Searing of the Sea

New Years Eve is the perfect night for a special (aka expensive) dinner so hence the next recipe. Blackened Tuna Steak. First of all, I LOVE fish but have only tried tuna steak once. I ordered it at a restaurant and realized it was served rare. This freaked me out and I immediately gave it to Symon who LOVED it even though he says he doesn't really like fish (or at least the smell of fish). I was hesitant to make this recipe and have been putting it off for a week. I finally went to AJ's (alone this time without kids) to buy the tuna steaks. $24.99 per lb!!!!!!! Yikes. This was more expensive than the duck. Oh well, hence new years eve. I got 2 steaks, one small and one large and was on my way. This fish is a beautiful red color which makes it just look expensive. I wonder if it is that expensive in Monterey? First I again dried the fish and let it sit to room temperature prior to searing. Don't you think they look pretty?

Next was to make the seasoning to create the "blackened" part of the steak. Talk about LOTS of spices. AB (Alton Brown) talks about how the concept of "blackened" most likely came from the south (Cajun) where someone probably burned something and then started the trend. None the less, I needed a lot of ingredients for this blackened recipe as seen here.

I combined all of the spices into a rub seen here.

Coated the steaks with a little of canola oil and then covered the steaks with the rub.

Ok, time for the cast iron skillet again. At this point I would like to give hail to the cast iron skillet. The BEST pan that I have. I LOVE IT!!!! I have been using it more and more and I think everyone should have one of these. I am sure our grandmother and great grandmothers used them exclusively and so therefore, GET ONE!!!! Ok, back to the cooking. The instructions state to place the pan on high heat until a drop of water jumps but not sizzles. What? Symon and I both could not figure out what the heck that meant so we just let it cook for 1-2 minutes and then put the canola oil in the pan and the placed the steak in the pan for searing!!! Now, if you have had tuna steak before, you know that the outside of the steak is cooked but the middle is cooked rare (warm) but still raw. Of course this makes it a perfect ingredient for searing. First side down in the pan for 2 minutes and then again on the other side. Just to let you know, even though this was an expensive ingredient, I was not afraid or hesitant. This just goes to show if you keep trying, cooking does get more enjoyable and not so stressful. As you can see below, we definitely got the blackened effect but we warned, this is NOT burnt. I tasted it, and it wasn't. And I hate burn stuff so I know.

After cooking on both sides, I removed and let sit for 2 minutes with foil simply because I was afraid of the rare idea. None the less as seen below, it was not rare but well done but not burnt. It looked like a steak (beef) with a grayish pink tinge. I was getting excited to eat.

And here is the finished plate served with green beans and rice. And if you were wondering, I made mac and cheese with veggies for the kiddos. I did give a bite to Reagan who did eat it but then spit it out which I suspect was because of the spiciness of it.

Results: AWESOME but Spicy. Symon loved it and said it was the best thing I have made yet. I was surprised because I made a mean skirt steak the second time if you recall. His words were, "this is awesome. I love the crunch (i am thinking the crust of the fish) and if were rich I would eat this all the time". I will warn you that the blackened crust does have a kick and I had to ditch the glass of wine for water during dinner. Symon proceeded to touch his eye after eating and also can attest to the spiciness.

Things I learned:

1. Blackened does NOT mean burnt taste

2. Tuna is awesome, but expensive

3. Next time I might get up enough guts to make it rare

As a side note, Santa brought me 2 new Alton Brown cook books so many more blogs to come. I also want to say that after having Ryan, I can not eat canned tuna because of the smell but this is nothing like that so for all you can tuna haters out there, give ahi tuna a try. It is very good.

To-Fooey

Bar-B-Fu

ToFu.... Can't say I was excited about this at all. Not to mention the way it would be prepared. BBQ in a sandwich. Can't say it sounded good at all. But, as Symon pointed out, if its in the book then I must do it. At least I knew I could find all the ingredients at one store.

