Experiment Gone Awry

I own what I have deemed as an absolutely ridiculous number of cookbooks, especially considering the fact that I rarely ever open one.  There are some I have never opened and I decided it was time to rectify that error.  The first cookbook I decided to try a recipe from was Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds [and no, I'm not including the link because I think you should purchase it or use this particular retailer if you do, I just would not want to be accused of not giving appropriate credit...even though, yes, I think it's a worthy addition to the cookbook arsenal].

The recipe that peaked my interest the most was Hollywood's Temptation, which is an adaptation of Jansson's Temptation, a traditional Swedish recipe.  Of course I chose this recipe because it allowed me to combine my anglophile ways with my love of Alexander Skarsgard.  Honestly, how can you not love a man whose resume includes vampire and Tarzan?!  But I digress...

The original recipe calls for pickled sprats, which are a small bait fish in the herring family.  Paul modified his recipe and chose to use hot smoked salmon. I, for no other reason than because it's my recipe now and I can if I want to, decided to use beef instead of fish.  As a side note, bad idea, which we will discuss later.  I also added leafy greens so that this could become more of a one-dish meal.  I picked up two different greens at the farmers market and I knew they would add some really nice flavor to the dish.  The first was Lamb's Quarter, which has a similar flavor to spinach.  It's great either cooked or raw, though some people might find the hairy underside to be a bit of a turn-off.  It's not something you would detect when cooking but you know they are there when you are handling the leaves.  I also picked up some rainbow chard and decided it would add some nice color to the pie.

Lamb's Quarter

Steak and Potato Pie

Ingredients:

Phyllo dough - thawed according to directions on box
14 oz sirloin tips - cut into small chunks
28 oz white potatoes (I chose the ones labeled as good for boiling, steaming and roasting) - peeled and thinly sliced
1 lg onion - sliced
1 qt whole milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 tsp mustard powder
2 c. chard
1/2 c. Lamb's quarter (spinach is a close substitute)
5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
salt and pepper

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400F.

Over low heat, melt 1 1/2 Tbsp of the butter.  Add the onions and sweat them for approximately 20 minutes.  You want them to be soft and turning a golden color.  Add the lamb's quarter and chard, cooking long enough to wilt the greens.  Set aside.

Place the potatoes in a large pot and add just enough milk to cover.  Bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  You want them softened but not cooked through.  Remove the potatoes and reserve 1/2 c. of the milk.

Melt the rest of the butter.  Now that all of your food is prepped, you can unwrap the phyllo dough and begin creating your crust.  You will want to grease a 10 inch spring form pan.  Before putting in each layer of dough, brush with the melted butter.  I used about 8 sheets of 9x14 inch phyllo.  You want to have excess hanging over the side because you will use that to cover the top of the pie.

To layer the filling, start with 1/3 of the potatoes, then add 1/2 the vegetable mixture, then half of the meat.  Repeat, ending with the final third of potatoes.

Mix the reserved milk, cream, and mustard powder.  Pour over the filling.  Fold the excess dough on top of the pie and brush with butter.  Bake for 35 minutes.

For me, cooking is a way for me to connect with people, get creative, challenge myself, and learn.  In that educational spirit, I am going to let you all in on the "good, bad, and ugly" of this particular challenge...

Good:  The taste.  It really did come out well.  The potatoes came out nice and soft, soaking up the flavor of the milk.  The greens added some nuttiness that I personally enjoyed.

The bad:  The phyllo dough.  Part of what drew me to this recipe was the phyllo dough.  I could not remember if I had ever used it before and I always like challenging myself so this was a great opportunity.  Phyllo and I do not get along.  However, I still have a package and a half of sheets so phyllo and I will be getting better acquainted over the next few weeks.  Also, using a 10 inch pan was a poor choice, just a bit to large.  Use an 8 inch pan and you'll have better, well formed, layers.

The ugly:  Using beef.  That was such a bad decision I cannot even express that enough.  The beef tasted great but raw meat creates juice and so it was a poor choice for a pie with a phyllo dough crust.  I should have known better, I have no one else to blame but myself.  Honestly, I'm lucky the pie didn't explode when I unleashed the pan latch!  Pies with juicy contents should have a standard pie crust, something hearty that will be able to hold the juice and not turn to mush.  If I had stuck to smoked fish the pie would have turned out perfect because the milk was sucked up by the potatoes.

So, the moral of this is "choose your crusts wisely."  I will definitely do this recipe again but, the meat version will use a more appropriate crust.  If I decide to stick to phyllo dough, I will be using smoked fish.

Live and learn friends...and enjoy the spoils even when they come out a little wonky.

Farmers Market Finds

As the summer weather begins to ramp up, so do the outdoor farmers markets.  I love shopping at these markets because not only am I supporting my local growers and producers, but I also get to be a bit more adventurous with my purchases.  Local growers, from my own personal experience, will offer items you would not find in your larger grocery stores.  You also get to meet the people growing your food and ask about the products they are offering.  I have walked away from the market with new produce to try and recipe suggestions... just what a cooking addict needs!

I went a couple of weeks ago to one market and walked away with a new type of celery to try.  I also picked up lunch - vegetarian nim chow.  The nim chow was amazing and I will soon be returning to that market for more.

