Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2014/09
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Stir-Fried Curry Cauliflower and Other Stir-Fried Veggies -- back to top
At lunch, I was looking to make some cauliflower but I didn't want to heat the whole house by roasting for nearly at hour at a high temp so I decided to stir-fry it. In the past, I had used a bit of water to kind of steam the broccoli but for this cauliflower, I decided to just use a tiny amount of oil and let sit for a time to really get that crisp. I tossed the cauliflower in a bit of oil and then curry powder and salt. I put a thin layer of oil on the wok and, at high heat, stir-fried it. It came out pretty good. Maybe a bit oily but certainly not bad.
I repeated the same idea for me and Meredith for dinner. This time, I had more cauliflower plus an onion and some bell peppers. Also, instead of curry powder, I used the Indian spice blend made for me by my Indian friend's mom. I used that with smoked salt and it also came out really flavorful. Again, maybe a tad too much oil. Finally for dinner, we also had over-medium fried eggs on english muffins with "Coriander Chutney".
I think I am just starting to get a hang on stir-frying veggies. The trick is patience, letting them sit for a bit, and not overcrowding the wok. Also, as I discovered later (not for this meal), sometimes a medium-high heat is better.
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Original WP Post ID: 8765
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-09-03_195021
Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles) with Zucchini Ribbons -- back to top
Meredith had suggested we make something with a lot of Thai basil since she wanted to take hers out of the garden soon. She came across a recipe for Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) and we decided to use it with zucchini ribbons instead of noodles. The recipe is linked below and I stayed pretty true to it. The biggest changes (besides the noodles) were
I had everything prepped so it was pretty easy. I first started the garlic and shallots on medium high heat instead of the highest. I had experimented with something before and the garlic just burned immediately so I wanted a lower heat. I then added the pound of ground (lean, free range, organic) chicken. I am not sure why it got so liquidly but I had to drain the liquid from the a few times.
The recipe said to push the chicken aside but I removed it and did the veggies (w/o the zucchini). Once they were done (took some time), I combined the chicken, veggies and sauce and tossed with heat until it was well incorporated and boiling.
I followed the recipe and added the "noodles" (zucchini ribbons cut about 8 inches) and then mixed. This was a small mistake as it ended up cooking down the zucchini a bit too much. It had a good texture but no bulk. Next time, I will do the basil but not mix with zucchini until it is served so they warm but not get cooked. I did like using the ribbons. They had a cool look and a nice texture.
Anyway, the meal was actually really good! You could really taste the brightness of the fresh lime juice with the salty and savoriness of the oyster sauce and fish sauce. Cooking it nearly killed us as the Thai peppers made breathing really painful but the final dish had a nice but nowhere near overpowering spice.
I made three portions. We ate two and 1 is leftovers. Also, we served it with a Thai beer brand
Pad Kee Mao (Chicken Drunken Noodles) (from CHOW)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8772, 2014-09-05_225012
Crab Poached Eggs -- back to top
This was a quick meal Meredith threw together. We put cilantro (coriander) chutney on an english muffin, a little bit of crab, and then a poached egg. Meredith poached the eggs separately for 3 minutes and then quickly reheated in the water before topping them.
The crab was either real crab or incredible good imitation crab. It was a good deal so we bought a lot to use for meals.
Meredith also made iced Matcha lattes
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8784, 2014-09-06_100015
Eggplant in Garlic Sauce and Crab -- back to top
Meredith and I made a quick meal for dinner. It was eggplant in garlic sauce and crab with butter. The crab was already peeled. It was the same crab we used earlier.
The eggplant in garlic sauce was because we were looking for a quick and easy side dish. Plus, I wanted to keep playing with stir-fries. We didn't have chinese eggplant so we used regular. Also, as per the recipe (linked below), we did it in two batches. I think one of the batches was more cooked than the other. And using the regular eggplant had a bit thicker skin. I wouldn't plan to use it again, but it was a fine substitute. Otherwise, we stayed pretty true to the recipe except more garlic. A lot of other recipes call for black vinegar but this one didn't (and we couldn't find it anyway).
Szechwan Eggplant Stir-Fry (from Food Network /Tyler Florence)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8781, 2014-09-06_215558
Miang Kham (Thai One Bite Salad) -- back to top
Meredith made this so I really can't add too much. I think she basically followed the directions. The idea is you take a bit of everything and roll it into a leaf and eat it in one bite
we bought leaves that looked like the cha-phlu (aka piper sarmentosum). However the first night we had it, I thought they tasted strange and instead skipped the leaf. Meredith didn't mind and tried it the again the next day. What was a bad tasting lead the first day turned into a horrible, gross taste the next.
