Food Pr0n!

[Amy]

Yum, yum and yum. Everything looks very tasty! What else is in the corn salad?

[Wizzard419]

If I recall it's fresh corn off the cobb, tomato, a little red onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper.

[Wizzard419]

All right time for updates...

Some Black from Tula tomatoes



Some Tie Dye Tomatoes (not very tie dye inside though, might have been due to the weather)



Obligatory tomato stacks using Black and early girl



and marinated tomato salad (tula, early girl, and san marzano) on fresh mozz and toast.



Some peppers, normally they don't seem to grow right but this year they did.



I took some of my left over chile paste (a base I use for making mexican food and tex mex stuff) and just rubbed it on a pork tenderloin with some herbs and grilled it, turned out quite nice.



A Connecticut Bullfrog, too few modern cocktails call for maple syrup over simple syrup.



And the lost New Orleans breakfast food, calas. When I was there, I had to go on my own to find it since even the hotel didn't know where to get them. The concierge had lived in New Orleans his whole life and never had them.

[Amy]

I think this might be your first food update where I would gladly try everything you served! Ok, now on to the questions....tie-dye tomatoes? Never heard of 'em. What color should they be inside? And do they just stay yellow-orange outside?
What is the white stuff in the tomato stacks? Fresh mozz? And how the heck do you eat them?!
Are those banana peppers? Or hot ones?
Bullfrog? What's in that? Does it make you croak if made correctly?!
Calas ~ obviously fried and with some powdered sugar dusted on top, but what all goes into them? They look yummy

[Wizzard419]

It's just a hybrid, I was hoping for rainbow tomatoes again this year but they didn't stock them locally. The tie dye ones are orange outside and inside they are part red, resulting in something that looks like a red-orange tiedye design when cut into slices.

Yep, fresh mozz, you eat them with a fork and knife or just a fork.

I forgot what the species name was but they are sweet peppers.

Conneticut Bullfrog is gin, New England/English rum (I have a few bottles, it has a slighty different flavor because it's aged in a different climate than most rum), lemon juice and maple syrup. A lot of old school cocktails that utilize rum will use maple over simple syrup since it has a better flavor.

Calas are really light rice fritters (they are a good way to use left over white rice) that taste like a cross between rice pudding and a doughnut. It's rice, spices (cinnamon and nutmeg) eggs, flour, baking powder (to keep it light), and optional chopped pecans. If you're down south you would probably have them with cane syrup but I like them with orange infused maple syrup.

[Amy]

Hmmm, I'm going to have to ask F1gment if she ever had calas. She grew up in Florida...

[Wizzard419]

She probably hasn't since they are a heavily regional creole dish and even outside of NO it is rare. It's kind of like the Kentucky Hot Brown, in terms of little favor outside of an immediate region.

[Wizzard419]

All right update time.

A "tropical" tomato, noted for it's red and orange hues and sweet flavor, almost like pineapple.



Even though it wasn't part of it, it had something similar to what was expected of the tie-dye on the inside.



Here is a side of linguini in vodka sauce, using the lighter red sauce (cooks only 20 mins rather than all day) and it turns out much lighter and better than long cooked red sauces. Tonight it was plain since it was a side, but shrimp (or other seafood) or chicken go well when tossed in the sauce



I know it's been seen before but since I was polishing silver I also cleaned my silver julep cup, so you can see how a poper one is served. You are supposed to hold it by the upper or bottom lip and allow that nice layer of frost to stay undistrubed as you suck down 3 ounces of bourbon.

[Amy]

That tomato looks lovely! We had one ripe one on one of the plants. Something ripped it off and gnawed on both sides and then left it in the garden
Couldn't you avoid picking up your fancy julep altogether and instead just bend over and sip out of the sippy straw that looks to be in the side of the drink?!

[Wizzard419]

Yes, but then you would look like a drinking bird and your hat would fall off.

[Amy]

Yes, but then you would look like a drinking bird and your hat would fall off.

I am quite talented enough to keep my hat on whilst drinking

[Wizzard419]

Food time!

Here we have a dark and stormy, though I can never find cloudy enough ginger beer to give the proper "stormy" effect. I may have to just make my own.



The southern classic, the cheese straw (it's like a cracker but sent through a cookie press). These have a nice slow burn to them that takes a while to show up.



Some fresh peach gelato, it was going to be peach melba but I couldn't find any raspberries to make the sauce with.



Figs and prosciutto with a balsalmic reduction



And Frozen Frozen Grand Marnier Soufflé, I forgot to have the lady fingers turned the other way so that the cross section would look better when cut.

[Amy]

Looks tasty Wizz. I've heard of cheese straws but never seen them before. Do they have some sort of hot peppers in them?

[Wizzard419]

Nope, just cayane and black pepper. The advice that I always read about them holds true even out here, you should always bake them the day before you want to eat them.The flavor and texture improve if they are allowed to rest for a day after baking.

[Amy]

Nope, just cayane and black pepper. The advice that I always read about them holds true even out here, you should always bake them the day before you want to eat them.The flavor and texture improve if they are allowed to rest for a day after baking.

What else is in them? And are they baked in the oven?