One of the greatest accomplishment in my life has been opening up my darling BF to new food, expanding his palate, and opening his eyes to that no, maybe he won’t like everything I do (which is quite a lot), but perhaps he should try it before he decides. 

This was not one of those nights where I prodded him to keep an open mind, however.  It was the Friday after I’d returned from my West Coast stadium tour, and we missed each other.  So I decided I should come over, cook dinner for both of us, and then we’d go see a movie (Grown Ups, for those keeping track at home).  Anything he wanted!  One guess what he requested…

Yup, a variation on his favorite meal (chicken cutlets, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn): chicken nibblers, my name for it – basically, cutting up the chicken first before frying, kind of like chicken nuggets, except… better. 

What is so special about this time?  Well, you see, my baby has been slowly learning how to cook on his own, without any prodding on my part.  I would love to jump right in and teach him how to make all the dishes I’ve made for him that he’s enjoyed, but he is more interested in taking things slow, and I’ve learned that it’s best to let him go at his own pace… lest I freak him out.  But this time, after I bought everything, I asked, “Do you want to help me?” and he said… OK.  So the above?  He actually made himself.  I was so proud… especially because he didn’t burn a single piece, nor did he undercook any (which tends to be one of my problems).  Each piece was perfectly cooked, perfectly juicy and tender, and delicious!!!  Good job, baby!  I am so proud of you, not just for this, but for all your accomplishments this year with regard to cooking (and other, but we’ll stick to cooking here).  <3

The mashed potatoes were just from a box, and I made creamed spinach from scratch (a little soupier than I’d intended).  Pretty good.

And his preference for creamed corn is just from a can.  Easy enough. 

My plate – yes, I love creamed spinach.  Hahaha.  So good, so easy, all of it, super delicious.  Much better and healthier than McDonald’s, any day! 

Chicken nibblers

Two boneless/skinless chicken breasts (to save money, if you can debone chicken breasts yourself, go for it!)
Italian seasoned bread crumbs
Milk
Parmesan cheese
Vegetable oil for frying

1. Cut chicken breasts into roughly evenly bite-sized pieces. 
   
2. Heat oil in a pan, about a half inch of oil in the pan.  It’s ready for frying when you put a wooden spoon or wooden chopstick in and bubbles come out very quickly. 
   
3. While the oil is heating, start the process of breading:
   
1. Mix the bread crumbs with the grated parmesan in a flat plate.
2. Milk in a bowl
3. Dip a piece of chicken in the milk, then into the bread crumbs, rolling it around
4. Dip the piece of chicken that you just dipped, back into the milk, then into the bread crumbs again
5. Set aside to be fried, and continue with the rest of the chicken
   
4. Fry the chicken in the oil… about 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on how thick the chicken is.  When done, remove to a paper towel covered plate to drain a bit of the oil, and season with a bit of salt. 

Enjoy!!!  No ketchup or sauces needed here… just plain, simple nomming.  So good. 

Happy eating!!! 

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Recipe Fridays

A while back now (yes, I am far behind on home-territory posts, but are you surprised?), I was invited to tour the Fresh Direct facilities.  While photographs of the facilities themselves were forbidden, it was a great time, and I intend to write about the experience shortly.  But first, here’s a recipe – since I haven’t done a Recipe Friday in quite a while!  (I still cook frequently, but usually stuff that isn’t really … well, there’s no real recipe for it, like sauteed zucchini with thinly sliced onions.  Who wants to see that?  But that’s what I eat in the summer!) – using the ramps I received in our generous goodie bag from that visit! 

(Oops, as suspected, these pictures are from so long ago that ramp season is over, darn it!  But save this recipe for next spring.  It was awesome!) 

Pasta tossed with pesto!

Roasted salmon drizzled with ramp pesto

Very easy: ramps have a kind of garlicky, mild/sweet oniony taste to them, a lot of bright green, verdant flavor as well, so they don’t need much to transform into a wonderful, delicious pesto. 

