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Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 288
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Saturday, June 08, 2013, 10:02 AM
This was another attempt at making a mostly broccoli meal in a sauce (see first attempt). I was trying to recreate the sauce that is on a pasta dish at a restaurant I like. The dish and description is as follows: (Bocci restaurant, Menu)
Chicken Sca & Sausage with Broccoli, Pepperoncini &Cherry Peppers in a Spicy Balsamic Sauce over Pasta
but, when you look it up, no only version of Chicken Scarpariello fits that description. Also, it does not mention it, but there is an asian taste to it too. I describe it as a Chinese food restaurant cooking italian. So, I was left to my own devices. I decided to try to use the Broccoli Beef recipe for rough proportions of liquid and I figured that corn-starch would help coat it. (As I will mention later, I forgot the cornstarch which may or may not have had an affect on the output). That recipe isapproximately8 Tbsp of liquid to 2 tsp of cornstarch. So I aimed for 12 Tbsp liquid (3/4 cup) to 1 Tbsp cornstarch (3 tsp). Here is what I used for liquid:
- 5 Tbsp chicken stock (made strong. Use Osem to make vegan)
- 1 Tbsp dry sherry
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (see below for how I mixed it
- 3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
- 2 Tbsp low sodium soy
- squeeze (~1.5 tsp) Sriracha
I used an immersion blender to mix it all (and to make an emulsion with the olive oil). I forgot the cornstarch
We used about 2.75 lbs of broccoli. Since Meredith didn't have a steamer, we roasted it at 425 for 20-25 minutes. As it was almost done, we sautéd some Trader Joes Imitation Chicken. Then we added the roasted broccoli. Finally, I added 8 or so chopped peppadews, a little of the peppadew liquid and some crushed red pepper. I mixed it all and let it boil down.
Honestly, it was really disappointing. The broccoli became almost water-logged and tasted like I had boiled it; the sauce was thin and not very flavorful, and it was just kind of boring.
My guess is a few things went wrong. First, forgetting the cornstarch made the sauce not really thicken making it harder coat everything. I am pretty certain this was a contributing factor. Then, I think roasting the broccoli was not the way to go. Roasting dried it out (which is very good when eaten roasted), but it was then able to absorb the sauce and taste water-logged. I think steaming works better to keep the broccoli more crisp. Blanching would probably work really well but according to Alton Brown, even blanching removes the nutrients of the broccoli.
Procedures aside, I think the final nail is the couffin is simply that I still haven't even gotten close to the flavor of the sauce. I am not sure how to proceed on this one. I guess I will continue to look up different recipes and see if I can get closer. Maybe I'll make smaller batches to try different techniques.
Also, just to note, the Trader Joes chicken is mediocre at best. It was better mixed in but raw, it had a funky and smoky flavor. I am trying to make this vegan, I'd go with a different protein.__
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6177, 2013-06-08_100259
Tuesday, June 04, 2013, 09:57 AM
This meal basically failed. First, I tried to make roasted tomatoes. I didn't do much so I tried to do them in the toaster oven. Towards the end of cooking, I changed it from bake to toast so it would get the top a bit crispy. Well, most burned. And those that didn't burn, stuck. So much for that,
The zucchini slices were more or less fine. I used the crinkle blade on the thickest setting. I didn't see that you could do it on the setting smaller, so I'd do that next time. But many slices were uneven leading to some burned spots. Really, just nothing special.
Finally, the fish. I bough this fish a week ago on a Sunday, and froze it on a Tuesday. When I froze it, it smelled a bit fishy but not too bad. When I defrosted it, it smelled fine. I decided to cook it in the microwave since it worked well last time. I used the auto setting for fish and decided to trust it. First of all, it was overcooked. Very chewy and springy. Not very good by any means, but, about half way through eating it, I got a chemically smell. I tried to eat some more but I couldn't push past the strange smell. I threw out this piece and what I was planning for lunch tomorrow. I made salmon burgers instead (not pictured).
Oh well. I guess sometimes the meal just has to fail.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6174, 2013-06-04_095755
Monday, June 03, 2013, 08:05 PM
I made pretty standard shakshuka. I put in the following in roughly this order:
- Half an onion
- two jalapeños with the seeds and all
- a whole poblano
- most of a bell pepper
- two stalks celery
- two big heads of broccoli
- 1 28 oz and 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
- Lots of seasonings including: cumin, oregano,parsley, basil, 21 seasoning salute, garlic powder, salt and pepper
When it was all done, I poached 6 eggs in and then let them cook for a while. Then, after splitting it into two servings, I topped it with low-fat feta.
It was very good. Not overly flavorful but I could taste the seasonings and the feta brought out a nice flavor. I like getting all of the vegetables and I can get a lot of food for almost no food.
One thing I did differently was that I used the big stock pot. That made life very easy compared to the more shallow pan. I will do that again!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6169, 2013-06-03_200531
Sunday, June 02, 2013, 02:35 PM
I had this idea last week when I had italian food at a restaurant. It was supposed to be chicken in a sun dried tomato, white-wine sauce with broccoli over pasta. I asked for extra broccoli and it still had very little. And, I realized, I didn't really care about the pasta and I loved the broccoli. I always like it when it picks up the sauce. So I decided to try making a meal that was basically italian "pasta" dish but with broccoli instead.
