Stir Fry

I'm sure everyone here knows how to do stir fry. It really is just about the simplest thing you can cook. The key is cutting everything to uniform, small size so that it cooks quickly. You're cooking on high heat for a very short amount of time, so you want everything sufficiently cooked through, without the outside being overcooked.
The second thing to remember is to add ingredients into your wok/pot in order of what will take the longest to cook first. Once again, this is so everything cooks uniformly.
When making stir fry, the prep should take you more time than the actual cooking. It might take a little time to chop everything up, but once it is all ready, meal time is in minutes.
You can marinate your meat ahead of time to help impart flavor. Everything else is then cooked and you can add a sauce or seasonings towards the end for flavor. It's very simple, quick, and healthy. Me likey.
Today I did a simple chicken and veggie stir fry and I used some pre-made (yes, I bought it at a store) Hoisin sauce for the flavor. It's a really good, mildly spicy and kind of thick plum sauce.

I used:
Chicken
carrots
broccoli
green onions

Cut up the chicken and marinate in rice vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a little fish sauce. Let it marinate while you prepare everything else. Twenty minutes is good. An hour is plenty of time.
Get your wok/pot hot on at least med-high heat. Toss in that chicken and cook for few minutes til just done.
Transfer to another dish with juices and keep warm. Wipe the wok clean, add sesame oil, get it hot, and throw in your veggies.
Once they're pretty close to done, add the chicken, with juices, back in and toss around to mix. Add a few healthy globs of Hoisin sauce and toss til everything is coated. Add your green onions towards the end. You can add some toasted sesame seeds, too, if'n you want.
Maybe not the most exciting post, but this blog isn't titled exciting adventures in food. It's called what we made to eat and this is what we made to eat.

Psari Plaki (or awesome baked fish recipe with veggies if you don't speak greek) and Spinach Rice

So it hasn't quite been a month since my last post. I'll try and make up for it with a quick barrage. Hopefully it will be entertaining for anyone still reading.
So, I've got a really good fish recipe. It's really easy and you can do it in about 40 minutes. Sound good? Good. Here goes.
You need:
White fish. I use tilapia cause it's cheap and available. Snapper, cod, or some other flaky white fish will work just as well.
Cup or two of breadcrumbs
1 medium onion, diced
1-2 carrots, diced
1-2 sticks of celery, diced
1 can of diced tomatoes or some fresh tomatoes, diced
juice of 2 lemons
a little sugar
parsley, chopped
garlic, oil, s/p

Fry the onions in oil til translucent. Add the carrots and celery and cook til softened, bout 8-10 min. Add the garlic and let cook for 2 min then add the tomatoes and sugar. Season with salt and pepper. Let it cook down til it reduces some. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F and lay the fish in a baking dish. Add the lemon juice and parsley to the sauce and season to taste.
Layer the sauce over fish. Cover with breadcrumbs and drizzle with oil.
Bake the fish til done, about 15-20 minutes.

This dish is light, healthy, and surprisingly good. It also reheats very well. Typically, I don't really like reheated fish, but this works very well. I like it with the following rice dish...

Spinach Rice

This is a good rice dish that complements the flavor of the fish well.
You need:
rice
spinach (I use fresh, I guess you could use frozen)
1 large onion, chopped
garlic
juice of 1-2 lemons
fresh dill, chopped
fresh parsley, chopped
vegetable stock (or chicken or water)

Fry the onion and garlic in oil for a few minutes til soft. Add the rice, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.
Add the spinach, ~tbsp of lemon juice, and the herbs. Season well with s/p, add the stock and bring to a boil.
Cover and reduce heat to low until rice is cooked.
Remove from heat, add remaining lemon juice and season to taste.

Have I really never posted my Chili recipe?

Jake did a venison chili recipe earlier. I didn't read it but I haven't posted anything in forever so I hope my chili recipe is different enough to make this worth it. I typically do a beef chili but I substituted chicken this time per Anita's request.

What goes in it? Really anything you want to put in it. And I make a lot. It tends to go fast. Here we go.
couple pounds of meat (beef, chicken, venison...whatever)
1 large or 2 medium onions
1 green and red pepper and maybe a yellow one too if you're feeling it
other options: jalapeno/habanero, poblano, cubanelle, or banana pepper. Really just any peppers. I'm limited by how spicy I can get depending on who I'm feeding.
a couple of tomatoes (I always put fresh tomatoes in anything I put canned tomatoes in)
a lot of garlic
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
I like 3 cans of beans. You can sub red beans or pinto beans for one.
1 can of corn
And now the spice:
at least a tablespoon of chili powder
equal amount of ground cumin
2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp ground coriander
some granulated garlic if you think you didn't put enough garlic in
some onion powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
salt

Dice up chicken or shred your ground beef. Season with salt, pepper, and a little chili powder and cumin. Brown the meat.
Dice up all the veggies. Fry the onions in olive oil til softened. Add the bell peppers and cook til soft. Add the fresh tomatoes, meat, and any other hot peppers. Cook til heated and then add all the spices. Cook for about 1 minute.
Add the canned tomatoes and corn with juices. Go ahead and turn up the heat. Add the beans. Add your liquid. About 3 cups should do it. You can use water. I like beer. Darker, hoppy beers work well, but not anything as dark as a stout. That would be too bitter. Bass works well. I don't really like the hoppy beers, but wheat beers do tend to do well in a chili or stew. Whatever your choice, add the liquid and get that heat up. You can also add some hot sauce at this point.
Once it starts to boil turn it down and let it cook for a while on a low heat. Check the seasoning. Enjoy.
I said enjoy.
Do it.

Lacquer-Roasted Pork Ribs

Here's one from the Professional Chef.
You need:
Rack of ribs
tbsp dark soy sauce
tbsp sherry

for the marinade:
60 mL Hoisin sauce
45 ml black bean sauce
90 ml ketchup
minced garlic
minced ginger
a little white pepper
green onions, sliced
15 ml rice vinegar
10 ml sesame oil
salt
sugar

Lacquer Coating:
30 ml honey
tsp sesame oil

Combine the soy sauce and sherry and brush over the ribs.
Combine marinade ingredients and pour over the ribs. Massage the marinade into the meat, cover, and refrigerate overnight. Turn occasionally.


Take the ribs out of the fridge at least an hour before ready to cook them to allow them to come up to room temp. Remove the ribs from the marinade and wipe off excess. Place on a wire rack in a roasting pan.
Fill another pan with water and place it in the oven on 325 degF.
Roast the ribs for ~ 1.5 hours.
Combine the honey and sesame oil for the coating. During the last 20 minuts of roasting, brush the ribs with the mixture. At this point you can crank the oven up to broil for a couple minutes to give a nice, crisp outer skin. Remove the ribs and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving.
This recipe doesn't call for a sauce, but you may want to reduce the drippings in the roasting pan to make one.

Ratatouille Pasta

History:
Continuing with the pasta kick. Later with be spaghetti and meatballs. This is a great summer dish, and may be the one Clark is talking about. I was surprised how much I liked this.

What you need:
2 pounds zuchinni
2 pounds squash
1 onion, diced small
1-2 pints of cherry tomatoes
6 oz of arugula
Oregano
salt/pepper
olive oil
Parmeseano cheese

Dice a la ratatouille style the zuchinni and squash. Toss in oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss in the onion and tomatoes as well. Set the oven to 400, spread about 1/4 of the arugula on a cookie sheet and cover with the other vegetables. Bake until caramelized. I ended up putting it on broil for a bit as well. Toss in with the pasta and fresh cheese on top.

Enjoy.

Braised Cabbage with Fennel and Anita's Cream Corn

So we made some more barbeque. Anita and I took a week-long trip to Asheville, NC to visit some family and we developed a bbq addiction. I've posted previous bbq recipes so I'll just put the sides on this one.

Braised Cabbage with Fennel [CL]
This is a really simple recipe that I made up. Chop up cabbage and a fennel bulb or two. Get some garlic frying in oil or butter. Add the fennel and cook til it softens. Then add the cabbage and do the same. Add about 3 cups chicken stock, salt and pepper. I also poured in the drippings from the pork butt. Bring to a boil and then cut the heat down to a simmer, cover and stir occasionally. Let it cook til done. I think I let it go for about 30-40 minutes.

