Dinner for the family. My family has never been one to try new foods and yet two recipes that people seem to really enjoy require them to taste new things. I decided that the Asian flair was the safest route. So I made Rachael Ray's 5 Spice Barbecue Pork Chops with the Asian Succotash. Both are absolutely delicious, though I myself prefer the Asian Succotash. Corn, Onions, Snow peas, and lime juice - what can beat it? And the pork chops dead easy, just cumin and grill seasoning cooked in a pan and hoisin sauce added at the last minute. They were very impressed. I plan to make another safe recipe and then I will go back to trying new things, and I am sure that they will be as disastrous as ever. However, starting this blog may turn out to be the good luck I always needed.
After we went to watch the Falcons beat the Chargers 27-24. It was a competition up til the very end thanks to all the Charger's penalties. Was back home by midnight, and getting into the delicious Bruster's Butter Pecan Ice Cream. One of my favorites.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Monday, August 24, 2009
Brisket!!
This weekend was quite an adventure. I made my first brisket! How awesome is that? Found a fantastically easy recipe on food network website. Bought the ingredients. Compiled them, cooked them, and whala. A fantastic dinner Saturday and awesome Taco meat for Sunday. Basically, went to the Farmer's Market, got a 4lber. Laid it out in a 9x13 pan after salting and peppering. Sliced onions and spread them over top. Mix the liquids with the garlic and brown sugar and pour it over top. Cooks for three hours with foil over it, take it out, take off the foil and cooks again for another 45 minutes. Now, it was a fat piece and so portions of it were a little dry as they weren't all the way in the liquid. Next time I will trim it so it is all able to be in the liquid. And I forgot to let it sit before slicing. However, those eating it didn't appear to notice these little glitches. They were very impressed with this easy process.
Now served with the brisket the first night was a salad I had just watch Giada make. Took a cucumber and with a peeler made ribbon slices, then blanched asparagus and sliced it on the diagonal. Mixed this with lemon juice and olive oil. Then my only change was I sprinkled parmesan over top because I had it.
The next day was the Mexican Potluck. Did quite a few little tests. And oddly enough they all kind of worked. Supplied the brisket meat and meat from a rotisserie chicken from Publix. For sauces, I took hints from two Rachael Ray recipes. For one I combined Tequila Lime Salsa and sour cream. This was by far the favorite sauce. Then also made a Chipotle Cream, Mayo, mint, scallions, and chipotle peppers in adobe sauce. Not as much of a hit but when people tasted it they did like it. Just not as much as the other.
However, I think my best of the night was the salsa. This I had made before, in a cooking class I took. But I changed some things. Its supposed to be yellow corn, I used sweet, it wants a white onion but I thought a red onion would give a richer taste, it also had red pepper, tomato, cilantro, sun dried tomatoes, lime juice, and small bit of red vinegar. The corn was dry roasted, onion sauted, red pepper put over the gas flame to char but it was my first time trying it out so it didn't char enough. But I was scared of charring it too much! Next time I will be more patient and brave, I swear. Still, people were in love with my salsa. So victory.
In the past week I will say I've had more successes and no real failures. This has been great for my confidence in the kitchen. And its nice when I can throw a shindig and people can really enjoy the food and each other's company. I love playing hostess. Its so much fun!
Now served with the brisket the first night was a salad I had just watch Giada make. Took a cucumber and with a peeler made ribbon slices, then blanched asparagus and sliced it on the diagonal. Mixed this with lemon juice and olive oil. Then my only change was I sprinkled parmesan over top because I had it.
The next day was the Mexican Potluck. Did quite a few little tests. And oddly enough they all kind of worked. Supplied the brisket meat and meat from a rotisserie chicken from Publix. For sauces, I took hints from two Rachael Ray recipes. For one I combined Tequila Lime Salsa and sour cream. This was by far the favorite sauce. Then also made a Chipotle Cream, Mayo, mint, scallions, and chipotle peppers in adobe sauce. Not as much of a hit but when people tasted it they did like it. Just not as much as the other.
