What's for dinner: Thai seafood curry

This was dinner last night. We were near Uwajimaya, an Asian store that has great seafood. So of course I had to have some. W picked up a pound of rockfish (snapper) filets, half a pound of medium shrimp, and half a pound of beautiful bay scallops. I made the base by frying a tablespoon each of red and yellow Thai curry paste in the cream off a can of coconut milk, mashing the paste until it was smooth. Then added about 1.5 cups of chicken stock and 1.5 cups of coconut milk, one onion julienned, four pieces of dried galangal root, a couple of tablespoons of minced cilantro stems, one green onion sliced thin, a can of straw mushrooms and a large can of sliced bamboo shoots (both drained). I seasoned it with a packet of splenda, about 2 T of fish sauce, and about 2 T of lemon juice. I also steeped some dried lemongrass in boiling water and added that water, about a half cup, to the pot. That simmered for about 45 minutes while we cut the fish into 3” pieces and shelled the shrimp. (Then I took out half of the contents of the pot, about three cups, and set it aside to use in another meal, probably with chicken and zucchini.) The fish and shrimp went in for about six minutes, then I added the scallops and simmered another two minutes. When I tasted it I added a little salt and a T of lime juice. Then garnished with some chopped cilantro and green onion.

Unfortunately our diet doesn’t allow us to have the jasmine rice that would be perfect with this, but oh well. It was really good, the seafood was perfectly done, and the scallops were very tender and sweet.

What's for dinner: Pork chops with almond masala

This was one of those meals when I had a really nice protein, thick pork loin chops, and wanted something with a lot of seasoning. I think low-carb diets do that to me; I seem to like things spicier than usual.

I did my usual brining routine on the pork. I guess it is a bit of a crutch to be sure it will be moist if I mess up, but I use it to add flavor, too. This time I added cumin, white pepper, and cinnamon to the brine. After about an hour in the brine I rinsed and dried them and while the pork chops came to room temp I tackled the side dishes. I wanted a curry of some sort, and with a sauce like that I would normally want a pilaf of some sort. In its place I zapped half a spaghetti squash in the microwave oven. While that cooked I heated 1 T of garam masala powder in a couple of teaspoons of oil until it was fragrant, then added about a half-cup of chopped onion and cooked that until the onion was translucent. Then I added a big pinch of cayenne and half a cup of coconut milk. Brought that up to a boil and added about two tablespoons of almond butter. I thought that was a good way to get in the nuttiness I wanted since I can’t eat peanuts. I simmered that for just a minute or two, it thickened up fast. Added a little salt to taste and set it aside.

To cook the pork I heated the oven to 400 degrees and a skillet to very hot. Coated the chops with oil and put them in the skillet, got that great sizzle that told me the skillet was hot enough. Two minutes on each side gave the chops a nice brown crust, then I put a thermometer probe into one of them and put them in the oven. Set the thermometer to beep when the temp hit 150. When that happened I put the chops on a plate and tented them and added the juices in the pan to the sauce and reheated it. Removed the spaghetti squash from its shell and put some in the center of the plate, sauce in a broad stripe across it, and the pork chop leaning up against the squash and sauce. Rounded out the meal with a romaine salad with blue cheese and cucumbers.

It was good enough that I had to write it down in this detail so I can do that sauce again. I think it would be good on chicken skewers.

Learning from Jacques

Yes, I do think that Jacques Pepin is an amazing man. Not just because he has such "classic" French training but because he's figured out ways to apply that to cooking for home cooks. I think that his series "Fast Food My Way" is so practical and I can't believe how many times I have an "aha" moment when watching that show. Tonight I was watching a recorded episode where he was making a seafood soup as a first course. What did I learn? A simple way to get a great julienne of leeks. Cut a 4" section of leek in half top to bottom, flatten out one half of it and fold it top to bottom. Then do a julienne cut, and you have a great result. In the same episode he thickened his seafood soup with instant potato flakes. While I would never have those things in the house, it is certainly a practical solution and much easier for most folks than making a beurre manie or a roux. I also saw him using a non-stick All-Clad skillet and today I got an email about a sale on said skillets, not related to the program. I was due to buy yet another pan...I always need more pans...can never have too many pans...my cooking will be so much better with this pan...see I can justify this six ways from Sunday!