Cream Corn per Anita
You need:
a few ears of corn
heavy cream
honey or butter (optional)
This is also very simple and delicious.
cut the kernels off the cob and throw in a pot with the cream. Bring to a boil and then cut the heat and let simmer. The longer it goes the better. If you need to make it quick then adding the butter or a little honey helps, but it is pretty good with just the corn and the cream. Make sure and stir occasionally to keep the cream from scorching.

Pesto Noodles with Chicken

(Clark note: This stuff is really good)
History:
I'm in a pasta kick. Something I can make a bunch of that will last for lunches at work/school. I was at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens on Thursday and they had a recipe for Arugula pesto.... So I wanted to make pesto, but went with that I have on hand.

Pesto Notes:
A pesto really is a sauce you make from grinder your ingredients in a mortar and pestle. Yes, we have a few. No, I did not use.... I was a bit lazy...

Recipe:
4-5 cloves of garlic
Fresh [but I used dried] basil... I tend to also use oregano
Lemon juice
olive oil
olives [yes I added olives. I like them, and wanted their saltiness]
Diced chicken
Noodles
Parmasiano Cheese
Fresh tomatoes
Sun-dried tomatoes


Blend the garlic, herbs, and olives. Add in the lemon juice, and slowly add the olive oil until you create a paste. Take 1/5 of the sauce and cover the chicken and then cook on the stove giving a nice golden color. Cook the noodles. Once the noodles are done toss the on the stove with the rest of the sauce. Add both tomatoes. Toss in the chicken. Cheese.

Enjoy.

Pies!!!

History:
I love apple pie, and do not know what I have not been making them... So this is my quest for the perfect apple pie.
Clark likes cherry pie so I have made that as well.
We have two parts to our pies.... crust and filling. I like this crust. Sturdy... tasty.... good. I've done two different fillings for the apple so far... #1 was good, #2 better.

Crust:
2 sticks of butter diced up
343 grams of flour (AP works well... I have mixed in some cake)
5 tablespoons of water
1/8 cup shortening

Fold in the fats with the flour. Use your hands and really roll it in together. Add the water and mix until a ball. Divide into two parts one bigger then the other. Make into a rectangle and then wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Filling:
2 granny smith
3 fuji or other sweet apple
2 ounces apple cider
1 lemon juiced
159 grams of sugar
28 grams of corn starch
salt
cinnamon
allspice
nutmeg

Cut up the apples however you want. I like to have extremely thin cuts. Mix everything together... I do this by hand and ensure everything is coated.

Pie:
Grease the bottom of the pan. Roll out the larger half and cover the bottom of the pan with it. Brush the inside with milk or beaten egg. This puts a protective covering on the dough so it will not become soggy. Put your filling in. Roll out the smaller dough and put on top. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes then 375 for 30-40 minutes.

Enjoy. I found that this is better chilled...

My new favorite pizza

Yeah, I like to make pizza. I made the dough from memory and didn't measure any ingredients. This made for a very thick, soft crust. As I was getting ingredients for the toppings an idea struck me and I decided to do something completely different. It turned out pretty good and is now my new favorite pizza.
So what's on it? Minced pork, caramelized apples, and goat cheese with garlic butter. Damn tasty. Here goes.
You need:
~1 lb boneless pork chops
1 apple, skinned and diced
1 lemon
goat cheese
butter and garlic
to season the pork:
cayenne pepper
chili powder
ground ginger
onion powder
ground nutmeg
thyme
ground rosemary
salt
You can check out the original pizza post for the dough recipe.

Diced up the pork, mix the spices well and season. Don't be shy. Fry the pork up in a pan. Done.
To caramelize the apples:
There are several ways. Here's one. Dice em up. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 a lemon over them to keep them from oxidizing. Squeeze the other half into a pan. Pour a bunch of sugar in the pan. Turn the heat up to med-high to high. Once it starts to caramelize, toss in the apple pieces. Mix them around for a minute or two and transfer into a bowl. Viola. Caramelized apples.
While doing everything else, you should have some butter with a lot of chopped up garlic warming on the stove. Don't get it too hot. Just warm enough that the garlic infuses into the butter.
Toss out your dough. Throw the pork and apples on it. Break up a bunch of goat cheese on it. Pour the garlic butter all over it. Bake. Eat. mmmmmmm

Clark's Asian-ish kinda style Pork Chops!!

Hey! Remember me? Check it out. Anita got us a camera. Thanks, Anita!
So this is one of my favorite recipes and I actually made it up myself. This was one of those 'just make something out of the ingredients currently in the house' recipes, and it turned out great. It's also really simple and quick. I actually went for a run, took and shower, and cooked this meal in less than an hour.

You need:
Boneless pork chops (or whatever kind you want)
I never measure so let's say
3 parts soy sauce
2 parts apple cider vinegar
1 part sesame oil
a lot of minced ginger
a little minced garlic
crushed red pepper
brown sugar (or honey)

Mix together and marinate the pork chops in it for at least 4 hrs. I usually let it marinate overnight. You can grill them in about 8 minutes. Baste after turning. Or cook them in a pan. Delicious.
I made fried rice and some potatoes with it since it was quick and that's what I had. Do what you will.

Our Saturday Cookout

History:
So yes, Clark and I have not been cooking that much. And it does make us sad, but Clark was off this past weekend, the girls were coming up, and the weather is nice. So why not cook out and invite people over? This is a joint cooking adventure [like most are], and so I'll try to write up what I was in charge of.

Kabobs
I've been waiting to post this recipe for so long and now I'm doing it when it's hidden among a bunch of other stuff and I'm adding it in about 2 months after when we actually did it. Gee, I'm sure everyone will appreciate this. This is one of my favorite recipes. The flavor on these things is fantastic.
You need:
on the skewer
a couple lbs of meat. It should be made with lamb, but Anita won't let me live my life the way I want to and lamb is kind of expensive, so I always use beef. I generally by a large cut and cut it into somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 inch cubes.
red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, chopped
cherry tomatoes
red onion, chopped
anything else you want on the skewers

Marinade
1 onion, thinly sliced
fresh mint, parsley, ~1/2 cup each and tbsp thyme
juice of 2 lemons
cumin
paprika
pinch of chili flakes
garlic

Combine the marinade ingredients and marinate the meat overnight. If using wood skewers, make sure and soak them in water for several hours (just do it in the morning when you get up) to keep them from burning on the grill.
Remove the meat from the marinade. Skewer it with your veggies. Grill. Eat.
Hamburgers
*see previous post*

Roasted Red Pepper and Garlic Hummus
*see previous post*

Roasted Corn and Pablano Salsa

Roast the 3sh ears of corn and 2-3 pablano peppers on a grill. Chop up and put with one onion, 5-7 tomatoes, salt, pepper, tablespoonish of sugar, and 1/2 lime juice. Chill until ready to eat. Enjoy... this really is good, and makes great nachos days later.

Raita
I don't know that this is a true raita, but that's what I'm calling it. Very simple, delicious yogurt sauce you can use to cut the heat on some spicy food, or just to add some flavor. Make it up at least an hour before serving.
You need:
about 1 cup of yogurt
1 cucumber, small dice
1 onion, small dice
a little salt and white pepper
pinch of paprika
mint and parsley, chopped

Mix all the ingredients together and chill for at least 1 hour. Goes great with the kabobs and the flatbread recipe

Coffee Ice Cream

*See previous post on ice cream*

Chocolate Pie

*See previous post*

A Jake/Reinhart/Clark Loaf of Bread

Stuffed Tomatoes

Guess what. These are awesome.
You need:
about 5 tomatoes. The vine ripe ones do really well. I wouldn't use roma as you kind of need the round shape, although I guess you could cut them long ways.
Fresh oregano, basil, and parsley
breadcrumbs
garlic
olive oil

Slice the tomatoes in half along the equator. Scoop out the seeds and insides and place in a roasting pan.
Add minced garlic to the bottom of each. Chop and add fresh herbs. Fill the rest of the way with breadcrumbs. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, drizzle with oil and bake on 350 for about 30-40 min. You're done.
Goes great with fresh bread.


Sweet Potatoes Chips

Use a mandolin or food processor with attachment to finely slice up a couple of peeled sweet potatoes. Fry until crispy, s/p. Enjoy.

Lemon Bars with Meringue [TK]
This was my highlight of the night. The presentation was awesome... I should have torched on the table.... Great taste, I think Clark and Jenny ate about 1/2 between themselves. I really enjoyed making this.

