Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chicken. Show all posts
Chicken Marinara
Worried Tomato! You know what that means. I forgot to take a picture. But, that's okay, since it also means I made something!
Last night was a "personal meal" which is something I'll be trying for a while; in short, making an experimental recipe for myself while I use a safe recipe for Megan. That way if something goes wrong, I only have to go out to get food for one person, rather than two. Efficient!
So while Megan ate Chicken di Ketchup and ample amounts of the Roasted Cauliflower we made, I tried Chicken Marinara.
Chicken Marinara
Recipe can be found here
If I had learned nothing from my previous cooking endeavors, its that when you're cooking for two (or one, in this case) the quantities involved in the recipe simply do not apply. As you can see in the recipe itself, it is meant to serve six. A more mathematical soul might try to simply reduce the ingredient quantities down to 1/6th of their original design, but that sounds complicated. After all, how exactly am I supposed to use 1/3rd of an egg?
Ingredients I used:
-1/2 a container of Buitoni garlic marinara sauce (I had this leftover from the previous night's dinner)
-Bread crumbs
-Kraft Parmesan Cheese
-1 egg, beaten
-Flour
-Olive Oil
At the moment I'm housesitting for Megan's parents, so I had a different kitchen (which was nice) but also slightly limited resources (they took a lot of their utensils with them on their trip.)
The first steps are pretty standard for pan-seared chicken. Apply flour to the chicken, then coat it in the egg, then coat again in a mixture of Parmesan and bread crumbs. I didn't measure any of that, just used enough to cover the chicken breast.
Then, put olive oil in a pan and preheat it. I didn't actually have a pan, so I used a pot. Drop the chicken into the pan and sear on each side for about 4 minutes.
Now, while I may have remembered not to use the quantities of ingredients, I did forget that when pan cooking chicken you need to pound it out to make it thinner. While my chicken had a perfect outer-coating, the inside was still under-cooked. This ended up not being a problem, though! Since Megan's Chicken di Ketchup is cooked in the oven, I just put my chicken into the oven at 450 for ten minutes. Perfect!
Drop the pre-made marinara sauce onto it (after microwaving it out of refrigeration), add some extra Parmesan cheese, and you're in business! Total success!
Chicken Experiment #1: Paprika Fail
Ta-da! Matt made me this banner a while ago and I haven't had an occasion to use it yet. This seemed to be as good a time as any!
Well, as previously stated, this is going to be a record of possible chicken seasonings for our usual method (bake at 450 for 20 minutes coated lightly with olive oil.) This first foray didn't go very well...
Seasoning Ingredients
-1/2 Tsp of Paprika
-1/2 Tsp of Salt
-1/2 Tsp of Ground Pepper
-1/2 Tsp of Onion Powder
Results: HORRIBLE ):
I don't know why I thought this would be good. Firstly, a 1/2 Tsp is too much for a single chicken breast. Informal measurements should be used just to lightly coat the meat rather than make a scrapable layer of it.
Second, if you've ever had seasoning salt on fries, this is basically the recipe, except switch out the ground pepper for garlic powder. So, I basically made seasoning salt chicken. And it was pretty awful. Maybe the same flavor in smaller quantities? Somehow I just don't see it working out.
Island Style Barbecue Chicken, "Bitter" Herb Potatoes, Greek Salad?
This is actually from last Monday, I got a little behind on posting it. This was the first foray into trying out Uncle Larry's Collection of Old Recipes [ULCOR? Maybe.] and was one of the more simple offerings. We...didn't like it as well as we might have hoped, but it was still a fun thing to do.
Chicken and Potatoes
Greek Salad: Megan made it!
Island Style Barbecue Chicken
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinned chicken breast
1/4 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
6 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 small piece of ginger root, crushed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pretty simple, this one. Preheat your oven to 350. Grease down a 9 x 13 pan, set down the chicken skin-down. Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl to create a barbecue sauce, brush onto chicken. Cook for about 15 minutes, flip and brush the other side, then finish it up for about another 15 minutes. You may have to watch the time, it might take less...and since it was a week ago I'm forgetting how I did it exactly. I think I ended up doing the same amount of time with more odd flips in between.
"Bitter" Herb Potatoes
Ingredients:
Red Potatoes
Olive Oil
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
Basil
Thyme
Salt
I pre-heated a pan with olive oil. Cut red potatoes into slices, the thinner the better (my knife skills are sloppy with ill-practice, so mine were kinda thick.) Throw into pan, add chopped garlic cloves and sautee. As its going along, add Basil and Thyme to taste; it doesn't take much. The bitterness of the Basil and Thyme work in conjunction with the natural buttery-ness of the red potatoes and the kick of the garlic in a very interesting way. It's honestly not one I would've thought of, but my brother happened to be there at the same time and I told him to pick a spice to add. I was hesitant about the thyme, but it worked.
A trick I've found with sauteeing potatoes that are particularly thick is to kill the heat or lower it and then add the lid to the pan. This forces the steam back into the potatoes and softens them up a lot.
Greek Salad?
This is Megan's salad. She just made it out of Feta cheese, bagged salad greens, Basalmic Vinnegrette dressing and cherry tomatoes. Simple but yummy!
Results
The chicken, as one might imagine from 6 tablespoons of sugar, was really sweet. I think to me it was similar to a honey-based barbecue sauce, though there is a distinct sweetness and tangyness to it. It's good, but it's not how we usually like our barbecue sauce, so it wasn't a bad recipe, just didn't match our personal taste. Also, I don't think you need to keep the skin. It didn't crisp up at all, so I didn't see the point in keeping it on there. I suppose one might throw it on a pan to crisp up. If you try it, let me know.
The potatoes were kind of bitter, but still melty and warm tasting. Nothing like a little improvised potatoing to cap off a dinner. Very good call by my brother on the thyme.
And of course, Megan's salad was good.
=====
I think our grill needs some attention this week. I'm gunning for Wednesday.
In case you're wondering tomorrow we'll be eating the Italian soup I posted about a while ago. Just click on "soup" on the tags to check it out.
Chicken and Potatoes
Greek Salad: Megan made it!
Island Style Barbecue Chicken
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinned chicken breast
1/4 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup soy sauce
6 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1 small piece of ginger root, crushed
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pretty simple, this one. Preheat your oven to 350. Grease down a 9 x 13 pan, set down the chicken skin-down. Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl to create a barbecue sauce, brush onto chicken. Cook for about 15 minutes, flip and brush the other side, then finish it up for about another 15 minutes. You may have to watch the time, it might take less...and since it was a week ago I'm forgetting how I did it exactly. I think I ended up doing the same amount of time with more odd flips in between.
