The Cantina Cuisine – food talk, recipes and more

I have yet to ferment potatoes for that potato salad, but hopefully I'll start tonight!

I've been eating a lot of poke bowls and drinking a lot of boba tea. I'm trying to work these in as fast-food substitutes, since I think they're slightly healthier...well, the poke bowls are, anyways. In reality, it just means that I'm eating more junk food that's centered around fish...

Going off of that, I've had this hankering for ramen for WEEKS now, and my usual ramen partner - with whom I got ramen with just last month actually - is travelling back to her home country for a few months. I could get some when my parents get back from their trip, but do I want to wait that long...?

I also really want some beignets. I found a good brown butter beignet recipe, and I'm switching my ultimate breakfast so that the Eggs Benedict (which I also want to make again soon) goes with the beignets. I may have time this Sunday, but it would be the capstone even of a very busy weekend so I'm not sure I want to put in the effort. On top of that, I promised some of my other friends that I'd make the Benedict for them next time I make it...decisions, decisions...

Anyways, my culinary conquests and failures these past few weeks. (Not pictured - cookies that were praised through the roof.)

I finally made that green tomatillo shakshuka! And it was terrible! It was herby in all the wrong ways and not tasty at all. I threw it out.



I made a souffle cheesecake with brown butter and full fat milk. My mother, who's pretty blasé on the whole dish, claimed it was the best one yet. Since I was short on time when I made it, I actually didn't turn down the heat all the way, which caused the top to crack. Even more unfortunately, I left it out too long and took too long during the following days because we had too many desserts in the house, so I ultimately had to throw most of it out. A tragedy, but one with a lesson - I should always give away most of the cake so that I'm always left wanting more. It's also funny that my mom, who despite her vocal dislike of brown butter, adores nearly every baked good I put it in. It just works. (The whole fat milk also does a phenomenal job at just adding extra oomph to any dish.)



(Yes, it was huge. And delicious...)

I made some brownies too. I unfortunately had to use 60% bittersweet baking chocolate instead of 66%, but the results were good regardless.

Last week I FINALLY made the Bride of Frankenstein.

For those who don't remember, "The Frankenstein" aka "Frankenstein's Monster" aka "Easter Basket Chicken" was my cheesy spinach stuffed chicken parm with Vodka Sauce (and homemade spinach pasta) from February. I came up with this meal around March as a sort of "companion piece" to the Frankenstein, hence the name.
The Bride of Frankenstein is smaller, saucier, sweeter, and a little more technical. (Although it's also easy enough to have on a weeknight.)The theme was "coying and sultry" in a way. ...which feels somewhat sexist, I'll admit, but it's not the intent!

Now, what exactly is the Bride of Frankenstein. It's an apple and chorizo stuffed quail coated in a chipotle pomegranate sauce, over a bed of leek and brie risotto.
The first night, the risotto stole the show. The quail itself was really solid. I cooked it similarly to how I roast duck, and it turned out tender, mildly gamey (to me), and nicely coated in the sweet sauce. But the bird itself was still missing a punch. The risotto was darn near perfect.
I made it again a few days later when my parents got back from visiting my sister for my niece's second birthday (they stayed a few days while I drove up the day of the party and drove home afterwards), and I made a few modifications. I made a rum, vanilla, and salt rub to go on and in the quails, sort of like the vanilla bourbon chicken I tried earlier this year, and I added a few more minutes on the cooking time. The vanilla and rum did add the subtle kick I was looking for, but the salt made things too salty. Next time I'll do a minor amount of salt and mix in rum, vanilla and butter...probably brown butter. The sauce changed, and that should be noted. When I first made it, the pomegranate shined through with a tangy fruitiness that wasn't too sweet. The chipotle added a bit of kick, but it wasn't overpowering. When I made it the second time, the two main flavors switched places. The sauce was a LOT smokier, and the pomegranate flavor was a subtle finish. I think I like the first day sauce better, but both versions went well with the bird.


(It's not as seductive as I'd like...but it does capture that original corpse essence that Frankenstein and his ilk come from!)


Upcoming dishes:
As mentioned above, I have a really nice brown butter beignet recipe I'm dying to try, so I'll probably do that soon.

