knock your socks off chili

Chili is one of those things that are always good. It can also be extremely cheap and easy.

A basic chili is basically a stew with meat, beans, and some kind of tomato based sauce. But to get that bowl of steaming hot goodness to really knock your socks off, we're going to have to take it up a few notches.

To start off roast 5 red bell peppers. The easiest way to do this is right on the stove. Basically what you want to do is burn the skin so it can be peeled right off. So once at a time place the peppers over the open fire, rotating them once the skin has a nice char on it. Once all the peppers are fully charred, place them in a large bowl and cover them with plastic wrap to sweat them off as they cool down.

Next is when you sear the meat. Cut about 3 pounds of chuck meat into bit sized pieces, remember meat shrinks when cooks, so don’t cut them too small. In a large bowl, mix the meat with all purpose flour, enough to coat each piece evenly. Then in a sauté pan (preferable not a non-stick pan) sear each piece of meat so that they get a nice golden color on them. Make sure there is enough fat from the meat or oil in the pan so that nothing burns off. If your pan starts to smoke up, add some oil to the pan.

Once all the meat is seared, sauté one yellow onion cut up into small pieces. Once the onions are translucent add about 10 button mushrooms cut to the same size as the meat pieces, along with 3 or 4 cloves of garlic diced extremely fine. When the mushrooms are tender add enough tomato sauce to deglaze the pan, depending on the size of your pan, you will probably need about 8 oz (half a 16 oz can).

Once the peppers have cooled down, start peeling the skin off with your fingers. If they are roasted long enough the skin will almost fall off. Next is coring and de-seeding, you can do this by cutting the pepper in half and pulling out the core and seeds. You don't want any seeds in your chili. Next slice up all the peppers to about 1/4" pieces.

Once all the peppers are cut up place them in a large pot along with the mushrooms, onions, and 2 or 3 stalks of celery sliced into 1/2" pieces. Then add the other 1 and a half cans of tomato sauce, 2 cans of tomato paste and 1 can of diced tomatoes. 

Now I like my chili to have a nice kick, so I add 1 Tbsp. cayenne pepper and 1 Tsp cinnamon.

Let that sit on a high heat until it starts to simmer, then lower the heat to a medium low heat. 

Once you have reduced the heat add a can of black beans, drained and rinsed along with the meat pieces. Give that a nice big stir so that everything is mixed evenly. 

Cook for another hour/ hour and a half, and enjoy.

mastering the deep fryer

The deep fryer has, for whatever reason, been deemed an unsafe form of cooking. But the truth is if you are careful and paying attention, deep frying food is fun and delicious.

Deep frying, in case you don't know is a form of cooking that involves submerging your food in oil that is heated to about 365 degrees, give or take. Peanut oil is preferred because of its high smoking point, but olive oil works great too.

Before you get started there are a few things you are going to want to have prepared. First the type of pot you are going to use; you want a pot that is about 5" to 6" deep and 8" to 10" in diameter. Preferable you are going to want a cast iron, but most of us don’t have a cast iron that size (even though we'd like to) so any kind of pot that size will do just fine.

Second, you are going to want to have both a pair of tongs as well as a slotted spatula on hand. You are also going to want a drying rack for when your food is done. The best thing to use is a cooling rack on top of a cookie sheet, but a cookie sheet with some paper towels on it will do just fine. And lastly, a bowl of salt to season your food after it comes out of the fryer.

Next is what to fry. Theoretically, you can fry just about anything, from potatoes to bananas. Most of the time when people fry things it is because of the crunch you get from the frying batter, so let us start there. The batter used to achieve this crunch can be one of the simplest things you will ever make.

For most things you are going to use a beer batter. It’s simple and easy, and works great. In a large bowl combine flour and beer, that's it! The carbonation in the beer lends to a beautiful texture to the fried batter. Start off with one cup of flour and 1 cup of beer, and then add beer little by little until you get a consistency that is a little bit looser than a pancake batter. A little tip is to not make your batter until you are completely ready to start frying, because the longer the batter sits the less carbonation it will have. For fried chicken you won't necessarily want a beer batter, try my fried chicken recipe instead.

Ok so you are ready to start frying, but what ARE you going to fry? French fries? Onion rings? Zucchini? Banana? Chicken? Those questions I’ll leave up to you.

