Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2019/05
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Meredith made the Ottolenghi Simple again with similar changes to last time (including beef for lamb). She ran out of allspice so replaced about 1 Tbsp of it with nutmeg, She also used Pecorino Calabrese cheese.
Meredith thought it had a very gamey taste which we eventually attributed to the cheese. So next time she will use a less strong cheese.
Served with BBQ Ranch Salad
Chicken Patties -- back to top
Meredith made Pistachio-Arugula Chicken Patties from Ottolenghi Simple. The biggest change from last time was that we baked them. Meredith was also running low on pistachios, so made up the difference with walnuts. Also, she had a bit of zucchini leftover from the meatloaf the other day, so threw in about 79g of zucchini with the onion in the food processor. I actually did that part. I formed them with 1/3 cup of chicken (next time: use 1/4 cup) onto a well-greased Non-Stick Aluminum Foil tray. I also generously oiled (pammed) the top. I baked them at 400°F for about 15 minutes. I flipped them and let them cook for another 2-3 while I warmed the broiler. I then broiled them for about 3 minutes to get some color on them.
Also important to note is that the mixture was made on Thursday while also prepping the meatloaf and baked on Saturday so some of the nuts were softer.
I still liked them though we both agreed they were better last time. Not sure if it was the sitting out or baking them, but baking them was much easier.
We may even consider meat-balling them next time
Arugula Pesto Pizza -- back to top
Meredith made arugula pesto from Shutterbean (LOCAL). She subbed nutritional yeast for the cheese and used slightly more than half the oil it calls for.
We use Trader Joes herb style pizza dough. I let it sit at room temperature for about 45-60 minutes. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to roll it out enough for two people but I managed to get it. Not very pretty or round, but it worked.
We used the pesto as the main sauce and then topped it with sun dried tomatoes and cheese. Towards the end of the bake (on the Pizza Steel), we added prosciutto. We also added some tomatoes but I do not remember if it was at the start or end of the bake.
I made Amba Chicken basically identically as Last Time.
Chinese Food Feast -- back to top
Meredith had checked out a book called Every Grain of Rice by Fuchsia Dunlop and decided to go crazy cooking four different things from it. Meredith said they were all pretty easy it's just that she made four items
Meredith's notes are below
These were pretty good and quick! I’m not sure I had the right kind of bean paste. They were out of the sweet bean paste, so what I got was just bean paste, but given it calls for all of 1 tsp, I guess that was fine. I also used Sake in place of the other wine since I thought that would be close enough and didn’t want to buy it for one recipe. I had no problem finding the Sichuanese ya cai and it was really cheap, too. I also found fresh noodles at the Asian market, so I used those. Next time I might look to mix up the sauce a bit, and I’d consider doing a mix of zucchini noodles and real ones just for a more balanced meal. This could probably make a pretty nice dinner on it’s own with the zucchini noodles.
Also, only did 2 tsp instead of 2 Tbsp of chili oil
I don’t typically love silken tofu, preferring a firmer texture, but for whatever reason this recipe still caught my eye. And I’m glad it did, because it was really good! I think the Bombay mix on top was essential, because it needed that textural contrast. Followed this recipe closely, except I did 2 tsp of chili oil instead of 2 tbsp, and since it was store bought there was no sediment. Based on some reading, you have to make your own for it to have sediment. I also used roasted peanut oil in place of the sesame oil because unfortunately our sesame oil was refined and not at all aromatic. I thought the peanut aromas would be better than no aroma. I also used TJ’s bone broth for the stock.
Anytime I see an Asia cucumber recipe, I hope it will be similar to the cucumbers from the ABQ Pop-up Dumpling House. Their description is:
These cucumbers complement any of our Chinese dishes. We take crispy cucumbers and blend them with Chinese spices and seasonings for a refreshing appetizer or side.
I think I followed this recipe pretty much to a T, maybe smashing with a little too much zeal. But, they were delicious! I’ll have to try the ones at the dumpling house again, but I easily liked these as much even if they are different. I didn’t do the optional Sichuan pepper.
Smacked Cucumbers in Garlicky Sauce Recipe
This was not a winner. It was quite simple to make, but very bland. I followed the recipe closely, using TJ’s bone broth for the stock.
Meredith and I made Kebabs using the spice kit that Sam and Ron got us and we've used before (A,B). This one was a hit! Meredith made the marinade a few days before and I skewered and grilled them (also adding tomatoes). We served it with Trader Joes Garlic Naan. The yogurt Meredith bought was a bit thick so she thinned it with buttermilk for the marinade.
We really enjoyed it. Especially the jam! That was really tasty too with some interesting flavors combined with the mango.
Buttermilk Fruit Tart -- back to top
I’m still working on figuring out my preferred tart crust. This time, I used Mary Berry’s crust recipe from Bakewell Tart. The texture was much better than when I used the Kitchn’s recipe. I think cold butter is the way to go for the crust. Next time I may try a Pâte Sucre crust.
