My roommate, Cat, while we were in the kitchen making dinner, listening to my playlist:
"You listen to really wierd music"
*Super Bass then S&M and then Real McCoy and then NYSNC*
"What? It's just my iTunes... Shit, it's on the RiHanna dubstep part of the playlist.."
We quite enjoy ourselves when we're cooking... Or at least I think we do.
No it really was enjoyable haha.
First we had gone down to the communal kitchen and there was like a THOUSAND annoying Freshmen down there making "Brinner" and blowing up balloons for no reason.
There was three burners open but no one can get to them because THERE'S A THOUSAND OF STUPID FRESHMEN TO WADE THROUGH. Jesus.
Anyway, Cat and I trudged back upstairs with all our stuff.
We had originally decided on making our own chinese food, like Orange Chicken and Fried Rice. Gahhh my mouth just watered thinking about how good it turned out.
So an hour later *facepalm* we went down there again.
I had been defrosting my frozen chicken breasts in the sink while the Freshmen were in there.
So I looked up a few different recipes on Orange Chicken and Lemon Chicken and they had some crossovers. I wanted to experiment...
So considering I had never fried anything in my life before, I wanted to make sure that I did it somewhat correctly. The first recipe I found and drooled over was one claiming to be "Better Than Takeout Orange Chicken". Hm. I don't know about that yet. BUT I took most of the recipe of that one for the batter for the chicken and combined it with the BlogChef.net Lemon Chicken recipe. Basically they called for 2 eggs and cornstarch.
Well neither me or Cat or the campus market had cornstarch.
Shit.
Alternative as told by Google? Flour. Double the amount and add a little water.
Worked like a charm.
Basically, while I put rice on cook, chopped up the chicken into inch cubes, poured about 1 cup of veg oil into my fry pan and turned up the heat; had Cat scramble 2 eggs and then add about 1/3 of a cup of flour to the mixture, about 2 tsp of Baking powder and 3 tablespoons water.
In another bowl, 2 cups of flour and 5 tsp of baking powder sifted together decently (or mixed with your hands, I mean like I'd have a sifter in my dorm room)
So both recipes said to double dredge. Which means to take the raw pieces of chicken, dunk in the egg mixture, then drop into the flour and repeat. Then place in the fry pan with heated up oil. It'll spit at you, calm down. This kid that I was sharing the stovetop with was cracking me claiming that my chicken didn't like him because it was spitting at him. So I'd tell my chicken to calm themselves and they did :)
But so Cat and I had a good assembly line, and I'd flip and flip and flip those little pieces until they were beautifully golden brown on both sides. I cut a couple of them in half just to check they got cooked all the way through. And yes ma'am they were! So about 4 or 5 minutes in the oil til they're brown and then take them out and place on a plate covered with paper towels to drain.
We made SO MUCH CHICKEN with just the 2 big breast pieces. We've got at least enough to have dinner tomorrow, which is handy since we're going home for break in like 2 days.
So! the rice was cookin', the chicken is draining, and then it was time for the sauce.
Now I probably would've done this better, had I a better kitchen with fewer stairs to run up and down. But so I immediately decided on Lemon chicken (no orange juice :/ ) and made a super simple sauce with:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chicken broth
around 1/2 cup of flour
5 tablespoons of lemon juice
dash of sea salt and pepper
So I probably would've added 2 tablespoons of vinegar and potentially lemon zest but oh well.
Then so I put the chicken back in my heated pan*** and poured the sauce-to-be over it and turned up the heat to Med-Hot and stirred/folded it all.
I honestly didn't think too much about it til later, I probably should've just cooked the sauce separately and then pour over the chicken/etc but hey it honestly worked and would work either way I think.
And with all the stuff together, the Lemon chicken recipe told me to wait until the mixture thickened and went clear and whatever. It did thicken, and I was worried about overcooking the chicken, but it was still delicious and looked clear enough to me.
Served over our rice and I'm so glad I was craving chinese.
Rice, done. Check.
Chicken cooked and beautiful. Check.
Sauce applied and made the entire first floor smell delicious. Check.
Epic Roommate Dinner night achieved? Check and Check!
And next week is Thanksgiving!! Pictures and posts to come!!
(I'm so excited for Thanksgiving, I'm making my very own Turkey :D )
***Hey, when you're done cooking your chicken, pour the leftover oil you used into either a jar or a metal can so that you aren't cooking with all of that in your sauce. You can leave some of the little bits that are just residual from frying chicken but don't pour it down the drain or into a trashcan where IT CAN MELT PLASTIC. Be smart. Haven't we had this conversation before?
