Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 256
Saturday, August 09, 2014, 10:50 PM
I made a pretty simple bit fancy meal: steak & potatoes.
I bought an 11 oz NY Strip steak and cooked it similar to last time. I made sure to super-pre-heat the pan so it was uniformly hot. Though I think next time I will use a lower temp and "grill" longer. For this, I did 6 minutes on both sides. I had a little bit of salt and oil on the pan but not too much. The steak was cooked pretty well. Maybe a bit rare but I didn't mind.Next time, I will use the flat cast-iron pan and forgo the lines. This may give it a better sear.I cooked the steak with the fat but they trimmed it off before eating.
And I made roasted potatoes. I decided to use fingerling potatoes to mix it up. I followed the idea from here to first boil them with a bit of vinegar. I did roast them ay 500 but they didn't need as much time as the recipe stated. I think I did 15 minutes and then just another 5.
One issue with this meal was from the smoke detectors. I expected I would set them off with grilling however, it turns out, the oven set them off first with just that high of a heat. This was even before there was food in it. So, I had to cover all of the detectors (and I promptly removed the covering even before eating so I wouldn't forget).
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8656, 2014-08-09_225037
Saturday, August 09, 2014, 04:30 PM
This was an experiment in making home-made fat free frozen yogurt. I attempted to do it with dry ice. I'll break up the process:
The general idea of making frozen anything is to freeze it without the formation of large ice crystals. A traditional ice cream maker does this by churning as it freezes. Another option is to freeze it really quickly. Liquid nitrogen ice cream is a popular example. By adding the liquid N2you very quickly freeze it. While not as cold as liquid N2, dry ice (solid CO2) is pretty darn cold and has been used. It also makes the ice cream "carbonated" with a bit of a tingle.
I decided to naively try this on fat free greek yogurt.
![[Most] everything](/media/2014/08/IMG_0502.jpg)
Dry ice sublimates (goes from solid --> gas at room temp) and is heavier than "regular" air. It can cause a CO2 blanket to form. As such, I set up a fan to push it out in case the pooch hung out in the kitchen
You need to crush the dry ice. My original plan was to put it in a strong bag and use the roller. However, the bag broke on the first hit. I then put a flexible cutting board down, laid clean towels on it, and used that. I sifted it to make sure it was as powdered as possible. (eating a chunk of dry ice is rather dangerous)
I started with the whisk to try to add as much air into the mixture as possible. I also added the splenda at this point.
I then switched to the scraping beater blade (not the one pictured above), put it on a medium speed, and added the dry ice.
Here is where I ran into trouble. I do not know if it was (a) the mixer set too slow, (b) the adding too much dry ice, or (c) a combination, but a thick, very solid layer formed at the bottom of the bowl. It made the mixer have to work very, very hard to move what wasn't frozen around. It also meant that I essentially wasted a good amount of the yogurt.
The final product was about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 lbs of "frozen yogurt". I put half into a container in the freezer and I ate the other half.
It was sadly not amazing. First of all, I do not know if it was the yogurt, the cold, or what but I barely tasted the splenda. Basically, it was colder and thicker greek yogurt. You could feel the tingle of the carbonation so that was pretty cool.'
What went into the freezer froze solid and is not edible. I will put it in the fridge and see if it becomes regular yogurt again.
Overall, it was not worth it. I wasted about 1.5 lbs of yogurt and, for what I got, it was no cheaper than fro-yo shops. But I will use this as a jumping off point
I have a few ideas to improve this method. Not sure if they will fix it or not but we'll see.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8649, 2014-08-09_163017
Thursday, August 07, 2014, 07:25 PM
I made turkey sandwiches with an arugula (and basil)-white-bean pesto. And I also made shoe-string daikon radish fries. I also experimented with different ways to grill the sandwiches.
I made a peso based on the recipe from Oh She Glows. I followed the basic premise of the recipe with a few changes. First of all, I doubled the garlic. Also, while I had a loose cup of basil (fresh from Meredith's garden) the recipe called for a packed cup. So I also added arugula. And I used great-northern beans instead of navy/cannellini beans.
I also did end up adding a bit of olive oil. Maybe 2 tsp (2 points plus). It needed some smoothness.
I really liked the recipe except that it was salty even with using only the 1/2 tsp (bottom of her range).
High Protein & Oil-Free Basil Pesto (from Oh She Glows)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
I made the sandwiches with marble rye (2 pp/slice). I sprayed the outsides with butter pam and then coated both sides with the pesto. I then added some sliced sweet bell peppers (so sweet), Trader Joes Sliced Turkey and the rest of the bread
I followed the idea of the jicama fries but with a daikon radish. I was afraid it wouldn't be very good since they were really strange raw but they were_okay_ cooked. Not amazing but just okay. I wouldn't rush to use daikon again. Other radishes may work but this was a bit too funky
I tried two different ways to grill the sandwiches since I tossed the panini maker. The first method was with a grill pan and a hot heave pan on top. I think this_could_ work but I may have been too afraid of burning them and had to heat too low. It did crisp and press pretty well though flipping it was a bit hard.
The second one was to forgo grilling and try toasting the whole thing. This have the nicest bread on the outside but it was too cool in the middle. And wasn't pressed at all.
This meal wasn't too bad. I made two sandwiches though only ate 1-1/2 of them.
Bread: 8
Turkey (7 oz.): 4 (seems really low but this is what the label said)
Can of white beans: 8
Assorted oil: 4
------------------
24 (This is kind of high but it was a lot of food. And I saved half a sandwich)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8633, 2014-08-07_192511
Tuesday, August 05, 2014, 08:28 PM
I made cauliflower burrito bowls again. There were a bunch of components to these so I will break it up into the different parts
I again followed Joy The Baker's idea but I also did it differently to improve it. My recipe is below:
Chop the cauliflower including the stems. Grate (with food processor or box grater) into "rice" (This is as opposed to Joy The Baker's method).
