New Blog

Hey guys, just a quick plug for my new blog, "Diaries of a Budding Supervillain." It's about playing the Devil's Advocate, and discussing hard topics that may otherwise be taboo or uncomfortable to think about. Check it out at phdinhorribleness.blogspot.com.

More recipes to come soon!

Vegan Chili

Today's recipe is brought to you as a collaboration between myself and fellow blogger kolorbynumber (although really, she lead the charge on this one). This hearty chili is entirely vegan (no milk and eggs, bitch.....or chicken for that matter), so unless you have a friend who happens to have some random allergy to cumin or something, this is a recipe that can be enjoyed by any and all. And you're going to want to have some friends over, because this recipe makes enough to feed a lot of people. Or you know, you could also just pack up a ton of leftovers, and enjoy the deliciousness yourself.

-=Vegan Chili=-

2 small sweet onions, chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed

2 jalapeno peppers, diced, (seed one if you don't want it too spicy)

2 large green bell peppers, julienned

2 heads broccoli, chopped

1/2 head cauliflower, chopped

6 tomatoes, chopped

1 cup frozen corn

2 cups pinto beans

2 cups black beans

1 cup water

1 tsp vegetable bouillon (~ 1 cube)

6 oz baby bella mushrooms

1.5 cups kale

1 tsp garlic salt

2 tsp paprika

1 Tbsp chili powder

2 Tbsp cumin

black pepper

Start by pouring some oil into a large pot, heating on high. Add the onions, garlic, jalapeno, and bell peppers, and cook until ingredients are tender. Turn the heat down to medium. Next, add the broccoli and cauliflower and continue cooking until soft, stirring often so everything cooks evenly. Then add the tomatoes, followed by the corn, and then the beans. Add the water and bouillon, and stir to mix. Lastly, add the mushrooms and kale, followed by the spices, and black pepper to taste. Let simmer on low heat for about 30 minutes, and you're done!

.zip Recipes 1: Steamed Salmon

As January rolls along, people are starting to return to college, or for some, may even already have started class. Therefore, I wanted to go back to some simpler recipes like the ones I posted when this blog first started. These .zip Recipes will mostly be quick meals that can be thrown together with little to no prior preparation and use a minimum of pots to cook. This first one only requires 1 saucepot, and only takes about 15 minutes.

-=.zip Recipes: Steamed Salmon=-

3/4 cup rice

1 cup water

chopped cabbage, about 1 cup

1 salmon filet, about 6 oz.

dried herbs, spices

In a medium saucepot, combine the rice and water and swirl around to even out the rice a bit. place the chopped cabbage over the rice, and the salmon on top. Add seasonings to taste (I used garlic salt, rosemary, dill, and paprika) over both the fish and the rice beneath. Cover, and heat on high until the water boils. You should see the steam leaking out from under the lid. Turn the heat down to low, and simmer until liquid is absorbed by the rice and the fish is soft and flaky, about 10 minutes. Move the fish to a plate, and stir the cabbage and rice together, then serve. Quick and easy.

Tea Encrusted Salmon

I've been wanting to cook with tea for the longest time, but until now, I had never come up with a good idea. This recipe has chopped tea leaves in the breading, which adds a subtle flavor to the fish. It's served with a simple salad consisting of collard greens and mushrooms

-=Tea Encrusted Salmon=-

1 Salmon Filet (~6 oz)

1 egg

1 Tbsp milk

1/8 cup Italian bread crumbs

3 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp garlic powder

2-4 Tbsp tea leaves finely chopped

sesame oil

4-5 collard green leaves

2-4 mushrooms

Salt

Beat the egg and add the milk, mixing until smooth. Combine the bread crumbs, cheese, cumin, garlic, and tea leaves in a small bowl. I used Silver Needle white tea, although any green or white tea will work. Coat the salmon in the egg and then coat with the tea leaf mixture. In a small pan, melt 1 Tbsp butter on high. Sear the salmon on both sides, and add a bit of sesame oil. Then, turn the heat down to medium low, and cook until done. Remove from pan, and slice. Turn the heat back up to high, and toss in the collard greens and mushrooms. Season lightly with salt, cooking for about a minute. Place a bed of white rice on a plate, and add a dash of sushi vinegar and some sesame seeds. Lay the salmon on the rice, with the salad on the side. Done!

