Our First Married Thanksgiving

We didn't have one single bite of turkey this Thanksgiving. My mom did not order the usual turkey this time because there's usually so much other food that there would be so much of it left over. We had chicken, shrimp, and other tasty side dishes. Since we did the big dinner with my folks on Wednesday night, we had Thanksgiving to ourselves on Thursday.

Originally, we were going to have dinner out but changed plans and cooked instead...the both of us. Yes, we had hot-pot, which means you have a bunch of raw food (thinly sliced lamb and beef, shrimp, enoki mushrooms, and fresh vegetables) and a boiling pot of water in front of you, and you just boil the food as you eat. To make the meal more special, and since a turkey would've been too much food for just the two of us, we had the traditional Thanksgiving lobster (which in actuality was probably closer to what the pilgrims ate during the first Thanksgiving, as told to me by my TA). And indeed this was a very tasty tradition, maybe something we will repeat in the future.

Amazing Lobster Sauce

Recently, a Henry's Farmers Market opened up in our neighborhood and we finally went in a couple of weeks ago. They had these spiny lobster tails on sale for $5/each so we got two. I wasn't quite sure what to do with them and just tucked them in the freezer. Last week, I bought TJ's lobster ravioli and thought those tails would add something special to the ravioli.

We've had the ravioli several times before with just pasta sauce from a jar. Since we were having them with real lobster, I wanted to utilize all of the lobster (i.e., the shells) so did a search on lobster sauce recipes. All my searching resulted in recipes that seemed very time-consuming and required more steps than I had skill to do, so I decided to take the essence of those recipes and create my own secret weapon short-cut: pasta sauce in a jar! My resourcefulness paid off with a very tasty end-product. Ken likes it more than the white wine sauce for fish.

• 2-4 lobster tails, depending on size & budget (we had 2 & subsidized with langostinos; shrimp works, too)
  
• 1 package TJ's lobster ravioli
• 1/2 cup rustico sauce
• 1/4 cup cream
• 1/2 cup dry sherry
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
  

1. Start by steaming the lobster. Place the tails into a shallow bowl, then the bowl into a stir-fry pan with about 1/2 cup of water underneath the bowl, cover and steam for about 8 minutes.
2. Once the tails lose their translucency, remove and plunge into ice water to stop cooking and quickly cool the lobster. Pull out the meat from the shells and set aside. Save the shells. There should be lobster water in the bowl that held the tails. Set that aside.
3. Melt about 2 tbsp of butter in the stir-fry pan and saute the shells until reduced, then add the lobster water from the steaming process and reduce again.
4. Deglaze with sherry and reduce.
5. Add the cream and once it comes to a boil, add the pasta sauce until it comes to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring occasionally.
6. Meanwhile, in a separate pan, melt 1 tbsp of butter, add the mushrooms and saute until tender. Add about 2 tbsp of sherry and saute until the sherry evaporates and the mushrooms caramelize. Add mushrooms to the sauce.
7. Simmer this sauce for about another 15 minutes or so. The ravioli only takes about 5 minutes to boil, so wait until you're ready to eat to cook it.
8. As the ravioli's cooking, turn off the heat to the sauce, remove the lobster shells and add the lobster meat. Keep pan covered until the ravioli's done, then it's time to eat!

This sauce is amazingly full of lobster flavor, and it took about 30 minutes to make rather than the 1 hour or so, and with a lot less effort. When I first added the rustico sauce, I thought I had ruined the whole thing because the sauce was so strong, but the flavors mellowed out after some simmering. It was so good I wanted to lick the bowl! Let me know what you think if you get a chance to try this. And if you have an easy way to make lobster bisque, I'd like to hear about that as well.

Hamburgers!

We celebrated Ken's birthday today and he wanted hamburgers. Amazingly, after years of grilling up meats, this is the first time I have ever done hamburgers. We bought pre-cut patties from Costco that still needed to be formed into burgers this morning--so fresh we had to wait for them to come out of the grinder and packaged! After squishing them down to about 2/3 inch flat round discs, the only other thing I did was to lightly season them with garlic salt.

