Cookin again

[Dannyalcatraz]

...and welcome to ENWorld!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Soooo...I now have sort of gained a cooking student.

My cousin's wife has learned to do a couple of things over time, but she really wanted to learn certain key dishes. So she has started joining in the prep & cooking of meals now and again. Well, this weekend, she kinda took point on dinner, doing a pineapple-strawberry glazed ham (the one my aunt- her MiL- does) and a pot of mustard greens, with my aunt and I doing only @40% of the work on each dish. Not just showing & telling, but explaining why we do things a certain way.

Her ham came out a little less sweet than my aunt's usually does, but still quite good. And the mustard greens were a home run.

It was the best meal we'd had in a few days, and we let her know it.

This coming weekend, we'll be steaming a turkey...

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, my student couldn't make it to it due to a scheduling conflict. Still...



Pictured: a 23.5lb steamed turkey after breast reduction surgery; whole garlic cloves, baby carrots, gross chopped red onions & green onions in mix of lemon juice, chicken stock, Pino Grigio, butter and turkey drippings; oyster dressing; mustard greens, rice.

Not pictured: ravenous familial horde.

My evening's immediate future: deboning turkey for storage and using carcass to make stock.

 

[Dioltach]

Last week we had friends round, so I took the day off and spent it in the kitchen. The first serious cooking I'd done since last Christmas.

I cured and cold-smoked some salmon, and served it as a starter with char-grilled gem lettuce and a lemon and dill espuma. The main was an Italian beef stew that was on the stove from 9am, served with home-made gnocchi. Dessert was chocolate mousse with candied (and ever-so-slightly salted) mint leaves and chantilly cream.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Tongue.
On.
Floor.


Puddleofdrool.

 

[Dioltach]

The salmon was particularly good: I'd been meaning to give it a go for a while, and last week I decided to make the time. In the end it didn't require much effort, and the result was amazing.

My problem was that I have a very fancy Demeyere smoking pan, but that's for hot smoking -- you need a bigger set-up for cold-smoking, because the salmon needs to be kept separate from the smoke, and placed on a rack over a bowl of ice. In the end I decided that my largest deep roasting tray would be big enough -- but then it wasn't quite big enough for the rack I wanted to use. So I improvised a rack out of skewers, which worked OK.

Apart from that, it took maybe 10 minutes the night before to prepare the cure (salt, sugar and tea leaves) and pack the salmon in it. The smoking itself took about an hour and a half.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The salmon got my attention, but it was the beef stew & dessert that impressed me.

Still, nice improv on the salmon!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Well, the local restaurant where I was getting my fried artichoke hearts has closed. Now I can't make my vegetarian po-boys without driving at least another 1/2 hour.

Anybody have a clue on D.I.Y. fried artichoke hearts? I have never bought or cleaned an artichoke, and have only purchased pickled hearts for home use.

 

[Scott DeWar]

I place the hearts and other pieces in

Spoiler

the garbage

[edit]gah! It don't work no mo![/edit]

 

[Dioltach]

Anybody have a clue on D.I.Y. fried artichoke hearts? I have never bought or cleaned an artichoke, and have only purchased pickled hearts for home use.

Sorry, never cooked artichoke hearts, but I'd definitely parboil them (or cook them in a water bath, of you have one) before frying them. Pretty much every recipe I have for artichokes also involves soaking them in a lemon juice and water mixture before cooking, presumably to retain their colour.

I had some friends round to watch the rugby yesterday and did a bit of light cooking. I smoked some more salmon, which was very well received, particularly with the lemon and dill espuma. I also baked some crab and apple cornmeal muffins, which would have been better if I'd used a little more crab meat and remembered to add ginger, and I made some Caribbean pumpkin fritters. The plan was to make thing ones and turn them into quesadillas with goat's cheese and coriander, but I couldn't get them thin and large enough. So in the end I just served the small fat ones, and no one complained.

Tomorrow I'm going to take the leftover pumpkin mash and make ravioli, with feta and coriander, them serve with a grilled chicken breast or veal, and make an orange and Cointrea sauce (or perhaps a foam).

(My wife will be visiting her parents in the Caribbean later this month, and I need to make sure she has a reason to come back. )