However, I think my best of the night was the salsa. This I had made before, in a cooking class I took. But I changed some things. Its supposed to be yellow corn, I used sweet, it wants a white onion but I thought a red onion would give a richer taste, it also had red pepper, tomato, cilantro, sun dried tomatoes, lime juice, and small bit of red vinegar. The corn was dry roasted, onion sauted, red pepper put over the gas flame to char but it was my first time trying it out so it didn't char enough. But I was scared of charring it too much! Next time I will be more patient and brave, I swear. Still, people were in love with my salsa. So victory.
In the past week I will say I've had more successes and no real failures. This has been great for my confidence in the kitchen. And its nice when I can throw a shindig and people can really enjoy the food and each other's company. I love playing hostess. Its so much fun!
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Real Simple... SO Simple
So it was a mixture of victory and mostly failure today. First on the victory, Simple Syrup! It's SO Simple! Best is I found the reciple in Real Simple magazine. This is one of my favorite magazines of all time. It suggests many simple ideas for cooking, decorating, keeping house, everything every month. Its just fantastic.
Anyways, this time they suggested adding mint and lime rinds to it then of course letting it go through a sieve. I then made a black tea and added it... okay. Then a green tea and added it... yum. Simply delicious.
Now, my other effort was a Rachael Ray recipe, Apple Cheddar Turnovers. It started out good, I mixed the water, sugar, and butter and it turned that light amber. I added the apples and they softened perfectly. But.. then..
Now to be honest, I didn't use the correct bread. I should have used regular white bread but I had lovely italian chicago style bread. I thought instead of folding it over I would make more of little pies then turnovers. However when I tried to use the rolling pin to press the cheddar in that didn't work. But I added the apples and the sauce then put another slice on top and added more cheddar on top of that slice. And then I followed the directions and put them in to cook for 20 minutes. It seemed a lot but I thought I would check on it at 10 and 15 minutes. They couldn't be that far off... After 10 minutes they were charred. So this time I will blame it on my lack of common sense and on the recipe both. However, once I rid the items of the char they did not taste too bad, and in the bites where I could taste the cheddar and sweet apple at the same time I could taste the possibilities. So I modified the recipe directions and may try it again.
Ooh, but success. I have the book Eating For Life filled with healthy person recipes. Some taste good, some taste like healthy recipes. So the Asian Beef Stir Fry. It was terribly dry and terribly boring. Mainly because to keep it healthy no oil was used in cooking it. The soy sauce was strong and actually gross. But, I added lime juice and it actually tasted good! Its not a recipe I will repeat unless I am looking to lose a little weight. But now it is actually palatable and even tasty.
Anyways, this time they suggested adding mint and lime rinds to it then of course letting it go through a sieve. I then made a black tea and added it... okay. Then a green tea and added it... yum. Simply delicious.
Now, my other effort was a Rachael Ray recipe, Apple Cheddar Turnovers. It started out good, I mixed the water, sugar, and butter and it turned that light amber. I added the apples and they softened perfectly. But.. then..
Now to be honest, I didn't use the correct bread. I should have used regular white bread but I had lovely italian chicago style bread. I thought instead of folding it over I would make more of little pies then turnovers. However when I tried to use the rolling pin to press the cheddar in that didn't work. But I added the apples and the sauce then put another slice on top and added more cheddar on top of that slice. And then I followed the directions and put them in to cook for 20 minutes. It seemed a lot but I thought I would check on it at 10 and 15 minutes. They couldn't be that far off... After 10 minutes they were charred. So this time I will blame it on my lack of common sense and on the recipe both. However, once I rid the items of the char they did not taste too bad, and in the bites where I could taste the cheddar and sweet apple at the same time I could taste the possibilities. So I modified the recipe directions and may try it again.
Ooh, but success. I have the book Eating For Life filled with healthy person recipes. Some taste good, some taste like healthy recipes. So the Asian Beef Stir Fry. It was terribly dry and terribly boring. Mainly because to keep it healthy no oil was used in cooking it. The soy sauce was strong and actually gross. But, I added lime juice and it actually tasted good! Its not a recipe I will repeat unless I am looking to lose a little weight. But now it is actually palatable and even tasty.
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