Big Chef made Italian Wedding Soup last night. (Sioux Chef helped.)
Yet another Cook's Illustrated recipe passes the test.
One hint: if you can't find unsalted chicken stock, reduce the salt indicated in the recipe. It's salty enough.
The soup was so good, I got up in the middle of the night and had bites of the left-overs. Yes. Cold bites straight from the frig. Gooood.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Sioux Chef Makes Grilled Cheese & Ham Sandwiches
Sioux Chef has not been lazy in her contributions to the evening meal. She has made perfect Grilled Cheese & Ham Sandwiches. Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated.
Grate that cheese. Build the sandwich with grated cheese and thin, thin layer of mustard. Add thin, thin slices of ham (2 slices). Baste the bread with thin layer of butter, each side. Add thin, thin slices of red onion if desired. Brown sandwich in cast iron skillet, both sides. Finish in a cool (200 degree) oven to melt the cheese.
Yes.
Grate that cheese. Build the sandwich with grated cheese and thin, thin layer of mustard. Add thin, thin slices of ham (2 slices). Baste the bread with thin layer of butter, each side. Add thin, thin slices of red onion if desired. Brown sandwich in cast iron skillet, both sides. Finish in a cool (200 degree) oven to melt the cheese.
Yes.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Brown Lentil Soup and French Onion Soup - Perfection
Big Chef made two soups last weekend: Brown Lentil Soup and French Onion Soup.
Both would have been totally vegetarian except that he used chicken stock in one and beef stock in the other. I don't think French Onion Soup could be made sucessfully without beef stock but the lentil soup recipe did call for vegetable stock. Big Chef did not have time to make veggie stock himself and store-bought veggie stock is ... how to be diplomatic? Oh yeah, this is how to say it: It's AWFUL.
Both soups were wonderful. We have had one or the other every evening this past week. That's a good thing for Sioux Chef. Easy meals.
Both recipes come from Cook's Illustrated.
Key to the Lentil Soup. Follow the recipe. Use Swiss Chard. I am accustomed to using spinach in lentil soup but Swiss Chard adds a hint of sweetness that compliments the earthy lentils. At the table, finish each bowl with just a tablespoon of red wine and a little parmesean cheese.
Key to the French Onion Soup: Cook those onions down, down, down without burning. Fond is good. Black bits of burnt onion is not. Finish the individual bowls with higest quality gruyere cheese. The stuff restaurants use resembles hot plastic. Avoid. And, really, you don't need that much cheese because this soup is so good you do not want to detract from the experience.
Both would have been totally vegetarian except that he used chicken stock in one and beef stock in the other. I don't think French Onion Soup could be made sucessfully without beef stock but the lentil soup recipe did call for vegetable stock. Big Chef did not have time to make veggie stock himself and store-bought veggie stock is ... how to be diplomatic? Oh yeah, this is how to say it: It's AWFUL.
Both soups were wonderful. We have had one or the other every evening this past week. That's a good thing for Sioux Chef. Easy meals.
Both recipes come from Cook's Illustrated.
Key to the Lentil Soup. Follow the recipe. Use Swiss Chard. I am accustomed to using spinach in lentil soup but Swiss Chard adds a hint of sweetness that compliments the earthy lentils. At the table, finish each bowl with just a tablespoon of red wine and a little parmesean cheese.
Key to the French Onion Soup: Cook those onions down, down, down without burning. Fond is good. Black bits of burnt onion is not. Finish the individual bowls with higest quality gruyere cheese. The stuff restaurants use resembles hot plastic. Avoid. And, really, you don't need that much cheese because this soup is so good you do not want to detract from the experience.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Big Chef Redeemed - Great Meal Prepared -- Pot Roast
Big Chef was grumpy and morose after the failure of Granmama’s Beef Enchiladas.
At least nephew Brian seemed to like it. He had second portions. (Brian is an ultra-marathon man and sees food as fuel. If it is not just awful, he will eat with gusto, all the time thinking of his upcoming 30 mile sprint, a preparatory saunter for the Boston Marathon in Spring '11.) (Translation: Beef Enchilada was edible and healthy. Brian came in fifth at his 30 Mile Saunter the next day.)(Brian was up before the crack of dawn and I should have made him a breakfast sandwich to-go as a snack before the race, but I just slept through the tiny click of the front door as Brian slipped out in pre-dawn dim. The dogs heard him, ‘though.)(Nothing gets passed the dogs.)