1-2 bunches of ramps, trimmed
toasted handful or so of pine nuts
grated hard Italian cheese (I probably used parmesan or piave, since I always have those two on hand)
juice of half a lemon
olive oil

Pulse together the first four ingredients in a food processor (or, if you don’t have one, you can use a mortar and pestle!).  Drizzle olive oil slowly until the consistency comes together a bit; season with salt & pepper to taste. 

Since I also made pasta, I reserved a bit of the pasta water and added that in as well, to help bring it to a creamier consistency.  Mmm, and so it’d stick to the pasta a bit more. 

I just want to comment about my meal above: the pasta was sufficiently tasty with the pesto, but what stole the show was definitely the salmon.  I roasted the salmon quite simply – just a bit of salt, pepper, then into the oven at 350 or 375 for 30-45 minutes (I generally check it at 30, and let it keep cooking a bit longer if it looks like it needs it) – and then spooned a lil of the pesto over it, which brought both to whole new levels.  The fattiness of the salmon mixing with the garlicky goodness of the salmon was amazing!  Afterwards, since I always make too much salmon, I wrapped individual pieces of salmon up in tinfoil and covered it with some of the remaining pesto.  To heat it back up, I popped the packet into my toaster oven and baked it for about 15 minutes (it wasn’t blistering hot out, so I did let the packet sit for a few minutes to take the chill off before I put it into the toaster oven).  PERFECTION and DELICIOUSNESS.  Mmm, good! 

(The other part of my dinner was just simply blanched green beans.  I need my vegetables!) 

HAPPY EATING!!! 

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: pesto, salmon

Heh, what a coincidence!  This is Super Supper Sunday #5, and the theme was… Cinco de Mayo (May 5th), since it fell on the Sunday of the week of May 5th!  (Yes, less than a week ago.)  Okay, I amuse myself greatly with small things   In any case, I decided to go with the Mexican theme, even if this isn’t authentic Mexican, it’s delicious…

First up, of course chunky homemade guacamole!  Nommm. 

Slightly less my favorite but still awesome, pico de gallo (this photograph is actually from the first attempt, which I didn’t think was very pico-like.  After a few more tweaks, I discovered the fix, but didn’t take new pictures – don’t worry, when I discuss technique, you’ll hear the improved recipe!). 

New to me: making my own tortilla chips.  Okay!  Here’s something about me: I vastly prefer flour tortillas to corn tortillas for my tacos.  However, I do like tortilla chips, and I tried both – deep frying the flour ones AND the corn ones – and hands down, no contest, corn.  Why?  The reason I don’t like the corn tortillas is because they always taste ‘raw’ to me, no matter how much I scorch them to get rid of that taste.  And the flour tortillas don’t have that.  But when you deep fry them, you eliminate that flavor.  Also, flour tortillas, when deep fried, retain a TON of oil and taste pretty disgustingly greasy.  Blegh!  I don’t think I’ll be going back to buying tortilla chips ever again though – this was too easy, too fast, and too delicious for me not to keep doing! 

Next up, one of my favorites: elotes!  Okay, I can’t grill corn in my apartment exactly, so I just boil a few ears of corn…

break up some cotija cheese, then toss lightly with cayenne powder…

And roll a piece of corn that’s been slathered with mayo or butter in the cheese+cayenne mixture, and voila!  Delicious with a slight kick! 

Yes, I know how pink that looks – don’t worry, part of leftovers is, for me, undercooking some of it slightly so that when I reheat it, the meat doesn’t overcook and dry out, it just becomes normal.  Some chicken pieces (leg+thigh) that I baked quickly in the oven with jarred salsa covering most of it. 

For what?  For my tacos, of course: flour tortilla base, schmear of guacamole, sour cream, some chicken pieces, topped with shredded cheddar, then topped with pico de gallo.  Roll it up and chomp it down! 

But wait, there’s more!  Flank steak that I marinated for over 24 hours in olive oil, freshly chopped cilantro (a ton of it), kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a couple shakes of crushed red pepper flakes.  Awesome.  SO GOOD. 

I did make tacos with that, but I also topped some chopped up Romaine lettuce with it, and then added guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, and deep fried strips of corn tortilla… nommm. 

