Mosh Potatoes: One Rockin’ Cookbook

A couple months ago, I got an awesome housewarming present from Vegetarian Metalhead: Mosh Potatoes, a cookbook of recipes by metal musicians.  Compiled by Steve Seabury, each dish in the collection begins with an anecdote from the artist/cook, and there are lots of funny pictures of the bands “rocking out” in their kitchens.

But can the musicians make food you’d actually want to eat?  So far, the answer is yes.

The first recipe I tried was Lita Ford’s Black Bean and Corn Salsa.  Here’s the recipe as it appears in the book, minus Lita’s opening blurb:

“This feeds my whole family, with enough for leftovers.

• Two 15-oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 tomato, finely diced
• Kernels cut from two ears of corn
• 4 jalapeno chiles, seeded and finely diced
• 1/2 a red onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup fresh minced cilantro
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• Salt

Mix together all the ingredients and chill for at least 1 hour.  Chow down.”

When I made this, I omitted the olive oil, used a 7 oz. can of corn and the squirty lime juice instead of fresh stuff, and only used two jalapenos — and it came out pretty darn good.  There was enough to bring to two holiday parties and the leftovers went great with my scrambled eggs over Christmas break.

The second dish I attempted was Thai-Style Red Curry by Timmy St. Amour of Howl; I chose this one partially because I like Howl and partially because I hadn’t had Thai food in ages.  If you want this recipe, you’ll have to buy the book — but be “warned” that it involves a lot of vegetables, and probably some ingredients that you don’t keep stocked in your pantry unless you’re a food hipster.  I swapped the tofu for chicken and didn’t make the kale side dish that St. Amour includes, but that was just a matter of preference and how many pans I was willing to get dirty.  Also, I recommend using the whole jar of curry paste.

Not all the recipes in Mosh Potatoes are as adult as these two, either in terms of titles or ingredients.  For instance, there’s a dish called Shrimp Clits on Grit Cakes by Balsac of GWAR — which actually looks pretty tasty — and then there’s the Cheese on Toast by Ol Drake of Evile, which calls for exactly what the name implies.  Even if you don’t need some metal guy to tell you about grilled cheese, the goofy recipes make Mosh Potatoes an entertaining read — and there are enough “real” recipes to make it a valid part of your cookbook collection.  If you want to bring the coolest housewarming gift to the party, or if you just want to live vicariously through the food of your metal idols, pick up a copy of Mosh Potatoes!