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Posts Tagged ‘butter’

Hoisin-glazed Salmon with Brussel Sprout Hash and Corn Soup

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on August 5, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Fresh caught sustainable Coho Salmon was on sale, and it looked damn good, so I picked up a 20 oz fillet. I really wanted to throw it on the grill, but with it raining all day yesterday I had to settle for the broiler. I hate covering up fresh flesh like this with a lot of flavors, so I kept it real simple and just added a little extra flavor. But first, the soup.

I cut the kernels off of 3 ears of corn, chopped up 4 green onions, sliced 3 cloves of garlic, and threw it all into a stockpot with 1 cup of chicken stock and 2 cups of water. I also threw the stripped corn cobs in to make sure all of that flavorful juice made it into the soup. I brought it all up to a boil, covered the pot, turned the heat down to med-low, and let it simmer for about 15 minutes. Then, I turned off the heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes before pouring it all into my blender. I contemplated straining it, but I like the little bits of corn so I left it as is. I poured it back into the pot, seasoned it with salt and pepper, and left it until dinner time. At that point I re-heated it and ladled it into a couple of bowls and garnished it with some fresh slices of radish.

For the hash I used 5 large shiitake stems removed and caps quartered, 5 red creamer potatoes (the pic shows 7, but I only used 5 of them), 6-7 oz of brussel sprouts quartered, half an onion large diced, 2 garlic cloves minced, and 2 thick slices of applewood smoked bacon. In a large pot of boiling salt water I par-boiled the potatoes for about 10 minutes then lifted them out with a slotted spoon. I set them aside to cool down. In the same boiling water I threw in the quartered brussel sprouts and let them go for 2 minutes. Then I drained them and let them sit until further notice.

In a large hot skillet I laid the bacon slices in and let the fat render off. Once they were crispy I took them out and drained them on paper towels, then sliced them up. I added 1 tablespoon of butter to the hot bacon fat and then chopped the cooled potatoes and tossed them in. I let them get a little crisp on the outside for about 6 minutes and then tossed in the garlic and onion. After about 6 more minutes I added the shiitake and brussel sprouts and then seasoned with a little salt and pepper. Didn’t need too much salt because of the salty bacon fat. A few minutes later and I added back in the sliced bacon. I let that all come together for about 3 minutes.

Look at that salmon! Isn’t that gorgeous?

I cut it up into 4 equal portions and seasoned it with salt and pepper. Then I took some hoisin sauce and brushed just a little on top of each piece. Not too much, just a little. While my hash was cooking I put my oven rack on the upper third and started the broiler. I put the salmon under the broiler for about 7 minutes. That’s all it needs. Ready to be devoured.

I had soup, vegetables, dead animal (salmon and bacon), a beer, my beautiful wife….what more did I need?

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Pork Tenderloin – Greek Flavor

Posted in Home Cooking, swine, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 28, 2010| 1 Comment »

I just got the new Saveur issue the other day and it was all about Greek cuisine. This inspired me to make my own little Greek dinner last night. Since Yuki mentioned that I haven’t made pork tenderloin in a while and it was great weather to grill I put 2 and 2 together and came up with a delicious meal.

I got a beautiful 1.3 pound tenderloin. To marinade it I mixed together 1/4 cup of olive oil, 1/4 cup of red wine, the juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, 4 garlic cloves minced and mashed into a paste, 1 bay leaf that I crumbled, and a decent amount of black pepper. I let it marinate in the fridge for about 3 hours and then at room temperature for another 2 hours. Every hour or so I flipped it around so that the marinade would penetrate evenly.

I made some spanakopita for a side. I melted 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan, sautéed 1/2 diced onion for about 6 minutes, then wilted down a 5 ounce package of baby spinach. I put that in a bowl, let it cool, then seasoned it with salt and pepper, 1/4 teaspoon of ground nutmeg, and 4 ounces of feta cheese.

Instead of the usual triangles I decided to make them into cigars. I cut some phyllo dough into about 5.5-6 inch strips. At one end I placed some of the spinach mix. Then I folded in the edges, rolled them up, and brushed them with olive oil. I got 5 cigars out of them. So I guess you can figure about 1 ounce of spinach for each one. I put them in a 375 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes. They burst open a little while cooking, I must have rolled them a little too tight. I guess I’m used to rolling other things. If you make these, don’t make them too tight.

