Holy Crepe, It’s a Crap! September 30, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Fun Gadgets, Recipes.Tags: butter, crepe, egg, flour, gruyere, lemon, milk, prosciutto
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I saw this beautiful and humongous copper frying pan at Housing Works and because it was so damn cheap, I just had to have it. I felt so french, I wanted to ride home with a baguette in the basket of my bike. It also gave me a legit excuse to drink half a bottle of red wine at 2pm. Holla. The whole frenchie thing was making me hungry for crepes. But none of that silly fruity stuff, mines was packed with cheese and pork. Check it check it out.
Crepe with Prosciutto and Gruyere
1 egg
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup and 3 tbs of water
the zest of 1/2 of lemon
pinch of salt
1 tbs of melted butter
1 cup of flour
butter for frying
prosciutto for draping
1/2 cup of gruyere, shredded
This serves 2. Take about 30 minutes total.
Combine the egg, milk, water, zest, salt, and melted butter. Wisk in the flour slowly and continue to beat until the batter is smooth. Let the batter chill for about 10 minutes while you shred the cheese and heat your pan. Add butter to your heated pan. Use a very wide and shallow frying pan, non-stick would be awesome but not essential – obvi I used copper. If your pan is less than 13 inches in diameter, you’re going to want to make 2 separate smaller crepes.
When the butter is melted in the pan, pour the batter and spread thin by tilting the pan. With the heat on medium to almost highish, the crepe will cook for about 2 minutes on each side. When the crepe starts to get little holes and you can slide the crepe around the pan, it’s time flip (yeah good luck with that, mine ripped in like, 4 different parts – smaller crepes will def be easier to flip).
So flip it foreal. Let it cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle on the cheese. When it melts, slide you crepe onto a plate and roll a fatty. Drape your prosciutto along the top of the crepe. Share with your man with some wine on a rainy afternoon. (PS, this would be great served with a side salad of greens with fresh lemon juice.)
Woking On Sunshine September 27, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Fun Gadgets, Recipes.Tags: carrot, chicken, egg, onion, rice, sesami, sirachi, tamari
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I guess I been getting my asian on lately. Got a wok. Now, usually, I am mo patient in the kitchen and I enjoy the projects. But when seasoning my new wok, I thought I would chuck the fiery ass iron out the window onto someone’s cabesa. Lucky R came to my rescue and finished it up for me. Basically, when seasoning a wok, after the initial washing and drying, you wanna wipe a thin coat of veg oil and over a low flame, and heat the metal so it absorbs the oil. First of all, you got to do this 4 times before using. Second of all, if you want an even browning, you have to hold it over the flame to get the sides, I swear you have to be freakin brooke hogan to do that shiv. But you know what? It was worth it, sore arms and all cause shortly after the seasoning debackle, we made some very serious fried rice.
Fried Rice with Carrots, Snow Peas, Chicken and Egg
3 cups cooked white rice (I dare you to try it with brown rice)
handful of snow peas, knotty bits at the end chopped off
1 chicken breast, cubed
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 cup white onion, chopped
2 eggs
1/4 cup tamari sauce (or more if you are into salty)
1/8 cup sesame oil (or more if you are obsessed with that flavor like I am)
sirachi to taste
veg oil for frying
This serves two.
Have all your ingredients cut, ready and accessible cause this shiv is going to go fast like a girl gone wild.
Heat your wok. When the veg oil starts to smoke, throw in your onion and stir like a madman. After 30 seconds, throw in your chicken. It will start to turn white immediately. After 1 minute, add your carrots. One minute later, the snow peas, all the while stirring furiously. When the heat gets back up, toss in your rice. Add tamari, sesame sauce and sirachi. When everything seems to be tasting delicious, make a hole in the middle of the pan and drop your eggs directly onto the wok. Left them fry a bit by continuously giving them real estate on the pan. As the egg hardens, scrape and add to the rice and veg in the pan. Do this until the egg is fully cooked.
Serve immediately in a big ol’ bowl. Offer your guests extra sirachi just in case they like fire mouth.
