Category: cooking

September 11, 2020 – Staying productive in the midst of a new tragedy

September 11, 2020 /

Of course this is a day seared into my memory. For me, it was a different time on a different side of the country. My most vivid memories of that day were the photos of people that jumped off of the World Trade Center rather than risk getting burned (or as it turns out, lost to the collapse of the building). It also kind of makes me sick that this has turned into nineteen years of never ending and never winnable war. Isn’t that the very thing that caused the attacks in the first place?

Despite how tragic that was, there are many around that are engulfed in a new September tragedy. My own brother’s town has been evacuated and is in grave danger of burning. Speaking with him yesterday, he is planning for total loss. Literally no information is coming out of the area at this time as what appears to be the worst wildfires in Oregon’s recorded history.

I am safe, but the smoke is at the toxic level.

Being that this is harvest time, it is the absolute worst time to be picking crops or do anything outside. I guess that the silver lining is that since staying indoors is the safest option, preserving is a no brainer activity to pass the time with the radio (and TV) on monitoring the situation. I donned my N95 mask to harvest what little I had to get started this season.

For me, I don’t plant cherry tomatoes anymore. I find the return on investment of time and space to be lacking. But, they have a mind of their own and if they grow without my input, I let them. This year I had some volunteer plants.

The question in my mind is what to do with these types of tomatoes. There is only so many salads you are going to eat. I have made tomato pie before, it is not a wild hit at my house. I think the best use for them is to dehydrate them. I will cut the green off and slice them in half and dehydrate them for twelve hours or so. I usually store them in the freezer and then they can be added to salad over the year or added to pesto type sauce.

I previously mentioned my dad’s garden. He gave me eight giant beets. This is another plant that gets lukewarm reception at my house. When I have grown them, the kids will eat one slice of a beet (by force). My wife will eat one serving and I eat them for days. We usually have a jar of pickled beets in the refrigerator, although I don’t think that they are very good, so I decided to make my own.

This is a Ball recipe that I have not tried. It seems like a bread and butter type recipe with mustard seed, cinnamon, allspice and clove. I made a double recipe because it used all the beets so we should have pickles for at least a year to come and likely more than that.

I have apples on the tree that need to be picked. They are destined for applesauce as we usually eat 6-12 quarts a year. That is going to require more time outside, so I am holding off for the moment. I also have a big bag of jalapenos I bought at the farmers market with the intent of canning as well. We eat the heck out of those over the year too.

I like preserving and welcome the manual labor of the situation. I usually listen to podcasts of football games but not this year. It is news all the way.

August 14, 2020 – A day of celebration

August 14, 2020 /

My mood has been high this week. This is the end my friends, all I have left to do is hang the gutters today. I will make one final tour post and maybe include beginning and end photos. I also plan on totaling the cost to see where things are landed.

It has been a long time since I wrote about food. Maybe Mother’s Day? One thing to know about me is that I don’t like things to go to waste. I enjoy the creative challenge of working and repurposing leftovers into something better than the original. This morning I made salmon omelets with chimichurri on top.

First, the chimichurri. Everything is approximation measurements since I really didn’t measure anything.

  • Italian Parsley – 1 cup
  • Oregano (dried because I don’t have any growing and I couldn’t find it fresh) – 2 tablespoons
  • garlic – 3 cloves
  • red wind vinegar – 2 tablespoons
  • olive oil – 1/4 cup
  • red pepper flakes – dash
  • salt/pepper – dash

Pulse it gently in a food processor, it is not supposed to be puree, but a coarse chop. By the way, this probably would have been much better if I had done it last night versus right before I was going to use it.

The salmon was two two sources. One was some smoked salmon from last week’s beach trip and the other was leftover grilled salmon I made a while ago. I mixed it with about two tablespoons of sour cream. Three eggs (because that is what works best in my skillet) are mixed with a dash of salt and pepper.

And here is the final product.

One of the the things that I find with leftover seafood is that the work well in omelets. It mixes well with sour cream ore cream cheese as a filling. You can then jazz it up a bit with a more bright or acidic sauce on the top so you don’t overpower the more delicate flavor.

Last weekend I made a tomato compote that included allspice and thyme and cayenne over an an omelet with crab, shrimp and cream cheese filling. That was equally delicious.

So, with that I am going to finish my project and celebrate this weekend. My wife and I are taking a retreat Sunday through Tuesday which means that I will be back on Wednesday. Have a great weekend.

May 11, 2020 – Mom’s hand chosen picnic

May 11, 2020 /

I hope that you all had a great Mother’s day. I know that we did. It was more like a Mother’s Day Weekend. Friday, I hung a new chandelier. Saturday, we cleaned the house and hung pictures that have been sitting around. Sunday we had a picnic on the lawn, I installed a window treatment and we watched a movie to finish it off.

The picnic was delicious and while she chose the result, I went to work on how it was done. I thought that I would share.

