Broccoli Bonanza!

Today while cooking the previously posted meal, I noticed something in my fridge. Something I do not care to eat, however I do know one person who loves it...BROCCOLI!!!







Ingredients:
Broccoli
White Wine
Port
Ground Black Pepper
Italian Herb Mix
Basil Leaves

So, after cleaning up from the Chef's Original, I decided to cook this Broccoli. I bought them in a bundle and not as Broccoli crowns. Seeing as that happened, I then had to use a knife and cut the crowns off. I suggest using a non-serrated blade knife to make it easier.

Once that was done, I turned the heat to medium and put my saucepan on the stovetop. I then poured in about 1 cup of White Wine and 1/4 cup of Port. Port is very strong, so only a little is needed for this recipe.

Once that started to simmer, I threw the Italian Herb Mix and Ground Black Pepper into the pan. I think 2 or 3 pinches was what I used, use more if you want more I guess? I also threw in about 6 Basil Leaves all shredded up.

About 5 minutes into stirring it, it appeared to be cooked and I turned off the stove. I let the pan sit and continue to cook while I made sure it was cooked. Enjoy.

Chef's Note: I have no idea who at work likes Broccoli, so find me and say Broccoli Five while giving me a high-five. First one to do so, gets some tasty Broccoli!

Chef's Original: Worktime Lunch

Tonight I decided to cook up the mushrooms and bell peppers I had in my fridge. They were not going bad or anything, but were screaming at me to use them. So in spontaneous fashion, I threw together a Chef's Original dish.






Ingredients:
1 lb White Button Mushrooms (diced)
1 Red Bell Pepper (sliced)
1 Green Bell Pepper (diced)
Sake
White Wine
Port
Teriyaki Sauce
Soy Sauce
Sweet and Sour Sauce
Italian Herb Mix
Ground Black Pepper
Butter
Basil Leaves

I began by placing my saucepan on the stove and setting the temperature to medium. I grabbed the Butter and put about 1/3 of a stick in the pan. I poured in about 1/2 a cup of the White Wine to start things off, followed up by 1/4 cups of Sake and Port. To this mixture, I added in a dash or three of Teriyaki Sauce, Soy Sauce, and Sweet/Sour Sauce. I then threw the Red Bell Pepper slices into the pan. On top of that went the Mushrooms, which were quickly followed up with by the Green Bell Pepper pieces.

To top this off, I added in a healthy dusting of the Italian Herb Mix and Ground Black Pepper. I then used a pair of tongs to mix everything together evenly. Make sure to stir every once in awhile for everything to cook properly.

About 2 minutes into the cooking process, I added in some Basil Leaves. I want to say about 1/4 cup to 1/2 a cup. I'm not sure, I just grabbed a bundle of the Basil and started tearing them into small pieces and tossing them in the pot. So don't use a measurement here, use your love of Basil. Go Nuts!

I stirred them in and let the concoction cook for about 5 more minutes, stirring occasionally. You can check to see if the vegetables are done by observing the Peppers being soft, as well as the Mushrooms being spongey. If you can't tell, taste testing is always a good plan! Enjoy!

This is for my coworkers: If you are the first one to come to my desk tomorrow at work, and say I LOVE MUSHROOMS, you get a free lunch!

Shrimp a la Salad

I decided that a seafood dish was needed to be done. So, I created an amazingly tasty one.











Ingredients:
1/2 lb Shrimp
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Teriyaki Sauce
3/4 cup Sake
1 cup Port Vino
1/4 cup Lemon Juice
1/3 cup Italian Herb Mix
dash of Ground Black Pepper
dash of Garlic Salt
Salad
Salad Dressing (I used Catalina)
1 sm Tomato
Asiago Cheese

I started off mixing all the ingredients together but the Shrimp, Salad, Salad Dressing, and Tomato. I then whisked it all together into a consistent mix, which of course the Shrimp then went into. I marinaded it this way for approximately 10 minutes.

I turned my stovetop to medium heat and put my large saucepan on. Once it was warming up quite well, I poured the Shrimp and marinade directly into the pan. I made sure each Shrimp was not overlapping another so as to not mess up the cooking times.

I stirred this on occasion and once the Shrimp turned orange/red then were done so I turned off the heat. I had a small salad ready with a small sliced Tomato. I then used two skewers to skewer 4 Shrimp and place on top of the salad. I added a small amount of dressing to the side of the skewers along with a pinch of Asiago Cheese. Enjoy!

Beefy Burgers

Yesterday when out food shopping, I picked up 4 'ranchero' burgers from Central Market. This is one of their pre-made burger patty recipes that I wholeheartedly endorse. It appears to be a basic mix of beef, red onions, and jalapeno peppers. So tasty.

