Sunday, May 13, 2012
Cheese and Cows
Happy Mother’s Day!
I made chevre on Friday using the milk from Maggie and Tara. The yield was really low because the curds were very runny. I don’t know if this was because of their diet or what, but I am thinking that I need to add just a little rennet to help it along next time. I was going to make another batch today, but Jerry convinced me to make something different. I will be making my first batch of feta today after we get home from our Mother’s Day lunch.
The kids were all here for our annual Mother’s Day Work Day. Jordan says that a birthday lasts for a day, Christmas last for a day, an anniversary lasts for a day, but Mother’s Day lasts for a month. He is referring to the fact that when we have a work day around here, most everybody gets poison ivy and they get to enjoy it for an entire month. This year, John, Jacob and I already have it. I don’t know if anyone else is going to get it, but…well, I guess the goats should eat it down and that our chances of getting poison ivy should be reduced in the future. Yesterday, we working on getting the fence posts sunk for the cattle fencing. We got them all in. All that is left to do is string the barbed-wire and install the two gates. There will also be a barn raising…anyone interested????
The cattle will be delivered on June 1st. We know that little “Super Studley” is our bull. WD Caroline is our pregnant (confirmed) cow. We were getting Sheza Sweetheart, but after spending a year with a bull, she wasn’t pregnant and her days of breeding seem to be finished. That said, we traded her out for a different cow. The new cow is Pacific Maisie and we are also looking at getting Sitting Allie. We hope that they are pregnant (being testing right now) so that we can have lots of baby longhorns in our pasture.
The big news today is that we kept the baby goats away from their mothers last night. When I went to milk this morning, we got just shy of a half gallon of milk. I can’t tell you how exciting that was to me. I guess the babies will be officially weaned starting today and that tonight I should be able to get another half gallon. That means cheese making tomorrow too!
Friday, May 11, 2012
Goats, goats and more goats
I have dabbled with cheese making and it is an enjoyable hobby not to mention a delicious one. I started off with the 30 minute mozzarella kit from www.cheesemaking.com. It was easy and I had really good results. The only problem I ever had was with the curds not getting hot enough and therefore not stretching properly. Of course, the fact that we ate it immediately showed that the curd stretching was not really a problem. How can I describe fresh mozzarella? It is creamy and delicious. When it is fresh from the making, it is also a 3/4lb. ball of melted cheese. Who could resist that???
Mozzarella is wonderful, but I wanted to branch out. So far, I have made ricotta, crème fraise, and chevre. I love the chevre because I can control the texture. I want to be able to easily spread my chevre on a cracker...not too worried about shaping it, so I drain for about 6 hours vs. 12 hours. It is very satisfying. Chevre is made from goat milk and that meant a drive to Short Pump and to Whole Foods. No problem, but I began to wonder if there might be a better way especially since I was beginning to eye the brine rinsed cheeses and the pressed, hard cheeses.
The solution was to establish our own herd of dairy goats. Seems pretty extreme, but that is exactly what we have done. We built a small barn with a milking shed and are the proud owners of 7 goats. Biggest surprise? Goats have personalities and I often know which one is coming around the corner by their voice.
Maggie, Molly, and Max were our first. Maggie is the mother and Molly and Max are her first babies. Molly and Max are twins. Molly is black. Max is white. Molly talks all the time. Max is into everything. We put two lawn chairs in their pen so we had a place to sit and Max and Molly took them over. They climbed on them, fought over them, and when Jerry and I were able to sit down, they took turns jumping into our laps.
Tara, Scarlett and Savannah were our next set. Tara is four years old and Scarlett and Savannah are her twins. As a bonus, crybaby Rhett also came home with us. These four goats are all registered Nubians. Poor Max...he isn't allowed to breed with anyone and so you know what that meant. =(
Tara and her girls are red. Rhett is black with spots. He is going to help our girls make really cute babies. Next year we should have 10 babies and 5 does in milk. It will be a busier place for sure. I am excited about that because right now, it is taking about 4 days of milking to get to a gallon of milk. As the babies are weaned completely, that should go up, but until then, it is a long time between cheeses.
Tara has experience as a dairy goat. I do not have experience as a goat milker. There are sometimes some problems. I give both goats alfalfa cubes to keep them busy while I milk. Jerry built a milking stand for me and it is a glorified raised platform with a headlock. There is a place to put the feed bucket. Today, Tara tried to shift away from me and she tipped the milking stand enough for her to slide off. This means that my largest goat has her head in the stand and her hind end is no longer on the stand. I had to lift her back onto the stand. I don't think I ever envisioned myself bear hugging a goat's back side and heaving it up onto a platform. Everyone should try it...it was very gratifying because it meant that milking could resume.
Goats...
It seemed like a good idea at the time, as many of our ideas do. We wanted to recreate the feel of Italy and so we put in a vineyard. I wanted to make cheese and so we got our first goats. Both seem like quite a jump, don’t they?
The vineyard was easy. We like to grow things. We knew that we wanted blackberries and grapes. I hate snakes and wild blackberry picking is unpleasant because serpents can be lurking in the tall grass and then there are also the thorns. It is dangerous work, berry picking.
The vineyard idea solved several problems. By training the vines (both grape and blackberry) onto wires, we could manage the ground cover and I would be able to see if there was a snake nearby. The vineyard would also be visually appealing from the porch. We were even able to purchase thornless blackberries. Hurray!!!!
The vineyard idea happened quickly. One morning as we sat outside, I casually said (and I know all of you have said the same thing a thousand times…) “I think a vineyard would look nice there.” Jerry agreed and said that he had been wanting to put one in and so we did…in four days time.
The goats were a similar happening. I wanted to make cheese, but needed goat milk. Whole Foods has the only supply that I know of in the area. It is expensive to purchase goat milk, but still cheaper to buy the milk and make the cheese than to purchase the cheese. There was another option…get goats.
I don’t remember ever saying “I want goats” and I don’t remember Jerry saying it either. The goats seem to have sprung from both of our minds. One day we were gardeners, the next Jerry is scoping out goats on Craig’s List. Then we were building a barn and putting up a fence. Before we knew it, we were bringing Maggie and her twins, Molly and Max, home with us.
I would never consider myself to be an animal lover. Some folks just go gooey when they see an animal. Not me, although after our sweet female Corgi, also Molly, I understand just how attached one can become to a pet. Goats aren’t pets, though. They are barnyard animals, right?
Oh, how wrong I was…
Friday, May 4, 2012
wooops....
I don't want to count how many days have passed since my last post. I am pretty sure that my math skills would be put to the test. There have been some very cool developments in my cooking adventures.