The next time I make rice pudding, I want to add some butterfly pea flower powder to it, or make it by cooking the rice in butterfly pea flower tea. It'll turn the rice into this amazing shade of blue, and I want to see what a background floral and earthy taste will do to the pudding. But I'm running out of Mexican vanilla, so I may need to try it out with the regular stuff...not to mention that I feel as if I've already perfected my rice pudding, so I really shouldn't be messing with perfection...but I can't resist! ...although I need to find butterfly pea flower extract and/or tea first...

Sea Salt Icecream, hopefully soonish. I want to try it out with a dark chocolate souffle and see how they taste together. I'm workshopping my Beef Wellington menu and trying to turn it into a 5-course meal with all of the flourishes, but it's going to take a LOT of time and a LOT of work for various reasons. This is only one step.


Recipes mentioned:

https://www.loveandoliveoil.com/2018/02/green-tomatillo-shakshuka.html
(Pass on this one)

https://www.emmymade.com/jiggly-japanese-cheesecake-recipe/
(Brown more butter than the recipe calls for, so you can use the exact amount of butter in the recipe. Use whole milk. USE WHOLE MILK.)

https://www.melskitchencafe.com/deep-dark-chocolate-brownies/
(Brown the butter, two tablespoons of chocolate liquor. You know the drill.)

http://dragonflykitchen.blogspot.com/2010/01/pomegranate-chipotle-sauce.html
(No real changes. Just note that the flavor changes over time.)

https://aforkandapencil.com/recipe/leek-and-brie-risotto

https://plateandpen.com/home/2020/5/13/new-orleans-beignets
(I'll let y'all know how it turns out!)

 

We watch one season of The Bear, and the wife suddenly decides that I need to moonlight at home as a line cook...


Kidding, this new Blackstone is the coolest birthday gift ever, and I can't wait to cook more exciting things on it (tried smashburgers to get a handle on using it, and even those were mindblowing).

If anyone has any recipes or tips for a flatrop, I'd love to hear them!

 

Remember what 50 Cent said, Fat Boys love cake, so I stay away from cake like the plague. When I was fat, or over-weight, I was called Kung-Fu Panda at work, because I practiced martial arts everyday, but ate whatever I wanted. Now, I'm lean and mean, my co-workers are amazed. They want to know how I did it. I stay away from bread, sandwiches like heroes/hoagies, cake, donuts, cookies, pasta, rice (maybe once a week I will have a small portion of rice) juices ( I never was a soda person, I loved Juice) I drink a gallon of water everyday, I drink water with all my meals, no juice.

I substituted oxtails rice and beans with Poke Bowls, I drink coffee, black, no sugar, and tea straight with no milk, cream, honey, no sugar, I eat a bowl of fruit or have a green shake for breakfast, no Dunkin donuts for me. I eat healthy everyday and cheat twice a month so I don't go crazy( one cheat meal I don't cheat all day). My favorite lunch is avocado salad and baked chicken, I eat a different salad everyday for lunch, if I have dinner, its lean meat and steamed veggies, no salad dressing or sauce added. I usually have a protein drink at night, tea, or healthy trail mix of nuts and cranberries (omega 3 trail mix). There's 3 health food stores in my immediate neighborhood so instead of going to local fast-food restaurant I get a quick healthy meal, which is exactly one serving, proper portion. I feel great I move faster and I feel healthy. If I go to someone's home for dinner I cheat then, I don't want to impose my diet on them. The very next day, I'm drinking a gallon of water and drinking Kombucha tea which promotes a healthy gut.

I'm not saying you're over-weight, but take my advise, and eat healthy. Being a cook is a gift so pursue your dreams...

 

Awesome. just awesome. no way I could do this, but this is awesome.

 

Ha! Thanks for the advice, although my parents are on me as it is. (But being a professional cook is certainly not a dream of mine.

