Reflections on a summer past

Ok, maybe summer has not quite past yet, but it's definitely getting there.  The nights are cooling off, preseason football has started and I'm sweating through my t-shirts way less often.  When dead of summer hit, my desire to cook dropped to NONE, which is pretty typical for me.  Actually, usually as soon as spring hits and it's warm enough to sit on a patio all I want to eat is beer and nachos from 5pm-12am, but I've been much more restrained this year due to my domestic partnership blissitude.  Anyway, we have been eating a lot of sandwiches and meals that require little thought (with the exception of a newly discovered authentic Chinese joint that I will post about next time we go).  Therefore, I had to look into my archives for something to write about when the bug hit me tonight.  Shamefully I never managed to post these pics, taken when mi Mama was in town the first week of June - she sprung for some seriously fancy steaks and brought from Minnesota a bottle of very precious, very difficult to find zinfandel.  I hear the winemaker for this particular label is quite handsome, but step off single ladies, I also hear his wife a big time hottie.

Just a little meat here.

Obviously it's been awhile, but I believe those are the first field greens from our garden (now all gone to seed) with shaved manchego, thinly sliced pear and spiced walnuts or pecans (I can never remember which is which until they are side by side.  Or in a labeled bag).  And of course, THE ZIN.  

I'm going to miss summer.  

PS.  I just wanted to mention how much it annoys me when people type, or say, "YUM-O!".  Thanks for listening. 

Chicken Piccata. Again.

** EDIT: Whoopsie daisy! My lovely mother pointed out today that this dish was NOT chicken piccata (NOR was it chicken piccaTTa - I'm just going to go ahead and fix that titular typo and we won't mention anything else about it, hmmmmkay?). It was chicken MARSALA. Which you'd think I'd know, since immediately after arriving back in Denver I made it for Mike. With marsala wine. However, if I just go and replace all the piccata's with marsala's, half my post will not make sense. Let's just chalk this one up to early-onset dementia and pretend it never happenend. **

Dude prior to a few months ago I had tasted chicken piccata ONCE, at a flipping wedding banquet, but judging by this blog you'd think my family has had a decades-long tradition of maniacally developing/cooking/eating the perfect chicken piccata.  We don't...at least we didn't used to.  But anyway, this post isn't really about the piccata, which was EXCELLENT, thank you very much Mom.  First of all, check out this salad:

Brought to you by the letters A and M

My Mom and I picked up some lovely arugula from the Sioux Falls farmers market when I was home for a few days.  I haven't had any arugula all summer (my life is so hard) so it was rather exciting to see perfect, peppery leaves all bagged up and ready to go home with us.  The salad was pretty simple - I shaved some parmesan and I think I dressed it with lemon and olive oil and a generous sprinkling of salt.  My mom came up with the idea to add pistachios, which I think is what actually made the salad.  

Mom's got this idea that adding pasta to the piccata sauce makes the dish.  IT DOES.  Hello, who doesn't like a creamy-but-not-too-creamy pasta with fried chicken on the top?  Probably not you, and definitely not me. 

Le Chef Michele

The meal was fantastic, which brings me to the photo that made this blog post necessary.  Anyone who's eaten dinner at the Malters' residence will know this scenario well:

Just a bite.  C'mon. 

Fried Chicken Quest: Day 2

A little late on the update, but here it is anyway.  I'll save you the suspense and just flat-out tell you that it was pretty good - not perfect.  One thing to mention - brining was definitely worth it.  Also, not as big as a pain in the ass as I expected.  I used a big pasta pot to make the brine, let it cool and tossed all the chicken in the pot and shoved the whole thing in the fridge.  Easy.  One little thing, Thomas Keller's brine recipe calls for 12ish cloves of garlic, which I obliged but in hindsight it was too much.  Fried chicken is supposed to be simple, the garlic and herbs tasted...unnecessary.  If that makes sense.

Coated chicken resting - you're supposed to let it get pasty to get a good crust.  In theory.

