Mushroom with Prosciutto Panino

20100930:
Short on time, this course was quick and easy but delicious. Though it could have been made more from scratch if I had had the time.

Steps I Took:
Mushrooms: I cut up an entire tray (8 oz) worth of mushrooms, which - after cutting four or five mushrooms - I decided I should do as follows: place the mushroom on it's top, make a cut to the left of the stem, turn it around 180 degrees, make a cut to the left of the stem, and then cut down the center. This way I had about four equal pieces.

Prosciutto Panino: I cut up a prosciutto panino which I bought from Charles Street Market into several slices. A prosciutto panino is basically just prosciutto hand-rolled in mozzarella.

Onion: With practically half an onion remaining after making scrambled eggs, I cut it up and added it to the pan.

Then I added the mushroom. And then I added the prosciutto panino.

Result:
Oh wow! The texture and oils from the cheese gave the mushrooms a rich taste. Meanwhile, the prosciutto held the chunks of cheese together. Finally, the onion added a nice flavor that balanced out the flavor of the cheese.

[20101009]

Scrambled Eggs

20100927:
There's not really anything special about scrambled eggs, but I wanted to blog about it anyways. If anything, using Spam instead of the typical breakfast ham is something I've never tried before.* Actually, another difference was that I used more egg white than egg yolk, because I had a lot of egg whites leftover after I made egg Benedict.

In fact, the eggs Benedict also left me with over half an onion to use.

*[20161022] It's possible I never had Spam prior to this day; I almost certainly never cooked it prior to this day.

Ingredients: Half an Onion // Spam (two slices) // 6 Egg Whites and an Egg Yolk // Green Bell Pepper

Steps I Took:
I cut up a green bell pepper. Then I put olive oil in pan and let the onion simmer. I cut up some Spam and threw into pan.

Next I added the egg whites and egg yolk. Finally I added the green bell pepper.

Result:
Wow, the egg was delicious. I didn't realize you don't need that much egg yolk to have good scrambled eggs.

The Spam added a perfect amount of saltiness to the dish.

When I bit into the bell pepper there was a small hint of spiciness that gave the meal a subtle bite.

After eating a good portion of the dish, I tried four changes: General Tsao's sauce, Crazy Jane's Salt Mix, honey, and Kikkoman soy sauce.

Best by far was the General Tsao's sauce, both in texture and flavor.

Crazy Jane's Salt Mix was good, but it was more or less - in this dish - just salt.

As for the honey, I could only subtly taste it on the egg, and it didn't taste that good with the Spam.

Finally, the Kikkoman soy sauce was watery and either detracted from the green bell pepper and Spam or added no flavor to the dish.

Oh, I forgot about the onion. Not counting the slight amount (2 tsp) used in the eggs Benedict, this was the first time I used onion when cooking. Equivalently, this is the first time I heavily used onion in a dish.

[20161021 Edit]

Eggs Benedict

20100925:
I stopped by Charles Street Market on my way from the office and remembered that I needed English Muffins to make eggs Benedict.

There weren't any fresh English muffins available, and I didn't see any in the frozen area either. But when I asked the cashier, she asked another cashier, and he said there were some in the frozen section. So I went to look again, and had to look at the labels, because I couldn't recognize anything as looking like English muffins. However, I finally - from the labels - found frozen English muffins! When I found them, I realized I had boxed myself into looking for the type of English muffin that comes in a carton that you break open and pop the slices into the oven (e.g. Pillsbury).

On a separate note, it didn't occur to me that I could have made some English muffins from scratch.

Ramen, Broccoli, and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

20100923:
It was late at night and I hadn't eaten for a while. I also hadn't used the broccoli I bought yet, so it was important I should use it to cook a meal. Then, without hesitation, I quickly decided that I should use ramen. It took me a bit longer to decide if I also wanted to use meat, but eventually decided I wouldn't. Finally, I eyed my options of flavor to add to which I just give the sun-dried tomatoes a try.

Ramen, broccoli, and sun-dried tomatoes. Plus an egg. (20100923)

Steps I Took:
Step 1: Boiled water. Added a pinch of salt. Added ramen. 5 minutes. Step 2: Cut up broccoli. Threw the broccoli into water with ramen. 4 minutes. Step 3: Oiled the pan. Added some ready-to-use chopped garlic. Cracked an egg into the pan. Step 4: Added four sun-dried tomatoes. Step 5: Then I added the ramen and broccoli. Step 6: After I turned off the heat, I removed the ramen from the pan and tried to stir in the the ramen (shrimp) flavoring.

Comments:
The egg was sort of sticking to the pan, but not much.

When I added the ramen and broccoli to the pan, the water in them quickly heated and turned to steam.

