Lemon Chive Trout and Bok Choy

Challenge Accepted!  Make a trip to the farmer's market without looking up recipes ahead of time.  Purchase meat that still has it's face in addition to a vegetable and a fruit that you have never eaten before.  Prepare a meal from said purchases.  This challenge was not extended to me, however I was invited along for the journey.  The resulting meal was quite tasty, although I am not sure I will ever cook it the same way again.

Yet again I am lacking pictures of my culinary adventures.  I sincerely apologize for that, but I should be able to make it up to you when my co-chef posts about his challenge.

We were smart enough to have the farmer's market friendly employees clean our fish and remove the head for us.  Technically when we bought it the head was still on, just not when we took it out of the market.  This left the very interesting task of filleting the fish to us.  Dear reader, please hear me when I tell you that there is a reason the world has butchers.  That reason is so that someone can do this task for you.  I am glad that we undertook this assignment purely for the fact that I learned the lesson that just because you can do something does not mean that it is worth it.  We found some youtube videos and other internet instructions for filleting a fish and tried to follow them.  It is difficult work, especially if you do not have a boning knife.  Once you get the fillets cut off of the fish, then you have the super fun task of pulling out all of the tiny little bones.  I recommend needle nose pliers or tweezers for this task.  Getting the fish ready is definitely labor intensive, get someone else to do it unless you plan on roasting the fish whole.

Once you do remove your fish meat from the bones, the fun can begin.  We saute'd the fillets in a lemon chive butter.  It cooks very quickly, but the resulting dish is tender and delicious.  In addition to the trout we made ginger garlic bok choy.  If you have never had bok choy then please please try this.  It is like a cross between spinach and cabbage and the texture is wonderful.  I got thess recipes from the food network, but I modified it slightly so that the flavor profile would meld together.

Lemon Chive Trout with Ginger Garlic Bok Choy

Ingredients
2 lemons
5 Cloves of Garlic
1.5 Inch of Ginger
Bunch of Chives
1 Scallion
1 Head of Bok Choy
4 Trout Fillets
4 Tablespoons of Butter
2 Tablespoons of soy sauce

Grate the ginger
Grate the garlic
Chop the chives
Dice the scallions
Zest the Lemons

Mix all of these togther and separate into two prep bowls.  Into one prep bowl juice one of the lemons and then mix in 3 tablespoons of the butter, place this one in the fridge.  Set the other one aside.

Roughly chop the bok choy, stopping about 2 inches from the core.  Season the fish with salt and pepper.  In a large skillet (we used a wok), heat a little bit of olive oil and then saute your ingredients in the set aside prep bowl.  After 2 minutes add the bok choy and toss.  Then add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and let it cook while you prepare the fish.  Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.  In another skillet place your remaining butter and a scoop of your combined butter (save some to top the cooked fish with).  Cook the fish for about 3-4 minutes on each side.  Flip with two spatulas, not tongs.  When done transfer to aplate, top with dots of your combined butter and a squeeze of lemon from your extra lemon.

Happy Dining!

Stuffed Turkey Burgers

The idea to make burgers was put into my head by the show How I Met Your Mother.  In one episode Marshall searches for the best burger in New York, and so I consequently wanted burgers.  I am trying to be more mindful of my spending and I wanted to make the burgers instead of going to find a pricet burger.  I have always been a fan of cheeseburgers, and I particularly love to up the cheese level of dishes.  A while back I stumbled upon a stuffed cheeseburger where you put cheese inside the burger and on top.  This definitely met my qualifications for upping the cheese level of a burger.  I decided to take it a step further this time and went searching for stuffed burger recipes.  I stumbled upon an awesome one by Sonny Anderson and after some modifications I achieved a delicious success.  So delicious in fact that I only remembered to take a picture of these delightful things after I had consumed them all.  To be fair to myself though, they weren't exactly pretty, just very very tasty.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground turkey
Pepper
Tony Cacheres (or salt, garlic powder and onion powder)
Hot Sauce
Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 Onion (Diced Finely)
1/2 Pint of Mushrooms (Diced Finely)
4 Strips of Bacon
Blue Cheese Crumbles

This will make 4 very larger burgers.  Add the pepper, hot sauce, Cajun seasoning and Worcestershire sauce to the ground turkey and use your hands to mix it together.  Don't work it too much, just enough to incorporate the ingredients.  I didn't measure when I did this, I just eyeballed a good coating of seasoning and a few big splashes of the sauces.  Let this mixture sit in the fridge for a while to let the flavors combine.

