Slainte on Wheels

Everybody's favorite Irish pub, Slainte, now has a food truck. Makes sense, as sister restaurant Kooper's has had one (Chowhound Burger Wagon) for years now, and as far as I can tell, it's very popular. Slainte on Wheels offers a completely different selection of foodstuffs from the burger wagon.

There's Slainte's famous gumbo, for one thing. Yes, gumbo on an Irish food truck is weird, but I promise you that it's very very good. It's the same gumbo served at Slainte and all three Kooper's Tavern locations, a spicy, hearty, and very warming combination of seafood and vegetables. I think it's the best gumbo in town.

There's also the Irish bibimbap, which wowed Guy Fieri on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (Clearly the country has run out of all three, so Guy is going to non-diners, non-drive-ins, and non-dives now.) Rice, stir fried veg, cubes of corned beef, pickled cabbage, and a fried egg drizzled in sriracha make up a decidedly non-Korean version of this tasty Korean rice dish. A sweet element and a bit of sesame oil might take Slainte's version closer to Asia, but it's tasty nonetheless, with a generous amount of protein.

There's more of that good corned beef in a spicy version of a classic Reuben sandwich. And what Irish restaurant worth its salt doesn't feature potatoes? Wedge-shaped "chips" play a role in two dishes billed as "munchies," one topped with curry sauce and another with cottage pie filling and cheddar cheese. They also come as a side to Natty Boh-battered cod, and to Irish bangers (sausages) with onion gravy. An arugula salad and black bean falafel wrap round out the menu so the vegetarians have some choices, too.

It's always good to have another food truck on the street, and one that serves a couple of more unusual items. Like that mighty fine gumbo. Makes me wish it were Friday (the day Slainte on Wheels is in my 'hood) so I can have some of that for lunch today....



Posted on Minxeats.com.

Homemade Tortillas

I bought a bag of masa flour some time ago, intending to make all manner of yummy Latino foods. What I really wanted to make was corn tortillas, but I didn't have a tortilla press and didn't trust my ability to make perfectly thin and even tortillas without one. I found an inexpensive tortilla press on Amazon and put it on my wish list, but Christmas came and went without it.

So I purchased it for myself. Sheesh, what a gal's gotta do sometimes to keep a food blog going.

One evening, I had no dinner ideas (it happens more often than one might think). We had a fridge full of sundry leftovers and raw veggies and I figured it might be a good time to break out the tortilla press. Hey, pretty much anything can be turned into a taco, as long as there's a protein, a sauce, and a salsa or slaw. (My kitchen, my rule!) The raw veggies were brussels sprouts and sugar snap peas, so I turned them into a kimchi-style slaw. There was leftover pork tenderloin, which became the protein, and a bit of peanut sauce left from making a vegan pizza that I mixed with plain yogurt to make a creamy sauce.

Now I just needed to make the tortillas. And they were a snap. As long as there's a bag of masa in the house, I'll never have to buy corn tortillas again. The dough involves only two ingredients--water and masa flour--and cooking them is a fairly quick process. Homemade tortillas are more tender and more corny-flavored than commercial ones, and if you only make as many as you need, you don't have to worry about a gigundo pack of tortillas getting moldy in your fridge (ugh).

Kimchi
This is just a guideline...and this isn't real kimchi. I'm not Korean so don't go crazy on me.

Trim and slice thinly a pound or so of Brussels sprouts and/or other veg (cabbage, sugar snap peas, bok choy).

In a small bowl, mix 1 or 2 cloves crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon Korean pepper flakes, a couple of squirts of fish sauce, a tablespoon or two of white vinegar, salt, four chopped scallions, a teaspoon or so of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger, and a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil. If you have sesame seeds, toast about a tablespoonful in a hot skillet and add to the salad. Mix into veg and taste for seasoning, adding more fish sauce, sugar, salt, vinegar until it tastes balanced to your palate. (After all, you're going to eat it. We're not going after authenticity here.) Cover and refrigerate for at least a couple hours so the brussels sprouts have time to tenderize a bit and the flavors can do their thang.

Homemade Corn Tortillas

1 cup masa harina
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons hot tap water

Put the masa in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the half cup of water and turn the mixer on to medium power. If the dough just looks like crumbs, add the additional water a tablespoon at a time until the dough forms a ball and completely comes away from the sides of the bowl. The texture of the dough should be like non-sticky cookie dough. If it's sticky, add a little more masa. If it's still crumbly, add a bit more water.

Remove the prepared dough from the mixer bowl and form into 8 balls. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use, but not more than an hour or so.

When ready to cook: heat a cast iron pan or other heavy skillet so a drop of water dances across the surface (crazy hot).

Cut down the sides of a small zip-top plastic bag so it's only connected at the bottom edge. Put one half of the bag down onto your tortilla press. Put a ball of dough on the press, cover with the other side of the bag, and close the press. Open the press...if the tortilla isn't big/thin enough, squeeze again.

Transfer the tortilla from the bag to your right hand (left, if you're left-handed). Slap the tortilla onto the hot pan, making sure not to touch the pan with your hand (the tortilla should fall off your hand before it gets too close). Cook for a minute or so on one side, then use a spatula to flip the tortilla. Cook for another minute. Flip again, then press down on the tortilla with the flat side of the spatula, making it puff up. Flip and press again. After the tortilla has puffed on both sides, transfer it to a plate and cover with a piece of foil, to keep it warm.

Repeat with remaining dough balls.



Posted on Minxeats.com.

KoCo Korean Food Truck

A new-ish truck that seems to do pretty bang-up business (at least when I visited and saw the crowd already waiting at 11:45am), KoCo Korean Fusion doesn't even have a proper sign on their all-white truck, just one that says KoCo taped over the logo of whomever owned the truck before them. It's a fancy truck too, with a full-length window and customer-side bins for dessert and beverage offerings.

The offerings are sparse, but they hit all the Korean dishes most familiar to Americans: japchae (translucent noodles with vegetables and meat), bibimbap (rice with vegetables and meat and an optional fried egg), and Korean tacos or burritos. On my first visit to the truck, when they were still very new, I ordered a vegan version of the bibimbap, which came with kimchi, lots of vegetables, and spicy gochujang sauce, but no protein. Now they have tofu, which makes it all the better.

I've also tried the Korean Burrito, stuffed with rice, kimchi, bulgogi, and lettuce and served with lime wedges. It's spicy, moist, and quite delicious. It's nothing like a Mexican burrito, except for the wrapper. I would have liked more meat, but as it was, it's a tasty and filling lunch.





Posted on Minxeats.com.