Hilariously, cake isn't a weakness of mine. I'm actually not a giant fan of it outside of two very specific and moderately rare circumstances. Birthday cakes and homemade cakes I may have one slice out of obligation, but I don't really care for them as a whole. Even the cheesecake souffle isn't a major exception, since I usually give away most of it. (Case and point, I only had two slices of the above one. The rest was given away or left to go bad. As mentioned above, had I been more proactive, I would have given the rest away, not eaten it myself.) I'm even more picky with pie, as I really only like one type. Although, all caution goes out the wind when said type of pie enters the picture. Fortunately, that's only around my birthday and Thanksgiving, so it's not often.

I actually don't eat a lot of the sweets y'all see me make. Most of it goes to family, friends, and other large groups of people. I may get one or two portions, max, and usually it's one to try out and one to enjoy. I eat maybe two donuts if I'm lucky once a month at the end of the month, and most fast food is for weekends (but not every weekend) and Thursdays most weeks if I have it at all, or when my parents are out. The food itself ranges from stuff that my parents wouldn't like (poke bowls and Ethiopean food) to junk food (burgers and fries, but not too often).

When I cook for myself and it's not some fancy and/or bougie thing, it's pretty simple and usually just scrambled eggs, oatmeal, or chicken curry. (Poultry is my go-to cooking item.)

In terms of drinks, Boba is my go-to right now, but it's pretty recent and once a week at best. I usually stick with water and milk (2% because I can't do skim and whole milk is too fatty in most cases), and occasionally a soda. And even then, dairy goes out the window at least one day a week, and for several days towards the end of the month. I'll have sweetened hibiscus tea once or twice a week (usually when I'm out of lemon ginger tea) and maybe chamomile tea (unsweetened) before I go to bed. I rarely drink coffee at all. (If I do, it's a pick-me-up at the beginning of a workday, and it's one cup max.) Soda is maybe once every couple of weeks? Usually root beer or Sprite, so no caffeine. Maybe with popcorn (homemade with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a little salt, no butter), but not a guarantee.

Pasta and rice are big things in my family, but pasta is once a week and rice is maybe twice a week for me, if I'm lucky. Carbs are me and my mother's weakness, so I probably eat more bagels than I should, but it's usually with peanut butter so there's some protein on it. It also makes for a decent breakfast on days I don't make eggs...and days when I eat breakfast at all. Other than that, I eat a fair bit of fruit. I just don't make fancy things with it outside of the occasional flambe for oatmeal. I do eat vegetables, but the types I prefer (spinach, kale, greens) aren't the type usually made in the house often. Spinach is the most common of them though. Although I do enjoy a good fruit and walnut salad.

I used to do the whole "spinach & kale smoothie + spinach & mushroom omelet nearly every day" for a couple of years, but it was a lot of work and my dad started making omelets better - and hoarding the spinach - so it hasn't been as popular recently.

Frankly what I should get back on is how often I exercise. I used to do so 5x per week, but due to COVID and a new gym it's down to 2x per week. I do plan on kicking it back up, but with work starting up again soon, I need a new schedule.

And yes, I take my daily vitamins. I take two types of daily vitamins in fact, just to cover my bases (and because I can).

So yeah, I'm not the healthiest person around, but I'm getting better, and I can guarantee you that it's not nearly as bad as it looks.

 

Before I started my diet, last October, I was pre-diabetic and I had a slight case of high blood pressure. I am no longer pre-diabetic and my high blood pressure is gone!

I will never go back to the way I used to eat, I don't want to repeat the cycle over and over again, this is no longer a diet, but my lifestyle.

You sir are gifted! Being a cook is a great career!

You sound exactly like I sounded, I only eat this once or twice a week... not every weekend, I don't drink soda often.... I had my favorite juices, and yes my family is from the Caribbean so yeah rice and pasta are also big in my family.

What I find are people will not give up certain foods, and those foods are the foods that are keeping people over-weight. My close friend said, he loves Italian bread when I told him I don't eat bread, sandwiches, or burgers anymore, he can't do it, but he ask me over and over again, how did i lose all that weight... i keep telling him, but he is not ready to change his life... so enjoy your Italian bread its like crack cocaine! ( when he is ready to lose weight he will take it seriously, and he is full blown diabetic and has high blood pressure... so sad... other than that it goes in one ear and out the other) and I don't have a craving for it because those foods made me obese, according to my doctor. I had to be honest with myself, I eat way too much bread, rolls, croissants, bagels, heroes, pizza, and rice (Jamaican food: curry chicken, curry goat, oxtails, stew chicken/beef which comes with rice and beans and a spicy addictive sauce. I'm Haitian but I loved Jamaican food! No more craving for Jamaican food.

