Enchiladas

This past week I made mexican style enchiladas for my family. This is a simple recipe that I believe my parents have just about perfected. There are many ways to make an enchilada type of dish. I'm sure there is some extravagant and complicated version out there that is damn near perfect, but I think my family has the right idea about keeping things simple. You start by cooking ground beef in a large saute pan with onions and jalapenos, with a generous sprinkle of your favorite taco seasonings (it's really up to the chefs preference. It can be near volcanic heat or it can be as mild as you want). Next (while the beef is cooking), you spread refried beans on all your tortillas. When the meat is done, you put a scoop of it onto each tortilla. Sprinkle a bunch of cheese over each tortilla and drizzle some hotsauce on top if you desire to do so. Then, you roll the tortillas up. You dont need these things to be tight like a cigar, just make sure it isn't falling apart. Arrange the enchiladas closely together in a pyrex cooking dish, preferably in a row tight enough so all of them are touching their neighbors. Next, you pour the enchilada sauce over top. The sauce I used came from a can which you can buy in any grocery store or supermarket. Then, you sprinkle a bunch of cheese over top (I usually go a bit crazy and pretty much cover everything). The dish goes in the 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Personally, I think the enchiladas are even better the next day after they have been refrigerated and reheated. I love this meal and it will definitely be one of the most important in my cookbook

My project process

My project process has been successful yet inconsistent. I've noticed that I am letting my parents play a bigger role in this experience then what I initially expected. Hearing Brian Grazer talk about his hunger to stray away from his comfort zone was really interesting to me. It makes me think: if I had the money and power to live a life of pure luxury, would I ever actually challenge myself? Or is Brian naive to think that he wouldn't face challenges as a rich retiree. Maybe the level of stress associated with money wouldn't be there, but there are always going to be problems in life that you really have no choice but to overcome. The money wouldn't do much if Brian became depressed, and I doubt the money would mean anything if he lost an important friend or family member. In case this blog hasn't made things clear, I guess what i've learned about myself is that i'm a heavy thinker and I like to analyze every situation that crosses my path. I have yet to truly feel challenged, but perhaps that is because my perception of challenge is different then others. I am proud at how well I have cooked each and every one of my meals, and it has opened my mind about how fortunate I am to have practiced Italian traditions growing up. My learning process has not been so much about overcoming an obstacle so much as it has been about learning how fortunate I am and how much I care about keeping my family traditions alive. If I ever have a family or kids, we are going to eat dinner together every night.

Red flag

Over the course of the last seven days, I made two dishes for my cookbook including the one dish I was most excited about making: chicken marsala. I spent probably around 6 hours on my project this week, and I also had to go shopping for all my materials which took a while. I didnt do so much research on paper, but I suppose you could say I did some active research when I used frozen vegetables instead of fresh ones in my stir fry. I didnt get to meet with my mentor this week because of yesterdays stupid snow day, but I definitely plan on emailing him later today. My journals were pretty detailed, but I suppose I could learn some more cooking lingo lol. I went to class this week, and it really made me wonder what I am going to do for the show and tell class next week. I have no idea how I could bring any food in and keep it hot or heat it up. I haven't made any cold dishes yet but maybe I should make some sort of appetizer to bring in for everyone. This week, I met the requirements for wise but not by much. This is a learning experience, and I am definitely learning a lot. I just need to be more assertive with my journaling and I want to drift out of my comfort zone a little bit more with my recipes and try something really difficult.

