Processed pork product wrapped in layers of flour and butter aka PIGS IN A BLANKET

So the theme for a friend’s potluck was fun food. I thought that processed pork product wrapped in layers of flour and butter sounded delicious and very appropriate! I caramelized onions and rolled them along with the sausages. I also made a curry ketchup, taking inspiration from Pomme Frite’s curry ketchup.

Curry Ketchup:

1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup Mayo!
1 tablespoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon coriander
3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
juice of half a lemon

In a small saucepan, dump everything in. Heat over medium-low heat and stir constantly. Taste for seasoning to your liking.

Buon appetito

Mushroom ragu over creamy polenta with sauteed sugar snap peas

I’ve been eyeing this recipe for a few weeks ever since I saw it on Working Class Foodie’s youtube channel.

It’s originally served with a poached egg on top but I was too lazy to poach one egg so I just served it with sugar snap peas that I sauteed quickly.

What I love about this is that it’s hearty, filling, delicious, and cheap. One serving of this probably cost me about $3, at most. I think sugar snap peas paired well with this because the polenta and mushrooms don’t have much texture so the crunch from the peas was perfect. I’ll try it with a poached egg next time.

The things I changed form the original recipe were deglazing the pan with the mushrooms with some white wine and just using dried thyme and oregano in the mushrooms since that’s what I had.

Sugar Snap Peas:
- Handful of sugar snaps
- Enough water to cover sugar snaps
-Salt and Pepper
-Small pat of butter
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil

In a medium frying pan, put in sugar snaps and water and bring to a boil. (I do this to actually cook the sugar snaps in the same pan)

When the water has evaporated, put in the butter and olive oil and saute until golden brown.

Season to taste.
Buon appetito

Now for some food pornography.

Chicken Cacciatore: The college student’s “gourmet dinner”

So I had bought a pack of 4 chicken thighs last week and kept it in the freezer until tonight. I made chicken cacciatore for dinner and after I made it, I realized how cheap it was! The chicken was about $4 for the entire pack and I had everything else on hand (pantry items). I served it over discs of pan fried yukon gold potatoes since I didn’t want to bother making pasta and didn’t have any vegetal matter, such as green beans.. This was a simple dish and the flavors were simple as well, but in the best way possible. The sweetness of the tomato really paired well with the white wine and herbs. (I wish I had better lighting for the pictures..)

 

Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:
Oil
4 chicken thighs
salt & pepper
1 onion, diced
4-5 mushrooms, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
pinch of red chili flakes
white wine
1 cup crushed tomato [*I had this much of tomato frozen in my freezer and just added another cup of water along with some chicken bullion]
1/2  yukon gold potato

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Pat the chicken dry with paper towel and salt and pepper one the skin. Put into pan, skin side down, and season the other side. When both sides of the chicken are golden brown, remove and reserve on a plate.

Add the onions, mushrooms, garlic, and salt. Cook until transluscent and add a splash (Though I added way more than a splash. Hey, I like boozey chicken) of white wine to deglaze the pan. With a wooden spoon, scrape the pan drippings and turn the heat up to high. When the wine has reduced by 1/4, add the chicken pieces back into the pan along with the tomato, water, and chicken bullion. WIth the lid slightly ajar, simmer over medium heat for about 20 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through. If the sauce is reducing too fast, just add some more water. When chicken is finished cooking, season to taste and add more salt, pepper, and/or herbs to taste.

Preheat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet over medium heat. Cut the potato into about 1/4″ thick discs and put them in one layer in the pan. Pan fry them until a deep golden brown on both sides.

Devour.

Tis the season of overindulgence

So I was planning on eating clean after Thanksgiving considering all the stuff I ate. I was rummaging through my freezer for some food and found a lamb shank. It told me to eat it so I obeyed. I marinated it in some pomegranate juice, lemon juice & zest, salt, pepper, rosemary, sage, apple cider vinaigrette (basically all of the leftover ingredients from Thanksgiving). I then popped it in a 400F oven for about an hour.

I also made my version of mushy peas. I boiled peas with a clove of garlic and drained when tender. I then added parsley, sour cream, and parm to the peas and pureed in the food processor. It was so good! I could just eat an entire bowl of that with nothing else.

I will go exercise tomorrow. I promise.

Beauty Shot.

Brilliantly green.

Thanksgiving 2010 at the Rhode Island School of Design

For the 3 years I’ve been at RISD, I’ve always gone home for Thanksgiving. This being my last year and all, I decided to stay at school and spend Thanksgiving with friends! There were nine of us and we pretty much went all out with turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, etc. I began prepping everything around 1:00 just because I needed to keep my hands busy and get my mind off of things and then Yiboe came to help. Cool.

Thanksgiving Menu:

-Spinach and artichoke dip topped with gruyere with homemade crostin

-Roast butternut squash & sweet potato

-Cranberry sauce

-Cornbread dressing

-Salad with warm apple cider vinaigrette

-Brilliantly green mushy peas

-Maple Roasted Turkey

-Pear pie & Ice cream

Turkey had herb butter underneath the breast skin and was covered with a layer of bacon. Yes, bacon. Meat was succulent and perfectly seasoned, thanks in part to the pre-brined turkey from Whole Foods! Went well with the cranberry sauce, which is from a can. Hey, it was ‘organic’ though!

The vegetables were nice and had a subtle sweetness. The cornbread dressing was on the dry side, probably because I like carbs and I put way too much cornbread but it was fine when eaten with everything else. The salad was a nice, fresh change from the heavier side dishes. The apple cider vinaigrette had a nice twang. Mushy peas were so simple but incredibly sweet! Delicious. Warm pear pie with vanilla ice cream was a nice end to this meal.

Excuse me as I have to go run on the  treadmill for 16 hours.

Meanwhile feast your eyes on food pornography.

Enjoy.

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