Close up so you can see the guacamole (on the left), then sour cream, and pico de gallo…

For another lunch, I took thin slices of the steak and topped chopped Romaine, English cucumbers and grape tomatoes with it, then added a lil bit of blue cheese dressing.  Delicious and so many leftovers!!! 

Guacamole – ripe avocado mashed with diced red onion, chopped cilantro, minced half jalapeno, diced tomato and lime juice (plus kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper, to taste). 
Pico de gallo – same as above without the avocado
Tortilla chips – corn tortillas cut into wedges, then deep fried in 375 degree oil for about 3 minutes total, then drained onto paper towels and sprinkled with a bit of kosher salt
Elotes - boiled corn on the cob slathered with mayo or butter, then rolled in cotija cheese that’s been broken up then tossed with cayenne powder
Salsa chicken (for lack of a better name, really) – chicken pieces (I used drumstick+thigh pieces) arranged in a baking pan then smothered in salsa (I used a whole jar of a spicy container for 4 pieces of chicken snugly fit into a pan) baked at 350 for about 1 hour or a bit longer (till the juices run clear)
Flank steak – about 1 3/4 lbs. flank steak marinated in extra virgin olive oil, freshly chopped cilantro (a lot), kosher salt, freshly cracked black pepper, a clove of garlic grated into the oil, and a teensy bit of crushed red pepper flakes for a little over 24 hours, rinsed of excess marinade, then thrown into a screaming hot pan for about 5-7 minutes on each side for medium rare, then sliced super thin.  NOMM. 

Everything was sooo good!  I was very happy with leftovers this week  

Happy eating!!! 

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: tacos

First off, I dry-rubbed both halves of the brisket in a combination of kosher salt, fresh-ground pepper, white pepper, paprika, and a few dashes of cayenne pepper. I don’t measure these as much as I eyeball it, weighting it heavily toward the salt and fresh pepper. Smoking was simple: several tablespoons of oak chips in the base of the smoker, smoked on medium-low heat for 2 1/2 hours. The apartment smelled amaaazing.

The braise got a little more work. I sauted half a Spanish onion, coarsely chopped, and four minced cloves of garlic in olive oil until the onions were translucent. I then added the meat and a few cups of liquid, to not quite cover. For the braising liquid, I had a couple of cups of tomato juice left over (from a salsa), so I diluted that a little with water just to see if the acidity of the tomato would contribute anything special to the brisket.

After 2 1/2 hours of braising at 350 degrees, turning the meat in the covered dish every half hour or so, the finished product was perhaps a little more done than I may have liked, but smelled great.

Lest I eat only meat, I prepared a couple of side dishes as well. First up were the salt potatoes. I filled a small pot about two-thirds full of hot water, and started adding salt — regular table salt is fine — until it was no longer going into solution. That is a LOT of salt, mind you, even for a smallish pot. After that, it was as simple as dropping in as many small white potatoes as would fit, then bringing the pot to a boil for about 20 minutes until the potatoes were fork-tender. Note that, uncovered, the potato pot left my stovetop just a bit worse for wear.

Not pictured, as it’s kind of boring, is the asparagus, simmered in a frying pan with a little salted water just to prevent grilling, for two to three minutes, then drained, salted and served with melted butter. I just had to make sure the stalks didn’t get too wilted, as that annoys me.

And the finished brisket, both halves: left side is the smoked brisket, right side the braised. The smoked came out juicier, if a touch more medium than I like, while the brisket benefited from the tomato-onion-garlic mixture on the plate.

Of course I loved both briskets, but if I had to choose, next time it’s all getting smoked, somehow. I like a lot of cayenne to season various slabs of meat, so both briskets had a spicy kick that did little to make me stop eating. The garlic and onion really helped the braised brisket, but the tomato got a bit washed out in the final analysis. The salt potatoes delivered, though: I’ve loved them since my first visit to the Syracuse Dinosaur BBQ, so to get an approximation of those (sans gravy) made me proud. And the asparagus was, well, my vegetable concession on Easter Sunday, trying to look like I’m eating healthy and all.

All this was fairly painless to make and required little attentiveness. Cleanup isn’t quick, I’ll be honest. But for a sizable meal with plenty of leftovers — I took two lunches of this to work that week — you can’t beat a good brisket!

