More Cheese More Chocolate

What goes well with the meatballs that you made from scratch, the homemade tomato sauce that you cooked the meatballs in, and the bread that you baked as a vehicle to get the meatballs and sauce into your mouth?  Cheetos.

I had a couple of girlfriends over last night for carnitas, and I failed to take a single picture of our massive, colorful spread.  Our kitchen island was covered with bowls of bacon-infused pinto beans, fruit salsa, salsa verde, guacamole, sliced radishes, cilantro sprigs, feta, sour cream, diced onions, pickled red onions, big pieces of slowly cooked and then crisped (maybe a little too much) pork, and warm corn tortillas, but we were too busy drinking margaritas and eating tacos to think about snapping photos.  The consolation prize is a day-after photo of the pretty, pink, pickled red onions.

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve considered pickling red onions or cucumbers or fennel or whatever else and then backed out when I remember the time a few summers ago that I got in way over my head and canned dozens of jars of cucumbers and peppers only to realize that I had made sweet pickles, the one kind of pickle that I don’t like.  All of that work for no reward.  Even knowing that quick-pickling foods and canning foods are two different animals, I tend to be overwhelmed by the thought of either one, but yesterday at work I was daydreaming about carnitas and any last-minute toppings that I could throw together.  I googled “pickled red onions,” saw that they require four ingredients and about four minutes of time, and I was sold.  Within ten minutes of getting home I had put away the groceries and pickled a batch of red onions.  So easy!  Just try to avoid sticking your head over the pan and inhaling vinegar steam – it’s not a nice sensation.  The onions add a great sweet, vinegary tang to salty carnitas, and I’m sure they’d be delicious on any number of things – a salad with citrus slices and feta, a pulled pork sandwich, a grilled cheese sandwich, a salad with roast beef and blue cheese…  If you’d like to make some, I recommend this recipe from David Lebovitz.  I left out the bay leaf, allspice, and cloves for simplicity’s sake and didn’t feel like they were missing anything.  I can’t wait to pickle more things!  In the (altered) words of Jay-Z & Swizz Beatz, “Pickle some red onions, then I’m on to the next one, on to the next one.”  Maybe pickled okra?

I got off of work at noon today, and this is a small (or medium) part of how I enjoyed the remainder of my Thursday:

Ham, cheddar and quince paste sandwich from Rustica

Cobb salad with buttermilk dressing and slices of Rustica miche