Falafel RE*MIX

A photo posted by Höķm Guerrerø (@revmcnasty) on Aug 18, 2015 at 8:04pm PDT

I took a falafel recipe that I have used a lot - but was starting to get bored with - and added a little sumpin' sumpin' for a little.  Normally seasoned with cumin, coriander (and occasionally smoked paprika) this twist injected my latest batch of baked falafel with the flavors of a different part of the Mediterranean Sea.

Falafel
    makes one dozen

1 small onion, roughly chopped
1/4 bell pepper, roughly chopped
1/2 stalk celery, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I like to use Aleppo pepper for this recipe)
1 16 oz can of chick peas, drained and rinsed
5 oz of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes, finely diced
1 tablespoons finely grated Pecorino (or Parm-Romano)
salt and pepper
cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, stick rack in the middle.  At the same time heat some oil over medium high heat in a medium/small saute pan.
2. Pulse the onion, bell pepper and celery in a food processor to finely chop.  Add this mixture to the heated saute pan.  Salt and pepper and cook until onions are translucent and water has cooked off - about 6-8 minutes.
3. Stir in the garlic, pepper flakes and oregano and cook for about 45 seconds.  Remove from heat and add to large bowl and let cool.
4. Add the chick peas and spinach to the food processor and pulse that bitch.  Dump this paste into the cooled sauteed vegetable mixture.
5. Add the oil, flour, baking powder, sun-dried tomatoes and cheese.  Stir with a small rubber spatula.  Season as desired.
6. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.  Form a ball slightly smaller than a golf ball with the chick pea mixture and place each one into it's own muffin spot.  This batch makes about 11 or 12. 
7. Bake for 40 minutes.  No need to turn them, they will be crispy all over the outside and creamy and good in the middle.

I like to finish them with a squirt of fresh lemon juice after they come out of the oven.

Serve over a salad.  I made a sour cream vinaigrette for this batch (recipe below).
Or try in a pita pocket with lettuce, tomato and your favorite condiment.
You could even use these as a meatless meatball and serve with pasta and marinara!  Maybe add some basil with the spinach if you go this route.


Sour Cream Vinaigrette

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons non-fat sour cream
2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon Italian parsley, minced
1 tablespoons honey
pinch each of salt and pepper

1. Add all ingredients to a small jar with lid (an old Grey Poupon jar is perfect).
2. Put lid on tightly and shake for 30 seconds.  
3. Pour over salad.

Rambling Poetry

Haiku I

You claim yourself an

asset yet behavior proves

you's just an Ass Hat.

----------------------------------------------------------

Haiku II

Looking deep within

myself I am intrigued

by the combinations.

----------------------------------------------------------

Libertarian Limerick I

There once was a man from America,
Whose life was prone to hysteria,

Tho no fault of his own,

For his government was prone, 

To behave as if spelled "Amerika"

----------------------------------------------------------

Haiku III

Your caustic tongue shines

bright for the moth (me) so I

rush towards you inspired.

----------------------------------------------------------

Haiku IV

We judge ourselves by

intentions, yet others judge

by our last worst act.

----------------------------------------------------------

Popeye's Haiku

He stole her chicken;

She threw fries at him. They kiss.

Relationship goals.

----------------------------------------------------------

Beauty's Strength - a Haiku in 2 stanzas

True beauty will yell

loudly even when nature

attempts to mute it.

This little flower

proves me right.  Pollution can't

silence it's color.

----------------------------------------------------------

Cover Up Part 2: Still Not Gonna Play Covers

The past few weeks I have been informing my various musical groups of my intention: limiting the performance on non-original material and focusing on returning to the act of creating something new.  I said I would discontinue performing more than one or two covers per set (a set being 50 minutes... or 100 minutes depending on the venue).  You would think I was the Grinch and they woke up to find a few broken needles where their tree once stood.

I'm not trying to insult the countless talented people who are cover musicians.  I know some personally and they are amazing at what they do.  They get joy out of it and they bring joy to those listening.  I don't find joy in it and, quite frankly, I hate myself in the days leading up to and the day following gigs padded with cover material.  I feel like I am being dishonest with myself and it sends me into a depression-like state.

When I was emailing the bands I work with and explaining myself the reactions were priceless.  One musician said "but we don't have a lot of original material".  I didn't respond to that because: if your garden has no flowers you can plant some.  Another said I was "selling out".  And yet another wasn't sure what I meant by, what he called, this arbitrary decision. I'm pretty sure that last guy doesn't know what arbitrary means and was thinking he was using a $2 word to intelligently express his displeasure.  The bottom line is:  I can't live with myself if I continue this trend of a gig that is 95% cover material.

