The end to another weekend, I hate that! Oh well, I have been meaning to cook this recipe since last Sunday so I thought it was about time to finally get it done. The first step in this recipe is to create a portion of meat stock. This, although a very easy process, takes 3.5 hours, a pretty decent chunk of Sunday.
Upon returning from the store to buy the necessary ingredients, I cubed veal and beef and put it in a stew pot, covering the meat up with water. Once it boiled and I, as directed by The Silver Spoon, skimmed the top for scum. And boy howdy was there a lot of whatever meat scum is. After de-scumming the stock I added onions, celery and a shallot and left it alone for 3 hours.
Around the three hour mark, I started cleaning leeks. Leeks are a very dirty vegetable and are a challenge to clean. Every TV chef tells you a different technique; here's the way that seems to be the most successful for me. I cut the ends off the leeks and trim the tops. Then I cut them in half the long way and pull the layers apart. I, then, put them into a colander and rinse them until the water runs clean.
Once I had managed to clean the leeks, I turned my attention to the sausages. I sautéed them in a pan with olive oil. While they were browning, I separated the liquid of the meat stock from its ingredients and added the stock to a new pan with the cleaned leeks. I boiled the leeks in the stock for 15 minutes and then drained them and added them to a buttered dish. I saved the stock for another day because all I did was boil a vegetable in it. Am I wrong?
Anyway, I popped the sausages on top and poured 2/3 cup of cream to finish it off. Once this creamy buttery casserole was built all it needed was about 15 minutes in the oven to bubble up and brown. The leeks were peppery and the cream sauce rich. My fiance even ate some after eating duck at his parents so it must have been pretty good.
According to my tabulations I have made 22 Silver Spoon recipes so far, used 3 quarts of heavy cream and 4 pound of butter. Yikes, that is a lot of animal fat. This week, I will take on ribs and pork chops and spinach with more butter and cream. Pray for my waistband!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Eggs with Mushrooms
For a few days I have been trying to make the recipe for a "Warm Mushroom Salad" from The Silver Spoon. I couldn't make it last night because I forgot that I need corn salad and there is no recipe for it in the book. This morning I woke up hungry with a ton of mushrooms and decided to browse the SS to see if there was any recipe that I could knock off to utilize some of the abundance of mushrooms. I discovered a shirred egg recipe that used 3 and 2/3 white mushroom caps, pretty specific SS but I'll allow it.
The recipe is very simple, first sauté sliced up mushroom caps in butter for 10 minutes. While they are simmering, grease a few ramekins with more butter (especially the sides). Evenly divide the 3.66 mushroom caps among the ramekins (that's 183/200 mushroom cap per ramekin) and crack an egg on top of each one, seasoning with salt and pepper. Then simply bake in the oven for 10 more minutes and there you have it. I added my own twist by frying additional mushrooms while the eggs baked and combining them with the left over pot roast and cream sauce from last night. You can read about that culinary delight here. Boy, was my fiance impressed, two fantastic meals back to back! Shirred eggs are such an awesome morning dish, and they are really easy too!
The recipe is very simple, first sauté sliced up mushroom caps in butter for 10 minutes. While they are simmering, grease a few ramekins with more butter (especially the sides). Evenly divide the 3.66 mushroom caps among the ramekins (that's 183/200 mushroom cap per ramekin) and crack an egg on top of each one, seasoning with salt and pepper. Then simply bake in the oven for 10 more minutes and there you have it. I added my own twist by frying additional mushrooms while the eggs baked and combining them with the left over pot roast and cream sauce from last night. You can read about that culinary delight here. Boy, was my fiance impressed, two fantastic meals back to back! Shirred eggs are such an awesome morning dish, and they are really easy too!
Friday Night Cooking: Fried Fennel and Pot Roast
Friday night, still standing (a miracle in itself, shout out to C, my partner in teaching crimes!) and cooking a delicious meal, look at how domestic I can be! I knew that I would need some time to cook the pot roast, so immediately after walking through the door, and changing into my cookin' pants, I was ready to go. The pot roast recipe was very simple, brown an onion in a large quantity of butter, add meat, add vinegar and cook for two hours. I did these things, not without a huge smoke cloud forming from adding the vinegar. Of course this threatened to set off my smoke alarms. Thank goodness one of my future sisters in-law walked into the kitchen and scared the crap out of me because she helped with life saving ventilation.