In a large skillet brown the bacon until it is crispy then remove it from the pan to a plate lined with paper towels to cool.  Add the onions to the bacon grease and saute until the soften then add the mushrooms.  Cook until the mushrooms are tender.  Remove from the hear and crumble in the bacon.  Allow the mixture to cool.

Take your turkey mixture from the fridge and cook a small piece to test your seasoning, add more salt (cajun seasoning) if needed.  Divide the turkey into 4 equal portions and then divide each portion in half.  On a large plate flatten one of your halves into a very thin pancake.  Add a palm full of your bacon mix to the center of your pancake and then sprinkle on some blue cheese crumbles.  Top with the other half of your turkey portion, I flattened them in my hand before topping them.  Push the edges together to seal up the burger and then set aside.  Repeat for the other three burgers.  Grill the burgers for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side.

We ate these without buns because I don't eat buns, but I think that if you can handle the carbs then a bun definitely will help this feel more like a burger.  I topped mine with a slice of cheddar cause I am weird like that, and I loved it.  The blue cheese really pops out of every bite and the bacon is subtle but present in the background.  I served these with oven baked zucchini chips (coat zucchini slices in egg wash and then Parmesan bread crumb mix and bake at 350 for 30 minutes).

Happy Dining!

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

I was skeptical about this latest installment of the Mission Impossible tome.  The second and third movies were what I would call good not great.  They highly overused the masks that can make someone look identically to other people, when you have no way of knowing if the person on the screen is actually who they are pretending to be you definitely lose something in the film.

The premise of the Ghost Protocol follows the formula that Mission Impossible movies know and love.  A mission goes terribly awry and everyone is disavowed, then the real mission begins.  In this case the gang has to break in to the Kremlin in order to extract information about a terrorist.  While there the mission is sabatoged and they are blamed for an explosion and labeled as terrorists.  This is not new territory for the MI crew but it always makes for an interesting story.

All in all I would definitely recommend this movie as a weekend distraction.  The action is exciting, the movie is pretty fast paced.  Cruise does a pretty good job once again reprising his roll as Ethan Hunt, but Jeremy Renner and Simon Pegg steal the show.  Pegg's computer man turned field agent is remarkably funny as he strikes an almost Mr. Bean-esque quality without taking it so far that you can't believe he was ever allowed to be a spy.  Renner plays an analyst who gets swept up into the mission, and he does so very well.  It is an MI film so you can expect Tom Cruise to dangle precariously from a high building, someone to hang from a wire dangerously close to the ground and someone to have a secret that the team does not know about.

If you are looking for an escape movie where things blow up and there are lots of hot people, then this film is for you.

Happy Viewing!

Shrimp and Grits

I was very kindly invited to spend Thanksgiving with my little brother's girlfriend's family this year.  With my parents overseas, I am always a bit of a Thanksgiving orphan.  It was nice to be welcomed into another family for the day, everyone was so kind and welcoming.  When I asked what I could bring I was told to be creative.  I decided to go with a traditional Southern dish, shrimp and grits.  But as usual, I put my own spin on it.  Be warned - this is not a healthy recipe.

I made WAY too much, as I had three pans about this size.  I took two pans to Thanksgiving and I have one left over for me to eat this week.  I was pretty pleased with the results.  My inspiration again comes from the ever lovely Paula Deen.  A coworker of mine often makes her tomato grits recipe for work functions, and it is always delicious.  I decided to make "Shrimp, Sausage and Tomato Grits" and it was very well received by all.  The recipe below is exactly what I made, it fed 18 people with some leftovers plus my extra pan... If you were making it as a main dish it would serve a lot less, but you might want to cut it in half.

Ingredients:

1 Pound Raw Shrimp

1 Pound Smoked Sausage

4 Cups of Quick Grits

4 Cups of Chicken Stock

2 Cups of Water

2 10 oz Cans of Rotel

3 Cups of Shredded Cheese

1/4 Cup of Parmesan Cheese

Tony Cachere's 

Put the chicken stock and water in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Add the grits slowly to the boiling stock and water stirring as you go.  (If you dump them all in at once you will get clumps of grits and no one likes that.)  Cover the grits for 3 minutes and then stir very well.  Repeat until the grits are cooked, you will want to taste them and make sure they are done.

