Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Iron Chef

So here's the deal. I'm going to play a little game. I need an ingredient. You suggest the ingredient and I make an entire meal featuring that ingredient.

Only one rule - the ingredient must be available in abundance in Ohio and not too expensive.

So hit me, whatcha got?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Leeks and Steak

So did a couple different dishes tonight, an Asparagus and Leek soup that I got the inspiration from here.

Turned out VERY good, but I think I blended it a bit too long because the soup was a bit watery when I finished.

I also got a few pieces of tip steak and marinated them in equal parts soy and Worcestershire sauce diluted a bit with water and with a tablespoon of sugar added to the mix. Threw those on the grill after marinating for a while.

All in all a pretty good dinner tonight (I've got a few other things that I cooked that I'm planning on sharing, but things have been a bit hectic this week so it might not be until tomorrow when I end up posting them.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

New Orleans Night

So really only one New Orleans dish on the menu tonight, and it's not traditional NO by any stretch of the imagination, but I did it anyway!

Hungarian Sausage and Chicken Gumbo.

Roux
2 Cans Vegetable Stock
1 Can Chicken Stock
3 Chicken Breast
1 lb Sausage (I used the same sausage as below)
5 Green Onions
1 White Onion
1 Package of mushrooms

So first make a roux. Yah, sounds easy... it isn't. I'm not very good at making roux and I don't claim to be. I usually stop at peanut butter color instead of going to for the "gold" and going for a Cajun roux.

If you don't know how to make a roux this is how you do it. Take 3 parts lard, butter, oil etc and 5 parts flour. Melt your fat and then slowly add the flour while stirring.

Then continue to stir.

Then keep stirring.

As a matter of fact, you don't want to have ANYTHING else going on at this point because all you are going to be doing is stirring.

Keep stirring till you reach the desired color.

If you burn it. THROW IT OUT. IT WILL TASTE LIKE CRAP.

So, what was that again class? If you burn it.... THROW IT OUT!

The roux is the base for everything else you are doing. It's important to get it right.

Then take your onions, I chopped them, and add them to your roux with your mushrooms.

Add your broth and bring to a boil then drop down to a simmer after it starts to thicken a bit.

Stir for about four minutes.

Then add your chicken (I cooked mine in just some light oil) and your sausage.

Then simmer until your girlfriend gets home (or at least an hour,) stirring and skimming occasionally.

The finished product should look something like this.


Friday, August 7, 2009

Dinner Last Night

So I needed to do something pretty quick and easy and I thought this would be a great idea. Sauerkraut was a bit strong in the dish, need to come up with something the next time I make it to mellow out the taste a bit, but it was still pretty good.

Sauerkraut and Magyar Kolbascz Casserole

First off prep a casserole dish with a layer of sauerkraut on the bottom.

I get my sausage (Magyar Kolbascz) from Bostons, a pub down the street from my house. It's VERY flavorful, they use it on their pizza and other dishes. I tossed in a bit of kosher salt and oil with the sausage and lightly browned it. Then I removed the sausage to the casserole dish and added portabello mushrooms to the pan. Cooked those and put over the sausage. The final step was adding cheese over the top (I chose mozzarella as I had some left over from the previous night.)

Baked at 300 degrees until cheese melted, let rest for a few min and ate!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

No Training, Some Skill, 100% Love of the Art

So this is my first post. Honestly I've been debating doing this for a long time, but tonight I guess is when I start.

Tonight's Dinner

Caramelized Onions with Portabello Mushroom and Cheese Stacked Steak

Caramelized Onions

1 Whole Sweet Onion
Equal Parts Butter and Balsamic Vinaigrette
More Brown Sugar than Butter or BV
Pinch of Kosher Salt

Mushrooms

Just take the stems off and cook in a bit of butter

Steak

Cook it on the grill till done to taste.

Take the Mozzarella and melt it over the steak, then cap with the mushroom and surround with the onions.


I'll let you know how the SO likes it.