Category: Cooking

"Man, that looks kinda ugly….."

"It does look a little bit like natto, huh. But it tastes so good!"

"I'm not sure I can do a post on this one….."

Such was the conversation the first time I made my Mushroom Risotto a couple of weeks ago. I guess it's somehow appropriate to do a post on my kinda fugly risotto. The Missus had been asking me to make this for quite a while. And while risotto isn't really hard to make, it's a pain in the butt to babysit. You don't have constantly stir it, but you do have to give it a mix about every minute or so. Of course, as soon I brought home the arborio rice, the Missus went to work with the content and conditions…. "No butter, absolutely no butter…..no chicken stock. It has to taste very mushroom-my….." and so forth. So what I did was first make a somewhat concentrated mushroom stock. 1 ounce of dried porcini mushrooms in three cups of lukewarm water. Luckily, I had been making quite a bit of mushroom dishes and had about a pound of maitake, oyster, shiitake, and other trimmings stems and such in the freezer. To this I added about a pound and a half of chopped crimini and white mushrooms. First thing I did was take a leek (sorry, couldn't help that one), actually two leeks, half an onion, and five cloves of garlic which I chopped rather roughly. I softened the onions and leeks in a good amount of extra virgin olive oil, then added all the mushroom parts and lightly stirred over medium heat until the mushrooms started giving off it's juices. I then added 1 cup of white wine and let the thing bubble away for a few minutes. I strained the porcini liquid saving the porcini for the risotto. I added the porcini liquid (make sure not to add any grit) to the mushroom mixture along with seven cups of water. Two tablespoons of concentrated tomato paste, a dash of Worcestershire, two bay leaves,two medium carrots chopped, fresh cracked pepper, dry oregano, and some dried thyme (believe me, I was trying to figure out how to use leek and thyme in the same sentence), and all I had to do was bring it to a boil, lower the temp to a simmer and leave it to reduce for about three hours or until it reduces by about a third. After it had reduced enough, I gave it a taste, it should taste good enough to eat on its own, adjusted the salt and let it sit overnight. Of course, with nothing much else to do, I decided to peel five bulbs of garlic and make garlic confit.Instead of olive oil, I used canola oil this time around.

The next day I strained my stock, which ended up being just a little over six cups. While I warmed this on the stove I chopped the porcini, minced the other half of the onion, and shredded about one-third cup of aged parmesan cheese. The really neat thing about risotto is that you're basically using the starch from the rice to thicken the rice to the consistency you desire. I prefer mine with not too runny and with the rice being nicely al dente. Things start out with adding some extra virgin olive oil combined with some of the oil from the garlic confit and adding the onions and five cloves of confit garlic which you can mash with a spoon. When the onions soften I added the rice (didn't measure – about 1 1/2 – 2 cups) and mixed to coat well then in went  half a cup of white wine  letting it bubble away for a minute or so giving it a couple of good stirs. Then in went 1 cup of water to get things started. I then set my kitchen timer on twenty minutes. I'll give everything a good stir about every 30-45 seconds or so. Stirring creates friction which causes the outer layer of the rice (the endosperm) to dissolve away in the liquid. This also causes the rice to absorb some of the liquid, but using an unlidded pan also means evaporation takes place. I'll add a ladle of the warmed mushroom stock as necessary. You'll be doing this over medium heat, so be careful to stir well…scorched risotto is not good eats! At about the 18 minute mark I'll start tasting, both for texture and flavor. when it looks like we're headed down the home stretch I'll add in the cheese, porcini, and adjust the salt and pepper. You'll end up using about six cups of liquid And there you have it. The first time I made this, I was juggling the risotto, doing a pan saute of some halibut, and making a tomato ragout….talk about a three ring circus! Meanwhile, the Missus, forgetting how much time was involved was getting ravenous. By the time everything was composed….well, She went through the dish faster than Sammy and Frankie would a pata bone. So with just a bit of it left and no photo opportunity, we had that little discussion above.

