Salmon on Saturday

Saturday afternoon and I'm at the grocery store. I can't decide what to cook.  In my arms I have ingredients for homemade pizza crust, I'm looking at a full chicken I want to roast, and the salmon steaks are on sale.  I believe I mentioned that we are on a budget, so I give up on two out of the three and go with the salmon.  What I don't realize is that the salmon that I'm contemplating not only has the skin on (I do,in fact, realize that) but it is still full of bones and not fully prepared.  We've covered my aversion to raw meat, and salmon is no exception. Nonetheless, I dutifully cut off the skin, and removed every bone I could find with my hands.  I did not enjoy it, but breaking the barriers of the ook-factor make me happy. Then I proceeded to create poached salmon with a TRUE Bearnaise sauce (which worked out better than the last, but not Le Cordon Bleu good).  Also, I didn't know that whisking could count as cardio, but going solely based on the sweat I broke, here's hoping I worked off even an ounce of the butter I ate this week.

I made the sauce out of white wine, vinegar, vermouth, tarragon, and green onion, simmered and reduced, then blended with egg yolk, and boiled butter, and whisked until frothy.  I simmered leeks and carrots in chicken stock and mushrooms and tomatoes in butter.  Added rice to the leek/carrot mixture.   The salmon was the best part, I wish I'd done potatoes again instead of the rice concoction. I do have a picture but its on my blackberry (camera is still out of batteries) and my blackberry is in the bedroom with my still sleeping husband.   

After five days of working and cooking, you may not hear from me for a couple days or so.  I am craving cinnamon buns, so I will post the triumphs and fails of my first real attempt, if there happens to be one, but otherwise its grilled cheese and tomato soup for a couple days.  Next week's challenge - gourmet on a budget, using ingredients out of the fridge and freezer, supplemented only with fresh produce and spices.  I think I spent about 3 weeks worth of grocery money this week. 

A Change of Plans

So here I am.  Its Friday night.  We were planning to go out tonight to pick up a hot jacket for my charming husband, my thought was if we're going downtown, why not get some sushi? Vancouver has fabulous sushi, and we don't enjoy it often enough.  But, me being me, the plans have changed.  I made a deal with my charming husband.  He is in charge of renting 3 movies, and I am in charge of dinner.

Dinner.

I am attempting sirloin in "shoot me I didn't have any tarragon" bearnaise sauce with brown mushrooms, green beans, and boiled new potatoes.  If it works out, he will be a happy camper.  I've already opened the wine.  I'm not sure if that's a sign or not.  More on the outcome after a second (read: fourth) glass.

***

Ok, too many glasses later and the supposed bearnaise sauce has adapted into what can only be called a bastardized bechamel with the addition of white wine, and cream cheese.  Don't even start with me on the calories - it was this or McDonald's, at least this will look fabulous (I hope). On that note, I've realized that the key to successful cooking is butter.  Everything turns out beautifully with real butter, except my ass.  But who's talking about that? Let us discuss this instead.  My charming husband is still at the movie store and all the food is ready.  I called him and he is almost finished up, so my task is to keep the steaks from overcooking, the mushrooms from going cold, the sauce from separating, and myself from eating all the bread. So far only one of the above is successfully happening, and I can tell you it ain't the bread.  My biggest problem whilst cooking is timing, I blame it on the size of my kitchen, but really I think its due to lack of organization, or the order of the battle, as it were. 

No picture tonight as the camera is out of batteries and we're starving.  

**EDIT** Whoo Blackberry picture saves the day, though it doesn't do the buttery goodness justice.

Discovery Channel & Pate Brisee

There is something incredibly relaxing about entering the kitchen around 8:30 at night to the sound of my husband watching a PBS Frontline documentary, or a Discovery show about the history of the Mayan 2012 revelation.  Our kitchen is semi-open into our living room, with the perturbing quality of being out of the direct line of the television sight, however I can still listen to whatever is on the nightly rotation.

Tonight I decided that it was high time for me to learn pastry.  I began with pate brisee, known to us french language mutilators as pie crust.  I have grandiose ideas of using the leftovers from tonight's bruschetta and turning out a delightful tomato-mushroom quiche to take to work in the morning.  Another part of me wants to make mango tarts.  The fact that I triumphed over the unequivocally terrifying undertaking that is pastry is success in itself, but I can't help desiring a small bit of recognition when I walk into work bearing breakfast for all tomorrow morning.  Prepare for the tantrum if my pie-in-the-sky plans fall through.

DIY Disaster

So I just tried to make pesto.  I bought fresh basil, olive oil, and...sunflower seeds? (Ok, the pine nuts were really expensive and we are on a budget).  Perhaps the seeds were a bad choice, or perhaps my blender just can't hack it anymore, needless to say it did not turn out.  I managed to chip one of my best knives by trying to stuff down the basil leaves that weren't catching the blades of the blender, while it was blending.  Before you say anything, I realized it was not a good decision when one of the blender blades caught the knife and whipped my hand back.  No fingers were harmed though I can't vouch for the blender or knife, I think the blender won this round.  Anyhow, visions of metal knife chips in the batch of unprocessed pesto caused me to throw the whole batch down the loo,  and reassure my husband that no one is suffering the effects of a nuclear attack, its just pesto.

