French Onion Soup

In our first CSA box, we got this giant onion that I didn't know what to do with, so Anny suggested making French onion soup. This is the recipe that I used and it's very delicious. Instead of canned soup, I found this liquid concentrate at Henry's, and used 4 tubes w/ a total of 4.5 cups of water. The red wine was a 2-Buck Chuck shiraz from TJ's. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make and how great it tasted.

We only had a bowl each and lots left over, so I put the rest in the freezer to enjoy later. The one thing I'd do differently next time is to slice the bread thinner, about 1/2 inch. The 1-inch slice soaked up most of the broth in our soup bowls. Can't wait to have this again!

Mushroom sauce

I made this on the fly halfway through the cooking process. Originally, my plan was to just saute some sliced white mushroom in butter and garlic, and just call it a day. I had covered the mushroom to wilt down and got the idea to make a gravy with it when I saw all the wonderful liquid that had come out after uncovering. I melted down another pat of butter in the center of the mushroom pile then about a tablespoon of flour to make a roux, then just added water to the mixture until I got my desired amount of sauce. Season with salt and pepper before serving. SO EASY! We had this with steak and potatoes.

The Perfect Yams (According to Ken)

After a long work day today, I somehow managed to muster up enough energy to cook a dinner with a main protein with a wine reduction AND five side dishes! Most of it was baked, which gave me time for the stove-top stuff. Part of the inspiration boiled down to clearing out the fridge and pantry, and the other was because of the shipment of our veggie box this morning. Here's a run-down of everything I made: baked salmon, a creamy white wine reduction sauce, 1 baked yam, 1 baked potato, sauteed white mushrooms, sauteed broccoli rabe, and roasted fennel.

Everything was baked except for the rabe and mushroom. The broccoli rabe and fennel were from the box, and those were simple online recipes. The fennel was perfect since I had already planned on baking the 2 types of potatoes from the pantry. To the (very large) yam, I added a pat of butter and 2 tbsp of brown sugar. The potato also got a pat of butter and some of the creamy white wine sauce (sour cream had gone bad). It felt like a feast and I finally got Ken to like yams!

*Picture coming soon.

Linguine & Clams in White Wine Sauce

I was inspired to make this after watching a segment of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network. It looked so simple, and after rewinding and rewatching several times, found how true that was. I had to guess on the amounts of some of these, and all turned out delicious.

• 3-4 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 can whole baby clams
• 6 fresh clams* for presentation (I left out)
  
• 1 cup white wine
• 1 cup half & half (or 1/2 cup cream and 1/2 cup milk)
  
• 1 tbsp butter
• chopped basil
• ground pepper
• 1/2 lb of linguine
  

While cooking the clam sauce, cook the noodles (7 minutes according to instructions). To a pan, add the garlic, then baby clams, (then the fresh clams, ) then white wine, then half & half, and let it all reduce until the liquid is below the top of the mound of baby clams (about 10 minutes). Add the butter, basil, pepper, and mix well, then remove from heat. Remove noodles from water then top with clam mixture. Finally, top with Parmesan cheese.

This dish was so easy and so tasty. I can't wait to make it again.

Flap Meat w/ Chimichurri Sauce

I got the idea for serving chimichurri sauce with flap meat from dining at Gaucho Grill. Their version uses skirt steak. Once gain, I found the recipe from the Food Network. It wasn't the same, though still very tasty. I would add less parsley next time, as the flavor seems to be overpowering. On the side were slices of zucchini and yellow squashes, and super thin slices of sweet potato.

I got this crazy idea to throw the stove-top grill into the oven to cook the squash and meat, since the potato chips were also being baked in the oven, which made this an oven-cooked meal. The only part that had some trouble was the grill not entirely fitting into the oven, so I alternated between bake and broil. The potato went in first for about 10 minutes, then the squash were added with the door partially open for about 5 minutes, then finally the meat on the broil setting for about 10 minutes.