"Bitter" Herb Potatoes
Ingredients:
Red Potatoes
Olive Oil
4 or 5 cloves of garlic
Basil
Thyme
Salt
I pre-heated a pan with olive oil. Cut red potatoes into slices, the thinner the better (my knife skills are sloppy with ill-practice, so mine were kinda thick.) Throw into pan, add chopped garlic cloves and sautee. As its going along, add Basil and Thyme to taste; it doesn't take much. The bitterness of the Basil and Thyme work in conjunction with the natural buttery-ness of the red potatoes and the kick of the garlic in a very interesting way. It's honestly not one I would've thought of, but my brother happened to be there at the same time and I told him to pick a spice to add. I was hesitant about the thyme, but it worked.
A trick I've found with sauteeing potatoes that are particularly thick is to kill the heat or lower it and then add the lid to the pan. This forces the steam back into the potatoes and softens them up a lot.
Greek Salad?
This is Megan's salad. She just made it out of Feta cheese, bagged salad greens, Basalmic Vinnegrette dressing and cherry tomatoes. Simple but yummy!
Results
The chicken, as one might imagine from 6 tablespoons of sugar, was really sweet. I think to me it was similar to a honey-based barbecue sauce, though there is a distinct sweetness and tangyness to it. It's good, but it's not how we usually like our barbecue sauce, so it wasn't a bad recipe, just didn't match our personal taste. Also, I don't think you need to keep the skin. It didn't crisp up at all, so I didn't see the point in keeping it on there. I suppose one might throw it on a pan to crisp up. If you try it, let me know.
The potatoes were kind of bitter, but still melty and warm tasting. Nothing like a little improvised potatoing to cap off a dinner. Very good call by my brother on the thyme.
And of course, Megan's salad was good.
=====
I think our grill needs some attention this week. I'm gunning for Wednesday.
In case you're wondering tomorrow we'll be eating the Italian soup I posted about a while ago. Just click on "soup" on the tags to check it out.
Chicken di Rockney/Emiril? and Sweet Vegetables
One of the benefits I'm discovering with cooking is that every now and again you're faced with a quickdraw situation where you just have to "Eat NOW". With Megan this can be quite frequent as she and her schedule combined with overwhelming hunger can put a guy in a bind. Fortunately, though, I've been doing this long enough now to be able to apply some techniques quickly and still make something delicious in just under 30 minutes.
Chicken di Rockney + Emiril
2 Chicken Breasts (around a pound)
Olive oil
Herbes de Provence
Emiril's Essence
Emiril's Essence (Found on Food Network site)
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
This was a bit of improvising. Chicken di Rockney is what Megan's parents make quite frequently, and it's pretty good. It's basically just an herb chicken; olive oil, then add Herbes de Provence (the main flavor) and then Basil. Bake and serve. But instead of just throwing that in, I decided to bring out my container of Emiril's Essence and toss that on there.
Good idea.
Emiril's essence is a little spicy and definitely zesty and peppery. It's really good and quite easy to make and store. I first made it back when I did the Chicken Marsala recipe and I've used it about three times on a whim since then adn have had great results every time. I do forget to say "Bam" though.
Anyway, oil, Essence, Herbes de Provence. I use tin foil to increase ease of cleaning. Bake in oven at 375 for about 25-30 minutes (45-50 if breast is frozen). Then you're pretty much done! Super easy peasy.
Sweet Vegetables
Red Bell Pepper
White Onion
Zucchini
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Cinammon
Ah, now this is where I got creative. Megan brought home these vegetables and told me to sautee them with olive oil in a pan (just a bit of olive oil). So as I was doing so, I glanced over my shoulder and waited until she wasn't looking, then opened up the spice cabinet and went to town.
My theory was this: I knew that the chicken would be a little spicy because I'd used the Essence before. So if I was going to season the vegetables in a direction, I should take it sweeter.
Good idea.
Just a tiny bit of salt (two twists from my sea salt grinder), much more ground peper (10-15 twists?), two pinches of cumin and just a dash of cinammon. When sauteed, both bell peppers (especially red, in my opinion) and white onion become sweeter as they are cooked longer. The cinammon is REALLY key in bringing out the sweetness even further while I feel like the cumin sort of neutralized any remaining harshness from the peppers and onions. Cook until you are satisfied with softness.
The sweetness was an amazing off-set to the spicyness of the chicken and was quite enjoyable. Not bad for 30 minutes, huh? Watch out Rachel Ray, I'm coming for you.
===
My hope is that tomorrow I'll be stir-frying. Stay tuned.
The Food Labs will be opening soon. You'll see what it is when my brother finishes the banner, but Pizzadillas would've been part of the Food Labs had it been around.
I've become enamored with this concept of chile peppers and chocolate. Anyone that's ever seen Chocolat knows or if you're a chocolate lover like me knows that the ancient Mayans used to drink this bizarre drink that was a combination of chile water and chocolate. I'm really curious to see what happens when you mix those ingredients together...maybe when I have some time...
Chicken di Rockney + Emiril
2 Chicken Breasts (around a pound)
Olive oil
Herbes de Provence
Emiril's Essence
Emiril's Essence (Found on Food Network site)
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 tablespoon dried leaf oregano
1 tablespoon dried thyme
This was a bit of improvising. Chicken di Rockney is what Megan's parents make quite frequently, and it's pretty good. It's basically just an herb chicken; olive oil, then add Herbes de Provence (the main flavor) and then Basil. Bake and serve. But instead of just throwing that in, I decided to bring out my container of Emiril's Essence and toss that on there.
Good idea.
Emiril's essence is a little spicy and definitely zesty and peppery. It's really good and quite easy to make and store. I first made it back when I did the Chicken Marsala recipe and I've used it about three times on a whim since then adn have had great results every time. I do forget to say "Bam" though.
Anyway, oil, Essence, Herbes de Provence. I use tin foil to increase ease of cleaning. Bake in oven at 375 for about 25-30 minutes (45-50 if breast is frozen). Then you're pretty much done! Super easy peasy.
Sweet Vegetables
Red Bell Pepper
White Onion
Zucchini
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Cinammon
Ah, now this is where I got creative. Megan brought home these vegetables and told me to sautee them with olive oil in a pan (just a bit of olive oil). So as I was doing so, I glanced over my shoulder and waited until she wasn't looking, then opened up the spice cabinet and went to town.
My theory was this: I knew that the chicken would be a little spicy because I'd used the Essence before. So if I was going to season the vegetables in a direction, I should take it sweeter.