It amazes me because for the first 10 years I was a professional, full-time, musician the three bands I performed with only played the occasional non-original song.  An improvisational #BAM trio, a rock band and a funk/r&b band.  Between the three groups I spent about 6 years touring most of the south-east, mid-west and west coast of the United States and we played our own music.  No one cared.  The audience didn't care; the audience LOVED it.  I got to work with Bob Weir, BB King and countless other, lessor know but equally talented, people.  We were there to bring our art to the public and the public's ears sat eager to listen and - hopefully - enjoy us.  Do we blame modern times and technology for the need to have a musician play covers the entire night?  Is it the fear that we will be replaced by an iPod?

Since Hurricane Katrina and my relocation to Philadelphia I feel that, somehow, a button got pushed and people around me were more interested in spending hours perfecting someone else's composition than attempting tto stretch out; playing around in the part of our brain that cjust might find new harmonic and melodic combinations; new colors never heard before. I don't think it's laziness. I hope it's not laziness. Is it laziness?  Is it a fear?

I was driving home from a gig this weekend (about 10 hours after dealing with a pretty serious bout of food poisoning) and I got to thinking.  I do not want to have people come hear me play a cover song.  I want people to come listen to an original creation influenced by my own personal experience that just might open their eyes and change their lives.  I've seen it happen.

That being said: I'm quite pleased with the two groups I lead.  The Courtesy Shuttle is almost entirely original instrumental fusion composed by either bassist Rich Curtis or myself.  And the swing band, The High Rollers, has been making the shift to this new sound organically.

Notes by Thelonious Monk to his band.

While I am boldly opposed to personally performing cover material there is a huge exception: the local songwriter.  I do not feel that a great tune written by local pianist David Dzubinski is a cover song, so we play it.  Davey Cope is a friend and helluva singer/songwriter and someone appreciating his [yet] undiscovered talent and embracing it by helping expose it to the world is a great thing.  What I don't think is necessary is someone expecting the Jimmy Winklejon Quartet to play Fly Me To The Moon with the same arrangement and ending that Sinatra did.  Or someone approaching me at a solo gig and asking for Randy Newman or (gag) Billy Joel.  Did they not see the people enjoying the instrumental that I just finished writing that day to celebrate the birth of my niece?  Did they not see the woman with a tear in her eye after one of my lyrics regarding pre-storm New Orleans?  Did most of the room not laugh-out-loud when I sang about my wife and admitted that she is the reason I shower?

This debate is probably not going to end soon, but starting August 1st I put my foot down.

You want a jukebox, buy a damn iPod.

You want live music that no place else is able to have?  Give me a call.

White Bean Soup - the EASIEST SOUP IN THE WORLD

A photo posted by Höķm Guerrerø (@revmcnasty) on Jul 3, 2015 at 11:00am PDT

This is a variation of a soup that was in a cookbook that disappeared from my kitchen a long time ago.  The flavors are simple yet memorable.  The carrots, almost undercooked, add a great crunch to this pureed soup.  The bell pepper is optional - I don't normally add it, but if it's in your fridge throw it in.  If you don't use it, add a third carrot to the lineup.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1 rib celery, roughly chopped
1-2 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 teaspoon dried savory leaves
1/2 teaspoon Allepo Pepper flakes
2 15.5 oz cans of White Beans (aka: Northern Beans), drained and rinsed until water runs clear
1 small bay leaf
1 32 oz. container of vegetable stock
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/4-1/3 red or orange bell pepper, sliced into half matchstick sized pieces

1. Melt yo' butter in a soup pot on medium-high heat.  Add the onions and celery and sweat that schitt.
2. After about 8-10 minutes stir in the aromatics (garlic, savory and pepper flakes).  Bloom them for about 30 seconds. 
3. Stir in the beans and cook another 8-10 minutes.
4. Add the stock and bay leaf.  Bring to boil and simmer for 30.
5. In a small skillet add the veg oil and saute the carrots and peppers on medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes.  The carrots should NOT be soft.
6. Once the soup is cooked, puree everything in the first pot.  You can use a food processor but I like the "boat motor" I got for Christmas a few years ago.  It saves a lot of dirty dishes.
7. Add your sauteed veggies to the pureed soup and you have a delicious and easy meal.
8. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve with a salad or some crusty bread.  OR BOTH: it's your soup gosh darn-it.

Goodbye, Ornette.

RIP Ornette. 

The first time I heard Ornette Coleman's music was one of those moments when I felt like my ears have been replaced by eyes.

Eyes that couldn't refuse these metaphysical binoculars being manacled onto them forcing observations of this new amazing sonic world. 

It was comparable to when I was 9 years old and heard that first track off Led Zeppelin 1 played at full volume.

