Kabobs!

I love kabobs. Tonight I made two types:

Ground beef:
Mix 1 lb ground beef with 2 tbs zatar + 1 tsp sumac. Divide into four pieces, shape two into a longish kabob on a skewer.

Chicken:
Cut chicken breast into big chunks. Marinate in:
1 cup greek yogurt
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Ground sage
Oregano
Paprika
Splash of red wine vinegar
Slide a few chunks on each skewer.

Usually these would go on the grill, but it's cold and I'm lazy. I put them on a rack on a pan and baked them at 350F for 1/2 hour, then broiled them for a few minutes.
I served them with some rice pilaf, asparagus and a chunk of feta.

Don't forget if using wooden skewers to soak them in water for half an hour before using!

Chicken with sun dried tomatoes in a mustard wine sauce

This chicken is so simple but it is SO yummy. Add some pilaf and a veggie and you're good to go.

I have also done this with chicken breast and potatoes. Not tonight.

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts cutlets
Dijon mustard
4 sun dried tomatoes, chopped
White wine
1 tbs butter
Rice Pilaf
1/2 bunch broccoli
1 tbs butter
Kosher salt
Black pepper

Smear some dijon on the chicken cutlets and season with kosher salt and pepper, or the usual chicken seasoning (equal parts paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper). Heat a pan on the stove and add olive oil. Brown the chicken on both sides, cooking long enough to make it cooked through.

Pull the chicken out of the pan and cover with foil. Add some wine to the pan and heat on the stove, along with a dollop of dijon and the sun dried tomatoes. Let it boil down until it starts to thicken a little. Swirl in the butter and pour over the chicken. Start the pilaf when the chicken starts. Chop the broccoli into florets. Steam it for ten minutes over the pilaf while cooking or in a steamer.

I made this tonight with tomato paste instead of sun dried tomatoes and threw the Dijon into the sauce. The broccoli is great with the sauce.

Chicken, chickpea and chipotle soup

I keep seeing recipes for chickpea soup lately. I've never had it, so I gave it a shot. Yowza.

1 boneless skinless chicken breasts
Santa Maria seasoning
1 can chickpeas
2 chipotle in adobo, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped small
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 lb linguica, chopped
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup dry sherry

Pour olive oil on the chicken then sprinkle with the seasoning. Throw it in the oven for 25 minutes. Pull it out, cool slightly and shred or chop up.

While the chicken is in the oven, add the onion and garlic to the pan and saute for a few minutes. Add the linguica and cook for two minutes. Add the oregano, paprika, cumin and chipotle and continue cooking for two minutes. Once everything gets all nice and brown, add the sherry and scrape up all the gunk from the bottom of the pot.

Once the sherry starts bubbling, add the chicken stock and the chickpeas. Let this boil for ten minutes. Add it the chicken and any accumulated juices and simmer together for at least ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Frankie's Crockpot Chile Verde

4 bone-in pork chops
1/2 yellow onion, big chunks
4 garlic cloves, big chunks
1 1/4 lbs tomatillos, stemmed, quartered
1/2 cup orange juice
1 lime
1 jalepeno, chopped
1 serrano, chopped

Season the chops with kosher salt and pepper. Brown them, then throw them in the crockpot. Add in onion, garlic, tomatillos, jalepeno and serrano. Pour in orange juice and juice from the lime. Throw half the lime in, too.

Cook on high for an hour, low for five or six.

Pork Stir Fry

Pork Stir Fry Marinade: 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/4 cup hoisin sauce 1/4 cup tahini 2 tbs vinegar 1 tsp black pepper 2 tsp garlic powder Use half on the meat, save half for the sauce Cut up two pork chops and marinate in half the marinade. Mince 1/2 inch of ginger, 2 cloves of garlic and one long green onion. Heat up oil in the pan. Quickly brown the pork on both sides, high heat and fast. Pull it out when it's browned. Throw in the veggies in order of cooking time. Carrots, snap peas, baby corn, mushrooms, broccoli, water chestnuts. Then throw the meat back in. Once you've got five minutes left, throw in the trinity. Pour in the sauce, toss. Throw this over slightly over dried rice.

London Broil with smashed potatoes and gravy

I cannot get enough of a good london broil. Fun fact: apparently, that is not an actual cut of meat, but a cooking technique for a certain kind of top round roast. And I have been slicing it wrong forever. I love the "Ask the Meat Man" site.

