To Cook a Dream: Hot Cucumbers

One day I was just thinking: can you cook cucumbers? I mean can, duh. But should I suppose was the better word: should I cook cucumbers? I don't remember what happened after that, probably I carried on eating raw cucumbers like a big dumb idiot.

Then, I was in Austin (Texas -- more on that later) and we were enjoying a cappucinno on the patio of the cafe. I was reading Food & Wine, which turned out to be very much worth the $6 price tag I hadn't paid attention to before I got to the check out. And there they were: hot & sour cucumbers. Hot as in spicy, but also as in temperature.

They were SO delicious. Like eating spicy, warm, slightly sweet but definitely tangy pickles. I feel like onions would be a hugely welcomed addition.

I adapted the recipe from Food & Wine, but mostly just based on the things I had in my kitchen. I'll tell it to you like I did it, cause that's how I do:

2 tbsp sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 container cubed baby bellas (the mushrooms)
6 slices of pickled jalapeno
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 big ass cucumber (from TJs), cut thickly & diagonally
1/2 lemon's juice
cracked salt (as in, not salt you could shake from a shaker)
***
Heat sesame oil. Add garlic until fragrant. Add shrooms & 'penos, til the shrooms soften. Add cukes. Stir in vinegar & honey & 2 tbsp water. Stirrrr. Cover. Cook for 7 mins. Squeeze lemon juice & sprinkle salt. Devour.

I served it with brined chicken breast. The brine was simple, just salt & honey & water. Brined for 4 hours. But it was maybe the best chicken breast I ever cooked. I used this oven baked/under wax paper method, per my new habit. And I was like HELLZYA this naturally bland piece of meat is SO good.

Frankly, darlings, I was amazed at the deliciousness of this simple meal. YES, I brined for 4 hours, which maybe is not so easy for an every night meal, but eff it, it was worth it. SPOILER ALERT: I might make it Sunday to have as part of my lunch salads.

To Eat Dinner @ Home: Chinese Takeout Inspired (sorta)

In a recent (to me) Six Feet Under episode, Jennifer Aniston's current fiance brought one of the ladies some salt and pepper shrimp Chinese take out. I've not had this take out, but it sounded amazing. So I made it for dinner. 

It was easy and scrumptious. Buy peeled shrimp, if you can. But don't worry, peeling isn't too tricky. I added some szechuan peppercorns, cause why not?

I also made spicy Chinese style mustard greens & onions. There were too many onions, but the onions were cooked so well that I ate all the extras anyway. We discovered mustard greens through a CSA a couple years ago. That discovery alone made joining the CSA worthy. They taste like kale with an abundant gorgeous horseradish flavor.

They were easy to cook together and went together real swell. A side of jasmine rice might have been nice, and then we could have stretched the meal over two nights for two people, probz.