Archive for September, 2008

By Jessica | September 13, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes | 2 Comments

In a short-lived attempt to eat less red meat, I been cookin the hell out of some chicken. Chicken is fun to cook with cause you can make it be anything you want. Blank freakin canvas, I always say. So, I thought I would get creative and make up a good ol sarnie. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.

Grilled Chicken Sandwich with Pickled Carrots, Watercress and Chipotle Yogurt

thin chicken breasts
juice of 1 lemon
carrots, shredded
the brine of your favorite spicy pickle
watercress
1 10oz plain yogurt (get the kind with active cultures cause they’re good for the vagina)
1 tbs chipotle seasoning
1 tsp cayenne pepper
delish bread of your choosing
salt and pepper to taste
oil for your grill

This serves 2.

Salt, pepper, and squirt lemon juice your chicken cutlets. Toss em on a stovetop grill. Now. This is very important, so listen up. If you want those cool ass grill marks on your meat like you see in the movies, drop your meat on the grill and let it chill for a few minutes. Don’t be all up in its face and moving it around and such or you’ll never sear those precious stripes. Leave it alone.

Anywho. If your chicken was pounded thin or cut thin, it will grill for about 4 minutes on each side, so you better get to workin.

Shred your carrots with the widest shredder you got. Grab your favorite pickles from the fridge. Mines For. Sure. are McClures Spicy Pickles. Hoe Man. Go Get urselves some now.

Anywho. Grab your favorite pickles from the fridges and pour some of the brine over your carrots. Ideally, you would have done this the day before. But, if you’re like me, you didn’t, and the carrots are more mild than you’d like. Set aside.

Grab your yogurt. Throw in the chipotle and cayenne. Mix well. Set aside.

Wash the watercress and dry well.

Cut your bread, throw on a healthy amount of watercress, add the chicken, then the carrots, then the yogurt. Eat and complain that the yogurt was only ALRIGHT. On the real, I would maybe try a different sauce for this. Got any good ideas? Maybe cayenne and paprika? Maybe substitute the yogurt with mayo and use less? Dunno, but don’t lie… that sammich looks real nice.

By Jessica | September 11, 2008 | In The News | No comments

Thailand’s prime minister, Samak Sundaravej was just kicked out of office because he refused to give up his cooking show, Tasting and Complaining. I can’t find any videos on line of him cooking. Please send!!!

Makes me wonder: who would win when running for US president? The Rachel Ray or Mark Bittman?

Cooking show stint derails Thai prime minister

By AMBIKA AHUJA – 1 day ago

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — A Thai court removed the prime minister Tuesday for taking pay to host a TV cooking show, setting off wild celebrations by protesters occupying his office compound. But rejoicing could be short-lived — the ruling party vowed to put him back in power. more…

Associated Press writers Grant Peck, Sutin Wannabovorn, Jocelyn Gecker and Vijay Joshi contributed to this report.

By Jessica | September 9, 2008 | Recipes, Snackin, Salads and Apps | 2 Comments

This meal is gonna seem mo simple, and it is, but it is gotdamn flavorful. Its fresh, seasonal, healthy, cheap and the flavor crystals will knock you on your arse. Basically, this is the bomb summer meal. I suggest a delicate, aged, oakey, floral Corona and lime to accompany.

Beer Boiled Cayenne Shrimp over a Corn and Tomato Salad

almost 2 lbs of shrimp, I use small shrimp because it is cheaper and easier to create bites with other goodnesses from the plate.
tabasco (normally not a fan, but this works here)
cayenne powder
1 12 oz brown beer
2 vine tomatoes, chopped, seeds removed
juice of half a lemon
4 ears of corn, shucked
1 large shallot, chopped
salt and pepper
fresh cilantro, chopped
corn chips, for garnish
olive oil
This serves two.

Clean your shrimp, douse with tobasco, sprinkle with cayenne, cover and refrigerate. It depends on how spicy you like your shrimp, but I used about 3 tbls of tabasco and maybe 1.5 tbs of cayenne, maybe more. But I like fire mouth.