The meat and squash were removed first. While the meat rested, the potato continued to bake and I prepared the chimichurri sauce. Once the sauce was done, the meat was sliced thinly before serving. Yum, yum, yum!

Shellfish Galore!

Lobster Ravioli w/ King Crab Legs (upper left), both purchased from Costco and lightly drizzled in browned butter.

Panfried Croutons Topped w/ Spiced Crab (crab lower left, croutons upper right)
Sorry, will update later.

Clams Provencale (middle). See Mussels Provencale post.

Chinese Squash (lower right). Simply chop, throw into a stir-fry pan with about a tablespoon of cooking oil, cover until the liquids have released (and stirring occasionally), and season to taste.  That's it!  If you pick a young one (this one's courtesy of my dad's back yard), the seeds should be soft enough that there is no need to scoop out and can be consumed.  Ken had never had this before and quite enjoyed it.  I love the tenderness and sweetness of this squash.

Mussels Provencale

Costco had these big 5-pound bags of mussels at about $3/lb, which I'd been eyeballing forever, and finally had the nerve to go for it and buy the thing to have for dinner. Beware--5 pounds of mussels is a WHOLE LOT! Halfway through the cleaning process, I realized that this was going to be way too much (this was before I read that 3 lbs serves 6) and decided to cook just half the bag. Imagine my surprise when we ended up with a GIANT platter (I think 10x15) of it with leftovers to boot. Our only side dishes were an ear of corn each and a loaf of French bread to sop up the mussel juices. I had to add the mussels to the menu for Ken's birthday party the next day while they're still alive (not good when dead!). It was a hit both nights, and I won't be making mussels again for a long while mostly because cleaning was a lot of work! This is another recipe from the shellfish book. Very simple, very tasty.

• 3 lb (1.5 kg) mussels, debearded & well scrubbed
• 3/4 cup(4 fl oz/125 ml) dry white wine
• 1 small yellow onion (I used 2 shallots), chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped, plus 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 6 fresh parsley stems, plus 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme
• 1-2 bay leaves
  
• 3-4 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & freshly ground pepper

Discard any mussels that do not close to the touch. The trick is to tug on the beard as you're debearding to wake it up and close the shell. If the beard is missing, give the shell a quick squeeze and you'll see the mussel close on its own. Rinse each individually to remove any muddy/sandy bits.

In a saucepan, bring the wine to a boil Add the mussels, onion, coarsely chopped garlic, parsley stems, thyme and bay leaf. Reduce the heat to medium, cover and simmer, shaking the pan periodically, until the mussels open, about 2-4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the mussels to a large bowl. Discard any unopened mussels.

Strain the cooking liquid through a sieve lined with several layers of cheesecloth. Reduce the liquid over high heat by half to about 1/2 cup. The mussels and their liquid cooled too quickly for my taste, so I added the lemon juice, olive oil, and minced garlic to the reduced cooking liquid in the pan, added the mussels back in and covered for about a minute to give everything a quick heat before serving. When you're ready to serve, toss in the chopped parsley then transfer to a platter. Serve with crusty French bread to soak up the liquid--you won't regret this.

Thai Shrimp Salad w/ Mint

Ken's stepmom recently gave me a shellfish cookbook (I love shellfish!) from Williams-Sonoma, and I happen to have most of the ingredients to make this dish. The flavors are bright and light, perfect for a hot summer evening. Once all the prep work is done, this takes a few minutes to assemble and makes it a definite keeper. Since it's just the two of us, I halved the following amounts of the original recipe and used 3 shrimps/person.

• 1 1/2 lb medium shrimp, peeled & deveined
• 4-5 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 2 tbsp fish sauce (highly recommend using rather than leaving out)
  
• 1 tbsp peanut oil (don't substitute--makes it taste & smell amazing)
  
• 1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 cup honey)
  
• 1 lemongrass stalk (ends trimmed & tough outer leaves removed), minced, OR 1 tsp grated lemon zest
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled & sliced, then quartered
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion (I used shallots)
• 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, cut into thin shreds
• 1/2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper or serrano chili pepper, seeded & minced
  

The recipe called for the shrimped to be cooked in fish stock or clam juice. I was grilling meat so just threw the shrimp on as well. Otherwise, boiling in plain water is just as good.

