Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Getting Older and Double Dose of Cooking

You’re in luck this week, to celebrate my 33rd year; you get not one but two meals my dear reader.  Every Thursday a friend of mine (who is a bit shy so will remain nameless in this blog, just imagine that it’s someone super famous and doesn’t want the press to mob my house and wreck our good time) comes over for what we call movie night.  This tradition started with my old roommate Becky as a way to make sure we kept in touch and would get to spend time with each other.  It is so easy to get busy with life and work that you lose touch with friend.  Having a night where you know you will get to spend with the people you like is a great way to keep that from happening.  Truth be told half the time we don’t even watch a movie.  As people have moved away and new friend have come into my life the cast has changed, but once I week I know I will get to spend time with some friends. 

Most movie night we will just grab some quick food out or have something easy like cereal, but this night we stop off at the grocery store to get my nameless friend some coffee and somehow had the epiphany that breakfast for diner was just what the doctor ordered.  We picked up some Maple Sausage and planned to make French Toast.  Now, I haven’t made French Toast in years but I do have a book of breakfast recipes.  Almost every recipe in there was far too ambushes and would have necessitated another trip to the store; however there was a bare bones recipe that called for just eggs and milk.  I took that recipe and just started adding to it and thus was born Old Man Mitchell's Off the cuff French Toast.  It was quite tasty and there was enough of the mixture that I was able to have French Toast the next day for breakfast, which was nice since it was my Birthday!

Old Man Mitchell's Off The Cuff French Toast

What you will need:
  • Your Favorite Bread
  • 3 eggs
  • 3/4 cup Milk
  • 1 Tablespoon Pure Vanilla Extract
  • 1/2 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 Tablespoon nutmeg
  • 1 or 2 Tablespoons of Honey (to taste, I just eyeballed it)
  • A non-stick griddle
  1. In a midsize shallow bowl beat the eggs
  2. Add the milk and mix thoroughly
  3. Add the spices and mix thoroughly
  4. Add the Honey and mix thoroughly
  5. Put the griddle on medium heat and let the surface heat up for a minute or two
  6. Dredge a piece of toast though the mixture until it is full coated and has absorbed a bit of the mixture
  7. Cook on the griddle till golden brown on each size, it should take a little less the a minute a size, you will need to play with the time and temp to get the each piece to come out just right.
While I made the French Toast I also cooked the sausage in a cast iron skillet.  I cannot recommend picking one these up enough.  When it comes to cooking things like sausage a well-seasoned skillet add so much subtle flavor and lets you cook them to perfection.  We then topped of our plates of toast and sausage with a healthy dose of real Maple Syrup.  All of these things came together to make a perfect pre-birthday breakfast for dinner meal

For my actual birthday Laura and I caught an afternoon showing of Pixar’s latest, Brave.  Brave is simply a delightful film.  The story is a straightforward and compelling tale of forgiveness and understanding.  The central conflict rang true to me as I have seen it echo between nearly every Mother and Daughter I have known.  Even if the film did not feature a compelling story it would have been enjoyable for the visuals alone.  Pixar has set the bar so high with their previous films that some reviews have glossed over how good this film looks.  I was mesmerized by the attention to detail in Brave.  How each characters tartan showed unique signs of wear and the princesses hair was a spectacularly beautiful mess of tangles and curls.  Both Laura and I loved this movie and can’t wait to see it again.

Saturday brought on one of my favorite birthday traditions, a trip to Kabul and Franklin Fountain.  Each year I gather a small group of friends and got to my absolute favorite restaurant, Kabul, a wonderful Afghan establishment in the heart of old city Philadelphia.  They make the best Norenge Palaw there and I get it so often the owner know what I’m going to order before I open my mouth.  After diner we walk down to Franklin Fountain for handmade ice cream.  This year’s meal and company did not disappoint; a wonderful time was had by all.

