Where my fellow cooks at???

[thepittman]

Just smoke some herb to cover it up.

[the wicked child]

Well, at least you're not shocked and appalled...

[Letang Is The Truth]

I made an egg white, fontina cheese and chicken jalapeño sausage omelet for dinner. Splendid

[tifosi77]

I have a cholesterol issue, so trying to use extra virgin olive oil as much as possible. I just don't think I used enough oil, truth be told.

Be careful with the amount of oil you use; too much, and instead of a saute you have a mild poach which leads to a lack of flavor development. Seriously, for a single portion of salmon, you probably only need about 1-2 tablespoons of your lipid of choice. You're not paying $10/lb for salmon (or whatever) to taste the oil.

If you're worried about choelesterol, I suggest alternative cooking methods, like the unilateral method I've mentioned a couple times in this thread. You add zero fat with that technique.

Altho, honetsly a big on your desire to use more EVOO. That stuff is the nectar of the gods as far as I'm concerned. Mrs Tif and I are actually thinking about planning a tirp to Spain or Italy to coincide with the grape and olive harvest in early autumn just to have the chance to sample fresh oil. What can I say, that's how we roll.

[tifosi77]

Today was Mrs. Tif's brithday, so I had a couple new preparations up my sleeve. We had a birthday outing with some friends at the local botanic gardens, and I made sandwiches and a curried chicken salad for everone. But our dinners last night and tonight were play times.

Saturady was African & Indian Chicken with Pepper Puree and Salsa Verde

About 2x as much of each of the sauces as I should have, and, frankly, the plating is sloppy.... yikes......... But the flavors were pretty good; za-atar and garam masala provided the earthy notes while the 'sparkle' was provided by the pepper and scallion sauces.

Sunday was Cod with Pea Shoots and Soy-Ginger Vinaigrette


I was totally pleased with this dish; overcooked the fish by about 30 seconds or so, but otherwise the flavors were right there. This is now my go-to weeknight fish dish; fridge to plate in about 20 minutes. And the soy-ginger vinaigrette is useful for myriad other dishes, from skirt steak to ramen.

[tifosi77]

I made an egg white, fontina cheese and chicken jalapeño sausage omelet for dinner. Splendid

Dude.... I'm not an egg white guy, but that sounds brilliant. What was your recipe?

[columbia]

Those pea shoots look yummy.

[Letang Is The Truth]

I made an egg white, fontina cheese and chicken jalapeño sausage omelet for dinner. Splendid

Dude.... I'm not an egg white guy, but that sounds brilliant. What was your recipe?

-i bought one of the sausages that giant eagle prepares: jalapeno, chicken, pepper sausage. couldnt find my foreman so i mutilated it pretty well and cooked it in the skillet
-1 whole egg (i cheated) and 4 egg whites whisked with about a half cup of skim milk. added once the sausage was done
-added about 6 quarter sized pieces of fontina and melted it in as the eggs cooked

viola. it was real easy and quite yummy. i dont cook much but i crush breakfast. my waffles are world famous

[Letang Is The Truth]

and it was more of a scramble than an omelet

[tifosi77]

Saturday's adventure......

Mustard Crust Pork Loin Chop, Oyster Mushrooms, Zucchini & Balsamic Peach-Tomatillo Sauce

(The zucchini is stuffed with an oyster mushroom 'salad' of sorts and topped with a dusting of Parmigiano-Reggiano)

The tomatillo-peach thing was not very good; only a couple tablespoons of balsamic turned this from a pale green to the dark brown you see before you here. Flavor was very bland as well, requiring all sorts of adjustment (cayenne, sherry vinegar, etc). The mushrooms were really tasty, very quickly sauteed with roasted garlic and thyme. But I have to question wtf was I thinking with that zucchini tube? It looks okay and adds some drama to the plate, but you cannot justify a component's presence in the final dish just because it looks good; it has to first serve some other purpose, like being a great complement to the protein. This, while tasty, was not that. So it was basically just something I put on the plate because I could.

Overall, I quite liked this dish. Will work on the peach-tomatillo thing.

[jimjom]

Pork looks perfectly done, Tif. Yummo.

[tifosi77]

Thanks, JJ. Too many people I know (read: nearly everyone) shy away from pork that's a little pink/rare in the middle. Personally, I can't understand why anyone would choose to eat pork that was cooked beyond that, but that's me.

Tonight was pizza night. Now, that may not seem a big deal where you sit but I am positively scared stiff by pizza. For whatever reason, I just can't do it. I've never made a pizza that I would be willing to pay for outside of my own kitchen. (Which, I have to say, is my ultimate arbiter of what constitutes good food for me.)*

But I utilized two tricks tonight that instantly made their way into my regular repertoire...... 1) I used the stand mixer to mix/kneed the dough, and 2) I put an inverted cast iron skillet in the oven directly over the pizza stone and let things heat up for a good hour before any cooking took place.

