It’s nearly time. Both for Independence Day and for me coming back here finally. Funny. I’ve been wanting to start back for a couple weeks now, and even though this time I’m not going to go back to my crazy schedule of before (of 3 to 4 new recipes a week and a new article every week or two), and this time keep it “easy”, it’s really difficult to get going again. Guess it’s the commitment thing. I know when I start I’ll have to keep going. And while that’s a good thing, a very good thing, as said, surprisingly difficult to get that “start off” momentum going.

That said though I did do something interesting the other day I didn’t think I’d do. I love my giant super duper grill-smoker. But for two people and small meals it’s too heavy (that is 20lb grates and my condition) and too much work to contstantly cook in. So my little ol grill is now also on my patio. I know with it’s small space and comparatively light weight parts I’ll be more into grilling things more often. Anyhow looks like I’ll start posting again in July. Thanks for waiting!

… when I start up here again. I had hoped May. But that was not to be. I’m averaging a good real meal and something “new” maybe once every two of three weeks. If you count that back from April it means I have two, maybe four dishes I’ve made new, wrote down the instrucitons and shot photographs of or for. When I feel that I can do this every week is when I figure I’ll resume here.

For now, let me tell you I got the grill cleaned and for Memorial Day weekend had a couple of close friends over. Kept it small and intimate. Same with the menu. Cooked pork spare ribs because …. mmm … I haven’t had them since last October on the grill done by my own hand and I so needed that fix. Plus for appetizers I grilled some 16-20 sized shrimp and made (this is the new item) some nice grilled potato quarters. I’ll be sure to get that up with my first four or five recipes. Till then, thanks for keep looking in and looking at the “old” stuff.

I’m still around and still recuperating. Some days I feel like I can lift mountains (ok, that’s usually only for a few hours a day on those rare days), and most of the other days I feel like I can’t even lift a can opener. Most days it’s Butoni frozen bags or something simple. On the good days I cook something more “normal” but usually nothing too complex. Meanwhile it’s nice to come on and see folks reading the older recipes I’ve done.

Just wanted to drop a note here saying again when I can get a chance I’ll be picking back up on this blog again. No doubt on a more normal once a week manner than the crazy four recipes plus and article, five times a week schedule I did for eight months. Til then, then.

Seven to eight months and constant updates, but, as you see, none lately. Been in the hospital. Some very serious stuff too. And still not over it yet. (I have another test to get done as an outpatient).

… Only been out slightly over 24 hours as I write this btw, and I don’t see myself able to cook even a bag of rice in the next few days. When I can continue, I will and you’ll know it. Plenty to puruse here in the meantime though. Talk to you soon.

Quick note! Based on my writing articles on television shows including now reviewing tv shows such as this cooking show roundup here I’ve decided to do a second new blog!

While you’ll still find new recipes with photos as well as articles on cooking right here at cooking @ home, you can find new television show reviews as well as the latest news on your favorite cooking show host, tv cook, and celebrity chef. We’re covering their shows, their cookbooks, their travels, their new restaurants and even any cookware or spice or sauce they come out with. So whether it’s Gordon Ramsay or Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri or Wolfgang Puck, you’ll find all your favorite celeb chefs at the brand new TV Chefs Blog.

©2008 Harry Kenney

One thing you know about the way I do things, for those who follow me, is that besides pointing out tips I point out the rough spots, the mistakes that I’ve made on a previous version or how to correct mistakes if they’re made. What you don’t see (though I sometimes talk about) are the once in a while big flops.

Yes, I have them too. We all do. (You might find some comfort in that.) Maybe I made a silly mistake that flopped the whole thing. Once in a while the technique I used was the downfall — as when I tried too tough a cut of beef for shish kabobs. Sometimes I misjudge as with a recent braised Swiss chard recipe where by (having not used it before) I totally miscalculated the amount of shrinkage and so the other ingredients in the dish came out in too much proportions.

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Today I look at the latest new food and cooking shows of this winter season. Give a nod to some of the best shows that have been on a while, and look forward to the first signs of Spring. Seems Punxsutawney Phil came out of his burrow, saw his shadow made by a creme brulee torch, and predicted two of our top favorite shows will be returning in just a few weeks.

Oh and with this article, I start the first ever reviews complete a star rating system. That said, let’s begin with the latest crop of new programs. Are they feast or famine?

