Journal

2013 - Week 43 Cooking Results - Up late with Porky Goodness

It was a far busier week than I expected.  Mostly because of cooking, but what can you do.  Work has begun to ramp up as expected and we're a bit away from the start of all that.  So we're getting there.  It was a nice way to end up the week with the Mattas coming up to visit, and spending a bit of time at T's swim meet.  It's good to see the successes that their children are having and to see them grow up in the leaps and bounds (from the 1-6 months or so visits with them).  I missed the last farmers' market of the season, but it was a more than fair trade off to spend time with my friends and their kids.

Pork Burgers (Crooked Gap)

Nom nom nom. 

Sloppy Sammys (Crooked Gap)

Wierder mix of spices then normal, but still turned out pretty good.  I love how quick and easy this is and I don't understand why anyone would by it in a can.

Smoked Cheese and Sausage (maybe not smoked, but I like this better than some others) 

Should say lasagna in the title.   I meant to add a bit more sauce to this, but didn't have it around, so I added a bit of half and half to get more liquid in there.  That being said, most of the no-boil noodles turned out fine, but a couple were, well, not done.  Most were, and the taste profile was good.  It was liked by both the adults and the children at the table (got compliments at the table and even the next day, which makes me happy).  I purposefully chose the Crooked Gap sausage over the Graziano sausage, because it's quite a bit less spicy (younger Matta daughter doesn't like things very spicy).  I skipped the smoked mozzarella but did add the diced prosciutto (La Quercia, what else?).  I served it with a La Mie ciabatta and Arugula (Cleverley Farms) and a champagne vinaigrette (using the last of some pretty expensive extra virgin olive oil).  Very good recipe, one to pull out a bit later, and add a bit more sauce to.

Mediterranean Chicken Wraps (RC Cook's Country October / November 2013) 

These came together, it was pretty good.  I modified it because I bought chicken thighs and decided to use them.  anyways, good stuffs.

Fishy fishy perhaps sandwich, perhaps not. 

This was quick and done after we both arrived home late from work (I beat Shannon home by 10 minutes) .  Ended up as a sandwich.

Stovetop Mac & Cheese (p 110 Food & Wine October 2013) 

delayed, we had leftover tacos.

Chile Braised Pork Shoulder Tacos  (x 3-4) (work, if I do 4, one will be without onion)

This scaled up well, and I was going to do individual pots, but the problem here was I didn't have enough pots to do individual ones.  I have 3 large pots (my beloved Chantal copper core stockpot, a relatively good pot that I use for somethings, and a cheaper version which I generally just use to boil pasta) .  So I had to balance most of the meat between two pots and the 3rd pot got the onion-free version.

So basically two of them was 1.5x the recipe and one was normal.  I used celery to replace the onions on the the one.  I replaced the Negro Modelo (couldn't bring myself to buy) with Bell's Kalamazoo Stout, which wasn't necessarily the most suitable replacement, but it worked.  I added an extra chile de arbol and a dried chipotle pepper (that I found int the cupboard) per recipe.  I bought some dried habanero, but I figured I was adjusting things a bit too much to risk adding more heat.

I was hoping that I could fit all 3 pots in the oven, but my oven wasn't having that, so I rotated them in and out about every 30-45 minutes and cooked the rotated out one on top of the stove to simmer on low and reduced the heat a bit as to not dry them out too much (the bottom of the pot for the half run was a bit dry by the time it was finished). 

So I needed more time to prepare the onions and celery, and seed the dried peppers, which put me behind the ball, then I made dinner, so I got consistently more and more behind.  I finished around 2, did a little kitchen clean up (that red paste is messy and stainy).  Put stain removal stuff on my shirt and threw it in the laundry then headed to bet.

It went over well, which I was pretty happy about.  My co-workers liked it, so did we and Joseph too, so all and all, pretty proud of my work here.

So the takeaway lesson here is how to extract more flavor from dried peppers (or peppers in general).  The paste that was made was very flavorful, because of the blending it made it consistent over all of it.  And this could be a way to reduce the dependence on a particular vendor for powders (though AllSpice will have my business for the foreseeable future).  So Chili, made with paste...that's got to be on the upcoming for a bit. 

Quick Pickled Onions (x2)  (work)

ehhh...didn't have time to do these, we'll have them with leftovers next week.

