Ever woke up in the middle of the night because you were hungry? It happens to me very often, and when I mean very often it's pretty much every time I fall asleep around 11PM. Around 2AM (tuned like a swiss watch), I wake with a growling stomach, and unless I have a good snack, I can't go back to sleep. The thing is, I make pretty much always the same thing, and I wondered if you guys have the same "problem" (isn it really a problem), and maybe had some recipes to share, so we can all vary our night diet a bit. So here's my last one, as usual, it's made with whatever's available, no special thoughts about it.
It's a tuna/cheese theme. I started taking pictures a bit late in the process, but still enough.
I first opened a pita bread (the ones used for kebabs and alike), sliced, not too thin, some Conté (or what was supposed to be, it might never even have been in France...), put some tomato concentrate, sliced pretty thin some (raw) onion (don't put too much, at night it's usually not a good idea, especially when raw). On the top part, I've put a great deal of Dijon mustard (once agin, not even close to the French one, but... never mind).
Then, I crushed the tuna, on dumped it on the rest, one variant would be to either substitute or add salmon, crab, same texture (almost), and it goes well with the rest (the crab, maybe a little less).
Then, season to taste, I've added some Salsa Verde (I know most american will know that, but in Europe, not so sure, so Salsa Verde, from what I understood, it's been explained to me in Spanish, and my spanish isn't that great, it's sort of a Mexican ketchup, made of Jalapeños, sort of cherry tomatoes and a few other things I forgot). Also, not pictured, I added a few powdered cumin, and a handful of powdered cayenne pepper. But one can also add oregano, basil... pretty much anything.
Then put the lid on and enjoy.
No wait, I forgot (hey, it was 2AM...ish):
Sometimes I fill bad about eating like that (cheese>fat and salt, tomato concentrate>sugar, tuna>oil>fat again, salsa verde... I don't know but that must be baaaaad too). So to make me fill like I'm eating healthy:
I sliced very thin (McDonald's thin) some lettuce, once again, you can be pretty liberal with it, it can't hurt, or so they say, but given how it looks like once in the can, one can only wonder what it's doing inside your tummy!
And this time, it's over, now you can enjoy.
Next time, my 2AM chili con carne. It's not quite like the real thing, I use ground beef, but it's a 2AM snack (I know really texan will have a stroke reading this one...)
If any of you have a recipe, not necessarily a sandwich, I'd really like to read about it.
A few notes though:
Sorry for the bad pictures, iPhone powered, plus the lightning is basically a mix a cold and warm white LEDs, the cold one are great, but the warm ones... let's say I'll never buy those again!
It might be a bad idea to manipulate a razor sharp knife at 2AM, try to keep that in mind
Edit:
Another variation of the recipe is to add some potato chips (crushed), it's weird but I like the salty taste and crunchiness.
@lane: Not enough, I have a bad efficiency, I need much more... Also, I did have some tortilla chips... didn't think about it, with the salsa, it's really a great idea.
Oh, I just eat a few cans of Surtströmming and wash it down with some Djungelvrål...
Okay, seriously though, I am pretty much never hungry when I wake up, so if I were to wake up in the middle of the night because I was hungry I would be too scared to make something to eat...
About your sandwhich-thingie, I'm not really sure what to think to be honest. It looks pretty tasty but at the same time not very tasty at all, maybe it's just because I'm not that big of a tuna fan.
Well you just made sure I lost all appetite for my 2 am snack and that while it is 1:40 am in here. But I usually just open our closet whit supply's pick the snack I'm feeling like most and than eat that. But if the rare case occurs that I'm not to lazy to create something I will go for either the tosti's or a cheese, ham , mayo, mustard and whatever green is in the fridge sandwich.
@MaFoLu: I don't like fish. And when I open a can of tuna it's like a bad fart. But, that's all I had left. The sandwich could have been made without the tuna. I guess the reason why I put so many spices/condiments with it is... I don't really like it. Still, it stuffs me. Scrambled eggs would probably have been better (using lane's idea). Hey, you just reminded me that been quite a while I haven't had rollmops! I wonder where I'll find some here...