Big Chef analyses that the failure can be placed at the feet (foot?) of our new Grand Cuisinart, purchased that morning. It is a Cadillac with big engine. Just a few pulses almost liquefied the onions. Yes, it did. Onions needed to be chopped to chunky-sized bits.
Redemption. Pot Roast on Sunday. Wonderful. Marvelous. Perfection.
Sioux Chef made grilled home-grown tomatoes, white onions, and asparagus. Flashed on the nuclear grill. (I singed my bangs on starting the little monster. But it looks good.) (It does. Yes. Looks good.)
At least nephew Brian seemed to like it. He had second portions. (Brian is an ultra-marathon man and sees food as fuel. If it is not just awful, he will eat with gusto, all the time thinking of his upcoming 30 mile sprint, a preparatory saunter for the Boston Marathon in Spring '11.) (Translation: Beef Enchilada was edible and healthy. Brian came in fifth at his 30 Mile Saunter the next day.)(Brian was up before the crack of dawn and I should have made him a breakfast sandwich to-go as a snack before the race, but I just slept through the tiny click of the front door as Brian slipped out in pre-dawn dim. The dogs heard him, ‘though.)(Nothing gets passed the dogs.)
Big Chef analyses that the failure can be placed at the feet (foot?) of our new Grand Cuisinart, purchased that morning. It is a Cadillac with big engine. Just a few pulses almost liquefied the onions. Yes, it did. Onions needed to be chopped to chunky-sized bits.
Redemption. Pot Roast on Sunday. Wonderful. Marvelous. Perfection.
Sioux Chef made grilled home-grown tomatoes, white onions, and asparagus. Flashed on the nuclear grill. (I singed my bangs on starting the little monster. But it looks good.) (It does. Yes. Looks good.)
Sunday, October 3, 2010
A Failure in the Kitchen -- Enchiladas
Big Chef had a cooking failure.
Doesn't happen often but when it does, it is awful.
Granmama's Beef Enchiladas from Cook's Country (Cook's Illustrated). The meat was dry and tasteless. The sauce was thick and overpowering. The corn tortillas were raw.
Sioux Chef made cheese dip. Wonderful. We won't elaborate.
(Big C is making Pot Roast today to make up for Enchiladas. I'll keep you updated.)
Doesn't happen often but when it does, it is awful.
Granmama's Beef Enchiladas from Cook's Country (Cook's Illustrated). The meat was dry and tasteless. The sauce was thick and overpowering. The corn tortillas were raw.
Sioux Chef made cheese dip. Wonderful. We won't elaborate.
(Big C is making Pot Roast today to make up for Enchiladas. I'll keep you updated.)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Pork Stir-Fry with Lo Mein Noodles from Cook's Illustrated
Big Chef has tried his hand at a Cook’s Illustrated recipe in Sept Oct 2008, Pork Stir Fry with Lo Mein Noodles. The results were delicious.
As with all Chinese recipes, the ingredient list stretched a half column and required the chef to visit our local Chinese supermarket. After a two hour absence, he came back with two full bags and great excitement. Big C loves the Chinese supermarket. “You can buy anything there! And the prices. Phenomenal.” Of course, you are not always sure what you are buying – one must search for the English translation on most packages. But certain .. ah-hem, ingredients are quite recognizable. Like live ducks sitting in little wooden crates and big frogs frowning up from plastic containers. I guess with the right spices, you can eat almost anything.
So Big Chef set to preparing Stir Fry Pork in the afternoon, two days ago. I was busy at my business and, although ready to assist in my Sioux Chef role, I was not needed except for boiling the lo mein noodles at the very last minute.
My kind of meal. Set the table and sit down to be served a wonderful meal.
Big C was not as impressed with Pork Stir Fry as I was that first night. Two bites and I was extolling its virtues and proclaiming it a “company meal” candidate. It does need a little garnish of rooster chili sauce to brighten it and bring out the opposite smoky flavor in the stir fry.
