The Lazy Gourmet

[Rusty Edge]

Short Answer- Needs more testing.

The instructions say to reduce the wine to less than half. Well, I reduced it to less than an eighth. Flavors were wonderful, but it still was on the runny side for a sauce. I might have reduced it some more, but I didn't want to be stuck with nothing for dinner when this was highly anticipated. I had visions of the Curries reducing pitch blend to a stain and thinking they'd failed. But I did remove the alcohol, unlike the Disney Chef blogger. As I said, this reduction shouldn't contain alcohol.

I am further convinced that this was done on a larger scale at Jiko. After some post-meal internet research, I've concluded that I want to try adding some fruit pectin to the wine reduction. I don't know that this what they did, but I think it would fit. A wine reduction is the concentration of fruit flavor, why not use the essence of fruit to thicken it?

It was kinda the same with the cheese sauce. The Fontina, Asiago, Provolone, Gruyere blend was delicious! We used only half of the milk, and it was still runny. Next time I'll use less milk. If it's still too runny, I'll add cornstarch.

I substituted Fusilli from Italy purchased at Trader Joe's. I figure the purpose of pastsa is to hold sauce, and I think Fusillari and Rotini do that best. I followed the package directions, and it was excellent. ( yes, pasta is not on my diet.) I had to taste it before we invite anybody over  to eat it.

I did a lot of prepping/measuring, but I still needed my wife to stir the roux and make the cheese sauce. I had my hands full with the pasta, steaks, and wine reduction. The wind made grilling a challenge.

So the flavors were excellent, my dog cleaned the plate I put on the floor, then jumped onto my lap to try to lick my knife and fork. That's a first. My plan is try it again. If I get it right, we will likely invite the nieces over for dinner, and do a Jiko-style dessert from the same period- Pistachio creme brulet with some Nutella on the bottom. Maybe I'll go all out and do a chicken flatbread with apple slaw topping and a coffee barbecue sauce as an appetizer.

[Edit for spelling ]

[Unorthodox]

Yeah, I've never done a reduction of more than about a cup of wine, and just in a sautee pan, so I don't know what's up with the method you're running.  I imagine you're cooking it at a heck of a lot lower temp than I do.  I'd think corn starch would work just about as well as pectin for thickening, but would be hesitant/sparing with either. 

The cheese sauce, I've had better luck with flour than corn starch, myself.  But I don't want sweet in my cheese sauces.  And adding more cheese is always an option to thicken a cheese sauce. 

[Rusty Edge]

 
The cheese sauce, I've had better luck with flour than corn starch, myself.  But I don't want sweet in my cheese sauces.  And adding more cheese is always an option to thicken a cheese sauce.

I don't know why that didn't occur to me- yes I do . Multi-tasking! I blame my statin meds, because if I don't focus on remembering what I'm doing while I multi-task, I'll forget one of the tasks.  Next time I'll just grate some extra cheese to add in case.

Thanks, Uno!

[Unorthodox]

So, last weekend, hEt was running a Ragnar race (google it if you don't know what it is). 

Anyway, the plan going in was our house would be something of home base for her team to crash, which meant me cooking for a small army. 

As the date approached and times got finalized, it was clear I was going to be working, so I needed something Alec could do. 

I settled on my Chicken Tikka Masala as I've been cooking it in massive batches for a while and usually freezing 2/3 -1/2 depending on the batch to have quick and easy meals later.  Well, I did the prep portion entirely different this time and believe I have a better way to freeze it in the future. 

There's really not much of a recipe these days as I've made it simpler over time: 

dice and fry the chicken with just a touch of seasoning (pick a curry blend).  Your goal is to get a nice searing on the chicken.  Set aside.

Sauce:  sautee some onions and garlic in a little butter and olive oil.  Add either fresh tomatoes (in season) or tomato sauce, and season to taste (Garam masala, salt, and cumin), simmer down to a thick, almost paste consistency then add the milk/cream/coconut/whatever to desired taste/smoothness.  Add chicken back in and heat. 

Now, normally, I just split this recipe and freeze the leftovers. 

For Alec, I left the chicken separate, and only got to the season to taste on the sauce.  I let him handle the simmer down and adding the cream.  meanwhile, he reheated the chicken in a 350 oven and added it in at the end.  (he also managed his siblings to work the side and bread dishes, I just let everyone (ie his older brother) know he was in charge of the kitchen)

It all come out fantastic, even if I didn't get any till the next day due to work. 

[E_T]

Cheers to Alec!!

[Rusty Edge]

So while I was fishing I got this idea to make cole slaw more colorful for special events. Use red cabbage, rainbow carrots ( white, yellow, orange, and purple ), add some red radishes and a turnip for some light purple. I tried it yesterday. Shredded all of that stuff. Threw in a daikon because it was aging in the refrigerator, and a parsnip for that peppery taste. Most of it went in the freezer.

