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Monday, March 24, 2003
Now, with illustrations!
Posted
11:43 PM by Mike
I've finally posted illustrations for my tip on preparing cookie dough for the freezer. Not that my richly detailed prose isn't descriptive enough, but I thought a few drawings might help. This is, after all, a detailed and delicate procedure (you're stuffing dough into tubes!).
RECIPE: Fajita sauce
Posted
9:01 PM by Mike
Tonight chicken fajitas were on the menu. I was going by no recipe in particular, although I did my usual scanning of Food Network recipes to give myself some inspiration. I needed the usual quick-and-easy, and most of what I found on FoodTV.com took a little longer than I wanted.
So, basically, I was going to grill up some chicken breasts and put out some tortillas, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. But I wanted a nice sauce to hold it all together. Something flavorful, but not too heavy or rich. Using a small bowl to whip up quick samples - and going around the house asking the wife and kids for their opinions - this is what I came up with:
I mixed some worcestershire sauce in with some light sour cream for the body. Then I added some Old Bay seasoning and a dash of cumin for just a little bite. This is all to taste. Start with a couple of tablespoons of sour cream; then, if you over-spice it, you can always add a little more sour cream.
The chicken breasts were salted and peppered and grilled in the double-sided Hamilton Beach kitchen grill (basically a George Foreman knock-off). Then they were sliced thin and served on warm flour tortillas heated between wet paper towels in the microwave. The chicken was placed on the tortillas, covered with the sauce, then topped with lettuce, tomatoes and grated cheese.
Family verdict: Thumbs up. It stays on the menu.
Thursday, March 20, 2003
Alaska Philosophy
Posted
7:16 PM by Rick
If the Food Dork philosophy is to eat as little as possible from meals bought in a box, the Alaska philosophy is to eat as little as possible from food bought in a store. Everyone is expected to place at least some food on his family's table that he takes in from the wild.
As a fisherman and not a hunter, that means for me the need every summer to catch Halibut (my largest so far, 92 lbs) and Salmon (to date, 33 lbs). I also dig razor clams on the beach. They are a pain to clean, but well worth it.
Many people here are hunters, and since we all get more meat than we can eat, all of us share with everyone else. This means, for example, that my freezer now holds a large supply of rather excellent caribou sausage. I have eaten moose burgers: rather lean, hence dry, so bring lots of ketchup; and moose steaks that were as excellent as any steak from any four-legged creature.
Here I've had bear, which was good but, as my mother in the South would say, has a slight "whang" to it, and mountain goat, excellent on the barbecue.
A word on salmon. The best salmon of all are the Sockeyes, or Reds. These are caught standing on the side of the riverbank and range from about 6 to 12 lbs. They'll give you the fight of your life and fillets that are a bright red in color. Pink salmon, which my Father and I have seen for sale in seafood shops in Florida, is not eaten here in Alaska. We throw them back if we catch them: Hold out for the best down there!!
Here's my family's favorite recipe for a brine to soak Reds in before smoking (it's not an original with me):
3 qt. water
1 cup non-iodized salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 tbs. liquid smoke
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
Combine ingredients, salmon fillets and a few bags of ice in an ice chest and leave overnight in your garage. (Why have your wife yell about taking up space in the refrigerator??) Smoke to your heart's delight!
THE ULTIMATE SAUCE: Soy sauce gets my vote. It's not only on my wok, it goes into almost every meat marinade I use (almost).
Tuesday, March 18, 2003
RECIPE: Our guilty pleasure
Posted
9:38 PM by Mike
Tonight I made one of the family's favorite dishes. It's a recipe of my own creation, accidentally that is. Actually I cobbled it together several years ago in an act of culinary desperation. We needed something for dinner that was fast and plentiful.
This was back in my Hamburger Helper days. Except we were out of Hamburger Helper. And hamburger. And just about everything else. OK, so we needed to go shopping; sue us, we were busy. All we had were some frozen chicken breasts, a bag of wide egg noodles and the condiments in the refrigerator.
In the kitchen, I was working purely on instinct. I put the chicken breasts in the microwave to defrost. I put on water for the noodles. I got out the big wok pan (the one that's sort of a wok but not really a wok). Perhaps I could do some kind of stir-fry. But what to do with the noodles? Perhaps I could make some sort of sauce as a topping. Remember, however, that this was back in my pre-FoodDork days, when I didn't know from sauces. I was going to need a pre-made sauce.
The only thing available, however, was soy sauce. Much too salty to use pure as a topping for noodles. I'd have to tone it down a little bit.
