Dateline: February 14, 2021 Ravioli with cheese and truffle filling

For my birthday, Bill promised me that he would make me a meal.  Today was the day!

I supervised, but he chopped onions, garlic, salad fixings, stirred the sauce and everything.  The meal was really great.  So great, that we ate all of it!

Sauce

1/4 a large onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic smashed, and chopped

2 t dried sage

1/2 t red pepper flakes

2 oz cream cheese

2 oz butter

2 T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

truffle oil, for finishing

Method

1.  While pasta boils, melt butter and oil in a pan large enough to hold the cooked pasta.  When melted, add in the onions and sweat for a few minutes, then add in the garlic, sage, and hot pepper flakes.  Add in the cream cheese and stir to incorporate.  If needed, add about 1/4 c of pasta cooking water to emulsify the ingredients.  Taste, and add salt and pepper.

2.  When pasta is finished, drain a bit, and dump into the pan along with any pasta water that is clinging to the pasta.  Mix well to coat the pasta with the sauce, then drizzle truffle oil over top and serve without stirring the oil in.

Nota Bene:  This was SOOOOOO good, I was deeply impressed with Bill and myself for coming up with the sauce recipe.

Dateline: February 13, 2021 Orange Beef with Broccoli

Our pseudo-son, Servet, came over for dinner last night.  He brought with him some fabulous treats!  A whole box of goodies from Murray's.  So there was duck prosciutto,  some bacon, some duck pate, some salamis, nudja, and too many more to remember.

We started our dinner with some of the treats, duck mousse pate, salami, nduja, brie, and crackers.  We easily could have made a dinner of that, but there was the marinating beef strips....

I used Sam Sifton's Orange Beef recipe, of course with a few tweaks.  As I knew I was going to add in some half steamed broccoli, I did not reduce the sauce much.  I also used my secret orange weapon, ground dried mandarin orange peels that I save up as I eat the mandarins every winter when they are in season and on sale!  And then I grind them up as needed.  I used about 1/4 c of the ground powder.  Instead of the jalapeno, I had some hot red finger peppers, so I chopped up one of those.  I increased the liquid measure by using 1/3 c instead of 1/4 c for all specified liquids because I was 1) using more beef than called for in recipe, 2) was going to be adding in some broccoli.

Another tweak was not using the egg, but using baking soda with the cornstarch for the beef strips.  I marinated them over night and they were velvety and oh so tender, even though it was chuck strips for fajitas!

After noshing mightily on the delicious treats, we hastily sat down to eat, voila!

Dateline: February 10, 2021 Another Lunar New Year Celebration: Ma La Shrimp and Mussels with Black Bean Sauce

 I had ordered from FD some Shrimp and Mussels, and was trying to figure out what to do with them when it hit me.....Gong Hei Fat Choy!

Another Lunar New Year Food Celebration

I used the Ma La Shrimp recipe and another Fuchsia Dunlop recipe for Clams in Black Bean Sauce.

I had the left over lotus root from yesterday, so that went into the Ma La Shrimp!

Fuchsia Dunlop's Clams In Black Bean Sauce

2 lb clams, in the shell....I subbed in mussels

3 T oil

2.5 T fermented black beans, rinsed and drained

2 t finely chopped ginger

1 T finely chopped garlic

1.5 fresh red chillies, cut into thin diagonal slices

3 T finely chopped bell pepper, she specifies green, I used yellow

2 T Shaoxing wine

1 t dark soy sauce

1 t light soy sauce

1 t cornstarch or potato starch dissolved in 2 T cold water

2 T finely chopped scallions

Method

1.  Rinse and debeard mussels, discard any that are open and/or have broken shells.  Pour 2 cups of water into a pot with a lid (that can hold all the mussels) and bring to a boil.

2.  When it comes to a rolling boil, add the mussels and put the lid on.  Every so often, open the lid and stir.  This should only take 3-5 minutes max for all the mussels to open.  Remove them to a separate bowl and save the liquid.

3.  In a wok, heat the oil and when hot add the black beans, ginger, garlic, chillies and bell pepper, stir fry until they smell wonderful.  Pour in 2/3 c of the mussel cooking liquid and bring to a boil.  Skim if necessary, then season with Shaoxing and soy sauces.  

3.  Stir the cornstarch or potato starch slurry and add to wok in 2 or 3 additions, using just enough to given the sauce the consistency of light cream.  Remove from heat, and add in the scallions and mussels.  Serve.

Likewise, I had the carrot ribbons and snow peas from last night as well.  I used a bit more of the mussel cooking liquid and more cornstarch slurry.

