For those that missed it, I’m doing the cooking around the house for the next 3 weeks. I thought it would be fun to post pictures of the more interesting dishes that came out successful. So I won’t be posting pictures of take in, basic pasta, chicken over salad . . . basically most of next week. The week after is me flexing my culinary interests with my excited copilot, Mr. I-Only-Eat-Mac-and-Cheese.
Let’s see what I made:
These are ‘Asian Meatballs’ and I took the picture after the associated Asian Burgers were made and eaten. These will be eaten on Monday with pasta, but they come from an interesting past.
My wife’s aunt is/was a personal chef and she gave us a homemade recipe for Asian Flank Steak. I’m not allowed to share it, so don’t ask. When I took over cooking in the house, I decided to make this dish one of my regulars. Then I went crazy with Asian Burgers, Asian Soft Tacos, Asian Meatloaf, and now Asian Meatballs. Basically, I use the marinade on anything beef and see what happens. I always recommend eating these things without a sauce first to see how it tastes.
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This I got off a recipe site and it’s called ‘Sesame Peanut Butter Noodles’. Very easy to make and the sauce looks like chocolate. It isn’t, so don’t let anyone allergic to peanuts think it is.
Tonight’s dinner was ‘Lemon Chicken with Asparagus’, which came from a ’30 Minute or Less’ cookbook. Don’t really need more of an explanation there.
So far, so good with the cooking successes.
Legends of Windemere 
I’ve recently been experimenting with honey paprika chicken. You chop up the chicken, shove it in a hot frying pan with olive oil, coat one side with honey, salt and pepper, and paprika. Wait 5 min, flip and re-coat. Wait 5 min, and it’s ready to go!
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Interesting. We do have a basic honey chicken and a basic paprika chicken recipe. Never thought of combining them. Maybe I’ll try if I find myself screwing up a recipe or realize I missed a day. 🙂 Thanks.
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My roommate says to tell you not to forget to sprinkle some rosemary on top. Apparently it improves the flavour and I never remember to add it, lol.
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Got it. Should have some around here somewhere.
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That’s a lot of asparagus for one person!
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There’s another person eating it. Though it was a lot. I wouldn’t be using it for anything else, so it made sense to cook it all.
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No such thing, lol! But, then again, I love asparagus. it’s probably shameful how much I could easily eat in one sitting…
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I enjoy it too. Though it has to be made just right. Not mushy and not harder than an unripe pear. 🙂
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“Pasta with a past.” 🙂
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Not so much the pasta, but the meat marinade. Had troubling focusing on the post because the son was chatting nonstop. He thought it was funny the only talk when I tried to type.
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That special genre of comedy that’s only funny to the comedian. 🙂
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Chefs don’t really give away their recipes. My mother used to have a catering business. Some guests would sometimes ask for the recipe of a dish they liked…. mom would politely tell them it’s her cook’s recipe. Secret recipes are their livelihood. Do you know that sometimes, guests on cooking shows omit an ingredient >
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I’m not surprised. Kind of like how magicians never reveal their tricks.
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I missed the part where you shared you do the family cooking! That’s great! Those noodles look delish, Charles… I’ll be checking in to read more and, over the week end, I’ll read back a few 🙂
Ellespeth
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I usually don’t when there are other people in the house. I make more complicated dishes, which take 30-40 minutes. Not easy to do when writing, editing, and kid wrangling. For the next few weeks, I’m the only one around for cooking, so I’m back in the kitchen. 🙂
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Really good looking stuff. I think the Asian things sound interesting. To Kevin’s point, one cannot have too much asparagus.
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They’re rather simple to make since the ‘hardest’ part is making the marinade the night before.
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Finally I can start commenting again! Busy busy period! What about the recipe for ‘Sesame Peanut Butter Noodles’? Can we have that!?
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I got it from here:
http://m.allrecipes.com/recipe/128601/my-favorite-sesame-noodles/
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Thanks!!!!! 😀
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You’re welcome. Enjoy the cooking.
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I will!
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ace, nicely done! I do all the cooking at home (there’s more evil in my wife’s cooking than an Al Quaida suggestion box). Homemade chicken pie tonight, braised beef tomorrow and quiche Wednesday. Made pastry last night and will use left overs for a dessert like a mincemeat tart or apple pie. Had honey roast parsnips last night with dinner and it was great because I’m the only one that likes them so I got to scoff the lot! Your dishes look lovely, Charles (asparagus is one of my favourite things in the world!). I like the look and sound of your Asian meatballs/meatloaf etc and understand the stoic defense of the secret recipe. My grandmother’s chestnut stuffing recipe was fiercely guarded for years until she told me she fibbed to me as a boy and it wasn’t a family secret but something she found in a book (I still make it every year, it’s awesome!).
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Sounds like you’re way ahead of me in terms of cooking. This week is a bunch of simple things since I have a lot of editing, the kid to wrangle, and Halloween. Pasta and meatballs, marinated chicken over bagged salad, pizza muffins, and maple kielbasa bites. Next week has all the interesting stuff as long as my assistant chef doesn’t get under foot.
I don’t think my family has any secret recipes. All of our stuff came from books or were store bought.
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