Just as a little teaser (some of you might have already seen the album already), but I attended San Diego Comic-con a few weeks ago (I know, I’m late to the party) and will be putting together a post with some of the pictures soon. I think I honestly had more fun getting pictures of all of the different cosplayers than I did in many of the panels (who doesn’t like standing in line?)

But the other thing is that San Diego weather is incredible. Coupled with the fact that Boston was sweltering (high 90′s 100% humidity) the week before, 75 degrees, low humidity, and the ocean-breeze was a paradise to me. And “mostly cloudy” on the forecast really means two or three clouds in the distance. I think they do that just to change it up, otherwise it might be difficult to keep down a job as a meteorologist there right? Same thing every day: 75 degrees, sunny.

Anyway, the past few weeks have been quite a blur. Honestly, the saying that as you get older you get busier and have less time rings true. I can’t fathom how some people manage to hold down a job, take care of their kids, maintain a house, cook every night, and still find time to keep up with a hobby! That’s true productivity right there.

One thing I’ve found time to cook lately though is a breakfast hash. Usually, when I grab breakfast, I usually think of hash as just potatoes (though there’s nothing wrong with that). Then, I had brunch at a couple places that added a few different things (vegetables, turkey…duck!) and I started rethinking the idea. I mean, why couldn’t I cook something like that up on a lazy Sunday morning with some of the stuff lying around the fridge?

So I did it. I had an onion, a couple peppers, and then I picked up a ham steak and the potatoes the day before. Then, after consulting Simply Recipes, I got started. The hash, a couple eggs, and some freshly buttered toast makes a good start to a new week doesn’t it?

I’ve also made this with sausage meat and some other root vegetables like parsnips and butternut squash. It works!

Breakfast Hash with ham

Time : 30 minutes
Serves : 4-6

Ingredients:
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 red pepper, finely chopped
- 1 orange pepper, finely chopped
- 3 – 4 medium yukon gold potatoes (slightly larger than a juice box)
- 1/3 lb ham steak, finely chopped
- 1/2 to 3/4 tsp fresh thyme
- salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Boil a pot of salted water. Peel potatoes and boil them for about 12 minutes. Remove and drain. Chop the potatoes into small cubes
2. Add the butter to a cast iron pan over medium heat. When the butter melts, add the chopped onions for about 1-2 minutes, getting the onions well coated.
3. Add in the peppers, mix well. Cook another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the ham and chopped potatoes. Season with some salt, pepper, and the thyme. Cook for another 10 minutes, stirring every couple minutes or so to get some sear throughout the potatoes.
5. Taste and correct for salt and pepper, then remove to a serving bowl and serve immediately.

Note:
A couple times, I cooked some maple breakfast sausages prior to cooking the hash. Then I used 1 tbsp less butter to make the hash. The hash turned out a little bit sweeter.

I love steak. Especially ribeye steak. So what if it’s one of the fattiest cuts. Doesn’t make it less good in my eyes =)

And what a way to kick off the Fall season (And football season). It’s just about time to switch over to heavier cooking once again (read: meatloaf, mac&cheese, roasts, hot pot, etc) which’ll be a nice change. Weather has been fantastic lately though…where was this earlier this year? (70 degrees and sunny)

Seriously though, a well-seasoned medium-rare ribeye steak is probably one of my favorite things to eat. And it’s ridiculously easy to do. I’ve done it on the grill, on a frying pan, and most recently in a cast-iron pan (which I think is the best way to cook it anyway).

Note: I think I’ve posted about Ribeye at least two to three times already but I thought this deserved it’s own post since I used a cast iron pan this time. Made a huge difference!

Ribeye Steak

For a steak about an inch thick.

Ingredients:
– 1 lb Ribeye steak
– salt & pepper
– canola oil

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. On each side of the steak, season with salt, pepper, and some canola oil. Rub into the steak well.
3. Heat the cast-iron pan until almost smoking hot. Add a little oil and add the steak. Let sear for 3 – 5 minutes and then turn over and sear the other side for the same amount of time. Can sear a little longer if you want it a little crispier.
4. Move cast iron pan to the stove and bake for another 10-12 minutes, depending on how rare you like your steak. 10 minutes should probably keep it in the medium rare range.

