the Zucchini Pattie with Feta in Sebastopol. After an endless day at work, defeating few hours of rock climbing, and a long drive to the country, Zoe, Rebecca, and I found ourselves feasting on these oval wonders made by Zoe's mom. The crispy browned outside mixed with the melted feta on the inside made for an excellent and tasty treat. And the yogurt sauce dollop on top made for a refreshing touch.


The great thing too is that you can mix it up, i.e Yellow Squash Patties with Goat Cheese. The world is your squash garden.

ZUCCHINI PATTIES WITH FETA

Coarsely grated zucchini (from about 3 medium)
Salt
Spice of choice
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
All purpose flour or breadcrumbs
Crumbled feta cheese
Chopped Italian parsley
Chopped green onions
Chopped fresh dill

Olive or corn oil for frying

Plain Greek yogurt

Toss zucchini and salt with a large bowl and let stand for 5 minutes. Press out excess liquid and transfer to another bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Add flour as needed so the consistency is on the drier side.

Fry in skillet over medium heat.

Eat.

Good cold as well.

Cataglories

Anna Spencer Davies and I once got in the most ginormous fight because I was convinced that it was not "categories" but "categlories," and ritously asserted that belief in that way that I am at times known to do. I, in case you too are confused on that count, was wrong. No glory there. But anyway, this is just to say (oh WCW) that I may have eaten your plums, and you can now add LABELS at the bottom of your POST (I see all of you are posting like crazy, so this will be indispensible) so others can search by type of recipe. For example, "vegetable," "entree," "snarky comments a la dylan," etc. Play on, players.

I need to work on my proof-reading. Sadly, I do a lot of it for the writing of others. I just seem unable to bring myself to do the same for my own. For posterity, I like A mix of tomatoes, and you should cut the mint into THIN strips.

The staff of salad

In these fogged late summer daze, I have become enamoured with color. Red tomatoes, yellow tomatoes, green tomatoes. Sweet 100's. Early girls. I love them all. I've been pretty into "kitchen sink" summer salads (more on that later) but I've been kicking around a few recipe ideas focused around produce that is booming at the moment. I forced Josh to come over and be my guinea pig as I knew he would probably have forgotten to eat all day and would therefore eat just about anything I placed in front of him, and probably like it. On the menu was:

Tomato Panzanella with Lavender and Mint

Sauteed sweet corn and red pepper with chili-lime butter

Red-rubbed flank steak

All were works in progress, though luckily all were edible. The chili-lime needed a bit more bang, the red-rub will next time go on a thicker cut, and the Panzanella needed...something. I gave it another go today, and figured it was the "pan" that just needed a bit more loving. Here is the second stage of this summer salad (as with all things that I make, amounts are approximate and should be adapted according to what you have). On the tomatoes--they are the stars of this dish, so this is the perfect time to make it. You don't want Safeway tomatoes, or winter tomatoes. This is good, summertime stuff here folks.

• 2-3 lbs good tomatoes. I like mix of sizes (sweet 100's, big heirloom) as well as colors (red, tiger-striped green, those little golden goodies). Cut the small in half, cut the larger in a range of sizes (early girls perhaps in 4 or eight, big guys in large squares)
• 2 cups trimmed arugula. You can cut this into think strips like the mint if you like.
• Lavender salt (pretty cheap at Whole Foods, oddly enough)
• Bunch of mint, to taste (optional)

For Croutons

• A good loaf of bread. I didn't use the whole loaf, and in fact its great for day old. Try ciabatta or Acme herb slab. See below for crouton recipe.
• Olive oil (1/4 cup-esque., or mix some olive oil and some butter)
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed

For Dressing

• A smallish shallot, minced
• 3ish tablespoons red wine vinegar
• squeeze of lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Put diced shallot in a cup with vinegar and a bit of lemon and let mingle for 20ish minutes.
In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 with a cookie sheet in there. Cut the bread (you may choose to take off the crust, or leave it on if you like the texture or are lazy. In a frying pan, heat oil or oil and butter over medium heat (until butter foams or oil is warm). Add garlic and let cook 30 sec to a minute. Add bread to pan and toss to coat, or if the pan is small put the cubes of bread on cookie sheet, pour oil over, sprinkle with sea salt and grind a bit of pepper atop. Bake, stirring once or so, until the bread is lovely and crispy but still a bit soft in the middle. Remove after about 8-9 minutes and let cool. These can be stored in a Tupperware for a day or two.

While the bread cools, cut the tomatoes and sprinkle with lavender salt. Taste to make sure you have not created something that tastes like potpourri. Take mint leaves to taste, and lay them all one atop another. Roll them up, then slice thinly across the roll, as if you were cutting a baguette. Do the same to the greens if you like. Slowly whisk the oil into the vinegar. In a big bowl, toss tomatoes, greens and bread (you may want to add the mint later). Grind pepper to taste. Let sit for one hour and up to a few--this could be good for pick nicks--or eat immediately if you are quite hungry or like your bread very crispy. Before serving, taste and add olive oil as needed.