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Hellooo Seattle, I aam a Mountaineerrr...
Owl City makes Emily happy sometimes.
Even though Emily has been sick.
And Emily doesn't like being sick because when she is sick she can't taste anything.
BUT.
She's getting better and she did eat her nummy 20-minute Fridge Extravaganza Pasta Salad tonight! Yay for feeling a little better!!
(Alright getting out of 3rd person, but in my head I'm still speaking in a British accent... BOY I love my roommate XD)
AAAANYWAY-
So a friend of mine invited me over for a potluck this past weekend and I realized that my bank account is basically.... empty.. til Tuesday when I was to get paid so I was in a panic...
'What am I supposed to make to contribute????'
Okay, I wasn't panicking that much but I just couldn't think of anything...
Then it hit me.
PASTA SALAD. HAH! It's SO EASY and I basically have everything for it...
I ran to my tiny dorm fridge and pulled out the jar of mayo, mustard, Mom's homemade pickles, some celery I had picked up off hand, and the jar of malt vinegar that my Mom threw at me saying I needed. I had SO MUCH uncooked pasta, I mean it's kinda silly how much I really have. I also found a can on black olives that I snagged from my house when I was on break last, and also salt and pepper of course.
I gathered up mah cookin stuffs and headed downstairs. I looked at the clock and realized that my friend would be picking me up in like 20 minutes and then got to work.
Borrowed an RAs sauce pan since mine wasn't gonna be big enough to cook enough pasta for everyone and along with my own pan started the water boiling for the 1 and 3/4 boxes of spiral pastas.
Chopped up (or rather minced into tiny bits) about 3/4 cup of black olives, about a cup of Mom's refrigerator pickles and the 4 stalks of celery. You really can put in whatever the hell you want considering some people may not like Any of the stuff I put in there a sec ago... Hell, most people don't like olives or pickles but I didn't care because I LOVE them. But this sort of thing isn't rocket science, but I like the crunch of the celery and the tart pickles, and olives are just sort of a tradition in my family so don't hate.
But so in that mixture (in a giant bowl of course, which I just covered with tin foil when I was done and headed out), I added about a cup and a half of mayo and about 3-4 tablespoons of just plain mustard and then about 5 tablespoons of that malt vinegar. I really don't think it matters what sort of vinegar you use, it's just a nice change from the typically-very-mayonaise-y pasta salads I've had to endure in my lifetime. Just stay away from 'Apple-cider vinegar' because that's Not the right taste. But go ahead and play with it because it gives your salad personality. YOU can give your silly-lil salad personality.
By this point, my water was at a rolling boil (*HANDY TIP FYI!) and then just follow the instructions on the box. Usually you let the pasta cook for about 10 minutes and then strain it. For this recipe I Always rinse my pasta when it's done cooking, with cold cold cold water. Basically to halt the cooking process and also not to heat up the mayo and the other stuff (pasta salad is just not as good when it's warm... Duh)
But so once the pasta's done, rinse and shake and repeat, and then fold it into the mayo/vinegar/concoction and mix mix mix. It's good if you refrigerate it too, because its way better cold.
And BAM. Delicious pasta salad in basically like 20 minutes.
Then I was out the door because my friend pulled up.
Like I said, this recipe is SO easy you can use ANYTHING. The only thing I basically recommend is the vinegar and mayo/mustard ratio. Otherwise you can put in ANYTHING. My mom calls it "Refrigeration Clean-out Pasta Extravaganza" because in the mix of things she'd throw in there'd be things like Texas Pete, hardboiled eggs, celery (which is a must), onions, green onions, garlic, green martini olives with the little red things too, capers, relish (if you don't have pickles its actually handier), leftover corn, jalapenos, kidney beans, garbanzo beans etc....
I mean really. It's one of those magical recipes you don't have to Ever have a recipe for.
Just go make it up and watch people be dazzled by your deliciousness.
But I just finished the leftovers I had of it since the bowl I had made of it for the potluck could've fed around 20 people, I had taken some home and given some to Allison... It's so delicious.
Go have at it! I have faith in your delicious cooking abilities!
*HANDY TIP!* I found a magical thing, online of course, that blew my mind for a second..
