Experimental Cooking with the Boy

Aidan and I decided to do an 'experiment' today by making our own fresh pasta.  We began with a Tratorria Grappolo cookbook recipe:

5 eggs
1 T EVOO
3 C. flour
Pinch salt

Mix eggs, oil, and salt in small bowl.  Put flour in food processor/mixer and start with dough hook.  Add the liquid in stream into mixing flour.  Allow to knead until it forms a ball.  Divide in 3 balls, wrap in cellophane and refridgerate for 20 minutes.  Cut into shapes desired.

The only thing they didn't tell us was how long to cook them, so we kept an eye on it and did about 5-6 minutes.  Here are today's results:

This is just after the liquid was added to the dry mix.

We divided the large ball into 3, wrapped them up, and then to the fridge to

 rest for 20 minutes.   Aidan liked rolling them into shape!

With his signature "Pajama Chef" outfit, the boy rolls the dough and begins to cut strands of what we think is fettucini noodles.  There may also be a few "squares" in the mix via Chef Sleepyhead.

Into boiling water, we add our noodles for 5-6 minutes. 

      The finished product.  Looks a lot more like Japanese Udon noodles than what we expected.

I suspect that if I could find my pasta roller attachment to the Kitchen Aid stand mixer, we'd have far better results.  That said, the taste was VERY good.  Aidan declared, 'MMM! That's GOOOOD!", so evidently the dough recipe is a hit.  I may have to purchase a stand pasta roller at a later date to make this viable for home use  We simply couldn't cut the strands thin enough, or even roll the dough thin enough, for the consistency we wanted.  But it was so tasty, we WILL try this again with the proper equipment.  

Evolution of Fettucini Pomodora with Mini Meatballs

The dinner plans began with the making of mini-meatballs.  I was out of bread crumbs completely, so I subbed in some semolina flour.  That plus beef, pork, parmesan, egg, and italian seasonings, and a quick bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Step one complete.

 Next up was the pomodoro sauce.  I used the Tratorria Grappolo recipe:  onion and garlic sauteed in EVOO, add 28 oz whole peeled tomatoes, and simmer for 25 minutes, mashing up the tom's.  Then add 3-4 basil leaves (chiffonade) at the end.  It smells really good!

Step three:  cover and flavor the meatballs with pomodoro sauce.  When it's dinner time, we'll get around to boiling up our fettucini noodles.

Final Product:

                                                      

Grilled Basil-Marinated Chicken with Spinach Risotto

I almost don't believe it, but my kid actually liked this meal!  My mother also liked it, and when prompted with her "your Mom deserves an A+",  my son said, "No!  More than that.  The chicken is an A+++!" :) 

I marinated the chicken breasts in olive oil, black peppercorns, onion, and fresh basil.  Then we grilled them about 8 min each side.

For the risotto:

1 package (10 oz) of fresh or frozen chopped spinach (cook as directed; I used fresh, microwaved it to steam cooled it, then chopped it up)
3 cups of chicken broth
1 cup of water
1 cup of onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup of long grain aborio rice
1/3 cup of dry white wine
Salt and black pepper, to taste
½ cup of freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Cook spinach and set aside.  Chop the onion and sautee in the EVOO.  Add rice and stir to coat.  Add water.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer.  Add wine, salt, pepper, and stir.  Begin adding broth 1/2 cup at a time until absorbed.  Stir in parmesan and chopped spinach to serve.

Why I haven't cooked this week...

Nana is here visiting, and we've been eating free breakfast at her hotel, plus indulging in nights out.  Tonight we went to Macaroni Grill on a whim and it was really excellent!

I had their 'blackboard' soup (which is mushroom soup really), pollo with capellini pomodoro,  and chianti, and then we all split tiramisu and Ghirardelli chocolate cake for dessert.  Yum.

Tomorrow- back to cooking at home!

Not-so-Key-Lime Pie

When you run out of tequila, and there are too many limes in the house, this is a nice way to use them up.   Today, I used an Emeril recipe for key lime pie, subbing in the regular limes I got at the market.  Still very good!  It's an easy recipe too- graham crust, and the filling is 1 C lime juice, 2 eggs, 2 14 oz cans sweetened condensed milk.  Bake for 15 min @ 325 deg.  Done!

