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GoingMyWay said:
You're exactly right!  They're serrano peppers.  Lately I've found that jalapenos have no heat to them.  Serranos definitely have some kick to them.

This is the recipe that I used:


I've found that it's not the lack of heat with Jalapeño peppers, but the lack of consistency of heat with Jalapeño peppers that most annoys me. That's the reason I've switched to Serrano, they may be hotter, but they are more consistent in their heat level, thus I can better modulate the heat level in the dishes that I cook using Serrano peppers.

With Jalapeño peppers, if I added 3 of them to a dish, they may be barely noticed, yet if I cook the same meal the next week, that meal may become almost inedible because of the heat. Unfortunately, this has also become the case with homegrown Jalapeños from the garden.

I'll be trying that Rick Bayless recipe tomorrow evening...thanks... [smile]...stay tuned.
 
Good point about the inconsistent heat levels.  Consistency is important when trying to make a dish.

I'm looking forward to hearing/seeing how your rice turns out!

Last night I made a quick pastina with some boxed chicken broth, a little butter, grated parmigiano reggiano, and an egg yolk.  It was tasty and very fast and easy to make.

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GoingMyWay said:
I'm looking forward to hearing/seeing how your rice turns out!

Ya, this should be interesting because for Mexican rice, I'd always use a long grain rice like you did. However, I do have some Arborio rice on hand which is a medium grain variety. I also noticed at the 5:10 time stamp Rick says to not stir the rice "otherwise you have risotto". That caught my attention as an interesting twist on using Arborio rice.  [smile]

I'm predicting there will be some considerable "tooth" to the rice by not cooking it in very much liquid. Kind of like the pasta equivalent of al dente.
 
Well the rice was extremely good, slightly al dente but with some great flavor, interesting and a great flavor/texture twist. I'd do this one again in a heart beat.

The downfall was on my part when I decided to use the rice in tortillas instead of a stand-alone side dish.

Because Rick keeps the rice dry, when placed in tortillas, the meal becomes EXTREMELY dry.

I'm not sure if the rice needs to be more moist NO or if there just needs to be some sauce added to the tortillas YES. Too much moisture and the tortillas will turn to mush. 

At any rate, without further ado...here are some photos.

I used flour tortillas, even though I prefer the taste of a corn tortilla, but the corn ones are so fussy to work with.
So...the original recipe was to make Mexican red rice as a side dish. I decided to add this to a tortilla along with some shredded chicken, minced red onion and cilantro. Sprinkle it with some mild cheddar and add some crema.

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And this is the rice as it was cooked...dry per Rick Bayless but delicious.

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Thanks for sharing how the rice turned out!

What I liked best about the rice was how dry and fluffy it was using long grain rice.  It was just like what you'd get a Mexican restaurant.  Usually we use 2 boxes of Mexican or Spanish rice, but they always come out on the wet side (I guess part of the problem is I'm making 2 boxes and the water needs to be adjusted accordingly, as in you shouldn't quite double the volume of water).

I think this rice would pair excellently with some fajitas.

I'm always impressed with how nice your presentation and plating is.
 
GoingMyWay said:
I'm always impressed with how nice your presentation and plating is.

Well thanks but it's actually not me but the equipment.  [smile]

A number of years ago I used to switch between a Nikon D500 DSLR for the "money" shots and an older iPhone for snap shots. Now I just use the iPhone 14 Pro for 99% of all the photos I take. No more photoshopping pictures, it's just straight from the iPhone.  [smile] The only post-processing I have to do is to reduce the size of the photos from the iPhone 14 because the native resolution is 12MP. I reduce the photos to 2000 x 1500 resolution for posting on the FOG. This still yields a real life photo that is 26" x 20" which was not even possible 30 years ago. Back then only a Hasselblad or an older 4 x 5 large format camera was capable of producing quality photos of that size.

The 2nd factor is lighting, I prefer something around 4000ºK. Cooler temperature and there's a yellow tint, hotter and there's a bluer tint.

That's it...all the secrets are out.  [big grin]
 
GoingMyWay said:
We made beef stew yesterday.

Well looky here...I mentioned in an earlier post that "I generally reserve peas for lighter faire such as pasta salads, pasta dishes or as a side entree".

So, I saw some great looking short ribs this weekend at the local supermarket that I wanted to turn into a thick, rich, sensuous tasting beef stew and when I googled an interesting looking beef stew recipe this evening, this came up. This is the subject matter that was discussed and this is a quote from the author.

"As I discovered through an informal Twitter survey, folks are very divided on the subject of peas in stew."