So the first thing was to dry out the tofu by draining it on a paper towel and then putting more paper towels with a cookie sheet over that. Then you put cans on top to put pressure on the tofu. Then leave it for 30 minutes. Basically you are sucking the liquid (water) out of it so it can soak up all the flavors you want. In this case, BBQ sauce. I created a BBQ sauce (by following the directions in the cook book) with "My favorite BBQ sauce", apple cider vinegar, garlic, and serrano chilies. I marinated them for 3 hours and then on to the searing.

For this searing application (I sound like Alton Brown right there) a non-stick pan was used to create the sear on the outside of the tofu "steaks". I use this term very loosely because it does not look AT ALL like a steak nor create the mouthwatering sensation that a REAL steak does. Throughout this entire process, I keep telling my self that this does NOT look good and I don't even want to eat it. But I continued this culinary journey of trying tofu.

After searing the tofu, you place it on a hoagie roll and then take the marinate and add it to the pan with some dark beer to make a sort of sauce. Maybe it is to make it taste it better. Hopefully! Who knows. After you reduce the sauce (which means just thicken up and reduce the amount in the pan), you pour it on the sandwich and top it with coleslaw. And there you go. Bar-B-FU!

Tasting did not go well. It started with giving Reagan some tofu. She immediately did NOT like it. This says a lot because she eats everything. Next up was Symon. He says that it just taste like BBQ sauce and if you don't think about the texture then it is ok. (Note: He ate the whole sandwich) Unfortunately, I can not say the same for me. After talking myself into taking a bite (Ryan was watching so I needed to show him that you have to give food a chance) I instantly felt nauseated. It was purely a texture problem. The flavor was good but I just could not get past the texture of the tofu. I ended up eating 1/2 of the sandwich and all of the chips. (of course)

Things I learned:

1. Tofu must be drained so it can soak up any flavor you want

2. Tofu does NOT belong in a sandwich

3. Not sure I want to eat it again

Symon and I did talk about the fact that some people eat tofu almost every day. If you have a good tofu recipe, please send it to me and maybe, just maybe, I will try again and post the results. Next up... Going to the sea, Tuna Steak style!

Duck is for the Birds!!!!

Duck! Yikes! Way to get right into making things that are scary. I attempted two recipes with this meal. Seared duck breast and Red Flaming Hash! The first task was to find and purchase the duck. Since last time it took 3 stores to find the meat product, I started at AJ's. For you California people, it is similar to a Whole foods. I went (with both kids which was a mistake and another story) straight to the meat counter to ask for help. They directed me to the frozen food section? I found lots of weird duck things including a Truducken but I just was looking for 4 duck beast. (The recipe did not give any other directions on size or what type of duck) I looked for the most simple looking packaging to help. I found them in titled "Mallard Duck Breast". I grabbed two thinking that the kids would not need their own and glanced at the price. $17.99 EACH!! As so as one went back into the freezer, I purchased one duck breast for all of us to share. For goodness sakes, who knows if I would even like it.

At the beginning of this recipe he states that it is a shame that in America we don't eat more duck. That it is an awesome product, yada yada, yada.... I can tell you why we don't. Look at the price. Anyways, on to the cooking.

So the goal was to SEAR the duck breast. I have seen them make a couple of duck breast over the years on TV and so off I went. Duck has a really thick fat layer on one side in which you cut into the fat little slices to (I guess) let the fat go into the meat to flavor it. Symon was excited about that because a big chunk of fat on a piece of steak is his favorite. (SOOOOO gross) I was to sear the fat side first to get a crispy skin and then flip. Feeling more confident because I have already seared steak (twice don't forget), I set up my ingredients and got to work. Heated the pan, placed in the breast skin/fat side down and let it go. Bring on the sizzle and smoke! Turned after 3 minutes as stated and the cook the other side. After the first flip I was so happy with the color and crispy look that the fat side that achieved as you can see in the picture.

