Shrimp Egg rolls!

A few weeks ago Aaron and I decided to make egg rolls. Technically, we have done egg rolls on the blog before, but those were chicken and pepper egg rolls.

This time we made more traditional shrimp egg rolls with cabbage and carrots. I was actually more of a fan of these.

Egg rolls require lots of chopping.

We had cabbage leftover from when I made coleslaw. An Asian variety might have been more authentic, but plain cabbage had a nice crunch. I added carrots and onion. I kind of just eye-balled the measurements.

Next Aaron whipped up a sauce for the filling:

We added shallots and ginger for some extra flava! Watch them cook!

Yum! Now add your other chopped veggies.

And of course your shrimp. We buy the pre-shelled frozen kind when they are on sale. BOGO!

Some purple cabbage or water chestnuts would probably be good too.

Finally, you get to wrap them up like tiny Chinese burritos.

Ha! It kind of looks like my cat apron has a mustache.

Aren’t they cute?!?

Then they go into the frying pan. You could do them in the oven if you wanted to be more healthy. We were going for more delicious.

And there you have it. Shrimp classic egg rolls. Serve with duck sauce and enjoy!

Holy Guacamole!

Here we go.. a long awaited update… by… all 3 of our regular blog readers….

So, what wonderful thing did we make in our kitchen to put on the blog? What delicacy that can’t be found in stores and restaurants did we come up with?

Guacamole!

What? You can buy that in the store? and … uh huh… yeah.. you say that in certain restaurants they serve it by the bucket…. greeeeeaaaat.

In any case… we made guacamole. Guac for short. Or mole. Either way is fine. Just don’t call it green goop.

Step 1. Set up your studio strobes and umbrellas…. then grab your lovely assistant….

You then want to grab 4 Avocados. Cut them in half, get rid of the pit… seed….center thingie.

Then, grab a spoon and scoop out all of the innards of the avocados.

That’s a nice clean avocado skin.

After you’ve freed all of your avocados from their oppressive skins, crush them with a fork. After all… they deserve it.

Now… chop up some other stuff.

About half an onion….

Then some tomatoes…

about 2 medium tomatoes worth… or a handful of cherry tomatoes.

Then add some spices…

You’re looking to give it 1/8 tsp of cumin, 1/8 tsp cayenne, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper… and maybe a pinch of sugar. just for fun… After all of that dry stuff is in… add a clove of chopped up garlic… Yell “BAM!” and scare the cats as you throw the garlic in.

Cut open a lime and squeeze the juice into everything else.

Then mix it all up.

and just like that… you have awesome, home-made guacamole.

Good on chips…

Or on fish tacos!

Ham linguine casserole!

You know the scenario. You’re in the grocery store, getting your necessities… you walk back towards the meat section… grab the chicken that you need.. some bacon.. some ground beef… then, out of the corner of your eye, you see that ham is on special…. Finally! You think back to the last time you had an oven cooked ham… likely, it was for Christmas or Easter or something similar… So, you disregard the fact that you haven’t grabbed anything to cook with it… you don’t pay attention to the size of the ham, because at 8 bucks, it’s a DEAL! You scurry out of the store, perhaps stopping to get a bottle of brown mustard and some onion rolls while you salivate over the idea of the leftover ham sandwiches you’ll be having…

 

Then, you get home and cook the ham… Why does it take so long? Isn’t an hour and a half a bit longer than normal? Oh… it’s because this thing is 16 pounds… So… you sit down to an awesome ham dinner fresh out of the oven… you stuff yourself until you don’t even want to think about ham anymore… good thing too… because you only have 14 pounds of it left. Wait… that’s not a good thing. Crap. What do you do with all of the ham? Well, for starters, you have family over and make them eat some.. because they haven’t had ham in a while… then you make some ham sandwiches on those awesome onion rolls… with a little brown mustard and some swiss cheese, you’re good to go… and in the mornings, you fry some up, toss it next to a few over-medium eggs and call it breakfast… then maybe dice some up and make an omelet with some….

 

But then what? Now you’ve managed to whittle down a 16 pound ham to just a couple pounds… but a week has gone by, you’ve had ham for 3 dinners, 5 sandwiches, and 5 breakfasts… the idea of eating more ham is about equal to eating a pinecone. … so… now it’s time for casserole.

Here’s what you’ll need.

• 4 Cups of leftover ham, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper
• 1 large green bell pepper
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 5 TBSP butter
• 6 TBSP flour
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/3 cup chicken stock
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 1 TSP mustard powder
• 1 TSP kosher salt

 

Take the above and make it do this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now that your veggies and ham are all chopped up….. let’s get cooking.

Get a pot of water going to cook your linguine to al dente (about 10 minutes)

Also, in one pan, get your onions going with a bit of oil. In a saucepan, get your butter melting.

and

Once your onions start to turn translucent, toss your peppers on in there with them.

Keep stirring those around occasionally… Once your butter is melted, add the 6 TBSP of flour to it… and be amazed that the TBSP of flour can fall into the pot without falling apart.

