Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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posts/2021/12
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Meredith made a batch of egg bites. Her notes:
Used Instant Pot Bacon & Cheese Egg Bites [Rachael's Healthy Plate] with following changes:
Used 3 whole eggs instead of 2 whole egg + 2 egg whites called for. Sautéed frozen pepper/onion blend + frozen chopped spinach and added that after initial blend. The top rack came out looking great, the bottom rack did the thing where they kinda explode a little. Doubled the recipe.
Meredith's Notes:
Protein donuts: used Matcha Glazed Donuts [Tone it Up] with following changes:
Finally discovered the trick for unmolding these: flip the mold over onto a plate. Otherwise the crumble and break into a million little pieces.
White Chocolate, Apricot, and Pistachios Biscotti -- back to top
I made my Dad's Best Biscotti By Far... using some add-ins suggested by Meredith. I used Pistachios as per usual but then added chopped dried apricot and white chocolate chips.
I think doing chocolate chips in these just doesn't work well. It cooks out too much. But the apricot was fine. They tasted good but I like the original ones more.
We ended up not going to the party I made them for hence the bag picture as they went in the freezer.
We had fondue. The main batch was premade from Trader Joes though I ended up throwing together another (much smaller) one. For mine, I totally winged it. I threw in a bunch of gruyere (maybe around half a block), some corn starch, water, and Better Than Bouillon (plus a tiny bit more salt). Totally off-the-cuff.
The Trader Joes' one was really good. Mine did the job but was stringy and needed more flavor. What was really interesting were some of the sides we did this year:
Update (2022-13-03): based on 2021-12-26, 400°F
We were very happy with these dipping options. They all worked well (except maybe the apple which was better alone). The onions were surprisingly good too! We meant to do brussel sprouts but forgot them. Next time!
Baked Latkes again. I again had to drain the onion. They were pretty good though I should have cooked them a tad longer.
Gingerbread Cookies -- back to top
Meredith (and Caroline) made Nordic Orange and Ginger Biscuits [ScandiKitchen]. Meredith also made royal icing from Sally's Baking Addition.
We all took turns decorating them, with Meredith's looking the best.
They tasted pretty good. Not too much ginger for sure though we could barely taste the cardamom.
Red Beans and Rice -- back to top
Meredith made Red Beans and Rice [Joy the Baker].
She followed the same basic changes as last time (2021-02-16). We also ended up letting it cook for longer and having it the next day (it still could have used a bit more time though).
Very tasty as usual!
Matzoh Ball Soup -- back to top
I made Matzo Ball Soup but I couldn't find matzo meal so it is probably more correct to call it "breadcrumb ball soup".
I used Better than Bouillon and let the soup simmer basically all day adding more bouillon and water as needed (the former for flavor, the latter for what evaporated). I did one parsnip, 3 (or 4?) carrots, 3 (or 4?) celery stalks and one giant onion cut to stay in tact. The house smelled like Passover.
I made a double batch of Knaidlach (Matzo Balls) using 1 tsp nutmeg (1/2 per batch), no parsley (since I forgot to buy it), and butter. Breadcrumbs worked but the balls were softer than I would have liked. It'll work in a pinch but is not my preferred option. I prepped them in the morning and cooked them for about 2 hours.
Matcha Pound Cake -- back to top
Matcha Pound Cake with Almond Glaze [Molly Yeh] with a bit of blue food coloring. The blue worked to give it a nice hue. It was dense but that is expected with pound cake. And was very tasty!
Seared Crispy Salmon -- back to top
I made what is quickly becoming our favorite salmon.
I used Spiced Salmon Kebabs [Bon Appétit via Epicurious] for the seasoning following some of the observations from last time my Dad made it, and again seared it on the "griddle" (super, super hot).
I did about 2 minutes per side give or take a bit (it takes longer to lay it down than to flip). Mixing it all together in a bowel worked really well again!
Update: See our recipe book for an updated description
Served with blanched green beans (7 minutes)
Armadillo Eggs and Stuffed Dates -- back to top
I made Armadillo Eggs for Christmas along with bacon wrapped stuffed dates. Basically, identical to last year.
It wasn't a change in the recipe per se, but I found it easier to assembly line it. Slice all peppers, then deseed all peppers, then stuff them all, and then wrap them. It also meant that (a) I could avoid contaminating the cream-cheese with meat (just jalapeño) and (b) the sausage stayed cooler!