Damn, beef has been expensive lately. Whatever, I needed it today and the boyfriend was craving mashed potatoes and gravy. I usually marinate this overnight.

2 1/2 lb london broil marinade:
Lee & Perrin's worcestershire... so that's how you spell that
A few splashes of whiskey
A splash of liquid smoke
2 garlic cloves, pressed
Turmeric
Thyme
Black Pepper

I take a pyrex pan that is just bigger than the roast and throw the liquids in and squish the meat around in it. Then, rub around the pressed garlic, throw on the spices and rub everything in. Flip, repeat. Let sit for a day, flipping once part way through.

Heat the oven to 325F and pull the meat out of the fridge so it's not frigid when you throw it in. When you put it in the roasting pan, throw down a smidge of canola oil first. Salt the roast well with kosher salt on the top side, then drip dry, flip it over into the pan and salt the other side. I don't like doing the whole "dry first with a paper towel" thing on this since it pulls off some of the spices and garlic. While this is cooking (maybe 50 minutes?), boil some yukon gold potatoes to smash. I used three, added a few tbs butter and lots of salt and pepper while smashing. I skip the other dairy products, butter is good enough for me.

I felt like simple tonight, so I had this with some corn. I drained a can of corn and fried it with some garlic and butter, with a sprinkle of s/p.

Gravy. Fucking gravy. Beef gravy is my nemesis just like rice. I'll attempt it again tonight, hopefully it won't inspire they boyfriend to open (shudder) a can of store bought gravy, as he likes a nice thick gravy and I generally don't deliver.

Here's my latest effort. It will work eventually.

Combine:
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 cup leftover marinade
1/2 cup red wine
Pan drippings

Throw the wine in the pan to loosen up the bits in the bottom. Use a wooden spoon if necessary, then throw it in a small pot with the rest. Boil this for at least five minutes, until it starts to reduce a bit. See earlier posts on evil marinade.

Combine 1 tbs of cornstarch with a small amount of liquid, either more broth, wine or water. Stir very well to combine and add to the liquid. Whisk, whisk, whisk! Season with lots of s/p and pray.

Arabic yogurt chicken with tzatziki, hummus and cucumber tomato salad

I can't go long without some sort of middle eastern food. This is a simple chicken dish that is super tasty.

Chicken marinade:
1 cup greek yogurt
2 large garlic cloves, smashed
1 tbs red wine vinegar
1 tbs paprika
1 tbs oregano
1 tbs fresh sage, chopped
2 tbs fresh parsley, chopped
1 tbs cumin
1 tbs salt
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp red pepper flakes

Mix it all together and marinade a few chicken breasts in it for at least an hour, hopefully longer. I usually cut each breast into a few strips. Shake off excess marinade and grill it up. If you're going to bake it instead, at least brown the chicken first. This is not pretty if you don't.

Tzatziki:
3 persian cucumbers, peeled
1 cup greek yogurt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 garlic cloves, chopped small
5 grinds black pepper
Kosher salt

Grate the cucumber into a strainer. Put about 2 tsp kosher salt on them and let them drain for at least half an hour. Squeeze out any excess moisture. Stir everything together, add salt to taste. Let this sit at least an hour to let the flavors blend.

The salad is close to one a friend of mine made for me years ago.

2 persian cucumbers, peeled, seeded and diced
3 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 onion, small dice
2 large garlic cloves, smashed
Juice of 2 lemons
1 tsp sumac
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 bunch chopped parsley
Feta cheese

Chop the cucumbers and tomato, throw in a strainer with some kosher salt and drain. Combine everything in a bowl and toss

Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans
2 tbs tahini
2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt
Throw the beans in a pot and boil. Once this cools, add that and everything else into the food processor and blend.

I usually serve this with rice pilaf or maybe some roasted herbed potatoes.

Asada BBQ Dips - pico de gallo, guacamole and red salsa

Today we're having a family barbecue. I'm making a few dips to go with the carne asada.

Pico de gallo:
6 big roma tomatoes, seeded
1/2 big yellow onion
1 jalapeno
1/2 bunch cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1 tbs kosher salt

This is the basic raw salsa that goes awesome with tortilla chips. I pulse everything in a food processor until it is very finely chopped but not a mush, a little at a time, then combine it. If you like it chunkier, you can just chop everything small.

I discovered a new trick today to make it less soupy. Chop the onion and tomato first and sprinkle it with the salt. After it sits for a bit, a lot of the moisture will come out and you can pour that off before adding the rest.