After starting the Pot Roast with Cream, I started perusing The Silver Spoon and realized I could make something with my stray fennel. As a child, I had an extreme dislike for two things: meatloaf and black licorice. Suffice it to say, I managed to outgrow my dislike of meatloaf. I still hate the taste, smell, heck even the sight of black licorice. Due to this prejudice, I avoid licorice tasting things such as fennel. I even dislike sweet italian sausage because of the seeds of fennel.
I purchased some fennel because of a recipe I thought I would cook during the week that I didn't have the rest of the ingredients to do. (I know, you are shocked) I wanted to use the alien vegetation before it went bad and luckily found a very simple recipe to keep me occupied as my pot roast roasted. Essentially, to make fried fennel, you first boil the fennel in salted water for 45 minutes, then slice it and bread it with parmesan cheese and fry it in butter.
I set the fennel to boil while my pot roast was roasting and experienced a new feeling in the kitchen, I had nothing to do. My fiance, his brother and my BFF were playing Super Mario on the Wii in the living room omitting the option of me relaxing on the couch, so I cleaned and watched Bones on my tiny kitchen TV, cleaned some more, stabbed the fennel to see if it was softening, cleaned, and finally the fennel was ready to come out of its boil.
The directions say to slice the fennel thinly, pat it dry and bread it with egg wash and cheese. I was lost at "slice thinly." The bulb of fennel had a couple of branches, so the thin slices started to fall apart as I cut them. The sliced, boiled fennel truly looked more like weird onion rings. I went with it, and fried the life out of them in butter. They were so delicious and not licorice like at all! As soon as the fennel was fried, it was time to finish the pot roast. I took the meat aside and added a cup of cream to the pot liquor and stirred until it thickened. Dinner was served. I evened out the spread with a green salad dressed with homemade vinaigrette.
Two more recipes down, less than two thousand to go. I loved the pot roast, but the fennel was the stand out of the evening. Fennel, you have converted me! At 29, I am finally growing up, now there is no food I will avoid. I should have known, C. told me that it was good, and she totally knows what is up when it comes to Italian cooking. What foods have you grown to love?
After starting the Pot Roast with Cream, I started perusing The Silver Spoon and realized I could make something with my stray fennel. As a child, I had an extreme dislike for two things: meatloaf and black licorice. Suffice it to say, I managed to outgrow my dislike of meatloaf. I still hate the taste, smell, heck even the sight of black licorice. Due to this prejudice, I avoid licorice tasting things such as fennel. I even dislike sweet italian sausage because of the seeds of fennel.
I purchased some fennel because of a recipe I thought I would cook during the week that I didn't have the rest of the ingredients to do. (I know, you are shocked) I wanted to use the alien vegetation before it went bad and luckily found a very simple recipe to keep me occupied as my pot roast roasted. Essentially, to make fried fennel, you first boil the fennel in salted water for 45 minutes, then slice it and bread it with parmesan cheese and fry it in butter.
I set the fennel to boil while my pot roast was roasting and experienced a new feeling in the kitchen, I had nothing to do. My fiance, his brother and my BFF were playing Super Mario on the Wii in the living room omitting the option of me relaxing on the couch, so I cleaned and watched Bones on my tiny kitchen TV, cleaned some more, stabbed the fennel to see if it was softening, cleaned, and finally the fennel was ready to come out of its boil.
The directions say to slice the fennel thinly, pat it dry and bread it with egg wash and cheese. I was lost at "slice thinly." The bulb of fennel had a couple of branches, so the thin slices started to fall apart as I cut them. The sliced, boiled fennel truly looked more like weird onion rings. I went with it, and fried the life out of them in butter. They were so delicious and not licorice like at all! As soon as the fennel was fried, it was time to finish the pot roast. I took the meat aside and added a cup of cream to the pot liquor and stirred until it thickened. Dinner was served. I evened out the spread with a green salad dressed with homemade vinaigrette.
Two more recipes down, less than two thousand to go. I loved the pot roast, but the fennel was the stand out of the evening. Fennel, you have converted me! At 29, I am finally growing up, now there is no food I will avoid. I should have known, C. told me that it was good, and she totally knows what is up when it comes to Italian cooking. What foods have you grown to love?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Spicy Indian Meatballs, Spiced Cauliflower and Saag
It was international night at my house this evening a la The Silver Spoon! Due to my upcoming wedding and my perpetual carb bloat, about the face, due to the SS, I am avoiding carbs until I am married. Therefore, I am placing an additional challenge to this already challenging project, no carbs while cooking The Silver Spoon(at least for three months). Because of this additional complication, I will be specially choosing recipes to do until my special day.
