By nando, on January 14th, 2011
Jake’s Wayback Burgers is a chain that just opened a location close to where I work; they are known for fresh (i.e. never frozen), hand-formed patties and their hand-spun milkshakes. I’d heard quite a bit of buzz concerning the new burger joint in town so I decided to give it a try.
The location is quite small, with maybe a dozen two-person tables and four stools at a counter. A coworker and I went at lunchtime on a Friday and every seat in the house was occupied and there was a line of 8-9 people waiting to order. After waiting in line about 10 minutes, we finally reached the registers and placed our orders. I ordered the Jake Cheeseburger (two patties and American cheese) with onion rings and my coworker ordered the Jake Burger with fries, plus a couple of drinks. All burgers are served with lettuce, tomato, pickles, raw onions, ketchup, and mustard, plus you can add mayonnaise, grilled onions, mushrooms, and a few other toppings (I went with the included toppings but substituted grilled onions for the raw ones). We found a seat and waited for our food to be brought out to us.
The . . . → Read More: Review: Jake’s Wayback Burgers
By nando, on January 11th, 2011
Most people think of crab cakes as either too expensive to order when eating out or too difficult to make at home (or both!). Truth be told, they’re quite easy to make at home, but they can be a bit messy, so I suggest wearing rubber gloves when forming the patties. Few other dishes make my wife as happy as a good crab cake meal; the only shame is that we don’t get to eat them as often as she’d like. Hopefully, this recipe will prove simple enough that most readers will want to give it a try this weekend. Just make sure you use Ritz crackers, as they are the “secret” ingredient that make a world of difference (compared to regular bread crumbs).
As for which crab meat to buy, I suggest going with a brand that sells local Blue Crab if you’re on the East coast or a nice Dungeness crab if you’re on the West coast. Just read the label and it will tell you where it’s from. As for Phillips (the most well-known brand), most of their crab is from Thailand, so consider yourself warned keep that in mind. Edit: If you can get . . . → Read More: Crab Cakes
By nando, on January 8th, 2011
As you know, I made a Standing Rib Roast for Christmas dinner. We had quite a bit left over and I was looking for a way to use some of the leftover beef in a different way (variety is the spice of life, after all). I came up with the idea of slicing the beef thinly and using it in a beef stroganoff recipe. It resulted in the most tender version of this dish that I have every had. I wouldn’t recommend making a standing rib roast solely for this purpose, but if you have the leftovers, why not?
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: None.
Ingredients:
6 oz cooked beef, thinly sliced
1 medium onion, julienned
6 oz cremini mushrooms, sliced
3 tbsp butter, divided
1 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp prepared yellow mustard
1/4 tsp each paprika, salt, and black pepper, plus a bit more salt to taste
1/4 cup sour cream
2/3 cup beef stock
1 tbsp parsely, finely chopped (for garnish)
8 oz cooked egg noodles
Procedure:
Place one tablespoon of butter in a skillet over medium heat. Once the butter melts, add the sliced onions and a pinch of salt, saute until they begin to caramelized (about 15 minutes), stirring as needed. Remove the onions to a plate and . . . → Read More: Beef Stroganoff
By nando, on January 2nd, 2011
Anyone who knows me will tell you that I love breaking with tradition and doing my own thing, and my eclectic cooking style is as much a testament to that as anything else I’ve ever done in my life. I love to take traditional and established recipes and play around with them a bit and see what I can come up with. In this case, I opted to switch up a few ingredients in a chicken marsala recipe and was very happy with the results.
I’d never attempted to make chicken marsala at home but I figured it had to be better than the bland, often mushy versions that I’ve had in many restaurants. Usually, I’m so disappointed in the flavors and textures of restaurant chicken marsala that I’ve stopped ordering it altogether, leaving me no option but to make it at home if I ever want to have it again. I toyed with the idea of using other cooking wines (such as sherry, or even making an “Asian” version with rice wine vinegar and saki) but settled on going the Italian route and using balsamic vinegar instead. Since balsamic tends to be a much stronger flavor . . . → Read More: Chicken and Mushrooms with Balsamic Reduction
By nando, on December 27th, 2010
Don’t let the picture fool you, it’s a perfect medium rare standing rib roast. It might look like it’s cooked to medium because of the way I had to photograph it (I had to use the flash because it was way too dark in my kitchen, even with added light), but it’s really not.