The kids did a lot of the work, so I will help them develop their sense of presentation at some other time. But, the first item was a fruit salad.

  • Fruit Salad
    • Watermelon
    • Grapes
    • Pineapple
  • Charcuterie Tray
    • Assorted crackers
    • Cheese
      • Sharp Cheddar
      • Dill Havarti
      • Gouda
      • Parmesan
    • Cured Meat
      • Prosciutto
      • Salami, two types
      • Coppa
    • Pickled asparagus
    • Chocolate truffles
    • Salmon Spread – Mix ingredients for eveness
      • 8 oz cream cheese
      • 2 oz smoked salmon
      • 2 tbls capers
      • 2 chives, chopped small
  • Egg Salad Sandwiches
    • Sliced French Bread
    • Egg Salad
      • 10 hard boiled eggs, coarsely chopped
      • 2 stalks of celery, fine dice
      • 1/8 cp finely sliced red onion (very small amount)
      • 10 chives finely diced
      • 1/2 tsp dill weed
      • 1/2 tsp thyme
      • 1/4 cp french mustard
      • 1/2 cp mayonnaise
      • dash of cayenne
      • Salt and pepper to taste
      • vinegar to adjust acid

Mix the egg, onion, celery, chives, dill and thyme. Then add the mustard. Add the mayonnaise slowly so as not to make your mixture too sloppy. Adjust your additional seasonings accordingly.

I added a little more vinegar to increase the acid at the end. So keep tasting as you go along. You might even want to leave it a little dry if you know that is what you like. There is nothing worse than an over goopy egg salad in my opinion.

April 17, 2020 – Making Vanilla Extract

April 17, 2020 /

Enough of the heaviness. Because this has been a hard week, lets end on a happier note.

On my shopping list this month was vanilla extract because we have been doing a lot of baking lately. I almost fell over when I saw the price. I swear it was more like $15 the last time I bought it. Last time I checked, I think it was around $8 for 2oz. at the grocery store. Thirty-one dollars for 16oz. seems reasonable given that comparison.

Interestingly enough ‘America’s Test Kitchen’ did a comparison several years ago comparing real vs. artificial and the various options for vanilla extract. You can watch the video here.

I figured that I could make it cheaper and get the real thing. Will it be as good? Time will tell.

I ordered some beans online. I dug out some old bottles, that I plan on making root beer in the next couple of days. I bought some cheap whiskey, and then I topped it off with cheap vodka. In a couple months, it will be ready.

Researching recipes, I found quite a bit of variation in the ratios. But it all came back to the same theme: Beans, alcohol and time. Some of them suggested refilling the containers when the alcohol is empty… I don’t know about that unless we cant wait to break into the first one.

IngredientUsageCost
Vanilla Beans3 whole beans/cup of alcohol$18
AlcoholBourbon or Vodka or Rum or Brandy, fill to the top$13
Let sit for at least two months

It wasn’t totally sure, but I thought I had 16oz bottles. They turned out to be 24oz. I originally bought one 750ml bottle of Canadian whisky, but I was about 350ml short so I topped it up with vodka. So, I made 48oz of extract for $31.

Using my formula above, I probably should have put all of the beans into one bottle. The other wildcard is whether the bottle I am using will be adequate for dispensing. When I run across another bottle that will work better for dispensing, I may transfer out of the current container.

At the worst, you can drink the bottle if you don’t like the results. Enjoy.

April 6, 2020 – Enchiladas Michoacán Style

April 6, 2020 /

Sunday is a sacred cooking day. I often save the best or most complicated meals for Sunday. It goes back to my days in the 9-5 grind where preparing and eating a really nice meal was a distraction from the rapidly upcoming Monday.

My journey into Mexican food started when we lived in South Carolina. We were far removed from the familiar tastes and flavors of family and Mexican food, even though there were several Mexican markets in our small town. Sunday was dedicated to cooking out of Rick Bayless’s “Mexican Kitchen“. I would spend as much as six hours preparing Sunday dinner. My book is literally falling apart from use.

My wife recently started getting connected with different online sources of Mexican cooking, I think to stave off quarantine madness. She has started working on mastering some of the basics. We were watching this old woman cooking classic recipes in this rustic kitchen, so that is what I decided to make yesterday.

Part 1: Making the broth

I take a whole chicken, one onion, carrot bits, celery stalk, a couple bay leaves, three garlic cloves, peppercorns and some salt an put it into a pot. then I fill the pot up with water. I boiled the chicken about an hour and a half (on low). Another note on stock, you don’t need to peel or trim any of the vegetables, just make sure they are clean.

I took the chicken out and let the broth cool about two hours to make working with the parts a little easier.

Part 2: Making the Salsa

In this recipe, I used Guajillo and a few Arbol chiles. I really didn’t count the Guajillos, but I would say about thirty, but the pile next to the skillet in the picture was what I used. I used five Arbols, they are spicy, very near the cayenne range, so go easy on them.

