Asian stylez...some asian food photos for YOU

Here are some yummy shots for you to look at.

Squash and Shrimp noodles

Beef stir-fry noodles

Chicken...I mean Lemon Dill Snapper and Orzo — the Amazing Accidental Dish

Hope this gets your mouth watering

So here's the funny story...I took out the piece of chicken in the morning (what I seriously thought was chicken), I mean it was the same exact color, and looking through the plastic bag it was sorta curled up in the size of a chicken breast. Anyways a couple hours later, I go check on my defrosted chicken to marinade. To my surprise it turned out to be a piece of snapper... I'm not usually a huge fish eater, unless it's Japanese cuisine...but sine it was defrosted I wasn't going to waste it. I have nothing against cooked fish, it's just not normally done properly in my house. Most people here prefer over cooked meat of any kind...

Anyways I completely changed what I was intending on making (which was a stuffed chicken bake) and looked around the pantry for something that might go well with the snapper. I found some Orzo pasta, which is sort of like a risotto thingy, but pasta instead of rice. It turned out to be a very nice dish.

Here's what I used for the ingredients:

For Snapper
2 pieces of "Chicken" haha Snapper
Couple sprigs of fresh Dill
1/2 small Lemon
Kosher Salt and Pepper
1 tbsp Grapeseed Oil

CCC Spaghettini

Chili—Chicken—Cauliflower  Spaghettini ! 
My that's a lot of C's. C if you like it! Haha. This one's got a little kick, but not spicy for you who don't like spicy. Of course you could make it spicy by adjusting my recipe.

CCC Spaghettini

Here's what you'll need to serve 3 medium portions

For Chicken and Marinade:
1 pound Chicken breast (cut approximately 2-3 inch parts)
1 1/2 tbsp Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon Tumeric
1 teaspoon Onion powder
Ground Black Pepper

For Sauce and Veg
2 cups Cauliflower
1/2 Red Pepper
2 Garlic cloves diced
1 large Scallion
Fresh Basil leaves
1 cup Broth (I used chicken...but you can substitute what you want)
1 cup water
2 tbsp Grapeseed oil (or olive oil)

Other ingredients:
Parmesan Cheese
Spaghettini (enough for 3)

Potato Soup and Roast Pepper/Onion spread Baked Potato Rounds on Toast

Want to see the toast in focus? Continue reading...

Here's a light lunch I prepared. Lots of flavors and textures in this meal. I hope you try it out:)

Here are the ingredients you will need to make 6 toasts and 2 servings of soup:

For Potato Soup
3/4 Large Russet Potato cut into bite size cubes
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup Chicken stock
1 teaspoon flour
1 1/2 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon Thyme
1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

For toast and spread
6 slices white bread
6 Potato slices 1/8 inch thick made from rest (1/4) of potato
1 Red Pepper diced
1/2 white Onion diced
1 Garlic clove minced
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 teaspoons Creme Cheese
1 tbsp plain Yogurt
1 tbsp Olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

YO MEXICO! Pork flauta with mango puree dip

Flautas(which uses flour tortillas as opposed to taquitos which use corn tortillas) are a Mexican dish consisting of a small rolled-up tortilla and some type of filling, usually beef or chicken. The filled tortilla are then crisp-fried; or in my experiment, baked.

Heck ya! I'm making some Flautas!

you know you wannn-it!

I made the tortillas from scratch, using white flour. I had leftover roast pork, so used that up as well for the filling.

Here's what you will need to make this recipe

For filling
1 1/2 cup diced left over roast pork
1/2 Onion
1/2 Red Pepper
1 Tomato
2 Garlic cloves minced
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon Oregano
1 1/2 tbsp bbq sauce
1 cup water
1 cup Apple juice
Cream cheese

For Mango Dip
1 mango blended
1/8 cup plain yogurt
1 tbsp Mayonnaise
Parsley
Basil

Sweet and sour pork

Here's a little sweet and sour experiment. Saucey meat with rice is one of my favorites. So here's what you'll need for this.

