I cannot make Asian style noodles to save my life, fortunately I don’t find myself in many life or death noodle situations. I can, however, make a pretty good fried rice, and now you can too.
Step 1
2 medium sized Carrots, peeled and diced
1 Celery stalk, sliced
Heat a 12″ skillet over medium-high heat, add celery and carrots. Saute until veggies are slightly soft and just beginning to brown, about 1-2 minutes.
Push all off the cooked vegetables to one side of the skillet.
Step 2
2 large Eggs
4 cups cooked Rice
In a small bowl, break open your eggs then beat them really well. They should be a uniform yellow color, with none of the egg white showing. A good way to check to see if you did a good job is to run a fork through it, if you catch any stringy bits you know you need to beat it more.
Pour the eggs into the skillet, just onto the part where you have cleared away the vegetables.
Cook the eggs, stirring them around the pan and breaking them up into small pieces, until they are cooked through.
Stir in rice, cook for 1 minute more to heat rice through.
Step 3
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1 Tablespoon Mirin
1 teaspoon Sesame Seed oil
1 cup frozen Peas
Combine soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, and oil in a small bowl. Pour sauce over rice mixture, stir to distribute evenly. Stir in peas. Cook for 1 - 2 more minutes until peas are cooked. Serve.
Here’s a great recipe for a cheap roast that tastes like an expensive roast once you’re done with it. I call it a Sunday roast because you can throw it in the oven and forget about it for a couple of hours. Always a great thing on Sunday if you have church in the afternoon, or you just want to take a nap.
This recipe is more of a How To than an exact recipe. You can do it just like how I did the first time so you can get comfortable with it. but this is one of those recipes that you will eventually make your own.
Any kind of beef, pork, lamb, ect, roast can be used. I used a lamb roast that I had bought and then put in the back of my fridge where it was forgotten. Oops. Fortunately it was only two days past use by date, so I braised it to make sure it was well cooked. The braising liquid can just be as simple as a canned broth poured over the roast until it is mostly covered.
Step 1-
1 large chunk o’ meat
Salt and Pepper
Cut roast into large pieces and season liberally with salt and pepper. Salting your meat before cooking allows the flavor to better cook in and makes for a tastier finished product.
Can you skip salting? Sure, just don’t come and ask me why my food tastes better than yours.
Heat a large pot over medium high heat. If the roast is very fatty then don’t worry about adding oil to the pan. If it’s lean then add 1 tablespoon oil to heated pan. Add a portion of the meat to pan, fat side down, leaving plenty of space.
Don’t over crowd the pan or you will steam the meat instead of browning it. Sear meat until a nice dark crust has formed.
Flip meat and sear on other side. Remove meat from pan, place on a plate or a bowl. Meat will not be cooked all the way through. Continue to cook in batches until all meat has been seared.
Drain all but 1 Tbls of excess oil from pot. The bottom of the pot will have lovely brown bits. Like so-
This is called fond and adds excellent flavor.
Step 2
1 large Onion, quartered
3 Celery Stalks, cut into 2" pieces
2 carrots, cut into 2" pieces or a handful of baby carrots
Add meat and any accumulated juices to pot. Add broth, wine, garlic, and bay leaf. Don’t add any more salt, this is going to cook down and you don’t want it too salty.
Preheat oven to 300. Bring meat and broth to a simmer, cover and place in oven. Cook for 3-4 hours, until meat is fork tender. Alternatively- place the cooked meat and vegetables in a crock pot. Bring braising liquid to a boil then add to crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hrs or low for 8 hrs.
Step 3
Remove meat from liquid then strain liquid. Skim off excess fat from braising liquid. Return liquid to pan and simmer on medium heat for 5 minutes.
Taste braising liquid and add more salt if needed. If it is too salty just thin it out with a little broth. Return meat to pan and toss with liquid. Serve.
This is how much was leftover after dinner. The leftovers make a great base for a stew, and since the meat is already flavorful and soft, you can whip up a stew in under an hour.
A quick note about cooking wines. I usually use Sutter Home Fre (no I didn’t forget an ‘e’), it is their alcohol removed line of wines. A taste testing by Cook’s Illustrated ranked them the best tasting of the alcohol free (mostly) wines, and you can find it in most grocery stores.
