Ingredients of the Day: It may be ugly, but it tastes GOOD!

Well, hiya! For those of you who had begun to worry about me, no I have not been starving myself these last months just because I am unemployed and have not been posting blogs about my meals. Thank you for your concern. The last two months have been both hard and good. I spent some quality time with my grandmother before she passed on at the beginning of March. We celebrated her life at a wonderful, colorful memorial that she planned while battling stage 4 cancer for an intense time. Immediately after my return, I started a job nannying for a family, which I will be doing through May. I also started doing a lot more freelance/gig work, which has kept me very busy and very productive.

So, I return today with the idea of posting regularly* on a new little series called (look to title now, ahem) “It may be ugly, but it tastes GOOD.” The idea resulted from this creation. Today was just not a day I wanted to chop things. This may be partially due to (skip now if you have a weak stomach) when I was chopping cilantro for fresh salsa to bring to a friend’s birthday party a few weeks ago and sliced a piece of my finger off. I’d never cut myself in my life with a knife and I did it chopping cilantro for salsa. Took a chunk out too! It wasn’t even glamorous. My finger is now growing back nicely. This is a relief. I thought I might have to explain for the rest of my life “the cilantro incident” that left me deformed on my left hand. (resume reading now, you wuss.) I also didn’t really want to slave over a pot or a recipe. All I knew is I wanted something fresh tasting and I wanted it fast. Vis-a-vis, the following: When you want fast, but you don’t want literal fast food, the best thing is either a sandwich or cereal…or a food processor. If you don’t have a large one, like me, be sure to put most of the dry ingredients in first. Once it becomes a paste it is much more difficult to finish blending the rest of the food.

(Glossary of terms: *regularly: adv. meaning according to plan. Also meaning, whenever my creative vision dictates because, let’s face it, I’m the authoress of this here blog and, as I’m now not as unemployed as I once was, I may not have much time to be brilliant. Also #2, I spend a great deal of my time around small children now and the thought of cooking food sometimes sends my stomach hurling and my fingers searching for a wet wipe (if you don’t understand this, you may not have spent much time around regurgitation and/or children who are learning to feed themselves)).

Yummy Ugly Recipe #1: Texture

1 cup Couscous (prepared according to the package about 5 minutes before serving)

1/4 medium red onion

5 large button mushrooms

1/4 cup dry roasted, unsalted peanuts

1/4 large tomato

1/5 large cucumber

4 sprigs of cilantro

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 cup progresso bread brumbs

3 slices (1/4 inch thick) fresh mozzarella

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp garlic salt

1 tsp paprika or cayenne pepper

Prep: Combine onions, mushrooms, peanuts, cilantro, cucumber, bread crumbs, 1 tbsp olive oil and tomato in food processor until blended completely into a moist (I don’t like that word…I’m taking suggestions as to other words to use) mixture. Melt fresh mozzarella in a small pan with one of the remaining tbsp of olive oil. When the mozzarella is hot, add the mixture from the food processor and the remaining olive oil and stir continuously on medium heat until well mixed and melted. Stir in the garlic salt and paprika. Let simmer while couscous is cooking. Spoon a few tablespoons of couscous and cover it with the yummy-ugly mixture. Eat. Yum.

Notes: I was a little worried that adding in the peanuts was going to make this a little too peanut butter-y tasting, but I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t. The combination of the fresh flavors and the peanuts gives this a Thai flavour (which, if you’ve been reading this blog at all, you know that I have a propensity toward Thai in my cooking so it was pretty on par). Normally, I would say that with food presentation is 90%. Throw those ideas out with this project. It’s likely that they won’t be very pretty…especially if I continue with the food processor. But with any amount of luck, it will be GOOD.

Ingredients of the Day: Unemployed Trip to Chi-town

I’m foregoing the making of lunch today in place of hard-core shopping for boots. “Why would you ever need to hard-core shop for boots in New Orleans?” you ask? “It gets below freezing only a few times a year and you can still brave it in flippy-floppys.” (click link for explanation and added humour) I’m headed to Chicago with my roommate Kim for a completely amazing unemployed-worthy weekend. I need boots because the low is like 9 degrees and the high is a possible 28 degrees and it’s snowed for the last 4 days. Yum!

As for the “lunch” part of this blog, well, I’ve never been to Chicago. This means that I’ve never had Chicago Deep Dish Pizza. Never fear, there will be photos taken.

Any other Chicago food that we should try this weekend? Leave me a note in the comments section!

Ingredients of the Day: Eggs and Stale Biscuits: Part Two

I love the challenge of doing the same ingredients two days in a row. It’s fun to try to make it interesting looking and tasting twice with the same basics. So, here we go. Day 2 of Eggs and Biscuits. I think that if I weren’t writing about this, I might would just make a sandwich out of them, but seeing as that’s pretty expected I’m trying to up the quotient.

Poached Eggs with Pears on Biscuit

1 1/2 Biscuits, crumbled on a plate

Two Eggs, cracked into individual dishes

1 anjou pear, pealed, cored and sliced small

Prep: Place the pear slices on the biscuit crumbles.

