I made some Pico up today because I wasn't quite sure how ripe my peppers were- Had some tomatoes ready, and spices and peppers... just had to give it a try.
2-3 jalepenos, 1 beefsteak tomato, 1 roma, and a cherry. Added some chives, parsley, and a clove of garlic- add it to the top of my burrito- it was delicious. I would have done a white or yellow onion instead of the chives, but we didn't have any on hand. Turned out ok anyway. I might add a touch of olive oil too, but I'm trying to cut down on fat- didn't do it this time. Deborah tried it, she didn't like the the parsley so much. Again, not something I would add normally, just tried it.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Fresh Veges
edit new pics------------------------------
Some new tomatoes coming in there too.
I got tired of going to the grocery store and getting really poor vegetables. I'm trying to grow my own tomatoes and peppers this year. The wife threw in a herb garden. We have some thriving plants going now. The dill is going to overrun our backyard if we let it. I have used it it in grilling salmon, and it's very good... almost too strong.
I have 4 different pepper plants that all look fine, and I'm looking forward to the tomato harvest. The cilantro and basil will be great.
I'm just hoping the tomato plants work out well- I'd love to have fresh tomatoes out of the back yard.
Update 7/22/10
My garden is still going! One of the tomato plants gave me a little taste by producing an early fruit- delicious! Three of my pepper plants have peppers coming. Judging by the Roma tomato plant, we may be over run- I think there are 8 on there now. You need to enjoy some basil if you approach it- you can smell basil a few feet away. I have a green chili/caprese salad garden- now if you could only grow the cheese...
I'm waiting for the Habenero plant to go, and the biggest of my other pepper plants has yet to show fruit...not sure which one that is. I think I have jalapenos and serranos going off. The other plants seem to be healthy but are biding their time. I'll snap some pictures and post them up.
We also have a few trees throwing off fruit here- the apricots are not bad if you get it at the right ripeness. I've not tried the crab apples or cherries- the cherry tree went nuts a couple weeks ago. Our Gardinea plant has been loving this 80% humidity too.
I have 4 different pepper plants that all look fine, and I'm looking forward to the tomato harvest. The cilantro and basil will be great.
I'm just hoping the tomato plants work out well- I'd love to have fresh tomatoes out of the back yard.
Update 7/22/10
My garden is still going! One of the tomato plants gave me a little taste by producing an early fruit- delicious! Three of my pepper plants have peppers coming. Judging by the Roma tomato plant, we may be over run- I think there are 8 on there now. You need to enjoy some basil if you approach it- you can smell basil a few feet away. I have a green chili/caprese salad garden- now if you could only grow the cheese...
I'm waiting for the Habenero plant to go, and the biggest of my other pepper plants has yet to show fruit...not sure which one that is. I think I have jalapenos and serranos going off. The other plants seem to be healthy but are biding their time. I'll snap some pictures and post them up.
We also have a few trees throwing off fruit here- the apricots are not bad if you get it at the right ripeness. I've not tried the crab apples or cherries- the cherry tree went nuts a couple weeks ago. Our Gardinea plant has been loving this 80% humidity too.
-edit-
A new update. New peppers and tomatoes. Pictures included. Romas are starting to ripen. Peppers are starting to come around.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Chicken in a Pot
We go through a lot of chicken in this house, and I tried a new way with my pressure cooker. This is a great money saver in the end- and I am aiming to make a decent soup out of it. A whole chicken at the store costs about $3-$4. Throw that into your pressure cooker, 1 Tbs kosher salt and water to submerge (not above 2/3 fill, mind you) and you have a couple pounds of very soft shredded chicken meat for anything. Take the broth you make and you have a good chicken soup base. I'm going to make dumplings tomorrow for my soup.
After that I'm going to make my french onion soup, but this time I'm making the stock from scratch. Stay tuned!
After that I'm going to make my french onion soup, but this time I'm making the stock from scratch. Stay tuned!
