"just because" steak and 'taters

Goooood evening friends, I am one full mofo right now.

Why? Deliciousness happened.

Want to replicate it? Well then, you'll need some goodies.

• one big, beautiful steak (ribeye is the best)
• half an onion, cut into small chunks
• two glasses of wine (red, I used white though, and it was fine)
• one good size white or yellow potato chopped into medium chunks
• italian seasoning (look elsewhere, fool)
• good kosher salt and fresh black pepper
• olive oil

First thing! Heat a good pan to medium with olive oil, and toss in your potatoes. Add a good pinch of salt and cracking of pepper, and your italian seasoning (about a pinch). Cover this, and cook about ten minutes a side. Add some bacon fat/duck fat/other rendered animal for added goodness. Health? Fuck that, it's the french way.

While this is happening, heat up a good, heavy-ass cast iron skillet to screaming hot.

Prepare your steak as follows:

Get a good one - don't be cheap.

Salt and pepper the fucker liberally, and rub in some olive oil. Wash those meaty hands, and let it sit.

By now, you've got about ten minutes down on the potatoes, so flip em. Pan should be inanely hot as well. Drop the steak in, and cook about 2 minutes a side, and get a good solid crust on it. NOT a char. A crust. This is called the maillard reaction, and sciencebsscience it's tasty.

See? awww yeah.

Remove your potatoes from the heat, and ogle their crunchy goodness

ogle them.. mm.

Now, here's the tricky part. Remove the steak to a plate, and tent it with tin foil. Don't be forceful, just a light cover.

no need to be brash. be gentle, grasshopper

Let it rest for about five minutes. In that time, add the onion, a bit of salt, and one glass of wine to the cast iron pan. This will sizzle, steam, and smell fantastic. Reduce it down.

Plate the sucker, and shed a tear for how good it's going to be.

so beautiful

and what do you do next?

drink the other glass of wine and eat that sucker!

(thanks to De Luca for the potato tips, and everyone else for... they know what.)

Holy Crap, its Chili Chicken.

Hey all,
I'm just about finished at my current co-op job, and I've come to note some big traditions here that I'll definitely miss. One that harkens back to the days of their old office at Rexdale (yes, THAT Rexdale) is a love for Indian-Chinese food. Indian Chinese food, in the sense that I'm familiar, is insanely spicy and delicious, and not for the faint of heart.

A usual run takes about ten of us up there for a bowl of hot and sour soup and my favourite, Chilli Chicken. Some go for fish, some get it 'dry' (without sauce, and spicy as all hell), but I got for the Chilli Chicken, Wet, with Half Rice (because they give you an entire farm's worth sometimes.

To experience this, go anywhere around Rexdale and Martin Grove in Toronto, and look for Hakka Chinese food. It's complicated where this name comes from and applies, but so, so worth it. We go to the China Garden at Airport and Derry Road.

Also, yes - my love for Canadian-Chinese food is more and more strengthened by this place. It's a dangerous mix, but so. damn. good.

Anyways! Here's the recipe, with no photos (sorry) because it's a pretty speedy, involved recipe. Like many dishes, most of the work is in the prep, with little cooking time.

You'll need

• 2-3 Green chilis (minced or sliced)
  
• A clove or two of garlic (minced)
  
• About an inch of ginger (minced)
• Half a decent size onion (thin slices)
  
• 2-3 chicken breasts or 3 thighs (chopped)
• 2 tbsp soy sauce, mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper, and some cayenne/chili powder if you're a badass (Like a certain Mr. Kalra. Man, that guy is intense about his spicy food)
  
• 1 Cup water
• 1 tbsp corn starch dissolved in 3 tbsp water - keep this aside and ready, and stir again before putting in. It tends to separate quickly.

On med-high heat, cook the chilis, garlic, and ginger until your apartment smells delicious (as I assume it already does. Then toss in the onions. Brown those suckers.

When content with the onions, toss the chicken in to cook. If it has skin or fat, leave it in for maximum goodness. Also, the fat renders, yadda yadda, helps form the base of the sauce, blah blah.

When the chicken is cooked through, toss in the soy sauce mix to cook for a bit. It will smell very strongly like soy sauce, but begin to sweeten. When it smells less like overpowering sodium juice , and more like good stuff, toss in the water. This seems a bit odd, and it is to me, but I'm not familiar with the cooking style really.

Let this mix come to a boil. Then stir up and toss in your cornstarch mixture. Quickly mix this to integrate, and let it thicken. When thickened pretty well, cover and leave for a few minutes. Serve this over rice, and burn your eyebrows off and lose any kind of a cold you ever had in your life. To reduce the spice, cut back on the chilis - but that's really part of the appeal so you're missing out if you do.

The cornstarch is an odd addition to me, not being particularly familiar with it. Turns out it's a very important part of sauce construction in Asian cooking, so for more information, go here (also looks like a pretty amazing recipe.

The chicken can also be replaced with tofu if you swing that way.

Enjoy! Don't blame me for singed eyebrows and steam coming out of the ears.

edit: thanks to Hooked on Heat for helping me get my fix

Cornbread - aww yeah.

So I've decided to write a new blog, focusing on my love for cooking, having people over, and enjoying the fine beverages supplied by the government (it is Ontario, after all). I'll alternate between recipes I make all the time and what I just made, whether it's an abject failure or not.

Here's a success, made about half an hour ago, as written in an e-mail to a friend of mine.

"make this, or i'll key your car

• 1 cup yellow cornmeal


• 1 cup all purpose flour


• 1 cup milk


• 1/3 to 1/2 cup sugar


• 1/3 cup oil


• 1 tblsp baking powder


• 1 egg


• 1 tbsp thick hot sauce


• 1/2 cup cheese curds (or normal cheese, if you're not cool)


• 1/2 cup grated cheese

Mix all this, except the grated cheese, and toss in a small oven-proof skillet or a loaf pan. Put grated cheese on top. Bake at 350 for 40-ish minutes (check after half an hour). Eat when stupid hot, with lots of butter. Send me an e-mail detailing just how much better your life is as a result.

Regards,
Marc"

Now if you don't make this, don't expect any nasty surprises for your car. If you know Deluca, you know the revenge that has to be hadfor a certain comment made blocking a certain appendage of mine at a party he held. Also, if you don't have an oven proof skillet, check your attic or your grandma's house. I made this using a seventy year old cast iron I got from her, and it's my favorite tool in the kitchen.