Note: Times will differ based on the steak thickness

Generally, mealplanning is a great thing. You know exactly what you need at the grocery store and there’s usually few “surprise, I need to figure out what to eat today” moments. Well, in theory anyway.

I did my planning a couple weeks ago knowing that I’d be on vacation (more about this when I finish processing the photos), that is, making sure I use up all the perishable stuff and leave a semi-bare fridge so nothing goes to waste. All this is good, in theory. But then when you realize that due to some extreme human error (read: lunacy) you forgot a couple days (How does that happen? I mean, where do the days go? It’s not like the number of days changes every week) well, let’s just say one night I ended up eating rice and soy sauce. And a few frozen dumplings. Whoops =P

For the most part, I cook based on what ingredients are on sale each week and this recipe is no different. I found sea scallops for a great price and picked up a dozen or so. Over at Tasty Kitchen, I had a recipe for Scallops and Pasta by Jaden of SteamyKitchen bookmarked for a while and figured I’d give it a shot. I love scallops, I love pasta, what other excuse did I need? =P

I was just using a frying pan so I didn’t quite get the sear I liked but the dish was tasty nonetheless.

Scallops and Pasta

Time : 20 minutes
Serves 2

Recipe adapted from Jaden’s (of Steamy Kitchen) post on Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:
- 8oz of pasta (I used linguini
- 12 Sea Scallops
- 1 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 medium tomato, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 cup white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
- 1 – 2 tbsp fresh Italian Parsley, minced
- Half a lemon’s juice
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat water in a large stock pot with a generous amount of salt. Cook pasta until just al dente (it’ll cook more in the pan later)
2. Wash and dry scallops, season lightly with salt, pepper, and olive oil
3. Heat a large frying pan over high heat. When really hot, add the olive oil. Add the scallops to the pan and spread them out evenly for proper searing. Cook for 2 minutes undisturbed then flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes until cooked to satisfaction. Remove and set aside.
4. Turn heat to low. Add the butter and garlic. Saute for 30 seconds and then add the tomatoes.
5. Turn the heat to high and add in the white wine. Let it bubble a bit for 30 seconds and scrape up the stuck bits in the pan. Season with salt and pepper, add in the parsley and then add in the pasta. Mix well and then serve, placing the scallops on top.

That’s the “Cathedral of Learning” at the University of Pittsburgh. It’s the tallest building in the area and pretty imposing if you ask me. Can you imagine taking an exam in a thunderstorm? I mean, it’d be like Ghostbusters or something, I’d expect to see the Keymaster and Gatekeeper wandering around (And maybe Bill Murray).

I did manage to stop at one of UPitt’s local eateries: Essie’s Original Hot Dog Shop. Sadly, I was too excited to chow down on the all-beef frank and didn’t take any pictures. It’d been quite a while since I had a hot dog and this one was worth it. I asked for one of the slightly more burnt ones (I love burnt hot dogs, don’t quite know why) and I got a smile from the cashier (She said she prefers the burnt ones too but not many other people do!). One other thing of note was the size of the french fry sides. The large really can feed 4 people, it’s easily over a pound of french fries (I was told later that one of my friends put down nearly the entire large fries by himself…it made my stomach turn a little bit)

Alumni Hall

I can’t seem to find where this recipe originated. I had it scrawled down on one of my various notepads for quite some time and never got around to trying it. But then I got a nice tuna steak on sale at Whole Foods. I wasn’t going to at first but they looked too good to pass up. The customer behind me also got a couple tuna steaks. He said he was originally going to make chicken but couldn’t pass up the tuna, the chicken would have to wait until the next day. That’s a good man right there =P

Sesame seared Tuna steak

Time: 10 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:
– 1 lb Tuna steak (cut into two)
– 2 tbsp light soy sauce
– 1 tsp mirin
– 1/2 tsp honey
– 1 tsp sesame oil
– 1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
– Dash of sake
– Extra virgin olive oil
– Wasabi
– Sesame seeds

Method:
1. Mix together the soy sauce, mirin, honey, sesame oil, and sake. Separate them into two portions. Mix the Chinkiang vinegar into one of the portions.
2. Coat the steaks with the non-vinegar portion of sauce. Let marinate for a couple minutes.
3. Press some sesame seeds onto each side of the steaks.
4. Add some olive oil to a frying pan or skillet over high heat. Quickly sear the tuna steaks (~1 minute or so on each side, maybe more depending on thickness) and transfer to a plate. Serve with the vinegar sauce and wasabi.

