Eggplant Parmasan

I've been so busy at work lately that I haven't been able to put much thought into making new dishes. I have been repeating stuff so not much new stuff to write about.

Here is a vegetarian dish. My first for the blog.

1 big eggplant ( I forgot to take the picture before I cut the thing)
a bunch of mushrooms
a jar of tomato-based pasta sauce, I used one with olives
a lot of mozzarella, a lot of parmasan cheese
bread crumb and crackers



I didn't bother with using egg to make the bread crumb stick, i decided to just make it like a pastaless lasagna.

I coated a oven tray with non-stick spray and layered the cut-up eggplant on th bottom. Then next layer is mushrooms, then breadcrumbs and crackers. On top of that I poured on the mozzarella. I had a bunch leftover from the mac and cheese from that last entry, so i used a lot of it. Pasta sauce is next. I didn't intend to use the whole jar, i wanted to cover the entire tray and it just worked out that way. On the very top I added parmasan cheese, also leftover from before.



I baked the eggplant parmasan for an hour at 350.



Looks good. Taste pretty good too. Lots of cheese, lots of mushrooms, I like that. The sauce is really nothing special though. Maybe next time I'll try to make sauce from scratch and add some crazy ingredients to it.

I've always stayed away from vegetarian stuff before because I thought it would take some creative seasoning. Well, it didn't just go buy some pasta sauce. Haha. OK next time I won't cheat and make my own sauce. First vegetarian dish is a success.

-a

Ai Quattro Formaggi (Mac n Cheesex4)

I wouldn't put mac and cheese on here unless it is half fancy. So here is my 4 cheese mac and cheese:

1 lb of penne pasta
3 cups of cream
approx 1 cup of mozzarella
approx 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese
approx 1 cup of sharp cheddar
approx 1 cup of a "3 pepper" cheese
a clove of garlic
a handful of parsley
some butter
bread crumb



First cook the pasta in water with salt until it's cooked. Then drain and dump it in a buttered baking pan.

Then make sauce. Heat some butter in a sauce pan and sizzle the garlic and parsley for a little bit. Add the cream and the cheese and heat it until it's all melted and become sauce.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and mix it good. Throw some bread crumb on top and add more cheese on the top. Put it in a 350 preheated oven for 30 minutes and smell the awesomeness. Sniff it in. yea..



The mac and cheese is so much better than kraft pre-made, package stuff. The baked crust is great, everything else is great. Not gooey enough, but i just made more sauce and that's solved.



Ohh man, and filling too. I have enough to feed me for like three, four days.

-a

Curry Cornish Hen

I had one more Cornish Hen that was frozen in my freezer, time to use it.
I always like curry chicken, this will be the first time I ever make it.

One Cornish Hen cut in half, marinaded in salt and pepper.
a can of coconut milk
one and a half tablespoon of curry powder
a small onion
a bit of ginger
a potato
Rice as a side



Internet recipes all cut the chicken in pieces and cooked in the curry. I'm using a Cornish Hen and my knifes sucks, so I'm cooking the chicken separately and pouring the curry sauce on top of it.

Throw the chicken in the oven, 450 for 30 min. I want it crispy, I covered the chicken with olive oil and bake at high temp. Man, I need better ventilation in my condo, I got the place smokey.



Skin and chop the potato into cubes and boil it for 10 minutes. Put oil in a pot and brown the onion and ginger for a few minutes then pour the coconut milk in. Add curry powder and some salt. Drain the potato and dump that in too. Let that simmer for about 15 minutes. The house is starting to smell.



When everything is done, take the chicken out, rice on the side and pour the curry sauce all over the chicken and rice.



It taste pretty good, not enough salt. I added more salt and it taste great. It's the kind of food that I don't really want to use the effort to eat the meat off the bone. I understand why I should have used boneless small chicken chunks. Not too spicy, kinda sweet. This is good stuff. After venting the condo with open windows for an hour, I'm very happy with this dish.

-a

Soy Sauce Ribs

I messed up my ribs last time, this time I'm redeeming myself. I have help this time. I got a recipe from my parents. This one is from my homeland, Mother China. Soy sauce ribs, aka 1-2-3 ribs you'll see why.

1 tblspn wine (I used sherry)
2 tblspn of vinegar (forgot to include this in the picture)
3 tblspn of sugar
4 tblspn of soy sauce
a bit of oil
a couple stems of green onions
a couple slices of ginger
2 lbs of spare ribs



First in a pot, add the oil and sizzle the green onions and ginger for a few minutes. Then mix the sauce ingredients. Throw in the ribs and sauce and brush the sauce all over the ribs. The recipe said to simmer for about half an hour. The juice from the ribs made the sauce light. That's not suppose to happen.