Guacamole:
3 large avocados
5 cloves garlic
1/3 large red onion
2 limes
Black Pepper
Kosher salt

Finely chop the garlic and onion and add the juice of the limes, pepper and salt. Mix. I like it to have some texture, so I do the avocados in two batches. Add two avocados and smash with a fork until well combined. Add the last avocado and smash it most of the way, leaving it a little chunky. Yum.

Red salsa:
6 big roma tomatoes
1/2 big yellow onion
2-3 serrano peppers
1 lime
1 tbs kosher salt
1/2 bunch cilantro

Chop the tomatoes and onions into quarters, and halve the peppers lengthwise. Throw some oil into a pan - I usually use canola but today safflower worked well - and cook the veggies in batches. You want them to brown a little but not completely blacken. Let them cool and then throw then in the food processor with the cilantro and salt. Add some water if it seems too thick. Add the juice of the lime then add more salt if needed.

And there you have it: the super simple trifecta of dips.

Chicken with pseudo tapenade

I love olives. I love tapenade too. Google insists I am spelling that wrong, but whatever. I got some fresh olives the other day for some salad jars and I had some left over. I also love chicken but seriously, how many times can you fry up some chicken breast the same way? Here's what I did:

Chicken:

2 chicken breasts
Kosher salt
Pepper
Usual spice (Equal parts paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper)
Olive oil

Pseudo tapenade:
10-12 kalamata olives
1 ripe tomato
A few stems of parsley
7 basil leaves
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbs olive oil
1 pinch salt

To start, combine all the tapenade ingredients. Chop the tomato and olives very small and mix all together. Let this sit for a good while before serving, anything less than an hour doesn't do it justice.

For the chicken, when you're ready to eat, simply season each breast with a bit of the usual and more kosher salt and pepper, heat up the oil really hot and do a decent browning on each side. This is important - if you don't crisp it up now, it will get soggy under the tapenade. Throw it in the oven at 350 for about 10-15 to cook through.

Serve chicken covered by a spread of room temperature tapenade with some pilaf with a bit of feta. I'm thinking broccoli will go well with this. Yum.

Pork and veggie stir fry

I really feel the need to get a few veggies in my dinner tonight. My recent Dorito and fast food binge has left me spent. So this is an old favorite with some new tweaks that cut down on the chemicals in everything I used to use.

Ingredients:
1 lb pork, chopped into 3/4" pieces (this works with chicken or beef, too)
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 inch ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, grated
Salt and pepper
Rice wine vinegar
Mirin
1 package stir fry veggies - usually broccoli, carrots and snow peas
1 package (three serving) dry Japanese soba noodles (I used to use Maruchan Yaki-Soba but those seem to be pretty full of stuff I can't pronounce)

Mix the meat with the next five ingredients. Let it hang out for a bit.

Cook the noodles according to directions, mine are two minutes in boiling water.

Get a frying pan (hopefully with rounded edges, a wok would rock) hot and add in peanut oil. Once that gets super hot, throw in the meat, drained from the marinade. Set the marinade aside. Spread the meat out a bit or do it in batches so it doesn't just steam. After a couple minutes, when it starts to brown well pull it out. Strain it but save the juice and throw that in with the marinade.

I'll pause there. Generally, you shouldn't use a marinade in the dish, but as long as you boil it, it should be fine. Feel free to leave it out, I like it in.

Add a little more oil, throw in the veggies. Cook until they get a little tender but not soggy, maybe 4 minutes. Pull those out and throw them on the meat.

Add in the juice from the meat and veggies and boil that a few minutes (dangerous marinade, remember?) Then throw in a splash more soy sauce, sesame oil and maybe some mirin or rice wine vinegar if you've got it. I always forget the mirin so I added some sherry. Throw in the noodles.

Heat the noodles for a few minutes, throw everything else back in and enjoy the party.

Notes: Apparently I am out of sesame oil, so I threw in a spoonful of tahini instead. Wonder how that's going to turn out.
I usually use more garlic and ginger, but it would probably be overwhelming for other people. We're both smokers, we need stronger flavors.

Chicken sammich with sun dried tomatoes and goat cheese

So a happy accident at the grocery store today led to some fun stuff. I'm trying to pack a lunch more often now and I misread a Martha Stewart recipe for a sammich. Hers called for farmer's cheese, I got goat cheese. And of course, I got the garlic herb variety.