A few things you need to think about when you are frying are; how long will it take to cook my food? And is my oil hot enough? For the most part by the time your food is ready to be taken out, it will be fully cook, but something like a potato you are going to want to blanch first before you fry them. This is because if you fry them raw, by the time the inside is fully cooked the outside will be so burnt you wouldn’t want to eat it anymore. You, also, have to remember that every time you put something into the fryer the temperature of the oil will drop and the lower the temp the slower it will take to cook and you will in turn lose that beautiful crisp you get when you fry things. To ensure the oil stays at the right temp invest in an instant read thermometer that hooks on to the side of your pot. Eventually, after frying for a while you will be able to gauge if your oil is hot enough by how long it takes to brown whatever it is you are frying.

Now, let's get frying!!!

1-2-3 BBQ Wings

BBQ wings have been a staple of American food since, well the dawn of time. The problem is people have associating wings with unhealthy or fatty, but if you cook them right and only have a few at a time, there is no reason why you can't make some delicious BBQ wings.

I like to make my wings in what I like to call the 1-2-3

Regardless of how I cook them - stove top or grill - I start off my sprinkling all the pieces with some salt and pepper. There are some people, OK most people, who would say to soak it in buttermilk first, but I feel that it is a little unnecessary. That's step one.

Step two, when using the stove top, heat up a sauté pan with a little bit of oil. Once the pan is hot, place the chicken wings in the pan, but make sure you don't crowd them. Crowding the pan will lead to steaming the chicken instead of searing them. When searing chicken, you want to get a real nice golden crisp to the skin on all sides. Rotate the chicken until it is fully cooked.

For the grill, heat up the grill to about 450 degrees, then grill the wings until you get that great grill char on the wings, then flip and repeat until the chicken is fully cooked.

Step three is when you go from grilled wings to BBQ wings. Remove the wings from the grill or pan and place in a large bowl with your favorite BBQ sauce. Mix the wings until they have a nice coat on them, and then return them to the pan or grill to get the crisp back that was lost when you coated the wings.

And that's my 1-2-3 BBQ wings.

from beef stock to red wine reduction

Yesterday I made my first beef stock, which I, then, reduced to a demi-glase, which I used to make a red wine reduction......YUMMY!!!!!

To make a beef stock you need several thing. First is bones, lots and lots of bones, about 12 pounds of bones. Second is a mirepoix, about 3 pounds. And last is a bouquet garni.

Stock bones are one of the cheapest things you can buy from your butcher. When you buy your bones, try to get  mostly knuckles and marrow bones. The less meat the better. When the stock cooks, it basically renders out all of the flavor from the bones, and if there is a lot of meat, then you will have to skim off the fat from the surface.

Once you rinse off the bones, place them in a roasting pan and stick them in the over (preheated to about 400 degrees). Don't coat the bottom with anything, just let them cook for about an hour/ hour and a half.

Next, add your mirepoix to the roasting pan. A mirepoix (pronounced mɪərˈpwɑ) is an assortment of cut veggies, usually carrots, onions, and celery. Depending on what time of stock you are making will determine how fine of a chop you need. a beef stock cooks for about 6 hours, so you are going to want a fairly rough chop.

After another 30 minutes, add 4 to 6 oz of tomato paste to the roasting pan by spreading it over the bones and mirepoix with a spatula. Then let it cook for another 30 minutes.

Next, put everything into a pot on the stove. Now, at the bottom of the roasting pan is going to be some yummy leftovers that are stuck to the pan from the bones. To remove those pieces, place the pan on the stove over low heat, add 1 to 1 and a half cups of red or white wine, and use a wooden spoon to scrap off the pieces. Then pour everything into the pot, fill up the pot with cold water and bring it to a boil.

Once the water is boiling, add the bouquet garni, and let it simmer for 6 to 8 hours. A bouquet garni is bundle of herbs like thyme, parsley and sometimes bay leaves, usually tied together with string.

Once you have extracted the flavor you are looking for, strain out the broth, and cool it down.

The next step is the demi-glase. a demi-glase is when you take a stock and you reduce it to about half its volume, so that all that flavor is compacted and intensified. This sounds simple because there is very little to actually do. All you have to do is put on a stove on low heat, and let it simmer.

Once your demi-glase is done, the last step is the red wine reduction. To start off, dice up 2 medium shallots, place them in a sauce pan with one tbsp of butter, let those simmer for a few minutes. Then add 1 cup of red wine, and reduce it to 2/3 of its volume. After that, add 1 cup of demi-glase and let it reduce again until you get the desired flavor. Lastly, add another tbsp of butter to smooth it all out.