Sunday I cracked opened the Hunger Game cookbook for dinner inspiration.  The Orange You Glad I’m Chicken caught my eye.  I fully intended to make a change or two in order to make the dish my own.  What I didn’t expect was for the cream sauce to go so far off the rails.  Once I got to that step I just started to wing it.  Amazingly despise looking like a disaster it came out deliciously.  Below I have attempted to document how to make the sauce we had that night, but there will definitely be some cooking by instinct when you make this for yourself.

Also learned that Orange Extract is damn expensive!  Next time I make this I will try using Orange Zest instead at a 2 to 1 zest to extract ratio.

Creamy Orange Chicken

What you will need:

  • 8 pieces of skinless boneless chicken thigh
  • Heavy Cream
  • 2 tablespoons of Honey
  • 3 cloves of garlic (chopped)
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 5 tablespoons of Orange Extract
  • 1/2cup Olive Oil
  • 1 can of mandarin oranges
  • 2 cups Orange Juice
  • 1 cup Flower
  • 3 tablespoons Corn Starch
  • Large Non-Stick Sauce Pan
  • Some mixing bowls
  • A Fork

  1. Pat dry the Chicken and use a fork to create a number of small holes in the surface of the chicken to allow the marinade to absorbed
  2. Mix the orange juice, 2 Tablespoons Orange Extract, salt, oil, garlic and Honey in a bowl
  3. Place all of the chicken into a sealable storage bag
  4. Add the marinade and mix thing around so the chicken is thoroughly covered
  5. Let chicken marinade in the fridge for 5 hour
  6. In a bowl mix together the cornstarch, ½ cup of Heavy Cream and Orange extract; mix till smooth.
  7. Chop up the mandarin oranges and add them to the cream sauce
  8. Take each piece of chicken out of the marinade and coat in the flower.
  9. Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in the pan over high heat
  10. Fry the chicken for about 3 to 4 minutes per side
  11. After the chicken is done set it aside under foil to keep it warm
  12. Lower the heat on the pan to medium
  13. Ok here is where things interesting add the cream sauce to pan and start mixing it in
  14. Keep mixing till it reduces down a bit then add more cream sauce as you see fit, letting that reduce down too.  Really your cooking by instinct now, add whatever you think works and it’s done when you feel it’s done.
I pared this chicken with Jasmine Rice and Oven Roasted Asparagus.  We were out of the O brand Blood Orange Olive Oil that I would have liked to use, but the Asparagus came out pretty good with regular old extra virgin olive oil.  When you make this, try out different flavored oils and let me know which you think is the best.

Oven Roasted Asparagus

What you will need:

  • A deep pan (I use a broiling pan with the top grate taken off)
  • 2 tablespoons Olive oil
  • Asparagus
  • Kosher Salt
  • Cracked Black Pepper

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
  2. Line the pan with foil
  3. Place Asparagus in the pan so that each piece can lay flat
  4. Drizzle the oil over the Asparagus
  5. Give the pan some good shakes so that the Asparagus rolls around and become completely covered with oil
  6. Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the Asparagus to taste shake again.  Note a little salt goes a long way.
  7. Roast the Asparagus in the oven for 7 minutes
  8. Take the Asparagus out and give the pan another good shake
  9. Roast for 6 more minutes

I have to say despite the hiccups in preparation, this dish got one of the better reactions of the things I have made this year.  Laura cleaned her plate in record time.  I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we have.  If you make it, please leave a comment with your thoughts.

Speaking of your thoughts, this is the 10th post of Old Man Mitchell Kitchen and I would like to hear how you think it is going.  What do you like about the blog? What do you want to hear more about? Any meals you want me to try my hand at?

Till next time, get the hell out of my kitchen.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Soy Ginger & Honey Glazed Chicken - 6/15/2012


I’m still not a 100% but I well enough to get back in the kitchen and start cooking.  I did double duty cooking this week because my Dad wanted me to make my award winning Ginger Plum Chicken for Father’s Day.  You can find that recipe HERE..

