Got my mojo workin'

...sort of. At least temporarily.

I actually cooked dinner last night.

I can't thank Rachael Ray for the mojo spike; I got the books in late July or early August and then everything went to hell in a handbasket and I still have not had a chance to sit the Viking down and make a list of recipes to try. I've flipped through them, and they look good and useful. I just haven't actually done anything with them yet.

But I made fried plantains (The Viking bought me some of the Good Eats dvds for my birthday) and roast beef (following the method from the Roast Beef for Beef on Weck).

The roast beef method is perfect, I think. In retrospect I probably had a little too much water in the bottom of the pan and also should probably have sliced the beef a bit thinner. But other than that, perfect. My Polder thermometer made cooking to temperature easy, and I had bought a 2.5 lb eye round (since it's only the two of us) so it took practically no time to cook. Before roasting I sprinkled it with a little McCormick's Montreal Steak seasoning (a Ray staple) and that was pretty good too.

The plantain recipe is listed as being of medium difficulty, which boggles me, since the hardest thing about it is peeling the plantains. I knocked the plantains out while the beef was resting. Maybe it's to do with fear of frying or something. I dunno. *shrug*

I also made a big pot of chicken stock, so I will probably be making chicken and dumplings and cock-a-leekie soup later this week.

verso - recto