OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! A Catch Post!!!

 ^^^ BWAHA that dog slayed me and I couldn't help but add it!

So things have been busy and I AM STILL SO BAD AT TAKING PICTURES OF WHAT I AM COOKING. We're always so hungry that we chow down and I don't realize until days later. :'(

SO some of the things I did manage to photograph: SOURDOUGH STARTER BISCUITS

WITH WHICH WE MADE BACON/EGG/CHEESE BREAKFAST BISCUITS SAMMIES!!!

FRENCH ONION SOUP! Issie from work gave me a bag of onions! (?) I used all of my homemade chicken stock, Worcestershire sauce (bc I didn't use beef stock), all the onions, lots of white wine and garlic, and all the herbs I had left from the summer. (Obviously) Topped with baguette and melted cheese (I was too poor for gruyere [devastating] so just whatever mix of mozz and cheddar and whatever else I had left over)

It was SO DAMN GOOD. I will definitely make it again. I of course used the crock-pot over night and the onions were perfect. Unfortunately, Keeton dumped a bag of tortellini into it, for which I gave him hell... Turns out it wasn't the WORST idea but we have decided that we will not use tortellini next time. BWAAAAAH


UNTIL NEXT TIME Y'ALL

HUEVOS RANCHEROS

OMGOMGOMG okay hey y'all!

 Okay so Issie from work gave me a bag of those cute little sweet peppers. I decided to stuff them with Italian sausage, orzo, and Monterrey jack cheese. Keeton was super pumped about them and OF COURSE we ate all of them in one sitting. (shwoops)

 I couldn't figure out how to keep the stuffing in the peppers so I ended up baking them in a muffin tin. We just used to tomato sauce we had laying around to complete the meal! I am going to be stuffing all peppers I get my hand on in this fashion moving forward!!!

 BUT THE THING I AM MOST EXCITED ABOUT IS THE DELICIOUS HUEVOS RACHEROS I MADE. K's favorite breakfast is huevos rancheros (he is from Texas after all) and I wasn't even sure I had ever had them before. But I cooked down some of the aforementioned peppers with tomatoes, onion, chipotle peppers and garlic. That got blitzed up (immersion blender!!!) and then I added cooked sausage and strips of red onion. All of that thrown on hot tortillas and Keeton made fried eggs. (I am not good at cooking eggs. Keeton is always in charge of them) I added more jack cheese and HOTDAMN they were good. I want to make them ALWAYS

 Enjoying the (late) brunch! Good god the house smelled good! Until next time!

the trout are running!

chris and mr. sal just caught a bunch of speckled and white trout. i decided to stuff and grill them! it was a somewhat laborious process, and in the end they ended up sticking to the grill (i was devastated...#firstworldproblems) but they still tasted good. i will do it again; this time i'm just going to have to actually scrub my grill completely clean, which probably needs to happen anyway. 

these were gutted when they were delivered to me (yay) but i did have to scale them. i guess at this point in most recipes the author says "ask your fish monger to scale and gut the fish for you" but i know none of you have one of those. to scale them you just run a butter knife from tail to head...do it outside! they get everywhere. i read one recipe that said you don't have to scale trout, particularly small ones, but i'm just not sure about that so i did it anyway. 

bring them inside and rinse (or you can spray them with your water hose outside like me but they're kind of slippery and one flew across the yard and got covered in grass). use a sharp knife to open up the cavity of the fish. i follow along the spine, you'll have to go through the bones but they're not too difficult to cut through. i sauteed some garlic in olive oil and added a couple of tablespoons of fresh chili paste to stuff inside the fish along with thinly sliced lemon, fresh herbs, butter, and salt and pepper. leave the butter at room temperature and smear inside the fish after you season, then add the garlic/sambal mixture. season the inside of the fish before you fill it with other ingredients and then tie it shut. i used hemp string. thoroughly coat the outside of the fish with oil and salt and pepper (i used extra virgin olive oil). this, along with a clean grill, keep it from sticking. try to only flip the fish once, searing the skin so that it's crisp. they'll need to cook around seven minutes per side, and of course this depends on the size of the fish. we were grilling a ton of other things so i let these chill in a warm oven while i finished the rest of the meats, something i always do when grilling for a crowd. 

a precious baby trout stuffed to the brim

what you need:

4 tbsp garlic

4 tbsp sambal chili paste

sprig of thyme, leaves of basil and lemon balm (whatever herbs you have in your garden/fridge)

salt

pepper

4 tbsp butter

1 lemon (halved and sliced thinly)

trout! (you could do this with drum or redfish, too)

some thoughts on fried chicken

[no it's not burned -- i just put a sh*tload of cayenne in the batter]

i've been making a lot of fried chicken lately, because we filled up the deep fryer for a recent catering event (lol). in googling recipes i've noticed there is a lot of drama surrounding the best way to fry chicken, along with a lot of ridiculously complicated recipes and tips. (for example: this insanity). i think most of these fried chicken debates are useless because it's kind of hard to make it taste bad. i do have a few suggestions, though.