When done right, you are going to want to eat it with a spoon, it's that good.

Sauce Veloute & Sauce Bechamel

In addition to stocks, in my second day of my cooking class, we also made two basic sauces. The first being a basic white sauce known as Sauce Bechamel, and the second being a white gravy known as Sauce Veloute.

To make either sauce, you start off by making a roux. A roux (pronounced 'ru') is a mixture of melted butter and flower, to which you add milk for a Bachamel, or white stock for a Veloute.

The ratio of flower and butter to liquid is 1/2 an ounce of each to 1 cup of liquid, and of course, salt and pepper to taste. Additionally, for a Sauce Bachamel you will also add 1/4 of a bay leaf and freshly grated nutmeg (a micro-plane grater will be your best bet).

When making the roux, you want it to get to a "wet sand" consistency before adding the liquid. Once the milk or stock is added, keep mixing it until the roux is completely mixed into the liquid.

In our cooking class, to know when our sauces were almost done, we learned that if you scoop some of the sauce up and pour it back into the sauce and it doesn't make any noise, it is almost done.

If there are lumps in your sauce, which there most likely will be when you make it for the first time, do not worry.  Simply pour the sauce through a strainer and you are good to go.

five types of stocks

A stock is an extract from cooking meat bones and/ or fish bones and/ or vegetables in water. There are many different uses for a stock, such as sauces, soups, braises, consommé’s and aspics.There are five different types of stocks

A white stock - made with blanched veal or beef bones, along with a mirepoix (a mirepoix is a rough chop of stewing vegetables, such as onions, carrots, celery, and sometimes leek.

A chicken (white) stoke - made with chicken bones, along with a mirepoix.

A brown stock - made with chicken or beef bones and vegetables. The different between a brown stock and a white stock is for a brown stock, you first brown the bones and mirepoix in the oven, and then tomato paste is added and cooked longer.

A fish stock - made with fish bones, along with a mirepoix.

And lastly, a vegetable stock - a vegetable stock is made when meat is not desired. Although, a vegetable stock is quick and easy, it is, however, the lightest of stocks and therefore generally not used for sauces.

my first days in cooking school

On August 8th I started my first day of the 20 week, Pro 1 cooking class at New School of Cooking.

The first class was our introduction day, getting to know our teacher Laura Weinman, getting to know our way around the kitchen, kitchen and food safety, and lastly, some chopping.

My second day was much more interesting. We covered stocks and and the beginning of sauces.

A stock is an extract from cooking meat bones and/ or fish bones and/ or vegetables in water. There are many different uses for a stock, such as sauces, soups, braises, consumme's and aspics.

To my surprise there are actually five different type of sauces, a white stock, a chicken stock, a brown stock, a fish stock and a vegetable sauce.

grilled veggies

For the past few weeks, I've been making grilled zucchini and eggplants. They are just so good and so easy.

As with any time you are cutting vegetables, or anything else for that matter, you want to try to cut things into roughly the same sized pieces so that they take the same amount of time to cook.

I sliced the zucchinis and eggplants, cutting them the long way.

I, also, intentionally keep the skin on otherwise everything would completely fall apart and you will end up with a bit pile of mush.

Next, I coat them in a mixture of olive oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, dries basil, dried oregano, and paprika.

After that, I placed them on a cookie sheet, make sure not to pile up the veggies too high or the ones at the bottom won't cook as fast as the ones on top.

Stick them in a preheated over set to 375 degrees, and let them cook for about 30 minutes or so, maybe more depending on how much you cook.

You can, also, cook them on the BBQ, but for that you want to cut them a little bit thicker.

simple roasted potatoes

Roasted potatoes are one of the simplest and one of my favorite side dishes.

I like to use fingerling potatoes, like new potatoes, the skin is very delicate and doesn't need to be peeled before cooking, but the flavor is closer to the regular, mature potatoes that we're used to. They, also, have a firm texture that holds up well to cooking.

I usually cut them length wise and once or twice width wise, depending on how big the potato is.

I add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of oil, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, basil, and thyme to a bowl with the cut up potatoes in it.

Then I mix it all together, and throw it on a cookie sheet, stick it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes and then about 5 minutes on broil.

And that's it!

cauliflower tomato soup

The greatest part about making soup is that you don’t have to use the freshest products to get good results.