Crust:
5.25 onces of butter (10.5 tablespoons)
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
1.75 cups of ap flour

Cream the butter and sugar with the vanilla. Slowly add the flour... this should form a mass, but not be a sticky dough. Roll into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap and then chill for at least 30 minutes. Use a rolling pin, and roll it out to fall into a probably 9 x 6 baking dish... TK calls for 12 x 16... whatever size dish you have because the filling will go in this. Keep the dough on parchment paper when you put it in the dish. Chill again, and then bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes... at about 5 minutes poke the dough with a fork to let the steam out so it does not puff up.

Filling:
1 cup fresh lemon juice [add squeeze this... it is worth it for the extra flavor]
6 large eggs
6 large egg yolks
1.25 cups of sugar
4.5 ounces (9 tablespoons) of butter

Combine everything, but the butter, in a double boiler and cook until thick. Add the butter in parts off the heat until it is all in. Strain the curd into the crust. Place a oil-sprayed parchment paper on top, and then wrap in plastic wrap. Put in the freezer for many hours [until at least frozen]. I did this the night before.

Prior to serving cut the edges with the crust off to ensure the presentation is spot on.

Meringue:
1.25 cups of sugar and 2.3 tablespoons of sugar
1/4 cup of water
3 large egg whites

Combine the 1.25 cups of sugar and water in a pot and heat until boiling. Whip the egg whites until foaming, then add the 2.3 tablespoons of sugar, and continue until you have soft peaks. While mixing slowly add the simple syrup and continue to whip until the bowl is cool and stiff peaks are formed. Place this in a gallon bag like we do our eclairs to pipette onto the lemon bars. Do little rows of spirals.

And now pictures (thanks anita for getting us a camera again):


The Finished Product!

Raisin Bran Muffins [KA]

History:
Cards rotation.... I am there around 6-6:15 am.... and I like my breakfast. Apparently, though, I am pregnant, because all week I was getting nauseous after eating a bit of breakfast.... so I have been eating at the hospital. I wanted to make some muffins that would last the week, give me something to snack on. Avid readers know my traditional muffins.... so I wanted to break out the King Arthur cookbook and see what they had going on in the muffin department, and found these.

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup molasses [I used honey]
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup wheat bran
1/2 cup oats
1.5 t cinnamon
0.5 t salt
1.25 cups whole wheat flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 cup raisins

What to do:

Combine the milk, oil, eggs, molasses, brown sugar. Then add the bran and oats and let them soak for about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425. Whisk in the rest of the dry. Bake for 15-18 minutes. Enjoy.

PS- The KA book does have a break down of fat, sugar, etc... if anyone wants that info let me know.

Ropa Vieja

History:
As Clark said on top there is not much cooking going on. I made some muffins last week... nothing new. I wanted to do this recipe awhile ago, but we had been eating so much beef I decided to hold off. This is another traditional Cuban recipe with a bit of variation.

Cook time: 3 hours
Difficulty: Easy

Why three hours? You are going to tenderize the meat. Take about 1.5-2 pounds of flank steak and boil in water flavored with s/p and maybe some chicken stock for about 2 hours. This is just like making a stew... we are breaking down the collagen in the meat to make it tender. Ideally, you are going to do this until you can shred the meat into noodle-like ribbons with your hands or some forks.

Saute 1 onion, 1/2 green pepper, and garlic in some oil. Toss in the meat, and some tomatoes. I ended up using 1 can of diced tomatoes and some tomato paste. I have a recipe that says use tomato sauce, but I feel like that is a bit over powering. I like canned with a some paste, and smooth out the sauce with white wine. Let this simmer for about 15-20 minutes until everything combines, and the flavors mix. Put this over rice and enjoy.

Mom's Chocolate Pie [mom]

So, my mom makes awesome chocolate pie. She's got it down. She's been making them probably as long as I've been alive, if not longer. The crust is awesome. It is the 'super-flake' crust. She makes them every holiday and usually around a birthday or any time someone asks. I got her to show me the technique Thanksgiving, I think, 2 years ago. Anita was introduced to the deliciousness sometime around then and recently asked me to make one for her. Since I finally had someone compelling me to make one, I did. My crust was good. Mom has still got me on that one. I might have opened the door to improving the filling, though. Not that it needed improvement. I'll sit down and eat an entire one of those things if the rest of the family would let me. I just had to tweek it a little due to some lacking ingredients, and it just might have turned out for the better.
I actually don't have the recipe with me now so I will post it later. I just happened to have some internet access and thought I'd start. Will finish soon. I promise.

....Ok, 4 days later.
So start with the crust. Yes, you can buy pre-made pie crusts, but that's lame as hell, they're easy and cheap to make, and they taste way better.
You need:
3/4 cup AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
sift together
1/4 cup shortening
use a pastry blender or a fork to roughly blend into the flour
1/4 cup cold water
fluff the water into the mixture

The idea is to be as light and gentle with this stuff as you can while still incorporating everything together. This will give it that flaky texture. Mom is great at that. Mine was a little on the dense side.
Knead lightly on a floured surface and roll out til large enough to overlap the pie pan. Once again, don't get too rough with it. Lay it into the pan so that the edges fall over the sides.
Cut the edges and crimp using your fingers. Prick the dough a few times with a fork. This keeps air bubbles from forming.
Bake the crust in a 450F oven for 10 minutes. About halfway through, stab any other air bubbles forming with a fork. Do not over bake!
Let the crust cool while you prepare the filling.

For the filling you need:
1 cup of sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
dash of salt (leave out if you use salted butter, but you shouldn't use salted butter)
6 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla (I probably use a little more)

Those are the traditional ingredients. I made a slight twist. I only had about 3 tbsp of regular cocoa powder and the other container I had, which I thought was more of the same, turned out to be dark chocolate cocoa powder. I like dark chocolate, but I wasn't sure I wanted a dark chocolate pie. I did, however, have some ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. So I ended up using ~3.5 tbsp regular cocoa powder, 2 tbsp dark cocoa powder, and a handful of milk chocolate chips. The chips made for a smoother, fuller, and creamier pie filling and the touch of dark chocolate gave the flavor a nice little tweek. I think more melted chips would have made it too heavy. As it was, it was a very good combination. Mom, if you don't try it before I see you (and I'm not sure when that will be) we'll have to make one together.

So, add the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa in a small pot. If using the chips, hold off til later.
Stir together til no lumps. Gradually add milk while stirring.
Turn on the stove to high heat.
Cook and stir constantly. Add the chips, if using. Keep stirring til it thickens. You will know when this happens. There will be no doubt. It might start popping at you. Keep stirring.
Once it thickens, we're almost there. Remove the pot from the heat. Temper your eggs with some of the mixture. Mix well, and add it back to the pot. Return the pot to the heat for 2 more minutes. Remove from heat and add the butter and vanilla.
Stir well. Pour into the pie crust. Let it cool for and hour or two at room temperature and then place in the fridge to finish cooling.
Eat all of it in one sitting.

Picadillo

History:
This is a traditional Cuban dish. When people talk about Cuban food, at some point Ropa Vieja [Old Clothes] and Picadillo will come up. We are going to do a Ropa Vieja later this week, but Thursday night I was craving good old Cuban food. We served this with black beans and rice, another Cuban tradition. This is mi Abuela's version. The olives and raisins trend to freak people out, but trust me... the sweet tanginess of it is great.

And an ode to Clark:
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20-25 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients:
Olive oil, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, garlic, cayenne pepper, 1.5-2 pounds lean ground beef [lean is important here], 3-4 tomatoes [deseeded and chopped], cumin, salt, pepper, ~1/3 cup of raisins, ~1/3 cup of Spanish olives

Heat the oil, then saute diced onions, diced pepper, and garlic. Add the cayenne pepper. Add the beef and brown. Add the tomatoes, cumin, raisins, and olives [cut into 1/3rds]. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Enjoy.

East-African Roast Chicken, Ginger Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Vegetable Biryani

I had to get my exotic spice on. I've been missing it.
There is a lot of spice involved with the chicken but don't let that bother you. It's very flavorful and it is very easy to make. You just throw it all together, marinate it for a day, and roast it. Nothing to it.
Doing this from memory so I might make revisions tomorrow.

