cooking @ home

Archive for September, 2007

Mac? As in “Mac and Cheese”. In any event. that’s what I finally decided to call this dish (… after having ten other names along the way.) Yep, this one was tough because it reminds me of so many different combinations of things. It’s down-and-basic super comfort food. It’s so easy I thought not to include it, until a few friends said “gee, I never thought of that”. It’s so easy you could make this in your sleep. It’s so easy a caveman … yadda yadda.

This puppy is part homemade “Hamburger Helper”, part cheesburger meets pasta, part Sloppy Joe Italiano, part pizza meets macacroni and cheese. Whatever you call it, you have to call it: Yummy! Kids will adore it; and that’s kids all the way up to 90 years old!

Seriously though, speaking of children, this is a great meal to do with your kids, esepcially the older ones. This could be their first introduction to actually cooking a meal (under your supervision). Who knows? Start them out now, and in twenty years maybe an old and gray Gordon Ramsey will be cursing at them on national television. LOL!

Pizza Burger Mac
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

2 pounds pounds ground beef
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 8 oz boz mac and cheese
1 28 oz jar spaghetti sauce (meat or garden style)
greated parmesan cheese

to taste: salt, pepper, garlic

In one pan, your favorite cooking oil, fry up some chopped onions to the translucent stage, add minched or powdered or fresh garlic (unless the kids hate it), then the ground meat, season and brown up.

In your large pot, grab your favorite box of macacroni and cheese and make that according to directions. Meanwhile on a third pan heat up your sauce. When all, start placing mac and cheese in until you have the desired mix. (You can either toss it all in or do this as above so that you can have some mac and cheese lefover).

Do likewise with the spaghetti sauce, add until you achieve your desired mix. Stir up and toss some grated parmegana on top, stir some more. Serve (preferrably with toasted garlic and parm bread or rolls.) Depending, should make four to six servings.

What do I mean by “everyday”? Well, “average” is not the right word, as if it were merely “average” I wouldn’t be eating it, let alone making it. “Normal”, maybe more accurate a term, though not so appealing sounding.

Let me start anew. A good friend of mine said to me I should stop pretending to be “Top Chef” and talk about the regular stuff, that, afterall, my site is called “Cooking at Home”. As usual (hehe) my good friend is neither completely right nor completely wrong (and so, same applies to me.) In my opinion, she’s “wrong” in that, average home cooking needn’t be boring or merely comfort food. I definitely say we should explore, try new things, imbibe in different regions and cultures, and take our everyday meals to a new level when possible.

That said though, she has a point too. There are times I can get a little too much out there. Actually that’s not totally true: “out there” is not a bad thing. It’s the sometimes overlooking the “normal”, everyday food that is something that can happen to me. Easily. So, I guess the old adage, keep your eyes on the stars, but your feet planted on the ground applies here.

So, I have to remember that besides doing Hawaiian Shrimp and Morrocan Kabobs, that I need to remember to cover the plain ol’ basics too With this in mind, I present the everyday salad, the salad that I have made the most The four veggies are “must haves”; what makes the salad “zing” is the fresh produce and the combination of spices and herbs. Enjoy.

Everday Tossed Salad
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients and spices:

2 stalks of hearts of romaine, cut down to the best parts
3 big tomatoes, Jersey when in season, (6 or 7) plum tomatoes otherwise
1 medium onion, red preferrably, yellow for more “bite”
1 cucumber, cubes over slices, semi-deseeded
salt
pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
basil, dried
oregano, dried
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, from container, but you could use fresh

Check the lettuce for any outer browning, and take those leaves off for the trash. Cut the top very green parts of the romaine else they will wilt in your salad quickly. Cut off the bottom hard core too. Now that we’re down to the prime part of the lettuce, give it a rough cut and place in large bowl.

Tomatoes, with a pairing knife take out the top core, slice into chunks. Red onions, take off skin, dice. Cucumbers, if very seedy, use edge of tablespoon and deseed. Mix the produced in bowl with hands.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, garlic powder, just a little onion powder (optional), basil and organo. Now mix everything together well in the bowl using your clean hands. Now add some more seasonings and mix again. This is to ensure you’ve plenty of “spice” in there.

