KitchenKatalog: Blog 144

I made Stuffed Mushroom Casserole. I didn't salt as I went since I wanted to set some aside for Caroline. After that, I added salt. I think between that and just not cooking the mushrooms long enough, it was not as good. The mushrooms didn’t stick together as well and it was too much to easily mix well.

Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini Fritters. I did the normal recipe minus the making powder since I forgot. I made it without salt, formed a few, then added salt and other seasonings. We wanted some for the baby but decided not to give them to her since they came out a bit burnt.

Salmon Croquettes

We made Salmon Cakes/Croquettes based on the Bon Appétit recipe (LOCAL). We followed the general gist except we used canned salmon to make life easier and didn't make the mayo (we used store bought with some mustard for the ingredients). We also baked it basically following my Dad's latke recipe.

The only other real change/note is that we set asid some mixture before adding salt so that we had low-sodium ones for Caroline (her first real-food dinner!)

Lasagna Soup

Turkey Taco Bowls

Turkey Taco Bowls. This came out extra wet since I let it simmer for a long time with all of the veggies.

Koefta Meatballs and Salad

I made koefta style meat balls with turkey. The real difference today was that I used the mixer with the metal beater blade to mix it all! That made it so much easier. But I think it also led to a springier meatball that was also kind of dry. Though that could also be because I actually made these last night, refrigerated them, and then reheated.

I want to consider some recipe tweaks to make the mixer-made ones as good as regular since I loved how much easier and cleaner that was.

We had it with salad greens, cilantro vinaigrette (which was still super thick), and leftover harissa

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

I made chicken and dumpling soup. The veggies for the base were 1.5 onions, and some carrots and celery. I sautéed them pretty well and then, following an article from The Kitchn, pushed them aside and seared the chicken (in batches).

I used 10 cups of water along with (lots of) Better than Bouillon. I also added some vegemite. After it simmered for a while and I tasted it, I added some soy sauce and some anchovy paste.

I shredded the chicken in the mixer but I went a bit overboard and made "chicken dust" out of it. Meredith liked it since there were no chicken chunks but I thought it would have been better with larger pieces.

I made dumplings from the My Name is Yeh recipe as we've used before. When I first made these I said to keep the pot uncovered but I think I mis-remembered how I used to do Matzah Balls. I put the dumplings into the rolls of the boil and then let it simmer covered! They came out really good!

I think it was pretty good overall. Not the most amazing soup but not bad either.

Millionaire's Shortbread w/ Bourbon

I made Millionaire's Shortbread (also simply known as caramel shortbread). I had seen this somewhere and decided it was a combination of two of my favorite sweets! It's basically shortbread topped with caramel and chocolate.

I decided on the NY Times (LOCAL) recipe since it actually gave temperatures¹ for the caramel. I followed the recipe with only two changes:

Otherwise I followed the recipe. The only note is that I had to bake it for much longer. I think it is because of the glass pan (it was the closest in area to an 8'x8' pan). I eventually did about 50 minutes with the last 15 or so at a higher temperature.

I also think the caramel making got ahead of me. As seen in one of the pictures below, there are some burned bits. I should have mixed all ingredients and then heated while stirring. I do not think it made too much of a difference though.

I also had to kind of rush it. I cooled it with a fan until I could put the whole thing in the fridge. Even then, I had to just take the edges to serve/bring (meeting friends at a brewery). The middle chocolate was still melted.

Candy making at altitude is actually a very easy adjustment. Since candy making is all about the amount of sugar and water, and since that ratio is exactly defined by the boiling point of water, you can just shift all candy temperatures by the shift in boiling point of water. ↩