Southwest Chicken with white wine gravy

Southwest spice is slightly different than Cajun, it has cumin and coriander, but for my purpose yelling 'YeeHaaa' while lightly sprinkling Cajun on the chicken will suffice.  I seared both sides in the pan then popped the breasts in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 375º.  I had the potatoes bubbling lightly and the veggies were in the microwave (I just made stock in the steamer so I had nuke).

For the gravy I browned half a diced onion in oil and a little butter for flavor.  When it was golden I sprinkled a teaspoon of flour over it and stirred that in. Next I added stock till it was runny and then a splash of white wine.  A dash of Worcestershire and some salt and pepper. Taste, adjust, taste again. With the spice already on the chicken, that should be pretty good. It was, I plated it and scarfed it down in a few minutes.

I also made banana bread this afternoon which I'm going to enjoy right now!

Roast Pork with Roasted Potatoes

Today the little "Manager's Special" sign was still up on the pork sirloin claiming the sale price of $5.49/kg.  Each roast was priced at $12.79/kg so I picked a nice sized one with a price just under $10 and asked the meat counter Manager if he could price it at the sale price displayed on the shelf.  He retrieved the sale sign  as it was not supposed to be there but he repriced the roast for me and I only paid $4.36 for it. A deal always tastes better.

It was too late to brine the roast so I rubbed it with salt and pepper then painted it with a teaspoon of molasses. It wasn't as good as brined pork but it was very tasty. I tossed the potatoes and carrots in oil and seasoned them before putting the roast on a rack in the center and putting it all in the oven. The broccoli was microwaved, old habits die hard.  The condiment is homemade 'ketchup'. The roast was cooked in a 375ºF oven for about 1.5 hours using a meat thermometer.   I let the roast rest under aluminum foil for 15 minutes before cutting into it. If you cut into a roast too soon all the moisture escapes as steam making the meat cold and dry.

Spaghetti

Everyone prefers spaghetti sauce the way their mother made it. It's almost always some variation of brown a diced onion then the meat.  Add garlic, Italian seasoning, salt, pepper and maybe some basil. Add a can of tomato sauce.  Maybe some tomato paste and possibly a can of Aylmer tomato soup (no other brand will do). Possibly a green pepper diced up and maybe some sliced mushrooms and a finely diced carrot. Top that with fresh grated Parmesan and you have everyone's favorite comfort meal. Even a better tasting sauce cannot replace the warm and fuzzy feeling imparted by mom's spaghetti. The only way to get a better sauce accepted at the table is to make the pasta too. Next time I do that I'll document it for sure.

Corn flour pork cutlet with Arugula salad

Pork cutlet tonight, a tenderized one, cheap but tasty. I like corn flour on my chops so I mixed up 3 tablespoons corn flour and 1 tablespoon corn meal.  To that I added salt, pepper, fresh oregano and fresh marjoram.  I dredged the meat directly in the flour mixture with no dipping in milk first. Then put it in hot oil in a frying pan.  I've found that I can watch the meat change color and texture as it cooks from the bottom up.  When the cooked meat reaches the middle, turn over the chop and finish the other side.

The pork is served with homemade French-Canadian 'Ketchup'.  My partner makes it but I'll document it in the fall because it is such a wonderful condiment.  Ordinary mashed potatoes and carrots and frozen corn. I had no green on the plate so I made a small rocket ( arugula ) salad/garnish with sesame oil dressing.  I thought I could enhance the hint of sesame in the rocket by adding sesame oil to the dressing.  All it did was make it too strong and add a bitter taste. The salad was still nice to eat since there wasn't enough oil to completely overwhelm the white balsamic vinegar.

Frozen Yogurt with Strawberries and Tarragon Leaves

My partner's doctor said all that ice cream would give him another heart attack.  So I immediately started making frozen yogurt.  I used 1 cup greek krema yogurt, it's about 9% Milk Fat to 2 cups 1% milk.  A teaspoon of vanilla and 3/4 cup sugar.  We use 1% milk so overall the fat is about the same as whole milk. That makes a nice smooth frozen mixture that has a little tang but tastes good. For a fruity version use 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/4 cup fruit.  Use the immersion blender or food processor to fully macerate the fruit.  If you have little pieces of strawberry for example, they become frozen rocks, not fun to eat.

Shown is Vanilla frozen yogurt with fresh strawberries tossed in icing sugar.  A few leaves of licorice flavored tarragon makes a tasty contrasting garnish.

Steamed Vegetables

Cajun chicken again but this time it's on the BBQ and I steamed the vegetables instead of microwaving them.  The broccoli definitely prefers being steamed, the carrots don't seem to care. So in future if I have time I'll steam the vegetables. Yellow flesh potatoes have a little more flavor but it doesn't make a big difference in mashed.  Fried the yellow flavor really stands out. I've started crinkle cutting the carrots but the plate still looks a lot suburban.

Ginger Beef with Broccoli and 5 Spice Chop Suey

Time to use up the leftover roast beef.  On the left is Ginger Beef with Broccoli and on the right is 5 Spice Chop Suey.  Under all that is brown and red basmati rice with a bit of pearl barley for extra flavor. I cooked the rice with half stock half water and a little salt. I used two frying pans to create the meal.  I started with a diced onion and half of it in each pan.  When that was golden I added half a carrot and half a stick of celery with a bit chicken stock to steam the carrots.  When the liquid was gone add a bit more oil and cook the mushrooms and add a diced green pepper to the chop suey pan.  When they are done add your ginger to one and a half teaspoon of 5 spice powder to the other.  I par cooked the broccoli in the microwave before adding it and the beef to one pan and the bean sprouts to the 5 spice pan.  If the pan is quite moist you can shake some instant blending flour to thicken it.  When all the vegetables are almost cooked add soy sauce to taste in each dish.

The 5 spice has not been well received in stir fries so I won't be using it again that way. Ginger beef and broccoli never seems to get tired.