Steak Wrap
I separate the beef that I buy into two categories: steak-able, and stew-able. The steak-able meats are the ones that I would cook for a short period of time and would require a lot of dry seasoning. T-bone, and prime rib are examples of steak-able cuts of beef that I would cook with a little oil and a lot of spices. Stew-able meats are the ones that require long period of cooking in order for the meat to become tender. Shanks and Ox tail are examples of stew-able cuts of beef that I would either braise or stew for more than one hour. My preference is to buy stew-able cuts of beef since they are usually cheaper and they taste much better. But since we need variety in life, I try to mix what I buy.
When I was a the grocery the other day, Sirloin was on sale. I've never really bought Sirloin before since I usually go for the fattier type of steak such as Prime Rib and T-bone. Sirloins are pretty lean and the only hint of fat is on the edge. With less fat, the meat would typically be more tough to eat compared to a prime rib. This is why I got the idea of making some steak wraps. Preparing the sirloin is simple. Just add salt and pepper, or your favourite steak spice. I personally use the Montreal steak spice, but any one would do. Don't be why on your seasoning as the more taste the meat gets, the better it will be. You don't have to worry about the meat being too salty since only a few slices needs to be added in the wrap. The sirloins that I got were around half an inch thick. I cooked each side for 4 minutes and that seems to work. I wouldn't recommend cooking these past medium-rare otherwise they will get hard when you reheat them the next day (assuming you have some leftovers). After cooking the steaks, make sure you rest the meat. I waited for around 10 minutes just to be sure. If you start cutting the meat after you cook it, all the juice will flow out and you will be left with a dry meat. Trust me, the extra patience will be rewarding.
Every time I cook steaks, I always cook onions. To me, steak and onions are the perfect combination. After cooking the steaks, there are some residue left on the pan that has a lot of flavour. Professional chefs would "deglaze" the pan by pouring red wine to extract the flavour bits and create a sauce out of it. Since I am alergic to alcohol, I do not keep a stash of red wine. So I use onions instead to pick up the steak flavours from the pan. Just put a little bit of oil, then put the thinly sliced onion in the pan and cooked until the onions are soft. You can add water or broth to help loosen the flavour bits that are stuck on the pan.
After waiting for 10 minutes for the meat to rest, slice the meat thinly. Here's the tricky part. There is only one rigtht way to slice the meat. If you do not slice it correctly, the meat will be tough and chewy. As Alton Brown will tell you, this is not "Good Eats" (See FoodTV.ca). You need to cut across the fibers of the meat. If you are not sure where this is, try cutting a thin slice from two sides (90 degrees from each other) to see which slice is easier to eat. Once you find which side to cut from, look at how the fibers of the meat are oriented so that you will know how to cut them next time.
I used a flour tortilla to make my wrap. You can also use pita pockets if you prefer that. Even sliced bread will do (but that gets you a steak sandwich instead). Combine the onions, various organic vegetables (same as the ones used for the House Salad), and thin slices of steak. Add your favourite salad dressing to give more flavour to the wrap. After assembling the wrap, I like to pop it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds just to make the wrap warm. I tried toasting the wrap but that just made it hard and chewy.
What do you eat the wrap with? Normally you don't need anything else. But when you go to restaurants to have a wrap, there is usually a side dish. So I baked some curly fries to go with the wrap. Here is one good trick for making crispy fries in the oven. After the fries are completely cooked, leave outside for a few minutes (do not leave in the oven). I think the cooler air makes the outside of the fries extra crispy.
My sister also made some yummy chocolate cake. This would be a perfect dessert for a delicious dinner. Don't worry, the cake was very simple to make. Just buy the cake mix from Duncan Hines and half an hour later, you will have some tasty treat.
Note: I know that presentation is not really good. I still need a lot of work on this department. Perhaps when I start taking some cooking lessons, I can learn more about this art.
House Salad with Eggplant Crouton
It is good to keep some salad veggies in the fridge for quick meal preparation. I usually get a big box of the organic vegetables that are already pre-cleaned. This is a very good time saver and well worth the slight premium. A salad can act as a main course or as a side dish. Personally I prefer salad as a side dish. Adding dressing to the regular veggies seems a little dull. To make the salad more tantalizing, something very unique and exotic should be included.