Wine on the way!

* Received a text from  Mt. Palomar wine club that UPS will be bringing me 2 bottles of lovely reds tomorrow- gotta love it when I "must" stay home all day to sign for wine!  ha ha!

* Tomorrow I'm going to experiment with a cheaper version of Maryland crab cakes substituting canned tuna in water.  Crab is SO expensive, and the chunk Phillips crab in the grocery stores here is OUTRAGEOUS! (do you hear Lionel Richie right now?  I do.)

I'll be using a traditional Baltimore recipe combined with some input from Bon Appetit's issue which arrived two days ago- they are also featuring MD Crab Cakes.  We'll see how my own compilated concoction turns out.

As a side, I will be making a corn-black-bean-salsa dish.  More tomorrow as the meal comes together.

Also looking to make a Key Lime Pie.  I bought about two dozen limes, not realizing we were sans Tequila in the house, so now I have to use them up.  I know my mom like key lime, so we'll make her a welcome pie.  It won't actually be "key limes", but they say you can use Persian limes just the same.  Thus... we pie!

Tonight's Fare: Beef with Oyster Sauce, Pork Fried Rice, Green Beans

I needed to find something that I could do with that leftover pork!  I chopped up about 8 oz into smaller pieces, then made pork fried rice as my side.  I had green beans still leftover from the other night, so I heated those up in the microwave- which is why they look a little limp.   Then I marinated sliced flank steak,  stir-fried a sliced carrot in ginger, and finished the meat in oyster sauce/broth mixture.  I overdid it a little on the ginger; I had pre-chopped ginger in a tube from the grocery store, and it was hard to measure- the recipe called for 1/4 inch slice of ginger, but the chopped-up mixture in the ready-to-use tube just overwhelmed the flavor a bit.  I'd try it again, but use fresh-cut ginger in a smaller piece to flavor the wok prior to stir-frying.


The marinade includes:  1.5 T Soy Sauce, 2 tsp cornstarch, 1.5 T water,  1 T veg. oil mixed together; you marinade the sliced flank (2-3 inch long slices, 1/4 " thick)  for 15 minutes before stir-frying.


You fry the ginger first, then brown the meat until almost cooked through, then remove it and strain it- and clean the wok.  Next you sautee your diagonally sliced carrots (and mushrooms, though I left them out) in 2T veg oil, move them to the side, and add the sauce to the center to boil.


The Sauce is:  2.5 T oyster sauce, 1/2 c chicken broth or water, 1/2 T of brown sugar whisked together.


When the sauce boils, you add the beef back in and mix it all up to heat thoroughly.


It's pretty simple, but again, be careful about the ginger if you are not a huge fan of the flavor.

Tonight's Fare: Garlic-Mustard Grilled Beef Skewers & BBQ Spaghetti

Garlic-Mustard Grilled Beef Skewers is a Bobby Flay recipe; BBQ spaghetti was mentioned to me by my brother recently, and I'd never heard of it, so tonight's side will use the Neely's home bbq sauce recipe for their bbq spaghetti and a remaining 8 oz of pork from the previous week's cooking.  Photos, results, and review to come later tonight. 

The bbq spaghetti was rather dry, but I realized an hour ago that I actually used the wrong sauce from the fridge on my spaghetti!  Ahh!  I'm so stupid- I poured in the leftover jarred beef gravy.. not the bbq sauce I made from scratch!  I had put them in the same type of tupperware container  and mistook one for the other... And, I now have Neely's home bbq sauce in a big tupperware if you need it.    Duh! 

However, Bobby Flay's RECIPE was FANTASTIC!  Definitely will do that one again!   It was tangy, but delish!  I may even try this on a steak on the grill without the skewers.

Recommendation: F&E Frozen Croissants

Oh, how I love these!  You take them out of the freezer the night before, set them on a pan, cover them with plastic wrap, and let 'em rise while you sleep.  Then, when you rise, 375 deg. for 16 minutes, and VOILA!  C'est les croissants manifique!  Ooo la la!


They were so good, my dog stole one off the cooling baking sheet.  My son wanted to try one and said, "maybe I should put butter on it".  I said, "no need... it's like buttah!"