Anywho, I was a manager at General Nutrition Center for 6 years before I became a correction officer, I used to help people loose weight, and sold loads of dietary supplement, so I've alway known how to eat healthy but I thought since I goto the gym everyday I can eat whatever I want... not true, you must eat healthy and workout, if you don't like going to gym, find an activity you enjoy, for example, riding a bike or whatever, be active and the weight will come off, with a healthy lifestyle.

I don't drink green smoothies everyday because it becomes boring, or time consuming as you said, so I switch it up, smoothy one day, fruits another, an acai bowl or pitaya bowl, which gives me energy for my workout when I go to the gym for lunch, then after my workout, I order my baked chicken and avocado salad, to make it interesting, I eat a different salad everyday, sometimes it come with bread, which I discard, and I don't need to drown my salad in dressing I can eat it plain without salad dressing.

Talking to so many people at my job about weight loss, all of them wanting to know the secret because it is summer time, it's time for the beach, so everyone wants a quick and easy solution. It takes time to change how one thinks about eating food, its psychological, it takes time to end cravings for certain foods, I don't have to eat after 4pm my appetite is fully suppressed, I started my diet in October so it took me roughly 8 month to change my look naturally no surgeries or wonder diets.

 

I have no doubt about that, it's just that I don't want to make it a career. I'm aware of the lives cooks and chefs live, and it's not one that fits my personal temperament or one I desire. I cook because I love the blend of art and science, and I like to see my family and friend's faces when they enjoy something I made. (And also, if I'm blessed with kids, that my kids' friends will brag about my cooking back to their parents and the parents will get jealous and may even ask for the recipe.) I make complex things because it's outlandish and fun. But I like to do it on my own time, schedule, and budget, not anyone else's. Some of these recipes take months of waiting to find the right time, sometimes even years. If I was doing it for others, I'd be baking cookies every single week for my church and helping other people meal plan when I can barely meal plan myself, and that's not gonna happen. (When I have to meal plan, it's usually, "Pasta on Monday, freefall on Tuesday, and what single dish can I make Wednesday that can last me until Saturday? Curry. Curry is good.")

My dad loves Jamaican food right now. I think it's his new food obsession. I can take it or leave it honestly. It's good, but too much of a good thing...
(When we do get it, I stick with the patties (chicken and beef), spinach and plantain. No oxtails, not beans and rice, nothing else.)

If you have any good salad recipes, please send them my way! I find most salads to be pretty boring and bland, and doused in dressing.

Ah, so you're a lunch gym person! Yeah, I'm a morning gym person, and I go all out when I go. No amount of food beforehand (which is a big no-no for me) or food afterwards (which I'm never hungry for or have time for during workdays, so more often than not my first real meal is lunch, which is usually nothing more than a simple turkey and cheese sandwich and water or a peanut butter bagel and water) is gonna help me there. At that point, it's just about staying awake and getting through the day, not being refreshed or energized...
When work starts up again, the plan is to do some two-a-days a couple times a week (Ideally Tues/Thurs so Mon/Wed/Fri can be before work), but it all depends on what gyms are near my workplace. Even if I can only make it 3x a week starting out, the sheer lack of time to eat at work will definitely help me lose weight. It's done so before and I believe it will do so again!

Anyways, it turns out my next food item is chicken curry and rice! Some friends caught COVID, so I'm making this for them (and for me) today. I'm also prepping the overnight buttermilk pancake batter for tomorrow, as I'm helping a friend host a brunch tomorrow. And this weekend is a busy one too...sigh...man I'm not ready for the school year to start, but I'm certainly ready to be a bit less social...

