The Importance of Patience

When I'm hungry, I'm not a very patient person. I tend to undercook food (especially pasta) and sometimes forget steps, especially ones that add that extra-something to a dish. Which is all a real bummer when you are trying to make a yummy dish. By the time you are half done you think "Doh! Pine nuts would've been amazing on this!" or "Erg, i forgot to add a splash of lemon juice!" Or, worst of all, you cook meat in a way that leaves it a little less tasteful and a little less appetizing than it could be, a smidge below your expectations and you think to yourself "I can do better than that."

I'm trying to get better. Cooking takes time, and it is important to give food the chance to do its thing. Last night really helped for future endeavors;it proves that patience pays off. I made two pork tenderloins, one with a Moroccan spice rub, the other with a Jamaican jerk rub. After a generous rubbing of the spices, I browned them on the stove top on all sides and then roasted in the oven for 20 minutes to finish them off. The most important part of this cooking process is the browning because that is where the meat caramelizes and forms a crispy exterior. It also helps keep in moisture while it is cooking through in the oven. Generally, I have a tough time waiting until the pork is browned before flipping it. It gets cooked, certainly, but it doesn't have that extra tasty brown goodness. But last night, I waited. And when I would normally flip it over, I waited a minute longer. The meat released itself from the pan, and "viola!"

And it was amazing. Meaty-sweet in the way that only can happen when the sugars in the muscle caramelize. Slightly crispy in a way that adds a bit if texture to an otherwise homogeneous piece of meat. And it just looks delicious.

Now, don't misunderstand, I'm not condoning overcooking. That is a egregious, horrible, and depending on the food, sinful mistake. But, food should be cooked an appropriate amount of time in order for it to caramelize and brown. If, like me, you have trouble with this, let me give you a piece of advice. DON'T TOUCH IT! If you a recipe says to cook 5 minutes on each side, that doesn't mean that you flip your meat ten times, once a minute. Put it on then leave it alone. Just don't touch it. Don't even sneak a peak underneath. Just let it be. I know you can do it. Resist the urge, and I promise you will be rewarded.

Crabby Potstickers

My family and I are big fans of Chinese food. There used to be a take-out place not far from the house I grew up in called Jade Dragon. They had exceptional Chinese food. We usually ordered the same thing every time, and the orders always included Crab Rangoons, a type of fried potsticker filled with crab meat and cheese. My mom especially likes Rangoons, so the other day at the grocery store we picked up some seafood cheese spread and some immitation crab meat. We chopped up the meat, added some thinly sliced green onions, salt pepper, lemon juice, and the cheese. We stuffed the potsticker rolls and folded over with her nifty potsticker maker. Don't forget the water to seal the edges!

We made a couple dozen and froze them. I cooked a few up for lunch the other day by pan-frying them in a little veggie oil until the outsides were brown and crispy. We had ordered Chinese the other day (including some crab rangoons, but these were shaped as tasty pouches) and had a little leftover sweet and sour sauce which made for a delicious addition to the crispy triangles.

I've made other potstickers lately. Ground beef, veggie, mexican flavored with cilantro and jalapenos. I'd like to try some other unorthodox potsticker flavors like BBQ chicken, mozzarella with sundried tomato and basil, and maybe bacon cheeseburger. There are few things that couldn't be improved on while in a crispy and flakey shell. Feel free to share any other stuffing ideas!

The Perfect Vessel

There are many yummy foods that aren't easy to eat on their own. Take feta cheese for example. It's salty, a little dry, crumbly in your mouth, and really difficult to eat unless it is in or on top of something. Onions are another great example. Not many folks eat them on their own (though I have seen a farmer in southern Georgia eat a Vidalia like an apple). But there are few savory dishes that don't use onions or onion cousins in them. 

To solve the problem of how to eat these delicious foods, one needs a vessel, a delivery mechanism in which to hold the food. Bread works amazingly at this.

I made this snack the other day with my mom. I chopped up some leftover chicken into very tiny cubes, added canned diced tomatoes, feta and mozzarella cheese, minced onion and garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, and thyme. Spread generously over rosemary olive oil bread, add a little more cheese on top and then I broiled them to melt the cheese.  I probably should have toasted the bread before I added the toppings, but I was really hungry. They made for a great light lunch. They would also work quite well as appetizers. 

But back to the bread idea as a delivery vehicle. I went to Macaroni Grill the other night and had a very mediocre meal. But the thing I love about the MacGrill is their bread and their olive oil. Their bread is soft and light inside, crusty outside, deliciously buttery, and has rosemary baked in. Their dipping oil, which they leave at the table is rich and fruity, and the cracked fresh pepper adds a great contrast. I ate a whole loaf by myself, I'm ashamed to admit. But again, how else was I going to enjoy the succulent olive oil unless it was on the bread?

There are many other amazing characteristics about bread which I'm sure I will dote on in a future post. Suffice it to say for now however, that I wouldn't last a day on a carb-free diet. 

Meatball Sammies

We bought some Aidell's Chicken Meatballs a while back in a Costco-sized package. They have great meatballs  - and sausages, too, but that is a different post - and while they are super in spaghetti, there is only so many noodles one can eat. What else can you do with meatballs? Thanks to a Subway commercial I was inspired to make a meatball sub. But I find meatball subs to be very messy, so I tried to figure out what I could do to make them, well, cleaner. I bought a nice sized loaf of French bread and cut off both ends about 4 inches in. I ripped out the soft bread inside the ends to make a type of bowl. I browned the meatballs then added some tomato sauce. Preprepared tomato sauce is great, but it can sometimes be bland. I added some pepper, salt, crushed red pepper, oregano, and thyme, and allowed the meatballs to warm up some more in the sauce. While they simmered, I stuck the bread in the toaster oven to heat it up. Before it started to brown, I took it out and rubbed a clove of garlic on the inside to give it some extra flavor. I sprinkled some shredded mozzarella cheese inside the bread, then stuffed in 4 meatballs and some sauce - just enough to fill the bread but not too much that it all falls out when you pick it up. I sprinkled some more cheese on top, let it sit 30 seconds to melt, and served with a smile. They were so good, I bought another loaf two days later and made it again. This time the bread was fresh-made garlic and rosemary from our local Sunday farmer's market. I added some sliced olives, too, and it was even better the second time.

What's great about this sandwich is that you can make it a million ways. Change the bread to sourdough or something else flavored. Change the cheese to provolone or feta. Change the sauce to vodka or marinara. Add some peppers, onions, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, mushrooms, or whatever is in your pantry. Even the meatballs come in different flavors, like Buffalo and Teriyaki Pineapple.