kaos family kitchen

quick bite...

2007-09-15T16:37:00.000-07:00

I know you all think we don't love you... Mr. Kaos is so busy being Mr. Kaos that he never ever ever has the time to write here and I wanted this to be his little corner of the interweb so I have tried to stay away, but I can't let him neglect you any longer so let me tell you the tale of our Saturday.

It is 4:37 in the afternoon. K woke us up at 6:38 AM. That was very odd indeed considering she complained every other day this week about waking at that hour... but none the less Saturday is here and early she must rise...

There was nothing fancy for breakfast, just simple (but heavenly) sandwiches for lunch but what on earth to do for dinner? We haven't been grocery shopping in weeks. I mean we have popped into the store to grab something we needed but we haven't been grocery shopping so old mother Kaos' cupboard is bare.

Do you think anyone wanted to leave the house today? No... so what I detail below is something thrown together from fridge, freezer and shelf... Enjoy

Foil Pouched Salmon Fillet

Frozen individually packaged salmon fillets
Tin Foil
Olive Oil
Seasonings to taste (in the pouches for K and I put olive oil, garlic, kosher salt, dill, black pepper and a pat of butter, Mr. Kaos did his own thing)

Place the salmon on a square of tin foil, add olive oil and seasonings. finish with a spritz of lemon or butter.

Wrap the salmon in the foil, if you fear it may leak you can wrap it in one additional piece.

Place on grill over medium heat 4-5 minutes a side if thawed 10 minutes a side if frozen.

Served with:

Pouched baby potatoes

I've taken the little potatoes, sliced them in two, seasoned them simply (olive oil, kosher salt, pepper, garlic and diced shallots).

Wrap in foil and toss them on the grill over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

Last but not least our veg.

Pouched broccoli (are we sensing a theme)

Clean and cut broccoli, place on tin foil and season with olive oil, POWDERED garlic and kosher salt. Place on grill over medium heat 3-4 minutes a side.

Look, I never left the house (oh, except to get my hair done and my pesky brows waxed, but that is a tale for another blog)

Naan Dawgs

2007-06-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

What to do after work to feed the family, on the first (nice) day of spring? I want to fire up the grill. A stop at the local Trader Joe's found a nice thick Indian Naan in the bread section. Later, a pass by the sausage section- culinary serendipity!

The "Naan Dawg" is born.

Now, you can use any sausage you want, but I found a really nice chicken Mushroom Asiago that was tasty and low fat. Very tasty...

You know the drill. Put the "dawgs" on the grill (medium heat). As you turn the "dawgs" to finish, place the Naan on the grill to heat. You want to get the bread nice, warm and pliable (not crisp) to accommodate the sausage.

Place "dawgs" and Naan in foil to keep warm and ready to serve. Finish with your favorite garnishes! I like Dijon mustard, a little Ketchup and diced dill pickles (relish).

K says: "They're great! Come on! I've never had something as great as that! My whole family eats them."

Seriously. Try this on the grill. You won't be disappointed...

Father's Day German Feast

2007-06-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

I'll just take the solo, no introduction, exposition or explanation- that's how I roll, daddy-o.

German Family Father's (Land) Day. It sounds a little ominous, doesn't it? Well it's delicious... I realized this year that about this time of the season, like the solstice, we start to hunger for some GERMAN FOOD. Around the time of my father's birthday and Father's Day we find our way to the German butcher for some treats. This year, we wandered to The Edelweiss Sausage & Delicatessen, our neighborhood German butcher located in "Historic Brooklyn", just off of SE Powell at the Ross Island Bridge. This place has been here for many years, and since I grew up in a German family in Portland, I'm certain my folks know the owners.

Taking a number at the counter, I searched my childhood memories for menu ideas. Father's Day: blood sausage and calves' liver spread for the men (Blutwurst und Kalbsleber). Cervelot (a cured German tar-tar salami) and Lappi (a Finnish cheese) for the girls. With Bavarian dark rye and "hunter's bread" (Jaegerbrot) from Neumann's German Bakery, Inc for all.

Blutwurst with onions. My first appreciation of this was in the Old-Dusseldorf brewery Uerige...

And now for my own Father's Day potato salad experiment. Fried potatoes, adding prosciutto, onion, garlic and vinegar for my Northwest take on warm German potato salad.

Crisp up the prosciutto in olive oil. Set aside in a bowl.

Onions cooked crispy in olive oil (don't burn the oil...). Set aside.

Add oil and garlic as a starter for the potatoes. Let the garlic release it's essence, don't brown or overcook!

