Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 264
Wednesday, March 12, 2014, 08:56 PM
I made lentil egg rolls and spring rolls. I used the recipe on the back of the egg-roll wrappers (see photo from last time) with a few modifications. First of all, I used lentils instead of meat. I cooked 3/4 cup lentils in 1.5 cups water for 10 minutes and drained. Meanwhile, I finely chopped and sautéd mushrooms which gave the whole dish a lot of flavor. The only other changes were to go heavy on the ginger (also like last time), heavy on the oyster sauce, and add some soy sauce, sriracha and a bit of rice vinegar. I used half of a small head of cabbage while last time, it was a quarter of a large head.
The recipe doesn't say much about after adding the sauce. I kept it going until it all cooked down nicely. I also didn't let it cool before filling.
I decided to cook it hotter at 425°F for 15 minutes. As you can see from the photos, I did 6 egg rolls and 6 spring rolls. Two of the spring rolls were the large ones and they were too big. I had to eat it with a fork and knife. Also, the eggs rolls really were much better when it comes to heating/warming the rolls. But, the wrappers are a lot less healthy compared to the rice paper.
The rolls were very, very good! They tasted like regular egg rolls but fresher and less greasy inside. I will certainly do these again. They are "almost vegetarian" but I used real oyster sauce. If I want to do them fully vegetarian, I could use the vegan oyster sauce from 2013-06-17(the wrappers have egg in them so they won't be vegan).
Also, while I was cutting the carrot, it was a strange shape so I used my hands with the pan to go to the finger guard as I got closer. It would have been a fine plan had my hand not slipped. I took off a nice chuck of my thumb. Oops!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7609, 2014-03-12_205604
Tuesday, March 11, 2014, 10:01 AM
After the failure of Reuben Crepes/Garden Rolls a few weeks ago, I decided to try again. I used the same basic fillers except I also toasted and sliced rye bread (see the photos below). The other fillings were 1/2 lean corned beef, 3 slices of light swiss, fat free thousand island, and sauerkraut. I further cooked the sauerkraut in a pan to get rid or more moisture. I filled them into 22cm rice paper wrappers (except the last one which was 33cm). I experimented a bit with different ways to rill them including
Anyway, I made 8 regular ones and one larger one. I put them on a pammed baking sheet, pammed them all, and baked them for 10 minutes at 350, flipped, and 10 more minutes. While it was not as catastrophic as last time, they still stuck. I didn't have this problem when I did it with eggs (see 2014-02-27) using non-stick aluminum foil so I will go back to that. Also some cheese spilled out but that may have only been in the ones that tore a bit.
My goal in cooking them is to crisp the wrappers, melt the cheese, and let the flavors meld. I think that I do not need 20 minutes at 350 and instead would do better with less at a higher temp. (I did 15@425 last time). Also, I do not think there was much benefit to flipping them but I'll decide later if I want to do that.
They were really good though! Even the ones that tore still had the classic Reuben dichotomy of flavors where you a bunch of unique flavors. And they were pretty easy to make!
I also made rutabaga chips like last time. I did 1/8" slices and roasted them at 425 for 15 minutes, flipped them, and did another 10. Some burned so I think next time, I will go a bit lower for longer. Also, letting them cool helped them crisp more.
Also, a note on names. I have decided to call_baked_ rice paper rolls "spring rolls" and if they are fresh, then "garden rolls" or "fresh rolls"
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: 7598
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-03-11_100150
Monday, March 10, 2014, 08:25 PM
NOTE: The dip part of this is now in My Recipe Book
Meredith has been talking about this soup for a while so I finally decided to give it a try. First of all, I am not totally sure what it is supposed to be called so I'll stick with my boring name (but it will always be Meredith's Soup in my book).
Anyway, I followed the recipe below with the following general changes:
As far as following recipes goes, I guess I was pretty close (I even used real garlic when called and actually grated it as best I could)
The soup was incredibly good. Lots of flavor and complexity. It was also pretty hearty as a meal given the egg and the beef. It would actually probably be fine with ground beef in the future and maybe (just maybe!) lentils (not really sure)
I was debating trying to lower the olive oil and I still may try to do so but honestly, I didn't think that 1/8 cups == 2 Tbsp (plus whatever else from the rest) was really_that_ bad.