Later that night, as I heated up the remaining risotto, the Missus had an idea. Guess what? "Why don't you put a poached egg on top of the risotto?" Duh….. And it was pretty darn good…..so of course the Missus wanted me to make it again this weekend.

Topped with fresh cracked pepper, sea salt, some grated aged parmesan, and of course, white truffle oil…..

Here's the requisite running egg shot…..

Man this was good………

Even if it did look a bit like poop…….. or natto…..

Ever since I made the mushroom ragout with poached eggs, the Missus, already an egg lover has been requesting poached eggs at every opportunity. I've been trying to oblige though I sometimes wrack my brains trying to come up with stuff on the fly. Here's one of those on the fly recipes. Çılbır is a Turkish dish that features poached eggs on a bed of yogurt. I know it doesn't sound very appetizing to many and frankly I don't think my pictures do the dish any favors….I often have less than 10 seconds after plating the dish to get my photos taken.

A bit too much white on white, not quite the poster child for the National Egg Society or whatever it's called. This is a sorta recipe because I took what I believed was a base recipe and adjusted it to what I had on hand.

First off, you can't have that little oozy delicious poached egg lying in a bed of cold, hard yogurt, can you? We've been trying different brands of yogurt, and though nothing comes close to what we had in Greece and Turkey, I think Voskos plain is decent. Make sure you get something full fat with no starches or gelatin or other hardening agent in it I warmed the yogurt to almost room temperature using sort of a double boiler method. One eight ounce container of yogurt is enough for two (or more eggs). I added three mashed cloves of garlic confit (don't ask, that's another story), though perhaps I should have used raw garlic for a more pungent dish. Sage or some other dried herb is often used, but I don't usually have that on hand so I thought dried dill would be nice. I added about a half teaspoon of that to the yogurt sauce and simply made my bed of yogurt.

I also made an smoked paprika oil, it's usually kirmizi biber a ground chili in Turkey or Aleppo peppers. Also, butter is usually used, but the Missus has some personal problem with using butter in savory dishes…in pastries and baked goods its fine…..but no butter in anything I make. So I used a combination of extra virgin olive oil and some of the oil from the garlic confit.

Topped the whole mess with more dill and a touch of truffle oil and made even a bigger mess…..

Pretty delicious if you like runny eggs and yogurt.

Here's a gallery of the Missus's latest egg-nourmous obsessions…..first up are poached eggs on rosemary-olive oil bread from Con Pane. It's topped with porcini mushrooms, aged parmesan, and a bit of truflle oil.

This one is poached eggs on crispy polenta with a tomato ragout…..

I really should have made my own polenta, but this was a weeknight, so I went with the tube stuff. I used extra virgin olive oil and oil from my garlic confit, salt, pepper, you name it……it still was mediocre. The Missus loved the ragout though. Roma tomatoes helped by some double concentrated tomato paste, basil, sugar, garlic confit, and onions. Had barely five seconds to take this photo……it was history.

Anyway, I hope everyone is having a great week! Any big cravings recently?

The Missus has a "girl's night out" tonight and I decided just to stay home with Da' Boyz. I thought it would be a nice evening for some pork chops so I dropped by Seisel's on my way home. Unfortunately, they didn't have any of the Kurobuta Pork Chops I enjoy, so I decided to just get a thick cut pork chop…..the "other white meat" version. I knew this was going to need some help (no time to brine), so I decided to stuff it with what I had on hand. I had some fantastic pork chops stuffed with goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes in Crete….it was soooo good. I decided to just go for it.

I won't win any awards for food styling, but this was pretty tasty……

It turned out pretty well…I did the usual sear and finish in the oven, but perhaps a minute or ttwo too long. Still it was tasty. Unlike the really over-stuffed ones (mostly breadcrumbs) you see in the market, these weren't super-stuffed.

About an ounce of Chevre, two-three kalamata olives, one re-hydrated sun dried tomato. As you see in the photo above, it will still ooze. I used a wooden skewer cut at each length to keep things together. Don't forget to remove them after cooking. Cut a pocket into the pork chop (at least 1 inch or more thick) and stuff.