2013 - Week 43 Cooking

I've had to make a lot more decisions about the cost of food lately, due to an unexpected rise in bills.  But really what this means is that I go from a ridiculous amount of money on food, to only a mildly amusing amount of money on food.  But what it has led to is a lot less of exploring in the farmers market.  I end up with the fixtures from several people, but not a lot of trying new things, or vendors, because after I get what I "need" I don't have any money left over.

Yesterday I made a side trip to reserve a turkey, because my normal turkey source retired (she deserved to do so, but I still miss her)  and it's been awhile since I've seen them, since I would occasionally buy goat and duck from them.  But at least things will hopefully be better in July, or a bit earlier.  We'll see.

This week will be pretty easy.  I'm working more, but not totally crazy hour to prep for benefits enrollment 2014.  I'm mostly done, but the last part is proving to take quite a bit longer than I expected, but the results will be a lot better for both tracking and the people looking.

2013 - Week 42 Cooking Results

Chile-Braised Pork Shoulder Tacos (small run for work)

So this was time consuming, but not really work intensive.  There was a lot of hurry up and wait.  For the work run, I'm going to add a bit more spice (an extra chilies de arbol and perhaps a bit of dried habanero), but beyond that, it really turned out quite good.  I'm glad that it'll have bone in it (bone always adds something). and I've got a great big bag of pork shoulder defrosting in the fridge.  I picked up a bunch of dried peppers from Allspice.

It says something when you walk into a spice shop, spend $35 or so and just shrug it off thinking it's the cost of getting good things. 

I used Bell's Kalamazoo Porter, instead of Negro Modello.  My not be the most ideal swap up, but it worked.

Bacon and Egg Ramen  (p14 Fine Cooking October / November 2013)

On a growing ever more chilly evening, we had this to warm up our insides.  It was pretty good.  Not great, but pretty good.  Tasting it later, as the noodles sucked up more of the soup, it's gotten a bit salty.  But what can you do?  To many leftovers, so little time. 

Skillet Cheeseburger Macaroni (RC Cook's Country October / November 2013) 

When I told my wife what we were having, she looked at me weird and asked if I had bought a "helper" product.   This is silly, though I imagine this is in the same line, except good.  I did swap out the American "cheese" with cheddar (though a cheap one), since it seemed fitting.

Sichuan-Style Orange Beef with Sugar Snap Peas (RC Cook's Country October / November 2013) 

Pretty simple, pretty good.  I adjusted things up a bit to use the packages that I had. 

Green Onion Sausage Pizza

I'm very angry with myself.  I well and truly messed this up.  Who would've thought that the placement of the rack in the oven would've made such a difference.  Anyways, I'll have to do this again, soon.  The crust normally turns a crisp golden brown, this way on the lowest rack?  a bad char.  Bleah.

2013 - Week 41 Cooking Results

Classic Chicken Teriyaki (p224 Food & Wine July 2013) (yes again)

Everytime I make this the sauce gets just a bit better, though the amount it's getting better is not as much between the first and second time.  Very good, yet again.  Though now since there doesn't appear to be any more italian frying peppers coming (unless I totally missed them at Cleverley's, which is entirely possible))

I guess I get to finish off that bottle of saki.  Ohh I can use the Saki set I have.   Saki and Walking Dead, they go together, right?

Bacon and Egg Ramen (p14 Fine Cooking October / November 2013) 

Delayed.  After a long day of work outside (lawn mowing, then hedge trimming) it didn't seem like the meal to follow that up with, plus it wasn't cold enough, yet and I didn't feel like cooking.

Pumpkin Lasagna

After picking up a set of 10 pumpkins from Grade A Gardens this was clear to be on my list.  This is one of the favorite things that I've come across and the only thing that I modified from this to the previous recipe is that I added an extra layer of salami that I happened to have on hand (I had intended to add it as a layer in the mac & cheese from last week).  The other thing was that in the middle of cooking, I took it out of the oven, and we trekked over to Chris & Holly's to have dinner, so then I finished it in the oven over there.

I was quite happy with the way that it turned out.

Pasta With Chorizo and Chickpeas (p66 Bon Appetit September 2013) 

A little bit spicy, a little fatty from the chorizo.  Then the chew from the pasta and chickpeas.  Quite a good and simply made meal.

Pumpkin Pancakes!

So these turned into just pancakes with Lois' limited run pumpkin cheese cake with walnuts chevre on them.  Quite good.  I didn't have a chance to make a new batch of pumpkin puree before making these, so it still worked out though.  Good stuffs.