In a large bowl, whisk together the lime juice, fish sauce, peanut oil, sugar, lemongrass (or lemon zest), chili pepper, garlic and salt & pepper to taste. Add the shrimp, cucumber, onion, mint and cilantro. Toss well and serve over your favorite salad greens. Serves 6.

9/5 - I also made this for Ken's birthday party and it was a hit as well.

Zucchini Bread

With the abundance of zucchini from the back yard, I had to find another use for them aside from cooking or giving them away, so I thought I'd bake bread. This is a straightforward zucchini bread recipe from the Food Network. The only things I changed were the amounts of sugar, as it seemed like way too much and I usually find non-Chinese baked goods too sweet. I reduced the granulated sugar down to 3/4 cup, and increased the brown sugar to 1/2 cup, which still yielded less than the original total. Ken was quite happy with it and didn't notice the missing sugar. To finish it off, I sprinkled some brown sugar on top after it's just about done baking, and set it on broil for about 5 minutes to give it a nice sugary top crust.

"Hurry Up" Chicken Pot Pie

I almost never watch Paula Deen's cooking show and yet somehow ended up catching an episode on how to make a quick and easy chicken pot pie. With still plenty of Costco chicken breast in the fridge, this was the perfect solution to a quick and easy comfort meal that Ken would love. And love it he did.

The filling too salty so I would substitute the chicken stock with water next time. Instead of just peas, I defrosted a mixture of frozen corn, green beans, peas and carrots, and sauteed it along with more sliced carrots (Hint: use peeled baby carrots) as well as added about 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro. I wasn't sure I'd like the boiled eggs and only used one, cutting it up into smaller pieces. Rather than layers, all the filling ingredients including the wet mixture were combined before topping with the biscuit. In the future, I might also use 1 cup of the biscuit mix because there was more than plenty to soak up the filling. Also, 1 whole stick of butter to top the biscuit mix sounded like too much and half would suffice.

This was easy to make and you could actually cook and cut up the chicken ahead of time. Give it a quick toss on the stove with the carrots to heat it up when you're ready to cook. And look--I've perfected the stuffed squash blossoms!

Chicken Parmesan & Stuffed Squash Blossoms

A few months ago, I planted some zucchini squash and they're now flourishing like crazy. Just about every morning, I'd be greeted by its blossoms, and in the course of about 4 days, I had collected two short of a dozen. Coincidentally, I found a recipe for stuffed blossoms in the "Eating by Color" cook book last week and gathered all the ingredients to make this tonight.
Squash Blossoms

• part-skim ricotta cheese
• finely chopped fresh mozzarella
  
• freshly grated Parmesan
• tempura batter mix
• sparkling/soda water
• squash blossoms
  

Strain the ricotta in a strainer lined with cheesecloth for 2 hours. Depending on how many blossoms you have, I suggest just using half the amount of mozzarella and Parmesan to the ricotta cheese. The original recipe called for 12 blossoms with a cup of ricotta, so you'll have to use your judgment from there. Combine all the cheeses together.

I used tempura batter instead of flour, and my sister suggested using soda water to lighten up the batter even more. Add enough water (cold!) so that the batter is runny after mixing and let it rest for 30 minutes.

Spoon or pipe the cheese mixture into each blossom in equal portions. Holding the blossom by the stem end, coat with the tempura batter and let the excess drip into the bowl before plunging into the fryer, holding tips in first for a few seconds before letting go of the rest. Cook until golden and crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Remove the blossoms, shake and place in a brown paper bag to drain. Season to taste with salt and serve.

