Cinco de Mayo Feast for one

Cheers to Cinco de Mayo!  Margaritas are one of my favorite drinks.  It must be a lucky coincedence that my middle name is Margarita.  I guess I was destined to love the drink.  So I love Cinco de Mayo because I have an excuse to drink margaritas solo.  To celebrate the day, I decided to make a feastive meal to enjoy with my ultimate meg-a-rita.  I made a wonderful Mexican ChickenTortilla soup with a ABLT  (Avocado-Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato) salad.  I started by making my own chicken stock by using chicken thighs, carrots, red onions, garlic, bay leaves, salt, pepper and water.  While the chicken and stock was simmering, I started to prepare the other ingredients for my soup & salad.  I diced a Vidalia onion and a ripe tomato.  I minced 2 cloves of garlic and sliced a ripe avocado.  After the chicken was cooked and the stock was ready, I started to sautee the onion, garlic and tomato in olive oil with some ground cumin and coriander.  I removed the chicken from the stock and added shredded chicken to the sauted veggies.  I also added frozen fire-roasted corn kernels and crushed lime tortilla chips.  Finally, I poured the strained chicken stock to cover all of the ingredients.  While the soup was simmering, I made the salad by chopping some iceburg lettuce and broiling 2 slices of bacon.

Before assembling the salad and serving the soup, I made my ultimate meg-a-rita which consists of 1 part premium tequila, 1 part triple sec or orange liqueur, 3 parts fresh lime juice and lot of ice.  I garnish the drink with lime and orange slices.  I don't mess with salt-rimmed glasses.  I serve my ultimate meg-a-rita in my green glass goblet.

Finally, it was time to eat & drink.  Cheers & Bon appetit!

Soul Food or Food For the Soul?

Meals on Wheels. I just finished cooking mac-n-cheese and fried chicken & waffles and packed up to go to Michelle & Becky's house. I wanted to enjoy some soul food with my soul sisters. Since they were busy during my Soul Food Friday Dinner Party, I offered to bring dinner to their house. It was finger-licking good!

I adapted Tyler Florence's Mac-N-Cheese with Bacon and Cheese recipe by using thick cut bacon and a mixture of mild cheddar, Monterey Jack, Swiss and Gruyere cheese. I also adapted Emeril Lagasse's Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles by using skinless and boneless chicken breast for quick cooking and substituting yeast and milk instead of buttermilk and baking powder. It was a success! The fried chicken was so moist that it melted in your mouth. We drizzled maple syrup over the fried chicken & waffles. I loved the combination of the salty crunchiness of the fried chicken, sweet crispiness of the waffle and gooey creaminess of the mac-n-cheese. Party in the mouth!

To top off the night, the Cap won against the Rangers in Game 1 of the NHL playoffs! Go Caps! Go Red!

Feasts for Me!

Here's some of my original creations just for me:

I HEART TRADER JOE'S!!! Sliced Ciabatta drizzled with Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil and topped with Serrano Ham & Manchego Cheese with Garlic Mustard Aioli. All 5 ingredients from TJ's.

 

All 3 steam buns are leftovers from my Spring Fling Party: Pork Longaniza with hard boiled eggs & cucumber salad, Roast Pork Belly with Mang  Tomas sauce & Beef Bulgogi with bean sprouts. All garnished with fresh cilantro & pea shoots. I HEART LEFTOVERS!

Created by raiding my fridge. Sliced ciabatta, baked thick sliced bacon, avocado slices & soft boiled eggs drizled with balsamic vinegar. All ingredients from TJ's.

Chopped salad with sauteed shrimp, roasted corn, avocados, red onions & green onions with a side of fresh salsa. I wish I had a MEG-A-RITA with this.

 Does this look familiar? It's similar but different. Sliced ciabatta drizzled with Spanish Extra Virgin Olive Oil and topped with Salchichon Salame, Chorizo Cantimpalo & Manchego Cheese with a side salad drizzled with Champange vinaigrette. All ingredients from TJ's. Do you see a tread? I HEART TRADER JOE'S!!!

All perfectly sized! All perfectly me!

Feasts For Friends



Ides of March: Roman feast of fresh fettuccine alla carbonara with ...

zucchini bruschetta.

First time I made fresh pasta (Thanks to Michelle & Becky!)

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First time I made fresh steam buns (Thanks to my Momofuko cookbook!)