@JoMate: You don't like tuna either?
Edit: I should precise that I actually like some fishes, I like tuna (red tuna too!), but not caned tuna.
@JoMate: Hey, I crushed it with the knife, I could have chewed it and spit it on the sandwich... now, that would not have looked any different but, I wouldn't have taken a picture of it. Probably.
Now that you should do cause if you give it a nice back story like that it won't bother me at all, but a picture like that just out of the blue is terrifying man.
Anything to go with salad is good, pieces of chicken or ham (also tuna/salmon) with coleslaw/potato salad. It's 01:20 here and I just had salad + chicken after waking up way too early.
@JoMate: Well, I chewed it when I ate it, I didn't swallow it like that. But on the pictures it's knife crushed (seriously, do you think I'd do that?). I don't have a picture of before/after, but I think you know what canned tuna looks like right?
Also, the pizza is sort of a classic. You're right to mention it.
Rum + anything. Usually pizza, as I normally have a deep dish lying around with extra cheese, sauce, shredded provalone, red and green peppers, diced tomatoes, and sausage.
Not exactly a snack but then again I'm usually eating dinner around 2AM.
@Greg818: UK? Yeah, near Reading. Chilli is awesome if I have any left at that time of day, but the salad thing I mentioned has to have potato salad or coleslaw with it.
@mekon: To me, the only good use of potatoes is fries. And maybe if you're out of sealant, mashed potatoes, with a lot of cream and a stick of butter... and maybe fry it for a while, but that's optional.
Why do everybody is so literal? When I said 2AM, it's more a mid-night (not midnight) snack, doesn't matter when it happens, might even be during day (Mirado?)...
The only time I usually snack when it's late and I'm smashed. Since I'm usually walking back to my apartment, I usually stop by 7-Eleven and get some Taquitos or Big Bites. They're not nearly the best things in the world but most anything is good if you're shit-faced.
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2 AM is no time to be eating. That's just ludacris.
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Yeah I agree. I try to avoid eating that late. My only 'snack' that late would be some lemon water lol. I don't eat nearly enough vegetables or fruit and while lemon water obviously isn't a replacement, it's better than nothing.
First and foremost, this is not a real Chili con carne, not the way Texans make it. I know it doesn't have beans, I know it's not made with ground beef, but I also know that it takes several hours to make, so it's not really snack friendly. This is a version that can be prepared in about 20 minutes (half an hour top).
This recipe can be adapted in many ways, I'll suggest some, but the best way is always to try by yourself and adapt to your taste. Also, I made this particular one right after getting home and, let's say, a little clouded, so anyone (really) can cook that, real easy.
Here's what I used for this one, but it was a bit too much, I almost couldn't finish it (didn't take a breakfast the next morning, or actually the same morning, but later):
two hamburger patties
'Any' kind of fresh pepper. Although, a bell pepper ain't gonna cut it.
Onion (one, not too big)
Tomato sauce and tomato concentrate (but one can use fresh tomatoes as well, will just be longer to cook, or tomato purée, pretty much anything with tomato in it, except ketchup)
Beans (commonly used or the red Kidney bean and Pinto bean, but this time I used black Turtle beans)
Spices: ground cumin, oregano, ground cayenne pepper (one can also add basil, habanero pepper, paprika, garlic, tequila...)
First, cook the beef, gently, and lightly salt on one side when almost done. You don't want to salt when it's still raw because it would make a lot of water fast (it accelerates water desorption) and it would cause the beef to be boiled... not really taste in my opinion.
Will the beef is roasting, cut the onion and pepper. You don't want to cut the onion to thin, for the pepper, I'd say depending on the one you chose, somewhere around the 3mm/10th of inch is nice. The one I used, well, I have no idea what it was, I think it's what's called in french bull horn pepper, but I have have no idea what it's named in english. But to give you an idea, it's a bit hotter than a Jalapeño, so depending on your taste, you might want to add something to make your chili a bit hotter.
