To All the Ballers
You can improve your chances in basketball with strength, size, quickness, ball handling, etc. But never underestimate a pure shooter. I admit it, I got a bit choked up. Damn you, infotainment! Your manipulative treatment taints a beautiful thing.
Big Crazy Piece
Some of my friends are justifiably concerned about this piece on GigaOm, like I’m the restaurant critic who revealed a prize hole in the wall only to see it destroyed or perverted by sudden success.
I had faith Om’s audience was extra-local enough that it wouldn’t be much news to the us here in The City, and all the insightful comments didn’t disappoint — I now know where to find an oasis almost anywhere from the East Bay to New York City.
Of course, I didn’t give away my own most valuable secrets, like where to get Wifi at a bar in San Francisco — or, more importantly, where the closest wifi is to popular local bars. I have no idea if you can get wifi at any local strip clubs, but considering how much business takes place there… But that’s a bit too salacious for GigaOm.
What I’m interested in exploring is where local language-groups congregate for wifi, tech support, LAN parties, etc. I’ve seen storefronts around the bay that obviously catered to Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Arabic, Russian and a whole rainbow of dialects like Punjabi, Mandarin, Farsi, Eritrean, Ukrainian — even Pashtun. Hopefully I can come up with a serviceable pidgin from techie specificities, a snatch of each swadish and generous hand gestures.
links for 2006-02-21
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Wow. I want a pair. Is that bad?
Smokin’ in the Kitchen with Jackson
That’s the title of the cooking show that I dreamed up ages ago when I still had a video camera. May still happen. Still, I’ve got this blog, so how about a recipe and instructions with photos while I wait for the Food Network to call?
Episode 1 — Coniglio a la Spiaggeta Nordica
Tonight I’m making a braised rabbit dish that I’ve named after my new neighborhood. Shopping in North Beach and, more importantly, Chinatown is simply fantastic. Stopping by Little City Meats and picking out some cuts for the fridge and freezer, I noticed that they had a whole, fresh rabbit (or “coney” after the Italian) for only $5.98 a pound. Little City is a bit spendy — that was one of the cheapest items they had on hand. At two pounds, the young fryer was about $12. And that represents at least two, if not three meals for this big hungry boy.
So what to do with a rabbit? Well, even though this one was probably farm-raised and therefore pretty tender and not particularly gamey like a wild rabbit might be, I opted for a braise rather than a fry. And that meant I needed some other goodies, namely:
- Two large carrots
- Large yellow onion
- Bunch of celery
- Bulb of garlic
- Herbs
- Vinegar (white wine and balsamic)
- Olive oil
Of course, we’ll want a nice starch with that. I decided on a risotto, for which I also needed:
- Two cups arborio rice
- Three rashers of thick bacon
- Another large yellow onion
- Tomato paste
- Cheese (Parmesan and Toscano)
- Chicken stock
It’s not critical you’ve got everything listed — it’s all about what’s in the cupboard. Hence the mix of cheeses and the tomato paste. I only had a bit of Parmesan, but had a nice hunk of the Toscano table cheese which also grates nicely. I also had a tube of nice italian tomato paste sitting in my fridge, though it would give a nice kick of color and tomato flavor to the risotto.
First things first was to butcher the beast and start the marinade and stock. I used these tips from Virginia Tech. I ended up with six nice meaty pieces (front and back legs, split breast) and had the ribcage, spine and tail left for my stock. The rabbit came complete with kidneys and heart, which I would have fried up for my cat if I had one.
The meaty pieces went into a bowl along with salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, garlic powder and oregano. Then I doused them with white wine vinegar and some leftover beer and set them in the fridge. The other parts went into a small pot with the trimming from the celery, carrots, half an onion and a few bulbs of garlic which all slowly simmered while the rest of the bunny marinated.
Two hours later and it was time to strain the stock and brown the rabbit. In the same pot that I would braise them in, I heated up a quarter cup of olive oil until it was just smoking. I drained the marinade into the strained stock and brought it back to a boil (to kill any bacteria). I coated the marinated pieces with a splash of olive oil and then set them in a single layer in the pan. About six to eight minutes on either side gave the pieces the perfect caramel-brown color. I set them aside in a bowl.
While waiting on the marinade, I had also prepped my mirepoix — which is a fancy french term for ‘diced onions, carrots and celery.’ Once the rabbit was out, one rasher of the diced bacon went in to brown a bit, and then the mirepoix was added. This mixture was ’sweated’ until the onions were transluscent.
After deglazing the pan with a bit of balsamic vinegar, and adding about a cup of the tasty rabbit stock along with eight or so large cloves of garlic, the rabbit pieces went back in and the lid went on the mixture. With about 30 minutes of braising time at low heat ahead, it was time to start the risotto. The remaining two rashers of diced bacon were rendered, followed by half a diced onion and the garlic. Once these were a bit carmelized, I added the arborio rice and stirred to make sure they were all coated with delicious bacon grease.
The stock, now at a rolling boil, was added slowly while stirring the rice. I ran out of stock after about two cups, and ended up adding about half a can of chicken stock to make up what I needed (the arborio really sucks up moisture). Finally, about two tablespoons of tomato paste were squeezed in, the lid put on, and the burner turned as low as possible.
After the half hour, the rabbit meat was plenty tender and the risotto fully cooked. The grated parmesan and toscano was stirred into the hot rice to melt, with a little reserved for garnish. Two big spoonfuls of risotto joined three pieces of rabbit and some of the veggies and jus on the plate, garnished with diced green onions and cheese. Not the most aesthetic presentation — I imagine a restaurant would have blended the jus and mirepoix with some butter into a nice veloute, coated a large plate with it, and added just a scoop of the risotto with one or two pieces of rabbit.
So how was it? Well, you can’t see the smile on my face in the following picture, but you can see some seriously greasy fingers. Would have been great with a nice Chianti or Pinot Noir, but again, this is my house, so beer it is. For my first attempt at cooking rabbit, I was mighty pleased. And for you health nuts, while rabbit’s taste and texture is a lot like chicken, it’s got a much, much higher protein-to-fat ratio. Until next time, happy smokin’, drinkin’ and cookin’!
Well hello, my name is Simon…
Busted out the old stylus tablet to illustrate an interview with Julia Wertz, who pens the hilarious strip at The Fart Party. Here are some old flash doohickeys that I also drew ages ago — Political Action Committee Man and The Funky Engineer. Didn’t know I had it in me, didja?