I know nothing about goat cheese, but the awesome checker at Sprouts (my local grocery that isn't in the top three chains) was very talkative. I loved that. I bought some lavash bread which started the conversation, we discovered neither of us had tried it. When she saw the goat cheese, she said it was awesome, like super intense feta.

Once I got it home and realized I bought the wrong thing for the MS recipe, I thought: if goat cheese is intense feta, sun dried tomatoes are intense tomatoes. And I went from there.

So here is my happy accident sammich. I sampled everything on the way, so I have high hopes it's going to be yummy. My only concern is making this ahead for work tomorrow and it getting soggy, but I over toasted the bread so I hope that offsets it.

4 oz cut up chicken breasts *
2 slices toasted bread, well done
1-2 oz goat cheese, hopefully the garlic and herb kind
3 pieces sun dried tomatoes, chopped
Baby spinach

I got chicken breast cutlets that cook super fast. I cooked them on the Foreman for about three minutes, you could bake them at 325 for the same or fry them. Let them cool.

I over toasted some bread and let it cool. Top half got well chopped sun dried tomatoes, bottom half got the goat cheese. Throw the chicken on the bottom, give it some pepper, smush some spinach on, add top half and have some yum.

I hope this works without the squishy bread.

* My usual plain chicken rub: equal parts paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper. Update: This was awesome, but came out kind of dry. Next time when I cut up the chicken I'll try mixing it with some of the oil from the sun dried tomatoes. Luckily, no squishy bread!

Chicken Stock

Once I figured out how cheap this is compared to buying cans, and how much better, I never buy store bought anymore. I usually use thighs or legs, but I've also just used a cut up whole one. If I have a carcass from a baked one that makes it even better. I also save the stems from mushrooms when I make them and always have a big bag in the freezer. Same with parsley stems.

2 1/2 pounds chicken pieces

1 large onion, quartered
2 stalks celery, rough chopped
2 carrots, rough chopped
2 leeks, green parts only, chopped
Handful of mushroom stems
Handful of parsley stems
2 bay leaves
1 tsp peppercorns

Throw the chicken in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Once the nasty white stuff comes up, skim it. Add in everything else, then simmer for a few hours.

Strain the stock and throw it in the pot or a big bowl. Once it cools, the fat will stay on the surface and will be super easy to skim. If it comes out perfect, the stock will be almost jelly like.

Freeze whatever you won't use in the next couple of days.

I love the little plastic freezer jars from Ball to store this in, you can just squeeze it right out when you need some.

Shrimp Scampi with asparagus and orzo

I had a craving for scampi today and a bigger craving for a veggie to counteract my teenage style eating habits of late. I'm only halfway through this and it already smells aaaaamazing.

Can you tell I love asparagus with seafood? Yeah...

Olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 large shallot
1 tbs dried oregano
Salt and white pepper
About 30 medium shrimp
1 large lemon

Heat a good amount of olive oil in a pan and saute the garlic and shallot for a bit. DON'T let it brown or else you have to start over. Once it's getting near done, add the oregano and season with salt and white pepper. Let it cool, then add that, the lemon juice, a bit of lemon zest and the shrimp in a bowl to hang out for a while.

When you're ready to cook, you can either bake it, broil it, or saute it. Either way, it'll be done in about five minutes.

Throw a bit of lemon on some asparagus, season with salt and white pepper, and throw it in the oven for 10-15 minutes. Cook up some orzo in chicken stock, drain, add butter or olive oil, salt, pepper and some feta.

Perfection.

A couple of notes:
This feeds two in my house, but we are shrimp fanatics. We will throw down over the last shrimp, so I always make way more than I think I need. Still never enough. This would probably feed four in a non-insane household.
Also, and this should be fairly obvious even though I led with the shrimp, you'll want to start the orzo, then the asparagus, then the shrimp to have everything done at the same time.

Whoops

Apparently everything I have written in the last year or so didn't post, and all my pictures got screwed up. Whoops. I smell a catch up project coming on!

Chicken, sausage and black bean soup - DAMN

I wanted to do a simple dinner tonight that could cook up during the debates. This was amazingly yummy for a throw together thing. Yeeeeeah.

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken, Foreman'd with the usual spice
2 14.5 can black beans
1 large link andouille sausage (about 2/5 lb)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 big roasted red pepper, from a jar, minced
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock

This was a soup that I threw together that ended up amaaaaaazing! The red pepper really set it off. Here's how:

Take the andouille sausage and crumble it and fry it up. Once it's almost done, throw in the garlic. Once that's going, throw in the red pepper. That will steam a bit, keep stirring.