I keep trying, but mussels just don't really make me happy, I would have loved this with clams, but sadly, FD did not have any of the lovely little cockles that they often have.  Sigh, so Bill got to eat lots of mussels and I made due with the Ma La Shrimp.....Tee Hee, I think I came out the winner in this one!

Dateline: February 10, 2021 Chinese Hot Pot to Celebrate Lunar New Year a Bit Early

Bill and I went to Industry City yesterday to wander around the various stores that were there.  We went into Japanese Village and I saw some thinly sliced meats for shabu shabu and decided to do chinese hot pot for dinner.  I picked up some thinly sliced beef, round and rib eye, and also some thinly sliced Kurobuta pork loin as well.  I then searched the veggies and grabbed some lotus root, pre sliced, and some Enoki mushrooms.  I had other vegetation at home as well as the necessary spice for the hot pot flavoring.

I used Fuchsia Dunlop's recipe for hot pot broths.  One is based in a beef broth, the other in a chicken, but I made it vegetable broth.

    

                        

Left is the spicy one, right is the vegetable one with a few flecks of chopped garlic floating in it, as a small piece of tree ear mushroom that I had not removed!

HotPot Spicy Broth

1/4 c fermented black beans

1/3 c shaoxing wine or dry sherry

3 inch piece of ginger, unpeeled

1/4 c dried szechwan dried chili peppers

1/2 c peanut or vegetable oil

2/3 c beef drippings or lard

1/2 c doujiubang

3 quarts good beef stock

1 T rock sugar

1/3 c fermented glutinous rice wine

salt to taste

1 t whole szechwan pepper corns

Method

1.  Mash black beans with 1 T shaoxing wine either with mortar and pestle or in a food processor.  Wash ginger and slice into discs about the thickness of a coin.

2.  Snip all chili peppers in half with a scissor and knock out as many of the seeds as possible.  Heat 3 T oil in a wok over medium flame until it is hot, but not smoking and add the chiles and stir-fry until crisp and fragrant, but not burned.  They should sizzle gently in the wok.  Remove with a slotted spoon and remove oil to a bowl and clean wok.  

3.  Add beef drippings or lard to the wok along with the rest of the vegetable oil.  Melt the fats completely to about 250-300°F.  Add chili paste and stir fry for a minute or so until the oil is richly colored and fragrant.   Be careful not to burn this mixture.  Add mashed beans, and ginger and continue to stir fry.  Add in 1.5 quarts of the stock and bring to a boil.  The balance of the stock will be held in reserve to replenish the hot pot when necessary.

4.  When the liquid has come to a boil, add the rock sugar and the rest of the shaoxing wine, the fermented glutinous rice wine and salt, if necessary.  (Mine certainly did not need any additional salt).

5.  Add the reserved fried peppers and the szechwan pepper corns and simmer for another 15-20 minutes until it is delightfully spicy.

Plain HotPot Broth

3 quarts rich chicken stock (I used vegetable stock)

2 T shaoxing wine

salt to taste

1 ripe red tomato, halved

2 scallions, white part only, cut into 2 or three sections

Method

1.  Stir wine into the stock and season with salt to taste.  Pour about 2 quarts into the hotpot and use the rest to top up as needed.  Shortly before you are getting ready to eat, add the tomato and the scallions to the broth.

 

Meats used:

Thinly sliced ribeye, I tore these pieces in half

Thinly sliced round

Thinly sliced pork loin, I tore these pieces in half

Vegetables used:

2 potatoes, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, soaked in salted water

butternut squash, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, soaked in salted water

lotus root, sliced about 1/4 inch thick, soaked in salted water

4 carrots, peeled, using peeler cut into thin ribbons

large handful of snow peas

Enoki mushrooms, pulled into shreds

1/2 cabbage cut into chunks and split up into a couple of leaves in each chunk

broccoli florets

Dipping Sauces

Sesame paste mixed with fresh chopped garlic, soy sauce, sesame oil

Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp

Dark Soy Sauce with Black Vinegar and minced scallions

Dipping Sauces

Meats, beef above, pork below



The carrots and peas are at the top and the 
cabbage and root veggies at the bottom

Vegetation

Broths:  top is spicy and below is not

Both Bill and I were very happy with our early Lunar New Year Celebration.  Obviously, too much food, but the veggies will be used in other dishes going forward.

Dateline: February 7, 2021 SUPER BOWL: WILD BOAR CHILI

I had 5 lbs of wild boar in the freezer, how to use it?  Super Bowl Chili!  Make ahead, and serve next day.

