Corndogs ... Preparation for National Corndog Day!

I heard from my co-worker last week that National Corndog Day is coming up in late March; thus that got me in the mood for corndogs for the entire week. Finally, I found some time to make these delicious pancake warped hotdogs during my study break. I might as well make the best out of these beef hotdogs I bought on sale at Ralphs. I think this is the only time I would actually buy and eat hotdogs from the supermarket because not to be a food snob ... but I do not see hotdogs to be appetizing for dinner or lunch due to the numerous amounts of bad grade meats and chemicals they stuff into those pink rubber sticks.

As for this case ... since I haven't had a corndog in awhile, I decided to make them.

Corndog


(looks like eggrolls on sticks XD)

Ingredients of processed foods
1 package Hot dogs (8 count)
120 g Cornmeal (about 3/4 cup)
105 g All purpose flour (about 2/3 cup)
30 g Cake flour (about 1/4 cup)
1 cup Milk
1/4 tsp Baking soda
2 tbs Maple syrup
3 tbs Brown sugar
1 tsp Baking powder
1 Egg
Cornstarch (for coating)

Preparation for an American heart attack!
1. Mix all the dry ingredients together
2. Mix all the wet ingredients together
3. Combine dry to wet ingredients
4. Pour in a tall glass
5. Dry hot dogs and coat with corn starch
6. Stick chopsticks or skewers through the hot dog and dip them into the batter

Cooking in fatty goodness
1. Pour some oil into a pan thats good for frying
2. Cook the corndog until all sides are browned

Man ... now I feel stuffed ... I better get on those vegetables soon ^_^ ... not anytime soon though xD.

Somen Noodles with Miso Tilapia

Because I am too poor to afford black cod... once again, I have tilapia, which I have to say is my new favorite fish as you can see from my previous posts. It's cheap and delicious ><.. I probably should be concerned with the amount of mercury, lead, and various toxins from this "previously frozen in China" fish. I guess I'd have to go to Whole Foods for the good stuff, but heck I am a college student and do not have that kind of money for organics. I guess this will be as bad as eating instant noodles or even worse ... because at least in instant noodles, I know what chemicals I am consuming, while for this lump of fish, I have no clue what toxins have been in its system. Enough talk about organics and what is healthy. This dish was probably one of the fastest or least time consuming dishes I have ever made. Hope you enjoy it during the finals stress.

Somen Noodles with Miso Tilapia



Ingredients
1 Tilapia fillet
2 tbs White miso paste
1 tbs Sugar
1 tsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Soy sauce
1 Green onion
1 Batch somen noodles

Prep Directions
1. Mix all those ingredients together
2. Pat the rinse and pat the tilapia dry
3. Evenly pat the miso mixture on the fish
4. Marinate for about 3 hour (I would marinate it for a day)

Cooking
1. Preheat the oven for 375F.
2. Place fish in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
3. Boil water and throw in noodles.
4. When noodles are done, pour a tsp of sesame oil, soy sauce, and black vinegar and mix with the noodles.
5. Put some bonito flakes or favorite seaweed topping over the noodles and serve with the fish.

Tilapia with White Wine Sauce

Yesterday, when I poached my tilapia with white wine, I proceeded to leave one of the fillets in the pan, while the other more fortunate fillet would be paired with the orange sauce. My apartment buddy decided to taste the lonely fillet in the pan and said it was delicious. At first, I thought it would be bland, but it turned out to be quite savory. The fish melted instantly in my mouth and swam down my throat.

Too bad there isn't a picture for this one because it got destroyed because everyone was digging into it at the stove. There goes my lunch...

If you are short on time, this is a very quick fish to make!
Time: approx 10 minutes

Tilapia with White Wine Sauce

Ingredients of simplicity
1 Tilapia fillet
Salt and pepper
Enough white wine to barely cover the fillet

Prepwork of one step (maybe two)
1. Salt and pepper fillet after drying it.

Cooking up a storm (not really xD)
1. Put olive oil in the pan.
2. Sear the fish for 10 seconds on each side.
3. Turn the heat to low and add in the white wine.
4. Allow the white wine to simmer and not boil!
5. Cook for about 10 minutes on one side or until fish flakes.
6. Remove fish and reduce the white wine until 2 tbs of liquid is left..
7. Drizzle white wine sauce over the fish.

Tilapia with Orange Sauce

Man, I love fish! It was once again on sale at Ralphs. I got 3 fillets for $1.50. You might say it sounds fishy about that price, but the fish tasted excellent and was fresh. On my little break from studying, I made orange sauce and poached two fillets with white wine.

I have dinner for 12 strangers later, so I might post what I had for dinner depending on what they make for us ^_^.

Tilapia with Orange Sauce



Ingredients for fish
2 Tilapia fillets
1/2 cup White wine (or enough to barely cover the fish for poaching)
Salt and pepper

How to cook the fish
1. Oil a pan and sear fillets for 20 seconds each side
2. Salt and pepper the fish while your doing the searing
3. Add in white wine and turn heat on low so it is simmering
4. Cook until flaky (About 10 minutes)
5. Make sauce while fish is cooking

Ingredients for orange sauce
1 Orange
1 tbs Orange zest (I took the zest from the entire orange)
2 tbs Butter
1/4 cup White wine
1 tbs Sugar
1 tsp Ginger (1/2 in of ginger)
1 Green onion (for garnish, about 2 inches)

Prep work
1. Julienne ginger and green onion
2. Zest the orange (should be about 1 tbs) set aside tsp for garnish
3. Squeeze all the juice from the orange

Creating the sauce
1. Add in orange juice in sauce pan until boiling/simmering
2. Add in sugar, zest, ginger and stir and reduce to 1/2
3. Add in white wine and reduce 2/3 liquid
4. Turn heat on low and add butter and stir quickly so it becomes sauce-like

Plate the fish and sauce and throw green onion and zest on top and pour sauce.
Yum yum... enjoy!

