Food Summer, Part III

I needed something fast and easy last night because E and I had a date for karaoke with a couple of our friends.  I put together a marinade, cut flank steak into thin slices, then threw them into a ziploc bag to soak up some flavor.  I had to resist the urge to improvise on this very simple marinade; it consisted of shoyu, oil, garlic and dried oregano and I thought a shot of sake was called for.  C reminded me that the whole point was to try the recipes, as is, to see which ones were worth keeping and which ones got axed.  Fine.

The meat was very tender at the end of a few hours but not very flavorful.  I ended up cutting it into strips and stir-frying it with baby bok choy and some oyster sauce.  It was very good over rice but I wouldn't follow this particular recipe again.

For tonight, Recipe 8 had a lot of promise--Thai Spicy Chicken Wings.  We all love baked or fried chicken wings and 3 out of 4 of us like Thai food a lot.  I marinated the wings in a combination of soy, oil, garlic, ginger, sugar, cracked black pepper and Thai chili sauce.  Couple of major problems:  the recipe said to cook at 400 for 20 minutes (turning halfway through). I cook wings a lot and I know that 20 minutes is not anywhere long enough for them to be cooked through.  I was right.  It took a total of about 45 minutes at that temperature.  Second problem:  the recipe photo showed wings that were a rich mahogany color.  Even after 45 minutes, my wings were a light brown and not crispy at all.  The sticky sauce was starting to burn to the pan though--I was glad I covered it with foil first.

The chicken was tender but not particularly flavorful.  We dunked them in additional Thai sweet chili sauce and that was pretty good.  I wouldn't make this one again either though.

Recipe 9 is probably one of Emeril's simplest dishes with only 6 ingredients:  cauliflower, salt, pepper, garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese.

I love cauliflower and this simple baked dish topped with shredded cheese was yummy.  But again, not particularly special nor something I couldn't have come up with by myself.

A good meal.  Just not an outstanding one.

Food Summer, Part II

C and I got ambitious today.  Between the two of us, we made 3 new recipes:  C concocted a lovely Surprise Meringue cookie; it was light and sweet on the outside and the inside was a slightly chewy texture full of mini chocolate chips and chopped pecans.  Yum!

Of course, the humidity in Hawaii is going to quickly render these little guys gooey.  Fortunately, I doubt they'll last that long!  They are so light, it's awfully easy to eat them up!

Salmon with dijon and pecans is up next.  I got two big slabs of salmon from Costco and smeared them with a mixture of melted butter, honey and spicy brown mustard.  I topped the salmon with a combination of panko bread crumbs, chopped parsley and diced pecans, then baked it at 375 for 25 minutes.  The result was a very delicately seasoned and very moist piece of fish.  A definite keeper!

 Recipe 6 is green beans with almonds and onions.  The original recipe called for a diced red pepper and shallots but since I had neither, I went with diced onions.  I let the onions caramelize then doused them with some white wine, salt and pepper and a couple of tablespoons of sugar.  I steamed the beans in the microwave for three minutes, drained them and tossed them with the onions.  A simple dish but very satisfying.

The beans went well with the salmon and the meringues...well, they go with just about everything as far as I'm concerned!  Three for three tonight!