It’s actually kind of fitting that my first post is for mac n cheese since this american classic is what got me into cooking in the first place.
Growing up my mom had to work and so dinner was often made by my oldest sister. And all she really knew how to make was boxed mac n cheese, which, in my opinion, tastes only slightly better than the box itself. I soon came to realize if I wanted something tasty for dinner I was going to have to make it myself, thus began my journey into the wonderful world of culinary delights. It also began my journey of being the person my siblings called when they had cooking questions, thus the blog.
But enough about me, let’s talk noodles.
The part of making mac n cheese that takes the longest is boiling the noodles, especially if you live at a high altitude. Couple years back I found a recipe in Cook’s Country that helped streamline everything by boiling the noodles in the milk and water. So there is no straining here, it truly is a one pot meal. Added bonus, the noodles release their starch into the liquid and help to thicken it up so we don’t have to add as much cornstarch, cause I know this was a big concern of yours.
Ready? Of course you are. Let’s go!
Step 1-
3 ¾ c Water
2 c Milk (the recipe was developed using whole milk, if you want to use 2% or skim you just need to add a little bit more cornstarch, lets say ¼ tsp)
½ tsp Table Salt
3 c Macaroni, or other fun shaped noodles (boring ones need not apply)
In a large pot or skillet, bring water, milk and salt to a simmer over medium-high heat. Add macaroni and cook, stirring often to keep the noodles from clumping. And I’m serious about the large pot people, this has a tendency to want to boil over because that’s what milk does. So give yourself lots of head space to try to prevent a big mess.
Cook until the noodles are just shy of being done, just a little chewy in the center. Most of the cooking liquid will be absorbed, if it’s looking a little dry just add some more water.
Step 2-
2 tsp Cornstarch
1 Tbl Water
2 tsp hot sauce- completely optional, but it doesn’t really add much heat (stop being such a baby) just a little depth of flavor
In a small bowl whisk together cornstarch, water and hot sauce.
This is called a slurry and its purpose is to prevent the cornstarch from clumping when you add it to the hot liquid.
The purpose of the cornstarch is to create a suspension that will allow the cheese and the milk to coexist in a creamy, happy state. Instead of a disgruntled, clumpy state.
Add slurry to noodles by slowly pouring it into the pot while stirring things up to evenly distribute the cornstarch before it starts to thicken. I know you want to just dump it in all at once but that way leads to clumping. Clumping bad.
Simmer until slightly thickened, bout 1 minute.
Remove pan from heat.
Step 3 (This is so easy there are only 3 steps)
3 c shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese (for flavor)
2 c shredded Monterey Jack Cheese (for creaminess)
Ok here’s the kinda trick part, not too tricky, just follow my instructions. Take a handful of cheese and add it to the noodles, like so-
See how I don’t have too much cheese in there at once, this is key.
Now stir in the cheese until it is almost fully melted-
Can you see this bits of unmelted cheese? Look I took these photos with my cell phone, just kind of squint.
Keep adding cheese one handful at a time and stir in until all the cheese is fully incorporated. If it’s looking too stringy just add some more milk until it’s nice and creamy looking.
That’s better. Oh look, I added some peas and ham to make it a complete meal. Dinner is served!
Couple of quick things-
This recipe will feed a family of 3 young kids and 2 adults with some leftovers.
You can just use 5 cups of cheddar instead of cheddar and monterey jack, it will still turn out just fine. However you can’t omit the cheddar because all the other cheeses are too mild to really make a great mac n cheese. Unless you are making fancy mac n cheese, but that’s a different recipe.
Everyday Skillet Macaroni and Cheese
Salt and pepper
3 3/4 cups water, plus more as needed
2 cups milk 3 cups elbow macaroni
2 teaspoon cornstarch 2 teaspoons hot sauce- optional 3 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Bring water, milk, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to simmer in skillet over medium-high heat. Add macaroni and cook, stirring often, until macaroni is al dente, 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Whisk 1 tablespoon of milk, cornstarch, and hot sauce in small bowl, then stir into skillet. Simmer until slightly thickened, about 1 minute. Off heat, stir in cheeses, one handful at a time, adding water as needed to adjust consistency. Serve.
