Tuesday, September 21, 2010

New Camera, New Pics

Old Truck

I have upgraded to a new camera and let me tell you, it's pretty awesome. With my new to me Canon 50D I jumped from 10.0 mp to 15.0 mp which is great but the kicker is the big jump in my shutter speed and the increased low light options. I should have this camera for a while and now need to get some new lenses. The one I have is great and I love using it but I would like to get a macro lens and something that shoots really great pics from far away. We'll see what happens.

Anyways check out my new pics and let me know what you think. As always if you want one let me know and I will email it your way. Thanks for checking them out.

Direct Link

Monday, September 20, 2010

Chicken Marsala

Chicken Marsala

This is one of my favorite all time dishes to order from an Italian restaurant. The mushrooms, the wine, the accompanying pasta it's all so good. It's crazy easy to make too, I'm serious. So simple, so good. Just make it. If you have any questions please feel free to email me.

Ingredients
- 4 chicken breasts, filleted into 2 pieces
- Salt and Pepper
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 pound of button mushrooms sliced
- 1 cup Marsala wine
- 2 cups good chicken stock
- 1/4 cup cream

1. Heat 4 tablespoons of butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. Take the chicken pieces and season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Place flour in a flat dish and dredge the chicken in it. Shake off excess flour and set aside.
2. When butter is melted add your dredged chicken and cook until both sides are golden brown about 4 - 5 minutes per side. Remove chicken from the pan and set aside.
3. In same pan add the mushrooms and sauté until the mushrooms have released all their liquid about 8 minutes.
4. Add the wine and scrape all the little pieces off the bottom of the pan. Simmer until liquid has reduced by half. Add the chicken stock, remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and cream. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil over medium high heat.
5. When the sauce is boiling reduce the heat to medium low and return the chicken to the pan making sure all the chicken pieces are submerged in sauce. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Remove pan from heat. Add precooked pasta to your plate, then take 2 pieces of chicken and set on the noodles. Ladle the sauce over the noodles. Garnish with parmesan cheese.
7. Enjoy!!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Sweet and Sour Pork

Sweet and Sour Pork

Okay so I know that most people have a phobia about cooking any sort of Asian cuisine but it's not that tough. As soon as you get a couple of items in your pantry from your local Asian supermarket you will be good to go. Now this is a good recipe for Sweet and Sour Sauce and can be used as a dipping sauce, a wing sauce or on meatballs. You can also substitute the pork for steak, chicken or tofu. Now the breading on this recipe isn't super thick but does an excellent job of sucking up the sauce. Seriously, it's super good I highly recommend it. Please email me if you have any questions. Enjoy everyone.

For Marinade
- 1 pound pork cut into 1 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon white rice wine
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon corn starch

The Stir Fry
- 1/4 cup mochiko flour (found in the Asian section of your favorite supermarket)
- 2 red peppers sliced 1 inch thick then cut on the bias
- 1 onion sliced
- bunch of green onions cut on the bias
- 2 cups cubed pineapple or one 14 oz can drained
- Peanut oil for frying

The Sauce
- 1/2 cup pineapple juice
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup water
- 4 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons sherry

1. Combine all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl with meat and marinade in fridge for one hour.
2. Combine the pineapple juice, ketchup, brown sugar, vinegar, water, soy sauce, pepper flakes, and sesame oil.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 15 seconds or until fragrant.
4. Add the pineapple juice mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring, until the sugar dissolves, 2 to 3 minutes. Don't worry if it's super runny we are going to thicken it up on the next step.
5. In a bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the sherry and make a slurry.
6. Add the slurry to the simmering sauce and whisking constantly. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
5. Heat up your deep fryer to 350. If you don't have a deep fryer add 2 inches of peanut oil to the bottom of a wok over medium high heat. If oil starts to smoke turn it down.
6. Combine mochiko flour with the marinaded pork. Basically you are looking for all the pieces of meat to be covered in the flour.
7. When oil is heated shake off excess flour and fry in batches until the pork is golden brown. Remove from oil and set on paper towel aside.
8. Take wok and remove all but 1 tablespoon of oil and return to medium high heat. Add your pre-chopped veggies and saute for 5 minutes until they start to sweat.
9. Add the sauce and pork to the work and stir until sauce is covering everything.
10. Remove from heat, garnish with sesame seeds and serve over white or brown rice.
11. Enjoy!!!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Roasted Tomato Bisque