I'm used to searing off beef, so I think I'll go with a lower temp next time, though the crust was very tasty (just sea salt, pepper, and a touch of oregano).

I made the basic mushroom ragout, but used dried thyme and marjoram, making for a more intense flavor (along with more minced onion, garlic, black pepper, and salt) that I needed for a pasta sauce. Instead of butter, I used creme fraiche to thicken the sauce. You can't beat the flavor of porcini mushrooms and an aged parmesan. You know, I just realized how much stuff I have in fridge…..though I used up all the creme fraiche, olives, and my stash of dried porcini to make this.

Not bad for a last minute Monday dinner…….sometimes it's nice eating in…..

Yep, we're still kinda just eating at home….well if you call making a salad eating at home. This time, the Missus wanted something light, full of flavor, yet satisfying. I've always thought about crusting goat cheese with panko, then deep frying, and today was the day.

I cut 1 ounce slices of Lemon Chevre, rolled it into little balls, did the egg wash, then panko with a bit of granulated garlic. Let sit to come closer to room temp, then deep fried.  Man was this good, why doesn't everyone do this? We needed to use up all the baby arugula in the fridge, which I supplemented with 20 cents worth of spring mix. Sweet and slight spicy pickled red peppers, kalamata olives, sliced grape tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts completed the salad.

The Missus simply drizzled on some of that "liquid gold" olive oil we bought in Crete and She was good to go.  Man that cheese was fantastic, light, a bit of "goo", hints of lemon, savory, all wrapped in a fried crust. This was fast too. In the time it took me to bring the oil up to temp, I had everything prepped. The Missus did comment that a raspberry vinaigrette might go nice with this….. it also sounds like a pretty nice starter salad as well. Add another dish to my list…..

Cook anything new and different this weekend?

I don't know what "Dark Thursday" did to us, but we've sure been eating at home a lot. Nothing fancy and perhaps some a bit strange….I dunno, I'll let you decide.

This past weekend was recycle day for us. I used part of what I got for our old cans and plastic to buy some skirt steak from Seisel's. I had though about doing a Charcoal Grilled Skirt Steak or perhaps a Cumin and Sichuan Peppercorn Skirt Steak, but I just too lazy to get the charcoal going. So for lunch I made a simple pan seared skirt steak with some crumbled Danish Blue Cheese which I combined with a orzo and arugula salad.

For dinner I used the rest of the skirt steak to make what I call my Wa(t da) fu Steak.

I call it that because it's basically Wafu Steak, but I just kinda use what ever I have on hand. It's the three plus……soy sauce, mirin, and sake (the three). A tablespoon of white sugar, lemon juice, 1 dried chili, and two cloves of garlic (the plus). I like Shizuo Tsuji's method of salting (sea salt) then letting the meat stand to "extract the juices". I lightly sear the meat, remove from the pan, add onions, deglaze with the "sauce" and place the steak back into the pan to glaze.

It turned out rather well…….

Since I had blue cheese left from my first meat dish and creme fraiche from my mushroom ragout, I made the Missus's favorite Blue Cheese Dressing, fried up some bacon, and made a wedge salad.

Oh, and I made some tater tots…topped with a bit of aged white cheddar and truffle oil……..

So, what have you been eating this week?

Heh…..maybe I'm getting a little too cute for my own good…… The Missus has been bugging me to make some smoked salmon since She had the smoked salmon sandwich at Kitchen 4140.She's applied a bit more pressure since returning there and having an uneven meal…different bread, standard tomatoes, etc, etc, etc….. So on the way this evening I stopped by Nijiya Market and picked up some Cherry Blossom white bread, medium cut, next stop the Fruit Stand on Morena for some tomatoes, and finally a little comparison between Bay Park Fish and Seisel's to see who had better salmon…… on this day, the Scottish Salmon from Seisel's won out. The rest of the stuff we had at home…..

