This recipe from cooks.com is dead-on in flavor. It just needs a little work.
First off, trying to find "canned plum tomatoes" is just about impossible. Though it seems some varieties actually have illustrations or pictures on the labels which indicate that it's a pretty safe bet that the tomatoes in the can are, in fact, plum. But in looking at 4 different stores, including the awesome Fox & Obel, I couldn't find any that were actually labelled as "plum." I actually have some from the garden, frozen, but I need to first drain, trim and dice another can to figure out what the equivalent measurement is.
The only thing that is off here is that the resulting sauce is that it's way too thick. It tastes exactly as I would have expected from a restaurant, but the consistency is more like a paste than a sauce.
Either the recipe needs to be made in a sauce pan, rather than a skillet as described (the larger surface area of the skillet possibly leading to too-fast evaporation). Or there's not enough liquid in the recipe itself to work with and they need to up the volume of cream and tomato sauce. I think it's probably the latter. Next time, I'll try doubling both liquids, watching the flavors to make sure it doesn't get too dliuted.
But taste-wise? This is awesome stuff.
Showing posts with label Sauces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sauces. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Red Wine Marinara
I made another pass at tomato sauce and, while I've been happy with my previous attempts, I really knocked it out of the park with this batch.
I used the Eastside Cafe's recipe as a base, tripled it and used 1/2 red wine and 1/2 low sodium chicken broth for the water. The tomatos were Dei Fratelli again and the herbs came from our various plantings. Once it had cooked, I took my immersion blender to it (which I didn't do last time) and brought it to an even, smooth sauce. Absolutely perfect.
The downside is that by tripling the recipe, I had a LOT of sauce. Thank goodness it freezes well.
The recipe is reprinted with the kind permission of the Eastside Cafe.
Carter, Ruth, Elaine Martin & Dorsey Barger. Inside the Eastside: Recipes from the Eastside Cafe' Menu. Austin: Eastside Cafe/Blame Books 1993. p 22. Buy it here (It's now titled Eastside’s Inside Secrets)..
I used the Eastside Cafe's recipe as a base, tripled it and used 1/2 red wine and 1/2 low sodium chicken broth for the water. The tomatos were Dei Fratelli again and the herbs came from our various plantings. Once it had cooked, I took my immersion blender to it (which I didn't do last time) and brought it to an even, smooth sauce. Absolutely perfect.
The downside is that by tripling the recipe, I had a LOT of sauce. Thank goodness it freezes well.
The recipe is reprinted with the kind permission of the Eastside Cafe.
Carter, Ruth, Elaine Martin & Dorsey Barger. Inside the Eastside: Recipes from the Eastside Cafe' Menu. Austin: Eastside Cafe/Blame Books 1993. p 22. Buy it here (It's now titled Eastside’s Inside Secrets)..
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Marinara Sauce - Redux
I decided to vamp a bit on my marinara sauce. I started with the basic recipe from the Eastside Cafe and worked from there. I didn't have all of the herbs, as they were sold out of oregeno at Jewel. So, I decided to go with basil and use red wine instead of water. The results worked pretty well.
The sauce was a nice deep red, like I've been shooting for, which I ascribe almost entirely to the red wine. Also, the sauce seemed smooth enough that I decided to forgo the pureeing. Channing wasn't a huge fan of the chunky sauce, but seems to like the flavor enough to let it slide. I liked the change of pace for that, but think I ultimately prefer a smoother sauce, so I will hit it with the immersion blender myself next time.
A great discovery was Dei Fratelli canned tomatoes. These guys have no added salt, wo I have the convenience of the canned product without having to worry about the reduction, like in my last go-round.
The recipe is reprinted with the kind permission of the Eastside Cafe, because Dorsey rocks.
The fancy-pants citation: Carter, Ruth, Elaine Martin & Dorsey Barger. Inside the Eastside: Recipes from the Eastside Cafe' Menu. Austin: Eastside Cafe/Blame Books 1993. p 22. Buy it here. (It's now titled Eastside’s Inside Secrets).