This is probably my favorite vegetable I’ve made in a long time.
I started off by blanching 3 tomatoes. As they were cooking, I chopped up 2 medium zucchinis, a head of cauliflower, 2 cloves of garlic, and an onion.

After I got the tomatoes in the ice bath, I heated up a pot with a carton of vegetable broth in it.

Once the tomatoes were cool enough to cut, I chopped them up and added them to the broth, along with the rest of the veggies.

Then I added about 3 cups of water, and my spices. I used salt, pepper, thyme, and basil.

Now, when I eat soup, it needs to be hardy or it’s just not worth it. So I decided to make mini turkey patties to add some “umph” to the soup.

I started by dicing up some garlic and shallots super finely. No one wants to bite into a big chunk of garlic when eating soup, or a burger for that matter. Then, I mixed that with about a pound of ground turkey, bread crumbs, and an egg.

I knew that if I tried to cook the patties in the soup, they would completely fall apart. So I first seared them in a frying pan.

This does two things, first it almost forms a crust on the patties to that they hold their shape better. And second, it holds in all the moist “juices” from the turkey.

Once those were done, I added them to the soup, and let it sit on low heat for about an hour.

It was surprisingly good, I ate like 3 bowls back to back.

onion mushroom soup

So today I found myself looking into a bag of mushrooms that were on the edge of going bad. I always seem to be doing this; buying produce, using some of it, and then throwing the rest of it in the fridge for it to go bad. But not today, I decided to make onion mushroom soup.

I knew I had to sauté the onions first, and that’s what I did. I sliced up 1 and a half red and yellow onions and 3 shallots and threw it all into a sauté pan with a nice big handful of salt. I recently heard salt referred to as foods magnifying glass, you use it to make flavors bigger and better. And I let them cook until I got a nice creamy texture and a golden brown color.

At the same time I brought a pot of water up to a boil, with some S and P (that’s salt and pepper) and a touch of olive oil.

As I looked at my pot and pan on the stove, I realized I had no plan for what I was going to do next. I never made this soup before and I had nothing to reference for an idea. So I asked myself, what am I cooking? Soup. Ok what kind of soup? Onion mushroom. Ok so I got the onions cooking and I have to cook the mushrooms, and in they went into the pot of water. Then I threw in the onions and let that come back to a boil.

Ok now what? Um….spices, I didn’t want anything to strong, so I added some chicken consume, oregano, basil, and of course garlic, who could forget garlic, I put in about 6 cloves sliced up nice and thin.

After that, I realized the soup was too liquidy, I wanted it to be thicker but boiling the water out just wasn’t cutting it, so I added some flour, I’d say probably about 1/3 of a cup.

Once it got to the consistence I wanted, I gave it another taste. It was still missing something, but what? It had the onions and mushrooms, spices, garlic, chicken consume. And that’s when it hit me; there was no fat in the soup. And there in lied my problem, I had no chicken or meat to put in it. So I pulled out my trusty package of beef hot dogs.

Now, I know hot dogs are on the bottom of the culinary food chain, but every college student should always have tuna, beer, and hot dogs on hand in case of an emergency.

So I cut 3 dogs up into chunks and threw them in.

I let the soup sit for about an hour and a half, then put it in the fridge. We’ll see how it turns out tomorrow. To me, the best soup is day old soup; soup needs time to sit to let the flavors blend.

good old fashion chicken soup

When I was little, we always had a pot of chicken soup in our fridge. It was a simple yet delicious recipe.

You start off with about four to six pieces of chicken. I like using thighs because they have a higher fat content then breasts, which gives more flavor to the soup.

Then, depending on how big of a soup I want to make, I add four to six carrots and six to eight zucchinis, peeled and chopped, as well as a whole onion, and lastly a heaping tablespoon or two of chicken consume.

Fill the pot up with water, so that everything is submerged in water.

Cook it on high until you get a good rolling boil, then let it simmer on low heat for about an hour.

Next, refrigerate the soup over night so that the fat congeals on the top.

Once it does, scoop out the fat with a spoon, and you're good to go.

bringing old recipes to life

So today I decided to take some of my favorite recipes and threw a spin on them.

I started off with boiled chicken, then my popcorn cauliflower, a cabbage salad, and baked potato chips.

For the chicken, normally I bake the individual pieces with barbecue sauce, but I was trying to think of a way to get the moist, tender chicken of a slow roast, but without drying it out.

