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Monthly Archives: January 2017
Fried rice… one of my favorite dishes. There are so many ways to make this easy and delicious dish. Tonight, I am going simple with a quick chicken kimchi fried rice. I added some stir fried vegetables to the recipe because we should all be eating our vegetables, right? This recipe makes a very healthy portion so you may end up with some leftovers. But don’t worry because if you do, this fried rice is delicious the next day. One tip for those of you buying kimchi for the first time… open the jar slowly over the sink. The kimchi is fermented and can bubble over so you don’t want to make a mess in the kitchen (well, more of a mess…
Tonight I made a meatloaf derived from a Mediterranean recipe for koftas. Here is the best way I can describe what koftas are: they are intensely spiced kebabs made from ground meat. I made koftas for some friends one summer on the grill and I did not feel like firing up the barbecue to grill in January just to enjoy those same deep flavors. I was, once again, looking for a flavorful winter comfort food to make and decided to combine koftas with meatloaf. The results speak for themselves… a wonderfully spiced and moist meatloaf for one. I paired this meal with Mashed Potatoes for One and buttered peas. The mushroom gravy was a last minute idea, but worked perfectly with the meatloaf. I really think this…
Today I am just posting pictures of a few of things I made this week that did not get full posts. One meal was previously posted, one meal was a variant of a previous post, and the last was a baking experiment. Spicy stir fried pork with white rice I kicked this recipe up with some fried chili paste, pickled sliced ginger and a plethora of vegetables. From this… To this… Knackwurst, fried potatoes, and seven spice rye bread with butter I found the Austrian seven spice rye bread at a local international market (freshly made too!) and I just had to pick up a loaf. It reminded me of my Oma in Salzburg, she had this type of meal for us to enjoy when we…
Do you have a favorite meal you regularly order at your favorite Mexican restaurant? Well, I can’t claim that I do because I have several I typically choose. Arroz Con Pollo is one of them.. and another is tonight’s tasty dish – chili colorado. Beef chunks braised in a deep, rich chili sauce is something magical. But it doesn’t take a magician to make it. It takes a little planning, effort, and time. Shall we get started? Save Print Chili Colorado Prep time: 20 mins Cook time: 90 mins Total time: 1 hour 50 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 2 new mexico chilis 1 guajillo chili 1 california chili 2 – 3 chili japonese 8 – 10 oz beef chuck…
Here’s to another Friday… and another cocktail. Perhaps this one is a bit out of season here in winter, but I find it worth sharing. Finding a cocktail that uses calvados was a treat. Just in case you don’t know, calvados is an apple brandy from Normandy. It is delicious… oh and dangerous (at least to me!) So with the end of another work week, let’s start the weekend by enjoying our new Friday night tipple – the apple sour! Save Print Apple Sour Prep time: 5 mins Total time: 5 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 2 parts calvados 1 part lemon juice ½ part maple syrup maraschino cherry (optional) Instructions Chill a highball glass with ice…
Tonight we are going Cajun with some Jambalaya! You may be thinking”What? How do you do that for one person? And doesn’t it take a lot of work?” Well, the answer is… jambalaya is a simple dish to prepare and of course you can make it for one person. Let me show you how I do it! Save Print Prawn and Sausage Jambalaya Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 35 mins Total time: 50 mins Serves: 1 Ingredients 1 andouille sausage, sliced 6 – 8 large prawns, peeled and deveined ½ green pepper, diced (approximately ½ cup) 1 stalk celery, diced (approximately ½ cup) ½ onion, diced (approximately ½ cup) 1 tomato, diced (approximately ½ cup) 2 cloves…
Let’s start the week with everyone’s favorite Chinese soup – wonton soup. I am going to prepare this soup using my new Uno sous vide device from Creative Cuisine by Grant. This nifty device allows you to use an analog rice cooker or crock pot as the water bath while it controls the temperature for you. In talking with Bob Lamson of Creative Cuisine about sous vide cooking and how their device changes the paradigm, he challenged me to to use sous vide precision to prepare a soup. I was intrigued by the concept and of course, I accepted the challenge. So here we have a fairly simple dish that benefits from gentle cooking to meld the flavors of the broth, but needs an…
Today, I want to share a mash-up recipe. If you have been a regular follower, you have seen kielbasa and macaroni and cheese show up a few times. Well, they are easy meals to prepare and are some of the comfort foods that many people like. So, I figure if you are going to cook, you should cook what you like to eat, right? And what better way to satisfy your hunger than by combining two items you like to make a third. This recipe uses the Macaroni and Cheese recipe from earlier this week, adds fried kielbasa and frozen green beans, packs it into a small casserole dish, and bakes it with a panko crust. How easy is that? Just think, with a few quick changes…
It’s Friday again and you know what that means… my weekly cocktail post! Tonight’s featured cocktail is the Sidecar. A simple, yet delicious cocktail that can and has been tweaked through the years. My version is no different, of course. One resource states the standard ‘by the book’ Sidecar is 3 parts cognac or brandy, 2 parts Grand Imperial, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec, and 2 parts lemon juice (freshly squeezed, naturally!). Combine the ingredients with ice, shake, strain and enjoy. So I will stay with those proportions and just change one of the ingredients. My tweak is to use a blend of lemon and orange juice to up the orange factor just a little while letting the brightness of the…
I know, I can hear it now… “What is this ‘More habits’ dish?” Basically, it is red beans and rice. A Caribbean style red beans and rice – in the style from the Dominican Republic (or so I read). This dish was an experiment in trying to scale the dish down to cooking for one, while still keeping the flavor and texture that makes this dish the staple it is. Overall, my effort tasted fine (maybe it needed a bit more salt for the amount I made) and the texture was close (the rice was slightly overcooked). Since it was an experiment and we all know I eat my experiments, I added 8 oz of linguiça – a sausage popular in Portuguese…