My kitchen is completely packed.  I’m groceryless, dishless, panless, and, embarrassingly, fresh outfitless.  When I had the first hunch that my final days would be filled with so many “lesses”, I knew it was time for FoodFash’s first guest post.  Immediately, my childhood friend with whom I’ve reconnected with consistently over the years, Agie, came to mind.  I hope you enjoy her creativity and enthusiasm as much as I have since our first days as friends in freshman year photography class, a mere 15 years ago.  Thank you Agie!!!              

Ages ago,  a post on Stumbleupon caught my eye, in which famous chefs created dishes based on a piece of art.  So, I opted to blatantly steal adapt this idea to feature the places and pieces of art that I dig in the local Tampa Bay area to create recipes that feature ingredients obtained from the Saturday Morning Market or from local purveyors.

So on my inaugural post, it is fitting that it is inspired by Dali! Love that savvy follicular gent. Saw the documentary “The Dalí Dimension” at the museum in which people far smarter than myself talked about his fascination with the sciences and how it affected his work. I was struck by the notion that experts thought his melting clocks in La persistència de la memòria (1931) were reflective of his take on the theory of relativity and he demurred that in fact they simply reminded him of a wheel of cheese melting in the midday sun. Funny, as it always looked like fried eggs to me. So ran with a combination of both and opted to make a Brie egg sandwich, of sorts.

The Saturday Morning Market in Downtown St Petersburg is pretty much my sole provider of produce, and it’s pretty safe to say that if you ever visit, you will dig it as well. From empanadas to organic produce to live music to a sausage wrapped in bacon wrapped in steak (woah),  it has a little bit of everything and colorful people watching as well.  Colorful people tend to be the only kind that I am interested in being around, and judging by the scene from the documentary in which Dali essentially just messed with his dinners guests (Bob Hope’s reactions in particular were amusing) I thought that an egg and brie sandwich would be lacking a bit of visual punch. So I then remembered another one of his famous pieces: The Hallucinogenic Toreador (1968–1970) and that there is a bit of painting (lower third left portion) in which molecules look a bit like confetti.

So, naturally,  I opted to make a tipsy pepper confetti relish to add some joie de vivre to the dish. Used an apple corer to cut out perfectly symmetrical peppers and red onion. Yes. Fully aware that I toe the line of ridiculity when it comes to the photogenic nature of food I consume. Just like to eat with my eyes, as well.

Tipsy Pepper Confetti Relish

4 peppers

1 red onion

2 teaspoons organic extra virgin olive oil

salt & pepper to taste

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

1/2 cup sugar

liberal splash of Jack Daniel’s Honey

1-1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

Saute veggies, olive oil, and salt/pepper over medium heat until the veggies are softened.  Reduce the heat to low and add 1/2 cup red wine vinegar, sugar, and Jack Daniel’s honey to the veggies.  Allow the mixture to simmer until the majority of the liquid has evaporated (approximately 15 minutes).  Remove the pan from heat and stir in the remaining 1-1/2 teaspoons of red wine vinegar.  Allow to cool for about one hour.

Throw some cheese on a thinly sliced fresh loaf of bread, broil it for a bit to get the bread crispy and cheese gooey.  Add egg, Tipsy Pepper Relish, and sriracha, and that should tickle your fancy.  Enjoy!

*Note: The bread was a freshly baked garlic ciabatta loaf, eggs from The Dancing Goat (overheard her that day, say: “I never had a dog or cat growing up, this is a mid-life crisis gone awry.”), and all spices from VSpicery.  For my veggie pals, check out their Applewood Smoked Sea Salt. It adds that aroma we all associate with deliciousness. So yum.

Playing with  food is always recommended. The remnants of this red onion looked somewhat similar to the light shining through the glasswork of the Dali museum, no?

Thanks so much for reading!  And as every cook sesh requires a soundtrack, check out my favorite DJ, not only does she rock a set like a headliner as an opener, but loves picklebacks as well.  My kind of laska!

http://soundcloud.com/sosupersam/happy-funkin-holidays-x-hellz