Monday, April 12, 2010
Fun with Pressure Cookers: French Onion Soup and Refried Beans
As I mentioned in a previous post, I recently purchased a pressure cooker set. The one I went with has several nice features. First, it comes with two pots, and a pressure lid that fits both. One is 4 quarts, and the other is 8. Secondly, it comes with a glass lid that fits both so that it transforms your cooker into nice sized pots to cook with for dishes that require multiple fazes of cooking or just standard cooking uses. Third, it has the two settings for pressure- 15 psi, and 8 psi. This is handy as some foods will disintegrate quickly under the higher setting. (vegetables, fish, etc) It also has the safety features that most newer cookers have that makes it impossible to remove the lid while pressurized. I've been very pleased with it so far. For those of you interested, here is a link.
Fagor Duo
The reason that pressure cookers are nice as most of you probably know is that it reduces cooking time significantly. The major component of this is due to that equation that chemists love so much: PV = nRT. That of course... is for a different kind of blog. Suffice it to say that increasing the pressure inside the cooker effectively raises the boiling point of the water. Instead of the 100 degrees that is the normal boiling point of water at sea level, the temp is 20-30 degrees higher. I'll let you do the math if you really want to know. This brings me to another consideration when using pressure cookers- not being at sea level changes things a bit, and recipe adjustments should be made just like you would for baking. According to my instruction manual, you should increase the cooking time by 5% for every 2 thousand feet above sea level, and you should add a few percent more liquid into recipes to account for the longer cooking time. I added 10% time since we reside 5280 above sea level here. There is no hard and fast rule, so you will just learn as you go.
The first recipe I tried was a basic french onion soup.
5 medium onions thinly sliced
4 Tbs butter (I would reduce this to 3 on the next go round)
6 cups beef or chicken stock, or a mixture of both
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbs dry white wine
fresh french bread, sliced
grated Gruyere cheese
Melt the butter in the cooker. Cook the onions long and slow until they are golden... 30 minutes at least. (one recipe I saw called for 60 minutes... not worrying about slightly burning the onions- you want them darkly caramelized) Add the stock, pepper and wine. I would also add salt and more pepper to this recipe. The stock I used was lower in sodium, so it desperately needed some.
Cover the cooker and bring to pressure at 15 psi. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 28 minutes. (adjust for altitude cooking) Release the pressure and remove the lid.
Toast the bread. Ladle soup into bowls and float toast. Cover with grated cheese, and place under broiler to melt/brown if desired. Makes about 6 cups.
For my second recipe, I did one that took me back to my early days working at El Pollo Asada: re-fried beans.
1 lb dried pinto beans
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 package cilantro, minced
Spread out the pinto beans on a cooking sheet to pick out impurities and rocks. Place the beans in your cooker and submerge under an inch of cold water. Cover and let sit for 24 hours. Drain the beans in a colander and then rinse. Return them to the cooker and submerge with at least an inch of water over the top. Cover with pressure lid and bring to pressure at 15 psi setting. Cook at medium low for 50 minutes. (again, I cooked for 60) Remove from heat and remove pressure. Place beans in colander to drain remaining liquid.
Add olive oil to cooker and add onion. Cook until softened. Add garlic, and cook a few minutes longer. Return beans to pot and mash with potato masher and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Add a little water and simmer until beans are a slight soupy consistency. Add the cilantro and cool.
As you can see, this is a very low fat re-fried beans recipe, avoiding other versions that have bacon fat or lard included. The flavor from the garlic and onion helps it out- and made for a very enjoyable chicken-bean burrito I had this afternoon.
Fagor Duo
The reason that pressure cookers are nice as most of you probably know is that it reduces cooking time significantly. The major component of this is due to that equation that chemists love so much: PV = nRT. That of course... is for a different kind of blog. Suffice it to say that increasing the pressure inside the cooker effectively raises the boiling point of the water. Instead of the 100 degrees that is the normal boiling point of water at sea level, the temp is 20-30 degrees higher. I'll let you do the math if you really want to know. This brings me to another consideration when using pressure cookers- not being at sea level changes things a bit, and recipe adjustments should be made just like you would for baking. According to my instruction manual, you should increase the cooking time by 5% for every 2 thousand feet above sea level, and you should add a few percent more liquid into recipes to account for the longer cooking time. I added 10% time since we reside 5280 above sea level here. There is no hard and fast rule, so you will just learn as you go.