Spring Fling Feast: Roasted Pork Belly, Pork Longaniza, Steam Buns with Radish Kimchi, Cucumber Salad, Hard Boiled Eggs, Pea Shoots & Cilantro ...

and Veggie Rolls, Beef Bulgogi, Beans Sprouts, Lettuce wraps ...

 and Nasi Goreng with Shrimp Chips and BBQ Chicken.

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Soul Food Friday Dinner Party: Mac-n-Cheese, Fresh Pickles, Cornbread with...

Fried Chicken & Buttermilk Waffles!

I received the greatest praise when one of my guest asked where's my mama because the food tastes so good that it will  make you wanna slap ya mama!

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After 7 weeks of having one dinner party a week, I realized that I need to treat myself to a feast for one. When I cook for others, I usually don't end up eating since I'm busy preparing and cooking. Also, since I'm cooking for others, I usually limit my cooking based on their preferences and restrictions. Now, it's time for me to free myself to indulge in my own cravings!



A Classic Sunday Breakfast

Every Sunday should start with a great breakfast. This Sunday, I had homemade Belgian waffles with maple syrup, strawberry-orange salad, and, of course, bacon. I used the recipe from the user manual of the Belgian wafle maker (Thanks to Michelle & Becky). Luckily, the recipe was easy to divide by 3 in order to make 2 Belgian waffles (one for now and another for later). However, the batter needed to be chilled in the fridge for several hours or overnight. That said, I had to make the batter last night. And it was worth it. It was perfect! While the batter was in the waffle maker, I was able to prepare the strawberry-orange salad by cleaning and cutting up the strawberries and peeling and segmenting the orange, to brew a pot of coffee and to broil the bacon. After 10 minutes, breakfast was ready to serve.

I was inspired to make Belgian waffles for Sunday breakfast when I was making Fried Chicken and Buttermilk Waffles for my Soul Food Friday dinner party. Even though I enjoyed the combination of salty and crunchy fried chicken with sweet and crispy Belgian waffles; I love the classic combination of waffles, maple syrup, fruits and bacon. To make it more decendent, I would have added homemade whipped cream and butter. But I was too lazy to make my own whipped cream and I didn't have any Reddi Wip in the fridge. Maybe next time. Now, I need to buy a Belgian waffle maker. Thinking about Belgian Waffle Wednesday. I love having breakfast for dinner.

Here's the recipe to make 2 Belgian waffles:
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1/3 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
2 tablespoon butter
1 egg

Combine flour, yeast, sugar & salt in a large plastic storage bag* placed in a bowl. In a small  glass measuring cup, add milk & butter and heat up in the microwave for 30 seconds. Add wet ingredients & egg to dry ingredients and mix well. Chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight. When ready to make the waffles, preheat the waffle maker. When preheated, using the plastic bag as a piping bag by sipping off a small corner of the plastic bag; pour out half of the batter (about 3/4 cup) into the bottom grid** of the waffle maker. Close & bake until the indicator light turns off. Cook until golden brown and crispy. Enoy immediately!

Tips:
*Spray the inside of the plastic bag with cooking spray so that the batter will be easy to pour out.
**DO NOT GREASE THE WAFFLE GRID.
If the waffles are made in advance, they can be re-heated by putting them back in the waffle maker until desired crispness.

Bon Appetit!

My Inspiration

As an avid cookbook reader, I'm always on the lookout for a great cookbook to get my creative juices flowing and to inspire me to cook. The new cookbook, Serve Yourself: Nightly Adventures in Cooking For One, by Joe Yonan has motivated me to enjoy cooking solo. He eloquently wrote my new motto to live by: Cooking is the ultimate act of self-appreciation. That said, I believe that eating is the ultimate act of self-fulliment. I love how he refers to single cooks as solo artists. As a solo artist, I'm passionate about techniques of cooking and indulgence of eating. I enjoy cooking as much as I enjoy eating. I also agree that single serve recipes can be easier to multiply than it is to divide one that serves 4 to 6.

Now, I'm ready to cook for me.

A great start to my journey

One should never start a journey on an empty stomach. My journey started with eggs over easy with baby white potatoes and bacon. I HEART BACON! It was a classic breakfast trio that was simple and delicious. I enyoyed it while sipping some freshly squeezed orange juice and freshly brewed coffee. YUMMY!