Turns out, we bought Betel leaves, a major ingredient in Paan, a drug used like tobacco in Asia. To quote the linked Wikipedia article
Betel leaves are used as a stimulant, an antiseptic and a breath-freshener. Betel quid with tobacco is strongly carcinogenic
Thankfully we (a) ate very little and (b) didn't mix it with anything.
So next time, we will find the right leaves or use something else. Serious Eats used chinese broccoli
Miang Kham (Thai One Bite Salad) (From Simple Thai Food via Serious Eats)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8819, 2014-09-07_155509
Cajun Rotisserie Chicken Stir-Fry -- back to top
I was looking for a quick lunch and I wanted to use up some rotisserie chicken I had left. Of course, continuing my stir-fry kick, I decided to make something with it.
I stir-fried half an onion and a few small bell peppers in 1Tbsp of oil. I did actually measure it so I knew what I was using. I let them stir-fry for a little while until mostly cooked and had some charring. I also added a bit of garlic powder at this point. Side note: I am getting better. I do not use water and I can get a nice char on the veggies. I think the trick is heat on 8/10 (medium high) instead of a full heat; patience; and alternating 20-40 seconds sitting still and continual tossing/mixing. Oh, and not overcrowding the pan. Use batches if needed.
Anyway, meanwhile, I made 1/2 cup of chicken broth (from Better Than Bullion) and added it it a bunch of Emril's Cajun Seasoning. I am not sure how much I used. I then added 1 Tbsp of corn starch. When the veggies were done, I added the broth and let it bubble and thicken (was very fast). Finally, I added about 6 oz of rotisserie chicken (skin removed, mostly white meat) and tossed to combine. Finally, I garnished it with a good bit of cilantro (which was really good with the rest). The sauce was fine. Nice and thick which I liked for coating and the whole thing was pretty good!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8787, 2014-09-08_131023
Bahn Mi Sandwiches -- back to top
We made Bahn Mi sandwiches There wasn't too much to them. Meredith made mushroom pate the day before. We pressed firm-tofu and then pan fried it. The first batch used a lot of oil but I then just used pam after that. It took a more careful watch but honestly, the results with pam were nicer than with the oil. We then brought all the tofu together and put some Kikkoman low sodium Teriyaki and tossed it to combine.
We thin sliced some cucumbers and added some jalapeño and cilantro. We were going to used some picked carrots but they were super old and we didn't trust them. The bread was stale since we pushed off this meal but the flavors were mostly there. It could have used the carrots,
We also ate leftover Miang Kham (one bite salad) but without the leaves. We just assembled it on a spoon.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8830, 2014-09-08_230028
Beef and Cauliflower Tacos and Cauliflower Stir-Fry -- back to top
The original plan was to make sloppy joes but we decided on tacos instead. I used 1 lbs of extra lean beef and added half a medium head of cauliflower roughly chopped. The idea was the expand the amount we would get. Since there was more to the "beef" mixture, I used a bit more water with the taco seasoning and added all kinds of spices such as:
The cauliflower worked well to bulk up and extend the meal. Thus it also ended up being only 1/4 lbs of beef per person.
We still had another half of the cauliflower so, to continue my obsession, I stir-fried it with some sliced bell peppers. I simple used salt and Penzy's Chinese FiveSpice. The spices were interesting. Almost a little sweetness but also well rounded. (I bet it would be good on popcorn)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8834, 2014-09-09_180018
Pho Ga (Chicken Pho) -- back to top
This is going to be a big project style post.
I am attempted to make Pho Ga (Chicken Pho). I am detailing the process below. Note that some of this is being written during and some after.
I charred the onions and smashed ginger in the oven at 400 for 35 minutes
I had been saving a few chicken carcasses from rotisserie chicken. This includes all of the fat, skin, bones, remaining meat, etc. (which caused issues as I will note later).
I also bought a 5.64 lbs chicken and quartered it. I watched a few videos on how to do it and they all seem to be basically the same with maybe a few more or fewer steps. I eventually settled on this one from the Food Network. Well, I also kind of butchered it (pun intended). I got most of the meat as I should but I didn't do the greatest job in the world. I added all of it to the broth
![quartered. [left] remains [right] main meat](/media/2014/09/20140909_183317117_iOS.jpg)
I used about 6 qts of broth since I seemed to be enlarging the recipe.
I let it all simmer (2/10 on induction) for about 40-50 minutes. The recipes all say 30 but I read somewhere to add time for a larger raw chicken. I then pulled out the main meat parts and, under cold running water to cool it,separated the meat.
