What'cha Cookin' Tonight II

[onejayhawk]

I was once on a plane, returning from the middle east. The woman next to me was a Belgian who spoke good English. She was looking forward to shopping in Frankfurt for some, "properly stinky cheese."

Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof airport has an interesting terminal setup, with a small shopping mall and train terminal underneath it.

J

 

[onejayhawk]

Fish tacos were the perfect thing for weather like this.

Fish done the way you like it.
Shredded cabbage
Sriracha mayo (below)
Warm corn tortillas

Put everything out with beans and rice on the side.

Sriracha Mayo
1 cup mayo or half mayo/half white yogurt
2-4 Tbsp Sriracha sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 clove garlic, minced

Mix and season to taste.
​

J

 

[civvver]

I mix siracha and mayo and dip everything in it like fries, veggies, chips. Probably horrible for me. But so good.

I'm throwing a dinner party where we're all going to roll our own pasta. Then I guess they'll get to choose their shapes, but my cutters only do fettuccine, thin spaghetti, or you can hand cut pappardelle or farfalle easily enough. So it'll be noodles of one of those shapes. Then making two sauces. Simple sausage and peppers with tomatoes, just garlic, olive oil, thyme, cut up italian sausage, bell peppers, yellow onions, tomato paste and crushed tomatoes. I figure I can make that ahead of time and keep it in the crock pot to stay warm cus we'll need the stove space. I'm just not sure how to plate it, if I can just go right to pasta bowls and mix in those or if it really has to be done in a pan over heat. I'll probably just warm up some bowls in the oven and toss right in those, then top with Parmesan cheese.

Other sauce is going to be some sort of white wine lemon butter sauce with chicken. Sear thin cut, seasoned chicken breasts, set aside, add garlic and olive oil and butter to same pan. Deglaze with white wine and reduce, add lemon, fresh thyme. That's pretty much it. I might add some chicken stock to get more "sauce" out of it. Toss with noodles, plate and add sliced chicken fanned out on top, drizzle some sauce over chicken.

 

[onejayhawk]

Do you use thyme in your lemon/butter sauce?

There was a challenge on year 2 of Top Chef--the Seven Deadly Sins. One of the also-rans had his high-point doing Envy. He did two kinds of fish with a lemon/thyme sauce. The smaller fish also had a blanched basil sauce so it was colored green. The lemon/thyme sauce was a variation of a Buerre Blanc which is a traditional wine and butter sauce, so it fits with yours.

IIRC the guy that did this was eliminated the next episode.

J

 

[civvver]

Do you use thyme in your lemon/butter sauce?

Yes, I like thyme as an herb more than oregano or basil in a white sauce. Basil is better with tomatoes, oregano is too overpowering. Same with rosemary.

There was a challenge on year 2 of Top Chef--the Seven Deadly Sins. One of the also-rans had his high-point doing Envy. He did two kinds of fish with a lemon/thyme sauce. The smaller fish also had a blanched basil sauce so it was colored green. The lemon/thyme sauce was a variation of a Buerre Blanc which is a traditional wine and butter sauce, so it fits with yours.

So this is a good idea?

IIRC the guy that did this was eliminated the next episode.

J

Or a bad one?

And yeah this is basically a buerre blanc. It's also close to chicken picatta but I'm not flouring the chicken or using capers, and I see a lot of piccatta recipes that omit garlic, sometimes the wine and fresh herbs so I don't know what's authentic.

 

[onejayhawk]

Yes, I like thyme as an herb more than oregano or basil in a white sauce. Basil is better with tomatoes, oregano is too overpowering. Same with rosemary. So this is a good idea?

He won the week and would be back as a sous chef in the final.

The idea was really good. He had a trout being envious of a salmon, hence the green sauce. Tom Colicchio said he loved the concept but was surprised how well it was rendered. As I said he won.

And yeah this is basically a buerre blanc. It's also close to chicken picatta but I'm not flouring the chicken or using capers, and I see a lot of piccatta recipes that omit garlic, sometimes the wine and fresh herbs so I don't know what's authentic.

Authentic is what your instructor says.

J

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I had some leftover pasta sauce, mexican shredded cheese and pepperoni so I made pizza with all that and slices of bread.

 

[civvver]

I love pizza bread. Get some crusty french loaves or sub buns, slice in half, bake with pizza sauce and toppings, very easy. Or making your own pizza bagels. They're 10x better than the frozen stuff and, since I have a full size toaster oven, very convenient too.

I made some corn flake breaded chicken that was pretty good. I combined corn flakes, parmesan cheese and some garlic salt in my food processor so the flakes were crushed but not pulverized, about the consistency of panko breading. Then I took butterflied chicken breasts and coated them with dijon mustard, and then the corn flakes. Baked at 425 for around 15 minutes. I think it would've been better with mayo or a regular egg wash before breading as the dijon was a little strong, but my daughter has an egg allergy.

 

[onejayhawk]

I assume you mean mixing the mustard with an egg wash or mayonnaise. Don't do one then the other because the second one will just run off. The basic rule is: dry to wet/wet to dry.

That sounds like a good crust for fish. Maybe marinade a few talapia in Italian dressing before coating and baking.

J

 

[hobbsyoyo]

The other night I made a crock pot roast that called for soy sauce, whiskey, aromatic bitters, garlic and brown sugar. I used a tri tip roast because it was a big piece of meat. I don't know meat cuts that well.