To make the salsa, destem and remove the seeds in the chiles. Fry the chiles in oil and soak them in about four cups of broth for about thirty minutes. When done with the chiles, blacken some tomatoes for depth. Put the chiles, tomatoes, 1/4 of an onion, 3 tablespoons of oregano and salt into the blender. Add the soaking broth into the blender for liquid and blend the mixture. Put the salsa back onto the stove to reduce the liquid.

Part 3: The Filling

To make the filling, I diced carrots and potatoes. Those were fried in oil and seasoned to taste. In a separate preparation I roughly chopped one onion and combined with queso fresco (I would guess 1/2 pound?). Those were set aside when I started working on assembly.

Part 4: Assembly

Things were starting to happen fast, so I didn’t get as many pictures in this phase. Heat up a skillet of oil and the oven to 350 degF. Take a corn tortilla, dip it into the salsa. Immediately move it to the skillet and fry about 20 seconds a side. I prepare about six at a time because that is what my tray holds.

Add the carrot/potato filling and add about half of that in cheese/onion mix. Roll the enchiladas and repeat until you run out of ingredient or tray space or time or tortillas or whatever is your limitation. I dumped probably one cup of salsa over the top of the rolled enchiladas and put the tray into the oven while I finished the dish.

Part 5: Finishing

I broke down the chicken into the eight basic parts, wings, breast, drumsticks and thighs. Then I put those into the skillet to heat up and crisp. On top of chicken I added about half a cup of salsa while cooking. Once that was done, I took the enchiladas out of the oven and plated.

Three enchiladas, some shredded lettuce, topped with sour crème and pickled serranos is the basic plating. The chicken is served to the side.

This was a bit of work, but excellent flavor. I hope that you will try this as well.

March 3, 2020 – Beef Liver

March 3, 2020 /

Have you ever seen a whole beef liver? I don’t know the exact weight, but according to a quick internet search, the average weight is 10-15 pounds. If you haven’t seen one then it is hard to conceptualize, but it is huge.

Since I usually get one with the beef that I order, I am always on the lookout for recipes. I have tried boudin and that needs some practice. Once a year I make liver and onions, that is about all I can sneak that in. I recently heard a recipe about Vietnamese Jerky that I though I would try.

Ingredient spread for the liver

Usually with new recipes, I scour sources for three or four different recipes and try to find the commonality, but in this case there are four or five different names I found that were all different. So, I just went with the comments on the podcast and did the best that I can.

Final plate

The results on this were 1) there was still an underlying liver flavor 2) it was a bit too salty (could have been my technique of salt/rinse) 3) the frozen stir-fry vegetables were distracting 4) its a challenge to try new things, but still fun.

I would like to say a few quick words about cooking liver. This is one of the cuts that is at its best when it is fresh, like the day of the slaughter. Cook liver lightly, it really does not have an unpleasant flavor when cooked to medium (145 deg F). Do not make more than you will eat in one meal, reheating overcooks and results in the iron flavor and mealy texture.

I would love to hear other ideas, techniques and recipes. I am all about frugality, preventing waste and trying new things. So let me know if you have some liver ideas.

February 7, 2020 – Cook like a Caveman

February 7, 2020 /

We received a nice gift the other day. It was a whole salmon, filleted. It had just arrived from Alaska frozen, so both halves needed to be defrosted at the same time. This was a treat that needed a special preparation.

I looked for inspiration from Raichlen and though about cooking it on a shovel, but then I thought of Mallmann and the ‘Seven Fires’. I thought perfect, I have a lot of wood piling up from my cabinet project. The weather was dry, and nobody was home.

Christmas salmon on the fire

The preparation actually came out of a book “Plank Cooking: The Essence of Natural Wood” by Scott and Tiffany Haugen and the recipe was called ‘Christmas Salmon’. One fillet was a traditional green pesto and the other was a sun dried tomato pesto.

Finished Christmas Salmon

The combination of Salmon and pesto is a winner, not one I have tried before. The one thing I would have done differently would be to cook longer with a fire that wasn’t so hot. It came out a little dry. I am sure it was me and not the technique since I was in and out of the kitchen and trying to get the other aspects of dinner done.

There will be other entries cooking over fire since I have multiple cookbooks oriented toward that idea. Have fun experimenting and good luck with yours.

January 24, 2020 – Making Enchiladas

January 24, 2020 /

I had a hankering to make enchiladas last week. I spent a little more time learning to edit the video for a better viewing. I know, I need to work on my dynamics a little bit, but hopefully there improvement in the overall quality.

Ground Beef Enchiladas

January 14, 2020 – Making Menudo

January 15, 2020 /

I finally got around to editing the video I took last month on how I made menudo. It was such a busy time with Christmas looming that the end wasn’t quite as strong as the beginning. But you should get a good idea of what is involved. Enjoy.

Some of the best I have made yet.