When boiling water, place a wooden spoon radially across the top of your pot and it won't boil over if you aren't paying attention! See because my attention span is like that of a squirrel so I find this ultimately comforting :)
Even though Emily has been sick.
And Emily doesn't like being sick because when she is sick she can't taste anything.
BUT.
She's getting better and she did eat her nummy 20-minute Fridge Extravaganza Pasta Salad tonight! Yay for feeling a little better!!
(Alright getting out of 3rd person, but in my head I'm still speaking in a British accent... BOY I love my roommate XD)
AAAANYWAY-
So a friend of mine invited me over for a potluck this past weekend and I realized that my bank account is basically.... empty.. til Tuesday when I was to get paid so I was in a panic...
'What am I supposed to make to contribute????'
Okay, I wasn't panicking that much but I just couldn't think of anything...
Then it hit me.
PASTA SALAD. HAH! It's SO EASY and I basically have everything for it...
I ran to my tiny dorm fridge and pulled out the jar of mayo, mustard, Mom's homemade pickles, some celery I had picked up off hand, and the jar of malt vinegar that my Mom threw at me saying I needed. I had SO MUCH uncooked pasta, I mean it's kinda silly how much I really have. I also found a can on black olives that I snagged from my house when I was on break last, and also salt and pepper of course.
I gathered up mah cookin stuffs and headed downstairs. I looked at the clock and realized that my friend would be picking me up in like 20 minutes and then got to work.
Borrowed an RAs sauce pan since mine wasn't gonna be big enough to cook enough pasta for everyone and along with my own pan started the water boiling for the 1 and 3/4 boxes of spiral pastas.
Chopped up (or rather minced into tiny bits) about 3/4 cup of black olives, about a cup of Mom's refrigerator pickles and the 4 stalks of celery. You really can put in whatever the hell you want considering some people may not like Any of the stuff I put in there a sec ago... Hell, most people don't like olives or pickles but I didn't care because I LOVE them. But this sort of thing isn't rocket science, but I like the crunch of the celery and the tart pickles, and olives are just sort of a tradition in my family so don't hate.
But so in that mixture (in a giant bowl of course, which I just covered with tin foil when I was done and headed out), I added about a cup and a half of mayo and about 3-4 tablespoons of just plain mustard and then about 5 tablespoons of that malt vinegar. I really don't think it matters what sort of vinegar you use, it's just a nice change from the typically-very-mayonaise-y pasta salads I've had to endure in my lifetime. Just stay away from 'Apple-cider vinegar' because that's Not the right taste. But go ahead and play with it because it gives your salad personality. YOU can give your silly-lil salad personality.
By this point, my water was at a rolling boil (*HANDY TIP FYI!) and then just follow the instructions on the box. Usually you let the pasta cook for about 10 minutes and then strain it. For this recipe I Always rinse my pasta when it's done cooking, with cold cold cold water. Basically to halt the cooking process and also not to heat up the mayo and the other stuff (pasta salad is just not as good when it's warm... Duh)
But so once the pasta's done, rinse and shake and repeat, and then fold it into the mayo/vinegar/concoction and mix mix mix. It's good if you refrigerate it too, because its way better cold.
And BAM. Delicious pasta salad in basically like 20 minutes.
Then I was out the door because my friend pulled up.
Like I said, this recipe is SO easy you can use ANYTHING. The only thing I basically recommend is the vinegar and mayo/mustard ratio. Otherwise you can put in ANYTHING. My mom calls it "Refrigeration Clean-out Pasta Extravaganza" because in the mix of things she'd throw in there'd be things like Texas Pete, hardboiled eggs, celery (which is a must), onions, green onions, garlic, green martini olives with the little red things too, capers, relish (if you don't have pickles its actually handier), leftover corn, jalapenos, kidney beans, garbanzo beans etc....
I mean really. It's one of those magical recipes you don't have to Ever have a recipe for.
Just go make it up and watch people be dazzled by your deliciousness.
But I just finished the leftovers I had of it since the bowl I had made of it for the potluck could've fed around 20 people, I had taken some home and given some to Allison... It's so delicious.
Go have at it! I have faith in your delicious cooking abilities!
*HANDY TIP!* I found a magical thing, online of course, that blew my mind for a second..
When boiling water, place a wooden spoon radially across the top of your pot and it won't boil over if you aren't paying attention! See because my attention span is like that of a squirrel so I find this ultimately comforting :)
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