Flying by the seat of my pants

Wife continues to enjoy it when I bullshit my way through the kitchen. So BS I do. Oh, and I know I promised dear meat to... whoever the Hell reads it. But I dunno yet.

Today was pork. I'm not sure what kind of pork. It was maybe a pound or less, all cut into six chunky strips. I seared first in a little bit of oil and a quick rubdown with salt. Once crisp on each side, out they went to rest. In the meantime, in all that oil and porky goodness went some roughly chopped onions. They were pretty big, actually. Mostly rings that I broke apart in the pan. I also tried to scrape all that porky goodness into the onions as they got nice and soft. Once done, onion and oil went into a little casserole. A nice bed for later, that was. Next came my braise. It was a cup of chicken broth and brown sugar. I'm not sure how much brown sugar, because it's rock hard and I just bashed it against my head and dropped chunks into the piping hot liquid. Garlic powder and black pepper in next, then mustard and Worcestershire and honey. Once into the casserole with pork and onions, it got to cook at 450 for a half hour.

The bell rings, then I separate the pork. It rests some more and all that liquid flavor goes back in the pan with three tablespoons of flour. It made a wonder sauce once wife added a bit of adobo in it.

As for flavor? Well, the pork came out nice and juicy. There was also nice pork on pork action thanks to the sauce. Wife was happy. So I'm happy. She made a nice cheesy veggie/rice mix topped with french fried onions. I liked it. But it's her recipe so she should post it.

Pan Fried Chicken

I am not ashamed to say that the first time I tried to pan fry, I failed. Not terribly, but I failed. First on the list, I didn't have a big enough pan. No where near enough to cook enough of them at the same time. This time is different and a heavy aluminum vessel under my protection is indeed big enough to support four drumsticks at once.

Next comes the oil. I knew how much I was supposed to use, though I think I overdid it a wee bit this time. It was heating said oil. You see, I have no thermometer. So, aside from guessing, I had no idea when it was time to cook the bird. Luckily, you can find everything on the internet.

Drop a grain of rice into the oil. If it floats to the top and starts popping and cooking, it's ready to go. If it sinks, wait a little longer. Big hint for the potential readers of this blog.

As far as the chicken itself was concerned, I soaked them all in heavy cream beforehand. Maybe thirty minutes. Heavy cream as I had no buttermilk. And I have to say, touching uncooked and slimy chicken as its soaking in that stuff.... bleh. Felt like finger banging a dead woman. But anyway, I used Adobo, like I do in everything. I used a lot. A lot a lot. They were bright orange on both sides before they hit the All Purpose Flour. Oh, and a pinch of salt, some more adobo, a bit of cayenne and a half a tablespoon (maybe) of baking powder. They rested until the oil was ready, then fry.

Twelve minutes on one side. Flip. Turn heat up to medium. Another twelve minutes. Drain. Rest. Nom. I have gravy on mine.

Coming up next: deer meat.

Potato Chip Chicken

First off, I'm upset that I can't think of a more clever name for today. But I suppose that all my smarts were drained into tonight's meal. Second, I really really need to post here more. But anyway, onto dinner.

Potato Chip Chicken, which I first heard on an episode of King of the Hill, is stupidly easy to make. I was astounded. I mean, yeah, I know how to bake a chicken breast but all the prep work was seasoning my cutlets (Adobo, as always), dipping into melted butter, then coating with smashed chips. I was amazed though, as most fancy breast recipes call for a more traditional dredge of flour-egg-bread crumb. As for the potato chips, I used Sour Cream and Onion. Yum. It took more than a simple smash though. A heavy pot, a plastic bag and years of unresolved aggression towards my mother did little to create the fine grains of powder I'm used to. In order to defeat them, I sent them off to my little food processor to put the spurs to them. And that was it. Bake until white on the inside. Boom. Done. Big deal. Very very good, though. They tasted basically fried.

But this is the important part. I have been itching time and again to try and create a homemade sauce. Don't care which one. Just wanna. I figured now was my chance. With a potato chip flavor, I thought some kind of dip accompaniment would be best. Luckily, on hand was a packet of french onion soup. So flavor was not an issue. But how to build? As I recall from a leek soup recipe which I promise to post soon, butter + flour does the trick as a base. I was impressed with All Purpose's thickening power. So with... I think half a stick (I'm guessing) of butter and two tablespoons (I measured this time), I was on my way. Maybe... a quarter cup of that chicken broth went in once things looked gooey and then I started to whisk like hell over low heat. Next, a half cup of mayo and a full cup of sour cream I had combined beforehand. In they went, with much more stirring. In fact, I was a little panicky as I mixed, afraid of... I dunno, anything. I had never done a sauce before. But oh well, must truck on. In went that onion pack and a few shots of Worcestershire. Amazingly enough, it came out really really good. Very proud of myself, I am for this feat.

