Penne for your Prawns!

Fern just limped back from Vancouver and only wanted a light meal. Frozen prawns thawed, peeled, fried in a  little olive oil and garlic, then removed from the pan. Add a can of tomato sauce to the pan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the sauce while the pasta cooks and grate some parmesan cheese. Chop up some fresh basil. When the pasta is almost done add the prawns, basil and a tablespoon of butter to the tomato sauce.  Drain the prawns and add them to the sauce. Toss and serve topped with parmesan.

The salad was leaf lettuce torn up and drizzled with olive, canola oils and white wine vinegar. A pinch of salt and some mixed pepper. Toss and munch.

30 minutes freezer to table, but I wasn't rushing. The latest processed meat findings aren't surprising. Fresh food is better for you. Frozen, processed food isn't healthy. I use frozen prawns but that is all that's available year round and everything else on the plate is fresh. I also use frozen peas and frozen corn but not all the time. Fern loves celery and it's cheap all year so a stick of celery freshens up frozen vegetables surprisingly well. Where food comes from has a big influence on it's nutritional value. Fresh food from a local farmer usually costs a little more but the nutritional value is several times greater than food from a supermarket. 

Dinner For One

The blog has been interrupted by a bear eating my chickens and a neighbour's rabbits and more chickens at the farm up the street with two goats for dessert. Then Fern drove someone to Vancouver for a heart procedure and someone in the hotel threw a wine bottle out the window and it smashed the sun roof in his car, stranding them there for an extra day. So that's why dinner for one. In the face of adversity, eat well anyway!

It looks like a lot of work went into this meal but in fact it was all pretty simple. The potato I simply scrubbed, pierced with a fork, microwaved and served with salt and two dollops of sour cream. The Breaded Pork Cutlet from Mitchell's merely has to be fried in enough oil to keep the pan wet. The condiment is apple sauce from a jar. The broccoli was steamed, cooled and reheated in olive oil with a pinch of salt. Twenty minutes fridge to table for less than $5.

Pork Loin Chop

I salted then coated the pork with a mixture of mustard powder and ground garlic. I fried it in oil and finished them in the oven. The German Butter Potatoes were boiled, salted and buttered. I thought I had broccoli in the fridge but found only carrots and celery.  I started the carrots boiling and frozen corn after a few minutes. When the corn was almost done I drained it all and added olive oil and celery  and fried that for a bit.  Some salt and a little pepper and it was done.

That combination of vegetables was really nice so it's a good way to sneak frozen vegetables into our diet. Ordinary apple sauce for condiment. If you want to impress friends mix a little dijon mustard into the apple sauce. A little horseradish works well too so there are lots of ways to put a new spin on pork chops. When trying new combinations, start with small amounts till you work out what tastes best.

Pineapple Coconut Cashew Chicken Curry

My time has been taken up dealing with a marauding bear so I slapped this together as quickly as I could. I sweated a diced onion, sliced carrot and diced celery first while I diced, salted and floured the chicken. The meat went in the pan immediately and I gave it a light sear all around. Next sprinkle 1-2 teaspoons curry powder over all and give it a stir. Add a can of coconut milk and stir it in while the solids melt. Turn the heat down to medium and boil the coconut milk down to thicken it. This turns the chicken to rubber so cut it small or take more time and remove the chicken from the pan till the coconut milk is reduced. To the reduction add diced peppers, I used the last from the garden including a dried seeded chili. A half cup of cashews to give it crunch. Taste for salt and add more if needed. Serve over basmati rice.

Delicious!

Breaded Pork Cutlet

Breaded pork cutlets from Mitchell's taste good and are really easy to prepare. To top it off, apple sauce by itself makes a wonderful condiment! If you want to show off your culinary skills, try a little prepared Dijon mustard in the apple sauce. What a revelation it was to discover that a home cook can in fact mix prepared sauces right there in their own kitchen.

Boiled German Butter Potatoes, yellow flesh, very tasty. Pinch of salt and pad of butter. Wonderful! Frozen peas with fresh carrots. I did them in the microwave, finished with butter, salt and a bit of pepper. The cutlet was fried in olive/canola oil. Just pour a little of each. The canola has a higher smoke point so it prevents the olive oil from burning. Get the pan hot first and keep adding a little oil to keep the pan from drying out. Ideally, the pan should not have a pool of oil when tilted after cooking. Using just enough oil is cheaper and produces a better result but you do have to attend to it more. 

Good quality fresh food always tastes good. I find peas and corn freeze well enough that they provide a break from broccoli in winter when fresh is dear. 

Home Alone, Pork Fat For Company

This is a dish I used to make before I learned how to cook. Simply put Kraft Original BBQ sauce in bottom of roasting pan. Put pork on top. Cover with more BBQ sauce and put in the oven at 325F for 45 minutes to an hour till the meat is definitely cooked. Serve with rice and frozen corn. A salad might have been nice but I was alone so didn't bother.

Pork is a sweet meat with wonderful tasting fat. Corn is also sweet so it goes well with pork, as do frozen peas. 

Now that I know how to cook I would salt the meat first, just a little. Then I'd roast it at 250F for 2 or 3 hours so it would come out falling apart tender. If I had guests, I'd serve a small salad and a whole grain bun for some fibre. As it was, I thoroughly enjoyed this time travelling meal.

Chicken Cordon Swisse au Mars

The odd reflection on the plate is the bulb in the dining room light. The red glow is why it's from Mars. The chicken is actually from Mitchell's, hand made by the kitchen elves. It's quite good. I just roasted them for about 25 minutes at 325F till the cheese leaked out a bit.

Easy Hollandaise

1 egg yolk

1/2 lemon

1 tsp water

1/3 cup butter

salt

Melt the butter but don't get it hot. Slowly, a teaspoon at a time, whisk the butter into the egg yolk. If you add too much butter at once, it will break and the butter will separate. When all the butter is taken up, add a pinch of salt, the water and some lemon juice. Taste the sauce and add more lemon as needed. Cook over boiling water till it thickens or use the microwave 10 seconds at a time, whisking in between. If it gets too thick it can be thinned with water and lemon, keep the balance. If you over cook the sauce into scrambled eggs, well, enjoy your eggs. 

I steamed the Brussels sprouts halfway then finished them in olive oil with bacon bits and celery.

The scalloped potatoes were thinly sliced potatoes par boiled. Onions and celery sweated and added to a thick cheese sauce. Pour cheese sauce over potatoes and bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or till it gets brown on top.

A bit complicated but well worth the effort.