Wild Boar Chili

Ingredients

5 lbs of cubed meat....pork, beef, chicken, turkey, bear, weasel, you get the idea

1/4 c flour, you may need more than this, just work in 1/4 c increments

1 t salt

1 t ground pepper

1 T sweet paprika

1 T chili powder

1/2 c vegetable oil or lard

2 small onions, halved

3 roma tomatoes halved

2 small heads of garlic, broken into cloves, not peeled

2 dried ancho chili pods

8-10 dried pasilla chili pods

2 chipotle chili pods

any other assortment of dried Mexican chilis that you have lying around, I had some pasilla negros and some aji as well as guajillos

Olive oil

2 red bell peppers

2 small golden beets, unpeeled, why?  For sweetness to counteract the dried chilis

1 medium onion, diced

14 oz can of diced tomatoes

2 T salt

1 T Mexican oregano

3 bay leaves

2 cans of the beans of your choice, drained and rinsed

1 bag frozen corn kernels

1 circle of mexican chocolate, I used Taza with guajillo pepper

unsweetened cocoa powder

Method

1.  Heat oven to 280°F.  Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chilis.  Heat a large cast iron frying pan, add the chilis and toast.  This will happen quickly, so have a bowl nearby to put them in.  You do not want to burn them!  They will be very bitter if that happens.   In the bowl with the toasted chilis, add enough water to cover and weight them down with a plate to keep them submerged until the water until they have softened up and are very pliable.  This can be left to soften while you complete the next step.

2.  In the same large cast iron frying pan, put the halved onions, halved tomatoes, beets, and garlic cloves into the pan dry.  Char them on all sides.  Take the skin off the garlic cloves.  Hold the beets to the side.  Do not add them to the blender.  Add the other charred veggies to a  blender jar.  It is best to put the juiciest things at the bottom of the jug, (tomatoes) you will add less water or chili soaking water.  Blitz to a smooth puree.  Empty blender in a large bowl.  

3.  While the veggies are charring, over an open flame, char the red bell peppers all over and hold aside until cool enough to scrap off the burnt skin.  Remove top stem and slice into thin strips, then halve the strips.  Remove the skin from the beets and chop into a smallish dice, chop the remaining onion into a dice as well.  Hold these veggies to the side.

4.  When the peppers are pliable, place in the blender jug, no need to clean it.  Add some of the soaking liquid, enough to get the blender working smoothly and really get them to a very smooth puree.  If you don't have a high powered blender, you will need to strain both purees to remove bits of skin, seeds, etc.  You want a silky smooth product.  Add the pureed chili peppers to the ground tomatoes, onions, and garlic.  Mix well.  If you don't have the powerful blender, strain the mixture into another bowl.  This is what provides the beautiful silkiness to the sauce.  Hold to the side.

5.  In a large plastic bag, add 1/4 c, salt, pepper, paprika, and chili powder.  Add about 1/4 of the meat and shake to coat.  Heat a large dutch oven and add half the oil and when hot, add the meat cubes that have been shaken to knock off a lot of the excess flour.  Brown in the oil working in batches, do all the meat that way.  As necessary add more oil, and replenish the flour mixture.  Hold the browned meat in another big bowl.  Yes, you will use quite a few large bowls.  

6.  When the meat is finished browning, use paper toweling to soak up remaining oil and any bits of burnt flour on the bottom.  Add a little bit of water to help scrap up any last bits.  Wipe the pot and add fresh oil.  Pour the strained sauce into the pot, mix well and cook for a bit, add the meat and any juices into the pan and mix well.  Bring to a simmer, add the sliced peppers, beets, onions and can of diced tomatoes.  Mix well.  Add salt, bay leaves, and oregano.  Mix well.  Taste the sauce.  Does it need more salt?  Mine certainly did!  If your sauce is bitter, let it cook a while with the beets.  That may do the trick.  Cover and put into the oven for 1 hour.

7.  After an hour, check on the mixture.  Stir and taste again.  If it is bitter, add about 1 T honey or agave syrup.  Stir well.  Put back in the oven for another hour.

8.  After second hour, taste again, mine needed more salt.  Add the 2 cans of beans and the chocolate circle and 2 T cocoa powder.  Stir well to melt chocolate and distribute the cocoa.  Put back into the oven with the lid ajar for another hour.

9.  Remove from the oven, taste again.  Adjust the seasonings.  Since it was very cold outside, I put the lidded dutch oven outside overnight.  I will remove the fat before reheating.  Add the frozen corn, mix in well, and reheat in oven until ready to eat.  

