With love, from my little kitchen to you...: November 2012

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thoughts on cooking

Quite often people say to me "you are such an amazing cook. I'm horrible, I can't make anything."
And to them I say (after I roll my eyes because I can't take a compliment) "I'm really not, but thanks. And you can cook, you just need to try!"
As my Mom always said "If you can read, you can cook". This is so true.
I mean, say you like steak. Go online, or get a cookbook, and READ! Find out about different cuts and how to cook them. Or talk to your local butcher.
Or, say you heard of something you never ate before. Do some research on that ingredient, and try it! I did this a few years ago with Leeks. Never had them, never cooked with them, but now I am in love and use them all the time!

Also, in my opinion, in order to cook good things you also need to know what you like, and what you don't. Then take it from there. And try to think outside the box (this is the hardest part!)

For example, in my last post, I made a chicken pie. Now, instead of making it the "traditional" way with pie crusts, I used leftover stuffing and mashed potatoes for the top and bottom. Still a chicken pie, just a little different. My thoughts- well, pie crust is a starch, and stuffing and potatoes are starches, and since I have leftovers of each of those, I'll just use them instead. And there you go.

Or, take last night, for example. I had nothing for dinner, and needed to get rid of a few things. Namely: 5 frozen ravioli I found in the back of the freezer, half of a butternut squash, one peeled apple, and 3 chicken tenders that I also found in the back of the freezer. Now, this may not seem like a normal combination for dinner, and maybe it wasn't, but I like all these things, they don't "disagree" with each other, and together they created a fairly well balanced meal (protein, vegetable, starch).
So, I started thinking- what can I do with these? And here's how my inner monologue went from there:
Well, I can boil the squash and apple, then puree them to make a nice base for the ravioli.
But what will I put on top of them as a sauce?
Well, I like butter on top of squash and I like butter on top of ravioli, so I will heat up some butter, make a brown butter sauce, and drizzle that over the ravioli's that will be on top of the squash puree.
Then I will sautee the chicken with a little garlic, because I love garlic, and that also goes will alongside of squash, ravioli and butter.
And there it was. Dinner. Garlic chicken with ravioli over apple-butternut squash puree with brown butter drizzle. Sounds fancy, but it isn't! Its Simple!

And that is what I am trying to tell you!
Cooking Is Simple!
Unlike baking, which is more of an exact science, cooking is just mixing things together that you like, and not under cooking or burning anything in the process. That's all.

Also, don't be afraid to try new flavors either. For example, if herbs intimidate you, or you don't know what something is going to taste like, just go smell it. The produce section of your local market should have plenty of herbs (do not use dried herbs, as they don't have much scent to them). All you need to do is pick off a leaf, rub it to release the oil, then smell. The smell will let your senses know what it will taste like.

So please, if there is anything you have ever wanted to make but you feel too intimidated to try, my suggestion is to just go for it!
Or, just let me know, and I'll cook it and post it on here for you. Step by step.
But really, have confidence in yourself, you are not a dummy! You can do this!

:)

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Thanksgiving re-purposed #3

Ok, here's the big one- Thanksgiving leftovers makeover #3- pot pie.
Because what better way to enjoy leftovers than to mix them all together in a pie!

Now, I have to admit, I had no leftover turkey for this, so I made a chicken. But, had I had turkey, this would be a turkey pot pie.
Anyways, on to the chicken.
Yes, I could have just cooked some meat and chopped it up, but that is too easy. Instead, I decided to brine a chicken then oven roast it. Because it is Sunday. And because that is how I roll.
So, lets talk about that first.
Brining is basically a form of marinading, but it is done in a salty solution. Now, the solution doesn't make the meat salty, it just helps make it more moist and tender, and it helps any flavors that you add to the solution get absorbed into the meat.
For my solution, I thyme, paprika, cumin, Old Bay seasoning, garlic, salt, a little of the concentrated orange juice, a little of the teriyaki mixture that I made in Thanksgiving #1, chicken broth and a bunch of water. Make sure you have enough so that the chicken will be completely submerged when added to it.