Then as the 2nd side finished... it didn't looked finished. It looked raw. The duck breast was definitely defrosted (I've done that before) but I decided to get one of my new favorite tools out to check the temperature. In the past I would just cut it open but I have learned that all the juices just run out which includes all of the flavor. The temperature was not even 100 degrees. Yikes. Now what? Panicking, I call Symon in to look at at. (Not saying he knows more than me, I just didn't know what to do. It was $18 of raw meat) We tried to search the internet for doneness temp or what it should look like but of course our internet was down. I wanted to cook it more but didn't want burnt duck. We decided to cut it open and then take a look. Raw/red in the middle. Not good. Now, duck is a dark meat so at first it just looked like a rare to med/rare steak. But we quickly remembered that this was duck and needed to be cooked through. This pictures is after we butterflied open the duck to find the raw insides. Not good eats! :)

Back to the searing again. After cutting again and 10 more minutes of searing, cutting and searing again... we decided to just eat it!!!! Symon and I both tried it. Symon stated that it tasted like steak and he enjoyed it. He actually ate all his portion. I also thought it was good. It did have a steak quality but I could taste the gamey flavor. The more I ate, it became more like eating dark turkey meat. Overall, I would probably order it in a restaurant to see what it really is suppose to taste like then attempt to make again. Or as Symon stated, "if its in the book then we will make it again". Thanks babe.

The side dish for the duck was Red flaming Hash! It turned out great. Ingredients included beets, onions, garlic, red potatoes and seasoning. I will have to say that both of us enjoyed it. Reagan also loved it. I have never had beets before. (Another ingredient that scared me I guess) I roasted them and they were so sweet.

I do wish that I cut the potatoes up smaller so I could have gotten a better crispy outside on the potatoes. Overall a successful dish as you can see here.

Seared Duck breast over Red Flaming Hash

So far, three recipes in, I have learned a couple of things:

1. Recipes do NOT give enough directions including size of cutting things and of the proteins.

2. Beets are yummy but messy. (Alton Brown suggested pealing the beet under running cold water which worked awesome)

3. Duck is something I need to research a little more before attempting to make again. Especially at $18.00 a pop.

I wondered if there are different types of duck breasts and sizes because the one we cooked was pretty thick compared to ones I've seen on tv being prepared. Send me your experiences with duck breast!!!! See you next time for TOFU!!!!!!

Take Two

So 2nd time is a charm in this case. Dinner was yummy. Things that I changed are as followed:

1. Let meat come to room temperature for 45 minutes instead of only 15 minutes

2. This piece of meat did not have any of the "silver skin" on it. Ok maybe a little but I left it on.

3. I cut the piece in 2 and cooked them both at the same time in the pan. (last time I did it one at a time)

3. I looked up what against the grain and on a bias meant and cut it accordingly

4. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes instead of 5.

Results:

1. A piece of meat with a good crust and no charcoal parts.

2. Steak cooked Medium Well. ( I know it was suppose to be Med. rare but I rather eat Med. Well then rare)

3. A happy eater. Which by the way is the most important thing to me!!!

Time for game night and a cupcake. See you soon for Searing #2 Duck!!! (A little scared)

Where there is smoke there is burnt steak!

I started this journey super excited to eat some good food. All I have to say is that it can't get much worse that this. First Chaper: Searing. Searing is about making that yummy crust on the outside of food that gives it lots of flavor. Myth: (per alton brown) it does not lock in the flavors. So the first ingredient is skirt steak. Yummy fajita meat. First finding skirt steak was difficult. None at Frys or Costco. So attempted Bashes and with luck (and the help of the butcher) I found it. Bought two packages (maybe I already knew) and brought it home. I read the instructions about 5-6 times to make sure I didn't miss anything. Use a cast iron skillet: check. Let meat come to room temperature first: check. Season the meat: check. Turn on the vent above stove: check. At the time, thought this was a werid thing but I must follow all the directions. (Science brain much). Symon and I debated on taking off this weird membrane looking thing on the steak. (From all of the Food network I had watched I vague remembered this "silver skin" on some type of protein and a chef removing it on Iron Chef America.) But we agreed to leave it on because in the book it doesn't not talk about the skin. With nervousness... (stupid I know, its just food right?) Ready to sear!!!!

