Fish are Friends... AND Food

Well this week was an interesting recipe. As I stated last week, our first recipe wasn't the first one in the book but that was only because it involved anchovies and that is a very hit or miss ingredient for most people. So we picked one from the middle that seemed like it would be a good feeding-other-people type meal. Well this week we decided to go back to the original plan and start at the beginning.

So, the first recipe in the book is "Pasta with Tomatoes, Anchovies, and Chilies." Ok, can I just say, I was VERY apprehensive about the whole anchovies thing. To me, anchovies and sardines are just things that do NOT belong in food. They just seem icky to me. But then again, Tell says I have a very 'limited' palate. So I have agreed to try at least a bite of everything that Tell makes during this "Becoming Ramsay" journey. *gulp* Maybe I should have looked through all the recipes first...

Okay so ingredients:

Spaghetti or linguine ($1-$2 depending on which brand)
Garlic ($2 approximately for a pound...you don't need a whole pound, I promise)
Olive Oil ($4 for a 12oz bottle)
One of those whole, dried chile peppers ($2 for a bag of them)
Anchovies (less than $2 for a small can)
Black Olives (pitted) (less than a dollar for a can)
Capers (which made me laugh because that was what chores were called at Girl's Camp as a kid)
Cherry Tomatoes ($4 for a package of them)
Sea salt and pepper
Basil Leaves (garnish, optional)

So as you an see, it was a WAY cheaper meal than the sirloin last week. That one about gave me a heart attack (and some wicked pregnancy heartburn!). Not all the recipes in here are going to break the bank (thank GOODness!) so it's easily something that anyone can do from home.

Preparation:

From what I understand, it was mostly like making a basic spaghetti dinner, just with weird, fishy ingredients. There was a super helpful tip that I hope Chef Ramsay won't mind me sharing from the book. The ex-English major in me says it's okay as long as I cite it properly and give credit where credit is due. So Chef Ramsay says, "Always use well-salted water to cook pasta because it is impossible to season later. The Italians always use 2 teaspoons salt for every quart of water. Adding olive oil to the cooking water is helpful, but if you really want to make sure that your pasta doesn't stick as it cooks, use plenty of water and twist the pan from side to side a few times to get the pasta swirling around just after you've put it in" (Ramsay, Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking 27). *Note: Yes, I am aware that is not correct MLA format for an internal citation but I really don't want to make a Works Cited page for one quote...sue me. Credit is given where credit is due, thank you Chef Ramsay.

The dish:

Tell put a little more effort into the aesthetics of plating this week. What does everyone think? Look any better?

Okay, so like I said, I was a bit apprehensive about the anchovies in this dish. However, I can honestly say that I didn't even notice the anchovies. According to Tell,  the anchovies are cut so fine that they really just melted into the olive oil more than anything so there weren't even like chunks of anchovies anywhere in the dish. To my "untrained" palate, I tasted mostly the basil garnish first. Maybe it's because I really like caprese salads and such so the basil really stood out to me. It mixed well though with the salty from the anchovies and the sweet of the cherry tomatoes. It was definitely an interesting combination of flavors. I am a fan of most things pasta as it is and this was something that I wouldn't mind trying again. I suggested that when Tell tries it again to maybe add mushrooms... not sure why and I could be totally off but I thought it would be good with them in it too.

Other than that, I would say this recipe was a success. Not much to fix or alter, and there was nothing under or overcooked about it, Week 2 in the bag! And now I won't have to eat anchovies again for a while (I looked ahead a few recipes, I'm safe for now!).

Until next week,

Cheers!
TaNee and Tell

Becoming Ramsay, the Beginning

My husband, Tell, is a dang good cook. I mean, not saying that I married him for his food but it's up there on the list of things I am grateful for in this marriage. I can not cook... like at all. I have been known to burn Easy Mac in the microwave... twice. However, since being married, my husband has admitted that I have developed a pretty decent palette. I still can't cook all that well (I've definitely improved in the two years that we've been married) but I still have a long way to go.

