Garlic Lemon Chicken

Tonight I'm doing garlic lemon chicken, with goose fat roasted potatoes and sauteed cabbage. Should be easy enough. Gives me an excuse to use up some of that cup of goose fat I accumulated, and the cabbage is like, 10 minutes tops to done. As for the chicken, we're quite low on garlic and I actually do not have any chicken broth at the moment, but I'll substitute white wine instead and it should be fine. This is what I get for shopping for garlic at Hyvee, where the bulbs have like 5 cloves in them, rather than Dillon's or Hen House, where the bulbs have reliably at least 15.

Garlic Brussels Sprouts

I was one of the probable millions of kids in the US who grew up utterly convinced (without necessarily even having tried one! I know I didn't) that brussels sprouts were the DEVIL. I don't think I even knew what they looked like but I had read enough stories of kids being sent to bed without supper because they refused to eat the dreaded brussels sprouts that I was convinced that they were the most disgusting vegetable on the planet. I think this fear may have been instilled as well by my generation's parents, who were probably raised on boiled crappy sprouts with no seasoning, which I'm sure probably would be pretty gross.

Then a few months ago, on a whim, I bought a basket of sprouts at Dillon's, just to see if they were any good. If not, I'd never buy them again. I roasted them with garlic and was SURPRISED. They just tasted like cabbage! I like cabbage! What the hell. Since then I have also made them from frozen in butter sauce (also good).

Tonight I made chicken breasts in teriyaki sauce (Alex: not bad but the portions should have been smaller or flatter for better sauce-age; me: not bad but needed more spice and less sugar, which is funny because I actually ran out of sugar and wasn't able to put a full 1/2 cup in), as well as aromatic brown rice I had made previously (Alex: too dry, me: not done enough because for the life of me I cannot get the damn lid sealed tightly enough on the pot that the liquid doesn't evaporate before the rice is completely done, and also not enough garlic flavor because I screwed up and added my 2-clove pile instead of my 4-clove and had to toss more in near the end), and garlic brussels sprouts (Alex: no comment).

I made them from frozen, which some people say makes them disgusting. I also may have overcooked them; they were baby brussels sprouts so some of them were fairly tiny and quite soft to the bite. I don't really care though. So so good. And good for you too!

Garlic Brussels Sprouts

1 10-oz package frozen brussels sprouts
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp butter, divided
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chicken broth

Heat olive oil and 1 tsp butter over medium heat. Add garlic, saute 2-3 minutes or until aromatic and golden. Add sprouts, toss to coat. Add broth, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer 13 minutes or until cooked through. Drain any remaining liquid; add remaining butter and toss until melted.

Restaurant Review - Cyprus Grille

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary and we went to St. Louis and stayed at Embassy Suites for the occasion. As I am not a huge fan of St. Louis, we opted to eat at the hotel restaurant, Cyprus Grille, rather than try to find a nice restaurant elsewhere. We both dressed up and I was under the impression that it was going to be pretty fancy.

First off, the menu was small. The appetizer selection was acceptable but the entree list was tiny. They only had two steak options, one of which was KC strip (as part of a surf-and-turf with jumbo shrimp scampi), and the other was flat iron. No ribeye, no sirloin even. There was a "sandwiches and pasta" section of the menu, with exactly one pasta dish in it, which was inexplicably not available after 5 PM.

Alex ended up getting the surf-and-turf (come to think of it, isn't surf-and-turf generally steak and lobster?), which came with seasonal vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes, and I got grilled chicken in a sage cream sauce, with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. I also ordered a glass of Chateau Ste. Michelle riesling (my favorite white wine), and a bowl of French onion soup, because I had actually never had it before.

Service was SLOW. It was a Saturday night at like 7 PM, and we were one of maybe 5 couples there (there were 20-25 tables it looked like). There is no reason it should have been that slow. It took nearly 30 minutes for my soup to even arrive. The first thing I noticed about the soup was that the green onion garnish had been chopped unevenly. This is not something I would previously have noticed, but I seem to have turned into a bit of a food snob. The soup itself was decent-tasting (though all the onions had sunk to the bottom, and the crouton was soggy... not sure if that's normal for French onion soup or not).

The rest of the meal arrived approximately 10 minutes after the soup. The chicken tasted okay but there were TWO breasts, pounded flat. I've never ordered anything in my life that came with two chicken breasts before (outside of like KFC). Also the asparagus, while cooked to an acceptable level of tenderness, had no seasoning at all on it. It could have at least done with some salt. It tasted boiled or steamed; roasting it would have helped tremendously. Also the stalks were very very thick, almost too thick.