 

Again, you sound like the old me, I love martial arts so I pay for privates lessons with 3 different instructors, yesterday I practice in the park with my Filipino Martial Arts instructor, hitting the sticks in the park, Tiger Claw Kung-Fu hitting the wooden dummy for an hour great cardio, Wing-Chung boxing and sparring, anyway find something you like if you can't make it to the gym, and just do it! The reason I work out at work, depending on my post or situation of the facility I get 1-3 hour break, so I use 4 different machines: the elliptical, bike, treadmill, and stair-master for 6-10 minutes each, that is 40 minutes of cardio, I hit the punching bag for about 6-12 rounds, I practice all the moves my instructors have taught me during our private practice lessons so my co-workers see me practicing in the gym, I'm no longer called Kung-Fu Panda, but American Ninja!!! I love it when they see me, and scream: AMERICAN NINJA. GETS ME GOING and fires me up during my workout, I do a circuit of lifting light weights, push-up, dips, pull-ups, abdominal work, and I finish with yoga to stretch the body.

DON'T STARVE yourself its not healthy bring along a protein bar to work or healthy snack, no excuses. I love to talk about weight-loss, dieting, and workouts because it helps me remember what I must do, so I talk about it all day everyday with anyone that will listen.

The strange thing I find is that I might talk to someone at work about dieting for 15-30 minutes in the hallway and the very next day they would call me on my post and offer me fast-food or cake... which I think is very odd, what did we talk about yesterday? so I politely say, no thank you. I'm ordering a salad later.

I don't have recipes at this time, I just wanted to share my passion for a healthy eating lifestyle. I wish I was a cook. It's good to know how to cook well.

 

(Sorry I just saw this lol!)

Oh martial arts! I used to do Tae Kwon Do as a kid and again in college, and I did Brazilian Jiujitsu all through middle school and my first year of high school. My dad also does martial arts and I've been subject to more than a few training sessions and small circle jiujitsu locks and holds with hm! Unfortunately, I also tore my ACL doing TKD, and I've stayed away from martial arts ever since. I do plan on getting back into it eventually, as there are quite a few martial arts I'd love to try. (Krav Maga, Baguazhang, Tai Chi being the main ones right now.)

 

Tai Chi and yoga are great to get you back into things, Tai Chi a spiritual art, for the core, some people dismiss it, because elder people practice it, it's a valuable addition to any martial arts system.

I started boxing when I was a teenager, I wasn't fortunate enough to take up martial arts as a child, my father wanted me to learn the saxophone which was ridiculous because I did not show any interest in musical instruments, he loves music so I guess thats why... I don't have a good relationship with my dad... we're working on it, he was always Darth Vader to me... he was really nervous when he saw me practicing boxing with my boxing partner in our back yard, whipping my ass was out of the question now hehe... anywho it's great that you practice with your father I wish I had same relationship with mine. He is 80 years old so I must be humble and move on from the past.

Anywho, hehe, sorry for that, I had one lesson on Krav Maga, but I did not like it for some reason, I gotta give it another go since I'm more experienced in the arts now, I got into jiujitsu instead at the time, but I prefer judo a bit more, at this time I'm focusing on Arnis which has a bit of everything, for example Aikido, kick boxing, grappling, Judo etc., My Grand Master is Terryl Richardson, when you have some free time, check out his youtube channel and facebook. He is a high ranking black belt in over 12 different martial art systems... I lost count... and he really makes learning fun without getting too ridiculous or foolish... keepin' it deadly real... for WAR!

 

Just a few things we've worked on lately:

Spoiler: tried steak on the blackstone- another simple, yet successful attempt on our new toy

Spoiler: rolled our own sushi for the first time, including a tempura-battered batch

 

@cawatrooper the first time and you already did some tempura sushi rolls. Awesome! I've never rolled sushi, left alone tempura rolls.

Here's a picture of the latest tempura rolls @NinjaRen and I had at Hiro Sushi. The rolls were crispy outside but not soaked in fat, they were masterfully done. But the arrangement was a bit much- like they have gone crazy with those crab chips xD

Link to their website

https://hirosushi-wiesbaden.de/

 

Lots of cooking this weekend!

Spoiler: Fajitas on the griddle, with my favorite sauce

I've always wanted a good at home fajita recipe, but nothing really ever satisfied me.