Some of it I mixed with avocado mayo ( because it's on my diet list ) and grated in some ginger. Haven't tasted the parsnip in the slaw. Once the mayo was added it became sort of a pinkish-purple and dark purple slaw, rather than a multicolor. I wonder if a vinegar base would show the colors better? It tasted okay.

Maybe next time I'll use horse radish rather than ginger.

[Rusty Edge]

Mixed grill tonight. I tested out a few things, the first two of which I read about on the internet. Normally, when I'm done grilling I close the vents to smother the fire and preserve most of the remaining charcoal, then take the food in to serve. So, I usually don't clean the grill until the next day at best. At the worst, I do it before I light the fire the next time.

1) I read that you can clean the grill by rubbing half an onion on it. I tried that after the usual scraping and brushing. It worked pretty well. Then I put it atop the charcoal, skin side down before I lit it. ( I used to start the charcoal with a chimney, but since I switched from briquettes to "lump charcoal" I use a Firestarter stick in the charcoal heap instead. I try to avoid lighter fluid ).

Smelled good, and was completely consumed by the time I finished. I think the onion evaporates juice, then the skin dries and combusts from the outside-in, layer by layer.


2) Also, the same source suggested coating the grill by rubbing it with half a potato. I tried that, too. Even though my fire was too hot when I started, the first flip was stick-free. That was true for a burger, two brats, a lean beef steak, three marinated chicken breasts, and the cabbage steak. There was a salmon filet, too, but it was in a basket and on the periphery. There was some sticking on some of the things I flipped again, but the first is always the worst in my previous experience.


So, I'll be trying the onion and potato again. I've always found oil or whatever to be a fire hazard for this purpose.

3)Oh, yeah, the cabbage steak. I took a vertical center cut of the red cabbage I bought for cole slaw, about 1 and 1/4 inches thick. I put it in a ziplock until time to grill. I used Montreal Steak seasoning on both sides. It's salt, black pepper, red pepper, paprika, garlic and onion, dried, ground, and blended together. I usually like a little citrus peel with it, too. Anyway, I was delighted with it. I'll be doing it again.

[Elok]

I tried to do char siu (aka red-cooked) pork the other day.  It didn't work very well, I suspect because the glaze wasn't thick enough.  Anybody ever try it?

[Unorthodox]

I've been meaning to get around to red cooking, but it's something the rest of the family is wholly unfamiliar with, so I've been hesitant to do it for the family. 

[E_T]

Make a small enough of a batch as well as your regular meal and let them try it out.  That way, they still have the regular meal to eat but they can sample and let you know if it would be worth it or not to do a full meal in the future.

[Unorthodox]

Dinner is a royal cluster as it is right now. 

3-4 nights out of the week, hEt is working nights, and Kyle is working nights 5 days a week.  So, the 3-4 nights I'm already cooking a "family" dinner, I'm also cooking reheatable meals for those two.  Sometimes that's just leftovers, sometimes it's entire second meals.  Then Alec had his wisdom teeth out, so a week of mushy food ready for him to heat...

Once winter rolls around and I don't have so much going on outside, I'll get to it. 

[Unorthodox]

Made some pretty good chinese chicken tonight for myself, though.  Just ginger, soy, brown sugar and a touch of beet juice. 

[Rusty Edge]

I tried to post about this a few days before, but it didn't go through. Bought an air fryer on Prime Day. Well, maybe it's an appliance that disqualifies itself from the thread. It was a Phillips, the original inventor, normally $175, but it was $99 and free shipping, so I bit. I figured to make eggplant in it first, however, when I picked up the eggplant from my refrigerator drawer, the bottom was rotten. Plan B: I made chips from a Japanese sweet potato ( obscure ingredient , another DQ ) and seasoned them with various spices, batch by batch. The winner was Trader Joe's South African Smoke seasoning ( obscure ingredient, another DQ ) It's a blend of smoked African-grown paprika, sea salt, garlic and basil. It's my first successful substitution of a healthy ingredient that my wife actually liked. So, we can actually eat some of the same food. I liked it, too.

[Unorthodox]

Managed to spend a week on vacation eating out with no major gall bladder issues cropping up.  (2 meals made, one eaten out each day)

That's some small victory in and of itself. 

[Rusty Edge]

On the diet food front, I got some more Japanese sweet potatoes. Made chips again, this time using the slicer blade on the Kitchen-Aid. Even so, probably best consumed when made, rather than the next day. It doesn't hold it's crispiness as well as store chips. Not a problem, it's easy to eat.


Tonight I made a mash with them for a shepherd's pie. It worked pretty well as a substitute, although the natural sweetness was more apparent. Slightly weird. Next time I make a pie I'll try adding some Romano or Parmesan to see if that helps. Also I intend to make mash again & try adding some cauliflower and see if it reduces the sweetness. These potatoes are red on the outside and white on the inside. They are shaped like sweet potatoes. If anything, a little drier and harder to slice than a Russet.

Made Eggplant fries recently too, another hit. Although the wife informs me that she wants them peeled next time. Also I've learned how to pop milo in the air popper without burning it. I think I actually prefer it to popcorn.