The first recipe I tried was a basic french onion soup.
5 medium onions thinly sliced
4 Tbs butter (I would reduce this to 3 on the next go round)
6 cups beef or chicken stock, or a mixture of both
1/4 tsp pepper
2 Tbs dry white wine
fresh french bread, sliced
grated Gruyere cheese
Melt the butter in the cooker. Cook the onions long and slow until they are golden... 30 minutes at least. (one recipe I saw called for 60 minutes... not worrying about slightly burning the onions- you want them darkly caramelized) Add the stock, pepper and wine. I would also add salt and more pepper to this recipe. The stock I used was lower in sodium, so it desperately needed some.
Cover the cooker and bring to pressure at 15 psi. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 28 minutes. (adjust for altitude cooking) Release the pressure and remove the lid.
Toast the bread. Ladle soup into bowls and float toast. Cover with grated cheese, and place under broiler to melt/brown if desired. Makes about 6 cups.
For my second recipe, I did one that took me back to my early days working at El Pollo Asada: re-fried beans.
1 lb dried pinto beans
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 package cilantro, minced
Spread out the pinto beans on a cooking sheet to pick out impurities and rocks. Place the beans in your cooker and submerge under an inch of cold water. Cover and let sit for 24 hours. Drain the beans in a colander and then rinse. Return them to the cooker and submerge with at least an inch of water over the top. Cover with pressure lid and bring to pressure at 15 psi setting. Cook at medium low for 50 minutes. (again, I cooked for 60) Remove from heat and remove pressure. Place beans in colander to drain remaining liquid.
Add olive oil to cooker and add onion. Cook until softened. Add garlic, and cook a few minutes longer. Return beans to pot and mash with potato masher and mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Add a little water and simmer until beans are a slight soupy consistency. Add the cilantro and cool.
As you can see, this is a very low fat re-fried beans recipe, avoiding other versions that have bacon fat or lard included. The flavor from the garlic and onion helps it out- and made for a very enjoyable chicken-bean burrito I had this afternoon.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Vegetarian Lasagna
This is another recipe that I have used a lot from the Friend's cookbook. I like it because it doesn't use ricotta cheese, and it is a little lighter than your standard lasagna. I think you could put anything in this, but this particular version is vegetarian.
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large onions sliced thin
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms, sliced thin
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 yellow bell peppers, cut in 1/2 inch dice
1/4 cup parsley leaves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
18 lasagna noodles
1 pound mozzarella cheese shredded
Heat the oil in a pan, and cook the onions. Stir in the garlic and mushrooms and cook until soft. Add the peppers and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook the lasagna noodles in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, refresh in a bowl of ice water and drain again. Lay the noodles out on kitchen towels to soak up excess moisture.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 13x9 pan. Smear several tablespoons of the tomato mixture in the pan. Line the pan with pasta making sure that they don't overlap. Put 1 cup of sauce over the layer. Sprinkle 2/3 cup of the mozzarella. Repeat 5 times.
Bake for 25 minutes until the top layer of cheese is browned. Let rest for a few minutes and serve.
1/4 cup olive oil
2 large onions sliced thin
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms, sliced thin
1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
2 yellow bell peppers, cut in 1/2 inch dice
1/4 cup parsley leaves, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
18 lasagna noodles
1 pound mozzarella cheese shredded
Heat the oil in a pan, and cook the onions. Stir in the garlic and mushrooms and cook until soft. Add the peppers and cook until soft. Add the tomatoes, parsley, salt, and pepper, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Cook the lasagna noodles in salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, refresh in a bowl of ice water and drain again. Lay the noodles out on kitchen towels to soak up excess moisture.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 13x9 pan. Smear several tablespoons of the tomato mixture in the pan. Line the pan with pasta making sure that they don't overlap. Put 1 cup of sauce over the layer. Sprinkle 2/3 cup of the mozzarella. Repeat 5 times.