Hmmmm ... An idea popped into my head. It was crazy, but it just might work.
I put about two tablespoons of butter in the wok pan to melt while I sliced the chicken breasts into strips. Into the melted butter I put about a quarter cup of soy sauce and brought it to a boil. Into the sauce went the chicken breasts. Once the chicken was cooked (stirring frequently), I dumped in the whole bowl of cooked noodles, and stirred it all together, to give the noodles a nice thin coat of soy sauce (I had to add a little more soy sauce at this point to make sure the noodles were covered).
We loved it. Spreading the soy sauce/butter mixture over the noodles toned down the potency of the sauce. And the chicken had just the right amount of flavor, not bland but not too salty.
Since that fateful evening, this dish has made frequent appearances on our menu. I've tinkered with it here and there. I've added mushrooms and thinly sliced peppers (even though my son doesn't like mushrooms and my daughter doesn't like peppers). I've tried shrimp instead of chicken. Still, I keep coming back to the "original recipe" of chicken, noodles, soy sauce and butter.
One problem: We can't figure out a proper name. Usually I just call it "Soy Chicken," but that sounds so boring (not to mention a little off-putting).
Tonight I thought of an interesting garnish - chow mein noodles. They add a nice crunch to the meal, while helping to maintain its faux Oriental nature.
I've been reluctant to mention this meal on the FoodDork site because it just doesn't seem that good for you, what with all that sodium and butter. But it's quite tasty and, as I said, one of our favorites. It's also quick and easy, and you need that quite often in the kitchen. It's not leaving our menu any time in the near future.
Talk about having too much fun in the kitchen ...
Posted
1:51 AM by Mike
I've been checking out a Web site for an interesting game called Convivium.
 Convivium combines elements of various popular party games - Trivial Pursuit, Name That Tune, etc. - but with a clever and tasty twist. As a team crosses the finish lines of each round (players advance by successfully completing the tasks on drawn cards), they attempt to take the position of their choice, either Winner, Wait Staff, Chef or Beverage Manager. The Chefs, of course, do the kitchen work, creating the appetizer, main entree, dinner salad and dessert. Beverage Managers create the specialty drinks-- margaritas, after dinner drink, coffee etc. Wait Staff serves the meals, assists the Chefs, and cleans/clears the table. The Winner simply relaxes and enjoys the experience. The appropriate Finish Line Card instructs them on their duties in preparing that element of the evening's meal (for instance, head into the kitchen to prepare some quesadilla appetizers).
By the time all rounds are completed, a full meal will have been prepared (and, we assume, consumed with great joy).
The standard game includes the board, game play cards, instructions, invitation postcards, finish line recipe cards, ingredient list and the Mexican Fiesta Dinner menu. (Additional menus can be downloaded in PDF files for free at the Web site.) The host invites 4-8 guests and instructs them on what ingredients to bring. The host may elect to provide all of the ingredients. The game may be played as an entire meal or just one course or round.
Convivium costs $29.95, plus $4 S&H, and can be ordered via a secure form at the Web site.
The creators are even having a "Cash for Clever Cooks Contest," designed to attract cooking enthusiasts to play with their food "Convivium style." Contest winners will receive a $100 Convivium Certificate and $100 cash to be used on your next Convivium Party.
Meal planner, part two
Posted
1:03 AM by Mike
OK, this is another example of just how obsessive and dorky I can get about these things ...
I was continuing to ponder the meal planner thing (see post below), with the goal of posting a plan that I could easily switch around if last-minute changes were needed. It occurred to me that I had some small, rectangular magnets designed for use with one of those big, metal-core white planning boards used in conference rooms, offices, etc. They were about to be thrown out at work a couple of years ago, so I snagged them, not really knowing what I was going to do with them. Here was a chance to put them to use.
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Here's the magnet planner, just below my magnetic recipe clipboard. |
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A closeup. The red arrow on the left indicates the current week. |
The magnets are designed to have little slide cards inserted, but instead I took some blank adhesive labels and tagged about 35. Seven of them I labeled with the days of the week, Sunday through Saturday. The other 28 I labeled, in pencil, with my various meals.
Then, on the side of my refrigerator, just below my magnetic recipe clipboard, I arranged the magnets in a rudimentary calendar, with the days of the week as a row across the top, then the various meals on the proper days below, one week per row.
Now, if I have to cancel a meal on a particular night, I can simply move the magnet to another day, or easily swap meals, or make last-minute adjustments. I made some blank magnets, for when I come up with new recipes and meal ideas; and if I "retire" a meal, it can easily be erased to make way for a new one. I made a couple of "Pot Luck" magnets for those nights when I'm sure I won't be able to cook and everyone will have to fend for themselves.
