& so it was that nashira & i catered Burnt Sugar doing the David Bowie songbook (or @ least part of it)... just the snippets of convo were priceless - courtesy Micah: "...so i told jimmy (Fallon) it seems like you like to make fun of Black people - so then buy me a mothafuckin drank, since you've had so much fun @ the expense of me & mine, then why don't you provide ME with some soul warming fun... oh no? ok jimmy. ok. but when i saw his GIRLFRIEND the week after that you best believe i made sure that SHE bought me a drank... & i made sure she had a better time w/me than she EVER did w/Fallon!!!"
love it.
been around musicians all my life. my father played w/some serious names in his 8 instrument playing time, but spent the bulk of his avant garde time with Brother Jack McDuff, & Sam Rivers. looks like Nashira will feel much the same way, @ home w/bands of very talented weirdos, (& please believe this is from a self-acknowledged weirdo!) but in her case, i am sure, she will be one of the group, as she is already on her way to being a performer. as it was, she was ensconced happily in the belly of the rock star beast, what with getting personal baritone sax lessons from the fierce lady horn player Paula Henderson, & up close & personal fierce DIVA lessons from the Fates of Black Rock: Ms. Blackbushe herself, Shelley Nicole Jefferson, the incandescent Lisala Beatty, & the siren Karma Mayet Johnson- when i think of Nashira absorbing all this abject flyness @ this tender age, i actually fear for - well, humanity, lol! in the best way. if she doesn't spontaneously combust for goddess' sake- these girls are beyond dope. as is Vernon Reid (WHAT?!?), & the master of ceremonies, Greg Tate (yes chile.) the show was amazing. & the SUGAR's rendition of 'Let's Dance' w/ Mikel as a sexier, blacker Bowie?
not to be fucked with. if you can catch it on youtube, then please do. well that's just silly actually - here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk_TW3v3vOY
a week later, Nashira was still crooning, 'i want to see friends dance on TV. i want to see Mikell!' - she's been bit by the bug, y'all.
le sigh...
promise that this will be the last post - for a long while - that even mentions thiebou djen, but that is what i made for the band, in addition to chicken yassa, which due to its bright yellows, (recipe below) is a pure jolt of sunlight to make. but nothing matches the joy of rolling up to the backstage/green room/vip section of whatever club/venue/concert hall you are catering & being greeted w/the pure love i was greeted with: family.
speaking of family, the same week, was my (acknowledged) fiance's grandmother's birthday - & everyone knows how much fun hangin w/the in-laws is, right? & so it was with a different spirit that i catered, well not really catered, but brought some food out to brooklyn, as well - in this case, curry fried chicken. coconut rice, & an early spring salad with a cumin lime dressing & LOTS of avocados are the sides of choice.
all of this became a lot for the schedules of me & the short one (Nashira), & alas, before i looked up, it was tuesday. so yes yes y'all, it was asinine to even think about posting so close together & i knew that we would have some bonus recipes in the mix, just because of the passage of time. bu then i realized, maybe it's asinine NOT to post, even if said postings are close together, & here we are!
over the weekend, me & nashira needed to decompress. & the best for unwinding? pink fish - her favorite, in croquette form - also called, by various poets & bullshit artists, 'Slammin' Croquettes'. & i can't figure out why these are such fun to make - but they are. maybe it's the salmon, all vibrant & rosy. or maybe it's the fact that when i am forming them, i run through all the inferior croquettes i've ever had - from the nastiness of undissolved rice as a binder to the ubiquitous use of canned (- when a price check reveals little if any difference in cost for this madness - i understand it some of the time but EVERY time?) or maybe it's the overwhelming gratitude that fills my soul when i find that cracker meal - or @ least crackers are in house... or maybe it's just that this is one of the heritage ancestral home style foods that i grew up with, & making it is like curling up in a security blanket with a favorite movie or book - i hope that this will be as enjoyable for you as it has been for me.
this is definitely the kind of heritage, down home recipe that you will find in the legendary tomes of my favorite girls: girls such as Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor, whose book Vibe Cooking has no measurements(!!! that's right, kot-dammit - you cook by vibe alone - sexysexysexy!). & Edna Lewis, who is a chemical genius (homemade baking powder, anyone???) & the founding chef @ Gage & Tollner {- a landmark eaterie - appallingly no longer open - let's not & say we did} - girls who have both their down home & experimental skills on LOCK. these are girls who deconstruct, then reconstruct the food we are used to, & when they return it to us, it is somehow more brightly vivid, more alive than it was before.
you'll hear a lot about salmon croquettes being a great catch-all for leftovers, & they are, if you just poached salmon a few nights ago - but whether you have or not, these are they, the way they should be done:
2 # fresh salmon steaks - or 1 # fresh plus one can this still makes a huge difference in flavor -
1 medium onion, chopped medium fine
2 stalks celery " "
1/2 green bell pepper " "
4 - 6 cloves fresh garlic " "
1 egg lightly scrambled
few girl's handsfull bread crumbs or cracker meal. & some (about 2 cups of either breadcrumbs or INDIAN HEAD - i know i know - cornmeal - sorry, politics! but it is the best & finest cornmeal) to dredge the croquettes
all purpose flour to coat croquettes about 2 cups
oil to fry in - grapeseed, safflower, sunflower or a combination of these about 1 quart
heat oil to popping.
1 - poach or sear the salmon till firm to the touch. not overcooked & flake off the bone
2 - combine the flaked salmon with all ingredients except the reserved bread crumb flour or corn meal to form medium stiff balls which are then lightly flattened
3 - roll the slightly flattened balls in the flour combined with either cornmeal or breadcrumbs, &
4 - drop into the hot oil
5 - when these babies float & are golden brown, they are done.
Chicken Yassa
serves 4:
2 whole chix, fryers
2 TBSP pulverized garlic
4 TBSP mustard - or to taste -
2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
1 TBSP turmeric, ground dry or a 1-inch knob, fresh. grated
4 medium vidalia or 2 lg spanish onions, sliced into rings or wedges
tiny bit chili paste, habanero, cayenne, jalapeno, piri-piri - you name it!
sea salt,
fresh ground pepper to taste
2 cups chicken stock
thyme, i had some savory hanging around, so - it went in w/the others, plus 1 bay leaf
1 - marinate the chicken in everything (2 hrs - overnight) but the garlic & onion, in fact
2 - saute the onion rings/slices w/the garlic til translucent in virgin coconut oil
3 - add all other ingredients to the pot & simmer on top of the stove or bake for 1 & 1/2 hrs, turning once halfway through.
aiight friends, strange as this is, see you on monday, & the kashmiri tea party, along w/pics, & recipe for curry fried chicken is ON.
thank you for your time.
omg that jimmy fallon story is the priceless!
ReplyDeletedude! thanks.
ReplyDeletexoxoxo