Traveling for Cheap

One thing that I love is traveling.  There's nothing quite like slipping away from the dull routine of life and experiencing something new and exciting.  Unfortunately, traveling also costs money.  Sometimes lots of money; so much that you can't visit someplace you really love for many years at a time.  One thing people often fail to realize is that it's easy to travel on the cheap right from your own kitchen.  Many times the memories we build while traveling revolve around the food we enjoy at that far off destination, and it can be an insatiable craving when you're reminiscing about a wonderful trip you once had.  That luxurious pasta you had in Europe, the rich curry you tried at that Indian restaurant in Japan, or simply the chicken paprikash you had at the local Hungarian restaurant; all of these can be created right in your own home, and after a little experimenting you can get surprisingly close to developing those exact flavors.

I often draw inspiration from dishes I've had elsewhere that I can't get at home.  It's a fun way to strengthen your chops in the kitchen and test your palate and memory.  So what are some tips for imitating a recipe when you're starting from scratch?  First I like to make a list of ingredients that I know are essential and positively part of the recipe, which can sometimes be astonishingly simple.  The same goes for processes, such as making fresh pasta or rolling meatballs.  If I'm really stumped at nailing down some elusive flavor I will sometimes scour the internet or cookbooks for help. Make sure you are prepared so that the process runs smoothly.  After reviewing the ingredients and processes I will develop a mental plan of execution, and set up my mise en place.  Finally, it's critically important when developing any recipe to TASTE your food throughout the cooking process.  You're working on developing a distinct flavor from your memory and from scratch.  Making adjustments is naturally part of the process.  The real work comes once you sit down to enjoy your creation.  If successful, you will be surprised at how wonderful the achievement feels as you are transported to your favorite getaway.  If it didn't come out just right, enjoy what you've made and learn from it.  Perhaps you missed an ingredient, overcooked a component, or maybe you just need a little more practice rolling out pasta dough.  Don't become discouraged, you can always try again. (Remember what I said about family members as guinea pigs???)  Either way you can be proud of your final product while enjoying how short and cheap the trip back to that tiny Italian restaurant on a sunny afternoon in Germany really was.  All for the price of dinner afterall...

Find Something That Inspires You!

Sometimes I find it fun to go to the grocery store and walk through the produce section until I find something that inspires me.  A few months ago my interest was piqued by something that looked rather interesting; a minneola.

Inspiring?

A minneola, as I later found out, is the cross between a tangerine and grapefruit, and produces a wonderful juice that doesn’t quite have the bite of orange juice but still maintains that wonderful citrusy flavor.  Somehow the idea came to mind that I would try and make a fresher and not so deep-fried version of that *citrus of choice* chicken you get at your favorite fast-food Chinese restaurant.  Paired together with some sautéed green beans and homemade fried rice (using the other night’s leftovers) it would hopefully turn out to be deliciously simple, and much fresher than that stuff you get at the mall.  Since then I have refined the recipe a bit to make it work using only one pan (two if you choose to do fried rice) while making a fresh homemade version of one of everybody’s favorites.

MINNEOLA GLAZED CHICKEN LEG QUARTERS WITH SAUTEED GREEN BEANS & FRIED RICE

Our hardware today is quite simple.

1. Medium frying pan which is oven safe (cast iron!)

2. Citrus Reamer to juice our fruit

3. Ginger grater (microplane will work well too)

And the lineup:

CHICKEN

Juice of 1 Minneola

1 Cup Chicken Stock (preferably homemade)

2 Tablespoons Sesame Seeds

2 Tablespoons Honey

1 Inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce, additional to taste

2 Tablespoons butter

4 Chicken Leg Quarters

1 Clove Garlic, finely minced

BEANS

1 lb. or so of fresh green beans, stems removed

1 Tablespoon peanut oil

Zest of 1 Minneola

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

Slivered almonds to garnish

So before we get to the down and dirty, I feel I owe you a few explanations into where my train of thought was going when I was coming up with this.  First of all, why chicken leg quarters?  If you’ve ever eaten that glazed chicken at your local establishment you’ll quickly realize there is no white meat to be found.  While they probably do this to save money (which is certainly a great reason to do something) I also prefer the moist and meaty texture you get from the dark thigh and leg meat.  Secondly, why specify homemade chicken stock?  As I will undoubtedly cover sometime in the future, I like to save money by buying whole chickens and breaking them down myself.   After that process is completed you’ve got a wonderful pile of leftovers that would be a shame to waste.  Why spend $4-5 for a quart of chicken stock at the store when I can make a gallon with these leftovers, some water, and some veggies.  Way cheaper, much tastier, and you know exactly what’s going into your food.  I digress, homemade chicken stock is cheaper, has a more developed flavor, and can be packaged into any size container you want for convenient future use.  What else could you ask for?

