Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2014/05
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Salmon and Soba Noodle creation -- back to top
My first real cooked meal in the new apartment. I am trying to work down the massive pantry and this is what I came up with.
I sautéd half an onion and added 3 dried chile de arbo peppers crushed (incl. seeds). Meanwhile I cooked 2 oz of buckwheat soba noodles. I added a packet of "canned" salmon to the onions and peppers along with a minced garlic clove. I then added the pasta with a bit of the water and topped it with some salt and pepper.
Overall, it was pretty good. Nothing amazing but it was a well-balanced meal with some kick. Could have used some grated parm cheese and maybe more seasonings to boost the flavor.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7796, 2014-05-08_125945
Salad with Rotisserie Chicken and a Wasabi Vinaigrette -- back to top
We made a pretty simple and very good meal. We started with a Costco Rotisserie Chicken ($5!!!!) and I (attempted) to cut it up into pieces. We then put it into a salad with:
Meredith made a Wasabi Vinaigrette with:
It was very good and, other than carving the chicken, pretty easy. Note that I took off most of the chicken skin to save the calories but I left it on a in a few places to add flavor.
I also made a similar lunch the next day (pictured below). I had a tiny bit of Meredith's leftovers and I added:
I used my favorite salad dressing: Balsamic vinegar and fresh pepper. Actually, I also usually like to add some red wine vinegar but we either didn't have it or I couldn't find it. Oh well, the Kirkland vinegar is so flavorful that it wasn't really needed.
I really like meals like this. Lots of bulk from the salad, fresh flavors and pretty easy!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7802, 2014-05-08_221137
Garden Salad Rolls -- back to top
I made salad rolls (Meredith and I decided to call them Garden Rolls but these were, quite literally, made of salad).
My fillings (see photo below) were:
I did the hardboiled eggs using the boil-the-sit method. I read a few different sites [1,2, 3] that all suggested roughly the same thing. Cover eggs with 1-2 inches cold water, bring to a boil, cover and let sit based on how you want it cooked. Some also suggested salt (to make peeling easier) and vinegar (to minimize damage to cracked eggs). I did that too. How long to let it sit seems to be a bit different but I went with 9 minutes. Anyway, when they were finished I dunked them into ice water.
I basically made salad rolls with the fillings. On the first and last, I put some vinegar on ahead of time. For the middle two, I just rolled sans vinegar. But for all of them, I dipped in a small bowl of the vinegar.
The ones without vinegar were easier to roll and eat but weren't as good. All of them though, came out to be a pretty good meal! Good textures and pretty standard flavors. I would do these again. Oh, and I also had a small serving of popcorn
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7805, 2014-05-13_142321
Seared Salmon and Chilled Asparagus Soup Shooters -- back to top
First was seared salmon. I used the usual technique with a bit longer in the oven since they were thick. For seasoning, I used some Penzey's Fox Point. They came out very, very good. Nice sear on both sides, lots of flavor, and cooked to a good level of doneness. We served it on some spring mix
Meredith made chilled asparagus soup shooters. She lightly roasted asparagus (425 4-5 min) with smoked salt. She then chopped it and blended in the food processor with 2/3 cup water and 2/3 cup almond milk. Seasoned with salt and Herbs de Provence (to taste). Finally she garnished it with a splash of truffle infused olive oil.
They were a tad bit strange but still very good. The soup-shooter idea is kind of fun as it gives the meal a small side that is not overpowering.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7821, 2014-05-13_215504
Falafel with Soy Tzatziki -- back to top
I made falafel with a few minor changes. First of all, I tried to triple the recipe since I had the stuff and the herb bunches were large. That was a mistake. The food processor really had trouble. I eventually dumped it into a large bowl, mixed it together and put it back in.
Other than that, I added some turmeric since Meredith is trying to eat more of it. Also, while I followed the recipe amounts, I used newer, fresher and higher quality coriander. Between the more potent coriander and the turmeric, the falafel took on a decidedly curry-esque flavor. And, the turmeric stained the new white counters (oops!). And I used a fresh squeezed lemon instead of lemon juice.