Use the instructions from a few days ago to poach eggs. Top the pears with the eggs. “Crack” the yolks.

Perfection.

Ingredients of the Day: Eggs and Stale Biscuits: Part One

WHAT A WEEKEND!! As a New Orleanean, I’m infinitely proud of something I never thought I’d be proud of…the New Orleans Saints pro football team. The now NFC champs! The reason why I never thought that I’d be saying that is that I’m not really a fan of pro football. I love college football, but after the NFC Championship I may have to say that I will actually watch the Superbowl FOR THE GAME…for the first time EVER! Huge. The Saints played with such heart last night that I can’t help it. The whole city is sucked in. When the ball was turned over in the last few seconds of the 4th quarter, the whole city held their breath. You could feel it! I believe were actually willing them to hold on to the ball and score in overtime. They have not played the best this year. They’ve won a lot of games, but really didn’t deserve it the way that they played much of the time. The amount of turnovers in this game alone was staggering. But they pulled it off! Amazing! Pics at the bottom of our dancing in the streets experience. I felt like this has been the decade (I count this in 2009 since their season was then) for really great sports moments for underdogs. The BoSox, The Phillies, The Saints, I feel like there is a comradery between those teams who broke their curse this decade and celebrated like crazy folks because of it. Maybe that’s just me.

On to today’s recipe:

Goat Cheese Eggs and Biscuits I need better names.

Two Stale biscuits cut in half

Two Eggs

1/8 cup Vodka Sauce

2 tablespoons Goat Cheese and Honey Dip from Whole Foods

Salsa (I made fresh salsa. I should share this recipe sometime.)

Prep: Cut the biscuits in half and set them on a plate. Top with Vodka sauce (heat if desired).

Scramble the eggs together in a skillet and add goat cheese and honey dip. Cook together until eggs are done and dip is melted in.

Place eggs on biscuits with vodka sauce. Finish with fresh salsa to taste.

Ingredients of the Day: Pizza, like I told you yesterday + A Chemistry Lesson.

Sometimes you realize all to late that you don’t have a major component to something that could either make or break your recipe. Like sauce for pizza. Yesterday was different: enough ingredients=maybe you don’t need sauce. Today, I have defrosted chicken and my pizza dough is ready. But I don’t have much else. Mushrooms, red onion, cheese, but in terms of space they don’t take up much. What I do have though is peach margarita mix. This should be interesting.

Now for the Chem lesson: Yeast and flour have a mutually beneficial relationship in cooking. Yeast needs flour to activate it and flour needs yeast to rise. If you add too much water or oil to your bread while you are making it, mix a little extra flour into it to help it rise. Now you know, and knowing is…

Peach Margarita Pizza

Pizza dough 1/2 from yesterday’s leftovers.

3/4 cup Golden State Peach Margarita Mix (Williams-Sonoma) Mine has no alcohol, but it would be fine either way.

5 small chicken breast tenderloins, slice thinly and into pieces

1/4 cup mushrooms

Chili powder, to taste

1/6 large red onion, diced

Mint, to taste (the herb, make sure it’s the herb)

1/2 cup Fat Free Sour Cream

4 oz. Cheddar Cheese

Prep: Preheat oven to 400.

In a skillet, cook 1/2 cup margarita mix, chicken, mushrooms and chili powder until reduced and chicken slices are cooked through.

Roll out the pizza dough* and spread with sour cream and a sprinkling of mint. Top with the mixture from the skillet. Add red onions and top with cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining margarita mix.

Cook in the oven until the cheese is completely melted and crust is the desired crispiness. About 30 minutes.

*Tip: I figured out today that it’s easier to get good slices of pizza if you slice the dough by itself before you cook it or top it.

This pizza is kind of like barbecue chicken pizza, but mildly peach-y. Yum! My roommate thinks that I should start a pizza company. I think I should get an Airstream trailer and cook and sell out of that, haha. I’d wear 50s housewife dresses and aprons, a super southern smile and wink at all of my patrons!

Ingredients of the Day: I Got a Pineapple Corer/Slicer for Christmas

Seriously. I did. My mother was so excited to give me this present. I’m not going to lie. I LOVE kitchen gadgets. Absurdly. Especially those great designer Swiss and Italian ones that they sell at Ross and Marshall’s for stupid cheap. They’re always perfectly the right kind of shape and color and design to hook me in to a lemon grater, which, before you get all “she’s a money waster” on me, I have used on several occasions (and it works so much better than a knife). My mom also got me a baby colander which is just big enough to do one serving of pasta or one can of anything canned.

I went out and bought a pineapple the other day, just so I could see if this gadget was legit. It really is. And so easy to use. And I was able to cut out the remainder in the skin (which isn’t that much) to use for today’s recipe.

Hawiian Pizza

1 recipe of Pizza Dough (I add rosemary and garlic to it too before cooking.)*

Canadian Bacon 1/2 cup Thinly sliced deli honey ham, cut into squares.