Sweet and Sour Pork on Rice

For pork and marinade
1/2 pound pork
2 tbsp ketchup
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
2 teaspoons Rice Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon Yellow Sugar
1 tbsp flour

Chicken Cordon Bleu...but not really

So I decided to make Chicken Cordon Blue, but not exactly. I decided to go with a dill garlic and parmesan stuffed Chicken breast. Breaded and baked.

Some shots of the end result! OH MAN...seriously was sooo good! Sorry for tootin my own horn. But you gotta try this recipe.

Dill, Parmesan, Garlic stuffed Cordon Blue with a bed of Spaghettini Aglio e Olio and Roasted garlic potatoes

Here are the ingredients used in my recipe:

For Cordon Blue hybrid
- 1 egg
- 1 large slice of white bread
- 1 tbsp Garlic powder
- 2 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- l large Garlic clove thinly sliced
- Parmesan Cheese sliced thin
- 2 large sprigs of Dill
- 2 medium Chicken breasts (pound flat to about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick evenly)
- 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 1 tbsp BBQ sauce
- Kosher Salt and Pepper

Hybrid Potato Croquette with Pork (Onion reduction sauce) Recipe

Potato Croquette with Pork (Onion reduction sauce)

Here's a little experiment I made yesterday. Croquettes are French in orgin, but have many variations that exist in other cuisines now a days. They are usually meat/and or potatoes, battered and deep fried. I didn't really want to oil up my kitchen, so I put it in the oven instead. Thus, my experiment begins.

Here is what you'll need to make 5 large croquette balls. and 2 servings of pork.

For Croquette
1 large Russet Potato
1 large Scallion
1/8 cup Soy Milk
1/2 Medium Onion diced
1/2 teaspoon Thyme
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
Salt and Pepper to taste
Crushed unsalted top Crackers (enough to coat 5 large potato balls)\
1 egg
Flour (enough to coat potato balls)

Faux...Vietnamese style noodles...quick recipe

Ok, so I know it's PHO, but this was my imitation recipe because I did not have the proper ingredients to make authentic soup base.

Faux Pho

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup. It is usally served with beef(pho bo), or chicken (pho ga). Rice vermicelli noodles are used, and is often served with basil, lime, bean sprouts, onions, and peppers.

The soup base is usually made by simmering beef (oxtail, and other parts) or sometimes chicken bones as well. Other thins added are onion, cinnamon, star anise, ginger, black cardamom, coriander seed, fennel seed, and clove. However I did not have some of these ingredients, nor did I want to spend hours simmering stock.

So here's what I used for this recipe:

For Soup base
2 cups water
2 cups low sodium Beef Broth
2 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp BBQ sauce(...yes bbq sauce!)
1 tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Thyme
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 large pieces of sliced Ginger
2 Garlic cloves diced
1 Large Onion chopped

Fry yo rice yo!

Sexy Shrimp Fried Rice

Here's a yummy shot with my new free camera (Sony Cybershot DSC TX9) which I received from Air Miles rewards. Yea free stuff! Just testing out the quality on my lunch today.

Sony Cybershot DSC TX9

Enjoy, and rock on!

Sam

Chinese claypot rice...without the claypot

Chinese pot rice is yummy! It's a popular dish in asian cuisine. You can put in any ingredients you want. Some staples in pot rice are chicken, pork, cha-siu, black bean, bok choy...the list goes on. You can essentially add anything you like. It is usually cooked in a clay or ceramic pot. I didn't have one handy, so just used a stainless steel pot. It still worked.

Potato Pork Pot Rice

Here's what you'll need for 1 large serving:

Ingredients:

2  cups long grain white Rice
3-4  cups of liquid (water/broth) (depending on how much rice you use)
1/2  pound of lean Pork (slice into 2 inch cubes)
1/2  cup Shiitake Mushrooms (slice into 1/2 inch strips)
1  Carrot (chopped into 1/2 inch slices)
1  cup small Red Potatoes (chopped into approximately 2 inch size)
2  large Scallions (chopped)
2  Garlic Cloves (minced)
Ginger (minced and optional)
2  tbsp Olive Oil (to fry pork)
1  tbsp Canola Oil (to coat rice)
Salt and Pepper to taste

So I think I have a pasta fetish...

