Poached Eggs with Potato Pancakes

It took some time, but I finally got around to cooking a breakfast for my blog.  I was feeling pretty lazy last night, and while at the store picking up some supplies for the evenings food creation, I decided I didn't really feel like making a big dinner.  Instead, I switched my shopping to some breakfast foods.  Originally I was going to make an omelet or crepes, but then came across some smoked salmon on sale, thus decided to make some poached eggs with smoked salmon.  As the side, I decided I finally wanted to try making some potato pancakes.  Turned out pretty good if you ask me. 

Poached Eggs

-2 large eggs
-Sliced smoked salmon
-English muffin
-Butter
-Dill
-Creole seasoning
-Vinegar

I've poached eggs a few times, and I've come across a few tricks which make the eggs turn out a little nicer.  Start off by bringing some water to a gentle boil with a little bit of vinegar in it.  I like to crack the egg into a small bowl prior to dropping into the water, just in case the yolk breaks.... it's easier to swap out the eggs from the bowl than if it's already in the water.  Also, I find it easier to dump into the water from the bowl as well.  Before adding the egg into the water, I take a plastic spoon and stir around the water to make a bit of a cyclone effect.  Then in one quick motion dump the entire egg right into the middle of the water.  The spinning water helps to keep the egg together so it doesn't separate too much in the water.  I left the egg in the water until it becomes slightly firm and then remove.  If done right, the outside will be firm however the yolk will be nice and runny.

Tricky thing about the english muffin is that I don't have a toaster.... makes things a little awkward.  Instead I buttered the muffin and then toasted it using a frying pan on high heat.  Turned out pretty decently actually.

Plating it up, I simply layer the salmon onto the english muffin, placed some poached eggs on top, sprinkled a little creole seasoning for flavouring and color, and then garnished with a bit of dill.


Potato Pancakes

-1 large russet potato
-1/4 of a white onion
-1 egg
-2 tbs of flour
-Salt and pepper

Now here's something I've never tried before and is apparently super easy.  Started off by peeling a large potato and then grating it into a bowl of cold water.  Then similarly grated a quarter of a white onion and mixed together into the bowl.  Then after letting it soak for about 20 minutes, I thoroughly drained all the water and squeezed out the mixture until it was as dry as I could get it.  Apparently excess water will ruin these, so definitely took my time to get it as dry as possible.  Some paper towel was involved.

While the potato was soaking, I make the batter by simply mixing together the egg, flour and salt/pepper.  In a clean bowl and mixed together the batter and potato/onion trying to coat every piece I cook.

I heated a large skillet to high with about 1/4 inch of oil, maybe a little less.  I then put in clumps of the battered potato and flattened out in the pan.  The mixture will fry up nicely and start to brown on the bottom, at which point I flipped them over and reduced down the heat.  I read that you need to reduce the heat in order to make sure the potato cooks all the way through before the outside get burnt.   All in all I think they cooked for about 8 minutes or so, and were well worth it.   Very tasty.  Although they soaked up a lot of that oil, so probably not an everyday type of meal haha.

Seared Scallops

I finally ventured out to a fresh seafood market around North Hollywood today.  I originally was on the hunt for a nice piece of swordfish to make a grilled swordfish steak for dinner this week, but once I got there I found the bay scallops were on a good sale at the market, so my plans were quickly changed.  I got home and quickly took to the interwebs to find a great new recipe to try out.  I found one that caught my eye for it's simplicity and rave reviews.  Simple seared scallops with a orange and jalapeno dressing.  Now, if you know me when, you'll know I can't eat spicy food at all.  The nice thing about this recipe is that it only uses the green of the jalapeno, no seeds or interior flesh.  This leaves the sauce having a very mild kick to it.  Tasty!

Orange-Jalapeno Dressing
-Small jalapeno
-Sweet orange
-1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar
-1 tbsp olive oil

The first part of the recipe was probably the more crucial..... the cutting of the pepper.  Gotta make sure to not leave any of the white interior flesh or any of the seeds behind... thats what the heat is.  It was really simple to do. Made about 6 slices int the pepper to get all the green parts, and the sliced and diced it until all that remained was tiny little pepper cubes.  In a bowl I mixed in the diced pepper with the seasoned rice vinegar.  Next up, cutting the orange.  The recipe called for only the interior part of the fruit, cut into sections.  I started by skinning the orange down to the flesh of the orange taking off all the white of the fruit.  Next, using the the knife slitted the orange sections in between the tough parts of the fruit.  Helpful hint: do this over the bowl your using to capture all the juices the leak out of the orange.  Once I de-sectioned the orange, I gave it a good squeeze to get all the juice I could out of it.  The citrus of the orange I guess helps offset the heat from the pepper and combined with the vinegar leaves a really nice dressing.  Added in the olive oil to beef up the consistency of the sauce, and viola...finished.