While the spanakopita was cooking I grilled up the tenderloin along with a zucchini that I thinly sliced. I brushed the zucchini with olive oil prior to grilling. I did it over a medium heat for about 10 minutes on each side. I don’t like cooking tenderloin all the way through like a chop, that kills the soft texture. If you have a good fresh piece of meat there should be no worry about trichinosis with a tenderloin as there isn’t much fat for the little buggers to hide in. Also, drinking alcohol helps (it helps a lot of things!). Oh, I also sprinkled some salt on both sides of the tenderloin before grilling as well. I don’t like salting marinades because that draws the moisture out of the meat. It’s best to salt just before cooking.

While the meat was grilling I boiled down the marinade to make a quick sauce. I also made some orzo with cherry tomatoes and rosemary. I simply boiled 3/4 cup of orzo in salted water according to package instructions. After draining it, I tossed it in a bowl with a handful of halved cherry tomatoes and one sprig of rosemary that was given the once-over with my knife. A little salt, pepper, and olive oil and my starch was good to go.

Last thing, I let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing it. That gave it time for the juice to chill out and redistribute. If meat doesn’t rest after cooking the juice will run out and your meat will go dry. No one wants dry meat. A little juice goes a long way!

PS- This came out to 3 portions instead of my usual 4. I had lunch plans today, so I didn’t need lunch for myself.

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Chicken & Tofu Burgers with Miso Soup

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 22, 2010| 2 Comments »

Last night I did a riff on one of Yuki’s recipes. She commonly makes ground chicken dumplings similar to these patties in the winter when we eat nabe (Japanese hot-pot). So, I took her idea and made my own Japanese flavored dinner.

The ingredient list for the patties were 3/4’s pound of ground chicken thigh, 1 block of tofu that I had pressed the water out of, one egg scrambled with 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1 carrot cut into a small dice, 3 garlic cloves and 1 inch of ginger that I minced, and 1 tablespoon of hijiki seaweed. The hijiki comes dried and is available in most Asian sections of your grocer. I put 1 tablespoon of dried hijiki in a couple of cups of cold water and let it sit for about a half hour. Then I strained it, reserving the liquid for the miso soup.

I mixed it all together, with about a tablespoon of nanami togarashi (a Japanese red pepper spice mix, there are various kinds of togarashi that are also usually available in the Asian section) until the tofu was completely broken down and everything was mixed well. Then, on a lightly oiled baking sheet, I laid 8 patties (two patties per serving, leftovers for lunch). I let it cook in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Before cooking the patties I got my miso soup ingredients ready to go. I cut 2 negi (Japanese green onions, larger than regular green onions, not as big as leeks) into 1 inch pieces, hiratake (oyster mushrooms), and wakame seaweed. Wakame can be bought dried or fresh. Fresh comes heavily salted to preserve it. You need to soak it really well in water and cut it into smaller pieces as it expands once the salt is rinsed off.

I also chopped up a small head of napa cabbage to cook as a side.

Once I put the patties in the oven I melted 1 tablespoon of butter in a skillet and heated up the hijiki liquid in a pan along with one more cup of water, 1 teaspoon of dashi-no-moto (instant dashi), the negi, and the mushrooms. I let the soup simmer while working on the cabbage. Once the butter was melted I added 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and then the cabbage. I let the cabbage wilt in the soy butter for about 10 minutes and then turned off the heat.

After the cabbage was ready I added the wakame to the soup and then the miso. The best way to add the miso is to take a heaping spoonful and swirl it around in a ladle that is just slightly in the soup. This allows the miso to incorporate slowly keeping it from being lumpy.

I served everything with some white rice. I poured just a little ponzu on top of the patties to add a touch of acidity and help keep them moist. To keep with the Japanese flavors it only seemed right to drink Asahi.

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Roast Monkfish in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 14, 2010| 1 Comment »

Monkfish, quite possibly natures ugliest creation (not including Ann Coulter’s morality). However, I’m a firm believer that the uglier the animal, the better it tastes. Monkfish is truly one of the best tasting fish in the sea. Called the poor man’s lobster because of a similar stringy texture it is a much more affordable way to go than lobster. Hence, the name. One thing to keep in mind with monkfish, the tail is covered in a membrane that needs to be removed prior to cooking and eating. It’s easy to do, all you need is a sharp knife. However, let the fishmonger do it for you so your garbage doesn’t stink like rotten fish the next day.

