Sometimes I Burn Stuff

Okay, today I made pajeon or Korean green onion pancakes.  I don't know if my recipe is the traditional one, but it's the way I like it.

All-purpose flour, salt, sugar, water, sesame seed oil, chopped green onion, thinly sliced white onion, and a little minced garlic.

Mix all that together to make a batter.

Fry up the batter.  Easy enough.  

Final result.  As with almost everything, I like mine with sriracha on them.

 For dinner today, I attempted to pseudo sous vide some chicken thighs.  I made risotto, too.  It turned out pretty damn tasty.

Chicken thighs are the best part of the chicken.  I removed the skin and most of the fat.  I saved the skin because I'll use it for something else in this meal.  Ingredients for the sous vide are - salt, pepper, garlic, bay leaves, sage, and savory.  And yes, that is a soft serve ice cream maker.  

I put the chicken in zip-lock bags with all the seasoning and some olive oil.  Then I squeezed out all the air. 

Submersed the bags in water that's about 150 degrees. I let them simmer in the water with a lid on for about an hour.

Started the risotto.  Caramelized some onions in olive oil and a bit of butter.

Added the rice, minced garlic, salt, pepper, and rosemary.

Added a couple of cups of chicken stock that I made a few days ago.

Scraped the fat off of the chicken skin.  Added salt and baked at 400 degrees until it was crispy like a pork rind.

Chicken skin is done.  Tasty, too.

Chicken is done.  Turned out pretty well.  I browned it after this in a hot pan for a minute or so.  

Finished result.  I chopped up the skin and topped the risotto with it.  It all turned out pretty good.

The title says it all.  Pan seared flat iron steaks with potato cakes.  This includes a salad with homemade dressing and homemade steak sauce.

Flat iron steaks.  They were kind of big so I cut them into more manageable pieces.  They marinated overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, olive oil, garlic, scallions, and black paper.  They are shown here resting and getting up to room temperature.

While the meat is coming up to room temperature, I started the potato pancakes.  This is leftover mashed potatoes plus garlic, salt, pepper, and an egg.  Mix all this up.

Kind of looks like baby food when it is all mixed up.  Form this mixture into patties.

I pan fried the patties in olive oil until it held together and the edges were cripsy.

This is what the almost finished product looks like.  Going to finish them in the oven.

This is thinly sliced green onion washing in a bowl of ice water.  I'll use these to top the potato pancakes.

Searing the steaks.  Get the pan nice and hot.  I did not use any oil or anything.  Just meat and heat.

Seared steaks.  They'll finish in the oven with the potato pancakes.  I put them both in at 400 degree.

 Made a simple salad with iceberg lettuce, cucumber, zucchini, roma tomatoes, and white onion.  Dressing is olive oil, lemon juice, basil, salt, pepper, capers, and some of the caper water.

Steak sauce time.  Ketchup, sriracha (which I put on pretty much everything), hoisin sauce, black bean paste, garlic, and black pepper.

Finished product.  Not bad for an hour's worth of work.

Fried Fish

At the risk of smelling up my tiny apartment, I'm making fried fish tonight.  Tilapia.  It was on sale at Harris Teeter.

The fish.  Tilapia.  Rack of fish for $12 at the Harris Teeter on the corner of 1st and M Northeast.

Pot of oil for frying.  Fat boy style.  Paper towels on a cookie sheet for draining.

Using the dry, wet, dry battering method.  Dry is all purpose flour, kosher salt, black pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and paprika.  Wet is milk, eggs, and salt.  Dipped the fish in the dry, then in the wet, then in the dry again.

Batter coated, it looks like that.  Kinda looks like a powdered sugar long john doughnut.  I love doughnuts.  Any ways, fry up the fish to a golden brown.

Fish is done.  Hot, crispy, and flaky goodness.

Finished product with a little tartar sauce action.  It was a good day.

Gotta use the leftovers from yesterday.  Chicken soup it is.

Leftover bones and scraps from yesterday's chicken.  Roast these for a few minutes in a 400 degree oven.  You don't HAVE to roast the bones.  The soup will taste fine without roasting them, HOWEVER, roasting the bones makes you sounds like you know what you're doing if somebody asks.  "Hey, whatcha doing?"  "Oh me?  Just roasting bones for a chicken stock."  Professional.

Other stuff I like to put in the stock - onions, carrots, whole coriander, whole fennel, salt, and a few bay leaves.  You can use whatever you want, garlic, peppercorns, star anise if that's your thing, whatever.  I like mine simple, and then I'll spice it up when I eat it with chili garlic sauce.
 Bones and everything else go into a pot of boiling water.  Bring back to a boil, cover, and drop the heat down to low for a few hours.
Once the stock is done, strain it.
Now you are left with nothing but tasty ass chicken juice.  From here, I'm letting the stock cool, and then I'll put in the refrigerator for a while.  Refrigerating the stock will solidify the fat at the top so you can skim it off. If you want the fat, go ahead and use the stock now.
 Dice up the left over chicken and an onion.  Add this to the stock and bring to the boil.  Once boiling, drop heat, and cover.  Now...gather stuff you want in the soup.
I like mine with sesame seeds, diced up raw zucchini, and chili garlic sauce.  Mmmm.
Poured soup over brown rice and added the extras.  It's not bad.

Roasted Chicken and Pan Fried Flat Bread

Started as a whole chicken which I butterflied (or spatchcocked - ha ha ha ha).  It's resting on an oven rack now to dry.  This will help get the skin crispy.

This is the spice/herb rub for the chicken.  Kosher salt, black pepper, paprika, cayenne, garlic powder, and herbs de provence.

Starting the flat bread.  1/4 cup flour, 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1/4 cup warm water, and a packet of yeast.  Combine and let sit for half an hour.  Once the yeast activates, it should be bubbly and smell a bit like beer.

Once the dough as risen, punch it down and then roll it into a log.  Cut the log into equal pieces.  Flatten these pieces and stretch them out.

Fry 'em up.  I used garlic infused olive oil.

Flat bread is done.

Chicken is done.
 Finished result.   I ending up taking the skin off and wrapped it up in the bread with some sriracha and hoisin sauce.  I'm fat.