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Home > 208
KitchenKatalog: Blog 208
Saturday, July 16, 2016, 08:00 PM
We finally got a grill and put it together. We had some friends over to break it in. We also decided to go with a vegetarian meal (just for kicks).
There were lots of food that required various levels of prep. We went with a mix of easy and hard.
Nothing much too it. We just used salt and pepper on them. They were grilled for about 10-15 minutes on each side. As you can see, some got a bit burned, but they all came out okay. Actually, this was surprisingly not dry like most squash is usually. It may have been the grill or the 2 hours (ish) they sat with the salt and pepper. That may have had to do with it too
We just cut them put them in a pouch with a bit of salt, pepper, and oil. I cooked them for a long while but not really long enough. They could have been more caramelized a bit better. Next time, I will use some butter too and then I will also let it go for a good bit longer. Get some real caramelization on them.
Just salt and pepper. We went easy with these
This was the one marinade we really did by our selves. We used the miso-marinated carpaccio recipe. We followed the base marinade pretty closely except that we added a tablespoon of gochujang. We've done Sriracha before, but I figured that given that this was a miso-based marinade, we should use something else super fermented. It worked out well. A bit spicy. We did forget the rest of the recipe including the pistachios, but it still worked out well.
This also marinated for a few hours
We've used this a few times before (see 2015-08-01,2016-05-16). We marinated it in Franks Red Hot. Pretty simple but it also worked well. As you can see in the photos, I burned it a bit. They were kind of dry, but still good. I should be careful next time and use a lower heat. It is still kind of crazy that they don't melt!
Another easy prep. We used the Trader Joes "Super Firm Organic Tofu". We cut it into medium-sized slices and marinated it with Soyaki Sauce. Again, marinated for a few hours and then grilled. I really like working with this tofu. Anything else would need to be pressed for a long time but this stuff just works fine. It also came out pretty good. Maybe a bit dry, but still pretty good.
The bread was the Trader Joes sour-dough rolls
We made a pretty simple dessert Meredith found on Serious Eats (Local). There wasn't much to it and we forgot to buy the peanut butter chips. But the rest was pretty easy and it was good. We had to use some a toothpick to hold some it together. It was a bit messy as a lot of it fell over on the grill. Lots of chocolate and marshmallows on the plates1.
I thought they were pretty good. Maybe a bit strange having the warm banana but I did like it. Ours was certainly not as pretty looking as the ones in the original recipe.
Grilled Banana Boats With Peanut Butter, Chocolate, and Marshmallows (from Serious Eats)
Local Copy -- U: guest, P: name of my dog
They carbonized nicely and came off easily after I blasted the heat at the end. ↩
Thursday, July 14, 2016, 08:55 PM
We made a a ton of cuban black beans using the same idea as that time, but we used the pressure cooker. We based it on the pressure cooker using the guide from Fast Cooking (Local). We also aimed to adjust the times by 20% as suggested by Hip pressure cooking (also on that local page).
The pressure cooking times are usually from when it starts to sizzle. And we let it naturally release. We split it into batches and the first batch was a bit overcooked (the natural release took like 15 or more minutes).
On the second batch, the seal must not have been as good since we heard the steam coming out for almost the entire time. And we timed it for less time. This worked a bit well, though neither were too bad.
The flavor of the beans after just the first stage was already really good. Then it got even better with the additional steps at the end. They came out really good!
We also made Avocado Pickles from The Kitchn (Local). Meredith followed the recipe really closely. One of the avocados was more firm than the other but both worked fine. The jalapeños were also very hot but it all worked well.
We also just made onions and peppers with some butter and salt. Not much to that either.
This was actually a pretty involved meal. We did the prep the night before, but it wasn't too bad. Maybe the kind of thing we could prep on the weekend.
Also, since we made 2 pounds, we have a ton of beans for other meals.
For all local recipes, U: guest, P: name of my dog, lower case
Wednesday, July 13, 2016, 09:40 PM
We again made the stir-fry from 2016-01-18. Same basic recipe. We followed it pretty closely except again, we did it in batches of ginger, vegetables, and then the shrimp. I think I overcooked the snow-peas, but they weren't too bad. And we made a about double the amount of snow peas.
We didn't do any kind of "rice" since we did extra vegetables.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016, 10:00 AM
I made oatmeal for my mom. I do not remember the exact proportions, but I followed some recipe. And I just used almond milk in place of water. As it was almost done, I added some raisins and almonds. Other than that, I just added some (too much) salt. Actually, I could have gone a lot lower on the salt.
It was ok. Not really sure what else I did. And I didn't eat much of it. Most of it was for my mom.
Sunday, July 10, 2016, 02:00 PM
Shrimp and Grits is usually a dinner in the south, but I made it for breakfast.
The package of grits said something like a 3:1
I did my usual creamy trick and used almost entirely almond milk in place of the water. I added two packets of frozen Green Chile to the grits. I started with one but it wasn't looking particularly green and it was getting dry. The second packet seemed to do the trick. Maybe a bit too hot but not bad. In addition, I threw in some salt, pepper, and some grated parm cheese. I forgot butter.
I just steamed the shrimp right from frozen. I didn't really have any good idea of timing so I just watched it.
Overall, it was pretty good. Shrimp was maybe a bit strange for breakfast but it worked.
Saturday, July 09, 2016, 10:00 AM
Pretty standard Huevos without much in the way of toppings. Mine had some honey-roasted turkey but the others didn't.
My mom was visiting and she can't stand runny eggs so I scrambled hers and just put it on top. Other than that, it was just the 505 Roasted Green Chile1
They apparently make a distinction between just the green chile condiment and a sauce. This was the condiment version. Mostly just the chile with a few other things ↩
Friday, July 08, 2016, 07:54 AM
The original intent was omelets but after two of them failed, I made the last one (pictured) a scramble.
I sautéed mushrooms, onions, and peppers in a bit of oil. When ready, I added the eggs and scrambled them. Also served with some oven-baked, center-cut, bacon.
Not too much to it, but made a nice and easy meal.
Wednesday, July 06, 2016, 08:00 PM
Not the prettiest meal, but we made a very quick meal of Trader Joes Grecian Style Eggplant and poached eggs. Just put the eggs in the stuff on a hot pan and served it over bread. It was very easy, very quick, and pretty good. The eggplant stuff is not exactly healthy (lots of oil) but we don't use too much of it.
I also made myself a very quick salad of tofu and roasted red pepper (also both from Trader Joes...) in some green mix. Not much to the salad either.
