Roasted eggplant soup

roasted eggplant soup, originally uploaded by aznkey.

recipe

Viola! Something thats not deep fried and contains vegetables. In all seriousness this was actually pretty good. I was looking for something with eggplants since my girl friend likes em and came across this recipe. If you haven't noticed yet, I just browse through epicurous and look for recipes with high fork ratings and reviews. The only problem i had with it was that the goat cheese made it too sour. Maybe add a bit less or leave it out. Other than that it's quite tasty. If you like a smoother soup stain it because you will get some bits from the tomato skin. Taste wise, the eggplant isn't very strong just a hint. You get slightly tart tomato soup taste. Also some roasted garlic after taste.

Pictured served with some english muffins.

Taste 3/5
Difficulty 2/5

Whisk of Doom

whisk, originally uploaded by aznkey.

The latest additon to my arsenal
Name: Oxo Balloon Whisk
Length: 11 inches
Material: Stainless steel
Abilities: Non slip comfort grip and stain resistant
Damage: +3

Now I don't have to whip stuff with chopsticks.

An awesome gift from my girlfriend.

5 spice cornish hen

5 spice cornish hen, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Since the local market do not carry chickens smaller than 3 pounds I decided to try my 5 spice recipe on a rock cornish game hen. The theory is-smaller chickens taste better because of skin to meat ration is higher=). I was also going to deep fry the chicken after roasting to get the crispy chicken effect in the restaurant but didn't have to time to do it. Note the improve knife work on cutting up the chicken compared to last time. Verdict, the game hen does taste a bit better than a 5 lb chicken.

potato latkes and porkchops

potato latkes and porkchops, originally uploaded by aznkey.

I make alot of random stuff, but this one was certainly unexpected, especially for a MONDAY!

Pan seared dijon pork chops with potato lakes served with sour cream and home made apple sauce.

Get this, I don't have a grater so the potato was shredded by hand. Chop chop!

latkes recipe

Pork chops, again eyeballing
4 peices of pork chops about 1/2 inch thick
1 tbs dijon
1 tbs soy
1/2 tbs sugar
pinch of pepper
pinch of salt
dash of parsley
sear 3 mins on each side

apple sauce
peel and core anapple. dice it. add a splash of lemon juice and 1/2 cup of water. add 1 tbs of sugar. boil for 15 mins and smash with a fork. chill.

Latkes
Taste 4/5
Difficulty 2/5 ,3.5/5 if you don't have a grater=P

Chops
Taste 3/5
Difficulty 1/5

5 spice chicken

Oh yea this rocked.

4-5lb chicken
4 pieces of ginger
4 cloves of garlic
2 scallion
3 tbs of soy
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs salt
1 ts pepper
2 star anise
1 tbs five spice

wash and trim chicken of excess fat. Combine all ingredients and stuff all the solids inside the chicken. Marinate the chicken for at least 5 hours. Truss the bird to ensure even cooking. 450 F for about 1 hour. Let it sit for 15 before cutting to keep the juice in.

NOte. Use some foil and fold up the sides to catch the drippings, great on rice or mash potatoes
As you can see I need to work on my chicken chopping skills.
Taste 4/5
Difficulty 2/5

deviled chicken

deviled chicken, originally uploaded by aznkey.

recipe

Very tender and juicy, work of the buttermilk and deep frying.

Taste 3.2/5
Difficulty 2/5

Dumplings

Dumplings, originally uploaded by aznkey.

shiitake mushrooms
Ground Pork
Napa Cabbage
white pepper
fish sauce
soy sauce
salt
sugar
Nothing was measured so just combine everything and use some judgement. Wrap one and taste before making more.
Eat with some soy sauce and seseame oil

Taste 3.5/5
Difficulty 3/5

White chocolate bread pudding

White chocolate bread pudding, originally uploaded by aznkey.

Recipe
I roughly halved the recipe. Turned out better than i expected, though it's nothing like "pudding" more like a egg custard texture. Contrary to what alot of the reviews say it did not find it to be too sweet even with the white chocolate sauce. I did use a water bath as suggested by a couple of the reviewers.

Taste 3.5/5
Difficulty 2/5

Shanghai noodles

shanghai noodles, originally uploaded by aznkey.

After several attempts i think i got this one down.

Recipe
i just eye ball it the following ammounts are rough estimates

1/3 lb pork lion cut into thing strips
1/3 of a head of cabbage cut into strips
3 bundles of thick noodles(i use fresh taiwanese noodles)

Marinate the pork with 1.5 tbs soy, 1 tbs sugar, 0.5 tbs of oyster sauce, 1 tbs cornstarch. Get your hands dirty and give the pork a nice massage to mix it.

Heat up with a pan 1.5 tbs of oil and brown your pork. Transfer the pork to a bowl when the pork is cooked.
Meanwhile boil your noodles according to cooking instructions, undercook it a little.
Add cabbage and cook until soft season with salt to taste. Add the pork and noodles. Add about 2 tbs of oil( this is like a must unless you have a sticky blob of noodles) Add about 2 tbs of soy and sweet soy and taste, add more soy or sugar to taste.
taste 4/5
difficulty 3/5

Takoyaki

takoyaki, originally uploaded by aznkey.

So i bought this cast iron pan with holes in it to make kanom krok (thai dessert) a few months ago but it's really meant for japanese takoyaki(octopus balls). So I figured it's time to put the thing to use.
recipe

I halved the recipe since i didn't have that much octopus. I've never had takoyaki before so i don[t know how it's suppose to taste. My roomate told me that it's suppose to be uncooked in the middle...raw batter iono??? I thought it tasted okay, like a ball of okonomiyaki with octopus.

Ong Choy

chinese veggies, originally uploaded by aznkey.

One of my favorite chinese vegetables is ong choy. Went to sf last week so i get to shop at the chinese market.
In a super hot pan at chopped garlic and ong choy. add a few pinches of salt and cover until it wilts. Add soy and more salt to taste.
garlic
soy
salt

taste 3.8/5
Difficulty 1/5

Sawadee beef satay

sawadee beef satay, originally uploaded by aznkey.

recipe*fixed

I keep forgeting to take pictures of this before people start eating it.
Here it is.

double chocolate cake

double chocolate cake, originally uploaded by aznkey.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/101275

The texture was pretty nice, leaning towards the moist/brownie like side instead of the spongy stuff. Added some strawberries for color to cut into the super rich chocolate.

Went shopping for quality chocolate at Nuggets. Bought a block of Scharffen Berger bittersweet 70% cacao and some eating Valrhona.

Taste 3/5
Difficulty 3/5