Some patties came out bigger than others, which worked out perfectly since some of us ate less than others. After about 6 minutes on one side, I flipped the patties over and at the same time added the buns to the upper grill rack to cook for about another 4 minutes before adding a slice of Muenster cheese to each patty. As soon as the cheese melted, the burgers were ready. I sandwiched each patty between buns and let our guests build their own burgers with the usual fixings.

*We had them for dinner again the next night and I made a wasabi aioli for mine.

Linguini & Eggs Update

I had the brilliant idea to add pre-made pesto sauce from Costco into the beaten eggs before topping the noodles, and the result was pretty darn tasty. The pesto sauce was already salted so seasoning the noddles with salt was not really necessary. We had it with salmon as our extra protein. Too bad there wasn't any ham on hand, then we could've had green eggs and ham!

21 April 2010 Update
Here it is again (pictured above) in the pesto sauce with whole wheat linguine, wilted spinach & sauteed asparagus, Louisiana hot links and garlic shrimp. Yeah, I know that's a lot of ingredients...trying to use up the odds & ends.

Grilled Pork Chops

Total yummy goodness with Yoshida's marinade. I love the simplicity of grilled food. This portion was for two, not one.

IKEA Sauce & Baked Cherry Tomatoes

Another cool-looking baked fish dish, this time with just some garlic salt. I found this chive sauce at IKEA (there was a picture of salmon on the package so I couldn't help myself), which turned out okay after adding some half-and-half instead of the suggested margerine. We happened to have some fresh chives on hand, which I used to top off. The best part of the meal were the sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes. The peas were steamed then stir fried with a little garlic salt. I wrapped the tomatoes in wax paper, added grape seed oil and garlic salt, then baked it alongside the fish. They turned out perfectly juicy and full of flavor. I just loved how everything looked together.

Baked Cod & Zucchini "Pasta"

I recently bought a julienne tool and thought I'd try something different on the zucchini by making it look like noodles. The fish was baked in soy sauce with julienned green onions and ginger. This was a very light meal and looked pretty cool.

Ranch Mashed Potatoes

I made these mashed potatoes tonight to accompany leftover market-roasted chicken, which I remade by adding gravy. I didn't actually read the recipe, but made it from memory of an episode of Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals. Although it may have been too overloaded with herbs and runny when I first took it off the heat, the flavor and consistency eventually rounded out and we both really enjoyed it. I forgot the hot sauce, which didn't make a difference since we're not into spicy. One suggestion: go easy on the dill.

Chicken Sausage & Bow Ties

So simple it's not really cooking, but I wanted to share it anyway because it looked so pretty! (This picture looks cloudy because steam was coming off of the plate.) Add the following to a pan in the following order and simmer:

• about 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  
• 3 links spicy chicken sausage, sliced then browned
  
• 1 medium & 1 small heirloom tomatoes, diced (or whatever you have on hand)
  
• 1/2 small container TJ's sun-dried tomato pesto
• 1/4 cup white wine
  
• chopped basil

The last part is to mix the sauce with about a cup of bow tie pasta and you're ready to eat!

Ground Pork 3 Ways

1. Stuffed into cucumber rings (combined w/ garlic salt & chopped cilantro; best steamed)
2. Browned & simmered in soy sauce w/ garlic & shitake mushrooms; served over rice
3. Take #2 and saute w/ green beans & some more soy sauce

My mom brought over some ground pork and a cucumber a few days ago for the purpose of making the stuffed cucumbers, but they never got made and left the ingredients here, so I had to use them up before they went bad. There was more than enough pork left over after the cucumbers were stuffed, so I figured why not make the most out of them. There's still about half of the meat left, which I froze for future use.

Hmmm....meat cupcakes?