Grilled Chicken, Fresh Green Beans, Mac n Cheese

Running late today, so it was easy fare. Green beans are delicious; can't wait for my own to be ready in the garden.  

The Donut Man!

My son had a dentist appointment in Glendora this morning to get sealants, and once sealed, the best course of action was to test them against an onslaught of sugar... thus, a stop at the world-famous Donut Man!  

Once there, we got a lovely dozen to take home- and oh, the selection!  My personal love of peanut-butter anything is well-documented, so when I spied the "peanut butter" donuts... and that only two remained, I took both.  One was peanut butter with raspberry jelly on top, the other, peanut butter with choc chips.  Yummo! 

Sadly, this photo does not do it justice.  It was so sinfully good!  If I could only wish one thing, it would be that the donut itself have PB stirred into the batter pre-frying. But, oh, such a little critique.  No strawberry for us today, and I believe peach isn't in season yet.  I'll be back to try that one later on. Thank you Donut Man.

Step 4: Actual Pulled-Pork Sandwich Dinner

Here it is, complete with bbq roasted corn with parsley garnish.  Yummy.

Step 3: Pulled Pork

The end of the re-cook with sauce has arrived.  Smells wonderful!

Recipe of the Day: 
Easy Baked Mac n Cheese


‎1LB large elbow macaroni (cooked)
1 can of cheddar cheese soup
2 8oz bags of shredded cheese (or more)
 1 egg
1tbsp of butter
 1 1/4 cup of milk. 


Mix all but 1 8-oz bag of cheese.  Add the last bag of cheese on top until all noodles are covered. cook 350 for about 20-30 mintues, depending on your oven.

Step 2 of the Paula Deen Pulled-Pork Recipe

Okay- so the loin came out of the slowcooker this AM and I was worried that it looked dry.  Then I picked it up with a large serving fork, and it literally fell off the fork back into the broth.  I removed it, then began the shredding process which was easy-peasey (thank you Jamie Oliver) and we have pulled pork, and about 1 C of broth for the next step which will come later today.

Part III required 2 hrs in the cooker again, with a sauce of 1 C skimmed broth, and 2/3 C bbq sauce.  I'll show that later.

3 Things

Books, Wine, and the Pup!

Thanks to our neighbor who graciously donated the leftover wine from her wedding to us! 

I think I'll have a glass of that open Mt. Palomar right now to toast you.

Recipe of the Day:  "McMarinade" 

*1/2 c to 1 c  EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)

*1/2 tsp basil or 3-4 chopped fresh basil leaves

* 2 large garlic cloves minced

* 2 T Worcestershire

* 1 tsp oregano 

* 1/4 c to 1/2 c soy sauce (regular or low sodium as you wish)

Stir thoroughly, pour over meat in a gallon size Ziplock.  Seal and refrigerate, turning occasionally, for 2 hrs or more before grilling. 

This is our family's "go-to" marinade.  I usually use it on beef, however.  

In the Crock Today: Pulled Pork Loin

Using a Paula Deen recipe to slow cook a pork loin.  It's sitting in the fridge right now with her 2 hour dry rub of 1 T chili, 1/2 T garlic powder, 1 T onion powder, pinch of cayenne, tsp black pepper, and I added a little drop of liquid smoke... then it's off to crocker for 10 hrs.

 There's a follow up 2 hr cook with the pulled pork in it's own broth with bbq sauce prior to serving time.  I'll keep you posted.  I'm going to do this, then turn a # of it into bbq spaghetti!

Tonight's fare: Pollo Asada Tacos

Inspired by my friend & colleague, I decided to revamp my bloggin and put it to good use! Here it is.. the Trebs in the Kitchen memoir.  

I hope to share new recipe experiments, recipes of the day, or little tidbits about great meals both home and away!

Today, after working and rushing around this afternoon, I picked up pre-marinated pollo asada from Fresh & Easy (F&E) tonight, and threw it on the grill.  In about 15 minutes, we had lovely, citrusy chicken!

After chopping the chicken up into taco-size pieces, they were ready for assembly:  

A little green salsa, a few shreds of lettuce, and a side of the leftovers from Panda Express lunch made for a smorgasbord of international cuisine- ha ha!  This was easy and enjoyable. 

                                                   

F & E's green taco sauce in a jar is quite good tomatillo salsa.  I recommend it.