Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 247
Wednesday, November 19, 2014, 12:35 PM
This was a simple Wednesday night dinner. It was mango coconut mahi mahi from Whole Foods and sautéd swiss chard. I did the mahi mahi on the stove+oven. Simple and fast. Pretty good too! (The mahi mahi may have been a tad overcooked)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9267, 2014-11-19_123523
Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 07:20 PM
I made lentil moussaka. The only real change was that I used green (or french?) lentils instead of the brown ones and I used asian eggplant. The brown ones may be a bit boring, but I think they are better in moussaka Just a better texture.
As you can see from the photo, making it in a big tray meant I didn't have enough "bechamel" sauce. Next time, I'll make more if I am using a tray like this.
Also, I used the mandoline to slice the eggplant and potatoes into 1/4 in slices. While it is fine for the potato, I think it may be a bit thin for the eggplant since it shrunk and was too thin.
It was nice in that it made 8 solid servings!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9271, 2014-11-18_192009
Monday, November 17, 2014, 07:15 PM
My quest for a cilantro stir-fry sauce continues. This time, I used a low fat and calories (70 cal/ 0.25 cup) cilantro dressing from Trader Joes. I mixed 1/2 cup dressing with 2 Tbsp of the thin low-sodium Kikkoman Teriyaki. It was good but not what I was going for. Honestly, it kind of tasted like a slightly cilantro lite italian dressing.
The actual stir-fry was
It was certainly a good and fast meal. I will keep playing with sauces
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9262, 2014-11-17_191542
Sunday, November 16, 2014, 05:35 PM
I was craving Pho but I didn't want to go out and get it and I didn't want to go crazy like last time. Instead, I tried to make an easier version at home.
I made one gallon using mostly the seasonings from last time (just the first addition). And, instead of making stock, I used light Better Than Bouillon (I usually go heavy. It calls for 1tsp/cup or 4 tsp/qt and I go heavy. This time, I used 3tsp=1Tbsp/qt).
Also, instead of all rice noodles, we used mostly spiralized kohlrabi. Once it softened, it was pretty good!
It worked out well but could be improved as I note below. I liked the fully developed flavor and it certainly tasted like mediocre pho. Not as good as the real thing, but honestly not bad either! And I think with my noted changes to be made next time it will be even better!
We also used the opportunity to poach chicken to shred for later in the week and some for the soup
Here are the ingredients I used this time with notes on what to change for next time (especially the black pepper). This really came together quickly! And it was pretty good.
In the broiler, char onions and ginger. Note that the ginger may need more time. Add to the broth when finished.
Make l stock out of the water and Better Than Bouillon or use purchased stock. Note that this represents a 1 Tbsp (3 tsp) to 4 cups (1 qt) ratio as opposed to what is called for.
Toast the whole spices (anise through fennel seeds) in a pan until aromatic. Add to the broth. Add the salt, sugar and cardamom.
Bring to a simmer. Add chicken and poach chicken for 13-18 minutes or until it has reached 160. Remove chicken and allow the soup to continue to simmer, covered, for an hour or so. Strain and serve
Serve with normal Pho things
The biggest thing is to cut the pepper as noted. The soup had a very strong pepper spice that kind of burned! Also, I will reduce the cinnamon and the star anise.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9258, 2014-11-16_173553
Saturday, November 15, 2014, 06:10 PM
Meredith and I had company over so we decided that it would be a good idea to make a few things that we like and know would be good but still kind of special.
We made three things we've had before. We made cilantro egg drop soup (w/o meat) and with less oil and nothing special on the croutons. For the meal we made our now-standard-but-intense Beef Bourguignon (with less meat and olive oil instead of butter) and we made zucchini noodles asian peanut sauce.. It came out a bit watery but it was still good. We also served bread.
The meal was pretty good. It took a bit too long making it and made our friends wait a bit but we were only a few minutes late. The meal was a success though.
This page was converted from Wordpress with a custom script by Justin Winokur. Most links and images should still work. However, if any links are broken, see the HTML (or Markdown) source to try to deduce the intended destination.
Original WP Post ID: 9240
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-11-15_181000
Thursday, November 13, 2014, 08:00 PM
Meredith and I were having my uncle over for dinner and we wanted to make something different so we decided on a Persian dish called Fesenjan. It is a pomegranate chicken with walnuts. The key ingredients are toasted walnuts and pomegranate molasses. You can make the latter by cooking down pomegranate juice or you can buy it (which we did). The walnuts get toasted and then ground.