I added back the bones and let it go another 3 or so hours and strained it to get everything out. I picked through the remains a bit but mostly just tossed the meat.
Also, I added another Tbsp of salt later.
The biggest issue with my broth was that it was super, super fatty. There was just so much on the top that it was nasty and unappetizing. I did some reading and it seems like my issue was the carcasses. First of all, I apparently made a brown broth since much of the meat was roasted and I had the skin. Also, by cooking it all together, a lot of fat from the skin and remains just rendered in to the broth. Finally, complicating it all, I likely had the boil too strong at times causing it to mix and emulsify.
I read and tried various ways to get it out. I tried skimming the top but, when I poured it into a glass cup, I could see that I still mostly got broth. I tried letting it sit for 15 minutes off heat but that didn't do anything. I tried taking bits at a time into a glass cup so I could see the separation and skimming that but it was slow and basically futile.
Also, the broth tasted like chicken broth and not Pho broth; though it still lacked the fish sauce. I think it was because I didn't increase the spices for the addition of the extra water.
I finally decided my best bet was the refrigerate it to skim the fat. I put the broth in a mini-fridge (so as to not warm the main fridge too much) and I planned to address it the next day
In the morning, I was able to skim a little bit off but still not much. I put it back in the fridge for longer
Later, after lunch, I took a look and there was...JELLO! The top was mostly fatty jello with some broth and the bottom was mostly broth jello with some fat. I think this is a good sign!
I skimmed off the fat as best I could and put it back on the heat!
As I mentioned, I was unhappy with the broth being mostly chickeny and still lacking flavor. I figured that it was enough chicken, but lets try to make it taste like Pho again with spices.
First, I needed to char more onions and ginger. I didn't feel like using the oven so I tried two methods. The first was to use the cream-brulee torch. I torched the stuff and, in the process also melted the aluminum foil (who knew I could do that). This worked out but really only seemed skin deep with the char.I then tried the open gas burner. This seemed slower but also gave a nicer char. Though, it was kind of annoying trying to get all of the pieces to stay put
I toasted those and then added it to the broth with
I strained the broth and then added
and let it simmer for a bit longer. At this point, it was flavorful but too salty so I added 2 cups water and let it come back to a simmer.
To assemble, I very finely sliced an onion (thinnest on the mandoline) and chopped some green onions. We placed both onions down and then the noodles. On top of that I put about 1.5-2 oz of chicken from the day before and the broth.
Meredith made the toppings including
Finally, we served it with serving utensils from Thailand
This was quite the project and it leaves me with a lot of ideas for next time
One is to follow some of the quick pho recipes I have seen and change them a bit. What I am thinking is using chicken stock (not broth) and then still poaching the raw chicken in it but not all of the old rotisserie carcasses. Then, I can also remove more of the fat and skin to make it much less fatty and to avoid all of the issues I faced. This should also give a lighter flavor. Our soup was super rich almost to a fault.
In general, I want to aim for a lighter broth no matter how I do it. And_much_ less fat!
Meredith also things we should back off a bit on the spices; especially cinnamon.
Chicken Pho (From Charles Phan via Smitten Kitchen)
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Chicken Pho (From Rasa Malaysia)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8798, 2014-09-10_140035
Eggplant and Cauliflower in Garlic Sauce (with eggs) -- back to top
This was a meal basically made of what I had around. I intended to make something like the eggplant in garlic sauce but with a mixture of eggplant (the right kind this time) and cauliflower.
Sadly, my wok rusted and I didn't (don't?) know how to fix it so I had to make it in a regular pan. Honestly, it worked ok though needed more oil and it was harder to toss everything. I much prefer the wok for stir-frying.
But anyway, I also tried ot crack two eggs into it. It worked okay but the eggs ate up most of the sauce making it hard to really spread it out.
Overall, the lunch was fine but not as good as I think it could have been.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8860, 2014-09-19_133531
Eggs with Veggies and sides [Lunch] -- back to top
Another thrown together lunch. I sautéd some peppers and fresh tomatoes (from Peter's garden) then I threw in some egg and seasonings. Topped it off with cilantro.
I also toasted two fajita size tortillas and spread some coriander chutney on them.
A pretty fast and nice lunch.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8863, 2014-09-22_131027
Yam Tuna and Miang Kham -- back to top
Meredith and I made Yam Tuna and Miang Kham (with the propper leaves).
For the tuna, we again doubled the recipe but tripled the tuna. And again instead of palm sugar, I made a 1:1 (by weight) turbinado sugar syrup. The biggest change was that we just went heavy on all of the vegetables. Extra tomatoes (from Peter's garden) and we threw in a lot of the celery. Basically, we wanted to bulk it up. We used half regular lime juice and half key lime juice. The key limes were old and hard to juice but I got what I could out of them.