Alex said his steak was overcooked (he ordered medium rare and it looked closer to medium or medium well to me) and chewy (owing to the cut of the steak). Also the scampi came lying on top of the steak, as opposed to in a saucer of garlic butter like all previous shrimp scampi I've seen. (He said they were good though.) Also his entire dish inexplicably had mint sprinkled all over everything. I have never seen that before, and I tried it for myself, it WAS mint. The only thing I can guess is that it was supposed to be parsley or cilantro and somebody in the kitchen got confused.

Final tab was $75. I threw in a 10% tip, because while the service wasn't HOSTILE, it was very very slow and unprofessional. (Also I was a bit perturbed coming into dinner because we had gone to the free alcohol reception, and I ordered a vodka-and-Sprite which tasted like a vodka-and-club-soda. Yuck.)

The next morning/noon we went to Denny's; I got a Super Bird and Alex got a BLT with extra bacon, and I must say, it was far more satisfying than Cyprus Grille. I was almost inclined to go back and tell them so, but we had already checked out by that point and I'm not really that evil.

Chicken and Polenta

So... that roast chicken I bought Friday night? Yeah it sat in the fridge all the way up until today. When I pulled it out to roast it it was smelling a bit funky. Then I slow-roasted it at 250, which was supposed to take 5 hours, and the thermometer was up at 2.5 hrs and all the juices were clear and the meat thermometer was reading 153-170 no matter where I stuck it. So uh...

So I made polenta with leeks, for the first time ever having or making polenta. First thing off, it was pretty bland. Even with plenty of salt and pepper and Parmesan and butter and of course leeks... still pretty bland. Secondly, when it says add polenta slowly while whisking, it means SLOW. It came out lumpy, and because I failed to notice I bought quick-cooking polenta, it thickened up faster than I could un-lump it. So I tried my best but oh well. Thirdly I cut my finger open like a dipshit while slicing leeks. It bled pretty good. I had even just been thinking "I'm supposed to curl my fingers under while slicing so I don't cut them."

The chicken tastes okay. Guess we'll find out soon whether we got food poisoning or not. The recipe wasn't anything too incredible though (maybe because it only cooked for about 3-3.5 hrs instead of 5). So yeah. Ditch the chicken recipe, cause it didn't WOW me, and while I'm not giving up on polenta yet, I have a lot to learn for next time.

(Also did some Green Giant mixed veg in garlic olive oil sauce, and apparently Alex got all the sauce cause mine just tasted plain. Blah!)

Chicken and Pasta with Soup Mix Sauce

I know, I know, I've been such a slacker! I haven't cooked much lately; the kitchen has been piled with dishes and I've been feeling lazy. We've been eating pizza and Chinese food mostly. Last night I did my old fallback guaranteed-good meal, Chicken and Pasta in Soup Mix Sauce. I think the actual name of it was something like Herbed Chicken Fettuccine, but 1) I rarely actually have fettuccine in the house and usually just use whatever pasta is around, and 2) if I CALL it that, Alex will not have any idea what I'm talking about. I have two other guaranteed-good dishes (which I have made numerous times), which are my chili and my bbq meatballs. Both are quite tasty, as long as I dice the onions small enough.

Before I get on to the recipe for the chicken, I'd just like to take this moment to point out that I got a fit-n-fresh "bento" kit yesterday for $20. It comes with a thermos, a salad bowl w/ built in dressing dispenser, and a box that holds a large entree and two sides. All of them come with ice packs that fit in neatly. Also Alex ordered me a Mr. Bento on Saturday! YAY!

So here's the chicken recipe.

Chicken and Pasta with Soup Mix Sauce

1 lb chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1-2 tsp salt-free seasoning blend
4 tbsp butter, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp dry onion soup mix
1 packet savory herb and garlic soup mix, divided
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
1 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
8 oz uncooked pasta

Toss chicken with seasonings. Saute in 2 tbsp butter and 2 tbsp olive oil until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add water, onion soup mix, 2 tbsp savory herb and garlic soup mix, and teriyaki sauce; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Meanwhile, bring pot of water to a boil and cook pasta until al dente. Drain pasta, add to skillet. Toss with remaining soup mix, remaining butter, parmesan, and worcestershire until well coated.

