Ham and cheese on Denver sourdough

* uncured ham
* some white aged cheddar
* Denver sourdough
* Moutarde de Dijon dans le style

Spaghetti with chicken tenders in curried chicken broth

I'm culling the contents of the refrigerator and was delighted to discover a package of mushrooms that I previously opened and carefully re-packaged rolled in paper towel so that they'd be both aerated and protected from the, um, air.  Having forgotten them, I expected they'd be entirely turned to mush.  Not so, they were perfectly fresh.  Fresh as a daisy.  Fresh as a baby's bum.  Fresh as a ... as a ... as something that's totally fresh.  I also found half a small zucchini.  Well.  There you go.  My course of action was determined.

Leftover chicken tenders in curried chicken broth seasoned with a mix of two curries, which sounds like a lot but isn't because scant amounts of both were used. Plus pineapple because I'm also culling the freezer, and regular spaghetti this time instead of spinach spaghetti.  Over night in the refrigerator, the broth turned into sauce so I just left it like that.  Lifted the noodles out of their cooking water, rolled them in butter, then with Parmigiano Reggiano, then covered with reheated sauce.

This was so delicious, it's a shame it only comes around once in ever, if you know what I mean. It can never be duplicated exactly, although the careless idea can be recycled.

Spinach-spaghetti in curried chicken broth

Chimi-Churi is the Spice Boys way of spelling Chimichurri, a blend originating in Argentina and popular in Latin American countries. It's said to be derived from the name Jimmy McCurry, an Irishman living in Argentina. Other stories vying as authentic all involve the difficulty of Argentineans pronouncing an Irish name, or a similar Scottish name or yet another similar English name. The blend contains chopped parsley, garlic, vegetable oil, vinegar, pepper flakes, paprika, oregano, cumin, and bay, that is to say, pretty much anything, or not, in other words, a curry. Another explanation for the name is a distortion of the sound "Gim'e the curry."

So there's that, and that being insufficiently complex I added a smidge of proper Vindaloo curry. Satisfied the combination of curries would confuse my taste buds enough to keep them interested I added peanut butter and pineapple to seared chicken tenders. Homemade chicken broth thickened with corn starch slurry. Poured over spinach spaghetti pasta. Does that sound good or what? No? It's a bit hot. Here, have a look.

Fish sticks

Salmon fish sticks.

I love the bit in the Revenge of the Nerds movie where the nerd is asked, "Don't you know what this writing on my hat means?" The nerd responds, "Malcolm ten?"

Later, the nerds marvel at the dinner prepared at the home of their hero who is now a Bill Gates type character sold out to success and now a changed personality, no longer a genuine nerd. The nerd hero asks over dinner, "What's wrong?" The nerd answers, "It's just that I've never seen fish before that wasn't in stick form."

Just the idea of fish sticks cracks me up.

I recall my mom reheating frozen fish sticks when I was in the first grade. She also heated breaded scallops. I picked off the breading revealing white disks. I put my disks together forming a cylinder. I asked her if scallops were really a snake that was cut up. My mom laughed and answered, "Yes." Suspicion confirmed, I lived with this untruth for an additional 16 years.

Scene II: Cape Cod, oyster shack. The proprietor had a large poster behind the fish counter depicting various seafood items. I noted the scallops were pictured, as, well, scallops. I said to the owner, a rough looking fellow unshaven and with an unclean white apron and twice my weight, "Your fish poster is wrong," with all of the certainty of a twenty-one year old. The owner sneered, "Oh yeah? What's wrong with it?" He implied the word "punk."  I go, "your poster shows scallop like a clam and it's really a snake that is chopped up." He looked at me hard and pathetically, then laughed like I was totally retarded. Then carefully explained the truth and the details behind their preparation. I blame my mother.

* Lightly sautéed in coconut oil
* Madras curry powder, garlic powder, S/P
* The trick, if there is one, is to cook these minimally.
* I tend to over-season things, because that's just the way I roll.
* Hand-mixed mayonnaise, because once you discover the joy of hand-mixing mayonnaise, you'll never go back. This was made with olive oil, which is oddly traduced as being too strong for mayonnaise. This confounds me greatly and I dismiss the criticism as irrational, then proceed to load it up with other strong flavors, chiefly mustard, which I inevitably mix with mayonnaise anyway so I might as well put it in directly. Garlic and ginger.

Sole filet on sourdough bread

With hand-mixed mayonnaise made with raspberry vinegar and heavy on the garlic and ginger powders.