Finally, add in the grated parm and “toss” or mix one last time. The powedered ingredients and the parm with not only add great taste, but they will also help “mop” up some of the liquid.

Place bowl in refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes; this will do two things, obviously it will chill it up more, but (almost like a marinade) it will give some time for the produce to take in those seasonings and everything to mix together well.

Serve salad in individual bowls and top with your favorite salad dressing. My personal favorites are: Creamy Italian, Ceasar (regular or with Bacon), Ranch Dressing with Peppercorns. For less fatting, non-creamy: Regular ol’ Italian or for something special, Raspberry Vinaigrette.

I’ll no doubt add to this later — that is, I can easily see having a bunch of little articles on the topic of “cooking math” — but for now, there’s some simple little rules you should know about certain things. We’re talking quantities and proportions, or to put it another way: just how much of what goes with (or into) what.

Funny thing is, a lot of this stuff I’ve stumbled on over time … You can watch these cooking shows on TV and almost never be told the proportions. And hey, let’s face it. As much as one might want to, we just don’t always run back here on the web to find out the recipe of the show that was just on. That means you need a fall-back, a guideline, a rule of thumb.

Among those things that took me a long time to find out was making emulsions and vinaigrette dressings. You see this all the time on TV with the herbs and stuff put in the blender and the olive oil on top. They’ll often tell you everything else in exact amounts, but when it comes to pouring that oil it always seems they eye-ball it, turn off the blender and go “there, ain’t that good”. That was no help.

Anyways, the golden rule is roughly three parts oil to “the acid”. Ok, wait. Aren’t we talking about vinaigrettes? Yes. Then why did you just say “acid”. Don’t I mean “vinegar”? Well, it often is vinegar … but it could be one of three things, namely vinegar, citrus (lemon juice, lime juice, orange juice) or alcohol. Just remember the oil is the 3 parts, the vinegar or other is the 1 part.

Coincidentally just to prove that nothing in cooking — except for baking — is ever exact, and there’s always somebody who does something different … I saw a big-time cooking guy on televsion yesterday who said it was 1 part vinegar to 3 parts “of all of the rest of the ingredients” — not just the oil. Since he was putting mustard and honey in plus a lot of fresh herbs, that meant the oil part was indeed somewhere between 2 and 2.5 parts.

I’m adding this to my article here a few weeks after initial publication: Last night I saw an old episode of Wolfgang Puck’s Cooking Class with the episode featuring salads. At the end of the program he talks about the perfect vinaigrette (which contains mustard and honey) and he says 4-to-1-to-1 as in 4 parts oil to the one part vinegar and the one part mustard (though you’ll notice he left out the honey part). So that still ends up being very close to what the other guy had said, that’s still around 3 parts oil to “everything else” if you do the math. Yes, it’s presented differently; it seems to be a departure at first, but mathmatically comes out to about the same place as the rest.

So, making sauces, vinaigrettes, etc. Remember 3 (oil) to 1 is the ratio. Unless you want it otherwise. Adjust as you see fit.

Did this one with a decidedly Moroccan influence in the marinade. Yes I know, when you see in the list below I’ve used soy sauce, you’ll surely recognize that isn’t exactly at the top of the list of ingredients for Rabat. Point is it works (and why I say the marinade was “influenced” as opposed to straight out “Moroccan”.)

Btw, you might also think lamb more than beef when considering this North African country, and you’d be correct that lamb, goat and such are high on the list. But beef is a close second to lamb there these days. That said then, do feel free to substitute lamb if you wish. I just can’t give a 100% guarantee that the amounts of spices in the marinade would work without making adjustments or not. Right now, every thing is calculated for the stronger beef flavor. If you try it with lamb, my instincts tell me to half the cumin, and to then add the same amount you just subtracted with the same amount of dried mint. If you have fresh, all the better.

Mistakes. Got to make at least one and share it with you so you don’t do the same.