Anyways, it was pretty good and when I ate it I was watching New Girl and one of the characters made a drink with whiskey, bitters, orange peel and a cherry on the rocks (I think it's an old fashioned). I'm not a huge whiskey fan but it looked like a good drink to sip on and I happen to have all of those ingredients right now in part thanks to the roast recipe.

 

[onejayhawk]

That's an Old Fashioned all right.

The cherry is a twist. The citrus peel usually provides the color so adding a cherry is a bit of a clash, but the classic drink used a cube of sugar. I suspect they were using some cherry syrup to sweeten the drink.

This is one of the drinks where you stir with ice and strain the drink onto more ice. I always found that odd. It reminds me of James Bond's invention, the Vesper which is a variation on a Martini using gin, vodka, and Lillet Blancc, shaken with ice until very cold and poured over lemon peel. The Lillet serves the function of bitters.

J

 

[hobbsyoyo]

That's an Old Fashioned all right.

The cherry is a twist. The citrus peel usually provides the color so adding a cherry is a bit of a clash, but the classic drink used a cube of sugar. I suspect they were using some cherry syrup to sweeten the drink.

This is one of the drinks where you stir with ice and strain the drink onto more ice. I always found that odd. It reminds me of James Bond's invention, the Vesper which is a variation on a Martini using gin, vodka, and Lillet Blancc, shaken with ice until very cold and poured over lemon peel. The Lillet serves the function of bitters.

J

I ended up using sprite in place of water+sugar because I happened to have some. It's everything I hoped it would be.

 

[onejayhawk]

I ended up using sprite in place of water+sugar because I happened to have some. It's everything I hoped it would be.

That works. There is a reason people still drink Martinis and Old-Fashions after nearly a century. They both have nice balance and just a bit of an edge. I read recently that bitters are the salt and pepper of the cocktail world. That catches it perfectly--spice if used sparingly and waiting disaster if overdone.

J

 

[civvver]

I'd rather just have a bourbon and coke. I keep coke on hand, never have bitters or twists.

Sprite mixes well with whiskey too, like a seven and seven which is segrams 7 whiskey (I think it's canadian whiskey) and 7up.

 

[onejayhawk]

Old joke. A blond, a brunette, and a redhead go into a bar. The Redhead asks for MGD and gets a Miller Genuine Draft. The Brunette asks for JD, neat and gets Jack Daniels with no ice. Not to be outdone, the blond orders a 15. The bartender thinks a minute and gives her a 7 and 7.

BTW it's Seven Crown. See it above the seven?

 

[onejayhawk]

.Back to food. I have a cousin who is vegan for medical reasons. My wife sent her a vegan meatball recipe. It seems to be a keeper.

Vegan Meatballs
2 cups chickpeas - reserve chickpea liquid if using canned
2.5 Tbsp ground flax seed
Bottled or degassed water
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 tsp garlic powder, more or less to taste
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp marjoram or oregano
1 Tbsp fresh basil or 1 tsp dried
S&P to taste

If you're using dried chickpeas, soak then boil until they are splitting
Drain the chickpeas & pinch the skin off as many as you have the patience for. Blend chickpeas in a blender until broken down.
Make your flax seed "eggs" - mix 2.5 tablespoons of ground flax seed with 6 Tbsp of water. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.
Mix together the chickpeas and flax seed eggs.
Add in the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly. Adjust seasonings. If you use Veg-All, this is the time.
Add more breadcrumbs if too sticky or chickpea liquid if too dry. You want a consistency that rolls into balls without sticking or cracking.
Form the mixture into balls and place onto a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake at 450° (220° C) for 20-25 minutes, turning over halfway through. They will be golden and crispy on the outside when done.
​

J

 

[hobbsyoyo]

If you roll wet chick peas between damp paper towels, the skins will come off. I do that before I cook them in recipes that require you to take skins off.

 

[onejayhawk]

St Patrick's Day is approaching. If anyone wants to try corned beef, here are some pointers.

• Always wash the meat. The packaging liquid is very salty and generally gunky.
• Other than black pepper, do not uses spices on the meat. Herbs, onion, and/or garlic are preferred. Just lay them on top during cooking.
• Use moist heat, ie braise the meat. A pressure cooker can do 1 1/2 kg (3 lb) roast in 90 minutes. Use about a liter (quart) of liquid and a rack to keep the meat off the bottom.
• Stout is a traditional cooking liquid for very good reason, but thin it with water or salt-free broth.
• Reserve the cooking liquid for the vegetables. Red potatoes boiled in water containing some of the broth are outstanding. Try a couple of ounces in your leek and potato soup.
• Don't ask me how to do cabbage or rutabagas. I cannot stand them cooked.

J

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I've always just bought the kind with spices mixed in with the meat (so no washing) and thrown it in the Crock-Pot to cook all day with root veggies. It's always turned out great that way.


Random aside - my college hosted the president of an Irish college once and they served him a 'traditional' Irish meal of corned beef and cabbage. It was the first time he had it and he thought it was an American specialty. They don't really eat it over there, it's an Irish-American thing, not an Irish thing apparently.

 

[civvver]

Oh you mean just like spaghetti and meatballs, california rolls, general tso's chicken and crunchy tacos?