Chorizo Madness: Eggplant Casserole, Miso Honey Bokchoy, Mashed Potatoes

Chorizos are great! So much flavour is such a small package. It has a smokiness, really salty, and a bit spicy. Like a very condensed pepperoni if I have to compare it with something.

So it's a great enhancer and a great way to spice up a few dishes. So I used it for my eggplant and mashed potatoes.

Eggplant casserole, it is baked with kimchi and chorizo then topped with cheese until golden brown.
Miso honey bok choy, it is stir fried with butter and mixed in a miso and honey sauce.
Mashed potatoes, with a kick from the chorizos.

This serves three people.

Eggplant Casserole



Ingredients:
Chinese eggplants - 3
Kimchi - 2 cups (by which I mean handfuls lol)
Chorizo - 1 stick (120g)
Kraft tex mex cheese mix (I can be trashy sometimes and it tastes good) - as much as you like
Cornstarch - 1 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions:

1. Cut the eggplants in half, (like so they're equal), then in threes.
2. Add some oil in the pan at medium heat and give some browness to the eggplants. (Only half of the eggplants are in that picture)

3. Take the eggplants out, add a bit more oil to brown the chorizo (sliced), when there is some browned bits on the pan, add the kimchi and let the kimchi juice deglaze* the pan.

4. When the kimchi is hot, add the eggplants, then add enough water till it's half way. Turn the heat to low then cover with a lid. Eggplants will shrink down so you don't have to worry that it's too little water. Rearrange the eggplants once in awhile so they all get submerged in the liquid at some time.
5. When all the eggplants are cooked, preheat the oven to 350.
6.make a slurry with the cornstarch and just enough COLD water to dissolve it (so like 2 teaspoons of COLD water) and add it to the liquid. Turn the heat back to medium and wait till the liquid thickens into a more saucy (like pasta sauce) consistency. If it doesn't reach to a consistency to your liking you can add more slurry.
7. Add the eggplants to a pan, should be fairly large since you don't want to stack the eggplants too much. (In fact mines was mostly just one layer of eggplants and than cheese lol) Top the thing off with cheese (don't go too crazy now...)

8. Put the pan in the middle rack for ten minutes, than turn the temperature to broil, put the pan on the top rack and wait till cheese turns all golden brown.

*Note: What is deglazing? Well when you heat something up on the pan, there will eventually be some sort of brown bits stuck at the bottom right? Well that's all flavour, adding some liquid and then using your spatula to lightly scrape the bottom will get it off the pan and mixed in the liquid, adding tons of flavour to it. If the brown stuff turns black you shouldn't use it though because that is just burnt. Also non-stick pans don't do this so when making a nice sauce for your steak or pork chop, always go for the cast iron or stainless steel or something.

Miso Honey Bok Choy



Ingredients:
Bok Choy - 1 bag (1 pound maybe? It's about the same in all Asian supermarkets)
Miso - 1 1/2 tablespoon (or to taste)
Honey - 1 1/2 tablespoon (or to taste)
Butter

Instructions:

1. Wash the bok choy by cutting the ends and submerging it in water. Then dry it off in a salad spinner.

2. Melt butter in a pan at high heat. Add the bok choy.
3. When the leaves are wilted, turn down to low heat, add a bit of water and cover till the stems are soft.

4. Turn it back to high heat, when only a small amount of water remains, add the miso and honey. Stir evenly. You can always change the amount of miso and honey to your liking. There's no screw ups in stirfrying! Well don't burn it...
5. When the sauce is to the consistency and taste you like. Take it off the heat and it's done.

I love stirfrys, so easy and so many ways you can really make it your own!

Mashed Potatoes



Ingredients:
Russet Potatoes - 2 large
Chorizo - 1/2 stick (60g)
Milk - to taste
Salt and pepper - to taste

Instructions:
1. Peel and dice the potatoes, cut the chorizo in quarters (lik 4 long sticks) then slice into little pieces.

2. Put the potatoes and chorizo in a rice cooker*, add water to 1/4 way and turn it on to cook. Check periodically to make sure there is enough water.

3. When the cooker is on 'keep warm' make sure the potatoes are fully cooked (if not just add a bit more water and put the button on cook again) then add the milk until the right consistency, season.

Note: If you don't have a rice cooker, just boil a full pot of salted water, add the potatoes. After 14 minutes, drain the water out and then add the chorizo and milk and stuff. It won't have as much chorizo flavour but it'll still be good!

So this was actually a really easy meal. The chorizo made something relatively simple and sometimes a bit boring (like mashed potatoes) and made it sound and taste more special.

Turkey Day 2011! First and Second Phase

Well, being Canadian, this was actually in October but I was lazy and forgot to post my photos till it was...November lol. So let's just pretend it's because I like celebrate with our neighbours down south (America: Canada's pants).