Add the 2 cans of Rotel (or any can of tomatoes and peppers) to the grits and stir to combine.  Add in the cheese and stir to combine.  I used 2 cups of Colby Jack, but regular cheddar would be fine as well.  I used a cup of Habenero cheddar as well, but you will want to avoid this if you are not a fan of spicy food.  

Move the grits into a baking dish (or multiple dishes if you don't have a large dish).  Top the grits with a light sprinkle of cheese.  I used about a cup of Colby Jack in total.  Place casserole in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese starts to bubble and brown slightly.  

Slice your sausage into 1/4 inch slices and then quarter each slice.  Saute until the pieces start to brown.  Peel the shrimp and cut into 2 or 3 pieces depending on the size of the shrimp.  Sprinkle the shrimp lightly with the Tony's (or any seasoned salt you like) and then add the shrimp to the pan with the sausage.  Cook until the shrimp turn pink.  Remove the casserole from the oven and top the casserole with the shrimp and sausage mixture.  

Happy Dining!

Stuffed Zucchini

I am a fan of pinterest.  I have been getting a lot of ideas from there lately.  I saw this beautiful picture of stuffed zucchini one day and decided that I had to make it.  This was my inspiration, you can click the picture to go to the recipe.

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/stuffed-zucchini

As I am want to do, I started tweaking it a bit.  The recipe called for bacon, but I thought that sausage would be better (I was right, it rocked).  I was super happy with the results of this experiment.  It was surprisingly creamy.  The zucchini boat was tender but not mushy, and the filling was packed with flavor.  Here is what mine ended up looking like.

I obviously do not have a great camera like the blogger of my inspiration, and hers were so much prettier.  But I know that mine tasted better. :)

Ingredients:

1/2 Pound Sausage

1 Small Onion 

1/2 Carton of Mushrooms

1 Tomato 

2 Zucchini

Salt/Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

1/4 Cup of Bread Crumbs

1 Egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook sausage in a skillet until browned.  Move from pan into strainer to remove excess fat.  Leave some of the drippings in the pan.

While the sausage is cooking dice the onion and the mushrooms.  Add the onion to the pan and cook until translucent, then add the mushrooms and continue cooking.  

While the mushrooms and the onions are getting happy, slice your zucchini in half lengthwise.  Use a spoon to scoop out the zucchini, you want about a quarter inch of pulp left in the peel. (Reserve your zucchini "guts" in a bowl.)  This will make a little boat to fill with goodness.  Place zucchini boats on a greased cookie sheet.  If they are wobbly you can use a vegetable peeler and peel off a flat section on the bottom so that they will be stable for filling and baking.  

Add a handful or so of your zucchini guts to the onions and mushrooms.  Dice the tomato, but lose the seeds and the juicy part.  Add the tomato to the mixture and cook about 2 more minutes.  Add the sausage back in and remove everything from the heat.  I didn't include a measurement for the parmesan because it is a matter of personal taste.  I grated a whole lot of in at this point, basically blanketed the mixture with cheese.  Taste the mixture after you add the cheese (everything is fully cooked at this point) and then you can season it more if needed.   Set aside and allow to cool.

Once the mixture has cooled sufficiently, you want it cool enough that the egg won't start cooking when you add it, sprinkle in the bread crumbs and mix to combine.   The mixture should be fairly dry at this point, if it is still wet add more bread crumbs, you want something that will stick together if you balled it up but not something that is runny.  Add in your egg and mix it in well.

Spoon your filling into the zucchini boats, top with a little more cheese :), and then bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Check the zucchini to make sure they are fork tender then serve and enjoy.  

Happy Dining!

Breaking Dawn

So at this point I am pretty over the whole Twilight thing.  I liked the books, quite a bit actually.  There is a strength to Bella that often gets over looked by critics of the series.  I won't apologize to anyone for my love of these books.  I will, however, apologize to anyone that I made go see these movies with me.  I am sorry for your wasted time and money.

