Today was a day dedicated to the sole purpose of slogging through as much information about galaxy formation and dark matter as possible. It turns out that they are neither interesting nor relevant topics to my research (at least in the way that it was presented) so studying it is about as fun as, oh, watching Guy Fieri take a bite out of a deep fried sandwich twice the diameter of his beach ball sized head. Nevertheless, I had a study partner coming over with wifey in tow and a husband of my own to feed (he gets grumpy when I forget to feed him), so I decided to use that seven-dollar-a-pound-too-lean-free-range-ground beef that's been sitting in my freezer and make burgers. They turned out wonderfully and were much more delicious than n-body simulations of dark matter halos.
Green Chile Cheeseburgers
1 lb ground beef
1 can hatch green chiles (not sure what size, but it's an awfully small can)
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp parsley (because what the hell, why not?)
1/4 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 onion, sliced and caramelized
~3 tbs chevre
Drain the can of chiles to get some of the water out and then mix in with the granulated garlic, salt, pepper, parsley, and mozzarella until well combined. Make four patties that at least stick together, making sure not to over work them. Cook the patties in your preferred cooking machine. I have to pan-fry all my stupid burgers because it's apparently illegal to have a grill on a balcony in Austin. So. Not. Cool. Towards the end of cooking, add ~2 tsp or so of chevre to each burger and cover with caramelized onions. Cover for a few to get the cheese warm and gooey-ish. Nom nom.
I ate mine plain, Colby ate his with a ton of ketchup (because he's classy like that) and study parter covered his in spicy brown mustard (because we don't have no stinkin' yeller mustard in these parts because like... EW). These were also served with a large helping of nachos a la Crown&Anchor because we're nothing if not classy in this joint.
Tomorrow is a pizza party kind of night. I bet I'll be kicking myself for not starting the dough tonight, but the bit of evening that I managed to salvage was spent over a dutch oven deep frying things... but that's for another delectable post. :)
01 May 2009
30 April 2009
Fish'n'Taters
I find Guy Fieri to be crazy amounts of annoying. I only really watch Diners, Drive-ins and Dives because it's probably on the better half of Food Network's programming and nothing is more irritating than listening to Bobby Flay mispronounce "chipotle" every five seconds since he is unable to make a dish that doesn't involve chipotle and ancho chile powder. *Anywho* one of the few high points on DDD was a salmon hash that looked tasty enough to attempt to make at home. The results were nomilicious!
I had a frozen salmon filet leftover from Lent and a failed attempt at dieting, so I had the most "elusive" ingredient on the list already on hand. Hence, I definitely *had* to make this.
The salmon also looked kind of gross after being shrink wrapped in plastic in my freezer for a couple months, so I felt much less guilty for chopping up a perfectly good piece of salmon.
Salmon Hash (or "Fish'n'Taters" as proclaimed by the 'sband)
4 oz salmon
1 large russet potato (~1.25 lbs), cubed into ~1/4 in pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, sliced
olive oil, butter
s+p
1/4 tsp paprika
Heat oil over medium in a large pan, add onions, pinch of salt and cook until translucent and a little bit brown.
Add potatoes and a large amount of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper (and maybe some butter if you're feeling adventurous). Cook until the potatoes are mostly done. Add in paprika and stir to coat all potatoes. Add in garlic and stir for 30s until fragrant.
Add in salmon, some more salt and stir the hash to break up and cook the salmon.
So I admit that the pictures don't look completely appetizing, but not all food must be beautiful to be delicious. I think my biggest problem was that I didn't soak the potatoes before frying which meant that they were still incredibly starchy. It wasn't a huge deal, but as one can see, they left quite a mess on the bottom of the pan. Overall, though, this didn't matter much and it was super duper tasty. :)
I had a frozen salmon filet leftover from Lent and a failed attempt at dieting, so I had the most "elusive" ingredient on the list already on hand. Hence, I definitely *had* to make this.
The salmon also looked kind of gross after being shrink wrapped in plastic in my freezer for a couple months, so I felt much less guilty for chopping up a perfectly good piece of salmon.
Salmon Hash (or "Fish'n'Taters" as proclaimed by the 'sband)
4 oz salmon
1 large russet potato (~1.25 lbs), cubed into ~1/4 in pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, sliced
olive oil, butter
s+p
1/4 tsp paprika
Heat oil over medium in a large pan, add onions, pinch of salt and cook until translucent and a little bit brown.
Add potatoes and a large amount of salt, and a few grinds of black pepper (and maybe some butter if you're feeling adventurous). Cook until the potatoes are mostly done. Add in paprika and stir to coat all potatoes. Add in garlic and stir for 30s until fragrant.
