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Archive for January, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Thursday, January 29th, 2009

It was a nice movie, but I have a beef: I don’t totally get how the relationship between Latika and Jamal went from friendship to romance. I mean, if someone kept trying to rescue me, I’d be grateful but I wouldn’t necessarily suck face with him. Especially given that she had a lifetime of trading sexual favours for safety and security! Why is it that they had to foist her into another saviour/lover immediately after she just escaped from one? It makes me kind of sad for her.

Anyhow. Had to get that off my chest.

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Dinner Project: Italian Chicken

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009

This is one of the recipes from my mom’s Good Housekeeping cookbook from the ’60s. I imagine Italian cuisine must have seemed pretty exotic still, since the only thing Italian in this is the parsley. But it’s a really comforting flavour for me, since my mom made it pretty regularly when I was a kid. So what if it’s not authentic? It’s super-delicious, and very simple to make.

Dredge some chicken thighs in seasoned flour (just S&P, but go nuts if you get inspired) and fry in butter til brown on both sides. Remove from pan. Then saute a chopped onion and mushrooms for a bit, put the chicken back in and add one cup of chicken broth and one cup of tomato juice (I used V8 because that’s what I had). Simmer for 30 minutes, then sprinkle some chopped flat-leafed parsley and pepper. It’s good if it’s peppery, so go to town.

Serve over pasta. So OK, there’s pasta. Two things that are Italian. Photo 37.jpg

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Dinner Project: Chickpea curry: 2

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

I re-organized one of the kitchen cupboards and I found two whole bags of dry chickpeas! Well, that’s an invitation if I ever saw one. An Invitation to Indian Cooking, to be precise: my sister gave me this Madhur Jaffrey classic for my birthday. I found a nice and VERY simple recipe called chickpeas with ginger and garlic. It features a giant chunk of ginger and 10 garlic cloves. How could I refuse? I made it, improvising wildly.

Like I said, soooo easy: I minced the garlic and ginger (Jaffrey says to use the blender, but I don’t like cleaning it, so…), cooked them a bit in hot oil. In Jaffrey’s recipe, she says to use a pinch of asafetida, but I don’t have any. I don’t know what it is, but I aim to find out, and I’ll make this again to find out what deliciousness I’m missing.

So anyway. Then I added a teaspoon or so of tumeric and a quarter spoon of cayenne, one chopped tomato and one of those tiny cans of tomato paste (in the recipe, she says “tomato sauce.” what is that?). A cup of water, juice of a lemon, and the chickpeas, which I soaked overnight and simmered for an hour. Oh yeah! I also boiled some potatoes and added them too! And after I simmered the whole thing for about 20 minutes (during which I made some basmati and steamed baby broccolini), I added some chopped cilantro. Because: yum! While I was eating it, I realized: you know what would really make this crazy good? Yogurt! I was right. Do it!

This version is really good. I’ll try it again, for sure.

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Dinner Project: Beef Stroganoff

Monday, January 19th, 2009

Photo 33.jpg What to do with one lonely steak in the freezer? Instead of buying another steak for steak night, I made some stroganoff.

I sliced some mushrooms (crimini) and diced a shallot and sauteed them in butter. Then, I sliced the steak up into bite-sized pieces and added them in with the mushrooms and shallots. A little salt and pepper, then a splash of vodka. You can also use white wine, but I don’t have any. The vodka is Polish and is flavoured with something called bison grass, which gave the sauce a nice tarragon-y flavour. A little salt and pepper, pour over some pasta– that’s it. So easy!

And since I’m finally writing about dinners again, I should also add that I made omu-rice last night, and made some burritos this past week too. Sorry. I forgot!

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Dinner Project: Spaghetti Carbonara

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Paul went skiing this weekend. Poor Paul.

I made one of my favourite quick dinners, spaghetti carbonara. It’s bachelor cooking disguised as creamy deliciousness. You’d never know I was going to prepare this most indulgent meal by looking in the fridge: a little bacon, eggs, onion. But let it be known: the sum is greater than the parts.

Impress your friends. Or stay in and treat yourself. ANYONE can make this.

Boil some spaghetti. Cut up some bacon in bits. Fry it. Fry some chopped onion and garlic. In a bowl, beat three eggs with a cup of grated parmesan or pecorino romano (use the real stuff, OK?), pepper, and salt. I also heated some frozen peas. We all need to get more vegetables than we think. I sauteed some kale in the bacon fat. Why not?

