Home Made Chop Suey

"Mixed pieces" is basically what Chop Suey means. An American Chinese dish of a little of this and a little of that. I saw a Food Network special on Thanksgiving telling of how Chinese chefs in San Francisco would basically do this, throw whatever they had together and cook it, making Chop Suey. Especially popular during later hours when people were getting out of work and extremely hungry. Tonight, I basically threw some stuff in a pan and cooked it up. Total crap shoot. Steve wanted some stir-fry type dish, so we had some vegetables. At the store today I picked up some chicken and marinated it in soy sauce. Threw the chopped chicken and veggies in a pan later on with a mix of olive, sesame and hot pepper oils. Threw together a sauce made with some soy sauce, teriyaki marinade and plum sauce, added a dash of red cooking wine and chili sauce and some sesame seeds. Thickened the sauce with a bit of corn starch. It came out pretty good, I think I over cooked the vegetables, there was no crispness. The sauce came out well though which I'm glad about, it was edible. The veggies were just a bit limp. Had it with a white wine from Goose Watch called Snow Goose. Steve didn't like it, but I think it's rather enjoyable. Then again he's more of a fan of dry reds and this is a somewhat sweet white. Doesn't say what kind of grape is used, but it's a nice sweet wine. I can say I did well for one of those quick throw-stuff-together-and-be-experimental dinners.

Thanksgiving

Haven't updated in a while, been taking a bit of a "break". Well more like work, school, appointment scheduling, cleaning for the holidays, etc. We spent Thanksgiving at my Father's, live we've been doing for the past several years. It sort of became tradition, my Mom normally goes out of town, and there's really nobody left on my Dad's side of the family, so I spend Thanksgiving with him. It was like a lot of previous Thanksgivings, which I'm glad about since I enjoy the low-key nature of the holiday, at least for me. No huge crowds, much as I love my family I prefer the small get-togethers. It's easier to talk with everyone, stress is normally low on Thanksgiving. Arrive around 10:30 in the morning, Dad already has the turkey in the oven. Chill and watch the Macy's parade like I do every year. As silly as it gets I still enjoy watching it. I convinced Dad to let me make the broccoli casserole mentioned in the previous post. It's sort of a compromise, he always wants to do green bean casserole and my sis and I really don't like mushrooms. So broccoli casserole it was. I think I made it better this time around. I tweaked the recipe a bit, added more chicken bullion and more cheese on top. Instead of toasted almond slivers I used bread crumbs . It came out much better, the sauce had more flavor, it was nice and cheesy and the bread crumbs were a nice touch. When it came to dinner time we started with some fruit cocktail. Dad takes the basic stuff and adds some strawberries and a bit of orange liquor to the juices to balance the sweetness out. Steve, the guy who hasn't eaten fruit in years, tried some. He enjoyed it but put himself into a state of shock at eating the fruit. Dinner itself was great, the turkey was nice and moist. Had mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, my broccoli casserole, cranberry sauce, and stuffing. I love stuffing, I know it's not the healthiest part of the dinner, but I love the texture and the herbs. Dinner overall went real well, I'm glad to say everyone liked the broccoli. We had it with an Argentinian Torrontes to drink. Only needed one bottle of wine for how small a group there was for dinner, but it went so well with dinner. I found out my sister likes wine too, but she's also one of those party-loving college girls too. Don't worry, nobody got hammered. After dinner we spent more time either napping or watching the History Channel. There was a very interesting program on about popular American foods. Would have watched more of it if Dad hadn't woken up and put on the game. I know football is a crucial part to many on Thanksgiving, but I'm really not that into sports. Back to the program, it was very enjoyable. Learned about the history behind Chinese take out, BBQ, Chef Boyardee pastas, old fashioned soda shops and ice cream treats. I was getting antsy around dessert time, much as I loved hanging out I did have to work. Such is the life of a convenience store worker, if you're not going out of town on a holiday work is mandatory. I had to rush through dessert, Dutch apple pie with tea. Very delicious as well, I think my sister's boyfriend may have made it. He's a culinary student, and couldn't be with is at all this year because of work. He started his new job at the Mirror Lake Inn, training under apparently one of the best chefs in the country. My sister took some leftovers home for him though. I'm hoping everyone else has a great Thanksgiving too! Now we have to tackle Christmas. I know I'll be making a bunch of sweets like I do every year. Cookies, fudge, and peanut brittle, oh my!