Still, despite over chopping it, it still came out pretty good. For future reference, I used the Oxo Medium cookie scoop (1.5 Tbsp) on 2/3 of the final dough (2 batches) and it made 30 so about 15/batch. We served it with small whole wheat pita pockets (~130 cal/each)
Meredith also made tzatziki with soy yogurt. They claimed it was "plain" yogurt but it was exceedingly sweet. If you read the ingredients, they add both white grape juice and agave. Why?!?!?!?!?!? Anyway, this is pushing me even more to try to make my own Almond Milk Yogurt so we can [attempt to] control the final output.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7825, 2014-05-14_211034
I made seitan again to use in a variety of different things (salad and for a broccoli thing). I use the basic ideas from the last time except I tweaked a few things and used whole numbers by weight. The recipe is below but first my thoughts. It seemed to work pretty well and tasted good, though it was a tad rubbery. The outsides were a bit wetter and fluffier. I think that I may want to stop trying to use the pressure cooker and instead do a full hour simmer in broth (probably need more of it though). Still, I liked the flavor of this bunch and the only tweak I would make is to not add salt since the Penzeys gives it enough. I also had to skip wine in the broth since I didn't have it so I went heavier on the other stuff
Recipe:
Dry:
Wet:
Broth (for pressure cooking. Need more if simmering)
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 5-10 minutes
Get broth to a boil, add the seitan and seal. Set to highest setting. Once_fully_ up to pressure (light hiss of steam), reduce heat to maintain a light his and let cook for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit until pressure drops.
(Future note: make more broth and try a 1hr simmer).
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7830, 2014-05-16_150027
Balsamic Broccoli with Seitan -- back to top
I made Balsamic Broccoli using the seitan logs. I used the regular recipe as a base and kind of just winged it with some of the additions. I will note though that I had the sugar-free version of the dressing and that was a Big Mistake! It gave it a very fake and overly-sweet aftertaste. The fat-free (w/ sugar) is only about 50 more calories total and taste a lot better (and isn't fake either. Just doesn't use oil). I still liked it all but Meredith thought the broccoli absorbed too much of the fake flavor.
Also, in the future, I need to barely cook the broccoli before combining it all. It was too mushy since it continues to cook when combining the sauce with it and the meat.
The seitan was pretty good though!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7835, 2014-05-16_214516
Baba Ganoush (appetizer) and Shakshuka (with fried eggs or hard-boiled eggs) -- back to top
Meredith made baba Ganoush using the recipe at the very bottom. She basically followed it except she skipped burning the eggplant and just roasted it (cut in half, flesh side down). She also added some cumin (surprise) and sumac. Finally, this time she used less tahini (scant 1/4 cup) and added some sesame seeds to make up for it. On the note of tahini, she says that she has experimented and found that you_can_ go as low as a 1/4 of a cup but do not go lower as it looses the needed creaminess.
We made the shakshuka using a lot of leftover veggies as well as some new ones. I do not remember all of the details, but as I recall, the base was
We did it in the cast-iron dutch oven (which I think tends to make things cook really well and results in richer flavors). We started by sautéing the onions in a bit of canola oil. As they cooked I added the rest of the veggies and sautéd for a while. I separately sautéd the garlic in a bit on canola and then combined everything with the tomatoes.
For seasonings, I used the following. I started with measures and then I eventually just added more as I went.
I let it simmer (between setting 2 and 3 on the induction) for probably a good 30-40 minutes.
I have never been happy with eggs poached in the shakshuka (especially the next day). So we topped them at night with fried eggs (with yolks barely set).
For lunch, I hard-"boiled" some eggs. After having trouble peeling them last time, I followed The Food Lab's (newest version) ideas about starting with hot water or steam. The idea is that there is no fool-proof way but starting with the cooking liquid hot tends to do better.
I chose the steamed version which says to heat water on high. Once at a rolling boil, steam eggs for 6 minutes for soft, 12 minutes for hard). If cooling, chill in ice bath immediately (reduced the air-pocket area).
