Still in the spirit of 'simplify', it has been a month since I've stopped hoarding pantry items. I've been cooking a lot more now that the weather is cooler and I am spurred on by the challenge of using only what is in my pantry. Naturally I still have to buy dairy, meat, and produce, but NO pantry items. It wouldn't be so challenging if we didn't have a 6 and a 7 year old. Our 7 year old has just recently begun wanting to try new flavours, yay! Our 6 year old who would eat whatever we gave her the first 5 years of life, has developed a penchant for finickiness. Granted, it is a very refined finickiness. Our 6 year old prefers uncomplicated fresh flavours prepared simply. Sounds like our 6 year old has suddenly become a snooty chef! Truth be told, I have a marked preference for uncomplicated, good quality, fresh food prepared simply too.
Pantry Marinara
1 can of good Italian tomatoes. I buy them whole and crush them with my hands not to impart a metallic flavour from food processor/blender blades.
4 tbsp of good olive oil
1 level tbsp of freeze-dried basil (half a teaspoon if I use the basil sold in the spices aisle)
Simmer over a low heat for about 90 minutes if you don't need it right away or, cook it on medium for 20-30 minutes when you need it quick, but you have to watch it the whole time. I season to taste once cooked because if I add the salt at the beginning, the reduction process results in a salty sauce.
I'm completely off of cold cuts. Except for the really dry, salt cured stuff like prosciutto, salami, soppressata. The listeriosis scare did it. Well, for us it was a scare, but people died. How sad. My favourite sangwich* meat is cooked ham. Prosciutto cotto was my replacement until I got a rank batch from Valoroso's last month. I don't blame them, but I'm off the cotto forever, for sure. Unfortunately all ham freaks me out now. Unless it's smoked and boiled in Coca-Cola.
I make my own sangwich meats now:
ham in coca cola
meatballs in tomato sauce
mini meatloaf in brown pan gravy
roast beef
roast chicken
After always being afraid of roast beef... my father had instilled in me a fear of failure and tough roast beef so I never I gave it a try, I digress. Well, let me share with you one of the most awesome discoveries I've made in a while.
I scored some pretty inexpensive top sirloin roasts at my organic grocer. I literally paid $5 a piece for two-pound roasts. I anoint the roast with some good extra virgin olive oil. then I sprinkle it all around with Mesquite spice. Crank the oven to 500 degrees F and when the oven is screaming hot, place the roast uncovered on the center rack for 7 minutes per lb. Then shut the oven off and don't, I repeat DON'T open the oven for 2.5 hours. What you get is perfect, tender, medium rare (leave it in longer if you like it pink but not bloody) roast beef. Wrap in aluminum foil and store in the fridge not longer than 3 days. It's much easier to slice cold. Mmmmmm... beefy goodness.
I got my copy of the BK cookbook yesterday. It was waiting for me when I came home from work. I read it cover to cover. I couldn't put it down. Dinner was late.
I went over to Amazon and posted my review pronto.
I haven't been this excited about a cookbook since Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals. Sorry Nads, I had one baby and another on the way and if it weren't for Rachael it would have been takeout 7/7.
If you don't cook, there is enough humour, cheesecake, beefcake, and sarcasm to make one sexy punk-rock coffee table book about food and drink.
Check out my review, and while you're there, order yours! You know you wanna....
The much-anticipated Bitchin' Kitchen Cookbook is now available. Get your very own autographed copy here!
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Hilarious, informative, delicious, and just a little bit naughty, The Bitchin’ Kitchen Cookbook is a guide for the next generation of lifestyle aficionados. Screw stuffing the turkey! Nadia G offers recipes for real-life scenarios: What do you make for breakfast after a one-night stand? What do you serve up to say you're sorry for the PMS rampage? Need to impress the in-laws? Well, Lord knows you may never be good enough, but at least the meal will be!
Divided into themes such as "Halloween Hootenanny," "Bag 'em, Tag 'em Meals," and "Deflate Your Mate," The Bitchin’ Kitchen Cookbook boasts more than 60 delicious, easy-to-follow recipes such as “Save-Your-Sex-Life Souffles,” “Sedate the In-Laws Bison Tartar,” and “Lock-Down French Toast”—along with comedic correspondent reports from the likes of the Spice Agent, Hans, and Panos the Fish Guy. Sassy “Nadvice” sidebars sprinkled throughout deliver practical food, equipment, and serving tips with a hearty dose of humor.
