Beef tongue

Well I was at my supermarket in the meat department and I passed a vacuumed pack cows tongue, now I have never tried this let alone cooked it but the foodie in me was whispering in my ear " take it home, take it home!" Two days later I mustered up the courage to open in and touch it (I was kind of scared) but once I touched it I was OK about it. I wanted so bad to go up to my 20 year old son Chris and run the beef tongue up the side of his face and make a slurping noise "slurrrppppppp" but I didn't want to tell him what it was until after he tried it.

I did a lot of research online to make sure I know what I was doing. Did you know you watch a video on how to make any food on youtube? Well after reading and watching videos for about a hour I felt comfortable to get started. I took the tongue and placed it in my corning ware cooking dish preheated the oven to 350 degrees then added salt, pepper, garlic, onions covered and cooked in the oven for 3 hours.

I let the tongue rest for about 10 minutes then peeled the taste buds ( it came off very easily).Once I did that it looked just like your basic beef roast, I took 2 forks and shredded the meat which was very very tender then I closed my eyes and took a bite Wow!!!!! it was so tender it tastes just like a beef roast all that anxiety over nothing. I gave some to Chris but didn't tell him until after he was finished... he just shrugged and mumbled "It was good". Oh well, so people if you see beef tongue in your market give it a whirl you might be pleasantly surprised.

Gnocci!

Who knew that making was such a long and laboring process! I sure didn't, did you? But it was well worth it, very filling, light and fluffy. But I had to try it at least once next time I will definitely buy it fresh or frozen. It made so much I froze the rest for a few more dinners or even a dessert I think I saw Giada saute them in brown butter with cinnamon. I chose not to do the trick with the fork I just sliced them into little pillows they were still fluffy light clouds.

Ingredients
2 lbs whole baking potatoes

2 beaten egg yolks

1 1/2 cups flour

Pinch of salt

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Spear the potatoes with fork tines in several places around each potato to vent moisture as the potatoes cook. Bake the potatoes in their skins until tender, about an hour. Let cool on a rack, cutting them open to help cool and let more moisture escape.

2 Scoop out the potatoes from their skins. Pass the potatoes through a potato ricer and into a large bowl. (If you don't have a potato rice you can mash the potatoes by hand and fluff them up a bit with a fork.) It is best to work with the potatoes when they are still warm.

3 Add the flour, egg and a pinch of salt. Mix by hand until you have a nice pliable ball of dough. Do not over mix.

4 Prepare a work area and dust it with flour. Take the dough, a piece at a time, and roll it out gently with your hands until you have rolls about 3/4 inch in diameter. It is very important to keep a light touch while you are rolling the dough. Gently roll the dough with your fingertips while while exerting the lightest pressure outwards, not down, to draw the dough out.

5 Cut the tubes of dough into pieces about one inch long. Using either the tines of a fork or your fingertip, press against a piece of the dough and roll it slightly to form an indentation (good for catching the sauce). As the gnocchi are made, place them on flat baking pan, lightly dusted with flour or lined with wax paper. At this point you can freeze the gnocchi ahead of time. Freeze them first on a floured or lined tray, then once frozen you can put them into a freezer bag for more easy storage. To cook, just put the frozen gnocchi into the simmering water for the next step.

6 Bring at least 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in a shallow saucepan. Gently drop the gnocchi, a few at a time, into the water. As soon as they rise to the surface, remove them with a slotted spoon, draining well. Arrange on a warm serving dish. Continue cooking the gnocchi in the same manner.

7 As soon as all the gnocchi are ready, pour heated pasta sauce over them and sprinkle with the parsley. Serve immediately.

Serves 6

Spices, Spices and more Spices!

Sadly to say I'm just now getting into spices, I need to start developing my pallet so that when I eat something I can I taste all of the the different flavors. In the next few weeks I will be taking a field trip to Lee Lee's market, it is one of my favorite places to go. It is a huge international market (check my earlier posts there are pics) I never used coriander and everyone is using cardamom pods. I will set aside 100 bucks and and go on adventure and the best thing about Lee Lee's is that their meat prices are so low!

I could spend all day there. I love ethnic foods I'm so dying to to try Caribbean, Greek and other ethnicity's. There is a section in Lee Lee's that sell whole cooked duck (with the faces on) and roasted pork and i have to say that was the most delicious pork I have ever tasted, it was moist, tender and so succulent I'm looking forward to getting more.

