Month 6 day 7: Quiche and mustard gas

Today I made:
Summer Squash, Bacon, and Mozzarella Quiche, Cooking Light July 2011
Heirloom Tomato Chow-Chow, Food Network Magazine July/August 2010

I thought it would be nice to make this quiche so that I could have leftovers for breakfasts this week. I ended up de-lighting it though, using all butter for the crust (instead of butter + shortening), the bacon grease to cook the squash in (instead of EVOO), 1/2 c cream, 1/4 c buttermilk, and 1/4 c water (instead of 1 c 2% milk), and 5 eggs (instead of 3 egg whites plus 3 whole eggs). And I cut it into sixths instead of eighths.
I also deviated in that I started cooking a little late (after finding some lost keys and spending a while trying to figure out how to track down the person. In the end, I took them to the nearby gym since there was a member card on the keychain, and they were able to look the person up to contact them), so instead of cooling the dough in the fridge for an hour, I basically just rolled it out immediately and then chilled it while waiting for the oven to preheat. I feel like normally in crust there isn't a chilling step? You just use cold ingredients and ice water. In the end, the crust wasn't super great, but I don't know if that's because of my full on butter, not chilling it, using my hands instead of a food processor, OR possibly the fact that the filling was too much and overflowed, so instead of the crust being on the outside of the quiche, it was sort of buried inside. Oh well. It tasted good, although it seemed like there were some bites that were super salty and others not so much. I'm not sure if I didn't mix the salt into the eggs well enough, or if it's just that  there were certain deposits of mozzarella (which is pretty salty, right?) instead of being evenly mixed in.

I must say, I'm pretty proud of the number of dishes I've found this week to use up the fresh thyme. I think this is the third recipe this week that has called for it. In the first couple months of the blog I used to purposefully put recipes together if they called for the same perishable ingredient, but I haven't been doing that lately, so normally I just have to buy things like cilantro every week and then not use all of it :-P

So, the quiche was good. The chow-chow was not. I was not sure if it was going to be tasty, so I only made 1/4 the normal amount (and it is still definitely more than 1 serving...). I used mustard, tumeric, and then just pickling spice (instead of a combination of pickling spice, celery seeds, and mustard seeds). As it was simmering, it just started making the air awful, so bad... to the point that I had to look up mustard gas to figure out whether boiling something with mustard is what makes it (it's not, luckily). Actually, I think it was the vinegar that burned your throat. I was pretty sure that I shouldn't let it simmer for the entire 15 minutes, and even so after throwing in a test tomato for a couple minutes I realized that it was still way too strong. I poured in some water to dilute it before putting in the rest of the onion and tomato slices.
In the end, it was still quite strong. It was pretty spicy, I guess just the pickling spice I have has a good amount of pepper flakes in it. I don't know... it was an interesting flavor, and I could see why someone might choose to make and eat this, but the vinegar and the pepper were both just so strong. Interestingly, there's a different version of chow-chow with the same name (except missing the hyphen). It's by the same chef, also on FN's website... but the ratios are pretty different. Namely, there is only 2 c vinegar instead of 4 c. And instead of pickling spice, it just has the same other spices plus some cayenne directly. I wonder if this recipe would have been better.

I don't think I'll keep either recipe. The quiche was good, but I already have other quiche recipes, and it's easy to mix-and-match what goes inside. And the chow-chow I will never make again :-P But, I guess it's good to have tried it! That's what's nice about a cooking challenge-- you get to try some random things you would never have otherwise made.

July's best recipe: Probably the lemonade drumsticks

Month 6 day 6: Chickpea lunch and ice cream

Today I made:
Chickpea Bajane, Cooking Light July 2010
Raspberry Buttermilk Sherbert, Food Network Magazine July/August 2010

Also pictured are samosas, which I didn't make, but my friends who joined me for lunch brought to share.

This dish is vegetarian and seems light, but it is quite filling (yet not overly filling). This chickpea dish kind of reminded me of the mint-chard one I made back in May, maybe because I swapped fennel seeds in for caraway then, and this has a lot of fennel too. But, instead of requiring a multitude of cooking techniques, this is a two-pot recipe. Once everything is chopped, it isn't a very complicated dish. This made it well-suited to a little 12:30 lunch gathering, since even though I would only get home from church ~12 pm, I had already cut everything the night before and figured 30 min would be plenty to make everything. As it turned out, I got home a little later than expected, and also things took a little longer than expected. Luckily, my friend Isaac helped cook the bajane while I wrestled with the ice cream. There were some technical difficulties.