Crab and Reverse Seared Steak -- back to top
This was supposed to be our Christmas Eve dinner but got pushed to Christmas.
I made Reverse Seared Steak [Serious Eats] with NY Strip. I got three steaks at Trader Joes and let the sit on the tray overnight. I baked them in the toaster oven, initially at 250°F but I eventually moved it down to 220°F to slow it down. At 125°F internal, I did the reverse sear.
For the sear, I used the cast iron and carbon steel on the grill with a clove of garlic and lots of butter.
It was chewy and not very good!. Very disappointing. However, it looked cooked perfectly making me really think this was just not great steak to start. It was pretty inexpensive and I didn't check the grade. Oh well. I would try the method again but with much better steaks.
We also had steamed crab. Not much to say about it except that they are delicious!
And roasted sweet potatoes (~1 hr) with [fake] butter and salt. And finally, our favorite green beans.
Christmas Sandwiches -- back to top
Christmas Sandwiches with black forrest ham. The "family" pack of rolls fit perfectly into that pan.
I think I used way too much green onion! And I guess despite going 15 min in the oven, I should have used more.
We made fondue for Christmas Dinner (though we pushed it a day). We made one batch ourselves and used most of a Trader Joes pack.
We used Cheese Fondue [Serious Eats] replacing Appenzeller with ??? (Probably Comte). We also didn't have or use kirsch and skipped the nutmeg. Ours was okay but needed more salt. And maybe the kirsch was needed. All together, it was fine but not as good as Trader Joes'.
We made two servings but ended up just saving one for another time (may freeze it)
We largely followed last time since we were really happy with it.
All roasting at 400°F.
Candy Cane Cookies -- back to top
Meredith and Caroline prepped Candy Cane Cookies [A Beautiful Mess] and then the three of us made them from there.
They prepped the dough a few days before we made it. We just kept forgetting or not having time. Then, when we went to make them today, the dough was hard as a rock. We had to let it sit for a long time (perhaps too long) before we could shape them.
We followed the directions for shaping but it was tough. I found that if I rolled the strands then twisted, it shaped a tad better.
They also spread a lot. Perhaps based on the timing and being out too long. And weren't very crisp. But either way, they were really good. A nice bite of peppermint but not too strong.
Tortellini with Sausage and Mascarpone -- back to top
Meredith and I made a double batch of Tortellini with Sausage and Mascarpone [What's Gaby Cooking] from What's Gabby Cooking. We followed the recipe more or less but doubled it and use Rao's tomato sauce. It was really good. Indulgent for sure but worth it.
Chocolate and Black Walnut Muffin Tops -- back to top
Meredith made a double batch of Double Chocolate Chunk Muffin Tops [Liz Moody]. She made them (again) with black walnuts and the rest of the changes from last time.
She reported that they were pretty good. It turns out I do not like black walnuts so I skipped them.
Turkey and Sides -- back to top
I have been wanting to make a turkey for a while and especially with Brooke and Nathan visiting, I had more turkey eaters! I bought an ~13 lbs turkey and spatchcocked then dry-brined it. I actually did this two days ago but didn't cover it since I thought we'd be cooking it the next day (oops).
I then used a fresh "poultry herbs" (sage, rosemary, thyme) and followed the butter instructions from Herb-Rubbed Crisp-Skinned Butterflied Roast Turkey [Serious Eats]. I also added 3 or 4 cloves of fresh garlic to the butter.
I baked it at 465°F on our oven (so probably ~450°F nominally). I turned off the convection to keep some of the smoke down which was a mixed success. The thermometer was in a breast and when I took it out at 150°F, I probed all around and it was a tad too hot in the legs but on my last probe, I did the other breast and it wasn't enough!!! Ugh!
I moved the thermometer and put it back in for a while.
More or less, it wasn't too dry. Maybe a few places here or there but mostly moist. And pretty flavorful. Maybe not the most amazing one ever but pretty good! And the skin was super crispy!
For the gravy, I followed the basic recipe from Recipe Tin Eats. At least as far as amounts. But I used chicken and vegetable better than boullion and went (too) heavy on it. Also, following Serious Eats, I added soy sauce and then I also did some Worcestershire sauce for extra umami. Well, it came out a tad salty and the Worcestershire was the dominant aroma (and, to a lesser extent, flavor). Not bad by any means but not idea. I wouldn't do that again.
But this gravy did work a lot better than last year's.
I also roasted brussel sprouts.