 

2013 - Week 40 Cooking Results

So I separated the basil this past week.  The root structure was taking up to much of the jar so that it would be problematic in growing.  So it makes me think about how much of the root structure there is compared to the pots out on the porch.  It wouldn't make it through a sunny day without sucking up all the water in the jar, so the bigger set, I moved to another jar, and the smaller set, I left in the small jar.  Anyways I've been thinking about the root structure and how it works, at least with this basil, plus it's also made me think that perhaps, I could hang a small set of planters off the window of my kitchen...fresh herbs, in the winter, w/o having to pay and arm and a leg for them.  I guess we will see.

Classic Chicken Teriyaki (p224 Food & Wine July 2013) 

This was very good...again!  The sauce came together better this time and I used chicken thighs.  It all worked out well.  And yes, because the peppers are available, I'm making it again. 

BATE (bacon arugula tomato and Egg)

nom nom nom.  Though I did run out of eggs, to make as much as I wanted. 

Chicken Tacos (bought to many tortillas)

Quick and good, though I didn't have time to actually make these the night I intended, we both had leftover pasta.  The issue was that I was trying to finish something at work, and didn't remember that it was Shannon's Art class night (or the general fact that it was Wednesday).  Even so, the soft corn tortillas.

Meatloaf (Crooked Gap) 

A bound of the Dexter beef, a pound of ground pork, and a pound of the green onion sausage (pork based).  Combined with a panade, egg, fresh fennel fronds, and a bunch of other things.  It came together very well.  I served it with some mashed potatoes with some Milton Creamery cheese that is new and I can't remember the name of right now.  That makes a fall meal right there.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese (for real this time) 

So last time I forgot the pumpkin, and this time I didn't have an egg (nobody that I buy from had eggs yesterday) .  Anyways, it gives it that pumpkin color, and I added enough that it gave it that fresh pumpkin taste.  I used a some Prairie Breeze for the base and some Shropshire Blue for the topping.

All'Amatriciana with Extra Umami (p110 Food & Wine April 2013) 

This was pretty good.  I used the last of my anchovy paste to adjust this, but I added too much tomatoes (had a can twice as much as I needed, didn't know what to use it for.  So it ended up being probably more wet than intended, but still very good. 

2013 - Week 39 Cooking Results

Chicken Soup

So this was the very last of the chicken from Fox Hollow.  It was a stewing chicken (hen that no longer lays eggs, thus to tough for regular cooking).  Everything is going along fine, got some of the goodness stewed out of the bones, some of the fat rendered off the chicken.

The problem came at the end.  I added a cup of rice, and thought, hey that doesn't look like enough, and then added another cup of rice.   The rice grew, expanded, sucked up liquid and the dish really became more of a soupy chicken and rice.

Still good, very good, but heavy on the rice.  I'll have to find other chickens to make soup out of.  The thing I like best about them is that they are usually sold for just above processing fee (since they've added their farm value by their eggs) .

Classic Chicken Teriyaki (p224 Food & Wine July 2013) 

This was fantastic.  Simple, quick and other the the acquiring of the ingredients, a very nice recipe.  So this came together in about the time it took to make the rice.  I'm making this again, especially since I have all the ingredients to do so (bought the frying peppers from Cleverley Farms).  Maybe next week I'll take pictures.

Pumpkin Mac & Cheese

I forgot to add pumpkin. 

So this was just mac and cheese, though I used my own bread crumbs.  I used some Milton Creamery Prairie Breeze  for the sauce, and then for the bread crumb topping layer (butter, crumbs and cheese), I used some blue cheese (I thought I would remember, but clearly I don't) for the top.  Then, because I remembered that I had a few slices of La Quercia Prosciutto, I put them between the layer of pasta and sauce and the topping.

BATE (bacon arugula tomato and Egg)

Fresh tomato season is almost over.  And this makes me sad.  Butcher Crick is done for the market season (yesterday), but these were good as always.

Chili

So I may have been a bit liberal with the cinnamon (part of the spice blend) because you could smell that over the rest of the chili smell all day.  I started at around 8:30 AM and served it around 6:00 PM.  I had my normal list of ingredients, a new type of beans (the ones I normally buy are no longer available where I usually shop).  I may have made it a bit too spicy (the heat level was just about right for me, but a bit to much for Shannon (6 jalapenos apparently is to much).  I don't think that I had enough onions, but it still worked out.  I like it, so I suppose I will be eating it for the next several days.  A lot of the items were from the DTFM.

Chicken Tacos

Simple and quick.  I did have these soft corn tortillas that I picked up at Gateway , these were very good.  They may replace my locally produced source, but I doubt it.  But they were really good.