The first thing I did was make the sauce. I took two red bell peppers and grilled them (I guess it’s technically not a roasted red pepper sauce) until the skin was nice and charred. I kept turning them around to make sure the entire pepper got charred. You can do this under a broiler or on the gas stove top if you don’t have a grill. The grill does add a nice smokey element to the peppers though that you don’t get on a range.

Once the skin was good to go I put them in a bowl and covered them in plastic wrap. I let them cool down in their own steam for about a half an hour. This not only allows the peppers to cool down for easier handling, but it helps the skin separate from the flesh. Then, keeping the peppers over the bowl, I rubbed off the skin and discarded it along with the stem. I opened them up and removed the seeds as well. I kept them over the bowl to catch the flavorful juices. Once the flesh was clear of seeds I put them in my small blender and pureed them along with the juice from the bowl.

In a small saucepan I melted 1/2 tablespoon of butter over high heat and poured in about 1/3 cup of white wine. I let that boil until it reduced by half, approx 7 or 8 minutes. Then I poured in about 2/3 cup of cream. Once that started to boil I turned the heat down to med-low to keep the cream from boiling over. I let that reduce by half as well, another 10 minutes or so once it started to boil. After it reduced I poured in the red pepper puree and let that come to a boil. Again, I let it reduce by about half, another 10 minutes. Then I turned off the heat, covered the pan, and let it sit until service.

Thinking about vegetables that go well with red peppers I decided to use a zucchini, two baby eggplants, and an onion. I also cut some rosemary from my backyard and cut up a couple of garlic cloves.

I chopped up the vegetables and tossed them with olive oil and the rosemary in a roasting pan. In a 400 degree oven I let them cook for about 20 minutes. Then, I took them out and added the garlic. I didn’t want to garlic to burn which is why I didn’t include it to start with. I also seasoned with salt and pepper at this point and put everything back into the oven for another 10 minutes.

Then, I took it out again. I had cut the monkfish into 4 portions. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and some paprika. The seasoned fish was laid on top of the veggies and then everything went back into the oven for another 15 minutes.

To serve, I put some white rice on the plate, scooped some of the veggies next to the rice, and laid a piece of fish on top of the veggies. I had re-heated the red pepper sauce and spooned it all over the fish and veggies. Delicious!

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Quiche

Posted in Home Cooking, Meatless Monday, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 7, 2010| Leave a Comment »

I made a quiche for Meatless Monday this week. I’ve never made one before, and while I really wanted to use some bacon, it turned out surprisingly delicious. Probably the best quiche I’ve ever eaten. Yuki, who is a big fan of quiche, thought so too.

For my vegetables I slices up 5 button mushrooms and 5 cremini, I chopped half of a Vidalia onion, I cut one head of broccoli into small florets, and minced on clove of garlic.

I melted one tablespoon of butter in my saute pan and started with the garlic for about 30 seconds and then the onion for about 4 minutes. I threw the mushrooms in and let them cook down for about 4 minutes. Then I tossed in the broccoli and let that go for another 4 minutes. I let them cool on a plate.

While the vegetables were cooling I whipped up the egg batter. I used 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of soy milk, 1/2 cup of fresh grated Gruyère, some salt, pepper, and a teaspoon of nutmeg.

I rolled out a puff pastry so that it would fit nicely in my 9″er (a man can dream). I lightly buttered the pan then laid the pastry in and trimmed the edges. I laid the vegetables on the bottom so that they were evenly dispersed. Then I poured the egg batter on top. I rolled the sides of the crust dow till they were just slightly higher than the batter. I topped it all with some more grated Gruyère and threw it into a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes, or until the top is slightly browned.

I let it sit for about 10 minutes after taking it out of the oven. The quiche needs to rest a little and it will lose some height as it settles.

I served it with some white rice and a mixed green salad. The salad had some tomatoes and a shiitake vinaigrette.

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Fennel

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Personally, I think that fennel is one of the more underrated vegetables out there. Sure, you see it in Italian cooking. You also see its seeds in some Indian and Middle Eastern cooking. But you don’t see much of it outside of that. When I saw big, beautiful fennel bulbs at the store yesterday I just had to eat them.

The first thing I did after washing the fennel was to separate the fronds from the bulbs. I took a handful of the frond and chopped them up nice and fine. I threw them into a quarter cup of olive oil along with a finely minced garlic clove, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, and about a half lemon’s worth of zest. I slashed the skin on 6 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and then coated them with the marinade. I covered it in plastic and threw it in the fridge for a couple of hours.

I coarsely chopped the bulbs along with half an onion, three garlic cloves, and two medium-sized russet potatoes that I skinned.

