January 22nd, 2008 by Stinkhead
Now that we have a baby, I’m feeling the “nesting” genes kick in and I’m trying to domesticate myself a little bit. Now I’m starting to cook. I am a cheeseburger and pizza and cheeseburger type of guy. But now I need to get “healthy” and try cooking a bit. I love watching Gordon Ramsay (from TV’s Hells Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares), so I started there and picked up his book Gordon Ramsay Makes it Easy, his cook book featuring deceptively simple recipes. Read the article to see how I did…
My prior experience in cooking involved baking brownies, scrambling eggs, and mixing up boxed Mac N Cheese (mmmmmm). But I wanted to move forward.
The recipes are fairly easy to follow in Ramsays’ Makes it Easy, however it’s not like a traditional cookbook with everything broken down into specific stages. This is not for the complete novice. Not every recipe features a photo of the finished meal. There are a lot of wonderful, pavlovian photos, but I would not call this the easiest cookbook I’ve cracked. It wasn’t hard, but some of the terms and procedures assume that you have at least some knowledge in the kitchen. This is for when you want to cook with some flair… far above function.
That being said I decided to start small… very small. Oooh look, hamburgers! Mini Meg Burgers (named after his daughter) are extremely simple to make, however are better than just meat-on-bun, swimming in ketchup. This isn’t some secret recipe, but it is a nice (new-to-me) way of cooking mini burgers on the stove. I was impressed, they were overall better than what I’ve produced on the grill, with one hand on the spatula, the other wrapped around a beer… but, I was really taken with the Oven Roasted French Fries that were featured on the same page. I really don’t like french fries from anything but a frier at a restaurant. I do not like frozen ones, I do not like the home-made ones… I do not like them Sam I am… but his little method of boiling and then baking made something I’d definately try again. They were great!
Ok, that was easy, and delicious.. what’s next? It’s a toss up between the Bacon Wrapped chicken legs (stuffed with pork and almonds) or the Pork Loin with prosciutto on cous-cous cakes… mmmm! The recipes are (obviously) a bit more advanced than the burgers on a skillet, but the pay off should be a bit more advanced as well. Basically I wanted to tell you that I’m getting started, and if a lazy sucka like myself can do this, you can too. I’ll let you know how the next meal goes… probably later this week. I definately like this book.
The book is packed with artsy pictures of Ramsay in his own kitchen, cooking, and picking out food. So in that interest, here is a picture of me with the pre-cooked burgers.
For a Christmas present, I took my wife up to NYC to have dinner at Gordon Ramsay’s signature restaurant. (Get your reservation in 2 months in advance) The reason he has all these TVÂ shows and successful restaurants is because he’s such an incredible chef. His personality is what makes the shows fun to watch…
Dinner was phenomenal but pretty pricey. But it was worth it. I had the Loin of venison roasted in cocoa butter, braised red cabbage, quark dumplings and bitter chocolate for my entree, and I have to say the chocolate fondant for dessert was one of the most incredible things I’ve ever eaten. So was the puree’d butternut squash appetizer (palate cleanser) they brought out. Wow… everything was pretty incredible.
Anyway this was our first trip away without the little dude. Both Grandmothers took turns watching him at our house as we took the train up to NYC for the night. It was nice having one night of completely uninterrupted sleep, and be able to do some grown-up activites (dinner and a show) but it was good to be back. Maybe we’ll take him along on our next big trip.
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Posted in books, cooking | 1 Comment »
May 26th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
[…] NonToxicReviews Blog Archive Cooking with Gordon Ramsay Posted by root 20 hours ago (http://www.nontoxicreviews.com) Click to shop middot blogarama the blog directory but now i need to get healthy and try cooking a bit i love watching gordon ramsay from tv hells kitchen please note comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment wordpress theme powered by ageow Discuss | Bury | News | nontoxicreviews blog archive cooking with gordon ramsay […]