Anyway, so the big problem I had last time - bland chicken - solved.  Of course, this time the breading was really tough, which is strange, because I used the exact same recipe and technique from the last batch, and that batch was better.  After the chicken rested (we took it to Rena and Ben's for dinner) the breading softened, which solved the toughness but of course, there goes lost the crisp coating.  Sigh.

Bubbly.

I was more than a bit tempted to give up (disposing of all that oil sucks) and leave the chicken frying to the kindly folks at KFC, but I think I'll give it another shot.  Maybe fry it at a higher temperature and then finish it off in the oven.  Suggestions?

For all my bitching it was pretty good. 

Hope you all had a Happy 4th! 

Fried Chicken Quest

I just finished a book, "Cloud Chamber" by Michael Dorris.  It was awesome, for the record. There is a great chapter near the end where the characters essentially take over a KFC in Montana and make homemade fried chicken for the unsuspecting, and extremely lucky masses.  When my friends Rena and Ben asked if Mike and I wanted to do a bike tour/picnic on the 4th of July, I was all over making the fried chicken.

I'm not huge on frying food, but this isn't the first time I've made fried chicken, nor the second.  That was a little over a month ago.  It turned out ok, but I thought the chicken itself was bland.  Then I remembered a recipe I read a long time ago for "Thomas Keller's BEST Fried Chicken", recalling thinking "well, no shit it's awesome" when I read the recipe: first he first brines the chicken, then soaks it in buttermilk.  Each step gets a good 8-12 hours.  Geez. The rest is pretty much the standard flour/paprika/s&p dredging.  I thought that was pretty intensive, but considering the previous batch results, I've reconsidered.  So, here's my attempt at TK's Giant Pain In The Ass Fried Chicken: Day 1.

Check out this brine:

Rosemary, thyme, garlic, peppercorns, sugar, salt, and bay leaves from Carol's trees in CA - almost out of those.  Think it's time for another trip west.

The Body of Christ Compels You (to eat a sandwich)*

Have you guys seen these yet?  The first time I saw them in Safeway I laughed my ass off - thought the Catholic Church finally caved and decided to sell the Eucharist to pay some lawyers- not those puny ones you could easily get for free on Sunday, either.  The BIG one, the one Father Whoever specifically blesses and gives a shard to those other Upstanding Citizens who do the readings and distribute communion and such.

I went with Original & Favorite, obviously.

My instinct was to laugh and walk away (which I did multiple times), but then Mike and I went camping with my friends Wes and Andrea.  They are healthy eaters - packed Mahi Mahi and salads for a camping dinner that shamed my hastily packed hot dogs and potato chips (I'm new to camping - next time I'll get more creative).  Boring story short - they had some in their camping cooler and told me they were good and I felt ashamed at my recent lack of healthful-eating.  So, next trip to the store I picked a package up and made a tasty sandwich.

Blessed Diet Sandwich Bread

Looks promising...

Verdict?  Eh.  If you're watching your carbs (ha your diet is so 2001) and have a bold sandwich going, knock yerself out, you'll be satisfied.  I made mine with tuna fish (light on the mayo, please) and it was pretty good. Personally, I would compare this Eucho-bread to a blank canvas - it's not getting in the way of flavor, but it's not adding a thing either.  The texture isn't terrible, but it's not great - at least it didn't stick to the roof of my mouth like glue. 

Still snarfed it down!

For the record, I actually purchased, made, and photographed this sandwich at least a month ago, but out of the six wafers, five are still in the fridge.  Let me know if you want them. 

* Apologies to those who are shocked by aforewritten blasphemy or near-blasphemy. 

Jealous teesters?

**EDIT: I posted pics of Top-the-Tator and Doritos on Facebook and it turns out we're not the only ones who know about this awesome-ness.  Add yet another PRO to the benefits of living in the Land of 10,000 Lakes (and Land-o-Lakes).

