Comments (6)

By J.Ho, June 23, 2010 8:39 am

Why use canned clams if you live in clam country, people ask me all the time.  Cause it’s cheap and easy!  This is a perfect mid-week, inexpensive, simple and amazingly delicious meal.

1 pound dried linguine
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 large garlic cloves, minced
2 (6-ounce) cans of chopped or minced clams with their juice
½ cup dry white wine
¼ teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
¼ cup freshly chopped Italian flat leaf parsley
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
Juice of ½ a lemon
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste

In a large sauté pan heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and slowly cook, stirring, until slightly golden, about 5 minutes. Or sweat the garlic in the olive oil for about ten minutes.  Add the clams with their juice, wine, red pepper flakes, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper (keep in mind that the clams are quite salty on their own). Stir, reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Sometimes I like it a tad thicker than usual and I take about level tablespoon of flour and mix it in a small amount of wine.  Add a small amount of the flour/wine mixture to the sauce and stir. till you get your desired thickness.

Now, when you add the wine, make sure you use a good quality dry wine such as a nice Chardonnay. Use something that you would actually drink. Don’t be stupid and use one of those “cooking wines” that you’ll find at the grocery store. They suck.  they suck bad. If you wouldn’t drink the wine out of a glass, why the hell would you cook with it?

Cook the linguine while reserving about ½ cup cooking water. Tip for cooking linguine: add 4-6 quarts of cold water to a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Add about ½ tablespoon of salt. Always wait till the water is boiling before adding the salt. If you add the salt before the water boils, the salt crystals will not dissolve immediately and can damage your pot. Stirring occasionally, cook for 8-10 minutes or so, no longer than 12 minutes.  I like my pasta sub-al dente, so 8 minutes is good for me.  Drain the pasta and immediately add it to the sauce along with the chopped parsley to the sauce and mix well, adding a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water if needed to coat the pasta evenly. Cover and cook for about a minute. Serve immediately. This dish is pairs perfectly with a bottle of Spanish Albariño.

I measured out the ingredients to have a little more sauce than most people would use. I like my pasta swimming in sauce. If you would like to regulate it better, add drained pasta to your serving dishes and spoon sauce over the top to get the volume you like.  I could eat this three or four times a week.

Yankees suck!

Comments (1)

By J.Ho, April 10, 2008 2:17 pm

As I continue on my quest for the perfect fried chicken recipe I come across this one at Simply Recipes.  It’s pretty damn good.  I tweaked things around a bit, but not by much.  I used parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme for the fresh herbs in the buttermilk marinade and I added paprika to the coating flour as well.  and a tad more cayenne pepper.

Simply Recipes is a wonderful site and an excellent source for a variety of recipes.  Enjoy!

Yankees suck!

Comments (0)

By J.Ho, April 7, 2008 1:23 pm

I’ve posted this recipe in the past, but I just found some pictures I took the last time I prepared it for some friends. So I figured it would be a good thing to update. Don’t let the bacon, butter and cream fool you. This dish is much lighter than it appears.

This is a simple country-style French dish that is hearty, nourishing and wicked, wicked good! It’s origins are in the French province of Brittany. One of the six Celtic nations, Brittany is gastronomically revered for producing some of France’s best beers, white wines, crêpes and seafood.

1 large onion, sliced
4 oz butter
8 oz bacon slices
1 ½ pounds potatoes, peeled & thinly sliced
1 ½ pounds fresh cod fillets (any medium to firm textured white fish such as haddock, roughy or halibut may be substituted)
1 cup heavy cream

Heat oven to 350°. Sauté the sliced onion in 2 tablespoons of the butter. Prepare in a greased casserole dish which is an appropriate size to pack in all the ingredients firmly. Cover the bottom of the oven dish with a layer of bacon slices, then half of the onion, then half of the potato slices. Layering it all like a sandwich.

Cut the fish into medium sized pieces and place on top of the potatoes. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper. Reversely, cover the fish with the rest of the potatoes, then the onions and then the bacon. Season well with salt & freshly ground black pepper again. Pour over the cream. Dot the top with the remaining butter. Bake in the oven for about an hour. It will be done when the top is well browned and the cream is bubbling vigorously.

With the potatoes integrated within the dish, all you need is a side green vegetables. I’d suggest roasted asparagus.

Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, April 2, 2007 9:44 pm

All I had to work with tonight was a little less than a pound of left over fresh haddock from dinner this weekend. That recipe will be up here one of these days. It ruled! Not that this recipe is one for the ages, but it is light, and taste fresh and delicious.