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.  Toss the chicken leg quarters into the cast iron skillet, skin facing up, and sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.  Bake for 30-45 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165 degrees.   Remove from oven, and remove chicken to rest on side plate.  Remove liquid and grease that has rendered from chicken.

Packed House

2. Now to the stove top.  Heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil and 1 tablespoon soy sauce on medium high; sauté green beans until fork tender, about 5-8 minutes.  I like them to maintain a little bit of the fresh crispness for texture.

3.  At the last moment, toss green beans with almonds and minneola zest.  Remove to serving plate.

Multitasking!

4.  Melt butter in same frying pan over medium high heat, and return chicken quarters to pan, skin side down, until skin is golden brown and crispy.  Remove to clean plate.

5.  Quickly sauté minced garlic in remaining butter for 1 to 2 minutes, then add chicken stock, honey, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame seeds to pan over high heat.  Reduce until thick and caramelized.  Return chicken to pan quickly and toss until thoroughly coated to glaze.

Don't forget to stir!

Finally, to round out the meal, I made a simple fried rice using a 50/50 mix of brown and white rice I had left over from a dinner earlier in the week.  Using leftover rice or simply cooled down rice is a necessity when making fried rice, because for some reason once the grains cool down they separate much easier and get that lovely texture that is fried rice.  I wish I could supply you with quantities on this one… but this one really works best catered to your personal taste.  That’s one of the fun things about fried rice, you can take it in several directions, and make it with your personal favorites.  Here’s my simple ingredient list:

1 tbsp peanut oil

2 whole fresh scallions, thinly sliced

Leftover rice

1 egg

Fresh bean sprouts

Soy sauce

1.  Start off by getting your oil nice and hot in a large frying pan, or wok if you have one.  Just before it starts smoking add the rice and fry for 1-2 minutes.

2.  Make a well in the middle of the rice and place the contents of one egg inside, scramble with a fork and cook through.  Then mix together with the rest of the rice.

Well... a deep subject

3.  Add vegetables and then soy sauce to taste, as least a couple tablespoons.  It really depends on how much rice you are using.  Fry until heated through and vegetables have slightly softened.

Now doesn’t that look delicious?  Granted, it may not be as quick as stopping by your local establishment, but this dish is simple and tasty.  By baking the chicken first we make sure it reaches a safe temperature, and then get that extra crispy skin everybody loves by browning it quickly in the butter.  Once the glaze begins to reduce down the sugar in the honey and minneola caramelizes and creates a wonderfully rich and flavorful compliment to the crispy skinned chicken.  By including the zest of the citrus with the green beans a common thread is pulled throughout the plate.  Together with the fried rice you now have a dinner that rivals any fast-food you could find, and will certainly have your loved ones or guests asking for more!

The hope here at Hands On Cuisine is to have big updates at least weekly.  Follow me on twitter @HandsOnCuisine, and give it a like on Facebook, facebook.com/HandsOnCuisine
Look for more updates soon!

A BIG Thank You!

Well, if you're one of the 40 SPAMbots that have floated past here since this little place was started up, you'll certainly notice our spiffy new logo!  Yes indeed, a real logo, and an awesome one at that!  As thanks I want to throw a shout out to Irene Gust and Blake Martin for the design and creativity, which I greatly lack.  Consequently, they also designed our wedding invites and did a smash up job, and run a business designing them on etsy.  If you like what you see, or want to see more, take a quick click and check them out here!!  You won't be disappointed.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/SparkVites

Fish Fry Recipes

As promised, here are the condensed recipes for the previous post:

FRENCH FRIES

Ingredients:

Potatoes (However many you think you can eat!)

Oil (Peanut, Corn, Canola, Lard) Enough to cover fries (1-2 inches deep)

Course Salt

1.  The night before, scrub, peel, and slice your potatoes into french fries.  Place in medium bowl filled with water overnight.

2.  Strain out potatoes, and thoroughly dry with paper towels.

3.  Using a heavy-bottomed skillet and frying thermometer slowly bring the temperature of the oil up to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. In small batches, place fries into heated oil, being careful to maintain proper temperature.  Fry potatoes for roughly 5-8 minutes until light brown in color.  Gently shake off excess oil and set aside to cool for 45 minutes to one hour.

5.  After potatoes have rested, bring temperature of oil up to 375 degrees.  Again in small batches, fry the potatoes for a second time until golden brown and crispy.  Gently shake off excess oil, and place in a mixing bowl with a few large pinches of salt.  Toss and serve immediately.

