Journal

2020 - Week 20 Cooking Results

Kale and Black Bean Breakfast Burritos

A big bundle of kale, reduced down with beans and eggs, wrapped in a tortilla. Good to go.

Ricotta Scrambled Eggs And Buttered Ramps On Toast

A nice recipe, quick to do. It appears as if this will be the last ramp recipe of the year. I served this over a very mild sourdough.

Ramen Noodles With Spring Onions and Garlic Crisp

So this was surprising. Simple, maybe I added to many noodles (had to swap out for a different kind since fresh ramen were not available), so perhaps the flavor was a bit reduced, but even so, it has both a very nice flavor and a good combination of textures in the dish from the crunch of the fried pieces to the mild chew of the noodles.

Salad with Chicken

Using those greens, this fresh greens. So good.

Sausage egg on an English muffin

Of course this was a nice combination, a pretty good English muffin, certainly better than the standbys that you get in the store. Farm fresh eggs, large black pig sausage. Good things. I bought a bunch more from them (biscuits, etc).

Stage 2 of the rhubarb bitters happened earlier in the week. This is the light rum with the herbs, spices, and bittering agents?

I also made some limeade, using the limes I bought at costco. An interesting process to be sure. Maybe enough of the sugar didn’t make it into the final thing as it had a bitter undertone, but So far so good (I made it for Shannon)

2020 - Week 19 Cooking Results

Sausage and egg on an English muffin

Delayed! I drunkenly ordered Fong’s for delivery.

Salad with Chicken

An abundance of fresh local greens makes me happy. Combined with other fresh and local things and some not so fresh bread crumbs for a good meal. Nice to have those local fresh greens again.

Hamburger

Beef, actual beef. White park beef. Nice to have. I bought a five pound pack from Lucky George, via my local food coop. Good things.

Ramp Pesto Spaghetti

A little less ramps then I needed, a bit more pasta then what was called for (who sub-divides a box of pasta?). I added a bit more cheese and some pepper, it was pretty good.

Fusilli with Sausage, Kale, and Sungold Tomatoes

The combined fat, kale and tomatoes made for a good sauce for the pasta. Flavorful and good, the tomatoes didn’t part like they probably should have, but it was a good use of kale and a good evening meal.

I also started rhubarb bitters. They’re at stage one and resting to stage 2.

2020 - Week 18 Cooking Results

Kale, Onion and Cheddar Frittata Recipe

The frittata did not raise as much up as thought it might, so it was a bit dense. Still a nice combination and a good way to use kale.

Pasta With Beans and Greens Recipe

So the mashed beans with stock created a nice “sauce” that held to the rigatoni quite well. Flavorful, earthy with a nice background of savory flavor (thanks anchovies!).

Ramp and Sausage Risotto

I make this every year as a sign of that transition into spring. It is what I crave the most when the weather starts to turn from cold to warm. Mostly cause you can’t get ramps all the time. Early on in the pandemic (after worrying about family friends, etc etc), I was pretty sure I wouldn’t get ramps this year. Fortunately, opportunity has presented it self and once again, I have a good supply of ramps.

Spaghetti with Green Garlic Recipe

Very simple, It came together pretty well and had a nice flavor to it.

Taco Salad!

Good things.

Working from home does give me the opportunity to use leftovers in such a fashion to make a new thing out of it. I have started enjoying this part of my day as it is something I do just for me. I used the leftover smoked sausages to make sandwiches, with the pickles and bbq sauce from the Cheese Bar.

2020 - Week 17 Cooking Results

Sloppy Bison

Good as always.

Sausage (Lucky George), Egg (Grade A), on English Muffin (Sweet to Eat)

So the English muffins were pretty good, combined with an egg, and sausage made a good meal for dinner.

I was running a bit late as I didn’t want missing signing for a package (the truck was in the neighborhood for nearly 3 hours before making it to my house.

Roast Chicken (Crooked Gap)

So I ended up going with Jacques Pépin's Quick-Roasted Chicken. I started brining the chicken earlier in the week shortly after I picked them up shortly after they were slaughtered. This came together pretty easy, roasted up nice, and we had it with greens from Grade A Garden which is making the best that they can with the restrictions we are under (I went to their giant fridge, picked up a box, and came home)

Broccoli and Egg Fried Rice

Delayed and or Cancelled!

Spicy Chicken Tacos (probably modified a bit)

Just a bit of a modification, ended up making them into a salad since we had locally (ish) made corn chips. Good tasting, nice combo and a good chance of pace from my normal taco salad mix.