1 pound fresh cod, halibut, sea bass or haddock
2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced thick on the diagonal
2 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and sliced thick on the diagonal
1 half large white onion
2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and minced
1 medium shallot, peeled and minced
3 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon Zatarain’s Cajun seasoning
Half fresh squeezed lemon

Heat oven to 425°. Melt the butter with the oil in a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add garlic and shallots and sauté for 5 minutes. Try to control the heat. Do not brown or burn the garlic. Salt & pepper both sides of the fish filet. Spoon a small amount of the sauté mixture into a baking dish and place the fliet on top. Spoon a small amount of the sauté mixture on top of the filet. Toss zucchini, squash, Cajun seasoning and a bit more salt & pepper in the sauté pan for a minute or two and add to the sides of the baking dish around the fish filet. Place onions on top of the filet and squeeze fresh lemon juice all over everything. Bake for 25 minutes. There are several different directions you can go with seasoning this dish. Try dried oregano, rosemary or thyme. Maybe lemon pepper. Go for it! Enjoy! Yankees suck!

Comments (1)

By J.Ho, March 19, 2007 11:39 am

I was poking around the net the other day for some unique recipes (as I always do) and I came across Soul Fusion Kitchen. There are some very interesting posts and recipes on this site. The first thing that jumped out at me as the Huli Huli Chicken and Korean BBQ Short Ribs. This looked very easy and very delicious.

I don’t have much experience in making my own marinades, but seriously, how hard could this be? The site gives a great base Korean marinade for that could be used for just about any kind of meat. It suggests using the same marinade for chicken and short ribs and then grill them both together. Marinade them separately though. It also suggests a few variances of the marinade.

I’m never one to follow any recipe to the letter. As I was preparing the suggested base marinade as shown on the site, I naturally came up with my own added ingredients. I considered leaving out the the sesame seeds since I didn’t feel like toasting them. I eventually talked myself into toasting and adding them to the marinade. I put a few tablespoons of sesame seeds in a hot frying pan and shook them around till they browned up a bit. As soon as I placed them into the marinade I heard a quick sizzle and immediately picked up on the awesome aroma the hot seeds gave to the marinade. Good move on my part!

Base BBQ Marinade:
10 cloves fresh garlic, coarsely chopped
4-5 green onions sliced
2 teaspoons minced ginger
2 cups soy sauce
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoons garlic powder
3 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil

What I added:
Few splashes Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 jalapeño pepper, minced
½ cup dry white wine (in addition to the vinegar)
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (I used more)

Now, it’s butt-cold out here in New England. When you have 24° weather and your outdoor grill is completely iced over, cooking outside just isn’t in the cards. Luckily I have my handy-dandy old reliable Ronco Showtime Rotisserie! I seriously believe my Ronco Rotisserie is the best invention since bottled beer! It’s been a lifesaver. I use it for roasting beef, chicken, pork, vegetables … you name it. It sounds corny when they say “Set it and forget it!” They aren’t kidding though. Put your meat in, set the timer and walk away!

I placed the chicken parts in one of the wire baskets that came with the rotisserie. Set the timer for 40 minutes and went on to drink some beer and make some risotto and roasted asparagus.

The rotisserie has three settings besides the time: a roasting setting, a no-heat rotation setting and a pause to sear setting. After 35 minutes or so of roasting I set it on “pause to sear.” What this does is pause the rotation, while keeping the heating element running. I paused for about four minutes for each side of the chicken parts facing the heating element to get a good crust on the skin. After the searing I ran it in roasting mode for another five minutes and then in no-heat rotation to let the meat cool allow the juices settle in. This way is better than letting the meat sit outside the roaster.

The net-net of this experience was that the chicken was fabulous! It was a tad salty for my tastes. I’ll probably not put any Worcestershire sauce in it next time since that brings more salt to the already salty soy sauce. I’ll probably add another jalapeño pepper though. I’m, not one for super spicy foods, but fresh jalapeños bring great taste to foods without a lot of heat.

Thanks again to Soul Fusion Kitchen. I’m glad I found this recipe and I think everyone should try it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! Yankees suck!

Comments (2)

By J.Ho, February 21, 2007 3:57 pm

I absolutely love risotto. I’ve never tried to make it before. I wanted a delicious side to the Korean BBQ Chicken I made last weekend. I took a nose dive into some of my Italian cookbooks and cruised around the web a little for information on risotto ingredients and preparation techniques. Here’s what I found …

A quick read on risotto history and recipes can be found here. Most of my cookbooks really didn’t explain what risotto really was and the caveats on preparing it. One recipe I found in Lidia Bastianich’s cookbook Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen really caught my attention. It explained that once you understand how to prepare a basic risotto, you can parlay that skill into making any type of risotto you could imagine. The basics are the key to pretty much all cooking and just about everything else in life.

I followed Lidia’s “master plan” for preparing risotto and made a few of my own changes along the way. Nice!