La Jolla

We were down in La Jolla this weekend and ate at this yummy (and spendy) place, called the Whisk & Laddle. We had actually eaten here once before with my parents and sister, so when Ken told me we were headed to La Jolla, I couldn't wait to eat there again. Like before, we shared a charcuterie plate, which included 3 different types of salamis, 3 artisan cheeses, tampanade, whole-seed mustard sauce, seasoned almonds, cornichons, and the most delicious vine-ripened raisins. I had the mussels in a white wine broth with a fries, and Ken had a shrimp pesto pasta. That broth was so dangerouly good that I asked for extra bread to sop it all up. Honestly, I would've just picked it up and drank the whole thing, but that would've been uncouth and overkill.

I also had breakfast with a college friend and unfortunately, I forgot the name of the place. It was a cute little cottage in a fantastic location, nicely situated across the street from the ocean, so we had a great view of the cove where these people were SCUBA diving and snorkeling. We both had iced lattes and the lump crab Ipanema (Benedicts style with a chili sauce rather than Hollandaise). Funny thing was that, my eggs turned out runny--the way I liked them--and Tracy's turned out more cooked--the way she liked them. What are the chances?

Burger Dog

So I was racking my brain about what to make for dinner tonight, and the starting point was knowing what protein I had on hand, which turned out to be lean ground beef. Since we've been having pasta all week, it was time for a break. We had some hot dog buns so I thought, "Why not a burger?" When I tossed the idea to Ken, he was on board with getting burger buns, but then we'd end up with a giant pile of leftover burger and hot dog buns. I went ahead with the burger dog idea and they turned out just fine.

I made a mixture of ground beef, chopped onions and cilantro (from the garden!). The burger was too lean so I added some grape seed oil and shredded parmesan cheese to the mixture (don't forget the salt). Since I didn't have any sliced cheese, I stuffed the burgers with mozzarella medallions that were cut into halves to fit the elongated patty shape. I made two of the elongated patties and used the rest of the mixture to make round burger patties.

And since I only had cherry tomatoes from the garden, I made a caprece salad on the side in place of the standard lettuce and tomatoes that would've gone into the burger, which made this burger somewhat deconstructed. Anyway, this was a good way to get dinner on the table by making do with whatever we had on hand at the time. Yay!

Pasta Night x 2

On those days when you don't really feel like cooking and still need to get something out quickly and easily, this one's it. It's more like dressing up your spaghetti dish while getting in your protein, veggies and starch at the same time. Start by browning up Italian sausage into chunks (preferably without the casing but either will work) or lean ground beef, add garlic and onions (and mushrooms if I have any), add about 2 steamed squash (Ken's stepmom got him a microwavable steamer that I use all the time), then simmer the whole mixture in marinara sauce. Combine the sauce together with your favorite pasta and there should be enough to last you a second meal the next day (as in our case tonight). One trick to remake it for the next meal is to turn it into a creamy sauce (add cream, or creme fraiche in my case, while simmering), add a little chili pepper, then toss in a few shrimps. Ken liked it better the second time around (and who doesn't like creamy?).

Linguini & Eggs

Asians add eggs to just about every dish conceivable, so it didn't seem unusual to me when I heard about this one. The program was called "Best Thing I Ever Ate", which featured favorite dishes of some of Food Network's celebrities, and this episode happened to be on breakfasts. One of the dishes was a breakfast pasta, which included linguini, olive oil, parmesan cheese, and scrambled eggs. Basically, you take cooked pasta (I only had capellini on hand at the time), add it to the pan with olive oil, pour uncooked scrambled egg over it, throw in lots of garlic and some parmesan cheese (and don't forget salt), toss it around for a few minutes and you're done!

I tried it for lunch today and it's very tasty! I made it a bit on the crispier side as a personal preference, and somehow forgot the parmesan cheese. I'm so excited and can't wait to make it again soon with the parmesan. Now just because there are eggs in it doesn't necessarily make this dish a breakfast item...it's good for any meal of the day.