My oldest sister started this snacking tradition - Doritos and "Top The Tater."  Sounds ridiculous, because it is - but it is absolutely delicious and impossible to replicate with any other sour cream.  It has the Girl Scout Cookie allure - this particular brand and flavor of sour cream is impossible to get outside of Minnesota so we only get it once a year or so.  So, essentially I'm posting this to make my sisters jealously salivate.  

Mmmmmm...

The Cure for "Turkey Bowl Surprise"-Related Illness

You know when you pull some leftovers out of the fridge, give it a sniff, and think "awwww it'll be fine"?  Sadly, for Josh, this time it was not.  He got food poisoning from eating a turkey bowl that was in the fridge a tad too long, so Lindsay nursed him back to health with her quick-style homemade chicken noodle soup.


Here's what she has to say (and she always has something entertaining to say):


"When you're sick nothing calls out more than chicken noodle soup!  I made this recipe up, which isn't hard, but sticks to the simple rules of food when you are sick.  No green stuff, easy to eat, and can be served with saltines and 7-up.  

I boil a chicken breast in herbs, shred it to get rid of any chewy things that make you wanna gag...don't need any more barfing tonight.  Boil some chicken broth with an onion and tiny carrots cut up in squares (remember we are trying to feel 5 years old again here.)  When its all boiled up and stewing away, cut up some pre made chinese egg noodles (about 1/2 a package cuz they bloat up and soak up all the broth if you add too many) and cook till tender. I added fresh parsley for extra flavor on mine:0)

Serve with saltines and 7-up and you are on the highway to health!"

Check out that dice!

Sort out the nasty bits

Mmm noodles

The Holy Trifecta of Sick Foods

The patient is feeling better already:)

Soup, Cake, Beer, & Silkworm Pupa. Why not.

I think I've told quite a few people about this lemongrass chicken recipe, which I love because it's easy, healthy (or at least it tastes that way), and just plain GOOD.  It's been awhile since I took these (crappy, iPhone) pics and at that time I was actuely obsessed with Modelo Especial in a can, with a slice of lime.  Rightfully so, and if you find yourself wondering what the big deal is go pick yourself up a sixer.

Ok, so here's the recipe.  Open up a can of Modelo and squeeze a lime up in there.  For real, it's important, you'll see in a minute.

Toss some dark chicken pieces into a splash of oil (you can cut up bite-size pieces, or if you're lazy like me throw the thighs in whole).  While the chicken is sauteing, get out your microplane, because it's pretty much all you'll need.  Grate ginger, lemongrass, 2 hot thai chiles, and garlic.  Watch out, those teeny Thai chiles are hot like whoa.  Proportions are below (see, told you that Modelo would come in handy).  A few pointers - I freeze ginger, thai chiles, and 4 inch pieces of lemongrass so I have them whenever I want.  Also, lemongrass and chiles grate much better when they are frozen. 

The lime is for the beer - not the soup:)

You can add more or less of any ingredient - I've added lemon juice in the past but it overwhelms the lemongrass.  Once everything is grated, (it's not too important how cooked the chicken is at this point), add all the grated ingredients to the pan and swirl it around a bit.  It's going to smell awesome.  

Then get out the fish sauce - please, no subs, get over the smell - and add 2-3 Tbsp to the pan.  It's going to smell even more awesome.  Add about 4 cups chicken stock (you want enough to submerge the chicken - the more broth, the more soup to slurp).  Let this simmer for 30 minutes or so, allowing the chicken thighs to become deliciously tender.  You can add sliced red bell pepper at this point for more color/veggies to your meal.  Taste and adjust the seasonings - I often add more fish sauce.  Now it's time to add the NOODLES! Oh how I love noodles.  This dish is best with the wide rice variety - I pick these up at the Asian food market, they look like this:

For awhile my Asian market only carried the COCK brand of these noodles.  Ahem.

So, now you have two options.  You can soak the rice noodles in a pan of warm water until they are soft, portion them out into a bowl, and ladle the lemongrass chicken and broth over the top OR you can be ridiculously lazy and just toss the noodles in the pan. 

I'm lazy.  

