New Definitions!

I've been searching through the "Poultry and Wildfowl" section of the Joy of Cooking for a recipe for tomorrow, and I found a recipe that called for "1 jigger brandy."
A jigger is an instrument used to measure liquids that looks like this:
.

Apparently, one side is 1oz. and the other is 1.5oz...and jigger as a measurement (not the actual measuring instrument) means 1.5 oz. of something (generally alcohol). You can sub with a "shot" depending on what kind of shot-glass you are using (short, tall, etc). Just make sure it's 1.5 oz. and you're good to go...cook that is!

Also, a cute start to their section on leftovers:
"The minister's bride set her luncheon casserole down with a flourish and waited for grace. 'It seems to me,' murmured her husband, 'that I have blessed good deal of this material before.'" Bahaha!

Chicken Casserole (Potatoes, Carrots, & Onions)

So, if you put me on the spot by asking me outright and randomly what my favorite food is, I'll probably falter and make something up. Andrew, on the other hand, will immediately say something very vague, like "chicken." Eventually, you will squeeze "chicken Fettuccine" out, but it's an ordeal. Just FYI, in case you ever wonder, this and crawfish etouffee are my absolute favorite foods.

So...have I convinced you? Do you want to try this amazing "chicken casserole" that is made by mom? Well, because my casserole dishes were not clean (I'm not too lazy to wash; they're storing things right now), we had to cook it stove-top. Luckily, Andrew has this really nice skillet-esque thing. It's about 4'' deep and has a diameter of about 13''. It also has this awesome handle thing going on opposite of the regular handle so you can carry it easily! Well, here is our bastardization of the deliciousness:

Ingredients:
- Chicken MAKE SURE YOU DEFROST BEFOREHAND!! (honestly, it doesn't matter what kind. I don't suggest boneless because it cooks too quickly in my opinion, but do what you want. We used chicken thighs)
- 1 box of chicken broth (go with the larger box)
- water
- 1 1/2-2 cups of baby carrots (washed)
- 4 small potatoes at least.(try to use the ones that won't really work for baked potatoes)
- 3 tbs butter
- Tony's or a similar seasoning
- Rice
- Foil (not really an ingredient, but it's good to know you need it ahead of time)
- 1 1/2-2 yellow onions
*note: You can add more potatoes/carrots/onions at will. It doesn't really matter. It won't destroy the dish because they pretty much remain independent ingredients (aka there isn't any chemical reactions going on there :) )

Directions:
*During this process, add Tony's liberally right before you cook it for a long period of time :)
1. MAKE SURE YOUR CHICKEN IS DEFROSTED
2. Take a nice, large knife that is sharp enough to slice well. Chop the potatoes into large chunks (about 2'' by 1'' [at least]). You'll see how big ours were from the pictures. Add chopped potatoes and carrots to skillet.
3. Slice the onions. DO NOT DICE!!! Add to skillet.
4. Cover with about half the box of chicken broth. Add two tbs of butter.
5. Add water until all vegetables etc are just covered.

6. Cover in foil and simmer on low heat for about 25 minutes. Then check and see if the carrots are cooked all of the way through.

7. Remove from heat and drain out juice. Place veggies somewhere else and add broth back to skillet.

8. Add the chicken to the skillet with broth. Add more broth if necessary. When we cooked the chicken, we cooked six thighs at once. Add a pat of butter to the mixture.

9. Cook for about 45 minutes. Check on it often. If you leave the heat too high, the broth will evaporate and you'll have to add more, so be careful!!! I would keep it between low and medium... just below the boiling mark.
10. Around the 45 minute mark, see if your chicken is cooked. MAKE SURE YOUR CHICKEN IS COOKED!!! Salmonella isn't fun for anyone. If it is cooked, add the vegetables back and add a little more broth/water if necessary.
11. Simmer for another ten minutes. Cook your rice while you do this: MULTITASKING FTW :D :D

12. EAT EAT EAT EAT!!!



The chicken just fell off the bone...it was amazing. I made the mistake of waiting too long to cook the rice, so I had a finished "casserole" and no rice...I suppose you could eat it as a soup, but I love rice with everything (I'm a true southern gal). Andrew likes it...he says it's a little spicy (weenie), but good.

Tilapia Meuniere Jury-rigged (We're gettin' fancy here)

So, as with everything, there's a story behind this. July 3rd, I had the "meet the mom" dinner with Andrew's mom and her husband, Jeff. We were eating at this awesome restaurant called "Ralph and Kacoo's." It's a seafood place (mmmmm my favorite). One of the specials for that day was the "Trout Meuniere." We all had no idea of what it was, and none of us ended up getting it, but it sparked my curiousity.
Turns out, it's a fish that is lightly floured and then pan-fry it. There are a lot of variations, so if you're curious about more, then just wiki it. We didn't have trout, but we did have a ton of tilapia. Andrew bought a 4lb bag back in the day, and we've been trying to come up with unique ways to cook it (shake-n-bake, cook in balsamic-vinaigrette, use actual fish-fry and then bake, etc).