Nota Bene:  I know that this is a lot of ingredients and time.  But it is well worth it!  If there is any remaining sauce, freeze it!  It will do wonders for any other type of chili or sloppy joe type meal.

Dateline: February 4, 2021 Tofu 2 Ways

After a discussion with friends Alan and Lyn, I decided to make some Mapo Tofu.  I was rooting around in the pantry and found a package of tofu skins and thought, great, I'll make some bean curd skin rolls and we can enjoy a spicy dish and a not spicy dish.

I quickly got to work, found a recipe, and started chopping things madly.  Soaked the tree ear mushrooms, gave up looking for my dried shitake mushrooms and decided to chop other veg instead.  For the rolls I quickly prepared some slivered carrots, cabbage and cucumbers.  To the meat, I used beef, I added the requisite minced tree ears, garlic, ginger, cornstarch, sesame oil, shao xing wine, and soy sauce.  Stir like mad to combine and voila!  meat filling.  

Next, I opened the package of bean curd or tofu skins and realized that this was going to be a nightmare scenario.  The sheets were folded up onto themselves so that each "page" was multiple layers thick.  I dunked them in the warm water, fiddled with them, and tried to pry the layers apart.  This was not going to work at all.  So I had to go to plan B with this.  I decided to soak 2 pages and then just chop up the result and saute everything in the wok.

Mapo, I have written about many times.  Last night, I was pressed for time, AND hungry, so I went with the easiest method possible.  Stir fried the meat and ginger, added in 2 T of doujiabang sauce and then splashed on some soy, shaoxing, rice vinegar, and anything else I felt like throwing in.

Since I had some soaked tree ear mushrooms I threw them in and, well, that was a mistake.  I should have cut them into smaller pieces, instead I just hacked a large piece into quarters or sixths, and they were just too damn big and chewy.

Mapo Tofu

Deconstructed Tofu Skin Rolls

The combo was quite tasty, Bill was going back for more.  I was pretty happy with the deconstructed rolls, and would probably tweak that a bit more going forward, like, buying fresher bean curd skins and actually making the rolls!  But as an invented dinner save, it was pretty damn good.

Dateline: February 2, 2021 Chicken Thigh Sheet Pan Dinner #2

I had a bunch of broccoli, some shisito peppers, 1/2 a butternut squash and some carrots.....plus some chicken thighs.  What to do?

Option 1 - Tajine

Option 2 - Sheetpan

Feeling lazy, I took option 2.  I piled the chopped veggies into a sheet pan along with a sliced onion and mixed it with some olive oil and salt and pepper.  Added the chicken thighs on top and drizzled them with oil and salt and pepper, and popped it in the oven, 350°F for 30 minutes, rotated the pan, and set the timer for 15 more minutes.  Chicken was cooked, and veggies were nicely browned.

Yum!

Pre Cooking

 

Here is the finished product.  I was quite pleased with the results and will definitely play with this sort of thing again!

Dateline: February 1, 2021 Potluck Sausage Chili, or Freezer Diving

I had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.  I did know that I needed to make room in the freezer for more sausage, what else does one do during a snow storm.

I found a pound of loose sausage, turned out to be sage breakfast sausage, but never mind, and I found a container of Chili Colorado sauce saved from a previous meal.  

Perfect!  Dinner is a sausage chili stew with chickpeas and left over veggies from the sheet pan dinner the other night!

In the instant pot, I browned the sausage and then added in the frozen colorado sauce.  I opened a can of chickpeas and threw them in, liquid and all and closed the lid.  I set the pot to pressure cook for 8 minutes.  When time was up, I used quick release, and checked in on the contents.  I found some kale and collards in the fridge and added that to the pot along with the veggies from a previous meal.  Set the pot to slow cook and left a glass lid on it ajar to help thicken it up a bit.  

Finished product was far better than I thought it would be!  Yeah me!  Finished up the meal with some brown basmati rice, and Ta-Dah!  Speaking of finishing up, I drained the beautiful Barbaresco from an earlier dinner.  Delightful!

 

Dateline: January 31, 2021 Baked Salmon and Mushroom Risotto

I had about 1 lb of cremini mushrooms that needed to be used up.  Thank God I had stored them in a paper bag, or they would have been mush!

I cleaned and sliced the mushrooms, shopped up the shallots and garlic and soaked some dried cepes.  For the risotto stock, I used the mushroom soaking liquid and some mushroom powder that I used in addition to some hot water for some vegetable base.  

