White Wine Sauce update

I would like to annouce that I have perfected my recipe. I added a thickening agent and I even got my boyfriend to eat scallops.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe that's what we like to call a breakthrough!

Oh, and I'm in the process of reading Julie Powell's book Julie & Julia. It's wonderful. She uses the "f" word a lot. It makes me giggle. Don't worry I'm not taking on any crazy French cooking challenge I'm just saying that I might be willing to post a bit more frequently. That's all.

Chili for the Soul

So...

I know that should be Chicken Noodle Soup but that just wasn't the place I was in the past Thursday. I really wasn't feeling up to par this past week and a hot soup of sorts was the only thing that sounded good. Here's how you make it happen. (Please note their will be no photographs for this post due to the fact that I looked so horrendous I did not allow cameras in the house that day!)

To start of course, we need a list:

3-4 cloves of garlic

1/2-3/4 of a medium onion

about 1lb of ground hamburger or turkey

1 lrg can of crushed tomatoes

1 tiny can of tomato paste

1 can of goya small red beans

beef broth, amounts of your choosing, i use about 3/4 of a carton

1 package of chili seasoning, your choice

To prep mince your garlic and finely chop your onion, these amounts can be altered depending on your tastes. When cooking for just Jackie and I, I would add a few more cloves of garlic, yeah, I know, we have a problem. :o) Then set them aside.

Now open the beans and rinse them off.

Simultaneously you can start the base and the meat. In a pan brown your meat. I like to cook mine thouroughly even though I am adding it to a soup and cooking it for another 30 minutes. Take the rest of your items and add them to a large pot. Beans included.

(Side note: The chili seasoning packets vary, When eating with my mom we use the Hot & Spicy, it's delicious for this specific pot I used the low sodium. It's still great!)

After the meat has been browned, I strain mine to keep all of the extra grease out and then add it to the pot.

Let it simmer for 30 minutes and then serve.

I put it in a thick bowl with a pile of grated cheddar cheese on top and a plate of saltines on the side.

Yum.

1 bowl of this and I was feeling better already. :o)

Update

So I don't want everyone to think we've given up on Thursday's. We've just had some bumps in scheduling. So the good news is that we're back, officially. Starting on the 11th of this month. I also want you all to know that my cousin has started her own food blog. You can find her here:
http://www.chompcheap.blogspot.com/

Until Thursday...

Scallops with a White Wine Sauce

Tonight ladies and well probably ladies, we will be serving Scallops with a nice white wine sauce paired with steamed broccoli and "crash hot potatoes." Get excited!

The lineup: Olive oil, Sea Scallops, 2 cloves of garlic (3 cloves if you think you can handle it), 1/4 of a white onion, a generous of white wine, 2 tbs of butter, red potatoes (however many you feel like), rosemary, chives and salt & peppa to taste.

1. Begin by pulling of the nasty hard muscles off of the scallops. see below:














2. For the potatoes we'll be following the fabulous pioneer woman, Ree. See recipe for crash hot potatoes. You're gonna wanna make sure these are in the oven before you finish the rest. Otherwise you'll be eating potatoes all by themselves 10 minutes after you finish eating everything else.
3. Mince the garlic and chop the onion. Throw a clove across the kitchen, retrieve clove and continue mincing. Oh yeah, start heating some olive oil in a small pot.

4. Add onion and saute for a few minutes. Then add the garlic. And go ahead and pour yourself a nice glass of wine. It's Thursday, you need, no you deserve one.



5. Add a generous of white wine to the sauce pot. Add the juice of 1/2 a lemon or if you're feelin frisky about 1/3 a cup or so of straight lemon juice. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes.
6. Strain into a bowl. Return sauce to pot and wisk in butter. Keep warm.

7. Heat a little oil in another skillety sauce pan thingy (technical cooking term). Add scallops and saute on both sides for a few minutes. Then, add onion and garlic to the scallops. Its ok to taste the sauce, don't feel bad about it.

If you're running low, go ahead and add the rest of that bottle of wine to your glass. I won't tell anyone.

8. Continue to saute scallops in the garlic and onions for a few more minutes, or until done but not until chewy. There's a fine line.



9. If you haven't already, start steaming the broccoli. Now stand back and admire your work in your tiny kitchen.

10. Everything should be just about done now. So start serving onto plates. Make sure you pour some of that delicious wine sauce over just about everything.

11. Now since you forgot to start the potatoes when you should have. Go ahead and start eating. Then when you go to get the potatoes our of the oven, don't let your cat do this:

I know he's cute, but don't let him fool you. Just when he thinks you're not looking... bam..paw to the broccoli. Yeah, he's weird. He's a cat who loves broccoli. But I still love him =)
If your kitchen doesn't look like this (see right)...

A) your kitchen is not nearly as tiny as mine,and yes you are looking at the whole kitchen (fridge to the left, wine cooler to the right) and all the counter space I have.

B) you haven't done your job right tonight.