Dinner Time

There is never a bad time for soup in my eyes. Most people don't like to eat soup during the summer but not me, I will eat it whenever. So I decided to make some killer tomato, basil soup which quickly turned into roasted tomato bisque. It's basically the same thing except with cream in it. It's really simple to make and will quickly have you never buying that canned tomato soup ever again. If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call.

Ingredients
- 5 pounds roma tomatoes
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 2 medium onions diced
- 6 cloves of garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 10 cups (2.5 quarts) good chicken stock
- 1/4 cup of minced fresh basil
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons butter
- Cornstarch slurry (recipe to follow)

1. Preheat over to 400 degrees.
2. Take a tomato and cut off the end where the stem was and lay it cut side down on a cutting board. Then cut the tomato in half by cutting from north to south down the middle of the tomato. Lay cut side down on a cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the tomatoes.
3. Drizzle all the tomatoes with EVOO then season with salt and pepper. Bake for 45 minutes or until the skins on the tomatoes start to separate from the flesh. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to be handled by hand.
4. Remove the skins from the roasted tomatoes and discard. Place skinless tomatoes into a blender and puree until nice and smooth. Set aside.
5. Add olive oil to a large stock pot with onions, garlic and red pepper flakes and sauté until sweated about 5 minutes.
6. Add reserved tomato puree, chicken stock, basil, cream and butter. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and continue for 1 hour.
7. Make a slurry of 1 part cornstarch and 2 parts water. While soup is simmering stir in the slurry until you get the desired thickness you are looking for.
8. Pour into bowls, garnish with fresh basil and serve with your favorite grilled cheese.
9. Enjoy!

More Pictures

New Nephew and Such

Shaka

So my brother in law had a kid and now I am an uncle again. I am not going to lie he's pretty cute. I am a little concerned about him being a ginger and all I don't want him to turn out like this kid. Just kidding I am sure as shit he'll be just as insane as his dad. His name is Shaka after all.

Anyways check out the new born.

Strummin

Here are some pics from a couple of weeks ago as well. Check them out. There was a jam session with my friend John Jameson and my uncle and my buddy Lou. It was pretty killer.

Direct Link 1
Direct Link 2

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Pearrygin Lake 2010

Pearrygin Lake

This year's Linenko - Dumas reunion in Winthrop, Washington at Pearrygin Lake State Park was one for the ages. It is the first time since all of us original cast members have been in the same place at the same time (short of one but we don't need to mention her name here Raena). I can't get enough of all my family and I really enjoyed seeing all of them.

We also got to bring Kishelle little sisters which was awesome. I tell you what I don't want daughters at all. Just my luck I will have 2. Whatever.

I did get a ton of great pics so check them out. I appreciate you checking them out.

I am working on a blog for chicken cacciatore so stay tuned.

Direct Link

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

4th of July Weekend

Lincoln City Coast

So this 4th of July we headed down to Portland for our 3rd year in a row. We usually spend the 4 day weekend at the Safeway Waterfront Blues festival but this year we had other plans in the works. That's not to say that we didn't spend one day there which we did Friday. We got to see some killer bands in the rain but the real treat was John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. If you are not familiar with them they are one of the best Blues band from the early 60's which used include Clapton before he left to form Cream with Jack Bruce. Mayall is one of the best vocalist, harmonica player and pianist (hahaha) of our time. Check him out.

The next day we headed out to the Oregon coast to lovely Lincoln city where we ate, drank and flat out enjoyed the beach. The weather worked out for the most part and the fireworks shows we were able to watch were awesome. Also I flew some kites which was totally rocking, I forgot how much fun that was. Anyways it was a ton of fun and we really didn't want to come home.

I did get a ton of pictures taken and edited so check them out and let me know what you think. Hope you all had a great weekend like we did.

Direct Link