Cooking Army

Summer is nearly over, but I want to have one more hurrah with my grill before it goes into hibernation for the Fall/Winter. With that in mind, we’ll be chopping everything up and then putting it on the grill for your consumption, as nothing celebrates Summer quite like searing all your food with raw fire. We have an old favorite like Disappearing Pork, but also some new recipes I’d like to try out too.

Details!
When: This Wednesday, August 23rd. Cooking at 6:30, some food ready by 7:00.
What: Cedar Plank Salmon With Maple-Ginger Glaze, Grilled Soy Ginger Peppers, Disappearing Pork, Grilled Peaches, Berries and Cream

As always, no need to RSVP, we welcome all humans here. Feel free to bring a bottle of wine or 6 pack of beer, but there is no obligation to do so. Bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

/Chris

We are proud to present to you this week, a featured vegetable that doesn’t get enough love from most connoisseurs: Asparagus. We bring it to you baked, fried, and roasted. There are various other things that will accompany this delectable vegetable, but our focus is to bring you the perfect asparagus in a way you have not encountered before. Or perhaps you have, those adventurous enough to have gone down this path before… Plus, asparagus is very much in season right now, so it is prime time to try it out.

Details!
When: This Wednesday, May 24th. Cooking at 6:30, some food ready by 7:00.
What: Asparagus soup with lemon and parmesan, Roasted balsamic asparagus with goat cheese and toasted walnuts, Asparagus and chicken stir fry, Pastry wrapped asparagus

As always, no need to RSVP, we accept vegans, vegetarians, and meatatarians alike. Feel free to bring a bottle of wine or 6 pack of beer, but there is no obligation to do so. Bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

/Chris

Hello! Hello! Hello!

This week’s Cooking Army is all about kumquats. I know the question you already have: “What is a kumquat?” According to internet sources, a kumquat is an edible fruit closely resembling that of the orange (Citrus sinensis), but it is much smaller, being approximately the size and shape of a large olive. Kumquat is a fairly cold-hardy citrus. One of the Cooking Army fans recently had a few pounds of spare kumquats to offer us and we divined inspiration from this fortunate bounty.

Details!
When: This Wednesday, March 29th. Cooking at 6:30, some food ready by 7:30.
What: Grilled Steaks With Citrus Chutney, Kumquat Tagine, Spinach Salad with Almonds and Kumquats, Kumquat Upside-down Cake, Kumquat Smash Cocktail

As always, no need to RSVP and bring any strange fruit lovers you may know. Feel free to bring a bottle of wine or beer, but there is no obligation to do so. Bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

/Chris

My fellow Cooking Army Eaters,

In the past week or so, the political climate has become quite dire or so my facebook feed would tell me. It has become so bad, in fact, that it has driven me to drink. Not only just drink, but drink bourbon. In light of this fact, I would like to share this with all of you in coating everything for Cooking Army this week in bourbon. I may have tested one of the recipes before writing this. I may or may not be affected by said dish already. You’ll have to at least come and help us work through this 1.75L bottle below.

Drink!

When: This Wednesday, February 1st. Cooking at 6:30, some food ready by 7:30.
What: Bourbon Chicken, Bourbon-Glazed Carrots, Bourbon Sweet Potatoes, Bourbon–Sea Salt Caramels, plus various bourbon cocktails

As always, no need to RSVP and feel free to bring any friends. Come drink, eat, and be merry. Or drown your sorrows with us. Either way, bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

/Chris

Am I the only one who’s been dreaming of being on a far away beach, laying on the sand, and feeling the sea breeze while a lanky Mediterranean man yells un-intelligibly in your general direction? Well, I invite you to join in my unconscious delusion by coming to Cooking Army this week for some Greek food! Also, you get to see if we can successfully NOT set my home on fire with flaming cheese.

Opa!

When: This Wednesday, August 31st. Cooking at 6:30, some food ready by 7:00.
What: Pita & Hummus, Saganaki, Greek Chicken, Spanakopita

As always, no need to RSVP and feel free to bring any friends. An offering of beer or ouzo is always appreciated. Bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

Hey Kats and Kits,

Cooking army is back again with a fistful of taste for your language makers. This week’s cooking army is inspired by the man, the legend, Gaurang Bhide. Gaurang graces our Chicagoan soil by way of one of the bigger cities in the biggest nation on this little blue dot: Mumbai. Before I met him, I knew very little of the cuisine from that region of India. And now, honestly, I can still hardly call myself more than a novice in the ways of this amazing regional fare. I do, however, know one thing: every time Gaurang cooks I gorge myself so much that I practically have to be carted home in a hearse. This week, we vainly try to make food half that good for you sorry souls.

