Thursday, June 28, 2012

Dwindling Supplies

Apologies to everyone for being a bit M.I.A. for the last few weeks. I'm having surgery next week and I've been trying to get lots of things done before I'm on crutches for a few weeks. Don't worry, I'm going to be fine, and this is going to fix what has been causing me pain for months so...I'm actually looking forward to it, as much as one can look forward to extra pain. Knowing that the pain will subside is what is keeping me going right now!

I've been cleaning the house, doing all the laundry, changing the sheets, and preparing for a week on the couch...but I've also been trying to use up what I've got in the kitchen. I haven't gone food shopping in a few weeks, trying to clean the freezer out of all the collected meats, and pairing that with randomness found in the pantry! There's too much stuff in there! I've actually purchased some cute little glass bottles, which should arrive in the next few days, in order to combine duplicates of spice jars in the hopes of making more space in there! I've got bottles and bags, jars and cans...and I need to use this stuff up. Otherwise, there's no room for new and exciting ingredients that I find in the future!

Last night, for instance, I made a risotto using things I had on hand. Like I've said in the past, risotto can be a great catch-all for leftover ingredients, and this was no exception. I even had some homemade chicken stock left over that I defrosted for the occasion. I'm not going to share the intricacies of my creation, because I'm thinking that this is one for the books - and a cookbook, I will write, one day. I'm taking notes, and collecting pictures. This one was an interesting pairing of ingredients that turned out really well so I was very excited!

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What types of ingredients do you have lying around in your pantry? We've all gotten that jar of seasoned salt, that bottle of tarragon vinegar, that container of homemade jam that sits around, waiting for the perfect recipe. They take a long time to use up, but taste so good - we need to utilize these wonderful ingredients more often! That's the my goal!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Record Time

Last night, I cranked out dinner in record time! We had somewhere to go, and we weren't going to eat until late if I didn't get something on the table before we had to go. I had defrosted burgers, but a plain burger on a plain bun wasn't all that appealing to me at the time...so I worked somethin' out!!

I started by throwing some bacon slices into a cast iron pan, allowing them to start cooking while I gathered some other ingredients from around my kitchen! I pulled out a bag of chopped cabbage slaw mix, some very ripe (over-ripe? maybe.) avocados, a shallot, and two rogue slices of provolone cheese that I had left over from the Cubano I made last week. While I was gathering these things, my husband went outside and harvested some arugula from our garden! Okay, that's what I've got. Here's what I made:

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I crumbled some of the bacon into the mixture of cabbage slaw and tossed it with a light ranch dressing - instant side dish of flavorful cole slaw! I put the burgers in the pan that I cooked the bacon in, allowing the meat to soak up some of that bacon flavor while it cooked. Meanwhile, I placed the buns under the broiler to toast, and mashed up those "very ripe" avocados with a minced shallot. I used the avocado mixture on each side of the bun, topping it with the burger (topped with melted Provolone), bacon slices and arugula leaves. 

The prep was minimal, the idea was simple, and the outcome was delicious! There's always something to be made with what you've got lying around the house, so put your thinkin' caps on and get cookin'! Dinner was literally on the table in under 15 minutes, and I have to say, I think I even impressed my husband. "Dinner's ready...already???" he yelled from the garden in our backyard. Haha, yup!

Friday, June 15, 2012

Getting Back to Basics



The other night, I finally had a little bit of time to breathe, so I decided to re-crack open my "textbook," The Professional Chef. Of course, it's been awhile since I've had time to dedicate to broadening my knowledge in the culinary field, so I'm still on that pesky soup section. Lucky thing...I love soup! The first recipe in this section of the text book is a traditional Chicken Rice soup (Canja). A few weeks ago, I made a giant batch of homemade chicken stock, so a few days before making this recipe, I defrosted quite a few small plastic containers for use in the soup.