Ingredients:
4 Ranchero Burger Patties
4 Wheat Hamburger Buns
Shredded Cheeses
Spicy Mustard
Butter

I chose to cook these in my saucepan since I do not have a grill and the smoke from my cast iron pan is intense. I then put in about 1/2 a stick of butter into the saucepan, which I turned the heat to medium on, and let it mostly melt.

I then put in 2 burger patties at a time to make sure I had enough space to move them around when I flipped them. I flipped them about every 2 minutes to make sure there was an even cook through them.

I did this for probably 10 minutes, which I then cut open 1 patty to check if it was cooked properly. It was, so I served up the 2 that were cooked and put the other 2 on.

Once I took the 2 off, I had 2 of the Wheat Burger Buns waiting, which I cut in half already and put some Spicy Mustard on them. So, it went from bottom to top: burger bun, mustard, burger patty, shredded cheeses, and topped off with the top bun. Such a tasty way to cook burgers, so enjoy!

Porto Port

After eating out last night and enjoying a Port demi-glase on my deliciously tasty Beef Tenderloin, I was intrigued by Port Vino. I have never cooked with this and thought, hmm... why haven't I!? So I picked a bottle up. This is the main result of the day after.





Ingredients:
2 Portobello Mushrooms
Italian Herb Mix
Sake
Port Vino

I put my saucepan on the stovetop and set the temperature to medium. I then put a 1/8 of a stick of butter in the pan since I love cooking with butter. Once that started to sizzle/melt, I poured in about 3/4 a cup of Port and a 1/4 cup of Sake, then I swirled it around to coat the bottom of the saucepan quickly. I put the Portobello Mushrooms in gill side down and covered the pan. I put the Italian Herb Mix in at this point, approximately 1/3 of a cup. After a few minutes I flipped the mushrooms. Check to see if they are spongey, which when they are it means they are cooked properly. Take off and serve to your own desire. Enjoy!

A Taste of Autumn

Today I had several cooking ingredients to use and NO IDEA what to do with them. So, I chose to throw a dish together that ended up creating a sense of Autumn. I was quite surprised since I did not follow any sort of plan with the dish, and just created it as I went along.





Ingredients:
6 sm White Sweet Onions
1 cup diced Chives
Herbed Butter
Tomato Sauce (mentioned earlier in blog)
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Italian Herb Mix
2/3 cup of Port Vino

I began by eyeing the White Sweet Onions I had on hand, and decided to cut them in sections. I want to say 3 or 4 sections per onion. I also had my Chives on hand, and decided to dice those up like nobody's business.

Once those were ready, I put in about 1/2 a stick of the Herbed Butter I had into my large saucepan. I believe it was Tuscan Herbed Butter offhand. I set the heat to medium and let the butter melt...mostly at least. In went the Sweet Onions and I stirred them around to coat them with the delicious butter. After about 30 seconds, in went the diced Chives. Stirred again to mix it all together properly. At this point I added in the Ground Black Pepper and Garlic Salt. Both of these were a medium to light dusting over everything. Then the Italian Herb Mix, which was a healthy dosing around 1/3 of a cup. Mix everything together then add the 2/3 cup of Port Vino. Stir everything together again. I then put in about 3/4 to 1 cup of Tomato Sauce and stirred everything together again.

About a minute or so after this, the Onions appear to have caramelized and I deduced that everything was cooked properly so I dished it all out. I used a small bowl to serve it just as is and a small dish for having it over Couscous. Either way, was amazingly delicious! Enjoy!

Quick Lunchtime Appetizer Snack

Today I was perusing a newly purchased book on appetizers and saw that a lot of them seem quite tasty. After that, I picked up my previous book on appetizers and decided to quickly throw something together for a snack.







Ingredients:
Wheat Thins Crackers: Tuscan Herb
Tomato Sauce (recipe from this blog!)
Italian Herb Mix
Shredded Cheese

In making this, the recipe is very simple. Cracker, some Tomato Sauce on top, then choose what cheese to put on top, and finally topping it with a light dusting of Italian Herb Mix. The cheeses I chose were Gruyere, Asiago, and a Quattro Fromagio mix. I then put them in the microwave for 25 seconds, took off and ready to eat. Enjoy.

Asparagus Pt. 2

Today I decided to cook up another batch of Asparagus I had in my fridge. Originally I did not enjoy Asparagus, however after trying it in the past year or two, I have found it is quite delicious and I was an idiot for not enjoying it earlier!






Ingredients:
Asparagus
Sun Dried Tomato Herbed Butter
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Port Vino
Tomato Sauce (recipe previously mentioned in blog!
Italian Herb Mix

I started off by placing my large saucepan on the stovetop and setting the heat to medium. I then took my butter and put about 1/2 to 3/4 of a stick worth in the pan. I covered this with the lid to speed up the melting process.

Once I covered the pan, I took my Asparagus and made sure all of it looked good and hadn't gone bad. Then, I put it in the saucepan once most of the butter had melted.