I followed this (except I misread it as 11 minutes). The eggs came off the shell very nicely and the yolks were well set (1 more minute could have been better but not noticeable). This will be my go-to method in the future. And, it is faster to bring water to a boil for steaming than to do the whole pot!
Baba Ganoush (from David Lebovitz)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7839, 2014-05-18_224710
Fish Tacos with Pan Fried Cod -- back to top
Meredith and I made fish tacos for dinner.
We used cod which we pan-fried. I mixed a bunch of cumin, cajun seasoning, cayenne and (not enough) salt into about a cup of flour and tossed with the fish. I then pan fried it in canola oil. One problem is that our stove is just slightly off-level (I need to fix that) so I needed more oil than I would have liked to coat the pan. And, it was, in general, more oil anyway than I like to use in cooking. So next time, we broil it. I was very uncertain on how much to cook the fish but it actually came out pretty good, though it needed salt.
We also topped the tacos with cabbage slaw, avocado and chipped cilantro. The slaw is from the recipe below except that we doubled it (lots of cabbage), used regular onion, used fresh lime juice, and used red cabbage. Also, we let it sit for a long time since we postponed our original meal plan. It was pretty good but I would still look for different recipes for next time. My tacos had greek yogurt too.
For the shells, we used small 6" flour tortillas(78 cal/tortilla). Meredith correctly pointed out that we would likely use the same number of tortillas no matter the size so we bought the small ones. I think they make a whole wheat version so we'll look out for that one. Also, next time, I want to take the time to heat them on the stove instead of the microwave. They come out really good like that
Southwestern Slaw (from The Culinary Institute of America)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7847, 2014-05-21_210531
Mango Sorbet (two ways) -- back to top
I was looking at Sorbet at Trader Joes and I got to wondering if it could be done in the food processor since we don't (yet) have a vita-mix :-(
I found this article which basically suggest doing it with just frozen fruit that has been defrosted slightly (about 20 minutes) and then adding sugar syrup. You pulse it at first to chop it and then add the syrup and run it until it is well blended.
I tried this last night with mango for dessert with agave syrup (really earthy flavors. I like this syrup). Anyway, I just did it without really taking notes and it worked really well. It came together nicely and was very sorbet like. (Bottom picture)
I figured that what the syrup did besides sweetening was to add the liquid to bring it all together. This led me to my breakfast sorbet today (top picture).
I took notes and did the following:
Above is the final ingredients. I started with less splenda and no water but it needed a tiny bit more moisture and more sweetness. It was actually really, really good. I would definitely make it again but it was a lot of fruit (and splenda or sugar...neither of which is great) so I wouldn't do it often
I think it came out about as well as it would have from a vita-mix because I used mango and I used a good amount of it. I am guessing here, but I think the vita-mix would have allowed me to make a smaller amount and probably would have handled other fruits better (such as berries). But until we have one, this will suffice for sorbets
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7851, 2014-05-22_103029
Seitan Chorizo and Egg Tacos -- back to top
I made the regular seitan chorizo (1.5x) except that I tried to figure out the weight measures. I again did the method where I didn't break it into pieces but instead chopped in the pan. It works well and is a lot easier except that you get some crumbs. I am also updating the main recipe to reflect both the weight measures and the two cooking techniques. I also used the immersion blender to really emulsify the liquid. That was nice as it spread it out better.
I also fried eggs and heated some of the leftover tortillas from the other night
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7856, 2014-05-23_080538
Seared Salmon, Zucchini Noodles with a Peanut-Sesame Sauce, and Roasted Green Beans -- back to top
This was dinner with Emily visiting. I made my regular (but always delicious) seared salmon (with Fox Point). I know I was searing properly since I set off the smoke alarms...twice. Meredith made zucchini with peanut sauce with the recipe from 2014-04-18(Again with some peanuts for some of the peanut butter but this time without the heating the sauce). She used spiralize d zucchini and heated it on a dry non-stick skillet for a little bit. Finally, I roasted green beans (450 for 15-20 min) with some Sandwich Sprinkle
Everything was very good and pretty easy
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7859, 2014-05-23_210542
Sweet potato hash -- back to top
This was a pretty simple breakfast. I spiralized a sweet potato and made it into hash. I started by just tossing a lot and then, when it was softer, I pressed it into the pan to try to develop some crispiness. Finally, I made a few holes and poached eggs in it. I put it under the broiler to try to cook it a bit but I may have over done it a bit. Some were a bit runny but not much.