Spicy Indian Meatballs are done with ground chicken, chile, garlic, and onion and that's it. No bread needed which is great for me right now. No egg either, although that issue is neutral. As I turned to start assembling the meatballs I realized that I didn't have any chiles or cloves. (This is another emerging theme of this project, my forgetfulness) I blame MarketBasket as they didn't have any chile peppers when I was there, and I also blame myself. Admittedly, I'm not that good at making shopping lists, using them, following them, and organizing ingredients. My fiance agreed to go get the missing items, awww isn't he great? In the meantime I chopped garlic and made Spiced Cauliflower.
Spiced Cauliflower is a simple salad of carrots, cauliflower and spice. I chopped up a head of cauliflower, tossing all the tough root pieces and combined them with two shredded carrots. I then, whisked together paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, white wine and oil, added it to the cauliflower and that was that. Another recipe down in 5 minutes or less!
The fiance returned and I was able to add the chiles to my chicken and mix. The directions instructed me to peel an additional onion and "stud" it with cloves. I, then, fry the "studded onion" in a quarter cup of butter and throw it away. I hate throwing perfectly good onions away, but I am here to listen, so I do.
To recap, I have a pan full of clove/onion flavored butter, and ground chicken with afore mentioned ingredients in meatball shapes. I put the meatballs in the pan and fry them for ten minutes. I do, and they stay together beautifully, way better than the last time I tried to make meatballs from the SS, you can read about my struggles here: http://aprojectforacook.blogspot.com/2010/01/meatballs-with-potatoes-and-spinach.html
While the meatballs were frying, I whipped up a quick Saag ala Adrian at http://www.thefreshdish.com/. Please check out my friends' wonderful website that literally helps me out on a weekly basis. I have cooked Adrian's Saag before and it is a surefire winner. My BFF doesn't like Saag at our really good Indian restaurant but loves it when I make it, all because of Adrian. That is some good Saag.
After 10 minutes passed, I turned the heat down and cooked them through for an additional 20 minutes. They turned a beautiful carmel color and smelled fantastic. This recipe was easy and went really well with the Saag and Spiced Cauliflower. For a Thursday night, I really outdid myself, and have rewarded myself with a kitchen full of dishes. Oh well, dishes are a fact of life I suppose, SS or no.
Here's a pic for those inclined (Pat, I am looking at you)
Spicy Indian Meatballs are done with ground chicken, chile, garlic, and onion and that's it. No bread needed which is great for me right now. No egg either, although that issue is neutral. As I turned to start assembling the meatballs I realized that I didn't have any chiles or cloves. (This is another emerging theme of this project, my forgetfulness) I blame MarketBasket as they didn't have any chile peppers when I was there, and I also blame myself. Admittedly, I'm not that good at making shopping lists, using them, following them, and organizing ingredients. My fiance agreed to go get the missing items, awww isn't he great? In the meantime I chopped garlic and made Spiced Cauliflower.
Spiced Cauliflower is a simple salad of carrots, cauliflower and spice. I chopped up a head of cauliflower, tossing all the tough root pieces and combined them with two shredded carrots. I then, whisked together paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, white wine and oil, added it to the cauliflower and that was that. Another recipe down in 5 minutes or less!
The fiance returned and I was able to add the chiles to my chicken and mix. The directions instructed me to peel an additional onion and "stud" it with cloves. I, then, fry the "studded onion" in a quarter cup of butter and throw it away. I hate throwing perfectly good onions away, but I am here to listen, so I do.
To recap, I have a pan full of clove/onion flavored butter, and ground chicken with afore mentioned ingredients in meatball shapes. I put the meatballs in the pan and fry them for ten minutes. I do, and they stay together beautifully, way better than the last time I tried to make meatballs from the SS, you can read about my struggles here: http://aprojectforacook.blogspot.com/2010/01/meatballs-with-potatoes-and-spinach.html
While the meatballs were frying, I whipped up a quick Saag ala Adrian at http://www.thefreshdish.com/. Please check out my friends' wonderful website that literally helps me out on a weekly basis. I have cooked Adrian's Saag before and it is a surefire winner. My BFF doesn't like Saag at our really good Indian restaurant but loves it when I make it, all because of Adrian. That is some good Saag.
