I wanna get this out first: i'm not suicidal or nothing, but im always wondering how people would react if i died or killed myself like right now. all my dreams, hopes, and love would cease to exist. i believe there are probably quite a few people other than my immediate family that would be truly hurt by that but the thing is i don't see it everyday. it makes me think why don't we show our love for people on the daily basis? for serious why the fuck are you gonna wait for me to die before you realize you wanted to tell me or anyone else that you loved them? life is too short and way to spontaneous for that. I'm not messing around when i urge you love your family, friends, and neighbors on a daily basis. when you lose someone like that there;s no getting them back. it's a wrap. I lost my grandfather in february, a month i already don't like to begin with anyways, but the thing is i didn't know how much i wanted to actually talk to him until right before he got sick. my point is i lost something that i can never get. I don't know why i do it but i love you all for some strange mysterious reason. i feel no hatred towards any human for that matter and i try my best to make it clear to you all whenever i get the chance. if you need anything ever i got you or will try my best to. someone called me for a ride home last night and i couldn't do it but i was ready to steal a car just to help them out. but yeah anyways that's my little piece about that. it's something that always keeps me up at night. not the death, just the feeling of a lack of love.
so this has been a hell of a two weeks. More like a crazy week and a half but yeah. two thursdays ago i worked 39 hours between that thursday and sunday. this past monday to friday i worked 49 hours. that is a heck of a lot of work(just realized i forgot to apologize for the F bomb earlier, nbd right?) so anyways I got a couple of hours of sleep each night and was on my feet basically all day. not too shabby right? well on the brightside im making some decent money now except im only working one job this wednesday and other than that i'm not really doing much this week except my holiday baking and making some empanadas for the lovely amell who's birthday is this thursday. she probably won't even know i'm mentioning this right now lol. I told her i would but she's probably already thinking i'm gonna flake like i did 3 years ago haha. sucks right? i got her though cause i already got the masa ready to be made and some flank steak to season up. What Is Up, Girl??? I GOT YOU!! lol anyways now that i'm talking about food let's get the fat part of the samurai going in the blog finally right? okay so i'll get my negative out of the way now. i tried making a twist on a french onion soup but more so kind of a vegetarian one by using a mushroom stock i made instead of beef stock. well i had started it on thursday night but didn't get to monitor it like i should have. well when i finally got to taste it it had burnt on the bottom. heart..broken... had to dump it out and i was pretty hurt but screw it; you win some and you lose some. today though i did make a quick quiche. all you gotta do is have some pie crusts frozen ready or make your own. i had some frozen one's already in tins so it was perfect. for a quiche all you need is
eggs
milk or cream
cheese
and any filling you'd like to put in
That's the beauty of a quiche, if you wanted to put bacon strips and bacon strips and bacon strips and bacon strips you could or go for the traditional kind of quiche lorraine you can. for me i was just working what i had. so i had eggs, whole milk, cheddar cheese, and a can of hot rotel. it came out very nicely and i seasoned the filling with garlic powder and onion powder. like i said it was a quick quiche. normally i prefer to utilize fresh ingredients.
*note*
prebake the pie shells. the crust will just be soggy on the bottom because of the moisture from the filling so preback the shells with something inside like beans so the crust doesnt inflate. even if you dock it(poke holes on bottom) it can still seperate of puff up too much. another method if you don't have beans is to place another pie tin inside of your crust to be baked and bake upside down. the gravity works its magic quite nicely.
so that's a quiche. delicious and perfect for breakfast at any time of the day.
now here's something for you guys: Abuelita's empanadas.
So if you've never heard me speak of these well then i probably don't know you at all haha. Now this isn't the original recipe(because i don't know it) or the traditional method(because most of you wouldnt do it that way anyways lol) but it is a pretty delicious recreation i made in class that everyone effing loved. so what you'll need is
Yellow Masa(can be found in any latino store)
ground beef( 2 pounds will feed a family)
cumin
garlic
paprika
oregano
salt
black pepper
tomato paste
really not much to it at all but i'll break this down nice and well for you. now basically masa is a sort of corn flour used in quite a bit of latin american cuisine and can be used for so many more things such as in your breading for fried chicken or fish. trust me it's ten times better. it is used for making breads and tortillas and tamales and arrepas and bollo(panamanian and colombian). anyways lets get started.