I've already gone over how I like to sear my scallops, as demonstrated when I made the creole chicken. If you haven't already checked it out, you can do it now.... well in a minute or so once you finish with this recipe.

Rice
-1/2 cup white rice
-Chicken stock

In case you've never made rice before.... I'll throw down a pretty solid recipe for some tasty rice.  I mix in equal parts water and rice into a sauce pan.  Crank up the heat until it's boiling and once boiling, mix in a packet of chicken stock, stir it around until fully disolved and then remove from heat.  Keeping the rice covered, it will continue to cook until the water is all evaporated.  The rice will be nice and fluffy and ready to go.  Note, you should probably not always follow the whole equal parts rule, it'll probably depend on the brand of rice you buy, just fyi.


I wasn't too sure how to plate this meal.... I was tempted to keep the rice separate, but finally decided on bed of rice, smothered in the dressing, then layer the scallops on top and then another layer of the dressing.  Turned out to look pretty good in my opinion.

The meal itself was really tasty. Not crazy spicy despite the jalapeno.  There was a good bite to it, but no lingering heat.  Loved it.  Probably not enough for a full meal though.  I think when I make this again, I'll likely buy smaller sized scallops, cut the portion size down and serve it as an appetizer to a real meal haha.  Still, looks and tastes good.  Definitely a keeper.

Creamy Salmon and Leek Pasta

I found this recipe online during a rather slow evening at work (yes, I said evening.... lame work hours for the win).  Creamy Salmon and Leek Pasta for two....... but eaten by one.  The thing I liked about this recipe is that there were very few ingredients and minimal cooking time.  Two of my favorite things when cooking.  Also, salmon is tasty..... can't forget about that.

The Sauce

-Butter

-Large leek, diced

-Salt

-1/4 cup white wine

-Lemon juice

-1 cup cream

-Creole seasoning

-Basil

-Salmon

I started out by melting the butter over medium heat until fully liquid and bubbling.  I sauteed the diced leek for about five minutes or so, just until they started to brown around the edges.  Adding in the wine and lemon juice in order to deglaze the pan and get fullness of the butter flavour into the sauce.  I let the wine continue to bubble until fully evaporate before adding in the cream along with a pinch of salt and creole seasoning for some flavour.  I should note that the original recipe I found called for tarragon and dijon mustard, but I didn't have either or those nor do I really like them, so I decided to switch it up a little bit.

Now having the heat set on low, I waited until the cream just starts bubbling a little bit before adding in the salmon directly to the sauce.  I was a little wary about not pre-cooking the salmon before putting in it the sauce, but true to the recipe, the heat from the sauce was more than enough to fully cook it.  The salmon was finished cooking when it starts to become more firm and flakes apart when you move it.  To finish off the sauce I added in some basil to give the sauce a little more flavour and color.

I won't really go into the too much detail with the pasta I used, basically as the sauce was cooking I got some water boiling and tried to time the pasta to be finished around the same time as the sauce.  It was tough to gauge as I had no clue how long the salmon would take.

Tofu Wrap with Sweet Potato Fries

This weekend marks a very special edition of the blog.  This week I had a special sous chef assist me with the meal.  My wonderful girlfriend Pamela flew down to So Cal to visit me this weekend, so we decided to make a nice meal together.  There is one catch to making meals with Pamela however, she's a vegetarian.  Over the last two years I've come to rather enjoy some nice vegetarian meals, and today we made one of my favorites, a tofu wrap inspired by her favorite veg restaurant in Toronto.

Marinated Tofu Strips

-1 package extra firm tofu
-1/2 cup tamari
-2 tbs water
-1 tbs peanut oil
-1 cup nutritional yeast
-1/2 wheat germ
-2 tbs coriander
-4 tbs garlic powder

The marinade for the tofu was pretty simple.  Just mixed the wet ingredients (tamari, water and oil) in a sauce bowl.  Add in the tofu, which was drained and cut into thin strips, and let it marinade for about an hour or so.  While the tofu was marinating, we prepared the coating mixture with the remaining dry ingredients.  After the hour of marinating, the tofu was simply fully coating in the dry mixture and thrown into the over of a covered baking sheet.  We didn't really know how long we shoul cook the tofu for, and it turns out the answer is a really long time.  Seriously, we had checked it like 6 times before finally deciding the strips were cooked enough.


Wrap Fillings

-Whole grain tortilla wraps
-1/2 cup grated carrots
-1 Diced tomato
-Handful of baby spinach
-Sliced red onion
-Alfalfa sprouts
-Crumbled gorgonzola cheese
-Tofu strips (see above)

Pretty basic instructions here.  Just prepared the fillings while the tofu was cooking in the oven and then fill it into the shells.