Good idea.
Just a tiny bit of salt (two twists from my sea salt grinder), much more ground peper (10-15 twists?), two pinches of cumin and just a dash of cinammon. When sauteed, both bell peppers (especially red, in my opinion) and white onion become sweeter as they are cooked longer. The cinammon is REALLY key in bringing out the sweetness even further while I feel like the cumin sort of neutralized any remaining harshness from the peppers and onions. Cook until you are satisfied with softness.
The sweetness was an amazing off-set to the spicyness of the chicken and was quite enjoyable. Not bad for 30 minutes, huh? Watch out Rachel Ray, I'm coming for you.
===
My hope is that tomorrow I'll be stir-frying. Stay tuned.
The Food Labs will be opening soon. You'll see what it is when my brother finishes the banner, but Pizzadillas would've been part of the Food Labs had it been around.
I've become enamored with this concept of chile peppers and chocolate. Anyone that's ever seen Chocolat knows or if you're a chocolate lover like me knows that the ancient Mayans used to drink this bizarre drink that was a combination of chile water and chocolate. I'm really curious to see what happens when you mix those ingredients together...maybe when I have some time...
Greek Lemon Chicken and Spanakorizo
It's funny how adventurous I'm willing to eat if I make it with my own two hands. Tell me about the Spanakorizo in a restaurant and I'll be like "Uh, fries please." but show me on a cooking blog and I go "Hm..."
Greek Lemon Chicken
Found this on the dear ol' Food Blog search (I put a search bar on the left if you want to try it out.) I followed this recipe pretty much exactly except I couldn't find Dill at Vons, and so I used basil instead. I used Calrose rice in the Rice Cooker to prepare, but you can use your favorite method.
The results were mixed. The chicken came out very good, though I only marinaded it for 30 minutes and think that it should go longer. I started late and was pressed for time, but all in all it was quite delicious and moist chicken.
The Spanakorizo...well, I really liked it. Feta cheese and spinach and onion and rice all mixed together, really good. Megan didn't like it at all though. So that one goes off the list of repeat foods. Oh well, it was fun to try and I suppose not everything can be as a sensational a hit as Veggie-Penne (or Penne Delicious, as Amy calls it).
This was pretty quick to make though, so if you like Greek food and you've got an hour you can whip this into shape and have a satisfying meal.
=====
I noticed: That since I've started cooking regularly, I haven't repeated a dish once. Which I think is pretty cool, considering that often times people who cook complain about falling into a rut. I'm really liking this super-variety of food that has come up in life.
Later this week: AJ is pushing for us to make Cottage Pie, and I think I'm going to go with it, despite my counter-suggestion for Fattayer Sabnegh modified with a meat filling instead of spinach. I'm sort of curious since I don't usually like meat pies but this one sounds good (besides, she doesn't know it yet but we're eating the Fattayer for dinner on Monday)
Also on Saturday: Pizzadillas, Weird Mozzarella sticks, and Snackoos! The unhealtiest but possibly most awesome experiment day ever.
Greek Lemon Chicken
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon dried oregano crushed
2 minced garlic cloves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
Recipe from mom. Pretty straight forward chicken. Throw the ingredients together, put in ziploc bag with chicken for 30mins - 2 hours (my mom said she has done it overnight and it hasn't tasted too overwhelming, so that too is an option.) Then grill on skillet or grill pan. I actually never ended up using the salt and pepper in my recipe and I didn't miss it, so if you're going low-sodium don't be afraid to ditch it. My lemon juice came from two fresh squeezed lemons, and then the zest from one of them. The two lemons made about half a cup, so if you prefer the fresh-squeezed or are just trying to gauge how much that is, there's a tip for you. They were normal sized lemons.
Spanakorizo (Greek Rice with Spinach)
Original RecipeFound this on the dear ol' Food Blog search (I put a search bar on the left if you want to try it out.) I followed this recipe pretty much exactly except I couldn't find Dill at Vons, and so I used basil instead. I used Calrose rice in the Rice Cooker to prepare, but you can use your favorite method.
The results were mixed. The chicken came out very good, though I only marinaded it for 30 minutes and think that it should go longer. I started late and was pressed for time, but all in all it was quite delicious and moist chicken.
The Spanakorizo...well, I really liked it. Feta cheese and spinach and onion and rice all mixed together, really good. Megan didn't like it at all though. So that one goes off the list of repeat foods. Oh well, it was fun to try and I suppose not everything can be as a sensational a hit as Veggie-Penne (or Penne Delicious, as Amy calls it).
This was pretty quick to make though, so if you like Greek food and you've got an hour you can whip this into shape and have a satisfying meal.
=====
I noticed: That since I've started cooking regularly, I haven't repeated a dish once. Which I think is pretty cool, considering that often times people who cook complain about falling into a rut. I'm really liking this super-variety of food that has come up in life.
Later this week: AJ is pushing for us to make Cottage Pie, and I think I'm going to go with it, despite my counter-suggestion for Fattayer Sabnegh modified with a meat filling instead of spinach. I'm sort of curious since I don't usually like meat pies but this one sounds good (besides, she doesn't know it yet but we're eating the Fattayer for dinner on Monday)
Also on Saturday: Pizzadillas, Weird Mozzarella sticks, and Snackoos! The unhealtiest but possibly most awesome experiment day ever.
Hey, I actually make some stuff.
It's time to blog about food.
Why? Who knows. I feel like writing about it. Plus, I might be able to use this a chronicle/recipe notebook as time goes on so I can figure out what I did wrong, etc. So fair readers of the blog, prepare to read about food now and again.
First, I should note that I like cooking. It's quite a creative endeavor, if you think about it. Sure there are some rules to follow (ex: do not replace "chicken" in chicken recipes with something unrelated...like Cheerios.) and some things to think about in terms of cooking thoroughly, etc. (ex: do not add milk to chicken and eat in bowl as if they were Cheerios.) But all in all, it can be a fun and somewhat improvisational experience.
Lately I've been trying to expand my repertoire, so the improvising is sort of on the backburner as it were. The last thing I did improvisational was add chili powder to the Lawry's taco mix. It was good, but not exactly a stroke of genius. They won't be asking me to host a show on the Food Network just cause I put something into something else, that's for sure.
Anyway, with upcoming legal programs in my future and Megan continuing work and school, I've been searching for recipes that will make good, relatively quick-make dinners for Mon/Wed and yet have enough leftover for Megan to eat some on Tues/Thurs (I'll have to go straight from work to UCLA, so it'll be a ton of Subway for me, I'm afraid.) As a result, I've been perusing the Food Network website trying some new recipes and I've met with some mixed success. Here's a rundown!