BEER BATTERED COD

2-3 pounds fresh Atlantic cod

1 12 oz. bottle of your favorite beer

2.5 Cups All-Purpose flour

Generous sprinkle of Garlic powder

Salt & Pepper to taste

1.  Thoroughly rinse and dry each filet, then cut into smaller diamond shaped pieces.

2.  Begin heating cooking oil while setting up the frying station.  Place 1 cup of flour and put it in a bowl.  In another medium mixing bowl, pour in the bottle of beer, and sift the remaining flour (1.5 cups) and garlic powder into the beer while whisking until evenly combined while being careful to not over-mix.  Taste batter and season with salt and pepper to taste

3.  Once oil has reached 375 degrees you can begin frying.  First drop each piece of fish into the batter, then dredge through the flour to coat, then gently place into hot oil.  Work in small batches depending on the size of your frying pan.

4.  Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until golden brown and delicious, while gently moving around to keep from sticking together.

5.  Remove to a cooling rack for about a minute to relax and release any extra oil.  Serve with a lemon wedge and tartar sauce.

AND COMING SOON: A deliciously crispy Minneola & Ginger Glazed Chicken.  You won't want to miss this one!

 

A Good ol' Fashioned Fish Fry

With Good Friday having recently come around, I wanted to host a good ol’ fashioned homemade fish fry.  As is customary around here I often utilize my guests (read: family members) as guinea pigs.  What good is trying something new if you can’t get some honest feedback on it?  And if anybody will be honest with you, it will be your family.  So today we will take a look at a delicious fish dish anyone can pull off with the right equipment and a bit of knowledge, all the while knowing exactly what is going into your food and having a great time preparing it.

In order to successfully pull off some fresh fish n’ chips there is some essential hardware you will need:

1.  Heavy Bottom cast iron skillet – Deep fryers?  We don’t need no stinkin’ deep fryers.  But really, why waste your money and precious storage space on a uni-tasking electric deep fryer when you can own wonderful multi-tasking cast-iron.  But this isn’t hardware review.  

                                

2.  Frying Thermometer – The key to crispy fried food.  Having your oil at the proper temperature is what gives you that wonderful crunch we are all seeking.  Oily, soggy food is nasty, and best friend to incorrect temperatures.

3.  Wire Spider – Simply the best way to remove your hot food from the oil and shake off any excess.

4.  2 Medium Mixing Bowls – to make our battering station.

5.  A wire cooling rack, with newspaper underneath – This will give our fish a few moments to cool down and for the excess oil to drip off.  This is really important, because if you remove directly to a plate you will end up with a soggy mess.

And here’s our software:

Batter:

1.  One bottle of your favorite beer.  I used a locally produced favorite.

2.  2.5 Cups All-Purpose flour

3.  Generous sprinkle of Garlic powder

4.  Salt & Pepper to taste

Fish: This volume of batter was good for about 2.5 lbs of fish.  We picked just basic cod from the grocery store.

Potatoes:  We fried up nearly a 10 pound bag of Idaho potatoes which were scrubbed, peeled, cut into fries, and soaked in cold water overnight to pull out some of the starch.

The frying fat:  Lard.  More on this later

The key to pulling off this traditional fish-n-chips is time management and an organized mise en place, a.k.a. your set-up.  Since fried food is the best as soon as it comes out of the oil, you want to be able to serve it up as you pull it out.  By making sure everything is set up and ready to go before you start you can deliver fresh, hot, and delicious fried food, therefore I will cover this in a series of simple easy to follow steps.  But first, a word about fat…

When frying foods you have as many choices for frying medium as flavors of yogurt in the dairy case (wow there are a lot.)  Anything with a high smoke point will do fine; in the past I have fried with corn, canola, and peanut oils, all of which stand up to the temperatures just fine.  For this fish fry, I wanted to try something different, something that would be delicious, natural, and was at one time considered the king of frying.  Yeah, you guessed it, 100% pure, unadulterated and deeelicious pork lard.  Yes, it was awkward at the checkout register.  Yes, I felt fatter than I already am.  Yes, it was delicious.  But, the smell was heavenly, with my father-in-law asking what smelled so amazing upon just walking in the door.  And I had only begun to melt down the lard.  But to the health point, research has shown lard to be much healthier than people expected, and it’s all natural, which scores mega points in my book.  Check out this awesome Food & Wine article by Pete Wells, it’s worth the read.

http://www.foodandwine.com/articles/lard-the-new-health-food

A Preface about French Fries!

Many people around the interweb will try and tell you that you only need to fry your french fries once and once only.  My opinion about those people?  They are lazy twits.  Double frying your french fries is an essential step, especially when preparing a fried dinner such as this for many reasons.  First, let me explain the process, then give you reason behind it.

FRENCH FRIES

1.  Using your heavy-bottomed skillet and frying thermometer slowly bring the temperature of the oil (lard!) up to a balmy 325 degrees Fahrenheit. You’ll need enough oil to completely cover the fries, so roughly at least 1.5 -2 inches deep.