8 oz. Mozzarella Cheese

1/4 cup button mushrooms, sliced into pieces

1/2 cup of pineapple, diced

dash of Paprika or Chili Pepper Flakes

Prep: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Divide the pizza dough into two equal lumps after rising. Set aside one for later (spoiler alert: tomorrow). Roll the other out on a floured pan and top with a little bit of olive oil. Spread half of the cheese on the bottom layer and set aside the other half. Top with mushrooms, pineapple and ham. Use remaining cheese on the top and sprinkle with paprika or chili pepper flakes.

Cook in the oven for 30 minutes or until the cheese on the top is browned a bit, checking after 20 to make sure the dough is to desired crispiness.

Ingredients of the Day: One of the Harder Things on Julie and Julia’s list

I finally saw Julie & Julia after months of people telling me about the movie and the similarities between our…I really don’t remember what they were but my mother, who was watching with me, hopes that the similarities weren’t in the mother-daughter department. Today, I decided to attempt one of the more difficult things, according to the movie: poaching an egg. My roommate got Mastering the Art of French Cooking for Christmas, so I’m doing my research first.

Julia Child recommends simmering the water, adding vinegar and dropping the egg in ever so carefully.

This guy on wiki-how (I’m assuming he’s a chef) recommends that you boil the water then turn it back so that it’s not ferociously boiling and then spinning the water in a circular motion (kind of like a whirlpool for eggs) and drop into the center to keep the egg together.

Here’s how mine looked in the pan:

Not too shabby for a first shot. Without these instructions, as I’ve said before, it’s total egg drop soup!

Ingredients of the Day: It’s a New Day and Shrimp and Satsuma

I haven’t posted in a while since I haven’t cooked in a while. Too much holiday food=I needed to detox.

I also am still unemployed. The interview that I had before the holidays went well but, unfortunately, they are not going to be filling the position after all. Too bad. I had really good references for this one! It would’ve been nice of them to check their budget before they interviewed people…just saying.

Here’s my first day back unemployed-lunching it. I wanted something citrus-y and had frozen shrimp and satsumas that my parents gave me from their trees.

Citrus Shrimp with Noodles

1 serving of angel hair pasta, al dente

12 shrimp tails

1 satsuma peeled

1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon fat free sour cream

a dash of fish sauce

Prep: Cook pasta and set aside on a plate. Cook shrimp in a pan with sour cream and fish sauce and the juice of one satsuma slice until shrimp are done. Take the shrimp out of the sauce and arrange on a plate around the pasta. Add cheese in to the sauce and heat on low until cheese is melted and pour over the pasta. Eat. Yum.

Ingredients of the Day: Day Trip in NOLA

I think it’s odd to go on a day trip to the city that I live in, but for the last week or so I’ve been living in my parents’ house through the holidays. My brother and his girlfriend are in from Philly and she’s never been to New Orleans…before today! Lots of fun! We went to the French Quarter and had po-boys, beignets, cafe au lait, toured the St. Louis Cathedral, walked around the city, and rode the streetcar. Not bad for one afternoon.

Ingredients of the Day: Christmas Eve Dinner

I’m spending the next 11 or so days at my parent’s house, so there may be a large gap between my posts. I think the plan there is to eat out… a lot. Especially after my brother gets in from Philly with his girlfriend. We have to go to all of the favourite places so that he leaves with his fill of New Orleans food until he gets to come back. Which usually means we all gain a few pounds. Ew.

My mom bought pork tenderloins for Christmas Eve Dinner and I volunteered to make them into something wonderfully Christmas-y. Here is the end result:

Pork Tenderloin with Roasted Apples and Onions Bon Appétit | February 2004

Yield: Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 large pork tenderloin (about 14 ounces)
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 tablespoons whole grain Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons fennel seeds Used Rosemary instead
1 large onion, sliced
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, sliced 1/4 inch thick Fuji Apples
1/2 cup dry white wine or apple cider vinegar

Prep: Marinade pork in a pan with apple cider vinegar, rosemary for a few hours prior to cooking, turning once an hour. Preheat oven to 450°F. Season pork with salt and pepper.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in large nonstick ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork and sear until all sides are brown, turning occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer pork to plate. Cool slightly. Spread mustard over top and sides of pork; press fennel seeds into mustard. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to skillet. Instead of pan frying the pork, I decided to bake it. Everything else should be about right. Add Pan fry onion slices and apples; sauté over medium heat until golden, about 5 minutes. Spread evenly in skillet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place pork atop apple-onion mixture.

Place Transfer skillet Add onions and apples to pan with pork and put in the oven to oven and roast until apple-onion mixture is soft and brown and meat thermometer inserted into center of pork registers 150°F, about 15 45 minutes. Transfer pork to platter and tent with foil. Let stand 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour white wine over apple-onion mixture in skillet. Stir mixture over high heat until slightly reduced, about 2 minutes. Cut pork on diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Spoon apple-onion mixture onto plates. Top with pork and serve.