Beef Tacos
Get some beef and tortillas. Then Lawry's taco seasoning and add 2-3 pinches of chili powder. What, come on, you know you wanted to know what I did.
Campfire Pan-Roasted Chicken
Here be the link.
The name of this recipe confuses me to no end: there is no open flame involved, and when I read something like that I'm expecting...I don't know, cowboy food? But this is definitely an Asian-influenced pan chicken. This was a great recipe and it came out very good. In my opinion, chicken breasts on a pan need to be sliced in half, especially if you're stuck like me using a crappy electric stove (ours is brand new, and it still pretty much sucks.) so just give it a halving before you toss it in the marinade bag. One might want to prep this on a weekend, it takes a lot of "start up ingredients" that you may not have already (soy sauce and peanut oil in particular) but once you have those you could probably make it 6 or 7 times before you ran out of ingredients. The rest you buy fresh or during your weekly market run. It's a very tangy, salty recipe, just on the border of too salty. If you're sensitive to that sort of stuff you may want to ramp back on the added salt. I made this with roasted shiitake mushrooms from this recipe but with just shiitake, not a bunch of others. Really good.
Chicken Marsala
Here be the link.
This one is from our favorite "bam" yelling friend, Emiril Lagasse. In general, I find most of Emiril's recipes to be way too complicated or time consuming for a weeknight meal and I just haven't had the courage to go for one on the weekend. This one, however, is a good recipe. Again, it takes a lot of start of up ingredients, this time in the form of spices, in order to prepare the "essence of Emiril", which is included on the same recipe link. This adds, I'd say, about 10-20 minutes to your prep time but once you've made a batch you have quite a bit left over; you can just keep it in an airtight canister. If I were at home, I'd take a picture to show you mine, but you're stuck with using your imagination for now. You'll also need to buy Marsala wine, and if you've never done that for cooking before, get the "Dry" version, not the sweet. This recipe ended up being really good too; we had a minor crises when I forgot to get chicken stock and Megan had to run to Vons and pick some up, but despite that, it wa quite good. Doesn't really need a side dish either, because of the mushrooms already used in the dish.
Chicken Faijtas
Here be the link. I just used two chicken breasts instead of the beef.
My dad has been using this recipe for a LONG time and it's one of my favorites; unfortunately, it is DEFINITELY NOT a good weeknight recipe. I prepped the marinade on Sunday then tossed it in the bag on Monday morning, and still it felt like a lot of work to cook Monday night, particularly because of the vegetables, and problems I had using a cast-iron grill pan. When using a cast-iron grill pan, you HAVE to halve your chicken breasts; this was the time that confirmed it. Otherwise the outside gets scorched while the inside does not cook, which resulted in me having to jury-rig a "cut" of the chicken in order for the heat to get to the interior. The final result was still very delicious, but all in all I think that this is best done A) on the weekend B) using a real grill. Trying to do it on a weeknight with a grill pan just makes the whole experience too stressful to enjoy, and the amount of prep work you need to do the day before is quite extensive. Still, if you're having a party or something, definitely give it a shot.
Lasagne
The recipe is on the box of Barilla ready-to-bake noodles. My variant removes the ricotta cheese and replaces it with more mozzarella.
Yikes. Epic. Fail. The entire edge of the lasagne was burned and crunchy, and was generally inedible. The center was really good, and I ate that anyway, but Megan decided to opt out and go to Baja Fresh. Oh well. I think the problem was despite following the recipe, there wasn't enough sauce, and it left a lot of exposed, un-wetted noodles to simply incinerate in the oven. The other option could be the foil: I think that maybe I didn't cover it tightly enough. Megan thinks the foil is the cause of the burning. In either case, I'll have to fiddle with the variables a bit to try and make it better. It's also just on the edge of taking a bit too long to make for a weeknight, but it's manageable, probably takes about 1 hour 20mins total to brown the meat and then bake the lasagne. Even though it takes some time, it's a pretty automatic recipe since you mostly just sit and wait, so there's an advantage in that.
Well, that's about it for the recipe report. I have a Greek Lemon chicken recipe slated for the weekend, and I think it's about time for some beef kebabs and this parmesean fry recipe I've been waiting to use for next week. I'll let you know how those turn out.
By the way, if you have a recipe you think would be good for weeknights, post it in el commentolos, and I'll give it a go.
Why? Who knows. I feel like writing about it. Plus, I might be able to use this a chronicle/recipe notebook as time goes on so I can figure out what I did wrong, etc. So fair readers of the blog, prepare to read about food now and again.
First, I should note that I like cooking. It's quite a creative endeavor, if you think about it. Sure there are some rules to follow (ex: do not replace "chicken" in chicken recipes with something unrelated...like Cheerios.) and some things to think about in terms of cooking thoroughly, etc. (ex: do not add milk to chicken and eat in bowl as if they were Cheerios.) But all in all, it can be a fun and somewhat improvisational experience.
Lately I've been trying to expand my repertoire, so the improvising is sort of on the backburner as it were. The last thing I did improvisational was add chili powder to the Lawry's taco mix. It was good, but not exactly a stroke of genius. They won't be asking me to host a show on the Food Network just cause I put something into something else, that's for sure.
Anyway, with upcoming legal programs in my future and Megan continuing work and school, I've been searching for recipes that will make good, relatively quick-make dinners for Mon/Wed and yet have enough leftover for Megan to eat some on Tues/Thurs (I'll have to go straight from work to UCLA, so it'll be a ton of Subway for me, I'm afraid.) As a result, I've been perusing the Food Network website trying some new recipes and I've met with some mixed success. Here's a rundown!
Beef Tacos
Get some beef and tortillas. Then Lawry's taco seasoning and add 2-3 pinches of chili powder. What, come on, you know you wanted to know what I did.
Campfire Pan-Roasted Chicken
Here be the link.
The name of this recipe confuses me to no end: there is no open flame involved, and when I read something like that I'm expecting...I don't know, cowboy food? But this is definitely an Asian-influenced pan chicken. This was a great recipe and it came out very good. In my opinion, chicken breasts on a pan need to be sliced in half, especially if you're stuck like me using a crappy electric stove (ours is brand new, and it still pretty much sucks.) so just give it a halving before you toss it in the marinade bag. One might want to prep this on a weekend, it takes a lot of "start up ingredients" that you may not have already (soy sauce and peanut oil in particular) but once you have those you could probably make it 6 or 7 times before you ran out of ingredients. The rest you buy fresh or during your weekly market run. It's a very tangy, salty recipe, just on the border of too salty. If you're sensitive to that sort of stuff you may want to ramp back on the added salt. I made this with roasted shiitake mushrooms from this recipe but with just shiitake, not a bunch of others. Really good.