first of all, i think brines are a waste of time (and this is coming from a person who used a 20 gallon gatorade dispenser to brine a turkey for two days). as long as you're working with bone in meat and have your temp and time correct, the meat isn't going to be dry. that being said you should definitely soak it in buttermilk! most recipes say 8 hours; sometimes i just let it sit for an hour as the chicken comes to room temp before i fry. (yes, you should let your chicken come to room temp before you fry! makes for more even cooking.) you can still tell a difference. lots of hot sauce in the buttermilk is good, too. (and of course salt and pep).

let it sit on a cooling rack for about ten minutes before you eat it. if you put it on paper towels on a plate, it will get a little soggy. also it's incredibly hot when it first comes out of the fryer so for real don't try to eat it unless you want burned fingers. pictured above are two bone-in thighs, which cook for 15 minutes at 350 degrees if you're using a deep fryer. some people insist that chicken has to be fried in cast iron, which is chill and probably more common since lots of people don't have deep fryers. in this case it will take longer and it will be harder to control the temperature. use a meat thermometer! i actually don't have one but i'm recommending this anyway because the worst thing in the world is going to all this work and waiting 25 minutes between cooking and cooling and then biting into an under cooked piece :(.

in this instance i made potato salad because i had just read this recipe, and it sounded like a good combo. it's red potatoes, which you boil until just cooked (overdo it and they'll be mushy/falling apart once they're dressed). mix together mayonnaise, parsley, dill, mustard, horseradish, and salt and pepper for the dressing, and combine it with the potatoes and finely diced red onions and celery. i like to add boiled eggs, too, though i was out when i made this batch.

here's what you need for the chicken:

neutral oil for frying (something with a high smoke point -- canola, vegetable, peanut)
1 egg, beaten
buttermilk (enough to cover the chicken in a bowl)
hot sauce
cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
flour
a whole chicken, broken down (2 breasts, 2 wings, 2 thighs, 2 legs [my fave])

i know i'm never putting specific quantities in my recipes but that's because i like my chicken HOT and i add a ton of hot sauce and cayenne to the batter (and the buttermilk soak). then i add more hot sauce as i eat it. i like the flour and the buttermilk and the egg to be red. (hah). if that's not your speed, just add a couple dashes to the buttermilk and maybe a tsp of cayenne to the flour. if you like really hot chicken too then you should try this recipe at some point.

an important thing to remember is that you need to season each step of the process to make sure there's a lot of flavor. if you were cooking for a crowd and really wanted to get crazy you could batter something (anything in your kitchen: a carrot, a piece of onion, etc.) and fry it up to test the batter before you cook the whole batch. this is my process: i take a piece of chicken from the buttermilk, coat it in flour, then dip in the egg, then coat in flour again. you could use a paper bag for the flour and shake the chicken around in there as some recipes suggest. i typically just use a plate.

when i don't have buttermilk, i just use egg and flour. if i'm out of eggs, i just use buttermilk and flour. if you don't have flour, fry it anyway. it will still taste awesome. it's fried chicken. there are like a million options in terms of temp and time so google it (are you wondering why you're reading this right now haha). a basic guideline is 350 degrees for 15 minutes, and you can keep the pieces in the oven so they stay warm if you're frying in batches. i recommend frying like pieces together and adjusting your time depending on which part you're cooking.

good luck y'all!

chicken soup

i love chicken soup! and i know it's the middle of summer but i made it anyway. there are lots of different ways to go about prepping the stock and the chicken. you need a lot of flavor in both if you want the soup to turn out well. sounds obvious, but i have still seen recipes with people using water and only white meat chicken...you could do that and it would still turn out alright, but investing the time into making your own stock and roasting a chicken IS THE BEST.

start by prepping the chicken. you can get away with skipping this step and getting a rotisserie from the grocery store if you don't feel like cooking all day. it's nice to roast your own bird, though. for something like this i would do a simple preparation. zest and juice 2 lemons (stuff the lemons along with onion peels and other flavorful vegetable ends you have lying around for stock into the cavity), generously coat with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and roast until your meat thermometer reaches 165. shred all the meat and set aside, and then put the carcass in a big stock pot and cover it with water. add aforementioned vegetable ends and simmer, covered, for a few hours. for a basic stock you only need carrots, onion, celery, salt, and pepper. but i've used tons of other things. the stems of fresh herbs like parsley, radishes, garlic peels, etc.