I was looking back at the more recent things I've been making, and I seem to have a pasta fetish. It's not a bad thing right? Here are some original pasta recipes I made.

Here's some pasta porn for you :) Enjoy!

Fusion Fettucini

Sweet BBQ Beef Penne

Earthy Tomato Thyme Spaghetti

Spicy Meatball Rotini

Seasame Chicken Udon - Keeping it simple

Udon noodles are one of my favorite types of noodles. They are a type of thick wheat-flour noodle popular in Japanese cuisine. The chewyness, and length of noodle...slurp*
Soo good, and so easy to prepare! It is very versatile; you can have it with a soup base,
or stir fried, hot, or cold.

I decided to keep this one simple, and just stir fry up some chicken in some sesame oil to go with it. I was craving something warm, so decided to keep it a soup-based udon.
I had some organic Miso paste in the fridge, which was perfect for this.

Miso Paste

Udon noodles


Here's what you'll need for 1 large bowl of goodness:

500g Udon noodles (that was 2 pre-packaged for me)
large bunch of Romaine Lettuce
2 large Spring onion (Scallion)
1 1/2 teaspoon Grapeseed oil
1 1/2 teaspoon Sesame Oil
1 teaspoon Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Worchester Sauce
1/2 teasppon Rice Wine Vinegar
1 large chicken breast
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 1/2 tbsp organic miso
1 cup water
Salt and Pepper to taste

[Prepping Udon + lettuce]:
1) Boil pot of water
2) Once boiling add frozen noodles and lettuce (once water comes back to boil, leave for 1 minute then strain)
3) Set lettuce aside, then run cold water over strained noodles for 20 seconds.
3) Set aside

[Prepping Chicken]:
1) Salt and Pepper surface of chicken
2) Sear chicken in hot pan with grapeseed oil
3) Set aside

[Final Assembly]:
1) Bring cup of water and broth to boil
2) Mix in miso paste and scallion
3) Add salt or soy sauce to taste if necessary
4) Put noodles in serving dish, top with chicken and lettuce
5) Pour broth over noodles and serve
6) Rock on!

Good food takes your problems away!

Ok, no. Good food does not take your problems away. So I was having a pretty rough day yesterday; but, it's amazing how a little something like a good meal can put a smile on your face(even if it's just for that short amount of time).


Lunch is served.

Sesame Chicken Udon

[Recipe to follow...stay tuned]

Concert times - Joe Satriani

So last week I went to Joe Satriani's concert in Edmonton. I have never seen him live before. Last time he was in town, I didn't find out until after the concert (needless to say I was disappoint...very disappoint), so this time I was not going to miss out.

Joe with the band

Ticket prices weren't too bad for the venue, Jubliee Auditorium. Kinda cool seeing a rock concert in a hall that used to be home of the Edmonton symphony orchestra.

The opener was fellow Canadian, and also fellow parker player, Dave Martone. He's not the reason I picked up my Parker guitar, but it's cool to know someone as accomplished as him also using the same kinda gear!

Untraditional Lasagna ... you must try!

Well yesterday I was snowed in from going out. My car was stuck, so I had a free morning. I decided to make something a little different for lunch. I looked around the house and found some lasagna pasta that had been sitting in the pantry for a long time, and decided to use it up. But upon further searching did not find any ground meat of any sort in the house.

So I decided to go another route. Fish and rapini? haha...at first I wasn't sure. But when all was finished, my taste buds were pleased.

Salmon Rapini Lasagna

Here's my Salmon Rapini Lasagna recipe:

First Post

Hi webland! I'm Sam, and I decided to start a blog. What will I blog about? Well I'm not entirely sure yet, but I will most likely include my interests included. Guitar, Food, and Design.

I hope you will find some of my posts interesting.