The Cookbook

[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.

[Mik]

Sounds excellent.

[Aqua Letifer]

@mik said in The Cookbook:

Sounds excellent.

Easy, simple ingredients, and keeps extremely well. The meat's a little labor-intensive but that's it.

[LuFins Dad]

@aqua-letifer said in The Cookbook:

@mik said in The Cookbook:

Sounds excellent.

Easy, simple ingredients, and keeps extremely well. The meat's a little labor-intensive but that's it.

Looks good!

[Mik]

My assignment for Thanksgiving is cookies. So I made these and added 1/c chopped macadamias. Delicious, but my dough was too dry (I was short 1 t of vanilla) so I had to add another egg.

https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/cranberry-orange-and-white-chocolate-chunk-cookies/094f8669-120c-4163-bb41-95e2d52ac478

[Copper]

I made Toll House cookies, accept no substitutes.

[George K]

Tonight's Dinner

Link to video

Came out pretty tasty. My only flaw was that the breasts were a bit thick, and I cooked them, perhaps, too long.

Nevertheless, pretty tasty.