To start the process, the first thing I had to do was brown up some chicken pieces. The recipe calls for a "stewing hen" cut into 6 pieces, but guess what I found on my Peapod.com expedition this week? I found a whole chicken, already cut into pieces, bones, skin, gizzards and all. Perfect, I still got fresh food, but I took a tiny bit of work out of it...that's what I like to find! So, in batches, I browned up my chicken pieces in one pot, and then placed them in another, larger, stock pot. I think the recipe means to use the same pot all the way through, but since I don't have restaurant-size stock pots, or giant areas of stove top, I actually used a lobster pot to make this soup. I knew I was going to need depth, and that's the deepest I've got!

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Once I had browned all of the pieces of chicken (this was done in a few batches so as not to crowd them), and they had all been tossed into the lobster/stock pot, I added a bunch of other things! A nice, rough cut of mirepoix (carrots, onions and celery) got thrown in, along with minced jalapeno, chopped ginger, and a couple of bay leaves. The knife cuts on these things don't need to be precise since the soup gets strained at the end, and all this stuff gets tossed anyway. I sauteed this mixture for about 5 minutes to bring out the flavors before adding them to the pot.

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After chopping and adding all of these delicious, fresh ingredients to the pot, I poured in my GALLON of chicken stock, and seasoned it all up with some rosemary, and salt and pepper.

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An hour and a half later, I took a leisurely stroll back into the kitchen to find wonderful aromas, and some very tender chicken pieces. I pulled them all out of the broth mixture, and pulled all of the meat from the bones, chopping it all into bite-sized pieces as I went. The soup continued to simmer while I did this.

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Once the chicken was all chopped up, and ready for the final product, I strained my soup through a sieve, removing all of the chopped veggies and seasonings. I allowed the broth to sit for a few minutes so that the fat could kind of coagulate on top. I know, gross, but hey - it happens - and you don't want to EAT it, do you? Once a few minutes had passed, I was able to skim the oils and fattiness off the top, leaving a lovely, clear broth that smelled delicious! I sweated some garlic in a pot with some canola oil (the recipe calls for palm oil, but that is expensive and hard to find) before adding it to the broth, re-seasoned it, and since I'd just pulled out all the flavorful bits, allowed it to simmer for a few more minutes. After adding the chicken back to the pot, along with a bag of corn kernels, and some long-grained rice that I had cooked separately and allowed to air-dry for a bit, it was ready to serve! All it needed was a slight garnish of chopped cilantro!

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While the soup simmered for the last few minutes, I pulled together a couple of traditional Cubano sandwiches, chock-ful of roast pork, black forest ham, provolone cheese, cilantro, pickles and dijon mustard. I set them on the Panini Grill while I dished out the soup. This was a really festive and delicious meal. The soup was fulfilling without being heavy (although my husband and I both felt like it was missing something - a spice maybe, but something - it was almost like I should have left the ginger and jalapeno IN the soup), and the Cubano - mmm, delicioso!

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Sunday, June 10, 2012

A Park Full of Trucks

Today, we took a family outing to the Food Truck Festival, being held at the center of UMass Boston's campus. There were 27 trucks parked around the circle, with plenty of food to serve and smiles to give. It was a beautiful day today, and until today, I didn't realize how pretty the campus is, right on the water, which brought a lovely breeze to the event.

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There was no way we would make it to every cart, based on the serving sizes that we started with, but I tried to take pictures and notes on my favorites from the day. By far, my favorite bite was from Mei Mei Street Kitchen. There were quite a few options at this truck but I decided to go for the Green Monster ball, a deep-fried spinach and cheddar rice ball, along the lines of the Italian version - arancini. This was a delicious ball of goodness - It was warm and gooey on the inside, and crispy and crunchy on the outside. The best of all worlds, if you ask me, and I now have to find a way to get to their truck in Back Bay, from my office in the Financial District, on a regular basis for lunch. I wonder if they deliver!?

