Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 318
Saturday, January 07, 2012, 10:26 PM
We made the soup from the recipe below. Generally, we have trouble with Crock Pot stuff since it takes too long to just do when we get home but not so long as to be doable before we leave for work. However, this worked well because we set it up and then ran (a lot) of errands. We followed the recipe surprisingly closely with the only change being half the chicken, extra adobo sauce, and I chopped a chipotle and put that in too.
The soup was very good. I was especially impressed with how easy it was to shred the chicken. This is definitely something I would do again. We also had a nice amount of leftovers
Meredith made the salsa verde from the recipe in Homesick Texan book (I'll add the page in the comments when I check). She basically followed the recipe except one of the avocados tasted funky so we didn't put it in. While we though it was our best attempt, it wasn't incredible. Too much lime (lemon?) and maybe something else, but I don't know. We toasted some whole wheat tortillas to dip.
We also had bread since I need to carb-load for the next day.
**Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup ** (from Gina's Skinny Taste)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1685, 2012-01-07_222602
Friday, January 06, 2012, 10:25 PM
We made chicken vindaloo with the recipe here. I more or less followed it with the following changes
It came out pretty good. I went too heavy on the tumeric which is why it is yellow and not red (and why the food processor is stained). Other than that, it was just spicy.
We didn't have time to make samosas, plus, this had a lot of potato in it already so we didn't need it.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1682, 2012-01-06_222547
Wednesday, January 04, 2012, 02:54 PM
Nothing too special here. We made Koftas as before basically using the same recipe. I do not think we made any _new_changes. Still used lean beef, and less of it. Meredith made her usual tzatziki.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1673, 2012-01-04_145440
Tuesday, January 03, 2012, 02:54 PM
We made pizza puffs using the recipe below. We basically followed the same idea but used some diced soppressata and a lot (too much?) zucchini.
THey were pretty easy and tasted okay. Not incredible. I think the definitely needed salt and I don't really know what else. Maybe next time we will mix half whole wheat and white flour.
When we make pizza, we tend to roll it really thin so the yeast doesn't do too much, but it still adds flavor which I think this was missing. Also, we didn't have mini-muffin tins so they were bigger.
Pizza Puffs (From Cooking With My Kid)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1670, 2012-01-03_145422
Sunday, December 25, 2011, 11:24 PM
I decided to invite some friends for not-christmas dinner. I made salmon, hasselback potatoes and roasted broccoli.
(2014-01-06 Note: I added this technique to My Recipe Book)
I did the salmon on the stove and in the oven. I had read a lot of different recipes for salmon on the stove and there were a few different approaches. I settled on using the cast iron pan and the oven. I seasoned the salmon with salt and pepper, then seared them flesh (not skin) side first for a minute. I flipped them, and then threw them in the oven (preheated at 425) for like 6 minutes. They cooked really nicely and the flesh came off the skin with ease. My only problem was the pan was too hot at first and smoked when I added pam. I wiped it and then I just cooked them without the pam. It didn't stick which was nice. The other thing I did was make sure I started with the fish at room temp. Thankfully and somewhat surprisingly, I didn't overcook the fish!
I also made hasselback potatoes. That is when you slice it 3/4 of the way through and fan it out. I used two wooden spoons as knife blocks. I initially alternated putting garlic and shallots between each slice. Then, I read some more recipes and it sounded like you didn't have to put stuff in each and every slice and they will just open if you wet them first. I basically just kept it as it was except I took out a few shallots and garlic. I sautéd them in olive oil then poured the strained oil on the potatoes for flavor. Next time, I will read the recipe _first_and then try to cook it. I want to do them again, but I will read more recipes first. Oh, I also cut off a bit of the bottom first to give me a flat surface.
I also roasted broccoli as I describe on 2011-12-06. They could have used a bit more time but they were still good. I also served some rosemary and olive oil bread.