1. The raspberries were too plentiful for my blender so the top layer didn't get mixed in easily
2. I used frozen raspberries instead of fresh (they're going to get frozen later anyway, I figured), so the liquid:solid ratio was too small to allow proper mixing 
3. Also this meant that the end consistency was really thick, so I couldn't strain out the seeds
4. I wanted to wipe out the inside of the ice cream maker quickly before pouring the mix in, but then the paper towel froze to the side of the container and was really hard to get off!
5. The amount of ice cream was exactly the upper limit of the ice cream maker, so it was a little dicey.

It all worked out, but it took a lot more hands on time than I was expecting for a recipe that is basically to blend some things together and pour it into an ice cream maker. Originally I had thought to mix this up first and put it in the ice cream machine while I cooked the bajane, but luckily I decided to start on the bajane first or else I would have never gotten to it :-P

Interestingly, it is served with cracked pepper on top. People were mixed on whether you could actually taste the pepper or if it was a good match.

Speaking of ice cream, I wanted to give a little plug for Susan's Ice Cream Essentials. Susan herself came to give out samples at our local Shaw's (why there??). I think it's only available in New England, but if you're here you should give it a try. It was tasty and she tries to make it with wholesome, natural ingredients and gluten free if you're into that kind of thing. Of course, if you have an ice cream machine, you can make whatever kind of ice cream from wholesome ingredients yourself. I don't normally eat much ice cream, but lately Hulu has been showing a ton of commercials for Skinny Cow and some other ice cream brand. Whenever I see them I'm not particularly tempted to go buy those brands, but it does make me tempted to go to the freezer and eat the ice cream that is already there. Haha. I don't think Hulu would be too pleased with that response.

Month 6 day 5: Lemony chicken and lemony cucumber salad

Today was a cool, rainy day, totally mismatched with today's picnic-inspired menu.

Today I made:
Crunchy Lemonade Drumsticks, Food Network Magazine July/August 2010
Lemony Cucumber Salad, Cooking Light July 2011

These drumsticks are good, but they sort of take a while. While the prep isn't so bad (the marinade is quick to put together, then it's just a dip-shake), they're baked, not fried, and it takes a full hour or more to cook them. This is nice because I don't like frying, but I imagine that if this were a picnic-appropriate day, I wouldn't want to have the oven at 400°F for so long. They got nice and crispy on the top, but were really soggy on the bottom (even though you turn them halfway through, so the soggy part was once crispy). This might be more of a sign that I need to get a wire rack that is higher off of the pan, or it might just be inevitable given that there is a good amount of fat from the skin, fat, mayo, and still some liquid from the marinade probably dripping down as it bakes.
I didn't have enough zest (from two lemons), so only some bites had a zesty lemon flavor. Given that there wasn't enough zest for both the marinade and the coating, I feel like it would be better to give the full amount to the coating. The marinade has juice anyway, which is probably doing a better job of soaking in. I would definitely make this recipe again. Given the long baking time, it might be nice in the winter as a nice reminder of summer flavors :)

The radish loves you!

The salad requires a good amount of chopping, but it's not as bad as one of the reviewers makes it out to be. I didn't measure the parts for the dressing because my measuring spoons were already dirty by this point, but I just guessed. It ended up being quite peppery (in a good way). I liked this salad too. It was nice and fresh. Some of the reviewers said it gets too watery, so we'll see if it holds up well tomorrow or not.

Month 6 day 4: Moo shu pork and green beans

Back from California for the last time! Now I am back in Boston for the duration. My cousin's love celebration was great, with delicious farm-food, including a whole pig they raised and roasted themselves:

They also had some great popsicles: apricot-lavender and hibiscus-grape-mint.

Today I made:
Moo Shu Pork, Food Network Magazine July/August 2010
Green Beans with Toasted Garlic (Sesame-soy variation), Cooking Light July 2011
Served with mixed rice

Now that I'm finally back in Boston for a long time and with no dietary restrictions, I finally feel like I can go grocery shopping and cook without worrying about when I'll be able to use the leftovers and such. I went shopping for ingredients for the next four meals (sixteen servings, really) and it cost $70! Jeez. It hurts to be back on the East Coast. There were a lot of odd produce items which I think drove it up-- like this small head of Bibb lettuce, a single bulb of fennel, and some leeks which are all $3-4 each. Also, the pork tenderloin for this recipe was $10! I guess I normally get it only when it's on sale. I misread this recipe as calling for a 1 3/4 lb tenderloin, but when I got home I realized that actually it was for one tenderloin weighing 3/4 lbs! So I just used half and froze the rest for the Cantonese-Style Grilled Pork I'll make next week. This dinner still ended up costing $14 for four servings, not counting things I had at home including shiitake, so it's a little pricy.