I read a few things on white-wine sauce (Most notably Skinny Taste) and decided to follow her lead with replacing some of the wine with chicken broth. Here is my recipe/what I did. (Not copied, this is my writing it but that is also why it isn';t very specific)
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- ~1.5-2 lbs broccoli crowns
- Chicken, around 0.4lbs
- Flour
- A bit of smart balance
- 2 shallots, sliced and diced
- bunch of diced, smoked, sun dried tomatoes
- ~1/4 to 1/3 cup chicken broth (strong)
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup white wine (plus more)
- 2 to 3 cloves garlic
- lots of crushed red pepper
- chopped parsley
- Lots (too much) grated parmesan cheese
Thinly slice or cut chicken into strips . Mix some flour with salt and pepper and dredge chicken. Cook in hot pan with oil spray only. Stir a lot and use white wine to deglaze as needed. When cooked, remove chicken and deglaze pan. Add pam, some Smart Balance, then put in shallots and tomatoes. Stir. Deglaze with wine as needed
Concurrently, slice broccoli into florets and cores, etc. Steam (I needed two batches) and do your best to halt cooking with cold water. Let drain.
After shallots are cooked, add garlic and crushed red pepper. After 30 seconds, add the chicken broth and wine. Add back the chicken and add the broccoli. Stir A LOT. Salt and pepper to taste. Let it cook down until thicker and/or you're out of patience. Top with (too much) parm cheese.
Makes dinner and lunch
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Overall, I liked it. It wasn't as good as I had hoped but I think my sauce could be better. I just generally really like this idea. I can try other sauces or even just buy a sauce. And since the calories only come from the sauce and the chicken (and I used very little chicken for TWO meals), I can even use a higher calorie sauce! I guess this is kind of the italian version of broccoli beef. This is italian broccoli chicken.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6158, 2013-06-02_143556
Thursday, May 30, 2013, 10:08 AM
I wanted something fast and light. I roasted asparagus as I did on 2013-05-20 basically the exact same way. While that was going, I poached eggs like on 2013-05-01. Note that the time in the water was about 4-5 minutes. I thought they were overcooked but the yolks were still pretty runny.
The meal was pretty good. Kind of plain, but it was fast
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6154, 2013-05-30_100835
Wednesday, May 29, 2013, 08:56 PM
First, the rutabaga chips. I peeled and then quartered a big rutabaga I sliced it into 3mm or 1.8" slices (the second from the smallest setting on my mandoline, also blue labeled). I then laid them on a tray (one with a silpat, one with non-stick aluminum foil). I pammed both sides and sprinkled them with salt and pepper. I cooked them for about 10 minutes at 375, flipped them and did 15 at 425. I then flipped them again and did about 10-15, again at 425 and took them out. The temperatures were inspired by this link but I thought they needed a higher temp. The oneson the aluminum foil got a bit crispier but came out less nice since they slid around a lot. I am not sure if I would go thinner next time or not. Either way, they worked out pretty well. Not very crispy, but then again, neither arepotatoes. Still, I think between rutabagasand/or turnips, I can stop using potato in many things.
I also made mini, open-faced almost-ruebens. The "almost" is because they didn't have rye so they are not, by definition, a reuben. I used Trader Joes whole grain english muffins (3 points each). I was originally going to just make two open-faced ones, but they were small and didn't need much meat. So I was able to make four! (actually, 8 but half are for lunch). For four of them, they had all of 1/4 lbs of corned beef and 2.5 oz lite jarlsberg cheese. So, a lot of food for not too many points. I would definitely do this again. And I liked doing "sandwiches" open-faced. It makes it seem like more food plus, you lessen the points form the carbs. Oh, and I used lite thousand island dressing
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6150, 2013-05-29_205644
Tuesday, May 28, 2013, 08:53 PM
I made a balsamic broccoli stir-fry for a lunch side. I steamed some broccoli and then made a stir-fry sauce. It started with about a Tbsp of low sodium soy and maybe a tablespoon or two of balsamic. Then I added a bunch of garlic power and rosemary. Finally, a big scoop of corn starch. I do not know if it was the cornstarch or the heat of the pan, but I put it down and it sizzled then became solid. So, I made another batch but lighter on the corn starch and a cooler pan to start. I added the lightly steamed broccoli and tossed it a bunch when it was boiling. I then moved it to the container.
The sauce was acceptable but not as good as I wanted. I need to lookup difference recipes to see if something similar has been done and then modify them from there.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 6147, 2013-05-28_205325
Monday, May 27, 2013, 07:44 PM
I decided to try grilling again. I made koftas but only roughly followed the recipe. I just chopped up a bunch of mint and then added the other seasonings. I used dried onion since I didn't feel like chopping it. I also added a serving or so of bread crumbs since it was very wet (likely due to using quickly defrosted beef). I also added a whole, finely chopped,jalapeño (including the seeds)
For grilling, I also skewered whole jalapeños, slices of red pepper and broccoli florets. I pammed the veggies and added salt and pepper.
I am still getting the hang of using a charcoal grill. I filled the chimney starter and let it go for a long time since at 20 minutes, all the coals were not yet white. I made sure all vents were open; dumped the coals, and let it sit for another minute or two. I then just added everything. I didn't time it at all or anything, but just flipped it at a certain point. The veggies had a nice char, as did the kofta burgers, but I think that is part of the flavor. I thought the heat was dying, but I think I was wrong since I still felt a lot of it as I took everything off.
I served the koftas open-faced on whole grain english muffins and a za'atar + garlic powder + salt and FF greek yogurt dip/spread.
Surprisingly, eve yt hing came out pretty good. The burgers were probably a bit overdone, but I didn't mind since they weren't dried out. The veggies were somewhat blackened, but not bad. I removed the charred part from the red pepper but kept it on the jalapeños. The jalapeños were very good but very, very hot. The broccoli was okay but the red pepper was out of this world! I was a bit skeptical that the meal would be a success (hence the picture while cooking it, plus I took pictures of it all prepped in case it was a failure).
I think I would still prefer to move to a gas grill (and keep it hush-hush) but at least I don't feel like this was a failure on the charcoal.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 5888, 2013-05-27_194453
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