i rarely get to take pics in natural light!
i’ve experimented a lot with guacamole – with tomatoes, red onions, garlic, smooth, chunky, you name it. after much playing i realized the simpler, the better. ๐
City Chick Cooks
"Find something youโre passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it." Julia Child.
semi-charmed kind of life (avocado sincronizada, roast tomato jalapeno soup)
do you remember the first time you tried an avocado? i do.
trying something new with the new layout ๐
last night i tried to make a cooking show for one of my friends back home in NC. she would have loved it ๐ i figured it couldn’t be so tough to talk on camera, since i blab so much on this thing. man, was i wrong. i’d say one thing, start chopping, and then get so into cooking that i forgot to talk. its tough! then some friends came over and that was the end of trying. i’ll try the show again – this time with somewhat of a script!
last night was somewhat of a mexican night – avocado sincronizadas (supp to be a mexican tortilla sandwich, im translating it as a thick quesadilla) and roasted tomato jalapeno soup.
baby when the lights go out (roast chicken breast with lemon pan sauce and veggies)
every single word cannot express
if you know who sings that song, i’ll make you dinner. ๐
anyways – sorry for the lack of posts! i was really sick last week and all i ate was oatmeal and soup. not fun to blog about.
since my tastebuds are destroyed from all the meds, i really havent been craving anything. but sunday was superbowl, which means i ate junk, so i wanted something healthy. i was going to make something cajun in honor of the saints, but 24 was on so i had to make something quick.
i decided to roast a big chicken breast for my friend and i. i was actually very surprised with the results, because ive never gotten the skin this crispy before! it was exciting. and honestly, a bit hard to believe!
i’ll share my tips for success ๐ its super simple but very flavorful. i roasted the chicken atop some veggies and made a quick lemon pan sauce to go over it all. mmm.
someone please hire my friends. (goat cheese and veggie stuffed panko breaded chicken, mashed potatoes, mushroom cream sauce)
promise, those droplets were not on purpose!
a lot of my friends are job hunting, and as a result, i’ve had a lot of them staying at my place lately. my most recent guest is a very needy southern girl who has been talking about “FRIIED CHICKEN AND MASHED TATERRS” for the past few days. to shut her up (i love her, really i do) i made a rendition of fried chicken and mashed taters.
she is currently sitting in my apt and eating up the leftovers… so i’m guessing it was a success! FYI – this is NOT for the dieting or health-conscious. its heavy, but delicious.
i really dont know how to describe the dish. i made chicken stuffed with goat cheese, red peppers and spinach, panko breaded and fried. i also made goat cheese mashed potatoes and a mushroom parm cream sauce to go over it all.
i think i just felt my arteries clog up a little. but, its just the way that KP likes it ๐ she eats butter.
เคเคผเฅเคฎเคพ = kee ma. wegetarian! (keema)
i wanted to make it pretty for you ๐
apologies in advance- this is probably going to be my only post this week because it’s the beginning of restaurant week! ๐ mm. im allowing myself to go to 3 places. if i try something i really like, maybe i’ll attempt to replicate it at home next week!
tonight some friends and i are going to an indian place, in honor of india’s republic day ๐ mera bharat mahaan!
back to the matter at hand – last night i made keema. keema is an indian spicy (typically) meat dish. since my favorite whole foods ran out of ground turkey, i made it vegetarian with soy crumbles. this dish can easily be made with ground turkey, chicken, lamb, beef – whatever you want. its extremely simple and usually served with rice, naan, roti or parathas. i looove the flaky butteryness of malaysian style parathas so i picked up a pack from a friendly indian grocery shop in curry hill. you can make those yourself too, but i didn’t want to spend my evening rolling and twisting and folding dough and oil to make parathas ๐ if you want to give it a shot – here‘s a good recipe. please let me know how it comes out.
recipes + me = DISASTER (chicken madeira)
at least it tasted good
i cannot follow a recipe. i always, always stray and do my own thing. my friend and i adore chicken madeira from the cheesecake factory, and i haven’t had it in years. since there is no cheesecake factory in manhattan, i went to my bff google to find out how to make it on my own. i saw lots of recipes (here, here and here) all containing the same instructions and ingredients. so, i decided to use this famous recipe to try to replicate our favorite dish at home.
