Just in time for the kickoff of their US tour with an April 4th CD release party at Hamilton’s Tavern, we catch up with Mike Johnston of the extremely hard-rocking San Diego favorite SIRHAN SIRHAN.
HOW hard and heavy is this band?...well, they’re dedicated to giving the SoCal music scene "a swift kick to the sack," their influences include "Black Flag, Budweiser and Blackbeard," and they do in fact drink blood. But can they make a good garlic cream sauce? Read on.....
MusiCulinary: What is the one cooking skill you’re most proud of, and how/where did you learn it?
Mike: I don’t really use measuring tools. I like to eye it. Learned by being self-taught in the kitchen.
MusiCulinary: Tell us about any new type of cuisine or new recipe you’ve recently tried out for the first time...and tell us if you intend to try it again.
Mike: My own marinara sauce...pretty good. I will do it again but I will change a few things.
MusiCulinary: Describe your most memorable culinary disaster.
Mike: This has happened many times (to most of us I’m sure): Come home drunk at 3 am, decide to "cook" a frozen pizza, pass out and wake up at noon the next day with the whole apartment cooking at about 425 degrees...then go to the (still on 425 degrees) oven only to find a tiny black circle that was once a Tombstone.
MusiCulinary: Describe a typical dinner you would make for a quiet evening at home.
Mike: Many things. I really like making things I’ve never made before. I’m relatively new to cooking so that leaves the door wide open. I’ve recently made a pretty damn good lasagna (turkey meat, pepperoncini, fresh garlic, onion, ricotta, mozzarella, shredded parmesan, homemade marinara, fresh mushrooms and a few diced pickles). I’ve also recently made my own Alfredo sauce w/ shrimp scampi, a taco-bake type casserole, stuffed mushrooms and seared ahi w/ a lemon garlic paste.
MusiCulinary: Complete the sentence: "My listeners would probably be most surprised that I cook this: __________________________."
Mike: Anything at all!
Mike’s Recipe: ExtraSpecialGood Alfredo Sauce
As I said I tend to eye things so this is a general recipe for an alfredo sauce I made that turned out great (I think)ingredients: (guessing on amounts)
*2-3 TBSP dill
*1 and 1/2 quarts of half & half
*2 8oz blocks cream cheese
*2 cups shredded parmesan. cheese
*a couple/few TBSP garlic powder (use generously)
*1-2 TBSP Lemon Pepper
*1/4 cup parsley
*1 Cup Minced onion (could be cup and a half)
*little bit of salt
*Sliced Fresh Mushrooms
*1 package Linguini or Fettuccine
Start on a medium/medium low heat. Start melting one of the blocks of cream cheese, slowly adding the half and half as it melts. Keep doing this until you have used all the cream cheese and half and half. The key here is to keep the heat low enough so it does not boil. Once the base of the sauce has a thick but smooth texture (no lumps=cream cheese is fully melted) slowly stir in ingredients. Once all ingredients are in, let sit on low for about 10-15 minutes stirring often. Again do not let it boil. That's about it. The whole process takes about 60-90 min. I also like to sauté a pound of shrimp in butter and lots of fresh garlic and then add the shrimp later keeping it separate from the sauce.
See and hear more from SIRHAN SIRHAN and check out upcoming tourdates at http://www.myspace.com/sirhansirhan or www.sirhanland.com. And get details of their Friday April 4 CD release and other upcoming events at www.hamiltonstavern.com !
Thursday, April 3, 2008
MusiCulinary Part II Coming Soon
MusiCulinary, formerly only available to MySpace subscribers, is coming here as a public blog in the next week.
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