Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 254
Sunday, September 07, 2014, 03:55 PM
Meredith made this so I really can't add too much. I think she basically followed the directions. The idea is you take a bit of everything and roll it into a leaf and eat it in one bite
we bought leaves that looked like the cha-phlu (aka piper sarmentosum). However the first night we had it, I thought they tasted strange and instead skipped the leaf. Meredith didn't mind and tried it the again the next day. What was a bad tasting lead the first day turned into a horrible, gross taste the next.
Turns out, we bought Betel leaves, a major ingredient in Paan, a drug used like tobacco in Asia. To quote the linked Wikipedia article
Betel leaves are used as a stimulant, an antiseptic and a breath-freshener. Betel quid with tobacco is strongly carcinogenic
Thankfully we (a) ate very little and (b) didn't mix it with anything.
So next time, we will find the right leaves or use something else. Serious Eats used chinese broccoli
Miang Kham (Thai One Bite Salad) (From Simple Thai Food via Serious Eats)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8819, 2014-09-07_155509
Saturday, September 06, 2014, 09:55 PM
Meredith and I made a quick meal for dinner. It was eggplant in garlic sauce and crab with butter. The crab was already peeled. It was the same crab we used earlier.
The eggplant in garlic sauce was because we were looking for a quick and easy side dish. Plus, I wanted to keep playing with stir-fries. We didn't have chinese eggplant so we used regular. Also, as per the recipe (linked below), we did it in two batches. I think one of the batches was more cooked than the other. And using the regular eggplant had a bit thicker skin. I wouldn't plan to use it again, but it was a fine substitute. Otherwise, we stayed pretty true to the recipe except more garlic. A lot of other recipes call for black vinegar but this one didn't (and we couldn't find it anyway).
Szechwan Eggplant Stir-Fry (from Food Network /Tyler Florence)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8781, 2014-09-06_215558
Saturday, September 06, 2014, 10:00 AM
This was a quick meal Meredith threw together. We put cilantro (coriander) chutney on an english muffin, a little bit of crab, and then a poached egg. Meredith poached the eggs separately for 3 minutes and then quickly reheated in the water before topping them.
The crab was either real crab or incredible good imitation crab. It was a good deal so we bought a lot to use for meals.
Meredith also made iced Matcha lattes
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8784, 2014-09-06_100015
Friday, September 05, 2014, 10:50 PM
Meredith had suggested we make something with a lot of Thai basil since she wanted to take hers out of the garden soon. She came across a recipe for Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) and we decided to use it with zucchini ribbons instead of noodles. The recipe is linked below and I stayed pretty true to it. The biggest changes (besides the noodles) were
I had everything prepped so it was pretty easy. I first started the garlic and shallots on medium high heat instead of the highest. I had experimented with something before and the garlic just burned immediately so I wanted a lower heat. I then added the pound of ground (lean, free range, organic) chicken. I am not sure why it got so liquidly but I had to drain the liquid from the a few times.
The recipe said to push the chicken aside but I removed it and did the veggies (w/o the zucchini). Once they were done (took some time), I combined the chicken, veggies and sauce and tossed with heat until it was well incorporated and boiling.
I followed the recipe and added the "noodles" (zucchini ribbons cut about 8 inches) and then mixed. This was a small mistake as it ended up cooking down the zucchini a bit too much. It had a good texture but no bulk. Next time, I will do the basil but not mix with zucchini until it is served so they warm but not get cooked. I did like using the ribbons. They had a cool look and a nice texture.
Anyway, the meal was actually really good! You could really taste the brightness of the fresh lime juice with the salty and savoriness of the oyster sauce and fish sauce. Cooking it nearly killed us as the Thai peppers made breathing really painful but the final dish had a nice but nowhere near overpowering spice.
