Restaurant Review: Ali Baba's Grill

Something new for the blog, a restaurant review! I recently went to Ali Baba's Grill with visiting family. Here is my short review:


Ali Baba's Gril
Golden, CO (Off of Highway 93)
Price: $-$$
We took a baby with us, so I'm assuming they are family friendly (?)

So much food! 

Pros1.
Great environment when I went. It's small and cozy. The decorations were very interesting and i enjoyed the atmosphere.
2. Big portions, I like to think that when I spend money, I get what I paid for.
3. The meat was good. The lamb Kebabs were well seasoned, soft, and very good. I also had chicken kebabs, which I thought were tender and tasty.
4. They had good rice.
5. They bring giant pitas to your table.

Cons
1. The falafel was too crunchy, well seasoned, but too crunchy.
2. The beef was okay. 
3. I wasn't overly impressed by their appetizers.

My final word is: I liked it and I would go again for the meat. You can try their appetizers and see what you think. I wouldn't suggest going unless you already knew you like this type of food, or you were truly willing to try something new.

I really enjoyed the Kebab Sampler

Chicken Turnip Pie

I have found a delicious success! Check it out in all it's glory:

Before Puff Pastry, BPP

Chicken Turnip Pie (Adapted from Cooking Light July 2012)

Maybe 5 pieces of cooked bacon, shredded into small bits.
Chicken,  shredded
Olive Oil
1 Red Onion, chopped
2 medium turnips, chopped
Carrots, chopped
1 Leek, chopped
Chicken Broth
Pepper
Peas or Corn

1 sheet of Puff pastry
2 eggs
1 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp milk

1. In a pan, heat olive oil on medium high heat
2. Add carrots, turnips, and onions, let cook
3. Cook chicken until no longer pink
4. Add bacon and chopped leak
5. Add chicken broth
6. Once everything cooks and begins to become tender, add peas or corn
7. Put mixture into a larger casserole dish, or into individual servings.
8. Fold puff pastry sheet over dish, folding sides inside of dish.
9. In bowl, add eggs, butter, and milk. Whisk.
10. Take a brush and spread egg mixture onto puff pastry.
9. Back at 450 for 45 minutes, or until puff pastry is golden. Do not allow it to get too dark burn. It is then burned. See photo for example. Whoops.

This was in the oven a little too long.

Not Quite Gumbo Soup

I want to keep things simple, and that's why I avoid anything put together by Martha. I have prejudicely believed her to make many things take more time than I would like to devote to any one topic. I was taken aback, however, when I found a relatively easy looking recipe for Gumbo. So I tried to make it, and have ended up with something very different from the original.

Not Quite Gumbo Soup Recipe (Adapted from Martha Stewart's Living July 2010.)
Olive Oil
1 package Italian Turkey Sausage
Chicken
Celery
Green Onions, in abundance
2 Red Bell Peppers, diced
Chicken broth
15 OZ can Okra
3 bay leaves
28 Oz Diced Tomatoes with Juice
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce

1. Put big pot on stove, add Olive oil and turn on to medium high heat.
2. Add chicken and turkey. Cook until it is no longer pink.
3. Shred chicken.
4. Add green onions, celery, and diced red bell peppers, cook for a few minutes
5. Add chicken broth, okra, diced tomatoes, bay leaves and cayenne pepper. I allowed this to cook for a while.
6. I added Worcestershire Sauce at the end, stir it in well, and then allowed a few minutes more to cook.
7. Serve in bowls!

Very tasty! Not really sure it's Gumbo....

Also,  don't wait to take care of things of a medical nature. I had an implant placed in my jaw two years ago, forgot to take care of it, went back today, and found out I'm in for a world of hurt. The bone in my jaw grew and formed inside and over the impantn, the denist could not finish the job. Sigh, I'd like to say that I've learned my lesson, but I have a feeling it's going to get worse and I'm going to learn more before it's over.

Chocolate Chip Contest!

If you ever buy exspensive chocolate, you might find yourself having the need to do a comparison of regular chocolates to reassure yourself that you made the right purchase. I did such a thing, with Jacque Torres chocolate recently, and I involved Rob and my mom in the final desicion, so I knew that I wouldn't be talking myself into believing something that wasn't true. Here are the brands tested:

The Contenders:
Nestle Toll House Bittersweet
Ghiradelli 60% Bittersweet
King Soupers Brand
Jacque Torres 60%
Hershey's Special Dark

Here are my personal Ratings:
5th Place: King Soupers Brand
4th Place: Ghiradelli 60%
3rd Place: Nestle Toll House

And now, for the winner of the Chocolate Chip Contest....
Jacque Torres! By a long shot! Making Hersey's Special Dark, to me, a surprise runner up! Rob agreed, and I think my mom did too, that Jacque Torres was smoother, creamier, and had a richer chocolate taste.

