Angry Cooking = Bad Idea

I know I promised to post the duck recipe,but this is so important. well,kinda. I have had the most ridiculous day ever. I woke up to find that some little hethans in my neighborhood decided to spray paint my car. a nice neon orange color to be exact. I drive a black car,so I've been the halloween vehicle all day. That's just the beginning. While I was taking photos of my car, I leave my dog out to roam freely. I was gone a matter of moments,and returned to discover she ripped through the garbage. Already furious about the car, I take my anger out on her (i dare not say how). She runs and hides,and has the audacity to snap at me when i try to pull her out from her hiding place! The nerve! And to add misery to company,my significant other and I aren't seeing eye to eye. Blah!! On days like this, I never cook when my emotions are all over the place. My food usually turns out horrible,and it puts me in an even worse mood. The moral of the story is, if you aren't happy, your food won't be either.

Duck,as in Quack Quack!

Last week's challenge was to prepare duck any way we wanted to. I was responsible for this challenge,and automatically thought of pairing duck with oranges. I'm not sure why,but it was the first thing that popped into my head so I went with it. And thank goodness I did,because it turned out to be a success with our head Chef! When I get out of class I will post the ingredients,and methods of how I prepared a Citrus Marinated Duck with an Orange Liquor Glaze :) Talk to you guys soon! xoXo

Chicken Fried Steak Ain't Chicken

So everyone that knows me, is well aware that I am not a meat eater. I will eat seafood, but that other stuff...well...ummm... not so much. I was very disturbed at the fact that a recipe is called Chicken Fried Steak, when there is absolutely no chicken involved (this is me being an airhead.) I made sure to ask my group this question several times just to make sure they knew #1 I wasn't excited about this recipe and #2 that the recipe title wasn't well thought out by the culinary greats.

This past week in class, my amazing group members decided that it would be a great idea to chose me to prepare "the cow." I don't like to touch meat so I decided to wear gloves. Thank goodness for gloves. Our head Chef gave a demo on how to bread, season, and cut the beef steak ("the cow"). 
If you want to prepare "the cow" at home, here is what you will need:

1 beef steak
2.5 cups of flour (or more, as needed)
2 eggs beaten
1 cup of milk
2 Tbsp of Salt and Pepper ( be careful not to use too much salt like I did. I almost gave my team & chef a heart attack..but we'll focus on that later)

In two separate pans:
Pan 1: whisk together eggs and milk ( this will be used to dip your steaks in after flouring)
Pan 2: combine flour, salt and pepper. Sift through mixture with spoon or fingers to ensure seasonings are spread out.

On your cutting board:
Place your beef steak on the board, pay close attention to how the fibers in the meat run..if they run this way///// use your knife and cut medium thick slices the opposite direction..if they run this way \\\\\\use your knife and cut slices the opposite way. 

Once your steaks are sliced, take each piece, one by one, wrap it in plastic wrap, and use a steak hammer (or something heavy..like a rolling pin maybe) and beat the steak down until it is very thin. Do this for both sides. Be sure to get an extra pan to sit already flattened meat in for holding. Sit on top of ice (which should be in a separate bowl.) This is just to preserve the freshness of the meat.

When each steak is completely flattened, coat them one by one in the flour mixture, pressing the meat into the flour with your fingers and coating them generously on both sides. Next transfer the steaks to the egg mixture, coat on both sides, and return steaks back to the flour mixture for one final coat. This back and forth transfer is to seal in the egg and flour so the extra crispy factor is added. *Note: this is very messy...Thank goodness, once again, that I wore gloves.

After each piece has been coated, get a large pan and put about 2-3 oz of Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the pan. Allow the oil to get very hot. One way to test it (this is what my grammy taught me) is to sprinkle a little flour in the pan, if it sizzles..your grease is ready! Once your grease is hot, place steaks in oil and allow to brown on both side.

This can be served with steamed vegetables or mashed potatoes and gravy. This gravy can be made from scratch with the oil preserved from your fried beef steaks. I’m not sure if I feel like blogging about how to make the gravy being that I’m still traumatized that I had to make the gravy 4 times…I repeat 4 times in class!! Well I guess the 4^th time was a charm because the chef was pleased with my gravy. As for my salty steaks…not so much. 

Gravy recipe coming soon…and by soon I mean when I stop whining..
xoxo

Salmon Fettuccini

So tonight out of pure boredom, and a need to find any excuse not to pack up for the last few day in my apartment, I decided to make pasta. I probably shouldn't have because a friend and I had pizza and garlic rolls for lunch (from Galla's in the Perimeter area, you guys should try it) which was delish! Anywhooo, So here's the run down. Kroger usually has pretty great deals in their seafood department, sometimes alot cheaper than Wal-Mart or Publix, so I bought:


1 (4oz) salmon fillet
1 pkg of fettuccini noodles (I usually buy whole wheat pasta, but they were out :/)
1 bag of frozen spinach cutlets (I bought this frozen bc, I was a bit lazy. Fresh is always better, you get the true flavor)- Use only 1 cup of this
1 on the vine tomato, diced
Salt & Pepper (or whatever seasoning you favor the most)

For the sauce:
heavy cream (2.5 oz)
unsalted butter (2.5 Tbsp)
cooking wine (or any white wine you have on deck (3-4 Tbsp)

First:

 Turned on a large pot filled with water to allow it to simmer for the pasta. Once I noticed the cute little bubbles forming at the bottom I added about half the pack of noodles ( enough for just one person, and a little left over for lunch tomorrow)
allow to cook for about 10-12 min. When you notice the color starting to change (a little opaque) remove from heat, strain, and set aside.

While:
your pasta is simmering, remove salmon from package and place on cutting board. Use a boning knife or a fairly sharp kitchen knife and cut the fish into small cubes. Season cubes with lemon pepper seasoning or any seasoning will do. I chose lemon pepper because, personally it brings out the richness of the fish.
 In a large saute pan, pour about 1-2oz of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. When pan it nice and hot, add salmon and let it cook for about 7 minutes, or until you notice that each piece of fish has changed from a rich pink color to a dull pink. Remove from oil.

In that same oil (bc it already has a bit of seasoning in it):
Add your diced tomato and 1 cup of spinach add allow to cook for about 5 minutes. This can sit in a bowl or the same pan while you make your sauce.

For your sauce:
Combine all ingredients for your sauce and whisk consistently for about 5-7 minutes (your arms/wrists will get tired, so make sure to do your arm exercises the night before you make this,lol) If your sauce is too thin: Add about a Tablespoon or so of Heavy Cream. If your sauce is too thick: Add a Tablespoon of White Wine. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes after whisking.
Once your sauce has the desired consistency, add the tomato and spinach mixture. Be sure not to get alot of the olive oil drainage into your sauce.

*Be sure to add salt and pepper where ever you see fit*

To finish:

Add your pasta and salmon to sauce mixture. Stir together. Serve with parmesan or shredded mozzarella cheese. I topped mine off with a sprinkle of vegetarian mozzarella cheese crumbles. :) Yummers!