Add the potatoes. Coat liberally with olive oil. The key is to seal the potatoes in a semi-crispy shell while slowly cooking the inside. I forgot to mention that these potatoes need to be sliced about 1/4" by 1", thin enough to cook through in a pan of oil (without pre-boiling).

Add kosher salt, pepper, basil and dill to taste while cooking.

As the potatoes are finishing, add the prosciutto ham and onions back for flavor. Mix thoroughly and add white wine vinegar to taste (I used about 1/3 cup).

Kill the heat, cover and let stand until ready to serve, or chill. The dish can be served warm but if you chill it and serve cold the flavors meld nicely and produce a respectable picnic potato salad.

And now for the grill: wieners, beer sausage and weisswurst (white sausage).

To top off the meal I opened a Hip Chick's Do Wine 2003 Riesling, dry, citrus with nice acid (not overly sweet).

Schmeckt!

Mr. Kaos

edited with love for readability by CamiKaos xoxo

heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's kaos

2007-06-17T19:28:00.000-07:00

I know you won't believe this but Mr. Kaos is sitting next to me right now with his laptop (next to my laptop cause that's how we roll). What's he doing on his laptop? Well normally I'd be suspicious that he's logging into work on his day off but not tonight. Not right now.

How do I know?

Because, I just got him all set up to take the reins here at "Kaos Family Kitchen".

That's right babies, he's posting as I type.

Of course I had to hold his hand and make it so...

and then set up all the pictures for him...

and then tell him how rockin he is...

I think he's hoping for some pity action, but that ain't my thing...

Without further ado here are the food stylings of my man...

Salsa goodies

2007-05-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

Okay so I have this to say:

Mr.

Kaos.

Sucks.

He wanted this blog so he would have a place to post food stuffs and family outings, so like the dutiful little wife I am, I set it up so all he had to do was sit down and accept an invitation and then he could post away. Magic. Well he's been busy. Too busy for all of you. It's sad isn't it. It makes you feel neglected, I'm sure. It makes me sad, so to tide you over until he magically finds some time (he really is very busy) here is my salsa guide. I say guide because I can't give you exact "amounts". It's all about taste here in the Kaos Family Kitchen... and taste doesn't always comes in cups and teaspoons...

Cami's Salsa

You will need:

- Tomatoes (the fresher and more varied the better. I like to get several large heirloom tomatoes and combine them with one more standard red tomato)

- 1 medium yellow onion

- 1-3 peppers (Jalapeno, Serrano and Anaheim all work well). This all depends on how hot you want it. If you want a milder salsa use one jalapeno slice it in half and remove all the membrane and seeds before you combine it with other ingredients)

- 4-9 garlic cloves (all depends on how much you're making and how much you like garlic)

- fresh parsley (a small hand full)

- kosher salt to taste

- black pepper to taste

- juice from 1 lime

Chop it all roughly and put it in your food processor then blend until you reach a consistency that makes you happy. I like mine a little chunky. The best part is once you have the salsa you can make a ton of other recipes from there. I like to use the salsa and a little tequila as a marinade for chicken or shrimp. Cook 1/3 cup of it in a pot before you add rice and you have a lovely fresh rice dish that is the furthest thing from boring and super healthy. Or you can make:

Guacamole!

-4 ripe avocados
- 1/3 cup fresh salsa
- juice from 1/2 lime
- kosher salt to taste

Place the meat of the avocado in a medium bowl. Chop or mash it until you have achieved your desired consistency (I like mine pretty chunky) then add salsa, salt and lime juice. Stir until well mixed and chill. It's perfect on chips but I've also been known to put it on my rice, on some grilled Talapia loin or on a taco omelet in the morning.

Yum...

sunday morning eats

2007-04-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Sunday morning in the kitchen of kaos...

Mr. Kaos made some awesome fresh garden grits with the leftover asparagus from last night's dinner (we had leftover asparagus?? never happens)

Then I threw this little beauty together
I love omelettes.

food 'n' stuff

2007-03-31T21:19:00.000-07:00

In our ongoing quest for family harmony we spend a lot of time on the food we eat. For some families that means one meal for the grown ups and something altogether else for the kid... Not here. K would just as soon swallow sand as eat fast food (no she isn't a sand eater). She'll take a bowl of carrots of a slice of cake most days too.

We eat healthy (most of the time) we eat happy and boy do we eat well.

So for whatever reason this will be the spot that Mr. Kaos and I chronicle not only what we like to eat (EASY HEALTHY RECIPES COMING TOO A BLOG NEAR YOU SOON) but what we like to do between meals.

xoxo