Well, it’s raining here today. It’s almost an event!

We’ve had so little rain lately, everything is brown and the leaves are even falling.  While I rather wish it would have waited until night, I’m not too unhappy to see the wet stuff.  It does make me think a bit about what to make for dinner though – how much extra work to put food on the table.  While the weather is warm, we cook out on the grill as much as possible.  The stove is used very very little in our house during the summer.

So I asked my husband.  He’s the one who stands outside and cooks,  I do the indoor stuff.  He was okay with cooking on the grill.  Therefore it’s pork chops for dinner.  Yay!  We do enough indoor cooking in winter.  The hope is that there is no major downpour while the meat is cooking.  Otherwise, there should be no problem.

I would never make it as a chef.  I admire chefs greatly.  I am just too damned lazy.  What I want is for someone else to make the food and I get to eat it.  In the summer I get half my wish since my husband does the grill work.  Now I’ve started to wander with this short commentary.  I think it’s time for a nap before I open some wine and contemplate the end of Sunday.

I kept meaning to get over here and post, but events overwhelmed me.  Too much work and not enough down time.  Now the holidays are fast approaching.  I can hardly believe Thanksgiving is nearly here!  Where did the time go?!?!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year – bar none!  All that is expected is food.  I can do that.  If you don’t have to work, it’s the perfect long weekend.  Of course those who work retail very likely loathe Black Friday.  (I never go out if I can help it). But Thanksgiving itself is a real holiday in my world.

Back to that food.  I used to do a turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, green veggie, rolls, 3 pies, etc.  That’s a bit of overkill with only my husband and myself to feed.  This year the turkey dinner will be done at Christmas when the kids will be visiting.   My kids have always loved my turkey and dressing.  It is something that surprised me because I fully expected them to hate it (kids tend to dislike most everything their parents think they should like).   Yet love it they do.  Especially the dressing part.  Thank heaven or they would have starved.  heh.

The best part was always our dog.  After year one – she was ready for Thanksgiving for the next 16 years.  She LOVED the giblets.  I’d cook them up on the stovetop, chop them and let her have that part.  She would wait all day, sitting in the kitchen watching me bake the pies, boil the sweet potatoes, and all the other 1001 things that go into Thanksgiving dinner.  She was so patient.

I still miss her.

Now I need to contemplate what food I should cook for my husband and myself for that extra special holiday.

Hmmm… decisions.

Now off to finish some work before bed.  But I shall return (far sooner than past blogging indicates).  I now have a schedule!  I will be organized. Or not.  We’ll see.

In winter I make a number of casserole type dishes.  Mostly on the stove top instead of in the oven.  Here is something a Vietnamese lady taught me about cooking chicken for casserole.  Before I used this method, I would poach the chicken in water, but that always seemed to make it so dry, I never liked the results.  The only “good” that came out of it was the chicken broth for making the gravy, but it didn’t make for the best meals.

Take into consideration I don’t use lots of meat in my casseroles, I prefer some meat and lots of other ingredients to round it out.  So at most I like to use 1 chicken breast piece when making dinner for my husband and myself.  However, I’m getting off topic… I generally get chicken breast cutlets from Whole Foods.  No bones to deal with – I dislike bones!  I’m all about fast and easy – cutlets are as fast and easy as it gets.  I cut it into bite sized pieces place in a bowl.  Toss with a little oil to coat.

Heat your skillet add oil (if it’s not cast iron).  When the pan is hot toss in the chicken – yes some of my chicken does stick to the bottom of the pan I can’t use cast iron on my stove top I think that’s why.  Cook until it’s half done.  It should still be a little bit pink.  This doesn’t take long if the pan is really hot.  Pull the chicken out and let it rest in a bowl – it will continue to cook while in the bowl.  I usually then add the other veggies, etc that I’m going to use and heat them up in the pan.  At the end (generally about 3-5 minutes later) I toss the chicken back in and heat it through – it’s no longer pink, it’s done, and it’s not dry.  Works beautifully.  Of course if you have any long cooking ingredients such as rice – they should be made ahead of time and be ready to add.