I had some leftover eggplant from my spicy eggplant dish. So I thought I should somehow combine the two. Perhaps use the eggplant as a garnish or some sort of crouton. Good idea? I think so. To create the texture of crouton, I had to slice the eggplant thinly so that each slice becomes crispy in a short amount of time. I laid all the slices on a baking dish and drizzled some good olive oil on the eggplant. It's important to use good oil for this since the eggplant will absorb all the oil that you put in. So it's better to use a healthier variety. I also sprinkled some salt and pepper to give the eggplant a more acceptable taste (especially to the non-eggplant lovers out there). It is important for each slice of the eggplant to have a little bit of oil and adequate salt and pepper to get the desired taste. I just use my hand to mix them all up. To make sure all slices are evenly baked, they need to be spread out so that there are no overlaps. Bake until the slices are crispy.
The taste of the crispy eggplant adds a unique flavour to the salad. Make sure you put enough on the plate as you would want every bite to have that crispy texture. For this dish, I got two thumbs up (from my wife and my sister) so I'm sure you will enjoy it too.
Emergency Food Ideas (Part 2)
There are a lot of microwavable dinners out there (or TV dinners as they are commonly referred to) that taste nothing like you would expect after looking at the picture on the box. I tried a few of them and I always end up being disappointed. Since then, I never bought any of those and would not eat them unless there are no alternatives. If you go to your local chinese supermarket, they always have frozen foods for sale. The two main type that I would recommend as emergenfy food are frozen dumplings (gyoza), and frozen shanghai pork buns. There are generally two ways to make these: pan frying or steaming.
Steaming:
This is the easiest way to cook the dumpling/pork bun since it requires minimal supervision. It helps to have a steam rack especially if you find yourself steaming a lot of dishes (e.g. steamed fish). Just like how it is served in chinese restaurants, it would be good to put some broad leaf vegetable like lettuce on top of the steamer to prevent the food from sticking. How do you know when it is done? I usually just see if it looks cooked or not. If in doubt, cook longer. Since it is steamed, it will not burn the dumpling/pork bun if you leave it for a longer period of time. For those who want to have a more exact time, 10 minutes should be sufficient. Of course, if the dumpling/pork bun package has a recommendation, follow this. I usually set my stove to the middle heat setting for steaming.
Pan Frying:
This is the tastier way of cooking the dumpling/pork bun. But it somewhat requires a little bit of supervision. Pour some oil on the pan until the pan is fully coated. Put the dumpling/pork bun on the pan and fry for around 30 seconds. Pour some water on the pan until it covers roughly 1/4 the height of the dumpling/pork bun. Cover and wait until all the water evaporates. The steam from the water will cook the dumpling/pork bun, while the oil will prevent the food from sticking to the pot. The oil is also required to give the food the golden brown appearance. Once the water has fully evaporated, move the dumpling/pork bun a little bit just to make sure that they are not stuck to the pot and fry it a little bit until the desired golden brown color is reached.
There are many different types of sauces that you can use for these: vinegar, soy sauce. It's really up to you to experiment on what suits your taste. After all, it is your dish. There are some pots/pans that need to be washed when making this dish, but I never said it was carefree cleaning.
Emergency Food Ideas (Part 1)
After a long hard day at work, we often feel too tired to prepare something delicious and healthy. Sometimes we just want to relax on the couch and watch some TV, or perhaps listen to some soothing music. Who can blame you right? That's why I've compiled a list of "emergency food" ideas that can hopefully provide delicious food with little effort. If you can flip the channel on the TV, I'm sure you can do this.
1.
Hearty SaladIngredients:
Box of pre-washed assorted leafy vegetables
Cooked meat (Canned variety or leftover)
Favourite salad dressing
I used to think that buying those pre-washed veggies were a waste of money. I mean why pay so much money for something that I can prepare myself for less than half the price. I head of lettuce doesn't cost that much after all. But the key thing here is variety. As Chef Michael Smith (Chef at Home - Food Network) said,
variety is not the spice of life, it is the key to life. Having different types of veggies in your salad definitely adds a whole dimension in terms of flavour. The contrasting taste of sweet and bitter provides character to what you are eating. That's why most high end restaurant serve salad with assorted veggies, instead of just a bland romaine lettuce (unless it's caesar salad) that we would otherwise prepare. It's the taste that counts. How many food do you know that is healthy AND taste good as well. For that price, I think it's a good deal.