The first is that we did purchase the perfect house that Jerry talked about in a post from January 2010. He mentioned a large kitchen and dining room. We have that now. He didn't mention land for a garden, but we were fortunate enough to find our kitchen surrounded by 23 acres.
We have done nothing to the interior of the house save painting the dining room. We have spent all of our time outside. We have a lovely garden inspired by the gardens we saw in England during our trip there to celebrate John's graduation from VCU. We built 25 4'X4' raised beds that are surrounded by ornamental beds on the the sides and corners. It is truly beautiful. It is also productive. Last summer we dined on fresh tomatoes, lettuces, okra, eggplant, peppers of every variety, but very little squash. We learned that humid weather introduces the black rot. Squash doesn't like black rot.
In the fall, we purchased and planted more fruit trees. In addition to the large apple that was already here, we have added three varieties of figs, more apples, peaches, pear and plum trees. We have also planted a bed of blueberries and elder berries.
Jerry and I are not afraid of a challenge. We decided that we wanted a vineyard and in the course of four days, we put one in. It isn't finished (we need to take cutting from our plants to finish off the rows), but it is a lot of fun. We planted four varieties of grapes (5 plants each) and three types of blackberries (five plants each). When they have matured, each of the grape vines will produce a gallon of wine. I can't wait to see how that turns out.
Last year we also had chickens and I did love the fresh eggs. Hurricane Irene blew through and left us without power for nine days and so the cooking was limited. The eggs were a blessing, but I am not fond of chickens. We had the miserable luck to have mean chickens last year. Come October, we were happy to give them away and I swore I would never have them again.
We presently have 11 chickens. They are sweet and docile (no more attacks and escape attempts when I go to collect eggs). We also have three goats and are in the process of purchasing at least one more milk goat. I love cheese and making cheese is a lot of fun. It seemed to make sense to milk my own goats instead of spending a fortune on goat milk. Maggie is the mamma goat and Molly and Max are her twins. Max is going to get "fixed" soon and they will both be weaned so that I can have the milk. Jerry built a milking stand the other night and I am gathering and ordering all my cheese ingredients and equipment. I don't know where this is going. One minute I am thinking that I need more milk and the next I am a bit afraid that I will be making cheese 24/7. That panic increased this past when when I returned from a visit with my former students.
Jerry called me into the office to show me something on his computer. Three things actually. Sheza Sweetheart, WD Caroline, and a year old little bull that we are going to name Super Studley were in their glory. We are finally going to start our Longhorn herd. They are enormous animals and are all registered. They will be beautiful in our pasture. Now, I have to decide if I am going to milk them...8 gallons a day per cow seems like a lot, but you never know when you are going to kick up cheese production and want even more than that.
Well, that is all for now. I have dough for 8 loaves of bread in the kitchen that need my attention. I am making fresh baguettes to go with the shrimp and grits that we will be enjoying tonight. I hope the rain holds off and that some cool air arrives so that there is also ample front porch sitting time with some very dear people tonight.
Have a great day and, for heaven's sake, eat something yummy!
Monday, July 4, 2011
July 4, 2011
The garden is still maturing, but even so, we have had some pretty amazing meals from it. The salad bar is still producing faster than we can eat. I now have a couple of lettuce trees in addition to some more normal lettuces. Jerry is crazy about the dark leaf peppery one. I am not as fond of it so I am making sure that it is torn into small pieces before going into the salad. *FYI...if you don't have a salad spinner, I highly recommend you get one. They are the best way to get the water off of your freshly washed lettuce.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
July 4, 2011
The garden is still maturing, but even so, we have had some pretty amazing meals from it. The salad bar is still producing faster than we can eat. I now have a couple of lettuce trees in addition to some more normal lettuces. Jerry is crazy about the dark leaf peppery one. I am not as fond of it so I am making sure that it is torn into small pieces before going into the salad. *FYI...if you don't have a salad spinner, I highly recommend you get one. They are the best way to get the water off of your freshly washed lettuce.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
July 4, 2011
The garden is still maturing, but even so, we have had some pretty amazing meals from it. The salad bar is still producing faster than we can eat. I now have a couple of lettuce trees in addition to some more normal lettuces. Jerry is crazy about the dark leaf peppery one. I am not as fond of it so I am making sure that it is torn into small pieces before going into the salad. *FYI...if you don't have a salad spinner, I highly recommend you get one. They are the best way to get the water off of your freshly washed lettuce.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
July 4, 2011
The garden is still maturing, but even so, we have had some pretty amazing meals from it. The salad bar is still producing faster than we can eat. I now have a couple of lettuce trees in addition to some more normal lettuces. Jerry is crazy about the dark leaf peppery one. I am not as fond of it so I am making sure that it is torn into small pieces before going into the salad. *FYI...if you don't have a salad spinner, I highly recommend you get one. They are the best way to get the water off of your freshly washed lettuce.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
The cherry tomatoes are maturing daily and we have a new crop to harvest each time we go outside it seems. Yesterday I broiled them three different ways so we could get an idea of how to prepare them instead of always having them in salad. This is pretty important as Jordan and Jacob don't care for tomatoes in their salad. I did three varieties yesterday. All started with a drizzle of olive oil. One batch then received fresh basil, salt, and pepper. The second batch received fresh basil, balsamic vinegar, and Parmesan cheese. The last batch was feta cheese. Our favorite was the balsamic vinegar one. I couldn't believe how sweet the tomatoes were! The feta cheese was tasty, but the texture was weird. The cheese was hard after being under the broiler. The basil only batch was fresh and lovely, but there was just something about the balsamic vinegar batch!!!
This is our first really big attempt at a garden. We have had tomatoes and peppers before, but this go around we have some eggplant and that has been an experience. We purchased these plants at J and P here in Mechanicsville. They have been incredibly healthy and are absolutely covered with eggplants. There are bees buzzing around them as the plants continue to blossom, promising more eggplants in the future. We have only eaten three of the eggplants, but they are tasty! We used a couple in a veggie scramble with onions, pepper, and the last time with some okra. I also grilled one of the eggplant with herbs and olive oil. I must say, the grilled eggplant was wonderful, but I blew it when I didn't use fresh herbs.
Jillian loves sun dried tomatoes and with the bumper crop of Roma tomatoes ripening in the garden, I Googled how to make them this way. I think we have a handle on it, but there are several options ranging from using a dehydrator (we don't have) to actually using the sun, a hot car, or the over (all of which I do have). I think the oven is my first choice as I can control the temp and the bugs that way. Will let you know all about it when we get started.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Summer 2011
It has been a while...
Jerry and I have been working like crazy on our garden (no photos yet). We have visions of summer meals dancing in our heads and we think that we will be canning and freezing as well so that we can eat "fresh" during the winter.
