Fun Foto Friday!

James threatened to post this if I didn't.. So I figure this was the perfect time! This is me, cooking my chicken fried steaks.

Behind.. And Chicken Fried Steak!

Well, I had a one week trip to Albuquerque and I had my father in law staying with us for about two weeks, so I'm sorely behind on my blogging. I apologize! The one nice thing about my father in law's visit was that it motivated me to try new recipes. I've made some new things that I haven't tried before. And one thing that was a big success was the Chicken Fried Steak recipe that I got from the Food Network by Alton Brown. Here is some visual aids, to show how I did it.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds beef bottom round, trimmed of excess fat
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt I used regular salt
  
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 whole eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup whole milk
  
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Directions

Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.

Cut the meat with the grain into 1/2-inch thick slices. Season each piece on both sides with the salt and pepper. I was able to find pretenderized beef bottom round steaks at Kroger, however, I was not a fan. If you do get it, ask the butcher to cube it. It looks like toothpick holes basically. This recipe calls for seasoning with salt and pepper, and then tenderizing. I obviously did not do that. But I don't think it jeopardized the flavor.

Place the flour into a pie pan. Place the eggs into a separate pie pan. Dredge the meat on both sides in the flour. Tenderize the meat, using a needling device, until each slice is 1/4-inch thick. Once tenderized, dredge the meat again in the flour, followed by the egg and finally in the flour again. Repeat with all the pieces of meat. Place the meat onto a plate and allow it to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before cooking. This was the messiest part of the cooking. The coating of flour. Since I was doing 5 steaks, my fingers got super coated.

Place enough of the vegetable oil to cover the bottom of a 12-inch slope-sided skillet and set over medium-high heat. Once the oil begins to shimmer, add the meat in batches, being careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook each piece on both sides until golden brown, approximately 4 minutes per side. This is one of the reasons why I want a cast iron skillet. You can fry things so much better and it adds a bit of extra zing to your food.

Remove the steaks to a wire rack set in a half sheet pan and place into the oven. Repeat until all of the meat is browned. These are before and after shots, compliments of my husband James.

Add the remaining vegetable oil, or at least 1 tablespoon, to the pan. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of the flour left over from the dredging. Add the chicken broth and deglaze the pan. Whisk until the gravy comes to a boil and begins to thicken. Add the milk and thyme and whisk until the gravy coats the back of a spoon, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. Season to taste, with more salt and pepper, if needed. Serve the gravy over the steaks.

Looks delicious? Actually, it's quite yummy! I'm adding thyme in the first picture. I always feel fancy when I add fresh herbs to my dishes. The second picture is testing the gravy. It's a great test to make sure it's ready to serve.

This is the final product! Ha ha, I didn't mention that I also made mashed potatoes and green beans as well. One tip about green tips when serving it with Chicken Fried Steak, use chicken broth to soften it up. Adds a ton of flavor and compliments to the dish.

Alex's 100 Days

Back in the day, the infant mortality rate was high in Korea. Often a baby would die before it reached 100 days old. So, whenever it happened, there was a huge celebration. Since the introduction of Western medicine and through proper diet and research, it's now known that a baby can easily surpass 100 days. So the celebration does not seem to be important. Actually, currently, a professional picture is taken. If you enter a Korean family's house, you can more than likely find a framed picture of the baby dressed in nice clothes. So, following tradition, James and I had a photo shoot with Alex when he turned 100 days old. We also got some family portraits done since we don't have a professional picture of the three of us. The photographer is Vanessa Sanchez, my brother's girlfriend. Very talented young photographer.


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3 months later and they get to meet!

Ever since James and I got married, besides my dad, another person that wanted us to have kids is my baby brother. My brother is 3 years younger than me and he's currently going to school to become a graphics design artist. I've seen a lot of his stuff and I'm really impressed at his talent and creativity! I think I missed out on that creativity gene but Matthew (my baby brother) has it in spades. When Alex was born, Matthew was suck in New Mexico all by himself. My parents were out here in Houston to support both James and me. Matthew had a lot of school work going on and midterms were coming up so he was pretty busy. Anyway, Alex and I were hoping to come out to New Mexico much sooner than now. However, Alex's doctor did not feel comfortable letting us go just yet. So now Alex is 3 months old and we're going to New Mexico in a few days but Matthew, being the considerate person he is, will be coming out here to help me fly out with Alex. I'm excited. It's been awhile, and Matthew finally gets to meet his nephew! Can't wait! This is a picture of my brother with a balloon under his shirt at my baby shower. What a nutter!

Hot house!

I got the hankering to make some Korean soups since it's been awhile. And I had to call my mom on how to make her beef broth. I remember she would spend DAYS or WEEKS boiling, making her own broth. I use to think she was crazy but now I see it's well worth it! So I'm currently making my own. I bought a couple ox tail bones (which I've only been able to find in an Asian market) and I had to make the initial boil to get the fat out. Now, I'm boiling more to make the thick broth. Then, I'll put them in sandwich bags and freeze them for later use. Here is the basic recipe:

Beef Broth

2-3 ox tail bones
1 HUGE pot

Fill the pot up with water, and add the bones. Bring to an initial boil then let it cool. Take the fat off the top of the water and add more. Boil for as long as needed to get a thick, dense color broth. Could take 2-5 days for the first time. Can use the same bones to make more, will need to boil longer.

How does your garden grow??

So I went to HEB today to get some food to make for dinner. There was a great sale on bratwurst, so I'm going to do Rachel Ray's Chianti brats. James LOVES them and has requested them a couple times, but I've been too lazy to make them. Another thing that is made with the brats is pesto pasta, and I usually use the regular basil and pinenuts for my pesto. As I was searching around HEB, I saw some real basil plants and I got SUPER excited! James and I were JUST talking about how I need to get started on my garden and more than anything, I want to grow my own herbs. I use to grow sunflowers and beans in my room when I was younger. Since we don't own the house we currently live in, I can't quite build my DREAM green house or garden yet. But I'm looking at some options and if I save enough, I may buy one of these and start my herb garden. I found it at Home Depot. My make shift green house ;-)

Fun Foto Friday!