My daughter, the one who dubbed me "Food Dork" in the first place, took this latest foray into dorkdom in stride, but admitted she was impressed by the fact that she could see what was for dinner with a quick glance. Also, she was impressed with my strategies for scheduling certain meals on particular nights. For instance, on nights when my son is at his miniature gaming meetings and comes home late, I want meals that can "wait for him" and don't need to be eaten fresh off the stove, such as lasagna or spaghetti. "This would not be a good night for baked fish, for instance," I explained to her. On weekend nights are scheduled meals that need longer preparation time, like a roast or grilled items.
Similar magnets can be found in most of the larger office supply stores (Office Depot, Office Max, Staples, etc.).
We'll give the magnet calendar meal-planning method a try and see how it works out. I'll report back on the project in a couple of weeks.
Monday, March 17, 2003
Distractions on an otherwise busy weekend
Posted
7:00 PM by Mike
I had all sorts of projects on the slate for this past weekend, but I wound up being distracted for a couple of hours when I realized that I could use my Entourage calendar to print out my dinner plan for the next four weeks.
You see, I spent Saturday on a humongous food run, with a total bill that I'm too ashamed to admit, but resulting in a pantry that will provide dinner for a month. Sunday morning, when I meant to spend some time on one of a variety of personal creative projects, I decided to plan my meals through the middle of April.
"Hmmmm," I said to myself as my list grew longer and longer. "I wish I had a small calendar that I could post on the refrigerator, on which I could jot my dinner selections." (I really talk to myself that way.)
I had Entourage open on the laptop, so I decided to see how well it could print out a calendar. Very well, as it turns out. In fact, I decided, rather than simply print a blank calendar and write in the entries, I would enter the meal selections as "events" and print it out all nice and neat (and dorky, I know; note the name of the site).
I'm still futzing around with the concept. Printing out the calendar with the meals all nice and colorful looks cool, but is impractical if I need to change the schedule. It's easier just to pencil it all in and erase if I have to. I would appreciate you might have.
Friday, March 14, 2003
Suggestions on the well-stocked pantry
Posted
5:57 PM by Mike
In yesterday's Pensacola News Journal (the paper for which I work), our homemaking expert Amie Streater offered her list of must-have items for a well-stocked pantry; in other words, the items to have on hand so that you always have the ingredients for a meal, even if you don't have anything in particular planned.
I thought it a good list (and, in fact, I plan to offer the official FoodDork pantry list in a future post), but I told her that my must-have pantry list would also include:
For freezer:
A bag of frozen, pre-cooked meatballs. They microwave nice and juicy and can be used in a variety of dishes. Cover them with BBQ sauce and grated Parmesan for a quick snack, rich side dish or appetizer. Cut them in half and use as a pizza topping. They heat up quickly in a spaghetti sauce. Can be used in lasagnas or other casseroles.
A bag of frozen salad shrimp. They thaw out in seconds under cold running water, and also can be used in a variety of meals. In the quick pasta meal you mention, you also can throw in some shrimp as a meat alternative. Also as a pizza topping. Also can be tossed with greens to make an entree salad.
For refrigerator:
Flour tortillas (see the posts by Rick and I).
My refrigerator must-haves also include some light sour cream (for stroganoffs, baked potatoes, etc.), and some Ricotta cheese (for lasagnas and other casseroles; I've gotten quite good at the quick lasagna.)
I also told Amie that a list of must-have sauces must include Worcestershire.
Sunday, March 09, 2003
Ugly biscuits
Posted
1:32 PM by Mike
I made biscuits from scratch for the first time last night, using a recipe from "The Joy of Cooking." In the past I've simply grabbed tubes of Pillsbury biscuits from the store, but in keeping with the "no-kits" FoodDork philosophy, I decided to see how quickly I could whip up a batch from scratch.
Actually it took surprisingly little time at all. Is popping pre-formed biscuits from a tube faster and easier? Certainly. But with my recently implemented canister system and my organization of all my baking materials in one location, from-scratch is fairly easy and, of course, more fun. Using the lip of one of my official "Batman Forever" glasses from McDonalds, I had nine nifty biscuits pressed out in no time.
(Making from-scratch biscuits is one of those things that many longtime cooks and most rural-area folks can do as second-nature. For me, a suburban-raised kid whose mom came to embrace every kit, short-cut and prefab meal on the market, and for whom "from-scratch" used to be synonymous with "takes hours," the concept was downright adventurous. But then again, adventure is what being a FoodDork is all about.)