The sauce was a nice deep red, like I've been shooting for, which I ascribe almost entirely to the red wine. Also, the sauce seemed smooth enough that I decided to forgo the pureeing. Channing wasn't a huge fan of the chunky sauce, but seems to like the flavor enough to let it slide. I liked the change of pace for that, but think I ultimately prefer a smoother sauce, so I will hit it with the immersion blender myself next time.
A great discovery was Dei Fratelli canned tomatoes. These guys have no added salt, wo I have the convenience of the canned product without having to worry about the reduction, like in my last go-round.
The recipe is reprinted with the kind permission of the Eastside Cafe, because Dorsey rocks.
The fancy-pants citation: Carter, Ruth, Elaine Martin & Dorsey Barger. Inside the Eastside: Recipes from the Eastside Cafe' Menu. Austin: Eastside Cafe/Blame Books 1993. p 22. Buy it here. (It's now titled Eastside’s Inside Secrets).
Monday, April 21, 2008
Orange Caramel Sauce
My god, this sauce is good. And really easy, too.
I don't know what else to say about it, really. It's very much like the caramel syrup you get from a flan, with a distinct orange flavor. It's too much like the flan syrup to be served with it as a distinct sauce (though it would be a great extension to that syrup, as you don't always get as much as you think), but I tossed some strawberries with it and it was amazing. Many potential uses for this.
I don't know what else to say about it, really. It's very much like the caramel syrup you get from a flan, with a distinct orange flavor. It's too much like the flan syrup to be served with it as a distinct sauce (though it would be a great extension to that syrup, as you don't always get as much as you think), but I tossed some strawberries with it and it was amazing. Many potential uses for this.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Fresh Herbed Tomato Salsa
Again, a perfect storm of circumstances drives me to try something out. Christmas before last, someone (I think Karin) gave me a great tiny little book, Salsa! Salsa! Salsa! I've been meaning to make stuff from it for some time now, but because it's literally so small, I often don't even notice it on the shelf.
A second factor coming into place was that I recently started a focused weight-loss effort. So, I need to find and make things which are healthy, but still have good flavor. Being generally fat-free and veggie-rific, salsas are just perfect.
Finally, there was an APB for auction items for my old rugby team's* fundraiser. I decided to donate an upscale Mexican dinner for four for some lucky winner. I was thinking through the menu, how I'm going to present, serve, etc. and, with Top Chef going right now, too, that put me in the thinking of everything fresh, so I committed myself to homemade quacamole and 2 (count 'em, 2) fresh salsas.
I've tackled the rest of the menu items several times, but I've never made salsas before, so I better get some hands on experience. Also, the book has at least 60 different varieties, so I definitely want to try some out.
I decided to lay down a foundation of experience by a traditional red sauce like you'd get at a restaurant. In reading through them, the closest seemed to be the Fresh Herbed Tomato Salsa. the first thing I learned was that these will definitely be good practice of knife skills, if nothing else.
The two changes I made were based on what I had in the house, so I skipped the oregeno and used a yellow onion instead of a red one. The result was pretty darned tasty, even better after a night in the fridge. It has a good balance of spice and depth.
In terms of texture, the result is more of what I'd call a Pico de Gallo than a salsa. I consider Pico to be more of a diced veggie salad in a light, thin liquid where a salsa is more of a sauce (the literal translation of the word).
I'd definitely like to get it more to the sauce end of the spectrum - which I guess I could get either form adding more tomato sauce or pureeing some of the mixture. Also, I'm curious about the oregeno flavor. Since the recipe made a healthy quantity (about a quart), I'm going to divide it up and try all three:
A second factor coming into place was that I recently started a focused weight-loss effort. So, I need to find and make things which are healthy, but still have good flavor. Being generally fat-free and veggie-rific, salsas are just perfect.
Finally, there was an APB for auction items for my old rugby team's* fundraiser. I decided to donate an upscale Mexican dinner for four for some lucky winner. I was thinking through the menu, how I'm going to present, serve, etc. and, with Top Chef going right now, too, that put me in the thinking of everything fresh, so I committed myself to homemade quacamole and 2 (count 'em, 2) fresh salsas.