East African Roast Chicken
1 whole chicken (mine was about 5 lbs)
4 tbsp thick coconut milk (don't know where you would get this. I considered reducing some regular coconut milk and then just decided to use 1/3 of a can as is)
2 tbsp butter, softened
1 tbsp tomato paste
chili powder
ground cumin
ground turmeric
dried thyme
minced garlic
good bit of chopped cilantro
salt

Remove the innards from the chicken, rinse, and pat dry.
Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl. Ease the skin from around the chicken and stuff some of the mixture under the skin. Cover the rest of the chicken well in the spice/herb mixture. Place in a roasting pan, cover loosely with foil and let marinate in the refigerator overnight.
The next day pull the chicken out of the fridge 1.5 to 2 hours before ready to cook so it can come up to room temp. Truss the chicken with butcher's twine.
Bake in the oven at 375F for ~1 hour. Baste with more butter at about 45 minutes and then flip the chicken over at the 1 hour mark. Baste with pan juices and let cook for another 20 minutes. Flip the chicken again and baste with pan juices. Let it go for another 15-20 minutes for a total of about 1 hour 40 minutes. Remove from the oven, remove twine if using, and let rest for 20 minutes before carving.

Ginger mashed sweet potatoes [PC]
These are really good, a little different, and very easy to make. The longest part is baking them in the oven. You can do this while the chicken cooks.
You need:
3-4 sweet potatoes
about a thumb of ginger, minced
120ml heavy cream
butter
s/p
a dash of sugar

Wash and scrub the potatoes. Stab them a few times each with a paring knife or something and place them on a rack in the oven at 425F. Let them cook for about an hour, til soft. Obviously, the cooking temp is different from the chicken. If doing them at the same time, just leave them in for longer.
Once they are done, remove from the oven. Place the other ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Do not scorch the cream.
Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the flesh. Place in a food processor or blender and puree.
Transfer the potato puree to a mixing bowl and pour the other ingredients over them. Stir well to mix. Eat.

Vegetable Biryani [CL]
Ok, this isn't actually a vegetable biryani. This is just some rice dish I came up with from eating a lot of indian food. It is similar, but I've never actually looked at any biryani recipes, so this is my imitation.
You need:
basmati rice (I got that part right)
normally you would use ghee or clarified butter-I just use olive oil, cause I always use olive oil
1 small onion, minced
~1.5 cups frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, beans, carrots)
curry powder
garam masala
fennel seeds
golden raisins
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
s/p

Ok, I'm pretty sure in a normal biryani, you cook everything together. I've just never done it that way. There's something about boiled/steamed spices that doesn't do it for me. So I cook the rice separately, then the vegetables with spices, then I add them. Here we go.
For the rice:
fry the onions in oil. Toss in the bay leaf and cloves and let cook for about a minute. Add the rice and stir fry for a minute or two, stirring constantly. Add the water, a pinch or two of salt, cover and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.
When that's getting close you can start your veggies:
Have your veggies already pulled and thawed. I usually run some water over them in a strainer.
Heat the oil/ghee/butter in a pan. Add the fennel seeds and fry for about 30 seconds. Add the garam masala and curry powder and fry for another 30 seconds.
Add the veggies and stir fry til heated and mixed well with the spices.
Add the golden raisins for just a few seconds and cut your heat down to low.
Transfer the rice to the pan and mix well on low heat til the flavors have combined.

To be honest, this is best made the day before because the flavors really develop later on. Still good with the chicken, though. I really considered using some of the pan drippings as my liquid, or even using the rest of the coconut milk and tomato paste in the rice, but I wanted to have something different yet complimentary. I was also saving the coconut milk for a flat bread recipe that I've been wanting to make for a while now. It would have gone quite well with this meal also. I usually make it when I make dhaal or chana masala. Maybe I'll post it for you tomorrow. It's a very simple recipe. The only time consuming part is frying the pieces of bread. good eats. good night.

London Broil with fried Leeks and Sage and Home Fries with Bacon

Simplicity at its finest. We threw this one together in about 30 minutes and it was one of the best meals we've had. I think we had about 5 ingredients in the entire meal and 4 spices. For those of you who don't like the more complicated excursions, pay attention to this one....

London Broil [CL]
We had a ~1.5 lb london broil cut. That's beef for those not in the know. Very tender cut. Makes a great roast or even stew.
Pull it out of the fridge 1-2 hrs before cooking so it can come up to room temp. Season with salt and pepper and go do something with yourself. We went to the gym.
Heat the oven to 350F and heat a skillet large enough for the meat on high. Season the meat again with granulated garlic and onion powder. Could you have done this before when you seasoned with s/p? Yeah.
Once the skillet is hot (you'll know) sear the meat on each side, bout 2 minutes each side.
Place in a roasting pan and put in the oven for 10 minutes. This will give a great medium doneness for a 1.5 lb cut. You may need to go a little longer on a larger one, but not much.
Remove the meat from the oven and LEAVE IT ALONE for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat some oil on med-high to high heat and finely chop some leeks (or onions/shallots if you've got 'em) and torn sage leaves for just a minute or two.
Slice the meat and garnish with fried leeks and sage.

Home Fries w/ Bacon [JG]
You should know how to make these, but we'll tell you anyways.
Diced onions, diced bacon, diced potatoes, s/p.
Throw the potatoes and onions together in a bowl and season well with s/p.
Fry up bacon, add onions and potato mixture with more oil if you need to. Or, if you happen to have some more reserved bacon grease in a jar next to your stove, use that. It's really healthy for you. (disclaimer: it is NOT really healthy for you. It is, however, delicious)
Do all this on med-high heat and toss frequently to keep from burning. you can also cover the pan to speed up the cooking process. Also, the smaller the potato cut, the quicker it will cook. Let them go til they start to get a nice crisp, just before they start to burn.
You're done. We made a huge salad to go with it.
And yes, we have been on a meat, potato, something green kick for a while. What do you want. We're busy.

Chicken Fricassee with Risotto alla Milanese

Once again, I'm a day late posting. I'm starting this tonight just so I can post what we had tonight separately on tomorrow's post. Yes, we've actually cooked 3 nights in a row now. We just don't have time to type this stuff up.
Both of these recipes were from the Professional Chef. I had some chicken and I wanted something different. I came real close to making my Chicken Parmesan, which is wicked awesome by the way, but I decided to try something new. Don't worry. You'll get the chicken parm recipe eventually.
To be honest, the chicken was alright. Nothing great. The sauce was pretty good and I was very happy with the risotto. It was my first time making risotto and I thought it went pretty well. It was exceptionally good with the sauce from the chicken.
If you don't know what risotto is, it is rice made with a very specific technique. It ends up with a very creamy, porridge like consistency without being at all mushy or clumpy. It is really very good and if you ever watch cooking show competitions freakin everybody makes them.
The chicken is braised in a white wine and cream sauce with chicken stock. I think if I would have followed the recipe better and used dark meat it would have turned out better. I had chicken breasts and when you braise with breasts they tend to dry out, get tough, and lose flavor. I also didn't measure crap and since the PC makes everything in a billion portions my ratios could have been off. I will give you the recipe per PC and you can scale down as you see fit.
Chicken Fricassee
You need:
5 chickens, cut into 8 pieces each
1 tbsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
4 oz clarified butter or oil
1 lb diced onions
2 tsp minced garlic
2 oz AP flour
8 oz white wine
16 oz chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp thyme
8 oz heavy cream
1 lb small-dice carrots, blanched
1 lb small-dice leeks, blanched
1/2 oz chives or parsley, chopped

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large pot and saute chicken til they stiffen slightly, but do not brown. Transfer chicken to a pan and reserve.
Add onions and garlic to the pan and cook til onions are translucent.
Add the flour and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add the wine to the pan, stirring to release any drippings. Let the wine cook for at least a minute to burn off some of the alcohol. Add the stock, bay leaves, and thyme and bring to a simmer. Return the chicken along with any juice to the pan. Cover and cook over low to medium heat til chicken is fork tender, ~30 minutes.
Transfer the chicken to a pan and moisten with some of the cooking liquid. Keep warm while finishing the sauce.
Add the cream to the sauce and simmer until the sauce has thickened slightly. Skim to degrease and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Strain the sauce and return to the pot.
Return the chicken to the sauce along with the leeks and carrots and simmer for another 2 minutes. Serve with chives/parsley.

Risotto alla Milanese
I'll give you the PC recipe as is but then discuss what I did. Once again, you can scale down as you see fit.

46 oz chicken stock

3/4 tsp saffron (do you really need this? no.)

salt

pepper

3 oz minced onions

7 oz olive oil

14oz medium grained white rice (Arborio rice to be strictly italian, but I don't know where you'd get this)

2 oz dry white wine

5 oz butter

6 oz grated parmesan

Let's talk technique.