now you're ready to make the soup!

i finely dice and then saute carrots, onion, and celery. after 5-10 minutes add your stock, chicken, and herbs + spices. let is simmer for about thirty minutes and then add your pasta, continuing to cook until the noodles are al dente. serve topped with fresh parsley and parmesan (plus crusty french bread on the side obviously).

ingredients:

1 onion
5 carrots
3 celery stems and leaves
1/2 pound fettuccine
7 cups chicken stock
1 shredded chicken
3 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp fresh parsley (one tbsp for garnish)
5 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
salt
pepper
parmesan (freshly grate onto soup just before serving)

if you decide to use store bought stock you'll probably need to adjust your seasoning. you'll need more fresh herbs and less salt. i think a coarse pesto made with arugula and pecans would be a great garnish instead of parsley. or maybe a pesto with parsley? if you're going to the trouble of roasting the chicken and making the stock you might as well do that too!

labor day pasta salad

pasta salad y'all!

danielle has a camouflage-painted jon boat, which we took to bayou st john for labor day. they picked up some fried chicken and she made two kinds of boiled peanuts. (more abt that later). i made this pasta salad!

1/2 pound pasta

1 small head broccoli

5 sweet peppers

1/2 small red onion

about a cup of diced summer squash

salt

pepper

zest and juice of a lemon

apple cider vinegar

extra virgin olive oil

dash of hot sauce

notes: i didn't have any on hand, but fresh herbs would be delicious. mint, basil, or tarragon would all work nicely. the flavors in this salad are simple. saute the veggies in oil with salt and pepper, but not for too long. you want them to still taste fresh. i blanched the broccoli in the same water as the pasta, for about a minute, while the noodles cooked. i used gemelli noodles, which incidentally are also known as unicorn horns. as pasta salads cool, they may need to be re-seasoned. i season as i assemble the salad and then after taking it out of the refrigerator just prior to serving and see if anything needs to be adusted; something usually does. 

we got our green peanuts to boil from holly grove market. if you're in the south you should get some while they're in season! we did one traditional batch, with a ton of salt. the other was fresh ginger, brown sugar, salt, pepper, and curry. the only downside to making them is time, you need around 4 hours to really let them absorb the flavors. 

let's all try to enjoy the end of summer! 

TREATS FROM ALASKA

 

So like I mentioned last time, my parents went to Alaska and sent me these goodies. I have no idea why sourdough bread is important from there but I do like my novelty mezzaluna & bear-claw salad-tossers. (Of course we bought a mezzaluna like... 3 weeks ago, oh well) But below are the goodies and the starter I made last week.

Because of the apple butter I made last week, I really wanted to make sourdough waffles and I am pretty sure at some point I owned a waffle machine but I couldn't find it so I just went for the normal bread. It was super fun and easy to make and turned out DELICIOUS but it is definitely a process! The dough has to double in size twice and then of course our ratty oven had a hard time staying at 475º so the cook time was longer. HOWEVER it has been delicious with my apple butter and tonight I am stealing more tomatoes from work and I am going to have PANZANELLA. I am super excited.

 Don't mind the crusty cookie-sheet. That was only in case the dough spilled over whilst baking. One night we also made tortellini salad with my sundried tomatoes and marinated artichoke hearts. I remembered to take a picture of the sun-dried tomates:

You slice them into half or thirds, press the whole bunch between to paper-towels and weight it for a while. Spread them out on the cookie sheet and cook them at 200º for a few hours. Add a little salt and pepper (no oil) and you can let them go as long as  you like. I like them to get really dried out. Store in the fridge ina dry jar for weeks. (They said you could keep them in oil but if you don't properly can them things can get iffy.) We ended up using ALL of them in the pasta so I DEFINITELY need to make more!

OKAY BYE SEE Y'ALL AROUND

I HAVE RETURNED

HEY Y'ALL!

I was so excited when Meg decided to restart this. I really have missed updating the blawg with all the things I am trying to cook, and lately, BAKE :'( I am still no good at it.
Since the last time we were here I have let a MAN! move in with me. We are actually boyfriends/partners/civil union lovers and sometimes he likes my cooking. Due to that I have acquired a lot more fun cooking accessories that I can't wait to share with you.  And as Meg mentioned... WE HAVE iPhones! Thank god because flipping through those old posts gave me a headache. And we have a meow-meow named Harvey Milk Pantsuit Chamberlain-Howard and he is a little angel-baby from heaven.