Chicken Marsala
Here be the link.
This one is from our favorite "bam" yelling friend, Emiril Lagasse. In general, I find most of Emiril's recipes to be way too complicated or time consuming for a weeknight meal and I just haven't had the courage to go for one on the weekend. This one, however, is a good recipe. Again, it takes a lot of start of up ingredients, this time in the form of spices, in order to prepare the "essence of Emiril", which is included on the same recipe link. This adds, I'd say, about 10-20 minutes to your prep time but once you've made a batch you have quite a bit left over; you can just keep it in an airtight canister. If I were at home, I'd take a picture to show you mine, but you're stuck with using your imagination for now. You'll also need to buy Marsala wine, and if you've never done that for cooking before, get the "Dry" version, not the sweet. This recipe ended up being really good too; we had a minor crises when I forgot to get chicken stock and Megan had to run to Vons and pick some up, but despite that, it wa quite good. Doesn't really need a side dish either, because of the mushrooms already used in the dish.
Chicken Faijtas
Here be the link. I just used two chicken breasts instead of the beef.
My dad has been using this recipe for a LONG time and it's one of my favorites; unfortunately, it is DEFINITELY NOT a good weeknight recipe. I prepped the marinade on Sunday then tossed it in the bag on Monday morning, and still it felt like a lot of work to cook Monday night, particularly because of the vegetables, and problems I had using a cast-iron grill pan. When using a cast-iron grill pan, you HAVE to halve your chicken breasts; this was the time that confirmed it. Otherwise the outside gets scorched while the inside does not cook, which resulted in me having to jury-rig a "cut" of the chicken in order for the heat to get to the interior. The final result was still very delicious, but all in all I think that this is best done A) on the weekend B) using a real grill. Trying to do it on a weeknight with a grill pan just makes the whole experience too stressful to enjoy, and the amount of prep work you need to do the day before is quite extensive. Still, if you're having a party or something, definitely give it a shot.
Lasagne
The recipe is on the box of Barilla ready-to-bake noodles. My variant removes the ricotta cheese and replaces it with more mozzarella.
Yikes. Epic. Fail. The entire edge of the lasagne was burned and crunchy, and was generally inedible. The center was really good, and I ate that anyway, but Megan decided to opt out and go to Baja Fresh. Oh well. I think the problem was despite following the recipe, there wasn't enough sauce, and it left a lot of exposed, un-wetted noodles to simply incinerate in the oven. The other option could be the foil: I think that maybe I didn't cover it tightly enough. Megan thinks the foil is the cause of the burning. In either case, I'll have to fiddle with the variables a bit to try and make it better. It's also just on the edge of taking a bit too long to make for a weeknight, but it's manageable, probably takes about 1 hour 20mins total to brown the meat and then bake the lasagne. Even though it takes some time, it's a pretty automatic recipe since you mostly just sit and wait, so there's an advantage in that.
Well, that's about it for the recipe report. I have a Greek Lemon chicken recipe slated for the weekend, and I think it's about time for some beef kebabs and this parmesean fry recipe I've been waiting to use for next week. I'll let you know how those turn out.
By the way, if you have a recipe you think would be good for weeknights, post it in el commentolos, and I'll give it a go.
Friday Food Round-up No. 2!
Haha! Well, fellow food fiends, it's that time again! And while I do have some thoughts to relay about how my first ventures into the Law have been, I would be remiss in breaking my own new format this early. So Law thoughts another day. In a word though: Good.
Monday - Pepper Chicken with Lime Sauce, Rice, Roasted Green Beans
Link for the Green Bean Recipe!
Rice just used a Rice Cooker...
Pepper Chicken with Pepper Lime Dip - Cambodian Dish from the "Savoring Meat and Poultry" book by Williams Sonoma.
Ingredients
2 Boneless Chicken Breasts, with skin
1 teaspoon peppercorn
1 teaspoon sea salt (says coarse salt; I suppose you could use regular salt too)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 cloves of garlic, quartered
For the dip: 2 limes, 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Ok, I should start out by stating that the recipe is slightly modified from the one in the book. The book recipe called for like, two whole chickens. But since there are but two of us, I nerfed it down to two breasts. Normally we eat boneless/skinless, but the picture in the book had yummy looking skin so I opted for a bit of extra fat and got some with skin still on. Also, the original recipe called for mushroom soy sauce. I looked at Gelson's for mushroom soy sauce, but I haven't a clue what it is or if it's sold; in all my years of growing up in a semi-Asian household I've never heard of mushroom soy sauce. I wondered if maybe it was something you had to make, but there were no instructions. So I just used regular soy sauce.
For this sucker you have to marinade first. Crushing peppercorns without proper tools is not an experience I would recommend; the book said to use a mortar, but I don't have one. So I used a bowl and an ice cream scoop. It worked out, but it was tiring and in someways quite needless since I do have ground pepper. In any case, you take the peppercorns, quarter the garlic and smoosh it together. The book said to make a paste, but I didn't, I just kinda...mixed it up. I added that to the soy sauce, sugar, oil, and salt and threw it with the chicken into a ziploc bag. I tend to do all my marinating in ziploc bags; you can just throw them away when you're done and they seem to get the job done. It's also easier to concentrate the marinade straight on the meat by turning the bag in certain directions, so when you are marinading for a short period of time (I only marinaded it for 45 minutes) it gets a concentrated effect. Time listed in he book was 1 hour to overnight.
While that sucker was marinading I prepared to use my rice cooker for the first time. Now, attention white people: rice cookers are the ONLY way to make good rice. Period. The end. I don't want to hear arguments about it. You also must use white, long-grain rice; I've always eaten Calrose and had good experiences with it. I've seen people try to make rice other ways and it never comes out the same. Besides, why go through the trouble? With a rice cooker it's dump in the rice, dump in the water, push a button, wait twenty minutes. It's super easy and super effective, so don't go and start boiling stuff in a pan.
I'll reserve my comments about putting butter on rice for another day.
Ok, rice now on auto-pilot as well as the marinading chicken, I had an issue about what to do for a vegetable component. I had picked up green beans and broccoli (for me and Megan, respectively) but I didn't feel like steaming them or sauteeing them, and I hate boiled vegetables (not to mention they apparently remove vitamins, so why bother?), so I ran to the internet to do a quick search. I used a new tool I found called the Food Blog Search, which...well, searches food blogs, and came to a recipe for Roasted Green Beans with Onions and Walnuts. Ironically it was from a blog Jeni had previously suggested I check out, so I knew it was probably a good one.