Risotto takes pretty much constant attention and stirring. This is not a bring to the boil, cover, and walk away type of rice dish. It is typically made with a medium grain rice. Longer grain will take longer to cook and probably more liquid. I'm not sure, but a short grain rice might be a little mushy if you try to use it for a risotto. A medium grain rice should take about 20 minutes to cook. The liquid in risotto is added a bit at a time, about 1/4 to 1/3 at a time and stirred constantly until all the liquid absorbs. Since you are not covering, the rice:liquid ratio should be somewhere around 1:3. Keep adding and stirring until the liquid is absorbed and the rice develops a creamy consistency.

So first off, heat up your stock over low heat and add the saffron to it. Sweat the onions (I actually used leeks since I had some left over) in the oil til soft and translucent. Add the rice and stir constantly til you get a toasted aroma, a minute or two. Add the wine and cook til dry. Add 1/3 of the stock and cook, stirring constantly til the liquid is absorbed. Repeat, adding the remaining stock in 2 more portions, allowing each to be absorbed before adding the next. Stir constantly and once you've gotten to the end you can actually start tossing the risotto in the pot to help incorporate air into it and make it creamier and fluffier. At this point, the rice should be just tender, most of the liquid absorbed, and very creamy.

Finish it by stirring in the butter, parmesan, and a little oil. Adjust seasoning and add any fresh herbs if you want. Serve.

Tuna and Peanut Sauce Udon Noodles

History:
I was hungry... we had tuna. I haven't cooked in some time. And yes, we do not have a camera anymore.... so our great food can not look great. :(

And actually this is close to the original meal that started this whole thing.

Tuna:

Nice and simple. Salt and pepper. Sear on both sides for ~4 minutes.... about 2/3 into the cooking/searing I squeezed 1/4 of lemon juice around it for both sides. When serving put a small slice on top.

Peanut Sauce:

What you need:
Peanut oil, sesame oil, green onions, brown sugar, peanut butter, garlic, red chili paste, soy sauce, udon noodles.

Cook the udon noodles... this will take not time. Rinse with cold water, dry, and toss in a bit of sesame oil so they don't stick. Saute the garlic, green onions, and red chili paste in the peanut oil.... once cooked add the soy sauce [be frugal], peanut butter, and brown sugar. Use water if you have to, and create a sauce. I don't measure at this point, and I usually taste and adjust as needed. Pour the sauce on the noodles and toss.

Enjoy.

Fried Chicken with Potato Galettes

Good ol southern cooking.
Straight up Southern Fried Chicken [TK]
Potato Galettes [PC]
Blanched Green Beans
Buttermilk Biscuits

We made this for our third night in the new house. I'm just now getting around to posting it. The fried chicken was from a Thomas Keller recipe. It was amazing. The potato cakes (cakes is easier to type than galettes) were out of the Professional Chef. Also delicious. We had blanched green beans with some butter, salt, and pepper for the green and Jake made some southern-style biscuits.

Fried Chicken [TK]
A lot of the flavor comes from marinating the chicken in a brine for up to 12 hours prior to cooking.
For the brine:
~ 1 gallon water
5 lemons, halved
few sprigs of thyme
parsley
1 head of garlic, cut through the equator
10 oz. salt (I don't know, about a cup?)
20 bay leaves

It's best to make this the night before. Then you can let it cool completely and put in the chicken first thing in the morning. That way it will be ready for dinner. Put all in a pot and heat it up to boiling. Turn off the heat and allow it to cool for a couple hours and then refrigerate. Let the brine cool completely before placing the chicken in. Allow the chicken to marinate for up to 12 hours before cooking. The brine will impart a lot of flavor to the chicken. Just don't let it sit too long or else it will be really salty.
Take the chicken pieces out of the brine, remove any herbs from the skin, pat dry and allow to come up to room temp, ~1 hr.
Set up your breading station. You can season the flour however you like. AP flour, salt, pepper, granulated garlic, onion powder, maybe some paprika and cayenne pepper. Anything else you like. Mix well and divide the flour into two bowls. Take another bowl and pour in your buttermilk. Set up the station chicken, flour, buttermilk, flour.
While doing all this you should have a large pot with a lot of either peanut, vegetable, or canola oil heating up. If you've got two pots you can do one for dark and the other for white meat. Once again, I don't have a thermometer so I have to troubleshoot it, but you want to do the dark meat first at about 325F and then the white meat at about 340F.
Only bread the amount of chicken you plan to cook immediately. If you bread it and let it sit for a few minutes then the flour tends to blacken and look bad when you fry it. Make sure your oil is up to heat before frying the chicken. Otherwise, the chicken will soak up a bunch of oil and be soggy. If you're not sure, just wait. you could also drop a pinch of flour in. It should immediately sizzle and fry upon hitting the oil. I have to put my stove top just about at six for the right heat.
When your oil is ready, bread the chicken and carefully place the dark meat in the oil so as not to splash and burn the hell out of yourself. Wait at least 1 minute and probably two before turning the chicken and making sure that pieces aren't stuck together. Let it go for 10-12 minutes. You might need to turn once or twice more, depending on your oil level. Drain chicken on a rack or paper towels.
Once you put the chicken in the pot, the temperature of the oil drops significantly. Give it some time to recuperate before adding chicken again. If you're ready for the white meat then turn it up just a bit to get another 20 degrees in there. Cook the white meat for about 7 minutes. You now have some beautiful and delicious homemade straight-up southern fried chicken.

Potato Galettes:
These were damn tasty and just a somewhat different way of having potatoes. Much less involved than the chicken, but still takes some frying time. These are pan fried though, not deep fried.
You need:
Potatoes, peeled
Onions
garlic
parsley
Chives
a little AP flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
s/p
oil for frying

Grate the onions into a bowl and squeeze out the excess liquid. Grate the potatoes into the bowl and add the egg, flour, garlic, parsely, chives, s/p. Mix well.
Heat the oil in a skillet. Add a spoonful of the mixture and mash down to flatten it as much as possible. Fry for a few minutes on each side til golden brown.
Drain on paper towels.

The biscuit recipe I believe you can get from the "biscuit vs. biscuit" post. We prefer the Tom Keller recipe, but the PC is also good, especially if you like 'em sweet.


.....doing research. will finish tonight.

We are back... internet and all.

So what have we been making?

Last night was muffins for work. Chia and blueberry. Dinner left overs. Today Jenny cooked. Go Jenny. To give her props I would like to talk about what she made.

Quick and easy... not very Clark and jake.

Equal parts butter and olive oil... melt down, saute in garlic, lemon zest, and parsley. Add in the juice of one lemon. Toss in cooked spaghetti, grate fresh Parmesan on top.

I like this. I have a play on something like this where I use Parmesan, garlic, oil, basil, oregano, and parsley.... I toss that on spaghetti.... like a simple pesto sauce. To give Jenny credit I did like the lemon in it.

Tomorrow... Carbanara. Sorry, I know a repeat, but I have been craving.

First couple of nights at the new house

Bow-tie pasta with Chicken
Anita was kind enough to cook the first night while we moved stuff in.
She did a chicken pasta with red sauce. Pretty standard. Pretty good. It was an Eva request. We've gone through pasta before. I'm sure you've made pasta before.

The second night I did hamburgers. I was wanting something simple and, luckily enough, Anita requested them at the same time I was thinking them. I did these a little special.

Blackened Inside-out Cheeseburger with Roasted Red Pepper and Sweet Potato Chips

Cut a red pepper in half, de-seed/vein, and place halves, skin side up, in oven on broil. Let 'em go til black. Remove from oven and place in a plastic bag or bowl covered in plastic for ~ 10 min. Remove skin and slice into strips.
While your pepper is in the oven:
Fine dice some onion and garlic. Add to the meat with salt, pepper, and a little more granulated garlic and onion powder. Mix well.
Form patties. Add shredded cheddar to the center of each pattie, fold over and reform so that now you have cheese on the inside.
Cover top and bottom of the patties with blackened seasoning.
Cook on stove-top to desired doneness.
After first flip, cover the pattie with roasted red pepper strips and cheese so it can melt over it while it finishes cooking.

Strips of avocado would have also gone nice with this, but they didn't have any ripe ones in the store.
Bacon would've been good too, but I was out. I did, however, have some bacon fat left over from when I cooked it that morning. Did I maybe douse the patties with a little while they were cooking? What do you think?
They were delicious.