Add in salmon, some more salt and stir the hash to break up and cook the salmon.
So I admit that the pictures don't look completely appetizing, but not all food must be beautiful to be delicious. I think my biggest problem was that I didn't soak the potatoes before frying which meant that they were still incredibly starchy. It wasn't a huge deal, but as one can see, they left quite a mess on the bottom of the pan. Overall, though, this didn't matter much and it was super duper tasty. :)
27 April 2009
Week of Menus
Well... I certainly failed on the whole NaBloPoMo thing, but I suspect that I always will end up forgetting at some point. In my defense, it has been a terribly busy month, which included joining a softball team, crazy tests, and a new car. Yes. We bought a car. In fact, we bought a new car... about as new as you can get. We got a 2010 Ford Fusion on Friday night and I couldn't be more excited. The car is awesome and I no longer fear for my life whenever we brake because *gasp* I can predict with great certainty that the brakes won't fail.
I saw this "week of menus" thing on Dine and Dish tonight and it seemed like a good idea to try this week. With a new car, money is a lot tighter than it has been in awhile so we're trying to eat in more. (Okay, let's be real... *I'm* trying to eat in more. Colby could eat dry cereal, rice, and chocolate every day so it's more my issue).
I'm going to try a M-F menu for this week's dinners:
Monday: Roasted corn and Kielbasas
I have a softball game, so timing will be a little tight... meaning that it's "cop out" dinner night
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan
I have panko that I've been waiting to use for months.
Wednesday: Salmon hash with scrambled eggs and irish oatmeal
I'm going to try to use up leftovers and have breakfast for dinner :)
Thursday: hatch green chile goat cheese burgers with blackbean+cheese nachos
Again, going through my pantry for this one
Friday: Pizza! with any toppings I can find in my fridge (I see artichokes and sundried tomatoes)
Another pantry dinner and this time, it might be fun and may involve having people over.
I saw this "week of menus" thing on Dine and Dish tonight and it seemed like a good idea to try this week. With a new car, money is a lot tighter than it has been in awhile so we're trying to eat in more. (Okay, let's be real... *I'm* trying to eat in more. Colby could eat dry cereal, rice, and chocolate every day so it's more my issue).
I'm going to try a M-F menu for this week's dinners:
Monday: Roasted corn and Kielbasas
I have a softball game, so timing will be a little tight... meaning that it's "cop out" dinner night
Tuesday: Chicken Parmesan
I have panko that I've been waiting to use for months.
Wednesday: Salmon hash with scrambled eggs and irish oatmeal
I'm going to try to use up leftovers and have breakfast for dinner :)
Thursday: hatch green chile goat cheese burgers with blackbean+cheese nachos
Again, going through my pantry for this one
Friday: Pizza! with any toppings I can find in my fridge (I see artichokes and sundried tomatoes)
Another pantry dinner and this time, it might be fun and may involve having people over.
18 April 2009
Savoring the Tart
Okay. Whatever. I'm never going to be able to remember to post every day for a month. I guess I can live with that. This week has been rough. I had a test in the most time intensive class evAr and I also dealt with the brakes on my car not working, which only cost me 500 bucks. Better yet, sometimes my car doesn't feel like starting when it's hot, which means that living in Texas in the summer is kind of a downer. I guess we'll take it in tomorrow to get it fixed. In all, I've been trying to keep it together and it's not going very well. My coping mechanism would normally be cooking, but my kitchen is a mess (still), so let's post an easter recipe instead.
Potato, Asparagus and Goat Cheese Tart
2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed
1/2 lb small potatoes (I used purple potatoes)
1 bunch of asparagus, ends trimmed and cut in half
6 oz goat cheese (chevre)
1 c grated mozzarella
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 green onions, thinly sliced on the bias
Boil potatoes in heavily salted water until tender. Cut into slices (you can use an egg slicer for even pieces). Heat oven to 375. Roll out puff pastry and score a 1 in border around the sides. Dock the center very thoroughly. Bake in the oven until the border has puffed up and it's golden-y (about 10 minutes-ish). While baking, blanch asparagus until fork tender, but not mushy. Distribute potato slices, goat cheese, garlic, onions, and asparagus and then cover in mozzarella. Bake for an addition 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melty and the crust is golden brown.
