My Monday Breakfast

Cough* Cough*

Man....I think I do get sick easily,

I was so excited few days ago thinking about a new recipe that I can write about,

But all the sudden my world started spinning...

So pardon me this week,

I'll definitely write up something soon when my body allows me to work in the kitchen again.

Here's a picture of my desk this morning-

Meds meds meds....

With a tissue in the back for the sake of my running nose...

And...yes...a calculator and a textbook...

Sadly I have one midterm tonight from 7 till 10....

Damn you flu.

Ponzu Steak and Mayo Baked Shrimps

How was you guys' Valentine's Day?

Well, for me...I had my Valentine's dinner at home,

Figured at least I don't have to deal with all the reservation hassles and paying $$$$ for the same thing I can get during regular days.

But apparently, cooking at home is not an easy task,

Despite I've been hanging around the kitchen for so long,

This time, it was like a battlefield!

Here's the story..

When I cook the steak on the skillet,

Everything looks perfect, the meat is gradually browning on the bottom, the smell is infusing the kitchen.

However, shortly after that,

I saw oil splashing out everywhere on the floor.

That also means my clothes and my pants..

What's going on?

I did make sure that the steaks were dry while I transfered them into the skillet...

I felt like I was an octopus at that moment,

One hand on the skillet,

One hand on the kitchen towel,

Another invisible hand busy wiping the floor,

And one more hand on the fire control....

Just hoping that everything will be better...

The fire alarm went off..

Ahhh stupid apartment complex,

Every time I grill something, they just can't stop bothering me.

Especially Chinese food, like three cups chicken or seared fish.....

Maybe the fire alarm is a racist.

As you can imagine,

There should be more hand holding a long stick stretching all the way to the ceiling to turn off that alarm.

Cindy the Octopus.

Good thing that my dinner turned out perfect after all the "obstacles."

Ingredients (for two gigantic steaks)?

You can find the recipe for mayonnaise baked shrimps here.

2 rib eye steaks
Freshly ground black pepper
Sea salt or fleur de sel
Extra virgin olive oil
5 to 6 garlic cloves (peeled, chopped)
2 to 3 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of ponzu sauce

How?

First thing for making steaks,

Make sure you're cooking them while they are in room temperature.

If they're in the fridge,

Just leave them outside till the steaks are not so cold anymore.

Let's sprinkle some sea salt and black pepper on both sides of the steaks,

Set it aside and don't cook it till at least 15 minutes later.

Drizzle some olive oil in the skillet,

Wait for the oil turns really hot (you can tell when you see the little bubbles coming up),

Transfer the steak and sear both sides for about 4 to 5 minutes, or till it turns medium brown.

Remember don't move the steak around while searing,

When it's not cooked through on the outside and you are trying to move it,

The meat might get stuck on the skillet and you'll ruin the shape of the steak.

After searing both sides, transfer it to the serving plate.

Now let's pour out some excess oil in the skillet, just save like 1 tablespoon of oil,

Toss in the butter,

When it's half-melted, add the chopped garlic and cook for few seconds,

Before it gets burned, drizzle the ponzu sauce over and let it simmer for about one minute.

Pour the sauce over the steak,

And here's our final product!

Serisouly, the the quality of the meat is good,

Only few seasoning will do the job.

Wonder how much I'll have to pay for such a gigantic steak in a fancy restaurants.

Octopus feeding on beef.

Cindy's Rating: 8

Simple Pan-Seared Salmon Steak

Drumroll please~~

Let me introduce you to possibly the easiest recipe ever in my blog,

Pan-seared salmon steak!-

With only 4 ingredients and few simple steps,

You can enjoy this dish in no time.

Since there are only a few ingredients,

Make sure you use better quality ones,

Otherwise the bad flavor will definitely show.

(Especially the fishy taste if the salmon is not so fresh)

Ingredients?

1 salmon steak

2 to 3 garlic cloves (peeled)

Sea salt

Extra virgin olive oil

How?