Now that is what Thursday nights are all about. Boys can't handle it. ;-)



HAPPY COOKING!!

Stay tuned for another installment of Thursday nights with Jackie and Erin next week, where so far the menu stands at chicken stir fry....but we change our minds alot so be prepared if that happens, hehe...I'm just sayin.

Sushi- Feb 26

In order to make sushi night a possibility there was a considerable amount of effort put into the preparation. As usual with all things Thursday I spent lots of time on google.

Let us start with a shopping list (not in any special order)...
rice wine vinegar
sake
ginger
wasabe
soy sauce
cream cheese
cucumber
scallions
crab
avocado
shrimp
sesame seeds
masago
egg
flour
baking soda
vegetable oil
sugar
nori
olive oil

I cannot function without a good list. Or a notebook. Which is usually full of lists and recipes. Mostly recipes, but lots of lists. And side note - I LOVE the Asian market next to my house. Okay so enough rambling and onto the adventures of sushi.

To begin...

1. Prep. Prep. Prep. Before anyone came over that night I did as much prep work as possible. And I highly recommend taking the day off to complete this Thursday. I peeled and cut all of my vegetables and peeled the shrimp.
2. Prepare your rice. You're going to need it to cool before you can add the su (aka mixture added to rice to make it amazing). I highly suggest sushi rice. I'm sure regular would work but I've never tried it.
3. Immediately after you've started rice begin su mixture by combining rice wine vinegar, sugar and sake because you need it to come back to room temp. before you add it to rice.
4. Once you burn the rice in the bottom of the pot, come to conclusion that you should have listened to everyone and bought a rice cooker.
5. Uncork one chilled bottle of Luna di Luna Pino Grigio and start pouring. Be generous, you're really upset you just scalded your boyfriends pot.
6. Get confident. You can do this. You googled. For hours. You're an expert.
7. Okay, rice & su completed, mix together. Rice will be shiny and taste sweet tart-ish. Cover w/ warm, wet towel.

1. Heat oil for tempura.
2. Prepare tempura batter... 1 cup water, 1 large egg, 3/4 c. flour, 1/8 tsp baking soda. Mix wet, mix dry, yada yada yada. Mix together. It's lumpy. Deal with it. Keep cold. When oil reaches between 340 - 360 degrees begin frying.
3. Overheat oil, get deep into conversation, continue frying, smoke out apartment. Bad. Anger boyfriend and clear all of your guests out of apartment. Do not set off fire alarms.
4. Pour another glass of wine.
5. Lesson learned: Don't be dumb & cheap. Buy candy thermometer.
6. Problem solved.

Above is the ErinJackie Special. In order to create such a masterpiece of deliciousness you will need a bamboo rolling mat wrapped in plastic wrap. Then coat both bamboo mat and rice applying specialist's fingers in olive oil. Now we begin.

1. Place one sheet of nori on mat.
2. Put a decent sized handful of rice onto nori closest to you and work out from there. (When I say decent sized I'm referring to Jackie's tiny hands, so estimate from there. Guesswork never hurt anybody.)
3. Flip nori rice side down onto mat. Alright so this is a bit of an advanced roll but like I said. You've googled. You can do this.
4. Place in center of roll a decent amount of crab. Next to that place a couple of scallions. On top of that place cream cheese. Now push the shrimp tempura onto the cream cheese. This keeps everything in place. Add cucumber and avocado and you're ready to roll.
5. Roll the mat away from you onto the toppings, literally rolling as you go. At the beginning you are going to need to keep your fingers in the insides to stop them from going everywhere. This takes practice. Or googling to master. I skipped practice and went straight to google. Once you've gotten the first fold you will pull the mat back and then continue rolling with just your hands. (The rice should be on the outside...)
6. At this point you will sprinkle the outside with the desired amount of sesame seeds and masago. As you can see by the photos Jackie and I are fans of masago. Yum.

Okay so you've mastered the art of rolling the ErinJackie Special. Serve it to the people so that they can worship your amazing skills. Do a little dance. Oh dear, you've run out of wine. What to do...

Oh I know...send the men, who have not been drinking, to the market for more. Whew. Good call.

While the men are out, sit, enjoy the sushi of your labor, finish the last glass of wine, gossip with Jackie. This will inevitably lead to a discussion on yoga and the most difficult position in class as of late, which will lead to a demonstration in the living room floor.

When the men arrive, straighten quickly and act as if nothing happened. And when your boyfriend looks at the destruction you have caused in his kitchen here's what you are to do...

1. Look innocent.
2. Smile.
3. Deny everything. Yes, even the pot scalding and smoky oily room.
4. As politely if he'll uncork the new bottle.
5. Ask if he'd like another roll. (Because you're good, really good and they tasted amazing.)
6. Pour him his own glass of wine.
7. Offer a game of scrabble. Then lose. But not on purpose.
8. During scrabble have Jackie explain that this is just how Thursday's go.

Trying new things is what Thursday's are all about! Don't be shy!