To make the salad hearty, we need meat. Without meat, I find that the salad doesn't provide the desired satisfaction especially if it is eaten as the main course. There are many different types of meat that you can use. Leftovers are perfect for this. Most cooked meat would work well (I'm not so sure about pork however). I would suggest that you use cook meat that doesn't have any sauce. The sauce might otherwise clash with the dressing that you put on the salad. Even bland tasting meat is acceptable, as you really just want the meat's texture to give you the hearty feeling. If you don't have any leftover meat, there are some canned alternatives. Canned tuna I think works well (make sure you drain the tuna first!). I saw a canned chicken at Costco and I just had to try it. Unfortunately, I was not very impressed with the taste. Even the color didn't look like it's a chicken. However, the texture still feels like chicken so that would work as well (if you are unfortunate enough to get a club pack). For the Spam enthusiast, you can use that one as well (yes, I know this is pork...or is it?!). I would prefer that you at least pan fry it (or microwave it if you really are feeling lazy). Anchovies will work as well as it bring that salty flavour to the salad, but may not give you the hearty feeling.
Salad dressing is very important as it is what completes the salad. There really is no reason to cheapen out on this as this can determine what makes a good salad from a bad salad. If this was not an Emergency Food Ideas topic, I would recommend you make your own salad dressing. I'll try to write about this in the future. Otherwise, the bottled ones are perfect for quick and simple preparation. Just grab your favourite dressing and pour some on the veggies and meat. When tossing the salad, I like to use a container that is much bigger than the contents. This makes mixing the salad dressing easier and you get an even coat on the veggies. Believe me, this is important if you want to have the perfect bite every time. Exercise moderation when pouring dressing on the salad. It is always easy to add more, but hard to take it off. If you are not sure, add a little bit, toss the salad and taste. If it's not tasty enough, add some more dressing and repeat. Just like my other recipes, I do not give precise instructions since that just makes cooking more like a lab experiment. Cooking is suppose to be carefree, and I am sticking with that policy.
Grocery Shopping
What is your favorite grocery shopping advice? A lot of people don't really plan their grocery shopping and end up either buying too much, or too little. If you live close to a grocery store, then this is not a problem. For most people, this is probably not the case. Having an efficient way of doing grocery shopping can save a lot of people time and headaches.
I learned a very valuable lesson on a TV show I saw a while back. Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry. This makes you want to buy more food than you really need and they end up being rotten or expired.
Just because something is a better deal doesn't mean it's the way to go. There are sale tactics that make you want to buy two of the same item because it makes the cost of each less. For example, you can buy a head of lettuce for $0.70 or buy two for $1.10. The mathematician inside us would undoubtedly conclude that getting two gives you the best deal. But if the carnivour inside us can only tolerate so much salad in a week, the second head of lettuce might end up rotting even before the first one is completely consumed. So the end result is a loss of $0.40. I wonder what the mathematician inside you will think now. It really depends on how fast you think you can consume the food, and how long the food will last.
Having said that, there are always exceptions. There are food items that
Spicy Thai Pork
Instant seasonings or sauces are very popular for a lot of people, especially me. I have a whole box of assorted seasonings/sauces, some of which I don't even know how to use. McCormick is a popular spice brand but they also sell sauces. I tried their spicy sparerib sauce and I was impressed by how quick and delicious it tasted. It's unfortunate that I was the only one who appreciated it. My wife said it was too spicy. Perhaps I didn't mix it well since I thought it was not spicy at all.
Today I tried the spicy thai pork sauce. The sauce comes in power form and requires dissolving in some liquid. Normally the liquid will be water, but for this particular sauce, it required coconut milk. Luckily I had a couple cans sittin in the pantry so I didn't have a problem making this dish. Preparation was quite easy. I just cut pieces of spare ribs into individual pieces so that they can cook quickly (and easy to eat as well). The instruction asked me to brown the pork so I put some oil on a pan and dumped all the spare ribs in it. It takes a while to brown the ribs. I had to flip it until all sides are brown enough for me. You don't actually need to have this color, but it's important to cook the pork thoroughly. So at a minimum, you need to cook them until you don't see any pinkish color on the meat.
I mixed the dry sauce mix with a cup of coconut milk. I find that the best way to mix it is with a whisk. If I use a fork or a spoon, I usually can't get rid of some lumps. But if that works for you, then it's all good. Once the spare ribs are cook, dump the coconut sauce mixture. Cook further until the sauce thickens and that's it. I think it took a total of 10 minutes to cook the whole thing. Pretty quick especially if you are very hungry coming home from a long day at work. Just like any thai dish, it is best to serve this with rice. I like to pour some sauce on top of the rice. That way, I enjoy the flavour with every bite. For some garnish, I sprinkled some sesame seeds and place a few sprigs of parsley (totally optional).
I like the taste of the dish. I don't know how authentic it is, but as long as it taste good then, it's a keeper. And best of all, it's carefree cooking.
