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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.