Boooouuur... Gig... Non???

Bourguignonne sounds weird, and tastes AWESOME.. Beef, tomato, and red wine. What can go wrong?!

Details:
Yes, for this one I just stole a recipe, for once.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fillet-of-beef-bourguignonne-recipe/index.html

A little less bacon, 100g of mushrooms, canned pearl onions, and just some random dry wine that I had in the fridge for... Eh... Weeks :S


Result:
I'm not the one to say someone else's recipe is anything but perfect, but this one actually was ;)
A little too salty, which was me just being too generous with the salt here and there.
It was made on veal shoulder, so could have used 2-4 hours of simmering. The meat could have been SO much more tender. Maybe something to try with the slow cooker!

Fancy Chili Meatballs

I dragged a lot of different pepperoncino spices with me home from Italy, which I thought I better get started with. Still having half a package of minced beef, and still wanting to test something I discovered in Israel (Celery in meatballs) I decided to go for meatballs in spicy sauce.

Details:
Meatballs were made with 2 small slices of dark wheat bread soaked in ½dl milk, celery, small onion, 1 tsp pepperoncino/garlic mixture, 1 tsp thyme, 250g minced beef, 1 egg, and salt.

Sauce of minced sweet peppers, celery, some low fat cream replacement called Milda, some tomato puré, pepperoncino and thyme.


Result:
The sauce was a bit too spicy and a bit dull. The Milda was completely useless. Maybe a bit of creme fraiche 18% could have a done it better, but I don't think the milk product was necessary since it is not in normal tomato sauce..  It DID, however, work well in a meatball sandwich, as the meatballs were great!

For a quick meal...

Coming home from a week in Italy, after 30 hours by train, I only had the energy to go buy groceries for the next few days, and come up with some kind of stew.. So.. This is a meal as I make it when I'm really tired.

Details:
Minced beef fried with mire poix (carrots, celery, and onion) and curry. Added onion "stock" and simmered with red lentils untill they were tender.


Result:
Kind of like minced beef and kale! But with more body. Next time though, I should use soaked lentils :S

Pig in Coke

Roasted pork with coca cola sauce on purple rice, fennel and mango... What?

Details:
Porkchops refried with chili, onions, rosemary, and salt. Then coca cola reduction was added. All of it mixed with the purple sticky rice, then mango, fennel, and topped with basil leaves and a little chili.


Result:
It was sweet, but actually pretty ok. Mango goes well with fennel.. And cola reduction is great on mango :D The chili works well with sweet stuff.

Nice, Fat Dinner

Time to retry the fried rice idea!
This time it was ALOT better, and a whole lot more greasy...

Details:
Jasmin rice fried in a skillet, with eggs mixed in and "scrambled" along with the rice untill slightly browned here and there. Then added chicken stock and a dash of salt and soy sauce.
Topped with ghee-fried asparagus, and crispy bacon.


Result:
Oh this rice is so effin' good! And asparagus goes well with eggs, and bacon goes well with egg, and bacon goes well with asparagus, and rice is just good! But damn it's a heavy dish :S 5 pieces of bacon, 3 eggs, 6 asparaguses, half a cup of rice!

Green leaves and Bacon Grease

I wanted to try bacon and olives together, and this was the result.

Details:
Green salad leaves for bottom, chopped orange for a fruity touch, and a dressing of lemon juice, honey, and lemon oil.
I made the lemon oil by grating the peel off a lemon and adding this to a small bottle of oil.
Chicken, fried with herbs, bacon fried alone, and halved black olives and half cherry tomatoes.
Topped with cilantro and roasted sunflower seeds.


Result:
The olive/bacon combination would be SO much better in an omelet or something. Also, the dressing didn't work as it should (again) needed more aroma, and less sourness. Also, honey was a mistake.
It was a pretty good combination though, with bacon, chicken, tomatoes, and olives.

Hummus, at last

Finally came around to a Sunday to try off hummus again.
I found out that you should first mix the hard ingredients and the spices.
Then add half the lemon, and liquid, until it has the viscosity you want the final product to have.
Then you whisk olive oil in a drizzle, and the tahin in the same manner. It will change texture and mouthfeel, but not viscosity, because of the aquaphobic properties of the oil.

Details:
1 can of chickpeas (250g) rinsed thoroughly to get rid of the "dogfood-aroma". Blended with 2 large cloves of garlic, ½tsp cumin, some salt, and a pinch of chili powder, until a mush. Water added, and blended in with the juice of half a small lemon. 1 tbsp olive oil, and a little more than 1tbsp tahina were mixed in, a little at a time. Adjusted with salt and lemon. Served in bowl with halved cherry tomatoes, cilantro, roasted pine nuts, paprika, and olive oil. For dipping, a red bell pepper cut into fans, 2 washed but unpeeled carrots, and a slice of momma' awesome ryebread.


Result:
What a meal! But this is definitely the go-to method for hummus, and all the topping works so well.