Sunday, July 30, 2006

Rice Pudding

Whoohoo, we have a new digital camera now, thankfully. Didn't realize how much we used it until it was gone.

Another guest-posting, this time my wife's mother Diane with some old-school rice pudding. It's great. If you've never had rice pudding, this is like a warm bowl of spiced, sweet oatmeal. It would make a great winter-evening dessert.

There are many recipes for this using cooked white rice, but this one is Minute-Rice so you lazy buggers have no excuse to not try this. :)

Also, rather then typing out the recipe, I'm attaching this photo. It's one of those great my-grandma's-had-this-recipe-book-for-a-hundred-years looking thing, all yellowed and covered in tape. It's got character.


Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Crispy Baked Chicken

Crispy Baked Chicken

After a scorching couple of days, today was cool enough that I felt like making something beyond "Ham Sandwich" so here we are. Karen has been growing her own lettuce so we had a great salad with this.

I'm almost fondly thinking of winter, now that I have a cooking blog going...Summer is like the off-season for dishes that are worth showing off a bit. Ah well.

In other news, disaster has struck and our digital camera appears to be broken. :(



Ingredients

4-6 pieces of bone-in chicken, skinless if you prefer
2 cups of corn flakes
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 egg whites (I used Egg Beater, easier)
2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
vegetable cooking spray

Directions

1. Combine corn flake crumbs, mustard, pepper, paprika, garlic powder in a food processor and reduce it to a consistant powder. Add to a large plastic bag, such as a Ziploc.
2. In a shallow bowl, combine egg white and lemon juice.
3. Dip each chicken breast in the egg mixture then coat with the crumb mixture.
4. Place breasts on a baking pan that has been lightly coated with vegetable cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 - 40 minutes.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Chili-Roasted Cod and Braised Kale

Yes, that's right, no sausage or heavy cream to be found here. This is something you can eat and not die, which hopefully will be a theme going forward.

Chili-Roasted Cod

3 pounds fresh cod fillets (about 3/4-inch thick), skin on
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Coat a roasting pan with cooking spray, arrange the cod in a single layer, and dust with the spices.

Pre-heat oven to 350 C and cook for about 8 minutes.



Braised Kale

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1 teaspoon salt
12 turns freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons minced garlic
8 cups (firmly packed) torn and stemmed kale pieces
1 cup chicken stock
Splash cider vinegar

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the onions, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and stir-fry for 2 minutes.

Add the garlic, kale, and chicken stock and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes; add a splash of cider vinegar in the last minute of cooking. Remove from heat and serve immediately.




Friday, July 07, 2006

Grilled Pork Ribs

This is not so much an exact recipe as a general technique thing, or more exactly, to tell you what not to do. Please, don't take the raw portion of ribs and toss them into dry heat such as your oven or BBQ. You'll have a dry, tough, nasty meal and be wondering why. One should do the actual cooking of the ribs with wet heat, and in order of best to worst is: *

a) steaming
b) boiling
c) microwaving (covered dish)

* the exception is smoking, aka "real barbeque" but I don't know anyone who owns a wood-fired smoker and is dedicated enough to stand watch to make sure you have the right temperature for six solid hours. I'd love to try it, but buying a smoker just to do that on occasion isn't terribly sensible.

After this, you "finish" the ribs with hot, dry heat for flavoring and having a bit of crusty texture.

Ok, enough blah-blah and on with the food. Season the ribs generously with a dry rub (recipe follows), then steam the
ribs until they're almost falling off the bone. They won't be terribly attractive at this point, but that's ok. Remove the ribs to a platter, brush them with a liberal coating of a sweet / tangy sauce, and grill them just enough to get some grill marks and a touch of blackening at the edges. Brush on a little more sauce if needed and serve immediately.


Here's a dry rub called "Bone Dust" from Ted Reader, aka "King of the Q" (his cooking show).

½ cup paprika
¼ cup chili powder
3 tbsp. salt
2 tbsp. ground coriander
2 tbsp. garlic powder
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. curry powder
2 tbsp. hot dry mustard
1 tbsp. black pepper
1 tbsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. ground cumin
1 tbsp. cayenne pepper

Run the whole thing through a coffee mill so the powder is consistant. Makes about 2.5 cups.