Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Green Beans with Black Bean Chili Sauce
We took my daughter out to a working farm last weekend and picked up some fresh produce. Green beans are in season so I picked up a bunch. Now....what to do with it. My best friend, Abby, made this chinese green bean w/ground beef thing that was really great so I decided to try and emulate that.
Chopped the green beans in to 1/2 inch pieces. Browned the ground beef with onions, garlic, and a healthy dose of black pepper. Threw in the green beans, some more onions, a couple of spoons of Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce, and a spoonful of my mother-in-law's fantastic chili & black bean sauce.
Results: Pretty good! Tasty and fiery. The green beans were nicely cooked and still crunchy. The best part, it only took about 15 minutes to make. I had it over rice but husband will probably have it over the calorie free konjac noodles that he's in to lately.
Chopped the green beans in to 1/2 inch pieces. Browned the ground beef with onions, garlic, and a healthy dose of black pepper. Threw in the green beans, some more onions, a couple of spoons of Lee Kum Kee black bean sauce, and a spoonful of my mother-in-law's fantastic chili & black bean sauce.
Results: Pretty good! Tasty and fiery. The green beans were nicely cooked and still crunchy. The best part, it only took about 15 minutes to make. I had it over rice but husband will probably have it over the calorie free konjac noodles that he's in to lately.
Soft Boiled Eggs
Again, I love eggs. In Europe, they always served soft boiled eggs for breakfast. The eggs would be in the cute little egg cups and they give you the cutest egg spoons. The best preparation for eggs, in my opinion. So, when I read David Chang's love for eggs too, I knew I had to at least try to make the soft boiled egg portion of his recipe. In the actual magazine, he states 5 minutes 10 seconds are perfect.
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/09/soft_cooked_eggs_with_onion_soubise_caviar_and_potato_chips
Results: David Chang is right. It's down right sexy. These came out perfectly. I ate this over rice mixed w/kimchi and a spicy korean chili paste. FANtastic.
Sadly, I really need to stop with the eggs. My daughter has a pretty severe egg allergy and she broke out in hives after I peeled the eggs and touched her even though I washed my hands really well.
http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2009/09/soft_cooked_eggs_with_onion_soubise_caviar_and_potato_chips
Results: David Chang is right. It's down right sexy. These came out perfectly. I ate this over rice mixed w/kimchi and a spicy korean chili paste. FANtastic.
Sadly, I really need to stop with the eggs. My daughter has a pretty severe egg allergy and she broke out in hives after I peeled the eggs and touched her even though I washed my hands really well.
Egyptian Macaroni
My good friend from lawschool was Egyptian and her mom would make this great pasta dish w/a bechamel sauce that was awesome. I found a recipe online so I thought I would give it a try. I thought it would be interesting to learn to make a bechamel sauce, one of the 5 mother sauces in French cooking.
This is basically a layered pasta dish. Tube shaped pasta (rigatoni, macaroni, etc.) on the bottom, spread a tomato meat sauce on top, top that with more pasta, and then top the pasta w/bechamel and bake.
http://www.recipezaar.com/Egyptian-Macaroni-Bachamel-340357
For the bechamel sauce, I followed Mario Batalli's recipe.
Results: Not bad. Husband found the cinnamon in the meat a little weird but said it was pretty much like lasagna, which he loves. The bechemel took a while to make. It was far too thin so I kept cooking it so it would thicken. Pretty nice for my first try. Pictures to come.
This is basically a layered pasta dish. Tube shaped pasta (rigatoni, macaroni, etc.) on the bottom, spread a tomato meat sauce on top, top that with more pasta, and then top the pasta w/bechamel and bake.
http://www.recipezaar.com/Egyptian-Macaroni-Bachamel-340357
For the bechamel sauce, I followed Mario Batalli's recipe.
Results: Not bad. Husband found the cinnamon in the meat a little weird but said it was pretty much like lasagna, which he loves. The bechemel took a while to make. It was far too thin so I kept cooking it so it would thicken. Pretty nice for my first try. Pictures to come.
Pot Roast
Who doesn't love pot roast? Enough said. It's a super lean cut of meat and only 297 calories per serving.
What I tried: I browned the huge hunk of meat in a pan and then threw it in the crock pot for 4 hours. I also deglazed the pan with red wine and threw that in too. I also added celery, carrots, pearl onions (man, what a pain to peel all those onions), and tomatoes.
Result: Eh. Despite the marathon cooking, it was still tough. More akin to a big boulder than the tender, flavorful meat that I had hoped for. The gravy was kind of pale too. Not that rich brown color one usually expects. However, husband said he liked it and ate most of it.
What I tried: I browned the huge hunk of meat in a pan and then threw it in the crock pot for 4 hours. I also deglazed the pan with red wine and threw that in too. I also added celery, carrots, pearl onions (man, what a pain to peel all those onions), and tomatoes.
Result: Eh. Despite the marathon cooking, it was still tough. More akin to a big boulder than the tender, flavorful meat that I had hoped for. The gravy was kind of pale too. Not that rich brown color one usually expects. However, husband said he liked it and ate most of it.
Poached Eggs
I love poached eggs and they're very nutritious.
I simmered water in a pan w/a tsp of vinegar and dropped the eggs in just as the bubbles began to form on the bottom of the pan.
Result: Unfortunately, I didn't cook them long enough so the whites weren't completely set yet and the yolks were still cold. So gross. While this was a failure, I think I learned my lesson so I'll count this as one.
I simmered water in a pan w/a tsp of vinegar and dropped the eggs in just as the bubbles began to form on the bottom of the pan.
Result: Unfortunately, I didn't cook them long enough so the whites weren't completely set yet and the yolks were still cold. So gross. While this was a failure, I think I learned my lesson so I'll count this as one.
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