So here is our version of trout meuniere:

Ingredients:
-BUTTER
-Tilapia (however many pieces you want, defrosted)
-Tony's or something similar
-Half a Lemon
-flour
-Rice (still using instant!)

Directions:
1. Take a mixing bowl and fill it with flour. At this point you can do one of two things. You can either season the flour, or you can season the fish and THEN flour it. Make sure the fish isn't soaking wet, but it is slightly damp. Lightly coat the fish.
2. Take a saucepan and add some butter. Keep it on the higher end of medium heat, the borderline. You can pan-fry it in oil, but our SMOKED like crazy. We thought it would set off the fire alarms, but we were lucky. Wait until the butter is browning, and then add a piece of fish. Cook it about three minutes on each side.
3. Repeat for each piece.
4. Cut down the heat on the pan to the lower end of medium, and add more butter. Season the butter with Tony's, and squeeze half a lemon's juice into the pan (be careful, cold + hot = maybe ouches). Cook the sauce. There may be flour in it, meaning there could be a brownish foam looking stuff, but don't worry about it.
5. Place the fish on the plate and pour sauce over it. Add a side of rice (keep it plain).

The reason the rice should be kept plain is that the rest of the dish is SO RICH. It took us forever to eat because it almost hurt. Think about it; the butter is infused into the tilapia from being cooked in it (so it almost melts in your mouth), plus you're adding a primarily butter sauce on top. The lemon that is added gives it a sharp taste to contrast the richness of the butter. Taste it before pouring it on your fish to make sure you like it, but it's a really good flavor combo.
Also, be careful of how many pieces you eat. I'm not saying you'll get sick, but you won't be able to move for a little while.

This is a super easy, SUPER cheap dish to make that is also somewhat fancy. I don't have a picture...we ate it too fast :P

Not a Recipe, but Exciting Nonetheless.

Hi all!

So we've mainly been finding recipes using stumbleupon and other internet sources (plus cookbooks, but even my southern cooking cook book is an ask.com version), but while shopping in a giant thrift warehouse with my friend L., we stumbled upon Joy of Cooking. The 1975 ed. Since this thrift place does not take debit cards, L. enabled my joy of cooking and lent me the $0.82 to purchase it. Whoever had it before me kept it in beautiful condition, and even used the bookmark to link related recipes. It's full of post-it notes with her favorite recipes and pages marked. I'm sure the lady who owned this last (and you can tell it was a lady by the hand-writing; I'm not being a chauvinistic jerk or anything), truly loved to cook. I can only hope that the situations that led to me receiving this book were positive.



So hopefully we'll be cooking more "legit" meals; although, the next post will be about the tilapia meuniere we jury-rigged (I looked up whether this was jury-rigged or jerry-built, and apparently they are both correctish...jerry-built applies to a permanent but poorly constructed situation/item, while jury-rigged implies a temporary solution made with the materials at hand). I suppose jury-rigged would be the more appropriate one, and eating it makes it a temporary solution :D.

Cookies -n- Cream Fudge (sorry it's been so long everybody)!

Ingredients
- 3 cups of granulated sugar
-3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter or margarine (oh come on, of course you should get butter haha)
-2/3 cup (.5 fl.-oz can) Evaporated Milk
-2 cups White Morsels (aka white chocolate chips)
-1 jar of marshmallow creme (if you're choosing between the little and big jar, it's the big one)
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-1/2 cup of finely crushed Oreos(TM)
-1 cup of crumbled Oreos(TM)


Directions
1. Line a 9-inch square pan with foil (We used an 8x8 and didn't line it; it was fine).
2. Combine sugar, butter, and evaporated milk into a medium, heavy-duty saucepan (this will produce a LOT, so make sure that you get a big enough pot. Ours was a 2-quart pot, and it was barely big enough). Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil, stirring constantly, for 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Stir in morsels (chips), marshmallow creme, finely crushed cookies, and vanilla extract. Pour into the pan. Sprinkle crumbled cookies on top. Push them into the fudge so that when it hardens, they'll be stuck in. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.



You're done!! It's delicious, although you kind of feel like you're going to fall over dead if you eat too much; it's that kind of delicious. I mean, check out those pictures. How could something that looks that good be...anything but amazing?