First time I made this I thought I could do a bit of cost-cutting by buying stewing beef. The thinking behind this was that the combination of the marinade before cooking, along with the “raw” fire from the grill would be plenty enough to break down the fibers of the cheaper cut. Sadly, it wasn’t enough. I ended up with something amazingly flavorful but overly chewy. (Told you about the mistake, but not the fix: Ended up cutting the pieces to every thing smaller, added to a pan, put in water and red wine, then carrots, mushrooms and some pieces of other leftover veggies. Stewed for an hour and a half and served atop egg noodles.)

True, one might think that a longer stay on the grill would have a difference, and it may have, but it would also have definitely burned the veggies on the skewers to a char. (In short, that wouldn’t have worked either.) This next time I made it, I took care of that “mistake” from the very start of the process: Purchase a nice slab of beef and then cut to cubes yourself. Nothing expensive, nothing too cheap, in this case the “Goldilocks” middle works out nicely. Another advantage by doing this, the precut stewing beef in the case doesn’t try to be unform; makes sense as it’s not as important in a stew. When it comes to kabobs though, the more uniform each cut of meat is and keeping the chunks of veggies on the skewers similiar sizes, makes for the best cooking.

Beef Shish Kabobs
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:
2 pounds beef, precut into chunks
2 medium red onions, chunks
1 red pepper, chunks
1 green bell pepper, chunks

marinade:

2/3 cup soy sauce
1/8 cup olive oil
1 tbsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp tumeric
2 tbsp minced garlic
salt
pepper
lemon juice

Marinade in fridge for at least one hour. Longer the better, if you can do two to four hours, fantastic. You can keep the marinade to baste while on the grill, but I did not find that necessary.

Alternate onto metal skewers: beef, onion, red pepper, beef, onion, green pepper.

Place on grill. Keep turning sides as necessary, about every two minutes. Should be done in 10-12 minutes for medium doneness.

Btw, here’s “ye olde temperature chart” for beef: rare 120°F-125°F, mediium rare 130°F-135°F, medium 140°F-145°F, medium well 150°F-155°F, well done 160°F and over.

To keep this recipe with its Moroccan theme intact, suggest serving kabobs with or over couscous; second choice: saffron rice. That said, any nice rice will do. The marinade is so very flavorful even a regular, unadorned, slightly buttery long-grain white rice will be perfect.

If you’re looking at the photo: Yes, I know; looks a lot like salmon, but it’s actually trout. Can’t remember what kind it was called at the local supermarket, but it was definitely a rainbow trout (wild or farmed? Unsure.) Turns out trout can have white, pink or orange flesh depending upon a bunch of factors that, well, didn’t really matter. Hey, if it tastes good, that’s what matters. And the color doesn’t mean any kind of change in how to cook it.

Speaking of which? How to cook it? This is one of the simplest of recipes around. But, before getting to that, I thought I’d talk briefly on the health benefits of eating fish.

Fish is high in protein with close to 20%. Yes, they are often fatty (the ocean ones more than the fresh water ones,) but still low in the bad fats. It even has lots of good fats: as in omega-3 essential fatty acids. What are they? Among the list of items they: help reduce inflammation, decrease the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease, help to control our cholesterol, help people with depression and anxiety disorders, help infants’ brains and eyes to develop and function properly, help to heal dry skin.

… But no, you can’t use them to help win the lottery, find the perfect job or stop your children from using up their long distance cellular minutes.

Fish also is a rich source of long chain n-3 PUFA which is beneficial in fighting and used in treating hypertriglyceridaemia, thrombosis, and inflammatory diseases. Oh yeah, and let me mention again something about eating: They taste good!

One last item. If you’re interested in a breakdown of calories, fat, sodium, protein and the rest, check out the chart over at CNN which is based on information from the USDA.

With that, let’s get to it. The best way to cook fish is the simple way with few ingredients.

Grilled Rainbow Trout with Dill and Lemon
©2007 Harry Kenney

ingredients:

Two large trout filets
Dill
Salt
Pepper
Oil
One lemon

Coat fish with olive or vegetable oil on both sides. Season to liking with salt, pepper, dill, lemon juice. Place on grill (or frying pan) skin side down. Turn over once after about four minutes. Three to four minutes later, turn a second time. Take off grill. Plate with sides. A splash more lemon juice on top right before serving.