Exams!!!!

It's crunch time for me right now. Exams coming up. Lots of catching up to do. I'll be posting a lot less in the next week or so. Don't miss me too much! That's only a female representation of me by the way.

Kitchen Myths

I found this website recently and it blew my mind. He has different sources for each of his arguments, so sounds legit. Did you know all of these things are false? These are the ones that I believed until now:

• Searing meat seals in the juices
• A box of baking soda in the fridge or freezer absorbs odors
• When baking muffins, you should put water in any empty cups in the muffin tin
• Sushi means raw fish
• You cannot deep-fry in olive oil
• You cannot do serious cooking in a microwave
• Foods such as chicken salad made with mayonnaise are prone to quick spoilage

Did anyone learn something new? Do you know any cooking myths you know are false?

My food is problematic

Anybody a Firefly fan? On one particular episode, River attempts to eat a frozen dessert called "ice planet". Having trouble eating it, she states that "my food is problematic", which quickly turns into a weird internet fad. It looks like this:


Two awesome fellow geeks made an edible version of it here. They will forever have my respect.

Potato and Horseradish Crusted Salmon

This is an old recipe from last summer (I made it with my sister for my parents). Potato and horseradish mixed together has an interesting taste, so I really recommend you to try it out! I didn't know horseradish tastes like wasabi, so it surprised me when I first tried it.


Ingredients

• 1 medium russet potato peeled cubed
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Four 6-ounce salmon fillets
• 3 tablespoons half-and-half
• 2 to 3 tablespoons drained prepared horseradish
• Chive for garnish
• Salt and pepper
  

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Boil and salt some water in a saucepan and cook the potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside. Season the salmon with salt and pepper. Preheat a medium skillet on medium-high. Heat 2 tablespoon of butter and brown the salmon on both sides (1 1/2 minutes a side) then place it on a cooking sheet. Mash the potatoes, 2 tablespoons of butter, half-and-half, and horseradish. Season with salt and pepper. Time to get messy! Use your hands to put the potato mixture onto the salmon (like a crust) then brush with melted butter. Put the salmon in the oven and cook for about 10 minutes (or until it's cooked). I prefer my salmon slightly pink. Garnish with the chive and serve.

Roman-style Chicken Minus the Roman

I should explain the name of this recipe first. I started off with a recipe for a Roman-style Chicken, but ended up with something completely different. It was one of those moments in the kitchen where I realized in the last second that I don't have the time or the ingredients to follow the recipe and ended up winging it. The result was a chicken-stew-soup-vegetables-like concoction. It wasn't bad at all, the sauce ended up being too watery eat with pasta, so I just ate it as is.



Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 2 slices of bacon, chopped
  
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 cups of chopped broccoli
  
• 1/4 cup chopped parsely
• Salt and pepper

Directions:

Season the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil and brown the chicken on both sides then set aside. Using the same pan, cook the bacon until they're crisp then add the peppers, broccoli, and garlic for a couple of minutes. Then add the tomatoes, wine, thyme, and oregano. Put the chicken and stock into the pan and simmer, covered, for about 20-30 minutes (until the chicken is cooked). Add the parsley then serve.

Hamburger Cupcakes

This is possibly the most awesome cupcake I've seen (sorry Laura). This is from smileys sweets on Flickr. It's creations like these that makes me wish I can bake.

Chicken Parmesan

This is an unconventional post for me because I actually sought out the ingredients for this recipe instead of using ingredients I have in the refrigerator. Something unfortunate happened while making this and it didn't come out exactly as planned, but it was my first time making Chicken Parmesan and everything worked out in the end.

Ingredients

• 1 1/3 cups bread crumbs (I used Italian styled ones)
  
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• Olive oil
• About 3 1/2 cups tomato sauce (pick your favorite)
• 3/4 cup mozzarella
  
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Get 3 medium bowls together. In the first one, mix together the bread crumbs, oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In the second, mix the egg whites and milk together. In the third, the flour and the rest of the salt and pepper. Dip the chicken in the third bowl (flour), shake, then the second bowl (eggs), then the first (bread crumbs).



Shake off excess and put into a glass baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 15 minutes on 400 degrees. Pour the sauce over the chicken and top with the cheese. Bake for an additional 10 minutes then serve.



I said I ran into a little problem halfway through making this and the problem was I did not have mozzarella cheese. I ended up using cheddar, which tasted OK, but it was unfortunate nonetheless.