Potato, Asparagus and Goat Cheese Tart
2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed
1/2 lb small potatoes (I used purple potatoes)
1 bunch of asparagus, ends trimmed and cut in half
6 oz goat cheese (chevre)
1 c grated mozzarella
4 cloves garlic, finely minced
2 green onions, thinly sliced on the bias
Boil potatoes in heavily salted water until tender. Cut into slices (you can use an egg slicer for even pieces). Heat oven to 375. Roll out puff pastry and score a 1 in border around the sides. Dock the center very thoroughly. Bake in the oven until the border has puffed up and it's golden-y (about 10 minutes-ish). While baking, blanch asparagus until fork tender, but not mushy. Distribute potato slices, goat cheese, garlic, onions, and asparagus and then cover in mozzarella. Bake for an addition 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is melty and the crust is golden brown.
12 April 2009
Happy Easter!
The dinner party was a success. :) Everyone liked the food and now I have a pile of delicious leftovers. Recipes later, but I never took pictures because I was too busy. Ah well. Such is life.
11 April 2009
Vanilla Bean Gelato
This is a quickie because I'm in the middle of making my dessert for tomorrow.
3+1 c whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split + seeds
1 c granulated sugar
3tbs+2tsp corn starch
bring 3c milk and the vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer. Combine 1c milk, sugar, and cornstarch and add that mixture to the simmering vanilla milk while continuously stirring. Keep stirring until mixture thickens, pour through a fine mesh strainer, and put in the fridge to chill. Set up your ice cream maker and turn it on, and then pour in the mix. I waited overnight to do this... but mostly because it took that long to get the bowl of my ice cream maker to freeze. It'll be a little soft, but let it sit in the freezer for a bit and then it'll be perfect. :)
Also, I must admit that I took this from 101cookbooks, but this is mostly for my own records.
3+1 c whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split + seeds
1 c granulated sugar
3tbs+2tsp corn starch
bring 3c milk and the vanilla bean and seeds to a simmer. Combine 1c milk, sugar, and cornstarch and add that mixture to the simmering vanilla milk while continuously stirring. Keep stirring until mixture thickens, pour through a fine mesh strainer, and put in the fridge to chill. Set up your ice cream maker and turn it on, and then pour in the mix. I waited overnight to do this... but mostly because it took that long to get the bowl of my ice cream maker to freeze. It'll be a little soft, but let it sit in the freezer for a bit and then it'll be perfect. :)
Also, I must admit that I took this from 101cookbooks, but this is mostly for my own records.
10 April 2009
Easter Menu
I decided to have people over for dinner on Easter... a simple enough task, but now I'm wondering if I'm in over my head. Oh well. Too late now, but at least I have my menu planned... which is:
Appetizers:
Mini caprese salad with roasted heirloom tomatoes
potato and asparagus tart with goat cheese
Salad:
charcuterie and cheese plate salad
Main Course:
Roasted chicken
Sides:
sweet and spicy roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes
mushroom ragu over orzo
Dessert:
strawberry and blood orange shortcake with vanilla bean gelato and homemade whipped cream
I guess I should explain the charcuterie and cheese plate salad, which was not my idea, but rather Bon Apetit's. I'm pretty sure that it'll make me look lazy, but once they start eating, I'll look like a lazy genius. I got Speck dell'Alto Adige from Central Market today because prosciutto was prohibitively expensive. I also picked up some abruzzese and a handful of cheeses including Gruyère, asiago, chevre, and Amish blue cheese. The plan is to make a vineagrette and dress some salad and then put out the meats and cheeses as add-ins pho style. There will also be toasted walnuts, cranberries, and these cute little olives I picked up today as well.
Recipes for the other items will come in due time, when I'm not trying to study for galaxies. Ugh.
Appetizers:
Mini caprese salad with roasted heirloom tomatoes
potato and asparagus tart with goat cheese
Salad:
charcuterie and cheese plate salad
Main Course:
Roasted chicken
Sides:
sweet and spicy roasted brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes
mushroom ragu over orzo
Dessert:
strawberry and blood orange shortcake with vanilla bean gelato and homemade whipped cream
I guess I should explain the charcuterie and cheese plate salad, which was not my idea, but rather Bon Apetit's. I'm pretty sure that it'll make me look lazy, but once they start eating, I'll look like a lazy genius. I got Speck dell'Alto Adige from Central Market today because prosciutto was prohibitively expensive. I also picked up some abruzzese and a handful of cheeses including Gruyère, asiago, chevre, and Amish blue cheese. The plan is to make a vineagrette and dress some salad and then put out the meats and cheeses as add-ins pho style. There will also be toasted walnuts, cranberries, and these cute little olives I picked up today as well.
Recipes for the other items will come in due time, when I'm not trying to study for galaxies. Ugh.
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