Asian stir fry

Last night I made a quick and delicious asian stir fry. I was pretty low on time, so I used frozen bagged vegetables instead of fresh ones. The night before, I prepped by cutting two chicken breasts up into bite size pieces and marinating them in soy sauce over night. When I was ready to cook yesterday, I started by browning the chicken in a large sautee pan with fresh minced garlic. I also put a cup of jasmine rice in a soup pot on the back burner and added the appropriate amount of water. When the chicken was done browning, I put the pieces in a different bowl and began to cook my vegetables. Before I seasoned my veggies, I put five of the frozen homemade eggrolls I made about a month ago into the oven and set the timer for twenty minutes. With my    rice, eggrolls and chicken already situated, I started to spice up the veg. I added a small amount of ground ginger, a handfull of peanuts, a tablespoon or two of sesame seeds, teriyaki sauce, franks red hot, and a generous dose of wegmans brand "stir fry sauce". I mixed everything and put a lid on the pan so the steam wouldnt escape and all the flavors would mix together. When the mixture was just about finished, I added the chicken back into the pan and mixed everything one final time. Each plate had a scoop of rice, a generous scoop of the chicken and veg, and an eggroll with a little spoonfull of sweet&sour sauce. My family eats this meal all the time, and it was fun to finally see exactly how it is made. However, the vegetables were too soft for my taste, and I learned that there really is no replacement for the fresh stuff. If you want your dish to be truly great or even memorable, you must take the time and use the "good stuff" instead of cutting corners and taking the semi-homemade route.

Chicken,marsala

This week I made chicken with linguine. I made the dish the same style it is made at my job, but the recipe was actually made up on the spot by my dad and I. I started by browning the chicken cutlets in a saute pan with shallots and a little bit of garlic. Then, I removed the chicken and added mushrooms to the already hot pan. After they softened up, I added the marsala wine and the chicken stock. I let the sauce reduce for like 8 minutes before I reintroduced the chicken to the pan. I let everything simmer, and drained the al dente linguine that was boiling on the other burner. I put linguine into each dinner bowl as well as 1 chicken cutlet per bowl. Then, I poured the marsala sauce and the mushrooms evenly over each bowl. This was the meal I was most excited about making since it is one of my favorite things to order at joes. I am very happy with how it turned out and I plan to refine the recipe over time to make it perfect.

Chicken saltimbocca

On monday I prepared italian style chicken saltimbocca with rice pilaf and it turned out great. I had to pound the chicken with this strange cooking hammer so that it would cook all the way through. Then, I put a slice of prosciutto and a little mound of spinach on top of each cutlet. I sprinkled parmesan cheese on top and then began the hardest part of the preparation. I rolled the chicken (cordon bleu style) and secured each roll with a tooth pick. I browned each side in a well oiled pan and eventually added chicken broth, onions, lemon juice, and a few italian seasonings. I let the chicken rolls cook for 8 minutes before removing  them and placing them on a serving platter. I reduced the sauce for five minutes until it was a glaze-like consistency. I poured the glaze over the chicken and garnished with parsley. The meal turned out delicious! I was afraid the rolls would unravel without any cheese inside (besides parmesan) but somehow it magically bonded and it looked great. These cell-phone pics dont do it justice but the pix on my dads camera are sure to impress

Red flag march 17

I spent a considerable amount of time on my project this week! Since monday I have cooked two really great meals. I made chicken saltimbocca on monday and chicken marsala on wednesday. Both meals used to be made at my work, but I used the internet as well as my dad's vast knowledge to make these dishes. I did all of the cooking myself and they both turned out really amazing. I didn't do as much research this week because my dad already knew how to make these meals. I met with my mentor yesterday for about fifteen minutes and it was a really good and productive meeting. We talked about my presentation and plans for next week. I'm still working on this weeks blog entries (sorry). I was in class this week and journaled in my composition book but I will be transferring that. I think I made great progress this week but I need to start journaling more.

Dear Reader

Dear Reader,

This year,  I decided to take WISE class as an alternative to English 12. The idea of doing standard english work for the first half of the year and working on a project for the second was really enticing. I had a long time to decide what my project should be, and now my idea is fully developed and already in motion. For the second semester of WISE class, I will be cooking foods of all varieties and compiling all of my knowledge into a cookbook. I will be cooking a meal for my family at least twice a week, and I will be taking pictures of all the finished products so I can use them in my book. I want to include 32 recipes, which will be printed on high-quality gloss paper at gnomon copy. The end result is going to be professional looking, and it will be the perfect indication of all my hard work. I decided to cook for my project because I believe that it is an essential skill and I have always been interested in it as a hobby and as a potential career. I have grown up in a traditional Italian family, so I fully understand the importance of food. I have already started cooking, and I'm excited to see my book come to fruition.