The really important part is pulling it out and letting it sit for a few minutes – that way it doesn’t dry out and turn into inedible bits of rubber chicken in your dinner.

Give it a try.

I have recently discovered the beauty of skirt steak.

I know, I know, I should have tried making it years ago.  However, back in the day, we didn’t have the online resources and I didn’t have the time to go looking for the instructions on how to cook it.  It always looked like “tough meat in the making” as far as I was concerned.

A few months ago I started seeing more mentions of this cut of meat.  So I decided to buy some.  Then I got home and panicked – had no idea how to cook it.

Time for research…

I pulled out the trusty Best Recipe cook book from Cooks Illustrated.  Read everything they had to say.  Then I got out my Alton Brown cook book to look it up.

Can’t remember which one – but one of them advocated simple.  (I like simple – it’s always my favorite way to cook).  In other words, no marinading for hours, no extra work… just a little prep time.  I could swear it was Alton’s book, but I might be wrong and I’m too lazy to look it up now.   So here is how I do it:

I get between 1 and 1.5 pounds of skirt steak for the 2 of us.  The leftovers make terrific sandwiches.  If possible – get from the butcher and make sure there isn’t too much connective tissue on the meat (trust me that will make it very tough no matter what you do to it).  A well cut piece of meat works beautifully.

This meat is nearly always folded, so unfold it all the way.  I cut it into manageable length hunks, either in half or in thirds depending on length.  Then I spray it with olive oil spray, you can use a drizzle of your favorite oil if you don’t have spray, and sprinkle with salt.  Then rub the oil and salt in, turn and do the other side.   Let it sit out at room temp at least 20 minutes, 30 is better if you have the time.  The closer to room temp, the better it cooks.

You then have 2 options.  Indoors use a cast iron skillet on a burner set to high (a drop of water should skitter off and vanish immediately).  Personally I fire up the gas grill and put it on high.  Once the surface is very hot, drop the meat on it, cook for 3.5 minutes, turn and cook for 3.5 minutes more.  (the book said 3, this doesn’t get it quite done enough for me so if you love it really rare, go for 3 minutes per side).  At 3.5 you will still have a lovely pinkish red center and plenty of   juice.

Now here is where I diverge from most everyone writing cooking instructions.  They say to let it sit covered for 5 minutes. I find that the meat then gets cold.  I don’t like cold meat!  So even though I might lose a bit of extra juiciness, I slice the meat nearly immediately, against the grain very thinly.

It’s fork tender if you get a good cut of meat and delicious.   I serve with some rice and a big salad.

Give it a try.  It’s usually far cheaper than London Broil its big brother steak.  I love it.

Happy Eating!

I made a triple batch of the following homemade vinagrette (adjust according to the amount of chicken):

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp brown mustard

5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

some salt and pepper

Coat chicken and let it “marinade” for a bit – or even coat and cook immediately that works too.  Put it on the grill (or in the oven at 400 degrees if outdoor cooking isn’t possible).   Indirect heat for cooking the chicken for about 20 minutes – depending on the size of the pieces.  Direct heat at the end to crisp it… it’s wonderful.  No basting – oh so yummy.

I prefer chicken thighs and yes I leave the skin on – can’t stand dried out chicken.

With breast meat you’ll have to up the time.  With drumsticks – less required.  I have also used this to marinade chicken wings and bake at 450 topped with shredded Parmesan cheese – wonderful stuff.

Enjoy.

Tonight will be an odd food night.  I will be throwing together a salad, but we have lots of cheese, crackers, hummus, and other snacky like things.  PLUS a bottle of Champagne!  Therefore, today’s dinner will consist of a little bit of all these things.  Because otherwise they will go to waste since we don’t do much snacking here.

And really Champagne just requires cheese and crackers to go along with it now doesn’t it.  By the time we get done with all that, it will more than compensate for a real cooked meal I think.

It’s what’s for dinner when I end up at a standstill.  Spinach and tomato.  I’d be quite happy to skip the pizza if someone would come cook for me on these nights when I’m too frazzled to do it myself.

Sadly no one ever volunteers… heh.

Had sushi for dinner tonight.  After the first bite, the entire world was a more wonderful place to be.

I highly recommend it.