Goat Cheese

Turkey Burgers are amazing if done right. I think I can add this one to the list.

I mixed ground turkey with creamy goat cheese, minced yellow onion and garlic, teriyaki sauce, balsamic vinegar, worchestershire, sauce red pepper flakes, black pepper, and montreal steak seasoning before grilling the burgers. For the aioli, I mixed mayo with sriracha hot sauce, dried basil, black pepper, and lime juice. I topped the burger w/ fresh roma tomato slice and baby spinach leaves on a grilled wheat bun.

For the side, I roasted some baby yellow dutch potatoes (my new favorite) w/ salt, pepper, garlic, dried oregano, and olive oil.

Becca's "best. burger. ever." comment reminded me to update the blog...

Cheers.

Two Scoops!

It's good to be back in my normal routine. A week in Alaska followed by a weekend in Clearwater, FL had me beat! Though there were some good meals in Alaska, nothing really stuck out. Of course the seafood was as fresh as it gets, but that's about it... The Beer was great, though!

Clearwater was great! Some of my pledge brothers were there celebrating one of their bachelor parties. We had to grill something good, and nothing is better than fresh seafood from the Gulf. That night we had a feast to say the least. Thick cut Delmonico Ribeyes, Margarita marinated Colossal Gulf Shrimp, Jumbo Sea Scallops, Teryaki style Portabello mushroom caps, and asparagus: ALL GRILLED! Everything was absolutely delicious. I will definitely marinate shrimp in margarita and garlic again...





Tonight I left work at 5 for once, but when I got home I remembered that I hadn't gotten any groceries since I've been back. Becca had bought some fresh veggies and pulled out some Tilapia, so I decided to wing it with what we had.

::Bran Encrusted Tilapia with a Cheesy Garlic-Thyme and Chardonnay Cream Sauce and Veggie Wheat Pasta::

I really wanted to encrust the fish in something different, and rummaging through my pantry I found some Raisin Bran cereal. Once I pulled out all of the raisins and crushed the bran flakes, I figured I had a good crust in the making...something different, at least. Once I 'breaded' the fish, I sauteed the fillets in butter and o.o. for a minute before putting them in the oven to finish cooking through at 350.

For the sauce I sauteed fresh garlic in butter and reduced the heat to low before I wisked in some milk. (usually I would use heavy cream). At this time I added some dried thyme and Montreal Steak Seasoning (GREAT stuff!), continuing to simmer on med-low heat. When the fish was about ready, I stirred in a couple of tablespoons of full-fat sour cream (since I didn't use heavy cream!) and finally a handful of mozerella cheese to thicken it up. This sauce came out awesome!!

As a side I cooked some wheat pasta, sauteed fresh garlic w/ freshly steamed broccolli, and carrots, and mixed everything together in a pan before adding some butter and white wine. I let that simmer and continued tossing the noodles with the veggies.

Served the Tilapia on top of the pasta, and topped both w/ the cream sauce. Becca couldn't decide whether she liked the bran encrusted tilapia better, or the sauce. Life is full of tough decisions...

Good eats.

Alaska

I'm leaving for Alaska tomorrow for a week, so I decided to make a real nice dinner for Becca. Tonight we had my version of surf n' turf. I stopped by the local butcher shop and got 2 bone-in new york strips cut 1 inch thick. I marinated them in o.o., balsamic vinegar, and a bit of Worcestershire, salt n peppa and some thyme. Also got some pretty nice sized shrimp which i marinated in o.o., old bay and garlic powder.



I grilled the steaks to a nice M-R and grilled the shrimp too. For sides, spicy sauteed garlic green beans, candied yams, and grilled avocado. I topped the shrimp and steak with a spicy garlic,butter and white wine reduction which I made by sauteing fresh garlic in butter with Sriracha philipino hot sauce. I added the wine and let it reduce to about 1/5 of its original amount. Seasoned to taste - it came out perfect.



I won't be making anything for at least a week, so I'm glad Becca and I were able to enjoy the rest of this beautiful day with good food. I hope to try some good seafood in Alaska, and I'll be sure to take pics of anything different that I try.

the first bite...