The key is to have very high heat, so you cook quickly, sear the outside, mainstain crispy veg and make hot food. That’s why the wok is so dope. Hey China, thanks for the wok (you can keep the milk).
Hangover Cure: Food and Naps September 1, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Fun Gadgets, Recipes.Tags: bread, breakfast, dill, egg, salmon
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You know how when you wake up after a night of sampling lots of alcohol, your body seems to think that by adding more toxic shiv to it, it’s gonna make it all better? Yeah. Somehow, we think that a greezy meal is going to “soak up” the alcohol? Well? Not so much. Regardless though, R needed a bit a home lovin to cure what was ailing him. (Ok, fine, it was me.)
Not usually my thing, I set out to cook a nice breakfast. I call it: Eggs.
First, lemme tell you about this nifty ass gadget that makes the egg look like a dome. It’s a silicone egg cup that floats in boiling water. When the pot is covered, the egg is steamed and damn, you got yourself a healthy egg. And if you do it right (unlike my first attempt), you get poached eggs where the yoke is all running and shnotty. yum. Check these cute cups out.
Here is the recipe for two:
2 slices of good country bread, sourdough, pumpernickle or white all work
1/4 lb sliced lox
capers to taste
fresh dill, a few sprigs
4 eggs (dudes. pay the extra buck fitty and buy cage-free eggs.)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
Toast two thick slices of bread. Lay some lox down. Sprinkle with capers. Add your dill. Top with 2 eggs each. Salt. Pepper. Eat. Go back to bed.
By the way, you can poach your eggs any way you want. If you do use these kind of cups, lightly oil them so the eggs slide out. If you want your eggs to have yoke, cook them for 5 minutes. You can also make poaches eggs by just dropping them in a shallow pan of water with a glug of vinegar at a low boil. You’ll get some awesomely ugly poached eggs. You can also use fried, soft boiled or hard boiled eggs in this recipe. No matter what, you’re not going to lose.
She comes for the Beef, stays for the Yoke: Ramen July 6, 2008
Posted by sicatmeow in Recipes.Tags: beef, egg, kimchi, noodles, ramen, scallion, shitake, sirachi, soup, spicy, zucchini
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C came over for lunch cause I wanted to show her my Ramen. I promised her beef to trick her into eating kimchi – totally worked. My obsession for spicy noodles was launched about a year ago, and I still want to eat them all day long. This is also my favorite dish to cook because it is damn cheap (see the receipt below), quick, easy, filling, and CAN BE healthIER when adding fresh ingredients.
The fanciest part of this whole recipe is the poached egg, which for me, has become an absolute essential item. I learned this from David Chang, which I guess everyone knew except for me for the longest. Thanks guys.
Check it. Cook it. Eat it.
3 packets of original flavored Ramen, whichever brand
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
10ish dried shitake mushrooms
1/4 lb slices roast beef from the deli
kimchi (mine’s homemade, that’s for the next post, you can buy it at most specialty food shop these days)
2 scallions, thinly sliced
2 eggs
a dash of vinegar
optional:
snow peas, frozen greens of any kind, bean spouts, cubed uncooked tofu… um, anything you want really.
The longest part is reconstituting the mushrooms. Boil 2 cups of water, add to mushrooms and cover. Let sit for 20 minutes. When done, remove the mushrooms to slice, and reserve the newly created mushroom broth.
Cook the Ramen according to the packet’s directions. For 3 packets, you will need 6 cups of water. Additionally, add the 2 cups of reserved mushroom broth and bring to a boil. Add the Ramen noodles, mushrooms, zuccini and any of the optional ingredients you desire.
Simultaneously, bring a deep frying pan to boil with a dash of vinegar for poaching your eggs. At a soft boil, crack your eggs directly into the water. They should congeal and turn a solid white. After about 2 minutes, the eggs and noodles will be ready.
Add the noodles to a huge bowl for eating lots. With a slatted spoon, grab an egg for each bowl and float on top of the servings. Divide the sliced beef and add to the steaming bowl of noodles. Garnish with kimchi and scallion. For added spice, I recommend using Sirachi, not some vinegar-based hot sauce like Tobasco.
And?.. You’re welcome.
