Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2020/11
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Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas -- back to top
Meredith made our now semi-standard enchilada skillet. She used frozen butternut squash since the one we had gone bad. And she used half a head of cauliflower which worked well.
Caprese Quiche using the normal quiche.
Curried Shakshuka -- back to top
Meredith made Curried Shakshuka. Delicious as usual though Caroline didn’t eat it. She ate the eggs though!
Roasted Gnocchi and Stir Fry -- back to top
I made roasted gnocchi with the only real notes being that I used a vegetarian sausage and we were short on tomatoes. I also used red onion when I should have used regular. I only did one fennel bulb but I think more would have been better.
My dad also made a bagged-stir-fry. It was just the veggies and a sauce with noodles. It was fine. Kind of unremarkable but nice to have some vegetables in addition to the roasted ones.
Stuffed Mushroom Casserole with Quorn and Kabocha -- back to top
I made vegetarian stuffed mushroom casserole. I didn't make any major changes to the recipe except to use Quorn. And I did the entire thing in the non-enameled Dutch Oven which seemed to work well. We didn't have any kind of French's Onion stuff but it was okay with out. I used Mural of Flavor to make the seasoned bread crumbs.
I also grilled Kabocha squash for about 6 minutes per side at medium.
Grilled/Seared Salmon -- back to top
My Dad and I put together crispy salmon for dinner. The idea was somewhere between a baked salmon and my seared salmon. The salmon didn't have skin which made us change the plans a bit but it worked.
We used the spice rub from Spiced Salmon Kebabs (LOCAL). At least the basics of that. We used black sesame and skipped the crushed red pepper. We also forgot the salt and added it later.
We topped it with lemon and then cooked it on the Baking Steel on the grill. The thing is, I think the steel is hotter than when I do the seared salmon but the grill itself has less heat. Combined with the lack of skin, we had to play around.
We took them off as one but when cutting it, we saw it was not cooked enough. We put them back on for a little and even turned the thick ones on their side (as you can see in the photos).
They came out really good. I think they were all cooked correctly. Maybe a few bits over cooked and some under, but that's to be expected. The bottoms got really crispy and were delicious
Update: See our recipe book for an updated description
Sweet Potato Snickerdoodles -- back to top
Meredith made Sweet Potato Snickerdoodles from The Kitchn (LOCAL). She didn't really make any changes to the recipe. She did follow the butter browning techniques from Joy The Baker. And because Caroline was being difficult, some of the timing was off of putting it together.
But the cookies were really good. I felt like I could taste the sweet potato. Less so the brown butter but it was still there.
Our cookies scoop is a bit smaller so it made 34
2021-01-07 Note: they defrosted well in the toaster oven. We did ~5 min but maybe 3-4 min next time.
Soy Chorizo Ragu -- back to top
I made our Soy Chorizo Ragu. I skipped the brown sugar and did use the wine. The chorizo was really old which may be why it wasn’t as flavorful, or something in the sauce.
We mixed pasta and spaghetti squash.
Health(ier) Chicken Pot-Pie -- back to top
I made chicken pot pie with our regular recipe except I realized I could make it better if I used more butter and made a real roux/béchamel sauce. I modified that recipe to note the options with what I did. I ended up adding a bit more milk both to think it and to help mix the bouillon. That may have been a mistake as it was pretty thin. I also forgot the acidity.
It was really good. I think the butter was well worth the calories to get more flavor out of it; especially since it wasn't too much worse!
Unfortunately, Caroline was not a big fan.
The salad was inspired by Love and Lemons (LOCAL) but didn't want their dressing.
Used this vinaigrette from What's Gaby Cooking (LOCAL)
Used Quinoa and baby kale.
Meredith made Red Lentil Chili from A Beautiful Mess (LOCAL).
Her notes:
I doubled it (thankfully -- we ate a lot) and used 1 can of tomatoes 🥫 instead of tomato sauce. Skipped the jalapeño, cilantro, and cayenne. Went a little heavy on the chili powder, plus a little cumin and oregano. Served with green onions, cheddar cheese, Greek yogurt, and Fritos.
Cacio e Pepe Ravioli with Fried Sage in Brown Butter and Roasted Broccoli Soup -- back to top
Meredith made "fried sage" in brown butter. It was based on a cookbook but basically, she just browned butter with sage leaves in it. We used that as a "sauce" for Trader Joes Cacio e Pepe Ravioli. It was pretty good; especially the fried leaves!
I made roasted broccoli soup. Meredith had roasted the broccoli earlier in the week. I made it with Better Than Bouillon Vegetable broth. It came out a bit salty and not as good as usual, though certainly not bad either. I think some of the cheese may have gone off too.
Update: From 2021-02-13, use 3 Tbsp of butter
Zucchini Strata -- back to top
Meredith made Zucchini Strata with some notable changes:
The bread was defrosted from Burque Bakehouse
I updated the recipe page for noting the cheddar
Bread -- back to top
My dad (and Caroline) made “Mom’s Bread”. My dad said the flour (which we got from Burke Bakehouse) was different than what he’s used to (King Arthur). It worked well but did collapse a little bit.
Sweet Potato Chili -- back to top
Meredith made Sweet Potato Chili
Used Japanese sweet potatoes which are super sweet and were really good! Also topped it with leftover spaghetti squash. Again served with red and green onion, Fritos, non-fat Greek yogurt, and cheese.
