Simple Salad

Sometimes for dinner we have a simple salad.

Shrimp BLT's

This time, I was smart about how I sliced the bread to make the sandwiches. Check it out:




I made the French bread fresh (same day!), except instead of making two large loaves, I made four baguettes. The only thing I didn't care about the baguettes is that they don't brown as nicely as the large loaves since baking time is reduced.

Nachos

Sometimes we have lunch.

Tuscan Pot Roast

Tuscan Pot Roast and a buttery baked potato.

I don't know what it is about roasts, but I like the idea of making them a lot. Maybe because we didn't have the American Family Sunday Roast Dinner like June Cleaver made for Wally and the Beav when I was a kid. Maybe because I like how the apartment feels all homey when I've got something slow-cooking in the oven. Maybe, just maybe, it's because I'm a glutton.

Tuscan Pot Roast

4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 (3-lb.) boneless beef chuck roast (1 1/2 to 2 inches thick)
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Dash allspice
2 large onions, coarsely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, minced
3/4 c red wine or lower-sodium beef broth
1 (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf
1/3 c pitted Kalamata olives, halved lengthwise

Heat oven to 325ºF. Heat large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add 2 teaspoons of the oil; heat until hot. Cook beef 4 to 6 minutes or until golden brown on all sides, reducing heat to medium if necessary.


Place beef in large ovenproof pot; sprinkle with rosemary, salt, pepper and allspice.


Add remaining 2 teaspoons oil to skillet; cook and stir onions 3 minutes. Add garlic; cook and stir 30 seconds or until fragrant.

Spoon onion mixture over beef.


Add wine or broth to skillet; boil over high heat 2 minutes or until wine or broth is reduced to 1/2 cup, stirring to scrape up any browned bits from bottom of skillet.


Pour over beef. Add tomatoes and bay leaf around beef. Cover; bring to a boil.


Bake 2 hours or until beef is fork-tender.


Remove beef; cover loosely with foil. Let stand 10 minutes; slice 1/2 inch thick.

Meanwhile, add olives to tomato mixture in pot. Bring to a boil; boil over high to medium-high heat 5 minutes or until slightly thickened (bottom of pot will begin to show while stirring).


Remove bay leaf. Spoon mixture over beef.

Ease: Fairly easy. The hardest part was chopping stuff. Once prep was done, it was just a matter of dumping the stuff together and getting it into the oven.

Time: 3 hours total, from prep to plate.

Taste: Not too bad. It reminded me a little bit of the honey and apple ribs because of the sauce on top of the meat action.

Cost:

• boneless beef chuck roast: $5.85
• fresh rosemary: $1.29
• onions: $0.39/lb = $0.39
• garlic, minced: $3.49/32 oz. = $0.02
• lower-sodium beef broth: $0.50
• diced tomatoes: $0.68
• Kalamata olives: $3.99/6 oz. = $1

Total: $9.73 or $1.62/serving

Doin' it again? I don't know that it was so great that I'd go out of my way to do it again, but if I come across a hunk of beef on sale again and am in a cow-eating mood, sure.

Pan-fried Rainbow Trout

I like fish, but we don't often eat it unless it's salmon or tilapia (which I'm completely sick of). I'm one of those people paranoid about cooking fish because it seems too easy to fµck up. Dumb, I know. Cavemen probably cooked fish with a stick over a raging fire and here I am with multiple controlled cooking methods available as well as an array of tools. It should be a cinch, yet I'm afraid of cooking fish.  I need to get over it.

Click the link for the original recipe, which I didn't deviate from except the size of the fish.

Pan-fried Trout

• 1 or 2 whole (2-pound) rainbow trout, cleaned, head can be on or off, gills removed, and scaled if you like skin
• 4 oz butter
• 1 plate of flour
• Salt and pepper to season the flour

Rinse the fish under cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.

Cut a few diagonal slashes along each side of the fish.

Roll fish in flour seasoned with salt and pepper until covered.

Heat the butter in a frying pan until bubbling, and then fry the trout for about 5 minutes on each side until golden brown.

To test for doneness when cooking the trout, insert a fork at the thickest point of the fish. Perfectly cooked fish is nearly opaque, should be very moist, and will flake easily with a fork.

Ease: Extremely simple. Fried some potatoes and steamed beans alongside the fish and dinner was done in about 30 minutes.

Time: Fast, maybe of the fastest things a person can prepare for dinner. We should have this every day!