When I thought about it, I realized the most moist chicken I know of is chicken from good old fashion chicken soup. So I strained the leftovers from a pot of chicken soup into another pot, added a whole onion cut into half. threw in two bay leaves, about a cup of water, some salt and pepper, some oregano, and thyme.

As for the chicken itself, I rubbed a whole chicken with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and thyme. and placed it in the pot, breasts down.

I, then, cooked the chicken for about two and a half hours on low heat.

Next, I made my popcorn cauliflower recipe, but once the cauliflower was done cooking I added it sauteed asparagus that I thinly sliced diagonally.

Once I cut up the asparagus, I lightly coated them with about a teaspoon olive oil. then added 3 cloves of garlic, diced, and some salt and pepper.

My next dish was a purple cabbage slaw. I used about a pound of pre-shredded purple cabbage from a bag, then added about 3 to 4 cups of red seedless grapes, cut in half, some sesame seeds, and a 1/4 cup of both teriyaki sauce and balsamic vinegar.

And if that wasn't enough, I also made baked potato and sweet potato chips. Out of everything, these were probably the easiest to make and the dish that was finished the fastest.

I took two regular and one huge sweet potato, cut them using my trusty mandolin on the middle setting. I cut them right into a bowl of water to wash them off, so they don't stick together when they cook. Then, I laid them flat, one layer per tray, on a cookie sheet with foil, but first I sprayed the foil so that the potatoes don't stick to the foil. then I lightly coated them with salt and stuck them in the oven at 500 degrees until the potatoes start to brown.

Farm Fresh to You

As a college student, having fresh produce isn't the easiest thing, especially when you don't have a car.

Farm Fresh to You (FFTY) is one of the best ways to solve this problem. As Angelenos become increasingly more demanding in the quality of produce, Farmers, like Kathleen Barsotti, have started to deliver their fresh produce to all over southern California, delivering that weeks harvest directly to your door.

Like any new fad, competition for the best "bang for your buck" has really picked up, and FFTY is leaving the competition in its dust. With descriptions of exactly what comes that week, in all the different boxes.

They have about 20 different boxes you can choose from, starting at $25 per box to $80 per box, you can choose fruits and veggies, or just friut, or just veggies.

Since this is a per delivery fee and not a monthly fee you also get to choose how often you want to get a delivery, you can get it every week, every other week...... and if you're going to be out of town for a week, all you have to do is email them saying you don't that week's box. They, also have a page of everything they grow and when they grow it.

And if that isn't enough, if you don't like a certain product they grow, you can simply send them an email saying you don't want that anymore and they'll stop sending it to you, no questions asked.

simply delicious popcorn cauliflower

First, preheat your oven to 375 degrees, then you’re going to start by breaking down the cauliflower. I like the florets to be on the smaller side, but do it however you like them.

Next you have to wash the cauliflower, if you’re buying your produce from a farmers market or one of those kosher Persian markets, you really have to wash them well, but if you get it from Ralphs or Trader Joes a simple rinse is fine.

Once they are clean, you are going to dry them, if you don’t dry them then when you roast it, it might get more mushy than desired. I like to use a salad spinner, because it’s real easy, but you can also shake them off by hand and use a clean dish towel.

Next, in a large bowl you are going to mix about 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons per head of cauliflower of olive oil, some salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, and if you want, although I don’t, curry powder.

Once that is done you’re going to add the cauliflower, I find it easier to do about two big handfuls at a time. This makes mixing it all up that much easier.

Once the cauliflower is evenly coated, spread it evenly onto a cookie sheet. Make sure you don’t pile up the cauliflower, you should only have one layer on your sheet, otherwise the top layer will crisp and the bottom will be mushy. Bake for about 15 minutes, if you aren’t getting the crispiness you are looking for once the cauliflower is cooked, broil it for about 5 minutes.

Ribs made simple

Ever since my fourth birthday, when I asked my mom if we could have "What Smie eats," making a reference to the scene in the 1991 film 'Hook' (directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, and Julia Roberts.) where Smie eat what must have been the biggest pork chop ever, I have been in love with ribs.

There are probably a million different ways you can make ribs, and I'm sure they are all delicious, but nothing beats a good old fashion barbecue sauce.

