Brandon Eats

Maybe Magical Meals?

Desperate, desperate nights. Nights when dinner seems impossible but everyone's hungry. Half the family wants to go out and the other half thinks that it's a crazy idea. Rifling through the cupboards and rummaging through the freezer. Can you make dinner out of frozen corn and that jar of black bean garlic sauce you bought at the Asian market? No? Are you sure?

This seems to be every night at our house, especially since I went back to work. I kept thinking that I would magically figure out how to work AND provide my family with meals and clean clothes but I still haven't gotten the hang of it. Pete Wells, editor of the New York Times Dining section wrote a wonderful piece about a similar inability to magically make meals happen every, single night at home.

I can't believe it's true — I love to cook but I don't want to cook because I'm too tired.

More after the jump

Me, too

Sometimes I like to post things on Broken Eggs

 

 

Bloggers Beware

It's been said before, sweet food bloggers, but it bears repeating: In the dash to be first, you might leave a few victims in your wake.

Here's a link to my latest column in this month's issue of Richmond Magazine.

Arroz con Pollo

I felt just terrible that Valerie and Ross had to go over to Simply Recipes to get a recipe for arroz con pollo.  I'd never posted one myself because what I make is so similar to paella--almost exactly the same, as a matter of fact, sans seafood. Plus a little tomato paste.

It's a great dish to have in your weeknight arsenal, however, and I'm not exactly sure why I thought everyone could read my mind and figure that out on their own, somehow, by reading that paella post.  I guess I just have a lot of faith in my readers.

For those of you without telekinetic powers (and I know there are a few of you), below you'll find one of those great pantry and freezer dishes that will save dinnertime right when it's on the brink of utter disaster.

Just to review: this is a cheater, non-fussy kind of recipe that uses (gasp!) sodium-laced BOUILLON, instead of real chicken stock.  You know, the little cubes?  I, in fact, use real, mostly homemade (if you consider stock purchased from Mekong Restaurant homemade) chicken stock for everything else.

I've made arroz con pollo both ways, and I always, always succumb to the lure of the trashy cube.  It's also the saltiest method and the one most brimming with glutamates (the tomato paste is no slouch in that department either), and that probably explains my preference, given my addiction to umami. It's still a cheat, however, so if you want to take the high road, make sure you use strong, strong stock.  This little dish needs to pop with flavor. As they say.

 

Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice)*

2 TB. olive oil
1 red pepper, sliced
1 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 double-sized cubes (like Knorr) chicken bouillon
4 cups hot water
2 very large pinches saffron (lightly toasted in a small pan ahead of time)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 c. Bomba rice or Aborio rice
1 lb. real SPANISH chorizo, sliced into 1/2” rounds (NO SUBSTITUTIONS)
6-8 pieces of chicken, patted dry

Sauté the garlic, red pepper, and onion over medium heat in large, wide cast-iron skillet until soft and fragrant. Add the chicken and sauté until golden brown. Dissolve bouillon in hot water; stir in tomato paste; add to pan. Sprinkle with saffron and stir. Add rice and chorizo; bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmering with the pan covered.

Cook slowly until all of the liquid is gone (20 to 30 minutes: keep a close eye on it), and the rice is cooked. Serve immediately and thank the pantry gods you didn't have to go to the store.

*Not a dish for those on a diet.  Your secret, however, is safe with me.

Gangsta Cookin'

Spinaches as clean as your mama's forehead--every Wednesday on My Damn Channel and the Cookin' with Coolio Show.  Put it in the pan because you are the man.

Tobacco Avenue

Click here to read the funniest post on the funniest new blog in town.