Heat the oil on the stove and add the cauliflower. Keep stirring and cook for about 5-6 minutes on medium until it has softened. Remove from heat and place in a big bowl. Allow to cool slightly
Once the cauliflower has cooled slightly, add the zest of one lime and the juice of both (roll the lime prior to juicing it to loosen the juice). Finely chop the cilantro and add that. You do not want to add it if the cauliflower is too hot since it will diminish the flavors and aroma.
Mix well and salt and pepper to taste.
I used the recipe from Simply Recipesto make the marinade. However, I only used one tbsp of oil. And I heated the lemon-juice with the sugar (I used turbinado) to dissolve.
I also used chicken tenders and about 1.5 lbs instead of two. I let it marinate for 3-4 hours. I broiled it for 5 minutes on each side. It was cooked well (not too dry) but really could have used some browning. Next time, I think I will try it on the stove. It is just hard to do for that many breasts.
There was a lot of flavor to this marinade. The only thing I would change is to add some garlic and maybe some hot pepper
Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken (from Simply Recipes)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
The black beans were pretty simple but very good. I started with about a Tbsp of canola oil and sautéd (for 1-2 min) 4 minced cloves of garlic. I added one rinsed can of black beans and tossed to warm them up and infuse the flavor
This was also pretty easy. I thoroughly warmed up the cast iron skillet (set it on a constant temp with the induction for 10 minutes or so). I then added half of an onion and two bell peppers (I meant to do the whole onion but somehow forgot). I had about a tbsp of oil to start but added more. Actually, I accidentally added a lot more but it was really good. I used salt and pepper to taste. I let this go for a long time. The onions got really caramelized and good. I only wished I had more.
I do not know exactly what the points are for the meal but I can make a quick guess. The main things are the chicken, beans, avocado and all of the oil added throughout.
1.5 lbs lean chicken: 24
1 can beans: 8
Oil [guess] (3.6 pp/tbsp x 4 tbsp): 14
Avocado: 8
---------------------------------------------
54total and 13.5 per serving (though I made two larger dinners and smaller lunches). I'd say 16 for dinner and 11for lunch.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8617, 2014-08-05_202844
Monday, August 04, 2014, 02:07 PM
I threw together a corn and chick pea salad. I made it with the following:
I combined everything and adjusted the seasonings and added cilantro to taste. I ended up with a very big bowl of salad which made for a large meal plus about half of it leftover for other meals (give or take a little but I'll guess about half).
While the flavor was pretty good, I still think it was missing something. It may be that the cilantro was pretty old and lost some of its flavors. Or I am missing something else entirely. I will read up on other recipes in the mean time to try to figure it out.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8612, 2014-08-04_140706
Thursday, July 31, 2014, 08:15 PM
I made shrimp fra diavolo with zucchini noodles. The idea was based on the
Lobster Tail Fra Diavolo With Zucchini Noodles except I used shrimp. I made the sauce in parallel with everything rather than one after the other. I sautéd the shallots in a tiny bit of oil for a minute. I then added lots of chopped garlic and a good amount of crushed red pepper and let sauté for a minute. I added the tomatoes (diced and not San Marzano) plus some salt, pepper, cayenne and TJ's 21 Seasoning Salute. I let the cook down.
I then spiralized 4zucchinis. I sautéd a pound of shrimp in a bit of oil and again added more crushed red pepper and finally added the zucchini to cook it a bit. I then combined it all.
Next time, I would just let the sauce do all of the cooking of the zucchini though this wasn't bad. I did over cook the shrimp but other than that, this wasn't bad. It was a lot of food and wasn't the best for lunch the next day but as a meal, it was fine. And really, pretty fast.
Lobster Tail Fra Diavolo with Zucchini Noodles (from Inspiralized)
Local copy password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8231, 2014-07-31_201522
Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 09:35 PM
Meredith and I made Thai Tuna salad from the recipe on page 54 of Pok Pok.
We stayed pretty true to the recipe. We doubled it with the only changes being:
At first we were worried that it would be too fish-saucy from the smell, but with it all mixed in, it was actually perfectly good. The meal itself was delicious. Probably one of the better things I have ever made with canned tuna.
Recipe from PokPok. Local copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8038, 2014-07-29_213547
Monday, July 28, 2014, 08:20 PM
We made beef koftas and shoe-string jicama fries.
The koftas were from our regular recipe. We did toast the coriander seeds but only had ground cumin so we tossed it onto the hot pan at the last second. Other than that, we stayed pretty true to the recipe. We used Meredith's mint and we used what the recipe called for though I would have liked a bit more. And for the onions, we used finely chopped red onions. The beef was 90/10 ground beef (5 points plus/4 oz) and we used exactly a pound for four meals.
The other thing was jicama fries. We followed the recipe below from Inspiralized though we went light on the cayenne since Meredith said it was too much last time. We also just used the seasonings as a guide. I added some garlic powder, omitted the onion powder, added some smoked paprika, etc. We cooked them as it said but ended up giving them another 5 minutes to really crisp. Tip for next time: quartering the peeled jicama made it much easier and efficient to spiralize.
The texture was interesting. They felt limp but the natural crisp of jicama gave them a crunch. And they were just really good all around. We will do this again.
Meredith also made tzatziki with cultured almond milk (aka almond yogurt). It beat the soy version hands down
I did not calculate the exact points. The beef was 5. There was probably another 1-2 or so of miscellaneous oil. And I am not sure about the fries.
Recipe moved to separate page. Password is the name of my dog in all lower-case.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 8024, 2014-07-28_202027