Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2014/12
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Balsamic Broccoli Stir-Fry with Tempeh -- back to top
I am very much behind and catching up. This was a stir-fry with my balsamic stir-fry recipe.
I do not know if it was the induction burner, the wok or both but it basically stopped working well so I finished this off in a cast-iron dutch oven
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9322, 2014-12-05_121057
Steak and Kabocha Squash -- back to top
I was on my own so I made steak and roasted kabocha squash (30 minutes at 400, flipped half way). The steak was supposedly a NY strip steak but I am not sure.
And I had lots of issues cooking it. Something about the way it was cut, the fat line that is usually down the side was only half there. When I cooked the steak on one side, something about that caused it to essentially bubble. I had to trim off this protruding steak so I could cook the rest. Actually, it came out pretty good but that was super strange!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9325, 2014-12-05_211021
Broccoli and Squash Stir-Fry (failed) -- back to top
I was in the mood for lots of food but not a lot of calories so I made a stir-fry with Wegmans fake chicken. The stir-fry was mostly broccoli, yellow squash and I think peppers.
I did it in the cast iron and at one point added some water to help cook the broccoli. It was not a lot of water but between that and the insane amount of water released by the veggies (much more than expected) and the fact that I overfilled the pan (probably biggest culprit), it was basically boiled/steamed veggies. The sauce was an Orange Chicken sauce from Wegmans. It was surprisingly only 2Tbsp/1point. (I used probably 2-3 points worth).
Really, this was just disappointing. I think I need to be careful not to over-fill the pot.
This page was converted from Wordpress with a custom script by Justin Winokur. Most links and images should still work. However, if any links are broken, see the HTML (or Markdown) source to try to deduce the intended destination.
Original WP Post ID: 9330
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-12-06_221044
Omelets for dinner -- back to top
We wanted a really quick dinner so we made omelets with onions, harissa (in the egg), feta cheese (on mine, not Meredith's), capers (on Meredith's, not mine) and peppers. It was quick, easy, and good enough for a quick meal.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9339, 2014-12-08_183043
Sautéed Cod over Arugula -- back to top
A quick and light meal since it is weigh-in day the next day. We used defrosted cod and just sautéd it with some fox-point. It was a bit too hot as you can see; the spices are burned. But other than that, it was fine. We served it on arugula
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9342, 2014-12-10_183056
Cabbage and Pepper Stir-Fry with Chicken -- back to top
I made a quick lunch stir-fry. It was just a quarter head of cabbage, lots of chopped peppers and about 5 oz of frozen rotisserie chicken.
I again tried it on the cast-iron dutch oven. This worked out a lot better than last time. I think the pan was hotter, cabbage has less water and I didn't crowd the pan. I used the orange sauce from last time and it was much better today
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9345, 2014-12-11_133012
Black Bean Tacos -- back to top
We threw together black bean tacos. We sautéd the beans with some peppers and added seasoning including lots of cumin. I then pressed the tacos with a heated pan on top and then the heat on the bottom (it works, not great)
The tacos were pretty good. Light and fast. Not the most flavorful and a bit dry but not bad.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9348, 2014-12-11_183034
Soy Chorizo and Cabbage Tacos -- back to top
I made soy-chorizo and cabbage tacos. I cut up a 1/4 head of cabbage and stir-fried it (in the cast iron), then added about 1.5 servings of soy chorizo. Added a bit of spices and then again, made it with tacos and pressed it (see the photo below). This was pretty good and really easy. Plus it made a lot of food. Maybe a bit high in points (6 for soy chorizo, 6 for tortillas and 3 for oil). Still, a good thrown-together lunch
This page was converted from Wordpress with a custom script by Justin Winokur. Most links and images should still work. However, if any links are broken, see the HTML (or Markdown) source to try to deduce the intended destination.
Original WP Post ID: 9352
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-12-12_133403
Homefries with an Egg -- back to top
This was a quick meal. I made homefries and topped it with a fried egg. Nothing too special
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9361, 2014-12-14_104211
Chicken Pho with veggie noodles -- back to top
This was a really long time ago, but I made my regular Faux Pho broth. The biggest thing we did was use rutabaga noodles. The key was to let them simmer for 20 minutes or so and soften. That helped a lot to cook them. We also cooled broccoli in the soup for 20 minutes and they became a bit soft and mushy. Oh well. We will certainly do it again with veggie noodles!