Crazy ain’t it? Whisk the flour into the butter until it it’s not lumpy. Then add your chicken stock and milk… continue to whisk the mixture occasionally… you should have this on medium low..or medium… depending on how well you can multi-task…. go back and look at your peppers and onions… wait a second… your water is boiling.. break up your linguine and get it into the boiling water real quick… be sure to drop half of the box on the floor and scream profanities. Now whisk your milk concoction…

Wait a minute… wasn’t I supposed to do something else? Oh crap. the peppers and onions…

Well.. there are a few charred bits… but that’ll just add flavor right? ok… let’s get the rest of the stuff we’ll need ready…. first up… a half cup(ish) of parmesan cheese

and a half cup(ish) of shredded cheddar…. lookie there.. all on one measuring device so I don’t have to wash extra stuff… and now stir your milk again… it should be thickening up…

Once it’s “pretty thick” add your cheeses to it and stir it around… let it thicken

The timer went off on your pasta, so drain it real quick.. then add your veggies to it, and your ham.

mmmmmm ham.

Once your milk/cheese mixture is sufficiently thickened, pour it into the ham/veggies/noodles

Now, mix all of this together with a big ‘ol spoon and then pour it into a casserole dish

Top your casserole with your remaining cheese, and toss it into the oven at 350 for about 40 minutes.

Let it cool for a little bit.. then serve it on up.

Here are my thoughts…. once again, this is a rather versatile recipe. I could see adding french-cut green beans… or mushrooms… or whatever you feel like… you could also put some breadcrumbs under the cheese on top…. whatever’s clever.

The recipe is kind of bland though. It needs garlic… or cayenne pepper… something.. it’s very creamy and packed with dairy… but it’s a bit overpowering with all of that creaminess… so, add a few cloves of garlic… or a few of your favorite chili peppers… I think another great addition would be to leave the pan out with the veggies and either roast the peppers and onions on the grill, or under the broiler on the stove… get a bit more char to them…

Bolognese Sauce…

Let’s face it. Pasta is boring. The only function it really performs is to be a vehicle for sauce. Following that reasoning, the better your sauce, the better your experience. Tonight, we made a simple Bolognese. We used a recipe that didn’t contain any dairy, so it would last longer in the fridge.

Like many good recipes, this one starts with bacon.

In this case, cut up about 4 strips of bacon.. you’re looking for strips that are 1/2” wide or so….Next up, we have more familiar ingredients…. 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 medium onion.

We have plenty of pictures of chopping onions and garlic… so let’s fast-forward…

You’re going for a nice, fine chop…. minced if you’re counting….

Next step, onion, meet bacon…. toss the onion and garlic into a pan with the bacon and about 2 TBSP of Olive Oil.

While this is cooking… and the bacon is getting a little crispy… you’ve got some other stuff to chop… so, let’s talk about this for a second… We cook a lot.. so we have to chop a lot…. if it’s a julienne or other precise cut… you’ve got to do that… but… if it’s just “chop” or “finely chop”… they make a tool for that…

I won’t mention brand names, as companies seem to Google their names to see where their products are mentioned… but.. you can see above… this thing, while it has ridiculous name and commercial, works like a champ. Put stuff in, hit the handle a few times…. get chopped stuff out… that said.. go to your nearest place that sells “As seen on TV” stuff… pick one up.

So… chop about a half a cup’s worth of carrots, and another half a cup of celery. Also, get a half pound of sliced mushrooms down to a reasonable size… You don’t want to have a sauce that leaves you with a mouthful of just a single mushroom… so, break them in half or whatever it takes…

Now your onions should be starting to get translucent… your garlic should be starting to brown… and your bacon should be getting crispy…

If that’s all good… pull the pan off of the heat and put it to the side for a little while…

Get another pan on the heat and toss in a pound of 93/7 Lean Ground Beef and a half-pound of ground pork.

Do the brown-ing thing… chop it up, push it around… chop it and push it some more… after a while it’ll be chopped up and browned…. like some sort of crazy kitchen magic.

While you’re waiting, open a few cans and dump them into a bowl with your veggies….

You want 6-8oz of tomato sauce, 1/2 cup of chicken stock, and a 28oz can of whole plum tomatoes… grab the tomatoes and crush them with your hands… be prepared for them to squirt all over the place.

Sauce…

Maters….

1/2 Cup Broth / Stock

1/2 Cup Dry White wine…. …. now, go check on your beef.

Drain off the extra fat and get ready to add everything else into the pan with the meat…

So… now you’re down to one pot with everything in it.. the meats, the onions / garlic / bacon… all of the liquids and tomatoes and whatnot….

Toss in some salt and pepper and oregano and basil….

Stir it around… get it all infused and entwined and whatnot… then put the burner on simmer, put a lid on it and let it chill for about an hour… give it a stir every 15 minutes or so….

And it’ll be all wonderful after about an hour…. now, it’s time to go ahead and get the vehicle ready… so, cook up your pasta … really, whatever kind you like… this sauce can go on anything… if you’re feeling really lazy after all of this, you can just put the sauce on a few pieces of bread and chow down. …  We went for some multi-colored rotini.

mmmmmm let’s see that a little bit closer….

And there you go… that’s the sauce this week… we took the extra and put it in mason jars and tossed it in the fridge… it should keep for a week or two…. since it’s all mainly acidic…