Items!

When: This Wednesday, August 10th. Cooking at 6:30, food ready by 7:30 or earlier.
What: Biryani Chicken, Paneer Masala, Chana Somethinggoodsounding and Shira for dessert.

Trust me, if we cook half as well as the mighty, mighty Bhide your mouths are in for a treat. I’ll also point out that my fridge is woefully bare of beer (and other alliterations thereof). If you wish to cool your throat or destroy your liver, please bring whatever you’d normally use to accomplish such. So bring your friends, bring your overstimulated taste buds and bring your appetite. It’s time to eat.

-Jeremy

Hey All You Crazy Kids,

I’ve moved to a larger place and (far more importantly) a much better kitchen. To celebrate, I’m going to chain my cooking army minions to their assigned prep station and force them to make Filipino food. Come and cackle at us as we attempt to use 2 sets of burners, one flat top grill and one gas grill at the exact same time. Shenanigans (and likely 2nd degree burns) shall occur forthwith.

When: Next Wednesday, May 25th. Cooking at 6:30, food ready by 7:30
What: Filipino Grilled Chicken Skewers, Pancit (both vegetarian and real), Vegetarian Filipino Rice Stew, Lumpia

I am utterly beerless due to the recent move. So, if you crave liver destruction, please bring whatever you’d like to drink. And, especially if you have bad taste in beer, bring anyone you’d like to share said drinks with. It’s time to eat.

-Jeremy

While it may be Spring according to the calendar, the temperatures outside seem to vigorously disagree. We here at the Cooking Army are going to pretend like it’s warmer out and do some grilling with the hope that Mother Nature will catch on. We also have some recipes from closer to the equator that would be warmer in general anyway. Can you tell we can’t wait for Summer?

Planning!
When: Wednesday, April 13th. Some food ready by 6:30. The rest should be ready by 8ish.
What: Homemade Guacamole, Cuban Black Bean and Potato Soup, Caribbean Fish With Mango Salsa, Jerk Chicken

I’m pulling some recipes that we did a few years ago to see if we can improve upon them. We are relatively low on beverages, so any drinkables you may be inclined to imbibe would be appreciated. Bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

/Chris

Nín hǎo!

After a stalled beginning, we’re starting Cooking Army back up for 2016 with Chinese that doesn’t make your house smell. By that, I mean, no deep fried food. While undoubtedly healthier for you, I understand if a few people will be a little sad we’re not attempting to kill you this time. I assure you these recipes are also tasty and have the added benefit of not going home like last year and having the following quote the next day, “I smell like fried Chinese food today. At least my jacket does!”.

Shípǐn!
When: This Wednesday, February 3rd. Food could be ready by 7:30.
What: Vegetable Chow Mein, Chop Suey, Beef and Broccoli, Cashew Chicken

We are entirely out of beer at the moment, so feel free to bring a six pack of whatever you like. Or wine if that’s your thing. As always, bring your friends, bring your bellies, it’s time to eat.

/Chris

Finally getting this out as it’s about 3 months old.

Smoked Pork Sausage with Hard-Cider Sauce – http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/smoked-pork-sausage-with-hard-cider-sauce
This was really stinking good. The hard cider sauce could be used on a bunch of things other than this too. 

Mom’s Thanksgiving Stuffing

2 bags of Brownberry sage and onion stuffing
½ to 1 stick of Land o’ Lakes real lightly salted butter
1 to 2 cups of milk
3 to 5 sliced to taste stalks of celery
1 diced onion
1/3 to ½ package of Jimmy Dean’s pork sausage original or to taste

This cannot be stored overnight in the fridge. Empty the 2 bags of stuffing into the biggest bowl that you own. Place butter in a pan to melt. Start to pour milk over bread crumbs. Let soak. When the butter is melted, pour over bread crumbs. Slice or dice celery. Dice onion. By now, the bread crumbs should be stirred or make sure that they all have absorbed milk and butter. If not, add more milk.
This is the really important part…use your hands, like meatloaf to mix all ingredients together. To add the sausage, pinch off pieces and cover the top of the bowl with little plops of them. When it is all mixed together, you can insert into bird, or put into a covered ceramic container to cook separately in the oven. It is best when cooked in the bird, but for extra dressing, it works.
Jason “accidentally” doubling the amount of sausage in the stuffing was appreciated by all.

Butternut squash soup – http://www.food.com/recipe/creamy-roasted-butternut-squash-soup-188978
Always popular and for good reason. Tasty.

Cinnamon Toast mixed drink –http://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/recipes/a3139/cinnamon-toast-drink-recipes/
Because of this, we had a lot of leftover beer. And we had to buy more cinnamon!