Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2020/10
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I made a BIG thing of brisket using the normal recipe.
I really need to learn how to better trim the meat. As is, I pulled out ~4 lbs of fat but I wasn't happy with how fatty some of the meat came out anyway
It worked pretty well otherwise. I still need to work on cutting it too as some of it was not against the grain as I would like.
I forget the weights but it was a lot. I froze about two pounds and we had tons of leftovers
Grilled Kabocha Squash -- back to top
I grilled kabocha squash. I cut it pretty thin and then sprayed it with pam. I grilled it for about 5-10 min per side. It worked pretty well to have around as a snack!
When I cut this one, I thought it looked a bit underripe as you can see in the pic. Not sure but it tasted fine
We made fennel pizza. We used the Trader Joes crust (which we had frozen. That worked well) and then canned pizza sauce. We originally cut up the fennel but then realized that last time we roasted it a bit so we threw it in the oven.
I forgot the ricotta before so we added it afterwards. The pizza cooked nicely enough. Maybe a tad too long (and did a number on the parchment but that is fine).
We also had soppressata on it.
I made smash burgers. Like last time, it took me a bit to get used to really pressing them. You need to press way harder than it seems like you should. It worked well though! Pretty tasty
Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchilada Skillet -- back to top
Meredith made the regular Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchilada Skillet. She used a fresh butternut squash but in the future, she will try to use the frozen ones to make it (much) easier)
Meredith (and Caroline) made pumpkin bread. The only real note is that Meredith thought she cooked it a bit too long. But I thought it tasted fine.
Meredith and I made Chicken Tawook. We used chicken breasts cut into cubes. Nothing else was particularly notable except that it was delicious as always! I sprayed them with pam before putting them on the grill but they still stuck a good bit. I was able to get them all off without too much trouble.
I like them being kind of pressed together. I think it works well to keep the flavors together.
This was actually supposed to go with yesterday's meal but we forgot until there wasn't enough time.
Anyway, I made baked wings. They got to "dry" in the fridge for about 48+ hours since we pushed it a day. That did seem to help make them super crispy.
I did cook them about 30 minutes on the one side rather than 20.
I decided to try BBQ again but I was careful not to burn them like last time. I mixed BBQ sauce with 1 Tbsp of butter and some crushed red pepper. I tossed them and then put them back in the oven for 5 minutes (but not with the broiler). That worked well! I also liked it with the crushed red pepper!
It was 9 wings (just drumbettes, no flats) and it was enough food, though I would always like more!
Pumpkin 🎃 Cake 🎂 with Brown-Butter Frosting -- back to top
Meredith made a Pumpkin Cake with Brown Butter Frosting. The cake was the same pumpkin cake we used in 2017.
The brown butter buttercream came from Two Sisters Crafting (LOCAL). Meredith's notes:
The topping was done with some homemade stencils she did using the Cricut
It was really good and we really liked the brown butter frosting. The cake when eaten alone was also very good though it didn't stand up very well to the frosting. Meredith may use this frosting for something like a chocolate cake that can stand up better.
Roasted Gnocchi -- back to top
Roasted Gnocchi. Used a different sausage from Costco. We liked this one (will note it later)
Sweet Potato & Quinoa Chili -- back to top
Meredith made sweet potato chili based largely on Black Bean Sweet Potato Chili from What's Gabby Cooking (LOCAL)
She used smoked paprika for chipotle since worried about spice levels. Also used white onion instead of red and pinto beans instead of black beans.
We all liked it enough. Even Caroline ate it!
African Peanut Soup -- back to top
I made African Peanut Soup. I followed the recipe pretty closely including the turmeric. However, in the future, we will reduce this down as it was a bit too strong.
But otherwise, we really liked the soup as usual. I maybe went heavy on some of the vinegars and glutamate sources to try to bring the flavor up.
We served it with spinach instead of collards. That worked fine!
Filet Mingon and Green Beans -- back to top
I made Sous Vide Filet Mingon. I did it at 137.5° for about 3.5 hours. I again seared it on the baking steel like last time. I did it with some dried rosemary (it was snowing and not worth getting it fresh), some salt, pepper, and a bit of garlic powder. Before searing, I coated them with canola oil and then topped it with some butter after flipping.
Meredith made her favorite green beans. More salt than we adjusted the recipe for. I think we're realizing you still need the salt!
As usual, I served it with the liquid so Caroline could dip it if she wanted.
The bread was a sliced focaccia from Trader Joes.
Cauliflower Mac & Cheese and Wings -- back to top
Meredith made Cauliflower Mac and Cheese and I made wings.
For the mac and cheese, she used lots of cauliflower. There was more than pasta!. She also used only 1 tbsp of sriracha to keep the spice down for Caroline.
The wings were buffalo flavor. I thought I was adding Franks Red Hot to butter but apparently it was already Buffalo Wings Sauce so they were extra buttery. Not bad for sure. The skin wasn't as crispy as I like it though still very good. I want to explore more wing sauce ideas!
Sweet Potato Chili on Tater Tots -- back to top
Meredith made the same Sweet Potato Chile as last week and we served it on a bed of tater tots. We also topped it with white onion, green onion, avocado, cheese, and greek yogurt.
It was really good and worked well
Ann made taco stew following our recipe. She used 1.5 lbs of turkey and adjusted seasonings to taste. We ended up adding some more soy sauce and lots of Worcestershire sauce to give it a more savory punch. As always, it was very good!
Turkey Arugula Patties and Home Fries -- back to top
I made our usual Turkey Arugula Patties with the normal changes as noted there.
I also decided to use up some really old potatoes. They had started to sprout but I read that you can just break those off and be fine. Still, I discarded the icky ones. For the sake of time, I did them on the stove with some canola oil and then ghee. I used salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder. They were okay. I may have overcooked them just a bit. At least the seasonings. I also thought they tasted kind of, well, old!
Served with normal sauce and some cut up and heated tortillas