Steak!

Last night, Steve's boss was supposed to come over for dinner. Nothing fancy or business related, he just wanted to have some of our cooking. Like last week (when he said he'd be over for dinner as well), he never showed up. Well that meant more steak for us then.

I've always enjoyed steak, ever since I was little I liked having steak. For years I didn't eat steak for some reason, but as of recent have been eating it more. I'm picky when it comes to meat really. I don't really like gristle, the texture bothers me. Meat has to be just right pretty much for me to enjoy it. Yet almost anything fruit or vegetable related I'm willing to try. I'm just picky with meat, and really don't like seafood.

For last night I tried a teriyaki marinade on a London Broil style steak. With it I made roasted potatoes with balsamic vinegar. I also tried a broccoli casserole, it was a recipe I found in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook I picked up for a dollar at a local thrift shop.

I've gotten better at steak, normally Steve will pan-sear it, but I broiled the steak last night. I think I have it down, before I would end up overcooking it and the meat would be dry. This time it was nice and juicy. I can't really count how many times I've made the balsamic potatoes, they're just so good. I love the tangy taste of balsamic vinegar, which complimented the herbs well. It's even better how the vinegar will carmelize over the potatoes, which soak in some of the flavor.

I discussed making the broccoli casserole for Thanks giving with my Dad. He thinks it sounds like a good idea, but we have to get the approval of my ultra-picky sister first. The ironic part is she's living with her culinary arts major boyfriend. We'll see how she feels about the broccoli though, rather than just plain steamed broccoli. The sauce it's in is a creamy, stew broth like sauce with lemon juice, and there's shredded cheddar and toasted almonds topping it off. It's quick and easy but brings some good flavor. Of course to top it off for a good meal, we had wine. This time it was a 2005 Fat Bastard merlot. It tasted sort of like fall in a glass, crisp and earthy. It was very delicious though. In fact as I'm typing this I'm having more of it with cheese and crackers. Steve's boss really missed out.

Pasta Primavera and Spur of the Moment Meals

We're really trying to post more here, can't guarantee how frequent posts will actually be. Both of us are fairly busy, I have work and school, Steve has work and his frequent distractions.

It's been one of those days, more like one of those mid-weeks? Things have been odd lately. It's been snowing all day so I didn't bother planning ahead for dinner, didn't want to go to the store. Make do with what we have right? Okay, have some food, have some wine. Decided to go with a pinot grigio and brought up the nifty applet from wine answers.

Pasta primavera it is! I have made this previously and I found a nice, simple recipe that doesn't require enough food for feeding a small army. It was something I could throw together at nine in the evening. Grocery store was closed, Steve was having a tense moment on the phone with a friend of ours.

As usual, I deviated from the recipe, instead of the vegetables listed I used some frozen ones I had in the freezer, and chopped up a few cloves of garlic. It really didn't take that long to make. While it was simmering I threw together a couple simple salads. Used multi-grain spaghetti, for the pasta. Overall it came out very nicely. Nothing big or fancy, but as a meal it was good.

Sometimes it's more fun to just make things spur of the moment. A few nights ago we had pancakes on a whim. Some days I like planning ahead for meals, other days I like that spontaneity. Usually it's more apparent in the summer when days are longer and there's a farmers' market to supply fresh produce. Spontaneity is enjoyable, it jazzes life up a little, breaks away from the humdrum. Tonight we could have just run to a convenience store and grabbed some chicken nuggets or a frozen pizza. Or we could have just made spaghetti and used sauce from a jar, or maybe we could have just had Pop Tarts or something. Instead we decided to take some time to cook dinner, even if it didn't take long it was still something thrown together that had good results. I'm not going to say that the sauce recipe I used was the greatest, it's okay, but it's something that can be thrown together quickly with things we usually have in our fridge. Damn I love ingenuity.