Austin Food Journal

I spent some time this weekend in the garden, weeding and planting some new herbs. All the rain has made it a little wacky. The tomatoes were slow to ripen, the rosemary and sage died back. But, for some reason the thyme loved it. I planted more basil and parsley. We’ll see how that holds up.

Sticking with the ‘points south’ theme, I whipped up some Mojitos. They seem to be the drink of the moment again. I am not much of a Rum drinker, but these are a good excuse to start. Begin by muddling: smashing mint, sugar and lime in a glass. After destroying one of my nicer glasses, I went with a different approach. I made a simple syrup infused with the mint, added lime, rum and soda.

Chicken Chiles Rellenos with Pure Luck goat cheese and mashed up corn off the cobb. This is a variation of the original, though I did go through the step of making the chili paste. For the corn, I grilled it, removed it from the cobb, then put half of it in a blender with some milk to thicken it up. On a side note, Pure Luck just placed 1st in a national cheese contest for the goat cheese.

Having ingredients ready to go in the fridge is the best weapon for “quick” meals. These were all leftovers from other meals. The above dish took around 2 minutes to prepare. Beat that Rachael Ray. Black bean (with cumin and chili powder) and caramelized onion tostada.

Every now and then you need a good hit of comfort food. Around our place that means chicken fingers (with Panko Breadcrumbs), mashed potatoes (with Truffle oil) and cream gravy (with whole cream). Its even good the next morning (sorry honey, the leftovers are gone).

Local chicken from Barnison Farm, with a side of rice and peas. I did a quick pan sauce with thyme.