cooking – Page 8 – Alice the Cook

April 23, 2009July 7, 2009

Working with What You Have

After preparing the segment for Renaissance Magazine, Brandon and I had a lot of left overs – about 3/4 lb of pieces of roast pork (uncooked), carrots, leeks, and a few other ingredients. I put them together to create a lovely curry pork and vegetables.

Utilizing the ingredients above and adding a few, I created a dish that was quoted as, “tastes like it came from a ‘nice’ Asian restaurant” from a Chinese national.

Below is the recipe I came up and I have been enjoying it for my lunches.

one cup of leftover braised carrot and leek dish
3/4 lb of roast pork, cut up
one onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1 tbsp of yellow curry powder (store bought)
1 tsp ground cumin
2 pinches of sea salt
ground pepper to taste
1 tbsp of cooking oil (sesame or sunflower)

In a heated wok, add the oil and when hot enough begin adding the pork to begin cooking. Turn the pork every two minutes so that it begins to brown nicely and add the onions.

Continue to cook and add the left over braised carrots and leeks. Continue to cook and add frozen peas. Continue to stir when cooking and add the curry powder and cumin. Finish with the salt and pepper.

I did not need to use rice or noodles with this dish. It should be sweet and savory, not spicy. Sadly, I ate it all before I could photograph the plate.

April 18, 2009

Working as a Team, a Well-Oiled Machine

Brandon and I got together today to work on the next Renaissance Magazine article (July). I’ve posted in an earlier blog about the different steps we take as a team in planning, writing, cooking, and photographing for the story. It’s a long process. Tonight, it took almost 4 hours, even though the dish was rather simple to cook.

For the benefit of our readers, we thought we would co-document our efforts here. We began discussing what we wanted to cover. We knew when we went out to Siouxland, we would be shooting and packaging 4 pieces in advance to save time, but added to the authenticity to the historical aspect.

Once we decided on a path, Brandon and I went out to the market to pick up our ingredients. I had some of the ingredients at home, but we needed to pick up a few extras items. From the start, it’s a team based effort.

Next, we begin planning out what needs to happen to get to a finished product. Who needs to do what and when. One of us may be cooking while the other is chopping or gathering spices or shooting the photography. We both take turns. When one is cooking, the other is shooting photos and vice-versa.

We might hav a bit of down time or need something else prepared. Brandon is better than I at deboning and flattening meat.

Brandon (Nicholas) flattening the meat for the dish.

As you can see, when we are working together for a story, we are not in costume and because of the colder months, we are not yet ready to test recipes over the fire. I’m sure I will do a future blog on that subject. Still, more cutting and prep work go into the dish.

Until we finish cooking and then we work on the plating. The food needs to look good on camera and somethings, frankly, don’t. Brandon’s carving the meat as I prepare the plate for photographing.

Cutting the finished product and preparing to plate it for photos.

We spent a lot of time tonight documenting our work for Renaissance Magazine for prosperity sake. You will have to check out July’s issue to see what we made so that you can make it at home as well.

April 14, 2009July 7, 2009

An odd, yet useful, recipe

I love experimenting with different items in the kitchen. Once the cookbook is wrapped up and ready for distribution, I will be looking at creating hand-crafted flavored salts and sugars for the gourmet at heart.

Some of the specialty items I may offer include:

Chili Salt
Garlic Salt
Rosemary Salt
Shallot Salt
Cinnamon Sugar
Nutmeg Sugar
Citrus Sugar

All of the salts will be made with sea salt and the specialty sugars will be made with raw sugar. I will not more later, but this is merely a planning stage.

Recently, I have been experimenting with flavored butters. Once of them is a curry butter that I have been adding to fish and pasta recipes as well as old fashioned popcorn.

4 TB unsalted butter, melted n10686975771_836866_8585
1 tsp of prepared curry powder
1/4 tsp of ground cumin
pinch of salt

Stir the spices in with the melted butter and blend with a wooden utensil. Do not use a metal utensil as it will damage the mix. After mixing, let the butter sit for 5 minutes and blend again before applying.

A Spanish influence flavored butter:
4 TB unsalted butter, melted
1/8 tsp fresh cilantro, minced
1/16 tsp of fresh garlic, minced
1/16 tsp of chili powder
pinch of ground cumin
pinch of fresh lime zest
pinch of sea salt

Combine ingredients and let sit for 5 minutes, occasionally swirling them together to blend. Add to chicken, seafood, or vegetables while grilling. If you prefer vegetarian cooking, substitute the butter for olive oil. The spices need to sit in the olive oil for an hour before using to adopt the flavors. ENJOY!

April 2, 2009March 5, 2012

Chicken and Apple Stew

Chicken and Apple Stew:
One whole chicken, skin removed and deboned
2 lbs of carrot, cubed
2 lbs of red potatoes, cubed
1 Sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 leek, cut up
1.5 lbs of apples (use a firmer apple like a Harrleson), cored and cubed
1 cup of apple cider (optional)
1 TB cinnamon
1 tsp of kosher salt
1 tsp of cumin
2 TB of cooking oil
water

Dice the boneless chicken into 1″ cubes and sauté in the oil on medium heat for about 3 minutes. The outside of the chicken should be browned. Add half of the apples, the leeks, and sprinkle the cinnamon and cumin. Stir occasionally for a minute and add enough water to cover the chicken. Stir again.

Add the carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, garlic, and hard cider to the pot. Add enough water to cover mixture and place lid on pot. Stir every 4 – 5 minutes until potatoes and carrots are tender. Remove from heat for five minutes and it is ready to serve.