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©2008 Harry Kenney

How I came up with this dish has an odd little road to it. A couple months ago I had friends coming over for a get together and I had my cooking itineary planned, complete with an Italian dessert. No, not one of my own. I do do other people’s recipes at times too. Sometimes I make so many changes that they end up turning into something different and my own, but this was one of those times I was going to pretty much go along with the recipe I had. (At least that had been the initial plan.)

Listen up, this will teach you the value of reading something first, and all the way through and thoroughly. I was going to make this chocolate ricotta dessert (forget what, maybe was a cake, I seem to think it was going to be one of those custard things in ramekins. I had read the recipe throught and even did the two hour prep (again this was a while back, Iwrote down the recipe, but I didn’t write down this story, so bear with my fuzzy memory.)

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©2008 Harry Kenney

Funny how there are some dishes I’ve created and made for a long time, yet, seven months into this cooking site, realize there are still one’s I haven’t included here. This is one of them (til now). I stumbled into this one of those times when I had salsa left over from a party. You see, I do enjoy tortilla chips and salsa as a nice alternate to the usual potato chip and dip. Thing is, in the days after the party I just don’t feel like eating salsa and chips solo. So I need to come up with something to do with that jar. Several years ago after one party I also found I had forgotten to serve the second half of the shrimp I’d bought. (There was still plenty of food and no one at the party knew or missed it though.) … In short. Boom. Came this recipe.

I know the name seems a tad corny coming from me. No, I swear I’m not turning “Rachel” on you. I promise never to call things in between soup and stew “stoop”. And no, I don’t think any male, no matter how brimming with nor how deficient of testosterone should ever have the word “Yum-o!” come from his lips either. So that’s not happening. So the choice was, call this was I call it around the house as my shorthand “Sorta Jambalaya” or name it something more long-winded like “Chicken and Shrimp in Spicy Tomato Spanich Rice”. The latter is accurate but doesn’t roll off the tounge as well. The first is reluctantly a tad cutsy, but it does convey the concept quickly.

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©2008 Harry Kenney

Simple recipe? Yes. Simple ingredients? Yes. Great taste? Hey! That goes without saying. What does need talking about is, simple as these are, what is a sauce? A glaze? A mop? What exactly is Jack Daniel’s? And while we’re at it, where exactly on the steer does a strip steak come from?

According to About.com “Mops are sauces you might (better) know as sop, bastes or mops.” I would have to add “glazes” to that list. (For instance the Asian glaze I use on salmon is like this; whereas the glaze I put on meatloaf stays there the first time, that is, one application and leave it.) First, let’s take a left turn. A marinade is a sauce made of either all wet ingredients or wet ingredients and some dry (spices and herbs), but it’s still basically a wet sauce. And into this marinade, your proteins, your meat, poultry or seafood is placed prior to cooking to add flavor. So all these other things — glazes, mops, bastes — are what you put on immediately before and/or during your cooking — as with this recipe.

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©2008 Harry Kenney

Several different types of fish have gotten somewhat popular in the last few years and can now easily be found at your local fish monger or at the fresh seafood section of your local supermarket. Among these is one with the very cool sounding name of mahi-mahi. So what is mahi mahi? (The name by the way can be two words or a single hyphenated one from what I’ve found.)

Obviously the name conjures up the tropical Pacific, specifically Hawaii. And indeed the name is Hawaiian, meaning “strong-strong” as this fish can really put up a fight when on the end of a fishing line. Despite the name however, this fish can be found and caught in many places including the deep South Pacific but also in the Caribbean, the west coast of South America and Southeast Asia; and it is in these areas the commercial fisherman go for. That said, in less abundance more recreational fisherman have caught them in the Arabian Sea and even in the Atlantic from New Jersey down to Florida.

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©2008 Harry Kenney

Cooks are generally pretty imaginative. That said, when something gets popular, everyone jumps on the bandwagon. In the last few years we’ve seen the big bulsamic vinegar craze, and then there was the Parmesano Reggiano fad, and of course endive has long replaced the boring iceberg lettuce as the salad staple. The first one is still going, though I see some chefs lately such as Bobby Flay starting to use sherry vinegar instead; and as for grated cheese, it seems of late Pecorino Romano is the food world’s “new black”.

What brings this up? Especially in terms of this particular dish? Well while there’s not too much wrong with everyone jumping on a bandwagon (well, there is to some degree), the thing is few people seem to know when to jump off that wagon, not even when it’s been run into the ground. And that brings me to the mango. Like most people I enjoy it, and yes, I’m sure I will use mango in future recipes just as I have in the past. But, please folks, there is a world beyond. In short, the wide-spread massive over-use of the mango to the exclusion of everything else stops here.

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