Well, my amazing, fancy-pants, chef of a husband has decided that his cooking skills need to be pushed so that he can become an even BETTER chef. Well, now that it's summer vacation and now that we are in our new place, we have been watching a whole lot of TV: specifically anything to do with Chef Gordon Ramsay. You could say we are slightly obsessed. Well with that kind of cooking inspiration in mind, my honey decided to buy one of Chef Ramsay's cookbooks. It's his goal to, once a week, try out a new recipe and slowly Become Chef Ramsay.

So here is the newest bright idea of mine: while my husband is the cook, I am the writer. So I am going to blog about our weekly cooking experience as my husband "Becomes Ramsay."

For credit's sake, the cookbook that we will be pulling recipes from is Gordon Ramsay's Home Cooking: Everything you Need to Know to Make Fabulous Food.  We got it at our local Barnes & Noble for $32 (plus tax). I will do my best to include pricing on the food but, for sake of copyright and to respect Chef Ramsay, I won't be posting the recipe in its entirety.

Week 1:

(Tell says he will also be working on his plating) 

So this week, Tell made a Roast Beef Sirloin with Pesto Potatoes and a Red Wine Reduction Tarragon Sauce.

Now keep in mind that I am NOT a chef, so me describing some of this stuff is going to sound pathetic to anyone who is a true foodie. (I'm a kind of like a foodie in training).

So from what I understand, Tell bought a full Sirloin Roast ($28 for 6 pounds at our local grocers), a bag of potatoes ($3), Red Cooking Wine ($2 for 16 oz bottle), assorted herbs (including Tarragon and Rosemary which were both about $2 a piece), Olive Oil, Shallots and Garlic (all relatively cheap).

This definitely was an experience for Tell. It made me feel a little better that he somewhat struggled with the process. We were having dinner with some friends the night he made this and so there was somewhat of a time crunch and the added pressure of performing for friends I think added to his anxiety in the kitchen. The roast didn't have quite enough time to cook fully to his or my liking (it ended up more on the rare end of medium rare, and I prefer it closer to the medium end of the spectrum) and because he was stretched so thin on timing, the potatoes weren't cooked all the way. There were chunks of under-cooked potatoes and because of that, Tell added pesto into the potatoes to try and help compensate for the no-longer stand alone potatoes.

On top of that, he decided to try and add the Red Wine Reduction Sauce on the potatoes to act like a type of gravy.

Okay, so obviously there was a lot that went in to the preparation of the dish, but how did it taste when all was said and done?

When we left our friend's house, Tell and I had a slight drive to discuss our thoughts on the outcome of the meal. Now, you should know that Tell and I have an outrageously honest relationship so I can tell him when I like something and when I don't and he isn't offended. So when he asked me what I thought, I was honest in saying it wasn't my favorite meal of his... now for the why...

The meat, to me, was just too rare in the middle. The roast itself didn't have enough time to cook and I don't really like it when my cow is still moo-ing on my plate. It was just a little too chewy in the middle. (I will say that when we got home, Tell put the roast back in the oven and once it was a bit more done for my liking, it tasted much better!)

The Red Wine Reduction Sauce was absolutely amazing... on the meat. It was a very very sweet tasting sauce and I thought it paired well on the meat (Tell says it's the sweet with the savory of the meat...like I knew that lol!) However... that being said, I hated the sauce on the potatoes. It wasn't a nice pairing of flavors like the meat and the sauce. I felt like it was two really weird flavors put together that really didn't mash (get it?? On the MASHED potatoes??!! I know, I'm hilarious).

Overall, I felt like it was okay. It wasn't terrible, by any means, and even with the weird sauce/potato combination I still cleaned my plate...and continued to eat it for 2 days after (thank goodness for leftovers!). Still lots of recipes to try out and hopefully it only get better from here!

Here's to Becoming Ramsay! Cheers.

TaNee and Tell