Last week, I made a cherry pie with the help of Jillian and Caitlin. The cherries were pretty small, but they were from our tree and that means they tasted like heaven to us. I didn't use a recipe for the pie, so I can't share however, the basic premise is that fresh fruit pie should taste like the fruit. I added a little sugar (the cherries are tart) and a little bit of butter and cooked them for about 7 - 10 minutes. The pie crust was homemade and we made a lattice top crust sprinkled with sugar instead of a solid upper crust. It was beautiful and tasty. The best part may have been that Jerry appreciated it so much. He is a fool for a pie and cherry is his favorite. I typically hate anything cherry, but fresh cherries do not in any shape or form taste like cherry soda, canned cherry pie filling, cherry jello, cherry chapstick, cherry limeades, and so on....
Jerry and I have been working like crazy on our garden (no photos yet). We have visions of summer meals dancing in our heads and we think that we will be canning and freezing as well so that we can eat "fresh" during the winter.
Last week, I made a cherry pie with the help of Jillian and Caitlin. The cherries were pretty small, but they were from our tree and that means they tasted like heaven to us. I didn't use a recipe for the pie, so I can't share however, the basic premise is that fresh fruit pie should taste like the fruit. I added a little sugar (the cherries are tart) and a little bit of butter and cooked them for about 7 - 10 minutes. The pie crust was homemade and we made a lattice top crust sprinkled with sugar instead of a solid upper crust. It was beautiful and tasty. The best part may have been that Jerry appreciated it so much. He is a fool for a pie and cherry is his favorite. I typically hate anything cherry, but fresh cherries do not in any shape or form taste like cherry soda, canned cherry pie filling, cherry jello, cherry chapstick, cherry limeades, and so on....
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Cauliflower pasta sauce
I was reading an article online the other day about a couple who were going vegetarian. Never fear, dear friends, that this will ever happen at our house. I will readily admit that we don't have to have meat every meal, but we would never give up a good steak or burger either.
This particular couple were gradually going vegetarian. HUH? What that meant was that they don't eat meat at home, but will eat meat at a restaurant or at a friend's house. Reasonable. I would also take that to mean that if they had a mean craving, they would also eat it at home, but they didn't say that because that would have changed the article from "becoming gradual vegetarians" to "we don't eat meat at every meal" and that just isn't as compelling.
The article did mention making a pasta sauce out of cauliflower and I was intrigued. Jerry and I made a cauliflower soup and, while we loved the flavor, we weren't crazy about the texture. I wondered if the pasta would help hide the grittiness of the cauliflower and there is only one way to find that out.
I didn't have a recipe, so if you want to make this, don't look for it in the list or in the cookbooks. I took a cauliflower and cut in into large chunks. I placed these into salted water along with a head of garlic cloves that had been peeled. I boiled these until the cauliflower was tender. I added a half stick of unsalted butter and mashed the beegeebies out of it with a potato masher (I am not a huge fan of the food mill). I added some sirachi sauce to taste and poured it over pasta. Top it with freshly grated cheese. It LOOKED like mac and cheese, but was a little spicy and healthier. LOVED IT!!!
This particular couple were gradually going vegetarian. HUH? What that meant was that they don't eat meat at home, but will eat meat at a restaurant or at a friend's house. Reasonable. I would also take that to mean that if they had a mean craving, they would also eat it at home, but they didn't say that because that would have changed the article from "becoming gradual vegetarians" to "we don't eat meat at every meal" and that just isn't as compelling.
The article did mention making a pasta sauce out of cauliflower and I was intrigued. Jerry and I made a cauliflower soup and, while we loved the flavor, we weren't crazy about the texture. I wondered if the pasta would help hide the grittiness of the cauliflower and there is only one way to find that out.
I didn't have a recipe, so if you want to make this, don't look for it in the list or in the cookbooks. I took a cauliflower and cut in into large chunks. I placed these into salted water along with a head of garlic cloves that had been peeled. I boiled these until the cauliflower was tender. I added a half stick of unsalted butter and mashed the beegeebies out of it with a potato masher (I am not a huge fan of the food mill). I added some sirachi sauce to taste and poured it over pasta. Top it with freshly grated cheese. It LOOKED like mac and cheese, but was a little spicy and healthier. LOVED IT!!!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Wild Wednesday
March 10th - I took the cookbook to school with me. I thought I might be able to sneak a quick peek at it and grab the ingredients on the way home. That plan, at least, worked out well.
I decided on Crawfish and Pasta with Stir-Fried Vegetables. Jerry had purchased some frozen crawfish tails at Kroger and so I was feeling pretty confident about getting this dish made. Unfortunately, there were no frozen crawfish tails, but the recipe forgivingly said I could use shrimp. Shrimp...check. On to the produce aisle.
This recipe was so healthy, I thought I would shame myself serving it to my butter-loving family. I cheated, and cheated, and cheated. Everything except for the shrimp, pasta and mushrooms had to be julienne-cut. I purchased a ton of it already prepared for me. Shredded cabbage, julienne carrots were all I could buy pre-done. I then did the zucchini and celery myself. I skinned the tomatoes, seeded them and diced them. I coarsely chopped the onions and carefully quartered the mushrooms. The veg prep seemed to take forever, mainly because I had already spent what seemed like forever on my feet already.
The meal turned out great (LOVE it when you can slip turnips in undetected!!!). It was a strange mixture of Cajun flavor and Asian texture. It was pretty darn great heated up the next day at work too.
I decided on Crawfish and Pasta with Stir-Fried Vegetables. Jerry had purchased some frozen crawfish tails at Kroger and so I was feeling pretty confident about getting this dish made. Unfortunately, there were no frozen crawfish tails, but the recipe forgivingly said I could use shrimp. Shrimp...check. On to the produce aisle.
This recipe was so healthy, I thought I would shame myself serving it to my butter-loving family. I cheated, and cheated, and cheated. Everything except for the shrimp, pasta and mushrooms had to be julienne-cut. I purchased a ton of it already prepared for me. Shredded cabbage, julienne carrots were all I could buy pre-done. I then did the zucchini and celery myself. I skinned the tomatoes, seeded them and diced them. I coarsely chopped the onions and carefully quartered the mushrooms. The veg prep seemed to take forever, mainly because I had already spent what seemed like forever on my feet already.
The meal turned out great (LOVE it when you can slip turnips in undetected!!!). It was a strange mixture of Cajun flavor and Asian texture. It was pretty darn great heated up the next day at work too.
Catching Up
I am wondering if anyone is still out there reading. If you are, are you wondering if we are still eating? I haven't posted in so long that I am surprised that the authorities haven't shown up to see if we are still feeding our children.