So like last year, I designed the menu and did most of the cooking.

First Course
Potato and Leek Soup

Second Course
Stuffed Campari Tomatoes
Smoked Salmon Rolls

Third Course
Roasted Garlic Pork
Mixed Mushroom Casserole
Potato Rosti
Pan Fried Vegetables

Forth Course
Pumpkin Pie

Yea, I had ambitions! The key is to plan ahead as much as possible, and I did most of the prep the day before.

Anywho...on to the food!

First Course

Potato and Leek Soup
Servings: 8 - 10 people (I had a party of five but they like seconds lol)



Ingredients:
Russet potatoes: 5, peeled and diced
Leeks: Three big nice ones
Chicken stock: 2L
Ginger: 1 sizeable chunk (bout 100g)
Butter: 1 1/2 sticks (175g, hey it's the holidays!)
Salt and white pepper: to taste

Instructions:

First of all lemme channel my inner hillbilly


LOOK AT THIS PHOTOGRAPH!!

1. Heat up your stock at a low heat, a simmer, there shouldn't really be any movements in the liquid.
2. Referring to the leek diagram, cut out section one, the darkest green part, it's very flavourful but really tough so you will use it to flavour the stock. Clean it by submerging it in some water first than throw it in with the chicken stock.
3. Peel the ginger and slice it thinly, add that to the stock as well.
4. Now wait for an hour or so, or until the stock seems have a nice flavour of ginger and leek.
5. Divide the leeks into section 2 (light gree) and 3 (white) , save maybe one leek's worth of section 3 for later. (That's a bad leek btw, you should choose a leek with more white parts than that!)
6. For the rest of the leeks, cut the end of them and then cut it in half vertically, then you can see the different layers, run them under the water while flipping through the layers...much like a book.
7. After they are wash, just slice them horizontall, thinly.
8. Melt half a stick of butter in low heat, then add the sliced leeks, add a two pinches of salt.
9. After the leeks have sweated out a lot of moisture and they are really soft, add the stock.
10. Peel and cube the potatoes, add them to the stock. Cover the pot with a lid and turn to high heat.
11. When the potatoes are very soft (check after 15 minutes) you should blend it till smooth. Turn it down to low heat.
12. Add the rest of the butter, and season with salt and white pepper (black pepper makes it look like specks of dirt).
13. If you like the consistency then it's good, if you want it to be thinner you can add more water or stock, if you want it to be thicker, let it simmer out some more liquid!
14. For the leek you reserved, cut it in half, wash it, then separate the layers and julienne it. You place a few slices as garnish for the soup.

This soup is really simple but elegant while being comforting. Like drinking a baked potato!

Second Course



Stuffed Campari Tomatoes
Servings: It makes 20



Ingredients:
Campari Tomatoes - 10
Ricotta - 125g
Chives - 30g
Salt - to taste

Instructions:
1. Cut the tomatoes in half, using a serrated spoon, scoop out the seeds and pulp.
2. Mix the ricotta with a bit of salt and the chopped chives.
3. Using a towel, dab the tomato halves dry, scoop the cheese mixture into the tomatoes.

THAT'S IT!! You can experiment with cheeses too, I personally prefer goat but my friend really hates goat cheese and goat products.

Smoked Salmon Rolls
Servings: 7 rolls (times are hard and salmon is expensive)



Ingredients
Stuffed Salmon - a small pack (7 pieces)
Apple - 1/2
Small Cucumber - 1 (50g)
Celery - 1/2
White wine vinegar - to taste
Olive oil - to taste
Honey - to taste
Chives - 4 strands
Salt - to taste

1. Julienne the cucumber, celery, and apple.
2. Make dressing by mixing the vinegar, olive oil, honey, and salt.
3. Mix with the julienne fruits and vegetables.
4. Lay out the smoked salmon, add some of the vegetable mixture at the end of the salmon, and roll the smoked salmon.
5. Cut the chives in half, horizontally and gently use it to tie the salmon roll.

Yea, easy right?! These two appetizers are quick to make and make your dinner look seemingly classy!

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM I WANT CHEESY POOFS!!!!!

There must be some reason why Cartman love them? I mean, besides him being morbidly obese...so he probably eats like everything...

But Alton Brown had a recipe for them and how could I resist. They're not like what I thought they would be like. Instead of being cheetos they're like cheese bread. Really cheesy, and rich.



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Pie is Home~ And People Always Come Home~

Quoted from the Piemaker from Pushing Daisies <3!

I finally made the penultimate Pushing Daisies pie! The famed pear with Gruyere baked into the crust! I also made a brioche! BY HAND!!!!!!!! D=!!!!!! Always going to use the stand mixer next time! It is quite hard doing it manually *kisses stand mixer*!



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