My neighbor gave me some dried peppers if anyone can give me any ideas on what to with them, they are large and reddish black. I have a question, can a person really get into ethnic foods and have a dislike to really spicy food? I went to Indian restaurant and the food was really spicy and I really want to try Thai food and I want to enjoy the flavors and not have my mouth on fire.

Any words of advice are greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Hi again!

It took me while to get my groove back. I am ashamed to call myself a foodie since there is so much I haven't tried. I live in Tempe and I really do not have any friends it is quite sad, I have arthritis in my knees and shoulders and lupus and I am in pain about 87 percent of my day. My income is limited but I do what I can every time I go to the store I always pick up something special just for me like vanilla beans, anchovies etc.. My dream is to start some kind of foodie club where we can meet and have a theme like one month exotic fruits, cheeses, Greek etc and everyone brings a authentic dish or once a month go to a different restaurant like a authentic middle eastern restaurant and such. I would just settle with a good pal that has the same interest as me, no one I know wants to experience new things. I am looking forward to use different spices. I am really embarrassed to call myself a foodie because of so little things I've cooked or try but I rather spend my Sunday in a international market than in a shoe store ( Don't be shocked!!) I never even tried a jicama, I am so ashamed! You don't even want to see the pots and pans I cook with let's just say I got the used. I am saving up for one pan a month. I promise I will not disappear again I'm hoping to make life long friends here. I am 42 and I hope it is not to late for me to start over! Plus I a ton of weight to lose and next month I can rejoin my contest cooking central family again (I had to quit due to lack of funds) I will be asking for advice of recipes cooking and hopefully get words of encouragement. Thank you for listening

Cooking

Now that I am back into doing what I love, I want to try two different ethnic dishes every month. Here in Arizona we have a great international market called LeeLee's so I can get what ever I need. So I'm thinking once a month i will try to authentically ( as best I can) make a dish from the following countries.

FEB- Greece, Spain
MAR- Africa, Brazil
APR- Poland, Jamaica
MAY- France, China

Wish me luck and I would appreciate any suggestions!

I'm backkkkk!

Hi everyone I took sometime off because two years ago I asked my 22 daughter to move from Boston to Arizona thinking we could become great friends and she can start a new life get a job go to school etc. What happens next was something I never thought would happen, My daughter spent the next
two years of sleeping all day and staying out all night, losing my keys in and out all scaring me leaving my house in such a mess that I was embarrassed for me to have company, constant disrespect, taking things that don't belong to her , always borrowing money and hasn't worked or gone to school since coming here. I have arthritis in my knees and shoulders and all this stress caused me to be in pain 90 percent of my day which also put me in such a depression that I lost interest in everything cooking, recipe contests, going out. But i finally kicked her out on november 30th, cleaned my house and now I feel good. I cleaned the whole house after she left this is a picture of under the couch! What do you guys think?

Cheeburger Cheeburger

Saturday night I allowed myself a treat which is very rare, I treated myself to a meal out and 2 movies! That's right 2 movies I saw Obsessed and Wolverine movies but first I treated myself to a dinner. I waled by several restaurants till this one caught my eye, I have never heard of it before.

The diner had a 50's motif with the green and chrome chairs, rolls of paper towel on the tables. I sat myself down and waited at least 10 minutes before my presence was acknowledged. I ordered the "Serious" burger and the half and half basket which gives you half french fries and half onion rings. I struck up a conversation with 2 ladies sitting at the table next to me, they were very excited that this was my first time here and how much I was going to love the food.

After about 15 minutes my food came out, you can tell the burger was hand shaped not those frozen flat burgers they were thick and juicy, the meat was fresh, very fresh. The onion rings were light and crispy but the fries were darker than I like but still good. They will not serve a regular burger they only serve cheese burgers but the have a variety of cheeses from feta to just plain ole American. They also have a number of dipping sauces for your fries and over 25 variety of milkshakes. I could only eat half of the burger and some onion ring and I took the rest home.

It took me 15 minutes to get the attention of the waitress to get the check, but besides that the burger was well worth the wait. Also if you eat their 1 pound burger they will take your picture with a huge stuffed burger and place you on the wall of fame, luckily the table in front of me a guy accomplished it and we all gave him a round of applause. I had a great time!

Cheeburger Cheeburger
2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway
Tempe, Arizona