The Cookbook

[George K]

@mik said in The Cookbook:

Jar mushrooms are handy to have around.

Indeed. I had some week-old "fresh" 'shrooms. They looked a bit slimy, and I thought, "Nope."

That dish needs some dry white wine to deglaze the pan.

Yeah, but I didn't want to open a bottle of (even cheap) wine. So, the broth did the trick.

What surprised me is that Mrs George approved. As I've said, she's not a "saucy" (no, don't go there either) person. She cut the chicken breast up into bite-sized pieces and spooned the sauce over it, as well as over some oven-roasted potatoes I made.

I have the feeling if I introduced her to some Northern Italian food, she'd approve.

[Mik]

I’m making an Italian dish tomorrow - pork braised in milk. Supposed to be amazing but we will see.

[Catseye3]

@mik said in The Cookbook:

I’m making an Italian dish tomorrow - pork braised in milk >

Bon Appetit has a recipe; I won't post it, assuming you have your own already. See below for the cite. Here are some readers' comments:

This recipe is the real deal. Don't deviate from it, and don't try to "fix" the sauce when it breaks. It's supposed to break!
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OMG, the number of reviewers who destroyed the curds by blending them out!! This is a crime against rustic cooking. The curds are integral, velvety chunks of deliciousness. Please don’t destroy them — enjoy the dish as an Italian grandmother intended, lovely & lumpy.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I bashed some grains of paradise in with the salt that the roast marinated in, for an extra bit of zip . . . This was FABULOUS. The milk sauce is heaven. Served it with fondant potatoes and balsamic broccoli ( roughly inspired by BA's Broccoli Strascinati recipe with dried fruit and almonds).

(He wrote BA meaning Bon Appetet, but at first I interpreted it to stand for Bucs' coach Bruce Arians; that's how the sports writers refer to him, LOL.)
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Don't be scared to use a little pepper too. Also, much of the flavor comes from the hard sear.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I put the pork under the broiler while it was resting to get a crispy skin.

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/maiale-al-latte-milk-braised-pork

[George K]

Spuds

I just love potatoes...

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/241713/roasted-potatoes-and-onions-easy-and-delicious/

Ingredients:

2 pounds potatoes, sliced into 1/2-inch-thick pieces
1 onion, halved and each half cut into quarters
½ cup canola oil
½ cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 envelope onion soup mix
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary, or more to taste
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).

Combine potatoes and onion in a roasting pan; cover with canola oil and olive oil. Add garlic, onion soup mix, rosemary, and black pepper and stir until potatoes and onion are evenly coated. Cover roasting pan with aluminum foil.

Roast in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove foil and continue to roast until potatoes and onion are browned and edges are crispy, 15 to 30 minutes.

Notes:

More crispy = only covered for 10 minutes. Less crispy = covered (can then be whipped or mashed as well for incredible mashed potatoes). I also love to saute bell peppers on the stove top 10 minutes before serving and present them on the roasted veggies.

Stir with large spoon every 15 minutes if you will be bothered by having a couple pieces seared to the pan.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

I used red potatoes (about one pound) and increased the garlic to 6 cloves, smashed and minced, (because garlic) , and roasted them, uncovered for about 10 minutes longer.

Just wonderful.

[Mik]

Smoked Turkey Rosemary Pasta

1/2 lb smoked turkey, cut in 1/4" cubes
1/2 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
EV Olive oil, to taste (1/4 C?)
1/4 cup white wine if you like
zest of 1 orange (don't skip this - important)
ground up rosemary to taste (1 t - 1 T - I tend to about 1 T)
1 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed
12 oz linguini or spaghetti

toast pine nuts
dice smoked turkey
start pasta water & cook as you do rest

heat EVOO in skillet, med ht.
when hot enough, add turkey and 1/2 rosemary, saute
after 5 min or so add white wine
when pasta is almost ready, add rest of rosemary, garlic, orange zest and pine nuts to turkey mix.. add EVOO to taste

mix with hot pasta and maybe 1/3 C pasta water.

Yum.. been making this for 20 30+ years. Good with white wine or red. You can add parmesan if you like but I think it hurts the flavors.

[Optimistic]

@george-k said in The Cookbook:

Spuds

Recommended by Gryphon

Easy Breakfast (or anytime) Potatoes

I found this recipe online. Easy to make and are awesome. I make a large batch at once, put them in the fridge, and eat with any meal. Very flavorful and step #5 sends it over the top. I also use much more pepper because you can never use too much pepper.

Ingredients
2 pounds russet potatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon fresh minced parsley (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with a silicone mat or foil. Foil is the correct choice.
2. Peel potatoes (or not if you like skins) and dice into 1/2-inch cubes.
3. Place potatoes into a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and toss. Sprinkle with seasonings and toss again to coat.
4. Spread potatoes in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-23 minutes.
5. Give the potatoes a quick stir, turn on the broiler and broil the potatoes for 4-5 minutes, or until golden brown and crispy.
6. Sprinkle with fresh minced parsley and serve immediately.

Made them tonight. I didn't have any russets on hand, so I used baby reds.

I used the chopper I mentioned earlier. I used 8 small baby red potatoes (with skin on) and added ½ yellow onion (diced) rather than the onion powder.

Mrs. George approves.

If I were to do ti again I'd slice the potatoes into ½" slabs and then dice. I'd cook the potatoes longer before broiling, and then broil longer than the recipe suggests.

Nevertheless, this is another go-to recipe for a side dish:

Making your spuds tonight, George. I've had a bag of little ones on hand for months, and this recipe looked perfect for it. Some variety I picked up from my local farm -- La Ratte.