Also, I had peeled the rutabaga before I made the broth and I cooked it with the veggies to give it a bit more flavor
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9368, 2014-12-14_204314
Chicken Sausage over Parsnip Pancakes -- back to top
This was a pretty simple meal, and made simpler since Meredith really did the hard part. She made parsnip pancakes. Actually, the original recipe (linked below) calls for waffles but we pancaked it. It actually worked pretty well. I do not know if she made any modifications to the recipe or not. I think the biggest thing was extra garlic powder and using Fox Point instead of chives.
We served it with pan-fried chicken andouille sausage from Whole Foods
Savory Parsnip Noodle Chive Waffles (from Inspiralized)
Local Copy password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9372, 2014-12-15_104351
Roasted Broccoli Soup -- back to top
Meredith had intended to make a roasted broccoli soup but didn't have time so I threw one together. It was a little while ago but I made it by roasting broccoli (~425 for 20 min) then simmering it in (better-than-bouillon) chicken broth. I used all kinds of smokey seasonings including
After a bit, I immersion blended it. It was strange though. The soup really super-foamed when blended! Not sure what caused it but it was annoying.
I served my portion with some fake chicken. The overall flavors were pretty good. Nothing amazing but I liked it
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9378, 2014-12-22_114535
I do not have any good photos but Meredith and I tried to make divinity from the recipe linked below. It was one of her favorite holiday foods as a child and we thought it'd be fun.
We used the basic recipe but with salted pecans. However, we didn't have enough so we also used some pistachios. The only other real change was to top it with Maldon salt. The salt made it super, super good! It brought out so much flavor.
While the taste was amazing , it didn't work too well. It basically flattened into a big mush. Some pieces had better texture than others but they all were not exactly right.
Some reading has led me to think that there were three possible causes. My guess as to the order of importance was:
We will try again in the future
Divinity (from Paula Deen via The Food Network)
Local Copy password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9390, 2014-12-22_135555
Shrimp and Chicken Pho -- back to top
I continued my obsession with homemade Pho. Really, not too different from the regular recipe. I again didn't have fennel seeds and I only used one gelatin packet (all we had) but it was fine. We did the rutabaga noodles again with them being simmered for 15 minutes.
The only real difference was we poached shrimp in it instead of chicken.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9381, 2014-12-22_210003
I threw together sloppy joes. It was kind of, sort of, maybe based on my recipe. I basically sautéed onions, added a pound of extra lean (95/5) beef and then added ketchup, mustard and an assortment of flavors. I added some chipotle powder, some liquid smoke, lots of garlic powder, etc. I also added lots of peppers and a 1/2 head of cabbage to bulk it up!
I let it simmer for a very, very long time. We served it was either in a tortilla or with lettuce wraps to keep the points down. And we topped it with arugula.
They were good. Not the most amazing but easy and flavorful. Plus, the points were just from the beef and ketchup
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9386, 2014-12-29_193015
Teriyaki and Mexican Jerky [Ground] -- back to top
Photos to follow...
Meredith got me a dehydrator for Christmas and these were my first two attempts at making jerky! I decided to do ground meat jerky for the simplicity, low cost and easier-to-chewiness.
I did lots of reading and watching videos on how to make it and settled with the book JUST JERKY: The Complete Guide to Making it,by Mary Bell
I followed the basic recipe from there for the teriyaki (with 95/5 ground beef) and then later, the Mexican (with ~90/10 ground bison).
For both of them, I mixed up the meat and marinated it (overnight for the beef, 1 hr for the Mexican). I made small, ~1in meat balls which I then flattened between two sheets of wax paper with wooden skewers as a thickness guide. The beef was easy! Not too wet and come together nicely. The bison was horrible! There was so much liquid from that marinade that it was super hard to form.
I cooked them both for about 4-6 hours with the trays rotated once or twice. I let the teriyaki go a bit too long and the bison was super too long (we had left the house). It is nearly crispy. I intended to dab oil off but it never formed.
The teriyaki was very good though too salty. Tasted like beef jerky. The Mexican was also very good though it would be better if less cooked. For next time, I would severely reduce the liquid in the Mexican.
And I would look for better spacing to make them a tad thicker. But I do like the ground
The recipes are linked below but my final recipe (with my changes) are as follows. The biggest changes were less salt (for Mexican) and using garlic powder. Also some sugar in the teriyaki
Teriyaki:
(see the attached recipe for instructions). Notes for the future: Less salt, more sugar
Mexican:
Again, see instructions for recipe. Less water next time. Maybe just the salsa or cut both to keep the consistency. Also, it would certainly benefit from not being dried so much....
Teriyaki and Mexican Jerky [Ground] (from just JERKY: The Complete Guide to Making it,by Mary Bell)(position 1135 & 1193)
Local Copy password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9396, 2014-12-30_140744