The result was not the success I hoped for...too oily although the flavor was good. I got the oil to 375° (the highest possible) and let it drain, yet was left with puddles of oil. It seemed that the tips of the flowers dragged and held in the oil.

The Chicken Parmesan was a success. I used a basic recipe from an online source, and I was pleased with how tender it turned out. I got the chicken breasts on bulk from Costco, which came in these little pouches of two and made storing and separating so convenient. Along with the blossoms, I actually got zucchini squash from the plant (imagine that), enough to line the entire bottom of the casserole dish just below the chicken so as to incorporate more veggies into our meal. The thing I would change next time is to flatten out a chicken and leave a corner or two uncovered by sauce so as to get a bit of crunch. Yum.

*Update: I tried frying the blossoms again, this time without the stuffing, and they turned out great! The trick was to make sure to fry them long enough (about 2-3 minutes on each side) so it's not soaking with oil. The flavor of the blossom is quite wonderful...like a subtler version of the squash in leafy form. Stuffing them made it too nerve-racking for me because I was afraid that the cheese would ooze out and get lost in the oil, which was why I didn't cook them long enough and wasn't successful in the first try. I continue to gather flowers and want to try them in a stir fry.

Chicken & Dumplings Again

Yes, I'd made this dish already but this version was so good yet different that I had to write it down so I would remember how to recreate it.

Last week, I bought a Costco chicken and we had half of it left (mostly because we were tired of eating it just roasted) after we made tacos, so I decided to make chicken & dumplings out of it tonight. I first boiled the whole thing (bones, skin & pulled meat) to extract as much chicken-ness out of it as possible (about 10 minutes), then removed skin, carcass and any other "floaties" hanging around. Use enough water to cover the chicken.

Next, I added about 3/8 tsp salt, 3/8 tsp onion powder, 1 cube vegetable bouillon and about 1/2-2/3 cup each of celery and carrots, and let them cook for about 30 minutes. I happen to have some chopped cilantro left over from our chicken taco meal and didn't want to waste them so tossed them in as well and let the soup reduce some more. The last step is to add the dumplings, which was just the standard procedure according to the directions on the biscuit mix.

The key to the intense flavors of this one was several fold: rich roasted chicken and the cilantro (who would've guessed?). I'm still cooking it right now (almost done) and it's already amazing! No gravy necessary this time.

**Final note: not necessary to add salt because flavors intensified once finished.

Ground Beef Tacos

I know there's already a tacos night, and this one's just a different version of it, mostly with whatever I had on hand so it's a little different.

about 3/4-1 lb. lean ground beef
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 finely chopped jalapeno
5 chopped sweet peppers
1/2 can corn kernels
1 chopped tomato
1/4 cup chopped scallions
handful chopped cilantro

Brown the beef first, stir in the the dry seasonings next until it's mixed well, then add all the chopped stuff except for the tomato and scallions. Stir until the peppers are wilted, stir in the tomato, turn off the heat and mix in the scallions and cilantro at the very end.

Fish Fillet w/ Basil

One of my family's favorite restaurants is Newport Seafood in Rowland Heights, and one of my favorite dishes there is the fish fillet with basil. Last week, I bought a package of frozen orange roughy (we could all use more fish!), and wanted to do something different with it rather than just baking or steaming it and topping it with a sauce. I thought back to the Newport dish, mulling it over in my head for a couple of days until finally attempting to recreate it tonight. Let me just say...OFF THE HOOK! It tasted pretty close to the restaurant version and none of it was left over at the end of our meal. I can't wait to make this for my parents!

2 fish fillets, sliced into bite-size pieces
1/2 cup flour, seasoned with garlic salt
1/2 cup basil leaves
2-3 cloves of chopped garlic
3 tbsp King Soce black pepper steak sauce (99 Ranch or TJ's carries something similar)

In a stir-fry pan, heat up enough oil to cover half the fish. Dredge the fish in seasoned flour, fry each side until lightly browned and drain on a paper towel. Dump out the used oil and heat up about a tablespoon of fresh oil. Add the garlic and cook until lightly browned, then add the basil and about 1/3 cup water, and give it a stir before adding the pepper sauce. Finally, toss in the fish pieces until each is completely coated, taking care not to break them.