Week 6: Crawfish Etouffee

Andrew does not like this recipe; he's not a fan of onions and peppers, the "taste" apparently, does not sit well. This recipe is a bastardization of a recipe given to me by my mom, which is of course not nearly as good as hers (which is generally made from tails that she/family friends have personally boiled, tailed, and peeled. So, here's the recipe. It's really simple and good for people who want to make something that sounds really impressive but may not be as difficult to make as you might think (but shhhh you don't have to tell anyone else that :P)

Ingredients:
A stick of butter
Half a Bell Pepper
Half an Onion
Crawfish tails (they have them frozen, but you should try to buy them as a Louisiana product)
Rice (I used instant rice because I'm a fan of instant gratification!)
1 can cream of celery
1 can cream of mushroom
cayenne pepper
Tony's seasoning (or some seasoning similar to this)


Directions:
1. Chop the bell pepper half. I use an electric chopper because it makes really fine pieces, but you may hand chop it. You want it minced. Do the same with the onion. Add this to a 2 quart pot on medium-high heat. Add the BUTTER :D
2. Caramelize the peppers and onions (pretty much just stir them every once in a while to make sure they don't stick/burn until they turn squishy. Add some cayenne pepper, not very much (it will be overpowering if you do). Add around 1/8 tsp. Stir.
3. Add 1 can of cream of celery. Stir into caramelized pepper/onion/butter mixture. Add a sprinkle of Tony's. Heat all the way through.

4. Stir in the crawfish tails. Keep the heat on medium-high. Add a sprinkle more of Tony's. Add the can of cream of mushroom.
5. Add Tony's/cayenne pepper to taste. Heat all the way through. Let the heat travel through. Make sure it is stirred and mixed through so the deliciousness can be tasted all the way through :)
6. Serve over rice. (As I said, I used instant rice)



This recipe is delicious and is one of my favorites! It's pretty simple, but it takes a lot of self-decisions. There are no, let sit for x minutes, it's a touch-and-go situation.

Barbecued Zucchini & Cookies: (Chocolate Chip Malted Milk Balls)

After a sort of hiatus that Andrew and I took as a result of a few missed weeks initially due to a trip to Arkansas, then Mardi Gras, and then it had become habit. Although today is not Sunday, we are adding this blog in order to get back in the game!

So, while I was home at my parents' house this past weekend, we barbecued and my mother suggested I post about our barbecued zucchini. So, here's a simple recipe for something I find to be delicious. If you're worried about it being too healthy, read the recipe and you will find you are mistaken!

Barbecued Zucchini

Ingredients
a few whole zucchini, any size, though I would suggest medium-large
BUTTER
A seasoning such as Tony's or Slap Yo' Mama that is made of cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, etc.
A barbecue pit that has been going long enough to be hot and ready

Directions
1. On a cutting board and with a large, sharp knife, slice the zucchini in half lengthwise (don't slice it into a bunch of little pieces like I did the first time I was told to "horizontally slice it").
2. Lay the zucchini with the flat side up and cut slices into it with the knife.
3. Take about a tablespoon of butter per half of zucchini and smother it into the cuts made in step two and coat it. It's okay if it isn't completely smooth because it will melt. Sprinkle the seasoning over the top (not too much, or it will become too salty)
4. Place on a higher rack of the barbecue pit with the butter side up. Leave for about 7 minutes and then flip. After another 7 minutes has passed, flip back up. You may cook to taste. The longer they cook, the softer they will become, so if you prefer it crunchier you may not want to leave it for so long.



QED for this recipe and so onto the next! Chocolate Chip Malted Milk Ball Cookies! Andrew's week has been full of homework and tests, and mine has been filled with the same along with allergies and other troubles, so he proposed that we go out and eat and then bake. I have to admit, he did all of the work. He's the baker of our cooking team, and I prefer what I like to think of is the more substantial dinner part. This recipe called for a lot of recipes with memories, like Ovaltine, which was certainly a flashback to A Christmas Story.


Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of Ovaltine
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups roughly crushed chocolate-covered malted milk balls (like Whoppers)
1 cup semisweet chocolate morsels


Directions
1. Whisk flour, Ovaltine, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar gradually, beating until light and fluffy, about three minutes, and scraping down bowl once or twice. Beat in vanilla, then eggs, one at a time, scraping down bowl. Add about one-third of flour mixture and mix on low speed. Gradually add remaining flour mixture, mixing just until blended. Stir in crushed malted milk balls and chocolate morsels. To crush the Whoppers, Andrew put them in a sturdy bowl and crushed them using a wooden spoon. Cover with plastic wrap and chill dough for at least two hours or overnight (I'm pretty sure we didn't do this and it turned out fine. The softer the dough, the more likely the cookies are to spread).
3. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper (we also didn't line it, but it should be fine again. It doesn't stick).
4. Drop chilled dough by generously rounded tablespoon two inches apart on prepared cookie sheets. Bake until edges and tops just begin to turn light golden brown, about twelve minutes. Place sheets on racks to cool for five minutes, then remove cookies from sheets and place directly on racks to cool completely.


You're done and they're pretty good. It's like biting into a chocolate chip cookie with an extra surprise!