After 10 minutes passed, I turned the heat down and cooked them through for an additional 20 minutes. They turned a beautiful carmel color and smelled fantastic. This recipe was easy and went really well with the Saag and Spiced Cauliflower. For a Thursday night, I really outdid myself, and have rewarded myself with a kitchen full of dishes. Oh well, dishes are a fact of life I suppose, SS or no.
Here's a pic for those inclined (Pat, I am looking at you)
Monday, January 25, 2010
"Chicken in Lager," A Partial Fail.
Post number 11, I am well two out of the single digits and was just starting to feel in The Silver Spoon groove. Tonight's recipe, "Chicken in Lager" read like a very easy recipe. Ah Silver Spoon, you elusive creature! This easy recipe is for sure the most unsuccessful I have done.
Essentially, SS says to salt and pepper the cavity of a chicken, cut up leeks, carrots and onion and add everything into a pan with four cups of beer. The recipe also says that the beer should almost cover the chicken entirely. This is where I went wrong. I added a little more than the amount stated and it still didn't cover the chicken, I mean it was not even close, so then I added a lot more. Then, as directed, I brought the mixture to a boil and set a timer for 30 minutes.
After thirty minutes I flipped the bird, as SS told me to, and then began to worry that none of the beer had evaporated as SS had it would. I set the timer for an additional 30 minutes as directed and tried to watch The Wire with my fiance. I don't think I gave it a fair chance because of the beery quality of my chicken. When the timer went off my chicken was still drowning in beer so I gave it a little more time and grilled some left over polenta from my dinner party. Checking in with the chicken again, the beer level was still too high and it hadn't turned the golden brown that SS had described. The color was more of a rubbery tan. Damn.
Ah well, dinner was served and predictably my fiance said it was delicious. He called the left over beer "beer gravy," (more like beer soup, - Ed.) and was excited that it combined two of his favorite things. The chicken was tender and tasted fine, but I wanted the caramel color and crisp skin. If I had it to do over again, I would add only four cups of beer, maybe a little less depending on the size of the bird. I think that would do it. Oh well, I look onward to a week filled with SS recipes including but not limited to "Pot Roast with Cream," " Sausages and Leeks," and "Warm Mushroom Salad."
Essentially, SS says to salt and pepper the cavity of a chicken, cut up leeks, carrots and onion and add everything into a pan with four cups of beer. The recipe also says that the beer should almost cover the chicken entirely. This is where I went wrong. I added a little more than the amount stated and it still didn't cover the chicken, I mean it was not even close, so then I added a lot more. Then, as directed, I brought the mixture to a boil and set a timer for 30 minutes.
After thirty minutes I flipped the bird, as SS told me to, and then began to worry that none of the beer had evaporated as SS had it would. I set the timer for an additional 30 minutes as directed and tried to watch The Wire with my fiance. I don't think I gave it a fair chance because of the beery quality of my chicken. When the timer went off my chicken was still drowning in beer so I gave it a little more time and grilled some left over polenta from my dinner party. Checking in with the chicken again, the beer level was still too high and it hadn't turned the golden brown that SS had described. The color was more of a rubbery tan. Damn.
Ah well, dinner was served and predictably my fiance said it was delicious. He called the left over beer "beer gravy," (more like beer soup, - Ed.) and was excited that it combined two of his favorite things. The chicken was tender and tasted fine, but I wanted the caramel color and crisp skin. If I had it to do over again, I would add only four cups of beer, maybe a little less depending on the size of the bird. I think that would do it. Oh well, I look onward to a week filled with SS recipes including but not limited to "Pot Roast with Cream," " Sausages and Leeks," and "Warm Mushroom Salad."
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Dinner Party Number 2, in Which I use Lard as a Verb
Yay, I am having a great weekend! Friends, the last couple of weekends I was sick, sprained or sick again so this weekend is offering a fantastic contrast. This, of course, despite having to say goodbye to Conan. Two friends joined us for dinner last night, C. a fellow practicioner of the teaching arts and P. a repeat guest from dinner party number one. In case you missed it, you can read about that infamous dinner party here.
