The Laws of Random Cooking

The laws that govern the Land of Random Cooking:

1. Cooking is in a constant state of Quantum Flux. Attempts to create food identical to the last meal or by following a recipe will result in the destruction of the Multiverse.
   
2. No measuring. Measuring is teh lame.
3. Use Butter. Margarine is really a four letter crossword puzzle hint. I can't believe it's not butter? Oh, but I *can* believe it.
4. "A little bit of everything" is a valid ingredient.
5. Mysterious cans of food from your local neighbourhood ethnic grocery store with no English or French labels should be the centre piece of your next meal.
   
6. Setting food on fire is fun.
7. If you think you can dip it in batter and deep fry it, why haven't you already?
8. Everything should be cookable on the BBQ. Including pancakes. Think about it.
   
9. Ask yourself if this will taste good after you've made it and are offering it to your friends.
10. Beer is an integral part of the cooking process.
11. Beer is an integral part of the eating process.
12. Respect Garlic, Shallots and Onions.
13. Wine is a valid main course (and appetizer, and dessert).
14. Real poutine is made with cheese curds.
    

(feel free to Wikify this team)

Bread Stuffed with Stuff

There is only one picture of "Bread Stuffed with Stuff" unfortunately. Begin with standard bread recipe:

1. Poof Yeast in warm water
   
2. Add sugar, salt, pepper, melted butter, olive oil and garlic
3. Slowly add in a mixture of 1/2 flour and 1/2 semolina until it all comes together
4. Knead with a minimal amount of effort
5. Coat with olive oil, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise for an hour

While rising prepare stuff for stuffing:

1. In butter, sauté/cook/whatever purple onions, garlic, shallots, oyster mushrooms, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice and as much freakin' basil as possible.
2. In another bowl add some chopped tomatoes. But good tomatoes; none of that hot-house blight.
   
3. Combine everything together and reserve.
4. Preheat oven to 450 and place the baking stone in it.
   

Fusion:

1. Now that the dough has risen, place it on the hot baking stone and push and poke it into a large disc much larger than the stone..
2. Fill the centre with filling.
   
3. Add Cheese! Preferably good mozzarella or Feta
   
4. Fold dough back on top as shown in picture.
5. Brush olive oil on top of thing.
6. Place stone and bread thing back into oven.
7. Bake until golden brown and crispy.

Eat:

Do

1. Open mouth
2. Place food in mouth
3. Close mouth
   
4. Chew
5. Swallow

Loop

Super secret mango pudding

Second pan of mango pudding (first one was pretty much finished at the potluck)

Tina hosted a potluck and I was obliged to bring my signature dish. No, it's not made from powder. That is insulting! No, I didn't get the recipe off the internet. No, it's not an old family recipe passed down through the generations. I made the recipe myself! No, you can't have the recipe. I'll give you a hint though:

Secret ingredient

It was quite well received, despite the mango pudding not in its most amazing form, as the coconut milk I used had congealed and left a white film on the top, but it tasted fine. Most of the pan I brought was finished, which is good b/c I wouldn't know what to do with all the leftovers, considering that I had a whole second pan. I've realized that I can pick up girls, or at least greatly impress them, with this dish, and I could open a mango pudding store next to my Indian restaurant.

I should open an Indian restaurant

Today's dinner menu was inspired by Sarah's curry.

It was the first time I tried making curry and it was AMAZING!!! I swear that the flavour was exactly like chicken jalfrezi from a real Indian restaurant, except without the obscene amount of oil and more veggies.

Onions, broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, potatoes, chicken, curry paste, coconut milk, and naan-like bread

1. Cooked the onions in some oil in a pan


2. Threw in the chicken and scooped several teaspoons of curry paste in


3. Cooked for a few min. and then added the coconut milk and veggies


4. Simmered for a while, using a lid to help cook the vegetables


5. Wrapped the bread in aluminum foil and warmed it up in the oven


6. Made a fruit smoothie


7. Ate to the brink of food coma

SO GOOD

The only thing I'd change next time is to cook the potatoes separately for a bit b/c they took a while to cook despite being in small chunks and caused me to cooked the whole thing for longer than I needed, but it wasn't over cooked. I used "boiling" potatoes. I'm so confused at all the different potatoes - frying, boiling, baking, batteries, satellites...

Sweet Potato Burritos

Last time I went grocery shopping I bought some sweet potatoes, and today I decided I needed to cook them. I was looking around on google for some ideas and I found this recipe. I would like to thank whoever the genius was that came up with this idea. I had to modify it slightly based on lack of ingredients and portion size and what I felt like doing. It turned out to be one of the tastiest dinners EVER!


First step was to pre-bake the sweet potatoes and mash them up. My trusty red toaster oven came in handy :)


Next I fried up some onions and garlic. Man did that smell good. I threw in a hot pepper too just for fun.


Once the potatoes were done I mashed them up and threw them in the pan. Also some beans and some chicken.


I added some water and spices and stuff and mixed everything together. It looked kinda gross at this point, but I had faith all would turn out well.


To be consistent with the other meals I've posted about, I added some "secret ingredient" to the mix.


Then I loaded up some shells and threw them in the oven for a bit..


And voila!! The finished product. They were UNREAL! As I said before, whoever came up with that recipe was a genius. As usual, I made way too much for just me so I have leftovers for at least a meal, maybe two. I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow ;)

Omelette

I tried to make an omelette this morning. Things didn't quite go according to plan.

Steak and potatoes

Dinner

Made myself a rather tasty dinner tonight :). Red wine marinated steak (as suggested from this site telling me that everything I know about grilling is wrong) and fries made from scratch!

I marinated the steak in Robert Mondavi red wine (it was on sale at the LCBO) and the Keg steak spice. It was the first time I marinated meat. It was definitely more tender, though it had a bit too much wine taste. Maybe I just marinated it too much (overnight). Next time I'll try something else, maybe a little sweeter as it was a little bitter this time from the wine. I actually felt my face getting a little red from the wine :s. I guess I did a good job of sealing the juices in :).

For the fries, I cut up two potatoes, mixed in some chopped onions, oil, steak spice, olive oil, parsley flakes, red chili flakes, cajan spice, and probably some other random spices. Then, I laid it out on parchment paper, which is non-sticky, but absorbs and keeps too much moisture, and put it in the oven for like 30-40 min. I should probably use aluminum foil to make the fries crispier, but I get annoyed when it sticks, esp. with little bits of the foil sticks to the fries.