Deer Ahoy!

This morning, I came into work early after a night of not sleeping due to a potential identity theft scare, and three little yearling deer were in the back parking lot where I parked. First, they ran toward the ravine, but they must have changed their minds because all of a sudden, my car was surrounded by cutesy deers. Then, they sprinted for Carneigie, home of English and foreign languages, where they decided to hang out for a while, eating the little tree in front of the building. They looked at me, completely unconcerned. And several students walked by, not even noticing they are there - which is probably not good as pissy mad deer can kick a human's ass.

I wish I had my camera with me, as it was totally adorable.

The funny thing is that I have a pack of venison steak defrosting on my counter for dinner tonight, and these little bambis would be tender and delicious!

Chinese Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

As you all know, I am interested in fusion food. So I recently made my version of Chinese spaghetti with meat sauce. The dish is similar to what one often finds on Chinese menus as "Marco Polo Noodles: This is the original spaghetti and meat sauce that Marco Polo brought back to Italy from China!" But is also plays a lot on traditional Singapore or dan dan fun.

1 pound ground meat (I use venison but it would be as good with ground chicken or even those Boca TVP crumbles. I would not use ground turkey unless you use an all dark meat version.)
1 T ginger paste (you can get this as Indian markets)
2 t dried minced garlic
1 t aleppo pepper (for heat)
1 small onion, diced fine
1 carrot, diced fine
1 stalk of celery, diced fine
1 t galangal powder
2 cups crushed tomato
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti noodles

Coat the bottom of a large pan or wok with oil and preheat. Add in ginger paste, minced garlic, and aleppo pepper. Cook until the aroma of the spices really smells great and then add in the onion, carrot, and celery. Cook just until the onion starts to brown. Add in ground meat. Cook this, stirring often, so that the result is very fine pieces of ground meat mixed with the other stuff. Then add the tomato paste, stir for a couple of minutes, then add in crushed tomato. The result should look a bit like a Bolognese sauce at this point. Then add in galangal and hoisin sauce. Cook pasta according to the manufacturer's directions. When pasta is done, serve it with a scoop or two of meat sauce. The sauce is can also be enhanced with chopped up green onion or the addition of frozen peas or corn. This recipe should serve 4 very hungry people.

You Win Some, You Lose Some

So, I have been doing a bit more cooking lately. Likely because it is winter, and I get the urge to cook (and eat!) more during winter. Sadly, most of my recipes have been meat or seafood-based, just because the veggies are not as nice in the winter herein the Great White North.

Here is a round-up of recent winners!


Tex-Mex Shrimp Saute

8 oz shrimp
3 medium, ripe tomatoes
1 medium onion
1 cup corn (I prefer Trader Joe's Fire-Roasted Corn)
1 T cumin
2 t Southwest Seasoning (Penzey's)

Chop the tomatoes (keep the seeds and skin based on your taste and patience level) and onion. Saute onion in some garlic olive oil. Throw in cumin and Southwest Seasoning (use chilli powder if you don't have the Southwest Seasoning and then go and get some, because it rocks the house). Throw in shrimp and corn. Just before the shrimp get all pink frmo their internal thermometers, throw in the tomatoes. Cook until heated throw and full of bubbly goodness. Serve over pasta or rice.


Fig-Stuffed Chicken Breasts

1 breast per person (make sure they are the plump and meaty breasts, not the skinny individually packed frozen breasts)
Your favorite stuffing mix
1 medium red onion
5 dried figs per person
.25 cup of pecans

Mix up the stuffing according to the directions on the package. Chop the figs and the onion and throw them into the stuffing (add less onion if you only have a couple of people eating). Mix in the pecans. Then, butterfly each breast and stuff with the stuffing mixture. Put into a high-sided baking pan and put in the oven at 350 for about 45 minutes. Towards the end of cooking, slice some Fontina cheese and put on top. If you can melt the Fontina under the broiler so it gets a pretty brown crust. Just be careful not to burn the cheese under the broiler, which is easy to do.



Crock-Pot Venison for a Party Crowd


1.5 pounds of venison stew meat
1 handful of dried mushrooms (I use wild ones handpicked by mia madre but feel free to use whatever ones strike your fancy at the store - even try some morels! Yum!)
2 T dried toasted onion flakes
2 T garlic powder
1 T powdered ancho chillis (or chilli powder)
salt and pepper
even broth to cover the venison.

Throw everything in the Crock-Pot by 7:30 am. Turn on high. Come back at 4:45 pm. Turn off Crock-Pot. Using potholders, transport to car. Go to Party. Serve at holiday buffet. Take home an empty Crock-Pot.


And one loser -

Shrimp and Mushrooms in Chilli Garlic Sauce

Theoretically, this should have been yummy. I just used shrimp and mushrooms and a Cook-Do sauce. I love Cook-Do. For someone looking to have a lazy Asian supper, Cook-Do is the way to go. And I normally love the Chilli Garlic Cook-Do sauce. I don't know if the mushrooms were sliced to thinly or what the deal was, but this dish just did not speak to me. Actually, the only part I liked was the sauce, which I spooned over brown rice. The rest of it I chucked.

Which you should never be afraid to do. Ever. Just chuck it!