Grilled Escabeche (BRW)

• 1/2 cup red wine or other vinegar
• 1 cup red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 5 fresh thyme springs or 1 teaspoon dried
• 5 fresh marjoram or oregano sprigs or 1 teaspoon dried marjoram or 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 small dried or fresh chile, optional
• 1 large onion, white or red, cut in half and sliced into half-moons
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 1/2-2 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs [The original recipe called for two pork tenderloins but suggested that any cut of chicken could be used]

After running out of I think an edition of the JP Gazette to light my chimney starter, I think I tried three different types of paper that I could find in the basement or backyard to start it.  Including manga and, out of desperation, wet newsprint.  Frustrated, I ran back up into the house thinking I might actually need to run out to Washington St somewhere and grab a free paper before remembering I had art-quality newsprint in my room.

It's hard to see, but by the time I ran downstairs, I noticed that the chimney had actually started despite my assumed failures.  It was pretty weak so I crumpled a piece of dry newsprint and shoved it in underneath.

If you hadn't figured out by now, newsprint is the most effective kind of paper to light a chimney starter with.  Don't even dare suggest that I should use lighter fluid, folks.  Though I guess manga paper may be bad for cooking too.

Bring nearly all the ingredients to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes.  Excluding the protein obviously.

Chicken liberally seasoned with salt and pepper.

Unlike ATK, I don't think Mark Bittman's recipes actually specify what kind of "fire" to build with the coals.  I just poured them out in one layer.

Grilling the thighs until I think they were cooked through.  They were so thin that it didn't make sense to gauge them with an instant-read thermometer.

If you got to eat right away, let the proteins marinate in the liquid for at least fifteen minutes though overnight would be best.  Escabeche is yet another method of cooking that people dreamed up in order to prolong spoiling.  As with my previous entry on menudo, I googled this dish as well.  All other references besides BRW described the meat being poached or fried, not grilled.

I figured I needed a side and made Grilled Eggpant out of CI's 2010 Summer Grilling issue.  One of the major problems with cooking eggplant is dealing with its moisture.

On the grill, all of it just gets vaporized.  The result was just sublime though even a short stay in the fridge kind of ruined this.  Seriously though, grilled eggplant is totally worth it.

 Escabeche is yet another thing I've heard parlayed about a lot and I had finally gotten around to putting it together and eating it for the first time.  Quite largely, I probably cooked this recipe since it seems relatively hard to find a recipe that I can actually execute on my baby Weber kettle grill.  It was certainly interesting and worthwhile.  Unlike the menudo, I didn't wind up tossing the lot of it in the trash.
It seems like escabeche more typically refers to fried fish treated in the same manner.  Maybe someday...

Menudo Rojo [Red-chile Tripe Soup with Fresh Garnishes] (AM)

• 2 pounds beef tripe
• About 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 large lime, juiced
• 1 small cow's or medium pig's foot, split lengthwise
• 1 pound marrow bones, cut in 1-inch cross sections
• 6 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 4 medium (about 1 1/3 ounces total) dried chiles cascabeles nortenos or California/New Mexico chiles, stemmed, seeded and deveined [Couldn't find those special peppers.  Used New Mexico chiles instead.]
• a general 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, ground
• Salt, about 1 teaspoon

Wash tripe in multiple changes of warm water.  Sprinkle over with salt and lime juice and scrub the tripe vigorously against itself.  Let sit for 30 minutes.

By this time, the tripe is actually starting to smell a bit funky, but you're going to have to do the multiple changes of warm water stuff all over again anyway.

Cut tripe into pieces about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes, then drain.

I suspect there are quite a lot of ways to clean tripe.

Add more water, the marrow bones, and the pig's foot.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and skim off the foam for a few minutes.

Add half of the garlic along with the onion and oregano.  Partially cover and simmer until tripe is tender, 2-3 hours.  I used Mexican oregano since after all this is a Mexican dish.  I might have blanked on getting the oregano in the pot, but it was disappointing to pick out all these still unsoftened herbs out of the dish when I ate it.

Toasting the chiles.  I may have over toasted some of them.

Soak toasted chiles in boiling water for 30 minutes.  I think the overtoasted ones resisted complete softening.

Blend chiles, 1/3 cup menudo broth, remaining garlic, and cumin.

Strain through a sieve into the stockpot.

I knew I was taking a risk by making a dish that is far from being a "whole" meal, but I've been curious about this dish for a while and honestly where am I going to be able to order this?

The dish is often eaten for breakfast and is considered a hangover cure by some.  I did feel as if the dish felt pretty restorative, but since it didn't seem to make sense as something that I would bring to work and eat on its own for lunch, I wound up throwing a lot out.  By the fifth day, the texture of the tripe had softened so much that it was simply disagreeable to me.  After a lifetime of eating dim sum tripe, I think this cut of an animal should spring back in your mouth at least a little.

All in all, it wasn't a total failure, but it definitely wasn't a dish that falls under my usual criterion for actually wanting to execute something with the good faith that I might eat most of it.  Amusingly enough, for 10 seconds I tried to listen to Menudo while preparing menudo.  This did not work.

Oh and I guess I'm thankful that unlike some traditional recipes I had heard of while googling this dish, Rick Bayless's recipe does not take 7 hours to make.

Mediterranean Braised Green Beans (CI)

• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2- to 3- inch lengths
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained with juice reserved, chopped coarse
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• Red wine vinegar

Mise en place.

Cook onion until softened.

Add garlic and cayenne and cook until fragrant.

Add water, green beans, and baking soda and simmer for ten minutes.

Stir in tomato paste, tomatoes and their juice, salt, and pepper and pop into a 275 degree oven until you can cut one of these suckers with your life.

I associate braised tomato-ey green bean dishes more with the Middle East than Mediterranean flavors so I tried to daub on a bunch of dried out harissa I had in the fridge.  Overall I thought this was a reasonably good dish, but eating all that baking soda made me feel a little funny.

Charcoal-Grilled Skirt Steak Fajitas (CI)

• 1/2 cup juice from 4 limes
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for cooking grate
• 3 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through garlic press (1 tablespoon)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin, toasted
• 2 teaspoon light brown sugar
• 1 jalapeno chile, seeded and chopped fine
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 skirt steaks, each about 3/4 pound
• 2 large onions, cut into 1/2-inch slices
• 3 large bell peppers (1 red and 2 green) [although what I wound up using was some 3-pack that contained a red, yellow, and orange pepper]
• 12 (6-inch) flour tortillas

Juiced limes.

Marinate the steak in the lime juice, oil, garlic, soy sauce, cumin, brown sugar and chile for at least 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

Veggies prepped.

Grilling the onions and peppers until charred and soft.

Grill the steak until seared but still pink in the middle.  The doneness of the meat was unfortunately variable.  Maybe I would have had more success if I wasn't grilling in the dark.

Heating up the tortillas.  While eating the leftovers, I just toasted these suckers in a pan on the stove.

The first time I made these was while living in Sunset Park in Brooklyn.  I think I was also reduced to grilling in the dark that day.  I remember the fajitas as being sheerly out of this world at the time, but I didn't have the same experience here.  I was disappointed that not more of the meat was medium rather than well done.

I think that the next day the fajitas tasted better though certainly not as awesome as that first time around.