Fancy Pants Chef Skills

Can you blame me for wanting to chop and dice at two hundred miles an hour? Yeah, I move fast in the kitchen, in fact I look like a Tasmania Devil on steroids. But I want to chop like the big boys and girls do on the food network. I want to make chopping look pretty. Is that too much to ask? Therefore, I have enlisted the help of a trained chef. He is showing me how is done.

We started yesterday as a matter of fact. He asked me to chop some thyme, and after my very sad and pathetic attempt, he took over and pulverized the poor herb. It was a thing of beauty. I just need to practice some more and lose the irrational fear or inadvertently chopping a finger two.

We also made some delicious Gnocchi, from scratch, it was my first time eating it; it is easy to make and cook. He also showed me how to make a very delicious and pretty salad that he dubbed “too pretty”. It was in fact very pretty, but his wife did not think it was “too pretty”, neither did I.

I had a great time and allowed myself to eat things I have never tried before, and guess what? I liked all, stinky cheese and all. There was no meat in sight and still I found it all delicious. We will of course remedy that next week, I figured one meatless meal would not kill me, but is about enough for me. I am going to BJs and getting myself a big hunk of ribeye steaks large enough to feed a small army for next week’s adventure.

I tried to duplicate the Gnocchi at home earlier today and the result I am pleased to say, was very satisfying.

I am learning fine cooking skills and at the same time I am letting myself experience new things; a few months before my thirty-fourth birthday and I am still growing and discovering new things about myself. What more can a girl ask for?

Random Pictures of the Kid and I

Some of you have asked to see pictures of the kid and I, so here are some of my favorite.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are some of my favorite pictures,  I hope you like them.

Dominican Paella

Dominican Paella

I helped my mother cook on Christmas Eve, it was a lot of fun and also eye opening. Although she taught me how to cook, we are very different cooks. We made a few dishes together but decided to make our own rice dishes. She made rice with black beans and I made Seafood rice, now dubbed Dominican Paella. The blend of the traditional Spanish recipe and my Dominican Cooking played together quite nicely. My mom and I can be described as a blend of cooking styles as well, and as I discovered with my dish, the combination is quite nice. 

Please see recipe below:

½ lb lobster meat

10-13 large shrimp

2 cups of white rice

¼ cup coconut milk

Paprika

Oregano

½ chicken bouillon

2 tbs of tomato sauce

Vegetable oil

Salt

Soy sauce

Worcestershire sauce

2 cups of water

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 can of peas

1 large Cuban pepper, seeded and cut lengthwise

Mom had a large lobster and she was kind of enough to crack the lobster and get all the meat out. While she did that I cut the shrimp, first lengthwise and then widthwise. Mom was concerned I was cutting all the meat too small, but could not do anything about it, as we had agreed to stay out of each other’s dishes.

I added a few tablespoons of oil to a hot sauté pan, added the meat, chicken bouillon, coconut meat, soy sauce, tomato sauce, paprika, carrots, peas, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and cooked for about 15 minutes. After the lobster and shrimp had absorbed all the flavors, I added all the rice and 3 cups of water. I added 2 cups of the water first, and added the last one as needed.

 I waited for the water to dry and then cover the pan for about 15 minutes. I then turned the rice to make all sure all the rice cooked properly.

 I liked that the lobster meat and shrimp could not be easily recognized; it was my little surprise for our dinners. I wanted the flavors to explode in their mouths.

I was happy to see that there were no leftovers of my dish, while mom’s….well she had enough rice for the next few days. I tried not to brag…..too much.