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Bubba

Jan 22, 2006, 10:24 AM

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IRAQI PICADILLO

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It is unfortunate that the Intelligent Designer has chosen to torment us by removing our favorite things from our immediate vicinity or making those things available while removing other things we treasure. It is part of the game, however, and must be endured. So, my cousin-in-law from La Rochelle brings me Foie Gras de Canard entier manufactured from tortured ducks in Bocages de l'ouest in France and my friend from Central Florida brings me "Plantation" Stone Ground Yellow Grits his wife instructs me to cook with milk and cream and with slathered on pure butter and maybe some shrimp and my friend from Texas goes out of her way to bring me Sweet Watermelon Rind Pickles from St. Augustine to go with my South Alabama potato salad and what is known in those parts as "Brislin' Chicken and I grow my own lemons in my garden in Ajijic but can now find them in better markets in this area and I will tell you what - the elevenlemonsblogspot was so well put I had an erection before it was over so, despite the fact that a Bubba erection may be an unpleasant thought for many of you, here is my friend from Baghdad's favorite use of lemons:

IRAQUI PICADILLO

Ground Beef of Ground Beef/Lamb/Pork - whatever. If you are Iraqui you may want to skip the pork.
One or Two Eggplants properly salted if you know what I mean
Lots of Allspice
10 Lemons
Diced Onions
Green Bell Peppers
Tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Garlic Beyond your Imagination
Pine Nuts
Sugar

Cook up the ground meat with the garlic and onions and pine nuts and add the tomato paste with the lemon juice and Allspice.

Layer the eggplant and ground meat and tomatoes and peppers and- well either you either get it or your are unworthy of this communication. Top this mess off with tomatoes and sugar.

Serve this concoction over rice.

This is so good that Saddam took over Iraq while everybody else was eating.

(This post was edited by Bubba on Jan 22, 2006, 10:38 AM)

wendy devlin

Jan 22, 2006, 2:58 PM

Post #2 of 5 (966 views)

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Re: [Bubba] IRAQI PICADILLO

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Take it then, that this is your 'Ode to Lemons':)

But why not, then, eleven of them!

Next summer I hope to prepare this repast...being mid-Canadian winter, the fresh eggplants are sorely lacking and we just finished off the last of the stored fresh peppers and tomatoes.

If the pine-nuts are missing...better I not bother?

Bubba

Jan 22, 2006, 3:36 PM

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Re: [wendy devlin] IRAQI PICADILLO

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Wendy:

Yes, it's my ode to lemons which I posted in response to another ode to lemons Jennifer posted on another forum. Someone decided to move it and took my comments somewhat out of context since I had intended a paean to lemondom. I am a huge (in more ways than one) fan of Middle Eastern and North African food and also need my lemon in my South Alabama iced tea so these simple fruits are an essential part of my life. That is the reason I was so impressed by the post given us by Jennifer. You have discerned the disconnect and I appreciate it so much, here I go again:

LEBANESE CHICKEN

Chicken (of course)
Marinated for quite a while in:

Lemon juice
Very Fruity Extra Vigin Olive Oil
Mashed and Plentiful Garlic
Salt.
Pepper

Save some of the lemon/olive oil/garlic mixture as a dip for the BBQ'd chicken.

Cook that chicken on the BBQ with charcoal.

Serve with meshui. Cous cous. A nice romaine lettuce salad.

How can a culture disdain lemons? Are they insane?

Anonimo

Jan 22, 2006, 5:26 PM

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Re: [Bubba] IRAQI PICADILLO

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I saw some large, yellow "limas" for sale from vendors in front of the Pátzcuaro Basilica this afternoon. I bought a bag for $5 MXP.
The taste is sweet and pleasant but lacks tartness. However, there is an oil in the rind, which in my opinion is ambrosial.

Rick Davis, co-owner of local restaurant Cha Cha Cha, told me that he'd tried to juice them and make pie filling, but that it came out bitter. He later learned that when cooked with the peel, the bitterness is avoided. Seems strange to me, but...
...Back home, I washed and sliced one of these citrus fruits and put it into a saucepan of "sauerbraten gravy extender" I was creating. When done, along with the non-traditional prunes I'd added, it was quite tasty.

I'm going to look into preserving them in a sugar and salt mixture. Maybe some Moroccan type chicken, Bubba style, or a bit differently, will come of this. I may add lime juice to increase the acidity.

Buen Provecho,
Anonimo

wendy devlin

Jan 22, 2006, 7:51 PM

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Re: [Bubba] IRAQI PICADILLO

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<Lemon juice
Very Fruity Extra Vigin Olive Oil
Mashed and Plentiful Garlic
Salt.
Pepper

I am particularly fond of Bubba's above combination of ingredients.

So to...the Lebanese chicken!

When I was staying at Nogueras, Colima, it was interesting to find out that the original sugar cane industry of the hacienda, 'down-sized' to the development of lemon cultivars specifically suited for that part of Mexico.

(the hacienda lands having been reduced from a huge estate to just a few acres by the revolution)

Emilia Rangel Brun (who's uncle once owned the said estate before bequeathing it to the University of Colima and his niece and nephews) explained that there were many varieties of lemons grown there, large, medium, small, tart, sweet, and other flavors, different colors, shapes.

Have always wanted to return to see if I could find anyone still growing those fruits.

She did give us a little jar of her kumquat jam to enjoy at breakfast.