Chicken Dopiaza and Meez

You know, regardless of how much preparing I try to do ahead of time, why is it that when cooking Indian/Asian food I am ALWAYS scrambling and spilling and cursing and screaming at Alex to please come open this jar that is stuck I need it NOW NOW NOW NOW.

I'm making chicken dopiaza tonight. It is yellow and garlicky and spicy and smells delicious (and still has another 15 minutes in the oven to go). First disaster: no tomatoes. Had to go buy some. Second disaster: approximately 50% of my bag of shallots was moldy. Third disaster(s): Had to get Alex to open jar and unopened spice container, which were both stuck. Fourth disaster: Cat peed on the couch. Fifth disaster: I didn't cut nearly as much cheesecloth as needed to squeeze juice out of onion and had to resort to using a strainer, thus getting 2 more dishes dirty. Sixth disaster: For some reason all the spices I put in the pot sucked up the oil like NOTHING. Fuckers.

It damn well better taste good. And after dinner I am going to have to make a run to the 24-hr Walmart and buy some more cat litter and get the non-Littermaid box set up. Fucking cat.

Make-Up Dinner

First off, lunch was tasty but ultimately not very filling. The spaghetti sauce tasted a little weird (overly fruity) when I touched it to test for heat, but when added to the ravioli and used as a dipping sauce for the garlic toast, it was fine.

Tonight I cooked a relatively extravagant dinner for Alex, as an apology for letting my own feelings of annoyance get in the way of cheering him up last night. We ate on our wedding china (for the first time) and had wine (for the first time in months at our apartment), and I got out the bread basket and everything.

I made seared chicken with a butter-shallot-tarragon sauce, which I had made before and which was once again very tasty, as well as crumbled cauliflower (was supposed to be mashed but for the life of me I couldn't get it mushy enough to be mashable), canned green beans (would have used fresh but the stuff in the fridge had developed a weird white coating to it--some sort of preservative, cause when I initially opened the bag a week ago it had a STRANGE soapy smell, and when I rinsed the white goop off the beans were kind of soft and I said "forget it"), storebought baked-at-home garlic bread, and an apple pie that had been sitting in the freezer for months.

It was a good clean-out-the-fridge night: got rid of the cauliflower, the green beans (inadvertently), the pie and chicken out of the freezer, a stick of butter, a bag of shallot, and a package of tarragon. The tarragon is probably still usable and I should put it back but yet.

Also dinner was quite tasty and even though the wine didn't have a chance to chill before we drank it, it was still very good. Chateau Ste. Michelle riesling is our favorite wine.

Tandoori Chicken Pops and Chana Masala

Today we made an expedition to Pak Halal, a local Arab/Muslim/Indian grocer/meat market. Picked up a large jar of ginger-garlic paste (I wanted something smaller but that was all they had), as well as a can of chickpeas, and then headed off to Dillon's to get spices/etc.

Tonight I'm making tandoori chicken pops and Alex and I are together making chana masala (chickpea curry). I've never had chickpeas or curry before so this should be interesting. Alex made a big deal the other night about how he feels like he can't cook because I cook so often and so well (whatever), so I said he should feel free to make something, and now he wants to make the chana masala together. Which theoretically I have no problem with except for the part where our kitchen is too small to comfortably fit two people. I guess we'll see.

--time cut!!--

Dinner is... well, I don't know. I've only had tandoori chicken once, and one thing I remember about it (aside from it being a bit underdone) was that it was a deep red color. This was NOT a deep red color. Part of it may be that it was fried, rather than baked/roasted (it was supposed to be Indian food-stall eats). But a big problem was that you take the chicken, still thoroughly coated in the thick yogurt marinade, and then toss it in flour and fry it. And for whatever reason, the flour would NOT stay on the chicken during frying. Slipped off. As for the flavor, not too spicy, but definitely something different from plain American-style fried chicken. I'm mostly just glad I got it cooked all the way through.

The curry is interesting though I'm not sure if I like the flavor. It's got some kick to it but isn't all that spicy. Strong cumin flavors. The chickpeas are an okay texture but don't add much in the way of flavor. It's a little soupier than I would have liked... it's not so much liquid to make it a soup but I thought it would be thicker. I even took the lid off at the end to try to evaporate some of the moisture but it didn't succeed very well. Also, it made a lot. The recipe said "Serves 2" and I should have known that meant as a main dish rather than a side dish.

On a side note, I'm washing it down with Mexican Coke, made with real cane sugar. Delicious.