Red flag entry 3/4/11

Over the past week, I made two family dinners and two lunch/snack meals. I'm very pleased with my work and proud that I made so much food in such a limited amount of time. I had work pretty much every day this week and I was still able to make great progress on my project. I spent around 7 hours on my project this week if I don't include the time that the food was cooking. I also spent an hour looking up recipes I want to complete and blogging all my progress. I was hands-on for pretty much 100% of the work. During my time at home, my time at work and at the school library I used the internet to research some recipes I want to make and what ingredients are involved. My parents have been extremely helpful. Earlier this week my dad asked me what ingredients I wanted and a few hours later I had everything I needed for the week of work. I met with my prospective mentor, and I have a really good attitude about him mentoring me. He has only been my teacher for one class, but I have always appreciated his youthful presence and the fact that he's just an overall nice guy that is easy to talk to. I felt good about my journals this week and the fact that I can do all of this from my phone is my favorite part of the entire journalizing aspect of my project. This week I feel accomplished and excited about next week. Next week I will be making at least 2 meals and I was hoping that one of them will be one of my favorite italian dishes: chicken marsala with linguine.

First polish meal... 3/2/11

I woke up early today so I decided to get another meal made. I knew I had to use a crockpot because I have work tonight and don't have time to make anything on the stove. I decided to make Kielbasa and Saurkraut since it's a pretty easy foreign meal to make. I rinsed all of the salt off of the saurkraut and chopped the kielbasa slightly diagonally. Then I diced a small onion and combined it with the kielbasa in a saute pan. I let the onion caramelize and the meat brown for a few minutes and then put everything into the crockpot. I added around 1/5th of a cup of brown sugar, mixed everything, and turned the pot on low. It is currently cooking itself as I type this. I'm confident that this one is gonna turn out well, but I'll have to wait until later tonight to hear my family's full review.

First day I didnt have work, first day I cooked dinner for the fam.

I made dinner for my family tonight! I made burgers out of raw meat with all sorts of stuff like worchestershire sauce and montreal seasoning. I made 7 patties but I only ended up cooking 6 of them (il eat the other one before work tomorrow). It took me about 30 minutes to make the entire meal. I also made baked beans and I made home fries out of a few baked potatoes. My dad pre-baked the potatos today when I was at school so all I had to do was season them with salt and pepper and cook them in a saute pan with a little bit of butter and some onion I chopped (I cried okay... Sue me). I also made some cole slaw this morning following a recipe by wolfgang puck. I bought the actual lettuce and cabbage and the bulk of the side dish in a bag. All I had to do was make the liquid portion (is that the cole? Or the slaw?) out of mayo, a bit of ranch dressing, and small amounts of a few other ingredients like lemon juice and salt. I'd say the dinner was a success! My sister didn't even realize that I made it, since she assumed that my parents made the daily dinner like always. That was quite the compliment considering my dad has been cooking for 40 years! I took some pretty good pictures with my dads camera, as well as this picture of the burgers with my cell phone. Tomorrow I am making a polish meal! Check the blog tomorrow for the whole scoop

After class entry 3/1/11

Today we watched a documentary on another student's wise project. His project ended up being too ambitious and the barn wasnt raised on time. It said a lot about his character though, and the fact that he took on such a difficult task in such a small amount of time and worked to the best of his ability makes the project a success in my opinion. He eventually got the barn raised and I'm sure its something he will be proud of for the rest of his life. I believe this student truly utilized the wise program the way it is supposed to be used.