In a heated pot I melted 1 tablespoon of butter and then sautéed all of the vegetables for about 7 minutes. Then I poured in a quarter cup of white wine. I let that boil for a few minutes and then added 1 cup of chicken stock and seasoned with salt. Once that came to a boil I covered the pan and turned the heat down to med-low. I let that simmer for about 15-20 minutes until everything was nice and tender. At that point I turned off the heat and let it cool for a bit.

Once cool I poured it all into my blender along with a quarter cup of soy milk (would have used cream if I had any) and blended it to a smooth puree. Then I poured it back into the pot, checked the salt seasoning and added some black pepper. I let it sit until everything else was ready. At that point all I had to do was re-heat it.

I took some broccoli and cut it down into florets. I laid that on some foil, drizzled it with olive oil, then sprinkled zest from the other half of the lemon over it along with some salt.

I took the chicken out of the fridge about a half hour before grilling to bring it to room temperature. I grilled the chicken skin-side down first to get a nice crisp skin. The broccoli was kept on the foil during grilling, this keeps it from falling through the grate and also keeps it from burning quickly. I also grilled a couple of big red sweet peppers.

To serve, I squeezed the lemon juice on the chicken after it was taken off the grill. Then I garnished everything, the soup included, with some more of the fennel fronds chopped up. White rice accompanied.

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Korean spiced Beef

Posted in beef, Home Cooking, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 15, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Last night we went to Millennium Park to see Tony Allen play for free. Beautiful night and fantastic music! However, because of this, I didn’t do much for Meatless Monday. Nothing worth blogging about anyway. Instead, here’s a dish that Yuki made the other night. Thinly sliced strip steak in Korean chili sauce.

She thinly sliced a strip steak that weighed about 3/4’s of a pound. Then she marinated it in a mix of soy sauce, mirin, sake, sesame oil, a touch of salt, black pepper, and toban djan. Toban djan is a wonderful Korean chili paste that most grocers have in their Asian section. I have no idea what measurements she used since I was busy prepping vegetables, but I would imagine about a tablespoon or so of each liquid is pretty close. That marinated for about a half hour or so while we got everything else ready.

For vegetables we used some green beans, green onions, shiitake, alfalfa sprouts (Stanley’s didn’t have any bean sprouts), napa cabbage, and some fresh corn. The corn was simply boiled while the rest of the veggies were sautéed with the beef.

She sautéed the beef first with some diced garlic in sesame oil in small batches until they were partially cooked. Then she set the beef aside and threw the veggies in.

First was the green onions for a few minutes, followed by the green beans, then the shiitake, and finally the cabbage. She let them cook together for about 5 minutes or so with about a quarter cup of sake added.

Then she put the beef back in and added the sprouts. That went for another 5-7 minutes before it was ready (had to let the sake reduce) to be mauled by my molars.

While all of that was going on the corn was boiling in some salt water. When it was done all I did was melt a little butter on it and sprinkle it with some salt. I was surprised at how good the corn was. I know it’s not our good Midwestern corn yet, that won’t be ready for a couple of months yet. This probably came from Georgia, but it was quite tasty.

Also, true to a dish by Yuki, there was white rice on the side.

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Ribs

Posted in Restaurant, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 8, 2010| 1 Comment »

The only other meal worth blogging about from our trip last week was our final dinner. We used Las Vegas as our start and stop point simply because the cheapest flights were to Vegas and we were able to make a nice circle out of there. Anyone who knows me has heard me tout the brilliance of Mike Mills’ ribs. He’s the owner of 17th Street Bar and Grill in Murphysboro, IL. When my mom and step-dad attended law school at SIU they turned me on to his ribs. He’s a 5 time rib champion of the Memphis in May BBQ contest, 2 of those times also taking the Grand Champion trophy. Bon Appetit Magazine has him ranked right at the top of BBQ Ribs. For whatever reason, he opened up 3 locations in Vegas and named them Memphis Championship BBQ. I was looking forward to those ribs to close out the trip ever since we booked the flights.

We started off with a jar of beer each and some rolls with honey butter.