My issue with the movie boils down to a few points.  My first point of contention is with the lead actors.  They hate the series and it shows.  They have this contempt for a book series that they do not understand and they believe is beneath them.  This fact shines through in every scene.  Things that were sweet or touching in the books just come across as creepy and weird in the movies.  The acting all in all throughout the movie was just terrible.  Robert Pattinson looked like he was constipated for the entirety of the film.  Kristin Stewart shows her emotion through biting her lip... and that's it.  Seriously woman you are a highly paid actress, learn a new facial expression.

To be fair to the movie they did do a relatively decent job of sticking to the book, but they also did a wonderful job of making the book look ridiculous.  Maybe it is ridiculous and always has been, but I was never embarrassed to be a fan of this series until this movie.  The best part of the movie was a part not in the book and it was when people were making toasts at the wedding, Anna Kendrick shined in her small role as Jessica, she had me cracking up.

Spoiler Alert: The werewolf falls in love with Bella's baby. It was weird in the book.   I  remember putting the book down and going "what just happened here?" over and over.  When it happened in the movie I literally laughed at how cheesy the whole thing was.  Truth be told I laughed through most of the film, but I am pretty sure they didn't intend to make a comedy.  Bella and Edward's first night together, overwrought and silly.  Bella giving birth, disgusting and creepy.  Jacob freaking out with the other wolves about the baby, confusing and corny.

Please don't go see this movie.  If you like the books you probably already have, and I hope that you were able to get more enjoyment from it than I did.  If you haven't read them then just walk away now knowing that you are a smarter person for avoiding this series.  Commercialism has bastardized it anyway and you don't want to be a part of that.  They make Twilight covers for classical books and convince young girls to buy copies of "Bella and Edward's Favorite Book" when you can just go get Wuthering Heights off of the freelibrary.com for absolutely no money.  I saw Twilight branded curling irons and hair straighteners last night.  Really people, really?  "Now you too can get Edward's shiny hair look in no time."  I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I would say Happy Viewing, but if you go see this film it won't be.  Walk away, friend, walk away.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Oh no faithful reader, you did not read this incorrectly.  I made cookies.  The holiday season is quickly approaching, and it is not the holidays without baking cookies.  I have always loved peanut butter and I began to think that maybe I could figure out a way to make a peanut butter cookie that would fit into my post operative world.  I didn't have to search far, and I found a recipe from a surprising person: Paula Deen.  If you know anything about Aunt Paula, you know that the woman is not the healthiest chef and that the woman never met a dish that didn't need more butter.  But lo and behold here was her recipe for magical peanut butter cookies.   You only need 4 ingredients: Peanut Butter, Splenda* (or whatever sugar substitute or sugar you like), an egg and some vanilla extract.  I added chocolate chips because I was afraid that the Splenda would make the cookies taste funny for people who are not living in this crazy post op world.  

As you can see from the picture, this produces a really crumbly cookie.  I think this is due to the fact that there is no flour or binding agent aside from the egg.  They taste pretty good though.  For a "diet" cookie they are flippin' amazing.  I guinea pigged them on a few unsuspecting people and got favorable reactions prior to telling them that they were "healthy" cookies.  If you are not used to the taste of artificial sweeteners you will definitely get a slight aftertaste due to the Splenda, but aside from that I don't think that they taste like diet food.

Here's how you make them:

Ingredients:

1 cup Peanut Butter (you can use smooth or crunchy, but seriously why would you want crunchy?)

1 cup plus 1/3 of Splenda

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Chips (optional, I used Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips)

Mix your peanut butter and splenda until thoroughly combined.  I used a fork to do this, and I will warn you that when you are choosing a bowl you want to choose a large one because otherwise you will get splenda everywhere.

Mix in your egg and vanilla to the peanut butter Splenda mixture.

Roll into balls about the size of a walnut and place on a greased (I use Pam) cookie sheet.  Dip your fork into the extra Splenda and then push it into the cookie to make the signature cross.  Top with chocolate chips to your taste level.  

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  They were fantastic just out of the oven, but they fall apart a little more at this point.  Be warned, these cookies will not stay whole at any temperature.  I will experiment in the future with adding some whole wheat flour and maybe some oats to help stabilize the cookie.  

I was pretty happy with how these turn out.  It was great to be able to share them with people as well.  

*I am not trying to hawk Splenda on ya'll but it is what I use and one of the only sweeteners that you can bake with just like sugar.

Happy Snacking!