In the background, cook the chicken. Season with the usual: equal parts salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika. Forman it or pan fry for a few minutes a side. Shred or chop it and save the juice for the next part.

Once the sausage / red pepper is going, add in the cumin, paprika, white pepper, thyme and red pepper. Add in the chicken, the stock and the beans. Cook at least ten minutes.

Grub, yum.

Chicken Tikka Masala with rice and naan

I wanted to try something completely different, so here's my experiment for today. It's based on a recipe I found on the blog Can't Live Without. I'm trying to make it in two parts. Many nights I don't have much time to cook but can usually find a half an hour or so during the day to at least prep stuff. But I refuse to include ketchup, so here goes.

Chicken marinade:
1 cup yogurt
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp turmeric
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1 inch ginger, smashed
Couple shakes of salt
Couple shakes of crushed red pepper
1 lb chicken, cubed or tenders

For the sauce:
1/2 onion, chopped
3 roasted red peppers from a jar
Small handful cashews
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cardamon powder
1 tsp cinnamon
5 cloves
2 tsp qasuri methi (check an Indian grocery for this one)
2 tbs tomato paste
1/2 cup cream

Saute the onions in 1 tbs olive oil and butter. Once they start getting brown, throw in the red peppers and cashews. Cook a few more minutes, then throw them in the food processor and puree. Add another tbs olive oil to the pan and throw in the spices. Cool a minute or two, then add the puree. Cook another two minutes, then add the tomato paste and qasuri methi. Let this chill out until your'e ready to eat.

Once you're ready to finish up, grill the chicken on skewers or Foreman it like I did. Heat the sauce, add the cream and the chicken and let it all mesh together for a few minutes.

Here's the rice I made with it:

1 cup basmati rice
1/2 onion, chopped
1/2 inch ginger, peeled and chopped 1 tsp cardamon powder
1 tsp cinnamon
5 cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 small jalapeno
2 tbs slivered almonds

Saute the onions in 1 tbs olive oil. Once they start to brown, add the ginger and spices. Cook a few more minutes and add the jalapeno. Let it hang out until you're ready to go. When you are, heat up and add the rice, sauteing for a few minutes. Add 1 3/4 cup of water, bring to a boil, lower to simmer, cross your fucking fingers and cook for 15 minutes. (I suck at rice, always have)

Serve the chicken and rice with naan. YUM!

Gumbo gumbo gumbo!!

Apparently, today is national gumbo day. (I made this on the 12th) And therefore I have an excuse to make a big vat o' gumbo. Not that I need one, but what the hell. I've been working on this recipe for years, trying to get it just right. I think it's pretty awesome at this point, but I'm sure it will change again.

Screw the ingredient list, since I'm writing this as I go along. I can never remember exactly what goes in when until I cook it.

This seems like a really tough dish to make, but it's not. The roux is the only tough part, and that just takes patience. It just has a lot of steps, but it is SO worth it.

1: The chicken and broth part: Take one whole cut up fryer chicken. The one from today is about 4 pounds. Throw that in a big soup pot with about 1 tbs thyme and a few bay leaves. Cover it with water (I'm guessing about a gallon and a half went in - there is no measuring in my gumbo, with one exception) and bring it to a boil. Add in a very large pinch of salt and let this simmer for at least an hour. Once it's gone on long enough, dump the bay leaves, pull out the chicken and take the broth off the heat. UPDATE: Don't skip this very important step!! When the chicken starts simmering, some nasty white gunk will rise up as it cooks. Skim it off, you do NOT want to eat that.

2. The sausage part: I have used everything from kielbasa to hot links in this. Today I'm using two andouille sausages and one linguica. These are HUGE sausages, that's why only three are going in. I got them fresh and raw, so I threw them in the oven for about 45 minutes to cook before I messed with them. Once I cooked them and cooled slightly, I sliced them in half lengthwise then into small pieces. Fry those up and put them to the side.

3. The magical roux: This is the exception to the measuring part. If this goes bad, you're fucked and have to start over. 3/4 cup of flour, 3/4 cup of vegetable oil. This is still iffy. The consistency reminds me of slightly runny frosting, so add more of one if it doesn't seem right. Cook this over medium heat, whisking constantly. I've had bad burnt roux experiences, so I cook mine really slowly and probably not quite long enough. It usually takes about half an hour. It is supposed to be a dark brown, but NOT burnt. If it burns, start over.