Unfortunately, no one can spend all their time in the kitchen. So, instead of making a barbecue sauce from scratch, buy the big jug of BBQ sauce, I like to use Charbecue barbecue sauce. But to beef it up a bit, for every cup of barbecue sauce add to it about 1/3 of a cup of honey, 1 teaspoon of ginger powder, and about 2 cloves of garlic, diced. Then, mix it all up in a large bowl.

Next, rinse off your ribs with cold water, pat them dry, sprinkle a little salt over them, and then, let them sit for about a minute, to let the salt dissolve. After that, throw them into the bowl with the barbecue sauce, and mix the ribs around so that they all have a nice thick coat of sauce on them.

Once you get your grill to about 450 degrees, place your ribs on to the grill. Let them cook for about 10 - 15 minutes on each side, then about 5 minutes on their ‘backs’.

You should always keep an eye on any food you have on the grill, especially meat. Depending on how hot your grill is, will affect the speed in which the ribs will cook.

Home Made Salsa

Start off your salsa with three medium tomatoes, cut into pieces that are about the size of a kernel of corn, make sure to collect all the juice too.

Then, cut up half a yellow and half a red onion into about the same sized pieces.

Next, take a mango, yes a mango. Mangoes are a very sweet fruit and it is great having something to balance out the onion, and mango worked beautifully. The easiest way to cut up a mango is to cut the two meaty sides off as close as you can to the pit, then lay them flat and use a paring knife to cut off the peel. Then cut them into pieces that are about double the size of the tomato pieces.

Try to use mangos that have just a little green peel left. Think of it as an avocado, you don’t want it too hard because then it won’t be ripe, but you also do want it too soft because then it will be too mushy.

After that, add 1 teaspoon of really finely dices cilantro. If you really don’t like cilantro you don’t have to use it, but even the smallest amount does add something to salsa.

Then the lime and lemon, use about half a lime and 1/3 of a lemon. Make sure not to get any of the seeds in the salsa. To be safe, you can squeeze them out into a bowl so that if some seeds fall out, they won't get in your salsa.

Last is salt and pepper. Add about 1 teaspoon of pepper and 2 teaspoons of salt.
Mix it all up and you’re good to go.

To let the flavors blend, chill the salsa in the fridge for about 30 minutes, but it is not necessary.

sauted corn with chicken chunks

Last night I was in the mode for some late night grub, but all I found in my fridge was a piece of boneless chicken breast, that was cut up into chunks, an ear of corn, and an artichoke.

Normally, when I'm at home we just steam our veggies, but I wanted to take it up a notch.

I started with about 2 table spoons of garlic infused olive oil, the juice from a wedge of a lime and a lemon, then threw in the rest of the wedges into a pot that was filled with about 3" high of almost boiling water. Then I added salt, pepper, 3 bay leaves, 2 big pinches of dried challots, 2 pinches of crushed pepper flakes and about 4 whole cloves, then the ear of corn and the artichoke. I like to keep my artichoke whole, so I just cut about an inch off the bottom of the stem and throw it into the pot.

Once the corn is cooked, which should be about 7 minutes later, take the corn out, leaving the artichoke to continue to cook.

Once the corn has cooled down enough, cut the kernels from the ear and throw them into a frying pan. Add 2 table spoons of balsamic vinegar, 2 table spoons of teriyaki sauce and 1 table spoons of dried challots. Let the liquid boil off for about 30 seconds.

Next throw in the chicken chunks and let them cook, mixing it around every once in a while. Once the chicken is almost fully cooked add about 1/2 cup of the broth from the artichoke, but make sure not to get any of the bay leaves, cloves or wedges of lime and lemon.

Take out the artichoke and let it cool down.

Boil out most of the water of the corn and chicken mixture and you're good to go.

You can dump the artichoke broth, but I decided to save it and today I used it instead of plain water for some brown rice. I cant wait to taste it.

my kitchen survival list

While I continue to build up, what I like to call, my kitchen survival list, I have come to realize that everyone has pretty much the same nine or ten "tools" plus a few to fit their cooking style.

This is my list.

A chef's knife - Your chef's knife is your best friend in the kitchen. I use a 8" blade, but as important as the blade is, the handle is just that important. The handle should fit comfortably in your hand, you want your knife to be an extension of your hand.

A pairing knife - A pairing knife is used for more precision cutting, I use a 3" blade.

A wooden or plastic cutting board
Balsamic vinegar
Extra Virgin olive oil
fresh garlic
yellow and red onions
ground pepper
salt

Now, the next list are things I always make sure to have but aren't necessities in YOUR kitchen.