There you go, I'm not entirely crazy! Although, I bet after seeing my results, and seeing how I ranked some chocolates, maybe you think I am crazy...

Basil Chicken

I'm all about easy, and I really wasn't having any of this "Joy of Cooking" business.... so I stole this from a King Souper's Recipe:

Basil Pesto Chicken
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Onions
1/4 Cup parsely
1/4 Cup Basil Pesto
A Whole Bunch o' Chicken

In a bowl, combine oil, salt, pepper, onions, parsely, and basil pesto. You can marinade the chicken for 15 minutes. The recipe said to grill it, but I don't have a grill, so I cooked it in a skillet. I turn the oven on, put the marinade in the skillet, and when I heard it start to cook, I threw the chicken in, making sure that the marinade got everywhere. I cooked it on both sides, cut up the chicken into cubes, and then cooked it further until their was no pink, only green pesto everywhere. That sounds like an evil plot, "No pink! Only green pesto everywhere, forever!"

I wish I had a grill, but this works!

Presto! Chicken! And then I added a side salad. That I got in a bag. From the grocery store. Wala!

I love salads covered in Blue Cheese Dressing. It's the real deal.

Strange and random confession, whenever I get home from work, I'm hungry and I need to eat. I typically use the first 30 minutes of coming home for eating on a bowl of cereal on the couch. Yesterday's choice was Rice Krispies, and I had to eat 3 bowls because that's the Cerealic Table of Conversion:

3 Bowls of Rice Krispies = 1 Bowl of Corn Chex
1 Bowl of Frosted Flakes = Very Hungry Me by Lunch
1 Bowl of Cap N' Crunch = Sacked out on the couch for 4 hours after immense sugar crash

Chicken Fried Steak

Chicken Fried steak maybe one the easiest things on this planet to make and for whatever reason people are intimidated by it! But I don’t think there really is any reason to be. So here it is.

CHICKEN FRIED STEAK

Steaks- (I use a cube steak, it more or less looks like ground beef but it is a steak however, you can use whatever kind of steak makes you happy but you will want it rather thin and to tenderize it if you chose not to go with the cube steak.)

Eggs- my general rule of thumb is you will need about 1 egg per 2 steaks. You can always add more egg but no reason to waste it!

Tad bit of water! To mix in with the egg

You favorite choice of bread crumbs (options include and are not limited to… panko, regular bread crumbs, dried bread sent threw a food processor, saltine crackers mashed into bits, pretty much whatever you want to use for breading is fine as long as you like the taste and the texture it creates.)

Butter

Oil

A hot skillet

So let us Begin!

First you are going to preheat your skillet to a fairly hot temperature about 300-350. I have made this before on both a stove top and an electric skillet, I like the electric just a bit better because mine is bigger but that is more or less the only reason.  Once your skillet is preheated add the butter and the oil, equal parts of butter to oil I start with about 2 tablespoons of each and if I need more I just add it as I need it! You want a good coating across the bottom of your cooking surface. Next you are going to whip your egg and water together in a container big enough to place your steaks (one at a time) to coat them on both sides, from the egg you take that steak right into your bread crumbs (I like Panko the best) one it is good and coated place it in the skillet and on to the next steak! With a temperature about 300 or so it will take a few minutes on each side.  You can check when to flip when the bread crumbs create a beautiful golden brown crispy deliciousness. Flip over and cook the other side a few minutes more and then pull out.

As a side not if your steaks are over ¼ inch thick and you do not like pink in your meat you will need to cook these longer to cook all the way through. However, you need to be careful not to burn your crust before you achieve your desired doneness level. This is why I like the cube steak; it cooks rather quickly without problems of burning the crust.

(After I flipped the fisrt one - to show the coloring)

Now I cheat a bit and use a packet of country gravy mix to put on top. Serve these beautiful steaks with cornbread or mashed potatoes and some veggies and a super quick and easy dinner on your table in no time!   

"Rob made Pot-stickers!"

Hello, my peeps.  ...or, a ...Becky's peeps.  Anyway...

Here's what happened:

We had these won-tons that Becky ended up not using in another recipe.  Plus, we had all these other ingredients at home, so I volunteered to make potstickers.  After all, they're yummy, and my buddy, Josh, had made pot-stickers before and said that it wasn't too hard and that I should try to do it myself sometime.  Well, I did, and Becky & Barbara can't stop eating or raving about them.  All I did was look up a couple recipes online for some pointers, and then (of course) I did my own thing, which was this:

Yummy! Ready to Serve!