Sweet Potato Chips
Peel and slice these bad boys as thin as you can however you can. I had an attachment to a food processor that did the trick. I had to cut them into funky shapes to make them fit through the aparatus. A little messy, but it worked.
Heat up some canola/vegetable/peanut oil on ~ medium heat. You're looking for around 325F. I don't have a thermometer that reads that high, so I always have to guess at my heat. Especially when I'm in a new house with a new stove.
Fry 'em in batches for a couple minutes til crispy. Transfer to a paper towel to drain oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. eat.

Because I wanted to cook as well.

History:
Tomorrow I become a warrior! So, to prepare I am making my final meal as a non-warrior. We have left over potatoes. We needed some bread. And I had chicken in the freezer... the rest was up to the store.

Menu:
Fresh Bread
Roasted Chicken
Green Beans with Bacon and Onions
Garlic Mashed Potatoes with Guada
Blueberry and Peach Tart

Bread:
Again, this is the core recipe I made awhile ago. Clark did a good post on it. Simple, easy, great.

Chicken:
Roasted split chicken breasts. 425 for 45 minutes? Seasoned with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, and thyme. Little slice of butter under the skin.

Green Beans:
Blanch the green beans to give them a crunch. Dice the bacon. Render the fat, cook the onions in it... add the green beans. Toss.

Potatoes:
Soft boil the potatoes for 20sh minutes until soft to a fork. Use a blender and puree to help make fluffy. Melt down 1/2 stick of butter, and saute large diced garlic in it. Add the potatoes and smash! Add another 1/2 stick of butter, some milk, and fresh grated guada cheese.

Tart:
Again, older recipe, but really good.

Enjoy!

Stuffed Pork Loin that Jenny didn't get to eat!

I did a pretty traditional stuffed pork loin with pan gravy. Nothing extraordinary, but damn fine eatin' if you ask me. Also roasted sweet potato and butternut squash, and Jake did a broccoli rabe.

Difficulty: Medium (just cause stuffing and tying the pork loin is a little messy)
Time: About 2 hrs if you make the stuffing. Alternatively, you could just use bread crumbs and skip that step, but it's not as good.

Stuffed Pork Loin with dry rub:
I kind of made this up on the fly. Didn't exactly come up with anything groundbreaking but hey, I was just making thurs night dinner.
You need:
1 pork loin
corn meal (and everything else you need to make corn bread)
mirepoix ingredients (celery, onion, carrot)
fresh sage and thyme
fennel fronds
chicken stock
red wine
for dry rub:
ground coriander
ground rosemary
granulated garlic
onion powder
celery salt
white pepper

For the stuffing:
Get some corn meal and make a small pan of corn bread according to the directions. Let the corn bread cool.
Make a small dice mirepoix and saute in a pot with some oil or butter. Add herbs; thyme, sage, fennel. Crumble corn bread into small pieces and add to the pot. Stir to mix. Add in the chicken stock. Mix well. Transfer to a greased baking pan and bake at 425F for 10-15 min. Let cool.
Butterfly your pork loin and then make a crosswise cut at a 90 degree angle so that it forms a 'T'. Do not cut all the way through. Salt both sides and let it come up to room temp while your stuffing cools.
Pack the stuffing down the middle and tie that bad boy up with some butcher's twine. I am really bad at this so I got Jake to do it. Jake doesn't, at all, use the professional method, but he gets the job done. He cuts individual, small pieces of twine and ties it up incrementally starting from the ends. Tie each end closed, then work your way in. It works.
Now on to the dry rub. Mix the spices in a bowl. Sprinkle over or rub in til the whole thing is coated. Be careful not to squeeze out the stuffing. I forget how big this loin was. It was big. Maybe 6 lbs? I roasted it in a pan at 425F for about 45 min. If you've got a thermometer it should be somewhere around 140F at the thickest part.
Take that beautiful specimen out of the oven. Now for the gravy.
Pan gravy is easy, delicious, and you can make it while your meat cools because YOU DON'T SLICE INTO IT UNTIL IT HAS RESTED FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES!! Otherwise, all the delectable juices evaporate off. Let them reabsorb while you make some gravy.
Put the pan, with drippings, on the stove on med heat. Add mirepoix and maybe a little butter if you need more fat. Sweat until mirepoix starts to brown. Add a little AP flour to make a roux. Let it cook for a few minutes. Add a little wine to deglaze the pan and get up all those crusty little tidbits of flavor. I used Pinot. Let the alcohol cook off for about a minute, then add some chicken stock. Let the sauce reduce down to a good consistency, season to taste, strain, serve.

For the vegetables...
You need:
Diced sweet potatoes and butternut squash
Some diced onion.
Salt, pepper, fennel, granulated garlic, olive oil.
Roast it in a pan under (or over, I guess) your pork. If you use a relatively small dice then it shouldn't take more, and probably less, than 30 min.

I'll have to come back to you for Jake's broccoli. I know he uses garlic and red pepper flake. I don't think there's much else to it.

Jake:

The broccoli thing is really easy. Garlic, broccoli, chicken stock, and red pepper flakes. Steam/cook the broccoli and garlic in the chicken stock.

Spinach, Zucchini, and Chick pea Stuffed Crepes

It's late and I actually still have some work I need to do for my first day of rotations. Will revisit tomorrow. Simple dish. Tasty.

Ok...2 days later. Loving the rotation. Spending a crapload of time at the hospital. Do you care? No. Want to know how to make a very simple and unique dish with great, light flavor? Here we go.
So it is sauteed onions, wilted spinach, raw zucchini and chick peas wrapped in a very thin pancake (or crepe) and drizzled with some white sauce made from butter, milk, flour, s/p. I know. It actually sounds weird as hell. But it's good. Surprisingly good.
First make the crepes.
You need:
1 1/4 cup AP flour
1 egg
1.5 cups milk
~ 5 tbsp water
1 tbsp sunflower or olive oil
pinch o' salt
butter/oil for greasing

Wisk together ingredients to make a very thin batter. It needs to be way thinner than you think. You're going for very thin pancakes. THe thinner the better for this dish. It always takes me til about the 4th or 5th crepe before I've actually gotten by batter as thin as I want it. A really flat, large pan also helps greatly. All I have is my warped cookware which ends up making them not quite so pretty crepes.
Heat a pan, grease with butter, fry crepes on one side only to make ~8 large crepes.
Set aside while preparing the filling.

For the filling you need:
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
fresh spinach, washed and shredded
1 to 2 zucchinis depending on size, grated
1 onion, small diced
cilantro
s/p

Put the chick peas in a bowl of water and rub to remove the skins. They will float to the top. Place chick peas in a bowl and roughly mash them.
Grate the zucchini into the bowl with the chickpeas
Fry the onion in oil til translucent. Add the spinach and cook til wilted.
Transfer the mix to the bowl. Add chopped cilantro, s/p, and mix well.
Place the pancakes, cooked side up (like this matters), and line the stuffing down the center. Wrap 'em up and place them in a baking pan.

Now the sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp ap flour
1 1/4 cup milk
Melt the butter in a small pan, stir in the flour, and gradually add milk. Heat gently, stirring continuously, til thickened and smooth. Season with salt and pepper and pour over pancakes.

Now Bake the pancakes at 350 F for about 15 minutes. Garnish with cilantro. Serve.

Chicken Chow-Mein

Two for two, baby!! That's right, I'm cooking it up. And don't be surprised to see another post tomorrow. And yes, I got on a 2 day Asian kick. Although to be precise, yesterday was Thai and today was Chinese. Yes, both "Asian", but still different styles.

So, Chicken Chow Mein. Who doesn't like it? Did you know it's ridiculously easy to make? And even taking my sweet time it was done in less than an hour, prep time included. And hence, according to our new rating system it gets:

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 45 minutes (prep time included)

You need:

~ lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small strips

noodles

4 tbsp vegetable oil

2 carrots, thin sliced

mung bean sprouts

snow peas

green onions, chopped

6 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp rice vinegar

s/p to taste (I personally don't use salt since I'm using soy sauce)

Marinate the chicken strips in 2 tbsp of soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice vinegar while preparing everything else.

Boil the noodles, drain, and run cold water over them to cool.

Heat a wok, or large pot if you don't have one, to med-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken mixture and stir fry for a couple minutes.

Remove the chicken from the wok and set aside. Wipe the wok clean and add a few tablespoons of vegetable oil.

Add the carrots and stir fry for a minute or two.

Add the snow peas and bean sprouts and stir fry for another minute or two.