4. The trinity: This is the basis of most cajun dishes. Equal parts small diced onions, bell pepper and celery. I used 1 yellow onion, 1 medium bell peppers and 3 big stalks of celery. Once the roux gets dark enough, throw this in and keep stirring for about five minutes.

5. The combination: Add the roux and veggies to the broth. I take the broth off the heat because putting hot roux in hot broth is a terrifying experience. It snarls up and can boil over. Once well mixed, let these guys cook together for about half an hour.

6. The rest: Add in the chopped up sausages, a good amount of white and red pepper. Pull the decent chicken off the bone - ie. legs, breasts, thighs - and add that to the pot. Let this get happy for a bit.

7. The finale: Throw in 1/2 lb of shrimp and cook for a few more minutes. Right when you're ready to serve and pull the pot off the heat, stir in some file powder.

8. The grub: This is traditionally served over rice, but I eat mine like a stew. Throw in a good amount of Louisiana style hot sauce and you've got gumbo nirvana.

Chicken Piccata

This is one of my favorite chicken dishes. It's actually gotten my man to enjoy capers. Quite a feat.

2 chicken breasts, sliced in half lengthwise
3 tbs butter
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup flour
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup white wine
1 lemon
2 tbs capers
2 tbs chopped parsley
1/2 lb spaghetti, cooked
Grated parmesan

Season the chicken with kosher salt and pepper. Dredge it in the flour and shake off the excess. Heat olive oil in a deep skillet and brown the chicken well on both sides. Set aside.

Saute the garlic for a minute in the pan. Add 1 cup of white wine and boil down until slightly reduced. Add in the juice of one lemon, capers, butter and the chicken. Cook for a few minutes to heat the chicken and make sure it's done enough. Add the parsley.

Throw in the pasta, cook for one minute. Serve, add parm, grub.

Garlic, lemon and butter salmon with orzo and asparagus

I had a wild craving for salmon today. This is a simple and super yummy way to put it all together in about twenty minutes.

2 salmon fillets
3 tbs butter
Juice of two lemons
Garlic clove, smashed
1/2 cup orzo
Sprig of rosemary
Bunch of asparagus

Melt the butter in a pan with the garlic clove. Bring water to a boil and add salt, orzo, rosemary and a spoonful of the melted garlic butter. Cook according to package directions. Drain and toss with olive oil.

Add lemon to the remaining garlic butter. Brush this on the salmon, reserving at least a tbs. Season the salmon with kosher salt and pepper and grill it for 5 minutes a side. I used my handy dandy Foreman grill.

Break the rough ends off the asparagus. Steam for a few minutes. I threw mine in a strainer and set it on top of the orzo while it was cooking. After the color brightens, throw it in the pot with the remaining butter mixture and cook a minute or two.

Tada. Being a garlic fiend, I grabbed the clove and ate that on top of the salmon. Super fast, super simple and damn, it's yummy.

Pork & Veggie Stir Fry with noodles

I used to make this all the time with soba noodles and their yummy little spice packet. Then I read what was in the spice packet, so I'm doing it all natural now. I need to find a better option for noodles that doesn't have so much extra crap in it, but I'll use yakisoba for now. Let's see how this turns out. This should include scallions, but I was out. Oh well.

Marinade:

1 large pork sirloin chop, sliced thin
3 tbs soy sauce
3 tbs dry sherry
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 small piece ginger, smashed

Put this all together in a bowl and throw it in the fridge to marinate for a few hours.

To make:

2 tbs peanut oil
Marinated pork
1 12 oz package stir fry veggies (or chop up one carrot, 1 broccoli head, handful of snow peas)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1" piece ginger, peeled and minced
3 tbs dry sherry
2 tbs soy sauce
1 tbs sesame oil
1 tsp cornstarch, whisked into soy sauce
One 2 serving package stir fry noodles

Heat 2 tbs peanut oil in a large skillet. When hot, throw in the pork and saute for a minute until slightly brown. Pull it out into a big bowl. Add in veggies, garlic and ginger, stir fry for about five minutes until they soften slightly. Pull that out to the pork bowl. Add a splash of sherry and cook down for a minute. Add the soy sauce with cornstarch and sesame oil with about a 1/2 cup of water. Add the noodles and stir with a fork until they separate. Put on the lid to make it happen faster. Once this is hot, throw the pork and veggies in, then cook until warmed, about 1-2 minutes. Grub.

This needed twice the meat and noodles, but other than that, it was super yummy. Boom.