In retrospect, that cast-iron skillet trick did me more favors than anything I've done in the kitchen. Ordinarily I see about 550 F max in my oven, but with that inverted skillet bouncing the heat down on the stone I was seeing well over 600 F at the cooking point. (Which is still only about half the temp a for-real pizza oven should be, but it is by far the hottest I've ever gotten my pizza stone.) Ultimately, it meant my pizzas cooked in about 3 1/2 minutes.... which is not as quick as it should be, but is way quicker than I've ever been able to do in the past. Honestly, I've shied away from pizza cos I couldn't do the crust proper justice. But tonight.... boy howdy, I was pleased.

FYI, I made a basic Margherita for Mrs Tif (her favorite) and I made a pie with pancetta dressed with arugula and Parmigiano for myself. This is the first time in like six years of trying that I've been happy to have some leftover pizza dough that I can freeze for later in the week. Woot.








* I'm fully aware of how pretentious/silly that sounds, but what can I say. I have a hard time paying for food that's of a lesser quality than I can produce myself.

[count2infinity]

I've always hated salmon. By far one of my least favorite fish. I was recently at a big shin-dig at the fanciest restaurant in town, so I figured that'd be the best time to give salmon a second chance. Wasn't too bad, in fact I would go as far as to say I enjoyed it.

[count2infinity]

little bit of bakin' with bacon



cheddar bacon scones

[tifosi77]

Yum!

[tifosi77]

Earlier in the week I was playing around with new sauces. Blanched some greens - arugula, parsley, dandelion - and made a puree with some EVOO and garlic. Paired with a nice pork chop and ended up with

Center-Cut Pork Loin Chop with 'Green' and Red Chile-Onion Double Barrel Ale Reduction



Wanted to put a little EVOO on the plate to slightly break the 'green', but ended up with about 3x the amount I needed for the effect. Yikes. Flavors were okay, but the exercise was more about trying new methods and playing with color a bit.

[Pen48guins]

Has anyone used one of those stove top griddle things?

I'm not a great cook but I enjoy making some semi decent food and these stove top griddle things give a lot of working space and seem like a good idea.

Anyone ever use one?

[mac5155]

I have a 12" square pan..if that's what you mean? I make grilled cheese and pancakes on it...

[shmenguin]

i keep trying to make a cognac cream sauce with my pan fried steak. waaaaaay salty. #whitepeopleproblems aside, is it the butter maybe? my wife can't eat unsalted butter because of the additives, so i use the salty stuff.

it can't just be the salt i use to prep the meat with, can it?

[canaan]

Spinach/Ricotta "meatloaf" some days, you just gotta eat a home style high calorie comfort extravaganza. Om nom fn nom

[Ron`]

This thread is awesome, have to get aligned with the smaller portions though here.

[Chefpatrick871]

i keep trying to make a cognac cream sauce with my pan fried steak. waaaaaay salty. #whitepeopleproblems aside, is it the butter maybe? my wife can't eat unsalted butter because of the additives, so i use the salty stuff.

it can't just be the salt i use to prep the meat with, can it?

I doubt it's the butter. What all are you putting in?

I made a filet o poive last night with this sauce.
Basically went as such.

1 shot glass of brandy
3-5 tablespoons of beef stock
Cream
Flavoring from the pan fond (bits of meat stuck in pan)

Used the booze to deglaze added stock and cream and reduced. Added a small amount of salt/pepper and finished with a 1/2 tablespoon of butter(salted)

[tifosi77]

Has anyone used one of those stove top griddle things?

I'm not a great cook but I enjoy making some semi decent food and these stove top griddle things give a lot of working space and seem like a good idea.

Anyone ever use one?

The reversible ones - grill on one side, griddle on the other - are fantastic kitchen tools. The range I have came with a griddle, but I really want to replace my old Lodge grill pan. Take it outside on the grill and use it as a plancha.

[shmenguin]

i keep trying to make a cognac cream sauce with my pan fried steak. waaaaaay salty. #whitepeopleproblems aside, is it the butter maybe? my wife can't eat unsalted butter because of the additives, so i use the salty stuff.

it can't just be the salt i use to prep the meat with, can it?

I doubt it's the butter. What all are you putting in?

i use the pan the steak was fried in (with any leftover oil and butter), deglaze with cognac, add shallots and a little butter, add heavy cream and reduce, then finish it with a splash of cognac.

[Ron`]

So the home made clam chowder was good as always. Nice glass of wine to mellow out the evening here.