Hungry Kitchen

"Life itself is the proper binge." - Julia Child

[beeranyone]

Beer & Food Pairing Cheat Sheet - Source: thesavory.com

[hungrykitchen]

Buttermilk Roasted Chicken

Freezing temperatures make me think about comfort food. There is nothing like the smells come out of your hot oven with this chicken. It is a very simple recipe and aside from the marinade only took about 35 minutes of actual cooking time. Served with pearl couscous with shallots and parsley, sauteed mushrooms, green beans with garlic and roasted cauliflower. The cauliflower cooks at the same temperature as the chicken and is an easy addition to this meal.

Chicken recipe here. 

[hungrykitchen]

My version of Italian (no mayo) Potato Salad: boiled potatoes, roasted red peppers, generous amounts of extra virgin olive oil and minced garlic to coat, seasoned with salt and pepper.

[symphonyofawesomeness]

[onefitmodel]

BEEN WAITING FOR THIS FOR SO LONG

[hungrykitchen]

Asian Chopped Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing:

2 tbsp tahini

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp agave nectar 

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk to combine. Makes approx 1/2 cup. 

This pre-packaged Dole chopped salad blend has kale, green and red cabbage, broccoli, carrots and snap peas. The agave and sesame seeds are my additions to the salad dressing recipe on the back of the package. I would add some scallions and julienned cucumber next time. 

[hungrykitchen]

Brown Rice, Lentil and Spinach Soup

[hungrykitchen]

Homemade marshmallows from the recipe in America's Test Kitchen DIY Cookbook. The mixer does most of the work in this recipe. In about30 minutes you've got your mixture laid out and ready to set overnight. In the morning you just need to dust and cut into pieces.

[hungrykitchen]

Garam Masala Toasted Pumpkin Seed Recipe: Toss 2 cups of cleaned, raw pumpkin seeds with a tablespoon garam masala, dash of cayenne pepper and teaspoon of kosher salt. Add a scant tbsp coconut oil and stir to coat. Spread seeds on parchment paper lined pan and toast at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Toss seeds halfway through to toast evenly.</p>

Substitutions: curry powder for garam masala, ghee for coconut oil

[hungrykitchen]

Turkey phô

I’ve posted about this recipe before, but this is by request. It’s not traditional beef phô, but it’s a great substitute.

If you don’t have a whole turkey, roasted turkey wings and legs make for a really flavorful broth as well and are generally inexpensive as well. Alternately you can make this same recipe with beef. Cover carrot, a quartered yellow onion, a few cilantro stems, about an inch of ginger cut into slices, roasted turkey meat (or beef soup bone or oxtail) and 2 star anise (available in most Asian markets) with cold water and bring to a boil in a large pot. I like to let the broth boil for at least 2-3 hours, skimming any impurities as it cooks. The noodles need to be softened by soaking in cool water in a large bowl about an hour or more before you’re ready to cook them. Once the broth has become more opaque and taken on some color you can add salt to taste and begin to prepare individual bowls. Each portion of phô is prepared individually. Take a handful of noodles and submerge them in the simmering broth with a strainer. Then fill a bowl of noodles with cooked meat, top with broth and add your condiments. We always include the southeast Asian trifecta (sweet, salty and sour) of hoisin sauce, fish sauce and lime, as well as Sriracha, fresh basil, mint, bean sprouts, fresh hot peppers, thinly sliced onion and tomato. Part of the fun is making each bowl to taste.

*If you’re making this with beef, you’ll need to add thinly sliced raw meat to the strainer after you’ve cooked and removed the noodles to the bowl. Swirl meat slices around for a minute in the boiling broth until rare, remove to bowl and cover meat and noodles with broth to serve. I’ll often use eye of round or London broil, sometimes partially frozen to facilitate slicing it paper thin. You can also just pour the piping hot broth over the sliced meat in your bowl instead of cooking it in the strainer. Again, this is done to individual taste.

[hungrykitchen]

Hungry Kichen turned 2 today!

I’ll be celebrating by finally posting my phô recipe.

[helms-deep]

Pizza-ing @ Helm’s Deep 101

Someone asked me last week in a message (that I can now not find) how we do our pizzas at home. These are just some basic rules of thumb that we’ve used to make Pizza Night @ Helm’s Deep© a success.

