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Home > 149
KitchenKatalog: Blog 149
Saturday, November 03, 2018, 01:30 PM
I have been wanting to test making a vegetarian version of my carne adovada both out of curiosity and as a potential for Thanksgiving.
I figured I would do it with tofu and seitan as a test. Tofu is (way) easier but I wasn't sure it could hold up to the simmering. Seitan we figured would be (a) tastier and (b) more resilient.
The sauce was pretty typical except that we got a different brand chile (see picture). These seemed to be both darker and more moist. As such, I went a bit heavy on them. I was also afraid they were spicier but they were about the same. See how dark the liquid is in the seitan photos.
The other main change was to use a mixture of Seasoned Vegetable and Roasted Garlic bouillon
I went slightly heavy on the water since I knew I would be reserving some
I based the seitan on regular seitan logs, 2016-01-12, and the referenced recipe.
I made it with
I decided to use the blender since it was already used so I figured I would use it to mix all of the ingredients and the oil would help soften the seitan. Since I was using the blender, I knew the oil would emulsify fine.
I heated the liquids post blending and added the gluten to the liquid. It came together really nicely and I kneaded it for a little bit. I then cut it up into strips, rolled it out, and then cut it into pieces which I added to the sauce.
After mixing two blocks of "Super Firm Tofu" with the seitan, I braised it at 325°. As you can see, it came out super dry! I think what happened was the seitan absorbed the rest of the liquid! It still tasted good but was very, very dry.
The tofu held up well but wasnt super flavorful. I liked the flavor, and even the texture of the seitan. But it did absorb a lot of the liquid.
I think if I wanted to do this again, I would do it with the seitan but simmered independently first.
Friday, November 02, 2018, 07:16 PM
I made what is now becoming our standard meatball marsala. I used a huge butternut squash so I didn't bother with regular pasta. Also, even though I did 7 min at 375 with the squash, it felt too tough so I let it simmer in the sauce a bit longer. There was just barely enough sauce to coat it all but it worked.
Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 06:27 PM
Meredith found a Stuffed Mushroom Casserole (LOCAL) recipe that is intended to be a side-dish. We modified it slightly to be a full meal by adding a pound of chicken (for four servings). I diced up chicken tenders, tossed them with seasoned flour, and sautéed them.
My full changes are:
It actually came out really, really good. My only real complaint was the mozzarella cheese stuck to some parts better than others so it wasn't well mixed. But it was nice and easy!
Total
| Item | Approx. Calories |
|---|---|
| Chicken | 750 |
| Butter (4 tbsp) | 400 |
| Mozzarella + Parm | 400 |
| Panko | 260 |
| --- | --- |
| total | 1810 |
or ~450/serving. Not too bad!
Monday, October 29, 2018, 08:43 PM
I made lasagna soup. It wasn't as good as usual/last time which we think may be because I actually remembered the mushrooms. Next time we will skip them (intentionally) and see. Also, the sausage from Sprouts, which is our usual, seemed less flavorful (and lighter colored)
Sunday, October 28, 2018, 09:13 PM
Meredith tried hasselback delicata from Lifehacker (LOCAL). I think she followed the recipe pretty closely but may have more-than-par cooked them and had trouble not slicing all the way through. I liked the sauce though maybe it was a tad sweet.
Thursday, October 25, 2018, 01:34 PM
We had turkey originally for something else but decided to go for easier. I sautéed an onion and then did the taco seasoning with tomatoes. We served it with some defrosted (and freezer burned...yuk!) flat bread.
Tuesday, October 23, 2018, 08:24 PM
I made standard taco stew except I went heavy on the zucchini (and updated the recipe to note that you can). I do not think I did anything special but it did come out really good!
Saturday, October 20, 2018, 04:44 PM
My Dad's biscotti recipe is very flexible but I wasn't sure about adding pumpkin puree and not changing anything (especially the oil/fat content). So I picked ten recipes from Google. Basically, any recipe that was not some special diet (e.g. low carb), and actually had pumpkin. Actually, I picked roughly the top nine and then found The Kitchn's
See the excel sheet for more
A few clear notes:
So, looking at my dad's recipe, it is already very high fat and low sugar. So, with all of that, I think the conclusion is that looking at other recipes did not help at all! So, I will go with 1/3 cup oil (instead of 1/2, 33% reduction). And I will use 2/3 cup pumpkin.
As for spice levels, I think I will use 2 tsp pumpkin spice. The Kitchn uses 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 nutmeg, 1/4 clove and ginger. And King Arthur uses 1-1/4
(Also, the cups to weight conversion is way off from King Authur's. But I care most about grams.)
I followed my plans except maybe a bit heavy on the nuts. I think the end result was tasty but still lacked the pumpkin flavor. I do not think adding more actual pumpkin is the answer but maybe more pumpkin spice. Or more of something to give it that flavor.
I am also not too happy with the big air pockets. My dad thinks it may be from the pumpking changing the texture but I do not know