Using Up: The makings of an all-American BBQ dinner.

I'm preparing to leave the country. I'm Israel bound! I'll be gone for a while-- just about 15 days. Its a little bit interesting, to think of being away for that long-- simply leaving your things behind can be uncomfortable, or at least mildly thought-provoking. I'm eating perishables out of the fridge. I'm getting someone to water all of my plants and beloved succulents, but I plan on turning off the A/C the entire time. In Texas heat, things begin to happen. Frightening things.

Any-how, I'd like to run out of fridge food at the exact time that I leave, having no leftovers and no shortage at all. I'm doing pretty well, but this takes a large slice of creativity and a fair amount of meal-planning.

Here is what I had, among other things, to work with:
1 Egg Per day, exactly
Leftover canned tomato sauce
Lots of onions, red bell peppers, and a big round zuccinni from market
Heaps of cut Jicama from Jeff
1 black radish
A whole lot of celery
A wee bit of homemade mayonnaise
"Black and White" Vinegar (Blackberry and White Vinegar) from Texas Olive Ranch
Homemade beef bone stock, a few ounces
Maille Mustard (I want to use it up, it has sugar.)
1/2 smoked sweet potato
Brisket
A few TB leftover devilled-egg filling from a BBQ

So, the culinary shadow-puppets formed a obvious, beautiful possibility: A true BBQ dinner. I made BBQ sauce, and it was STELLAR. Best primal BBQ sauce ever!

I made a single devilled egg, and STILL had too much yolk-stuff, so I decided to use that in a 'root salad,' in which I steamed a bunch of zucchini and radish with garlic cloves, then combined them with mustard, dill, spices, onions (lots), and the smoked sweet potato and chopped jicama and celery! AAAAh, simply put, chilling this bowl in the fridge was a true test of will-power. I didn't add any mayonnaise*, but used up the last of a bottle of white wine vinegar and olive oil to give it moisture. Silky, moist, fork-tender brisket from dad's smoker, topped with tangy and glossy-smooth bbq sauce? Yes. Flanked by a cold root salad? Of course. All cozied up beside two perfect little devilled eggs? Oh, man, my Texas is showing. And all that was left to have was a big stein of iced tea. Happy summer, ya'll.

*The rest of my homemade mayo will star in part of this week's planned meal number #3.

FINALLY! Good Mayo.

I've made quite a few bad batches of mayonnaise, ever since learning to embrace fats. I was excited to have mayonnaise again-- 'real' deviled eggs and tuna salad seemed like an amazing prospect to me. However, as I think soybean oil, canola, and other various processed seed oils are kinda, you know, poison, I decided I'd make my own. I own great olive oils, right now being a Nazareth and Canaan (hahaha, well, thats kind of funny now that I realize it) and they made absolutely nasty mayonnaise. I was at a loss-- I love lemon. I love olive oil. I love egg! They emulsified themselves into an epically bad spread that made me sad. However! Tonight, I have done it.

I wanted to use avocado oil, but the only avocado oil I had was infused with rosemary. Well, boy howdy. Not such a bad problem to have, I thought. However, mayonnaising seemed to bring out the worst in my oils thus far, so all I could do was try...

And this is the tale of what I did.

1 egg yolk

1 TB white vinegar

1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/8 tsp stevia

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

---

5 or 6 Oz Rosemary Avocado Oil

I guess people have a lot of trouble with 'breaking' their mayonnaise. I've made it (even if it wasn't that great in the past) many times and have never had a problem. I have a teensy tiny mini red food processor (Farberware, looks like they don't make them anymore) that has dips in the lid for a grip, and in the bottom of that dip, there is a tiny air hole. I simply pour the oil into the finger-dips and let the air hole drip it in. Its a long process, but it works perfectly. So, I put all of the first ingredients in, gave it a pulse, and let it sit for a moment (because I thought the mustard needed to develop or something). After that, I just poured oil into the little well and let it go until the concoction 'felt' mayonnaisey.

AND IT WAS GOOD! Wonder of wonders. Now, for some salmon salad...

-El