Red Snapper with Beurre Blanc Sauce

Another Friday! Time for a fun filled weekend ...
Not! I have several reports due next week, and I desire to finish them early. As for cooking, this week has been quite busy, so I find Friday the only time I can actually cook.

I went to Ralphs and purchased Pacific red snapper because it was on sale. One fillet was only $1.60! I should consume more seafood often. When I got back to my apartment, I had the idea that I should poach the snapper and conjure up a beurre blanc sauce. Just like how the French do it, or how Julia Child would. Because I had some leftover mushrooms and basil, I decided to add my own twist to the sauce.

Red Snapper with Beurre Blanc Sauce



Ingredients
1 fillet Red Snapper
5 Mushrooms
1/2 Brown onion
1/4 Lemon
1 cup White wine (split)
2 tbs Butter
2 Garlic cloves
3 or 4 Basil leaves
Salt and pepper

Preparation for swimming with fishes
1. Slice mushrooms thiny
2. Slice brown onion
3. Cut lemon wedge
4. Pat fillet dry
5. Salt and pepper fish
6. Smash garlic and peel

Poaching instructions
1. Add some oil ( I use butter) in a pan
2. Add onions until translucent
3. Line the fish fillet on top of the onions
4. Add 1/2 cup (more or less) white wine until it covers the fish
5. Cover and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side

Sauce instructions
1. Add oil (I used butter), mushrooms, and garlic; cook until soft
2. Add in lemon and 1/2 cup white wine in a sauce pan
3. Reduce 3/4 of the liquid
4. Turn heat on low and add in the butter
5. Stir quickly until butter is incorporated as a sauce-like consistency
6. Shred basil into the sauce
7. Pour sauce on top of the fillet

Voila and Bon Appetite! I served mine with asparagus beacuse it also tastes good with asparagus!

Scallops with Parmesan Basil Sauce

Today, my professors announced that the midterms scores were up online...
My heart skipped several beats after hearing the words: midterm, score, online.
I knew that I made several careless mistakes and received something around average or below average...

To my surprise, I did pretty decent and way above the average, so that means it is time to celebrate!

I saw that scallops were on sale for 6.99/lb at Ralphs and acquired 3 big round disks of deliciousness after getting into a long conversation with a woman waiting in the seafood department asking me if I knew how to cook scallops. I eventually zoned out and only heard "college student, cooking, mess up".

Anyways enough of my blabbing of my boring life ...
Time to get started and finish my 10 page essay after cooking.

Scallops with Parmesan Basil Sauce




Ingredients (sauce)
1 1/2 cup Milk
1 cup Parmesan cheese (shredded on reserve)
2 tbs Butter
1 tbs Flour
1/4 cup Basil
salt and pepper

Prepwork
1. Wash the basil and set aside
2. Get your station cleaned and ready

Intructions
1. In a sauce pan, melt the butter and stir in flour until roux is formed
2. Add milk until all the roux is encorporated
3. Wait for a simmer on low heat and keep stirring (DO NOT GO TO SUPER BUBBLY STATE)
4. Slowly spoon in cheese one spoon at a time and keep stirring as you add the cheese
5. Keep adding until you get thick sauce consistency. (You may need more or less than 1 cup of cheese)
6. Cut the basil into thin strips (roll the basil up and cut, it's easier!)
7. Throw basil, salt, and pepper into the pot
8. Taste


Scallop portions

Ingredients
3 Scallops
3 tbs White wine
1 tbs Butter or oil

Cooking Directions
1. Heat the oil
2. Sear the scallops 3-4 minutes on each side or until both sides are brown
3. Throw in white wine and cover for 1 minute
4. Voila! serve with sauce

On a side note... I spent a long time trying to figure out an Asian style sauce for scallops and ended failing : (. Somehow I am Asian, but I can not successfully create a good Asian dish :(. Oh well, I guess people have their strengths and weaknesses xD.

Red Wine Marinade for Steak

The weekend went by extremely fast! One day it's Friday, and after doing a couple of projects and lab reports, it is Sunday night. I did not even have time to relax or chill with friends because I have so much homework.