Note: You can cook the tuna longer if you prefer. I like it barely cooked, if it’s fresh.

Currently trying to wean myself off the incredibly addictive Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog. Growing up with classical music and show-tunes made this just that much better. It’s incredibly witty, stars Nathan Fillion (Probably best known for Firefly), one of my favorite sadly-canceled-to-early tv-shows) AND Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser). I’ve had a couple of the tunes stuck in my head for days and I don’t think that’ll change anytime soon (Wonder if I can drive the roommate nuts)

Whole chicken was on sale a while back so as is with a lot of the meat I buy (Probably have at least 15 pounds of various meats in the freezer), I bought it without figuring out what to do with it first. I was thinking along the lines of soy sauce chicken or just a roasted chicken, but just getting over being sick (Had some sort of stomach bug where I couldn’t eat anything, lost 5 pounds in 3 days…not good!) I decided on some chicken soup. Enter the Internet, once again and Ree from The Pioneer Woman. A couple days before (while I couldn’t eat, which was FANTASTIC I tell you), this post came up…and made my mouth water (and my stomach churn). But that didn’t stop me from thinking about it a bunch…

So one “mistake” I made was not thinking about how many people the soup would feed. I think I had a 3.5 lb chicken which, when it was all said and done, made AT LEAST 6 quarts of soup. And this was after I had 2 bowls. So maybe 7 quarts!!! That’s my motto: If you’re going to do anything, make sure you do it in excess.

Recipe adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Chicken Soup with Orzo

Time : 90 minutes – 2 hours
Serves : A lot

Ingredients:
– 1 whole chicken, quartered
– 1 lb box of Orzo pasta
– 1 medium onion, chopped
– 2-3 carrots, diced
– 2-3 stalks celery, diced
– 2 – 3 tsp salt
– 1 – 1.5 tbsp parsley flakes
– a pinch of dried thyme
– 3 – 4 tbsp flour mixed with 2 – 3 tbsp water
– 1/2 tsp Turmeric
– Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Method:
1. Put the quartered chicken in a stockpot and cover it such that the chicken is 1/2 – 1 inch below the surface. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
2. Take the chicken out of the pot and shred the chicken (by hand or with utensils), set aside. Return the bones to the pot and simmer for another 30-45 minutes.
3. Remove the bones from the broth. Watch out for the small bones that may have fallen off while simmering!
4. Add the onions, celery, and carrots followed by all of the herbs and spices. Stir occasionally for about 10 minutes.
5. In a large saucepan or stock pot, boil water (with a healthy drizzle of salt) to cook the pasta. Cook the pasta until just underdone, you want the pasta to have a little crunch to it, it’ll cook the rest of the way in the soup.
6. Add the pasta and chicken back to the soup, stirring frequently for about 5-10 more minutes.
7. Add the flour/water mixture to the soup to thicken it up a little bit.
8. Adjust flavors as necessary. I like my soup a little saltier so I added a little bit more salt (Can also use some chicken base)

NOTE: Since you’re making a LOT of soup here, you can withhold some of the pasta so that it doesn’t get saturated and soggy after being stored. Just prep the pasta again while heating up the soup and then stir it in =)

Slow cookers are awesome. I only have used it a few times, but I love how you can set it off by itself, come back in a few hours and have a tasty meal ready to go! It’s really helped when preparing multiple dishes for a few guests and most of all, it’s something I can let cook while watching football =)

I recently joined a food blogger community, FoodBlogForum, and everyone there has been a great resource, I’ve learned a ton from organizing recipes on my computer to picking out a tripod for my DSLR. I can’t thank Jaden from SteamyKitchen and Diane from WhiteOnRice enough for their hard work. I wish I could find the time to do half of the things that they manage! I’ll be spending a lot of time there trying to improve on the blog and I hope you all will benefit too. Maybe there will be some more changes to the site after all!

Pulled pork is one of my favorite BBQ foods to eat. Jason (Bite-the-Bullet BBQ post) makes some of the best pulled pork I’ve ever had. I usually prefer the drier pulled pork with a little bit of sauce as opposed to the softer texture pulled pork that this recipe makes but alas, I don’t have a smoker so I had to make do with the slow cooker!

