Doesn't TaZte Like Chicken

Location: My tiny kitchen

Among one of the many ways that I have discovered to spoil myself, I consider the following one of the most effortless and convenient ways. After all, it would be rather counter-intuitive if spoiling yourself involves putting yourself through a lot of trouble, right?

After waking up from a good night of sleep on a Sunday morning, and by that I mean not getting out of bed until the clock strikes noon, I helped myself to one, two, or as many as my heart desires, pieces of rich and fudgy brownies. The brownies were baked the day before and they tasted perfect the day after. The brownies had a dense texture and the nearly melted chocolate chunks here and there keep them tasting moist.

After devouring the brownies, I wanted something salty to “wash off” the sweet taste in my mouth. I scanned across the kitchen counter and spotted a bag of kettle chips. So this was my balanced breakfast, ops I mean, lunch: brownies and chips.

I found the recipe to the brownies from Amy’s food blog, Sing for your Supper. Amy called these brownies “guaranteed brownies” and I couldn’t agree with her more. I made only half as many brownies as listed in her recipe. I have also reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe too since after all, I always tell people that I am not into sweets

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of unsalted butter
3/4 cup of sugar
2 large eggs
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa (regular cocoa is fine too)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 tablespoon chocolate extract
1/2 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 cup of dark or milk chocolate chips, preferably in large chunks

Steps:

1. Using a microwave, melt the butter. Put the melted butter and sugar into a quart pan. Using very low heat, slowly let the butter and sugar bring to almost a boil. You will see small bubbles form at the edge of the pan. When this happens, the mixture is ready.

2. In another large bowl, mix the eggs, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder until combined. Slowly, put the butter mixture into the cocoa powder mixture by tempering. This is necessary because there are eggs in the cocoa powder and tempering prevents the eggs from being cooked and turn into scrambled eggs.

To temper: put 2 tablespoons of butter mixture into the bowl and mix thoroughly. Repeat until all the butter mixture has been mixed in. The cocoa powder mixture starts as very thick and thins out once mixed with the butter and sugar.

3. Heat oven to 350 F. Let the batter cool to room temperature while waiting for the oven to heat up.

4. When the oven is ready, gently mix in the flour and chocolate chips until just combined.

5. Line a 8” X 8” brownie pan with parchment paper. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 22 minutes or until the edge is fully set while the centre is slightly under-baked.

6. Let the brownies cooled to room temperature and then cut into squares.

Location: My tiny kitchen

What does this look like to you?

A rack of lamb? No, look again…

Still think it is lamb? It is a rack alright! But it is not lamb. This is a rack of veal. Although I’m such a carnivore, it took me some time to learn to appreciate veal. I have always enjoyed eating lamb chops; after all, food that you can eat with your hands always taste better. The same theory goes for a rack of veal. It is juicy and tender. In my carnivorous opinion, a veal rack tastes just as good as a lamb rack, if not better.

Because veal is a very lean meat, this recipe tosses a small piece of compound butter on the veal and let it melt into the meat right after it is cooked. The butter adds flavour to the veal and keeps it succulent.

This recipe serves two people and you will need:

- 1 rack of veal
- 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
- 1 cup of pistachios with shells removed
- mustard
- tarragon
- thyme

1. Rub salt and pepper all over a rack of veal. Let it refrigerate for 12 hours.

2. To make the compound butter, first let butter come to room temperature. Once butter has soften, add:
- 1 tbsp of tarragon
- 1 tbsp of thyme
- 1/2 tsp of salt

Mix the spice and salt into the butter. Put the butter on a piece of plastic wrap and roll it into a tube. Put the butter back into the fridge and let it harden.

3. Turn the oven on to 350F.

4. In a heated pan add 2 tbsp of oil. Put the veal into the pan with meat side facing down. Cover the pan and cook at medium high heat for 5 minutes or until the meat turns golden brown.

5. Mince the pistachios and mix them with 2 tbsp of mustard.

6. Remove the meat from the pan and place it in a glass dish. Spread the pistachios and mustard mixture on the meat side of the veal. Put the veal in the oven and let it roast for 30 minutes. This will cook the veal to medium well.

7. Let the veal rest at room temperature for 15 minutes before cutting.

8. Once the veal is cut, place a small dollop of compound butter on each chop. Scope some pistachios on each chop as well. Serve while the chops are warm.

Location: My tiny kitchen

I had my first Scotch Egg a few years ago and I have liked it since. Come to think of it, it is nearly impossible for any one not to like a Scotch Egg. Who wouldn’t like a deep fried hard boil egg wrapped in sausage meat? Well, any one but the vegetarians, I would guess

A person who is obsessed about food would spend a lot of time thinking about food. With all the thinking, one day that person might ponder the question: “what is the reverse of a Scotch Egg”? The answer is rather straight forward – it is meat wrapped in egg!

Of course, once an idea is conceived, the next logical step is to put it into practice. The experiment was successful and I have named my test subject, “The Reversed Scotch Egg”.

- 1 cup of minced pork
- 1/2 cup of chopped chives, plus some whole pieces. The chives that I used are very long in length. They are much longer than regular chives. If you cannot find them, used the leave part of a green onion instead.
- 5 eggs

1. Marinate the pork with:
- freshly ground pepper
- 1 tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 tbsp of onion powder
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1 tbsp of Japanese cooking wine

2. Crack eggs into a bowl. Add a pinch of pepper and salt into the eggs. Beat the eggs.

3. Put 1 tbsp of oil in a heated pan. Stir fry the minced meat until it is cooked. Add chives and stir fry for one more minute. Set aside and let cool.

4. In a 6 inches non stick pan, add 1 tsp of oil. Put 2 to 3 tbsp of egg into the pan. Move the pan so that an even coat of egg is formed in the bottom of the pan. The goal is to create a thin piece of egg that is like a piece of crepe. When bubbles start to appear on the egg, gently flip the egg over using a spatula. When the crepe is ready, gently slide it onto a plate. Repeat this step for the remainder egg mixture.

5. Boil a small amount of water in a pot. Put the long chives into the water until they have become soft, which takes about 1 minute.

6. Once the egg crepes and minced pork have been cooled to room temperature, they are ready to be assembled. Put 1 or 2 tbsp of minced pork in the centre of an egg crepe. Gently, gather the edge of the egg crepe towards centre and form it into a purse. Secure the purse by tying a long chive around it.

7. Repeat step 6 for the remaining crepes.