I've tackled the rest of the menu items several times, but I've never made salsas before, so I better get some hands on experience. Also, the book has at least 60 different varieties, so I definitely want to try some out.
I decided to lay down a foundation of experience by a traditional red sauce like you'd get at a restaurant. In reading through them, the closest seemed to be the Fresh Herbed Tomato Salsa. the first thing I learned was that these will definitely be good practice of knife skills, if nothing else.
The two changes I made were based on what I had in the house, so I skipped the oregeno and used a yellow onion instead of a red one. The result was pretty darned tasty, even better after a night in the fridge. It has a good balance of spice and depth.
In terms of texture, the result is more of what I'd call a Pico de Gallo than a salsa. I consider Pico to be more of a diced veggie salad in a light, thin liquid where a salsa is more of a sauce (the literal translation of the word).
I'd definitely like to get it more to the sauce end of the spectrum - which I guess I could get either form adding more tomato sauce or pureeing some of the mixture. Also, I'm curious about the oregeno flavor. Since the recipe made a healthy quantity (about a quart), I'm going to divide it up and try all three:
- Adding tomato sauce
- Partially pureeing
- Adding fresh oregeno
- Adding tomato sauce - This did make it enough like a traditional that Mary noted that it was most like "store-bought." Hmmm. There's good and bad in that. Also, it felt a little like cheating, since tomato sauce is already seasoned.
- Partially pureeing - Not bad. It did make it a bit more like a sauce rather than pico de gallo, but that was the only change.
- Adding fresh oregeno - Very, very good. I highly recommend this. Also, after a few days in the fridge, the tomatoes break down a bit more, getting it right to the taste and consistency I wanted.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Roasted Green Beans with Warm Soy Vinagrette
I'm a big fan of the roasting of vegetables lately and wanted to work through some green beans I had in the fridge. I found this recipe in From the Harvest, which seemed like a nice, healthier alternative and give the opportunity to try a new sauce.
I don't have a lot of Asian in the pantry, so I knew I was going to have to buy the seseme seeds, seseme oil and rice vinegar. The Jewel was sold out of dark seseme oil, but had chili seseme oil. I figured that with only a teaspoon in the recipe, the spice wouldn't be overpowering.
Aside from that, the other change to the recipe I made was to oven roast the green beans, rather than "pan roast" them (which sounded like frying to me). I used a ginger and garlic seasoned wok oil for the roasting and low sodium soy sauce for the vinaigrette. I served it with some white rice I had in the frige.
Overall, the results were pretty good. The spice from the chili was just right. It did seem that the vinaigrette needed some type of emulsification. When eating the beans, too many times, it just tasted like soy sauce on beans. But in the rice, where everything blended, it was really nice. Perhaps a light touch of a Chinese mustard would do the trick, binding without messing with the flavor. Also, I could have cut the time on the green beans and pulled them out at 20 minutes. So, with a couple of tweaks, this might be a keeper.
I don't have a lot of Asian in the pantry, so I knew I was going to have to buy the seseme seeds, seseme oil and rice vinegar. The Jewel was sold out of dark seseme oil, but had chili seseme oil. I figured that with only a teaspoon in the recipe, the spice wouldn't be overpowering.
Aside from that, the other change to the recipe I made was to oven roast the green beans, rather than "pan roast" them (which sounded like frying to me). I used a ginger and garlic seasoned wok oil for the roasting and low sodium soy sauce for the vinaigrette. I served it with some white rice I had in the frige.
Overall, the results were pretty good. The spice from the chili was just right. It did seem that the vinaigrette needed some type of emulsification. When eating the beans, too many times, it just tasted like soy sauce on beans. But in the rice, where everything blended, it was really nice. Perhaps a light touch of a Chinese mustard would do the trick, binding without messing with the flavor. Also, I could have cut the time on the green beans and pulled them out at 20 minutes. So, with a couple of tweaks, this might be a keeper.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Gingerbread Pancakes with Lemon Sauce
Nope, not a rerun of the previous post.
