Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 328
Saturday, July 30, 2011, 08:26 AM
Nothing too special here. We used the griddler to grill hotdogs (too hot outside). As with last time, we used the use of crappy hot dog buns. But good bun alternatives were not easy to find so as to avoid too much bread. So, we used ciabatta where we just stuffed two hot dogs in each with a bunch sticking out. The hotdogs are really light in calories and fat so you can have a few.
I also broiled zucchini and hot banana peppers. The peppers were really hot but I enjoyed them. For the zucchini, I sliced it on the mandoline.Unfortunately, I broke the number one rule of mandoline use and didn't use the guard. OUCH!!!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1317, 2011-07-30_082639
Thursday, July 28, 2011, 11:45 AM
We had friends over for dinner and Meredith and I decided on a B theme.
First, the bruschetta. Meredith made two types from the recipes below. They were Mediterranean and Zucchini Ricotta. For both, we used fat free ricotta and we used a garlic parmesan baguette toasted. Also light on the olive oil. They were both very, very good. We will definitely make them again! Oh, and we skipped the olives (Yuk!!!)
The main course was beef bourguignon with the same recipe. We started it the night before and stopped right before adding the wine. We refrigerated it overnight and then we simply warmed it up and kept going from where we left off. It was good though I think I liked it the first time more. It was less thick than previously. I do not imagine it had to do with breaking up the cooking but maybe. It was still flavorful and good.
The broccoli rabe was basically made with a recipe by Mario Batali. It simply involved sautéing garlic and crushed red pepper then adding the broccoli rabe and letting it cook for 20-25 minutes. First of all, I put too much pepper in. It was HOT. Also, maybe it was the cooking time or the method but it tasted a bit dead. It didn't have the nice bite and bitterness of just normally sautéed broccoli rabe (which may be a good thing to some people but I like the bitterness). Next time I will just do it like spinach.
Finally, the rice pudding. I do not have the recipe but Meredith said she followed a very basic fat free recipe. It called for honey but we replaces about 1/2 (Meredith- please confirm) with Splenda. Then she added her touches includes slivered almonds, raisins and cardamom. I liked it very much event though I am actually not a huge raisins-in-pudding fan. The cardamom was a nice touch giving it an indian flavor.
Mediterranean Bruschetta (From Food Network)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Zucchini-Ricotta Salata Bruschetta (From Food Network)
Local Copy -- password is the name of my dog, all lower case
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1313, 2011-07-28_114522
Tuesday, July 26, 2011, 12:10 PM
I was very excited to finally make seitan. I followed the recipe from my dad's book. The gist is, 1 cup vital wheat gluten with 3/4 cup water (it came together with a bit less). Knead for a while, let sit for 20-30 minutes, roll into logs, simmer covered in simmering liquid for 1-1.5 hours. I made the simmering liquid with 5 cups light broth (I blasphemed and used real chicken broth since I didn't care about the vegetarianism), 1 cup white wine, 1/3 cup soy sauce. I took it off a bit early because I like it firm. It was a bit too firm. Also, while it expanded in the liquid, it then shrunk again. Overall, I thought it wasn't as good as when my dad made it. I will need to play a bit more, cook it a bit longer, and use it in something rather than just as the main dish.
The borscht was AMAZING! We used the same recipe as last time. Again, we used real mushroom over the dried (and not many of them). We also went heavy on the beats, light on the potatoes (Yukon Gold with the skin on), and we didn't have carrots. Other than that, we basically followed the recipe. We used Texas Pete hot sauce (we had samples of it) but I didn't really taste it. We also used the beet greens but Meredith carefully double washed each one (we had gritty beet greens last time and these looked extra dirty). I do not know if it was the beets or something else but this was just very, very good. Really sweet despite not much sugar. We will definitely do it again since it was easy and very good. We only stained a few things with the beets so that was also a plus.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1310, 2011-07-26_121058
Sunday, July 24, 2011, 12:03 PM
This was not a good meal. We made sloppy joes starting from the normal recipe. Note that it calls for 1 lbs of beef and we used about 2/3rds of a pound. Then, we did the normal ketchup but we also had leftover sauce from the pizza. I didn't think to lower the ketchup and I threw that in. Oops. It tasted like sweet, extra meaty, tomato sauce. And, it burned on the bottom. Just not great. Serving them on a pretzel roll was, however, delicious.
