working through all the random proteins in the freezer before they get freezer burned or tossed because they are mysterious and last night we had fish & chips.
The fish were a couple of haddock fillets that I sliced down into goujons and and triple dipped in flour, beaten egg and panko. I shallow fried them in my favorite pot in canola oil for just a few minutes. The fries a bag of Alexia waffle fries we baked in the oven. We had a lonely jalapeno that I sliced down and combined with olive oil mayo in lieu of tartar sauce. I didn’t go totally Brit and wrap it up in a newsprint but it tasted good all the same.
kota kokinisti – cinnamon chicken
sounds rather bizarre. I had it at Cat Cora’s restaurant, Kouzzina a few months back and decided to scope it out on the internet and try it at home. Not great for a weeknight when you are wiped out as it takes a solid hour plus to make. It isn’t a difficult dish but you stew the chicken for quite a long while at a low heat. We served it on a bed of buttered orzo which, although I followed the directions on the box, were beyond al dente. It isn’t really a pretty dish but it tasted really nice and comforting.
Kota Kokinisti
adapted from cat cora
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 (2 to 3 pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces (we used large skin on chicken breasts – 2)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 onions, roughly chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced, plus 2 cloves, whole
- 4 ounces dry white wine
- 2 cups water
- 6 ounces tomato paste
- 1 cup mizithra (it being Orlando and a weeknight, we used Parm)
- Serving suggestion: Cooked rice or cooked orzo.
Directions
Heat oil in a large skillet on high heat. Sprinkle chicken with cinnamon, salt, and pepper, brown on all sides, and set aside.
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the onions and minced garlic, and cook for 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Add the wine to remove the particles from the bottom of pan and reduce until almost dry. Add water, tomato paste, and whole garlic cloves. Add chicken, cover, and simmer for 1 hour or until chicken is cooked through. Add water as needed.
Served best over rice or orzo. Top with mizithra.(greek raw milk cheese. can sub mix of ricota salata and romano)
pinkberry
most of the time Orlando is a city for tourists. We live here, you vacation here, we work, you play, etc -you get the idea. The mall closest to our house is filled with bus loads of tourists loaded down with bags from the likes of the Disney Store and M & M’s World. I can never imagine what people have bought at the M & M’s store in bags that large. Interestingly enough, I think it was the locals that came out for this one.
We were on our way home from dinner last night and I wanted to make a quick stop at Whole Foods to pick up a few things when I remembered. Pinkberry opens today!!! So, we detoured a few blocks to make a stop for the famed froyo that is the darling of Angelenos LC and Lo.
You can choose whether I was so excited I took a bite before a photo or if the Orlando heat was causing melting but I didn’t take a photo. It was worth it. You pay one price for plain and one price for as many toppings as you want which is fun for experimenting and the fruit on top is always fresh, never frozen. The yogurt fresh and tart. I tasted the pomegranate in line and I am hooked on this stuff. I can’t wait to try other flavors.
Chocolate froyo with cap’n crunch, white yogurt chips and fresh raspberries for her.
Chocolate froyo with chocolate crunch, chocolate shavings and chocolate chips for him.
bk whopper bar
looking for something to do last night and I said, “We should go to the whopper bar.” I wasn’t really thinking I would be taken up on that one. The BK Whopper Bar in theory is a high end Burger King-only Whopper Bar at Universal City Walk. But Z was pretty much like, ‘my mind’s made up, we’re going’. So, we drove over to check it out.
What it isn’t:
- high end
- clean
- a bar
What it is:
- unique-to date, there are only 3 others and this one was first
- food court-y (next to Moe’s and Panda)
- reasonably tasty
I had a build your own Whopper with A-1, peppered bacon and blue cheese that was pretty good and Z had an Angry Whopper with limpy jalapenos, pepper jack and supposed Angry Sauce that was a little non-existant. We also had funnel cake fries which had a nice tub of glaze and sort of did taste like funnel cakes. Homemade burgers are better but this was fun to check out.
City Walk itself is mostly restaurants which a few shops and lots of walk up bars for slurpee-like cocktails. It is host to Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville, Hard Rock Orlando, Bubba Gump’s, Emeril’s, you get the picture. We also found out that City Walk parking is only $3 after 6pm which is good to know for evening’s out.
waffle house
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so, the culmination of the days long debate over waffles v pancakes resulted in going out for breakfast with the emailing culprits. I can testify to how hard these people work during the week and we all got up early on Saturday morning to hit the Waffle House which is a tiny box of a restaurant where we couldn’t quite all sit at the same table but shouted across the aisle. They seem to have a dedicated only to cooking waffles guy and a lot of extra people behind the counter who sort of stood and waited to spring into action. Not haute cuisine but a good way to get moving on Saturday morning.
My Urban Pantry 