Well, I have certainly have slacked on the challenge! I don't really know where the past few weeks have gone by but it seems like today I woke up and found that Christams is around the corner!
We had a fun weekend in Las Vegas, where Brian, Jen, and Atlas ran the Rock and Roll Marathon and Half Marathon. They got to run up the strip in the early morning, and I saw them off and... went back to bed. Before and after involved lots of walking up and down the strip, but that seems to be what you always end up doing when you go to Vegas. We also saw the Circ de Soleil show KA and lost a couple dollars on the penny slots. Woo hoo! If you would like to see pictures, stay tuned to the very end.
I have two challenges to cover, so I'll get right to it. I missed Week 5 (really, I don't know where that week went), so you can imagine what wonderful mushroom dish I would have made.
Week 4
The background: You know it's going to be a challenge when you have to Google the secret ingredient. This week's challenge was bok choy, something that immediately stumped me. According to the all-wise Wikipedia, bok choy is Chinese cabbage, and is in the turnip family.
Hello, I am bok choy.
The prep: I was amazed by the size of bok choy - it's big. I took a chance that it would be at Safeway and came up lucky. I chose Asian Potato Salad, since it sounded interesting and I wanted an excuse to use some more of the very expensive sesame seed oil I had bought for a previous recipe.
The main event: Again, I had to turn to the internet - I had no idea how to prepare bok choy, or even what part of it to eat. It turns out that you can eat both the celery-like stalks or the leafy tops. After watching a couple of YouTube demonstrations (what a world we live in!) I took a whack at it - lame pun intended. The rest of the ingredients took a lot of preparation, slicing and dicing and cooking and measuring. But the easy part was that you dumped everything together, gave it a stir, and voilà - you have potato salad.
The wrap-up: The potato salad had a very unique, rich taste, and the ingredients worked together well. The bacon was a great touch. But go easy on that sesame oil! Whew, does that stuff overwhelm.
The final score: Cooking experience is a 5 out of 6, as I think I can prepare bok choy. I'd say 3 out of 6 on taste, it was strange and delicious for the first bowlful, and then got tiring fast.
This was a lot of potato salad.
The recipe: From AllRecipes.com
Asian Potato Salad
4 slices bacon, crisply cooked and crumbled 6 new red potatoes 1 1/3 cups mayonnaise 1 teaspoon sugar 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 teaspoon sesame oil | 1/8 teaspoon dry hot mustard 1/8 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup chopped bok choy 1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced 1/2 cup chopped green onion 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro |
| 1. | Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium-high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. |
| 2. | Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, cool, and chop into bite-size chunks. |
| 3. | To make the dressing, mix together the mayonnaise, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, mustard powder, and salt. |
| 4. | Combine the potatoes, bacon, bok choy, red pepper, green onion and cilantro in a large bowl. Pour over dressing and mix well. Refrigerate for at least one hour to allow flavors to blend, and serve. |
Week 6
The background: This week's ingredient was chipolte. I constantly get chipoltes confused with cilantro. Which is silly, because one is an insanely spicy pepper, and one is a weirdly pungent herb. After this fantastic recipe, though, I will not be getting the two confused.
The prep: Most online searches for chipolte recipes bring up salsa or sauces (I know, I know, salsa is sauce in Spanish... but in Arizona, salsa is its own food group). I decided to go with a sauce-based dish as I am planning a future cooking project in which I finally figure out Mi Amigo's salsa recipe. I found this recipe quickly at the end of work one day. I started out at Trader Joe's, but their chili/Mexican food section was lacking (as in, "Chipoltes? Um... we have enchilada sauce."). Safeway came through (again) with their surprisingly extensive Mexican food section, in the "ethnic foods" aisle. (By the way, the ethnic food aisle in Argentina included American peanut butter and Nesquick. Way to represent.) Chipoltes in abodo sauce are chilis in a sort of tomato-based thin sauce, btw.
The main event: The recipe called for two whole chickens! I decided to go with chicken breasts and halved the recipe. It worked out just fine, though I may just make the full sauce recipe next time and save the leftovers. There weren't too many new skills this time, but it was fun to see how seemingly strange ingredients like cinnamon and Worcestershire sauce can combine perfectly into something incredible. I did realize that I accidentally bought whole chipoltes instead of diced, but I just went ahead and measured out the abodo con chipoltes, pushed around the whole chipoltes while cooking, and then fished them out before serving the chicken. Because no one should have the nasty surprise of biting into those spicy peppers!
The wrap-up: Wow, this was tasty! The sauce turned very dark due to the caramelization, but that's what made it excellent. It was sweet and tangy, better than BBQ sauce but in the same family. I think it would be great on pork and maybe even a roast. I dialed down the cooking time since I wasn't using whole chickens. A warning, though, the sauce burned onto the glass dish I was using, and there are still specks left after taking an SOS pad to the thing.
The final score: Cooking experience is a 4 out of 6, mostly because it made a bit of a mess and the can of chipoltes in abodo violently splattered when I opened it. There are still red spots all over the kitchen. A definite 6 out of 6 on taste, I'm still thinking about that tasty sauce!
The picture I took seems to have disappeared, so you can enjoy the professional one instead:
The recipe: From Epicurious.com, originally published in Gourmet magazine by Paul Grimes
Ingredients:
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
8 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup chopped canned chipotle chiles in adobo (from a 7-ounce can)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 whole chickens (about 3 1/2 pounds each), each cut into 8 pieces
Preparation:
Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
Cook garlic, stirring constantly, until golden, then transfer with a slotted spoon to a plate. Reduce heat to medium and cook onions, stirring occasionally, until golden-brown, about 15 minutes.Add garlic and remaining ingredients, except chicken, to skillet with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce is slightly thickened, about25 minutes. Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle. Coat chicken with half of sauce, then roast, skin side up, in a 17-by 11-inch heavy 4-sided sheet pan 25 minutes.
Now back to Vegas:
The starting line was at Mandalay Bay. Nearly 30,000 people ran the marathon or half marathon.
Mild-mannered Brian reveals his identity as Super Runner Dude.
Finishing in just over five hours.
Jen and Atlas ran the half marathon. Medals were had by all.
And then we rode home.
We didn't stay here, but I couldn't resist posting a lovely shot of the lovely Bellagio.
PS: I don't know why the font size and gray/black font colors are being so sporadic and strange. I am too tired to clean up blogger's html.
