Wednesday, December 29 2010

Yesterday, in what I can only describe as a moment of insanity, I went to the mall. Normally these places are, to me, vast halls of plastic homogeneity that indicate everything that is wrong with the world. However, while searching for cables than I didn't find, I discovered that the kitchenware shop - whose name I have not only forgotten, but I am not even sure I ever knew -  was having a deep sale.

I picked up a nice cast iron griddle pan for just $ 21, less than half what I had seen it going for earlier in the year. It was the cost of this pan that had me buying a George Foreman grill instead. I ended up hating the George, but felt obliged to keep it around until I saw the griddle for a tempting price. I decided to put the George up for sale on Craigslist and cut my losses.

The griddle weighed heavily on my mind, calling upon me to find some meat to cook on it, so I went off to the supermarket late afternoon.

I enlisted Alexias to help with the chopping and mixing and we ended up making this: chicken patties that took less than 45 minutes to make.

I got three chicken legs and thighs, skinned them and passed the meat through my finest disk on my grinder. To that, I added 1/4 of an onion, grated, about 4 tbsp of tofu, a couple of tbsp of finely chopped parsley, salt, pepper, and a tiny amount of cumin, cinnamon and nutmeg. Served with a green salad and a bit of pita. We also made our own dip out of sour cream, low fat cottage cheese, dill and a few drops of lemon juice.

Tasty and healthy!

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Saturday, December 25 2010

Christmas Day!

Big bird

 Stuffing.

 Peas and mash.

 Carrots. Obviously.

 Sweet potato mousse on sweet potato discs.

Roasted potatoes.

 Ella, wedged into Dash's bed.

 This is where he spends 90% of his waking hours.

Merry Christmas to all, and wishing you the best New Year.
Andreas.

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Friday, December 17 2010

Hotpot is something I wanted to do at home for a while now, and this particular day seemed ideal, with the temperature dropping to a cheery minus 2. I zipped off to the supermarket in Market Village to get some basics: 'fatty beef' which looks like some kind of brisket and is supposed to be good for hotpot; tofu; fishcake tofu; salmon; two kinds of dumplings; spicy base for hotpot; bak choi; chicken wings. I also got a few things for the all-important dipping sauce: some spring onions, soy sauce, 'dao ban cheung' chili paste; 'sa cha cheung'; raw eggs.

There is not a whole lot to do after that. If you can't handle making hotpot you are really in trouble. I did tinker a bit with the soup, using a watered down chicken and vegetable stock I had on hand and adding a bit of miso paste. Of course, everything depends on how good the ingredients are, but for just the three of us, we did fine.

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Saturday, December 11 2010

Sometimes, you head off to the supermarket with almost no clue as to what you are going to get. Other times, you have a very definite idea, and have these things called "lists". Typically for me, it is somewhere in between. I leave the house with a sort of idea in my head, but too often get sidetracked and very often forget the very thing I was supposed to get in the first place.

Saturday was a good example. I decided to make a breaded pork chop, in which the pork is beaten flat, dredged, egged and rolled in seasoned breadcrumbs and shallow fried. I ended up making a pork chop parmigiana.

It turned out to be a very tasty and inexpensive dish, except for the buffalo mozzarella which I splurged on, buying the fresh one instead of the hard rubbery version.

I first made a simple, quick sauce. Sauteed onion and celery in a pan with olive oil, then added a big spoonful of tomato paste, deglazed with white wine, then a large tin of crushed tomatoes. Seasoning was pepper and oregano, and at the last minute a dash of vinegar.

While that was going on, fried the pork chops from which I had removed the bones and fat and pounded to about 1/4 inch thick. Salt and peppered the chops, dredge in flour then egg, then coat with breadcrumbs and pepper, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder.

The finished chops go flat into an oven-proof dish, sliced mozzarella on top of each one, then coated with the sauce. I covered the dish with foil then popped into a hot oven for 20 minutes, taking off the foil for the last five or so and sprinkled with grated parmesan.

There was some sauce left over so I made some pasta and tossed it in the sauce, then added some parmesan. A side salad of diced tomatoes, celery, apple, cucumber, lettuce and feta cheese (basically just stuff I had at hand) with a squeeze of lemon and drizzle of olive oil.

The pasta

 The complete meal

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Wednesday, December 1 2010

The year has nearly all gone. How did that happen?

This is what I made yesterday from a recipe I saw on TV that had no ingredient list, no amounts, no help. So I had to just wing it. As is typical with these things, it tastes just as good if not better the next day.

I got about six beef short ribs that were sliced around an inch thick. Much thinner and I don't think it will work as well as the ribs won't hold up so well. 

Make sure you cut of the fat first as if you don't (like I didn't) just ends up floating on top and you have a lot of skimming to do. 

Then I mixed cumin and chili powder - I used about a 2-3 ratio but next time I would reduce it to maybe 1 to 4. Depends on how much you like cumin, I suppose.  Rub it on the meat, sear in a pan and then transfer to an oven-proof dish. In the same pan, I first drained the oil, then poured a carton of beef stock, half a tin of tomato paste, a handful of raisins, about 8 black olives sliced, and, after tasting it, about 2 tablespoons of soy sauce (it might need more but you can add this later as the olives help with the salt), and then when it is coming to a boil you add 2 tablespoons of white flour that have been mixed to a slurry with some water. Oh, I also added about a cup of red wine that was the last of a bottle I had open. Mix it up and pour on the beef. Cover and put in a 350 oven for around 90 minutes. Stir and taste the sauce. Add more soy sauce if needed. The "original" did not use soy sauce but I felt it really needed the depth.

This goes well with boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes or just plain rice. I thought maybe something beany would be a nice vegetable accompaniment. I had some feta cheese (not in this pic) which I grated on top as I served it up, which I personally liked. A little parsley would not have gone amiss, but I didn't have any at hand.

I will almost definitely make it again, but this time I will make some adjustments, and keep more careful note of the amounts.

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Here is Ella, on the lookout for squirrels.

And once the squirrel threat is over, they go back their main task: protecting the house.

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