Rob's Pot-stickers

1.25 lbs ground turkey
1.5 cups of whole leaf young spinach, finely chopped
3/4 cups finely shredded carrots
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 egg
2 tablespoons finely chopped red bell pepper
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons ketchup
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ginger
5 shakes Szechuan pepper
3-4 shakes of cayenne pepper (coulda used more, I think)
3 shakes Chinese 5-spice

Watch out!!  Raw meat involved.

You'll also need:
1 12oz package won-ton wrappers
Water, to seal the won-tons
Coconut oil (for frying)
1.25 cups chicken broth



The following process takes a bit over an hour.

Directions:

The one I'm preparing here has
too much meat mixture.

1. Mix the first list of ingredients (from the turkey to the Chinese 5-spice) in a bowl until evenly mixed.
2. Drop a little less than a tablespoon onto a won-ton wrapper.
3. Wet the edges of the wrapper with water, and press them together.(Repeat until you run out of meat mixture or won-tons.)
4. Coat the bottom of a large frying/sauce pan on medium heat.

Repeat the following steps until all the won-tons are cooked.

5. Place several potstickers in the pan, leaving room to turn them over.
6. Cover and cook for 90 seconds, or so.
7. Turn them over, and cook for another minute
8. Add a quarter cup of chicken broth.
9. Cook uncovered for one more minute. (Total time in pan is 3.5 to 4 minutes.)
10. Breifly rinse and scrape the pan out, and place it back on the stove.
11. When dryish, add bit more coconut oil, and cook another batch.

Brown on one side, flip, brown, add broth.  These are spaced a bit too closely.

Then Eat.  ...and eat.  ...and eat.

Asian Chicken Noodle

So, a lot of times, you may see a recipe that looks pretty plain, or sounds pretty plain, and that's what I thought about this one when I first saw it in Jamie Oliver's cookbook. But  I finally gave it a try cause it said it was quick, and I was blown away by the flavor. So, if you're going to try at least one of my recipes, try this one. It's been picky eater approved.

Asian Chicken Noodle, adapted from Jamie Oliver's Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Ingredients
Olive Oil
Ginger
Chinese Five Spice Powder
Szechuan Pepper
Onions, diced
Carrots, thinly diced
Chicken, chopped
Chicken Broth
Snow Peas
Bell Pepper (Choose your color), chopped
Rice Vermicelli (Thin Rice Noodles)
Spinach
Sunflower seeds, Poppy Seeds, Seasame Seeds

While you see salt on the oven, I didn't use it.

1. Put a skillet or wok with some oil olive on the oven at medium high heat
2. Once the oil is heated, put in your onions and carrots, and ginger. This is the stage where I also put in a pot on the stove with water for the rice noodles. Put in some salt, and watch the pot for boiling.
*Rob prefers his carrots to not be crunchy, so I cook this for a little longer than normal. You obiviously, will choose your own path.
3.  Before I add the chicken, I put in a lot of the Chinese Five Spice and a little less of the Szechuan Pepper.
4. Add chicken, cook until it is no longer pink, only white
5. Add chicken broth, let cook for a few minutes
6. Add snow peas, bell pepper, let cook for a few minutes.
7. Typically the water has boiled now. When the water is boiling, put in the rice noodles, however they cook very quickly, so keep your eye on them.
8. When the rice noodles have cooked, put them in a strainer, and allow to cool a moment. Add to skillet.

9. Add spinach and seeds.

You may now serve your dish! I would suggest using a bowl to serve them in. Also notice how full your skillet is. This is a hardy meal!

Cajun Chicken and Red Beans and Rice

I wouldn't say I've had much experience with Cajun food. In fact, I've had very little. I'd say the only thing that makes this remotely "Cajun" is the fact that I bought a seasoning mix at Penzey's called "Cajun Seasoning." So there you go, it's 100% legitimate.

Cajun Chicken
Chicken, diced
Salt
Cajun Seasoning (I really like the one at Penzey's)
Black Pepper
Diced Onions
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil

1. Heat oil in a skillet on medium high heat.
2. Put in onions to cook for a while
3. Season chicken with Cajun Seasoning, a little Salt, and black pepper
4. Cook chicken until there is no more pink

Red Beans and Rice (While Chicken is Cooking, or Start Before)
Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
Carrots, really diced
White Rice
Chicken Bullion Cube
Cajun Seasoning
Red Bell Pepper, really diced

If you have a rice cooker:
1. follow typical directions, only add one cube chicken bullion, a TBSP cajun seasoning, and the carrots.
2. Add the beans and the bell pepper after it finishes cooking.

If you do not have a rice cooker, follow rice directions on packages, only subsitiuting chicken broth (having dissolved your bullion cube in water) for water. Add beans and bell pepper when finished.

The feedback on this one was pretty positive. Rob said I should make it every four weeks, and that was really a compliment. If you have any cajun recipes, send them my way, because my first try had some great results.