Taste: Fantastic! At times I am amazed how simple food can be so damn good. Why don't we have this every day?

Cost:

• rainbow trout: $2.99/lb=$12
• salt, pepper, flour and butter: we always have this on hand, so probably used a couple bucks worth

Fish Total: $14
Meal total: $18

Most definitely doing this again.

Roast Chicken Grande y Gordita

Here's the second recipe I tried from Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison's The Border Cookbook. I picked this because it looked relatively easy -- roast a big and fat chicken!

5-lb whole chicken

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tbsp butter

black pepper, fresh ground, to taste

1 small orange, quartered

1/2 medium onion, chunked

1 garlic head, separated into cloves but unpeeled

1 c chicken stock

1/2 c orange juice

1 tbsp fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400°F. Grease rack of a small roasting pan.

Loosen chicken skin, taking care not to tear it. Massage oil into the flesh and inside the cavity. Rub butter over the skin. Salt and pepper generously inside and out.


Fill the cavity with the orange, onion and half of garlic head.

In a small bowl, mix the stock with juices and cinnamon.

Place the chicken on the rack in a roasting pan, breast up, and roast for 15 minutes.

Turn chicken over, add remaining garlic cloves to the pan, and baste the chicken with a little of the stock mixture. Reduce heat to 350°F.


Cook another 15 minutes, then turn bird on it's side and baste again.


Cook another 15 minutes, then turn bird onto it's other side and baste again.


Turn chicken breast-side up and baste with pan juices as well as stock.

Cook until chicken temperature is 165°F.

Remove chicken from oven. Spoon out the orange, onion and garlic from the cavity. Discard orange. Add onion and garlic to roasting pan. Transfer chicken to platter, cover and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Pour roasting pan contents into a blender or food processor and puree.

Strain the sauce, reheat if necessary, and serve with the chicken.


Ease: simple recipe, but what with all that chicken turning, it was a pain in the ass. Maybe if I had a spit this recipe as directed would be conducive. Since I don't, turning the chicken was a simple annoyance. Plus each time I pulled the chicken from the oven to turn it, I was losing oven heat which ultimately prolonged cooking time. The sauce was gross. I made it, tasted it, and skipped it.

Time: it should've take about 1.5 hours, but due to turning repeatedly, cook time dragged on for about 2.5 hours.

Cost:

• chicken: $2.80
• orange: $0.20
• staples: let's say $4

Total: $7

Will there be a next time? Sure as shit, with the exceptions: skip all that flipping during roasting and pass on making the sauce.

Basil Sirloin with Potatoes

Sometimes I get a craving for hunks of cow. Like the cow in this (slightly modified) recipe from Cooking Pleasures:

Basil Sirloin with Potatoes

32 oz. beef sirloin steak top round, cubed (3/4 inch)

4 garlic cloves, minced

1.5 tsp dried basil

1.5 tsp seasoned salt

2 tsp olive oil

1 medium red bell pepper, cut into wedges

2 tsp all-purpose flour

32 oz. new red potatoes, thinly sliced

1 large tomato, coarsely chopped 1 small onion, cut into 1-inch wedges

1 cup lower-sodium chicken broth

Combine steak, garlic, basil and salt in medium bowl.

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Cook steak and bell pepper 3 to 5 minutes or until browned and steak is medium-rare, stirring once or twice. Remove from skillet.

Whisk flour into remaining oil in skillet over medium-high heat.

Add all remaining ingredients. Cover; reduce heat to medium. Cook 8 to 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring once or twice.

Add steak and bell pepper; cook 2 minutes or until hot.

Ease: simple and straight-forward

Time: less than an hour to have dinner on the table in including prep

Taste: while tasty, the meat I used (top round) wasn't quite satifactory. Something more succulent (and more pricy) would be better. We loved some pieces, while others we gnawed at.

Cost:

Unfortunately, I didn't save the receipt. I'd guess this meal cost about $8/4 servings.

Maybe $5 for the meat, $2 for the potatoes, $1 for the pepper , but I can't be sure.

This recipe wasn't horrible, but wasn't great either, primarily due to the meat I selected. The cut of beef definitely plays a crucial part. You're ahead of the game if you spend a little extra to get something better than what I got at Ralph's.

Rodney's gut: completely tolerant of this meal -- no dairy! Rodney even ate the leftovers, though was not pleased with having to gnaw at the meat -- again.