It was that virgin experience of Kind of Blue, after that eerie piano/bass intro followed by the call and response melody on "So What" when Miles lays down the first four notes of his solo with Cobb, Chambers and Evans behind him wandering into modal territory.

I was in High School and I was loving Lou Reed.  I found every interview, every cassette tape I could get my hand on... even the bad stuff; especially the bad stuff!  Lou kept talking about Ornette Coleman.  Ornette this, Ornette that.  I recognized the name from my Dad's Real Book and I flipped thru until I found a blues head -  I believe it was Broadway Blues.  Well I didn't get it.  I still hadn't heard him and looking at a chart with no time signature, no bar lines.... well, my classically trained little brain couldn't handle it. 

Solution: a trip to Tower Records on South Street.  I left with two Ornette CDs.  (one is here) Music changed forever that car ride home.  And I think my friends banned me from picking car music for quite a long time.

It was years until my world would again be rocked by that kind of forward thinking music.  The next time was in college and I heard "The Windup" off Keith Jarrett's album, Belonging.

RIP Ornette.

Vegetarian Gumbo (with Kale, Okra & ToFurky)

A photo posted by Höķm Guerrerø (@revmcnasty) on May 21, 2015 at 10:00am PDT

I LOVE GUMBO.  It's my comfort food.  Even if I'm not hungry I can polish off a bowl of this amazing stuff in record time.  Since becoming vegetarian I have tried and tried again to make a satisfying gumbo and I've been let down again and again.  Finally, after much deliberation with the Wife, I came up with a combination of flavors that is the closest thing to the carnivore version of one of my favorite dishes of all time.

4-5 cups of loosely packed chopped kale
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup flour
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/4 red bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 rib celery, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 springs flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 TBSP salt
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/4 tsp Crystal brand hot sauce
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried thyme
2 cups chopped frozen okra
1/2 lb (2 links) ToFurky sausage, sliced into thin discs
1 1/2 cups cooked long-grain rice (or quinoa or orzo)
Scallions, sliced
Filé powder

1.  Bring a pot of salted water to boil.  Add kale and boil for 5 minutes.  Drain kale into colander.  Rinse out the pot and place back on stove.
2. Whisk together oil and flour into the pot and cook on moderately high heat.  Try and make a roux as dark as you can.  I'm talking chocolate colored.  Blonde or caramel colored is way too light.  The end result will taste disappointing.  It won't be bad, it just won't taste like the air in Jackson Square.  The trick is to stir it constantly and adjust the heat to it doesn't burn.  I switch between a whisk and a small rubber spatula.  It takes me about 20+ minutes.  I turn the heat to medium and back up again a few times to achieve a dark roux without burning it.
3. Once you have a dark dark roux, set the heat to medium and add the onion, bell peppers, celery, garlic and parsley.  Stir these in well - it will naturally cool the roux - and cook the veggies for about 7-8 minutes or until they are all softened.
4. Add the stock, salt, pepper, hot sauce, bay leaf and thyme.  Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for an 40 minutes. 
5. Add cooked kale and frozen okra to gumbo. Simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Meanwhile: spray a skillet with cooking spray and lightly sear the sliced ToFurky sausages on medium high heat, about four minutes - flipping halfway through.
6. Add the sausage to pot, stir.
7. Tightly pack cooked rice into a - not too large - ladle (an ice cream scoop also works) and place scoop in center of bowl. Ladle gumbo around rice ball. Top with scallions and a sprinkle of  Filé powder

This makes about 4 or 5 servings.  Doubling this for larger groups works fine. 

Gumbo mixes very well with cold beer.  It doesn't matter what kind.

Hot Cuke Soup

A photo posted by Höķm Guerrerø (@revmcnasty) on May 15, 2015 at 10:36am PDT

If you were like me you are probably used to all cucumber-themed dishes being served cold.  If so, then this will blow your mind.  I found this in a "Healthy Latin Cooking" book I got for Christmas a few years ago.  I never noticed it until my wife was skimming the book and asked me, "Why haven't you made this yet?"  She was right.  I had been ignoring this gem for too long and now we make a batch every month or so.

1 TBSP Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 bell pepper (green or yellow), finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 TBSP chopped flat-leaf parsley
2 cucumbers, peeled and cunt into smallish pieces
3 cups vegetable stock
3/4 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste
2 TBSP fresh chives or scallions

1. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions, bell peppers, garlic and parsley.  Cook for about 5 minutes. Onions should be soft but not brown.
2. Add the cucumbers and cook for about 1 or 2 minutes.
3. Add stock and sour cream.  Increase the heat to high and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and puree with an emulsion blender (or food processor, but my way is less messy.)
5. Season with salt and pepper and serve hot topped with chives or scallions.

A small amount of chopped fresh dill can be used instead of, or in addition to, the chives/scallions.