What's for dinner: Miso-rubbed flatiron steak and grilled zucchini

In keeping with the theme of low-carb meals, we are having protein and veg for dinner. I have a beautifully marbled flatiron steak (it really could be graded Prime with all this marbling) and am rubbing it with some white miso. The miso seems to make it taste meatier, I suspect that is from natural glutamates in the miso. I am cutting a couple of small zucchini in half lengthwise and salting them for a couple of hours to get out some of the moisture and concentrate the flavor. Both the steak and the zucchini will go on the grill. It is cold outside, but not raining today so we will brave the cold and go up to the roof and use the grill.

I’ll slice down the steak and serve it at room temperature over greens and cucumbers with a miso vinaigrette. Bon appétit!

What's for dessert: Low-carb ricotta cheesecake

I had some ricotta hanging around the fridge, and thought that maybe it could make a semi-healthy cheesecake (at least for those of us on low-carb diets).  I’ve heard of them before and to me it’s a pretty simple formula.  I beat two eggs and one egg yolk with ½ cup of granulated Splenda, 1 t vanilla, the zest of one lemon, and three cups of low-fat ricotta.  We have three small springform pans and I thought they’d make nice four-serving cakes.  Just sprayed them with some cooking spray and divided the batter between them.  Into a 325 oven for 20 minutes, then 225 degrees for 40 minutes.  About 20 minutes before they were done I spread each with some of a combination of 1 C sour cream, 1 T lemon juice, and 1 T granulated Splenda.   Next time I will wait until the cheesecakes are a little firmer before I do that because some of the sour cream mixture sank down into the middle of them.  However, they are good anyway.

What's for dinner: Chicken mushroom soup

Hubby is out of town today L so I’m not cooking anything elaborate. I usually cook too much for two of us, and that’s way too much for just me. I seem to ascribe to the notion that if you’re going to work at it, you might as well make as much as you can.

Okay, off-topic. I’m sticking to the low-carb regimen so this soup is going to work for that., and it is not a bad thing to have several servings on hand for when cravings hit for nice soft fresh bread (or whatever your carb of choice may be).

I chopped half an onion and two stalks of celery and sautéed them in a soup pot with a little olive oil and a teaspoon of fresh thyme. Took one pound of mushrooms and chopped half of them; ran the other half through the fine julienne blade of a v-slicer. (The julienne will make me miss noodles less, giving a little of that mouthfeel at least. Of course you can just chop them all.) Added all the mushrooms to the pot long with a quart and a half of chicken stock (low sodium canned broth will work, too). Soaked a handful of assorted dried mushrooms, broken up small, in two cups of hot water, then added the ‘shrooms and the water to the pot, being sure not to pour in the grit at the bottom of the soaking liquid. At this point I stop to taste and season. Salt and pepper are good; I like to use ground dried green peppercorns instead of black, because they add a great flavor without being as harsh as black pepper can be.

This simmers for an hour or so, then I add two or three cups of chopped cooked chicken meat and turn off the heat. If you are using chicken thigh meat, you can put it in at the beginning of the simmer. Today I have breast meat so it goes in at the end. Cool the soup and refrigerate overnight, as this will infuse the chicken meat with mushroom flavor and let everything get well-acquainted. Reheat to serve. Of course you can serve it the same day! Or if you want to serve it immediately and you are using chicken breast, add the meat and simmer it for about ten minutes before serving. You don’t want to turn that chicken breast into erasers, now, do you?

A variation using raw chicken is to sauté raw chopped chicken with the vegetables and proceed with the recipe.

What's for dinner: stuffed mushrooms, salad

Today is the start of some perhaps less interesting dinner briefs. Today we started cutting carbohydrates out of our diet. Sigh. I know it works for me, but it sure puts a crimp in my cooking. Or at least my baking, for sure.

Dave had a meeting to go to right after he got home from work so I made us something to keep the blood sugar steady. I precooked some large mushroom caps (salted and cooked in the Advantium until the juices collected) and then stuffed them with diced mushroom stems, diced salami (one slice per mushroom) and shredded mozz (about ½ T per ‘shroom). Roasted them in the Advantium with 80% light and 40% microwaves for about three minutes.

They were good, and gave me the idea for making a “pizza” with a Portobello mushroom as the base. I’ll try that next week, I think.

After Dave gets back we’ll have a nice salad with blue cheese, tomato, bacon, and avocado. Thus will pass our first day back on this regimen.