2.  While your oil is heating drain your sliced potatoes, which have been soaking overnight in the refrigerator, and thoroughly dry them with a paper towel.  As we all learned in second grade, oil and water definitely do not mix.  Especially hot oil.

3.  Once your oil has reached proper temperature, and using your spider, in small batches, slowly lower the raw potatoes into the oil, which will start violently bubbling and will then calm down once the residual water is gone.  Water does not die quietly.

CRITICAL TIP!

These are fried in small batches because as soon as the potatoes hit the oil, you will notice a drastic drop in the temperature of the oil.  Try your hardest to maintain the proper temperature throughout the frying process.  You will have more control on a gas stove than electric, so it pays to be well acquainted with your heating implement so you can effectively maintain control.  Make sure you let your oil get back up to the proper temperature in-between batches.

4.  Fry the potatoes for about 5-8 minutes, until they are just starting to turn a light brown color.  Then remove them from the oil, let some of the residual fat drip back into the pan, and set aside to cool. 

5.  Repeat process until all potatoes have been cooked.

6.  After fries have been given ample time to calm down (about 45 minutes to an hour) you can crank up the heat to 375 degrees.  Your now precooked potatoes will be soft and soggy, just like we want them to be.

7.  Again working in small batches, fry potatoes for another 2-3 minutes, working to maintain oil temperature, until the fries are golden brown and yummy. I mean crispy.  Remove from the oil and drop them into a metal mixing bowl with some coarse salt in the bottom.  Toss to cover and serve!

So why did we go through the trouble of double frying our french fries?  Frying the potatoes the first time at lower temperature cooks the potatoes through without giving them the crispy exterior that makes fries so amazing.  By then letting them cool down and re-frying at higher temperature we:

1.  Give a fresh crispy exterior and fluffy, potatoey interior. (Is that a word?)

2.  Decrease final cooking time.  If we were to fry them all one time, each batch would take 7-9 minutes to complete, making nearly impossible to get all the components of your fried dish done at the same time.  Time from kitchen to table really counts here!

3.  Warding off the hordes of hungry guests while frying fresh french fries practically requires a broad sword.  Keep them happy by turning out your final product quickly!

So now that we have covered our french fries, we can move onto our fish.

BEER BATTER FRIED FISH

1.  Thoroughly rinse and dry each filet.  Cut into smaller diamond shaped pieces.  This makes it easier to batter and quicker to fry.

2.  Set up the frying station.  Take about 1 cup of flour and put it in a bowl.  In another medium mixing bowl, pour in the bottle of beer, and sift the remaining flour (1.5 cups) and garlic powder into the beer while whisking until evenly combined without over-mixing.  Over mixing will make the batter gummy, and nobody wants chewy fried fish.  Taste batter and season with salt and pepper to perfection.

3.  Once oil has reached 375 degrees you can begin frying.  First drop each piece of fish into the batter, then dredge through the flour to coat.  Finally, gently place into hot lard.  Fry for about 2-3 minutes, flip, and repeat until golden brown and yummy.   Work in small batches of 3-5 pieces of fish, depending on the size of your frying pan, and remember to manage your temperature as mentioned before!  Move them around a bit so that they don’t stick together.

4.  Remove to a cooling rack for about a minute to relax and release any extra oil.  Serve with a lemon wedge and tartar sauce (that’s an entry for another day.)

Following these procedures I was able to alternate between a batch of fish and a batch of fries, keeping the guests smiling, and I was even able to leave my sword in the closet!  We weren’t even able to get a photo of everything plated up; people were too busy stuffing their faces!  The fries were soft and tender on the inside, crisp and golden on the outside, and after a splash of malt vinegar had a flavor and freshness rivaling a gourmet restaurant.  The fish had a wonderful crunch on the outside, but was fluffy and light due to the carbonation in the beer, and the flaky white cod was moist and flavorful.   Served alongside my Mom’s homemade Macaroni & Cheese and some homemade tartar sauce and a quick spritz of lemon this became a real home run with the crowd.

And there we have it!  The first real entry of what hopes to be an outstanding collection here at Hands-On Cuisine.  The wonderful thing about this dinner was how simple and fun it was to throw together.  As for lard as a valuable tool in the kitchen?   The jury is back, and they loved it.  I do not frequently fry food at home, so when I do I want to go all out. (There’s a Dos Equis joke in there somewhere.)  Even though the lard cost almost as much as a big jug of canola oil it really brought a flavor to the food that veggie oil lacks.

Some housekeeping:  I hope to make a condensed version of both of these recipes available so that if you choose to try them yourself you can have a simpler edition to print off to have with you.  Also, follow me on Twitter @HandsOnCuisine, or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HandsOnCuisine to get all most recent updates and spread the good word!  And as always, any input is greatly appreciated!!