Sprinkle some salt on both sides of the fish steak and let it sit for about 30 minutes.

When you're ready to cook the fish,

Just use a paper towel and gently pat on the fish,

The salt makes the fish to release the liquid inside,

And we need to wipe it because you don't wanna see oil bouncing out from the pan later on.

(I learned my lesson before, water and oil can never be good friends)

In a nonstick pan,

(One of the greatest invention in the world, it saves you so much time for clean up)

Drizzle some olive oil and toss in the garlic cloves.

Wait until the garlic turned slightly brown and the aroma fills every corner in the kitchen,

Scoop them out,

We do not want burned garlic here.

Since some salt might be lost while wiping the fish earlier,

You might want to sprinkle more a little bit more before searing it.

Transfer the salmon to the pan and sear both sides for about 2 minutes,

That's it, nice and easy!

Cindy's Rating: 6

End Note:

I would have given it a 7 but the bones in the middle made me deducted one more point,

Totally not good with bones, maybe that's one of the reason why I love sushi!

Black Pepper Beef Stew

It's gonna be a quick post here.

I've been trying to figure out a way to compress all the things I need to do into that little time slot I have,

And it's not an easy task.

Working 20 hours a week and taking 4 classes (each class lasts about 3 hours),

That means on a typical day,

I'll work for 5 hours, head to the library, and then 3 hours of class.

Sometimes I'll get home around 10:30 p.m.

On top of that,

There are other things waiting for me:

Endless errands, house work, and of course, keeping this blog up and running.

I'm slowly transforming into an Energizer Bunny.

So here's the simple dish I cooked last Sunday,

Just a few preparation steps then I was off to do my never ending work!

Black pepper beef stew-

Ingredients?

1 lb of beef

(I usually just pick out the fattest beef I can find at the grocery store! Angus beef is one good alternative.)

2 small onions

Lots of freshly grinded black pepper

Salt

Soy sauce

Sake (Japanese cooking wine)

Extra virgin olive oil

Water

How?

First cut the beef into bite sizes.

Before we continue with this recipe, I have a complaint to make here.

I got this beef from one of the grocery store around my neighborhood,

After opening the package, I was very mad....and sad..

Here's the side that I saw while buying the beef-

Something's wrong when my knife couldn't get all the way down to the bottom,

I turned it to the other side.....I saw nothing but a gigantic bone..-

So mad, so furious,

I should just sue the grocery store for deceiving their customers!

Good thing I got one extra box of beef that day,

Otherwise we'll have bone stew for dinner instead of beef stew!

Ok I'm taking a deep breath here,

Calming down...gradually...

So after cutting the beef into bite sizes, let's dice the onion into thin strings, set aside.

Boil a small pot of water and toss in the beef,

Just cook for couple minutes, drain it, set it aside too.

Now have another pot ready,

Drizzle some olive oil,

Toss in the onion, sprinkle some salt, and grind some black pepper,

Cook till the color turned translucent then transfer the beef into the pot.

Sear the sides till slightly brown,

Add about 3 cups of hot water, 1/2 cup of soy sauce, and 1/2 cup of sake,

Don't forget our "lots of freshly grinded black pepper."

I "grinded" the black pepper for at least 35 times,

That probably adds up to at least 2 tablespoons of black pepper corns?

So bring the pot to a simmer and turn to medium/low heat after that,

Have a quick taste and see if you need to add more soy sauce,

Not much to do now, let's just let it stew for 2 hours.

You'll have to scoop out the brownish color "thing" that floats on the top of the soup,

If you ignore it, it'll leave a bad, dirty taste to your stew,

So don't be lazy during this step.

The best thing way prepare this dish is to leave it over night in the fridge,

When you're ready to eat it, just pop it on the stove and heat it up.

The flavor will be fully absorbed by the meat if doing so.

Yum!

(Ok...my eyelids cannot hold my eyes open any longer.

It's time for my bed with fluffy pillows....another long day ahead....

Have a wonderful time there people...zz....zzZZZ.....)