I made three portions. We ate two and 1 is leftovers. Also, we served it with a Thai beer brand
Pad Kee Mao (Chicken Drunken Noodles) (from CHOW)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8772, 2014-09-05_225012
Wednesday, September 03, 2014, 07:50 PM
At lunch, I was looking to make some cauliflower but I didn't want to heat the whole house by roasting for nearly at hour at a high temp so I decided to stir-fry it. In the past, I had used a bit of water to kind of steam the broccoli but for this cauliflower, I decided to just use a tiny amount of oil and let sit for a time to really get that crisp. I tossed the cauliflower in a bit of oil and then curry powder and salt. I put a thin layer of oil on the wok and, at high heat, stir-fried it. It came out pretty good. Maybe a bit oily but certainly not bad.
I repeated the same idea for me and Meredith for dinner. This time, I had more cauliflower plus an onion and some bell peppers. Also, instead of curry powder, I used the Indian spice blend made for me by my Indian friend's mom. I used that with smoked salt and it also came out really flavorful. Again, maybe a tad too much oil. Finally for dinner, we also had over-medium fried eggs on english muffins with "Coriander Chutney".
I think I am just starting to get a hang on stir-frying veggies. The trick is patience, letting them sit for a bit, and not overcrowding the wok. Also, as I discovered later (not for this meal), sometimes a medium-high heat is better.
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: 8765
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-09-03_195021
Wednesday, August 27, 2014, 10:20 PM
This was a super simple meal. I made my usual seared salmon and I used cajun seasoning. And since we usually only roast the asparagus for 5-7 minutes at a lower temp, doing them for 5 at the 500 (plus with the hot pan in there) was enough.
I did figure out one thing (which I also added as a tip on the recipe page): Put the cast-iron pan in the oven to preheat. This way you do not have to heat it as long on the stove to get it super hot. Looking at the recipe, I did use too high of a heat on the oven but I do not think it made any difference really (it's only in there for 5 minutes and most heating is from the pan)
Not much else to say. It's an easy and delicious meal!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8755, 2014-08-27_222050
Tuesday, August 26, 2014, 09:25 PM
I again wanted to make "pesto" sandwiches. I followed the same recipe and idea as last time to make the sauce. The biggest differences was that I used 100% basil (and probably more than it called for). It is the end of the season so we were unabashed about using basil from Meredith's plant. I also went heavier on the olive oil (maybe 1.5 Tbsp) and light on the salt. Finally, I ended up adding more (fresh) lemon juice. My guess is that with the extra basil, it needed to be brightened more than the original recipe.
I assembled the sandwiches (pictured below) with a thick layer of the pesto, sliced deli chicken (2 oz/ sandwich), sliced tomato, sliced pepper and finally some of Meredith's bloody soral. I grilled them in the pan using the stove with a weighted pan on top. Basically what I did with the reubens but using the lessons learned. I used Meredith's big sauté pan (could hold two sandwiches easily) and then my sauté pan with weights since it is smaller and heavier. They grilled nicely. I think the only way to do it on the stove is to have the press. Otherwise, they come apart when you flip them. We made them on rye bread (2 pp/slice).
They were really good! Lots of great flavor from the pesto and the veggies inside. And they grilled nicely. The only thing I would really change is more meat. 2 oz is the bare minimum for a sandwich like this!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8742, 2014-08-26_212551
Monday, August 25, 2014, 09:30 PM
I had seen this idea somewhere before so I decided to try to make BLT spring rolls. There wasn't much to it. I used the oven method to cook center-cut bacon (a lot lower points than regular. Actually, the entire 12oz_raw_ package is supposedly only 8 points plus when "pan-fried". I suppose that is due to the fat cooking off. The same thing happens when you bake it.
Anyway, I then made the rolls with regular lettuce and tomato. I also threw in some fresh basil. There wasn't much to it though I did a pretty poor job rolling it this time. Still, they were good and low points. However, they were also rather unfilling as a meal (3 per person).
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: 8738
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-08-25_213033