Things that haven't changed: I am still at my job, I am still terribly broke, and I am still a professional squirrel. (taking food & produce from the office and using it as my main source of cooking ingredients)

Any who, since it is summer there is an OVER-ABBUNDANCE of tomatoes; cherry, grape, baby-roma, etc. I wish I could get some heirloom up in this bitch, but eh. Thus far I have made tomato sauces, sun-dried LOADS of tomatoes in the oven, and had a lot of salads. Any fun whack-a-do tomato ideas would be great. Every other day I come home with this many:

Unfortunately, Keeton doesn't love a lot of tomato applications but he does like the sun-dried tomatoes so I'll keep making boat loads of them for the time being. (Gross side note, my normal drunk snack of white bread, mayo, & Bac-Os has been upgraded with the addition of sun-dried tomates! roll tide)

Recently someone came by with just like two bushels of assorted apples? I couldn't really give a shit less about apples (and it now seems I could have just juiced them) but I made a totally decent apple crumble and some BEAUTIFUL apple-butter. I can't believe it was so easy!

You honestly just peel, core, cut the apples, throw them into the crock-pot with brown sugar, white sugar, and pie spices (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg, clove) and cook for ten hours on low. Add vanilla and cook for two more hours. Use immersion blender to blitz it up and BAM it'll stay good for two weeks in the fridge. I am not putting measurements because I did not know how many pounds of apples I had, and because of that mine butter is rather spicy. HOWEVER, all that means is I have to put a slice of sharp Irish cheddar (or whatever cheese you want) on my apple-buttered-toast. It makes me really happy.

A few more catch up items...

• LABOR DAY WEEKEND! Hopefully some cookouts and grilling and drinking, hopefully. 
• My mother sent me a sourdough starter from Alaska (?) that I have let do its thing and now is chilling in the fridge. Not quite worthy of a photo yet but I want to make some damn bread (OR THE PACKET SUGGESTED WAFFLES) for my damn apple butter. 
• THATS IT. Can't wait to get back in the swing of things with little fixins!!!

the easiest chicken salad

i've made a lot of chicken salad. today i wanted it to be easy, but this might be my favorite that i've made recently. this recipe is a serving for just one person.

1 roasted chicken thigh
1 tbsp finely diced red onion
1 tbsp crushed pistachios
1 tbsp mayo
1 tbsp mustard (i used zataran's yellow mustard)
salt and pepper
crystal hot sauce
1 tsp minced fresh tarragon

some notes for good chicken salad: don't boil the chicken. that's nasty! always roast. use salt, pepper, olive oil, and some lemon juice/zest if you want a relatively neutral flavor but the possibilities are endless. the more flavor the chicken has, the better the salad will be, duh. also, if you're using raw onion/celery, make sure you get a fine dice so that the flavor isn't overwhelming. make the dressing on the side and then add it in batches so you don't overdress, and if you're using fresh herbs you can mix those in there as well so they'll be evenly distributed.

i used a lot of hot sauce. that's why it's kind of pink in this picture. if you don't want it to be spicy then...don't use as much!

what it do

a simple summer salad + our blog's return

y'all we're back. it's been over two years, but as i've finished grad school and remain seriously under-employed i have plenty of time to post recent recipe experiments. my roommate danielle and i have a catering company (hey y'all catering) and blake and his boyfriend keeton cook all the time, too. ALSO we both have iphones now and not blackberries so there should be considerable improvements in picture quality. to start, an easy salad and vinaigrette i made for a vegetarian dinner the other night. i followed it up with beet ravioli with a tarragon brown butter sauce then lemon icebox pie with fresh whipped cream. 

without further ado:

greens with chevre, pistachios, and strawberries

1 package greens (pictured is an organic girl blend)

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1 package goat cheese (pictured is la bonne vie garlic +herbs)

a dozen sliced strawberries 

a handful of pistachios

fresh herbs (i used tarragon and mint -- just tear them over the salad before serving)

vinaigrette: 

zest and juice from one orange

zest from a lemon

one garlic clove (i use a garlic press so that it's completely incorporated)

1 tbsp dijon mustard

a pinch of brown sugar

salt

pepper

2 tbsp white vinegar

1/4-1/2 cup of evoo

i am approximating the oil here because there are many schools of thought regarding how tangy a vinaigrette should be. i like mine particularly acidic, so i would add more white vinegar (or apple cider vinegar/rice wine vinegar/champagne vinegar, whatever you have on hand) than i've indicated above and go light on the oil. Particularly if you're using arugula or another delicate green, you don't want to overdress the leaves or crush them under the weight of a creamy dressing. if you're using romaine or a heavier green (which i wouldn't recommend with this particular salad) a dressing with a higher fat content would work. 

i recommend making vinaigrettes in a mason jar, and shaking vigorously before testing and adjusting seasoning. go light at first, and build up the flavors once you get an ideal oil to vinegar ratio. 

we have four followers so i'm not sure if this is applicable to anyone but eat well and have a great day!