Result:
Unfortunately, the broccoli turned out soft. Fortunately, the sun-dried tomatoes seemed to have soaked up the ramen shrimp flavoring. Unfortunately, there was still uneven concentrations of sun-dried tomato flavor.

Salt, empty Top Ramen package, the amount of broccoli cooked, olive oil, ready-to-use chopped garlic, the dish (empty slot is the order the egg was added), sun-dried tomatoes. (20100923)

Possible Changes:
Cut down on the boil time to 1 min.
Cook the ramen and broccoli together (or just stir-fry the broccoli).
Cut the sun-dried tomatoes into smaller pieces; four sun-dried tomatoes was a good amount, but the flavor was still concentrated.
The tomato while it didn't spread it's flavor, spread its color. Just dab or stir it around the ramen.
The broccoli needs to be crunchy to add it's standard texture.

Question:
When should I add the (ramen) shrimp flavoring?

The egg was colorful, but lacked flavor, and so would have benefited from a sauce. However, this dish did not naturally produce any sauce. What sort of sauce could I add to the egg and/or dish?

[20100924][20161020 Edit][Take 1: Ramen, Broccoli, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Egg]

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Ramen, broccoli, and sun-dried tomatoes. Plus two eggs. Now with chicken and yellow bell peppers. (20100924)

20100924:
I felt I needed to redo yesterday's ramen and broccoli dish. With a little bit more time on my hands, I was able to add some other ingredients and play around with the dish.

Chicken and Plum

20100910
This course was experimental in three ways. The first for the effect of pieces of chicken with fat, the second for the effect of plum, and third for the effect of adding mint sauce.

Steps I Took:
I peeled the skin and cut the plum into slices.
I oiled the pan with olive oil, and, being lazy, I used ready-to-use chopped garlic.
I had cut the chicken into pieces, but kept the pieces of chicken with fat separated from the nicer cubes of chicken. I threw in the cubes first, as I figured they would take longer to cook.
I poured on some mint sauce, and feeling the pan lacked oil, I opened my saved oil (which is a random mix of olive oil, fat, soy sauce, and other juices) and spooned several spoonfuls out.
Finally, I added the plum. Unfortunately, the chicken wasn't ready as soon as I expected so the plum was overcooked and turned excessively soft.

Result:
I ate the fatty pieces first; they were unhealthy and delicious.

Next I ate the regular chunks, they were delicious, too.

Some of the plum had lined the bottom of the pan and was picked up by several pieces of chicken. That tasted good. I liked the hint of plum within the dish.

At some point, I decided to mash the plum. Unfortunately, when I smothered a piece of chicken into the mashed plum and took a bite, the mushiness was gross, and the taste of plum was overcome by the texture.

Summary:
In conclusion, I learned that I can add plum for flavor, but I should remove any mushy and overcooked plum before eating. Furthermore, I have the option to add either slightly cooked or raw plum to the dish when I'm done.

[20100921][20161019 Edit]

Watermelon

20100908:
While I've had watermelon many times in my life before, this was the first time that I cut one up all by myself!

It was also fun picking it out. Grace considers two factors: one, the sound the watermelon makes when picking it up and tapping it (should sound crisp, not dull), and two, the color of the watermelon (darker is better).


At home, I washed the dirt off the watermelon and wiped it dry. Then I took my chef's knife and ran it down the middle, but I also had to rotate the watermelon, because the knife was too short to cover the entire length.

After setting one half aside, I began to cut the other half into six pieces by laying the exposed flesh flat against the cutting board.


Comment:
When I cut the half into six pieces I made five parallel cuts. However, I later thought about a modification and an alternative:
1) Make a single perpendicular cut (resulting in 12 smaller pieces instead of 6 large pieces).
2) Cut the half into eight wedges from the edge to the center, like a cake

Result:
I ate about a fourth of the watermelon. I had a couple bites with lemon juice, and had about a fourth of the fourth with salt. Delicious, delicious, delicious!

Picking a Good Watermelon:
Elaborating on the methods mentioned above, a hollow resonating sound indicates the watermelon is filled with more water, which is good. The weight-to-size ratio of a watermelon is also an indicator of a good watermelon - again related to the amount of water in the watermelon.

Darker watermelons tend to be sweeter.

Finally, as with most fruits and vegetables, check for symmetry and surface blemishes which are indicators of health and proper (or improper) storage.

How do you pick a good watermelon? What about fruits and vegetables in general?

[20100909][20161018 Edit]

Family Barbecue

Chicken and pico de gallo on a tortilla

Beef short ribs; Salad with pineapple; Mozzarella cheese on top of a tomato slice topped with fresh chopped parsley

20100906:
Barbecue time!