All that's left to do is garnish with crushed roasted peanuts, sliced scallions, and cilantro if you have it.  

The cilantro makes the color pop at bit more, alas I was out.

So that's lemongrass chicken recipe - if you can call a narrative a recipe.  I'm pretty bad at reading and following recipe directions, and nowhere is this more evident then when I try to bake a goddamned cake.  Now, everyone knows baking is not cooking, and requires stringent adherence to the EXACT proportions laid out in the recipe.  However, as I am apparently incapable of reading a full recipe and executing the instructions as directed, I have had some serious setbacks.  First case: the Hostess Cupcake- Cake Debacle.  

I love Hostess Cupcakes, in theory.  Every once in awhile I'll cave and buy one, but they are never as good as I think they are.  I'm not sure if this is because my tastes are growing more refined as I age (unlikely) or Hostess is cutting corners and and using sawdust and machine grease instead of flour and shortening (possibly).  Anyway, you can see why I gravitated towards this cake.  I don't really like frosting but I LURVE marshmallow fluff "frosting".  The disaster started when I failed to note the asterisk stating my 9 inch pans required me to prepare 2/3 of the full batter recipe or I'd have overflow issues.  Whoops - but I was smart, I decided to use the extra batter to make 6 cupcakes and bring them to school - spread the calories around.  Note my results. 

Cupcakes look worse than I do, which is saying something.

Not only did the cupcakes overflow, so did the cakes.  Massively.  I managed to get a cookie sheet in the oven to catch most of it, but Jesus what a mess.  Coincidently, (and hilariously) overbaked chocolate cake overflow makes for excellent Stunt Turds:

Pretty realistic, huh!

I managed to salvage the whole thing somehow and it turned out pretty awesome.  The Hostess Cupcake  You Remember From Childhood, dare I say.  Here is the link to the recipe, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen:

http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/02/homemade-devil-dog-ding-dong-or-hostess-cake/

And finally, a photo of the result:

Mmmm marshmallow fluff.

So, I bet you're wondering where the silkworm pupa are.  A couple weeks prior to making this cake, Mike and I made a trip to H Mart, this enormous, awesome Korean/Asian supermarket where he specifically asked for bundegi, or canned silkworm pupa.  I like to think of myself as an adventurous eater, but Jesus people, there are ways to get your protein and then there are bugs that are meant to be smashed underfoot and left for the ants.  Anyway, they are pretty common street vendor fare in Korea and Mikey likes em, so whatever.  The same night Mike pan friend a can of PUPA, I made Italian-meringue fresh strawberry buttercream frosting for a friend's birthday cupcakes.  The recipe (I also barely managed this one, as I didn't read anything properly) called for a LOT of egg whites so I went lazy-style and purchased a pint of Lucerne egg whites.  People, I present the two nastiest things that have ever graced my kitchen:

Uggghhh.  Grooooossss. 

The canned bundagi weren't the awesome flashback to the streets of Korea Mike was hoping for, so he left the rest out for the squirrels, who ate them up.  I expected more from those squirrels, and I know them to happily gobble up moldy hot dog buns.  The egg whites might seem innocuous, and I certainly didn't expect them to be so revolting but I actually gagged when I measured them out.  I don't know why, but egg whites have a very specific consistency and these didn't - well, ok they did, but it's not one I'm going to specifically name on the family website.  They worked, but screw it, I'd rather separate 1,000 eggs than buy another pint of that slime. 

And that's that.  I changed the background of the site because the sharp contrast between black and white was making my eyes go wonky.  I'm not thrilled with this layout but at least I'm not seeing double:)  Cheers! 

Whoa, it's almost May?!

So much time flew by in so little time.  I have loads of photos and idiotic rambling to post, will get at it today.  Promise!

Family of Killer Piccata Cooks

Another piccata recipe!  But this one is ritzy people.  My Mom and Aunt Barb are in Ecuador living it up, as you can see.