* This picture was taken on August 4, when I made it again for dinner, this time with the parmesan and shrimp added. Also, see Linguini & Eggs update posted 8/30.

Mozzarella Cheese Balls

While at TJ's last week, I accidentally bought more fresh mozzarella than I intended to: small balls and medallions. Then it occurred to me to deep fry them and found this simple recipe online. I also had some shredded parmesan cheese and added it to the breading on a few of the balls. Luckily, I also had marinara sauce on hand and used it as a dip. Since I had the deep fryer out already, I also fried up the last two portions of calamari that my dad brought over a few weeks ago along with spring rolls. It was a lot of fried food for one evening, and a good thing that my parents were here to help eat it all!

Not So Vanilla Vanilla Ice Cream

We received a set of Delizia balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil from my cousin Alice last year, and hadn't opened them up until recently. A suggestion on the balsamic vinegar label was to pour it over vanilla ice cream (who would've thought?), which I tried and didn't love at first but the flavors grew on me. It was still missing something, so I drizzled a little of the olive oil over it and holy smokes--it's amazing! I love ice cream, mostly plain instead of dressed up as a sundae, and have to say that this is its own special type of sundae. I'm not a big dessert person so this combination of a little sweet and a little savory works perfectly for me. Try it!

Linguini with Clam Sauce

I wanted to make the crab cakes again and thought that they would go great with clam linguini, and found this really easy recipe from Rachel Ray on the Food Network.

It turned out okay. The liguini was TJ's with garlic & basil infused into it, which might have made it taste bitter. I got too caught up in cooking the crab cakes at the same time and left the noodles sitting in the sauce for too long, so they turned out on the gummy side. The sauce itself was a bit bland. It needed more clammy goodness (more clam juice?) and less olive oil, and perhaps more cooking time with the anchovies. I left out the chili flakes because we're not into spicy. Even thought there weren't any raves on this one, I would give the recipe another try for its simplicity, perhaps including fresh clams in addition to the canned ones, and incorporating a pinch of the chili flakes.

One more note: It's very important to make sure the linguini is done before starting the sauce because the sauce part takes very little time. I didn't realize it and ended up getting flustered from too much going on!

* Since we had about half of it left over, I reheated it on the stove the next day and added some more wine to juice it up again.

Cuban-Style Pork

My dad gave us their grill, since they hardly ever use it, so I thought to celebrate this heat wave by throwing something on. We received a cookbook called "Eating By Color" as a wedding gift, and I found this pork recipe that's perfect for grilling.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• grated zest of 1/2 orange & 1/2 lime
• 2 tbsp each orange juice & lime juice
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar (I only had red wine vinegar)
• 2 tsp maple syrup
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp each ground cumin & allspice (didn't have allspice)
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
• 4 bone-in center-cut rib or loin pork chops, about 3/4 inch thick
• 4 pineapple slices (optional)

Combine all the ingredients together and marinate the pork in half the marinade in the refrigerator for up to 2 hours or room temperature for 20 minutes. Bring to room temperature before grilling. Grill pork on medium-high heat until golden on outside and just faintly pink in center (145 F), about 2-3 minutes on each side. Remove to a platter, tent with foil, and let rest for 5 minutes. Drizzle reserved marinade and serve immediately.

The recipe called for grilled plantains on the side, but we didn't have any so I served grilled artichokes, zucchini and corn on the cob instead. Sorry no picture this time...left my camera at my booth at the Art-A-Fair and won't be there to pick it up until tomorrow.

Couscous Stuffed Salmon

My parents came over tonight so I wanted to cook a dinner that we loved yet quick and easy to make, so we had these salmon stuffed with dill-seasoned couscous from TJ's, topped with a white-wine reduction that Ken loves so much. The trick to cooking the salmon is to seal it in aluminum foil (don't forget to spray with cooking oil), and bake for about 35 minutes in the oven at 350 degrees. On the side were my favorite asparagus risotto, also from TJ's, and sauteed squash. According to my dad, Ken's a lucky guy, a compliment I'll take any day!