Bake for 25 minutes until the top layer of cheese is browned. Let rest for a few minutes and serve.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The OCDK lives on: Buffalo Wings and Spinach-Gruyere-mushroom scalloped potatoes
I was reminded recently that I hadn't posted for a while, and yet the obsessive portion of my cooking needed documenting- if only to help those close to me cope by making it public. This posting will seem a little disjointed, and I have a few things to add.
First on the list: buffalo sauce. I have come across a couple restaurants that make these fantastic sandwiches that have chicken pieces, buffalo hot sauce, veg, mayo and bread. They are soooo good, I decided to make my own- surely I can come up with a sauce. Come to find out, buffalo sauce is mostly fat- I should have known. It is very easy to make, melt 4 Tbs butter and 4 Tbs hot sauce, and throw in a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. The hot sauce you use changes the flavor, so experimentation is in order. My favorite so far is some that my wife brought back from western Colorado. They will send me more if I pay twice as much for shipping... a little pricey. Cook your meat, and the roll it in the sauce and serve. I thought the bad part of buffalo wings was that they were fried... turns out it's that plus a butter hot sauce and you dip in blue cheese dressing! No wonder I love them.
Item #2, my newest. I will post more on this later, but I just purchased a pressure cooker. I got it on Amazon, and I won't get it for a few days. I have recipes that I want to make soon, I will tell you how it goes.
Here is a recipe that I'm doing for Easter this weekend. I did it for my in-laws for x-mas, and it has been requested. It is vegetarian, so I've had it with veges I lived with right after college- all I'm saying... it is quite good and could be considered a main dish.
It comes from the cooking with friends cookbook vegetarian section: here it goes.
6 large baking potatoes, about three pounds
6 Tbs olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion chopped
3/4 pound mushrooms sliced thin
1.5 pounds fresh spinach, stemmed and washed
1.5 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, shredded
Scrub potatoes under cold water to clean. Slice into 1/4 inch slices. (for this I'm going to use my mandolin) Place in a large bowl, and combine with 4 Tbs oil, minced garlic, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Toss mixture with hands. Lay the potatoes on baking sheets, keeping them from overlapping. Cover with aluminum, and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Add remaining oil in a very large pan, and add onion and cook until soft. Add the mushrooms for a few minutes. Stir in the spinach and the remaining salt and pepper. Cook until the spinach wilts. You need a really large pan for this, that amount of spinach is huge. It will seem like too much. After it loses it's water, it'll be just right.
Grease a 13x9 pan, and line the bottom with the potatoes. spoon half of the spinach mixture. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the Gruyere cheese. Add another layer of the potatoes, spoon on the mixture, and another layer of cheese. Add the last layer of potatoes, and put on the remaining cheese. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes, cut and serve.
First on the list: buffalo sauce. I have come across a couple restaurants that make these fantastic sandwiches that have chicken pieces, buffalo hot sauce, veg, mayo and bread. They are soooo good, I decided to make my own- surely I can come up with a sauce. Come to find out, buffalo sauce is mostly fat- I should have known. It is very easy to make, melt 4 Tbs butter and 4 Tbs hot sauce, and throw in a tablespoon of white wine vinegar. The hot sauce you use changes the flavor, so experimentation is in order. My favorite so far is some that my wife brought back from western Colorado. They will send me more if I pay twice as much for shipping... a little pricey. Cook your meat, and the roll it in the sauce and serve. I thought the bad part of buffalo wings was that they were fried... turns out it's that plus a butter hot sauce and you dip in blue cheese dressing! No wonder I love them.
Item #2, my newest. I will post more on this later, but I just purchased a pressure cooker. I got it on Amazon, and I won't get it for a few days. I have recipes that I want to make soon, I will tell you how it goes.
