friday. i decided i wanted to pan-sear some meat. so i went to whole foods and asked the butcher to cut me something i could braise. i got some brussle sprouts and a small loaf of bread. expecting to be home by myself, i was pleased to be able to hang out with lexi all night - she wasn't working. we hung out, i pan-seared my meat (its so, so so so so easy.) my meat was a little over done. however, all you do is season w. salt and pepper, get your pan really hot (i saw somewhere that it said till the oil smokes...i didnt do that) and then sear each side then put it in the oven (300 degrees) for about 5/7 minutes. i think i left it in the oven too long. however, still very good.
we watched 'master chef.' the gordon ramsey show on hulu right now. its a reality show, but its fun. in watching it i've realized that i'd be gone even before they took their initial 25. i have a lot to learn in the kitchen. lots of things to let myself try and play around with...i'll get there. maybe. regardless, i have a lot i want to learn and am very willing.
then saturday. i went to an epa (equity principal audition) all day. got there at 8:30am, signed up didn't know if they would see me and thankfully i was seen at 3:30...however...the audition felt rough. the auditor felt uninterested. maybe she'd seen too much shakespeare or maybe she was hungry or maybe she couldnt hire any non-eq. people. whatever...i was still seen. then i walked around and decided to go home and make some pasta. i was going to text lexi but i figured she would be at work. i cant tell you how excited i was when i got home and she was there. so, we cooked dinner. had a bottle of rose and enjoyed each others company. lex made a skirt steak (hence the title) with a red wine reduction sauce and i made goat cheese stuffed peppers and an easy arugula salad with some lemon and olive oil. for dessert i grilled some slices of zucchini bread i had made on friday and covered them with sauteed bananas with brown sugar. it was SO good.
all in all. a lovely weekend. restful. company filled. and nice. how was your weekend?
xo
19 September 2010
09 September 2010
spiciness
(i'm laying in a hammock in my apartment. jealous?)
but that's not the point the point is i read ree drummond's blog today (the pioneer woman) and she was talking about what it takes to be a good blogger. she points our that you have to write and write often. you have to push through 'blogger' blocks and just produce and, don't talk about the same thing twice! most importantly, make sure you have a perspective, a point of view, a personality...what's you voice? i think i do this. i hope i do. i hope it's not too boring on here.
okay. real point! last night i made my own homemade hot sauce. there was a great post on food 52 about homemade sriracha and there were so many great comments about how easy it was and how good it was. and...lucky me, i just happened to have almost a 1/2 pound of red and green jalapenos. so. task accepted. and its quite simple and pretty good. i didn't follow the recipe fully, which might be better than mine, so if you want it it's here.
jordan's okay hot sauce
adapted from the year of eating consciously
ingredients
almost a 1/2 pound of jalapenos
1/2 cup cooking white wine
1/2 cup apple cider
4 cloves of garlic (i didn't have garlic and sort of wish i had)
teaspoon salt
pepper
2 tablespoons sugar (the recipe calls for palm sugar, clearly, i didn't have it...)
a few pinches of brown sugar
first, you roughly chop the jalapenos. (don't touch your face, eyes, mouth, better yet, wear gloves?) put them in a jar. roughly chop the garlic, add to said jar. pour the liquid over the peppers and garlic. add the salt. cover the jar, this should sit overnight. sort of like a brine.
after those 24 hours have passed the fun begins. place the mixture and the sugar into a medium saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce and let simmer for 5 minutes. this is the part in the process that stinks, literally. it smells bad and it burns your eyes and throat so i suggest keeping the top on the pot. once 5 minutes has passed, let the mixture come to room temperature.
once cooled put the mixture in a blender and puree for about 5 minutes or until basically all liquid. then push the mixture through a strainer to get as much of the liquid out as possible into a jar that you can seal tightly and refrigerate.
i took the leftover mush (seeds and bits of peppers) put them in a jar and added a little salt and olive oil. chili paste-ish. had it on the eggs this morning. awesome.
do you like hot sauce enough to make your own?
xo
but that's not the point the point is i read ree drummond's blog today (the pioneer woman) and she was talking about what it takes to be a good blogger. she points our that you have to write and write often. you have to push through 'blogger' blocks and just produce and, don't talk about the same thing twice! most importantly, make sure you have a perspective, a point of view, a personality...what's you voice? i think i do this. i hope i do. i hope it's not too boring on here.
okay. real point! last night i made my own homemade hot sauce. there was a great post on food 52 about homemade sriracha and there were so many great comments about how easy it was and how good it was. and...lucky me, i just happened to have almost a 1/2 pound of red and green jalapenos. so. task accepted. and its quite simple and pretty good. i didn't follow the recipe fully, which might be better than mine, so if you want it it's here.
