Kitchen Happenings: More With Less

Well, the restaurant reviews are still on hold. Just not that motivated to write about these places right now. But, I've been opening up my kitchen a little more lately. The current plan is to go old school. I've taken the food trends that we see on the Food Network, and have gone pretty upscale in what I eat. Let's just say that it's time to go a little old school and see what I can come up with using some cheaper and more accessible ingredients.

Last week, I made up my first batch of chicken noodle soup for the season. Still tastes awesome. I'm not sure how it would taste with just plain water (probably not bad), but I think that cooking down the chicken bones is worth it for the extra flavor. Particularly since chicken bones don't cost extra, and cooking down the bones is so easy (I'm not worried about making the clear broth - a little cloudy is just fine with me).

Also, last week, we had some biscuits left over from our Cracker Barrell run, so I just had to make up a batch of sausage gravy. So easy, and so tasty. Brown sausage. Add flour to soak up the drippings. Add milk to turn into gravy. Season to taste. Call cardiologist with a smile on your face.

Currently sitting in my fridge are pork sirloin steaks that are marinated with soy, siracha, sugar, sour cherry syrup, lime juice, garlic, onion, and my Asian spice blend (cinnamon, ginger, black pepper, Sichuan peppercorns, onion powder, garlic powder). These are also very tasty, and have satisfied my craving for Korean barbecue.

Projects on tap:

-I have some chicken thighs sitting in my freezer, which are begging to be cooked up. I'm not sure if I want to go the coq au vin direction, or if I want to get creative and try something completely different. We'll see about that.

-And I also have some very good soy-based braising liquid sitting in the freezer, as well, just begging to be used to create the classic Chinese cold appetizer plates that some of you may have had the pleasure of tasting. I'm thinking drumsticks, boiled eggs, honeycomb and tripe, and maybe some squid or cuttlefish.

-Also sitting in the freezer is some excellent broth for Italian beef. I think that I need to hit the Asian store to pick up some sliced beef soon. Some sauteed peppers and onions, some good bread, and some provolone, and I can probably feed an army.

-There's a butternut squash that has been on my counter for the last 6 weeks. And there are some apples that aren't getting eaten. It's time to roast those guys up, puree them, and add stock, cream, salt and pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and brown sugar for a nice fall soup. I think that I will probably use some of the sage that I have growing nicely in my herb garden, as well.

Anyway, that's what's happening out here in my kitchen. We'll see what works and what doesn't.

-foodgeek

How we eat

Well, apologies to both of our readers for the lack of authorship from Foodgeek of late. There are many reviews that are sitting in the Inbox, waiting to be written. But for now, here's a link to a NY Times article featuring one of my favorite marketing professors who does some awesome research on consumption.

-foodgeek