Viciously funny with an epicurean edge, The Bitchin’ Kitchen Cookbook sends pastel lifestyle hostesses packin’ and blazes a path straight to the hearts and stomachs of hungry wo/men everywhere.
About the Author
Nadia G is the mastermind behind Bitchin’ Kitchen TV, a popular Web and mobile content cooking series that won the first annual WAVE Award for Best Mobile Comedy Series, beating out Conan O’Brian’s mobile series. She lives in Montreal.
Try out some of her tried, tested, and true recipes. Nevermind those recipes written by people who pull recipes out of their @$$ to fill a book. You've tried them, you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, buy the book. Cook from the book. Then, write your review on Amazon.com, Amazon. ca, or BarnesandNoble.com. Doesn't matter if you bought your autographed copy from Nadia G.'s site, as long as you've purchased anything at all from the above sites, you can write a review.
Yes, I'm pushy, but I'm a fan, and fan's can be pushy. And scary. And psychotic. No worries, the food will turn out great and there are some pretty good-looking people -and food, photographed in that book as well as Her Chefness. What else do you need?
I will be cooking from the book and blogging about it because... I can.
Finca Los Primos Malbec San Rafael is 100% Malbec from Argentina. It is deep purple. The bouquet is one of light oak and plum fruit. The wine has a rich mouth feel, with some tannins.
I grew up in a house that only served stupefying, 19% alcohol, homemade Zinfadel, Alicante, Moscato, or a combination of any or all of these. When we ate out, my dad would order a bottle of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. I dated a guy who was an accomplished waiter and new all about and taught me about the finer things -and spoiled me with them! I hail from a town that ritualistically celebrated the uncorking of Beaujolais every year. I know absolutely nothing about wine, but I know what I like. Up until tonight, I was strictly a white wine kinda girl with a penchant for Pinot Grigio. Tonight however, Finca Los Primos Malbec made me a convert. I not only like this wine, I love it. In fact, I think I want to have its babies.
It didn't hurt that it was accompanied by a perfectly medium-rare rib eye steak.
Laura was stunned! How could this woman even be asking that type of question? Even before Laura could answer, she kept on going, “but before you getta expecting a baby you have to lose weight, not get too fat or Frankie not be too happy”.
That was the last draw, Laura got up and went to the bathroom and cried her eyes out and the worse part Frank never even knocked on the door to check up on her.
It seemed like forever before she came out, and there was a look of satisfaction on the woman’s face, as she made Laura cry!
“and Frank never said a fuckin’ word” I asked
“he never even apologized in the car for his mother’s behaviour”.
Laura continued with the story as we both lit another cigarette.
After every mouthful of food was taken, she would say how this was her son’s favourite and that how it would be difficult to cook how she cooked. Young women didn’t care as much as her generation about cooking and making their husbands happy.
“Did ya say something after those remarks?”
“I couldn’t, I was afraid I’d burst into tears again”
And so this is how it began, how the in law that she would never call mom, had already won and over the years she would pull punches like this all the time.
You're a Post-Punk. You know 70s punk was cool, but it was mostly just a stepping stone for the greater intellectualism of what would come after. The 80s were amazing. You quite possibly have huge hair, and may wear lots of black. Snare drums need reverb. Lots and lots of reverb.
For those of you who have forgotten... and those of you who don't know. Christmas begins on the eve of December 24th and goes on up until February 2nd. That's right. Christmas doesn't end at midnight on December 25th.
There's a lot of people out there who would be thrilled with your old baby things. Try contacting a local shelter for domestic violence victims, or a local homeless shelter. They often have women in desperate need of baby items. Your family and friends might not appreciate them, but a poor mother with nothing will think they are treasures!
“A philosopher once wrote you need three things to have a good life. One, a meaningful relationship, two, a decent job of work, and three, to make a difference. And it was always that third one that stressed me, to make a difference. And I realise that I do. Every day, we all do. It’s how we interact, with our fellow man.”
