Saturday, January 23, 2010

After an Extended Period of Absence...


Wow! Its been a MONTH since my last post! As you can see above, I have been cooking, just not posting... at all. For which I must apologize... to myself mostly. This site is pretty much showcasing my efforts toward learning the culinary arts. I give any prospective employer in food service the address to this site so they can see I actually have SOME ability. But I just have not updated because I have been very busy... which is a great thing.

I continue to search for work... which, if done right, can become pretty much a full time job. And it has paid off. I have had many interviews here and there, and I actually have had a few prospects lined up. One of these still looks very promising, in fact I am pretty much hired, just waiting to hear from the chef about the schedule.

That's right, a job in the kitchen. Hopefully it pulls through. Until then I have also had a few electrical side jobs here and there, and I continue to work at the ongoing project at Dan and Jackie's. 

So as I said, I've been pretty busy. Still, I want to try and keep this up. So now I'll showcase the main dishes I prepared over the past month...

... First I actually want to discuss a new facet to my culinary inspiration: Food Network. More precisely, Alton Brown. This guy knows what he's talking about. Watching his show, "Good Eats," is fascinating. Having never been to a culinary institute, I may not know much about what I am saying, but this show is so packed with valuable information, it seems to me that it is the closest you can get to actually attending without spending loads of money you don't have.

That is, if you can catch all the information that suddenly and quickly flies out of his mouth, right in the middle of and in between recipes. Thank you DVR. Call me cheap, lame, retarded, whatever... but I replay those large doses of information over and over to take notes.

Reading the forward of his book, "I'm Just Here For the Food," Brown admits that although most people are content just knowing how to do something, and not bothering with the why, for him to truly understand how something is done, he must first understand why it works. 

This is very interesting to me, as this is how I have always thought. Once I understand why something works the way it does, I know it will always work the same way, and I also understand (as with flavors and recipes) how I can manipulate the outcome.

So, long story short, Alton Brown rocks. To me, he's a great mentor on the beginning of the road to culinary expertise; Aptly nicknamed "the 'Bill Nye' of cooking."

Alright so I'm going to list no directions today... just ingredients, pictures, and a few remarks for the meals I've made; The first being the Stuffed Tomatoes pictured at the top. I'll leave it to you to figure out exactly how to recreate them... I can't remember. There's just way too much going on.




Stuffed Tomatoes
Tomatoes
Cilantro
Oregano
Olive Oil
Onions
Avocado
Lime Juice
Red Pepper
Egg
Bread Crumbs
Ground Beef
Salt and Pepper
Chedder Cheese




Spinach Salad With Bacon

Beef Bacon
Onion
Red Wine
Salt and Pepper
Boiled Eggs
Goat Cheese
Spinach


Lexie Rates this a 9 out of 10. Its pretty simple. Basically you fry the bacon and then fry the onion in the fat. Add the wine and seasoning and then reduce a bit. While still hot, add the rest and pour it over fresh spinach.Top with cheese. Easy.


Now for some corn tortillas...
 

Corn flour, milk, and salt... rolled into little balls...


Flatten...


as thin as possible.


peel off plastic


no oil...

Don't smash in a fit of anger... try, try, again...


Chopped Steak
Ground Beef
Cilantro
Oregano
Cumin
Salt
Black Pepper
Arbol Chiles
Garlic
Lime Juice



Flatten into thin steaks with holes in the middle. Fry onions and bell peppers and lay steaks on top. Leave until cooked. Do not flip patties. They will steam cook through their holes. Lexie gave these babies a full 10.


Sorry, no more pictures. The camera was full. However, I am determined to keep this blog up at least until I have regular employment. So check back soon.







3 comments:

Daniel Milstein said...

Good post! I hope more people discover your blog because you really know what you're talking about. Can't wait to read more from you!

High School Diploma said...

I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.

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