week 2, 2008

Monday Steak. Simple meal. Ribeyes from Albertson's. Baby bok choy and mushrooms steamed with soy sauce. Rice, naturally. So usually the steaks at Albertson's are way better than expected. We get this cheap stuff, and it's tender. So the ribeyes were the opposite. Mind you, they weren't that pricey, but they could have used a meat mallet.



Tuesday. Ground pork with napa cabbage, mushrooms and carrots.
So I browned the pork with a little sesame oil, because it was either that or extra virgin olive oil. And don't you call it EVOO... I added coriander, salt and pepper. I took it out of the pan, and I sauteed garlic, onion, mushrooms and carrots. I let it go, then I added a little water and covered to steam. I put the pork back in, added the shredded napa cabbage, soy sauce and some coconut vinegar. At the end I squeezed a little lime juice in. I served it on top of rice, what else? I've come to realize how much I like napa cabbage. I'm used to using regular cabbage and bok choy and greens, but napa is more lively and fresh tasting.

Thursday. I was on the internet all afternoon, then I realized it was night and I had not eaten much all day. So I went to the store to make something easy, that we could have for a few days. My strategy in these cases is to go to the meat aisle first. I was thinking chicken. My other two meats of the trinity had been satisfied for the week, so back to chicken. I thought thighs, but then I saw a 6 pack of leg quarters for $5.46 or something. So leg quarters it was. Adobo was my only option. Pinoy chicken adobo, oh yeah! I got soy sauce in case there wasn't any, rice vinegar, mushrooms, onions, garlic and eggplant. Okay, so mushrooms and eggplant aren't traditional, but they're such a nice complement to chicken and soy sauce. So I got home and realized I didn't have a proper pot to stew 6 leg quarters in. And I wanted to cook them all, and the Food Pimp would be home in an hour. (God, I'm so domesticated! I like lap naps, and I even know how to use the litter box) So I needed a new strategy. Thus I will write in recipe form what I did. (Two of my new objectives to make this more interesting are to take more pictures and write more "recipes".)


Baked Filipino Chicken Adobo Food Ho Style, Oh yeah

6 chicken leg quarters, hopefully on sale for dirt
2 yellow onions, or sweet onions if you can afford, sliced
1 clove garlic, peeled, smashed
a handful of nice black peppercorns
1 carton of button mushrooms
1 red potato large dice
1 eggplant, medium dice
2 cups soy sauce
1 cup rice vinegar
1/2 c coconut molasses (or brown sugar)
1/4 c granulated sugar (or brown sugar)


Get a cast iron pan very hot. Preheat oven to 425. Add a little oil to coat the bottom of the cast iron pan. Place as many leg quarters as will fit in the pan in one layer, not crowded, skin side down. Chop your veggies while waiting. This may take several minutes. Let the skin get some color on it! Be patient. When it's browned, take the chicken out and repeat for the rest until all done. Place quarters in a roasting pan, skin side up. Do not overlap them. Saute garlic and peppercorns. When the peppercorns start to pop and the garlic is browning, add onions and saute a minute. Add mushrooms, potatoes and eggplant, saute another minute. Add soy sauce, vinegar, coconut molasses and sugar. Bring to a rolling boil. Spread this mixture in the roasting pan and put it in the oven. Bake for 30 - 45 minutes. When the chicken looks nice and brown and is starting to disconnect from the bone, and the potatoes are fork tender,it's done. Serve it over rice, duh!
And don't be scared of the chicken fat. It's delicious.




Stroopwafels So my coworker, the Dutch Princess, came back from the Netherlands this week. She gave me a pack of stroopwafels. OMG OMG, have you ever had one? Find them. I don't know where, maybe World Market or something. Anyway, they are those wafer cookies that look like waffles or pizelles. And there's two and they sandwich this caramel like filling which is something a little different than caramel. Try them.

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