It was pretty straightforward though, so that was nice, and with the cole slaw package there isn't even that much cutting to be done. I love moo shu pork at restaurants, but this doesn't have quite as full of a flavor (it's basically just hoisin sauce and vinegar). I think I'll still keep the recipe. I think it would be better in the normal wrappers you get at restaurants-- that's the best part! The lettuce is just meh. I did make a mistake when cooking-- you're supposed to cook just the pork, reserving the marinade. For some reason I thought that you were supposed to cook the pork and the sauce, and then remove the pork, reserving the marinade in the pan. I'm guessing it doesn't change the flavor, but I wonder if it affects the texture to have the pork basically getting boiled instead of fried. Not that there was anything wrong with the texture.
The green beans were good, but not too notable. There is a citrus-nut variation with hazelnuts, parsley, and orange rind which I bet would be delicious.

Month 6 day 3: Chicken Satay

Today I got home and was hungry-- I wanted to eat fast. But I haven't been to the grocery store in a while, so there's nothing in the fridge, and I'm leaving tomorrow for California again, so if I bought anything now anything extra would be wasted (same with leftovers). So I went for this chicken satay recipe, which I basically had the ingredients for in the freezer and the pantry. It called for a 1 hour marinating step, which I shortened.

Today I made:
Chicken Satay, Cooking Light July 2011

The marinade is made from peanuts, lime, sesame oil, various spices/aromatics, and coconut milk. The only things I didn't have were a serrano chile (subbed some red pepper flakes) and a shallot (subbed onion). It's very fast to throw everything together in a food processor and mix with the chicken. Since the pieces of chicken are small, they cook pretty quickly too. I used our grill pan instead of going outside.

This was pretty good, especially given how simple it was and most everything was stuff I normally have on hand (the coconut milk was kind of lucky-- that's not a typical staple in our pantry). I will keep this recipe to have on hand as a spur-of-the moment recipe, except it just sucks to have the long marinade. I guess it would be best suited for a lazy, rainy day, when you have time, but you just don't want to go outside so you want to cook with what's on hand.

Off day: ひとりごはん

Today I didn't cook from a magazine, because it was too difficult to find any that are low-residue. But, then I realized I could have rice and fish, and maybe some clear soup (miso is out). Actually, Japanese food is fairly low-residue. Not to say that fruits and vegetables aren't a big part of the diet, but maybe it's just more likely to have a bowl of rice, a bowl of soup, a protein dish, and a veggie dish all separately instead of a one-pot meal that really relies on garlic, onions, and other things for flavor. Indeed, while none of my other magazine recipes fit the bill, I found several dishes in ちゃんと食べたいひとりごはん that were either fiber-free or at least easily adaptable.

I used to love cooking from this book when I was in Japan.

The title roughly translates into something like "I want to eat something legit: meals for one." It has an introduction that explains about how to shop and use your freezer etc. to minimize waste, and it's full of meal ideas for one or two servings that are real meals (and suggestions for repurposing leftovers). Chapters include: "I just want to eat something right away," "I want to eat a lot of vegetables," "I really want to eat some meat or fish," "Feel-good Japanese food,""Snacks for when you want to drink just a little bit,""Weekend classics ," and "Cooking for guests." It's got a lot of the Japanese standards like gyudon, yakiudon, nabeyaki udon, tonjiru, pork shougayaki, goya chanpuru, nikujaga, karaage, hamburg steak, saba misoyaki, chikuzenni. And also some surprises like paella. 

Anyway, it's a very sweet book, with a picture of the author who is an adorable lady who looks like your mother (if you were Japanese) who just wishes you (who moved out and is in your twenties and haven't married yet) would have some miso soup and grilled fish at home instead of eating ramen or yoshinoya every night.

And the pictures are very beautiful too. I never learned the word for it (if there is one), but there is definitely this specific Japanese fashion style that is all about wearing neutral colors, soft fabrics, etc. and this book goes with that aesthetic.