 

 

This celery is a lot thinner than what you would pick up in the regular grocery store and it is a full tube as opposed to the u-shape most of us are probably used to.  I asked the farmer if the entire celery was edible and for preparation suggestions.  She told me I can eat everything, leaves included, and that many people use it in soup.  When I got it home, I decided to throw it raw into a salad.  I will never do that again.  It has such a strong flavor that eating it raw is honestly kind of gross.  The leaves are really bitter and the stalk has what I can only describe as a soapy flavor.  It is simply no good.  So, I gave it a day and gave some cooking options a thought.  The farmer had suggested soup and I had some Arborio rice in the fridge... see where I am going with this yet?

 

 



I decided to make some risotto, flavored with celery and scallions.

Ingredients:

1 scallion - sliced
1 stalk celery - sliced
2 c. stock (1 bullion cube dissolved in 2 c. boiling water)
2 c. water
1/2 c. white wine
1 c. Arborio rice
1 Tbsp oil

Directions:

Heat oil on medium in a large sauté pan.  Add scallions and celery and sauté until tender, approximately 7 minutes.  Add the rice, give it a couple stirs, then add the white wine.  Stirring occasionally, cook until the wine is completely absorbed.  This should take about 3 - 5 minutes.

At this point, incorporate the stock a half cup at a time and then incorporate the water a half cup at a time.  Each addition will take more time to absorb the farther into the cooking process you get.  The first half cup will take 3 - 5 minutes and the last could take up to 7 minutes.

In the end, you get a flavorful risotto that can be used as a side dish.  The celery held up well during the cooking process but, the long and slow cook broke down the flavor and allowed for the celery to come through. No bitterness in this recipe and it is definitely something I will make again.

Banana Spice Muffins

I was walking down the hallway at work the other day trying to convince myself that stopping at the market on the way home to purchase quick oats was not the worst errand ever.  My normal work day breakfast is 1/2 c. quick oats, 1/2 c. milk, and 1 banana shaken together and left in the fridge overnight.  For me, it's perfect.  I feel full and ready for the day.  However, I was out of oats, so if I wanted my regular b-fast I was going to need to make a stop at the store.  But then a case of extreme laziness set in.  And when I say extreme, I mean extreme.  There is a grocery store lit-er-ah-ly on the way home.  I would not have to take a detour.  To make a right into the store parking lot, walk into the store, walk over to aisle 4, walk to the self check out, feed my 2 singles into the machine, get my 9 cents change, walk back to my car, and make a right back onto the street would add a whopping 6 minutes to my ride home.  Yes, extremely lazy that day.

So, honestly, the fight going on in my head is me saying I need oats so I can make my breakfast and the other me saying I don't want to take the extra effort to stop at the store.  My answer is the mentally sort through the items in my fridge and pantry, an exercise that reveals I have everything I need for banana muffins.  And folks, we now have our winner.  So instead of spending 6 minutes to buy quick oats, I spend 45 minutes prepping and baking banana spice muffins.  Though, let's be real...muffins were the obvious choice.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda  
1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3 large bananas, mashed

3/4 c. white sugar

1 egg

1/3 c. butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F and prep muffin tray with liners.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

 
In another large bowl, melt butter.  Then add bananas and smash.

Add sugar, egg, vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon, then mix.  

Stir in the flour mixture.  Once thoroughly combined, scoop into  muffin tray.

Back for 25 to 30 minutes.

This recipe will make 12 muffins and about 10 minutes from being done your kitchen will begin to smell like spicy banana heaven.  These will come out having a distinct spice cake flavor.  If that's not something you enjoy, take out or reduce the nutmeg.

Cooking with Dad

I definitely get my foundational cooking skills from my mother but, my comfort with just throwing things together and seeing what happens should be attributed to my father.  Most nights mom would be home with enough time to cook dinner or she would put something in the crock pot for us. However, every once in a while, we would be left to our own devices.

Coming from a family in which all of us cook, that was never an issue.  But, the results, that's where it gets interesting.  I remember two such instances where dad and I got experimental with the contents of the fridge and pantry.  One experiment turned out pretty great.  We aimed for meat sauce, we got something more along the lines of American Chop Suey.  Not surprising since we used about 2 pounds of ground meat to only one can of crushed tomatoes.  We threw in a few vegetables, shook in a few herbs, tossed it on top of some elbow macaroni, and called it complete.  I do remember getting the eyebrow from my father, the eyebrow that said "what will your mom think?"  We would not have been to high up on her list of favorite people if she found out we used 2 pounds of meat for an inedible dinner.  Luckily, that meal actually tasted good.  Experiment number two was a different story.

The take-away from Experiment 2?  Do not put orange juice into a hot saute pan.  All you get is an ugly sticky mess.  That mess was supposed to be sauce for the chicken breasts.  We started with the best of intentions and, if I remember correctly: orange juice, maple syrup, soy sauce, and some random spices.  I think we started off with the desire for something citrus with Asian flair.  The maple syrup comes in because maple syrup flows like water in that house and if it tastes good on kielbasa, why wouldn't it taste good on chicken.  It does taste good on chicken, just not when it's been added directly over the chicken while it's in a hot pan.  I also walked away with a health respect for pre-planning and marinades.  Oh, was that meal gross, edible, but gross.  We ate it though, we made it so we ate it.

Today's recipe is an homage to the throw together recipes of my youth and the way I cook for myself on a regular basis.



Step 1: Look in the fridge
Step 2: Look in the pantry
Step 3: Go back to the fridge and pull stuff out
Step 4: Go back to the pantry and pull other stuff out
Step 5: Put it all together
Step 6: Cross your fingers

Breakfast Lasagna

Get in the kitchen and get creative!