Well, I got to eat...

Today, I have made ribeye steak. This is a quick and easy recipe.

Red Wine Marinade for Steak
1/2 cup Red wine vinegar
1/8 cup Extra virgin olive oil
2 tbs Thyme powder
2 tbs Garlic powder
1 tsp Fennel seeds
Salt and pepper (on reserve)

Prep work
1. Grind or chop the fennel seeds
2. Throw all the ingredients together in a marinade bag or bowl
3. Pat the steak dry
4. Salt and pepper the steak
5. Preheat oven 425F

Instructions of zoom zoom
1. Throw steak in the marinade and marinate for about 3 hours or a day (I give it a day)
2. Heat up pan and sear both sides for 30-60 seconds
3. Toss steak in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes (medium rare for large ribeye steak)
Note: You can grill it too.

Now back to finishing up various homework and continuing my life as a college student. No picture today because I was extremely hungry and forgot to take a picture :(.

"Thai Tacos"

I saw that soft taco shells were on sale at Ralphs and thought it was a good buy. Unfortunately, when I got back home, I realized that I do not know what to make with the ingredients in my fridge with the tacos.

Then it hit me. Tacos are the Western version of fried rice. You can put anything in them and it tastes good.

I had some leftover chicken marinating from yesterday's dinner and decided to chop it up and use that for my protein. I had some bell peppers going to expire and a lovely half onion.

Let us start the combination of leftovers!
"Thai Tacos" (In quotes because I'm not too sure where they are from because I pulled this idea out of my head ... maybe I should call it Jon's weird imagination tacos)



Ingredients
6 Soft shell tacos
3 Coconut fried chicken breasts see note first before starting
1 cup Coconut rice
1/3 cup Peanut sauce
1 Green bell pepper
1 Red bell pepper
1/2 Brown onion


Prep the leftovers (yum!)
1. Thinly slice both the red and green bell peppers
2. Slice the onion
3. Create the ingredients above that have links (see note before starting)
Note: Cube the chicken into 1/2 inch - 1 inch cubes and marinate, then bread the chicken so when you fry it, the chicken turns into little nuggets (aw how cute!)

Cooking
1. Saute or roast the bell peppers and onions
(Wow! only one cooking instruction)

Assembling the taco (somewhat cooking instructions)
1. Heat a small pan and lightly cook the soft shell tacos
2. Spread the peanut sauce on the taco
3. Spoon some coconut rice in the center
4. Put the chicken and garnish with the bell pepper and onions
5. Enjoy with more peanut dipping sauce or Saracha hot sauce

Peanut Sauce

I dug up some old peanut butter from who knows where and who knows when from my pantry. I decided to use it because it smelled and tasted fine. Since I had more leftover coconut milk, I made a peanut sauce to put with my "Thai" style tacos.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Coconut milk
1/4 cup Peanut butter
3 tbs Soy sauce
2 tbs Peanuts (chopped)
2 Garlic cloves
2 tsp Brown sugar
1 tsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Cayenne chili pepper powder
1 tsp Rice vinegar
1/2 Lime

Directions of nuttiness
1. Heat up oil of choice (I used chilli oil)
2. Add in peanut butter, soy sauce, lime, vinegar, sesame oil, and garlic
3. Mix around until becomes ketchup-like consistency (might need a bit more coconut milk if it is very thick or soy sauce)
4. Add in chili powder and brown sugar
5. Taste (it should have a sweet tartness taste to it with a smoky spiciness flavor)
Note: Not enough tart: add more lime, Not enough sweetness: add more sugar, Not spicy enough: add more chili powder
6. Add in chopped peanuts and serve with grilled chicken or just eat it straight (for the crazies people)

Coconut Rice

Man! I never knew that putting coconut milk and rice would taste so fabulous! I guess the rumors are true.

I had some leftover rice from my club's hot pot gathering. For those that don't know what hot pot is ... it is like fondue but Asian style with broth of some sort and you can cook thinly sliced meat, tempura, vegetables etc.

I am going koo koo for coconuts!