Recipe adapted from Whole Foods

Pulled Pork

Active time : 10 minutes
Cooking time : At least 6 hours
Serves : 4-6

Ingredients:
– 2 – 3 lb Pork shoulder or Pork butt
– 1 Medium Onion, sliced
– 16-20oz BBQ sauce
– 1/2 cup water
– 6-8 cloves garlic
– Pepper/spices to taste

Method:
1. Place half of the sliced onions on the bottom of the slow cooker pot. Add the whole pork shoulder in and place the other half on top of the meat.
2. Pour half the BBQ sauce over the pork and pour the water into the side of the pot. Add the garlic.
3. Cook at least 6 hours on high (My slow cooker only had low/high settings). After a couple hours, use a wooden spoon to break up the meat (Or, do this step later after the pork is finished).
4. Serve with hamburger buns or bread of your choice.

Quick post today, got a lot of catching up to do in the queue, there are about 5 other things to post about and I’m trying to come up with something good to write about

Boston got 20+ inches of rain over the past 3 weeks and it’s still flooded in many parts of New England. I traveled home for Easter and figured this time I wouldn’t drive through rush hour and take the train instead. Easy right? Not quite. I got an automated call the night before traveling saying that the train was canceled due to flooding. Yikes! I called the next day and managed to get onto a train that went out west through Springfield and then down into Connecticut…but it was 2.5 hours longer than the normal train was. Not to mention it ran late an extra 30 minutes so 8 hours in the darn train, felt like my legs were going to atrophy.

And of course my train back got canceled too, but I had a friend visiting family in NY and was able to hitch a ride back in what turned out to be massive traffic too. Must’ve been the Easter ham. Or the potatoes. Maybe the ham AND potatoes.

This past week has been some of the best weather I’ve seen (for March anyway) in Boston in the past 8 years. After 10-11 inches of rain in 3 days and massive flooding throughout the state, it hit 72 degrees on Saturday. From deluge to shorts weather…freaky. I won’t complain though, I got to dust off the golf clubs and hit up the driving range. And I guess a lot of others had the same idea, ended up waiting 30 minutes to get a booth, the line was 2 deep at one point!!!

I’ve also been on the hunt for a good tripod and head. Up until now, I’ve been shooting without a tripod and most of the time without flash. So it’s been tough to turn out good shots (can’t hold steady) and I’m getting a little tired of sifting through a dozen shots to find out none of them look any good! I’ve heard of a few brands, Manfrotto comes to mind, but I just started really looking this week. Pics to come once I get it though.

Anyway, onto the food. I’m a huge fan of Ree at The Pioneer Woman Cooks. She provides a step by step pictorial on almost all of her dishes as well as interesting tidbits and tips for each dish. But the thing I like the most is how homey the dishes feel, I’m an big admirer of homestyle cooking. There’s something to be said about the creativity home cooks have had over the years to feed their families, good times and bad.

Spaghetti and Meatballs is no exception. When I started cooking I never really paid any attention to staple dishes like this and Macaroni and Cheese. I guess my experience had been mostly cafeteria food and made from a box, so maybe that’s why I was blocking it out! But really, the stuff is classic for a reason, because it’s good AND it’s easy to make!

Recipe originally from The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

Spaghetti & Meatballs

Time: 90 minutes
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:
– 1 lb ground beef (85 or 90% lean)
– 1 lb ground pork
– 2 eggs
– 4-5 cloves garlic, minced
– 3/4 cup plain bread crumbs
– 3/4-1 cup grated Romano cheese
– 1/4 cup Italian parsley, minced
– 1/4 tsp salt
– Fresh ground black pepper
– 1-2 tbsp skim milk
– 4 – 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Sauce:
– 28oz can Italian plum tomatoes
– 28oz can crushed tomatoes
– 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
– 5 cloves garlic, minced
– 1/2 cup dry white wine
– 1/4 tsp salt
– 2 tsp sugar
– Fresh ground black pepper
– Red pepper flakes
– 1/4 cup Italian parsley, minced
– 1 – 2 lbs Spaghetti, cooked

