An old chef friend of mine sent me a link to this video, featuring the Dissident Chef, and his Clandestine Restaurant Movement. I thought I suffered from some serious delusions of grandeur, but this dude's in another league.
My favorite line: "It’s your choice whether you want to let the rest of the world know we exist - it's a great opportunity for a lot of people to really start to learn about what real dining is about." Take that, chefs that use your real names!
I'll resist the immediate temptation to "critique" this video, and its not-so-mysterious, sky-diving, cocktail-drinking, secret-password-giving chef/prophet mastermind - and will instead let you tell me, in your typically fair and balanced way, what you think of this.
By the way, since I'm assuming this video is really some sort of desperate cry to be outed, if you know the identity of Dissident Chef and his band of merry faux-foodie hipsters, please do tell.
As promised, here is my basic version of chilaquiles, a classic Mexican mixture of fried tortillas, cheese, and salsa verde, often made with eggs to produce one of the world's great breakfasts. Like all the great breakfasts of the world, it has been long touted as a superior hangover cure.
It's ability to revive the body, mind, and soul from the ravages of alcohol poisoning is reportedly second only to the famous Mexican soup, menudo. Since mendo takes much longer to make, and traditionally contains, among other things, brains, cheeks, tails, hooves, and other organs, I tend to prefer the chilaquiles as my remedy.
According to the extensive research I did regarding the name, and by that I mean the three minutes I spent on Wikipedia, the word "chilaquiles" is derived from the Nahuatl word chil-a-quilitl, which means "herbs or greens in chile broth."
I can't say how that particular recipe eventually became what you'll see here, but thankfully it did - I can't imagine a bowl of stewed greens in a chili broth would work as well after a late night out at Senor Diablo's Casa de Las Margaritas Grandes. Enjoy!
Ingredients for curing 2 hangovers: 5 eggs 3 corn tortillas 1/2 cup cheese 1/2 cup salsa verde vegetable oil salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Check Out These Other Great South-of-the-Border Video Recipes:
Here are three simple pieces of advice for turning that, "I'm so bored, please kill me," bowl of oatmeal, into something special.
First, use "steel-cut" oatmeal instead of those rolled oats. The difference between steel-cut and regular oatmeal is like the difference between a walk on the beach, and standing in line at the DMV. The superior texture and taste of steel-cut, with basically the same cooking time, makes this a must-try.
Second, find some grade "B" maple syrup. To me it tastes more maple-y than the standard supermarket grade "A." I get mine at Trader Joes, but you should be able to find it somewhere close. I had heard it was better tasting long ago, but never bothered to try it until recently. I'll never get those wasted years back.
Finally, put some real, unsalted, sweet, creamy butter on top. The thin slice of butter you see here (only 1/2 teaspoon), slowly melting into the hot oats, mocking you with its luxurious sheen, has exactly 16 calories.
Hey dieters, why turn a delicious breakfast into prison food to save 16 calories? It doesn't make any sense. Enjoy!
Pasta primavera is quite a straightforward recipe - spaghetti or fettuccine tossed with an array of fresh spring vegetables. When done right, this is one of the year's great seasonal recipes. This looks, smells, and tastes like a cool, sunny spring day.
The thing I can't figure out is how chefs, particularly one running large hotel kitchens, came to call any pasta with vegetables, "pasta primavera." If you order this dish in one of those establishments, you will probably get a plate of pasta, with a heavy cream sauce, some black bits of oxidized basil, and large, undercooked chunks of vegetables, usually of the summer and fall variety.
Unfortunately for many chefs, this recipe serves as a way to clean out the walk-in of past-their-prime vegetables (Mmm…old squash and bell peppers), instead of what it should be - a celebration for the return of fresh green veggies.You will see a great "chefs secret" in this video recipe for keeping the basil bright green. In fact, the second photo here shows the leftovers after 24 hours. They are still beautiful, and didn't turn that nasty grey-green-brown hue that affects leftover basil-based sauces.
I like to choose as many different green vegetables as I can get my hands on for this dish. I managed to include seven varieties, and could have added a few more without a problem. I'll admit, this one does take much more slicing and dicing than I usually subject you to, but the effort will be rewarded with a pasta worthy of its name. Enjoy!
Ingredients: 1/2 cup olive oil plus 2 tbsps 1 bunch green onions, chopped 1 large leek (dark green parts trimmed off and discarded), chopped, washed thoroughly 2 jalapeno, diced 1 bunch basil 3 cups chicken or vegetable broth 2 cloves garlic 2 green zucchini, diced 1/2 cup freshly shucked peas 1 cup sugar snap peas 1 bunch asparagus, stalks diced, tips left whole 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, or as needed salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste 1 pound fettuccine
An old chef friend of mine sent me a link to this video, featuring the Dissident Chef, and his Clandestine Restaurant Movement. I thought I suffered from some serious delusions of grandeur, but this dude's in another league.