Spicy Garlic Eggplant
I made this last Monday but due to some technical difficulties, I was not able to write an entry about it. This dish is really easy to prepare. There are three major ingredients required: Eggplant, ground pork, and spicy garlic eggplant sauce (Lee Kum Kee). I used some other garnishes like parsley and peanuts but these are totally optional. In fact, my wife and my sister hated it. But I thought the dish will look bland if I didn't add any color or texture.
There are multiple ways of cooking eggplant. When you go to a chinese restaurant and order the eggplant hotpot, it's usually very oily. The reason is they deep fry the eggplant. The bad thing about this is that eggplant acts like a sponge and absorbs all the oil. So if you are thinking of doing this, make sure you use good oil. Chinese recipes would normally ask for peanut oil for its flavour, but this type of oil is also the most unhealthy oil you can use. I usually use canola oil or olive oil.
Before I made this dish, I did a little bit of research on the internet on how to cook eggplant. I've already talked about deep frying. There are other ways of preparing it such as pan frying, grilling, and baking. I didn't have the required 1 hr to bake the eggplants and I didn't think grilling would be that much quicker as well. So I opted for the pan frying. But instead of putting some oil, I used a non-stick pan and sprayed a little PAM just in case the eggplant decides to stick. I also read from a website that it's important to cook the eggplant thoroughly. Having a half cooked eggplant will not taste good. Since I'm pan frying without oil, I have to cut the eggplant in small pieces. Ideally I would cut the eggplant in strips, but I didn't have the appropriate knife skills to do that.
After cooking the eggplant (you can always taste it if it's cook), I set them aside and started cooking the ground pork. Cooking the ground pork is very easy and quick as long as you break them apart to form little pieces. Once the ground pork is done, throw in the cooked eggplant and add the Lee Kum Kee sauce. I added some parsley and some chopped peanuts (for texture). Cooked them a little more until you are happy that the sauce is thoroughly mixed into the eggplant and ground pork. As a final touch, I put some left over parsley at the middle of the dish and sprinkled some more chopped peanuts around the dish.
There are many different types of eggplant and some are more bitter than others. Many recipe ask you to put some salt on the eggplant so that all the bitterness will be extracted. It's up to you to decide whether you want to sal the eggplant or not. You can try it without salting and if the eggplant taste too bitter for your taste, you can do the salt technique. It's not really an exact science after all, it's just carefree cooking :) Let me know what you think.
Most Unique Cake I Have Ever Tried
What is the most unique dessert you have ever tried? If I ask that question, most people will start to think about the most exotic fruit they have eaten. As for me, it wouldn't be a fruit, but rather a flower....Rose in particular.
My friend Dave has a girlfriend who is a dessert chef. From time to time, our lunch group will be lucky enough to try some of the cakes that she makes. Today was one of those days. Dave took out this cake container and in it held what seems like your average strawberry mousse cake. When I tried it, I couldn't figure out what was in it. I can't even describe what I have tried before that has a similar taste. All of us tried to guess what the "mystery" ingredient was. After a few rounds of incorrect guesses, my wife shouted Rose. I was surprised that she would say something very silly, but I was even more surprised when Dave said "How did you know?".
To make a rose mousse cake, you take some rose flower, grind them until they turn to a powder, and use that to make a mousse. I have to confirm that with Dave. This is definitely an experience to remember. How is the cake you ask? I must say, it's pretty good. Just like all the cakes that Dave's girlfriend makes. It's unfortunate that I didn't have my camera so that I can share the picture with you.
Random Blurb - Not Carefree Cooking Related
Here's a totally unrelated carefree cooking experience. My internet was very slow last weekend. It took me a long time just to create a blog. Called my local internet provider and they asked me to have my cable modem replaced. Bad move! When I installed the new modem, it wouldn't connect to the server. I took another trip to the store to get another one and I got the same thing. My internet provider told me that they will send someone to check it out on Monday! Monday!! That's almost 6 days without having internet at home. The good thing is that the lack of distraction forces me to work on my Masters project.
I apologize if you came here expecting to see a post about carefree cooking. I did have something to post, but thanks to the lack of internet access at home, I wasn't able to do it two days ago. I'll just queue them up and I'll post all of them at the same time once my home computer goes online again.