The menu: Cucumber Salad, Braised Beef with Onions, Green Beans with Garlic Sauce and Polenta (4 glorious recipes!)
It was great having C. to help me, we even went grocery shopping together which made things go quickly and efficiently. Immediately upon returning, I set upon a 5 pound beef eye of round. My task was to lard it, meaning infuse the meat with additional fat. In order to do this, The Silver Spoon gives us this hint, "make small incisions in a piece of meat and insert pieces of pancetta or bacon fat. . . The fat melts during cooking and tenderizes and seasons the dish (pg.28)."
"Alright, " I say, "I like seasoning and tender things." I started making cuts into the beef and stuffing pancetta into the cuts. Around the third stab I started to feel a little like Dexter Morgan. You can meet him here, in case you are unfamiliar:
The work went quickly and I soon turned to address the onions. The recipe calls for 2.25 pounds of onions. The fiance attempted to help me prep them but I am quicker and wanted to minimize all of our exposures to onion fumes. Once they were all chopped, and I could see straight, I lined the pan with the onions and checked my directions again to see what kind of braising liquid I had to use.
I carefully read the recipe a few more times and it dawned on me, finally, that there was no braising liquid in the recipe. Now, I have an intense love of braising. Braised meat, cabbage, grean beans, I don't care, just give it to me. I've read a whole cookbook on the subject of braising alone thanks to my future mother in law's amazing collection of such things. Every recipe I have ever seen calls for some liquid, without liquid the meat will get tough! "SS, don't make me do it," I cried. I relented, placing the meat on top of the pounds of onions with no liquid, on a very low heat and set the timer for an hour.
C. washed and trimmed green beans while I started the cucumber salad. SS wanted me to blanch cucumbers "Why?" I said. This project is about trusting, so I am trusting The Silver Spoon with a large piece of meat and with a blanched salad, but not without questioning it loudly to anyone who'll listen. I put some salted water on to boil and added the sliced cucumbers to the water. Within a minute the cucumbers turned a beautiful green, I scooped them out and set them to dry on some paper towel.
This is the part of the story when your champion of the kitchen realized she got pre cooked polenta flour. It feels like cheating but I have hungry people to feed, so I put it aside and gather my guests in a game of Rummikub.
After hour one was up for the beef, I excused myself from game time and went to flip it. Anxiously opening the lid, I peered in and saw glorious braising liquid surrounding the meat. Thanks SS! I flipped the meat and checked my green bean recipe.
The recipe calls for a slice of bread to be soaked in white wine vinegar while you boil the green beans for 10 minutes in salted water. I do as directed and set to make the garlic sauce when I realize the recipe calls for a mortar and pestle. Nope, don't have one of those either, though I registered for one for my upcoming wedding. "Okay," I think, "I have to McGyver a mortar and pestle." This didn't go well. The best I came up with is crushing the garlic with my meat tenderizer on a plastic cutting board and scraping the results into a bowl. It didn't have the creaminess that the recipe describes, and I am going to chalk that up to lack of materials and move on. Next I add the bread, after squeezing it out, to the sauce and combine with the cooked (within an inch of their life) green beans. It looked weird. Judge for yourself:
Oh well, it was semi-instant polenta time. Pre-cooked polenta is very easy, although I will offer this word of caution: when stirring the polenta, wear an oven-mitt. When the polenta boils it can pop up and cling to your hand as it burns you. Yes, this happened to me. Once the polenta was stirred sufficiently it was time to eat.
First we had the cucumber salad, and I have to say blanched cucumbers are great! I served them with thin pear slices, feta cheese and a quick balsamic vinaigrette. C. said that it was better than a fancy restaurant. Hey! Thanks C.! The beef was fork tender and flavorful. In fact, the beef was one of those dishes that causes loud, talkative people consuming it to eat quietly for a few minutes.
My fiance and friends played Top Chef over my dishes, I asserted that the polenta was very plain but they insisted it provided a nice textural contrast. I thought the green beans were weird. The other "judges" liked them, one comment was that the bread offered a hint of the vinegar to balance the garlic, asking if she sounded enough like Tom for everyone's liking. P. was very curious as to what larding was and I explained it while we all ate the beef and onions. He commented that my cooking knowledge was growing, and because he was coming over, his was too. That's pretty cool, I think, I am learning and spreading the knowledge of The Silver Spoon one dinner guest at a time.
