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June, 2009:

A couple desserts : Cheesecake and Fruit Tart

Cheesecake

This post is a little late (read : 6 months) but it’s about time I finally got around to it. Back in January, my sister was in town for a short visit and baked two very awesome desserts (in addition to the usual cookies, which is for a later post, once I get off my butt and actually bake them), her own special cheesecake and a fruit tart whose ingredients were cobbled together in the 11th hour.

Even though not being much of a baker, it was hard not to appreciate the meticulousness and patience that baking can require (making custard can be a very time consuming task!). For the most part though, I was relegated to measuring flour and crushing graham crackers, something I figured I could manage :P

Fruit Tart

Seafood Fra Diavolo

Seafood Fra Diavolo

This is kind of another one of those “cheater” recipes. Meaning I bought one of the ingredients pre-made, the sauce in fact. But that’s not too terrible I suppose.

Since starting my “healthier” diet 3 weeks ago, I’d been trying to eat fish at least once a week and other seafood at least once a week. This time, I put both together and got my fish/seafood allocation in one dish! It’d been a while since I had sea scallops as I was holding out, hoping they’d be on sale (they’re normally a little bit pricey). But the craving surfaced and I picked some up along with a little bit of cod that was on sale to put this all together.

The arrabiata sauce is from Dave’s Fresh Pasta once again. They recently expanded into another store about two months ago, becoming almost a one-stop shop for most cooking needs. More notably, there’s an expanded wine section, produce section, and meat/fish section. But I stuck with the bread and butter so to speak…sauce and pasta (Used the pasta in a different dish, to be posted at another time).

Seafood Fra Diavolo

Serves 4
Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients
- 1/2 lb sea scallops, halved
- 1/2 lb firm fish fillet, sliced
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 24oz (Roughly) Arrabiata Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 pound spaghetti (Used Bucatini)

Method
1. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan, medium high heat.
2. Add the garlic, give it a swirl, and add the onion about a minute later, saute until onion starts to soften slightly.
3. Add the sea scallops, give them about a minute or so to start cooking through, then add the fish. Be careful not to stir the fish too much, it WILL break apart on you.
4. As the fish starts to cook, pour the arrabiata sauce into the pan, let settle. Bring the pan to a simmer, carefully use a spatula to turn the fish if necessary.
5. Serve over pasta

Roast Beef Dinner

Roast Beef

Let me preface this by saying I’ve only cooked a roast once before in my life. And I overcooked it a bit. Totally screwed up. Well, maybe not THAT bad but it was pretty abysmal eating leftovers for the next couple days.

But since I’m a glutton for punishment (And I like second chances too), I decided to give it another shot, this time making roast beef. Again, I need to preface this by saying roast beef is pretty easy, not much to it. But after agonizing about it for a couple days, talking to about half a dozen people and reading through double that amount of recipes, I figured I was ready. Sure enough, it was pretty easy, and this time I didn’t screw up :)

I’ve always been a huge fan of the browned bits on the edges of the roast since the flavor really contrasts well with the juicier (and hopefully redder) bits in the middle. So I used more garlic and rosemary than one probably needs to on the outside of the roast, but that’s probably ok.

And my favorite part are the leftover sandwiches! Sadly, I didn’t end up with enough juice to make a gravy…I’ll save that for next time!

Some notes:
Different amounts of meat will take either longer/shorter to cook. For me, the below method worked well with a 2.5 pound roast.
I roasted some potatoes and spinach to go along with the beef.

Roast Beef

Serves 6
Time : 90 – 120 minutes

Ingredients:
- 2.5 – 3 pound beef roast (round, sirloin, chuck)
- 6-8 cloves garlic
- 1.5 tbsp fresh rosemary
- Salt
- Pepper

Method:
1. Put the garlic and rosemary in a food processor and mix into a paste.
2. Rub the roast with the paste, sprinkle some salt and pepper on it
3. Bake at 350F in a roasting pan for at least an hour.
4. After an hour, check the roast’s temperature every 15 minutes for the desired “done-ness” (125F – rare, 130-140F – medium rare, 145-150F – medium, 155+ – well done)

Roast Beef uncut!

Time to BBQ! Jason of Bite the Bullet BBQ

MeatGuy4

With Memorial Day a couple weeks past, BBQ season is in full swing. We just got a grill for the patio and have been experimenting with it some, hopefully I’ll have some things to post soon about my own adventures.

But this post is about a fixture at a local monthly BBQ. A few of my buddies take turns hosting about 30 people and it’s always a great time, tons to eat and drink, and plenty of time for just a good time. And one of the things we always look forward to are seeing our favorite BBQ guy. Jason hauls his smoker/grill all the way down from New Hampshire and spends from dawn til’ dusk BBQing in the backyard.

Some of the various things he’s done include ribs, steak tips, pulled pork, chili, beans, and wings, all prepared generally the day of the BBQ. If we’re lucky, he vacuum-packs some ribs, puts them on ice and sells them to anyone that might be looking for a BBQ fix later on. And he always sells out!

But what’s great is how passionate he is about grilling and BBQ, even traveling to compete against other avid grillers.

Thanks Meat Guy!

MeatGuy6
Warming up the smoker
MeatGuy1
In action, steak tips and wings
MeatGuy2
Pulled Pork!
MeatGuy3
Almost ready…!!!