Rachel Pizza

It's one of the great debates. Like Democrat vs Republican, Coke vs Pepsi, fries vs onion rings, light beer vs good beer. Reuben vs Rachel. I'm guessing most people are familiar with the Reuben, a hot sandwich with corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing. A Rachel is similar only instead of sauerkraut you put cole slaw on it and sometimes swap pastrami for the corned beef. Personally, I'm on the Rachel side, mostly because I'm not a big sauerkraut fan. I do, however, love cole slaw. So, as I have a want to do, I decided to make a pizza version.

I figured I'd use the cole slaw and dressing as the "sauce" part of the pizza. Seemed fitting plus I thought this might help the slaw from getting too soft. Then some Swiss cheese, I decided to skip mozzarella since Swiss melts fine and has more flavor anyway. Now, corned beef. You could also do pastrami of course, it's also really good on pizza. But I had corned beef, so.

But how was it? Well, you know I like to be honest, I've admitted recipe failures in the past. Which is why I'm glad this was so fricking awesome. The cole slaw didn't get too soft, the corned beef didn't get dry and Swiss is a great melting cheese. And if anyone sells the idea I expect a cut. Now, if I were going to pair a wine with this I would suggest beer. Because it's pizza. I mean, really.

Sunday Cats #97 Plus a Baby

Sniffy sniffy.Running low on Bob and Lucy pics. Need new scam...

Barbecue, Bacon Cheeseburger with Chipotle Onions

Yeah baby. Devastating isn't it? Great for breakfast too. Heh.

Ok, who else loves chipotle? I'm assuming most hands went up. This isn't really a recipe, more of a serving suggestion. I'm also assuming that you kids all know how to make a burger so I won't hold your hand through the whole thing, just what I managed to get pics of. So. I made the burger just like I would any other. Note that for me "any other" almost invariably includes sauteed onions. Because they are the bomb. But after I sauteed the onions for a bit I splashed some chipotle hot sauce on them. Then I stirred them around a bit more and let them sit until the sauce had evaporated or been absorbed or whatever happened. While they were doing that I put some bbq sauce on the burger which was almost done (used the fat that come off it to saute the onions. It's awesome.) and a slice of cheese. It's not a cheeseburger without cheese, you know. Pro-tip: putting something like a bowl or lid over the burger after you put cheese on it helps it melt faster.

Then came assembly: toasted rollcheesy burgery goodnessbaconchipotle onionsthen to finish it off, a little lettuce. Now it's healthy. Heh.

My, but there's a difference between the light in my kitchen (all but the first and last pics above) and the light in my living room. Maybe I should get a hot plate so I can cook in there. Hell, there's more prep space than in my kitchen. Anyway, I'm sure you could flavor up onions with any kind of hot sauce that isn't too thick. I think if you used something tomato based like bbq sauce it wouldn't coat right and might burn and stick. Or it might caramelize and be awesome. Hm. Next time. In the meantime, I strongly urge you to try this. It's wicked good.

Sunday Cats #96 Plus a Baby

Cat. Baby. Cat. Baby. Baby and cat. Heh, I should write a children's book.

Sesame Chicken: Take 2

Yep, this is a take two since I've posted about it before, but since I didn't do significantly better this time I'm not updating the recipe. This dish has caused me a certain amount of frustration, I can't quite seem to get it to be how I want. This time I got some help though, I recruited my niece Bethany, who has started a food blog called The Color Plate, to give it a whack and see what she could do. If you want to see how she did you'll have to go over there to The Color Plate. You should go over there anyway, she's quite good with a camera and much more charming than me. Expect me to mention her blog (The Color Plate) repeatedly. I believe that there was an implied threat if I didn't...

So, sesame chicken then. This time I didn't use carrots since I didn't have any and didn't feel like going to the store. I did have broccoli though, as is illustrated in the picture below, so I used that. I also had fresh ginger, which made a bit of a difference, and I decided to toss some sliced shallot in there for kicks. One thing I didn't have though was cornstarch and I didn't realize it until I had everything prepped. Whoops. Ah well, thin sauce then. Other than the fresh ginger the only other major change I made this time was to use some mirin. Great stuff, next time I'm going to cut back on the honey and use more of it, I think that will be an improvement. At this point I also noticed that I had completely neglected to cook rice. So what starchy goodness cooks in mere moments? Ramen. Perfect. Pro-tip: no counter space? Plate up your stuff in your empty dish drainer. No empty dish drainer? Do your chores before you cook, you slacker. Heh. That's it, sesame chicken, take two. I'm not done with this recipe yet though, it shall not beat me. I will emerge triumphant. Eventually.

But as for you, dear readers, why not go to The Color Plate, if you haven't already, and see what Bethany is up to? I have mentioned her, right? Heh.

Camera Cleanup #10: Souvlaki Leg of Lamb

Hey! Look, I'm posting food! It's even on a holiday, although as a bachelor with no prospects for lovin' I'm rather gleefully ignoring this particular one. I'm planning on spending the whole day on the couch not worrying about what anybody other than the real Bob and I want. And his needs are pretty simple, especially compared to the women I've dated. So, anyway I am posting food albeit no recipe. Plus it's lamb and I know that's not the most popular of meats. But I have pictures of it, it was awesome and they're going up. Dammit.

So what this is is a butterflied leg of lamb that I "stuffed" with souvlaki marinade. I also rubbed it with it, since really, can you have enough souvlaki flavor? I need to write down my recipe for it someday, it's pretty much finalized. That aside, after the rubbins I then tied it up and browned it in a oven safe pan. Then, obviously, I roasted it. Cut off pieces and ate them. It was fantastic. Oh, this was also the lamb that I made that lamb pilaf with. Almost forgot about that. This is a multipurpose roast, don't you love it? Maybe it will be my valentine. Except that it's long gone... ah well.

And to finish off this post, here is my niece Lucy encouraging you all to Rock!