I've really been wanting a good recipe for Gingerbread Panckaes for a long, long time. I used to get them all the time when I was schlepping books for W.W. Norton. Like the Eastside Cafe, these were a brief respite from the hell that was my life. I've tried improvising before by adding ground ginger, sugar and molasses in varying quantities to regular pancake batter and it never worked. Sometimes the results were outright disasters.
So, I was really stoked when I found this recipe. Sadly, I'm barely functional before I eat in the morning. Kind of makes it tough to make fancy breakfasts. But after putting it off for a month or two, I finally got to it. This was also another opportunity to try out my new two burner griddle.
After mixing everything together, there was a huge amount of batter, so I called our upstairs neighbors, Ron and Mary. God bless them. I like having other cooks around because you can mess something up, like I did here, and they understand.
They turned out burned on the outside and raw on the inside. This particularly chapped my hide as I used to be flawless at pancakes. Also, they were, to me, noticeably tough. Finally, there were noticeable crunchy bits of brown sugar.
There are three things I can think of right off the top of my head that need to be fixed with these (I'm not giving up yet):
I've really been wanting a good recipe for Gingerbread Panckaes for a long, long time. I used to get them all the time when I was schlepping books for W.W. Norton. Like the Eastside Cafe, these were a brief respite from the hell that was my life. I've tried improvising before by adding ground ginger, sugar and molasses in varying quantities to regular pancake batter and it never worked. Sometimes the results were outright disasters.
So, I was really stoked when I found this recipe. Sadly, I'm barely functional before I eat in the morning. Kind of makes it tough to make fancy breakfasts. But after putting it off for a month or two, I finally got to it. This was also another opportunity to try out my new two burner griddle.
After mixing everything together, there was a huge amount of batter, so I called our upstairs neighbors, Ron and Mary. God bless them. I like having other cooks around because you can mess something up, like I did here, and they understand.
They turned out burned on the outside and raw on the inside. This particularly chapped my hide as I used to be flawless at pancakes. Also, they were, to me, noticeably tough. Finally, there were noticeable crunchy bits of brown sugar.
There are three things I can think of right off the top of my head that need to be fixed with these (I'm not giving up yet):
- I overmixed the batter. A LOT. I wasn't thinking and whisked in the dry ingredients, disregarding/forgetting that it was "mix until just combined." This made them tough, from the gluten forming up, but also I'm sure it made the batter bind up. As it was too thick, it couldn't spread out on the griddle. Being too thick, the outside burned before the inside cooked.
- I really need more practice regulating temperature on that griddle.
- I had a lot of brown sugar in the house, as I've bought it too often for cookies. My bags dry out and, because I'm in a hurry, I just buy another, forgetting how little is actually used in Tool House cookies. So, the bags build up. I had tried a quick trick for softening that I read online where you put a bowl of water in the microwave with the chunks of sugar. I then dropped it into the food processor. That seemed to work at the time, but crunchies spoke otherwise.
I whipped up some of the lemon sauce to use as syrup for these. This sauce, on the other hand, was fantastic. I even eliminated the issue of the egg white strands by making sure I had a good blend when beating the eggs and pouring then in to the pan while I have a really good whisk of the syrup going.
(Recipe link to be posted soon)
Monday, February 4, 2008
Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Sauce
A little out of order here, as this was one of my things I made for Christmas dinner at my brother's house. I'd made this recipe from the Treebeards Cookbook a few times before, but had avoided the sauce just from my general paranoia I used to have in that area.
The cake itself is pretty foolproof. As mentioned in the Christmas overview, I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose white and it was just fine.