Greco-Italian Stir-Fry

Cooking for yourself, there's often the dilemma of quantity. Sometimes, making just enough for one portion is difficult, since you can't really go out and buy a quarter head of cabbage. Besides, the less you make at a time, the more often you have to cook, the more time you spend cleaning things, etc etc, and sometimes you find yourself not having time to cook at all, staring at a slab of raw meat in the fridge that is completely useless to you at this point in time. So leftovers are pretty much a constant, and this often holds true even when you're not just cooking for one. This recipe was born thanks to a large bowl of leftover Greek salad from dinner the day before. Welcome to the Mediterranean, folks, as we'll be spending the next couple posts here. You are now free to roam about the cabin.

-=Greco-Italian Stir-Fry=-

8-12 shrimp, peeled

6 asparagus spears

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp dill weed

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Garlic salt

=Greek Salad=

1 roma tomato, cubed

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/4 red onion, chopped

1/4 white onion, chopped

1/4 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup sliced olives

1/4 cucumber, chopped

Melt the butter in a medium-large wok and start cooking the shrimp. Add the dill weed, lemon juice, and garlic salt to taste. Stir gently to coat shrimp evenly. Trim and cut the asparagus into thirds (peeling is optional, depending on whether you find asparagus too fiber-y). Add to the wok and cook for a few minutes until tender. Next add the tomato, pepper, onions, olives, and cucumber, cooking until tender but not mushy. Finally, add the cheese and mustard and mix thoroughly, allowing the cheese to melt around the rest of the ingredients. Serve!

When it gets chilly outside....

.....it's the season for making some chili inside. There's probably over 9000 different recipes for chili out there, and everybody has their own secret recipe they swear by. This recipe is not-so-secret (as soon as I post this anyways), relatively simple, and doesn't take all that long, but is still very satisfying. It's a hearty pork-based chili, mildly spicy as written (but you're free to add as much heat as you like)

-="Oinker" Chili=-

3/4 lb pork sausage

1/4 lb bacon

6 tomatoes

20 oz pinto beans

6 oz black beans

1/2 large white onion

1/2 large red onion

12 oz brown button mushrooms

butter

olive oil

2 tbsp dark red chili powder

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

crushed red pepper flakes

salt

pepper

Start off by chopping 4 of the tomatoes into cubes and dicing the other two. In a large pot, start cooking the chopped tomatoes in 2 tbsp butter on medium heat, stirring occasionally. In a separate skillet, cook the sausage with some olive oil on high. Liberally add the red pepper flakes (I used about 4 tbsp) as the meat cooks, making sure to stir often to break up the sausage into small pieces. Add salt and pepper to taste. When the tomatoes are tender, add the beans to the pot, followed by the sausage once it is cooked about 75% through. Turn the heat down to a low simmer. For the remaining duration of this recipe, make sure to keep stirring the pot once in a while to prevent the bottom from burning. Back to the skillet now. Chop the onions and sautee until translucent, then add them to the pot. Chop the bacon, cooking in the skillet until done, but not crispy, and, surprise surprise, add it to the pot. Lastly, quarter the mushrooms and cook in 4 tbsp butter, then mix it in with the rest of the chili. Add the chili powders, along with any fresh chilies you may want to add. Continue simmering for another 10-15 minutes, and you're done.

Fusionnnn POWERRR *ahem*

So for a while now, my girlfriend has been trying to get me to learn Spanish cooking, in order to make the ultimate Asian-Spanish fusion dish. One of the things I was recently introduced to is arroz con pollo, or literally, rice with chicken. What gives this dish so much flavor is the fact that the rice itself is cooked in chicken stock, rather than just water. With that idea as a base, I created this following dish. It's full of flavor, and absolutely delicious. Seriously, see the picture at the bottom of the post? I ended up eating half of it before remembering that I was supposed to take a photo for this blog.

-=Sesame Pork Fried Arroz=-

1.5 cups white rice

1.5 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

1 pork chop (4-6 oz)

1 cup chopped leek

sesame oil

vegetable oil

1 tbsp sesame seeds

garlic salt

orange liqueur 

2 tbsp tomato paste

In a medium pot, combine the rice, chicken stock, and water, and heat on HIGH. When the rice has begun to boil, turn the heat down to LOW, and simmer. In the meantime, cut the pork chop into small bite sized cubes. In a large wok, heat some vegetable oil to start cooking the pork. Drizzle some sesame oil over the pork, and add the garlic salt and sesame seeds, stirring to coat the pork evenly. Optional: When the pork is finished cooking, splash some liqueur over the pork. If on a gas stove, simply give the wok a strong shake to ignite the alcohol; otherwise, a grill lighter will do.

By now, the rice should be about done. It should have absorbed most of the liquid, but still soft and moist. Add the rice, leek, and tomato paste to the wok and stir.