Now for my first full week as a healthy person in a long while, what to cook. . . .
The menu: Cucumber Salad, Braised Beef with Onions, Green Beans with Garlic Sauce and Polenta (4 glorious recipes!)
It was great having C. to help me, we even went grocery shopping together which made things go quickly and efficiently. Immediately upon returning, I set upon a 5 pound beef eye of round. My task was to lard it, meaning infuse the meat with additional fat. In order to do this, The Silver Spoon gives us this hint, "make small incisions in a piece of meat and insert pieces of pancetta or bacon fat. . . The fat melts during cooking and tenderizes and seasons the dish (pg.28)."
"Alright, " I say, "I like seasoning and tender things." I started making cuts into the beef and stuffing pancetta into the cuts. Around the third stab I started to feel a little like Dexter Morgan. You can meet him here, in case you are unfamiliar:
I carefully read the recipe a few more times and it dawned on me, finally, that there was no braising liquid in the recipe. Now, I have an intense love of braising. Braised meat, cabbage, grean beans, I don't care, just give it to me. I've read a whole cookbook on the subject of braising alone thanks to my future mother in law's amazing collection of such things. Every recipe I have ever seen calls for some liquid, without liquid the meat will get tough! "SS, don't make me do it," I cried. I relented, placing the meat on top of the pounds of onions with no liquid, on a very low heat and set the timer for an hour.
C. washed and trimmed green beans while I started the cucumber salad. SS wanted me to blanch cucumbers "Why?" I said. This project is about trusting, so I am trusting The Silver Spoon with a large piece of meat and with a blanched salad, but not without questioning it loudly to anyone who'll listen. I put some salted water on to boil and added the sliced cucumbers to the water. Within a minute the cucumbers turned a beautiful green, I scooped them out and set them to dry on some paper towel.
This is the part of the story when your champion of the kitchen realized she got pre cooked polenta flour. It feels like cheating but I have hungry people to feed, so I put it aside and gather my guests in a game of Rummikub.
After hour one was up for the beef, I excused myself from game time and went to flip it. Anxiously opening the lid, I peered in and saw glorious braising liquid surrounding the meat. Thanks SS! I flipped the meat and checked my green bean recipe.
The recipe calls for a slice of bread to be soaked in white wine vinegar while you boil the green beans for 10 minutes in salted water. I do as directed and set to make the garlic sauce when I realize the recipe calls for a mortar and pestle. Nope, don't have one of those either, though I registered for one for my upcoming wedding. "Okay," I think, "I have to McGyver a mortar and pestle." This didn't go well. The best I came up with is crushing the garlic with my meat tenderizer on a plastic cutting board and scraping the results into a bowl. It didn't have the creaminess that the recipe describes, and I am going to chalk that up to lack of materials and move on. Next I add the bread, after squeezing it out, to the sauce and combine with the cooked (within an inch of their life) green beans. It looked weird. Judge for yourself:
Oh well, it was semi-instant polenta time. Pre-cooked polenta is very easy, although I will offer this word of caution: when stirring the polenta, wear an oven-mitt. When the polenta boils it can pop up and cling to your hand as it burns you. Yes, this happened to me. Once the polenta was stirred sufficiently it was time to eat.
First we had the cucumber salad, and I have to say blanched cucumbers are great! I served them with thin pear slices, feta cheese and a quick balsamic vinaigrette. C. said that it was better than a fancy restaurant. Hey! Thanks C.! The beef was fork tender and flavorful. In fact, the beef was one of those dishes that causes loud, talkative people consuming it to eat quietly for a few minutes.
My fiance and friends played Top Chef over my dishes, I asserted that the polenta was very plain but they insisted it provided a nice textural contrast. I thought the green beans were weird. The other "judges" liked them, one comment was that the bread offered a hint of the vinegar to balance the garlic, asking if she sounded enough like Tom for everyone's liking. P. was very curious as to what larding was and I explained it while we all ate the beef and onions. He commented that my cooking knowledge was growing, and because he was coming over, his was too. That's pretty cool, I think, I am learning and spreading the knowledge of The Silver Spoon one dinner guest at a time.
Now for my first full week as a healthy person in a long while, what to cook. . . .