That all changed once we got a griddle. This recipe, with its thinly sliced veggies and chicken, all marinated in lime juice, new mexico red chile powder, and garlic, was a 100% dead on copycat to our local Mexican restaurants, even down to the sizzling.

Top that all off with Cantina Royal's Tamaulipeka sauce, probably my favorite sauce of all time! It's pretty moderate heat, but oily and sweet in just the right ways- really incredible, and worth ordering.

So happy how all this turned out!

Spoiler: Smoked Porkbellt Burnt Ends

These turned out really good... but man, they're rich. A single sandwich and you'll be done for the day, lol

Those look incredible!

 

During quarantine I learned that the secret to all great mac and cheese is using evaporated milk. When I told my parents about my findings, they were like "uh...yeah, your sister's has evaporated milk and that's why it's so good. ALL great Black Mac & Cheese has evaporated milk." Well, nobody told me!

Anyways, the kitchen has been calling me for weeks now, but I really haven't be able to get in and make anything special due to work, early bed and rise times, and then COVID. So on Tuesday, I was asked to pick up some things for dinner and while out I decided to buy a box of Krafts Mac & Cheese and bougie it up a bit with some brown butter and evaporated milk.

The result? Not worth it for the boxed stuff. It tasted just about the same, with maybe a tad extra amount of creaminess at the end. I haven't gone back for seconds yet, so I'm not sure how it aged, but Day 1 it wasn't worth the effort. ...that probably won't stop me from doing it again next time though.

By next week I should have some more fun food posts, as I plan on cooking a rising darling recipe, modifying something I haven't made in about a year, and trying out something completely new.

EDIT: ...and I still haven't fermented any potatoes for potato and egg salad...

 

This past summer I taught myself how to make Jerk chicken. I've made it a lot since then. It's actually really easy and to me better than any barbecue sauces.
Basically mix jerk dry seasoning made from nutmeg, cummin, cinnamon, salt pepper. Chop habanaro peppers, garlic, spring onions, thyme, add soy sauce, olive oil. I experimented with adding Jamaican rum, didn't make a ton of difference.
Cover chicken quarters in the marinade
I'm not a firm beliver in marinading, there doesn't seem to be much difference between marinading for a half hour or several hours. I just let it sit while preparing the grill.

Throw it on the grill, indirect heat with apple wood, traditionally you use pimento, but that is impossible to find. Let it smoke for at least 2 hours.
A lot of times I make it in the oven, it's a lot easier to control the temperature. You don't get the smoke, but that's okay.

There was a jerk festival here early September, and none of them were as good as mine. They were dried out and they put barbecue sauce on it, which is a mortal sin. I've nicknamed my jerk chicken Voodoo Chicken because it will give you nightmares. Im not the only one.

 

OK it is that certain "pastry", "pie" and "cookie" time of the year if you know what I mean......will be trying my hand at some family favorites this weekend and will post pics. My attempt last year at those Austrian butter cookies was a bust.....anyone with me on this?

 

I've cooked a lot of things and have eaten even more (Korean BBQ, Korean Hotdog, Korean Hot Tofu Soup - Filipino and Taiyaki are on the schedule for Saturday), but the new recipe I'm most proud of to start the year with is this Milk Bread Cinnamon Roll recipe. I've wanted to try it for months, and it's gotten rave reviews from family (including my 93-year-old grandmother) and family friends. It's a keeper.

The recipe uses something called the Tangzhong Method (or if you're Japanese, the Kanji read as Yudane, but there are some slight differences in cooking approach), and it involves adding extra water to a portion of the flour, so that when it's added back in, the extra water evaporates when baking and creates a softer, pillow-like texture. If you've ever heard of Hokkaido Milk Bread, that's what they use to get it so soft.