Tomato Salad

Now that we have our own house, I finally got my garden...sort of. The property came with a few cherry tomato plants and I recently bought some herbs. I already had some cherry tomatoes that my mom picked when she visited last last week, then picked some more this morning, which yielded a pretty good load. Since I also had a basil plant, I immediately thought of making a tomato and mozzarella salad. I happen to find fresh mozzarella in the same shape as the tomatoes, which I quartered and added to the halved tomatoes and chopped basil. Lightly toss with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar (I used this really tasty one from Delizia, gifted from my cousin Alice), salt and pepper.

Fried Calamari

My dad was gifted a pile of squid from his friend, who was first gifted with an even bigger pile of squid from his fisherman friend, and I became the sole recipient of all the squid from my dad. He first brought it over last Friday, which I cleaned and fried up. I have never cleaned squid but had a general idea, since there isn't much to their anatomy: a body tube with the quill and a head with tentacles.

The attempt was pretty successful for a first but the squid could've been cleaned better. Separate the eyes and tentacles by pulling away from the body, and pull out the quill and the membranous lining in the tube. Cut the tentacles away from the eyes, careful not to cut the ink sacs in the eye area. Cut the tube into 1/2 inch segments. Be sure to rinse out the tube bits thoroughly. Tonight was my second attempt and I made a more thorough cleaning job. I dusted the tubes and tentacles in flour and dropped the pieces into the deep fryer until golden, then seasoned with salt and finely ground white pepper (Chinese style and no aioli required!).

Funny thing tonight that after we were done with dinner, Alton Brown's "Good Eats" episode happened to be on squid and gave some great cleaning and cooking tips. Be sure to remove the rudder!

Ken and Dad were quite pleased with the outcome. My favorite's the tentacles and it's a good thing for me that Ken only likes the tubes.

Soy Sauce is the Bomb

It's very versatile and easy to use. I wanted to bake some fish and needed a little seasoning without having to make the usual reduced white wine sauce. What was my solution? Put the fish in some aluminum foil, pour in some of the fish juice and a dash of soy sauce, top off with some julienned green onions, wrap it all up and we had some tasty fish twenty minutes later! And in our effort to clear out our fridge before the big move this week, I cooked up frozen potstickers to go on the side.

Crab & Corn Chowder

I actually used a little over half, not quite 2/3, of the 16 oz canned crab meat for the patties, and saved the rest for this chowder. I didn't have too many other ingredients on hand for a proper chowder but this worked. Combine everything and reduce the soup until thickened.

• 2 cans sweet cremed corn
• 1 cup low fat milk
• cubed potato
  
• chopped green onion
• salt & pepper to taste
  

Crabby Patties

A couple of weeks ago, I found canned crab meat at TJ's and thought it'd be fun to make crab cakes (the recipe was on the back, to which I made substitutes & omissions). Combine all the wet ingredients first, then add the crab, then lastly the bread crumbs. Allow the mixture to sit for about 10 minutes so the bread crumbs can fully soak up the sauce. Pan fry and they're ready to eat--very easy and tasty!

• 16 oz crab meat
• 1 beaten egg
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 tsp soy sauce
  
• 1 tsp Lawry's seasoning
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs (mine was a freebie from JJ Bakery)
  
• 1 chopped green onion

We also grilled some premarinated flap meat (a.k.a. carne asada) and zucchini. The crabby patties went quickly but there's plenty of grilled meat left over for carne asada tacos tomorrow night. One note on tacos: Instead of buying all the fixings separately, use 7-layer dip!