So. Dinner.  Tonight will be spicy pancetta bruschetta.  I will update with picture if everything turns out.  

Day Two: Crock Pot Copout

It is 8:45 in the morning and I have already sauteed onions and grated garlic.  Also, I have had a VERY large victory, for me.  I took the skin off chicken thighs.  That's correct, skin = off.  Anyone who knows me knows that I DO NOT touch raw meat.  I use a fork and knife if I'm slicing, dicing, spicing or removing from the package.  I use tongs when transferring from chopping board to cooking surface.  I whine piteously until my charming husband reaches in to remove "the treat bag" from the turkey and dispose of it.  Looking at the chicken thighs I had purchased for my attempt at Chicken Cacciatore at the time blissfully unaware that the recipe called for no skin, I realized tongs would not help me here.  Having embarked on this new vision for my accent into le bon vivant, I ponied up, and plunged my fingers into the mess of unfortunate poultry.  It was sort of like peeling wallpaper. Wallpaper that somebody had vomited on.  Thankfully when cooking for two, you don't need a lot of meat.  Four pieces later I had ascended to my next zen level.  Success!  The chicken is skinned, hands are washed, and cacciatore is simmering away in the crock pot.  

I used this recipe adding only a little bit of burgundy cooking wine and some grated garlic - two little changes is a record in my house!  Tonight I will update this post with results and a picture.  I can't wait to walk in the door and smell the simmering spices (or pleasantly greet the firemen as they clear out my charred house). I can go to work knowing that I only need to worry about the complimentary pasta when I get home. 

Crap.  Dessert.

I promised something espresso related.  Time to go Google some delicacy, preferably involving copious amounts of whipped cream.  

**EDIT**

Cacciatore turned out well, husband is devouring as we speak.  I think I used too much thyme, and the sauce didn't thicken enough for my liking, but a little cornstarch and water and we're back in business.  It was a good first attempt.  Salad is romaine, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and some lemon juice (I may have cheated and added a tiny bit of eating right dressing - one table spoon max).  Chocolate espresso cake is in the oven.  If it turns out, I will link to the recipe.

Never Start with Fish

I'm off to an interesting start. The kitchen is full of unwashed dishes and I woke up feeling like Paris Hilton's private jet used me as a runway. Still, I couldn't bear to push back day one, so I carried on. I slugged through work, thinking about what may or may not be for dinner when I finally made it home.

I went to the library and checked out a Rachael Ray cookbook with 365 recipes, and easy recipes from Le Cordon Bleu. I selected a fish dish and walked to the grocery store. Then I proceeded to not buy anything the recipe called for, and bought a bunch of stuff I wanted to experiment with but have no idea how to use. Its as though I'm a compulsive liar, except that I change recipes instead of telling lies. I wonder if I'll follow even one to the letter in the next 30 days.

The result of tonight's experiment was sub-optimal. Alaskan Pollock in ginger-honey-soy glaze. Portobello mushrooms in a garlic red wine sauce, and white rice. Random items which did not compliment each other and tasted more like a sad TV dinner. I really think Rachael Ray's "Sole and Aspargus" would have been a far better option. Serves me right. Also, it doesn't help that the photo seems to have a perma-yellow sheen and looks like dinner cooked in a trailer in 1975. Yuck. Sorry about the craptastic picture, I'm still learning this camera's quirks. I will improve, promise.

Bailed on making dessert tonight. Tomorrow - espresso cake of some kind.

Beginnings

Tonight I gave up Facebook for 30 days, and 5 minutes later this blog was born. A little history: I am 26 years old, and semi-newly married. I am Canadian and I am learning to cook. I live on the west coast, and find living a balanced lifestyle very challenging, with 24 hour a day access to easy fast food, and an existance that is constantly passing me by at the speed of light. One of my favourite things to do is enjoy a meal. With my husband, with family & friends, or just solo. My title this past year has become "the adventurous cook". This is the gentle way of saying that I can't follow a recipe to save my life, and everyime I even look one up I change the ingredients before I even begin. I am completely accident prone, and live in a small apartment with a tiny kitchen and no dishwasher. This is my beginning.

My goal here is to learn to cook, properly. Not just to make delicious (read: edible) dishes, but to figure out what "folding" means, what a pine nut is, and to learn to use my shiny electric mixer. In true Canuck fashion, I've decided to start with Jean Pare's Company's Coming franchise, the first cookbook I came to know and love, and to date one of Canada's top selling series'. I've chosen "The Rookie Cook" as it seems appropriate. Over the next 30 days, I plan to eat out as little as possible, and cook as much as I can stand. What follows are my culinary exploits, uncensored, as I learn to become "The Reluctant Gourmet".


**EDIT**
After reading through some of the entree recipes in The Rookie Cook, I have decided to choose a different cookbook (note to self: reading through cookbook prior to blog post would be helpful). So tomorrow I will annouce which cook book I've selected. I am not going to start Rookie, I'm going straight to Pro.