Oh well, I'll taste it anyway. It's a lot of ribs, I'll just have half of it. I'll continue to cook the other half.



It is blandish. The ribs itself is a little tougher than I like too. Let see how the other half turns out.

I cook the ribs until the juice almost all evaporates. the sauce is now dark and thick.



I had the ribs the next day and this is how it is suppose to be. Good stuff, taste sweet and soy saucy. More tender than yesterday too. So the idea is to cook it until the sauce is thick and dark, skip the recommended time in recipes. Judging my eyes is how to do this.

-a

Empty the Fridge Beef Stew

I have accumulated a lot of vegetables in my fridge and it's time to empty the thing.
Time to make stew, I'll only have to fill in th blank with a few things. The rest are in my fridge.

2.5 lbs of cubed stew beef
4 stalks of celery
2 cloves of garlic
2 yellow onion
2 potatoes
a box of mushrooms
2 jalapeños
3 sticks of green onion
some fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
Curry powder
4 cup container of beef broth
Dried rosemary
some red wine...
yes. this will last me a while.



First, I was suppose to brown the beef and sauté the onions and celery. I tried, but the pot I have is not that big. Oil and beef and onions and celery in the pot, medium/high heat. Some of it got brown, other parts kinda cooked, other parts starting to burn. It's time to move on. I dumped the broth and other stuff in. Other stuff includes everything but the potatoes and the mushrooms. If I had carrots, that would wait too. Simmer for about an hour and a half, the beef needs to get tender. After that put the rest of the ingredients in. and simmer for another hour.



The stew should get thicker and the beef and potatoes should be falling apart just a bit.

The taste test:



It was ok... , but a lot of the earlier vegetables like onions and celery melted. The jalapeños is a kick in the butt. Something is missing. It needed more salt. I added more salt and it was still kinda goodish.. I added too much, but still better than before.

Overall it was decent. If I do a better job of adjusting the salt,it would've been very good. It does seem like a bit of a waste of vegetables when so much of it melted and the taste is so full that it's hard to detect each taste. I think the secret to stews is to keep it simple and not throw everything in. That way you know what you're eating. Mystery stew is not a good thing. Oh, and use lots of salt but be careful how much to use.

-a

Cornish Hen with Honey Orange Glaze

Tonight I made Cornish Hen. I like the fact that I'm cooking the whole animal. Makes me feel caveman.

1 Cornish Hen, I had 2 but 1 was enough, the other one is gonna freeze
Sea Salt, Grounded pepper
Honey
Orange Marmalade



First chop the chicken in halves lengthwise, rinse the chicken and dry it with paper towel. Rub salt and pepper on all sides. Mix the honey and orange marmalade together. It was kinda thick so I threw a splash of raspberry vodka on it. Yeah, I just wanted some alcohol. It thin out the glaze some and it's easier to brush on the chicken.

Spread the glaze on all sides of the chicken. Bake it at 400, brush the chicken with the juice every 15 minutes. Bake for a total of 45 minutes.



I also made some rice as a side. It looks delicious.



Taste pretty good too. I think it can use a little more spice, maybe a little charred skin would make it crisy. That would be even better. Good nevertheless. The breast is kinda dry, but not as bad as bigger chicken. The next bird sitting in the freezer right now will get some chili pepper treatment. I'll up the temperature and maybe shorten the time.

-a

Chicken with mushroom cream sauce

I make chicken all the time but alway with dry spices. This time I'm gonna try making sauce.

3 Chicken thighs
A bunch of mushrooms.
A Bit of flour
Some milk
A pinch of chicken broth cube crushed up
Butter
Green onion
a clove of garlic
Cheap white wine

I marinade the chicken in the cheap wine and some green onions. I meant to do this overnight, but something came up and I ended up marinaded the chicken for 2 nights.

I had extra mushrooms so I baked the mushrooms and the chicken together. 350 for 40 minutes.



To make the sauce, I cook the mushrooms in butter until it's a nice soft. Then I put in the chopped up green onions and chopped up garlic. After a while, I put in the chicken broth crumbs and a bit of water. Stir it a bit and pour in the milk and flour. Keep stirring and heat in low heat until it's thick.



When the chicken is done, pour the sauce on the chicken and eat.



The chicken tasted a bit bitter from the wine. Not the best, I have to use a different marinade next time or just don't do it for so long. The sauce tasted good, but again, not perfect. Need more experimenting with sauce. Totally ODing on mushrooms. No more for a couple weeks.

-a