Mushroom Risotto

1 lb sliced mushrooms, your own choice or mixture

small handful of dried cepes or porchini mushrooms

2 T olive oil

Salt and pepper

2 large shallots, chopped fine, divided, one shallot will be used to top the salmon

2 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped fine

2 T white wine

1 cup arborio rice

3.5 cups water, divided

1 T vegetable soup base

1/2 package frozen peas

1/2 c grated parmesan cheese

2 T butter, divided

2 T half and half

truffle oil, optional

Method

1.  Heat 1/2 C water, I used the microwave and soak the dried mushroom using a spoon to keep as many of them below the water level as possible.  Heat the remaining 3 cups of water in a large measuring cup in the microwave and add the vegetable base to the very hot water.  Stir to dissolve the base completely.

Keep warm, or reheat in microwave.

2.  Heat a large casserole pan up and when hot add the olive oil and 1 T of the butter.  Add the shallots, salt and pepper and saute until translucent then add the smashed garlic.  Remove cepes from soaking liquid and add soaking liquid to the vegetable base.  Add cepes and mushrooms to saute pan.  Cook the mushrooms until they start to give off their water.  Add a splash of white wine to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

3.  When the wine has evaporated, add the rice and saute until the grains become translucent.  Add a pinch or two of salt and start to ladle in 4 oz at a time the heated vegetable stock.   Only add additional stock when the previous one has been completely absorbed.  Stir constantly.  Add stock as necessary and take your time.  Risotto is an act of love, do not rush it.

4.  When most of the stock has been used, taste the rice, is it still crunchy, keep cooking, if it has softened, but is still al dente, then you are very close to being finished.  When the rice is cooked to your liking, add the reserved T of butter and the frozen peas.  Stir to melt them both into the rice.  Add the half and half along with the cheese, in parts, combining into the risotto.  

5.  Just before serving, drizzle with truffle oil.

Ah, risotto

A beautiful Chablis

Baked Salmon with Shallots

Ingredients

2 center cut salmon fillets, pin bones removed

1 finely chopped shallot

salt and pepper

Method

1.  Set oven to 400°F.  Prepare a baking dish by coating with cooking spray.  Dry off the fish and place skin side down in the baking dish.  Use olive oil or cooking spray on the fish.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and top with the chopped shallots.

2.  When oven is hot, put the pan into the oven and set a timer for 5 minutes.  When time is up, rotate the pan and set timer for another 5 minutes.  Depending on how thick your fillets were, you may need some more time, or if you prefer your salmon more well done.  Then set the timer for another 3 - 5 minutes.  Remove and serve.

 

Dateline: January 30, 2021 First foray into sheetpan dinner

I had a ton of veg that needed to be used in some creative way.  I decided that I would attempt a sheetpan dinner using some homemade brats and the vegetation that was in the fridge.

Veg and Brats

Ingredients 

1/2 butternut squash, cubed

1 bell pepper, seeded and cut into large chunks

4 sunchokes, washed and halved, if necessary

5-6 small white potatoes, washed and cut in half

1 large sweet potato, washed and cut into rounds

2 small red onions, cut into wedges thru the root end

2 shallots, cut into wedges thru the root end

handful of baby carrots

1 large parsnip, peeled and chunked up

1 serrano pepper, cut into rounds

1 green chili, seeded and cut into chunks

Olive Oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 1 lb bag of halved brussel sprouts in a seal and steam bag

1 large preserved lemon, cut into small pieces

6-7 brats, preferably homemade

Method

1.  Heat oven to 450°F.  Chop vegetables, except brussel sprouts, and add to a bowl.  Add olive oil and salt and pepper and mix well to coat veggies.

2.  Dump veggies onto a sheet pan and arrange them in an even layer.  Put into oven for 30 minutes.

3.  Cook brussel sprouts in microwave for 3 minutes and empty bag into bowl that held the veggies.  Add some oil, salt and pepper to coat.  Hold aside.

4.  After 30 minutes, remove pan from oven and lower temp to 400°F.  Add sprouts to pan and place sausages on top evenly spaced out on the pan.  Prick each sausage a few time on each side.  Return pan to oven and cook for 15 minutes.  Turn sausages and cook for another 15 minutes.  Serve.

Pre sausage veggies

Post sausage cooking

This was an excellent and very simple meal.  Even Bill could do it, if I walked him through the steps.  Do you hear that Alan!!!!!

The sausages were perfectly cooked, and delicious, if I do say.  And the assortment of colors in the veggies added a lot of interest and different vitamins into the mix.

The preserved lemon added a bit of acid and some tartness.  If you didn't have preserved lemons, you could easily add a spritz or two of the vinegar of your choice at the end of the cooking.