Overall, it was pretty good and was surprisingly sweet. I would try with squash at some point in the future.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7868, 2014-05-24_083051
Mussels and Thai crab cakes -- back to top
We made mussels and crab cakes when my mom was here.
For the mussels, I sautéd some shallots in butter, added garlic, and then a cup of white wine. I steamed the mussels for about 5 minutes but saw they weren't fully open and gave them (a bit too much) more. I had cleaned and de-bearded the mussels but some still had the beards (were they tucked in the shell?). I was also surprised with how sandy some of them were despite being rinsed. These were from the asian market. I wonder if I need to soak them in the future to get rid of more sand. Either way, despite being a bit overcooked, they were really flavorful. And I would get them again from the asian market. They were cheap, had good flavor, good size, and only two mussels were dead (not bad!).
We also had Thai Crab Cakes using the linked recipe from 2014-03-28. We doubled the recipe but basically followed it otherwise. Maybe a bit too much hot pepper but that was about it. We didn't have thai chilli sauce which would have been better but it was still pretty flavorful. A very different flavor from regular crab cakes but I liked it a lot. I couldn't believe how much chopping goes into them (veggies is the majority of the filler) but the Slap chopper made it really easy
We had baked them and only the ones that started on the bottom rack got as brown as I would have liked. Next time (which will also be a non-doubled batch), we will try broiling
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7872, 2014-05-25_215058
Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps and Sweet Corn Gazpacho -- back to top
Meredith and I made Asian Lettuce Wraps.. We made a few changes including extra cilantro, a but of plum vinegar and a tiny bit of honey. Actually, we used extra noodles since that is how the sizing of the packages worked. Finally, we used mixer-shredded poached chicken. The lettuce was Boston Bibb lettuce. They were really good. The noodles are a bit strange but I like the texture. And the flavor was really good. I do want to explore some more lettuce wraps fillers just to try something different.
And we made sweet Corn Gazpacho from the recipe below. We actually followed the recipe pretty closely other than using red tomatoes (hence the color) instead of yellow. And we used Osem for broth.
I thought it had something of an earthy flavor. Lots of onion (from the shallots?) and was a bit sharp. But I still enjoyed it. Meredith didn't love it. Uncooked corn worked surprisingly well but I do think some of the harsher flavors could have been toned down if it were cooked.
Sweet Corn Gazpacho (from Spoon Fork Bacon)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7876, 2014-05-26_221559
Lotus Root Chips and Garden Rolls -- back to top
Meredith and I made garden spring rolls and roasted lotus root chips
There isn't too much more to say. The garden rolls were
The green mango was new but I liked it a lot. It tasted like tart, less-sweet mango. I would try to use it more in other things.
The lotus root chips were basically the linked recipe with the slicing being the second-smallest setting. We made a lot and probably a bit too much as they didn't crisp as well as I would have liked. But the flavors were really good. I like that spice mix!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7890, 2014-05-27_203552
Kamut Stuffed Peppers -- back to top
Meredith and I made grain-stuffed peppers. I do not recall all of the details since it was a while ago but we used kamut, Meredith used some Mexican spices while making the kamut but I am not totally sure what they were. We cooked the kamut a day before we made the rest of the filling. But when we made it we added sautéd onion,zucchini and black beans.
We filled them into cubanelle peppers and cooked it for about 30 minutes.
They were pretty good. The grain mixture was interesting but not overwhelming flavor. We made it the night before with the idea being that most will be lunch and some for dinner.
However, for my dinner the next day, I chopped up the pepper, added the grain mixture (with the pretty-good amount of extra we had), threw in some low-fat feta and added salad greens. It made it a grain salad salad. I liked that more than the original stuff peppers
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7895, 2014-05-30_132520