To answer that question...yes, we are still eating. Not as well as we did during the holidays and perhaps the scales are grateful. Heck, I know the scales are grateful but would be more grateful if I would extend the normal eating routine for a longer period. It has been difficult to arrange a meal when the schedules around here are so crazy this semester. I have after school responsibilities four out of five days. Sometimes we have to eat early so Jerry can go to school. Some days we eat late because Jerry is just getting home from school. It is a nightmare of sorts. I am so looking forward to summer!
Here is what we have been up to:
January 26th - Jerry cooked the Honey-Glazed Tarragon Carrots as a side dish. I really didn't like them. They didn't have much flavor and the flavor they had I didn't like. They had, duh, honey and tarragon and lemon. Jerry has a dozen other recipes for carrots that I like better and I hope he reads this so he won't make these again.
January 29th - Redemption. We made the Shrimp Creole recipe from the Commander's Palace cookbook. It was really good and served over rice. The one thing it needed more of was the seafood seasoning. I have found that I really like julienne-cut veggies. Who knew? Something about the texture, maybe? Maybe that is why I like Chinese food so much. They use the julienne-cut often too, right? At any rate, this dish had Worcestershire sauce and Louisiana Red Hot sauce and so it had me at hello.
February 1st - I vividly remember making this meal. I thought, "I have never had corned beef before in my life." In Texas, we smoke brisket and eat it either as a roast sort of thing or do fajitas. What on earth was I getting myself into? I figured that no self-respecting person of distant Irish heritage could avoid it forever and so February 1st was my day of reckoning. Mother in heaven, this was one of my all time favorite dishes and I wish I could dance a jig and speak Gaelic so that I could eat it all the time. But I must say that I appreciate my dear sweet Cajun heritage, because it added the heat that made this meal absolutely unforgettable. I am absolutely giddy that St. Patrick's day is coming up so that I have an excuse to make this again and drink Guinness.
February 2nd - The weather was frightful during this time period and so I thought that chicken and dumplings would be good. I made the very fancy sounding "Stewed Hen with Buttermilk Herb Dumplings." Funny. Jerry said that they were the best dumplings he had ever eaten. The downside is that he still doesn't like dumplings. They were good, but I have to agree with him. Something about gooey bread clumps in a soup is just not as appealing as they were when I was six and at my Nana's house. However, the soup part of it was worth doing again, especially if I add the extra Creole meat seasoning!!!
February 3rd - A FLOP!!!! This is why I don't like doing this blog thing when I am back at work. I don't have time to spend on a dud of a meal. I need something that satisfies my soul and makes me drift off into a peaceful, full-bellied slumber. the Roast Tarragon Tangerine Chicken with Carrots and Shallots was not that meal. Granted, the tangerines were terrible...dry and tough. I know that it is winter and that asking for good quality citrus may be asking for a lot. No, heck no. This is 2010 and by golly, we have planes and fast boats, trucks and trains. Get me some produce that is ripe and edible. No, never mind. I won't make this recipe again. I think it reminded me of those Honey glazed citrus carrots too much.
February 4th - We go down...we come back up. Shrimp Victoria was absolutely delicious. We served it with the pasta option instead of the rice. Next time, we will go with the rice. It was a very quick meal to prepare with the mushrooms, onions, shrimp and cream. Yummy. I don't want this recipe to get too far in the back of the recipe file. It is absolutely wonderful to make during the week!
To answer that question...yes, we are still eating. Not as well as we did during the holidays and perhaps the scales are grateful. Heck, I know the scales are grateful but would be more grateful if I would extend the normal eating routine for a longer period. It has been difficult to arrange a meal when the schedules around here are so crazy this semester. I have after school responsibilities four out of five days. Sometimes we have to eat early so Jerry can go to school. Some days we eat late because Jerry is just getting home from school. It is a nightmare of sorts. I am so looking forward to summer!
Here is what we have been up to:
January 26th - Jerry cooked the Honey-Glazed Tarragon Carrots as a side dish. I really didn't like them. They didn't have much flavor and the flavor they had I didn't like. They had, duh, honey and tarragon and lemon. Jerry has a dozen other recipes for carrots that I like better and I hope he reads this so he won't make these again.
January 29th - Redemption. We made the Shrimp Creole recipe from the Commander's Palace cookbook. It was really good and served over rice. The one thing it needed more of was the seafood seasoning. I have found that I really like julienne-cut veggies. Who knew? Something about the texture, maybe? Maybe that is why I like Chinese food so much. They use the julienne-cut often too, right? At any rate, this dish had Worcestershire sauce and Louisiana Red Hot sauce and so it had me at hello.
February 1st - I vividly remember making this meal. I thought, "I have never had corned beef before in my life." In Texas, we smoke brisket and eat it either as a roast sort of thing or do fajitas. What on earth was I getting myself into? I figured that no self-respecting person of distant Irish heritage could avoid it forever and so February 1st was my day of reckoning. Mother in heaven, this was one of my all time favorite dishes and I wish I could dance a jig and speak Gaelic so that I could eat it all the time. But I must say that I appreciate my dear sweet Cajun heritage, because it added the heat that made this meal absolutely unforgettable. I am absolutely giddy that St. Patrick's day is coming up so that I have an excuse to make this again and drink Guinness.
February 2nd - The weather was frightful during this time period and so I thought that chicken and dumplings would be good. I made the very fancy sounding "Stewed Hen with Buttermilk Herb Dumplings." Funny. Jerry said that they were the best dumplings he had ever eaten. The downside is that he still doesn't like dumplings. They were good, but I have to agree with him. Something about gooey bread clumps in a soup is just not as appealing as they were when I was six and at my Nana's house. However, the soup part of it was worth doing again, especially if I add the extra Creole meat seasoning!!!
February 3rd - A FLOP!!!! This is why I don't like doing this blog thing when I am back at work. I don't have time to spend on a dud of a meal. I need something that satisfies my soul and makes me drift off into a peaceful, full-bellied slumber. the Roast Tarragon Tangerine Chicken with Carrots and Shallots was not that meal. Granted, the tangerines were terrible...dry and tough. I know that it is winter and that asking for good quality citrus may be asking for a lot. No, heck no. This is 2010 and by golly, we have planes and fast boats, trucks and trains. Get me some produce that is ripe and edible. No, never mind. I won't make this recipe again. I think it reminded me of those Honey glazed citrus carrots too much.
February 4th - We go down...we come back up. Shrimp Victoria was absolutely delicious. We served it with the pasta option instead of the rice. Next time, we will go with the rice. It was a very quick meal to prepare with the mushrooms, onions, shrimp and cream. Yummy. I don't want this recipe to get too far in the back of the recipe file. It is absolutely wonderful to make during the week!