Not as proud as that leek soup. But that's another post.

Wow, been a while.

To start things off, I haven't posted in a while because I haven't cooked in a while. Nothing new anyway. I had a high school drama club revival and AMVs and all sorts of noise. But anyway. If I didn't mention this 68 recipe book by Pillsbury we got at Walmart, then I slipped up. Because now that I think about it, I made some bubble pizza from this as well, whatever that is. But anyway. It's monday, time for alchemy.

This is what they call Greek Chicken and Pasta. What I ended up making is not Greek in the least.

2 Cups uncooked penne pasta. No penne, used rotini.

1/4 cup butter or margarine. Easy. Though I admit, I eyeballed it.

1 large onion, chopped. Duh. There isn't a day when I have onions in the house.

1/4 cup AP flour. I should get more.

1 3/4 cups Progresso chicken broth. Didn't have it. Had leftovers of the White Wine and Herb stuff. As it turns out, it was chicken based. Hurray.

1 cup shredded feta cheese. Didn't have feta. Don't even like feta much. Used mozzarella.

3 cups chopped chicken. Wife brought these little bags of precooked rotisserie chicken on manager's special. I used two bags. Looked like it was enough.

1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained chopped. Ewww. I used a can of vegetable medley.

1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained, chopped. I wish. I used a can of diced.

1/3 cup sliced kalamata olives. What?

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley. What?

Preheat oven to 350. Cook pasta. And oh crap, I forgot to grease my baking dish. Oh well, looks like it didn't need it. Melt butter, cook onion. Stir in flour, cook and stir half a minute. Add the broth, more stirring, heat until boiling. At this part in the game, I really noticed the flour thickening into a nice sauce. Behold the power of All Purpose. Remove from heat, stir in cheese. Gently stir in... everything else.

Bake for half an hour. Nom.

Personally, I like what I did. It's chunky, milk flavors all around, nothing bad. Wife added more cheese. She mentions if I had COMPLETELY BSed a chicken and pasta casserole, she would have liked it a lot better. Because I followed a recipe, it only gets a B-.

Chicken Salad

Once again, I have Sams Club to thank. Wife brought home these extra yummy chicken salad wraps and by golly, you know me. I just HAVE to see if I can make it myself. As it turns out, I can. Four chicken cutlets (which we have a lot more of frozen in a bag) got cooked and made friends with the food processor. So did four stalks of celery, which I did for Wife's sake. I don't mind big chunks of crunch at all though. Next, because I'm so daring, in went a packet of onion soup mix. Mayo next obviously but I eye-balled it as I so often do. If I had to guess.... maybe a third of a jar? Quarter? I dunno. Looked like a cup or so. And, now this was Wife's idea, finally went in ranch dressing. Added a tang and a zip I greatly appreciated.

All this made its way into a wrap again. Wife is skilled with tortilla wrapping. I added lettuce to mine. Yum.

This is also lap band friendly, kiddies. So go nuts. I think I'll have some now.

More alchemy

On sale, Wife got this big ole hung of turkey sausage. Yay! I didn't know what to do with it. Not yay. Time for research and time to BS. After skimming around in some cookbooks at my store for research, I stumbled upon this one casserole book that thankfully contained some stews. They got chopped and charred a little, as did a nice platter of peppers we got for two bucks. Contained all the colors of the traffic light. Added were my typical onions cooked soft and sweet in margarine. One can of about 30 oz diced tomatoes. None of the liquid though. Finally, some secret ingredients. First was a chicken broth mixed with white wine and herbs, made by College Inn. Damn good. Next, my sole spice was curry powder. I used a fair amount, wanting to experiment. Wife enjoyed and so do I, now that it's cool enough to eat. Wife also says it's Lap Band friendly so enjoy.

Sonic

There are none in New York. There are, however, some in New Jersey. About 40 minutes away. Worth the drive. VERY worth it. Juicy patties mix well with mayonazed burgers, as well it should. Chili cheese fries were heaven, but the portions could maybe have been bigger. However, the large cherry slush with grape.

ULTIMATE FLAVOR.

I now have a reason to not hate New Jersey.