4½ cups hot chicken stock
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium white onion, minced
1 leek, white parts only, trimmed, cleaned and chopped
6 scallions, white and green parts chopped separately
2 cups Italian Aborio rice
â…“ cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons butter, cut into four pieces
â…“ up freshly grated Parimigiano-Reggiano cheese
Salt & freshly ground black pepper

Pour the chicken stock in a small sauce pan and keep it hot over medium heat. In a large sauté pan, heat the oil over medium heat and stir in the onions. Sauté the onions until softened, about four minutes. Stir in the leeks and white parts of the scallions and sauté for another six minutes. The onions should start to brown. Stir in the rice making sure all of the grains get covered with the oil. Keep stirring often for the next two to three minutes until the edges of the grains become translucent. Pour in the wine and let it boil. Keep stirring the rice till the wine has evaporated.

Season the rice with salt and ladle enough of the hot chicken stock into the sauté pan until it barely covers the rice. Bring to a boil then lower the heat to maintain a lively simmer. Continue cooking while stirring constantly until all the stock has been absorbed and you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir. Continue cooking, pouring the remaining hot stock in small batches. Each addition of stock should be only enough to completely moisten the rice. Continue doing this until the stock has been absorbed. All this should take 15-20 minutes from the time you added the wine.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter and green parts of the scallions until the butter is completely melted. Stir in half the grated cheese. Taste the risotto and add more salt if you like and then add the freshly ground black pepper. Top with grated cheese and serve immediately.

I like a creamy risotto so I used another two cups of chicken stock. This also added to the cooking time since I had 50% more stock to absorb. I also squeezed a little lemon juice at the end. This basic recipe can be taken into an infinite number of directions. Try adding some smoked chicken at the end. I’d like to add some saffron to the chicken stock next time I make it. Shrimp risotto should be good. Maybe I’ll try making an asparagus risotto. I’m guessing all I would have to do is add some steamed & chopped asparagus tips to the risotto at the end of the cooking. Yeah, that’s the ticket! Arrivederci! Yankees suck!

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By J.Ho, February 12, 2007 7:28 am

So I’ve been pretty sick the past few days. I’ve been suffering from pertussis (whooping cough) since before Thanksgiving. My doctor calls it the 100-day cough. She totally wasn’t kidding. Last Wednesday a friend’s cats made my allergies go ape shit. Asthma was killing me, nose was blocked up, eyes were red, swollen, watery and itchy. Tons-o-fun! Allergies kept going through Friday. After work Friday I hung out with some friends, but I ducked out of that early and went home to chill out.

Since I wasn’t feeling well, a friend came by to keep me company. We chilled out, gossiped, played rummy, listened to music and drank hot-buttered rum. I’m totally going to write about that recipe soon. Flu-like symptoms all day Saturday. Draggin’ ass all day. I read, watched some movies and went to bed around 10pm. Woke up at 2pm Sunday. Overnight I was achy and had cold sweats. You know me though, I’m not one to complain.

Anywhoo … Sunday came and I needed some serious home cooked food. I’m big on southern food when I’m sick. I was feeling a lot better and decided on a nice southern meal. I whipped up some country fried steak, fresh green beans and whipped potatoes.

Now country fried steak is different than chicken fried steak. I posted a recipe for chicken fried steak here. Chicken fried steak comes from Texas and is typically a tenderized beef steak dredged through an egg wash and flour and then fried like, well, chicken, and topped with a white pepper gravy. On the other hand, country fried steak isn’t typically dredged through an egg wash, just dredged through flour. Instead of serving it topped with gravy, you cook it in with the gravy. I didn’t feel like making any gravy so I used a can of cream of mushroom soup. It worked! No pictures this time. Camera battery was dead and I left it’s charger at my office.

¼ cup vegetable oil, or more
½ medium white onion, sliced
4 top round beef steak, about 6 ounces each
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 10-oz can condensed cream of mushroom soup
½ cup water

I like to use my cast iron skillet for stuff like this. To tenderize the steaks, pound them out with a meat mallet. Combine flour, salt, pepper and cayenne in a mixing bowl. Over medium heat, add the oil to a hot skillet and sauté the onion until it’s slightly tender. Remove the onion and set aside. Dredge the meat through the seasoned flour. Pat in as much flour as you can. Fry each side of the steak in the oil for 4-5 minutes. If the skillet starts to get dry, ad a little more oil. When done, remove the steaks and drain them on paper towels. Mix the cream of mushroom soup and water in a bowl then add the mixture to the skillet. Cook over medium heat, whisking often.

Return the steaks to the skillet cover them with the gravy and place the onions on top. To finish it off, place the skillet in a 350° oven for 15-20 minutes.

I’m feeling much better. Peace out! Yankees suck!