What's Cooking? April 14, 2012

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This was last night, time zones make thing difficult. Its risotto with pan fried haddock and a salad. Clic on pic to make it bigger
bergere chair 127.jpg
 
Unless something really wild happens, we will be having beef stew. Finally! :yum::yum::yum::yum::yum::yum:

As you know the last few days have been all twisted and turned around when it came to what was planned for dinner and what was actually served. James still didn't feel well enough to go to our friends' for lasagna today, so the stew (which is what I have REALLY been looking forward to) is tonight. How can I be so sure? Well, as I said, unless something really wild happens, it will be tonight because it is on the stove cooking right now! :angel:
 
Well... I went down to the freezer to get a package of kielbasa and found none so the planned dinner of kielbasa and mashed sweet potato is on hold. Instead well have burger bombs-burgers with Genoa salami and provolone cheese + all the fixin's.
 
I'm going to grill a couple small potatoes and a steak here shortly. Unless someone offers me some good dessert, then I will gladly grill them at your place.
I think I'll toss a couple clusters of snow crab legs on the grill to warm through, too.

I've seen that burger before, Andy. I'm glad you mentioned it again. On my shortlist.
 
We were out at Costco...they have the Campari Tomatoes so I got some of those and a flat of strawberries.

Then we stopped and I got some fresh basil and fresh mozzerella, made myself Caprese salad. Later I'll be slicing up the strawberries, macerating them with a little sugar and use that to top some 1-2-3 cakes. Finish off the Spanish Rice while we are at it, too!
 
My DxW turned me onto Costco's Compari tomatoes. They taste pretty good. That is, they have Tomato Flavor. I have some sliced alongside leftover Tuna Salad and I tossed some kalamata olives in the salad today.

Chocolate Ice Cream Soda for dessert.
 
Throat causing me havoc again so my wonderful DH made me a fruit shake with frozen berries, banana, fresh pineapple and almond milk. I have found out I am reacting to soy to we are trying other alternatives. Cow and goat milk give me phlegm that makes my swallowing even harder - the soy was fine that way but curdles in my stomach.

Anyway, the shake was awesome! :yum:
 
I'm cooking my developmental Kung Pao recipe again tonight, with chicken this time. This is iteration now about #15-#20 and ingredients and proportions are beginning to stabilize. My model/icon is the same dish served by one of the best Chinese restaurants in my local area. My recipe will be good enough to post if I can get it even half as good as theirs. I have a few twists of my own so I'm not trying to exactly copy their dish.

I have one procedure here that is particularly relevant to Asian stir fried dishes, what I call "residue analysis." This is where I look at my plate after dinner is done and eaten, and examine what ingredients are left. This is particularly relevant to Asian stir fry dishes where you eat them with chopsticks, and pick and choose which bites to eat.

I presume the diner will eat first what they like best, and they will leave behind the less desirable ingredients or those that have been furnished out of proportion. It is my job as chef to proportion the recipe so that the ancillary ingredients will be eaten and run out at exactly the same time as the main ingredient is totally consumed (the chicken, shrimp, pork or beef).

It is my experience with Asian cooking that the chef has to anticipate which ingredients in the stir fry are most desirable, which are accents, and particularly the chef has to cater to serving the best mix all the ingredients. It can be seen in what's left which ingredients were supplied too plentifully.

My Kung Pao is still in the area where I'm trying to please myself (as both chef and audience) but I'm nearing the point where I will experiment on test animals (otherwise known as my family and friends) and hopefully within a few weeks or months my Kung Pao recipe will be ready to publish.
 
Hi! I am new here. I had pork chops, baked sweet potato, brussel sprouts and cottage cheese. Baked cookies today peanut butter choclate chip and will probably eat 6 before the night is over. LOL
 
Sir_Loin_of_Beef said:
I found a recipe for Spicy Basil Chicken in Cooking Light magazine and I have all the ingredients so I am going to try it out tonight
Click to expand...

Looking at your source recipe it looks like a typical Pad Krapow "stir fry with Holy basil." I usually make mine moo (pork) which is the traditional form of this recipe made from ground pork, although as with all Asian recipes you can translate into chicken, pork , beef, shrimp, ground or whole pieces, etc. This is one of the things that I love about Asian cooking, that you can switch so freely between different protein groups or within groups between various forms (ground, whole, fillets, skinless, skin on and bone in, etc.).

A tip: (1) fry an egg per serving and serve the egg right over the top, and (2) squeeze about half a lime over each serving. Yep, right over the egg!

Here's a picture:
3400089338_64762d1e9b.jpg


And try to use Thai basil, Holy basil, whatever instead of Western sweet basil. That adds a whole new but subtle dimension.
 
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Had a nice nap this afternoon. Got up and made Fried chicken dinner with all the works. Not one word to my Cardio Dr! :mrgreen:
 
schazz said:
Hi! I am new here. I had pork chops, baked sweet potato, brussel sprouts and cottage cheese. Baked cookies today peanut butter choclate chip and will probably eat 6 before the night is over. LOL
Click to expand...

Hello, Schazz, welcome to DC! Please feel free to introduce yourself in our Introductions forum, and tell us a bit about yourself!
 
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