Ingredients
1/4 cup Coconut milk
1 tsp Butter
1 cup Leftover rice

Directions of the sacred coconuts
1. Melt the butter in a pan
2. Toss rice in it
3. Add coconut milk until the rice is heated up and the liquid has absorbed

Coconut Fried Chicken

Another marathon of coconut madness! I shall share with you coconut fried chicken. I've had this idea in my head for awhile and had a dream about making it for a cooking competition that I never found the result to because my alarm went off.

Coconut Fried Chicken


Sorry picture is a bit bad because I was sooo hungry

Ingredients for Marinade
3 chicken breasts
2/3 cup Coconut milk
1 tbs Coriander
1/4 cup Soy sauce
1 tbs Cayenne chili powder
Salt

Directions
1. Throw all the ingredients together and marinate for a day

Ingredients for Final Product
1 cup Flour
2 Eggs (beaten)
1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Instructionals
1. Take the chicken out of the marinade
2. Place chicken in flour --> egg --> panko bread crumbs
3. Heat enough oil for frying
4. Throw in the chicken and cook for about 5 minutes each side or until done

My head might have gotten hit with a coconut, thus I have gone coconut crazy today ^_^

Coconut Bechamel Sauce

It's Friday! It's coconut time! I don't know why Friday = coconut time, but I guess it is because Friday is when I dispose of all the stuff in my fridge that is about to go bad so I have to cook something out of it.

Coconut Bechamel Sauce

Ingredients
1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup Coconut milk
1/4 cup Milk or more depending on how thick you want the sauce
1 tbs Curry powder
1 tsp Chili pepper
1 tsp Brown sugar
1 tsp Soy sauce
salt

Directions
1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan
2. Add the flour and mix well until roux is made
3. Add the coconut milk and milk until sauce like consistency
4. Add chili powder, soy sauce, brown sugar, and salt
5. Taste to see if more salt is needed

I served this sauce with asparagus. Tasted pretty interesting yet good.

Asparagus Souffle with Coconut

I had several quarts of coconut milk and a enough batches of asparagus to feed a million hungry engineers. As from the previous post and as maybe you can see, I am going Iron Chef using coconut milk in everything I cook today xD.

When I came back, I decided that I haven't made souffle in awhile, and I should add a twist to regular souffle making a coconut curry-like flavor with asparagus.
Let's get started :) !

Asparagus Souffle with Coconut



Ingredients

8 stalks Asparagus
1 cup Coconut Bechamel Sauce
3 Egg whites
2 Egg yolks
1 tsp Curry powder
1 tsp Soy sauce
Salt

Prep work
1. Wash and peel asparagus (the thick barky parts)
2. Cut asparagus into 1 inch pieces and set tips aside
3. Make the coconut bechamel sauce you can find it here
4. Beat egg whites until the peaks form (good workout by hand)
5. Preheat the oven for 375F

Directions of deliciousness
1. Mix egg yolks, curry powder, soy sauce, and asparagus pieces (exclude the tips)
2. Salt the mix and add into the bechamel sauce
3. Fold the egg whites with the mixture
4. Put everything into ramekins
5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes

Garnish the souffle with the tips.
Enjoy this wacky creation by me xD.

Kiwi Coconut Chicken Experiment

I am very tired this whole week! Man I don't even have time to do anything, and I think I am failing my classes pretty badly because I can't keep up with my assignments. : (. Hopefully I can get my act together during the weekend.

Anywho, I am going to share with my readers my experiment I had today. No pictures today ... Unfortuneatly I misplaced my camera somewhere and someone stole my TI-83 today .. (not that, that has to do with anything)

Kiwi Coconut Chicken

Ingredients
1 Chicken Breast (chopped)
1/4 Coconut Milk
1 Kiwi (Diced)
1 Tbs Honey
1 Tbs Lime juice
1 Tbs Soy Sauce
1 Tsp Rice Wine
1 Tsp Coriander powder
1 Tsp Cayenne pepper powder
Salt and Pepper

Directions
1. Throw all the ingredients together
2. Marinate chicken for a day
3. Pan cook the chicken with marinade
4. Plate onto taco shells

Anyways more homework to do

Kung Pao Chicken

Yesterday was Valentine's Day and Chinese New Year. I finished UCLA Dance Marathon, which raised money for fighting pediatric AIDS. Man I am really tired from that. When I finished dance marathon, I went to my roomate's house to eat Chinese New Year Dinner.

