Chicken with Hollandaise

I started late so this was supposed to be just rice, broccoli and chicken. I put the rice on and salted the chicken breast.  Then I coated the breast in 50/50 flour/onion powder.  Lay it in hot oil and brown the first side.  Turn it over and put in a 325ºF oven for 30 minutes total cooking time.  Press on the breast and it will spring back when it's cooked. If you still aren't sure, stick a fork in it. If the juices run clear, it's done.

I took the cooked rice out of the microwave, the broccoli was steamed and ready to reheat and the breast was in the oven so I stood there with nothing to do. I can make hollandaise! I separated an egg yolk and melted a 1/2 inch slice of butter, melted but not hot.  Slowly whisk small amounts of butter into the yolk until all butter has been taken up.  Mix 2 teaspoons lemon juice with 1/4 cup cold water. Add a pinch of salt to the yolk and half the lemon/water mixture.  It will thicken when it's heated. Once the breast was cooked I took it from the oven and put the broccoli in olive oil to reheat and started heating the Hollandaise.  The sauce got a little too thick so I added a little of the lemon/water to thin it. Once the broccoli was ready I plated everything.  

I love Hollandaise so I covered everything. It does look like a drive by saucing, but it tasted great.  It has taken me all this time to get to the point that I could decide to make Hollandaise at the last minute and pull it off. It was wonderful.

Pork Cutlet

I'm still buying Save On Foods breaded pork cutlets because they taste better than my own. In my defence, why struggle to outdo someone when the price is right and the taste is better? So heat up a pan with olive/canola oil and lay the cutlet in it.  The potatoes were yellow flesh. I usually buy russet but these were on sale so I bought them.  They are a bit rich for Fern's taste but nice for a change. The broccoli was again steamed, cooled and finished in olive oil.

Canned apple sauce for condiment and serve the meal. I really like this meal so of course I gobbled it up. It took Fern a little longer but he cleaned his plate too.

Rib Steak

Fern is away so steak comes into play. A nice rib steak with baked potato.  I had bacon in the fridge so I cooked some and broke it over the sour cream on the potato. I seasoned with salt and pepper then fried the steak. I steamed the broccoli then finished it in olive oil.  It was a simple delicious meal for one.

Chicken Breast

The chicken breast was salted then coated with 50/50 flour/onion powder.  I seared both sides in a frying pan then put the pan in the oven for 30 minutes total cooking time. Paired with mashed potatoes made with butter and milk and broccoli which was steamed, cooled and finished in olive oil. Fern wanted a light meal and this was fairly light but still full of flavour.

Chicken Chop Suey

A stir fry has enough vegetable that no salad is required and it cooks in one pan so I like them a lot. I put rice on to cook and coated the cubed chicken with flour.  I browned the chicken first and removed it from the pan. Next I seared the mushrooms, then I sweated the onion, carrot, celery, green pepper and finally the bean sprouts. I had added sesame oil to the pan right at the start and now I added several drops fish sauce. Next some soy sauce and add the cashews and the chicken.  Toss till it's all cooked through and serve next to white rice.

It was delicious.

Pork Chop

Boneless chops were on special.  I had yellow peppers to use up so I picked up a small sprig of broccoli and a bunch of green onions. I fried the chop and mised up a teaspoon of dijon mustard and a teaspoon of honey.  When the chop was almost cooked I coated both sides with the sauce and seared it onto the chops.

Mashed potatoes were boiled, mashed and finished with butter and milk. I steamed the broccoli then ran it under cold water to stop cooking.  The diced pepper went into the pot with olive oil.  Once the pepper had softened a bit I added the broccoli.  When the broccoli was warmed up I added the diced onion and gave it a toss. 

Fern was sceptical about the sauce, he doesn't like sweet main meals. When he tasted it he was convinced. The chops were absolutely delicious. 

Dog Food Chili

Fern made the mistake of cleaning out the freezer onto the dogs plates. Now they won't eat anything we didn't make. So, I cooked up a 2kg roll of lean ground beef for dog food.  I put some bay leaves in it so it would taste better. Also it had a carrot, onion and stick of celery.  It smelled wonderful, to me. Storm wouldn't touch it. He doesn't like the bay leaf smell. I cooked up some more ground beef without bay leaf. He gobbled it up. So, what to do with 2kg of tasty dog food? I made chili.

I soaked a bunch of beans for a couple of hours then sweated some green peppers from the garden. I added the greens, beans, a jar of Fern's tomato sauce and a can of store bought tomato sauce. 1 tbsp of chilli powder, 1/2 tsp cumin. Salt, black pepper. And water, I kept adding water as the beans cooked and absorbed it. It simmered for about 7 hours which you'd think would cook all the beans but a good portion were still firm. So I left it cooking for the evening. Put it on the BBQ outside for the night. Put it back on the stove this morning and hopefully the beans will cook over the day. The taste was great, it's just the firm beans that need fixing.

I also made bread, fairly well this time, but it didn't brown enough. I used 

1 cup All Purpose flour

1 tbsp wheat gluten

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp yeast

1/2 cup water. 

I mixed water in with a fork, then started kneading the dough. It was a little too dry so I added more water and kneaded it in.  Between 5-10 minutes of kneading and the dough felt soft and pliable. I put it in the oven with just the oven light on. It rose to double it's size in about and hour.  I preheated the oven to 450F, put bread in and turned down to 400F for 35 minutes. Unfortunately I used a bread pan and the sides prevented the bread from browning. So it was pale bread, but good!

Fresh grated cheddar on top. Overall, not a bad meal for dog food.