Some possible variations--remove mint and lavender, add burrata, or another good fresh mozzarella, and basil. Or, leave lavender in, and add some tasty goat cheese. These are just ideas--let me know if you try them. They're on my list. As always, any suggestions, additions, or changes (I never measure my salad dressing) are awaited...

Next: Cheddar and pink pearl grilled cheese with garlic-onion jam...

Panning for Gold

Here are some pictures of the visit to Nevada City, as promised.
This one of the muffins that Rebecca, Dylan and I awoke to find awaiting us at Nora's, along with pots upon pots of coffee. They take their morning cup seriously there, as all should. Nora can give the recipe. Dylan was a pretty big fan.


Over to the right here we have Dylan and Em at the festival (of stories). Dylan, sipping his frozen cappucino, knew I was wielding the camera. Emily did not, and yet somehow managed to make the exact same face, at the same moment, also holding eating implement to mouth. Odd, that.


Here we have the land that molded our fireheaded friend into the marvel that we know and love, the very dirt that she regularly found upon her face, the grass that regularly gives her rashes. We (Nora, Emily, Rebecca, Dylan, I) slept upon it (well, the happy couple had a sort of pre-nuptial air mattress, thus avoiding the plethora of little bugs), and then the less lucky threesome got up and went to the Brier (Higher) Patch for brunch fixings in the morning. We ate with Chris on the back porch, overlooking loveliness.

Speaking of which, I really like this picture of Rebecca. She's not making the tense-neck face, which is nice.

And this picture of Em, taken on the threshold at the departure, after a morning of lying on the lawn, looking like (as Rob aptly pointed out) some ad for std's or safe sex. Those shouldn't be the same. He said it better. Ah well.

Hot. Sauce. And summer squash.

Apparently reluctant to share his burrito with the alls of us, Dylan shove it where--well, this is a family blog. And since I know how he loves zucchini (kind of how Emily W and Jon love parsley) I have a recipe for the three of ys. Well, maybe not so much a recipe as a serving suggestion, but with PICTURES. Housitting is so helpful. Other people have all sorts of useful things, like kitchens and connector cords for cameras and fresh ravioli left behind in the fridge. And with these modern wonders, I bring you "Summer squash and corn ravioli with zucchini, corn, basil pesto and a garnish of grilled onions," otherwise known as lunch.

This secret family recipe that I am about to share with you will surely convince you of my prowess in the kitchen. I caution you to use such culinary skills carefully:
You need: pesto. Make it. Easiest thing in the world, particularly if you have a Cuisinart. Its rather common to have an almost full bunch of basil rotting away, so instead rough chop it, toss it in the food processor with some garlic (a clove or two) that you've roughed up, some pine nuts if you have them, or really any other nut you have around (dry toasted in a pan for a few minutes), a bit of olive oil and some lemon (with a bit of zest is best), and salt and pepper, bien sur. Pulse, then add a bit more olive oil until you have a thick paste. Put in a container, and keep in the fridge for a few days or freeze for basiless, low energy nights in the future.*
Premade ravioli (or you can made it--more to come there, right?)
some veggies--strays, whatever is around, or veggies that you've bought to compliment pasta filling.
bit of garnish, strays again will do--a few slivers of Parmesan, the last few leaves of your dying herbaceous plants, etc.

Take fresh ravioli of any flavor (in this case The Pasta Shop's summer squash with corn). Find duplicate or complimentary incrediants (but dulplicate are the easiest since they will undoubtedly go). I took a zucchini and made thin ribbons of it using a veggie peeler. Then I cut two longways cuts of sweet, fresh corn. Boil water with plenty of salt (don't be stingy). When boiling, toss in a few rav's (I did 5--it was plenty) and continue to boil gently. A minute or so in, toss in veggies. Boil as per package, usually 5-7 minutes. Drain, then return to pot off heat. Toss in pesto to taste, stir around, then put ravioli on a warmed plate (I usually take a bit of the pasta water as I am draining and toss it on there to warm), mounding veggies on top. Garnish with grilled onions if you happen to have them around, a bit of parm, or whatever little green guys strike your fancy.

*As you all know, you can add almost anything else that you have around to pesto. Mine happened to have a few stray sprouted garbanzos that I had around, and a smidge of parsley. I've put in anchovies (lessening the salt), made pesto of completely different herbs (cilantro, all parsley), added walnuts or hazelnuts, or take the same process to make tapenade. A really good tapenade can be whipped up of hazelnuts (if you have hazelnut oil, all the better rather than olive) and green olives.