Finally, for dessert, I made stuffed dates. They were pretty easy since once I cut out the pit, I used leftover German Butter Cream from the Thanksgiving Red Velvet Cake. I topped them with some powdered sugar. They were good!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1666, 2011-12-25_232456
Saturday, December 24, 2011, 10:19 PM
With Meredith away, I wanted to make something I couldn't make when I was cooking for both of us and this is what I came up with. It was pretty standard taquitos (originally 2011-04-27) except I made a few changes. Instead of all hot sauce, I put two ground, dried Bhut Jolokia (wikipedia, the hottest pepper in the world)) peppers in. I first de-seeded them then chopped them and finally ground them. The other change I made was to replace one Laughing Cow wedge with goat cheese.
It turns out Meredith could have eaten it even with the goat cheese since it was SO SPICY from the two small peppers, that you really didn't taste the cheese. It was still flavorful, but also really spicy! I have to be careful using them.
I also made baked zucchini. I was lazy and used real bread crumbs. They were much better than the fiber one version. Though, I still want to try with corn flakes.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1661, 2011-12-24_221908
Thursday, December 22, 2011, 10:18 PM
This was pretty standard moussaka. We made it the night before so when we cooked it from cold, it had strange cracks in the top. Not a big deal by any means. The biggest difference is that we were cooking it, I realized we forgot to buy potatoes. We were getting ready to make it potato-less, Meredith remembered that we had canned potatoes so we used them. Given the option of no potatoes and the canned, I would use the canned, but they had a strange taste and I prefer the real ones.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1658, 2011-12-22_221831
Wednesday, December 21, 2011, 06:08 PM
This idea really came out of nowhere. We only just decided to call them zucchini latkes instead of fritters for chanukah. I read a few different recipes for zucchini fritters and basically settled on the one below.
One thing I did differently was after grating the zucchini, I laid out two layers of paper towel on a baking sheet. I spread the zucchini as flat as possible and topped it with another two layers. I then put another sheet on top and pushed as hard as I could. I put a bunch of pans on it as weight and let it sit. After 10 minutes, I changed the upper layer of towel. I didn't need the zucchini right away so I was able to devote this time to really drying it off; which many recipes insisted was absolutely important.
Anyway, I followed the below recipe except I also added some cayenne pepper,garlic and onion powder, and some dried basil. Also since I was 1.5x the recipe, I eyeballed some extra egg (whites) and I think I added too much. It was a very, very wet batter. It probably didn't help that the salt drew out more moisture. I added more flour to compensate but it was still wet. I spread them really thin and let them bake longer to compensate. They ended up okay but I'll be more careful next time.
Meredith and I both really enjoyed them. They reminded me of fried zucchini and other zucchini fritters I have had. They were basically out only item (we had some extra moussaka sauce from the moussaka we made for 2011-12-22). Next time we will add some other protein source or something.
(This is now in my Recipe Book section)
Zucchini Latkes [Fritters], (From Cooking With My Kid)
Prep Time: 15 mins Cooking Time: 25 to 30 mins
Ingredients:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Use the large part of the grater to grate zucchini and onion. Place grated veggies in a strainer and press down firmly with a paper towel to remove as much excess moisture as possible. (Removing moisture is the most important part of this recipe!) Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the egg. In a small bowl, mix together the baking powder, salt and 6 tablespoons of flour. Combine the flour mixture with the zucchini mixture. Add additional flour if it is still too wet. Drop mixture into 3 inch sized circles on a greased baking sheet or use moonpie pan like we did. Bake for 15-20 minutes, then turn the pancakes over, and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Fritters should golden brown on on both sides when done. Note: if they seem too moist in the middle, put them back in the oven and crisp them up some more. Some zucchini are more moist than others and need more time in the oven. Makes 16 fritters.
Edit: Originally I had written that a cup had 8 Tbsp, but it should be 16. I corrected it
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1653, 2011-12-21_180817