Now, this one took a little improvising on my part; having not intended to make this side dish I was lacking in a few ingredients; I did happen to have a red onion lying around, but walnuts were a no go and I wasn't sure replacing them with peanuts would be the way to go (not to mention I didn't feel like unshelling said peanuts). I was also out of garlic cloves; I used the last of them in the chicken marinade. So I just used some garlic powder instead with a rough estimate as to how much would be about right. Another super-easy recipe: pre-heat to 450, oil the beans and onions slightly, make the "drizzle" and add at the end.
Cool.
So, oven is now pre-heating, it is now time for me and Mr. Grillpan to go for round three. Taking Matt's previously commented advice, I super-heated the sucker and pounded the chicken as flat as it would go prior to marinading. The beans took about 10 minutes so I put them in right before I threw my chicken on the pan for the suggested "3 and 3" round. Well, six minutes of filling my apartment with smoke later and...
...nope.
Still cooked the outside but not the inside. Inside was as raw as the day they slaughtered that bird. I suppose they're just too thick or that electric stoves and cast iron grillpans are simply not meant to replace a real grill. So, the grillpan and I are on speaking terms only as far as it concerns steaks and hamburgers, the only things it has managed to do correctly.
But! Not all was lost! The outside was beautifully lined and the skin nice and crisp. So, since my oven was already on at 450, I threw it in a 9x13 with a bit of oil and let it cook in there for about 10-12 more minutes. The beans came out in the meantime and the rice was on warm.
The result? Chicken was AMAZING using that process. The center was moist yet thoroughly cooked and the outside was crispy. The flavor was quite unique; the sugar put in a fair amount of sweetness, even enough to cover the usual super-salt intensity soy sauce tends to give recipes I use it with. All in all a success.
What was NOT a success however, was the lime dip. I don't know what Cambodians are like, but if they think that squeezing a lime into a bowl with salt and pepper is a legitimate sauce, then perhaps we shouldn't mix company often. I had a coughing fit the first time I tried it; super potent citrus combined with strong sea salt and added with admittedly too much pepper (I didn't count on the fact that peppercorns take up more volume and that the resulting crushing of those peppercorns would NOT equate to the same amount as using a tablespoon of already ground pepper) was just...gross.
But, since it was a dipping sauce, all was well. The beans were a fascinating mix as the two strongest flavors within it, the balsamic vinegar and the honey, interacted in a way I hadn't thought possible. Megan thought I cut the onions too thick, but other than that a totally successful meal.
I would give it a week-night doability if you're having a leisurely evening. I definitely need to try our public grill though, because this battle against the pan is getting old.
Wednesday - Italian Sausage and Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 lb Italian sausage. Use spicy Italian if you prefer.
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15oz can of great northern beans (white beans), rinsed and drained
1 15oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 cans of beef broth (around 15 oz. We use low-sodium)
1 tbsp fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
Parmesan cheese for topping
The original recipe also called for a 1 15oz can of undrained tomatoes, but Megan doesn't like them so I took them out.
I also added crushed red pepper flakes...we'll talk about that in a second.
Ok! This is the most amazing recipe ever! It's a super-delicious stew-soup that is cheap to buy ingredients for (after buying bread for dipping, the cans of beans, the broth, and the sausage it was I think like 7 bucks) and takes like no time or skill to make!
Step 1: Brown sausage of choice. You can drain if you want, I didn't.
Step 2: Chop onion and garlic
Step 3: Rinse and drain beans
Step 4: Put all ingredients into pot.
Step 5: Simmer for 10 minutes
Step 6: Serve. Put cheese on top if you want.
Now, a few notes about personal preferences. Megan prefers a more thick stew and less soup, so her favorite is to use only one can of broth. I like more broth though, so I prefer to use two. I split this difference on Wednesday and used 1 1/2, and that seemed to make both of us happy.
In terms of spice, you can use a spicy italian sausage if you want. I decided to add pepper flakes to the sausage as I was browning them and I really liked it, but Megan found it too spicy. The first time I had this soup was during the Ing Annual Gingerbread House Making Extravaganza when my mom made it. At the time I added the pepper flakes in as I was eating it and got the same effect, so if you have different spice preferences you can always add more to your own personal bowl of soup as you go along.
I forgot the basil on Wednesday. I didn't really miss it though, so if you don't have any you can skip it and be fine.
The original recipe also only used 3/4 lb of sausage, but we like more meat.
Like I said, this is an AMAZING recipe. So delicious, reheats well, and take little time and effort. So you readers with babies might want to keep this handy for those particularly crazy nights.
That wraps it up for this week. Still no head way on the To-Try list, but since we were gone at the Young Married's retreat I didn't have time to do my Sunday Store Day (I don't intentionally try to alliterate my life, really I don't). But, I did learn a lot about cooking with alcohol from AJ and this other guy Dave, who apparently went to culinary school. So I think there will definitely be some new experiments coming up, along with delving into the list.
What'd you guys eat this week?
Monday - Pepper Chicken with Lime Sauce, Rice, Roasted Green Beans
Link for the Green Bean Recipe!
Rice just used a Rice Cooker...
Pepper Chicken with Pepper Lime Dip - Cambodian Dish from the "Savoring Meat and Poultry" book by Williams Sonoma.
Ingredients
2 Boneless Chicken Breasts, with skin
1 teaspoon peppercorn
1 teaspoon sea salt (says coarse salt; I suppose you could use regular salt too)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 cloves of garlic, quartered
For the dip: 2 limes, 1 tablespoon ground black pepper, 1 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Ok, I should start out by stating that the recipe is slightly modified from the one in the book. The book recipe called for like, two whole chickens. But since there are but two of us, I nerfed it down to two breasts. Normally we eat boneless/skinless, but the picture in the book had yummy looking skin so I opted for a bit of extra fat and got some with skin still on. Also, the original recipe called for mushroom soy sauce. I looked at Gelson's for mushroom soy sauce, but I haven't a clue what it is or if it's sold; in all my years of growing up in a semi-Asian household I've never heard of mushroom soy sauce. I wondered if maybe it was something you had to make, but there were no instructions. So I just used regular soy sauce.