The best way to enjoy this is to serve it over rice and you'll want to make sure you have plenty of sauce, so adjust the amounts of water and sauce to taste. The one thing I left out from the restaurant version is the jalapeno pepper. Personally, I like just a hint of heat but Ken doesn't so it wasn't a big deal exclude it. I also made stir-fried fresh egg noodles with beef, broccoli and green onions, and fish paste patties.

Fool Proof Guacamole

As you know, I love short cuts. This one just takes minutes to make with a few simple ingredients and a lot less work. First smash up an avocado. Mix in a few squeezes of a lemon, a small amount of ground cumin, and some freshly chopped cilantro. Now this is the shortcut I used: add a few tablespoons of your favorite salsa. Mine is Jack's Special Salsa. That's it! If you think about it, the same ingredients that go into a guacamole are found in salsa, so why go through all the trouble?!

I Want My Baby Back Ribs

I love baby back ribs. For some reason, I'd been intimidated about making them. I finally took the plunge when I saw how easy it was on one of the Food Network shows. Basically, I rubbed the meat with a store bought spice rub (Stubbs) and brown sugar. Make sure to use dark brown sugar, and not light brown, which I mistakenly used. Cook in a deep pan and add some water to it. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 250F for 2 hours.

Since it took so long to cook, I made this the night prior and grilled it the next day. To warm the meat after removing from the refrigerator, I let it sit in a warm oven before grilling. Baste it with your favorite BBQ sauce and grill for about 15 minutes. The meat was so tender when it went on the grill that it feel apart, so it might help to cut the rack in half prior to cooking.

On the side were the remainder of the potato medley with chopped garlic & parsley in grape seed oil, and sauteed corn, roasted red pepper and smoked turkey sausage.

Ken enjoyed this more than he thought he would, because he thought there wasn't going to be much meat or be too fatty and found it quite the opposite. We had everything but the ribs left over. This is a keeper. I found some more ideas on how to make ribs online, which I hope will give them more flavor (minus smoking).

*3/28 Update. I made this again today and made a change to the dry rub. In addition to the Stubbs and brown sugar, I used Lawry's seasoning salt, smoked paprika, and a small amount of cumin powder, and cooked it in beef broth with some water. We also had some beef ribs and didn't cook it quite as long, so the meat wasn't fall-off-the-bone. Regardless, they tasted better this time.

Happy St. Patrck's Day!

So I attempted to make corned beef and cabbage in celebration of Ken's Irish heritage. I picked up a brined packet of corned beef from TJ's and put it in the slow cooker according to the instructions on the packaging while we were at work. As for the cabbage, the suggestion I found online for a traditional Irish meal was to add it to the corned beef broth, but after a few minutes, I didn't like the idea of everything tasting the same so I took it out and sauteed it instead. And an Irish meal wouldn't be complete without potatoes. TJ's had a colorful medley of tiny potatoes, which I baked with grape seed oil, garlic salt and rosemary in the oven.

Ken really enjoyed the corned beef, as well as my dad. For me, the flavor was pretty good but not the smell...something about all the brininess didn't appeal to my nose.

Hamburger w/ a Twist

I bought some herb chevre cheese because I've never had it and was curious as to what it tastes like. Unfortunately, it's not my favorite to eat for a snack. Since there's still quite a bit left (even for a small tube), I wanted to use the rest and thought it'd be interesting to incorporate it into a burger. I cut about 1 tbsp of it and mixed it with about the same amount of chopped scallions, then stuffed it in between ground beef that I've added about 1 tsp of olive oil and balsamic vinegar to. Although I added some garlic salt to the ground meat, it could've used more. To top it off, I cut a piece of a herb foccacia bread the same size as the patty and lightly grilled it with garlic butter. It was different but tasty nonetheless. The chevre worked really well this way.