Sunday, January 24, 2010
January 22nd
My poor husband has been planning all of these menus and doing the bulk of the shopping for them. I show up and he has already started slicing and dicing. That was the way it was after I went back to work and he was still on Christmas break. Now that he is back in full swing, things are more complicated. I thought I would let everyone know...just in case you were wondering how we were actually doing this whole cooking thing. Yeah, we were doing it because at first both of us were hanging out around the house and then we were doing it because Jerry was only working and not going to class. Now that both of us are back at full schedule, we are making some adjustments. One way to adjust it to suck more people into the madness and this is what I did on Friday.
I took the cookbooks to work on Friday. Before school started, I figured out who my target should be. Easy enough. Carol had already brought me a calendar of cooking classes and said we should cook together. She is commenting on this blog and really into new food. Target acquired.
I waltzed into Carol's classroom and made small talk for about a second and then plopped the books down onto a table and said that we needed to decide what was for dinner. We were off. The only requirement was that it needed to be pork, because Jacob had requested pork that morning. Yeah, the 8 year old has a preference...go figure. Carol and I nailed the menu down in record time and we parted eager to teach and then to cook.
The selections for Friday night were: Honey-Mustard tenderloin, Braised Asparagus with Peppers and Onions, Carol's Spoon Bread, and Fig Habanero Barbeque sauce. The tenderloin was very, very good. The cracked mustard seed and peppercorn crust was simple, but oh so flavorful. The cookbook recommended that we serve it with the fig habanero sauce. Carol was certain that the pork was wonderful without the sauce (she is the queen of snitching little pieces...maybe even better than me!), but I assured her that if the Commander's Palace recommended it, we needed to serve it that way. We were all so very glad that we did!!! The sauce complimented the pork and took it to new heights. So many flavors!!! Lucille and Carol think that the fig habanero sauce would be great on toast. It was that good.
Jerry and I like our pork cooked more than the medium/medium rare that the recipe called for. Carol agreed with the experts at Commander's Palace. I thought that the pork was wonderful (pink or not), but I really like pork more tender than the pan seared version we had this night. We are thinking about pan searing it to make the herb crust and then finishing it in the roaster. I will let you guys know what happens when we get around to circling back to this recipe.
The braised asparagus was good. It was really easy, but next time, we will take the lid off the pot so that the vegetables keep some texture. I bet I overcooked them, but still, they were almost boiled with the lid on the roaster. Better luck next time!
The spoon bread was really good. We let it sit too long, Carol said. This is again what happens when you have no idea when the meal will be ready and have to time things. I thought it was good and was really good with, you guessed it, the fig habanero sauce!
Eat something yummy!!!
PS
Carol reminded me that we also had garlic mashed potatoes. They were really great and very garlicky. I haven't figured out if I love or hate the food mill. It really is a pain to use, but every time I have used it, the results have been wonderful. I must confess that the potatoes had so much butter (2 sticks not counting the stick we fried the garlic in), sour cream (1 cup), and buttermilk (one and a half cups) that I don't think the potatoes were even necessary!
I took the cookbooks to work on Friday. Before school started, I figured out who my target should be. Easy enough. Carol had already brought me a calendar of cooking classes and said we should cook together. She is commenting on this blog and really into new food. Target acquired.
I waltzed into Carol's classroom and made small talk for about a second and then plopped the books down onto a table and said that we needed to decide what was for dinner. We were off. The only requirement was that it needed to be pork, because Jacob had requested pork that morning. Yeah, the 8 year old has a preference...go figure. Carol and I nailed the menu down in record time and we parted eager to teach and then to cook.
The selections for Friday night were: Honey-Mustard tenderloin, Braised Asparagus with Peppers and Onions, Carol's Spoon Bread, and Fig Habanero Barbeque sauce. The tenderloin was very, very good. The cracked mustard seed and peppercorn crust was simple, but oh so flavorful. The cookbook recommended that we serve it with the fig habanero sauce. Carol was certain that the pork was wonderful without the sauce (she is the queen of snitching little pieces...maybe even better than me!), but I assured her that if the Commander's Palace recommended it, we needed to serve it that way. We were all so very glad that we did!!! The sauce complimented the pork and took it to new heights. So many flavors!!! Lucille and Carol think that the fig habanero sauce would be great on toast. It was that good.
Jerry and I like our pork cooked more than the medium/medium rare that the recipe called for. Carol agreed with the experts at Commander's Palace. I thought that the pork was wonderful (pink or not), but I really like pork more tender than the pan seared version we had this night. We are thinking about pan searing it to make the herb crust and then finishing it in the roaster. I will let you guys know what happens when we get around to circling back to this recipe.
The braised asparagus was good. It was really easy, but next time, we will take the lid off the pot so that the vegetables keep some texture. I bet I overcooked them, but still, they were almost boiled with the lid on the roaster. Better luck next time!
The spoon bread was really good. We let it sit too long, Carol said. This is again what happens when you have no idea when the meal will be ready and have to time things. I thought it was good and was really good with, you guessed it, the fig habanero sauce!
Eat something yummy!!!
PS
Carol reminded me that we also had garlic mashed potatoes. They were really great and very garlicky. I haven't figured out if I love or hate the food mill. It really is a pain to use, but every time I have used it, the results have been wonderful. I must confess that the potatoes had so much butter (2 sticks not counting the stick we fried the garlic in), sour cream (1 cup), and buttermilk (one and a half cups) that I don't think the potatoes were even necessary!
I Do Love Chinese
Jerry is back in his PhD program and when a schedule is new, I have a hard time organizing myself around it. Dinner sometimes just can't be on the table and sometimes I don't want to get it onto the table. Most often, it is Jerry who rallies and does something amazing. When he isn't around, the amazing trick ends up being me calling for a delivery pizza or Chinese food. Luckily, everyone except for Jerry loves Chinese...except now that Jerry's mom and dad are around, I have to sort of add PaPa. I don't think he dislikes it as much as Jerry because he doesn't protest nearly as much and so he has to eat it whenever the rest of us get a hankering for General Tso's chicken and an egg roll. We ordered Chinese on Tuesday night and then had leftovers on Wednesday.
There wasn't enough Chinese to totally feed everyone because Jordan had wiped us out of General Tso's Chicken at lunch. General Tso's, of course, was the ONLY thing Jacob wanted to eat on Wednesday night. Jillian wanted fried pickles and I wanted a soup. Dinner was a bit of a hodgepodge, but everyone was fed.
