Month 5 day 8: Salmon with potatoes and Kale Slaw

Today I made:
Grilled Salmon with Chorizo and Fingerlings, Cooking Light June 2010
Green Cabbage Coleslaw: Kale and Parmesan variation, Every Day with Rachael Ray June 2012

This was a ton of food! I was so full, in a good way.

The June 2010 issue of Cooking Light is obsessed with Spanish chorizo. It's been in two of the recipes I've made from it so far, and I think it was in a few others in the issue as well. Anyway, that's kind of nice because it comes in a big package, so I just finished it off with this dinner. The chorizo, onion and garlic, and baby potatoes get braised in broth until soft, so this is a pretty hands-off dinner. I used that time to make the kale slaw.
It's a favorite thing for these magazines to have one recipe followed by several variations on it. In this case, there was the green cabbage cole slaw followed by ten variations. But it's hard to know how to adjust the original recipe. The kale variant, for example, said to make the green cabbage slaw but with kale instead of cabbage, an apple, parmesan cheese, and subbing EVOO for mayo and lemon for vinegar. But then, do you still put caraway seeds? Not that I was going to anyway, but it seems like you might, and that would not mix well. Or carrots? I left them out because the picture didn't show any, but technically if you followed the recipe it should have been kept in. And, I didn't end up doing the first step of the original slaw recipe, which was to soak the cabbage in ice cold salt water for an hour. Not sure if that was really intended for all variants, but I wasn't going to wait that long. This ended up tasting really good, but I think that's just because Parmigiano-Reggiano is the best ever. It reminded me of a Caesar salad, maybe again because of the cheese. G doesn't like mayo so he normally doesn't like any slaw. I am also not a big mayo fan, and I historically have not liked cole slaws, but there have been so many in the magazines this year that I feel like I have made several by now. I think he would like this one though, because it's more just like a salad, and he loves kale (but maybe not raw?). I wonder what it would taste like to sauté this just a bit. The apples might become soft and sweet? There is plenty left over, so I might give it a try.
Anyway, as soon as the potatoes are softened, it's just grilling the salmon (on a grill pan, for me) for a few minutes and then it's all ready.
When I bought the salmon, I noticed it was not boneless, so I asked if there were going to be a lot of little tiny bones. The woman felt around on the fillets for a little bit quietly (that should've been a tip off) before saying that she didn't think it would be a problem as long as you took out the piece of the backbone. Well, that doesn't come out that well, and yes, there were a ton of little bones to take out :-P It's so hard to cut raw fish though, and once it's cut it just flakes apart on its own... so maybe I should've just grilled it bones and all and worried about them later.

Month 7 day 9: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches

Today I made:
Barbecue Chicken Sliders with Pickled Onions, Cooking Light August 2010
Broccoli Slaw, Cooking Light August 2010

This was a great meal! And super easy too. It is also part of the weekend getaway menu I referred to in the last post. Unlike the brisket sandwiches I made last week, which cooked all day, these chicken thighs just cooked in the grill pan for a few minutes (boneless thighs are quite thin) before getting shredded and mixed with the 5-minute sauce. The honey in the sauce made it nice and sweet, and even though I wasn't hungry going into the meal (after we baking bread in lab), I ended up eating two sandwiches just because it was so tasty. This is totally one of those meals that you could make for someone and they would think that you worked hard for it. I made mine normal bun-sized, but as sliders they would be great for a party dish. Also awesome? Excluding the condiments I had on hand, this dinner cost $9 to make (for 4-6 servings).

The slaw was kind of meh... I like the idea of using yogurt instead of mayonnaise to make a healthier cole slaw, but there just wasn't enough dressing (especially since the slaw bag I used was 16 oz instead of 12 oz). The store was out of broccoli slaw, so I just used the normal cabbage kind. The slaw was fine, but nothing special, and there have been a few other slaws that I've already saved, so I won't keep this one.