I served it at a fundraiser a year ago and gave the sauce a shot, to fancy it up. It was okay, but didn't turn out exactly as it should (a bit thin, if I remember correctly). This Christmas, I was trying to blow the barn doors down, honestly. With my general sauce practice, I figured it was worth tackling again. My god, it's good. It's really not that hard, though it is really, really important to get it up to temperature. There were a few strands of cooked egg white, but I just poured it through a strainer to get them out. The butter gives it a very smooth taste, countering the sharpness of the lemon perfectly.
I have found that you get automatic bonus points for a fancy pan and powdered sugar. We have a cathedral-shaped bundt pan and my sister-in-law has one shaped a lot like pine trees (though I'm not really sure it's supposed to be representational). Use something like that and sprinkle some sugar on through a sieve kind of snow-like over the result and people go nuts.
Oh, and whipped cream. Mix up some sweetened whipped cream with it.
(recipe to be scanned and posted soon).
The cake itself is pretty foolproof. As mentioned in the Christmas overview, I used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose white and it was just fine.
I served it at a fundraiser a year ago and gave the sauce a shot, to fancy it up. It was okay, but didn't turn out exactly as it should (a bit thin, if I remember correctly). This Christmas, I was trying to blow the barn doors down, honestly. With my general sauce practice, I figured it was worth tackling again. My god, it's good. It's really not that hard, though it is really, really important to get it up to temperature. There were a few strands of cooked egg white, but I just poured it through a strainer to get them out. The butter gives it a very smooth taste, countering the sharpness of the lemon perfectly.
I have found that you get automatic bonus points for a fancy pan and powdered sugar. We have a cathedral-shaped bundt pan and my sister-in-law has one shaped a lot like pine trees (though I'm not really sure it's supposed to be representational). Use something like that and sprinkle some sugar on through a sieve kind of snow-like over the result and people go nuts.
Oh, and whipped cream. Mix up some sweetened whipped cream with it.
(recipe to be scanned and posted soon).
Friday, January 25, 2008
Marinara Sauce
After nailing down the Chopping Block tomato sauce recipe, I wanted to try another approach. This time, I used the Eastside Cafe recipe from Inside the Eastside which billed itself as a marninara.
As I might have expected, this was very heavy on the fresh herbs. This reinforced my desire to plant a ton this summer. It also called for canned peeled tomatoes, an option in the Chopping Block recipe and, in fact, what we used in class. I was shocked to discover, when checking out, that even those have huge amounts of sodium in them. If you use those instead of fresh in your homemade sauce, it has just about as much as the jarred stuff, pretty much wiping away one of the main points I had.
I went ahead and made it, just to follow it literally the first time. My initial reaction was that it was definitely spicier, as one might expect when cayenne becomes an ingredient. Also, that hint of wine flavor was replaced by the sweetness of the herbs. It did come out a similar color to the other batches.
So, it's clearly different, but very tasty in its own right. I'll just have to switch to fresh tomatoes. I never thought that I would ever plant them myself, but it's starting to look like I'll need to if I really want a truly fresh taste (well, duh) without the sodium from processed foods.
I had the pleasure of having Linzie as my instructor for the Seafood 101 class right before I made this. As she was also my Sauces 101 instructor, I asked her about the orangeness of the first two attempts. One thought she had was that the immersion blender was adding air that would make it paler. I'm not convinced. Also, I think that I may have overstated the orangeness without having an example to show.
I've heard folks say they use tomato paste in their sauce, so that may be how they get that dark red color. I think I'd like to avoid that, though, because it feels a little like cheating but also, you get right back into that sodium trap.
(recipe to be scanned and posted soon)
As I might have expected, this was very heavy on the fresh herbs. This reinforced my desire to plant a ton this summer. It also called for canned peeled tomatoes, an option in the Chopping Block recipe and, in fact, what we used in class. I was shocked to discover, when checking out, that even those have huge amounts of sodium in them. If you use those instead of fresh in your homemade sauce, it has just about as much as the jarred stuff, pretty much wiping away one of the main points I had.
I went ahead and made it, just to follow it literally the first time. My initial reaction was that it was definitely spicier, as one might expect when cayenne becomes an ingredient. Also, that hint of wine flavor was replaced by the sweetness of the herbs. It did come out a similar color to the other batches.