"Hola Angel,
Micki and I are sitting here after enjoying another sumptuous meal at Casa Michele at Hacienda San Joaquin! We're sending a pic for you to post! We named it Twisted Sister Piccata. It's simply chicken piccata with the added benefit of aji, cilantro and red onion.

Be sure to enjoy with a fine bottle of a white Chilean wine ONLY if you don't have  a bottle of DC Cellars Killer Chardonnay!

HUGS,
Aunt Barb and MOM"


By the way, "aji" is a hot pepper native to South America well known to be awesome.  Feel free to reference me on Wikipedia. 

Piccata de Ecuador

Mmmmm soup

So a few months ago I was on the phone with Lindsay and she was telling me about this amazing blender called a Vitamix.  Dude, she was so excited about this blender.  It could puree and blend and even cook the soup while blending, it was so powerful.  Culinary schools everywhere use them and you're food could never taste as good without it.  It is also pricey, like "WHOA - HOW MUCH?" pricey. I was skeptical, but since they bought it they've made soups that make my mouth water from 1300 miles away - soups like the one below.  So maybe I'll wait until I have a job to pick one up, but pricey or not, I'm sold.  


"Josh picked up this awesome cookbook for us after our friends had us over for a Vitamix soup party. After tasting this soup I had to have the recipe, it's so unique, I've tasted nothing like it before!  My spoon never feels like the right way to eat this soup, I sometimes drink it out of the bowl when I'm alone, THAT'S how much I like it.  Since I made it all pretty for dinner I used my spoon, which I thought about upgrading with my big chinese soup spoon after the first bite. Basically I can't get enough of it, nor can I eat it fast enough.  If I could jump in my bowl and swim with the ribbons of paprika oil and creme fraiche I would."

Da Cookbook 

Ha, best of luck to you Nui! 

The heralded Vitamix

Ok, so maybe it's worth the cash. 

Right after they photographed this Linds and Josh beer-bonged the rest.  True story. 

By the way, if anyone wants recipes for any of these dishes, shoot me a message.  

Post-Playa Piccata

Josh and Lindsay just got back from Playa del Carmen and their tans have more than once inspired me to glob on fake-tanning sauce in a pathetic attempt to forget that it's not even March yet.  So far it's not working, but my face makeup I bought in August matches again, which is nice.  On their way out of the country, the Suttons' picked up a few (five) bottles of TEQUILA!  They threw down a few shots of TEQUILA! prior to their dinner, which is not Mexican in nature but who the hell cares when you have a bottle or five of good, Mexican TEQUILA! sitting around the house.  They did make some tasty salads that allowed Lindsay to showcase her Amazing Egg Poaching Skills, which are indeed amazing.  I blame the altitude in Colorado for my repeated, epic failures in egg poaching but Lindsay still likes to rub it in.  They followed it up with chicken piccata, for which Linds has the following comments:

"Made chicken piccata last night, Josh's favorite. It's Giada's recipe which I personally think is the best, I have tried a few others.  Also tried out a salad with goat cheese, bacon, and a poached egg with homemade croutons.  Watch carefully as I make a perfect poached egg :0) It's SOOOOO easy.  hehe...

BTW the started the night off with tequila that Josh got at the duty free shop in Mexico.  We were at a bar in Playa and they shot it with this yummy mexican seasoning and a orange.  3 shots later and dinner was ready and I was sauced!"

And so was the chicken. 

Lick - Shake - Lick...

Drink! *Cringe*

Into the drink!

Posting this photo for the world's vegetarians - you know you want some.

I think this is why Jim used to turn the TV off during dinner;) 

Perfectly plated - nice plates too!

Throwing down at Brown (courtesy of Kelly Sanford)

College students aren't commonly known to cook and prepare meals more complicated than frozen pizza but then again you don't know my talented, brilliant cousin Kelly (cooking isn't the only thing that run in the fam;).  Also, can I say how awesome it is to get an email from a dear cousin I don't get a chance to catch up with very often?  Awesome. Despite busting her ass at Brown University, Kelly cooked a beautiful meal AND managed to send along photos of this lovely chicken tortellini soup.  Here's what she has to say about the process...