Month 4 day 8: Banh Mi and slaw

Today I made:
Banh Mi-Style Roast Beef Sandwiches, Cooking Light May 2010
Bell Pepper Slaw, Food Network Magazine May 2010

I'm not sure why the recipe is for "Banh Mi-Style" sandwiches instead of just being for "Banh Mi." I guess it's probably not very authentic, and they're being humble about it. But then, how can you say "roast beef" when it's a steak cooked in a skillet? Anyway, this was a nice sandwich. We love the banh mi at the Momogoose food truck, but they've been slipping recently in my opinion, so I haven't been going (plus, now we have homemade leftovers everyday for lunch). This had a lot of the same flavors. G's was spicy, but mine wasn't so much, so I wonder if his got all the jalapeño slices. This recipe was very quick and easy to make. I ran out of rice vinegar, so I topped up with red wine vinegar. We haven't had radishes in a while, but I like them. The recipe called for flank steak, but I wasn't sure what pseudonyms it goes by, so I grabbed randomly: chuck steak. It was a little grisley, so I don't think it was right. Now that I look at it, I think our grocery store calls it London Broil. I should probably get an app that decodes the names of meat cuts, because this comes up most weeks.
I felt like the slaw could've been good as a sandwich topping. In fact, I sopped up some of the juice with the last bite of bread and it was nice. The slaw tasted, and felt, nice and fresh because of the crispy bell peppers. It's a little miraculous how something with mayonnaise can taste so light, but compared to normal cole slaw I think this was more vinegar-centric than mayo-centric. It was nice and tart. When I went grocery shopping, I thought the mustard seed and celery seed on my list was for pickles later this week and opted for a more complete "pickling spice" instead of getting the two separate. Only now did I realize that I wanted those without the allspice and juniper berries... so we just did without the spices, but it was still flavorful enough. G wasn't a huge fan-- he said there was too much mustard (!? I ran out and it was so much more subtle than we've had in other dishes he didn't complain about...). But he did like the sandwiches. I think I'll keep both recipes.

Month 3 day 14: Jerk Turkey Burgers

Sooo there is a gunman on campus?? For real this time-- there is a picture of a policeman's blood on the ground. It's just incomprehensible, so I'm going to just pretend like nothing is happening and write this post.

Today I made:
Jerk Turkey Burgers with Mango Slaw, Food Network Magazine April 2010
using this recipe for jerk seasoning, minus the oil
Served with baked sweet potato fries (drizzled with EVOO and sprinkled with paprika and salt, roasted at 400 F)

I thought we had jerk seasoning, but we didn't so I made some. It wasn't really spicy though, so after reading the reviews I think it might not have been right. We also couldn't find mango chutney (not even sure where to look exactly... not with the jams, not with the jars of pickles.... where else to look?), but the recipe said instead you could use lime juice, honey, and curry powder. We used that, but I do think mango would've been really nice. As it was, G still said to keep this recipe. It would be pretty quick, other than making the seasoning from in the middle, and then our burgers were a little fat, so they took a long time to cook (and basically the outsides just charred :-( Not in a bad-tasting way, though).
We love baked sweet potato fries. Haven't had them in a while, but they are always great and so easy.
Making slaw from a bagged mix is so easy too. G doesn't normally like cole slaw, but I suppose if we made our own we could find a type he liked.

Eggplant-Parm sandwiches, Curry, Salad, Cajun chicken, and Blintz Hotcakes

This week I made:

• Eggplant-Parm Grilled Cheese, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• Thai Pork Chops, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• Butternut Squash & Arugula Salad, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• served with steak
• Blackened Chicken with Broccoli Slaw, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014
• served with black beans and rice from a package that was G's favorite when we made it a few months ago, but he didn't remember it :(
• Cheese Blintz Hotcakes, Every Day with Rachael Ray January/February 2014

We got to the end of Sunday and were suddenly really hungry! I had planned to make the butternut squash salad, but we didn't want to wait for the squash to bake, so we looked for a fast recipe instead. This one sounded like it would be good, and G always likes to put his George Foreman grill to use with hot sandwiches. In this recipe, the eggplant is broiled in the oven. You cook up some garlic until golden-crispy too. But other than that, it's just cutting up some cheese, tomatoes, and basil, so it's pretty simple. 

The only annoying thing is that it calls for pressing the buttered bread into 1.5 c grated Parmigiano-Reggiano before grilling. First, that's a waste of $, since that amount is uncalled for. Second, it basically all falls off anyway. Or maybe that's because I used no-name parmesan cheese and it knew it didn't fit in?? Anyway, I guess she had to put it so that it would really be eggplant-parm, but it didn't seem to work that well. The recipe was also funny because it calls for a whole eggplant, sliced very thin. And yet each sandwich (makes 4-6) only has a single slice?? It could use some more (and we did, for leftovers).

On Monday we have ceramics, so we always need to cook a quick recipe. (And even then, we are usually late! :-/) This curry was pretty fast, starting with jarred red curry paste. The recipe called for bell peppers, but we had some sweet peas so I put that in too. I guess there's not too much to say about this, because it really depends on the red curry that you choose-- ours was a little more spicy than I would have preferred!