On request... I made Kung Pao Chicken.

Kung Pao Chicken

Ingredients
2 Chicken breasts
1 Green onion
1/2 Brown onion
1 Green bell pepper
1 Red bell pepper
1/2 Cup Soy sauce
1/4 Cup Peanuts
1/4 Cup Rice wine (Split in half)
2 Tbs Corn starch
1 Tbs Sesame oil
1 Tbs Chili oil
1 Tbs brown sugar
2 Tsp Rice vinegar
1 Tsp Peanut butter
5 Chinese red peppers (varies on hotness level)

Preparations
1. Cut chicken breast into cubes
2. Mix the chicken with corn starch
3. Add in soy sauce, sesame oil, chilli oil, brown sugar, 1/8 cup rice wine, peanut butter, and vinegar
4. Marinate for 30 minutes
5. Cut the onion, bell peppers into squares.
6. Slice green onion

Cooking Time!
1. In a pan put in oil and a dash of chili oil and sesame oil
2. Throw in the onions, chili pepper, and bell peppers
3. Cook until onions are clear
4. Add in chicken with marinade and peanuts
5. Cook until chicken is half done
6. Add in green onion and 1/8 cup rice wine
7. Cook until done and serve with rice

Dance Marathon Weekend

Sooo I won't be posting for the weekend. Even though it is the long weekend. I'll be doing dance marathon to raise money to fight pediatric AIDS. You can still donate at http://dm.kintera.org/chefjlin. Remember, the money you spend on a cup of Starbucks coffee you just bought could prevent AIDS from being transmitted from a mother to her child. So save that coffee for later and donate.

Thanks!

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Yay I love it when a 4 lab only lasts 5 minutes. It has been quite a nice Californian sunny day compared to all the snow that has been falling back at home in DC. I decided to do some experimenting with stuffed meat.

My roomate said he needed to finish some cheese. I needed to finish the spinach, tomatoes heavy cream, and mushrooms in the fridge. I guess today was sort of a fridge cleaning day. Since I bought a pork tenderloin today. I had an idea of stuffing the tenderloin with all the stuff.

Stuffed Pork Tenderloin



Ingredients
1 1/2 lb Pork Tenderloin (basically the whole thing)
3 cups Uncooked spinach
1 cup Mushrooms
1/4 cup Cheese
1/4 cup Bread crumbs
1/4 cup White wine
3 tbs Dijon mustard
2 tbs Garlic powder
1 tbs Sage
Salt and pepper

Prep work
1. Take a knife and insert a hole through the center of the pork tenderloin at the ends.
2. Take a sharpening steel or rod and stick it all the way through to make the hole larger and deeper
3. Slice the mushrooms

Cooking section and stuffing preparation
1. In a skillet put in oil and mushrooms
2. Cook until tender
3. Throw in the spinach and cook
4. Remove and wait until the mushroom and spinach are cool to tough
5. Mince the mushroom and spinach and put into a bowl
6. Throw in salt, pepper, garlic powder, sage, mustard, cheese, and bread crumbs
7. Mix well
8. Stuff the pork with this mixture
9. Preheat the oven for 375F

Cooking the pork
1. In a large skillet sear the pork until brown
2. Put the pork in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until internals read 165F

While the pork is cooking make the sauce

Creamy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

3 Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup Heavy Cream or half and half
1 tbs sage
1 tbs garlic powder
1 tsp maple syrup (or honey or sugar)
Salt and pepper

Prep work
1. Dice tomatoes

Cooking part
1. Cook the tomatoes in a sauce pan until it looks like mush
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients
3. Cook for about a minute
4. Transfer to the blender and blend until smooth
5. Remove and strain
6. Return sauce to pan and reduce until sauce like viscosity
7. Serve with the pork

Anyways I am off to my class and then work. Now I have an early dinner prepped ^_^

How to Get Dorm Food

Another long day at work and more meetings. Not much to say today. I am investing in a D-SLR camera. I will probably get a Canon 20D with a 50 mm f/1.8 lens for my food pictures and other cool shots.