Seasoned with some fresh ground pepper, sea salt, and some smoked salt, 20 minutes in the stove top smoker (can't believe I've had the thing for over six years now!) and that's it…… took about forty minutes total, not bad for a week night.

 
Actually, I cut the veggies……and most importantly made this while the fish was smoking:

The Missus is a closet mayo lover….. She keeps telling me how much She hates mayo…. but I guess a dill-caper mayonnaise is a different story, especially with salmon.

1/2 cup mayonnaise
2-3 Tb chopped dill
1-2 Tb chopped capers (you should rinse, but the Missus likes it briney)
lemon zest

Chill to let the flavors meld before serving….

That honking piece of salmon is perhaps a bit too much for a single sandwich….but if you want to take even further over the top; perhaps a couple of slices of crisp bacon might do it???

But heck then you could call this a SS-BLAT??? Or even B.S. SALT???

Happy Monday everybody!

Well, I finally went and did it….. I made Sichuan Cold Noodles at home. I'm not quite sure why I never made this at home…..perhaps it's because I love the version at Ba Ren so much, or maybe I could never find noodles that I thought were worthy… or maybe I was just too darned lazy???

I had really never intended to make Sichuan Cold Noodles….. but like all extreme actions, there was a triggering event. In this case it was Santouka's limited time Hiyashi Tan Tan Mian offering back in June. I had read Dennis's wonderful post on it…. the boiled egg looked so lovely that I left my mind open to trying it out. But when I arrived at the Mitsuwa food court and looked at the folks eating the stuff, I changed my mind. I'm not a big fan of Hiyashi Tan Tan Mian, heck, I've rarely found Dan Dan Mian (担担面) that I consider edible. At that instant, I changed my mind and decided to have the Hiyashi Chuka instead…. until I reached the counter and the very perky young lady told me that I should have the Tan Tan Mian…it was only for a few more days…and they "only make 20 bowls a day!" So I relented and ordered it………

And was severely underwhelmed….. as always, I enjoyed the noodles (this was a pretty small serving), but this was pretty bland and had hardly any spice. The egg looked like one-third of an boiled egg, and I actually placed the yolk back in the white since it was on other side of the bowl. And for some reason, paying over nine bucks for this tiny bowl got to me……. The Missus took a bite and told me, "come on…. really? You paid nine bucks for this? Lettuce and a tablespoon of some kinda meat, with some shredded daikon and carrots? You are a sucker….." I guess the ridicule kinda got me wound up as well…… I guess Japanese Tan Tan Mian is just not my thing.

At that moment I decided that I'd go home and make Sichuan Liang Mian. I had a package of Sun Noodle Cold Udon in the fridge…. I like the noodles… I usually through away the other stuff that comes with it. So long you don't over cook it, the noodles have a nice al dente stretch and pull to them.

Sichuan Cold Noodle Sauce:

1 Tb sesame paste (use a pure sesame paste – like the brand I use for my Purple Cabbage slaw)
1 Tb dark soy sauce
1 Tb light soy sauce
2-3 Tb Chinkiang vinegar
1 Tb white sugar
5-6 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp ground Sichuan Peppercorn
1 Tb sesame oil
Multiple heat sources…… I used what I had around the house:

Some red chilies, ground red chilies, sambal olek, and home made chili oil.

Mix it up, and adjust to your taste…..I ended up adding more vinegar and the Missus thought it could use even more. I dumped the sauce on the noodle, added some sliced cucumber, cilantro, and scallions…….

Actually, if you got some ground pork and preserved vegetable, mixed with some chilies, dumped it into a hot wok with peanut oil, then added a couple of splashes of light soy sauce to this you'd probably have a close approximation of Dan Dan Mian.

Anyway, this stuff is easy to make…. I've made it a couple times since. Once we had a nice meal….. I made the Missus some Karei Karaage and had some smoked duck legs I had in the fridge…..

 The Missus told me that sometimes it's "fun getting you all riled up….." Well, I guess this time it was pretty tasty as well.