Sweet Potato Fries

-1 large sweet potato
-Cinnamon
-Salt/Pepper

In addition to the tofu wrap, this particular restaurant was where I first tried sweet potato fries.  As such, I thought it would be fitting to also whip up a homemade batch of this delicious side.  We started off by peeling the sweet potato and cutting into long thin strips.  In a frying pan, I heated up some vegetable oil (way too much oil, but meh) and tossed in the fresh cut fries.  Cooking on medium heat, I made sure to cook the fries until they were nice and tender.  I then drained out the oil, dried off the oil from the fries on a paper towel, and then put back in the frying pan to try to brown up the fries.  At this point I seasoned the fries a bit with salt and pepper, and also at Pamela's suggestion, some cinnamon.  Wow, does cinnamon ever make these fries pop. So delicious.  Any time you work with sweet potato, I'd now recommend adding in some cinnamon, definitely worth.


Unfortunately I tried to make this meal super healthy and picked up some whole grain shells.... mistake.  The wraps were kinda stiff and broke a bit when folding.  You'll notice in the photo the edges of the wrap didn't hold up well.  Also, I shouldn't have used the big plates for the presentation, as most the plate was left unfilled... lessons learned.  But overall, a great vegetarian dish, a good saturday evening, and even better company.

Magno Thai Mahi Mahi

Whats this.... second post in as many days?  Your eyes don't deceive you.  I made too much rice for my last meal so I decided rather than a simple meal, I would make another recipe that would go well with the butter garlic rice.  Cue the mango thai mahi mahi.

Mahi Mahi Fish

-1 piece of Mahi Mahi
-1 Tps butter
-Lime juice
-Salt/Pepper

I decided not to try out the new gas oven broiler this weekend, so instead just a simple pan sear.  First off I seasoned the fish with some salt and pepper along with a squirt of lime juice.  I cranked the frying pan up to high, which takes late no time with the gas (love the gas stove), melting the butter on the pan. As the butter was sizzling, I drop the fish (skin side up) on the pan and let the fish cook until it was about 2/3 of the way cooked before flipping onto the skin side to finish.  Just like with scallops, you don't wanna move the fish once it's cooking on the pan or you won't get that nice browning.  As the fish was cooking, I prepared the mango salsa (see below).

Mango Thai Salsa

-1/4 cup finely chopped mango
-1 tsp thai sweet and sour sauce
-1 small minced clove garlic
-1 tbs rice vinegar
-Lime juice
-1 tps chopped fresh cilantro

First off, I peeled the mango with a standard peeler.  Instead of switching to a knife once peeled, I simply kept peeling the flesh off the fruit using the peeler.  This worked out really well, yielding nice thin strips of mango.  I then used my new chefs knife to dice up the strips into fine little pieces.  Adding in the thai sauce, garlic, vinegar and lime juice, I then mixed the salsa together with a spoon.  I then through in some freshly chopped cilantro for some color and some extra flavor.  I debated heating the salsa up in a sauce pan, but ultimately decided to leave the mixture at room temperature.  I don't think it makes much of a difference, as the heat from the fish will get the sauce up the temperature quickly enough.

I heated up the left over butter garlic rice from my last meal in the microwave (I know, Super lazy right?  but waste not want not right?)  The meal looked a little plan after plating it, so I turned the leftover lime into a little half lime crown... I think it adds a little more pizzaz to the plate.

Creole Chicken

Finally a dish inspired from my old time working at the Keg.  Seems like ages ago, and to be fair it was pretty much ages ago.  Crazy how much things have changed.  Used to make this dish for customers on a daily basis, and now I'm making it for fun on a Friday night.  Feels good.  For those of you paying attention, you'll notice the plate/table change in the photos.... unfortunately my time at the luxury condo rental has since expired, and I am now in my own place.  It's not fully furnished with all the bells and whistles, but it's still pretty nice.  Actually, the cookware I picked up is pretty outstanding..... gotta love crazy sales at Bed Bath & Beyond.  Anyways, onto the food.

Garlic Butter Rice


1/2 Cup of white rice
1/3 cup of butter
1 Chicken bouillon cube
1 Cup of water
2 Minced (ie finely chopped as I don't have a garlic press) garlic cloves

After melting the butter in a pot, and stirring in the bouillon cube and rice, making sure that the bouillon is completely disolved, I had the water, cover the pot and bring it to a boil.  Once boiling, turn the heat down to basically the lowest and let the rice slow cook.  After about 90% of the water as been absorbed into the rice, add in the garlic and mix in thoroughly and recover and allow the rice to cook until the rest of the water is fully absorbed.


