Valentine's Weekend, Part 3

So not all I cook is breakfast. It's just that that weekend, our friends cooked the first dinner, and we went out for lunch. It was awesome. The electrician grills up a mean tri-tip 'n asparagus. G cooked Mashed taters.

So here was dinner from Becky and me:


The bread was store bought. I'm still too lazy to cultivate my own sourdough starter. Maybe Emab will do it. (Feedingthepack.blogspot.com)

Okay, so here's how to season chicken for free at a timeshare or anywhere else they're kind enough to supply a full salt shaker.

8 chicken breasts
3/4 shaker of salt (1/4 cup, I'd guess)
1 quart H2O
4 black pepper corns
1 free packet (2 Tbsp) dry garlic flakes
1 free packet (2 Tbsp) Italian seasoning

Bring all this (Minus the chicken) to a boil. Add enough ice to cool it to room temperature. Dump the chicken in it and throw it in the fridge for two hours. Any longer, and you'll have really pretty salt licks at the end of it all.

Watch a movie while it's brining. We opted for Dan in Real Life.

Cook some pasta according to package instructions. We opted for good ol' spaghetti.

Fire up the grill on HIGH. The hotter, the better. If you can melt some metal, then good!

Our room was fitted with a natural gas grill, so it didn't get all that hot.

While the inferno is heating, take some zucchini, cut them in half lengthwise, brush with oil, and sprinkle some pepper and kosher salt on 'em.

Grill the chicken, ON HIGH, for 4 minutes, rotate 45 degrees, and grill another 4 minutes. Flip, and do it again, 'till the internal temperature hits 160 degrees. Evacuate and store in the microwave to rest and ward off poachers.

Mix spaghetti with sauce. Repeat grilling instructions, minus the flipping, on the squash.

Serve with Merlot. I think. I don't remember.

Valentine's Weekend, Part 2

Did I stop at muffins? No. Should I have? Heck, no! Here's the deal: I'm an egg fanatic. I have two over easy every morning. I'm grumpy without eggs. Here's how to make an omelet.

Your arsenal:

Eggs, salt and fresh pepper here...

Butter, NOT MARGARINE, an adult beverage, a nonstick skillet on MED-LOW, no higher or you lose, and your iPod bathing the kitchen in the wonderful sounds of Pomplamoose. Look 'em up on YouTube...
And WHOLE milk. Not nonfat. Not skim. 1/2 and 1/2 would be even better. Cream...now you're talking scrambled eggs.

...But in the words of Alton Brown...that's another blog.

Whisk two eggs, a heavy pinch of salt, and about 1 1/2 oz. of milk together until the mixture is homogenized, but not a foam. not that you'll ever get there by hand, but you want most of the egg whites not to be separate. Add pepper to your choosing.



This is a custard, folks.

Got the butter melted and not foaming anymore? Good.

Made sure your cooktop is level? Even better.

Slowly dump your brand new custard in the pan. Don't touch it. Don't jiggle the pan. Just...walk away. Walk away.

Watch the sides. See how they begin to look dry? Dump some cheese in the middle, now.

Wanna jiggle the pan? Don't.

Add your other fixins when the cheese is melted and the custard has set on top. If you're looking for warm veggies, you should have sauteed them before egg hit pan.

When your creation has set, slide it onto a plate, folding in half or thirds or whathaveyou with the pan, as breakfast is exiting.



This was Becky's. It had mushrooms, cheese, and onions. Serve with Dominican Republic coffee that your favorite sister and brother-in-law team with the Russian last name gave you.

Valentine's Weekend, Part 1

So we went to a timeshare with our amazing friends. We cooked. Here's the stuff I cooked, and how to do it.
Those are my muffins. Yup. I invented 'em. They came from the idea that I really wanted chocolate covered strawberries for breakfast, but am way too lazy to melt down some chocolate first thing in the morning, and have nowhere near the self control not to eat an entire sheetpan of them if I made them the night before.

WET:

½ Stick of Unsalted Butter, Melted

¼ cup vegetable oil

½ cup strawberry jam, NOT JELLY. The chunkier the better. I like the French stuff with pectin.

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

¾ cup plain low or non fat yogurt

1 ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

(this is the wet mixture. You can whisk this to your heart's delight.)

DRY:

2 ¼ cup AP flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Baking Soda

a heavy pinch of kosher salt, as always. Don’t skip this.

OVEN: 350

(This is the dry stuff, sifted together and carved into a little pond, ready to mix.)

Spin all the dry stuff in a food processor a couple times.

Whisk all the wet stuff, minus the chocolate chips, until smooth. Stir in the chips.

Dump the dry stuff into a bowl, then dump the wet on top of it. Stir until just combined. DO NOT OVERMIX.

(See how not all the flour is saturated? You want me to mix more, right? Well, RESIST, DARN IT!)

Dose into a standard muffin tin.

Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Invert the muffin tin on a cooling rack and lift the tin off the muffins. Let them cool upside down for 2-3 minutes. This will prevent soggy bottoms.

Turn them upright, let cool (almost) completely, and enjoy with your sweetheart.

For the Jam, I like this stuff:

It's French. It's as close to home made as they sell in the store. It's good for two batches of muffins.

Let's make this pleasant, shall we?

This is my blog.

Wait, that's not a good way to start. Let me start over.

I'm Steve. This is my blog.

Much better.

So, I'm here to tell you how I make edible things in kitchens that don't belong to me. This is because I'm technically homeless at the moment. It's a long, long story, but right now, my beloved and I are living with her parents, so yes, we do have a roof with wonderful people under it, but it's not ours. Hence the title of the Blog. When I cook, I generally don't do it in one kitchen more than two or three times in a row.

Oh, and the URL. "Eat or starve" dot blogspot dot com. I like it. Mainly because it's truth. Just ask the Donner party.

(Que drum rimshot. "Ba-dum CHING."

'Kay. That's the intro blog.

Love y'all.