Thing-a-day.com

Although I’m going to continue to finish up some project and try cooking more…

Dinner! The 3 Step Greek Skillet we made was delicious.

February 16th
Candle-holder making…

Yes, it IS exciting as it sounds. Well, actually it really was a lot of fun. Being me, I have a lot of candles, and of course, a lack of candle holders. So I had come up with a genius idea and started asking my mom to save the pasta sauce jars after she’s done with them (very cheap candle holders, but I can decorate them and make them look cool. WHICH. I. DID. sorry, bad caps lock, down caps lock). Having several candle holder options, and several ideas, and a friend coming over to visit. It made for an interesting night.

Pictures of the process are beneath the cut. I’m very proud with how the candle holders came out. I’ve already enjoyed using them several times.

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Not the most inspiring of posts today, but at least I can say that I managed to create something, unlike yesterday. Today’s effort was a chicken and mushroom risotto, garnished with a sprinkling of feta cheese. The photo makes it look decidedly unappetising, but it didn’t taste half bad!

Today’s Lunch:

• Taiyaki
• Furikake [seaweed sprinkles] in the yellow duckie
• Fresh carrots
• Fish cakes
• Brown rice

Today’s point of interest: the happy house scene made with carrots, nori, fish cake, and pickled raddish

Happy Super Tuesday everyone…

Lunch Box Stuff:

• Fresh baby carrots
• Fried green beans
• Pickled radish
• Octopus sausage
• Rice with radish & pickled plum on top of furikake

The pizza de rayzeestonz….

Ok, that’s corny. And yes, the dish is as well. Not too corny, though. The dish. The comment was way over the top corny.

Seared tuna over creamy risotto with vegetables (green beans, tomatoes and CORN), with a soy glaze. And wasabi, of course. This came after the wonton soup which I posted about earlier, and am too pitiful to try and figure out how to link.

Speaking of pitiful, the reason I cooked this meal is b/c it’s my birthday. Rather than let my husband order out for something nice (no babysitter, we’re stuck here w/an infant and a 7 yr old) I decided that if I cooked, I’d definitely be assured of enjoying the meal, b/c I’d make it the way I like it. I made it sound nicer by inviting a friend who had HIS birthday last weekend and pretending it was for him. But it was really for me. And for me, I mean for my husband. This is one of his favorite meals and I like it, but what I like more is seeing that orgasmic gleam in his eye when he bites into it, making all the effort worthwhile. Of course hearing him sing my praises doesn’t hurt, either. So that was my birthday gift to myself. Oh the friend? He didn’t show. The rat bastard. Anyone want some tuna?

As requested, directions for the rice. If anyone wants the tuna, let me know, I’m kinda tired and delirious at the moment and I know the baby will be waking shortly…

I just buy the Rice Selects rice (square plastic containers) and followed the directions on the ‘box’ for the risotto, substituting shallots for the onions.
So….
1 cup of rice
2 T olive oil
2 T butter
1/2 cup diced onion
3 cups chicken broth (I used the paste stuff mixed with water ‘Better than bouillon’)

1. Sautee onion in oil and butter for about 3 min.
2. Add rice, stirring, for about 2 min.
3. Stir in 1 c. broth. Continue cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed.
4. Gradually stir in remaining broth 1 cup at a time, cooking and stirring until liquid is absorbed before adding the next cup.

* I have done this a few times and this time turned out the best. What I did differently was add a lid to the pot at almost the end of the second cup of liquid, and then for the full 3rd cup. I also added a couple Tbsp. of heavy cream once the broth was all absorbed. As for the veggies, fresh green beans which I blanched, some frozen corn kernels (I wanted fresh but knew I was stretching my limits) and some grape tomatoes which I halved. I threw the corn into the green bean pot for the last 30 seconds, then drained them and put all the veggies in the hot rice just before serving.

The tuna and risotto recipes were from vintageyearonline.com but the page is no longer there, alas I printed it out a while back and lost it, but luckily a friend of mine still had hers safe and sound.

Ok, zee tuna. Well, as best as I can figure it. She and I were both in a hurry so I just wrote down the ingredients. And they are really too much for just a few people, so I’d suggest halving everything. Doesn’t say how much tuna it’s good for, I did 2 lbs and had waaayy too much other stuff even though I’d cut back.

Tuna crust:
2c flour
1/2 cup black sesame seeds
1 t. cumin
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper

Egg wash:
3 whole eggs
2 c milk

Mix eggs and milk, dip tuna in and then coat liberally with mixed crust ingredients.

I used peanut oil, set my skillet to medium high/high and seared for about 2-3 min/side for the piece in the photo. You can set it lower, sear longer and then bake it briefly if you want a more thoroughly done piece of meat.

The soy glaze is what really makes the meal. It’s very salty, so don’t put much salt in the other items.

Soy glaze:
1/2 cup diced shallots
2 T. chopped garlic
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 T. chives (oops, I forgot those!)
Pepper and salt (you won’t need salt!) to taste

Here’s where it gets iffy. I don’t have the directions for cooking this so I just sauteed the shallots and garlic in the butter for a couple of minutes, then added the liquids. Then simmered it for a long time very gently to reduce it a bit. Even if you don’t do that it’s good. You don’t need much at all, so find a way to store the leftovers or cut this recipe. Oh yeah, a dash of wasabi (or a big old glob of it!) is good in here as well. I should have added more to ours.