Sun-Dried Tomato Tortellini Soup - not!

I made the soup mentioned two posts ago for lunch today. Some of the reviews had mentioned "next time I make this I will add extra broth" and as I was ladling some into my plastic bowl for work it seemed fine to me. Got home, checked the pot, WAY too chunky. What happened to the broth?! I don't know.

So, as for the flavor/texture. Not very exciting. I was actually fairly disappointed. The bok choy was tasteless, the sun-dried tomatoes had an odd flavor/texture to them, the carrots and celery were a bit undercooked (which was probably my fault because I was rushing to get it done and didn't saute them as long as the recipe suggested), and for the first time I had the same sentiment my husband always has whenever I make vegetable soups: "Needs more meat." The tortellini was okay, though I don't think this was the right vehicle for them. The broth was the wrong flavor for it, and unfortunately I used 3/4 of the bag on this stupid soup, leaving me only a handful or two to thaw and pour spaghetti sauce on.

This made me wish I had instead made a soup I did well over a year ago. It had roasted red peppers rather than sun-dried tomatoes, as well as spinach, alfredo sauce, and some other things. Obviously I didn't, and can't really without major substitutions since I'm on a diet and alfredo sauce is no good for you, and I'm regretting it now.

So, rather than post the tortellini soup recipe, which I won't make again without major (fundamental) changes, I'll post the recipe for Florentine Chicken Soup, which is what I had hoped I was making a non-cream soup version of.

Florentine Chicken Soup (from Cooking for 2, fall 2005)

1 c uncooked penne or tube pasta
1 pkg ready-to-use chicken breast cuts
4 c chopped fresh spinach
1 jar (7.25 oz) roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
3 fresh rosemary sprigs, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp butter
1.5 c reduced sodium chicken broth
3/4 c alfredo sauce
3 tbsp pesto
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted
1 tbsp shredded Parmesan

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, saute chicken, spinach, red peppers, rosemary, garlic powder and peppers in butter until spinach is wilted.

Stir in broth, alfredo sauce, and pesto; cook for 4-5 minutes or until cooked through. Drain pasta and add to soup. Garnish with pine nuts and Parmesan.

Yield: 5 cups

Barbecued Chicken

Today was frustrating; one of our cats hit the button on my UPS and corrupted Windows so badly that the boot CD did not recognize that there was a preexisting XP install. So had to completely reload. Luckily I didn't lose any of my files.

To make myself feel better, I went to Hen House (their produce and meat departments are my happy place, I am rapidly coming to realize) and bought zucchini, mushrooms, a few chicken legs (99 cents a pound!), a bunch of scallions, and a bag of sun-dried tomatoes (huzzah!). Tonight we did barbecue chicken legs, from scratch, with stuffed zucchini and frozen rolls, which had been lurking in the freezer for months and avoiding being made because they had a minimum 90-minute rise time. They were pretty damn good, if I do say so myself.

The zucchinis were hollowed out and stuffed with a mix of scallion, mushroom, zucchini pulp, cooked down and thoroughly saturated with white wine, and then sprinkled with a Parmesan-asiago-Romano blend and baked for 15 minutes or so along with the chicken. Zucchini and mushroom go together much better than I had anticipated; this is a flavor combination I must be sure not to forget.

The chicken itself was prepared easily enough; brine in a mix of water, salt, brown sugar, thyme, and crushed garlic for at least 2 hours, refrigerated (we did ours for something like 4), then grill for 5 minutes per side and then bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, basting every 15 with sauce. The brine kept the chicken moist and juicy, and best of all, due to the brining which helped to fully defrost some perhaps not-completely-thawed chicken legs (it's HARD to microwave-defrost chicken on the bone!), I did NOT have my usual problem of undercooked meat. I'm fairly certain that incomplete defrosting is the problem there, cause I don't have problems when the meat doesn't hit the freezer in between the store and the plate.

Anyway, the best part in my opinion was the sauce. My three favorite things to do while cooking are slices, sautes, and sauces. Tossing a casserole or roast into the oven and walking away is not something I'm interested in; maybe I'm just not burnt out enough yet. In fact, I really don't like casseroles in general. While I'm all for mixing your mashed potatoes with the pile of corn next to it, there are some things like shepherd's pie that just... blah. I was never a fan of it growing up; aside from the fact that it was obvious "use up the leftovers" food, it just tasted very bland. My mom is actually a fairly conservative bland cook in general, and aside from her mom who loves baking, I don't know of anyone in my family besides me who enjoys cooking for the sake of COOKING, and not necessarily for family togetherness or any side benefits like that.