What's for dessert: vanilla gelato

Back on my gelato kick for a day – more on why only a day sometime next week.  I was finishing up some dulce de leche, had too much milk left over when we were in Hawaii and a lot of sugar, I did the long slow cook to reduce them and essentially get a milk caramel.  Wasn’t able to cook it quite long enough over there so I put it into a ziplock and brought it home to finish it. Dave said we needed ice cream to go with it.  Since I didn’t feel like making a custard base for ice cream, I decided on trying a simple vanilla gelato.  I could not find the kind of recipe I wanted but tonight I felt up to experimenting.  I took 1 cup of white corn syrup, 2 tsp of vanilla, 1 ¼ cups of heavy cream, ¾ cup of milk, and a pinch of salt.  Whisked that all together and froze it in my machine.  It came out with a wonderful texture, more like a soft-serve ice cream, so I guess I can’t call it gelato.  But I’ll be making this again!

What's for dinner: Butternut squash soup, cobb salad

I still have a bunch of different squash from the farm season sitting out on my deck, seemed like the time to use some. I picked out the biggest butternut squash, a little more than four pounds, for soup. I made the soup base by sautéing onion, celery, and apples, about a cup of each, in some olive oil. Added turmeric, powdered ginger, thyme, salt, white pepper, allspice, and coriander. Then the peeled and cubed squash went in with about eight cups of chicken broth and three cups of water. Cook for an hour or so until the squash is tender, blend smooth with a stick blender, and adjust the seasonings.

Cobb salad is one of my favorite things, since it includes so many of my favorite flavors. I have good avocados, which is the hardest thing to get, so it all came together beautifully. I tossed the greens with blue cheese dressing because we both love blue cheese, so having the dressing and the crumbles is a good thing to us. Of course, you can hardly see the greens for all the toppings – bacon, poached and chopped chicken, roma tomatoes, and chopped egg.

Watching turtles and fish, eating loco moco

I haven't been writing in my blog because I have been out of wireless range in Hawaii. We just moved to an oceanfront place and it has wireless, so here I am. We are about halfway through a very relaxed trip, and I am doing a couple of my favorite things, cooking with local ingredients and watching sea life.

There are a few sea turtles that frequent the tidal pools and rocky shores under our lanai here. They like to come up in the afternoon and sun themselves while munching on the seaweed growing there. About 50 feet out in the deeper water there are several schools of yellow tangs that are easy to pick out when the sun is shining on the water. Their presence tells me that there are a lot more cool fish hanging out there around the lava shelf. But there is a lot of surge down there and it would be challenging to get to, so we shan’t climb down to snorkel there. We will, however, walk south about 100 yards on a path to a little sandy beach and walk into the water to see what we can see. I am scared to death of the water – nearly drowned when I was about 10 – but my desire to see the neato fish pushes me forward anyway. Probably tomorrow.

Brunch this morning was loco moco. This is a very Hawaii-specific dish. In its basic form it is white rice topped with a hamburger patty and a fried egg, covered with brown gravy. Sometimes served with a scoop of macaroni salad. (More on mac salad, Hawaiian-style, in a minute.) Our version was a little more luxe. Last night I made fried rice with diced Portuguese sausage, carrots, egg, and green onions. It was a huge batch, meant to last for a week of breakfasts or lunches. So I heated up two portions of fried rice, and cooked some patties I made by mincing tenderloin trimmings. I also made some Knorr brown gravy and fried some eggs. (Knorr is closest to the traditional gravy I get.) I cook the eggs sunny-side up but cover them to ensure that the white is still cooked with a runny or very soft yolk. Rice goes on the bottom of the plate, then meat, eggs, and gravy. Put a scoop of mac salad on the plate and VOILA! A deluxe loco moco.

Hawaiian mac salad is quite different from macaroni salad you may have had. It consists of a grated carrot, a pound of overcooked macaroni, and a cup or more of Best Foods/Hellman’s mayonnaise. Some salt and pepper, and let it sit until everything is well-absorbed. Then add a little more mayo if you like it moist. I happen to like it very much, and Costco here on the island used to sell a very good version. I couldn’t find it this time so once we got to a place with a wireless connection I did some research to find some recipes that resembled what I wanted. The result was very close to what I have enjoyed at the greasy spoon “plate lunch” places around here. If you’ve never heard of “plate lunch,” it is an entrée like fried chicken or fish or teriyaki beef or curried beef stew served with two scoops of white rice and a scoop of mac or mac/potato salad. It is usually an inexpensive, wickedly bad for you, and quite yummy meal.

Back to turtle watching and working on a “healthy glow” on my face, while sipping some champagne.

Canning tomatillo salsa

Tomatillos looked really good at Cash and Carry this week, so I bought a 2-pound bag. That made a lot of salsa, even after taking some to a couple of parties. So I decided to can it. It always seems like canning is going to be a hassle, and why only can three jars of something? But every time I start on canning with a small batch of something it really isn't a hassle, nor does it generate a big mess. And now I'll have some good salsa in the pantry. That makes me happy.

