It’s the Old Banana Play

Typically, people save old bananas for banana bread.  And so do I.  But another cool trick is to peel them, quarter them and then freeze them for ice cream.

Just pulse them in the food processor.  No other ingredients required.  Although, today Elisa and I are gonna mix in a bit of ground Mexican chocolate.  Just cause we can. 

Any Given Sunday

During football season, Sundays in our house are a loud, drunken affair.  During Broncos games they  can be downright dangerous.  There is always a giant spread of cocktails and, of course, food.  That’s how it always was in my parents’ home, as far back as I can remember.  I can see myself, barely old enough to understand the game, hurling insults and four-letter taunts at John Madden as he slithered along the sidelines on a thick layer of slime.  I had a football in one hand, a taco in the other.  Or a cheeseburger.  Or an oversized sub sandwich.  Certainly some of my fondest memories.

Elisa has always been kind enough to play along with the bizarre social scenarios that I impose on our little house.  And football means something to me.  So a few years back Elisa developed the barbeque meatball for football Sundays.  She got some frozen meatballs and barbeque sauce and just mixed them and put them on the stove.  I love meatballs as much as life itself.  And barbeque I can’t even discuss without getting misty eyed.  Point being, I was an instant fan.  But I believe that there is no such thing as “too much of a good thing.”  Especially not on football Sundays.  So I set about making the barbeque meatballs from scratch.  I prefer to know what I’m eating and had always wanted to try my hand at a barbeque sauce that I could call my own.  

It was clear that I needed to begin with the meatballs.  After a lot of failed experiments, I remembered that I make a pretty incredible meatloaf.  And meatballs are essentially meatloaf.  So starting with that recipe, I tweaked the spices (freshly ground cumin was the final key) and added a bit of romano cheese.  I ruled out store bought bread crumbs and began freezing the heels of Elisa’s bread.  Rolled and fried, I came to the conlusion that they were really something.  I was heading in the right direction.  Next, I experimented with different meats.  I tried lean ground beef, ground pork, ground chicken and bison.  I finally landed on the perfect choice:  ground turkey thigh.  Beefy, but lean.  The perfect texture.  (As an aside, I found some beautiful boneless, skinless turkey thighs available at Whole Foods and will soon be grinding my own.)

The sauce presented more of a challenge.  I have particular tastes when it comes to barbeque-style sauces.  I like the brown sugar and ketchup base as much as the next guy.  But I like some kick.  And a medium-thick consistency.  Not wallpaper paste.  This turned out to be an easy problem to solve.  I did the basic sauce idea adding a healthy dose of red chile powder from Chimayo as well as onion powder.  That combination really raised the bar.  It clearly defined the brown sugar, but elevated the bite considerably without making it too loud.

It’s comfort food, perfect for a day watching the game, screaming at the refs and drinking entirely too much.  I love to recreate dishes that I find in restaurants or that, for lack of a better phrase, do not fall under the category of Homemade.  Give it a shot.  Turn your kitchen into a laboratory.  And spend your Sundays with some great, homemade food and some fond memories, to boot.  

I Scream for Elisa’s Ice Cream

Elisa makes an amazing no-churn ice cream that is not only creamy and delicious, but also holds up in the freezer for nearly a week without the ice crystals typical of most home made ice creams. 

Essentially it’s heavy whipping cream, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk.  Whipped together they form a sort of simple caramel that Elisa spreads into a bread pan and shapes much like a pound cake.  The end result is an ice cream that I love by itself or with fresh fruit like nectarines and strawberries.  But for a fun treat, I like to top it with home made fruit preserves.  And sweet Jesus does it make a good breakfast. 

Golden Crown Panaderia

A bakery in business for 30 years.  A pizzeria.  And an indoor micro-farm.  Yeah, I’m serious.  I have never been this serious in my entire life. 

Golden Crown Panaderia on Mountain just east of 12th is the best pizza in Albuquerque.  It’s sort of a relief to get that out.  Cause it’s true.  You’d like to think that a seasoned bakery could pull off a pizza crust, but this is another thing entirely.  It is savory, chewy and supports the incredibly fresh veggies and meats perfectly.  The lovely Elisa and I chose sausage, pepperoni, olive, green pepper and basil. 

The basil was cut fresh from the indoor micro-farm situated next to the tiny kitchen.  Their growing set up supplies Golden Crown’s herbs and salad fixings.  That basil was the high note to an already perfect song.  Again:  Best pizza in Albuquerque.

But they weren’t done at Golden Crown.  The pizza (about the same price as any Domino’s or Pizza Hut, but with the freshest ingredients possible) was served with two biscohitos.  My favorite cookie of all time.  And absolutely perfect.  Almost meaty.  Not overdone on the anise.  A palette cleanser like no other.

Finally, the iced tea.  The lovely Elisa and I sat outdoors in the shade on this 98 degree day  (It’s a dry heat, they say.)  and had the choice of some dozen-plus varieties of iced tea from the New Mexico Tea Co., located next door.  We chose a spicy green for our iced tea and it matched up with the sausage, peppers and basil perfectly.

It’s not just beautiful food.  It’s local.  And innovative.  And a meal that is more a work of art than anything else.  Golden Crown Panaderia is a smart alternative to the lousy pizzas that seem to be everywhere these days.  This is where you want to get your pizza.  Have I ever lied to you?

P.S.  Wedding cookies!

A Moveable Feast: Confessions of an Albuquerque Food Addict

I am not a food critic.  I am a food addict.  I dig talking about food and all things related to it.  From growing it to eating it.  That’s the sort of things we’ll be dealing with here.  Not just food reviews.  Just food.