Add the noodles and stir fry til heated through.

Add soy sauce and pepper to taste. I didn't this time, but I would normally throw some red pepper flake in there, too, cause I'm all about the spice.

Return the chicken with any juices to the mix and heat through.

Stir in chopped green onions.

You are ready to eat.

The World's Best Brownies

History:
This is it. The best brownies. Clark made these for his family over Thanksgiving last year.... twice. Adapted from a Tyler Florence into this amazing work.... we have tried others, but nothing comes close. I think it comes from melting the chocolate instead of using cocoa powder. And thanks for sticking with us during our down time.... apparently APPE time = cooking time.

Recipe:
2 sticks butter
112 grams of milk chocolate [again I like to stick to the Ghirardelli]
112 grams of 60% dark chocolate
1 t baking powder
pinch of salt
4 large eggs
424 grams of sugar
169 grams bread flour
2 tbs of amaretto

Preheat the oven to 350. Double boil the chocolate and butter until melted and smooth. Beat the eggs, amaretto and sugar until fully mixed. Slowly add the chocolate mixed. Fold in the dry goods. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until done.

Enjoy!

Red Coconut-Milk Curry w/ Chicken and Veggies: Thai-Style

Ok, I'm back! I know, I know. It has been a looooong time since I posted anything. It's been a long time since I've cooked anything. Well, anything new. Sorry. I've been busy and, for the last month apparently, really unmotivated. I broke up with my girlfriend of almost 5 yrs. Then I got back together with her. Then I got a third job. I've been distracted. But hey, you don't read this to hear about me. You want food. Well here 'tis.

I've been meaning to do this for a while so I shall go ahead and, as unofficially as possible, start rating the difficulty and giving a prep/cook time for the recipes. Maybe we (yes, we, because I'm sick of reading emails and hearing people talk about Jake's blog. It's OUR blog damnit. And I started it. Can you have an entire paragraph in parentheses?) will make it more standardized and pretty later but for now, here goes.

Difficulty: Easy

Time: ~ 1 hr 15 min

Background:

Coconut milk curry dishes are a Thai staple. They are also one of my favorite dishes ever. There is a spot in downtown Decatur that serves make-your-own bowls of the stuff and I get it every single time I go. Very rarely do I get the same dish at restaurants. I like to try different things and explore, but their red coconut milk curry dishes are amazing and I just can't break away from it. I was very happy when I came across this recipe.

The fundamentals of making the dish are very basic. As far as ingredients, you can put in whatever you want; chicken, shrimp, fish, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, whatever. Just make sure and put the things that need longer to cook in first and then add the quick-cook items later. You can also use green curry paste if you prefer.

For today's recipe you need:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

1 onion, cut into wedges

1 tbsp. groundnut oil (or whatever)

1 or 2 14 oz cans of coconut milk (depends on how much you're making. I actually only used 1 but I used almost 2 lbs of chicken and a lot of veggies so I wished I had used 2)

2 tbsp red curry paste (the faint of heart might want to start with half or less and work their way up)

1 pack of udon noodles (I actually prefer the flat noodles, but udon noodles work. Or you could nix the noodles and serve it over rice. Or just eat as is.)

2 tbsp thai fish sauce

1 tbsp light brown sugar

carrots, sliced

broccoli flowers

spinach, shredded

1 tbsp lime juice

2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

1 tbsp chopped fresh basil

s/p

Heat a wok (or pot) til hot and add in the oil. Swirl and add the onion. Stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

Pour in the coconut milk and bring to a boil while stirring. Stir in the curry paste, fish sauce, sugar, and s/p.

Add in the noodles and carrots. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 min.

Add the broccoli and continue simmering for ~5 min.

Add the chicken and simmer for about 15-20 min til done.

About 5 min before the chicken is done add in the shredded spinach.

Once everything is done, add the lime juice, chopped mint and basil, and serve.

Sausage Biscuits [JG]

History:
Yes we have not been cooking. Clark is actually going to make something tonight... I think. It has been finals and then our "Summer Break"... so we both have been meh. I had sausage going bad.... had to use it. Thought this would be fun.

Biscuits [I tried whole wheat.... I'll put up a recipe later.... ended up having to use a TON of AP flour to balance it out.... so I need to rewrite it for you].
Eggs
Sausage

Beat the eggs like an omelet. Add cooked sausage and then pour into a pan. Make like an omelet. Divide on top of the biscuits. Make into sandwiches. Freeze and enjoy for later.

Pumpkin Bread [JG]

History:
Yes, it is that time of year. That's right, moving... so you start to find random things in the cabinets and decide to make things. So I have attempted this a few times, and never have I gotten close to Mrs. Lee's [and that's not Sarah]. But, this version just got the Clark stamp of approval.

Recipe:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
100 grams whole wheat flour
135 grams bread flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t clove
3/4 cups of pumpkin from a can

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Mix all the dry together [and yes I did more spices then the recipe above says... except I didn't measure]. Alternate add pumpkin [wet] and dry ingredients. Pour in a bed pan and bake at 350 for about an hour.

Enjoy.

Spinach Quesadilla with Salsa [Grit]

History:
This is one of those veggie grit recipes. Everyone enjoyed...

What you need:
Garlic
Onions
Corn
Carrots
Spinach
cumin
coriander
parsley
oregano
basil
cayenne pepper
butter/oil
tortillas
cheese

Saute onions and garlic. Add in corn and shredded carrots. Go until bright colors. Add herbs/spices. Put in spinach in batches. Cook the spinach until slightly wilted. Get your tortillas ready. Heat a pan with a bit on butter/oil. Place one tortilla down. Then in order cheese, spinach, more cheese. Fold and flip once bottom cheese is melted. Melt top layer of cheese. Serve with fresh salsa.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies [JG]

History:
This is a play on a recipe from the Grit cookbook. The Grit is a vegetarian restaurant in Athens, GA... very good food, so be on the look out more vegetarian fare.

Recipes:
159 grams sugar
102 grams flour [half ap, half cake]
45 grams cocoa powder
1 stick butter
1 egg
tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 tsp salt
2/3 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup almonds

Cream sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla. Mix in dry. Fold in chips and almonds. Bake 10 minutes at 375.

Oven Roast

History:
I was in the store and saw some cheap meat... we have been low for some time, so I went for it. Didn't know what to make.... roast sounded nice even though it is now summer. Sue me.

Recipe:
Oven Roast
oil
red wine
potatoes
carrots
tomatoes
garlic
thyme
rosemary
s/p
basil
oregano

Create a marinate for the roast. We used oil olive, red wine, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, and crushed garlic. Marinate the roast overnight in the refrigerator. Flip and mix occasionally. Pull the meat out of the refrigerator and let it get to room temperature. I put it on a cooling rack to drain. Season with salt/pepper. When ready to cook preheat oven to 375. Dice the vegetables, except onions, and create a bed for the meat with the vegetables. Salt and pepper, drizzle oil olive, then season with herbs. Sear the meat on all sides, and place on top of the vegetables. Don't forget to put fat up. Deglaze the pan with some of the marinate or left over red wine [we don't drink it so it's never left over], saute the large diced onions in the marinate as it reduces. Pour over the meat into the vegetables. Bake ~1 hour for vegetables and to preferred 'doneness' of meat.

Enjoy.

I was running when Clark started to eat, so no picture.

Jamming!

History:
This is a technique post.

What you need:
Ladle
Huge pot
towels
mason jars with lids etc
tongs
thermometer

OK. First and foremost [I did that correct this time], you always run a risk of bacteria growth from jamming on your own. Be clean, be safe. This post is mostly to talk about how easy it really is to jam, but let me know if you want more information about it.

Use soapy water and clean the jars, lids, tongs. Put the towel on the bottom of the pot. Place everything but the lids in the pot. Fill with water. BOIL for 15ish minutes. Then keep warm until ready to use. Put some of the HOT water in with the lids in a separate bowl. Once your jam is mostly ready, using the tongs pull out the jars and rings from the pot and place on a towel on the counter. Fill with the jam. Leave some room at the top to create the vacuum. Wipe the rims and sides down with a wet paper cloth. Put the top on and then tighten the rings. Put back in the pot of hot water and re-boil for x minutes. It is x because of variations in altitude. I usually go 5-10 minutes extra. Pull out and cool to RT on the counter. I put one in the fridge to use, mark the rest and store in the cabinets.

