Stir-fry efforts

I've been struggling with this stir-fry thing of late.  Seems like I end up with too much flavor or too little.  On one end of that spectrum, I made some ginger-garlic beef, from a recipe in the stir-fry book I got a week or so ago.  The recipe called for 3/4 of a cup of soy sauce, and was just plain too salty.  On the other end, I've made a couple of chicken recipes in the past week, and I can't seem to get much flavor into the chicken itself.  Is there something basic that I'm missing?  Do I need to marinade the chicken for a longer period of time?  I'm stuck.

Garlic Lamb with Mushrooms and Noodles

So, I got this book on stir frying.  It was one of those bargain books that Borders always has on sale just inside the front door.  I figured that for eight bucks I couldn't go wrong, and I know how to saute, so stir frying would be playing to my strengths.

Right.

First of all, the measurements are mostly in ounces of weight, not volume.  Since I don't have a scale, that leaves me eyeballing things and guessing based on package size.

Second, the book uses a lot of ingredients that I haven't used previously, and doesn't really explain what they are.

Third, the directions tend to compress several steps into one, so it is really easy for the novice to miss something.

All that notwithstanding, the recipe I used tonight came out pretty well, albeit with way too many noodles.  I really liked the technique for cooking up teriyaki mushrooms.  You stir fry them for a couple of minutes, then add two tablespoons of teriyaki sauce, toss thoroughly, and then cover the lot and let them steam for about 10 seconds, just to force the flavor into the mushrooms.  I'm thinking of using this technique to go with some chicken at a later date.

Garlic Chicken

Now this is some high-testosterone cooking!  Once everything is prepped, it all has to be added to the pan in the right order, and cooks up very fast! 

The result was good, but a little light on the flavor.  That's what I get for making Chinese food from a recipe in a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook!  I was thinking of adding a little siracha next time.  Any other ideas to add a little zing?

Broiled Cajun-Spiced Chicken

OK, so this was my first real "What've we got?" meal.  My roommate had some boil-in-the-bag rice (not my first choice, but he wanted to contribute, so household politics trumped gormandizing), and there were some frozen veggies -- snow peas, carrots, and cauliflower -- in the freezer. 

This left the meat to figure out.  I was going to the store anyway to get a gallon of cider, since we're having a very welcome cold snap here, and what could be better than hot cider?  So, I picked up a couple of chicken breasts, which I rubbed down with cajun spices and broiled in the oven for about 12 minutes.

The meal came out all right, given the pre-fab ingredients.  The chicken was pretty juicy, except for the very thin bits at the ends, which got a bit tough.  Next time, I'll break out the rice maker, though!

"Uncle Norman's" (Buckwheat) Pancakes

I've been making my Dad's pancake recipe for years, with almost no variation. It's the recipe I grew up on, so the sentimental value is pretty high. Recently, though, my wife has been asking me to try the recipe using buckwheat flour. I was a bit unsure of the consequences of this sort of alteration, so I called the source. Dad said that he recalled not having very much success with buckwheat flour, but that I might try using half buckwheat and have all-purpose flour. I followed his sage advice (don't tell him -- he'll have a heart attack), and the pancakes turned out quite well. The buckwheat flour gives them a nice texture, and they seem to soak up a bit more maple syrup, as well.

My one grumble is a technical problem, not a matter of product. The buckwheat flour makes for a browner batter, so it's a little tougher to tell when the pancakes are cooked enough. That's just a matter of practice, though.

My wife suggested that we try letting the better rest for a while next time, so that will most likely be my next experiment.

I also incorporated Mom's suggestion of using powered buttermilk, and that worked pretty well, although next time I'll actually sift it into the rest of the dry ingredients, rather than adding it afterward.

Grilled Lamb Chops

My wife wanted lamb burgers for dinner, but there was no ground lamb to be had, so we settled for lamb chops. I used the marinade from this recipe, but opted for grilling instead of broiling. I always struggle a little bit with grilling, because I'm afraid of over-cooking the meat. As a result, I typically end up under-cooking it. Tonight, though, it came out ok. I'm not sure I can replicate it, but it was ok tonight.

I noticed that there was an awful lot of flame-up on the grill. Not sure if this was the marinade or the lamb-fat, but it gave the chops some nice blackening, without over-doing the interior meat.

Bread!

I found this bread recipe in my feeds the other day, and it looked pretty easy, so I thought I'd give it a try. It has to be about the simplest bread recipe possible -- just flour, yeast, salt, and water. Mixing the dough takes about 20 minutes, and then you let it stand for 4 hours.

The only problem I encountered was the difficulty of getting the right temperature in my oven. I bought an oven thermometer, but getting an electric oven to exactly 450 is a challenge, especially the first time you try to figure out just how off the oven's gague is! I think I ended up with an oven that was just a little bit too hot. My bread was good, but a little crusty. We'll see how it goes with dinner tonight.