Friday, September 28, 2007

Intoducing...The Blue Plate Spectaculars!

UNM's brand new, unofficial, culinary club has finally become a reality. We call ourselves the Blue Plate Spectaculars and this is our mascot. Actually it's just Alberto wearing my Flan Fuerte
mask, but it's the thought that counts, right? Speaking of Alberto, I suppose I should introduce the members of Blue Plate. First there is Lorenzo, a pre-med like myself. This whole kitchen catastrophe was his idea. Then there's Mike. He's a line cook at Flying Star, and so we all idolize his knife skills. And of course there's Alberto, who can cook even better than he can mascot. Amy has proven worthy of alcohol-food pairing and then there's me. For our first culinary adventure, we met at my casa and cooked some New Mexican specialties. You can see Mike in my dining room, toiling away with his salad while Amy observes. The first meeting was a success. Check back tomorrow to see the evening's menu and our mad plating skills!

4 comments:

San said...

Mexican wrestler mascots. Knife-wielding skills. Alcohol pairings. A risky but promising combo.

b2 said...

What fun! Here's a cultural cooking question for you: does okra play any part, no matter how small, in New Mexican cuisine? And another challenge. Actually, just a request for y'all to play around with a combo and see what you come up with. Sweet potatoes, bacon, onions. Or some other combo, so long as the sweet potatoes and onions are there. My answer to being barred from hashbrowns. Ways I've done it: tossed in olive oil, salt, black pepper, herbes de provence, then oven-roasted or fried. Haven't decided whether it's better to cook all together, pre-cook the bacon and add at last, pre-cook a bit and finish it with the veggies. For you hearty souls who aren't allergic to peppers, I bet some judicious pepper choices might go well in this dish. Of course, if you hate sweet potatoes, there's really no point!

Flannery said...

b2--Okra doesn't play a part in New Mexican cooking at all (a grave travesty). I'm sure we could fix that, however! The only place you can buy Okra in Albuquerque is at the Farmer's Market and at Ta Lin, and Asian grocery store.

As far as bacon goes, I would cook the bacon first, then use the grease to cook the vegetables, then re-incorporate the bacon. And I've seen some tasty recipes for baked sweet potato fries before. I should give this a whirl.

San--yes. Deliciously dangerous.

Meg Wolff said...

Sounds like my kind of club ... what fun. Like your room color.