Heat until the salt is dissolved, then cool completely.

Soak overnight, then rinse and pat dry.

After its dry, put it in your roasting pan (breast down), drizzle with olive oil, then pop it into a 425* oven for about an hour.

Once it's golden brown, flip it over, drizzle with a little more oil, then place it back in the oven for another hour until that side is golden.

After the breast side gets golden, cover it with foil then put back in the oven until it's done.

You will know it's done when the internal temperature reaches 180* (or wen the popper pops).

When the chicken is done, and has cooled enough to handle, it's time to remove the meat.
I pulled off the wings and legs, and removed all the dark meat from the underside of the bird. All I had left then were the 2 breasts.

The best way to serve the breast, on all types of poultry, is to completely remove it then slice it. This makes for a beautiful presentation.

Once all the meat is chopped and ready, its time to start the pie (finally!!!!)

For the crust: leftover stuffing mixed with some stale dinner rolls. Mix together then add to a pie plate or a pan. Whatever you like to use. Then pop it in the oven to get dry and crisp.

While the crust is in the oven, get the pie filling ready. Simply mix together leftover veggies with the chicken, then add some leftover gravy.

I added corn starch to mine so that it would thicken the mixture.

Once the crust is done, add the filling to it.

Try to leave a little space around the edges on top of the crust. You'll see why in a sec...

Ok, final step- the top.
For this I used leftover mashed potatoes that I just heated up, added a little milk and melted butter to, then whipped.
First I put the potatoes around the edge to meet the stuffing crust, then I spread the rest over the top.

Bake for about an hour at 375*

Then Enjoy!

Thanksgiving re-purposed #2

Ok, here's my next Thanksgiving leftovers makeover: French toast casserole.

My inspiration for this dish you ask? A whole ton of dinner rolls that were a little stale, since they had been toasted for dinner. And I am not sure why, but the very first thing I thought of when I saw this bag full of bread was French toast casserole.
So here goes...

First, mix together eggs, milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Like you would if you were making regular French toast.
Then just add some sugar and brown sugar to sweeten up the dish.

Next, break the bread up into chunks and place into a casserole dish that you sprayed with cooking spray.

Then, drizzle with maple syrup and add the egg mixture.

Cover and bake.

This took about 45 minutes at 375*.

Once it's done, dust with powdered sugar...

drizzle with maple syrup (and maybe some butter), and enjoy!

Thanksgiving re-purposed. #1

Hello again!
I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know I did.
I mean, how can you not? It's a holiday dedicated to food and nothing but food (well, family too, but mostly just food).
But what do you do when the day is over and you have all kinds of leftovers that you don't know what to do with? You get creative and re-purpose them.
This weekend I made 3 meals out of my Thanksgiving leftovers, all of which were absolutely amazing.
Here's my first dish: Shrimp stir-fry.
"What?" you ask. "Shrimp stir-fry with Thanksgiving leftovers?"
Yes.
You see, dinner isn't the only thing that we don't always finish. Sometimes we don't finish our appetizers either. And that's where the inspiration for this meal came from. Stir-fry made with the leftover shrimp from the shrimp cocktail and some of the leftover veggies from the veggie platter.
Add in some rice noodles (also known as rice sticks) and homemade teriyaki, and you have yourself one fine meal.
Let's begin.
Start boiling water for the noodles, then toss the veggies into a hot pan with a little oil.
Since the veggies were already chopped, and the shrimp were already cooked, this meal came together real quick.

While that is cooking, you can make your sauce.
Now, I'm sure everyone has their own way of doing this, but here's the way I have always made it:
soy sauce, frozen concentrated orange juice, honey, garlic and brown sugar.
I used about 2 cups of soy, 1/3 c. sugar, 1/3 c. honey, 1 tbsp. garlic, 1 tbsp. OJ. Go easy on the OJ as it is pretty strong. If you don't have any, a splash or regular orange juice will do.