Archive for Entrees

Sunday, January 17th, 2010

Grocery Deals and Epic Fails.

$3.00 lobster tails and a brand new crock pot. That’s how today’s food excursion started.

Riding high off of a few great grocery steals and the itch to get back to cooking, I wanted to get back home to make a pound cake dessert.

The recipe, stemming from my crock pot cookbook (which I will NEVER use again for anything other than soup or stew), called for berries in the middle of the pound cake.

Basic cooking math dictates that when something is in the middle of a dish, especially if it is a cake, the cooking time changes.

Then tell me, stupid Crock Pot cookbook, why you would call for a pound cake to be cooked on high for 1 1/3 hours.

Let’s just say, it was a disaster. My pound cake burned on the outside, didn’t cook at all on the inside and failed altogether. I didn’t even bother trying to save it, it was beyond repair.

Today’s saving grace was the lobster tails.

Oh my, thank you ocean life.

Put a frying pan on medium high and add a 1/2 cup of water
Butterfly the lobster tails, pop ’em in, throw a lid on and steam for 8 minutes.

Fire engine red tails with clarified butter and a bit of fettuccine linguine is one helluva meal.

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Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

Breakfast for Supper

“But Paulie, It’s your favorite!” — Paulie Bleeker’s mom in Juno

Yes, it may be Paulie’s favorite, but its mine as well. I just devoured some chocolate-chip pancakes and now have inspiration to share with you a simply delicious easy-to-make breakfast dishes.

Crepes
A favorite of Le French, its a super simple recipe that can be put in the fridge for about a week. They’re so easy to make you might as well keep some batter around for comfort food or when you don’t feel like cooking.

  • 1 cup all purpose-flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter

Next, whisk all the ingredients together while heating up a pan on medium heat. Pour about 1/3 a cup into the hot skillet and do a little 180 with the pan to evenly coat its surface. Cook for about 2 min on each side and top with strawberries, Nutella, or powered sugar.

photo courtesy of flickr user Luke H

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Thursday, February 19th, 2009

“Sending Y’all Love & Best Dishes…”


Ohhh…Paula Deen.

How we all love your six pounds of butter, grease, and kitchen counter deep-fryer.

While Deen’s food won’t be found in any healthy eating cookbooks; this Southern diva’s down home cooking is sure to please. After my college roommates and I made Giada De Laurentiis’ “Ravioli Caprese” earlier this week, we decided to give Paula Deen’s Southern Fried Chicken recipe a whirl.

Or, shall we say, we gave the recipe a try and it nearly gave us a heart attack. Deen’s recipe calls for an undisclosed amount of oil for frying.

A word of advice, just dump an entire bottle into the griddle. Your arteries won’t thank you later in life but your tummy will.

Deen’s fried chicken is Southern to the core. It reminds me of my Grandma’s fried chicken. Made on the stovetop in a kitchen not equipped for a grease fire or splattering molten lard all over the place.

I said this week’s posts would be about trying out how celebrity chef’s recipes and talk about the trial run of their preparations.

Deen’s fried chicken couldn’t be easier.

  • Dredge the chicken in flour and egg
  • Add a dash of Texas Pete hot sauce
  • Plop the floured diddlies into a hot skillet
  • Watch closely as they turn quickly into frittered goodness.

In true Paula Deen fashion, whip up some extra creamy mashed potatoes, make green beans and sprinkle them with bacon. Finish off with Devil’s Food Cake.

After all, The Lady herself throughly enjoys chocolate.

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Tuesday, February 10th, 2009

skipping across the pond…

OBAMANIA? NO, WAGAMAMANIA!
(say that ten times fast!)

Two affordable, delicious, and speedy restaurants are debuting in the United States. Wagamama (location TBD) and Pret A Manger (located at 18th and I, NW Washington, D.C.)

The first is Wagamama, a healthy Asian cafeteria-style restaurant with a slogan that boasts “positive eating + positive living.”

Famous for their ramen bar style of service, Wagamama says under their “About” tab on their website that they dislike “pretentiousness, slow service & msg.”

The Asian cafeteria delivers an assortment of freshly squeezed juices with seemingly odd pairings, like pear and carrot juice.

In addition to their tantalizing juices, Wagamama offers a wide variety of noodle, teppan, and rice dishes.


Vegetarian? Want gluten-free food?

Wagamama is eager to please. Any dietary need is accomodated to the best of the staff’s ablities. If the D.C. Wagamama is anything like the London Wagamama (which is, brilliant), this place is going to blow up on everyone’s food radar.

Recommendation: start with the ebi goyza and share the yaki soba; wash down with the “cleansing” fruit drink.

The only catch is Wagamama doesn’t open in D.C. until 2010.
2. Pret-A-Delicious.

Next up to the plate is Pret A Manger, a fast-but-delicious-and-healthy-food place which is somewhat like Panera with more international variety.

“Prets” as they are slangily referred to are as common as Starbucks on London streets.

Similar to the ideology of Wagamama, Pret’s philosophy towards food is to create “handmade natural food avoiding the obscure chemical, additives and preservatives common to so much of the ‘prepared’ and ‘fast’ food on the market today.”

Admist the freshly made menu is vanilla bean & honey yogurt, thai chicken curry soup, and herb chicken & rocket (British jargon for lettuce).

My favorite? Slim pret (a half of a sandwich) Super Chicken Club and red onion crisps (potato chips).

The UK can invade fast-food anytime they would like.

photo credit: stevenvanwel, Kenny Roden

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