Austin Food Journal

This is what you are looking for. Sure, you wouldn’t want to show her off to your buddies, but she is everything you have been wanting. The ugliest tomatoes are the best.

We are ramping up pizza-night again. I know! We had fallen to one pizza a week. Embarrassing. Here we have a split: red onion/olive and salami/caramelized yellow onion.

Sometimes it works for me, sometimes it doesn’t. That is the mystery of baking. This past weekend, I came across another recipe for scones that made a little more sense to me than the previous ones I have used. So, I thought I would give them another shot. Maybe it was the proportions or the cooking time or the pretty picture, but they came out a little better. Not perfect, but not half bad.

Louisiana Mojo, of which I have none, somehow crept into this plate of Jambalaya. I did a mix of Cajun and Creole styles: chicken and sausage with some tomatoes.

The cooking vessel of choice was Big Bertha, my huge cast-iron pot. I set it up on a propane cooker in the backyard. Then, I browned off the sausage, chicken and vegetables, added chicken stock and rice.

We had a great five course meal the other night. It got me thinking. What the hell happened to chicken? It usually is on the menu as the “safe” item. No one is taking any chances with it. (Not that I am taking many chances, but..) Above: pan fried chicken, roasted potatoes, carrots, chard in a reduced chicken stock.