I must tell about the soup. If you have read the book "Julia/Julie", you may remember the scene where Julie has had a bad day, stops at the store and just happens to purchase the ingredients for Julia's Leek and Potato Soup. Interestingly enough, I just happened to have the ingredients at home and so this is what I made. Simplicity itself is what Julia called it. I must agree. Lucille had never had leeks before and so when I described the soup as potato and onion soup, she was all about it. Jacob was still pouting about there being no General Tso's Chicken, but ended up drinking three little mugs of this soup. Lucille sheepishly had to admit to Jerry when he arrived that she might have eaten his portion of the soup. I am still pretty amazed that the soup was a hit and I am excited about the fact that I will be making it again and again. It was a perfect winter soup, but not in the traditional sense. It wasn't heavy, it wasn't dark, it didn't have savory chunks of anything in it, but it was smooth and warm and tasted like onions and potatoes and that is a very comforting combination.
Adding my new cookbook to the list today!!! Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1.
Eat something yummy!
There wasn't enough Chinese to totally feed everyone because Jordan had wiped us out of General Tso's Chicken at lunch. General Tso's, of course, was the ONLY thing Jacob wanted to eat on Wednesday night. Jillian wanted fried pickles and I wanted a soup. Dinner was a bit of a hodgepodge, but everyone was fed.
I must tell about the soup. If you have read the book "Julia/Julie", you may remember the scene where Julie has had a bad day, stops at the store and just happens to purchase the ingredients for Julia's Leek and Potato Soup. Interestingly enough, I just happened to have the ingredients at home and so this is what I made. Simplicity itself is what Julia called it. I must agree. Lucille had never had leeks before and so when I described the soup as potato and onion soup, she was all about it. Jacob was still pouting about there being no General Tso's Chicken, but ended up drinking three little mugs of this soup. Lucille sheepishly had to admit to Jerry when he arrived that she might have eaten his portion of the soup. I am still pretty amazed that the soup was a hit and I am excited about the fact that I will be making it again and again. It was a perfect winter soup, but not in the traditional sense. It wasn't heavy, it wasn't dark, it didn't have savory chunks of anything in it, but it was smooth and warm and tasted like onions and potatoes and that is a very comforting combination.
Adding my new cookbook to the list today!!! Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1.
Eat something yummy!
Saturday, January 23, 2010
January 18th
Jerry is starting to wonder if I am losing interest in the blogging. NO...I am not losing interest in the blog, but I am so full and sleepy after eating all the food! I can't see straight let alone sit down and write a blog entry. Hope everyone understands. I am one content gal!!!
January 15th was our last cooking episode. That was a Friday night. Saturday was spent in class, at BWW, and then at Capitol Ale House with a friend from Salem. (Hi, Kevin.) Sunday was a football day and so we just munched. Monday was a holiday and so we decided to do something BIG.
The menu was Shoestring Potato-Crusted Lyonnaise Fish, Roasted Vegetable Lasagna, Sesame Pepper-Crusted Tuna salad with an anchovy-garlic dressing. Maybe I haven't posted until now because this meal absolutely wore me out.
Jerry took care of the tuna salads. He was grilling outside, making the dressing inside, slicing the vegetables in preparation for the lasagna. He was everywhere and had a ton of dishes out.
I was completely stationary. I stood in place and grated raw potatoes for an eternity. The grated potatoes had to go into bowls (I had to use two bowls because none of mine were large enough to hold the potatoes and the water.) I washed and drained, washed and drained, until the water was clear. Then it was time to start getting the water OUT of the potatoes. Could have used some cheesecloth. Maybe next time. After the potatoes were happily awaiting their fate, I started making the lemon sauce for the fish. I was able to use fresh lemons from the tree in our foyer. Tell me that isn't a strange story. Garlic and lemons, white wine and peppercorns all in a saucepan being boiled into who knows what. Actually, the sauce was delightful. After boiling and stirring, everything except for the peppercorns disappear into the liquid. The fun part was whisking two sticks of butter into the mixture 4 TBSPs at a time. Strained and then kept warm for the little fishes. Yeah, you would have thought that I was finished...not exactly. I seasoned the flour for dredging and made an egg bath. Dipped the fish into each and then - get this - placed the potatoes on a work surface and put the fish on top. You then have to put more potatoes on top and then somehow get it all into a skillet. I found that Jerry's enormous grill spatula did the trick. It was sort of funny to be cooking what was essentially hashbrown covered fish.
While I was struggling with the fish, Jerry had moved on to the vegetable lasagna. The issue with this dish was the oven roasting that had to be done. He had three cookie sheets going and I had to slide out of the way every time he put something into the oven, checked the oven, or took something out of the oven. I didn't mind, but it did make for a very strange dance.
The outcome was well worth it. I can't tell you how fresh the lemon sauce was! We need to use smaller fillets next time. The roasted vegetable lasagna was amazing. The tuna was wonderful too, but we will try to keep it more rare next time.
Linda wanted to know how long these meals take to prepare. I couldn't even begin to let her know about this one. I will tell you that these dishes were wonderful and we will make them again and again, but never on the same night!
Eat something yummy!!
January 15th was our last cooking episode. That was a Friday night. Saturday was spent in class, at BWW, and then at Capitol Ale House with a friend from Salem. (Hi, Kevin.) Sunday was a football day and so we just munched. Monday was a holiday and so we decided to do something BIG.
The menu was Shoestring Potato-Crusted Lyonnaise Fish, Roasted Vegetable Lasagna, Sesame Pepper-Crusted Tuna salad with an anchovy-garlic dressing. Maybe I haven't posted until now because this meal absolutely wore me out.
Jerry took care of the tuna salads. He was grilling outside, making the dressing inside, slicing the vegetables in preparation for the lasagna. He was everywhere and had a ton of dishes out.
I was completely stationary. I stood in place and grated raw potatoes for an eternity. The grated potatoes had to go into bowls (I had to use two bowls because none of mine were large enough to hold the potatoes and the water.) I washed and drained, washed and drained, until the water was clear. Then it was time to start getting the water OUT of the potatoes. Could have used some cheesecloth. Maybe next time. After the potatoes were happily awaiting their fate, I started making the lemon sauce for the fish. I was able to use fresh lemons from the tree in our foyer. Tell me that isn't a strange story. Garlic and lemons, white wine and peppercorns all in a saucepan being boiled into who knows what. Actually, the sauce was delightful. After boiling and stirring, everything except for the peppercorns disappear into the liquid. The fun part was whisking two sticks of butter into the mixture 4 TBSPs at a time. Strained and then kept warm for the little fishes. Yeah, you would have thought that I was finished...not exactly. I seasoned the flour for dredging and made an egg bath. Dipped the fish into each and then - get this - placed the potatoes on a work surface and put the fish on top. You then have to put more potatoes on top and then somehow get it all into a skillet. I found that Jerry's enormous grill spatula did the trick. It was sort of funny to be cooking what was essentially hashbrown covered fish.