jordan's okay hot sauce
adapted from the year of eating consciously
ingredients
almost a 1/2 pound of jalapenos
1/2 cup cooking white wine
1/2 cup apple cider
4 cloves of garlic (i didn't have garlic and sort of wish i had)
teaspoon salt
pepper
2 tablespoons sugar (the recipe calls for palm sugar, clearly, i didn't have it...)
a few pinches of brown sugar
first, you roughly chop the jalapenos. (don't touch your face, eyes, mouth, better yet, wear gloves?) put them in a jar. roughly chop the garlic, add to said jar. pour the liquid over the peppers and garlic. add the salt. cover the jar, this should sit overnight. sort of like a brine.
after those 24 hours have passed the fun begins. place the mixture and the sugar into a medium saucepan, bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce and let simmer for 5 minutes. this is the part in the process that stinks, literally. it smells bad and it burns your eyes and throat so i suggest keeping the top on the pot. once 5 minutes has passed, let the mixture come to room temperature.
once cooled put the mixture in a blender and puree for about 5 minutes or until basically all liquid. then push the mixture through a strainer to get as much of the liquid out as possible into a jar that you can seal tightly and refrigerate.
i took the leftover mush (seeds and bits of peppers) put them in a jar and added a little salt and olive oil. chili paste-ish. had it on the eggs this morning. awesome.
do you like hot sauce enough to make your own?
xo
08 September 2010
what a weekend!
i've had a fabulous 4 day weekend. rory was in town all week which was super. i went to a bunch of comedy shows, hung out with the boyfriend and friends and had some really great quality time w. the man i love.
the weekend started on Thursday night when kyle, rory and i went to blue ribbon bakery. um. INCREDIBLE. kyle and i both had the special skirt steak in a red wine sauce w. fingerling potatoes and roasted carrots...buttery deliciousness. that place is pricey but its great. my favorite part about the restaurant is the downstairs. its all brick and thick dark wooden beams. there's another dining room, the kitchen is open for us to see and there's even a wine cellar room equipped with a table for 8. the bathroom has a trough style sink made of granite (i think) and its awesome. i would like my bathroom sink to be like that.
friday i had the day off so, we went to the east village in search of brunch and thrift stores. we ate at 7 & a, they serve breakfast all day which is great. we wanted to go to westville but they weren't serving brunch and we both were in the mood for breakfast foods. then to the thrift stores! if you live in nyc and like shopping in thrift stores, there's a great one on 1st ave between 12th and 13th st on the east side. its super and priced well.
rory left early saturday. we went to a breakfast joint on 22d and 3rd ave. then he was off to do his tour and make a documentary. saturday night i stayed in and made pasta! again! this time, i took note of the kneading for at least 15 minutes. note to self: don't go to the gym and work your arms in the weight room if you plan on making pasta, bread, anything that has dough of any sorts that you have to knead...i was SO sore. still, the pasta was good. although, i dont know how they did it back in the day (even now)...i cannot for the life of me roll the dough out to be thin enough so i wind up with think and chewy pasta. its still good, its just too dense. i threw in a bunch of arugula, some cherry tomatoes from the green market and feta and a lemon. mixed it all together, finito!
pasta doughits a one to one ratio, so 1 egg to 1 cup of flour per person. put all of your four in a bowl, make a well, crack the eggs into that well, beat eggs. slowly start to incorporate the egg into the flour with your fingers (you're going to get dirty). and mix and mix and mix. i had to add about a quarter cup of warm water to help make the dough. then knead, you have to knead for at least 15 min so that you release the gluten. then when its done you'll be sore as heck, so, ball the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for 20 min. in this time maybe you can get your honey to give your arms and shoulders a rub down. then take it out, let it get back to room temp. flour your rolling surface and roll the dough out. i cut it in two parts. if you have a pasta maker a) lucky! b) seriously, i am jealous c) follow the instructions it came with. you should roll the dough out until its thin thin thin. almost like paper. maybe a little thicker than that. when its rolled out this is when you can cut. i always just cut any which way. makes my pasta feel more homemade.
the beach! i went to the beach on sunday with some friends and decided to bring along snacks to feed an army. i made hummus and pico de gallo. brought peanutbutter & jelly (STRAWBERRY) sandwiches, water, wine, plums, carrots and celery. everything except the pb & j's were from the farmers market. it was awesome. we had an incredible day at the beach and then we went to a local watering hole and met a very charismatic regular named Jon. He was cra-cra guys but at least we all had a good laugh.
monday. last day of my weekend. i decided to make curry. just googled and found a simple enough recipe. although...i'm not going to post b.c it wasn't what i wanted it to be. i wanted something creamier and more saucy. i'm setting out to find the best curry go-to recipe...this coming from a girl who loves to cook for other people whos boyfriend doesnt eat curry...WHAT am i thinking?