The thing is, pressing them out with a glass does not result in the same perfectly round, plump and golden biscuits you get from Poppin' Fresh's factory-formed creations. My first attempt at from-scratch turned out great in the taste department, but, well, as my son said, "I don't want to hurt your feelings, Dad, but these aren't the best looking biscuits I've ever seen."
Yes, they were kind of flat and dumpy looking, especially compared with the canned version. But taste is what matters. I'm not going to promise never to buy the canned version ever again, but most of my biscuits will be from-scratch from now on. Except, they'll be known around our house as "ugly biscuits."
Tuesday, March 04, 2003
The great pizza tragedy
Posted
10:20 PM by Mike
I've been making homemade pizza for quite some time, now, and I've never experienced the kind of nightmare as I did tonight.
By all accounts, it should have been another smooth flight; in fact, the first two test runs were perfect. First, I fashioned my wife's favorite, a ripoff of Olive Garden's Roma Garden Pizza (cheese, artichokes and spinach, topped with sliced Roma tomatoes). Then I whipped up a quick cheese for my son (my daughter already had eaten, otherwise she would have had pepperoni).
Then, it was time for my pizza. Tonight I was going with something new, a meatball pizza, with mushrooms and green peppers.
First, I dusted the pizza peel with flour. That might have been my first mistake. Up until tonight I had followed the advice of the pros and used corn meal on the peel to avoid sticking. Tonight, however, for some reason I decided to go with flour. It seemed fine; I even picked up the peel and shook it back and forth to make sure the flattened dough would slide. As it turned out, however, the flour decision was the fatal one.
I began loading the pizza. First with the sauce (I generally whip up a quick sauce by running some canned whole tomatoes through the processor, then giving it a quick boil on the stove with some oregano, basil, dash of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper), then with a layer of sliced mushrooms. Then the green pepper, sliced into thin strips. Followed by the cheese. Then with meatball halves (I used the precooked meatballs purchased frozen in big bags from the warehouse store).
It was time for the oven. But as I lowered the peel to the stone, one thing became frighteningly clear: The pizza was now too heavy. I had lost the slide. It was not going to go easy into that good heat.
I tried easing it off with the BBQ spatula, which, along with some long tongs, are my main pizza cooking tools. It still resisted. With some frustration, I gave the peel a quick shake at the same time I pushed with the spatula.
That's when the horror occurred. The pizza seemed to explode, falling to the stone in random, lifeless heaps. Some dough over there; some cheese over there; some meatballs way over there. The red sauce against the stone sizzled violently, as if showing its pain and humiliation. Some of the detritus rolled off the stone and landed on the oven floor. Lying too close to the burner, it immediately began to sizzle, crackle, blacken and smoke.
I watched in horror, but soon I had to turn away: The smoke was getting in my eyes. I could do nothing more but close the oven door and hope for the best.
Oh, the humanity.
Less then 10 minutes later, I opened the door and reached in with my spatula, attempting to scrape what I could from the stone. What landed on my plate could not be called a pizza. It couldn't even be called a calzone, or a Hot Pocket for that matter. Still, I took fork in hand and gave it a try.
Mmmmm. Perhaps it wasn't pretty, but it was still edible, and quite tasty in fact.
So, lessons learned (don't forsake the corn meal; don't overload the pizza), and a meal salvaged.
The pizza stones, however, were a casualty, too caked with dough and cheese to be cleaned. Fortunately, these weren't the pricey stones found in the gourmet stores; rather, they were 99-cent non-glazed tiles from the home store. I have spares in the garage. The stones will be fondly remembered and honored forever, having given their lives in service to their kitchen.
A moment of silence, please.
Sunday, March 02, 2003
Salad days
Posted
10:03 PM by Mike
Tonight's entree: Chicken Cordon Bleu Salad.
I chopped about three chicken breasts into small chunks, breaded and fried them in a little peanut oil. (I thought of simply pan-searing the chunks un-breaded, but I like the crispy texture of the fried chicken chunks.)
For the greenage: Romaine and green leaf lettuces, with some baby leaf spinach. Added to that some quartered Roma tomatoes, and some chopped celery. Topped it all off with strips of sliced ham and sliced Swiss cheese. Thought of adding sliced green pepper and mushrooms, but I was serving to some picky eaters who would have just pulled them out anyway. (Next time I do this, I'm not combining the greens with the non-greens; I'm just going to separate the ingredients and let the diners assemble their own salad.)
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