A super-hot oven. Crank it up as high as it will go. You’re not gonna get a home oven up to the temps that a large pizzerea can (1000-1500 degrees), but most will go up to at least 500.

Place oven rack on its highest setting and preheat your pizza stone when you turn on your oven. If you don’t have a pizza stone, I strongly recommend you get one. This also helps mimic the large pizza ovens they use in restaurants.

Get yourself a pizza peel and flour it well. It makes putting the pizza in and taking it out so much easier. We picked ours up on Amazon.

Don’t weigh it down too much with toppings, sauce, and cheese. Our pies come out at about 14” (one Fassbender if that’s how you measure things), and we put 1/2 cup sauce, 1 cup cheese, and then I try and distribute the toppings as evenly as possible. I then usually shred about 1/8-1/4 cup of Romano or Parmesan cheese on the top before throwing it in the oven. If I’m using tomatoes, I’ll wait until the pizza has about 5 minutes left before adding them. And, if I’m adding basil, I always sprinkle it on immediately after the pizza has come out.

Use bread flour. Just trust me on this. The consistency and flavor of your dough will be so much better if you do.

Those are just a few of the main things we make sure to follow every week. To whomever sent the message to me, hope this helps! Feel free to ask any other questions you have.

[hungrykitchen]

Great pizza 101 from a pro.

[hungrykitchen]

From flank steak to jerky…it’s magical. I used the America’s Test Kitchen D.I.Y. Cookbook recipe with some variations to the seasoning mix based on what was available in my pantry. I love the smokey and spicy results. I think this would make an awesome food gift too, but for now it will make for great beach snacks.

[hungrykitchen]

Tonight's dinner: linguini with broccoli and garlic and grilled shrimp with red rub. Pasta with broccoli is a great weeknight meal. This pound of linguini was made with one large crown of fresh broccoli and the kids love it. It's also a great meal for those nights when we're trying not to eat red meat after a long weekend of barbeque.

[hungrykitchen]

A Weekday Brunch Buttermilk blueberry pancakes with Haydee’s microwave bananas

What are microwave bananas you ask? Only the best thing ever on pancakes. They are a miracle pancake saver on those mornings you discover you are suddenly out of syrup and sometimes, like today, just thing you want on your pancakes instead of syrup. 

Haydee's Microwave Bananas Recipe

Best Buttermilk Pancakes Recipe

Note: I halved the pancake recipe and it makes 9 pancakes which feeds 4 in my house. 

[hungrykitchen]

Vegetable soup start to finish. Puréed carrots, sweet potato and onion stirred back in.

[hungrykitchen]

Vegetarian Dinner : Shiitake, Broccoli, Tofu Stir Dry

I package of fresh shiitake mushrooms

1 large broccoli crown

1 package firm tofu

1 shallot, thinly sliced

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and sliced

3 scallions sliced thinly (green and white parts)

1 clove of minced garlic

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar

1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar (I used agave)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

pinch of dried crushed red pepper

peanut oil

Remove tofu from water, dry with paper towel, wrap in towel and press between two cutting boards or plates weighed down with canned food. This will press some of the water out. The end result is a better textured tofu.

  In small bowl mix together minced garlic soy sauce, rice vinegar, agave nectar, sesame oil and red pepper. When tofu has drained sufficiently 20-30 minutes, slice into rectangles then into triangles. Toss in marinade to coat and set aside.

Cut broccoli, stem and julienne mushrooms and peel and slice ginger into large discs. Peel and thinly slice shallot.

  In large wok or skillet heat 1 tbsp peanut oil. When oil is hot add tofu a few pieces at a time reserving soy marinade. Cook for about a minute per side until browned at the edges and flip. Remove and repeat until all the tofu is cooked through. Set aside.

  Add some more oil if needed and add the mushrooms. Saute until tender about 3 minutes, stirring as they cook over high heat. Remove from pan and set aside. Next add ginger and shallot slices, cook for a minute and add broccoli toss with reserved soy sauce tofu marinade and cook on high to desired tenderness. When cooked add scallions, toss and cook for another minute and return remaining ingredients to the pan. Toss together and remove from heat. You can pull out the ginger slices before you serve it if you like.

Serve over rice.

[hungrykitchen]

Steamed red snapper with sautéed aromatics and white rice.