Thinking about the meaning of life lately? Check out some words of wisdom from
InvestmentOwl
Baby Bok Choi with Duck
Today is Valentines Day. Happy Valentines to everyone! While most people are out celebrating, my wife and I decided to order some yummy crab from a restaurant and just eat at home. Too boring you think? We actually enjoy this. We get to eat with our hands without having to worry about how messy things get, and we get to do it in front of the TV. I bought a lot of vegetables yesterday so I thought I'd quickly make something up. I grabed the bag of baby bok choi and started frying them. What I don't like about bok choi (and other similar vegetables) is that it is a pain to wash them thoroughly. The batch I got were relatively clean, but I still had to be careful. The bottom of the strainer had lots of sand when I was done with the rinsing.
I only know of one way of cooking bok choi - pan frying. So if anyone out there have other ways of cooking them, please let me know. A little bit of oil is all it takes to cover the entire pan. From what I have been told, the pan has to be really hot before you throw in the vegetables. Otherwise it will not come out ok. I usually just add salt to the vegetables when I pan fry them, but this time, I decided to be more adventurous. I looked through my fridge and found a bottle of black bean sauce. I think any sauce that is salty can work when pan frying vegetable. Some people put oyster flavour sauce on the vegetable to give the salty flavour.
We had some left over duck so I heated it up in the toaster oven. I like to heat the duck in the oven as it makes the skin slightly crispy. Microwaving is ok as well, but I only do that when I'm really hungry and can't wait. I didn't plan to put the two dishes together, but while plating the vegetable, it occured to me that the two dishes might go well together. It's the first time I've paid attention to presentation but I think it does look more appetizing this way. Normally I would just pile all the vegetables on a plate and that was it. Anyways, send me your comments or any similar recipe ideas.
Ingredients List:1. A pack of baby bok choi
2. Some left over duck. Any leftover meat would work well, just cut them to bite size pieces
3. A bit of oil to coat the bottom of the pan
4. Black Bean Sauce (salt would be sufficient as well)
Carefree Cooking, Inc.
Carefree Cooking, Inc.
It seems that there is a website for Carefree Cooking already. I hope I do not get an email asking me to stop using the name. Even though I've only been using it for less than a day, I kind of like the name. As an act of good faith, I'm attaching the link to CarefreeCooking.com. This site is owned by Susan Brigden, a personal chef. For those people who wants someone to eat healthy, you can check out her site. There is a sample menu and price list on the site so you know exactly what you are getting. It does seem like her services are only for the Atlanta area.
Curry Ox Tail = Yummy
I got a couple Ox Tail at the local chinese store this morning. They were on sale so I thought why not. When you buy Ox Tail, they look pretty lean. I just found out this mornig that there is a heavy layer of fat surrounding the tail. Luckily the trustee butcher at the supermarket cuts them off before selling them. Since the tail meat is very hard (unlike your typical tenderloin steak cuts), you need to cook them for a very long time. For the working people, I'd say try this during the weekend. Although it is simple, it does take 2-3 hours to cook.
I start off with puting just enough oil on a deep pot to cover the bottom (I used medium heat on the stove). Throw in the Ox Tail in the pot (the butcher would normally cut the tail into smaller pieces) and sear in the meat until they are brown on all sides. I don't really know if searing is important, but it makes me think that cooking this involves more skills than it actually requires. Pour in enough water to cover the meat. Turn the stove to low and wait for 2-3 hours. You can tell if the meat is done if it is soft and the meat is starting to separate from the bone. After that, I added the Glico curry (very common in most supermarkets) to the pot, stir a little bit and the dish is done.
I've made Ox Tail a lot of times before, but this is the first time I used the Glico curry. My friends have been telling me how good it is, so I decided to try it. The good thing about the Glico curry is that it has everything you need to finish the dish. You don't have to add any spices or thickening agent. I must say that the dish turned out really well (guess what I'm having for lunch tomorrow).
You may have noticed that I did not include measurements in my description above. Even though I'm an engineer by trade, I'm not really that good with measurements for cooking. I usually just rely on my gut feeling on how much I need. Besides, people have different taste so what I find too salty might be just right for other people. My suggestion is, taste the food and adjust accordingly.
Since I didn't know that I will be doing this blog thing, I didn't have the foresight to take a picture of the dish. But moving forward, I will try to take a picture of all the dishes I post here. That will force me to work in my presenation skills too.
If you have any experience with Ox Tail (or any similar food for that matter), please share with us.
Welcome!
My friend InvestmentOwl introduced me to blogging. I've heard about this for a few years now but I never really saw the point of having one. My view is, why post your diary for everyone to see. I don't think my life is that interesting. I've been working for quite a while now and up to this moment, I haven't found anything that I am truly passionate about. I like to watch the Food Network and I like to cook, so I thought why not talk about my cooking experience. If my experience can help someone out there, then all this effort would be worth it.