Beef & Onions Bowl

Start with mostly frozen (difficult to slice if too frozen or completely thawed) beef flank and slice thinly. Marinate for half hour. Slice one small/medium onion and stir fry with a little vegetable oil until onions are softened, then add the beef. I used a teriyaki style marinade from TJ's ,and should've diluted it, so it turned out on the strong side. Here's one from my mom:

• 1-2 tbsp sugar (brown or white), to taste
  
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup (or less) rice wine vinegar
  
• 1 tsp sesame oil
  

Ken thinks this tastes pretty close to Yoshinoya's beef bowl. We like our dishes with spinach and over plenty of rice.

Very Delicious Chili

Part of this recipe came from a Zone cookbook and the rest I just made up.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 16 oz ground beef
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 chopped onion
• 3 tsp chili powder, or to taste
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp ground pepper
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 7-oz can Herdez Salsa Cacera
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 15-oz can crushed tomatoes

Heat oil and garlic. Brown meat. Add chopped onions and cook until opaque. Add white wine and cook on high until the wine reduces. Stir in chili, cumin, pepper and salt. Add the remainder of the ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes. Or you can do what I did and throw all the ingredients into the crock pot after the wine and spices were cooked into the meat mixture, then eat your chili after running your errands. Great with tortilla chips, over tator tots, over (red) baked potatoes, and your favorite toppings (we had creme fraiche, broccoli, bacon, grated Parmesan). This was enough to make several meals.

Sugar Snap Peas

I discovered a very simple but very tasty way to stir-fry veggies. First, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the veggie and close the lid. Toss every few minutes or so. When the veggie is browned on all sides, add about 2 teaspoons (or to taste) of soy sauce and about the same amount of water, toss, and cover until desired tenderness. Uncover and let the liquid reduce down, and it's ready to serve! Here we have sugar snap peas alongside pork loin chops in marsala sauce and TJ's asparagus risotto.

Global Knives & the Chain Mail Glove

Ken's friend, Justin, gifted us these ultra-precise Global knives (the middle 3) as a wedding present. I put off using them because they were so sharp and was afraid I'd injure myself, so Ken suggested we get a chain mail glove for protection. We went to Bed Bath and Beyond to get some of the other items on the gift registry, including this nifty magnetic knife holder. The glove was only available online and before the order came in, I decided to give the knives a try. And of course, I managed to give myself a little knick--on the cutting hand! The glove finally came in today and this was my storage solution for it.

Teriyaki Flap Meat & Tri-Color Bell Peppers

We discovered flap meat at the market a couple of weeks ago. It's a cut akin to skirt, flank and hanger steaks (think carne asada and stir-fry) that is full of flavor, a bit on the chewier side, and priced just right. So far, we've been just grilling it, but the grills were out of propane today so I just cooked them on the stove top. The steaks were marinated in Yoshida's teriyaki sauce overnight. Add a little bit of vegetable oil and pan fry. I sliced up the meat after frying then returned the slices back into the pan to coat with teriyaki sauce. I had also gotten some beautiful bell peppers at the farmers market last Thursday and stir-fried those. In addition, we had corn and brown rice on the side. One trick to flavor the rice is to add some olive oil and whole cumin seeds. This was a very easy and tasty meal.

Shrimp & Shallots Over Spaghetti

This recipe I got from the packaging of Trader Joe's shallots. The result was very yummy. I bought some Chinese long beans from the South Pasadena Farmer's Market last Thursday and sautéed that on the side. We were gifted a mini deep fryer so I took it for a test drive with ready-made pork and shrimp mini spring rolls. The rolls actually came out less oily than they would've if I had fried them up in a pan. I can't wait to try more stuff in the fryer!

• 1 lb shrimp (peeled & cleaned)
• 4 shallots, chopped fine
• 1/4 lb melted butter
• 1/8 cup oliver oil
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped (substituted w/ cilantro)
• 1 lb linguini (substituted w/ spaghettini)

Mix melted butter, olive oil, shallots, garlic, pepper, parsley and lemon juice in a bowl. Toss shrimp into mixture. (I also added a 1/3 bag of Trader Joe's langostino lobsters.) Heat skillet on medium. Pour shrimp mixture into skillet and sauté until shrimp turns pink in color. Serve over noodles.