Multigrain bread

One of my weekend cooking projects was bread with some "oomph." This bread includes hazelnut flour, whole wheat flour, and dark rye flour in addition to bread flour. It looks a little dense but the texture is great and it's not heavy at all. It tastes nutty and a little sweet from the honey I used in it. Great for toast!

What's cooking: Rice pudding

With this nasty wet and windy storm outside, I started thinking about comfort food. Just so happened that I had four cups of leftover popcorn rice and some half-and-half that needed to be used up. I’ve never made rice pudding before but I really like it. So I reviewed several recipes and settled on this:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk two egg yolks with 1/3 cup sugar. Whisk in ½ cup half-and-half until smooth. Whisk this mixture in a large oven-safe saucepan with 3 ½ cups of half-and-half, another 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon vanilla, and 1 teaspoon freshly ground cinnamon. Add four cups of cooked rice. Stir constantly over medium heat, breaking up lumps of rice, until the mixture comes to a simmer. Put pan in oven and cook for 1 ¼ hours, stirring once. Allow to cool and serve at room temperature or chilled.

Just the ticket for a cold blustery day.

What's cooking: spicy chocolate fudge marshmallows

This experiment started in October when I decided to fulfill a commitment to my nephew James – to make chocolate marshmallows.  I went through a few rounds and came up with something that was quite good, using a fudge syrup in the gelatin.  For a champagne tasting we’re going to tomorrow night, I wanted something a little more “adult.”  So I have taken the base recipe and added  some pasilla chile powder for flavor, a bit of guajillo chile powder for flavor and heat, and some freshly ground cinnamon. Kind of a Mexican chocolate thing going on. Right now the KitchenAid mixer is whipping its little heart out; it takes at least 15 minutes on high to get the mixture whipped up nice and light.  Then I’ll pour it on a buttered sheet pan dusted with a mixture of powdered sugar, cornstarch, and cocoa and let it sit overnight before cutting it up with a pizza cutter.

 

What's for dinner: Ruth's lasagna

Ruth is Dave’s mother. Unfortunately I never got to meet her. He says she was a big fan of Julia Child, so I suspect we would have gotten along pretty well. Last night was my first time making this recipe, though in the past I have enjoyed this lasagna when Dave made it for a crowd. You can feed 8-10 people with this easily.

Ingredients A: 2 lb hamburger 1 lb Italian sausage 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 T parsley (I assume dried, but we use 3 T minced fresh parsley) 1 T basil (dried, we use 3 T fresh or frozen) 2 t salt 2 - 14 oz cans tomatoes or puree (or one large can) 2 - 6oz cans tomato paste 2 t sugar 1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Ingredients B: 1 10oz pkg wide lasagna noodles (you’ll need 12 noodles)

Ingredients C: 24 oz ricotta cheese (the original recipe uses large curd cottage cheese; I prefer ricotta) 2 eggs, beaten 2 t salt ½ t pepper 2 T parsley flakes (I use 6 T fresh minced parsley) ½ C grated Parmesan cheese

Ingredients D: 1 lb mozzarella cheese, sliced very thin or shredded

Directions:

A: Brown meat slowly, spoon off excess fat. Add rest of “A” and simmer uncovered until thick, about 45 min, stirring occasionally.

B: Cook noodles until tender, drain and rinse under cold water.

C: Combine ingredients

Put a bit of sauce on the bottom of a 10x13 deep casserole, just to cover. Place half of noodles in pan (about six noodles). Spread half of C over evenly, add half of the mozzarella cheese and half of A. Repeat layers. Top with a little shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil. Bake in moderate oven (350) for 45 min then uncover and bake another 15 min. Let stand 10-15 min before serving.

Preserved lemon recipe

I got several requests for this recipe after posting my carrot salad recipe. So here is what I do. 2 dozen medium size fresh lemons Sea salt or kosher salt 1 quart glass jar with lid

Slice half of the lemons from top to bottom into quarters, but don't cut all the way through so that the lemon has four "petals." In a mixing bowl, toss the cut lemons generously with salt, packing some inside each lemon. Place the salted lemons into the quart jar. Juice the remaining lemons and pour the juice into the jar. Fill the jar to the top. Secure the lid and let sit in a cool dry place for at least 3 days. The lemons can set longer and will keep in the refrigerator. I keep mine for a very long time so I cover the whole thing with some olive oil. You don't have to make so many, you can just do a couple, once you have them covered in salt then just put in lemon juice to cover. Also note that if you are using a canning jar and a canning flat as a lid, you should cover the jar mouth with plastic wrap before putting the lid on to avoid corrosion of the lid.