I would definitely do it again. And I imagine soon enough, I will be adding it to my recipe book once I tweak it to be where I want it.
2014-03-12 Update: A few notes having eaten this for lunch two days later. The first is that I shouldn't have added the croutons for lunch until I was about to eat. They just disintegrated. The second is that it was a bit....for lack of a better word... udgy cold. Too much oil and a strange texture. I'll heat it up next time.
Photos:
The West Lake Hybrid (from Lady and Pups)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7590, 2014-03-10_202529
Sunday, March 09, 2014, 11:38 AM
I made patty melts as I have done before but this time, I used fresh ground bison. I formed it into patties, topped it with some salt and pepper, and I cooked it on the cast iron pan. Each patty was about 3/8 of a pound. Meanwhile, I sautéd/caramelized onions. When they were all finished, I spread Brummel and Browns on the rye bread, topped it with the burger, the onions, then some fat free thousand island and finally a slice of low fat swiss. After having so much through last time, I decided to break out the griddler to cook them. It worked well enough except that on the top where there wasn't burger, just got soggy. It works better for flat and even sandwiches.
I also [attempted] butternut squash chips. I sliced the top part into 1/8" slices and I put them on a baking sheet with parchment paper and pam. I roasted them at 450 for 15 minutes, turned them and then intended to do another 15 but stopped around another 8 minutes when I saw they were browning. When I flipped them at 15, they felt very soggy still making me wonder if there is a better way to cook them. The parts that weren't burned were pretty good!
I also made a stove-top butternut squash hash with the bulb-part of the squash. I started them on the pan and then eventually added a bit of water and loosely covered it. This helped it all cook. Then I sautéd them once they were more cooked through. I made that for lunch the next day but when I tried one, it was pretty good.
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Original WP Post ID: 7583
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-03-09_113858
Saturday, March 08, 2014, 11:35 AM
I wanted a fast and quick meal so all I did was top some chicken with Emril Essence and cook it on the pan. It was actually really good and flavorful. The only thing is that I must have missed the thickest part when I took a temperature reading since there was a part not really cooked enough. I threw it in the microwave (which of course, over cooked it all)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7574, 2014-03-08_113549
Thursday, March 06, 2014, 11:15 AM
This was about as simple of a meal as they come. I sliced about half of a Gimme Lean sausage, fried two eggs to over medium, put it on a warmed up tortilla and topped it with a tiny bit of part-skim mozzarella cheese. It was perfect in that it was fast and easy.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7571, 2014-03-06_111519
Wednesday, March 05, 2014, 10:12 AM
I made chicken hash with rutabaga instead of potato. I followed the recipe pretty closely including the seasonings and timings. The only things I did differently was I added a bit of extra broth to the pan before the chicken went in because it was getting too hot and cooked. I also added a chopped tomato since I had it.
It came out really good. Lots of flavor and pretty easy to make. I should put this into more standard rotation.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 7562, 2014-03-05_101220
Tuesday, March 04, 2014, 09:33 AM
I made crepes again. This time, I went back to the recipe from Ratio (used 2014-02-17) that says to do a 2:2:1 of
Unlike with the reuben crepes, at least a good number of these worked. The first one failed but I got 4 more. Then, they started to fail again. I do not know if I had the heat too high? Too low? (yes, could be either). Or if I started to overthink the volume of each crepe. Either way, between the failed dough and the working crepes, I had enough.
I filled them with oven-roasted deli chicken (1/2# total), lite swiss cheese (~4 slices total) and some "Power Green" mix of spinach, red & green chard, and baby bok choy. I did two with it raw and two with it sautéd. I also added tomato.
You can also see in the picture the leftover sautéd mix and some mix rolled into the chicken.
Overall, they were okay. I do like the crepes but I am not in a hurry to do them again. It's not that they are really a lot of work, its just that they aren't all that_worth_ the work. Or at least not for a standard week-night meal. The sautéd veggies were okay, but the cooked spinach left the strange slimy feel in my mouth. I preferred the crepes with the raw greens since they were dryer and less slimy.
I figured out a trick that helped. I used a regular (bowl scraping) spatula to help lift them instead of the "flipper/turner" style. I think that worked pretty well.
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: 7549
Original WP Pub Date: 2014-03-04_093319