...this may be my 2023 obsession, because I want to try this out with all sorts of breads that don't need it, like my soda bread recipe, or a beer bread, or even a sourdough bread. But I'll find recipes that tried this before I try.

https://takestwoeggs.com/milk-bread-cinnamon-rolls/

I also want to try my hand at fermenting more foods. I have a hot garlic fermented honey recipe I want to try, but I'm curious if the garlic is necessary, because I have a dessert I want to try the recipe out on, and garlic would clash.
(Said recipe:
https://www.holajalapeno.com/mexican-chocolate-sweet-tamales/)

Other than that, we'll see what the year brings. I WILL ALSO MASTER MY FRIED APPLE PIE WITH MISO CARAMEL SAUCE RECIPE.

https://takestwoeggs.com/miso-caramel-sauce/

 

Went to Japan over the summer, and here are just a few of the food highlights.

Tantanmen from ULTRA in Akita (and San Diego) and Tonkotsu Ramen Ippudo in Hiroshima
Omurice in a demiglace that takes two weeks to make in a small shop in Tokyo
Okonomiyaki from Hiroshima

Various Souffle Pancakes were also eaten, but I'll keep those pictures thank you very much! (They were all delicious, some more than others.)

Spoiler: Delicious Japanese Food

A few weeks ago, I tried my hand at another version of the Frankenstein. This time, instead of making the pasta by hand, I just bought some spinach tagliatelle and cooked it and then coated it in brown butter. I'm still using Natasha's Kitchen's spinach and cheese stuffed chicken as a base, but this time I stuffed it with quail instead (and added Cojita cheese instead of Asiago. That's a change I'll probably keep.)
The quail was brined in buttermilk, patted dry, and then covered in a mix of breadcrumbs and crushed corn flakes and fried. It was really good, but it wasn't as gamey as I was looking for, nor the right vessel for the stuffing. (I also made beer bread and a brown butter cake. The beer bread was okay at best, but the brown butter cake wasn't too bad! ...it was too salty, but with the right revisions, it could work.)



I think next time I use quail, I'll make it a fried quail and waffles, with the corn flake crusted fried quail stuffed with venison sausage (a suggestion from the friend I gave this to) served on an overnight yeasted cereal-milk waffle. It should be a while before I make that, as I'd need to find some venison sausage near me.

For the Frankenstein, my next bird will be duck, specifically duck breast. I'll stuff it, pan-fry it, and finish it in the oven. I'll stick with the spinach tagliatelle, but try dry-toasting it before cooking it. It's apparently a thing! The sauce will be switched to a brown-butter, lemon, and sage sauce so I can just coat the noodles, sprinkle on some freshly grated Parm, and then lay down the sliced duck on top for better presentation.


Next on my plate is a strawberry cake. My mom has a recipe she wants me to try out so I can make her one, and I have a friend I promised to bake a cake for in October. I want to make the cake and add a dark chocolate ganache on top so it feels like a "chocolate-dipped strawberry", but I've never made a ganache and I don't think my mom would appreciate that. (My friend might, but I imagine she'll give some to another friend of ours who is allergic to chocolate. If not, I'll go ahead on hers.)

I'm also chomping at the bit to make my coconut carrot cake again. It's been a few years, and I just ordered some genmaicha tea powder (green tea with roasted brown rice) to go with it. I had some genmaicha ice cream a few months ago, and it was AMAZING. It had this great flavor and earthiness from the green tea but was accented by this robustness from the rice...I wish I bought another cone...anyways, I want to see if that will be a good accent for the brown butter cream cheese icing that goes on the cake.

And it's probably time for me to make a pork belly eggs benedict again, but I'm not ready for that...maybe I'll just make the milk bread cinnamon rolls over Labor Day Weekend in preparation for Thanksgiving Break. Between that, some good scrambled eggs, and leftover Thanksgiving ham, you've got yourself a nice little Post-Thanksgiving breakfast!


https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/brown-butter-lemon-pasta/

 

I'm curious about your future creations, especially the fried quail and waffles idea with venison sausage. That's a unique twist! And duck breast with a brown-butter, lemon, and sage sauce over spinach tagliatelle sounds like a gourmet delight.

Your plans for the strawberry cake and coconut carrot cake with genmaicha tea powder have my taste buds tingling. And those milk bread cinnamon rolls for Thanksgiving Break – simply mouthwatering!

If you're ever feeling lazy to cook (we all have those days), why not look for an irish breakfast near me? Sometimes, a hearty breakfast from a local spot is the perfect solution.