El Burrito De La Madre Del Dios

I developed this recipe at my father's house when I was around 14 or so. It's hard to say what inspired it exactly. What I do know is that I somehow acted as the executor of God's culinary will on earth. It has undergone various alterations through the years, but the fundamentals remain the same. Where brand names are specified, no substitutions will suffice, and I will not be held responsible for deviations from the recipe. I've been working on this baby for over ten years, and I'm not going to let some snot-nosed sophisticates come in here and start tinkering with the ingredients. Oh you want to add a little sprig of cilantro on top? Or maybe you'd like to substitute some organic Peruvian mango salsa for the Pace original huh??!! You know what? Forget it. I'm not going to post this recipe after all. Fuck you guys.

dylan

Pictures people, PICTURES. I refuse to use a term such as "food p-rn," so, like the Jews to He who may be named but not fully spelled, I will leave out the "o," but oh, you should please include imagery.

IMPORTANT: I believe the deal with previously published recipes (although don't we "adapt" all of them--yes, yes we do) you can put the measurements but you have to write your own instructions. Kind of like research papers, really, though you didn't hear it from me (Josh, Dylan, avert your eyes). So please do "adapt" as we our living in litigious days.

Also note E. Harnden and I did a little revamp, and I added some links to other cites in case you are at a loss. "Hogwash" is Josh Howe's sister's blog for those who don't know, and many of us have eaten well from it (sweet potatoes, crazy brownies, all sorts of wonder). Please peruse.

Cowboys and....cookies?

So, I must admit I got this recipe off of the "internet" from this website called "epicurious.com". If you haven't been there, you guys should check it out. Its pretty fantastic if you're into this whole cooking thing. (I hope you can detect the sarcasm, or else I just look like a jackass. anyway).

Cookies are my MO, and chocolate chip in particular. These are called Colorado Cowboy Cookies; I assume because they are supposed to be of colossal size. But, when I made them, they flattened out to about 1 cm thick and about 5 inches wide-I think they're supposed to be closer to 1/2 in. They were still delicious, as both I and Lisa can attest as we sit here painfully satiated. Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions on how to keep them thicker as they bake, please come forth with ideas. I also think these would be delicious with coconut...

This recipe makes about 20 ENORMOUS cookies:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (packed) dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips--I think dark chocolate chucks of good baking chocolate would be even better
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts (about 4 ounces)

Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating to combine. Add dry ingredients and beat until just blended. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Cover dough and chill 1 hour. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled. Let soften slightly before continuing.)

Arrange 2 racks in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Butter 2 baking sheets. Form dough into balls, using 1/4 cup dough for each. Place on prepared sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten with hand to 3 1/2-inch rounds. Bake 10 minutes, then rotate sheets. Bake until cookies are golden brown around edges and firm in center, about 4 minutes longer. Cool on sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to racks to cool completely.

Tents and Repentences

Here I sat, enthused in ways I usually would not admit to about posting my (some somewhat retroactively taken) picture of this weekend. In my belated style, I missed the best photo ops of both companions and cuisine, but got some clutch shots near the end there of Emily (sad face at our leaving), Rebecca (beautifully pensive), and the chard (rainbow, lush, lovely) that we picked in Embo's garden right before we hit the road. Then I arrived home and, after searching high and low, can find no trace of the cord that connects camera to computer. I fear that I might have put it in "deep storage" (the drawers on the side of the bed aligned with the wall) where I have relegated all the things that might be important and sentimental but have no place in everyday life. My version of "spring cleaning." This, my friends, may be problematic. However, never one to quit so easily (at least not when there are more pressing things that I should probably actually be doing on the horizon) I will search further, and reserve the goodies of the weekend (including but not limited to naked men, good beer, wholesome fun and Charlene Mounce's hand-ground brew) for a time when I can show and tell. Natalie gets points for first real posting, and I hope all the rest of you feel the need to "plus two" (or four, or six, depending on what you some up with) on the ever-running tally by following in kind. Till then...

Another souper-delish recipe for your arsenal...

i made this the other night. it was really easy and tasty. i think that we should open a soup shop....

ingredients
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup long-grain rice
1/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups canned crushed tomatoes in thick puree (from one 15-ounce can)
5 cups water
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp, shelled and cut in half horizontally
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

directions
In a large pot, heat the oil over moderately low heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables start to soften, about 10 minutes.
Add the rice, red-pepper flakes, salt, tomatoes, and water to the pot. Bring to a boil and cook until the rice is almost tender, about 10 minutes.
Stir the coconut milk into the soup. Bring back to a simmer and then stir in the shrimp. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp are just done, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the black pepper, lemon juice, and parsley. EAT!

Sitting here sipping on freeze dried miso and wishing I had dealt with my mini fridge long ago (I'll spare everyone the details) I thought no time like the present to begin compiling all of our recipes, and the accompanying tales. Go forth.