Drain the pasta, throw in the bacon, onion, peas, and egg mixture and let the heat of the pasta gently cook the egg. THAT’S IT. No more excuses, people. Cook great food at home this year, save money. Invite friends over. That’s love. Photo 32.jpg

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Dinner Project: Seafood Nabe

Monday, January 5th, 2009

That’s pronounced “nah-beh,” and it basically means a hot pot. There are lots of kinds, including chanko, which is what sumo wrestlers eat to keep their weight up. Thankfully, not all nabe are based on pork belly. Seafood nabe (as with other non-sumo nabe) is light yet hearty, which is why this is a traditional winter meal. I dropped by T & T on the way to the dentist, thinking I’d pick something up to cook in my new nabe pot, which my mom got me for Christmas. I was thinking chicken, but once I saw these huge fat scallops, I knew I was doomed. $25 worth of seafood later, I gotta say it’s not an everyday thing. But those scallops! Prawns! And chunks of halibut! I am only a little sad that I forgot to get clams. That would have been awesome. Next time!

So anyhow, it’s a pretty simple thing to cook. You make a light dashi broth with a strip of kombu (kelp), a touch of soy sauce, and mirin. I forgot the mirin, but I didn’t really miss it. You simmer your ingredients: hakusai cabbage, oyster and enoki mushrooms, cubes of tofu, and the seafood. You dip pieces in a ponzu sauce. Ponzu is awesome: basically, it’s soy sauce with lemon juice. My nephews are obsessed with ponzu. They eat steamed broccoli with ponzu, which is actually a great idea.

But back to the nabe. It’s an amazing thing you get, with the earthiness of the mushrooms, the smell of the sea, and zing of citrus. It’s comfort food, literally, as the warmth fills the belly. And traditionally, it’s cooked at the table, so you get a nice, share-y experience. My mom also gave me a butane burner, but the manual said it wasn’t for indoor use so we chickened out. Photo 30.jpg

Oh, and you eat it with rice, but you knew that.

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Dinner Project: Katsu-don

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

Leftover pork cutlet has only one real good use: katsu-don! It’s a simple, one-dish meal served over rice with meat, onion and other vegetable (my mom used to put in peas) and an egg to bind it together. The flavouring is soy sauce, a bit of dashi, mirin and a bit of water.

My mom says she used to make this for my dad before his baseball games because “katsu” sounds like the Japanese word for “win.” I’m not sure how effective that would have been since it’s a very hearty meal. I know I’m not in the mood for running around afterwards.

Anyhow, I served it with the leftover veggies from last night. So good!

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Looking for a dog?

Saturday, January 3rd, 2009

We recently adopted a second dog: Edith, a Brussels griffon.

If any of you are thinking of getting a dog, you should get one from a good breeder who breeds for love, not profit– only one or two litters per year, raising them at home not in a kennel. Henry came from a breeder like that, and I would definitely say that the extra effort is worth it.

Another really great option is a shelter dog. Edith was seized from a bad breeder, and may have been abused. She was definitely neglected. I doubt she ever lived inside a house. She is quite shy still, but is very affectionate. It’s amazing how an animal with her background can still be so loving.

A lot of people are looking for small dogs, but the Edmonton Human Society has mostly large ones. Please consider any one of Alberta’s other shelters. We got Edith from Central Animal Services in Lacombe, which is privately run. But they have many smaller dogs who need homes. I saw there several terrier-type puppies, a couple of chihuahua crosses, and a very lovely pekinese cross who wagged her tail so hard it was tough not to bring her home too.

Lacombe is not so far away. Here is the link:

http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/AB34.html

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Dinner Project: Pork Cutlet

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

Sometimes you need to be reminded why we bother to deep fry. Pork cutlet, AKA schnitzel, AKA tonkatsu, has made me believe again.

Japan used to restrict foreigners quite strictly. Thankfully, the Dutch were allowed to land and trade. So a version of schnitzel eventually became tonkatsu in Japan– itself a compound word, “ton,” the Japanese word for pork, and “katsu,” a bastardization of “cutlet”.

Tonight, I made tonkatsu from farmer’s market cutlet, boiled potatoes, sauteed cabbage with white pepper, and boiled carrots and butter. The crust on those babies was light and had those amazing bubbles in them. I don’t deep fry often. It’s a lot of trouble, and even now there’s a pan of used oil sitting on the stove and I’m not sure what to do with it. But this time, yes, it was worth it.

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Hooray for you, Mari Sasano.

Archive for January, 2009

Slumdog Millionaire

Dinner Project: Italian Chicken

Dinner Project: Chickpea curry: 2

Dinner Project: Beef Stroganoff

Dinner Project: Spaghetti Carbonara

Dinner Project: Seafood Nabe

Dinner Project: Katsu-don

Looking for a dog?

Dinner Project: Pork Cutlet

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