Rack of Lamb a la Julia Child

Ever since I saw "Julie & Julia", I've been really into learning more about Julia Child. Ken bought me her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" as well as as "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom", an essentials guide. Today, my colleagues got me her "My Life in France" as a belated birthday gift which I'm looking forward to reading.

As it turned out, I happened to buy a rack of lamb from Costco and was going to prepare it my usual way: cut into chops and marinated in olive oil, rosemary and garlic, seared on both sides then roasted in the oven, and served with a red wine reduction. This recipe called for the rack to be roasted whole, which I haven't tried before. She had a sauce to go with it but it was too time-consuming (um, simmering lamb bones for 2 hours), so I just made something up with the ingredients I had.

Yeah, I know...the whole thing is one color (including the plate). It's dinner so having something tasty was my main concern. I loved the crunch of the bread crumbs and how well it worked with the mushroom sauce. Usually, when something tastes good, I'll hear a quick "mm" from Ken. With this, there wasn't any sound but I knew he liked it because he systematically chomped down one chop after another by holding it by the rib rather than using a fork and knife like a civilized person. There was nothing left by the time we were done with this meal (it's not as much as it looks). It's been a week since I made it so my memory's a little foggy on the sauce, but I'll try my best to remember what I did.

Herbal Garlic & Mustard Coating
Whisk together a mayo-like consistency 1/3 cup Dijon mustard w/ 3 large cloves of pureed garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp ground rosemary & 3 tbsp light olive oil. Spread over lamb and marinate 1/2 hour or cover & refrigerate several hours or overnight.

Rack of Lamb
Scrape off any fatty meat between the ribs & from top of bones. Score the fat side of the ribs lightly & paint w/ mustard coating. Roast for 10 minutes at 500F, sprinkle 1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs over the meat & drizzle on a little melted butter. Roast 20 minutes more, or to internal temperature 125F for red rare or 140F for medium rare. Let rest 5 minutes before cutting into chops.

Mushroom Sauce
Saute about 1/2-1 cup (your preference) sliced mushrooms in a little extra virgin olive oil & butter. I added about 1 cup of dry sherry because that's what I had on hand. I had a demi-glace (Gold brand) paste in the pantry and made about 2/3 cup of stock according to the packet instructions, which I added after the the sherry reduced by about half. When the sauce reduces, add about 3 tbsp butter at the end and season with salt to taste. In the future, I would use different types of mushrooms, something more earthy, and maybe add herbs as well for a deeper flavor. It's fun to experiment.

Pot Roast Tacos

We still had some of the pot roast left over from last week, so I thought it'd be a good idea to make tacos out of it. I thought we had taco seasonings and discovered we didn't, so I had to improvise with what we had on in the pantry. I added 1/8 tbsp of cayenne and chili powder and 1/4 tbsp of cumin powder, smoked paprika, and chopped cilantro to the roast and the rest of the broth, and simmered the meat for about 45 minutes, adding chicken broth so it doesn't boil down too far and pulling the meat as it tenderized. The broth should boil down enough to just cover the meat. We made the tacos with flour tortillas, added shredded cheese, fresh chopped cilantro and Jack's Special Salsa. I was surprised how good it turned out. Ken liked it so much he ate the rest.

Mac & Smoked Gouda w/ Broccoliflower

The faculty & staff at work sponsor a brunch every Friday, with different members taking turns to host each one. One week, someone brought the best mac-n-cheese I've ever had, and it turned out to come from KooKooRoo. What made it so good was that it had a smoky flavor to it that reminded me of smoked gouda cheese. Ever since, I had been wanting to replicate the flavor, and a colleague mentioned that Rachel Ray had a recipe that called for the gouda so I had to try it out.