Method:
1. Combine meat, garlic, breadcrumbs, romano, salt, pepper, parsley, eggs, and milk in a mixing bowl. Mix together well. Roll into meatballs (should be around 30).
2. Heat a dutch oven over medium heat. Add olive oil and cook meatballs, 8 at a time until browned, it’s ok if slightly undercooked, the meatballs will be returned to the sauce later. Remove meatballs and drain.
3. When finished with the meatballs, add onions and garlic, stirring for a couple minutes. Make sure to scrape up the brown bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pot. Add in tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, sugar, and parsley. Stir to combine and simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add meatballs back to the pot, reduce heat, and cook another 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

I’m usually more of a fan of a more plain way of preparing fish, just a little salt/pepper/olive oil and that’s usually how I prepare fish at home. But when I’m dining out and want fish, I tend to see more fancier things like different salsas, glazes, and whatnot. So I figured why not give mango salsa a shot…I like mangos, and the recipe I saw in Ming Tsai’s Simply Ming looked really tasty.

One note of caution…the mangos I used weren’t ripe enough, make sure to use ripe mangos! Otherwise, you’ll get a semi-crunchy salsa and wish you waited just a little longer (like me) =P

Recipe originally from Ming Tsai’s Simply Ming.

Scallion crusted cod with Mango Salsa

Time: 30-45 minutes
Serves 4

Mango salsa
- 2 mangos, diced
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1/2 inch piece ginger, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp Sriracha
- Juice of 4 limes
- Salt/pepper to taste

Scallion cod
- 4 cod fillets (6-8oz each)
- 2 cups bread crumbs (panko)
- 2 stalks scallions, chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten (for dredging)
- Some flour (for dredging)
- Fresh cilantro

Method:
1. Mix together the ingredients for the salsa, set aside (Make sure those mangos are ripe!)
2. Season the cod with salt and pepper. Combine scallions and bread crumbs. Dredge the cod first in the flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs.
3. Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Add some oil and saute the cod until cooked halfway through. Flip once, cook another few minutes (depends on the thickness of the fish fillets).
4. Mix the salsa with fresh cilantro. Serve the cod over top a scoop of the salsa.

I wish I had a better name for this post but alas I’m not that creative. Maybe “tasty hamburger” or “zesty burger” might’ve worked (hmm, “goodburger” =P) but I’ll stick with this one for now.

I’ve always been a big fan of marinated burgers (don’t get me wrong, I love the plain ones too!) but I’ve never tried making them myself. I usually end up buying some of the ones at Whole Foods whenever they’re on sale (which is next to never) so needless to say, I don’t have them very often. But I’ve had this on the list of “things to do” for the past 5-6 months so I figured what the heck, I might as well put the new cast-iron pan to good use and make burgers!

This recipe originally came from White On Rice Couple and it’s really amazing how good something can taste with just a few simple ingredients. The folks at White on Rice do a fantastic job with their food. They grow many of their own ingredients and are AWESOME with photography, I really should use some of their tips =P

Anyway, in addition to fish sauce and the other ingredients, I dashed in a little Worcestershire sauce and minced a shallot. I should probably make the recipe word-for-word just to compare tastes but I’ve always liked a little Worcestershire sauce with meatloaf so I figured heck, why not try it with a burger!

Savory hamburgers

Serves 4-6 (depending on burger size)
Time : 30 minutes

Ingredients:
– 2 – 2 1/4 lb Ground beef (I use 90/10)
– 2 – 2 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
– 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
– 1 small shallot, minced
– 3 cloves garlic, finely minced then crushed
– 1/2 tsp sugar
– 1 tsp ground black pepper
– Hamburger buns

Method:
1. Combine all of the sauces and spices in a bowl, mix well. Add beef, try as best to get the marinade all over the beef (as evenly distributed as you can) and marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Roll the beef into balls and flatten into patties (roughly 1/2 lb). Make a thumbprint in the middle of the patty, this helps keep the patty uniform when cooking (the middle always rises).
3. Bring a cast-iron pan up over high heat. Lightly oil the pan and add in the hamburgers. Let cook relatively undisturbed (I usually move them slightly to avoid sticking) on each side for 3-5 minutes depending on how well done you like your burger. Time will also depend on the thickness of the patties.