To use, remove a quarter lemon and pull out the pulp. I usually put the pulp back in the jar to keep the volume of liquid up. Dice or thinly slice the peel. These can be used in chicken stew, even dice up the peel and put a little in tuna salad. I make ahi tartare (minced fresh raw tuna) and add some to that along with my other seasonings. And of course in that carrot salad. Any time you have a savory dish that calls for lemon zest or juice and has salt, you can use some of this for an interestingly different flavor.

What's for dinner: Moroccan-style carrot salad

Well, really it’s miso-marinated flatiron steak and Russian banana potatoes (fingerlings) and the carrot salad. But the carrot salad is the interesting part. And it makes a pretty picture.

I took 2 cups of sliced carrots and tossed them with ½ t each salt, cinnamon, and cumin and ¼ t ground white pepper. Then I microwaved them for three minutes until they were just tender. Added 1 T juice from preserved lemons and 1 T chopped preserved lemon while they were still hot. I know most of you haven’t even seen a preserved lemon – you can use fresh lemon juice and lemon zest, you might need to adjust the salt a little bit as the preserved lemon is salty. Once the carrots are just warm, add 1/4 C minced sweet onion, ½ C minced parsley, and enough olive oil to barely bind it all together and give it a sheen.

What's for dinner: Braised lamb shanks, chanterelles, and butternut squash

Lamb shanks are on our list of “favorite things.” All that connective tissue that gets so yummy when you cook them low and slow in moist heat. I use some north Africa-inspired seasonings, some dried apricots, raisins, carrots, and tomatoes in the sauce. After browning the lamb, I just put all the rest of the stuff in the pot and put it into a slow oven (300-325 degrees) for 3 or 4 hours. In this case it’s longer because Dave’s working late, so I reduced the oven to 200 after the meat was tender, like it is in the photo.

I picked up some very clean chanterelle mushrooms at the farmers market today and will do a quick sauté with some shallots – when the mushrooms are really good, you want to mess with them as little as possible. I’m also roasting some butternut squash cubes, and we’ll start with a little salad.

More experiments wth rye bread

I am bound and determined to come up with a rye loaf that is rich and moist and is not solid as a brick. Last night I made a sponge:

• 1 T yeast
• 2 t sugar
• 1 cup AP flour
• 1 cup water

Whisk together, cover with plastic and set aside on the counter overnight. Next day, make the dough:

• Sponge
• 1 cup milk
• 2.5 cups high-gluten flour
• 1.5 cups dark rye flour
• 3 T oil
• 2 T molasses
• 1 t salt

Mix all ingredients in stand mixer with dough hook. Knead with dough hook for 6-7 minutes until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. It will be very soft but should also be stretchy and pliable, not sticking to your hands. Oil a bown and put the dough in it, let it rise until doubled. Gently fold dough, don't punch it down or you'll lose too many air bubbles. You just want to deflate it a bit. Shape into a 12" loaf and put onto a peel dusted with cornmeal. Cover and allow to rise again, about an hour. Heat oven with baking stone to 400 degrees. Slash top with razor or sharp knife, about five diagonal slashes. Bake until internal temp is 205-210 degrees.

This turned out moist, with great flavor. Next time I will preheat the baking stone longer, as the bread stuck to it just a bit.

What's for dinner: fried chicken, potatoes, broccoli

I bought a chicken yesterday and disassembled it. Boned out the breasts and the thighs and put them in an salty/spicy buttermilk marinade. Put everything else (trimmings, legs, wings) into a pot and added a couple of cans of chicken broth and a couple of cans of water, some onion and celery, and some savory. Simmered the pot for a while, and fished out the legs and wings for eating later. Strained the broth and put it in the fridge along with the marinating meat.

Today I shall make a seasoned flour and add a couple of tablespoons of buttermilk to make it kind of lumpy (this is a recipe from Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country). Then I will coat the boned chicken pieces with the lumpy coating and shallow fry them. Theoretically the chicken will come out very crispy due to those lumps. I will peel some Yukon gold potatoes and make mashed potatoes, and use the rich chicken stock I made yesterday to make gravy. Some steamed broccoli, and we'll have a nice dinner. I'll send along some pictures if it is pretty.

Hope you all have the Thanksgiving you are wishing for. As for me, I am one of the 7% of Americans who are traveling instead of going to a family dinner, and running off to the coast to spend some quality time with my overworked husband.

Update: As you can see, dinner did come out pretty and tasted even better.