A Fave

Since I've last blogged, my schedule has been extremely hectic - thanks to work... Getting off late put a damper on my meals, but I am back w/ one of our favorites. (picture didn't come out too good b/c I used my camcorder)

Tonight we had Tilapia with a lemon, wine and butter sauce, along with mushroom and pea risotto and sauteed yellow squash. Becca loves when i make this for her, as you can tell by her plate...

I usually add capers to my sauce, though this time I didn't have any. This one's really simple to make, but so delicious. The risotto came out extra creamy this time, probably because I added a little extra parmesan cheese. Everyone loves cheese, right? If you ever make risotto, make sure to use white wine for about 1/3 of the liquid you use to cook it - it gives it great flavor. For the other 2/3 I use chicken stock.

Until next time...

That Asian Persuasion♦♦

I'm excited about dinner. Yesterday after work I wanted to marinate some boneless pork chops for tonight. I usually just season them with salt and pepper, a little olive oil (o.o.) and maybe some balsamic - and it tastes great on the grill just like that.

Rummaging through my fridge I found some Garlic Chili Paste that I used to make a sauce for my version of Bonefish Grill's BANG BANG shrimp. I had to try it out again, it has great flavor. So I mixed a couple spoonfuls of that spicy red pepper paste with some o.o. and soy sauce. I had to add some fresh chopped garlic to set it off some more. After seasoning the chops w/ salt & pepper, I poured the Garlic Chili Soy marinade over them and threw them in the fridge to sit for a day...

Now the question is whether to grill or stir fry the pork? I'll post later on w/ my decision. Heyo!

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When I got home the pork was ready to go! It had been marinating in the Garlic Chili Soy marinade for about a day. It looked delicious by itself... but I decided I had to grill it first! HEYO!

One tip that I learned for my good friend Josh is to continuously baste the meat while it's on the grill with a simple mixture of soy sauce and water. It keeps any grilled meats delicious and moist. I had to change it a bit this time and mixed in some more of that garlic chili paste (that's how I roll).

I had to get some help from my beautiful Becs to help me out slicing the water chestnuts and baby corn to go in my fried rice (she loves doing stuff like this). I also threw some snap peas, carrots, fresh garlic, and onions into my wok to stir fry - making sure I kept stirring.

Becca and I try to eat healthy. And I know fried rice isn't the healthiest thing to eat, but if you use BROWN RICE it makes you feel a little bit healthier - So that's what I used. One tip to remember when cooking fried rice is to make sure the rice is cold before you throw it in the wok. If you don't, the hot rice will stick to the wok and burn easy.... write that down.

I threw in some soy and teriyaki sauces along w/ some black pepper and the meal was complete.

The dinner came out really good. I could really taste the spiciness and soy flavor in the pork. I'm glad I marinated it over night.


Though next time I make it, I will make a chili glaze to go over the pork once plated. I think that might set it off.

Leftovers are going to be great...

The First Bite

So the other night I was cooking up something for Becs and me to eat for dinner and I realized that I should probably take notes on things that work and don't work in my dishes. Not really write down exact proportions of ingredients, or even entire recipes, but rather just key words that might remind me of how I prepared something. Better yet, I should use our new camera and camcorder to capture some of the best ones.

Food is my passion. Not many people know that I almost withdrew from my last year of Mercer's Engineering program to pursue a culinary degree. I'm glad I didn't. Not to say that I will never go back and get a degree in culinary arts - just not yet... For now I will enjoy being an engineer and continue to focus on finishing my Master's degree at Georgia Tech (Go Jackets!) in the hopes that years from now I will have a solid base to begin a new career in food!

For me, cooking is more than a stress reliever or a hobby. I like to explore new flavors, mix/match known favorites, and try new things. Most importantly, I love to share what I make with my friends and family. There is nothing more than seeing pure enjoyment on someone's face after the first bite. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This blog is my attempt at sharing my passion for good food and also to remind me of how I made that dinner I cooked last week.

This is my life, with food.