Being a lazy college student during midterm, I decided to hitch dorm food from my friend Richard's little brother. Free food is always good xD.

Dorm Food



Prepwork
1. Ask Richard for dorm food.
2. Richard asks his little brother for dorm swipes.
3. His brother swipes us food and leaves without eating with us xD
4. Get food and enjoy UCLA dorm food buffet.

Dorm food this year is surprisingly good. I had some baked salmon, creme brulee imitation, and salad.

Clarification for those who do not know how the UCLA dorm food system works.
For the dining halls (buffet style), a meal swipe is used to get into the buffet. Each quarter students have a total number of swipes they can use.

Chicken with Almond Sage Mushroom Sauce

Hello few people that read my blog.. I failed my midterm today on water resources : (, but that's alright because I think everyone else failed since there was not enough time to finish all the problems and check over my work.

After I took my test, I thought of why I have not heard of anyone putting together almonds, sage, and mushrooms.

So... to the test kitchen!

Chicken with Almond Sage Mushroom Sauce (quite a mouthful)



Ingredients
1 Chicken quarter (leg and thigh)
5 Crimini mushrooms or white mushrooms
1/2 Shallot
1/3 cup Chicken stock
1/4 cup Cream
1/4 cup White wine
1/8 Almond slivers (or less depends on how much crunch texture you want)
1 tbs sage
1 tbs Maple syrup
salt and pepper

Preparations
1. Slice the mushrooms really thinly
2. Slice shallots
3. Salt and pepper chicken
4. Preheat oven for 425F

Directions for cooking and not fail
1. Put oil in an ovenproof skillet.
2. Throw in chicken skin side down
3. Let chicken cook until skin gets crispy
4. Turn over the chicken and slightly brown the other side
5. After slightly browning the chicken put in shallots and white wine
6. Throw the chicken into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Directions for the sauce
1. Throw in a tiny amount of butter enough to cover the bottom (about 1 tbs)
2. Toss in the mushrooms and cook until soft
3. Put chicken stock, cream, salt and pepper, almonds, maple syrup, and sage
4. Reduce the sauce until sauce-like viscosity
5. Taste to see if need more sweetness or savory taste (add more syrup if you want more sweet tasting sauce)
6. Serve with the chicken and Bon Appetite as Julia Child would state.

The dish turned out exceptionally well, better than I expected. I use to hate the taste of sage, but now I have found some good use for it.

Buffalo Hot Wings ... Superbowl!!!

It's the Superbowl, and I decided to waste my studying time to make buffalo wings. Yea... I need a break from studying about channel flow etc. In order to prep for the Superbowl, I made my own buffalo wings.

Buffalo Wings



Ingredients of football winners.

Part 1: Chicken
3 lbs Chicken wings
1 cup Flour
1 tbs Cayenne pepper
1 tbs Garlic powder
1 tbs Paprika
Salt and pepper

Prep work for tackling chicken wings

1. Prep the chicken by cutting the wing from the joint
2. Add flour, paprika, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper to a bowl and mix
3. Toss the chicken in the bowl until it is all covered with flour mix

Directions for an interception
1. In a pot put oil enough to cover wings
2. Add the chicken until both sides are brown (approx. 5 minuets)
3. Preheat oven for 425F
4. Place chicken inside the oven for 5-7 minutes
5. Set aside on a plate

Part 2: Sauce
1/2 cup Butter (-_- rawr so fattening)
1/3 cup Tabasco sauce (I like hot spiciness)
1/4 cup Brown sugar
1/3 cup Ketchup
2 tbs Tomato paste
1 tbs Paprika
2 tsp Cayenne pepper (varies depending on spice level)
2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt and Pepper

Directions for touchdown
1. Throw butter into a sauce pan and melt
2. Place brown sugar, ketchup, tomato paste and mix well until a simmer
3. Add rest of the ingredients and adjust your spice tolerance
4. Add the chicken and let it coat on both sides
5. Serve to football watchers ^_^

Well back to studying, I hope I can get some time to watch the Superbowl.