(Don’t go looking for rooster chili sauce at the Chinese grocery store. I call it that because the only recognizable feature of the jar is a proud red rooster. Is there any English printed on the packaging? Can you import food without listing the ingredients? However, the sauce is good and I haven’t had a medical emergency yet so I judge it safe to consume.)
Big Chef proclaimed the meal wonderful when we heated it up the next night as a left over.
Which convinces me that this will be short listed for the company meal. If the chef can prepare central ingredients the evening before and the meal is better for that resting period … Ooohh la la.
Excuse me. I’m mixing cultures.
As with all Chinese recipes, the ingredient list stretched a half column and required the chef to visit our local Chinese supermarket. After a two hour absence, he came back with two full bags and great excitement. Big C loves the Chinese supermarket. “You can buy anything there! And the prices. Phenomenal.” Of course, you are not always sure what you are buying – one must search for the English translation on most packages. But certain .. ah-hem, ingredients are quite recognizable. Like live ducks sitting in little wooden crates and big frogs frowning up from plastic containers. I guess with the right spices, you can eat almost anything.
So Big Chef set to preparing Stir Fry Pork in the afternoon, two days ago. I was busy at my business and, although ready to assist in my Sioux Chef role, I was not needed except for boiling the lo mein noodles at the very last minute.
My kind of meal. Set the table and sit down to be served a wonderful meal.
Big C was not as impressed with Pork Stir Fry as I was that first night. Two bites and I was extolling its virtues and proclaiming it a “company meal” candidate. It does need a little garnish of rooster chili sauce to brighten it and bring out the opposite smoky flavor in the stir fry.
(Don’t go looking for rooster chili sauce at the Chinese grocery store. I call it that because the only recognizable feature of the jar is a proud red rooster. Is there any English printed on the packaging? Can you import food without listing the ingredients? However, the sauce is good and I haven’t had a medical emergency yet so I judge it safe to consume.)
Big Chef proclaimed the meal wonderful when we heated it up the next night as a left over.
Which convinces me that this will be short listed for the company meal. If the chef can prepare central ingredients the evening before and the meal is better for that resting period … Ooohh la la.
Excuse me. I’m mixing cultures.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Netflix and Julia Child
After a day of New-Years-Day lazing around, playing Sudoku, and consuming (between the two of us) a bottle of 2004 Truchard Syrah (delightful), Big Chef is now watching Julia Child on DVD.
I hear her distinctive voice, muffled through the floorboards, punctuating a finer point and enthusing over an aroma. Big C is in his Man Cave in the basement. He breaks forth in HIS distinctive gaffaw from time to time.
This morning Big Chef decided that he would try his hand at fried eggs. I (Sioux Chef) usually "DO fried eggs". However Big C had an idea about lower temp but had never done fried eggs before. They were good. Buuuttt. A litle too underdone for my tastes.
I made my signature biscuits (perfect), Big C fried Four Oaks Farms bacon (better than store-bought) and we ended with home-made jelly/Irish butter for the remaining biscuits.
We haven't had lunch so we are getting hungry. I hear Big C in the kitchen snacking on crackers (trash). So I am on my way to make us a chicken sandwich (see last post on Chicken in a Pot) and Campbells Bean with Bacon soup.
I hear her distinctive voice, muffled through the floorboards, punctuating a finer point and enthusing over an aroma. Big C is in his Man Cave in the basement. He breaks forth in HIS distinctive gaffaw from time to time.
This morning Big Chef decided that he would try his hand at fried eggs. I (Sioux Chef) usually "DO fried eggs". However Big C had an idea about lower temp but had never done fried eggs before. They were good. Buuuttt. A litle too underdone for my tastes.
I made my signature biscuits (perfect), Big C fried Four Oaks Farms bacon (better than store-bought) and we ended with home-made jelly/Irish butter for the remaining biscuits.
We haven't had lunch so we are getting hungry. I hear Big C in the kitchen snacking on crackers (trash). So I am on my way to make us a chicken sandwich (see last post on Chicken in a Pot) and Campbells Bean with Bacon soup.
Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls, New Years Eve, 2009
A Soul-Satisfying Meal to Ring in the New Year.
from Best Recipes, Soups & Stews; Cook's Illustrated
pages 58 and 22 (with a few modifications)
Yet again Big Chef presented us with The Key Ingredient for this wonderful, rich, restorative soup: the special chicken broth.