The Crock Pot

I'm glad we have one of these things, even if it's a hand-me-down from my mom. Wednesday night, we got home later than usual because we met a real estate agent for our first home tour. Exhausted from the work day, we decided to take a nap before having dinner. Now, knowing Ken and the way he takes naps, it could be awhile before he's ready to get up. So I smartened up and prepped all the ingredients for a hearty spaghetti sauce (ready-made meatballs, zucchini, yellow squash, mushrooms, marinara sauce) and threw them all into the crock pot. The sauce was ready for us by the time we woke up and the only thing that needed to be done was to boil the noddles. Talk about cooking while you sleep!

Orange Roughy Update

Just a small adjustment to the last recipe...add langostino (from TJ's) and shallots to the white wine reduction (with creme fraiche). To quote Ken, "This dinner was really awesome!" Trader Joe's asparagus risotto and spinach perfectly complemented the fish.

Lamb Center Chops & Asparagus Risotto

These were the rest of the chops from Costco and this time, I just marinated in olive oil and garlic, seared on both sides and put it into the oven for about 15 minutes. I made a red wine reduction sauce. As for the sides, I stir-fried the rest of the TJ's frozen asparagus risotto and spinach cooked in the lamb drippings with garlic. And of course, I only remembered about taking the picture after we ate our meal. This time, I even had the camera sitting on the table!

Orange Roughy

Costco has these packaged frozen orange roughy that make eating fish much more convenient than running out for fresh ones whenever you want any. My mom had gotten some and really enjoyed their taste. Orange roughy is a mild white fish and easy to prepare. I marinated it in olive oil, lemon juice, and chopped cilantro and onions (leftovers from taco night) for about 30 minutes, then baked them for about 30 minutes. I topped it with a white wine reduction and the remainder of the marinade, and served garlic green beans on the side. I should have also served this asparagus risotto from TJ's but forgot about. Ken really enjoyed the fish so it's a keeper, especially since we still have lots of it left. Note for future reference: Cook up an extra fillet because one wasn't enough for Ken.

Turkey Tacos

Seasoning packets do help a lot when you don't have the cupboard space for spices. We made turkey tacos with the leftover toppings from the previous Mexican meals. Although a little on the dry side, the tacos were juiced up again with the fixings. I ended up having one in a taco and the rest sans corn tortilla. I also stir-fried two chopped red bell peppers seasoned with cumin and chili powder (the few spices I actually have) to top the tacos...yum! This meal is a keeper.

Costco Chicken

This chicken goes a long way with all the leftovers we can get out of it. The first night, we removed the extremities and ate those along with leftover brown rice and green beans. Tonight, I cut up one side of the body, shredded up the meat, and made chicken tacos. On the side were a can of Mexicorn, corn tortillas, salsa verde, chopped cilantro and onion, and guacamole. Again, that creme fraiche came in handy and tasted great in the tacos. We plan on using the last half of the chicken body, along with the side ingredients, to make chicken quesadillas. I'm going to have to make sure to get plenty of veggies into this last dinner. That leaves us with the carcass. Should I save it to make chicken stock?

Briased Beef Short Ribs

I couldn't help but pick up these beautiful short ribs and the only thing I knew to do with them was to braise them so I combined a few recipes from trusty-ol' Food Network. A few months ago, we had lunch with some friends at the Blue Bayou in Disneyland and I ordered this fantastically rich beef ribs. The particular recipe was not similar, especially since I didn't cook them long enough and probably didn't cook them correctly. Since I braised them in red wine, I used some of the leftover wine to make a sauce with creme fraiche. At first, I tried to make gravy with the drippings but it turned into this congealed blob...definitely not at all appetizing. Ken liked the sauce, although it was too salty for me. The healthy parts of this meal were the green beans and brown rice. Ken liked the brown rice so that's what we're having from now on!