 On Wednesday we had a bit more time, so we made the butternut squash salad. Actually, since I used frozen butternut squash (cut pretty small, too), it didn't take as long as it called for. I left it in for a while anyway though (and forgot about it until some of the smaller pieces burnt and the rest were nice and crispy #overlyhonestmethods). Meanwhile, we made some steak. When I asked G what he wanted to eat with the salad, he chose steak and talked as if he knew exactly how to make it, but then when it came time to cook it he said he didn't want to do it because he didn't know how! We sauteed it in the cast iron skillet and then stuck the pan in the oven for a while after, since we (I?) like steak to be cooked all the way through. It was pretty good-- I sometimes don't like beef that much, but every once in a while I'm hungry or iron-deficient or something and it tastes amazing. I think there was a lot of fat. Oh, and we put a pat of butter on top when we put it in the oven too.
The salad was good too. We didn't have any dijon, so the dressing was just vinegar, brown sugar, and EVOO. It was really thick!

This blackened chicken is super fast and easy, because it's just rubbed with Cajun seasoning and pan-fried. The slaw is just a bagged slaw tossed with lemon juice and mayo. We don't really like mayo that much, so I guess we should've done something else for the side. But the chicken was good! I think this was our first time using the Cajun seasoning that came with the set of spices G has had for an embarrassingly long amount of time. I know that spices aren't supposed to be as good after a while, but they all seem pretty fragrant still!

These pancakes were so good! They're really easy, because it's just mixed in a blender, and can then be poured straight into the pan (another #overlyhonestmethod-- I made big pancakes instead of small ones because the lid of the blender fell off while I was pouring and smushed my nice small batter puddles into a big pond). It's a mix of eggs, flour, milk, sugar, baking powder, and cottage cheese. It's moist and the cottage cheese gives it a good texture. We didn't have any jams except ones so old the caps are stuck on, so we topped them with fresh mango instead. Yum! This is such a simple and great breakfast recipe-- definitely keeping :)

Month 10 day 12: Maple chicken and herbed biscuits

Today w made:
Maple-Glazed Chicken with Apple Brussels Sprout Slaw, Cooking Light November 2010
Herb-Scented Drop Biscuits, Cooking Light November 2010

Another 20-minute entree, paired with biscuits that don't take much longer. Mom made the biscuits while I made the chicken and slaw.

After cooking the chicken, it's glazed in a mix of red wine vinegar and maple syrup. It seems weird to add vinegar to the syrup, but its flavor didn't end up coming through much, so this was just nice and sweet. Everyone liked the chicken a lot.

I thought it would be weird to eat raw Brussels sprouts, so I decided to just cook the slaw through a bit. That ended up being pretty good, so I was glad that I did that. I think Brussels sprouts are best sautéed in olive oil with some cracked pepper.

These biscuits were great too. We didn't have any fresh thyme on hand, but we did have fresh rosemary, so Mom used that instead. It was really nice-- rosemary is so good! These had a nice texture--crunchy-toasty on the outside, but very soft and almost spongy on the inside (maybe from the yogurt in the dough?) I'd definitely want to make these biscuits again, and the chicken.

Month 5 day 4: Southern-inspired halibut open-faced sandwiches

Today I made:
Open-Faced Blackened Catfish Halibut Sandwiches, Cooking Light June 2011
Stewed Okra and Fresh Tomato,  Cooking Light June 2011

This was a ready-in-30-minutes meal, and I thought it was pretty good.
The side is stewed okra with corn and fresh tomatoes. Since I used frozen okra and corn, this potentially could be made any time you have a tomato and onion handy. It reminds me of something that they would serve at Redbones, our favorite BBQ restaurant/food truck, but we think they would add in some bacon. I will do that next time. This is fast to put together, then just simmers for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, you rub the fish with some spices and throw it into the cast-iron skillet. The grocery store's fishmonger was almost closing up, so he only had halibut. That's fine, because sometimes catfish tastes a little odd anyway. This is pretty quick to cook, but while it's on the stove you have just enough time to mix together yogurt, lime, and honey with the (precut, bagged) coleslaw vegetables and cilantro.
It's an open-faced sandwich, so the slaw, fish, and more slaw goes on top of a toasted slice of sourdough bread. We went local with Iggy's bread, and I can't wait to have the extra for breakfasts this week.
The coleslaw is a little atypical. For one thing, I put in the whole bag instead of just two cups, so the dressing didn't quite coat it as much as it maybe should have. You could taste both the sweet honey and the sour yogurt+lime, and it was a sort of strange combination... the flavors didn't really meld together, they were just distinct. Maybe I didn't mix it well enough. We'll see tomorrow if the flavors have permeated a little more.
G thought it was good too, so we'll keep the recipe. It's nice and fast.