Here is a recipe that I'm doing for Easter this weekend. I did it for my in-laws for x-mas, and it has been requested. It is vegetarian, so I've had it with veges I lived with right after college- all I'm saying... it is quite good and could be considered a main dish.
It comes from the cooking with friends cookbook vegetarian section: here it goes.
6 large baking potatoes, about three pounds
6 Tbs olive oil
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1.5 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 medium onion chopped
3/4 pound mushrooms sliced thin
1.5 pounds fresh spinach, stemmed and washed
1.5 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 pound Gruyere cheese, shredded
Scrub potatoes under cold water to clean. Slice into 1/4 inch slices. (for this I'm going to use my mandolin) Place in a large bowl, and combine with 4 Tbs oil, minced garlic, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp pepper. Toss mixture with hands. Lay the potatoes on baking sheets, keeping them from overlapping. Cover with aluminum, and bake at 400 for 30 minutes.
Add remaining oil in a very large pan, and add onion and cook until soft. Add the mushrooms for a few minutes. Stir in the spinach and the remaining salt and pepper. Cook until the spinach wilts. You need a really large pan for this, that amount of spinach is huge. It will seem like too much. After it loses it's water, it'll be just right.
Grease a 13x9 pan, and line the bottom with the potatoes. spoon half of the spinach mixture. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the Gruyere cheese. Add another layer of the potatoes, spoon on the mixture, and another layer of cheese. Add the last layer of potatoes, and put on the remaining cheese. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes, cut and serve.
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Avocado and Guacamole
I was never a big fan of the avocado until I finally got around to loving guacamole. There are a list of these things- sour cream, cream cheese, corn chips, flour tortillas, etc etc. As it turns out, I might have been better off if I was still a picky eater- at least my waist line might benefit.
All of that aside, avocado is the one of the things you need to buy 2-3 days before you use it. The ones that you get in the store are usually hard as a rock. If you are hard pressed, the blacker the skin, the more ripe. If you pick it up in the store and you can feel that is a little tender, first- that is unusual, but second... it's ripe and ready to go.
My family has elevated guacamole into an art form- so it's not like I have some new chops here. That goes for my roommate in college as well- his is SO good.
If I was pressed for a quick and easy recipe, I'd say this:
2-3 avocados that are ripe
1 onion chopped
1-2 tomato chopped
1-2 jalapenos chopped fine (here I recommend playing around- you can add any kind of pepper you like for the flavor/heat you want- an Anaheim pepper would spin a great flavor in with your jalapeno)
1-2 Tbs of sour cream
1 Tbs cilantro chopped fine and to taste. There are some people that hate this stuff like biting down on tin foil, so keep that in mind.
Salt to taste
Mash the avocado with a fork, and then mix the rest in. Add salt and pepper to taste- remember you can always add salt, hard to take it back out again. I always add a little more when it's my mom who is eating it.
All of that aside, avocado is the one of the things you need to buy 2-3 days before you use it. The ones that you get in the store are usually hard as a rock. If you are hard pressed, the blacker the skin, the more ripe. If you pick it up in the store and you can feel that is a little tender, first- that is unusual, but second... it's ripe and ready to go.
My family has elevated guacamole into an art form- so it's not like I have some new chops here. That goes for my roommate in college as well- his is SO good.
If I was pressed for a quick and easy recipe, I'd say this:
2-3 avocados that are ripe
1 onion chopped
1-2 tomato chopped
1-2 jalapenos chopped fine (here I recommend playing around- you can add any kind of pepper you like for the flavor/heat you want- an Anaheim pepper would spin a great flavor in with your jalapeno)
1-2 Tbs of sour cream
1 Tbs cilantro chopped fine and to taste. There are some people that hate this stuff like biting down on tin foil, so keep that in mind.
Salt to taste
Mash the avocado with a fork, and then mix the rest in. Add salt and pepper to taste- remember you can always add salt, hard to take it back out again. I always add a little more when it's my mom who is eating it.
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