Cooking (Page 2 of 2)

: Your bentos sound delicious!! I want to come over and cook with you sometime. You should check out vegetarian recipies for beans, since a lot of them replace meat with beans anyway. If you want you can look through my cookbook sometime, Sam's made some great bean things from it. And hey, maybe your bento could use some jalapeno wagon wheels! ^_~

I miss sheperd's pie! I actually just bought the stuff to try cooking a vegetarian one. We'll see how it comes out. XP;; Cooking with fake meat is so much easier than cooking with real meat!

It's not really warm and hearty, but I got this recipe from a friend I'm going to try out today, it's a spicy peanut sauce over noodles with peppers and cabbage. Yummy cabbage. The sauce is amazing so I hope I can make it right!

It's almost midnight, but I saw a recipe I just had to try, so I'm cooking. XD I wish I had a cast-iron skillet! I fell in love with them when I lived with - his mother made the best potatoes just by slicing them and tossing them in a well-seasoned skillet. Mmmmm. But what I'm cooking is diced potato with onion, a splash of virgin olive oil, a tiny bit of bacon grease, and some fresh oregano - once the potato is cooked soft, I'll toss in some diced tomato and sweet corn, and then crack a couple eggs on top, cover, and cook until it's done. It smells delicious already, I can't wait to try it~ I just wish I had some farm eggs on hand instead of these pale, glass-shelled supermarket eggs. :( Dad said he barely noticed the difference switching to the farm eggs (I did, they're nothing alike) but switching back was like trying to listen to records after only using CDs. So true. :(

My only gripe about when I was using vinyl is you actually have to give a damn about cleaning all the moving parts.  mp3 may not be the best quality but you gotta respect a format you can huck down the stairs without a 100% chance of messing up the functionality.

Okay so America's Thanksgiving is next week! We're not doing the traditional turkey at my house, because that is a pain in the butt. But I think we might do Cornish hens. I'm thinking cook them simply with butter under the skin and rosemary inside, but what to do for sides? Stuffing and cranberry sauce only go so far. We need some veggies in this dinner. My brother is the limiting factor for any dinner, and for veggies in particular - he hates any root vegetable other than french fries or tater tots, hates greens (except in a salad which contains only lettuce, croutons, tomato, and ranch dressing), hates beans and peas and broccoli and... basically everything. He's starting to actually try new things before deciding he hates them, but still. Sigh. Maybe I'll go with a salmon main dish instead, with rice and a salad and a soup and dessert... It would be a pain and a half but I love making huge meals like that. Something inevitably goes wrong, though. Hmm. I'll have to ponder this.

I also want to try my hand at baking again. Yeast hates me in general, so that may turn out badly, but fresh-baked bread is worth all the angst. Mmm. I really, really want to make this molten chocolate cake. I just need things to bake it in...

BUMP.

Hey folks long time no see! Graduate school does that to you.

So anyway my girlfriend has been working real hard this week and I have been cooking the meals all week. Today I made a four course meal to help satisfy that grumbling tummy of hers. I decided to do a seafood theme because I love cooking seafood.

First course: Steamed Spicy Kiwi Mussels
I love mussels raw, but my girlfriend tends to like things cooked. To bring out their flavors it is best to steam them, so that way they open up and their broth comes out. Additionally, using this method does not require any extra salt. Shucking the mussels will be the hard part if you have never done it, but it is an important skill to have.

On the side I made a spicy sauce that I am trying to emulate from a local sushi spot that specializes in it. My version starts off with sauteing chopped onions, green onions, chopped bell pepper, garlic, and cilantro in extra virgin olive oil. After the onions become slightly brown I add in the tomatoes for about 2 minutes. Next I add a mixture of chili sauce, a tiny bit of tomato sauce, sea salt, lime juice, and water. Pour spicy sauce on mussels as soon as you plate on a rectangular dish. Add extra chives and cilantro for garnish.

Second course: Pan Fried Sea Scallops with Enoki Mushroom and Preserved Duck Egg Spinach with cilantro sauce

Whew that's a doozy to say. For the second part of dinner I wanted to make a nice filling salad.

The Cilantro Sauce I had made ahead of time and decided to use it to give the piece a nice Mexican influence. I do not remember the serving size of the ingredients to make the sauce as I just went on looks and taste (it should be a creamy Italian dressing type viscosity and texture) as I winged it in a food processor. The ingredients I used are: Mayonnaise, canola oil, vinegar, apple cider, milk, lemon juice, mustard oil, paprika, red wine, pasilla chile, garlic, cotija cheese, sea salt, sunflower seeds, and cilantro. Some of these ingredients can be swapped for something more readily available to you.

Clean the spinach and dry it. I like to leave mine in the fridge to keep it cool. Pour some almond oil (or any other kind) and pan fry the scallops on the connecting end (flat part) on low to medium heat. If you did it correctly you will have a crispy top and bottom surface and soft but warm middle.

Plating the salad is half of its appeal, you can plate like I did or do it your own way. Stack your spinach on the plate. Cut off the bottom part of the enoki mushroom and clean it with a damp napkin. Arrange them in the middle. (Enoki has a very subtle taste to balance the rest of the salad). Slice the preserved duck egg. Note: you can make your own "century egg" but it is very time consuming to make yourself and I just recommend buying a lead free brand (anything not from China). Sliced the egg. And put it on the bottom right of the mushrooms. The egg itself tastes like your normal egg but has a more gelatinous texture for the white and a smokey taste for the yolk. Top the yolk part with a scallop and another one on the left bottom of the mushroom. Slice a piece of dwarf tomato and cut it in half. I placed one between the two scallops and the other on top of the left scallop.

Third course: Grilled Salmon with brown rice and asparagus
A very easy dish. The day before soak the brown rice in water. I have a rice cooker, but if you are using a pot use the general rule for brown rice is two and half cup water to one cup of rice. Season the salmon with lime, sea salt, ground black pepper, and Bubba Gump's Seafood Boil (http://store.bubbagump.com/Seafood-Boil_p_160.html). Grill the asparagus and fish until the skin is crispy. For the actual meat part cook the fish to how you like it. For my girlfriend I cooked it all the way through.

Fourth course: Avocado Smoothie with coconut meat
It sounds weird but it's pretty nice. Cut avocado, add half a banana, milk, ice, water and a little bit of condense milk. Blend!

Last edited by vnartist (May 20, 2010 6:01 pm)

have you thought about investing in a small butane or propane blowtorch?

That way when you want, you can flame the skin of a fish to get a nice crispy texture to balance the softer meat part. It's a much faster process than the broiler. It's also a nice way to melt or toast stuff like cheese and bread crumb on the top part of a dish.

Not only that, it's FUN. Really really fun. XD

Seriously, I love grilling myself, but when you just need things crisp fast the torch is the way to go.

The torch works extremely well with salmon skin (given that it isn't wet). I have personally Sous-vide (I would be careful if you are going to attempt this technique) salmon and torched the skin afterward. It worked out very well.

Also with a torch you can make some wicked creme brulee.