2020 - Week 16 Cooking Results

Lacy Cornmeal Pancakes With Strawberry Compote

I don’t know i if the corn meal that was more fine then the one I used (not going to have two types of corn meal on hand). So perhaps what I had on hand wasn’t as finely ground as the non-specific call in the recipe. I made the compote in the middle of the day, and took a nap after, as is normal in this day and age. After running some errands (Lua, Cheese Bar), I put together the batter. The cornmeal kept wanting to fall to the bottom so I would re-whisk it before every 1/3rd cup or so dosing into the pan. I spent a bit trying to get the pan about the right temp, started a little to low, then to hot, then just about right by the 3rd pancake. The cakes themselves where thin and a bit gritty, but I still enjoyed the flavor profile and texture.

Sheet Pan Chicken Meatballs with Tomatoes and Chickpeas

Maybe they weren’t the right sized meatballs, since they took a bit longer to cook, I didn’t end up using the broiler. To make the harissa, I used a bit of the carrot habanero sauce that was from the Cheese Bar with a bit of tomato paste some spices and called it good. I also used canned tomatoes since you know, early in the season. All in all it turned out pretty well.

Bison Burgers

I had some leftover lard from Taco Sunday, so I put that in there and mixed it in. A little bit richer, but you know, a bit self defeating.

Pasta

More veggies, less meat. I may have though the powered ginger was the powdered garlic, so I ended up adding a lot more herbs and spices that I would normally do. It was in there, but not as present, which is good, because I don’t feel as if it really belongs.

2020 - Week 10 Cooking Results

Latvian Stew (I will admit this is based on the description in A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles, which I found to be so intriguing, that I have to try it)

So, I generally stick to cookbooks, trusted websites and friends suggestions. A lot of people out there don’t have enough information (I suppose this also includes some websites and cookbooks) or notes, or directions. But I wanted to make this stew I read the description of. So I did some googling and came up with a couple of versions, and this one seemed about right (maybe a little light on the spices). That being said, I got a number of doubtful looks when I told people I was making a stew with apricots. But after the 2ish hours of work (a big chunk of that was getting the meat off the bone and chunking it out from there) and about an hour and a half in the oven simmering, it came out to be this silky, mildly spicy, with undertones of mild sweetness. It really was joyful and worth the effort. I ate it with a bottle of an Australian blended wine (Cullen) suggested by a friend at the Cheese Shop.

I used 4 / 6 of my cutting boards.

I am uncertain if the hotel that was in my dreams last night was my picturing of the hotel in book (the dream ended up being an anxiety work dream, if I’m honest), but it seemed like it was that similar grand, but worn down.

Wonderful meal.

Sloppy Bison

Chopped onion, olive oil, pinch of this that and the other, a bit of mustard, diced tomatoes and tomatoes sauce. I’d try to tell you the spices, but honestly, no idea what I used.

Grilled Cheese of some sort

We ended up going out instead. I have the cheese and mortadella, I’ll probably do it Sunday.

Fish of some sort.

Lovely tuna steak, salt, pepper, sous vide and finished in a pan. Getting pretty good at that method. Pink on the inside a pretty good sear on the outside. I should probably turn the pan up a bit, but I also like to avoid the smoke alarm. I need a vent fan.

2020 - Week 5 Cooking Results

Roasted Chickpeas and Broccoli Burritos p165 (Thug Kitchen)

Though I changed it a bit, because I didn’t have chili powder but I had chipotle powder. It was easy to put things together and I actually had leftovers for breakfast for a couple of days. Roasting the spiced vegetables was a way to build flavor, without to much effort. This is what I generally like about the book. Process is easy, generally. I got tired of the swearing in text pretty quickly. I may curse a lot in my speech, but it doesn’t often make it to the page, as I think a bit more then what comes out of my mouth. Good meal, relatively low effort and a nice flavor profile. I admit, we removed the vegan meal label by adding sour cream and cheese.

Tex Mex Shepherds Pie p114 (Power Vegetables!)

I started this around 4, we ate around 7. So it takes a bit. There’s a bit of effort to dice a bit of vegetables, but after getting a general start with up to the garlic, and was able to keep ahead. Had I bought 3 zucchini instead of 2, I probably wouldn’t have been able to. I didn’t want to buy a bag of masa harina, I used corn meal instead. This may have messed the dough up a bit as it didn’t absorb as much water as I thought it might. I added a bit more meal to thicken it up a bit. Even so I never got it to the play-dough like texture that was mentioned in the recipe. That being said, it came out as a flavorful dish. A good weekend cook.

Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup

Easy in process, I added more orzo, which is a mistake for leftovers, but fine for the night of. The net day it looks more like a rice dish with a touch of broth as the orzo grows in size and soaks up the broth, but the night of, fine. I added quite a bit of pepper to it to have a underlaying pepper bite. It was pretty nice.

Ginger Scallion Ramen Noodles

I always have trouble converting from fresh to dried, when involving ginger. I think I about have it right for garlic, but I don’t use ginger that often. So this ended up being a bit more gingery then it probably should be. I used fresh udon noodles, instead of dried ramen (I didn’t even look for fresh ramen). It was a bit spicy, ginger-wise, but that’s on me.

Turkey Burgers

Added some spices, cooked lower then I normally do, done and good.

2020 - Week 4 Cooking Results

Pumpkin Bolognese p385 (Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables)

This took about 2 hours to do, even though I was able to skip part of of the directions, since I already had some pumpkin puree on hand (it was frozen). This was a very slow cooking event. The lower temperatures are used to mesh up the flavors.This was certainly the most meat I’ve used in a dish in a bit. I think it was quite enjoyable and this would be in the “once in a while” category of foods to cook. I think I could probably start with a bit more pumpkin puree, since I was guessing as to what it would convert to (I also used pumpkin last week, and wanted to not open another frozen block of pumpkin puree). Anyways, I will have to make this again.

Sweet Corn and Green Chile Baked Flautas p62 (Thug Kitchen)

I used some of my co-worker’s corn to make this..it was easy to do, though had a few steps. Finished off in the oven, I, again, broke then vegan, by adding cheese and sour cream. Even so, by itself, it was nice. I used chipotle powder. which added a nice smokiness to the dish, plus a bit of heat. I enjoyed it.

Caramelized Cream Eggs

I may have to try this again. This was a suggestion from Jenny as something that was quite good. reading the article you get the idea that the head breaks up the cream into milk fat solids (butter) and water, which leads for a nice finish…though I have just cooked eggs in butter, which I suspect is fairly similar, though this was interesting watching it finish.

Fish (see what is around)

Yellow fin tuna, salt, pepper, olive oil, sous vide, finished in a pan.

Bison Burgers

Good as always. I combined with some chili powder that my aunt brought back from Mexico. made for a nice, mildly spicy grilled burger. Cooking it lower then you would for a fatter meat, but for longer to get that done edge, while keeping it just a little pink in the middle. it’s an odd balance to try to maintain.

2020 - Week 1 Cooking Results

Chicken and Rice Meatballs With Hummus

Visits and other things, Delayed!

Brothy Pasta with Chickpeas

Visits and other things, Delayed!

Beetroot Risotto With Goat Cheese

I made this on Saturday. It took a bit (1:40, Includes a break to medicate Freyja). That being said it was quite good. Earthy, a little sweet and savory. The combo of the fat and flavor from the goat cheese added at the end, Holy smokes that was good. I remember buying beets at the last winter market, but I can’t remember whom I purchased them from. It was a bit drawn out, and peeling beets is a bit annoying (especially the little ones). My hands were a little bit pinker then normal.

Pasta

Simple pasta, added some green pepper to it, half the meat.

As I got a delivery of some of the most delicious bread, I went to make some Grilled cheese sandwiches. I used Comte, La Quercia prosciutto, and some Jam made by a friend from his tree in California. Wonderful. Certainly didn’t fit in my current general behavior, but when given a gift, why no make a delicious choice.

2019 - Week 50 Cooking Results

Vegan Coconut Lentil Soup

This had the strong taste of spinach. I’m not sure if that was the intent or not. It didn’t have that mild baby spinach taste, but a strong spinach flavor. It did have an undercurrent of spice that added a bit of heat. Still…it’s not necessarily the most delightful flavor combination.

Easy Hawaiian Shoyu Chicken

It was easy, that is for sure. I liked the flavor of savory and sweet. We ended up serving this over rice. I used a bit of the sauce that was left to flavor the rice. It was flavorful. Near the end of the cook time I did have to add a bit of water, and that may have messed it up a bit, but even so, it was quite tasty.

Honey-Soy Glazed Salmon

Simple to do, a bit of baking and done. Pretty good taste as well.

Bison Burgers

Spices, and Bison and buns, oh my!


Snickerdoodles

I made these for Shannon’s work party. It was relatively simple to make and certainly a lot less time consuming then other cookies that I’ve been making recently. They spread out a little bit more then I expected so I probably should’ve added another sheet pan, but as it stands it was almost fine. I ate half a cookie that night to taste test, and left the other half to Shannon. The rest went to her work party (none came back).