Slabs and half slabs of ribs each come with two sides. We quickly realized that it’s cheaper to share a slab and then order two extra sides, which still turned out to be a bit too much food for us. Also, the sides aren’t all the same price. So, we included fried okra and steamed vegetables with the slab since they were the two most expensive and then added an order of mashed potatoes and, what BBQ meal is complete without them, baked beans. The okra came with a dipping sauce made with Mike’s famous Magic Dust, a spice blend recipe handed down to him from his grandmother. The vegetables were simply a mixed bowl of steamed vegetables. The potatoes had bacon them as well as Magic Dust in the gravy. And the baked beans also had bacon as well as his BBQ sauce.

On to the ribs. A nice full slab of slow-smoked baby backs. We got there at about 9:30 at night and our ribs were probably at their peak about 6:30-7ish. They were slightly dry, but still fantastic! Still better than any other rib you’ll get at a restaurant. We devoured those meat popsicle about as well as any vulture could. MMMMMMMM!

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Pesto Roasted Drumsticks with Roasted Tomato Soup

Posted in Home Cooking, poultry, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 21, 2010| Leave a Comment »

So, I had a lot of pesto left from Meatless Monday. Whole Foods had local, organic chicken legs on sale for $1.49 a lb. The idea was to marinade them in the pesto for an hour and then grill them up. The spurts of rain we got last night put the kibosh on that. So, I roasted them instead.

Before marinating the chicken, I slashed the skin a couple of times about halfway into the meat. I wanted the pesto flavor to permeate the leg and not just coat it. I put the legs in one of my large pans and threw it into the oven at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes. While I didn’t get the smoky grill flavor I wanted, this allows the chicken to almost confit. All of the chicken fat helps keep the meat moist and juicy.

While the chicken was roasting I sautéed up some onion, purple potato, and carrot in butter. Once the vegetables were almost completely cooked, about 10-15 minutes for the potatoes, I drizzled in the last bit of pesto I had left. I let that cook for a minute or two.

Then I threw in the rest of the rapini I had in my fridge. The rapini only needs a few a minutes. Once the leaves started to wilt I turned off the heat.

I prepared the soup earlier in the day so that, come dinner time, all I had to do was heat it up. I took 7 roma tomatoes and halved them. I laid them in a baking dish cut side up and topped each with a slice of garlic. Then I drizzled some olive oil on top and roasted them in a 400 degree oven for an hour. When I took them out I let them cool for about 15 minutes and then tossed it all in my blender until nice and smooth. I thought about straining it, but I decided that I wanted the texture of the pulp.

Right before I reheated the soup I threw in a large handful of chopped basil and seasoned with salt and pepper. I garnished the soup with a pinch of parmesan.

Even though potatoes are a starch, I treated them more as a regular vegetable. I served some white rice alongside for the starch.

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Sea Bass with Vegetables in Okaka Mayo

Posted in Home Cooking, seafood, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 17, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Okaka mayo, a really fun sauce to say. It’s also a delicious, very Japanese, sauce that’s easy to make. This is a dish that Yuki made the other night.

To start, Yuki steamed some vegetables. Once the steamer got going she put in a couple of baby bok choy, a carrot cut into match sticks, and a handful of green beans.

A few minutes later she threw in some bean sprouts and some fresh shiitake caps. She let everything steam for about 5 minutes or so, just so that the veggies are al dente.

While the veggies were steaming she mixed up the okaka mayo. Okaka is a sauce that is often used for onigiri. It’s simply a mixture of soy sauce and bonito flakes (available at most grocers these days in the Asian section). To that, she squirted in some mayonnaise and mixed it all up in a bowl large enough to hold all of the vegetables. I have no idea what the measurements were. Just taste it and adjust according to your preference.

Then, she got the sea bass going. In a saute pan she melted some butter and added some sliced garlic. She let the garlic cook a little in order for its flavor to absorb into the butter. The sea bass was seasoned with salt, pepper, and dried basil. She cooked it skin-side down first in order to get a nice crisp skin. After a few minutes she flipped it over to cook the top. In total, the fish only needs about 8-10 minutes of cooking. Sea bass stays moist, but you still don’t want to overcook it. It will continue to cook for a few minutes inside after you take it off the heat.

While the fish was cooking she tossed the steamed vegetables in the okaka mayo.

While she was doing all of that, I was charged with the difficult task of potatoes. I melted some butter in a large skillet and let it get ridiculously hot. Then I added thin sliced purple potatoes in a single layer. The hot butter gave it a really nice crust. After about 3 or 4 minutes I turned each slice over and turned the heat down to medium. This allowed the inside to cook while also crisping up the bottom of each slice. While that was going on I sprinkled a little salt and pepper on top of everything.

Everything was served with white rice. It was extremely tasty!

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