She also doubled it and used a mix of black and pinto beans. She also skipped the chipotle (which we previously done with smoked paprika but didn’t use either today)
Cauliflower Mac and Cheese -- back to top
Meredith made her usual Cauliflower Mac and Cheese. She used the Sriracha Mac and cheese with less sriracha and added lightly mashed (a bit rougher than "cauliflower rice" consistency) cauliflower.
We really liked it but Caroline decided to be fickle about it this time. I did think it needed a bit more sriracha than usual but still very good.
Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish -- back to top
Meredith prepped and froze Chicken and Wild Rice Hotdish. It still needs the cracker topping, but otherwise ready to go. She also did onions instead of leaks. And used a combination of half and half with whole milk for the heavy cream
I will update or link back when we reheat it and cook it: 2021-01-04
Crustless Quiche -- back to top
Meredith made a crustless version of her Caprese Quiche. The blind-baked crust came out shrunken, a but bubbled, and a bit overcooked. So she decided it wasn't worth it.
Meredith made fondue to have before Christmas Tree decorating.
She used the Serious Eats Recipe (LOCAL). We used comté instead of Appenzeller. We also forgot the nutmeg and didn't have kirsch. It came out pretty good. We wish we had the kirsch but it was fine. Even Caroline ate some of it (we didn't want her to have too much with the wine).
We served it with bread, roasted fingerling potatoes, apples, broccoli, and cauliflower
Croque-Monsieur -- back to top
Meredith made Croque-Monsieurs following Bon Appétit (LOCAL). She used Trader Joes Focaccia bread but I think otherwise followed the recipe. They were good. We may try to prep-ahead the béchamel and use that to make these quickly during the week.
African Peanut Soup -- back to top
I made our typical African Peanut Soup. I made extra sure to actually use vegetarian broth. I also added an extra two cups of water since I wanted to make more. And a bit extra peanut butter because of that.
I used only one frozen ginger cubes and then went heavy on the powdered ginger. I also used a red onion since it is all we had. And since I didn't plan to blend anything, I tried to chop things on the smaller side.
It came out really good. I liked the change in tumeric from last time.
I also grilled two delicata squashes. I think I prefer kabocha, even though it is drier. But they were still good and well received.
Impossible Hot Dish -- back to top
I made Hot Dish with Impossible Beef and using vegetable broth instead of chicken. It worked very well. It took exactly three packs of the beef, which cooked up just like real meat. I thought there was a slight acidity I do not usually note when Meredith makes it and I suspect that was the beef.
I made two containers as seen in the picture though it was really hard to spread all four layers. I should have done just two. We had some tater "rounds" instead of tots so that went into one of them (and a bit of the other). Finally, I did cheese! On one, I tried doing cheese then tots. On the other I did tots then cheese. I think the cheese under worked better as the tots got more exposed to the heat but honestly, the cheese just hardened on both and I didn't really taste it.
But overall, a very well received meal!
Thanksgiving 2020 -- back to top
Small Thanksgiving with my dad, Emily, and Victor. So only 6 people and only two of whom actually eat turkey. A bit lower key than 2018.
The menu was as follows with other details below:
For dessert, we had
This was the main thing I was in charge of making. I dry brined the turkey and then followed Serious Eats' Herb-Rubbed Crisp-Skinned Butterflied Roast Turkey (LOCAL). I did butterfly/Spatchcock it as well. It was a small turkey starting at about 9.66 lbs.
I carved it following this video from Serious Eats on YouTube (LOCAL)
I followed Serious Eats (LOCAL) for the gravy. I used some matchsticks carrots for the carrots
I repeated the crispy salmon from the other day using the same rub but they were cut ahead of time so we could also sear and crisp the sides.
Update: See our recipe book for an updated description
Meredith made her favorite Cranberry Bars. She followed the recipe but had to use two different pans rather than the one she wanted. They were a bit thin but very, very good. We all really enjoyed them!
Emily made No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake (LOCAL) from Kind of Healthy Recipes by Mason Fit. Her notes: Used low fat cream cheese
Emily made Zero Smart Points Cranberry Sauce. Mostly just for her and my dad
Victor made "Chef John's" Pumpkin Pie from All Recipes (LOCAL). I do not know if this was Victor's planned recipe or if he pivoted to this since I bought him Sweetened Condensed Milk rather than Evaporated. I think he also used (eyeballed?) Pumpkin Pie Spice in place of the constituent spices in the recipe
At first, I didn't love it since it wasn't really sweet (it doesn't get any additional sugar) but once I got used to it, I actually really liked it since you really tasted the pumpkin.
Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas -- back to top
Meredith made Butternut Squash and Black Bean Enchiladas using the regular recipe with frozen butternut squash. Since most people said they weren't hungry, she just did one serving.
Breakfast for Dinner and Scallion Pancakes -- back to top
We had "Breakfast for Dinner" as Emily and Victor's going away meal. We also made grilled scallion pancakes. I 1.5x the pancake recipe but made double the number. I was also running out of sesame oil so I had to skimp. I do not know if it was from skimping or if it needed more salt, but they were not as good as the first time. Emily also helped roll them out which was a big help since they take a little bit of time.
For the meal it was:
It's worth noting that we did a reprise the next night for my Dad's going away meal. No bacon or scallion pancakes but we also had blintzes.