For the one-bit salad, we followed the recipe pretty closely. Actually, we were even closer this time since we added the coconut and peanuts to the sauce. The only real change for everything was that our coconut flakes were sweetened. To counter that, we dropped the brown sugar to a scant 1/2 cup. It was still plenty sweet.
The recipe is a bit confusing (I made it this time so I am not sure what Meredith did last time). It calls for reducing the sauce to 1 cup but you really only have 1/4 cup (or so) of liquid. The rest is solid matter but I guess it still makes enough. I think I reduced the sauce a bit too much as it was very thick and didn't make as much. We also added some cilantro to the options since we had it leftover
Using the proper leaves (cha-phlu) was a lot better than the betel leaves! I am curious how it is with broccoli leaves but cha-phlu_is_ the proper way.
I was a bit surprised by the amount of effort this meal took. Lots of prep and lots of chopping. It would probably be faster next time since I would know the recipe already
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8866, 2014-09-23_214047
Broiled Trout and Roasted Broccoli-Arugula Soup -- back to top
Meredith and I made a quick meal of roasted broccoli (and arugula) soup with trout.
Meredith had read about a broccoli-arugula soup and we decided to do something similar but with roasting it (as we did for this recipe). We really didn't follow any recipe and just winged it. We roasted a good amount of broccoli on 400 for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, we sautéd an onion, added some garlic and then added the broccoli and water. We used about a gallon of water and used Better Than Bouillon to taste (a good amount).
It still needed some flavor so we added a good bit of smoked paprika, garlic powder, and pepper. Finally, we decided to add some smoked salt but accidentally poured a whole bunch in. Thankfully, we were able to skim a lot off before it mixed and the end product wasn't too salty.
Right before blending it, we added a large bunch of arugula. I am not convinced I could really taste the arugula but it adds nutrients. The dominant flavor was the broccoli with an accent of smokiness.
The trout was a pretty simple affair. We got two fish's worth (about 1 lbs) and broiled it butterflied with the skin on the bottom and some lemon and fresh thyme (from Meredith;s garden) on top. We broiled it for about 5+ minutes but should have stopped it at 5 minutes. It was a bit overcooked but not too bad. (this was also for dinner the next day).
We topped it with some fried capers using the method from Smitten Kitchen in this post. (I am not copying it below since it was pretty simple). Basically, drain and dry the capers then fry them for 5 minutes or so.
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Original WP Post ID: 8871
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-09-24_214032
Seitan (and Broccoli Seitan) -- back to top
I made seitan based on the same idea as last time. I really followed the same basic recipe for the dry. For the wet, I messed up and added some extra stuff that I meant to save for the broth. Oh well, it turned out okay though maybe a little bit sweet.
I made more broth and simmered the entire thing. I do not yet know how it is cool, but when warm and cut, it is much spongier. I need to read me to find out what to adjust to change that (not sure I want to, but I want to have the options). I didn't use cheese cloth but I will still keep it in the recipe.
Then, I made the regular broccoli beef (without the marinade) and with a purchased vegan oyster sauce. I decided to try the wok that I attempted to re-season. You could still see the rust underneath but could feel the layer of oil on top. I figured that the worst that could happen is there would be a little extra iron in our food.
Dry:
Wet:
Broth:
Combine dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients. Slowly add the wet to the dry. Knead by hand to fully combine. Knead in the food processor for 30 seconds. Knead by hand to combine, then split into four servings. Knead to clean up the loaves,Wrap in cheesecloth (optional). Let sit for 15 minutes.
Combine broth ingredients and bring to a simmer. Add rested seitan blocks and simmer (2/10 on induction) for 60 minutes.
Note: This does not include the sesame oil since I often skip it and it does not count calories in the broth since they are negligible in the final product
Item
serv. size
x
Cal
Fat
Carbs
protein
fiber
per
Total
Vital Wheat Gluten
100g
2.5
370
1.80
14.00
75.00
0.60
8.79
21.98
Flour
100g
0.5
366
1.40
80.00
6.00
2.40
9.40
4.70
Nutritional Yeat
100g
0.2
281
3.00
31.00
50.00
25.00
6.71
1.34
Mirin
1 Tbsp
1
33.8
0.00
9.50
0.10
0.00
1.04
1.04
Total
1198.00
5.80
90.70
200.60
7.70
29.06
Per Serving
4
299.50
1.45
22.68
50.15
1.93
7.27
For the full meal, you would want to include the small addition from the (vegan) oyster sauce and the oil used in stir-frying. Maybe 6-8 points of oil total.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8880, 2014-09-26_073707
Ground "Thai" Seitan -- back to top
I had leftover simmering liquid from the other day so I decided to make another batch of seitan. I followed the same basic ingredients except I cut the mirin and replaced it with the juice of one lime and I replace the soy in the wet part with fish sauce.