For this sucker you have to marinade first. Crushing peppercorns without proper tools is not an experience I would recommend; the book said to use a mortar, but I don't have one. So I used a bowl and an ice cream scoop. It worked out, but it was tiring and in someways quite needless since I do have ground pepper. In any case, you take the peppercorns, quarter the garlic and smoosh it together. The book said to make a paste, but I didn't, I just kinda...mixed it up. I added that to the soy sauce, sugar, oil, and salt and threw it with the chicken into a ziploc bag. I tend to do all my marinating in ziploc bags; you can just throw them away when you're done and they seem to get the job done. It's also easier to concentrate the marinade straight on the meat by turning the bag in certain directions, so when you are marinading for a short period of time (I only marinaded it for 45 minutes) it gets a concentrated effect. Time listed in he book was 1 hour to overnight.
While that sucker was marinading I prepared to use my rice cooker for the first time. Now, attention white people: rice cookers are the ONLY way to make good rice. Period. The end. I don't want to hear arguments about it. You also must use white, long-grain rice; I've always eaten Calrose and had good experiences with it. I've seen people try to make rice other ways and it never comes out the same. Besides, why go through the trouble? With a rice cooker it's dump in the rice, dump in the water, push a button, wait twenty minutes. It's super easy and super effective, so don't go and start boiling stuff in a pan.
I'll reserve my comments about putting butter on rice for another day.
Ok, rice now on auto-pilot as well as the marinading chicken, I had an issue about what to do for a vegetable component. I had picked up green beans and broccoli (for me and Megan, respectively) but I didn't feel like steaming them or sauteeing them, and I hate boiled vegetables (not to mention they apparently remove vitamins, so why bother?), so I ran to the internet to do a quick search. I used a new tool I found called the Food Blog Search, which...well, searches food blogs, and came to a recipe for Roasted Green Beans with Onions and Walnuts. Ironically it was from a blog Jeni had previously suggested I check out, so I knew it was probably a good one.
Now, this one took a little improvising on my part; having not intended to make this side dish I was lacking in a few ingredients; I did happen to have a red onion lying around, but walnuts were a no go and I wasn't sure replacing them with peanuts would be the way to go (not to mention I didn't feel like unshelling said peanuts). I was also out of garlic cloves; I used the last of them in the chicken marinade. So I just used some garlic powder instead with a rough estimate as to how much would be about right. Another super-easy recipe: pre-heat to 450, oil the beans and onions slightly, make the "drizzle" and add at the end.
Cool.
So, oven is now pre-heating, it is now time for me and Mr. Grillpan to go for round three. Taking Matt's previously commented advice, I super-heated the sucker and pounded the chicken as flat as it would go prior to marinading. The beans took about 10 minutes so I put them in right before I threw my chicken on the pan for the suggested "3 and 3" round. Well, six minutes of filling my apartment with smoke later and...
...nope.
Still cooked the outside but not the inside. Inside was as raw as the day they slaughtered that bird. I suppose they're just too thick or that electric stoves and cast iron grillpans are simply not meant to replace a real grill. So, the grillpan and I are on speaking terms only as far as it concerns steaks and hamburgers, the only things it has managed to do correctly.
But! Not all was lost! The outside was beautifully lined and the skin nice and crisp. So, since my oven was already on at 450, I threw it in a 9x13 with a bit of oil and let it cook in there for about 10-12 more minutes. The beans came out in the meantime and the rice was on warm.
The result? Chicken was AMAZING using that process. The center was moist yet thoroughly cooked and the outside was crispy. The flavor was quite unique; the sugar put in a fair amount of sweetness, even enough to cover the usual super-salt intensity soy sauce tends to give recipes I use it with. All in all a success.
What was NOT a success however, was the lime dip. I don't know what Cambodians are like, but if they think that squeezing a lime into a bowl with salt and pepper is a legitimate sauce, then perhaps we shouldn't mix company often. I had a coughing fit the first time I tried it; super potent citrus combined with strong sea salt and added with admittedly too much pepper (I didn't count on the fact that peppercorns take up more volume and that the resulting crushing of those peppercorns would NOT equate to the same amount as using a tablespoon of already ground pepper) was just...gross.
But, since it was a dipping sauce, all was well. The beans were a fascinating mix as the two strongest flavors within it, the balsamic vinegar and the honey, interacted in a way I hadn't thought possible. Megan thought I cut the onions too thick, but other than that a totally successful meal.
I would give it a week-night doability if you're having a leisurely evening. I definitely need to try our public grill though, because this battle against the pan is getting old.
Wednesday - Italian Sausage and Bean Soup
Ingredients
1 lb Italian sausage. Use spicy Italian if you prefer.
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1 15oz can of great northern beans (white beans), rinsed and drained
1 15oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1-2 cans of beef broth (around 15 oz. We use low-sodium)
1 tbsp fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
Parmesan cheese for topping
The original recipe also called for a 1 15oz can of undrained tomatoes, but Megan doesn't like them so I took them out.
I also added crushed red pepper flakes...we'll talk about that in a second.
Ok! This is the most amazing recipe ever! It's a super-delicious stew-soup that is cheap to buy ingredients for (after buying bread for dipping, the cans of beans, the broth, and the sausage it was I think like 7 bucks) and takes like no time or skill to make!
Step 1: Brown sausage of choice. You can drain if you want, I didn't.
Step 2: Chop onion and garlic
Step 3: Rinse and drain beans
Step 4: Put all ingredients into pot.
Step 5: Simmer for 10 minutes
Step 6: Serve. Put cheese on top if you want.
Now, a few notes about personal preferences. Megan prefers a more thick stew and less soup, so her favorite is to use only one can of broth. I like more broth though, so I prefer to use two. I split this difference on Wednesday and used 1 1/2, and that seemed to make both of us happy.
In terms of spice, you can use a spicy italian sausage if you want. I decided to add pepper flakes to the sausage as I was browning them and I really liked it, but Megan found it too spicy. The first time I had this soup was during the Ing Annual Gingerbread House Making Extravaganza when my mom made it. At the time I added the pepper flakes in as I was eating it and got the same effect, so if you have different spice preferences you can always add more to your own personal bowl of soup as you go along.
I forgot the basil on Wednesday. I didn't really miss it though, so if you don't have any you can skip it and be fine.
The original recipe also only used 3/4 lb of sausage, but we like more meat.
Like I said, this is an AMAZING recipe. So delicious, reheats well, and take little time and effort. So you readers with babies might want to keep this handy for those particularly crazy nights.
That wraps it up for this week. Still no head way on the To-Try list, but since we were gone at the Young Married's retreat I didn't have time to do my Sunday Store Day (I don't intentionally try to alliterate my life, really I don't). But, I did learn a lot about cooking with alcohol from AJ and this other guy Dave, who apparently went to culinary school. So I think there will definitely be some new experiments coming up, along with delving into the list.