Prior to hearing about Rachel's recipe, I had actually attempted to make it from a box and adding the gouda, but it turned out too thick. This one turned out pretty close. She calls for cayenne and smoked paprika to give it an extra kick which we appreciated, but I would also try it without the cayenne next time. I also left out the small onion and started with sauteing about 1/4 portion of diced smoked sausage. Ham would've also worked but I wanted more of the smoky goodness. Coincidentally, I bought broccoliflower before I even saw this recipe because it just looked so darn interesting but wasn't sure what to do with it, so it worked out really well and gave an extra color element. I also left out the onion, Dijon mustard and pepper.

The one thing that concerned me the most was the tremendous yield at the end. She called for 1 whole pound of pasta, which was way beyond enough. Funny thing because the recipe said it came to 4 servings...yeah, really big ones! It could have easily been 16 servings. I actually intended on only cooking half the amount and boiled a half bag of the pasta, but forgot to make adjustments to the rest of the recipe (the sauce) so had to cook the rest of the pasta. Let's just say we have enough to last at least 3 more meals of healthy portions. We sealed up 2 portions and saved one for later this week, plus a small helping for lunch tomorrow.

How did it taste? Really good, so now it's the best mac&cheese I've ever had. The sauce was rich so it's not a dish you would eat often. The pepper gave it a good but not overwhelming kick. I would've eaten more if I had room, but it was a side dish after all. For our main dish, I made Ken's favorite: hamburgers. Having this stovetop grill has changed cooking for me--for the best. Next time, I'd also put the whole thing into a baking dish and save some of the cheese to top and bake the whole thing for a few minutes before serving.

2/2 It was suggested to me today to make this for brunch this Friday, since I just found out that I'll be one of the hosts. What good timing!

2/4 I just finished cooking this dish again for brunch tomorrow and just doubled the amount of the original recipe. It yielded two 9"x11"x3" aluminum pans, which should give you a really good idea of how much there is!

Corn, Spinach & Peppers

Two weekends ago, we went to eat at a cafe that served French country food and I had this amazing SIDE DISH! Today, like I do just about every day on my drive home, I racked my brain for dinner ideas. I already had the protein planned out but not the side. I knew I had some peppers and spinach on hand, and my mind wandered back to this dish. I just had to make a quick stop at the market for corn on the cob.

• 1 corn on the cob, shucked
• 1 red pepper, seeded and cut so that slices are flat to be grilled
• 1/2 bunch of spinach, stems cut (cut in half the really large leaves)
  
• 3 tbsp unsalted utter
  

I don't know if this was how they did it, but it was tasty nevertheless. On the stovetop grill, cook the corn and red pepper until they have a slight char. I added some water to steam and speed up the cooking. At this point, the corn was not cooked all the way through and the pepper was not crunchy anymore. Remove from heat then dice the pepper slices and cut the corn kernels. Over medium heat, melt the butter, then add the spinach and cover until it wilts. Add the peppers and kernels, season, and stir until everything's sufficiently moist. The corn should still have some crunch to it.

I noticed that the original dish had some broth to it, and mine didn't, so I would add some water next time because broth definitely added to the overall tastiness. This was so good we didn't have any leftovers.

Bulk Flap Meat

Having a FoodSaver is SO awesome! I can buy meat in bulk to freeze so I'll have it handy when I can't get to the store. Last month, I got some flap meat from Costco and divided it up, stored some just plain and some marinated in Yoshida's marinade. It's a great cut that's relatively low in fat. We got a grill pan last week and now's the perfect time to try it out since it's too cold and rainy to cook on the outdoor grill. This was an easy meal and took no time and prep to make.

Start by steaming or boiling the corn first. This is a good time to grill the zucchini. I just coated the zucchini with seasoned cooking oil, and grilled the corn when I was ready to cook the meat so they're both done about the same time.

The meat was lopsided in thickness (from 1/2 inch to 1 inch), which worked out for us since Ken likes his meat more cooked than I do. Make sure the pan is nice and hot before cooking. I cooked each side for about 4-5 minutes. When you take it off the grill, be sure to let the meat rest for about 5 minutes before slicing, then cut against the grain into thin slices. Serve immediately!