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The Lobsta Love Truck was gaining quite a following, and at a rapid rate, so we decided to hop in line before it got ridiculous. There were only three options at this location, so my husband and I decided to each get one thing and share. We opted for the lobster mac n' cheese, which came with giant chunks of lobster claw, as well as the lobster quesadilla, a tortilla stuffed with succulent lobster meat and a biting sauce to top it all off!

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There's a couple glimpses of the puppy in these pics - haha! She was looking on with her tongue out, wishing she could have some delicious lobster too! Over at Staff Meal, I had noticed a "truck-made" chorizo on the menu, and that grabbed my attention, so we went over there next. The chorizo was served in a taco, with lime crema, radish and lettuce, and it was delicious!

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The Dining Car offered the choice between a Pulled Pork Slider, and Crispy Cauliflower. I don't normally find myself being drawn to anything involving cauliflower, but this was just calling my name for some reason. It definitely did not disappoint. The florets are tossed with their special corn flour coating and then lightly fried. They are then topped with some curry aioli that adds a hint of spice to the dish! Yum!

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The final highlight of delicious food at the festival came from Roxy's Grilled Cheese, which despite being famous from The Great Food Truck Race on the Food Network, I have had yet to try. They don't show up in the area that I work very often, and when they do, I've usually already eaten lunch once I find them. I was excited to try their food and so I opted for the The Green Muenster Melt, which contains applewood-smoked bacon, guacamole, and muenster cheese. 

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Before we left the festival, but after we decided we were sufficiently full, we had to visit Del's Frozen Lemonade for a refreshing cup of, you guessed it, frozen lemonade! In this heat, that really hit the spot!

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Monday, June 4, 2012

An Asian Dish from a French Cookbook?

After a busy week, and more leftovers than I originally expected, as well as an extreme Thai craving, I was left with last Friday's planned meal to make tonight for dinner. Sometimes we just don't stick to the plan. I thought this recipe, for Shrimp with Cellophane Noodles, was intriguing, and after tasting it, I was right!

This was a really quick one to pull together, and that was a good thing, because I was pretty tired by the time I got home this evening. I peeled my shrimp and de-veined them quickly. The best part about buying frozen shrimp is that they are usually "e-z peel" which means it does not take a ton of work to clean them up. It's a wonder those are the ones that are usually on sale too - less work, less cost - it makes no sense but I'm not complaining.

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I placed some dried mushrooms into a bowl of warm water, allowing them to reconstitute while I brought together the rest of my ingredients. I also put a pot of water on to boil for my noodles. I couldn't find cellophane noodles at my regular grocery store this week, and didn't have a chance to get to my favorite Asian market, so I made do with some Chinese noodles instead. It worked out just fine, although I think the cellophane noodles may have absorbed a bit more of the sauce...we'll just have to try it again!

While my noodles cooked, I heated some peanut oil in wok, sweated some onions and then added those reconstituted mushrooms, chopped, along with some garlic. Thirty seconds later, I added the shrimp to the wok with a mixture of Chinese Five Spice, cayenne pepper, and sugar. As the shrimp began to turn pink, I seasoned the mixture with a generous amount of white pepper and salt, and then poured in some tomato puree. I know, weird, right? There's all these Asian influences, and then...tomato puree!? That was left to simmer for about two minutes, while the shrimp finished cooking.

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Meanwhile, I pulled those noodles out of the boiling water and doused them with a splash of sesame oil. After splitting the noodles up between the bowls, I topped them with the shrimp and tomato mixture, with a cilantro garnish. The pop of spice that the cayenne pepper brings, and the notably Asian flavor of the Chinese Five Spice really makes this an intriguing dish. As I worked, I wondered if it would be any good - it seemed so simple, but all over the place - but everything came together so nicely, and made for a really delicious one-dish meal! Yum!!

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There's no new menu this week because I realized that we've got a bunch of things in the freezer that I need to use before adding more things to my collection...so we're gettin' creative this week!