-the bag of masa you buy will have mixing directions so just add warm water and mix until you have a dough that doesn't stick to the side of the bowl. it'll stick to your hands a bit but now worries it's kind of supposed to. cover that in plastic wrap and leave in the bowl you mixed it in or on your counter space.
If you want to bake the empanadas you're gonna need to add some lard or butter to the masa otherwise the masa will dry out completely and come out looking like cracked desert rock. otherwise if youre going to fry them instead then use just the masa and water.
-now for the beef: season it in a small bowl first and mix it really well. be very generous with your seasoning minus the salt and pepper. don't be over bearing with it(salt) or even use it all until around the end of the production. brown the beef like you would any other taco meat. once you start getting some good color season with a bit more cumin and oregano because you probably didn't add enough but if you did kudos to you! quickly add a good amount of tomato paste, proabbly about a cup and a half, 12 ounces, and the beef will be a nice thick consistency. don't cook any more just keep nice and warm and taste and season with salt and pepper as needed cause it will need a small but nice strong pinch of salt. if anything with the beef you don't want it cooked all the way cause it undergoes a second cooking within the masa.
-now time for the make up: take a small-medium frying pan and a flat surface like a cutting board or sheet tray and wrap them tightly in plastic wrap. this is going to be your homemade tortilla press station! yayyyy. so this part is easy after your first two or three attempts at it but once you got it you'll be pumping out empanadas in no time. so grab some of your masa in a ball shape(it shouldn't be sticking to your hand but feel sticky at the same time. i should've mentioned this before but it ain't no thang. so take a small ball of masa and press it evenly down on the flat surface using the round frying pan. you'll have a lovely round flat piece of masa. this is basically a tortilla lol. place some of the beef filling on the masa flat and then fold in half. crimp with a fork and place on a sheet tray with parchment paper for baking or just for holding until you fry them. conrgatulations on making your first empanada! i hope you feel as happy as i did when i made my first good one. i was literally a second away from a single nostalgic tear rolling down my burly hairy cheeks. what can i say i love my abuelita and empanadas was something that just hits down home for me. if you want something to serve with this i got two suggestions. first is a simple pico de gallo. dice some tomatoes, slice some red and sweet onions, chop cilantro, and toss with salt, pepper, and lime. simple and delicious. add a jalapeno if you want more of a salsa kick. just make sure you dice, slice, and chop everything nice and finely so it can be eaten easily with the empanada OR you could even puree it and have it like a sauce but this next thing knocks everything else out of the park. courtesy of my great classmate orlando. he said you're not eating empanadas if you don't have this sauce with it. all you need is
mayo
cilantro
garlic
OR if you want to be fancy and make an aioli take a lot of cilantro and enough garlic and puree it
you'll also need
4 egg yolks
juice of one whole lemon
25ish oz of decent-good olive oil
if you make the simple version just process or blend the three ingredients and season and play around with the taste. it needs to be heavy on garlic but have a strong amount of cilantro to add freshness, flavor, and tonedown and compliment the garlic at the same time.
for the aioli you can whisk by hand or process it, whichever your little heart desires. just take some of your puree and egg yolks and mix. slowly drizzle the oil in and watch the magic happen as it emulsifies. you're basically making mayonnaise haha. samething applies flavorwise just don't forget to add the lemon juice in. it helps emulsify everything together
well bon appetite everyone.
so i was going to talk about my past couple of years and how shitty they've been and how tough they've been on my psyche and self esteem but ya know i think that first part was enough shit for the all of us so maybe it's best i leave the past behind me even though it's with me everyday. you feel me? anyways I hope you enjoyed the food reading. this isn't so much a food blog as it is a blog about my life but heck at least you can get away with some good food tips and recipes and stories. enjoy everyone! peace, love and happiness yo.
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