Showing posts with label techniques. Show all posts
Showing posts with label techniques. Show all posts
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.
Lunch
I have a hard time with lunch. Specifically, packing it.
The problem is that it's difficult to have something delicious that is also easy to transport and doesn't require any additional steps for cooking/preparing. I've been having salads and sandwiches for over two years now and I'm just sort of stuck as to how to vary my routine. Not to mention that salads are sort of time consuming to prepare and difficult to pack especially on bike days.
So, friends, what do you do?
I've been monitoring a number of bento blogs, bento being the japanese style of making lunch boxes. Their cooking methods look interesting as they are delicious and homemade but are designed to be eaten at room temperature. I haven't had the time or courage to try making one yet, but it's an option I'm seriously considering.
So if you have any lunch-time tips or favorite things, share them in the comments! I'd be much obliged.
The problem is that it's difficult to have something delicious that is also easy to transport and doesn't require any additional steps for cooking/preparing. I've been having salads and sandwiches for over two years now and I'm just sort of stuck as to how to vary my routine. Not to mention that salads are sort of time consuming to prepare and difficult to pack especially on bike days.
So, friends, what do you do?
I've been monitoring a number of bento blogs, bento being the japanese style of making lunch boxes. Their cooking methods look interesting as they are delicious and homemade but are designed to be eaten at room temperature. I haven't had the time or courage to try making one yet, but it's an option I'm seriously considering.
So if you have any lunch-time tips or favorite things, share them in the comments! I'd be much obliged.
Style
Well, once again we had a cooking-less week. Pleh. I really have gotten attached to cooking and to have to go through the week without doing so actually gets me a little down
But onward we press. I decided that since I didn't have a ton of recipes to shove down your throat I'd as you, the readers, a question:
What's your cooking style?
Me, I'm definitely a mise en place enthusiast: get everything out, set it on the counter, methodically use all of your ingredients and wash your stuff as you move along. Makes for less clean up (sometimes) and orderly cooking; it also prevents me from missing a ingredient or a step.
As for the actual recipe, I have a magnet with a clip on it (an Aloha shirt; we got it in Hawaii) that I hang onto the smoke vent above the stove and let the recipe hang in front of me so I can read it as I work along.
I love having the right tool for the right situation, but I never let that get me down; I'll improvise if needed. I won't let it stop me from doing a recipe or a style of cooking if I really want to do it.
Anyway, please share your methods and techniques: I'm curious!
But onward we press. I decided that since I didn't have a ton of recipes to shove down your throat I'd as you, the readers, a question:
What's your cooking style?
Me, I'm definitely a mise en place enthusiast: get everything out, set it on the counter, methodically use all of your ingredients and wash your stuff as you move along. Makes for less clean up (sometimes) and orderly cooking; it also prevents me from missing a ingredient or a step.
As for the actual recipe, I have a magnet with a clip on it (an Aloha shirt; we got it in Hawaii) that I hang onto the smoke vent above the stove and let the recipe hang in front of me so I can read it as I work along.
I love having the right tool for the right situation, but I never let that get me down; I'll improvise if needed. I won't let it stop me from doing a recipe or a style of cooking if I really want to do it.
Anyway, please share your methods and techniques: I'm curious!
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