Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2019/01
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Meredith made Taco Stew.
Nothing particularly special, but I wanted to note that change from the first time we didn chili potatoes. I diced up Yukon Gold, roasted them at 400 (I think) for about 30 minutes. We liked this more than a whole baked potato.
Roasted Tomato Soup and Philly Melts -- back to top
I made spiced tomato soup and grilled Philly Melts
I was craving soup and I saw this recipe on /r/Gif recipes for Spiced Tomato Soup (reddit,gtfcat,MOB's site) (LOCAL)
I followed the soup recipe with some changes as noted below (nothing major)
Ingredient Changes:
I was going to blend it in the vitamix so I let it simmer for 10 minutes, then I blended it, and then I let it simmer for a really long time (doing baby stuff and prepping other meals).
My other notes (after blending):
I didn't love it at first but I came to like it as I ate it more. It is pretty flavorful and kind of spicy. I liked the vinegar too. It added a nice bite.
I do not know where we got this idea, but I made philly melts. I used Steak-Ums and made it two slices at a time (12 total for 4 sandwiches). I also used a bit too much oil on the pan with some onions but the end result was not too oily. We used havarti cheese since Meredith doesn't like provolone.
I did let Meredith do the grilling since I tend to burn them (and myself). They weren't as good as I had hoped. I think they needed some more salt in the filling.
Also, I planned three slices per sandwich but it was too much and there was some leftover steak.
Meredith made herself Cava Grill inspired lunch bowls which we also had for dinner later in the week. I will come back and update this when I have the details but it is:
and probably other stuff I missed.
Guessing at which recipe she used ↩
Stuffed Mushroom Casserole with Chicken -- back to top
I made what is becoming our pretty standard mushroom casserole. In fact, I moved the recipe, with it's changes to its own recipe page. The biggest note for today is that I used some crushed red pepper in making the bread crumbs and I liked the additional spice.
I actually prepped the chicken and mushrooms on Sunday and then added the cheese and bread crumbs to finish it today.
Really good as usual!
Pretty standard Lasagna Soup. Used shaved parmesan instead of grated which I think is better
I made Carne Adovada. Like I did on Thanksgiving, I used half hot and half mild though Meredith still thought it was hot.
I followed the recipe but I considered adding a roux to thicken it up. I think I may try that next time to give the sauce a bit more texture.
Pictured is one night we served it with fried polenta cakes. That was pretty good though it was hard to get them to crisp and not stick to the pan.
Cilantro Vinaigrette -- back to top
I made Taste of Texas's Cilantro Vinaigrette. While I followed their recipe, it came out very thin and super, super blended (probably because of the Vitamix). I added the oil slowly but it still did not get a great emulsion as it later separated in the fridge (which is also surprising given the Vitamix). I think the flavor was pretty good though not as good as it is in the restaurant.
I made my standard falafel though I think I (unintentionally) went light on the greens. Maybe it was the fact that this was fresh (not frozen) dough but it came out really good. I think I need to be more careful about not going overkill on the greens.
I made the usual double batch but instead of freezing the other half, I cooked it all for Meredith's lunches through the week.
I also made harissa. Since Caroline was watching me cook, I didn't want to pre-grind the crushed red pepper so the air wouldn't get too bad. Well, the end result of that was some gritty bites. Still very spicy and good!
Served with Trader Joes Eggplant Hummus and Tzatziki (which is not as good as Meredith's)
Turkey Taco Bowls -- back to top
I made Turkey taco bowls without really doing anything too special. The biggest change is that I pre-cut all of the veggies (except tomatoes). This meant that I also added them all at the same time. I got the cast-iron pan well-preheated (so it was uniformly hot but not too hot) and then added all the veggies. I think it overcrowded the pan as it kind of steamed but it eventually worked well. It really cooked down. After I added the tomatoes, the liquid make everything fuze together really well.
We served it with Wholly Guacamole and sour cream. I like that this meal has all of 1 lbs of turkey and the rest is mostly veggies. Pre-chopping also helped save a lot of time!
Roasted Gnocchi -- back to top
I made roasted gnocchi without too many changes. I messed up setting the initial timer so it went a little long but I think that is okay because it seems to need much more time than they say anyway. I had pre chopped the onions, tomatoes, peppers, and sausage so that was a nice time saver.
Chicken Pot Pie -- back to top
I made Chicken Pot Pie with sous vide chicken. I prepped the chicken ahead of time with some poultry seasoning in the bag. That was a mistake. It gave it an odd flavor that was really not very good.
The rest of it went as usual (except maybe a bit too many carrots) but the flavors just weren't really there! It wasn't the worst chicken pot pie we've made but it was also not very good. I am not sure what went wrong otherwise. It may have been the chicken or just the general spices but it wasn't as good as usual.
We topped it with some tube biscuits
-- back to top