Pasta with Sausage and Mustard Sauce

Man it is Friday already! That means finals are coming up and then spring break! I plan to have my spring break filled with Italian food after I get my pasta maker. Today was rather uneventful day with my meetings and lab work.

My friend Jeannie decided to make some pasta with spicy sausage and mustard cream sauce. Here is my modified version of the recipe.

Pasta with Sausage and Mustard Sauce



Ingredients
1 cup Pasta shells (depending on how much you want)
4 Italian sausages (spicy ones)
4 cloves Garlic
1 Shallot
1/4 cup Red wine
1/4 cup Heavy cream
1 tbs Whole grain dijon mustard
1 tsp Chili pepper
Chopped parsley (garnish)

Prep work
1. Smash garlic and dice
2. Dice the shallots
3. Chop the sausages into slices
4. Boil water

Cooking section
1. Heat up pan and add sausages to cook for about 2 minutes (brown them)
2. Throw in pasta into boiling water while the sausage is cooking
3. Add in garlic and shallots until translucent and cook until sausage about done
4. Remove sausages and place on top of paper towel to soak up the grease and keep warm.
5. With the same pan, deglaze with red wine and reduce about 2/3 of the liquid
6. Stir in the heavy cream, chili, and mustard
7. Reduce until sauce-like and check if your pasta is done, taste sauce if salt is needed (probably very minimal because the sausages are salty)
8. Plate pasta then sausages and use a strainer to strain the sauce into the dish
9. Sprinkle parsley on top

Enjoy eating this spicy pasta dish. Now time to clean up and work on my lab report ... fun stuff ... along with editing my group report and essays, which people need to learn how to cite their sources properly -_-.

Parmesan Cheese Souffle

It's Thursday... That means another day at work and studying for finals along with finishing up projects. I found that I would never use up the eggs and cheese I bought awhile ago. Thus, I proceeded to create a cheese souffle. Not much to say today, though I did start watching this anime called Welcome to the NHK and found out how much of a hikamaru I am...

Parmesan Cheese Souffle


Yes it is in a cup....

Ingredients
100 g Parmesan cheese
4 eggs (separated)
1 cup Milk
2 tbs Butter
85 g Panko breadcrumbs
1 dash of Mustard
Salt and pepper

Preparation of cheesiness
1. If the cheese is not grated finely use a knife to cut it into tiny pieces ( I had shredded cheese)
2. Separate the eggs
3. Melt the butter
4. Warm the milk to lukewarm
5. Butter the dish you desire to put it in (oven safe dish!)
6. Preheat oven for 350F
7. Heat up some water for a water bath (put water in a larger pan than baking dish)
*This is a water bath http://www.bookofjoe.com/images/1130179948809.jpg

Instructions
1. Mix breadcrumbs, butter, milk, egg yolks (one at a time while stirring fast), mustard, and dash of salt and pepper
2. Beat the egg whites until peaks are stiff
3. Fold egg whites into the mixture of step 1. (Do this quickly until barely all of it is incorporated)
4. Fold in cheese
5. Dump into oven safe dish
6. Put dish on top of water bath
7. Put it on the oven for 30-40 minutes or until the top is nice and puffy and brown.

I would suggest making a blackberry or berry type sauce to put on top of this souffle, but that will be saved for another day.
Turned out to be nice and crispy shell with a nice soft inside.. so delicious!
Enjoy!

Tilapia with Cheese Topping

Ahhhh. FINALS WEEK is approaching.... Doom is about to approach. I haven't had any time to cook and have been eating out or precooked foods from my freezer. I went to sleep at 6am today and got woken up at 9am by the fire alarm because some idiot in my apartment burned his soup and then proceeded to open the front door, which caused the whole apartment's fire alarm to be set off.

Anyways...
Tilapia is on sale at Ralphs for 1.70/lb. Surprisingly, one fillet was only 80 cents! This week shall be fish week for me as I prep for finals. I heard fish is brain food ^_^.

I decided to experiment a little today because the fish was so cheap. No picture today because I got back at 9:30 pm and was very very hungry.

Tilapia with Cheese Topping
2 Tilapia fillet (I got 1/2 lb)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 Lemon
1/4 onion
5 White mushrooms
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp Thyme powder
1 tsp Paprika
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil
White wine

Prep work
1. Preheat the oven for 375F
2. Dice onion
3. Dice mushrooms and cook in butter until cooked state
4. Put cheese, lemon juice, mustard, thyme, paprika, mushroom, salt and pepper in one bowl
5. Blend in food processor or mix together
6. Wash and pat fish dry.
7. Oil up fish and salt and pepper
7. Place mixture on top of the fish

Directions
1. Put fish on aluminum foil and sheet pan
2. Pour white wine over the fish fillets (about 1/4 cup)
2. Put fish in the oven for 10 minutes on middle rack
3. Move fish to the top rack and broil at 475F for 2 minutes or until flaky state and the cheese is browned (means its done)

Results of my mad creation!
1. Needs a balance to the mustard, such as mayo
2. Different cheese should be used such as mozzarella
3. Garlic should be used ... too bad I didn't have any :(
4. Pretty good and filling, yet not the best thing I've made. Tasted normal like something I would order from a chain restaurant like Red Lobster.

Well off to do my lab reports yay! Civil engineer fun time!