New recipes

Right now I'm playing catch up w/ my blog so I'm doing a buffet style on my blog again!  I got back from Biloxi, MS on Monday 26 Sept 2011 thus dinner was the furthest thing from my mind after having driven for 7 straight hours!

Tuesday night I was back in the kitchen and all three of the items are new recipes that I tried - two were incredible while one was only so-so.

Most of those who know me, know I cook w/ wine, beer, alcohol, and liqueurs.  Tonights meal was a pop of flavour for the palette. There's one reason why I chose this recipe, and it's b/c a charming lady I met at the Chefs of the coast said she didn't like rosemary...well this pork chop recipe is for you doll ;-)  Trust me if you like Kahlua you'll love the pork chops (consider this a baby step recipe). Kahlua herbed pork chops, Ginger lime asparagus, and Pastetnik potatoes ... okay okay, so I changed the names of the first two b/c it just sounded better...it won't change the taste I promise! 

Thoughts on the pork chops:  Ignore the recipe instructions first off.  Trim the fat from the pork chops! No way!  As a famous TV chef says "Pork fat rules!"  So we're going to leave the fat ON the pork chops!  Next you're going to season the pork chops BEFORE cooking them - b/c you want the seasonings to infuse into the pork.  After that, you're going to make the pork chops pretty w/ slices of lemon and orange, then pour the kahlua and water around the pork chops - you don't want to disturb the pork chops too much.  To make things easier, once the pork chops have cooked, remove them to a plate, and THEN blend the remaining water & cornstarch together, and whisk into the pan. Watch this baby carefully, you don't want it to burn...that would be a waste of alcohol, and we don't do that!

Onto the asparagus.  I love asparagus, but you've got to know how to cook it right.  You don't want it soggy or limp, you want it cooked and to have a slight crispness to it.  The sauce is what really makes the asparagus shine through.  In many ways the sauce makes me think it could be morphed into a ginger lime pesto - if you add in some nuts like pistachios.

Problems w/ the potatoes.  First of all they are not seasoned properly.  Salt & Pepper may be used to accentuate some dishes but they shouldn't be relied on for flavour, b/c face it it's just not gonna happen.

All in all the pork chops were amazing, and the asparagus was very good.

Tonights dinner:

Gateway-to-the-West Stuffed Chicken Breast, wild rice, steamed veggies, and Parmesan pesto bread.

As is this recipe is pretty good. I don't know that I like the egg and shallot used in the shrimp filling. I say this for many reasons but namely b/c the egg is going to run out of the shrimp filling before the egg will cook. I chose to cook this in the oven by cranking my oven to 375° and cooking it for about 35 minutes. I chose to chop up the shrimp to make it easier to close the chicken up. I think I'll make this again, but will tweak it to suit my preferences. 

Catching up

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know I'm an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (non paid) and I love it!  Each month we have various assignments.   This month my cooking has spotlighted on some recipes featuring Hidden Valley Ranch dressing - both the bottled dressings (regular and light) and the dry packets.  While some recipes I've used are directly from Hidden Valley Ranch, other recipes are not. 

One of my most recent non HVR recipe was for Slow-cooked buffalo chicken sandwiches OMG can I say that you NEED to make these sandwiches for your next at home football fest!  These were super yummy.  I added some white american cheese to my sandwiches and also topped the buffalo chicken w/ a drizzling of light ranch dressing -served on a toasted hoagie bun this sandwich packed some major grindage and a slow burn.  To the side I've got some roasted purple potatoes.  I seriously couldn't believe the entire potato was purple - come to momma b/c I LOVE purple!  Usually when I roast potatoes, I don't ever use recipes.  I just cut the potatoes into quarters, and then drizzle w/ grapeseed oil, and whatever seasonings I feel like.  This time around I used Lawry's seasoning salt, oregano, basil, granulated garlic, and thyme.  I roasted them at 375° for roughly 30 minutes.  Rounding out the meal I used an HVR recipe for Out-of-this-World Pasta Salad granted I couldn't find the romanesco broccoli, which is aka roman cauliflower.  I did the next best thing and improvised w/ regular broccoli.  Would I make it again?  I might, but think I'll play around w/ the ingredients first.

Side note:  You may have leftover buffalo chicken.  Relax, leftovers are a good thing, and there are SO many different ways to use the remainder buffalo chicken - you can make buffalo chicken pizza, buffalo chicken quesadillas, yeah I'm sort of sounding like a spin off of Bubba from Forrest Gump

Another bonus activity was to find a steak recipe. Well naturally I push the edge w/ my cooking and I made  Tequila Steak

I can just see mouths watering, or eyes squinting w/ wrinkles creasing the forehead.  YES!  I said Tequila Steak.   Granted I changed the recipe up - and having made this recipe twice (first the original way, second my way) I'm going to be a food snob and say mine was better.
You don't have to make it my way, but I'll challenge you and say Do It! The original recipe called for

1/3 cup tequila

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

2 cloves garlic

8 ounces London broil steak

Okay now that was entirely TOO much cayenne pepper, SO here's the fix.  Reduce the cayenne pepper to 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne.  NEXT add 2 1/2 teaspoons McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning.  Lets talk garlic.  I appreciate that garlic cloves can add depth to many recipes, this is not one of them.  I say that for the factor that you can't regulate the flavour w/ fresh garlic like you can w/ granulated garlic, meaning that 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic will taste the same each time.  You can't control the size of a garlic clove, thus I suggest using 1 teaspoon granulated garlic instead of the 2 cloves of garlic.  At this point, you marinate the steak overnight in a ziploc bag and let it get nice and happy.  Once it's marinated - crank up the grill and cook that bad boy!

Bringing the heat...or an inferno

*Walks in looks around* Whoa time has gotten away from me, and it's not that I haven't been cooking, b/c I have!  I have also been involved w/ an online offline scavenger hunt - some of you that lurk me from the *ahem* other site (insert wicked laughter) know what I mean and I'm still laughing about the episode w/ the sheriff & the orange - psssst  remember the orange...it makes a presentation in this meal :D

So the inferno was a good choice word to use for this meal ... I elected to make a recipe called Orange-Chile Tilapia and I should've paid attention to the reviews. It not only calls for cayenne pepper (a TABLESPOON) but also calls for Chili powder - egads!!!!  That's gonna be like a fiesta on fire!!! Over all I thought the flavours were too complex for a mild fish like Tilapia

Onto the scallops first and foremost - PLEASE, please if you're going to use a wine in your recipe, specify what type huh?!  This called for sherry, well there are three types, dry, medium and sweet and it will impact the flavour.  Having said that I used a medium sherry - left out the green onions (who needs them) and thought the water chestnuts lended little if any value to the taste of the recipe...unless you like the crunch factor.

Next up cheddar bread - so the folks at Hidden Valley were kind enough to send me two bottles of ranch (regular and light) as well as two packets of the dry seasoning blend for use in some off my assignments for this month.  Well I know the definition of GRITS and I love me some ranch dressing.  Granted I've never combined ranch dressing w/ cheddar cheese and broiled it on top of bread, but there's a first time for everything. 
Immediate thoughts...I love cheddar cheese, I love ranch - I just don't like the two mixed together.  The choice of cheddar cheese isn't the best.  What would I use...hmm I'm thinking perhaps parmesan cheese, and crushed black pepper - but the ratio needs to be balanced.  I might even use swiss cheese...but cheddar - no thanks.