Oh man I'm full of tangents. Basically, if it involves standing over the stove stirring, or chopping like a madman, I'm all for it.

SO. Without further ado, here is the recipe for Fantastic BBQ Sauce (stolen shamelessly from Tyler Florence):

Ultimate Barbecue Sauce

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 slice bacon
1 bunch fresh thyme
1/2 cup onion, chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
Pepper to taste

Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Wrap bacon around bunch of thyme and fry in oil 3-4 minutes. Remove bacon bundle and discard. Add onion and garlic and cook 5 minutes, avoiding coloring. Add remaining ingredients, stir, and turn down heat. Let sit for 20 minutes so flavors meld. Makes around 3 cups.

Tori Nanba Udon

This is the first entry on my new cooking blog. I won't profess to being a cooking expert or really much of an amateur; I don't know much about creating my own recipes, but I find I posted so often about food in my primary blog that it was probably annoying to anybody reading it. The title of the blog (at this time, Nuclear Stovetop) refers to the fact that my stovetop is seriously overpowered. I set a wok on fire because it heated up too far before I added the oil, which makes no sense because apparently restaurants do that all the time with no problems. Also it boils water quite rapidly.

Today we checked out a new (to us) Asian market in the area, Ho's Oriental Market. It's kinda hidden away behind an O'Reilly's so I actually didn't even know it was there. But hot damn, it's the biggest Asian market I've seen since I've lived in the KC area. Granted, the only other one I'd seen is (I think) KC Mabuhay Oriental Market, which was quite frankly tiny; we only bought I think Pocky and a bottle of banana extract there (which I have yet to find anything to do with). But Ho's is MUCH much larger. We bought a big bag of disposable chopsticks that turned out to be bamboo and not wood, which was a nice surprise, as well as a sake set for Alex, a box of dashi powder (pellet?) mix (bad idea, shoulda read up on the internet first and actually bought bonito flakes and kelp but oh well), and a big bottle of shaotsing wine, which would have been nice to have last week (or whenever it was that I made Ming Tsai's Asian coq au vin). And so would have been the copious amounts of baby bok choy. Very annoying; Hen House had the sign for it but no actual product and I had to sub in regular bok choy, which does not cook the same.

While we were out, we also stopped at Dillon's and picked up the ingredients for Sun-Dried Tomato Tortellini Soup as well as a tuna salad recipe out of Food and Wine. Couldn't find sun-dried tomatoes at Dillon's; they probably would have had them at Hen House but we still had to stop at a liquor store so Alex could buy some christening sake and frankly I was hot and tired.

Someday... someday I will have a big beautiful bright kitchen and make all sorts of tasty things in it and not constantly feel cramped and confined by my limited storage and countertop space. Curse apartments!

Tonight I made udon in a dashi-soy broth. I'd post pics but I can't at the moment for several reasons:
1) the nice camera is not mine and I don't really know how to use it; nor do I want to burden Alex with post-processing;
2) presentation is not my forte; and
3) we only have one (sort of two) style of dishes and they're not very exciting.

Anyway, here's what I did (based on recipe at foodnetwork.com):

Tori Nanba Udon (Udon w/ Chicken and Scallions)

8 cups dashi
2 tsp salt (do not add if you used dashi pellet mix like I did)
3 tbsp light soy sauce
3 tbsp tamari
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp mirin
1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1/4 head napa cabbage, cut into 1" squares
6 green onions, sliced in half lengthwise and chopped into 2" pieces
4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, scored lightly with knife
1 lb fresh udon noodles

Bring dashi to a boil. Just as it reaches a boil, add salt, soy sauce, tamari, and sugar; stir to combine. Turn heat down to a simmer and add chicken. Cook 10 minutes or so (be sure to break up the chicken pieces while cooking or it will all stick together), skimming the foam. Add cabbage, onions and shiitake and cook another 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a big pot of water to a boil (note to myself in the future: do NOT use the big aluminum stockpot for this, the damn thing takes decades to boil water). Add noodles, cook 3 minutes or until just softened. Drain in a colander and rinse VERY WELL with cold water, rubbing noodles to remove starch. Do NOT neglect to do this or within a few minutes your noodles will turn into a big glob of starch.

Put some noodles in a bowl, ladle broth/veg/meat on top. Serve hot.