Strawberry Jam [JG]

History:
I love jam... but only when it is just crushed fruit. I hate that fake crap. And then to go to the store it is way too expensive to buy the good stuff. So what should we do? Make our own? OK. Alton Brown had a fun episode about jamming years ago, and Clark and I got to catch a repeat. He made a blueberry jam which I did a few months back. Five jars lasted all of one month. I will make another post later about the jamming/preserving process. For a history jam you do want 1:1 of fruit and sugar.

Recipe:
Two pounds of fresh strawberries, cleaned and large chopped
848 grams of sugar
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tsp of apple cider vinegar
pinch of salt
1 packet of pectin

Start to cook everything but the sugar. As the juices start to come mash it! Once you have the ratio of whole to mashed you like as the sugar. Turn the heat to high and go until a full boil and temperature hits 212 F. This kills most bacteria.

Again the rest of the process will be in the jamming post.

Editor's Note:
This is good. Really, really good. And I have only had it on pita bread so far. I almost started to drink this.

Roast Chicken [JG]

History:
Clark made a roast chicken. I wanted to as well. Mine is a bit more crazy... I love the variation of taste you can experience when carving. I also made muffins to take to work.

Menu:
Roast Chicken
Salad
Chia Muffins
Blueberry Muffins

Chicken:
Clean, wash, dry. Let sit at RT for ~1 hours... [this was a five pound chicken]. Preheat oven to 425. Salt and pepper the inside. Wheel two lemons. Stuff them in the chicken with rosemary and thyme. Take 1/2-1 stick of butter. Cut holes in the skin and stuff with the butter and/or garlic cloves. Season chicken all over with s/p, and a little rosemary and thyme. Roast for about 1 hour. REST at RT for ~20 minutes.

Salad:
Lettuce. Cherry Tomato. Red Pepper. Onion. Olives. Dressing is olive oil, balsamic vinegar, hint of mustard, basil, oregano, s/p. Whisk.

No picture... I always forget.

Enjoy.

Omelets

History:
Went for a run in the morning... we had clinic at night. Offered to make breakfast for running buddy. Clark got in time to eat as well.

And yes we have not been cooking lately. Really we have nothing in the kitchen. And in fact we have no more left overs. So look forward to some really good recipes coming up as we restock.

Menu:
Savory Biscuits with honey or apple butter
Omelets
Bacon

Check out Sunday Biscuits for the biscuits. They are the savory type. Bacon is just bacon.

Omelets:
Mince whatever additions you want. Wednesday morning we had onions and green peppers, tonight I had tomatoes and onions. We did two eggs per person. Beat the eggs. Really, beat the eggs. I said that twice because this part is key. You know you have beat the eggs enough when you lift a fork and nothing comes up... under beat eggs and the whites stay together. Toss in ~0.5-1 tbsp on additions, mix together. Heat a pan, melt a bit on butter in it. Pour the egg mixture. Occasionally, scape the eggs with your fork to help create a fluffy omelet. When still a bit damp on top shake loose. Sprinkle cheese on top, and then fold. I used a spatula to fold on itself, cover and cook ~ one more minute. Enjoy.

Grilled Shrimp [JG/GG]

History:
I found a fishmonger! I know right, Augusta. So I got a pound of fresh shrimp to see the quality, and yes I will be going back. This is a play on my dad's recipe. I use to have this as a kid all the time. Simple and really good.

Recipe:
Shrimp [23sh count], 1 pound
oil
basil
parsley
garlic
thyme
s/p

Clean the shrimp and wash off. Set to the side. On the stove heat the oil with the basil, garlic, and thyme in it. Infuse the oil as if you where making tea. Cool, pour over the shrimp. Add the parsley and s/p. Toss to coat, and then marinate for ~15 minutes or so.



And then grill.



Enjoy. My dad's was s/p, parsley, garlic powder, and onion powder. Mix with oil, marinate for 15 minutes and grill.

BBQ Chicken, Mac and Cheese, and Summer Gratin

History:
Second week we invited Ann over. She came. Post-run Jenny also joined us for dinner. Clark made last week, so I did this week. Same BBQ sauce we love. Still have some left over. Same Summer Vegetable Gratin as kinda La Ratatouille. Only item really new was the mac and cheese [TF].

Summer Gratin [TK]
Below is a picture of the little wheels I described.



Mac and Cheese [TF]
Bacon
Frozen Peas
4-6 cups of cheese
4 cups milk
butter/flour
Pasta
Onion
Garlic
Thyme

Start a pot of water for the pasta. I like a mixture of tiny noodles... makes it more fun. We had shells and bows this time. Saute onion, bacon, garlic with some thyme together. Add 2-4 cups of peas. I get the frozen peas and defrost in the sink. Create your roux. Add the milk. Add 4 cups of cheese. Again, I like variety. Only slightly thick add the mac mix, then fold in the onion/bacon/garlic/pea mixture. Loss in some parsley, spoon into a pan top with more cheese and bake at 400 for 20-30 minutes.



Enjoy.

Hummus, focaccia bread again, and MORE ICE CREAM!

We have a seminar course in our 3rd yr of pharmacy school. Every week 2 students put together a 25 min presentation each. The topic is some sort of therapeutic controversy like a new drug, or new use for an old drug, or different recommendations to previous therapy due to new research. It is supposed to teach us to evaluate clinical studies, learn to make therapeutic decisions, and learn to give professional presentations. The course is a provider of anxiety and desperation in many. Tomorrow, the last 2 students in our class will give their presentations. In honor of this, we decided to have a party after class and everyone is bringing food. I'm bringing the 3 items listed in the title of this post. So, hummus.
Who doesn't know how to make hummus? Oddly enough, a lot of my friends and family who really like hummus. It's amazing that something so simple can give so many people such trouble. So I'll try to be very descriptive in giving my recipe for hummus. In my classic style, I do make it a little more complicated, but not unnecessarily so. I add in a couple steps but, I promise you, they are worth it.
I do a roasted red pepper-type hummus. It is not necessary, but a yellow pepper is a great addition. It makes it a little sweeter. It's a good thing.
You need:
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
~ 1/4 of a red pepper, cut into chunks
~ 1/4 of a yellow pepper, cut into chunks
juice of 1 lemon
olive oil
tahini
pinch or two of white pepper
somewhere in the vicinity of a tsp of cumin
salt
garlic

Step one: somehow, you need some roasted peppers, roasted garlic, and some olive oil. I combine this all into 1 step. Get a small baking dish. Like, a really small one. Put in the peppers. For 1 can of chick peas use 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, depending on their size. Add a pinch of salt. Drizzle oil all over it. Enough to cover the garlic. If I had to guess, which I do since I don't measure, I'd say I use 1/2 to 2/3 cup of olive oil. Cover in foil and roast in the oven at 375F for about 30 minutes. You'll smell it when it's ready. Take it out and let it cool. On to the peas.
Step two: Place the peas in a food processor and process til fine. Transfer peas to a mixing bowl. Transfer your pepper/garlic/oil mixture to the food processor. Add the lemon juice, cumin, salt, pepper, and process. If you've got one of those cool attachments that lets you add stuff while mixing then add the tahini a little at a time til the mixture gets a good, smooth consistency. You don't want it too thick. At this point you can taste it and adjust seasoning or lemon juice as needed. Once you're ready, add the chickpeas to your tahini mix and process the hell out of it. Unless you've got a really big food processor, you aren't going to fit all the peas in there with the tahini mix. That's ok. You should be able to get the majority in there. Transfer the hummus into your mixing bowl with the rest of the processed peas and mix well. You're basically done now. If you want to get cute you can garnish with parsley, olive oil, or a pinch of paprika. I also like to serve it with apple slices. Granny smiths are great. I'd put a pic, but I'm pretty sure everybody knows what hummus looks like and I don't feel like designing a pretty little hummus plate right now.

Focaccia bread:
The recipe has been previously posted. See "Lots of food Day 2: Lasagna".


Ice cream:
Strawberry this time. Well, I also did cinnamon, but I've done that one before. Although, next time I'm going to use 1/2 a vanilla bean in the cinnamon ice cream. I think that will go nicely. The strawberry is made exactly like the vanilla ice cream except you add strawberries the last couple minutes of processing in the churner.
Small dice some strawberries and add a healthy....or, I guess, unhealthy amount of sugar to them. I also slow-low cooked some in a small pot for a few minutes and mashed them just to release the juice. Mix em up and let em marinate in that sugar while you process the vanilla ice cream. Add during the last 2-5 minutes. Voila.