Jambalaya!

Today, I decided to jambalaya Jambalaya, because I had jambalayaed some Jambalaya during jambalaya week and it was very jambalayay.

Ahahahahaha just kidding. Today, I decided to make Jambalaya because I had some from Restaurant Week. The version I had used edamame instead of… beans? I’m not sure if beans are usually used in Jambalaya, actually. Also it had a giant tempura shrimp on top as decoration, which I skipped.

Ingredients: bacon, sausages (I was told it is very important to get the Andouille kind, thankfully I had some from the time when I had a sausagefest because they were on sale, mmm I sure love sausage!), long grain rice, can of tomatoes and tomate paste, stock, trinity, garlic, shrimp, chicken, cayenne peppers, bay, sage, oregano, and edamame.

I forgot to defrost my shrimp. That’s why it’s in a frozen block XD. But that’s ok, they go in last so I knew that if I just put them in water they’d be fine by the time I needed them.

I began by browning my sausage, because I wasn’t sure how much fat they were going to render, and so I wanted to reserve my bacon so I could see how much bacon grease I wanted to use. As it turned out, they didn’t render shit. I ended up with maybe a tablespoon.

So it is time to call in the specialists. Yeah!

:Cooking101: Trinity in Cajun/Creole cooking is a blend of onion, celery, and bell peppers. In French cuisine it is called mirepoix and replaces bell peppers with carrots. I guess nowadays they are called aromatics. I like to think of them as “basic deliciousness”, on top of which you can add other deliciousnesses depending on where you want to go. It’s kind of like putting down a wash to start a drawing.

Stock, tomatoes, and herbs and spices (I used about 1 tablespoon salt + cayenne). I think the fact that I’m using tomatoes makes this a Creole style Jambalaya.

Add the rice and close the lid and some time later also add the beans. I think it takes about half an hour for the rice to get ready.

Meanwhile! I put on my robe and wizard hat brown my chicken with the garlic and some cumin.

I had used up all the bacon grease for the trinity but don’t worry because I have reserve troops XD

Also meanwhile! I peel the shrimp, taking out even the tail shell piece.

I was afraid at the beginning that I’d added too much liquid, but by this time the liquid is completely gone. It is all dry. Which means it’s time to turn off the heat or burn the bottom. I think you can just add the shrimp and it will cook completely even with the stove off, but I gave it an extra minute or so, then turned it off and added the meat.

There was entirely too much food, so I had to transfer to a bigger vessel to mix so that the stuff would be distributed evenly. Geez this monster will feed me for like a week.

I attempt to be fancy in my plating but oh gosh I am just not good with this stuff. I think it’s a little plain without the decorative tempura shrimp but, whatever, it’s quite good.

Gook Gook Soup

So today I decided to gook Gook Gook Soup, with gooks gooked in the gook of gook, then let gook until gooky, about 20 minutes.

The gooks: gook, gook, gook, brown gook, gook, green gook, gook, various gooks, chicken gook, and of course, gook, which is what makes this gook so gooky.

Start with the gooks in a gook. Bring to a boil, then add gook, gook, and gooks.

Render the gook from the gooks for gooking.

Gook the gooked gooks to the gook, while gooking the gooks.

As usual, my gook is that there’s too much gook in the gook. But that is gookay.

Gooky!

I Immediately Regret This Decision! Chicken Tenders (with Parmesan Cheese)

I have some chicken tenders from a while ago. I looked up some recipes online and most of them looked pedestrian so I was like, alright Giada, I’ll trust you on this one.

Ingredients: chicken tenders, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, milk, and stuff. The recipe called for some buttermilk, to which I responded “wtf is a buttermilk?” My first instinct was to mix some butter with milk, but according to wikipedia it actually has less fat content than milk, and also is kind of sour. Well, I just happen to have some skim milk that’s starting to go sour…

Soak chicken in milk. Mix bread crumbs with parmesan cheese.

I distinctly remember my thought process went like this: “oh, I have some herbs. I’ll just add some herbs. What doesn’t taste better with more herbs?” As soon as I put it into the mix, though, I immediately regretted my decision. For one, there was too much of it. I was worried the breading mixture wasn’t going to adhere properly to the chicken. I was also worried the herbs were just going to be burnt to a crisp.

I am so incredibly bad at drizzling oil.

Into the oven!

I didn’t want to waste the extra breading mix I had, so I just put it into the oven and hoped that something delicious would come out… and it did!

The dipping sauce is basically balsamic vinegar.

Moneyshot. It’s not as golden as I thought it would be. I’m not sure if that’s because of my terrible oil drizzling, or if I just didn’t leave it in there long enough.

Steamed Chicken with Ginger & Scallion Sauce

I’ve tried to replicate this dish from JJR restaurant several times, and have been met with nothing but abject failure. I don’t know how the restaurant does it, but it’s not at all like when I make it. Le sigh. In any case.

Ingredients: chicken, ginger, onion.

I don’t have a steamer so this is my set up, lol.

Meanwhile, ginger & onion, with some salt.

This is the cool part. Heat up some oil until it’s hot enough to fry (I used some peanut oil), and pour it over the dry ingredients. Tzzzzzzzzzzz

Forced into Vegetarianism

So we finally bought a fridge. In celebration I went to Ralph’s. I wanted to get some chicken breast so I can try making Pad See Eww again, but it wasn’t on sale, and I wasn’t about to pay $4 per pound for chicken. Pork was expensive as usual, and beef… Well, actually, there was a buy one get one free deal going on, but it was for gigantic roasts that I have no idea what to do with. So, I just… bought some tofu. At $1.25 per pound, it’s actually cheaper than meat! So I’ve been forced into vegetarianism by… I suppose, my jewwiness. It’s not that I can’t afford it at the current prices, or even think them unreasonable. I just know that I can get it cheaper if I wait.

And so, right now, I am eating… a basil sandwich. I heated my garlic bread up in my oven (which, btw, has horrible insulation–is there supposed to be a cover for the vent?) and just threw on a bunch of basil leaves on there. Yup.

Thought of the Day #1

The people of Harbin should be called Harbingers. XD

So, It Begins

I have thought long and hard about what to call this blog, and I believe this is the best name anybody has ever come up with in the history of good names. Yes, this blog has a theme song.

Welp, not much to explain here. My old blog was hosted on my school account, and it was deleted after I graduated. I’ve decided to start a cooking blog to document my delicious adventures, although it may grow to include my other endeavours.

Today, avocados were on sale at Ralph’s for 69 cents each. Wow, what a great deal! I bought 6, and that means this week is guacamole week. I also bought a pineapple, so maybe my guacamole will be a little fruity. I also picked up some vegetables for stir-fry while I was there. And my wok is seasoned! What great timing! So that’s what’s coming up tomorrow. Stay tuned!