Greek potatoes, tzaiki sauce, bacon, jalapeno slices.
I was looking at a cucumber, and jalapeno and trying to figure out what dinner was going to be.
Then I remembered some tortillas and a mostly full pack of bacon. I always have potatoes, yogurt, dill and lemon juice on hand.
I prepped all the ingredients in the morning after pulling weeds. At dinner time it was just heating the tortillas and assembly.
Cost per person, $4.25
I grew up in Mexican influenced land. I have a part of my brain that tries to turn everything into a burrito. Even Greek food. Italian is harder. Much harder.
I mean, “Italian” is in this weird Twilight Zone to me. Pasta itself is barely above the level of junk food, nutritionally, but seafood, olive oil and vegetables come through like champions to rescue the Italian meals upon various indexes & studies.
I’m thinking we could make a semi-analogy upon fish-tacos/burritos, and my country’s ultra-speciality, i.e. ceviche. No wraps needed there of course, provided you can handle the key lime bath. (which of course I can’t anymore, haha)
Pasta and bread are basically Italy’s solution to get your calories the cheapest way you can and spend your money on your flavor and nutrition. Tiny amount of fish or pork, some herbs and botanical fruits. Yet, despite all that carb loading they are some of the healthiest people on earth even after accounting for identity theft based pension fraud.
And while everyone focused on pasta they dramatically underestimate the amount of bread Italians eat. In a lot of areas it’s equal to or greater than the amount of pasta.
How about this for a Italian fish tacos, grilled sardines, with a chopped up caprese topping and balsamic drizzle. The tortilla is a problem. Well they definitely have the ingredients for both corn and flour tortillas they don’t. They don’t have the technique. Wonder if I can make a semolina tortilla?
Nice. I like how you’re always improvising like that.
I wonder if the ‘carb-loading yet still healthy’ thing is possibly based upon Italians’ friggen’ chronic need to argue everything to death. I’ve never before met such a peoples, including a branch of my relatives in Firenze, in which everything one could imagine was automatically a major argument.
Then again, there’s my brilliant cousine.
Ceviche 🤤
Oh gosh, there is nothing like it fresh on Earth, and weirdly, I’m generally a vegetarian, but have always been cool with sushi & sashimi.
But if there’s a God, and if there indeed exist Heavens, that would be fresh-made ceviche, with the key-lime juice marinade, slivers of red onions, slivers of aji limos, fresh cilantro, and minimal seasoning.
Food right from the Powers of Nature, so to speak.
I was kind of a sushi / sashimi guy before I tasted that miracle of nature, haha.
@[email protected]
It’s good stuff but I haven’t had any since I left Virginia Beach. There was a Peruvian place in Norfolk and some ceviche and marinated beef hearts was a good meal.
And if you asked what the staff was eating that day, sometimes they might have Salchipapa available. I’m in a good ethnic restaurant I always try to ask If there’s something the staff gets to eat today that this isn’t on the menu. Sometimes you get lucky and there’s lengua tacos.
Haha, all hail imitations, because what else you gonna do?
Oh yeah, that’s like how I managed in France. Just ask for the blue-plate special and a beer, and you’ll eat like a KING. And it somehow made them pleased that somehow I would ask that.
I worked with some guys from Mexico a few years back. The one guy’s wife used to make it and man, it was good. It always amazed me how much flavor that stuff has with so little ingredients and no extra spices. It was funny because my boss asked him for the recipe. There was a translation issue and limon became lemon. It actually didn’t taste bad at all IMO, but everyone could tell right away something was off. XD
Also, big fan of sushi/sashimi, although I don’t eat it very often because there’s no local place to get it.
It definitely helps to know a little bit of Spanish for that one.
Despite Castellano being my first language, I’m a terribly-bad speaker. Yet if I understand correctly, we commonly say “limon verdes” for limes in Mexico & S. America (i.e. “green lemons”), and that’s how that works.
This is just… apropos of nothing, but one time a GF and I were driving across the country, and we stopped in Amarillo. I really liked how the sound of such Texas towns rang in my ear until I got almost thumped upside the head for pronouncing them in Castellano (Spanish). (you know, with double-“L” sounding like “Y” and such) So I learned how to say “ahm-a-RIHL-oh” whilst driving through the Longhorn State. 😅
Don’t mess with Texans, I guess was that lesson.
@[email protected]