Stir every once in awhile to make sure the butter gets on all of the Asparagus. About 2 minutes into the cooking process, I added in a light coating of Garlic Salt and a good amount of Ground Black Pepper. At this time, I also added in about 1/3 cup of Port Vino. Stir to make sure it all mixed properly.

Stir once in awhile and taste test to make sure it is cooked properly to your individual tastes.

Once mine was ready, I took out and added some chunky Tomato Sauce and a dusting of Italian Herb Mix. Enjoy.

Andouille Sausage w/Rice

Today I got home from work and decided to whip up a quick thing for lunch tomorrow and dinner tonight. I decided to use some Andouille Sausages...with rice from my rice cooker. A tasty quick meal that leaves everyone full!






Ingredients:
3 links of Andouille Sausage
1 cup Rice
Italian Herbs

This recipe is so simple, only 3 ingredients plus water. So nice, so easy. Start off with making your rice. I used my rice cooker with 1 cup of rice, 1.25 cups of water. Then just clicked it on and that was that.

Right after that I grabbed a small pot and filled it up about 2/3 with water. Set on stovetop and turn the heat to medium or just above that. Put your links of Andouille Sausage in there. DO NOT COVER IT! IT WILL FOAM OVER AND BE EVERYWHERE! TRUST ME!

The Andouille Sausage links will float to the top when they are close to being done. The water should be boiling at this point, you might want to turn the heat down. You also might notice the massive amount of foam forming as well, which does go away somewhat. Once they have been floating/boiling for a few minutes, turn the heat off and take them out of the pan and onto a plate or cutting board. Cut them into small sections.

The rice should be done just before the Andouille Sausages are done cooking as well. So prepare it as you will. I chose to put rice down first, Andouille on top in a dorky pattern, then a sprinkling of Italian Herbs. Enjoy.

Dad's Ribs on the Grill Recipe

It seems I now know one of my sources of inspiration for cooking...my father. He has even sent me a delicious recipe for ribs that I think I will try this upcoming weekend!
This will be as he sent it to me, so not my normal style of posting, enjoy the change:

After securing a couple of racks of baby back ribs at $2.99/lb, you need to have your hickory chips and special rub ready to prepare the ribs:








The Kansas City Rub:
My Father's Favorite!
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/4 cup Paprika
1 tbs Black Pepper
1 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Chili Powder
3/4 tbsp Garlic Powder
3/4 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Cayenne Powder

Combine all ingredients and place in air tight container. I use my food processor to mix all together.

Trim up ribs, remove skin membrane from back, and apply rub to all surfaces prior to putting ribs in rib rack.

Cook at 275 degrees for 2.5 hours on Weber gas grill or equivalent before applying sauce.

Remove ribs from rack, place on grill, and get ready for application of Sweet Baby Ray's sauce.

Apply to one side of the ribs and cook for 15 minutes. Flip over ribs, apply to other side and cook for another 15 minutes. Total cook time = 3 hours.

Slice up the ribs and serve. Be careful though, you may never know who might show up for ribs...

Thanks for the recipe Dad!

Appetizer: Asparagus

This was simpler idea than the previously posted Asparagus and Mushrooms. This is just the Asparagus, but a little different. I like to change my recipes a little bit here and there because the exact same thing is just too boring! Let's get to it...





Ingredients:
Asparagus
Butter
Italian Herbs
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Salt
Sake

I began this recipe by cutting off the base of the Asparagus spears. I did this because I have noticed that the bottom end of the spear is the first part to get soggy and/or go bad. So instead of risking that ruining the entire thing, I just cut it off. Oh well, it's compost.

I put my large saucepan on the stovetop and turn the heat to medium. If you have not noticed by now, medium heat is my best friend for cooking. It lets me take care of many things at once since I have a pretty good idea how most things cook at that temperature. Back to point, I then grab a stick of Butter and cut approximately 1/3 of the stick off and toss it gently into the saucepan. It should melt pretty quickly, but good thing we have everything else ready.

The Asparagus spears should go in once the Butter is mostly melted. I just tossed them in there, no need to be gentle. Once they are in there, I moved the saucepan back and forth while stirring with a wooden spoon to make sure they are all liberally covered in Butter. I place the saucepan back down and turn to my spices. Ground Black Pepper first, followed by the Italian Herbs, and rounded out with the Garlic Salt. Choose your own amounts to fit your tastes, or to not fit your tastes and try something new!

About 3 minutes in, I grab my bottle of Sake and pour in about 1/3 of a cup. I do not recall how much exactly, I poured straight from the bottle. It sizzle right away, sounds amazing! Stir everything together to make sure the Sake gets to every one of the spears.

Taste test on occasion to make sure it's cooked properly. Once done, take out and serve. I chose to serve mine with a small Campari Tomato and a dash of those Italian Herbs and Sesame Seeds on top. Enjoy.