Since Sunday was Booked up with Ginger Plum and we had Laura’s Niece’s Birthday Party Saturday, Friday was the only day left for a new recipe.  This week I grab a recipe from the Food Networks website and spiced it up a bit, turning Soy Honey Chicken into Soy Ginger & Honey Glazed Chicken.  It turned out really nice, but I think it still needs a little something extra.  I paired this with some Ginger Jasmine Rice and my Tarragon Carrots.  I used fresh Tarragon and Lemon Thyme from out garden.  The Lemon time was delicious but the tarragon was very disappointing.  It was rather aromaless when I chopped the leafs and had no taste when I tried a leaf.  I ended up replacing it with the store bought stuff.

Soy Ginger & Honey Glazed Chicken

What you will need:
  • 6-8 Boneless Chicken Thighs
  • Ginger (I used the tube variety, I talked about that HERE)
  • 1 table spoon of  fine chopped Lemon Thyme (regular thyme would work too)
  • 4 tablespoons Braggs Soy Aminos
  • 2 tablespoons Olive Oil
  • 1/2cup Honey
  • 1 lemon
  • Broiling Pan
  • mid to small saucepan
  1. In a sealable storage bag place the chicken
  2. Add 2 tablespoons of Braggs Soy Aminos, 2 tablespoons of Ginger and 1 tablespoon of Oil to the bag
  3. Seal the bag work the mixture so that each piece of chicken is cover in the mixture
  4. Let the chicken marinate overnight in the fridge
  5. In the saucepan add 2 tablespoons of Braggs Soy Aminos, 1 tablespoon of oil, the thyme and honey
  6. Zest the lemon into the pan
  7. Squeeze the juice from the lemon into the pan
  8. Put the pan on to hot heat until the mixture boils, stir often
  9. Once the mixture starts to boil, take it off the heat and put it aside
  10. Preheat the oven to 450
  11. Brush the top of the broiling pan with oil
  12. Place the chicken on the broiling pan and coat the chicken with sauce from the sauce pan
  13. Put the chicken in the oven
  14. The chicken will cook for 25 minutes, but every 5 minutes re-coat the chicken with the glaze

Ginger Jasmine Rice

What you will need:
  • Pot with lid
  • 1 inch of fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon of tube ginger
  • 1 cup of jasmine rice
  1. peel and chop the ginger into small pieces
  2. Add 2 cups of water to the pot
  3. Add both the chopped and ginger from the tube to the water
  4. Bring the water to a boil
  5. Add the rice and let cook for 15minutes

As I said earlier, this meal was tasty but needs a little something and I can’t put my figure on what that something is.  If you try it out and have any suggestions please let me know in the comment section.  One improvement I made in the write up of the recipe is that I increased the frequency of the re-glazing.

Before I go I want to make a game recommendations.  As an early birthday (June 22 hint, hint) gift Laura gave me The Settlers of Catan.  After Dinner on Sunday we gave it an initial play though with my Mom and Dad.  I’m happy to report that a grand time was had by all and everyone is looking forward to play it again.  If you want to see the game in action, checkout this episode of Table Top.  It features Neil Grayston form Eureka and my literary crush, TV writer extraordinaire Jane Espenson and is worth watching for their banter alone.  I will warn you Table Top is an addiction show and you might end up watching them all in one sitting.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Week Three of Operation Still Sick


Operation Still Sick is going strong, but there are slight signs of it coming to a close.  My cough is a little better and I’m starting to have little more energy.  Unfortunately I did not have enough energy to make a fancy new meal this weekend.  I used up all that energy being in a Cosplay Fashion Show!!!

Now you might wonder, why I would risk being sick longer to be in a fashion show? Answer, because it was awesome!  I mean really when else am I ever going to be asked to be in a fashion show, let alone a Cosplay fashion show.  Hopeful next year, but I’m getting a head of myself.