The stock is made from chicken with bones cleaved to expose the marrow. The pieces are sauted and sweated before being cooked in water with chopped onion and bay leaves. At the finish, the solids are discarded and the stock is strained and defatted. Save 2 tablespoons of chicken fat for use in the matzo balls!
Oh, if you want to make defatting the stock easier, then a simple technique is to use a pipeline process. You'll need 2 (or more) fat separators for this. Just pour the fatty broth into the first one, then pour the chicken broth from the first separator into the second separator. You'll end up with wonderful fat-free broth using this method. -- Big C
Discard the solids? Yes. With this technique, all luscious flavors leave the skin, flesh & bones and enter the stock. The solids are without taste. But the broth. Luxuriously rich. The essense of the chicken. Nectar of the gods. If you are sick, the broth alone will restore you to health. It takes about an hour to make. Big Chef made the broth a day ahead of time.
Matzo balls can be a little finicky; if the mixture is too wet the balls will melt in the water. Too dry, they never cook to the center. I've tried different brands and settled on Manischewitz, unsalted. Substantial in consistency and size but delicate in flavor and texture.
Matzo balls do not keep well so I made only enough for the meal. For Big Chef and me (with a leftover matzo or two for the Scotties) that was about 8 - 9.
The flavor of fresh chicken fat in a well prepared matzo ball is without description. So tender, so delicate. The perfect balance for the Miraculous Broth. To finish the broth, Big Chef adds thinly sliced carrots and chopped fresh dill passed at the table.
We also had a half chicken sandwich a piece. I made if with Texas Toast, mayonaise with a little prepared horseradish, and lettuce. The chicken was left over from Big Chef's Chicken in a Pot meal a few days ago.
Chicken in a Pot is from Cook's Illustrated January - February 2008. It is a French method of cooking a chicken that forgoes a crispy skin for succulent meat. Big Chef used more rosemary than the recipe suggested in his preparation. That hint of rosemary in the cold chicken was a beautiful compliment to the sharp horseradish.
from Best Recipes, Soups & Stews; Cook's Illustrated
pages 58 and 22 (with a few modifications)
Yet again Big Chef presented us with The Key Ingredient for this wonderful, rich, restorative soup: the special chicken broth.
The stock is made from chicken with bones cleaved to expose the marrow. The pieces are sauted and sweated before being cooked in water with chopped onion and bay leaves. At the finish, the solids are discarded and the stock is strained and defatted. Save 2 tablespoons of chicken fat for use in the matzo balls!
Oh, if you want to make defatting the stock easier, then a simple technique is to use a pipeline process. You'll need 2 (or more) fat separators for this. Just pour the fatty broth into the first one, then pour the chicken broth from the first separator into the second separator. You'll end up with wonderful fat-free broth using this method. -- Big C
Discard the solids? Yes. With this technique, all luscious flavors leave the skin, flesh & bones and enter the stock. The solids are without taste. But the broth. Luxuriously rich. The essense of the chicken. Nectar of the gods. If you are sick, the broth alone will restore you to health. It takes about an hour to make. Big Chef made the broth a day ahead of time.
Matzo balls can be a little finicky; if the mixture is too wet the balls will melt in the water. Too dry, they never cook to the center. I've tried different brands and settled on Manischewitz, unsalted. Substantial in consistency and size but delicate in flavor and texture.
Matzo balls do not keep well so I made only enough for the meal. For Big Chef and me (with a leftover matzo or two for the Scotties) that was about 8 - 9.
The flavor of fresh chicken fat in a well prepared matzo ball is without description. So tender, so delicate. The perfect balance for the Miraculous Broth. To finish the broth, Big Chef adds thinly sliced carrots and chopped fresh dill passed at the table.
We also had a half chicken sandwich a piece. I made if with Texas Toast, mayonaise with a little prepared horseradish, and lettuce. The chicken was left over from Big Chef's Chicken in a Pot meal a few days ago.
Chicken in a Pot is from Cook's Illustrated January - February 2008. It is a French method of cooking a chicken that forgoes a crispy skin for succulent meat. Big Chef used more rosemary than the recipe suggested in his preparation. That hint of rosemary in the cold chicken was a beautiful compliment to the sharp horseradish.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)