One note on the bread...this is spinach cheese bread from the S. Pasadena farmer's market...so tasty with garlic butter.

Chicken & Dumplings

This is a dish I learned from Ken's stepmom. Being Chinese, my mom rarely made American-style meals and so this is the second time I'm enjoying this. This is SO easy and tasty--reminds me of chicken pot pie! It tastes better after some sitting time, so I cooked it yesterday and served it tonight. (Ken kept eyeballing it last night and commenting how good it looked.) All I had to do tonight was to heat it up, add more broth and follow the directions on the box of the biscuit mix to make the dumplings. There's so much of this left over that we can eat for days (or freeze for later).

• 1 chicken (I got halved breasts & thighs w/ bones in, minus wings & drumsticks which is more like 3/4 chicken)
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 3 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed
  
• 1 vegetable (or chicken) bullion cube
• biscuit mix (follow box directions for dumplings)
• 1 box chicken broth
  

In a large pot, brown the chicken first, then cover the chicken with water and let it boil (about 10 minutes). Once it's done, remove the skin, bones and any fat in between the meat. Pull apart the meat into desired size and set aside. I tossed the bones back into the liquid to get the most of the chicken. Skim away the fat from the liquid. Remove the bones from the broth, toss all the ingredients into the pot then add enough water to cover, bring to a boil, then cover and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Season to taste if you don't find the broth salty enough, and don't forget the pepper.

Only cook the dumplings when you're ready to eat because they'll be too soggy to be enjoyable. The broth reduced by a great deal yesterday so I added about 3/4 box of chicken broth to make the dumplings. Cooking the dumplings basically consisted of dropping the mixed biscuit batter into the broth and letting it cook uncovered for 10 minutes, then covered for another 10 minutes.

I tried making gravy again today and learned my lesson after yesterday's pot roast gravy. This time, I started off with about 2 tbsp of butter and 1 tbsp of flour, and just added the chicken broth until reaching the desired consistency. We received some lovely soup bowls for Christmas, which I used to serve this meal. Make sure that the dumplings get a good soak from the broth when you plate, and top the whole thing off with gravy. Yum...

Pot Roast w/ Gravy

This was my first attempt at making pot roast. I wasn't quite sure how it'd turn out, but it was a hit. As for the gravy, Ken's stepmom had taught me how to make it while we were in New Jersey, but I couldn't quite remember how it all went so had to look up how to do the roux before getting started and improvised the rest of the way.

At first, the flour clumped up before it even had a chance to brown, and I thought I'd ruined it. I panicked then just started adding a little of the liquid at a time. The flour just kept soaking up the liquid, and the more I added, the thicker and more voluminous it got, but I just kept adding liquid until I eventually got the right consistency. I don't know how much liquid it ended up being, so it's safe to say to just keep adding until it looks right. I think I started off with too much flour because there was A LOT of gravy!

I didn't use the fat skimmed from the liquid for the gravy because it just sounded too rich, but that would've worked as well. This was easier than I remembered and it got high marks from Ken!

Pot Roast

• 1 roast
  
• 1 cup chopped celery
  
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 box beef stock

In a pan, sear all sides of the roast until brown. Set the crock pot on HIGH and add all the ingredients in. Let it cook for about 4 hours or more. Skim any fat from the liquid.

Gravy

• 4 tbsp butter
• 4 tbsp flour
• about 1 1/2 cups of cooking liquid from roast
  

Melt the butter until it bubbles, then add all the flour, making sure to whisk until all the flour is mixed with the butter. Spoon in about a half cup of the liquid and continue to whisk. Keep spooning in liquid until the gravy gets to the consistency of your liking. Don't forget to season it with salt and pepper at the end. This makes a lot of gravy, so if you want less, start with a smaller amount (1 tbsp each of butter and flour).

*This picture of the roast was taken from night #2, served with mac & cheese w/ smoked gouda, and corn & carrots.