While I was struggling with the fish, Jerry had moved on to the vegetable lasagna. The issue with this dish was the oven roasting that had to be done. He had three cookie sheets going and I had to slide out of the way every time he put something into the oven, checked the oven, or took something out of the oven. I didn't mind, but it did make for a very strange dance.
The outcome was well worth it. I can't tell you how fresh the lemon sauce was! We need to use smaller fillets next time. The roasted vegetable lasagna was amazing. The tuna was wonderful too, but we will try to keep it more rare next time.
Linda wanted to know how long these meals take to prepare. I couldn't even begin to let her know about this one. I will tell you that these dishes were wonderful and we will make them again and again, but never on the same night!
Eat something yummy!!
Sunday, January 17, 2010
January 15th
Friday. You know it has been a week when a friend calls out of the blue and asks if they can come and drink beer at your house. Of course, you say yes and put an extra steak in the grocery cart just in case the remedy for the week should include additional nibbles of red meat, too.
Jerry and I were at Food Lion when that call came in. God bless our dear friend, Molly. She walked through the door as Jerry was trying to time his Steak Diane to be finished at the same time my corn fritters were going to be done. I love the Commander's Palace cookbooks, but they don't tell you how long a recipe is going to take. They say, "cook for 10 minutes," or "reduce by half, approximately ... minutes." They just don't say "A worn out teacher can complete this recipe in exactly 30 minutes provided that there are no small disasters, like their 8 year old coming in with broken glasses and a black eye due to being hit in the face at point blank range with a football." It was one of those kind of nights.
So when Molly came in, she started washing up dishes and asking what she could do to help. Jerry was quizzing me on how long I was going to be with the fritters. How was I supposed to know? Really? Molly got to/had to play sous chef and I told her to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. She looked at me...and then she blinked. She started stirring sort of slowly and asked if she was getting them to stiff peak stage. "Not at that speed," I replied. She dissolved into giggles and kept repeating "Not at that speed" all night.
Molly is a funny girl. She is on Facebook and will talk about the blog on Facebook, but do you see her on here as one of the people following the blog? Nope. She was here one night when the order was given to "beat the hell out of it." I don't remember who said it, or what it was about, but it resonated with Molly and she repeated it on Facebook. She even said that she was a little disappointed that it didn't make the blog. Luckily, the phrase came to mind and when I told her that the egg whites were not going to change in consistency at that speed, I remembered, "Beat the hell out of it," and she laid into those egg whites. Stiff peaks in record time.
Jerry Burch makes the best steaks...hands down. We rarely ever go out for steak dinners because we know the best ones are had at home. My personal favorite is his blackened steak (rare in the center) with bleu cheese on top. Goes great with a glass of red wine. The Steak Diane may have replaced the blackened/bleu cheese steaks as my favorite. Lucille stepped out and said that Steak Diane was her new favorite. They were cooked inside had a great sauce topping them. I don't think that it was all that difficult to make them (he finished before I finished with those darned fritters). I hope he will make them again.
Now to the fritters. I sifted the dry ingredients. I made a well in the center and added the egg yolks and then milk. I was supposed to "stir" until thoroughly incorporated. Stir? I had to use my hands to mix it together. It looked like playdough or modeling clay. To this, I added the fresh corn kernels, chopped green onions, salt and pepper. Again, back to mushing it together with my hands. Sour cream...fold in egg whites. This just wasn't like any fritter batter I have ever seen or made. Oh, I forgot, "stir in diced butter"...REALLY???? now we are stirring in diced butter before frying in butter. We hit an all time low (or high if you are measuring cholesterol).
The steak was better than the fritters. The fritters were good, but I didn't just jump up and down over them. I think I will stick with my grandmother's recipe. As for the steak, Jerry can make them any time he wants!!!
Jerry and I were at Food Lion when that call came in. God bless our dear friend, Molly. She walked through the door as Jerry was trying to time his Steak Diane to be finished at the same time my corn fritters were going to be done. I love the Commander's Palace cookbooks, but they don't tell you how long a recipe is going to take. They say, "cook for 10 minutes," or "reduce by half, approximately ... minutes." They just don't say "A worn out teacher can complete this recipe in exactly 30 minutes provided that there are no small disasters, like their 8 year old coming in with broken glasses and a black eye due to being hit in the face at point blank range with a football." It was one of those kind of nights.
So when Molly came in, she started washing up dishes and asking what she could do to help. Jerry was quizzing me on how long I was going to be with the fritters. How was I supposed to know? Really? Molly got to/had to play sous chef and I told her to beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. She looked at me...and then she blinked. She started stirring sort of slowly and asked if she was getting them to stiff peak stage. "Not at that speed," I replied. She dissolved into giggles and kept repeating "Not at that speed" all night.
Molly is a funny girl. She is on Facebook and will talk about the blog on Facebook, but do you see her on here as one of the people following the blog? Nope. She was here one night when the order was given to "beat the hell out of it." I don't remember who said it, or what it was about, but it resonated with Molly and she repeated it on Facebook. She even said that she was a little disappointed that it didn't make the blog. Luckily, the phrase came to mind and when I told her that the egg whites were not going to change in consistency at that speed, I remembered, "Beat the hell out of it," and she laid into those egg whites. Stiff peaks in record time.
Jerry Burch makes the best steaks...hands down. We rarely ever go out for steak dinners because we know the best ones are had at home. My personal favorite is his blackened steak (rare in the center) with bleu cheese on top. Goes great with a glass of red wine. The Steak Diane may have replaced the blackened/bleu cheese steaks as my favorite. Lucille stepped out and said that Steak Diane was her new favorite. They were cooked inside had a great sauce topping them. I don't think that it was all that difficult to make them (he finished before I finished with those darned fritters). I hope he will make them again.
Now to the fritters. I sifted the dry ingredients. I made a well in the center and added the egg yolks and then milk. I was supposed to "stir" until thoroughly incorporated. Stir? I had to use my hands to mix it together. It looked like playdough or modeling clay. To this, I added the fresh corn kernels, chopped green onions, salt and pepper. Again, back to mushing it together with my hands. Sour cream...fold in egg whites. This just wasn't like any fritter batter I have ever seen or made. Oh, I forgot, "stir in diced butter"...REALLY???? now we are stirring in diced butter before frying in butter. We hit an all time low (or high if you are measuring cholesterol).
The steak was better than the fritters. The fritters were good, but I didn't just jump up and down over them. I think I will stick with my grandmother's recipe. As for the steak, Jerry can make them any time he wants!!!
Isn't it funny??