A Mandolin - A Mandolin is like the long blade on a cheese grater, but extremely sharp. I like to use a mandolin when I have to do a lot of precision cutting and I don't want to take all day. The one I have has three different sizes allowing for different size cuts.

garlic salt
crushed pepper flakes
teriyaki sauce
dried diced challots - I found these at Cost Plus World Market
dried oregano
a few cans of tomato sauce and paste
garlic infused olive oil, which I also found at Cost Plus.

Recently, I added a fish spatula and a cast iron skillet. I can't wait to break them in!!

My list is by no means finished, a good chef's list should be constantly growing and changing. I am always on the look out for that something to take my cooking to the next level.

Hadar's waffle stack dessert

After we watched the Cerritos fireworks, this 4th of July, my friend allowed me to join in on her exclusive waffle party.

It is easy and simple, which i love, and is absolutely delicious.

What you are going to do is toast a waffle a little bit longer than your desired toastiness (if that's a word), but don't burn it, no one wanted to taste burnt when eating ice cream. When that's done, spread on a layer of of creamy peanut butter. Nwxt is the chocolate, we used regular chocolate spread, but I think it's better if you use melted chocolate. Then, scoop on a scoop of your favorite ice cream, preferably something that doesn't have any pieces in it. I'm a vanilla man, which works beautifully.

To melt chocolate, take two pots, one that fits into the other. Fill the bottom one with water, just enough so that the bottom of the smaller pot is touching the water, but make sure you have, at least, one and a half inches of water. Once the water is hot, add your chocolate. Remember to use plain chocolate, nothing that has a filler or nuts in it. You can also use chocolate chips. Mix it, with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon, until it is completely melted.

The good thing about this is that it's sharable, you really done need to eat more than half the waffle to get the "aw ya" feeling.

Hash Brown Fries

I love french fries, who doesn't, right? I've been making my own fries for a while now, because not only is it cheaper to buy whole potatoes than those frozen bags of ready made fries, but this way I make them just the way i like them and I get to control the amount of oil that goes in.

I call them hash brown fries because I make them in two different ways. the first way, they come out more like hash browns and the second way, they are more like french fries.

For both recipes, all you need is a potato or two, a little bit of oil, your favorite dried spices and a frying pan.

For the hash browns, cut the potatoes along the length of the potato (the short way) about 1/4 inch thick circles, then cut the circles into 1/2 inch strips. Place the potato strips into a bowl with about 1 tablespoon of olive oil per potato. Mix in your spices, I like to use garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder. Throw that into your frying pan, keep an eye it for the first minute or two so that the potatoes dont stick to the pan. When the potatoes start to clump together, dont worry, thats supposed to happen. Once that starts to happen you can either turn the heat way down and let it cook, or you can continue to watch it.


For the french fries, you are going to prepare the potatoes the same way, except for two differences. The first is cut the potatoes along the width (the long way) keeping them about 1/4 inch thick, then cut them into strips about 1/3 inch thick. The second thing you are going to do is once the potatoes are cut up in your bowl, fill the bowl up with water, then drain all the water out. That is going to wash off the "juices" from the potato that keeps the strips clumped together for the hash browns. Additionally, you need to keep an eye on the fries regardless of how high the heat is. Burnt fries are bad fries.

Home made Marinara sauce

I am a HUGE fan of marinara sauce. I would put it on everything I eat, if it wasn't for the looks people give me. I'm talking about everything, from breads to veggies. I can't get enough of it, it's so good!!!

There are plenty of decent jarred marinara sauces out there, but nothing beats some good old fashion homemade marinara sauce. The recipe I've been using for a while now is real simple and mmm mmm good.

I start off with two can of tomato paste, one can of tomato sauce, and if I'm feeling up to it, about three medium tomatoes, if not I use one can of diced tomatoes, including the liquid. If you decide to use fresh tomatoes, you have to get the peel off of them before you cut them up. The easiest way to do that is by blanching them. Once the sauce and paste are in the pot, turn the flame on to medium to high heat, mix it really well so that the tomato sauce and paste are completely mixed together, and cover it.