What'd you guys eat this week?
Friday Food Free!-...er, Three!
I'm starting to think that Friday is not the best day for the Food review. But I refuse to relinquish my alliteration, so here it is.
Only one meal was cooked this week, much to my dismay. I had planned on making a cool taco salad on Wednesday with homemade taco seasoning, but I forgot that I had a dentist appointment and it just ended up being too complicated to figure out. So, only food on Monday.
Monday - Barbecue Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Barbecue Sauce Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 rounded 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Garlic Mashed Potatoes Ingredients
3 lbs potatoes (recipe is peeled and cubed; I used red potatoes so I just peeled. You can also leave peel on)
1 head of garlic
1/2 handful of salt
4 TBSP butter or margarine
1/4 cup of milk
I made the barbecue sauce on Sunday, after I came home from the store. This barbecue sauce is amazing; my dad has been making it for years. It's supposed to be the secret recipe used at Tony Roma's for their Blue Ridge Smokie sauce. I don't know if it tastes the same or not; it's been a while since I've been to Tony Roma's and I usually get the honey-style sauce. Regardless, it's still a very good barbecue sauce, and once you have all the ingredients super-easy to make. You just dump it all into a pot and bring it to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Ten put it into a bottle and refrigerate for future use. It makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Works great on everything; burgers, chicken, ribs.
Now, I made the chicken by simply throwing some olive oil onto it and putting it in a 9 x 13 pan to bake. I don't put sauce on it; it just burns in the oven and it tastes just as good putting the sauce after the chicken is cooked.
Now, for the mashed potatoes. This was my first batch of mashed potatoes I had ever done, and from what I hear of the world of mashed potatoes is that they can be very difficult to do correctly, so I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. Megan felt like helping out this time, so she peeled all of the potatoes while I smashed the garlic head and peeled them. I was sorta grumpy about garlic since I had bought a pack of three heads from the store and they were all sprouted already except for one quarter of one of them. I had some garlic from a previous head and managed to get enough functional cloves, but that'll teach me to buy garlic blindly in the future.
anyway, you put the garlic and potatoes into a pot (my mom (it's her recipe) wrote saucepan, but I used a pasta pot because I thought it would be easier to drain with the built in strainer. I don't think I'd do it again; too much to clean up just to avoid normal draining procedures of the boiling water.) as well as the salt. Don't worry about it being too salty; it's mostly to help the water boil faster and the potatoes didn't soak up much of it; in fact they needed salt afterwards. Boil until they are soft. After you drain, add the butter/margarine and milk and smash together. You can add in ground pepper if you want.
The only thing I would definitely change for my procedure is how I dealt with the red potatoes. I like the flavor of red potatoes better when they're mashed, but because they were naturally smaller I decided not to cube them since they were about the size I would've cubed regular potatoes. However, it took a little extra time to cook some of the larger ones to be really really soft. In the future I would cut down all the potatoes to be about the same size to speed the process along and prevent the smaller potatoes from potentially being over-done (can you overdo a potato? I don't even know.).
The end result was great; the potatoes needed some salt and pepper, but they were smooth and creamy and perfect. The sauce was great as always (I've made it before so there was no trepidation about it) and it was overall a successful dinner.
So that's it for this week. Hopefully next week will be a little bit back to normal in terms of the cooking routine.
What'd you guys eat last week?
Only one meal was cooked this week, much to my dismay. I had planned on making a cool taco salad on Wednesday with homemade taco seasoning, but I forgot that I had a dentist appointment and it just ended up being too complicated to figure out. So, only food on Monday.
Monday - Barbecue Chicken with Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Barbecue Sauce Ingredients
1 cup ketchup
1 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 rounded 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
Garlic Mashed Potatoes Ingredients
3 lbs potatoes (recipe is peeled and cubed; I used red potatoes so I just peeled. You can also leave peel on)
1 head of garlic
1/2 handful of salt
4 TBSP butter or margarine
1/4 cup of milk
I made the barbecue sauce on Sunday, after I came home from the store. This barbecue sauce is amazing; my dad has been making it for years. It's supposed to be the secret recipe used at Tony Roma's for their Blue Ridge Smokie sauce. I don't know if it tastes the same or not; it's been a while since I've been to Tony Roma's and I usually get the honey-style sauce. Regardless, it's still a very good barbecue sauce, and once you have all the ingredients super-easy to make. You just dump it all into a pot and bring it to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Ten put it into a bottle and refrigerate for future use. It makes about 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Works great on everything; burgers, chicken, ribs.
Now, I made the chicken by simply throwing some olive oil onto it and putting it in a 9 x 13 pan to bake. I don't put sauce on it; it just burns in the oven and it tastes just as good putting the sauce after the chicken is cooked.
Now, for the mashed potatoes. This was my first batch of mashed potatoes I had ever done, and from what I hear of the world of mashed potatoes is that they can be very difficult to do correctly, so I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. Megan felt like helping out this time, so she peeled all of the potatoes while I smashed the garlic head and peeled them. I was sorta grumpy about garlic since I had bought a pack of three heads from the store and they were all sprouted already except for one quarter of one of them. I had some garlic from a previous head and managed to get enough functional cloves, but that'll teach me to buy garlic blindly in the future.
anyway, you put the garlic and potatoes into a pot (my mom (it's her recipe) wrote saucepan, but I used a pasta pot because I thought it would be easier to drain with the built in strainer. I don't think I'd do it again; too much to clean up just to avoid normal draining procedures of the boiling water.) as well as the salt. Don't worry about it being too salty; it's mostly to help the water boil faster and the potatoes didn't soak up much of it; in fact they needed salt afterwards. Boil until they are soft. After you drain, add the butter/margarine and milk and smash together. You can add in ground pepper if you want.
The only thing I would definitely change for my procedure is how I dealt with the red potatoes. I like the flavor of red potatoes better when they're mashed, but because they were naturally smaller I decided not to cube them since they were about the size I would've cubed regular potatoes. However, it took a little extra time to cook some of the larger ones to be really really soft. In the future I would cut down all the potatoes to be about the same size to speed the process along and prevent the smaller potatoes from potentially being over-done (can you overdo a potato? I don't even know.).
The end result was great; the potatoes needed some salt and pepper, but they were smooth and creamy and perfect. The sauce was great as always (I've made it before so there was no trepidation about it) and it was overall a successful dinner.
So that's it for this week. Hopefully next week will be a little bit back to normal in terms of the cooking routine.
What'd you guys eat last week?
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