hope you enjoyed! xo
the weekend started on Thursday night when kyle, rory and i went to blue ribbon bakery. um. INCREDIBLE. kyle and i both had the special skirt steak in a red wine sauce w. fingerling potatoes and roasted carrots...buttery deliciousness. that place is pricey but its great. my favorite part about the restaurant is the downstairs. its all brick and thick dark wooden beams. there's another dining room, the kitchen is open for us to see and there's even a wine cellar room equipped with a table for 8. the bathroom has a trough style sink made of granite (i think) and its awesome. i would like my bathroom sink to be like that.
friday i had the day off so, we went to the east village in search of brunch and thrift stores. we ate at 7 & a, they serve breakfast all day which is great. we wanted to go to westville but they weren't serving brunch and we both were in the mood for breakfast foods. then to the thrift stores! if you live in nyc and like shopping in thrift stores, there's a great one on 1st ave between 12th and 13th st on the east side. its super and priced well.
rory left early saturday. we went to a breakfast joint on 22d and 3rd ave. then he was off to do his tour and make a documentary. saturday night i stayed in and made pasta! again! this time, i took note of the kneading for at least 15 minutes. note to self: don't go to the gym and work your arms in the weight room if you plan on making pasta, bread, anything that has dough of any sorts that you have to knead...i was SO sore. still, the pasta was good. although, i dont know how they did it back in the day (even now)...i cannot for the life of me roll the dough out to be thin enough so i wind up with think and chewy pasta. its still good, its just too dense. i threw in a bunch of arugula, some cherry tomatoes from the green market and feta and a lemon. mixed it all together, finito!
pasta dough
the beach! i went to the beach on sunday with some friends and decided to bring along snacks to feed an army. i made hummus and pico de gallo. brought peanutbutter & jelly (STRAWBERRY) sandwiches, water, wine, plums, carrots and celery. everything except the pb & j's were from the farmers market. it was awesome. we had an incredible day at the beach and then we went to a local watering hole and met a very charismatic regular named Jon. He was cra-cra guys but at least we all had a good laugh.
monday. last day of my weekend. i decided to make curry. just googled and found a simple enough recipe. although...i'm not going to post b.c it wasn't what i wanted it to be. i wanted something creamier and more saucy. i'm setting out to find the best curry go-to recipe...this coming from a girl who loves to cook for other people whos boyfriend doesnt eat curry...WHAT am i thinking?
hope you enjoyed! xo
06 September 2010
back at it
here i am. i had a draft of a post for like 2 weeks. sorry. way past due.
i hadnt been eating a lot of meat but wanted something easy, quick and delicious. so, i roasted a chicken. it was so simple. i got the recipe from shannalee's blog. i love her website food loves writing. she always has insightful posts and oftentimes they are inspiring. i am a fan. the chicken was the most moist (i know people hat this word, sorry!) chicken i've ever made. it was perfect. i was going to keep the carcass to make stock or something, but i knew i wouldn't. chris wanted me to keep the carcass for the animals to chew on the bones, but thats bad for dogs - right? i also made a twist on the quinoa salad i've made here before. very easy - quinoa, cooked. a lemon, feta, cherry tomatoes, blanched aspargus...mix it all together, salt & pepper to taste...then you're done. its so satisfying. it is a meal in-and-of itself.
have you ever roasted a chicken? any suggestions?
Easiest Roast Chicken Ever
Adapted from food loves writing, who adapted from Romanlily, who adapted it from Thomas Keller
Adapted from food loves writing, who adapted from Romanlily, who adapted it from Thomas Keller
Ingredients:
One 4-pound chicken (approximately), preferably farm-raised
One 4-pound chicken (approximately), preferably farm-raised
Kosher salt and black pepper
2 Tablespoons dried tarragon (optional)
2 Tablespoons dried tarragon (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Rinse the chicken and pat it as dry as you can, inside and out, with paper towels. Salt and pepper the inside cavity, and then truss the bird.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Rinse the chicken and pat it as dry as you can, inside and out, with paper towels. Salt and pepper the inside cavity, and then truss the bird.
(you should google trussing if you don't know what that is or don't know how...i should take my own advice b.c i don't know how to do it and just wing (no pun) it.
Sprinkle salt and pepper generously over the bird, like you’re “raining” it on there, enough that you will be able to see the salt on the chicken after it’s cooked. Bake, on roasting pan in preheated oven, for 40 minutes. Then turn temperature down to 375 and bake for another 20 minutes. It’s done when the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees.
Remove it from the oven. sprinkle the tarragon all over the chicken. b.c. i don't have a baster, i spooned the chicken juices all over the chicken and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board.
xo
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