[George K]

@optimistic Great!

I made them last night.

Pro tip: Put them as high under the broiler as you can for the last step of broiling.

They were good!

[Mik]

It's fish Monday! So Porcini-crusted salmon and some rigatoni with mushroom alfredo. Pinot noir to go with the earthy flavors. Not making the pan sauce. I doubt it would be worth it.

Butter-Seared Porcini-Crusted Salmon

http://userealbutter.com/2015/07/23/butter-seared-porcini-crusted-salmon-recipe/

4 6-oz. fillets of salmon, skin-on and pinbones removed
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 oz. dried porcini, ground to a powder (about 1/3 cup of porcini powder)
3 tbsps unsalted butter, (2 tbsps for frying, 1 tbsp for deglazing)
1 cup chardonnay for deglazing

Season both sides of the salmon with salt and pepper. Dredge each piece of salmon in the
porcini powder to cover it completely. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a sauté pan or skillet over
medium high heat. When the butter begins to bubble, place the salmon pieces skin-side up in
the pan. Cook until the bottoms are browned and release easily from the pan (about 4 minutes).
Carefully flip the pieces over and fry for another 3-4 minutes or until the middle of the thickest
part is just undercooked (it will continue cooking after you remove it from the pan). Remove the
salmon to a plate and let rest.
With the pan still over medium-high heat, add the remaining tablespoon of butter. Stir with a
whisk or spatula to incorporate the fond (the yummy browned bits on the pan) into the butter.
When the butter is fully melted and bubbling, add a cup of chardonnay (it will boil in a flash) and
continue stirring with a whisk or spatula to clean up the fond stuck on the pan. Let the liquid boil
down until the sauce is thickened and brown. Remove from pan. Pour the reduction sauce over
the salmon and serve. Serves 4

[George K]

[Mik]

Colorful dish!

[Mik]

Trying something new tonight - Thomas Keller's Spaghetti Aglio e Olio. Making the garlic confit now.

[Mik]

Mushroom Gouda Meatloaf

(Inspired by my BBQ forum friend SirPorkaLot so not an exact recipe, just how I did it)

1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1/3 lb mushrooms chopped
1/3 lb smoked gouda cheese cubed
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs (or any)
2 eggs
2 tsp porcini powder
2 tsp Q-Salt ( a friend makes and markets it. Any seasoned salt will do)
2 tsp Umamai powder
5 cloves of garlic
1 cup trinity (onions, celery and green pepper)

Mix all together, reserving 1 tsp of Q-Salt for the top. 350 until it reaches 160 internally.

Will report on how it turns out. Comfort food for the first really cold night.

Mix

[George K]

Of all the things that can go wrong in a marriage, our failure has been that Mrs. George doesn't like meatloaf.

[Mik]

There are worse failures.

But I can relate. MFR grows increasingly intolerant of culinary adventure.

[George K]

@mik said in The Cookbook:

MFR grows increasingly intolerant of culinary adventure.

Interesting. It's the opposite here.

I made a pretty simple chicken breast meal last night, with a very simple "sauce" dripping stuff. Mrs. George said she wanted more sauce.

Remember, this is the woman who wants her steak like a hockey puck.

[Mik]

Not beautiful but looks tasty.

[Aqua's Sister]

@mik said in The Cookbook:

Not beautiful but looks tasty.

Beauty is overrated.

[Mik]

It all looks about the same tomorrow.

[Mik]

[Aqua Letifer]

BADASS MAPLE STEW

1. About as much cubed chicken or chuck meat as a large yellow onion by volume. Or, if you're a severely left-brained person, let's just say exactly 1.5 cups.
2. 1 chopped large yellow onion. (1.5 cups)
3. About as many chopped carrots as a large yellow onion by volume. (1.5 cups)
4. About as many cubed golden potatoes as a large yellow onion by volume. (1.5 cups)
5. 2 cups dark beer
6. 2 cups bone broth. Chicken broth for cubed chicken, beef broth for chuck meat.
7. About half a cup of maple syrup
8. a bowl of flour
9. 1 generous tsp of sweet paprika
10. about 4 cloves of garlic, chopped.
11. dutch oven

This is the biggest bitch of the whole process, but it's absolutely worth it:

• cube your meat.
• dry it off.
• throw it into a bowl and pour the maple syrup over it. Coat it all well.
• take each piece out and individually coat well with the flour bowl.
• making sure not to overlap the pieces, place some of the ones you've floured, a small batch at a time, into your dutch oven. Medium heat. Throw a little olive oil at the bottom, and fry the meat so that they get a nice deep brown color on the bottom. Then use tongs to turn them over. repeat until all your meat has been cooked, and set it aside. But don't clean out your dutch oven. Let the excess crap stay in there.

Then:

• throw in a little more olive oil, then all your veggies (minus the potatoes), and get them about half cooked. Medium-high heat. keep stirrin' every couple of minutes until you're done.

Third:

• slowly pour in your dark beer, your bone broth, your potatoes, your paprika, your meat that you've set aside, along with a pinch of salt and pepper. You might have to add more bone broth, depending on what you want your liquid/solid ratio to be. (Don't taste it at this point. it's gonna taste like grog sopped up from a tavern floor, because the beer hasn't cooked away yet. But trust the process.)
• after you bring it all up to a simmer, slow cook with lid on for anywhere between 30 minutes and 2 hours. Longer is better.

Throw in about 1/8 cup of parsley on top once you're done.