it ended up tasting good, it’s just that the texture wasn’t right. at all. the “sauce” was so thin it couldn’t stay on the plate – it didn’t thicken.ย in my defense, i looked at it while it was cooking and thought “i really need some flour in this” but i figured hey, let’s just stick to the recipe. its famous for a reason.
however, it just takes a little bit of flour to fix so the post is still worth reading ๐ plus, misadventures are always fun.
jack bauer is the man. (turkey chili)
24 kept me from going to better lighting for the pic. sorry.
surprisingly, i haven’t ever made chili. yesterday i was in the mood for a bowl of spicy hot turkey chili, so i thought it’d be a good time to try to make some.
i went through countless recipes and reached out to a couple friends (thanks RP and KW!) to see what kind of ratio to use – meat to beer/stock to tomatoes. i ended up using a very dark beer (i’m thinking next time i’ll use a pale ale or even chicken stock), 28 oz can of tomatoes, tomato paste and 1 can of beans.
it came out all right in the end. i’m pretty picky about my chili, and i think what i made last night was too tomatoey. it was because i didn’t let it simmer more than 20 minutes (not bc of lack of spice… trust me). 24 was starting- i had to quickly ladle up the bowls so my dinner guest and i could start watching. ๐ my friend that came by for dinner and 24 thought it was great though, and he would tell me if it wasn’t. so at least i passed his test. next time, ill let it simmer for an hour and it’ll be perfect ๐
i don’t have a recipe, because i honestly don’t know how much of any spice i used. i have to make it again to get it perfect, and when i do, ill be sure to keep track of what i put in and how much ๐ for now, ill show you pics and give you a general outline.
you down with CPP? yeah you know me! (chicken pot pie)
just take a bite... let me shake up your world
i was feeling sick the other day. instead of cracking open a can of soup or ordering in some chinese hot and sour, i decided to stick to my cooking vow and made chicken pot pies ๐ so proud!
this version was easy. because as i said, i wasn’t feeling well. i was NOT going to make pie crust from scratch, or roast a chicken. i was, however, planning on quickly baking off a chicken breast, but whole foods doesn’t seem to sell single chicken breasts. or even 2. they only had 4 packs! so i was tempted by the deli department which had nice rotisserie chickens waiting for me.
while this recipe is not completely homemade, i wouldn’t say this is a meal to make in 30 minutes either. but it sure is delicious ๐
ps. i JUST remembered what i forgot to include. PEAS!
return of the mac (the best mac and cheese)
oh dear friend, how i've missed you...
i haven’t made mac and cheese in over a year! ๐ฆ i used to make it allll the time – it’s one of my favorite foods. last december, i made it for my 2 neighbor friends. we went to the grocery store down the street, and its kind of run down, but it’s the closest store that carried fontina. we bought all the cheeses and the milk and butter and everything from that store. came back, started making the mac and cheese.ย my friend smelled the fontina and said “this doesnt smell good.” and i told him “fontina is a stinky cheese, its supp to stink.” but little did we know, that cheese was, um, not good. 2 of us got wicked bad food poisoning and he swore off mac and cheese forever. i still ate it, but i was afraid to make it for a while. until now ๐ the return of my favorite mac and cheese!!
fugettaboutit! (curried roast cauliflower)
mmm garlic.
ok the title sounds italian, but this is an indian dish. i used this title bc thats what i literally did. forgot about it while it was in the oven. ‘o’
last night i made curried roasted cauliflower. i guess its kind of an americanized indian dish, since most indian food is cooked on a stove. this particularย dish is very simple though, and very flavorful.
in hindi cauliflower is called “gobi”. it’s one of my favorite dishes. however, when my mom makes it, it usually has some tomatoes and potatoes in it. this is the healthier low-carb version ๐ only cauliflower, garlic and spices. roasting it gives it a different flavor, a slight crunch and even caramelizes the florets. mmm.
City Chick Cooks 