Friday, January 22, 2010
Meatballs with Potatoes and Spinach Salad
Okay everyone, did you know spaghetti and meatballs is an American invention? I am sure many of you know that. I knew spaghetti and meatballs is not Italian cuisine but often didn't admit it to myself. Despite its inauthenticity, I love the dish, and I feel guilty because I know it isn't real Italian cuisine. But hey, meatballs are real and Italian AND Silver Spoon has several recipes for us to try. So we will.
The first meatball recipe up is meatballs with potatoes. The recipe asks to boil and mash two potatoes and combine them with raw hamburger meat while they're still hot, yikes, I think, bacteria? What do I know? So I mash and let the hamburger meat fly, add a beaten egg and a couple of slices of chopped up mortadella. The recipe also tells us to season with salt, pepper and parsley. I always use Himayalan pink salt and really really suggest it. After all this, I coat with bread crumbs. A warning, these meatballs are very tender, almost fragile.
Of course, we get to fry the meatballs in the SS's favorite way: butter and olive oil. This is the part the story where your champion of the kitchen (me again) frets about meatballs falling apart. Folks, I don't know if I should have coated more with bread crumbs or used a a bigger egg, but these guys looked like if I blew on the pan I was going to have American chop suey instead. I stepped away and let them really develop a crust over low heat, while I wrung my hands for a good five minutes. Meanwhile, I directed my BFF to make the spinach salad.
The spinach salad is very simple, spinach plus mushrooms sprinkled with lemon juice. My best friend performed the slicing of the mushrooms and washing of the spinach while I combined some more lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to make a dressing. She has dinner here a lot, as it turns out.
When I turn back to the meatballs, they are way more stable. My advice is don't move them too much when cooking, flip them only to cook the sides and middle evenly. By the way, I should learn to follow my own advice more with cooking the protein portions of any meal I cook. I am an over flipper from way back. It makes meat tough, and less juicy. I am really retraining myself to be patient with food and not flip it so much, jeez. Learning patience is a theme emerging through cooking The Silver Spoon, and I really appreciate it and struggle with it at the same time.
The results were excellent. These meatballs were decadent, moist and fiancé approved. I didn't even miss the pasta! The crumb coating with pink salt was a great contrast to the tender quality the meatballs have because of the potatoes. Even the spinach salad was greater than the sum of its parts. Liberate yourself from expensive salad dressings that are full of chemicals; all you need is olive oil, lemon and a brisk stir with The Silver Spoon.
The first meatball recipe up is meatballs with potatoes. The recipe asks to boil and mash two potatoes and combine them with raw hamburger meat while they're still hot, yikes, I think, bacteria? What do I know? So I mash and let the hamburger meat fly, add a beaten egg and a couple of slices of chopped up mortadella. The recipe also tells us to season with salt, pepper and parsley. I always use Himayalan pink salt and really really suggest it. After all this, I coat with bread crumbs. A warning, these meatballs are very tender, almost fragile.
Of course, we get to fry the meatballs in the SS's favorite way: butter and olive oil. This is the part the story where your champion of the kitchen (me again) frets about meatballs falling apart. Folks, I don't know if I should have coated more with bread crumbs or used a a bigger egg, but these guys looked like if I blew on the pan I was going to have American chop suey instead. I stepped away and let them really develop a crust over low heat, while I wrung my hands for a good five minutes. Meanwhile, I directed my BFF to make the spinach salad.
The spinach salad is very simple, spinach plus mushrooms sprinkled with lemon juice. My best friend performed the slicing of the mushrooms and washing of the spinach while I combined some more lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper to make a dressing. She has dinner here a lot, as it turns out.
When I turn back to the meatballs, they are way more stable. My advice is don't move them too much when cooking, flip them only to cook the sides and middle evenly. By the way, I should learn to follow my own advice more with cooking the protein portions of any meal I cook. I am an over flipper from way back. It makes meat tough, and less juicy. I am really retraining myself to be patient with food and not flip it so much, jeez. Learning patience is a theme emerging through cooking The Silver Spoon, and I really appreciate it and struggle with it at the same time.
The results were excellent. These meatballs were decadent, moist and fiancé approved. I didn't even miss the pasta! The crumb coating with pink salt was a great contrast to the tender quality the meatballs have because of the potatoes. Even the spinach salad was greater than the sum of its parts. Liberate yourself from expensive salad dressings that are full of chemicals; all you need is olive oil, lemon and a brisk stir with The Silver Spoon.
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