Once your beef is cooked, put is aside, and keep the grease (I know I know: Oh my god! Cholesterol!!!).
Using what's left in your pan, sauté the onion, just a bit (a couple minutes), add the pepper, and cook it gently for a couple minutes more.An easy way to know that your onions are done is that they because translucent when they're cooked. You're not frying them, so you don't want them to turn golden/brown. For the pepper, if it's a red one, it will turn orangish, if it's a green one, it turns... green, there's no easy was, you'll have to wing it. When it's done, go for the next step.
Now, add the spices and herbs (cumin, cayenne pepper and oregano), and cook for a while. At least, if you use paprika or cumin, they both require a little cooking so they can dispense their whole flavors. It's just a couple minutes kind of deal again.
Here comes the time to add the tomato (tomatoes, sauce, purée,concentrate, what have you). Here I added something like 4 fl. oz. of tomato sauce, plus some concentrate. Depending on your choice, you'll have to cook it for quite some time, my choice here was made to minimize the cooking time, the meat will suck up the tomato sauce, and the concentrate will add a great creamy texture. Anyway, you'll have to cook it from two minutes to half an hour depending on your tomato choice. And you have to stir quite a bit to make the beef absorb the tomato.
Note about the next step:
If you're using dry beans, you have to plan in advance, you need to let the beans soak in water for a while (a good 12 hours usually), then you need to boiled them separately... Also, most dry beans contain a toxin (the name is something like phyto-foot long, so it doesn't really matter) that needs to be eliminated by soaking the said beans in water for a while (I think it's somewhere around 6 hours) and boiled for 10 minutes.
Now you can add the beans, given you they're already cooked (canned beans), otherwise, cook them first and then add then. Here, there's a bit too much.Also, you can add some sodium bicarbonate, it will help soften the beans, and also prevent some nasty side effects. Stir a bit, and add some to a lot of water (depending on how cooked are your beans, mine weren't enough, so I added a lot). Now gently cook until the water is absorbed and evaporated, and the texture becomes creamy.
Note: Depending on how you'll serve it, you might want to keep it a little wetter, especially if served with rice (the rice will absorb a great deal of juice)
Another Note: Now your kitchen is basically ruined!
So here's my last one, as usual, it's made with whatever's available, no special thoughts about it.
It's a tuna/cheese theme. I started taking pictures a bit late in the process, but still enough.
No wait, I forgot (hey, it was 2AM...ish):
Sometimes I fill bad about eating like that (cheese>fat and salt, tomato concentrate>sugar, tuna>oil>fat again, salsa verde... I don't know but that must be baaaaad too). So to make me fill like I'm eating healthy:
And this time, it's over, now you can enjoy.
Next time, my 2AM chili con carne. It's not quite like the real thing, I use ground beef, but it's a 2AM snack (I know really texan will have a stroke reading this one...)
If any of you have a recipe, not necessarily a sandwich, I'd really like to read about it.
A few notes though:
Or, if there's any in the house, salsa and whatever is sturdy enough to shovel it into my mouth.
Too bad there's no KFC near me, because I often have a craving for their extra crispy, with some guacamole, it's a kill!
@JoMate: I said "I crushed the tuna", I thought it was pretty obvious I didn't chew it.... I wouldn't put a picture of it (here at least).
Just depends what I have and what I am craving at the time.
I lost my appetite.
Not exactly a snack but then again I'm usually eating dinner around 2AM.
Yeah I agree. I try to avoid eating that late. My only 'snack' that late would be some lemon water lol. I don't eat nearly enough vegetables or fruit and while lemon water obviously isn't a replacement, it's better than nothing.
Keep doing these. I'm serious; what you are mentioning is within my level of cooking skill and you keep expanding my repertoire one post at a time!