Sunday, June 29, 2014

June 29 -- Pork and Pico

I went back to pork ribs tonight with a little pico wrapped in a tortilla. I took the pork ribs and seasoned them. I threw them in the oven for an hour at 300 for a nice slow cook.

While they were cooking, I put three plum tomatoes, four green onions, and two cloves of garlic in the food processor to make fresh pico de gallo.

The pork and pico were wrapped in tortillas for dinner. Nothing too exciting but an easy meal.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

June 22 -- Ravioli Lasagna

I make about one lasagna a year because it takes a while to construct and cook. Lasagna was a suggestion last night but everybody makes lasagna. It's not unique, but with ravioli, that's different.

I took one package of ground beef, browned and drained as the ravioli boiled. Then I greased a casserole with olive oil and layered ravioli at the bottom, put on a layer of meat, sauce, and mozzarella, then repeated the layers. Into the oven for 40 minutes at 375 and it was done. It made a lot of food, good for the week when I don't feel like cooking after camp.

Sunday, June 15, 2014

June 15 -- Leftovers... so a side of risotto

As the party wound down last night, we realized there were 15 uneaten chicken parmigiana left in the chafing dish. They brought out plenty of containers and I was the lucky recipient of two pieces of chicken along with roasted potatoes and the string bean mix. This would present a problem, what should I cook for my adoring readers?

Phyllis, who is an excellent 4th grade teacher and an excellent cook too, told me "risotto is easy" after I found a kit on a one week sale at Aldi in the early spring. I found the last container of arborio rice at Pathmark and went to down. A little arborio goes a long way in risotto and I'm going to have fun with this one.

I did the arborio the way I was told. Chicken broth after you slightly roast the rice in butter and oil, 2 minutes. You put 3 cups of broth in a pot and bring it to a boil. Drop in your rice. After the rice soaks up the broth, pour on one more cup and let that simmer until it's all soaked up.

While soaking, go to town with your food processor. Tonight was parsley, garlic, and a bit of green onion from last week's dish. I poured in a half cup of parmesan and topped with a few turns of milled black pepper. As with every time I make rice, there is a ton left over so that will be a side this week. I am thinking a bit of chicken chopped into chunks.

This recipe was the basis for my cooking this week.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

June 8 -- Gaucho Style Steak

I picked Argentina to win the World Cup that begins this week so I figured I'd go with a traditional Argentine supper, steak and roasted vegetables.

The steak was prepared on the Foreman grill then slices and put back on the grill. I like my meat done well. I wish I could've gotten it crispy like burnt ends but it was good.

The vegetables were yellow squash, zucchini, and bell pepper pan fried in a little olive oil and black pepper. They came out nice and tender and added some good color to the plate.

Finally, there was chimichurri, a parsley-olive oil based spread for the steak. I misread the recipe and added too much vinegar. I tried to cut it by adding some brown sugar to cut back the acid then drained off some of the liquid. It was good, but for the leftovers, I think I will make another batch of chimichurri since I have plenty of garlic, oil, and parsley.

Here's the official Food Network recipe.

As for the World Cup, everyone I know is from somewhere. I have students rooting for Brazil, Argentina, and Portugal. Another friend is for Bosnia. I have the blood of several nations in the tournament running through my veins, five off the top of my head. So let's hope it's a good tournament without anyone being headbutted in the chest.

Edit: Round two I did just oil, garlic, parsley, and two chopped scallions. It is exceptional. I can't wait to use it on chicken or some toasted Italian bread.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

June 1 -- Stuffed Mexi-Chicken

I wanted to make stuffed turkey croquets with Thanksgiving dinner inside, stuffing, cranberry sauce, but there is no turkey to be found in June so I settled for chicken stuffed with pico.

I split 3 large chicken breasts for the filling. The pico is a large tomato, a few sprigs of cilantro, three cloves of garlic, and four diced scallions. I threw them in a the food processor and pulsed it a couple times. It smells great.

I will stuff the chicken with the pico and some queso blanco crumbling cheese and top with sour cream. The chicken will be put in the oven for 20 minutes or so at 400. I'll put the stuffing in with five minutes to go. A light meal for the hot days ahead.