FoodNerd!

For IMBB9 I really wanted to make the Basque fish terrine recipe from epicurious, because we have such lovely hake here lately, and it sounded so delicious. But I’ve been traveling lately, and work has been really busy for a change, and it got to be Friday and I realized I hadn’t even begun to deal, and I was so tired I knew I never would. So I went to Plan B.
When I was a kid, my mom would sometimes make something that I think of as “stuffed bread.” She made it up out of her head, and it is just exactly the sort of cross between white-bread-yankee and white-trash that we so often concocted in our kitchen. I loved it because it was fun to make, and messy to eat, and mushed a lot of flavors up together. I haven’t had it in probably 10 years or more, and the terrine theme brought it to mind. It’s not really a terrine, but it’s terrine shaped, and it’s as uniquely personal as foods get. Here’s what my mom said when I emailed her for the recipe:
“I made up the recipe. Crust can be removed or not. I used “salad” type fillings such as ham, tuna, egg , chicken, or whatever. I have seen recipes where they make a turkey or chicken one and put cranberry sauce in one of the layers. I always put in a speadable cheese layer — sometimes made myself or sometimes used the little glasses of cheese spread. Often I used an olive or pickle layer. If they are not mixed with anything, such as cheese or mayo or mustard, then spread the top and bottom layers with something, so the bread does not soak up too much juice. I usually patted them dry first before putting them in the bread. I usually didn’t mix the kinds of salad.–ie. not ham and tuna togther, etc. Ideas for colorful layers would be good.
I mixed something with the cream cheese to spread it. I think it was milk. One time I colored it. Always thought a sweet one would be good. Maybe like a dessert. Ground up date and nut filling, strawberries in cream cheese, maybe a canned frosting (coconut?) etc. etc. I might put a bit of confectioners sugar in the frosting for this one? Maybe use cinnamon or raisin bread? Or one of Grandpa’s favorites — cardamom bread.
Sorry no recipe. Hope this helps. Probaly never made it the same way twice. Can be made the day ahead or on the day. But cover well with saran so cream cheese won’t dry out. Keep in refrig. It garnishes nicely, but would put that on at last minute. To serve, cut fairly thick, but not jumbo.”
Here’s what I did this time. First of all, you must locate a loaf of the unsliced soft squishy white bread that they sell as “stuffing” bread (the idea being that you rip up irregular chunks to make poultry stuffing rather than having regular slices). Apparently it’s not yet close enough to Thanksgiving for supermarkets to stock it, because I couldn’t find an unsliced loaf ANYWHERE. I was reduced to buying a loaf of artisanal white at the farmers’ market, which is delicious but much too dense for the recipe. It doesn’t blend enough with the fillings, is too chewy, and it’s a bitch to slice properly when it’s filled with squishy moist filling layers and covered in cream cheese.
My fillings were based on what was lurking around my kitchen gathering dust or threatening to go bad, which is I believe how this recipe came to be in the first place. It seems to be vaguely mediterranean, as conceived by mainstream American markets. I made egg salad with lots of mustard & minced onion & black pepper. I took a can of flavored black olives I’ve had since my parents gave it to me last christmas and attacked them with the stick blender, then added a can of tuna for extra protein. And I got a jelly glass of olive & pimento cheese food, because I adore that stuff. I used the cheese to coat both sides of that layer so I could put sliced tomatoes (salted, drained & blotted) in between.
To assemble, cut the loaf of bread into four slices horizontally (or however many slices you like that will still be stable). Put one filling on each layer, as thickly as you can without endangering structural integrity, and spread evenly all the way to the very edges. Put the top of the loaf back on and press *gently*. Take two 8oz packs of cream cheese at room temperature, and mix them with a few tablespoons of cream or milk until it’s a spreadable texture. Spread the entire outside of the loaf thickly with cream cheese to keep it from drying out. It’s a bit tricky not to get the fillings smeared into the frosting, but if you glob it on first and smooth it out later, it should go okay. Garnish at will.
Mine came out a little lopsided, because the thicker bread had a more irregular shape than is optimal, but it tastes just fine, kind of like a dagwood sandwich with more cream cheese than is truly healthy. But since I am the kind of girl who finds those single-serving pots of cream cheese about enough for three bites of bagel, I have no problem with that at all. *grin*
GO SOX!!

Apropos of nothing, Jackie over at The Daily Bread was saying that though the idea of creating something yummy from a picked-over chicken carcass is appealing, one of the reasons she finds actual stock-making irksome is because she spends too much money on ingredients for something she can buy quickly and easily for much less. I have the same problem, so what I do is use the peelings from my onion & carrot, stems of my parsley, and trimmings from my celery, in the broth and then use the “good” parts of the veg later in the soup, or in something else. That way the entire broth is made from what would otherwise be garbage. You cook it to death and strain it all out anyway, so why not? I freaked the tallasiandude out the first time I did this, but since he is Soup Man in a major way, he’s gotten totally on board. And honestly, Jackie’s right that canned broth is perfectly fine; I only do the broth making when I have the carcass around and intend to make a broth-based soup, where the broth is the star.

Well, I’m an idjit and forgot that the foodsluts are in New Zealand for three weeks (except a few days in Fiji, which apparently have resulted in appalling meals, awkward sleep, and potential tapeworm — they’re *very* happy to be heading to the land of good tea and honey-yogurt breakfasts), so i had to eat the tamales by myself. Tallasiandude and I ate 6 for dinner the other night, accompanied by a quick salsa and a batch of this recipe for spicy chocolate black beans from 101 Cookbooks, adapted somewhat by me. It was awesome. The tamales were fabulous, I wish we had a better source for them here; I will have to scout around.
But what was somehow more satisfying, probably because of its total serendipitousness, was the lunch I had the next day. In the midst of a total crisis at work, no less, so it had to be fast and filling and joy-inducing, no small challenge given the state of my fridge. Two small corn tortillas, spread with the last of the beans, topped with slices of cheese (regular old sandwich cheddar slices) and microwaved for a minute, then topped with the salsa & some sour cream. Holy god it was yummy.
Salsa = 2-3 fresh diced ripe tomatoes, minced onion, minced serrano, juice of 3 limes, cilantro for those that like it. Very limey and tangy, nice against the sweet thick beans.
Beans = 1/2 onion & 1/2 red bell pepper, diced & sauteed in a tiny bit of olive oil with a couple cloves thin sliced garlic added once things soften. Salt, cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, allspice to taste, and fry a bit more till dry. Then add about a third of a bottle of beer – i used IPA because it was all I had, and it lent a bitter note I didn’t totally appreciate, so I’d probably recommend something else, like, I dunno, Negro Modelo. *wink* Add water to thin down the beer, add a drained can of black beans, and smash the beans roughly with your spoon as they cook. Adjust spices as it cooks down. When it looks & tastes like nice spicy chunky refried beans, add 1/2 a disk of Ibarra Mexican chocolate and let it melt in and blend. You could probably use any decent dark chocolate and to be extra diligent you could add a bit extra sugar & cinnamon to get the same effect. It ends up earthy, sweet, and spicy, kind of mole-like in flavor, awesome against corn tortillas & lime-y salsa.

So foodnerd has returned from Chicago (to a kitchen full of formerly-green tomatoes now about to expire of ripe redness, yikes), and turns out tallasiandude has been all resourceful about feeding himself in my absence and turned to the foodbloggers for inspiration. Cheers to dave at weber_cam for pasta with raw tomato sauce… and we may do it again tonight, lest the bounty be wasted. Thanks, dave!