Anniversary Dinner

Ken took us to Raymond Restaurant last night to celebrate our first year together. The meal was so fabulous that I had to write about it even though I didn't cook it. For starters, we had Crispy Maple Pork Belly and the best Froi Gras I've ever had, and had a total out-of-body experience which I call foodgasm. For our main course, Ken had Buttered Salmon and I had lamb two ways: a braise shank with couscous in a Moroccan sauce and roast lamb rack with this amazing potato emulsion. To finish this indulgence, Ken had a Brownie Sundae and I had the Creme Brulee, which usually is the best I've ever had but the brulee turned out too thick and overpowered the rest of the dish. Nevertheless, it was an amazing experience and we had a fabulous time!

Indian-Spiced Lamb Loin Chops

I couldn't decide what to do with these loin chops that I found at Costco yesterday. At first, grilling them after sitting in an herb marinade was the plan but I didn't have a chance to get the herbs. My friend, Seema, gifted me some Indian spices for my birthday so I decided to put them to use as the marinade.

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cumin powder
• 1/4 tsp curry powder
• 3 cloves garlic
  

It could've used less turmeric and more curry and cumin powders. Served with green beans, rice (w/ whole cumin seeds & olive oil) and prepackaged mahkni paneer (didn't have any fresh paneer on hand).

Katsudon

We bought some thinly sliced pork chops and I wasn't quite sure what to do with them until the last minute today while at the market. There were also some yaki soba and ready-to-cook shrimp tempura left in the fridge so I decided to do a Japanese meal. The tonkatsu was pretty easy to do, but the katsudon sauce needed some adjustment...a bit too salty and concentrated in flavor. I didn't have the exact ingredients (namely mirin and dashi soup) listed on the link to the katsudon and instead made adjustments to the dipping sauce that I bought today. Also forgot the onion and substituted it with the shallots I already had. Top it all off with green onions.

Update: Since we had two leftover tonkatsu, we had it again the next day with adjustments to the previous night's sauce. In the future, I'll probably use a 1/2 cup of the tempura dipping sauce (tastes like the same base as the dashi soup), dilute it with 1 cup of water, and leave out the soy sauce and sugar. As for the mirin, I'll leave that out as well unless I happen to have some on hand. The shallots were an okay substitute but the onion probably would've been better.

Creme Fraiche Sauce

While poking around Trader Joe's for dinner ideas, I discovered that I could use creme fraiche as a topping for the hazelnut-crusted salmon I planned to serve. A suggested idea as a seafood topping was to combine it with fresh herbs and lemon juice, but since I forgot the herbs after the fact, I had to improvise and made a white wine reduction instead. I added about 2 teaspoons of the creme to 1 cup of reduced white wine, seasoned it with some salt and a few drops of lemon juice, and a sliver of unsalted butter just to round out the flavor. Dad had given us some chayote (pictured above) the day before so I grated one up with some garlic. The tricky part about the chayote was to make sure to add plenty of water and let it cook until tender.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

This one's really not cooking and more like putting stuff together and heating them up. Nevertheless, it was tasty. Here are the ingredients: marinara sauce in a jar, Costco meatballs, 1 clove minced garlic, 1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash, diced mushrooms, topped with grated mizithra cheese.

Pork Chops a la Masala & Pineapple

I wasn't sure what to do with these pork chops we had so in the few moments just before falling asleep, the idea came to me: use the leftover Tiger Tiger masala sauce (the best btw, found at World Market) in the fridge and add pineapple chunks for the twist. The chops were seared on both sides and baked in the oven at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. After baking, I set them aside on a plate and covered with foil, then browned the pineapple chunks in the same pan, adding the masala sauce, and returned the pork chops back to the sauce to simmer. On the side were rice favored with a spoonful of the masala sauce prior to cooking and a 1/2 teaspoon of whole cumin, and wilted spinach with garlic. Unfortunately, I remembered about taking the picture only after we ate our meal so here's one of the sauce instead.