So I finally got the last of my things out of my car and into my apartment. Yay! In the meantime, I've already been back to Pho 75 again and this time I tried their summer rolls against the ones I've had previously at Lime and Basil. In Chapel Hill the summer rolls are wrapped in rice paper with vermicelli noodles, shrimp, a piece of pork, basil and lettuce. The dipping sauce is half hoisin and half peanut butter. It's a pretty sweet sauce. I have always loved it, but after having summer rolls at Pho 75 Lime and Basil has fallen short once again. While the rolls themselves are pretty standard, and even a little bit lacking when it comes to the basil, the dipping sauce is amazing. It is brown instead of dark and is mostly made up of the peanut half of the equation. Only a small amount of hoisin is used and instead of being sweet this sauce is spicy. The point of all this is that I will be back. With an appetite.
The next brilliant food-related thing I have discovered here in Aurora is SPROUTS. Sprouts is a fresh market/grocery store that has a LOT of organic and all natural foods. They also have a HUGE wall and a couple of aisles dedicated to vitamins. I searched for like, ten minutes and still didn't pick one. Another thing I like about this place is that some of the produce (depending on what it is) is always open for you to have a taste (like the berries or cherries). Now, I don't know if this was SUPPOSED to happen. But lots of shoppers and little kids were helping themselves. I took a cherry. It rocked. I bought. Good marketing strategy. Anyways, Sprouts definitely has a better selection of foods than anywhere in North Carolina. I was even able to find turkey fillets without asking the butcher to cut them special. There were some basic things I was missing...like, where the heck was the soy sauce? It sure wasn't near the sriracha or the asian food aisle. weird. anyways, if you have one, go to sprouts.
Lastly, when you think you have zero time to cook and you're tired (I'm gonna kinda Rachel Ray this) there is always a simple solution that will have you feeling like you just consumed a gourmet meal. You'll be proud of yourself too :) Just always keep at least one single serving of meat in your house. Buy chicken breasts in packages of six, buy beef tips and don't use the whole package at once....whatever you like to eat. This tip can also work with seafood too...cooking is just slightly different. Anyways, season whatever you're making and sear it off in a pan to get the juices flowing. after you brown whatever it is, take it out and put some foil over it to keep it warm. IT'S NOT FINISHED COOKING YET. so anyway, you have this stuff in your pan. you're looking at it like it's some vile toxin that must be removed BUT NOT DOWN THE SINK MY LORD IT WILL CLOG IT! But this grease is your friend...not literally, it will sitll make you fat. Just make a ROUX (OMG BIG WORD) and WHISK (or use a fork to whisk) that roux into the grease on medium low heat. Now listen up kids- a roux is just flour and butter mashed together with a fork. it thickens things up. you can also do this with a SLURRY (cornstarch in water). Either way just make sure that you don't stop stirring so that the rue or slurry doesn't just cook in one spot and make a clump. It is also important for the rue that you make sure the flour all gets cooked- you don't want something to taste like raw flour. Add a little stock of whatever meat you're using...keep the heat dow so it doesn't clump...
PSSST! you just made gravy. you did. and now you can put whatever you made back into the gravy, slap on a lid and cook. or, pour it over whatever you made after it's cooked. whip up a box of insta couscous ....maybe throw a little of your own groceries into it (olives, tomatoes, fruit, fruit juice(i like pineapple and mango couscous)). VIOLA! you have made dinner and i bet it took you......15 minutes? It took me less. granted i was on the phone a burnt my turkey fillet and couldn't actually make the gravy. but whatever. oh yeah...AND IF YOU'RE A VEGETARIAN you can always cooked down mushrooms and make this work....maybe even add a little veggie stock or wine and thicken the whole thing. and on the subject of seafood.....if you're low on time i don't know why you'd be cooking seafood but if you're making clams or shrimp or mussels....maybe not fish.... you can still do this. just don't over-cook whatever you're making, seafood only takes like, three or four minutes. add a can of clam juice to the pan when the food is almost done and thicken with cornstarch...flour might be weird here. this will make a creamy seafood sauce to poor over something. you can also add some kind of cheese to make it more of a clam alfredo (although, dairy products with seafood is like, blasphemy to some people). i think that was all....next I will post a list of things you should always keep stocked in your kitchen so that you can ALWAYS make a quick meal. ENJOY!
No comments:
Post a Comment