Pan Seared Chicken

1 Chicken Breast

Straight forward on the main protein for the dish.  Heat up a medium sized frying pan to a decent temperature (5 on my dial, which only goes to 6) and spray some pam to prevent sticking.  On a side note, I do have non-stick pans, but I still put the pam on as I just don't trust non-stick surfaces apparently.  I cooked the chicken on the one side until about 2/3 of the way done to ensure a decent golden brown sear.  Simple flip and finished cooking the chicken on the other side.  Like I said, straight forward.

Seafood Topper


4 Scallops (20/30 count)
6 Shrimp (41/50 count)
Diced Tomatos
1/2 Tbs Butter
1 Tsp Creole Seasoning

First off, for those who are confused by the whole count business in the ingredients listing, I'll throw out a quick explanation.  Normally seafood is listing by the number of items that would take to make up 1 pound.  So in this case, for the size of scallops I'm using, it would take somewhere between 20 and 30 of them to make up a pound.  Simple right?

Now onto the cooking of the seafood.  If you've ever seen Hell's Kitchen, you'll know it's really easy to screw up scallops.  So first off you need to oil up the pan and let it get nice and hot.  Pretty much as high as it'll go in order to get a nice sear on the scallop.  If you don't have the pan hot enough, the scallops will be Today I used peanut oil, for no particular reason other than I had it handy.  Also, don't forget to season the scallops a little before cooking, mostly with just a dash of salt.  Be sure after you place the scallops into the pan, don't move them.  They won't get that nice brown golden sear if you move them.  After you start to get a nice sear on the first side of the scallop I like to turn the temperature down a bit and flip of the scallops to finish.  It takes a little while to learn when a scallop is finished.  In my experience a finished scallops will have two signs.  First it will start to firm, just like most seafood.  Secondly, you'll see the edges start to separate a little.  I'm now realizing that this is pretty tough to describe, and I should have taken pictures.... lesson learned for me.

The shrimp I had tonight were actually precooked.... sad I know.  So basically all I did was add them into the pan when the scallops were just about finished in order to heat them up.  At the same time, I drained out any excess oil, and added the butter and creole seasoning.  After the butter gets nice and melted, I like to add in the diced tomatoes and make sure everything gets mixed in together.  Delicious. This finished topping simply gets placed on top of the cooked chicken, and a fabulous meal is ready to go.

Fish Tacos

Anyone who had talked with me about the move out here at great lengths would have found out that one of the things I was excited about was getting to try fish tacos.  It was actually one of the first things I ate when we arrived.  It was the first time I had ever had them, and I knew I was hooked.  I've been delaying trying to make them.... for no particular reason, but I figure this would be my last weekend in this apartment before I move out this week, so nows an ideal time to make fish as I won't need to worry about the place smelling like it for weeks.

Right off the bat, the presentation doesn't look appealing..... but the taste was pretty great.  I could eat like 40 of these bad boys.

Since it's a bunch of small little things that go into these I won't really break out the ingredients and instructions by item like I usually do.  (Ha usually... I've only made like 4 meals thus far).

Three pieces of "fresh" Tilapia fish ( I quote the fresh as I bought it at Ralph's and they claim fresh, but who really knows)
Salt and pepper
Iceberg lettuce
Tomatos
Small onion
Green and orange peppers
Lime juice
Cilantro
Avocados
Water cress
Mozzarella cheese
Small tortila shells

First off cooking the fish.  I oiled up a pan with some peanut oil and made sure it was nice and hot before throwing in the fish which had been seasoned with the salt and pepper.  I cooked the fish about 80% on the first side before flipping, in hopes of getting a nice brown for the presentation.... but it stuck a bit to the pan and brown didn't really flip well, so the fish mostly just looks white.  Not a big deal.

The salsa I kinda messed up a bit.  I diced up the ingredients (tomatos, onions, peppers) but probably went a little too fine with the tomatos and onions, so when I mixed it all together including the cilantro and lime juice, it kinda went all mushy and runny...  luckily the pepper cubes were kinda bigger to give it some thickness.  Still good though.  I was thinking of having whole avocados for the tacos, but changed my mind when I cut them up... as I did a bit of a hack job.  Instead I mushed them together with some of the lime juice to make a nice avocado paste.

Shredding the lettuce and the cheese wasn't too difficult as you have probably already guessed.  I know typically for fish tacos you're supposed to use cabbage... but I don't like cabbage.  So iceberg lettuce ftw.

Assembling the tacos together was a breeze, simply layered on some lettuce, fish, salsa, avocado paste, cheese a some chopped watercress for show.  I did season with a little salt and pepper.  And voila, my first attempt at some fish tacos.

On a side note, the fish tacos I've had already in LA, they actually battered and fried the fish, which was totally amazing.  I didn't do that this time as I was attempting to make this a slightly healthier meal, but for my next attempt, I would totally batter and fry it.