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Category Archives: cooking

I had an exceptionally violent dinner the other day…

Me: I found an eggplant.
Herb: In your garden I hope.  If it was in the attic I would have someone else eat part of it first.
Me: No, in the fridge.
Herb: Thump it.
Me: It’s not a watermelon.
Herb: Yes, but it’s still fun.  It’s like a little back massage for the guy…he’s probably cold.
Me: I stuck him in the oven.  After brutally stabbing and slicing him.
Herb: Herbicide.
Me: Agent orange?
Herb: As in herbicidal maniac.
Me: Def agent orange.  I found a tub of cream cheese.
Herb: In the refrigerator I hope.  What hideous fate awaits this poor thing?
Me: I blended it with the murdered eggplant and red bell pepper.  And I also used the guts of some vinaigrette I found.  I also found an onion that I’m grilling for secrets even as I type.
Herb: Sounds diabolically delish.

Um…I’m not really sure why I decided to start describing what I was making for dinner so violently to my coworker (whose real name is not Herb).  I’m…sure it happens to other people too.  I’m sure it’s not just me.

Anyway, I was taking an inventory of perishables in my fridge that my mother left me.  I think it might be an Asian mother thing to come and visit and leave you with a lot of food, much of it perishable.

As I was looking through the fridge, I found an eggplant, several red bell peppers, part of an onion, and a tub of cream cheese.  So I ended up making a roasted eggplant and red bell cream cheese spread.  I flavored it with some sun-dried tomato and garlic vinaigrette that I found in the pantry.  Then I interrogated the onion for its rebel secrets…over an open flame…in a 10″ fry pan.  You know, as one does.

Then I made a sandwich.  And it was delicious.

Oh and that random attic reference is a story for another time.

I make! Beer can chicken edition

I have been embarking on this journey in which I try and use all the food that’s been stored in my freezer, fridge, or cupboard.  This past weekend, I used up this can of beer that’s been in the fridge for who knows how long, a chicken (fryer) that’s been in the freezer for who knows how long (actually, I think I have an idea of how long), and a bunch of green onions that’s been mouldering away in the crisper drawer (they weren’t moldy, but they were starting to wilt).  I also used up two cans of peaches, but that’s another post.  Anyway, I think I was rather successful in my battle with the overstuffed fridge this past weekend.  I’m terribly proud of myself.  Terribly.

So anyway, with these ingredients and some other things that I can normally find in my kitchen, I was able to make a…BEER CAN CHICKEN!

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It’s a roast chicken utilizing beer to keep things moist.  I more or less followed this recipe.  I omitted the powdered onion because I didn’t have any and the extra salt because I thought the season salt was enough.  Also, WTH?  A TABLESPOON of salt?  Blech.  That has to be a typo.  Also, the recipe is kind of confusing because the directions seem to refer to two different cans of beer but only says that you need one can.  I only used one.  I poured about half into the pan and the other half was in the chicken steaming away during cooking.  I did check halfway through cooking to see if I needed more liquid on the bottom of the pan.  It was ok.  Also, next time I think I’ll try and stick the dry rub under the skin of the chicken.  I don’t always eat the skin of the chicken and if you don’t following the recipe I linked above, the chicken doesn’t have a whole lot of flavor.

Now then, what did I do with all this chicken?  Well, it’s going to feed Yaris for six days (she gets a mix of fresh food with her kibble).  It’ll feed me for two because with one half of the chicken breast and some of the thigh meat and a bit of the skin, I made enough basil chicken salad for two meals.  I was trying to figure out what to do with the chicken and I opted for a basil chicken salad partly because my basil is going crazy and putting out leaves all over the place and has over doubled in size.  I’m going to have to make pesto or something soon.  Also, basil and chicken go together well.  The chicken salad had a mayo and plain yogurt base (I don’t like using all mayo when making stuff), about a cup of basil, two cloves of garlic, three packets of parmesan and two packets of red pepper flakes from zpizza, and salt and pepper to taste.  I blended all that together and dumped the chicken in (chopped of course) and mixed everything together.  Tada!  Basil chicken salad.

So, that takes care of all the meat.  With the bones, giblets, skin, and remaining beer in the can, I’m making chicken stock.  It’s still simmering down as I’m typing this.  It smells really good.  Along with the chicken carcass, I tossed in some furry carrots (as in they were sprouting and there were root hairs everywhere, not as in moldy, also I peeled them so they were fine).  The I’m depending on the spice rub on the skin of the chicken to season the stock so it worked out that all the seasoning was on the skin this time.

So, three things done with chicken!  Yaris will probably be the main beneficiary of all this chicken cooking!  Tada!