Whatever...but the stew looks delicious with or without the peas. I may have to try adding the peas.  [big grin]

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Thanks for sharing your photo secrets!

I liked the addition of the peas in the beef stew.  I also really like the peas that get added to the chicken and dumplings we make.
 
Thanks! I try to participate when I can. :) For the first time I'm actually running on a schedule with our projects, it's daily/weekly/monthly goals now. It's not the "relaxed tinkering & fiddling" anymore, but getting stuff done. So life can proceed as planned. ;)

Kind regards,
Oliver
 
Scampi with cream sauce / mushrooms / provencal seasoning / puff pastry & monkfish with Noilly Prat sauce / grilled potatoes.

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Kind regards,
Oliver
 

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Cannelloni - minced meat, fennel, spinach / zucchini, cherry tomatoes / parmesan, mozzarella.

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Kind regards,
Oliver
 

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Both meals looked so good Oliver!

I saw multiple posts on Facebook praising how good some of the frozen chicken products are from Walmart.  This morning I went shopping and bought a few of the items and made a chicken sandwich for lunch.  The chicken sandwich was very good!  It was very close to Chick-fil-A.  I heated the chicken breast fillet in the air fryer and toasted the brioche bun with some butter in a skillet. I believe this is the first time I've ever bought brioche buns, but it definitely won't be my last.  These buns were so much better than regular "hamburger" buns!

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I was also looking for the Spicy Chicken Fillets, but I couldn't find them and I even went to 3 different Walmarts.  I believe the reason is because Walmart organizes their frozen chicken into 2 categories: frozen fully cooked and frozen uncooked.  The Spicy Chicken Fillets would have been with the frozen uncooked chicken wings and not with the fully cooked chicken nuggets and tenders.
 

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Now I need a chicken sandwich! :)

Slight variation of the pasta with scampi, cherry tomatoes & lemon pesto.

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And a quiche.

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Btw: [member=66216]GoingMyWay[/member] , can you confirm that a 16oz jar of Stonewall Kitchen Country Ketchup is currently between 6 - 7 USD at Walmart when available?

Kind regards,
Oliver
 

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The pasta and quiche look great Oliver!

I checked Walmart's website and Stonewall Kitchen Country Ketchup isn't carried locally.  I checked 4 other local grocery store's websites (Giant, Safeway, Harris Teeter, and Wegman's) and none of them carry it locally either.  I bought a jar of the Country Ketchup at the local Wegman's 3 years ago.  Harris Teeter has the Country Ketchup available to be shipped for $5.99 a jar.  Other Stonewall Kitchen products are available at the local grocery stores, just not the Country Ketchup.

This got me really curious so I just called Stonewall Kitchen to see if the product has been or is about to be discontinued.  The woman I spoke with confirmed that Country Ketchup is still available for sale on the Stonewall Kitchen website for $7.50 a jar.

Maybe it turns out the Country Ketchup isn't a very popular item in Northern Virginia and that's why none of the local grocery stores carry it anymore.
 
Thank you very much for checking!

We love that ketchup, and there even is a German importer for it. However, at the growing rate we use/eat it, the 13,50 EUR/14,40 USD per 16oz jar we are paying for it through the importer are becoming "a bit" expensive. ;)

And at 7,50 USD/16oz jar, it absolutely makes sense to fall back to old habits and import it ourselves.

Again, thanks for checking/confirming! I now know what to do. :)

Kind regards,
Oliver
 
You're very welcome!  I'm glad I was able to be of assistance!

I just realized the Stonewall Kitchen Country Ketchup being sold by Harris Teeter for $5.99 is a 16oz jar.  The jar for $7.50 from Stonewall Kitchen is an 18.25oz jar.  I wonder if the change in size could be a reason why none of the local stores have it in stock.

Lately we've really been on a chicken kick from products from Walmart.  I managed to find the Famous Chicken Fingers and had really high hopes for them.  They sure do look like the chicken tenders you get from a restaurant that are most likely provided by Sysco food service (which is what I was looking for).  Sadly, they were not the same so I was pretty disappointed.

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I also bought a bag of Spicy Chicken Nuggets from Walmart.  They were surprisingly spicy!  I think spicier than the spicy nuggets you get from most fast food places.

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Also made some homemade Egg McMuffins.  I used Great Value Deluxe Pasteurized Process Sliced American Cheese from Walmart because I read an article from a former McDonald's chef that said it's the closest american cheese you can get to what McDonald's uses.  I watched a video to see how the real Egg McMuffins are made and discovered they don't melt the cheese at all, rather they just place the slice on one side of the english muffin.  I found that better than melting the cheese, which results in more of a gloppy mess.

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