Japanese Chicken Curry

Ah... what an uneventful weekend filled with fun studying. My water resource engineering midterm is on Monday, and I have no clue what is going on in the class aside from knowing that there are different types of flows and water can jump and how to read a Moody chart, which does not tell me how my mood is.

Anyways, for lunch I decided to make a giant batch of chicken curry to supply me for my lunches next week.

The curry I made today was quite an experiment that turned out quite well. I heard all sorts of rumors such as adding coco powder, heavy cream, and garam masala can enhance my Japanese curry's flavoring. As a result, I decided to test if those rumors are true.

Japanese Chicken Curry



Ingredients of oddness
4 Chicken thighs and drumsticks (best if already deboned)
4 Carrots
2 Potatoes (Medium sized Yukon potatoes)
1 Brown onion
3.5 oz (100g) Package of curry roux (I prefer super hot)
2 cups Chicken stock (a little more for reserve)
2 Tbs Tomato paste
2 Tbs Heavy cream
2 Tbs Garam masala (see Indian basics section)
1 Tbs Cayenne pepper (adjustable to tolerance)
1 Tsp Coco powder (wtf??? yea...)
1 Tsp Honey
1 Tsp Soy sauce

Prep work of samurai chopping
1. Chop onions into 1 sq in sizes
2. Slice carrots to desired thickness (baby carrots work if you don't want to cut anythign)
3. Peel and chop potatoes into desired cube sizes ( I make them 1 cubic in big)

Cooking
1. Add chicken skin size down in a pot until browned
2. Add in onions and cook until translucent
3. Add carrots, potatoes, and chicken stock
4. Cover and cook for 10 minutes or until potatoes are almost done
5. Add roux, tomato paste, heavy cream, garam masala, cayenne pepper, coco powder, honey, and soy sauce
6. Mix all the ingredients well and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Reduce until sauce-like viscosity. If it is too thick, add more chicken stock.
8. Serve with rice or noodles.

Hmm... The result of this experiment made the curry richer probably because of the cream and gave a better aroma than just adding water to the roux type curry.

Well... back to studying ... 300 more pages to read yay! ^_^

Steak Reward for Hell Endured

Man I am very veyr tired ... I pulled off two all nighters in a row, and I do not know why I am still standing typing to the citizens of the internet. Anyways quite a long week, and I haven't really updated my blog with recipes, which will be added later as I perfect them.

As for today, I made a balsamic vinegar marinade with my steak. Turned our really nice.

Balsamic Vinegar Steak Marinade


Another crappy cell phone picture : (...

Ingredients for beef massage

1 cup Balsamic Vinegar (enough to cover 1/4 of the sides of a steak when in a bowl)
1 tbs Soy Sauce
1 tbs Rice Wine
4 Fresh Basil Leaves (dry ones work too)
1 Shallot
1 tsp Butter
Salt and pepper

Directionals

1. Shred basil with your hands into tiny pieces
2. Add in all other ingredients into a bowl or marinade bag
3. Throw in big juicy rib-eye steak
4. Marinade in fridge for a day, or if you are in a hurry, an hour would be sufice.
5. Sear the steak 30 seconds on each side on high heat using oil of some sort (I use butter)
6. Place on a grill with sliced shallots and 1 tsp of butter until meat thermometer reads 135F
Alternatively use an oven to cook it for 375F for 8-10 minutes.

Serve with spinach salad tossed with honey mustard, onions, and tomatoes.
Eat with bread or rice. (I eat rice becasue rice is my everyday food xD)

Sorry guys busy ...

Hello readers from the massive internet population ...

It is midterm week and I haven't gotten the time to post up my new recipes, but I shall do so by Sunday and have 7 recipes up sooo stay tuned ^_^!!