For the second year in a row (do I smell the start of a tradition?), my wife and I had rib roast as our Christmas dinner. Most people would call it a Prime Rib, but if the meat isn’t Prime grade (and I bought a Choice Rib Roast), it should be called a standing rib roast. Whatever you call it, a roast by any other name is still delicious. It takes a long time to cook, but that’s part of the experience since you get to smell it for 3-4 hours as it gently roasts in the oven.
The idea came from watching an episode of Alton Brown’s Good Eats more than three years ago. I took the ideas he spoke of in that episode and made them my own since I didn’t have the materials he speaks of in his show. The . . . → Read More: Christmas Dinner: Prime Rib
By nando, on December 22nd, 2010
There is a new addition to the Dembellyfull kitchen: a toaster oven. We’ve been thinking about getting a new one to replace our almost three year old toaster oven for a while. The old one was good, and served us well, but it was time to upgrade to a bigger unit. We settled on the Breville BOV800XL 1800-Watt oven based on several online review sites and we couldn’t be happier with our choice.
We’ve only had the oven for a little over a week, but we’ve already used it for a few things and, I must say, it’s very impressive. It toasts bread evenly (unlike our old toaster oven that toasted the top nicely and the bottom unevenly), almost as good as using a regular slot toaster. I also tried baking some bread in it and the loaf was perfectly crisp all the way around instead of our usual burnt bottom and undercooked top. We also baked a pizza in it that ended up as good, if not better, than when baked in our regular oven (and without heating up the kitchen!).
The heat distribution is even throughout so you end up with great food fast. It also has . . . → Read More: New Addition: Toaster Oven
By nando, on December 20th, 2010
(Sorry for the quality, but I used my iPhone to take the picture)
My wife and I recently dined at Firebirds Wood Fired Grill (website) so I thought I’d write up a quick review. It was our second time dining there in the past year (since we moved to Durham) and this experience was better than the first one. I ordered their smoked chicken wings the first time and found them to be undercooked so I stayed away from them on this visit.
The restaurant is made to feel like you’re at a mountain lodge. It’s dimly lit, but not dark, with stone walls and a working fireplace. It was quite packed, even for a Friday evening, but we were seated quickly because we called ahead to put our names on the list.
The server was quick and professional. He greeted us nicely and offered assistance with any questions we might have. The bread came out quickly, too, and was still warm from the oven. We placed our orders and the food came out promptly. I ordered a chili-rubbed rib eye with Southwest au gratin potatoes, my wife had the 7 ounce bacon-wrapped filet with a . . . → Read More: Review: Firebirds Wood Fired Grill
By nando, on December 16th, 2010
I was in the mood for take out Chinese food but not really in the mood to drive and pick some up. I had a bottle of Trader Joe’s General Tso’s sauce in the pantry for such an occasion and decided that this was as good a time as any to try it. I also didn’t feel like battering and frying some chicken pieces so I scoured the Internet in search of a “lighter” version where battering and frying wasn’t necessary. I came upon this recipe from Martha Stewart and thought it was as good as any.
The chicken was very crispy when it first came out (I cooked it in batches) but it was just barely crispy by the time I had coated it in the sauce and heated it for 2 minutes. It wasn’t bad, just not as crunchy as you would expect from a battered piece of chicken.
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: I used store-bought sauce but you can make your own by following the recipe I linked above. Feel free to use either white or dark meat chicken (3 breasts or 4-5 thighs should be enough).
Ingredients:
1 lb chicken meat, cut . . . → Read More: General Tso’s Chicken
By nando, on December 10th, 2010
. . . → Read More: Cuban Black Beans
By nando, on December 6th, 2010
Pasta is a comfort food in my house. It’s a quick way to make a satisfying meal that my wife and I can enjoy while not making much of a mess. I prefer to use fresh pasta (the kind you find in your grocer’s refrigerated section) since it cooks quicker and has a more appetizing texture than dry pasta. It’s a bit more expensive but well worth it.
I normally just settle on a quick red sauce, usually out of a jar, but sometimes I like to make something a bit more labor intensive. In this case, I took my marinara sauce and added vodka and cream to create a wonderfully delicious and comforting sauce. The marinara recipe I just linked to is enough for one pound of pasta but if you don’t want to make it, you can purchase a pre-made marinara from your grocery store and just add the vodka and cream.
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 4-5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: You are going to want to have the sauce prepared before you drop the pasta in the water. If you’re using dry pasta, cook it for 7-9 minutes and then add it to the vodka . . . → Read More: Pasta alla Vodka
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