With tongs in hand, I place the steak (it looked so good) into the cast iron skillet remembering to NOT put oil in the pan in order to create the sear crust! Within seconds, the smoke began. At first it was just in the kitchen but within 3 minutes (each side must cook for 3 minutes without being moved to create the "sear", the whole downstair was smoking. as seen it this picture!

After 3 minutes per side, the meat was removed to rest under a foil tent, as directed. The very ends were burnt but I assumed that would happen to have a med-rare steak in the middle. Per Alton Brown (AB), the only way to eat skirt steak.

Next step was to cut the meat. How to cut, how to cut. My gut was to cut against the grain but not feeling confident which way was the grain anyways. I am begging for a diagram in the book at this point but no luck. AB states to cut on the bias against the grain. So I started and quickly realized that my knives SUCK! After basically sawing thought it, the meat was cooked. Sort of. Definately med-rare. Maybe even rare. Oh well, on to eating.

Symon: "I think it taste good but hard to chew/bite"

Reagan: EAT EAT EAT

Ryan: I don't like steak. (He did eat a bite or attempted to but he said it was too hard to chew)

Janelle: It tastes like charcoal and VERY hard to chew.

Needless to say, application searing #1 did not have a good outcome. I will be attempted again tonight. I will be removing the silver skin this time and maybe cooking it less time. Lets hope for the best!

PS: Woke up this morning and opened my bedroom to a smoky smell, STILL! Tonight I will be cooking with multiple fans on!

The Beginning

So I decided to write this blog to keep me busy. Staying at home with two kiddos can make you go crazy some times. Don't get me wrong, I love staying home and playing Cootie a million times as well as making my fair share of Macaroni and Cheese but I needed something to stimulate my brain. Since I stopped working full time about 4 years ago I have discovered TV. Ok, so I have watched TV before but now, daytime TV. Before I had Ryan, I watched Food Network a lot. I didn't make a lot of the recipes but for some reason just keep tuning in. My favorite by far was Alton Brown. He is very wacky but what I guess attracted me to him was the science behind it. My science loving brain, (yes I know that sounds super nerdy) enjoyed learning about how to cook.

Four years ago, I would really just eat/cook the same things over and over but by watching the Food Network, and mostly Good Eats, I got up the courage to try other things. Onions for example. If a recipe EVER called for onions I would leave it out. That goes for so many other ingredients. Long story short and two kiddos later I realized that I did NOT want a kiddo that just ate macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly. I needed to feed my kids a variety of foods, or at least expose them to it, so as adults they could make good choices about them. I started to love to cook and cook healthy as well. I found some blogs about feeding and making healthy choices for children and I was hooked.

I thought about going to culinary school to "learn" how to cook but Symon shot that down right away. Nothing against you, babe. I know it is unreasonable :) But I really wanted to learn how to cook, not just follow a recipe. That seemed too easy. I want to be able to know the basics and then apply it to whatever I have in the house. I knew the best way for me to go about this was reading Alton Brown's first book, "I'm just here for the food". A fitting title for me because I didn't want to go to culinary school to work in a restaurant, I just want to cook awesome food for my family. And so this blog was created. I decided to work though his book and attempt to make every recipe wether it was scary or not. (Duck Breasts later to come) For nothing else then to document it and maybe entertain myself during nap time instead of watching more food network. (Still watch it a bunch. It's one of the only channels that I can watch that is not cartoons that my kids won't be exposed to crazy stuff) So enjoy.

BTW: If you could think of another good name for this blog that would be great. I may be a science brain but obviously am not creative. :)