I think the lime was a lot more liquid since it had a lot of trouble coming together. I ended up adding more wheat gluten and then later having to knead it for a long time.
I also added some water, wine and fish sauce to the simmering liquid. I refrigerated them once they were done.
Anyway, I froze two of the blocks. For the other two, I first chopped them. From here I could tell that they were a bit chewier than the previous ones. It could have been that they were cold (but the leftovers from the other day were also cold and less dense) but I think it was the extra kneading.
Anyway, after chopping it with a knife, I put it in the food processor and "ground" it to the desired consistency. I was really happy that this worked. I could use this in anything that calls for ground meat that doesn't have to cook together (ie, it would need a binder for hamburgers, etc).
They only complaint is that they were a bit salty from the extra fish sauce and the saltier simmering broth.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8903, 2014-09-26_215535
[Breakfast] Sweet-Potato Hash, Bacon and Eggs -- back to top
I made breakfast for me and Meredith. I baked 4 slices of the Black Forrest Bacon from Whole Foods. I made sweet potato hash using some drained-off grease from the bacon. Finally, I fried an egg (though it didn't fry well)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8916, 2014-09-28_100013
Seitan Drunken Noodles and Cauliflower Vietnamese Fish-Sauce "Wings" -- back to top
We made two different things. We made Vietnamese Cauliflower Wings and [Pescatarian]Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodles) with zucchini noodles.
We followed the same recipe as last time except we used a vegan oyster sauce and the Thai Seitan. I also followed my own updated advice and didn't mix the noodles until they were well off the heat. The thai basil was from Meredith's garden. It had lost a lot of its color but still had most of the flavor. Also, instead of a jalapeño, I cut up a few peppers we picked at a farm that day. Actually, we think they may have been red jalapeños. I also just put them in the stir-fry as opposed to on top.
The final product was ok. Not as good as last time. I think it was just incredibly salty from the saltiness of the seitan. And the lime flavor shown through more than last time. Still not bad; just not as good as last time.
This was a bit more work. We had heard a lot about Ike's Wings from PokPok. But we had really no interest in making wings. So we did it with cauliflower instead.
The cauliflower was based on Buffalo Cauliflower.We added a Tbsp of corn starch to the batter and a tsp of fish sauce. I think Meredith may have added a bit more water too. She did the dipping and did a nice job just coating the cauliflower.
For the sauce, I used the basic idea of the recipe but since we didn't need any to marinade, I cut it in half. I even did the thing with the garlic! To make superfine sugar, I used the food processor to grind it into powder.
I simmered the sauce for a tiny bit to thicken and caramelize it. Then, we tossed it with the cauliflower and put it back in the oven
The parts that ended up crisped on the bottom of the pan were the best but the whole thing was good. Maybe a bit salty. Thankfully, the (insane amount of) sugar helped balance the fish-sauce.
Ike's Vietnamese Fish-Sauce Wings (from PokPok by Andy Ricker, page 250-251)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8913, 2014-09-29_215539
Frijoles a la Charra tacos and Shishitos with Miso dip -- back to top
This was a thrown together meal using beans and stuff we made earlier in the week.
We basically took the frijoles a la Chara thing we made (see below) and poached eggs in it. Actually, the beans were burning to the bottom of the pan badly so we also used the broiler to help cook the eggs. We served them with warm, whole-wheat tortillas. This was really good with lots of flavor. I liked the bean stuff!
And we made shishito peppers with that linked method. For the dip, I took some low-fat mayo and added white miso paste and garlic powder.
We made this earlier in the week with no real plan on how to use it but figured it would be good to have.
We first made the beans with the recipe below. The only real change was that we used fresh poblanos instead of jalapeños but did use jalapeño brine.The beans cooked this way needed a bit more salt but juice was super flavorful.
Then we made the frijoles a la Charra also with the recipe below staying pretty true to it (with canned tomato) and opting_not_ to blend it. So we just added all of the beans and let it cook. The only change was that we only used two (thick!) slices of black forrest bacon and cut smaller. It worked very well in the above meal!
Jalapeno Pinto Beans (from Homesick Texan by lisa Fain)
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Frijoles a la Charra (from Homesick Texan by lisa Fain)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8920, 2014-09-30_220024