Heat your olive oil and start to cook your chopped shallot. Add your shucked corn. Cook till the shallots can’t take it no mo. Add salt.

While the corn is cooking, chop your tomatoes and remove the seeds. Don’t be a freak about it – its fine if some make it through. Add to a bowl along with the lemon juice and add fresh pepper.

Boil your beer in a small sauce pan. When it starts to boil, add your shrimp and the marinade. Cook for 4 minutes.

Assemble your plate: with a slatted spoon, place a big o pile of corn on the plate, add the tomatoes, add the shrimp. Garnish with chopped cilantro and several corn chips. The corn chips are meant to be slightly crushed and et with a fork with the rest of the meal.

mm mm good.

By Jessica | September 9, 2008 | Main Courses, Recipes | No comments

Things that I love include jerk sauce, grillin and farmers market veggies. R and I made a meal last night in 10 minutes flat. In fact, it took longer to eat it than it did to make it. Check it.

Jerk Chicken Burgers and Green Beans with a Mustard Soy Sauce

1.5 – 2 lbs of ground chicken meat, essentially you want two servings worth
1 tbs of that magic jerk sauce I sweat or any jerk sauce you sweat
burger fixins such as lettuce, tomato, onion, etc
your fave burger bun, we did semolina with sesame from the bakery
2 handfuls of green beans
1 heaping tbs of dijon or brown mustard
1/4 cup soy sauce
This serves two.

Mix your chicken and jerk with your fingies well, but do it lightly or the meat will get tough. Form some large patties and place on the grill. We used the one on the stove top. Cook for 6 minutes on each side. While cooking, gather your burger fixins and place the meat. This burger is good with ketchup.

While this is going on, steam your beans lightly – you want them to stay crispy. Mix your soy and mustard. Sauce the beans. Eat. Think about your delicious and juicy, fat-free meal, ya skinny mini.

By Jessica | September 9, 2008 | In The News | No comments

In this week’s New York Magazine, art critic, Jerry Saltz writes about eating art at El Bulli, the Catalonian restaurant of Ferran Adrià, the legendary Spanish chef. I recommend reading. It’s short. Check it.

By Jessica | September 1, 2008 | Breakfast, Recipes | 1 Comment

You know how when you wake up after a night of sampling lots of alcohol, your body seems to think that by adding more toxic shiv to it, it’s gonna make it all better? Yeah. Somehow, we think that a greezy meal is going to “soak up” the alcohol? Well? Not so much. Regardless though, R needed a bit a home lovin to cure what was ailing him. (Ok, fine, it was me.)

Not usually my thing, I set out to cook a nice breakfast. I call it: Eggs.

First, lemme tell you about this nifty ass gadget that makes the egg look like a dome. It’s a silicone egg cup that floats in boiling water. When the pot is covered, the egg is steamed and damn, you got yourself a healthy egg. And if you do it right (unlike my first attempt), you get poached eggs where the yoke is all running and shnotty. yum. Check these cute cups out.

Here is the recipe for two:

2 slices of good country bread, sourdough, pumpernickle or white all work
1/4 lb sliced lox
capers to taste
fresh dill, a few sprigs
4 eggs (dudes. pay the extra buck fitty and buy cage-free eggs.)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Toast two thick slices of bread. Lay some lox down. Sprinkle with capers. Add your dill. Top with 2 eggs each. Salt. Pepper. Eat. Go back to bed.

By the way, you can poach your eggs any way you want. If you do use these kind of cups, lightly oil them so the eggs slide out. If you want your eggs to have yoke, cook them for 5 minutes. You can also make poaches eggs by just dropping them in a shallow pan of water with a glug of vinegar at a low boil. You’ll get some awesomely ugly poached eggs. You can also use fried, soft boiled or hard boiled eggs in this recipe. No matter what, you’re not going to lose.