© BeerBoor for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags:

A little oddly spaced, this Sunday Supper was during my spring break, so I thought I wouldn’t need a ton of leftovers to work me through the week – but then I realized I planned on staying home all week to work on stuff and actually needed to eat… 

First, I dyed eggs and then silly me, almost immediately made deviled eggs out of them just to munch on – I love these suckers. 

For the dinner portion, I made ribs, roasted broccoli, and the best damn creamed spinach you’ll ever eat in your entire life. 

Here’s a closer shot of the ribs… cooked over very low and slow heat for a lil while… falling off the bone delicious with an amazing homemade BBQ sauce.  SO. GOOD.  Of course, that was an individual portion, and I finished that in one meal. 

This is maybe the 2nd time I’ve ever tried to make creamed spinach, but this was heaven, transcendental, and I will share with you the method further down the page, I promise.  AMAZING.  I was so thrilled with it, I was bragging to everyone…

And when a few days later, I realized I still needed food, I braised short ribs and added pasta to the pot after I skimmed off the fat, and just… nomnomnom (that’s roasted brussels sprouts in the top left of the plate). 

Deviled eggs – hard boil eggs; slice in half and remove yolks.  Mix yolks with Thousand Island dressing, scoop back into hollow egg whites.  (I actually used Dijon mustard, diced celery, pickle relish, a bit of mayo, diced red bell peppers, and diced onions, a bit of lemon juice.  I mix it up according to what’s in my fridge.)
Ribs – roasted on a rack in the oven so the fat just dripped off; basted in a quickie homemade BBQ sauce as it cooked in a 200-250 degree oven, then smothered in the same sauce.  Nice!
Roasted broccoli - same as always; 425 degrees with whole cloves of peeled garlic, roasted till it all smells fragrant and delicious. 
Braised short ribs + pasta – some combination of this recipe and this recipe; after the short ribs had been properly braised for over 3 hours, I took them out and skimmed most of the fat out, very carefully.  Meanwhile I’d cooked a little less than a pound of rotelle and reserved a scoop of the pasta water… In a separate pot, I made a quick roux (heated butter, then added a bit of flour and cooked it together until it was just turning brown and smelling lovely), which I added to the pot of sauce, stirring it around as it heated through, then added the pasta, tossed it together, added the scoop of pasta water, and then shredded the short ribs into the pot.  Mix that all around together in the pot, and voila, you have something amazing and delicious in your pot.  Mmm.  Pot o’goodness. 
Roasted brussels sprouts – as before, 400 degrees with lardons, simple and delicious.  Roast till fragrant. 
Creamed spinach – Here is the capper!  The real wonder of the day!  I’ve been practicing my roux, bechamel, and I’ll be starting on other master sauces soon as well (I am reading Ma Vie en France; can you tell?), but this really pushed me over the edge and made me swoon.  I mean, you have to like garlic, but damn this is good stuff.

5 cloves of garlic
heavy cream
unsalted butter
flour (I used all purpose, but any kind is probably fine)
thawed box of chopped spinach

Melt butter in a saucepan.  Grate garlic into butter as it heats.  (Yes, that’s bolded cuz I consider it the ’secret’ step.)  DO NOT BROWN THE GARLIC!!!  Add flour; cook the flour a bit until it’s been incorporated thoroughly into the butter.  Add heavy cream (more if you like your creamed spinach a lil creamy/soupy, less if you like it ‘tighter’); when it starts to form tiny lil bubbles, add the spinach in and stir until it’s mixed well.  If it’s a lil too ‘hard’ for you, add more cream as you go. 

OMG.  I’m not going to lie.  This is not delicately fragranced with garlic; this is in your face, slap you twice garlic flavor, with a creamy backdrop of spinach – packed with more garlic flavor.  WOW.  I love it.  I will make this repeatedly until the day I die, I am positive.  Awesome. 

I love these Super Supper Sundays for all that I am learning and practicing, and trying to expand my repertoire but also for perfecting things I already like to make and eat.  NOM! 

Happy eating!!!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: BBQ, ribs, roasted broccoli