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Kent
Today’s dish is one that many people enjoy when ordering take-out or delivery Chinese food. This simple fried rice, usually with diced Chinese BBQ pork, scrambled egg, and peas and carrots, just satisfies a hunger like many other comfort foods. And that is a good way to look at this dish – a satisfying comfort food that you can make at home faster than your nearest joint can deliver! Using leftover rice insures it fries nicely without turning into a ‘stuck to the bottom of the pan’ mess. With just a few ingredients alongside the leftover rice, this dish comes together almost on its own. Are you ready to give your belly something you both will enjoy? If so, read on! Save Print…
While researching something new and different to make with pork tenderloin, I cam across this Serious Eats recipe for Daeji Bulgogi. If the description was not enough to convince me to try this dish, the pictures sure were. Also, this dish allows me to use my new Korean BBQ grill pan if the weather does not allow me to use the grill – which was the case. I really enjoyed this simple grilled pork tenderloin dish. The robust heat from the gochujang and kimchi paired very nicely with the briny sweetness of the pickled carrots. The lettuce made a perfect wrap while the rice added just the right amount of body to really satisfy. Overall this dish is super simple to make – provided you plan it a…
Well, I am back from Chicago and ready to update the blog. Here is a picture of our booth (www.vestaprecision.com) at the International Home + Housewares Show. The show was amazing – huge and energetic – and I met so many nice people that I want to thank for visiting us. I also enjoyed fabulous food and cocktails in the Windy City and can think of nothing more apropos than to share this intensely flavorful cocktail with everyone. It’s a luxurious beauty befitting of its royal name – the Crimson King Cocktail. This deep red tipple balances spicy rye, sweet cherries, bitter herbs, and rich coffee flavors. As a variant of the Boulevardier, I knew I would like this drink. And I do! Enjoy this…
Lebanese loaded rice? Well, thanks to Suzy at The Mediterranean Dish, I am made this Middle Eastern cousin to Dirty Rice directly from her recipe. I wanted to experience the flavors for myself before I engaged in paring the recipe down for one person. This dish is downright delicious. Suzy is so right when she mentions it is typically a side dish but can be used as a main dish just as easy. The rich and warm spices used are typical of Middle Eastern cuisine and wonderfully augment the ground beef/lamb mixture I used. The hearty ratio of meat to rice means it is filling and coupled with toasted almonds, pine nuts, and dried fruit, you can just imagine the spectrum of flavors going on. The only…
I cannot believe I have not posted this cross between a Manhattan and a Martini. As the predecessor to the ubiquitous Martini, this cocktail really fires on all cylinders. The trouble is that there is no definitive recipe for this beauty. So it is very much like its progeny the martini, it is best served the way you like it. So here is my take on this classic ‘missing link’ between the Manhattan and the Martini. I started by using Old Tom gin and have increased the ratio of gin to vermouth from 1:1 to 1.5:1 while adding orange bitters with the Angostura bitters to enhance the orange aspect. The results are sublime – but don’t take my word for it…
Today’s recipe is a playful dish made with vibrant red and green vegetables paired with beef in a stir fry. I was checking my vegetable crisper in the refrigerator while making my shopping list and saw I had some asparagus. I knew I had some beef and those two ingredients are tasty together. I had half of a red bell pepper and the rest, as they say, is history. Instead of my usual spicy stir fry, I opted for a deep umami flavor by using shitake mushrooms and mushroom flavored dark soy sauce; the latter used as the predominant part of the sauce. Slivered onions, ginger, garlic, white pepper, and rice cooking wine round out the ingredients. Quick and easy to prepare, intensely flavorful, and quite…
Reported to have been created by none other than Ernest Hemingway, this cocktail really can kill you in the afternoon – or make the little green fairies beat you up for drinking so early in the day! I love the idea of pairing absinthe with champagne. The louching of the absinthe with champagne is so decadent an idea I cannot help but like it. This cocktail’s flavor is sublime, but it is extremely sneaky. I only like the descriptive aspect of Hemingway’s own words – “Pour one jigger absinthe into a Champagne glass. Add iced Champagne until it attains the proper opalescent milkiness. Drink three to five of these slowly.”. The thought of three to five of these tasty tipples in one…
I found this dish researching some other recipes I want to make and the simplicity really struck me. A one pot pasta dinner that really works? Well, the gang at Serious Eats seem to think so, so who am I to question it? The truth is, this dish is super simple and really delicious! The sausage creates the base flavor, the spinach adds its supporting flavors, and all of it is bound to the pasta with a little cream and a heap of Romano cheese. While this dish may not make the weight loss cookbooks, it makes mine for being a simple, delicious one pot pasta that satisfies the need for a quick meal. So if you are seeking a way to enjoy spinach and pasta, give this…
While researching last week’s cocktail, Remember the Maine, I came across this one. The golden hue and the combination of ingredients had me immediately intrigued. And wow, what a deliciously complex cocktail! This beauty is over 100 years old, comes in various forms and is actually a tweak of a tweak on the venerable Manhattan. The original tweak is the Red Hook – rye, sweet vermouth and maraschino and this one swaps out the sweet vermouth for dry and amaro for the bitters while retaining the maraschino for sweetness. This cocktail has layers of flavors and I have to admit in many ways it is superior to the Manhattan. Now… don’t go interrupting my Friday night happy hour by giving me a Bronx…
One of the first posts I wrote for Cooking-4-One was a recipe for Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage, a delicious side that I enjoy regularly. Given my recent sous vide experiments with vegetables and grains, I searched to see what it would take to make this dish using my immersion circulator. Well, I found the information I desired and the results I saw looked delicious. The one recipe that I based mine on comes from Kate Williams. Of course, I tweaked it slightly for my own tastes tonight. I substituted apple cider vinegar and bacon for the balsamic vinegar and currants. The results were amazing. The cabbage and carrots were bright and tender crisp with a hint of smoky bacon flavor, a subtle sweet and saltiness…