We tried to make a green been casserole. I do not know what recipe Meredith followed but it was basically a can of condensed cream of mushroom (we use a 96% fat free and low sodium version), some skim milk, and canned green beans. Normally you top it with fried onion but we used toasted multi-grain bread. Besides the fact that the beans were extra cheap and had a bunch of stems, the casserole didn't congeal. Not a great meal :-(
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1305, 2011-07-24_120345
Thursday, July 21, 2011, 06:24 PM
Adam and Steph were over so we did make your own pizza. I made the pizza dough with the recipe from here except I used 1+3/4 cups of whole wheat and regular plus a 1/4 cup bread flour (finished it up). I used 1.5 yeast packets. I also used a bit more olive oil but still less than manyrecipes.Because eof the timing, I made the crust in the morning, let it rise once, punched it down and then refrigerated it. Later I took it out and brought it to room temp. I cut it into 6 then cut two of them into 2 making 4 large and 4 small pieces (1/6 for the large, 1/12th for the small)
For the sauce, I pureed the tomatoes first and then I let them really cook down to get rid of all the moisture. I also used sautéd onions, garlic and olive oil (just a bit)
I do not know what eat and every pizza was but the toppings we had (or at least the ones I remember) were:
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1302, 2011-07-21_182422
Tuesday, July 19, 2011, 03:20 PM
We made empanadas using the normal dough recipe (internal link so not included). The filling was similar to the past but I did some things differently. It was 1/2 an onion, some zucchini, ajalapeopepper, a hot banana pepper, and beans. Then, on top of that, I added some salt, pepper, habanero tabasco, a bit of peanut oil (very little), and a tad of white vinegar for some bite. Also, with the addition of some salt in the dough (updated that page), everything was very, very tasty.
The patatas bravas were also similar to previous attempts. I based the sauce on the recipe used previously which I am also copying below. I pureed the tomatoes mostly (leaving a few chunks) _before_adding it. I forgot the bouillon but it wasn't missed. It probably could/should have simmered a bit more. While I followed their sauce, I did the potatoes the easy way. I just roasted them untouched at 400 for about 45+ minutes. Actually, I added some paprika to them as well for the roast (in addition to the normal salt+pepper). Also, despite making the amount of sauce for 4 lbs, we used fewer potatoes. I didn't weigh it but it was a reasonable amount for two people. (maybe a bit too much)
Patatas Bravas Sauce (from Taste book)
(2014-01-07 Note: Added to "My Recipe Book”)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1288, 2011-07-19_152019
Sunday, July 17, 2011, 03:13 PM
The tacos were basically made just with the directions on the packet. It was late and we wanted something quick so we didn't do anything special with it.
The cauliflower was made by steaming it for a long time then using a fork to mash it. After the time on 2010-12-12 we did it by hand. I added NF greek yogurt, Molly McButter, onion + garlic powder, salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and some smart balance. I thought it was okay but Meredith didn't seem to like it. It was not baby food but it was no alternative to mashed potatoes.
Oh, also, note the flowers! (unrelated to the meal but we have a changing set of flowers these days and this inadvertently documents them)
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1283, 2011-07-17_151357
Thursday, July 14, 2011, 12:20 PM
We grilled for this meal and it was very good. First we used 98% low fat hot dogs. They are very skinny but only 40 calories each and 1 gram of fat so eating 2-3 is not really bad. However, we were sick of crappy hot dog buns. Instead we bought thin/small baguettes at Trader Joes. They were the ones that needed to cook a bit more. We let them sit in the top rack of the grill. We tore them into thirds, used a knife to hollow out a hole, added mustard and ketchup, and put the hot-dog in them. Not the healthiest of options but really, really good. Real crust and no crappy buns (I have become opposed to crappy, airy bread with no crust since my Germany trip).
The grilled eggplant caprese was based on a recipe Meredith read. We didn't really follow it at all so I am not copying it. It was sliced grape tomatoes,pieces of mozzarella, basic and big pieces of grilled Neon eggplant. She tossed it with a tad of oil and some balsamic vinegar. We used pretty low quality (and low fat) mozzarella. Next time we should buy buffalo mozzarella or any more gourmet kind. Or, make it ourselves. Either way, the dish was still very good. The eggplant got a bit dried out. I have since read that you should soak eggplant before grilling to prevent that. Noted!
The zucchini was thin sliced in the mandoline. I figured this was the best way to do it on 2011-07-05. After pamming them, I added salt, pepper, and garlic powder. They were really good. It was hard to slice them because they were big and the mandoline is a pretty junky one but it did the job. I love zucchini,especially when it is grilled.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 1277, 2011-07-14_122050