So to celebrate the day michael and me met, and him getting through the opening of the casino I thought I would do a little italian.
I don't have time to make spagettie sauce from scratch, so what I am going to do is take emerils super garlic sauce out of the cupboard and use that. For my special made from scratch part of the meal I will make heart shaped meatballs.
There are 2 specialy items you should get for this Alessi grated pecorina romano cheese, and McCormicks Italian herb seasoning grinder. These 2 things will spice up any italian dish and cut half if not all of the spices you need. (there also good together in oil for dipping bread in)
This is what you will need:
1 pound of ground beef/veal/pork which ever you like the best I will use beef
2tsp of thyme
1 cloves of garlic
1/4 -1/2 cup of romano cheese depending on how much you want
2 eggs
10 grinds of the italian herb mix (or a 1/2 tsp of each:rosmary pepper, red pepper, onion, tomato, and parsley)
1 cup of bread crumbs
Heat oven to 375
Toss the bread crumbs with the thyme, cheese, italian herbs, and garlic
Mix the egg and the meat until well combined, and then take turns between adding in crumb mix and mixing. Once everthing is together shape into balls, or hearts in this case and place onto sheet pan (you can also tightly package and freeze for later use). Cook for 10 minutes/flip and cook for another 10. I always hate giving times because I was always taught its done when its done. I usually have one dummy in the middle that i cut open to check that its cooked properly. NEVER EVER EVER cook your meatballs in sauce. For one your not sure when there done and risk contaminating the whole thing, and 2 they wont be as yummy. If you have to you can cook them in a pan with a little oil, but they wont taste as great. Remember that the whole point of cooking is to experiment so if there are things you want to change, CHANGE THEM it will be even better in the end because it will have a bit of you in it. Until the next dinner heres hoping I'll make a foodie out of you!
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Why Not / Chelada Lime Chicken
As a pastry chef, honestly, I don't have the "culinary" experience. My husband has always cooked for fear what I might put in a pan and that was that. I stuck to my cakes and crazy desserts.....Until now. Lately Ive gone from the oven to the stove and fight for the reins of cooking master against my husband. I love food, why not try and make some.
Not all my food is from scratch, since I am still teaching myself most comes from strange Ideas I get when looking into the cupboard or fridge. If you think about it, most people don't have as much culinary experience as we do, so in the end no one will notice. Not all my meals will appeal to everyone, but not everything does. Of course I will also put in restaurant experiences when I get a chance, but mostly my blog will be here to inspire you to throw those odd spices in the back of your cupboard into the pot.
P.S. Don't be scared of how much garlic I use, I LOVE GARLIC, you can't really taste it trust me.
So lately the mood to be mrs. housewife has overpowered my love of fast food. I knew michael would be home extremely late, and thought some nice mexican comfort food might make him relax. Looking in the freezer what did we have...chicken....The options were limitless but I wanted to do something AMAZING at least to his standards. I took a cake pan since I was out of plastic bags. And Lined it with aluminum foil threw a bit of olive oil and the 3 chicken breasts in and this is what I tossed in:
4 cloves of crushed garlic and chopped (I swear they were tiny)
1 quarter of a red onion not chopped but in nice long strands (my culinary diction amazing you yet)
1 Tsp of Seasoned Salt
1 Tsp of Seasoned Pepper
3 Tbsp of mcCormicks hot mexican style chile powder
2 Tsp of dried thyme
2 Tsp of parsley flakes
Good hand full of chopped cilantro
2-3 Limes for Juice
Toss the chicken in above make sure its nicely covered on each side. Wrap it in the foil lining the cake pan and let it sit in the fridge to marinate. Now I left mine in for 2-3 hours, I'm not super sure because who writes stuff down as their cooking, I am going off memory here ::insert laugh::
Okay so if you pull your chicken out and there is white spots on it now it's okay. All that is, is the lime juice cooking the chicken wont kill you trust me.
Get a nice skillet pan and coat it with 3 Tbsp butter, once its nice and hot and the butter it cracklin' add everything in the aluminum bag we made, scrap off any juice or extra tidbits that may stick trust me you want every last piece.
So now we have the chicken cookin away in garlic, seasonings, onions, lime juice, and butter. If you did it right it smells frickin awesome and you can't wait. Around this point and time I was thirsty and went to the fridge as our chicken cooked and noticed michaels beer. It was miller's new chelada beer and I thought "hmm I bet this would be yummy" and put 3/4 of the beer bottle in the pan. Leaving 1/4 of beer for me! So now instead of frying in goodness we are now stewing in goodness. IT REALLY SMELLS YUMMY NOW!
I'm not good at knowing when chicken is done, so I always cut it into nice long strips to keep an eye on it while I'm cooking. I find it easier after the chicken has cooked for awhile but you can do it before you start all this. Take a taste test, add more spice or salt if needed, I personally added way more chili powder because michael likes a little kick.
