The Culinary Adventures of
Chef PK

12.08.02 [Copying Mommy]
When I went home for Thanksgiving break, my mom sent me out to buy some smoked salmon to use in the omelet she would make for Sunday brunch. I ended up going out for dim sum with some friends, so I missed out on my mom's omelet, but the idea of smoked salmon as a key ingredient in an omelet interested me. So, exactly a week after missing out on the mommy-made omelet, I decided to simulate what the omelet could have been on my own.

First order of things was preparing the ingredients, and I actually decided to overstep my bounds and include fresh vegetable produce: scallions. I picked up a bundle for half a buck, but I would need only one stalk, so I guess I'll have to find other uses for the rest. I was pleased to find pre-cut smoked salmon in small containers, like the ones you find in a deli filled with egg salad. I got the one with the least in it because it would be impossible to use all of it in one serving. I already had American cheese slices at home and eggs as well.

Here's how the ingredients were prepared: take a stalk of scallion and chop it up with a knife (be careful if you're new to this - I took it nice and slow); use your judgment and take a good amount of smoked salmon pieces (about a third of what's in the container) and use your hands to tear them up into smaller pieces (I tried the knife, but it was frustrating because the salmon is quite resilient); take a slice of American cheese and use your hands to tear them up into small pieces.

Now the implementation: take a bowl and crack four eggs into it; add about two tablespoons of milk (I always saw my mom add milk, so I'm thinking it serves a good purpose); drop the scallion bits, salmon bits, and cheese bits into the bowl and stir it up with a fork or chopstick; heat frying pan high and add some oil to it (I used the healthier olive oil as usual); pour the bowl contents into the frying pan and let it cook for three minutes; now comes the tricky part (you can easily mess up and turn the omelet into a scrambled mess): use a spatula and carefully fold the frying pan contents in half (you may want to then cut this up in half so the job becomes easier); let it fry for a half a minute in this folded position before flipping it to the other side; be sure the omelet doesn't burn; once you're convinced it's cooked enough, take it off the pan.

I was quite pleased with the results and went one step further to make the product presentable, as the picture shows. I let my roommate judge my effort and the feedback was positive. Plus, the smoked salmon and scallion proved to be excellent flavor providers as I skipped on using any salt or pepper. As I end with the ingredient list, I think if my mom ever read this site, she'd be proud.

Smoked Salmon Omelet
4 eggs ($.40)
1/3 of a container of smoked salmon ($1.25)
1 stalk of scallion (a bundle is $.49)
1 slice of 2% American cheese
2 tablespoons of skim milk
1 teaspoon of olive oil

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12.05.02 [Maybe It Should Just be Soup]
I had this idea that mushroom soup would serve well as pasta sauce. I mean, it's creamy, it's got a vegetable, and it has good flavor. And since it would be a white sauce, I decided to use linguine as my choice of pasta just because I remembered this one time I had linguine and white clam sauce and it was good. The plan was simple and this would be the first time I would make pasta.

Here's how I prepared the "sauce": Too lazy to use the stove, I opted for the microwave. Using Campbell's Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup, I poured the congealed substance into a bowl. I then filled half the can with milk instead of the directed full can because I wanted the soup to be creamier and thicker. I mixed the milk and soup goo and let the microwave take care of it for three minutes.

Pasta preparation: I took a pot, filled it a quarter way with water, let it boil, and dropped about three handfuls of linguine. Pasta is cheap and I wondered why I hadn't learned to do this earlier. However, the length of time - about 10 minutes - and the constant need to check if the pasta was well cooked made me have second thoughts about doing this again. The linguine turned out ok, but some of the strands were a bit undercooked.

Sauce, meet pasta: I took a plate, put my linguine on it and dumped the "sauce." Even with only half a can of milk, the sauce was still a bit runny and even worse, it was pretty salty. But overall, it wasn't such a bad meal considering the low amount of effort and the simplicity of the ingredients. I conclude with the ingredients and estimated costs.

Linguine with Mushroom Sauce
1 can of Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup ($1.25)
2 servings worth of linguine pasta ($.35)

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12.03.02 [Tuna Teriyaki?]
So I came home famished today from work around 3:15pm, not having had anything to eat all day. I was tempted to order something from campusfoods.com because it was really cold outside and I had just received my paycheck. However, after looking at the usual offerings - pizza, Chinese, Indian, and chicken - I remembered that I had bought a pint of white rice from Ollies the night before and had left it in the refrigerator. I also had canned tuna that I had brought from home. My first thought was fried rice. I had never made it before, but it sounded easy enough.

In the kitchen, I looked for more ingredients to add to my fried rice vision. I found a can of corn I had bought a few weeks ago in the cabinet and along with it, I spotted a bottle of teriyaki sauce and sesame oil. Out of eggs and never having bought any fresh vegetables, I knew all the best (available) ingredients had been secured.

A quick step-by-step of how I achieved the fried rice dream: turn stove on high, warm frying pan, add olive oil, dump white rice, dump tuna (with all its water), dump corn (with all its water), apply teriyaki sauce (ample amount), apply sesame oil (not too much), and mix well for 5 minutes.

I was quite pleased with the result considering I saved money and made myself a healthy meal. Consider the final list of the ingredients (with approx. cost) as I close this inaugural entry of my cooking experience:

Tuna Teriyaki Fried Rice
1 Can of Bumblebee Chunk Light Tuna ($1.50)
1 Can of Corn in sodium-free water ($.80)
1 Pint Ollie's White Rice ($.80)
Teriyaki Sauce
Sesame Oil
Olive Oil