Wednesday, Jerry had to go to the Short Pump area for a meeting and he swung by Trader Joe's (one of the best stores on the planet) and grabbed dinner. We dined on pesto pizza and ate black bean soup with wild rice. He also purchased some Stilton with mango, goat cheese (which we love with white truffle oil spritzed on it), some pesto hummus and an eggplant tempanade spread. We weren't exactly slumming, you know?
I like to cook, but sometimes it is nice to just sit down and eat. Jerry commented that we hadn't eaten out since we returned from our Christmas trip to Disney. We enjoy food and we enjoy eating out and trying new things. This abstinence from the restaurant scene was probably some sort of record for us. Anyway, it got us to thinking and so I was not surprised when Jerry suggested that we go out on Thursday night.
This should certainly prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not food snobs. Were did we go after a month of eating in and cooking like crazy people? Some fancy bistro? Some high dollar snooty overpriced joint? Of course not...Thursday is boneless wing night at Buffalo Wild Wings and that is where we headed.
There is news to the dining experience at BWW. I ALWAYS get Parmesan garlic and Caribbean jerk. Always. On this night I went wild and order Caribbean jerk and Asian zing. I now have a problem. I like all three sauces and I can't order all of them at once. I will have to develop a rotation schedule.
Isn't it funny that something so simple as a prepared soup or chicken wings can make you sigh and go all warm and fuzzy? Must be the company and just being able to enjoy those around the table.
Go eat something yummy!
I like to cook, but sometimes it is nice to just sit down and eat. Jerry commented that we hadn't eaten out since we returned from our Christmas trip to Disney. We enjoy food and we enjoy eating out and trying new things. This abstinence from the restaurant scene was probably some sort of record for us. Anyway, it got us to thinking and so I was not surprised when Jerry suggested that we go out on Thursday night.
This should certainly prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are not food snobs. Were did we go after a month of eating in and cooking like crazy people? Some fancy bistro? Some high dollar snooty overpriced joint? Of course not...Thursday is boneless wing night at Buffalo Wild Wings and that is where we headed.
There is news to the dining experience at BWW. I ALWAYS get Parmesan garlic and Caribbean jerk. Always. On this night I went wild and order Caribbean jerk and Asian zing. I now have a problem. I like all three sauces and I can't order all of them at once. I will have to develop a rotation schedule.
Isn't it funny that something so simple as a prepared soup or chicken wings can make you sigh and go all warm and fuzzy? Must be the company and just being able to enjoy those around the table.
Go eat something yummy!
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
John Took the GRE and We Cooked Chicken Pontalba
John took the GRE today and earned a qualifying score for the PhD program at VCU. Here we go!!!! Another educational adventure at the Burch house. I am so proud of him!
Chicken Pontalba. Jerry and I cooked it while Mama Mia was on tv. I don't think anyone was watching it, but the music will forever be associated with this dish. I was humming, dancing and couldn't help it. Maybe we should call this Chicken PontABBA.
Anyway, this dish was really, really good. It was very different from the other dishes we have cooked so far. The chicken breasts were dipped in melted butter and baked for 15 minutes. That was worrisome. I thought they would still be raw. They were perfect. While they cooked, we sauted mushrooms, ham chunks, garlic, and green onions. When they were done, we added the white wine and the fried diced potatoes. The fried potatoes added an interesting texture to the vegetable/ham saute. I forgot, actually I never realized I was supposed to, add the meat seasoning. I can tell you that I never missed it because the recipe called for a Bearnaise Sauce, which is a modified Hollandaise Sauce. This sauce has a lovely creamy texture and a tangy lemon flavor. It was perfect!!!
Chicken Pontalba. Jerry and I cooked it while Mama Mia was on tv. I don't think anyone was watching it, but the music will forever be associated with this dish. I was humming, dancing and couldn't help it. Maybe we should call this Chicken PontABBA.
Anyway, this dish was really, really good. It was very different from the other dishes we have cooked so far. The chicken breasts were dipped in melted butter and baked for 15 minutes. That was worrisome. I thought they would still be raw. They were perfect. While they cooked, we sauted mushrooms, ham chunks, garlic, and green onions. When they were done, we added the white wine and the fried diced potatoes. The fried potatoes added an interesting texture to the vegetable/ham saute. I forgot, actually I never realized I was supposed to, add the meat seasoning. I can tell you that I never missed it because the recipe called for a Bearnaise Sauce, which is a modified Hollandaise Sauce. This sauce has a lovely creamy texture and a tangy lemon flavor. It was perfect!!!
January 11th
We went sort of light today. Jerry made Shrimp Croustade and I made Creole Onion Soup.
The soup was NOT a French onion soup. I sauted the onions in butter, added a bit of flour and then then stock, wine, and sharp cheddar cheese. The soup tasted great, but I didn't like the long pieces of onions, so we will have to work on that. The color of the soup was weird too. I know it isn't French onion soup, but I would really like to cook the onions longer so that the soup has a darker color.
The Shrimp Croustade was amazing. Jerry bought mini puff pastry shells. Jumbo shrimp were on sale, so the shrimp didn't fit into the shells and he fixed this by cutting them in half. Worked well. The shrimp had an amazing flavor and I couldn't have been more pleased.
Oh, by the way, this meal was so quick and easy. Less than 30 minutes from door to table.
The soup was NOT a French onion soup. I sauted the onions in butter, added a bit of flour and then then stock, wine, and sharp cheddar cheese. The soup tasted great, but I didn't like the long pieces of onions, so we will have to work on that. The color of the soup was weird too. I know it isn't French onion soup, but I would really like to cook the onions longer so that the soup has a darker color.
The Shrimp Croustade was amazing. Jerry bought mini puff pastry shells. Jumbo shrimp were on sale, so the shrimp didn't fit into the shells and he fixed this by cutting them in half. Worked well. The shrimp had an amazing flavor and I couldn't have been more pleased.
Oh, by the way, this meal was so quick and easy. Less than 30 minutes from door to table.
Taking a Break...Cleaning Out the Frig...
Jerry, John, and Jordan left on Thursday to go to South Carolina to get some fresh pork. The refrigerator was so packed and I was so full, I decided to take a break and not cook for a few days. Thursday we ate left overs. Friday, Jacob, Jillian and I went to the mall and to the movies. On Saturday, Jerry cooked pork ribs for PaPa's birthday. I was able to make those Chocolate Molten Souffles. Bless PaPa for having great taste in chocolate desserts!!!
From the cookbooks, we made Creole Roasted Ratatouille. This was delicious. Oven roasted zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, and garlic. Incredible. I did keep wishing for a mushroom. Next time, we may add a few.
From the cookbooks, we made Creole Roasted Ratatouille. This was delicious. Oven roasted zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, and garlic. Incredible. I did keep wishing for a mushroom. Next time, we may add a few.
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