3-30-10

Spicy Chicken & Linguine

Sauteed pieces of chicken breast, zucchini, carrot, onion, garlic and jalapeno pepper; added sofrito* white wine and chicken stock. Tossed in linguine to finish the dish.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sofrito

3-29-10

Pork with Vinegar Peppers

Pork loin, dusted with flour and sauteed to get a nice brown crust then removed; added onion, garlic, hot banana and cherry peppers. Deglazed with white wine, a bit of the vinegar from the peppers and chicken stock; reduced, put the pork and its juices back and finished with a bit of butter. Served with rice pilaf & steamed broccoli.

3-28-10

Chicken Breast Sandwich

Chicken breast, pounded to a consistent thickness, breaded with seasoned crumbs/Panko and pan fried. Topped with lettuce, tomato and American cheese; served with seasoned fries.

3-26-10

Pizza Night

Home made whole wheat crust (1/2 bread flour & 1/2 whole wheat flour) with pepperoni, chicken & green pepper.

3-25-10

Cajun Pork Loin

Pork loin coated with my own Cajun spice blend (cayenne, black & white pepper, paprika, granulated garlic, granulated onion, thyme, oregano) and grilled. Served with grilled potato, asparagus, carrot & red pepper.

3-24-10

Jambalaya!

Made the base for this Sunday as it can take a while, and let's face it, it tastes better a day or two later. This is pretty run of the mill, chicken (legs & thighs), kielbasa (andoullie is classic) and shrimp all in a spicy tomato based sauce with peppers, onion, garlic celery and seasonings. Served over white rice.

3-23-10

Szechuan Chicken & Snow Peas

Thin strips of chicken breast stir fried with snow peas, red pepper, Napa cabbage, garlic and onion. The sauce consists of soy sauce, oyster sauce, rice wine, sriracha hot sauce, honey and chicken stock - thickened w/ corn starch. Served over noodles.

Subtitle - NEVER BUY A WOK. A wok is useless in the basic kitchen - you simply can't get enough BTUs to make a good stir-fry. The best thing to do is get a good 12" non-stick skillet and brown items in high heat individually - see above. Reserve them and then assemble the final dish. this way all the items are cooked perfectly.

3-22-10

Tomato Tortellini Soup with Sausage

Good dinner for a crappy day. Made the soup base Sunday with chicken stock, crushed tomatoes, onions, pepper & garlic, etc. I cooked up a few sausage (out of casing), added the soup and cooked off some frozen cheese tortellini which I also added. Topped it with some Parmesan cheese and served it with bread.

3-20-10

Grilled Half Chicken

Marinated the chicken for about six hours in a mix of hot pepper vinegar (the brine left in the jar of hot banana peppers), olive oil, garlic, onion powder, cumin and smoked paprika. Cooked it on the grill & served with steamed broccoli.

3-19-10

Quesadillas

More like Last Night's Snack. Had Chinese take-out for lunch so I wasn't into a full meal. Threw these together with some jalapenos, garlic onion red pepper and cheddar cheese. Served with some shredded lettuce & salsa.

3-18-10

Nice Greasy Cheeseburger

Good day for grilling; 7 oz. burger w/ cheese, lettuce, tomato & onion. Served with seasoned fries.

3-17-10

Grilled Jerk Pork

Jerk marinated pork loin grilled, served with rice pilaf & frilled vegetables; zucchini, asparagus, red pepper & onion.

3-16-10

One & One

A sausage and homemade meatball & sauce from - brace yourself - September '08. Make sauce et al from the garden tomatoes & herbs and freeze it in small amounts. Tasted as good as the day it was made. Served over ziti with salad & garlic bread. Always finish your pasta in the sauce/condiment; huge difference.

3-15-10

Sauteed Chicken Breast

Chicken breast sauteed & topped with a simple pan sauce of stock, white wine, minced onion & garlic. Served with roasted potatoes and sauteed vegetables; broccoli, zucchini, red pepper, onion & carrot.

3-11-10

Pork Paillard (Pie -Yard)

A "fancy" French term for what's essentially fried pork (classically prepared with chicken breast). I pounded out a piece of pork loin, breaded it with Panko, sauteed it and then topped it with a wine/lemon/butter sauce.

Served with roasted asparagus and egg noodles (tossed in the same sauce).

3-10-10

Thai Beef Rolls

I was watching a cooking show the other day & they made a Thai beef dish with ground beef. I thought this would be a good choice instead of pork for a roll of some sort. The filling is ground beef sauteed with jalapenos, red pepper, garlic, onion, ginger and napa cabbage.

The filling is seasoned with soy sauce, fish sauce, Thai basil, cilantro and lime juice. The dipping sauce is soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, Thai basil, cilantro, sugar and Shriracha hot sauce.

I made these with rice "paper" (pictured) that I have used many times for Vietnamese veggie rolls that are served cold. I thought the wrapper would work if I cooked these pot sticker style. Not completely please with the result - they did taste a lot better than they look!

3-9-10

Do I Need a Hair Net?

Comfort food; chicken & gravy over mashed potatoes with green beans. I poached a chicken Sunday, de-boned it and returned the bones to the pot to make a collagen rich stock. I used some of the stock to make the gravy.

3-8-10

Grilled Chicken

The chicken breast was dusted with a mixture of cumin, chili powder, smoked paprika and my Cajun spice blend, grilled, topped w/ cheddar cheese. Served with Spanish rice and steamed broccoli. I made the rice using Goya sofrito which I hadn't done before, came out pretty good.

3-6-10

Grilled Rump Steak

Served with grilled asparagus and baked potato. Rump steak is reasonably priced and is quite tender; can be cooked medium rare.

3-5-10

Pizza Night

Sausage, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, caramelized onions and a little pepperoni (left over in the fridge) on a homemade crust.

3-4-10

Thai Green Beans with Pork

Thinly sliced pork loin and green beans with jalapeno & red pepper, garlic, ginger & onion with soy, fish sauce, stock, Thai basil & cilantro, finished with a sprits of fresh lime served over basmati rice. These are frozen green beans as I refuse to buy insanely overpriced fresh, a good use for frozen.

3-3-10

Vietnamese Pho (Ga)

The chicken version of Pho.

I made this stock traditionally with chicken bones, ginger, lemon zest (couldn't find lemon grass), star anise, cardamom and clove. I don't add a lot of the spices and did add bay leaf, celery and cilantro. The dish consists of the stock poured over cooked rice noodles & shredded chicken. I also added some finely julienned snow peas. All is topped with crispy fried onions. The classic "sides" added by the diner are lime, jalapenos, Thai basil and bean sprouts. Not bad for a home version.

3-2-10

Grilled Pork Loin

Back from FL, good to have a home cooked meal.

The pork was marinated in a balsamic concoction and grilled. The potatoes were also grilled. The broccoli was steamed and then tossed in lemon juice, olive oil and coarse black pepper.

2-23-10

Chicken & Dumplings

Made the usual "stew" but instead of peas used small cut green beans. I cook the dumplings on the stew covered until they are about 3/4 done. Then I pop it under the broiler to get some browning on the dumplings. "Stick to your ribs" fare.