The filling was inspired by having leftover buttermilk. I looked for a buttermilk pastry cream and found this The Irreverent Kitchen (LOCAL). I followed this recipe adding the zest of one lemon stirred in at the end. However, I really did not like this method of making the pastry cream. And it didn’t set! I prefer what I’ve done before where you temper the eggs. It tasted good though!
I also used the blueberry topping recipe from the same link, only subbed white rum for the brandy based on what we had on hand. And I ended up using 6 tbsp powdered sugar. I don’t know if my blueberries weren’t as sweet or what, but with the crust not being very sweet and the tangy lemony buttermilk filling, I was going for more sweetness in the blueberries. Then I also topped it with kiwi roses which were surprisingly easy to make. Made them on a cutting board and carefully transferred with the fish flipping spatula.
As mentioned, the pastry cream did not set, and it was pretty soupy once you cut into it. It initially looked great and tasted pretty good. I would consider doing it again, but there are so many other tart combinations to try so it may never happen. Lots of room for improvement though. And as pretty as the kiwi roses were, I thought the blueberry went better. Kiwis are a bit sour, too and like I said it needed the sweeter topping to contrast the tangy filling.
Meredith has been making Vietnamese Ice Coffee using the Andrea Nguyen recipe (LOCAL). She's done it with coconut sweetened condensed sensed milk which, while less white, taste pretty good. I tried using the dripper with just powdered creamer and splenda. That was pretty good but not the same
Chinese Feast Again -- back to top
Meredith and I decided to iterate on the Chinese Food Feast we had last week. Meredith tweaked the Dan Dan Noodles Recipe and her notes are below. I made the cucumbers and tofu following their recipes. Last time, Meredith reduced 2 Tbsp to 2 tsp of chili oil. This time, I went to 1 Tbsp.
I do not think it was the oil, but it wasn't as good as it was last time. Maybe Meredith did something else differently but better.
The Dan Dan however was so good (I liked it last time too but this was better). I think the tahini helped hold it all together better and gave it a nice, nutty flavor. I would branch out on the other dishes but I really like the Dan Dan as is.
I mixed it up a little this time with some inspiration from The Woks of Life. (LOCAL)
I pretty much stuck to the recipe I used last time for the pork (but doubled the amount of pork), adding a dash of five spice powder as I cooked the pork. Then I tossed in the ya cai and sautéed it with the pork at the end.
For the sauce, I did:
1 heaping tbsp tahini
1.5 tsp sugar
¼ tsp five spice powder
1/2 cup (200ml) chicken stock
2 tsp light soy sauce
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
2 tsp chilli oil
2 finely sliced spring onions
2 cloves of garlic, microplaned
(Added 2019-07-27). Did the pork with sake
This is just to see some of the different condiments we used.
Meredith made Quinoa Caprese again. She used leftover (from pizza) arugula pesto instead of "squeezy tube" basil like last time
Pizza -- back to top
We again made pizza from the Trader Joes' crust. More boring toppings than last time using Vodka sauce with soppressata and garlic powder. Still tasty; just kind of boring. I also struggled to get the pizza as well spread out
Sausage and Salad -- back to top
We made sous vide sausage using 150°F for about 1.5 hours. While I do like to chop it up to better crisp it all, we decided to brown them whole. The had a funky shape but were still pretty good. I have half-pieces of four links. Meredith bought them but I think they were:
I am still a fan of this way to make them!
Served with the BBQ ranch salad we like
Kaffir Lime and Matcha Gimlet -- back to top
Meredith made a Kaffir Lime and Matcha Gimlet from Cook Republic (LOCAL). I am not sure what changes she made.
Sous Vide Pulled Pork -- back to top
Meredith has been (oddly) craving BBQ so we tried the Food Lab's Sous Vide BBQ Pork (LOCAL). We followed their recipe pretty closely with the only major changing being that we used smoked paprika and skipped the liquid smoke.
Since the original pork shoulder was so big (~7lbs) , I cut a slit down the middle to the bone to increase surface area.
We did the sous vide at 165°F for about 22 hours and then, after letting it cool, put it in the fridge. The next night, we put it in a warm bath again just to remelt the congealed juices around it. After draining and reserving the juices around it, I decided to cut off some of the fat cap1 since we got flavor from it already but I didn't want that much when shredding later. We baked it for about 1.5 hours and then shredded it (super, super easily).
Meredith made cole-slaw with some kind of poppy seed dressing with red cabbage and some green onion.
For sauces, we did Sweet Baby Ray's mixed with mustard. We didn't go crazy on the sauce since we wanted to maintain the original flavor of the meat.
It came out pretty good. Made a ton of meat (~5lbs) and it lasted for many meals; including a smoked version a few days later
Is it still called the "Fat Cap" on pork? ↩
-- back to top