The recipe is from Minimalist Baker (_local_). It is actually pretty easy. We essentially stayed true to the recipe except we 1.5x it. We did use brown rice but also first toasted it a bit to bring out extra flavor (and we made extra for another dish)
It came out extremely good though not very pretty. It turns black while cooking! Also, I think it was a bit wet. We would certainly make this again; maybe as a side with chickpeas and some whole walnuts.
BUT... there is one downside. It ends up being a lot of points. See the nutritional information below. The only thing is, I do not know about the molasses. The numbers on the nutrition label for each constituent source of calories does not meet the number of calories. And, there is little agreement amongst the internet. A few sites say about 40 cal/Tbsp while a lot of others say 40cal/tsp. The calories on the bottle we bought say 120cal/Tbsp (which == 40 cal/tsp). So, I think I will go with that. 6 Tbsp = 18 points. However, 8 ounces of pomegranate juice is 136 calories so this still may be way off.
We also made the carrot salad from 2014-10-27. It was good though not as good as I remembered.
Fesenjan [Persian Pomegranate Chicken] (from Minimalist Baker)
Local Copy password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Included is the outline I made for timing. I was about 20 minutes off of it though.
Again, see note above about the pomegranate molasses. And note that this includes rice.
| Item | x | Cal | Fat | Carbs | protein | fiber | per | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pom Syrup* | 4 | 120 | 0.00 | 36.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.91 | 15.63 |
| Walnuts | 1.5 | 523 | 52.00 | 11.00 | 12.00 | 5.00 | 15.26 | 22.89 |
| 1 cup rice | 1 | 684 | 5.00 | 143.00 | 15.00 | 6.00 | 17.70 | 17.70 |
| Chicken (oz) | 16 | 35 | 1.39 | 0.00 | 5.32 | 0.00 | 0.84 | 13.50 |
| Honey | 2 | 64 | 0.00 | 17.00 | 0.10 | 0.00 | 1.85 | 3.71 |
| Oil | 3 | 120 | 14.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 3.60 | 10.80 |
| Total | 2996.50 | 147.24 | 337.50 | 118.32 | 13.50 | 84.24 | ||
| Per Serving | 4 | 749.13 | 36.81 | 84.38 | 29.58 | 3.38 | 21.06 |
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9235, 2014-11-13_200008
Thursday, November 13, 2014, 12:05 PM
This is a follow up to yesterday's food. I had leftovers of the tofu so I made the same thing but I tried it this time with cilantro rather than kefir lime leaves. Also, I topped it with a fried egg that was fried in the same oil as the shallots
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 9228, 2014-11-13_120528
Wednesday, November 12, 2014, 09:35 PM
The real star of this meal was the Burmese Tofu Salad. We used the recipe fromBurma: Rivers of Flavor (local copy) to make it. We made the tofu in the morning as per the recipe and let it harden during the day (we did the one with turmeric). Then, we made the sauce exactly as she said including with kefir lime leaves. The two biggest things we missed with the recipe was we forgot the sesame seeds and we made a quicker shallot oil. Her recipe for shallot oil takes a long time and we forgot it. So, instead fof15 minutes, we made a (very much scaled down) version in about 5 with higher heat. Honestly, it was fine and contributed really nicely to the flavor.
The Shan Tofu on its own was a bit strange. Had a grittiness that you often don't find with soy tofu. And it was a bit salty. But it was really good in the salad. The lime leaves really do add a ton of flavor! And you could really taste (and smell) the shallots and shallot oil. I will say though that I thought it had just a tinge of a Lemon Pledge scent. Not unpleasant but still a bit surprising.
We also made seared cod using my usual searing method but for less time since cod is more delicate. The topping was a 7-Seed Crust we had bought. I thought it actually had kind of a strange taste. Not sure if it was the cod, the crust, the cooking method or a combination thereof.
Burmese Chickpea (Shan) Tofu Salad [Tohu Thoke] (from a digital version ofBurma: Rivers of Flavor)
Local Copy password is the name of my dog, all lower case
This page was converted from Wordpress with a custom script by Justin Winokur. Most links and images should still work. However, if any links are broken, see the HTML (or Markdown) source to try to deduce the intended destination.
Original WP Post ID: 9221
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-11-12_213524