So now the chicken is almost done, grab a bag of frozen corn and toss it in cornstarch, you need at least a table spoon or enough to get the corn dusted. In the last few minutes before the cooking is done add in the corn. Not only will the corn cook(defrost really) but the cornstarch will thicken up that oh so juicy broth and make a nice sauce for the chicken. Now what I wanted to do was take have the corn and puree it to make a sauce, unfortunately I couldn't find our hand blender so I left it as it. Paired with black beans and rice me, maybe a little squeeze of more lime on top,and michael were melting into our seats as we ate dinner. By far the most depth I have ever put in a dish according to michael. He especially loved how the beer paired with the chicken ( I didn't tell him what was in the chicken). So there it is my first entry, If you think this might appeal to you heres the list one more time:
Bag of frozen corn
3-4 chicken breast boneless
1 Tsp of Seasoned Salt
1 Tsp of Seasoned Pepper
3 Tbsp of mcCormicks hot mexican style chile powder
2 Tsp of dried thyme
2 Tsp of parsley flakes
Good hand full of chopped cilantro
2-3 Limes for Juice
Until my next dinner fiasco, here's me hoping that maybe I'll make a foodie out of you.
Amanda Joyner.
Not all my food is from scratch, since I am still teaching myself most comes from strange Ideas I get when looking into the cupboard or fridge. If you think about it, most people don't have as much culinary experience as we do, so in the end no one will notice. Not all my meals will appeal to everyone, but not everything does. Of course I will also put in restaurant experiences when I get a chance, but mostly my blog will be here to inspire you to throw those odd spices in the back of your cupboard into the pot.
P.S. Don't be scared of how much garlic I use, I LOVE GARLIC, you can't really taste it trust me.
So lately the mood to be mrs. housewife has overpowered my love of fast food. I knew michael would be home extremely late, and thought some nice mexican comfort food might make him relax. Looking in the freezer what did we have...chicken....The options were limitless but I wanted to do something AMAZING at least to his standards. I took a cake pan since I was out of plastic bags. And Lined it with aluminum foil threw a bit of olive oil and the 3 chicken breasts in and this is what I tossed in:
4 cloves of crushed garlic and chopped (I swear they were tiny)
1 quarter of a red onion not chopped but in nice long strands (my culinary diction amazing you yet)
1 Tsp of Seasoned Salt
1 Tsp of Seasoned Pepper
3 Tbsp of mcCormicks hot mexican style chile powder
2 Tsp of dried thyme
2 Tsp of parsley flakes
Good hand full of chopped cilantro
2-3 Limes for Juice
Toss the chicken in above make sure its nicely covered on each side. Wrap it in the foil lining the cake pan and let it sit in the fridge to marinate. Now I left mine in for 2-3 hours, I'm not super sure because who writes stuff down as their cooking, I am going off memory here ::insert laugh::
Okay so if you pull your chicken out and there is white spots on it now it's okay. All that is, is the lime juice cooking the chicken wont kill you trust me.
Get a nice skillet pan and coat it with 3 Tbsp butter, once its nice and hot and the butter it cracklin' add everything in the aluminum bag we made, scrap off any juice or extra tidbits that may stick trust me you want every last piece.
So now we have the chicken cookin away in garlic, seasonings, onions, lime juice, and butter. If you did it right it smells frickin awesome and you can't wait. Around this point and time I was thirsty and went to the fridge as our chicken cooked and noticed michaels beer. It was miller's new chelada beer and I thought "hmm I bet this would be yummy" and put 3/4 of the beer bottle in the pan. Leaving 1/4 of beer for me! So now instead of frying in goodness we are now stewing in goodness. IT REALLY SMELLS YUMMY NOW!
I'm not good at knowing when chicken is done, so I always cut it into nice long strips to keep an eye on it while I'm cooking. I find it easier after the chicken has cooked for awhile but you can do it before you start all this. Take a taste test, add more spice or salt if needed, I personally added way more chili powder because michael likes a little kick.
So now the chicken is almost done, grab a bag of frozen corn and toss it in cornstarch, you need at least a table spoon or enough to get the corn dusted. In the last few minutes before the cooking is done add in the corn. Not only will the corn cook(defrost really) but the cornstarch will thicken up that oh so juicy broth and make a nice sauce for the chicken. Now what I wanted to do was take have the corn and puree it to make a sauce, unfortunately I couldn't find our hand blender so I left it as it. Paired with black beans and rice me, maybe a little squeeze of more lime on top,and michael were melting into our seats as we ate dinner. By far the most depth I have ever put in a dish according to michael. He especially loved how the beer paired with the chicken ( I didn't tell him what was in the chicken). So there it is my first entry, If you think this might appeal to you heres the list one more time:
Bag of frozen corn
3-4 chicken breast boneless
1 Tsp of Seasoned Salt
1 Tsp of Seasoned Pepper
3 Tbsp of mcCormicks hot mexican style chile powder
2 Tsp of dried thyme
2 Tsp of parsley flakes
Good hand full of chopped cilantro
2-3 Limes for Juice
Until my next dinner fiasco, here's me hoping that maybe I'll make a foodie out of you.
Amanda Joyner.
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