Since I don't have a car and the nearest grocery store is a fifteen minutes walk away, my roommates and I order our groceries online and get them delivered to us. In some ways it is convenient, but it also has its drawbacks since you can't actually SEE what you are getting. I made the mistake of ordering split chicken breast instead of boneless skinless chicken breast. After ripping the flesh from the bone in order to get at just the meat (letting out my inner savage) I was left with a lot of bone with remnants of flesh on it. I felt bad wasting any of the meat, so I figured I'd try making my own chicken stock with all the bones. After trolling through a bunch of different cooking recipes to get an idea of how this is actually done, I threw them in a big pot with some carrots, half of an old onion, a sprig of fresh rosemary and a hunk of parmesan rind and then let it simmer for 4 hours or so. Then a couple days later I made chicken tortellini soup with sauteed onions and carrots and cheese tortellini. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, garlic, lots of oregano, a bit of basil, and some soy sauce. Served it with parmesan cheese and some roasted garlic/rosemary sweet potatoes. Mmmmmm... Making the stock from scratch was so satisfying, and it provided a richer flavor than the canned soup. Plus it feels good not to waste anything. yay!

Sweet potatoes are the new black.

That stock is from SCRATCH, people.  

Is it just me or is that bread eyeballing the soup?  I'm not smoking anything, I swear. 

Shake! Shake! Shake! Senora!

Anytime I see shrimp cocktail presented in a martini glass I think of Beetlejuice, hence the title of this blog. Missy (ahem, Melissa) and Jeff sent along these photos from their Valentine's Day dinner- very adult, which must be refreshing every once in awhile:)  Here's what she had to say...

Inspired by the mouth-watering Bloody Marys Jim and I had while lunching (with Jeff and Luke) at the Gunflint Tavern in GM (while Mom entertained the boys, or vice versa, at the cabin)... Jeff and I enjoyed these for our Valentine's Day along with shrimp cocktail. Very spicy with worchestershire sauce, horseradish, tabasco. Seasoned with celery salt, dill, cracked pepper. Splash of olive juice and pickle juice. Garnished with Cajun-spiced shrimp, celery stalk, jumbo olive, kosher dill pickle, pickled cauliflower. Yum!

Best. Bloody. EVER.

Work! Work! Work! Senora!

Curb Your Appetite

When I come home from school, I'm starved.  Even if I'm not starved, I'm still going to be eating something because that is how I roll.  Today at 5:30 I made salads for Mike and I so I could wait until a non-early bird special hour to eat dinner, because I'm already drinking decaf every night - I start eating dinner before 6:00 and AARP will start sending me magazines and offers for nearly free! life insurance policies.  Now, I realize these aren't exactly what you'd call the healthiest salads - a little light on veggies and we're obsessed with this parmesan/red wine vinegar dressing Mike's family calls "Rich & Charlies."  I call it heroin. Anyway, it's still a salad damn it and it's better then housing a box of Red Hots, which I considered.  I threw some sliced leftover steak from the other night on top of the usual, which is hearts of palm, artichoke hearts, and just a little sliced onion.  We're fancy.

The after-school special.

Will Wax for Lamb

Tonight, for your consideration, Lindsay and Josh have submitted "Irish Stew with Parmesan Polenta."  As I requested, Lindsay submitted a few words about their meal: "My client traded me a big bag of random leg parts to get her brows done a few times." Perhaps I should elaborate.  Lindsay's an esthetician and has a client who is passionate about the quality of lamb her family raises and really, really wanted Lindsay and Josh to try it, so she showed up to her brow appointment with a hunk of meat.  God, the perks of living in Sonoma.  Both Lindsay and Josh (a hair stylist) are accustomed to working for trade so Lindsay now has to pull a leg o' lambs' worth of eyebrows, but appears to be well worth it.  

Pot o' parts getting brown.

Pot o ' yum.

Pot o' GRAVY (!)

This is an iPhone pic - they couldn't be bothered with a real camera at this point.  I get it.