Today I made:

• Teriyaki salmon
• Egg-drop soup
• White rice

The salmon looks a little singed, doesn't it? This is because I skipped the step where you pat it dry from the marinade before putting it in the pan. So, the sauce (1/2 Tbs each mirin, sake, and soy sauce) immediately burnt. Then later you add 2 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sugar, which you let caramelize a bit. Again, I wasn't fast enough so it immediately charred. Still tasted good, though. The soup is just 1 c dashi broth with 1 tsp sake, 1/2 tsp soy sauce, and then 2/3 tsp cornstarch (melted into 1.5 tsp cold water) gets drizzled in. (Actually, it calls for 片栗粉, which is potato starch I guess, but it seemed to work just subbing cornstarch exactly). Then, a beaten egg gets drizzled in.

This would have been a good low-residue meal too! Yummm... I'll save it for next time :)

Month 6 day 2: Fake fried chicken

Ah, I forgot to mention which magazines I have this month:

• Food Network Magazine, July/August 2010
• Cooking Light, July 2010
• Cooking Light, July 2011
• Saveur, June/July 2012

Just four, and even so I don't think I will have time to visit Saveur what with all the traveling. Although from this issue I have previously made a moqueca dish we love-- flavorful and not too difficult. 

Today I made:

Baked Fish Chicken and Chips pasta with EVOO and parmigiano-reggiano, heavily adapted from Food Network Magazine, July/August 2010

You may notice something missing from this meal. And from my lunch, which was a Sebastian's turkey and cheese crepe. That is, I haven't consumed a single vegetable all day, Dr's orders. I'm about to embark on a preparation for a medical test, but I've decided to think of it as a cleanse that yuppies or hippies might spend hundreds of dollars for the privilege of doing. Anyway, for a few days before you are instructed to avoid any vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains and eat only meat, dairy, plain pasta, white bread, cakes, and candy. Essentially, exactly the opposite of what you are normally advised to do. I am glad that I am not vegan or this would be difficult. Even just finding recipes that are low-residue is difficult. Can you use things like garlic? What about the cracked pepper that I used? Anyway, rice krispies were explicitly allowed, so I decided to go ahead with this. I went shopping after the fish stand was closed, and also I don't think potatoes are allowed (although "whipped potatoes" are) so I went with chicken fingers instead of fish and chips.
This is very, very easy to make and comes out nice and crispy. Absurdly, this calls for 2 tsp of salt to be mixed in with the crushed cereal; I added much less and it was still way too much. In that regard it did seem like a fairly decent mockup of a fast food chicken nugget. It also didn't need all 3 egg whites, although I might not have made as many pieces as 1.5 lbs of fish would make.
I think I will keep this recipe, because I do like fish and chips but I hate to deep fry. (1. it is wasteful OR you end up frying everything for a few days and that's disgusting 2. it usually seems heavily dangerous, at least in the pans I have on the stove I have). I look forward to trying it actually with fish. Although isn't part of the goodness of fish and chips the extra bit of oil that finds its way in between the crust and the fish?

Month 6 day 1: Baked pasta

Back in Boston after two weeks on the West (best) Coast! I went to a conference (with dorm food) for one week, then a family reunion (with handmade hippie-type food) the next, followed by a weekend of restaurant food with G and his family around the bay area (with ramen in SF and tempura soba at Caffe Macs at 1 Infinite Loop)

Today I made:
Baked ziti Shells and Summer Veggies, Cooking Light July 2011
Mixed Greens Salad, Cooking Light July 2011

This was a 40-minute recipe, and I chose it just because I was really hungry all of the sudden and wanted to make something pretty fast. It features a lot of fresh summery vegetables, but New England summery vegetables aren't really that tasty anyway, at least the ones from Shaw's, so it was a little bit bland. I added extra ricotta (because it wasn't that creamy, and anyway ricotta is always sold in much bigger containers than you ever need), and that might have also been to blame for muting out all of the flavor. All in all, I would put more salt and pepper and more of the spices. I used dried oregano and just added it to the skillet early. I used fresh basil though, which was sold as a hydroponic plant with the roots still attached. It says to put the bunch in a cup with water. It also says "not intended for repotting," and I wonder if that's because it wouldn't work or if basil-for-immediate-consumption and basil-for-repotting just have different regulation and so it needs to say that.

I might try to repot it, or at least see how long it lasts in a cup. Hopefully enough for a couple meals, anyway.

I don't think I'll save this recipe. It needs an extra oompf. Maybe some smokey bacon or spicy sausage? Or just more spices? Maybe if the vegetables were garden-fresh? Most of the reviewers loved it, so maybe it was just me....