The show was part of Philly RAW Artists at the G Lounge and Cosplay part was organized by the Lovely Laura Guzzo.  We had a lineup that would do any comic book cross over proud.  I started things off as Dr. Strange followed by the Scarecrow (from Arkham Asylum), Poison Ivy, Tigra, Ms. Marvel, Vector (from Resident Evil) and Superman.  It was a ton of fun, but like any event of this type there were some trials and tribulations.  Besides that fact that Laura and I are both sick, the body painter that was need to turn change Liz into Tigra bailed at the last minute.  This led Gabby our fantastic Ms. Marvel and I to adventure around the city to find body paint in enough time to get back before the show started.  Lucky we found a costume shop that was still open.  Because of when we found out we need the body paint we were both mostly in costume during our sojourn which turn out to be lot of fun as the people at the costume shop not only recognize who we were dressed as, knew Dr. Strangers catch phrase (By The Hoary Hosts Of Hoggoth)
 
When we got back, everyone pitched in and we turned Liz orange in no time flat.  Once sufficiently oranged, Laura when to work adding the strips and Tigra was born.  She really did an amazing job.  I really goes to show that when it comes to art there is very little Laura can’t do.

The walking the runway itself went really well.  I think I did well for someone who never did that before and was not exactly clear on where I was meant to go after I was done.  Now that I have it under my belt I really want to do it again, I want to take my experience and see what kind of job I could do now that I know kind what I’m doing.  It looks like I might get the change as there are rumors that this might be a yearly event.  Who should I dress up as next year?

Well that’s it for this time, I apologize again for no recipe, but with my health on an upswing, I should be back to cooking in no time.  Till next time, get the hell out of my kitchen

P.S


Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A World of Wizard and Illness.



I’m sorry to disappoint but there will be no recipe this week, we have just been too busy.  As I mentioned last week, Laura and I both had a touch of a cold last weekend.  Well, combine that with 4 days of Wizard World and the Con Flu that penetrated our already weaken immune system, meant that we were in no mood to make anything Monday.  In fact all I really did that day was run out and get Laura some cold meds for her cough and then sat on the couch with her watching an impromptu RuPaul’s Drag race marathon off Netflix.
   
Despite the multitude of germs inhabiting our bodies Wizard World was a blast.  I got to debut my Doctor Strange costume.  It was the first time I every cosplayed and I loved every minute of it.  At one point I was talking to the great Scott Derby and I heard a small voice from my right say “I like your cape.”  I looked over and there stood an absolutely adorable little girl.  I thanked her and her and her older sister if they would like a picture.  Both girls’ eyes lit up and the little one asked, “Can I?”  This completely melted my cold cold heart.  After their dad took our picture, the older of the sister asked me about the medallion on my costume.  I told her about how a friend of mine had made the costume for me and to the best of my knowledge I explained how she had made the medallion from scultpy.  This exchange was the highlight of my weekend and from that moment on I was hooked on cosplaying.

 I spent most of my time at the convention behind Laura’s table.  We did brisk business and I got to meet a lot of really cool people and see some amazing costumes.  The few times I was able to get out of the booth I was able to get a few sketches for a themed sketch book I have been putting together since 2008.  I call it Arkham Asylum and I have each artist draw his or her favorite Batman villain in it.  I also give them a folder with reference pictures of all of the Batman villains I could find.

Here are the sketches I picked up this Wizard World Philly:

Mr. Freeze - James Boyle

The Reaper - Chris Faccone
    
Catwoman - Andy Leta

Mr. Freeze - Alex Eckman-Lawn

That just about does it for this week.  If you didn’t get a chance to see as Doctor Strange at Wizard World, I’ll be participating in a Cosplay Fashion show this Thursday at the G Lounge for RAW Philly Artist.  Next week we will return to our normal format with a tasty recipe.  Till then, get the hell out of my kitchen.