To celebrate the high holidays, I threw a small dinner party tonight for a few friends. I made my grandma’s brisket recipe, which – while it took a bit of time to do, since you have to let the meat refridgerate overnight – turned out smashingly good. Unfortunately I forgot to take photos, but the gist of it is as follows. Put your 5-6lb brisket (rubbed with salt, pepper, garlic powder and seasoned salt) in a roasting pan at 350-degrees …
Homemade Yogurt
After watching an old re-run of “Good Eats”, I decided to try my hand at making homemade yogurt. I already had all of the ingredients – well, except for yogurt (you need a starter for the bacteria!) and powdered milk. A quick run to the supermarket, (as well as Bed, Bath & Beyond for a container and probe themometer – which I’ve wanted for a while anyways) and I had everything I needed. It was really easy – whisk 4 …
Chimichurri Chicken
Phil came over tonight and we embarked on our long-standing mission to get Yuca Flour. Whenever they serve it on the side at Bossa Nova with the grilled chicken, it’s like crack cocaine – oh so good! I found a South American market down on Venice, so we headed over there and found exactly what we needed. We snagged a few other things too, and came back to cook. We marinated chicken in chimichurri, grilled it, served it with rice …
Chicken Korma
Ok this is kinda cheating, but not exactly. When I was food shopping at Trader Joe’s, I noticed they had a “Korma Simmer Sauce”. Since Chicken Korma is one of my favorite food dishes, I decided to just go ahead and snag the jar. Tonight I hung out with a friend and we decided to cook dinner instead of go out to eat. We made a nice mixed salad (not shown here), rice, and the korma dish. I changed it …
Quiche Lorraine
Today is my good friend Kirstin’s birthday, and she’s in Los Angeles and having a gathering at her brother-in-law’s place later tonight. It’s a pot-luck situation, so I decided to properly make a quiche lorraine. Pretty straightforward stuff. First, start sauteeing onions until they start to caramelize: Then, fry up some bacon (turkey bacon in this case – gotta be somewhat health-conscious): Crumble the crispy bacon into bits: Put it all in a pie crust, and pour a mixture of eggs …
Crust-Free Quiche
Tonight for dinner I decided to make a simple quiche. But I didn’t have a pie crust, and figured I could go without it anyways, since it’s just extra carbs (albeit tasty ones)! Really easy to do – chop up some smoked turkey cold cuts, and half an onion. Put it in a casserole dish with 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk 1 cup of milk and four eggs. Season with a dash of salt …
Indian Pudding
Decided to make Indian pudding tonight. Never made it before, but it’s a traditional dessert from the New England area, best served with vanilla ice cream. I didn’t actually eat it; I just made it and will have some later in the week (need to get the ice cream, and people to share it with)! The recipe is really simple. Start out with 6 cups of milk, and one stick (1/2 cup) of butter, and then transfer it to a …
Pumpkin Cake for Thanksgiving
Tonight I made pumpkin cake (Liz’s mom’s recipe) for Thanksgiving. I hadn’t made it in a while, but it’s really simple and fun to make! Start out with sugar: Then add eggs, oil and pumpkin: Blend until smooth: Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon: Blend again until a nice batter forms: Bake for 30 minutes: Make the frosting (cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar) and apply: Enjoy!!
Grilling Chicken and Corn
Phil came over and we made dinner and watched Iron Man, which was fun. We grilled chicken (two kinds – one marinated in some awesome Soy Vey Hoisin BBQ sauce, and the other covered in a nice selection of spices) as well as corn. I learned quite a bit about how to properly BBQ chicken, as well as how to prepare corn to be cooked on the grill, so it was a great learning experience. And it came out perfect!!
Grease Fire
Captain Obvious here. Grease burns easily, and creates big pretty flames. Grease comes from grilling meat, when the juices drip down into the grill. When the grease builds up, and it’s right next to the flame, it can make big pretty flames when you don’t expect it. The lesson: clean the grill regularly. Capt. Obvious, out!