To blanch your tomatoes, what you want to do is bring a pot of water up to a boil. While the water is heating up, cut out the core (at the top) from each tomato and then cut an X out on the bottom, just deep enough to break the skin. That will help you peel the skin off when you're ready. Once the water is boiling, submerge the tomatoes in the water. Let them sit for about 2 - 3 minutes. After that, put them in a bowl of ice water, this will stop the cooking process. Once the tomatoes have cooled down enough, go ahead and pull the skin off with your fingers. If it's done right the skin will come right off. Then chop them up into small chunks and throw them into the pot.

Next, I like to add onions. I use one medium yellow onion and about a half of a red onion. I dice about half of the onions up really fine and the other half to about the size of my pinky nail. Then, throw that in to the pot.

And of course, what's a marinara sauce without fresh garlic? I use about 4 - 5 cloves of garlic, feel free to use less. and just like the onions I dice half up really fine and the rest into thin slices. and throw that into the pot as well.

By now your sauce is fairly hot, and you should start to see small air bubbles coming up. Now add your seasons, I like to keep it real simple, all I use is some salt, pepper and oregano. But again, feel free to make this your own and add whatever you like.

Reduce the heat to a medium to low heat, and let that sit until you get the desired thickness you want. I like it pretty thick, to the point where if I scoop some out with a spoon, I can almost turn the spoon upside down without it dripping. But if you like it a little liqiudy, mix in about 1/4 of a cup of water. Just keep in mind, if you add more water make sure you add more seasonings.

It should take about 10 to 15 minutes to cook. Don’t walk away from it, because if it burns on the bottom it will be a pain to clean.

Chicken Teriyaki Stir-fry

In keeping with the idea of keeping things simple, I thought I'd share a real simple recipe I have for some hearty stir fry.

As a mega meat lover, eating veggies is a big deal, so when I make stir fry it has got to be mmm mmm good. I like to start off with some of the frozen stir fry mix (you can use fresh vegetables, but I'm in college so I don't always have the time to be cutting up stuff). I add to it four or five white mushrooms, about half a medium red onion and half a medium white or yellow onion (depending on what I have available), I, also,  like to add a jalapeno pepper for a nice kick, and last about a tablespoon of  olive oil. Throw it all in a large nonstick pan, put a lid on it, set it to medium to high heat, and give it a stir every so often.

Next, in a small sauce pan, add about 1/4 cup of water, 1/4 cup teriyaki sauce, and a table spoon of flour. mix so that the water and teriyaki sauce are mixed completely. the flour will clump together at first but once it started boiling it will even out. Set to low heat, stir occasionally, I like to use a rubber spatula, because once the sauce reduces to a paste it will get a little sticky and to me a rubber spatula is the easiest thing to use.

Lastly, the chicken, I try to get shnitzel, which is basically a piece of boneless white meat that was filleted, but if I can't find that I get the regular boneless. I cut the chicken into strips about an inch by half inch pieces (about the size of your thumb, well my thumb anyways). Remember, you don't want to start cooking your chicken before your veggies are done. I like my veggies to be cooked to where the broccoli has just a little crunch to it. Throw the chicken in to a pan (I like to throw in two or three pieces of crushed garlic because I'm a huge garlic fan, but it won't make or break your dish), allow the chicken to cook for about 30 seconds to a minute before seasoning them with salt and pepper. Once your chicken is done cooking, which should take about 3 to 5 minutes, add them to the veggies.

By now your teriyaki reduction should be ready for some sesame seeds. mix about a teaspoon into the sauce. mix the sauce into the stir fry and plate.

It's healthy, hearty and above all tastes great!!!!

Ingredients needed:
two handfuls of your favorite stir fry mix
four or five white mushrooms
half a red onion
half a white or yellow onion
one jalapeno pepper
one tablespoon of olive oil


one piece of boneless white meat chicken
two or three cloves of garlic (crushed)
salt and pepper to taste


1/4 cup teriyaki sauce
1/4 cup water
one tablespoon all purpose flour
one teaspoon sesame seeds

The Easier the Better

I have always loved homey food, and I really enjoy how the simplest ingredients can make you feel right at home.

When I go out to eat with people, they are always masking the flavor of the food, whether we're eating sushi or a burger at a bar, out comes the soy sauce, eel sauce, ketchup, mustard with no moderation. I will admit that on occasion I have been known to use condiments, but when I take a bite of my food I want the first taste to hit my pallet to be from the food not the "add-ons".

Now, I'm not saying there is NO place for condiments because there is, but again in moderation, and instead of using them after you finish cooking, use them IN your cooking.

Whether you're cooking for yourself or for a family, keep it easy, keep it simple.