Month 8 day 7: Braised Beef and Coleslaw

Today I made:
Spice-Rubbed Braised Beef, Cooking Light September 2009
Chopped Coleslaw Salad, Cooking Light September 2009
I also made two more desserts-- Peanut Butter Cup Blondies and Mississippi Mud Pie-- which I will write about tomorrow when I actually taste them. They are for our weekly lab cookie hour!

These dinner recipes are from a party-planning guide. But I was still taken a bit by surprise when I looked at the serving number and this beef was 10 servings! But G ate about 3 servings himself, so I think we'll be ok :-P I guess it's 10 servings assuming that you've also made the polenta canapes as an appetizer and meringues as a dessert.
G really liked this dish (obviously). He thought it was similar to the Ropa Vieja from a while back, but more tender. The spices and ingredients are quite a bit different, but they are both steaks braised in a tomato sauce. This one was braised in the oven instead of the stovetop though, so I think the temperature was more controlled and probably more correct. After just about 1.5 hours (instead of the 2.5 suggested in the recipe) it was already cooked through and quite tender. I think this is because instead of a 3 lb roast we used two 1.5 pounders. We couldn't find a chuck roast so we used top round roast (I think). It's entirely the wrong part of the cow, but at least it's a muscle above a leg :-P And it seemed to work out! G especially liked the sauce, which was just sort of a standard tomato sauce but with brown sugar and red wine vinegar added. Most of the flavor comes in from the large quantity of spices rubbed into the beef a few hours before, though-- about a tablespoon each of paprika, sugar, garlic, etc. G suggested next time to serve this over rice to sop up all the sauce. I think this would be a great, hearty winter recipe, maybe with some homemade bread too :)
The coleslaw was really strongly flavored-- I used a precut slaw mix, so I think it was about 1/2 the veggies with the full amount of dressing. G didn't care for it, but I thought it was good, and it reminded me of the sauce for the pulled chicken that I loved this summer-- they're both dominated by vinegar, mustard, and sugar. I like coleslaws that aren't just a bunch of mayonnaise.

Month 7 day 10: Cornbread

Today I made:
Jalapeño Cornbread, Saveur May 2009

I started going to church this summer, and basically ever since the beginning of summer they've been talking about a new tradition-- the first annual chili cook-off. And since I'm shy, basically I spend the last 10-15 minutes of each service having an internal debate about whether I should go to the "social hour" after the service or just dash away. Usually the dashing away side wins out (my tradition is to get an iced Earl Grey at Dado Tea on my way home), although a couple of times someone has said hi and then I've gone into the social room. I decided that I definitely should go to the chili cook-off, and I knew that if I made something to bring it would be good insurance to make sure that I actually ended up going. I would've loved to make a chili (maybe this one!), but I walk ~1 mile to the church so I knew that wouldn't work out. I decided that cornbread would be a good side to bring. Apparently, so did most other people. There were only two chilis (the organizer's plus one), but there were about five different cornbreads. Three people brought some fruit and another brought cole slaw. That's it! I know in the bulletin it said that you could come even if you didn't bring something, but I was kind of shocked that so few people participated. So the judges realized that they should judge the cornbreads (and the fruits O_o) in addition to the chili. Although lacking in number, the chilis were both really good. I only ate the meat one which I thought was amazing, but it lost, so I guess the other was even more amazing. Then, I think they didn't want to hurt feelings (or maybe just didn't want to eat so much bread) so they gave one first place to someone and then third place ribbons to everyone else who brought anything, even the cut up fruit, ha.

This cornbread actually wasn't spectacular. It was fine, but nothing out of the ordinary. I made it muffin-sized and put green chiles in half. I would have liked to put some cheddar in it but I was out. Although there were many variety of cornbreads at the potluck, there were only two muffins left (out of the 24 that I brought). I gave them to a homeless person on my way home. He seemed excited, even though I told him that it wasn't the winner ;)

In the evening I prepped some chocolate ice cream that I will make tomorrow.

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.