So, it's clearly different, but very tasty in its own right. I'll just have to switch to fresh tomatoes. I never thought that I would ever plant them myself, but it's starting to look like I'll need to if I really want a truly fresh taste (well, duh) without the sodium from processed foods.
I had the pleasure of having Linzie as my instructor for the Seafood 101 class right before I made this. As she was also my Sauces 101 instructor, I asked her about the orangeness of the first two attempts. One thought she had was that the immersion blender was adding air that would make it paler. I'm not convinced. Also, I think that I may have overstated the orangeness without having an example to show.
I've heard folks say they use tomato paste in their sauce, so that may be how they get that dark red color. I think I'd like to avoid that, though, because it feels a little like cheating but also, you get right back into that sodium trap.
(recipe to be scanned and posted soon)
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Panna Cotta with Raspberry Coulis
I think that Panna Cotta might be an "in" desert right now. It seemed to be the go-to desert on Top Chef and I've seen it on at least one other cooking show. We were recently at local eatery Anteprima (highly recommended) and I finally gave it a shot, with their lemon variety. Wow. Then this month's Cooks Illustrated had an article about developing the perfect Panna Cotta recipe. So, it had to be made. In a meager deference to copyright, I'm only reproducing the page with the recipe.
If you've never eaten or even seen it, Panna Cotta is very similar to Flan or Creme Caramel. Both are milk based, but the big difference is that Panna Cotta, the Italian version, is gelatin-based, while Flan is an egg custard. Panna Cotta is a little bit lighter, I think, and may be more flexible with flavorings.
It is pretty easy to make. I had some inconsistent results in unmolding the result, which I never have with flan. The desert "tore" a few times, where one section would hold to the cup a bit longer than the others. When I tried dipping the cup in boiling water as recommended, the desert melted some, giving a run-off of milk. In part, this is to be expected, as the recipe does call out making a few extra cups. It might also be the toughness of the gelatin.
In the article, this aspect seemed to be of most concern to the author. Gelatin can take up to 12 hours to fully set, apparently, though it's servable after four. So, the amount of gelatin you use for a same-afternoon serving is different (i.e. more) than if you are making it the day ahead (i.e. less), if you're trying to have consistent results. I made the day-ahead version.
This tasted great, but I've only had it that one time before, so, honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I got the texture right. I suppose the only way to find out is to taste test at Ante Prima and others…
I made the raspberry coulis the next night, as my frozen berries weren't thawed yet, it was getting late and even if I had made the 4-hour formulation, it wouldn't be ready yet.
The one thing I forgot was to puree the mixture before I strained it. I don't think that was too big a deal. However, the mixture started out really, really tart. That may have been an effect of using the frozen berries (and it was definitely them and not the lemon - I tasted a leftover from the bag to check). Regardless, I was able to cut it decently with a couple more spoons of sugar.
The flavor balance came out right, but the sauce was definitely too thin. Much more thickening was required than I could have expected in the refrigerator. I definitely should have drained the thawed berries - that didn't even occur to me until after I added the sugar. I think there was well over ½ cup of juice alone. No matter - I reduced it down by about 1/3 to get a good consistency.
What I don't get is how this is a "fast" dish for Top Chef. It's easy to put together, but how to you get it set within the narrow time frames (usually a total of 2 hours or less) they have to deal with? They must be pushing the gelatin content and/or practically freezing it.
If you've never eaten or even seen it, Panna Cotta is very similar to Flan or Creme Caramel. Both are milk based, but the big difference is that Panna Cotta, the Italian version, is gelatin-based, while Flan is an egg custard. Panna Cotta is a little bit lighter, I think, and may be more flexible with flavorings.
It is pretty easy to make. I had some inconsistent results in unmolding the result, which I never have with flan. The desert "tore" a few times, where one section would hold to the cup a bit longer than the others. When I tried dipping the cup in boiling water as recommended, the desert melted some, giving a run-off of milk. In part, this is to be expected, as the recipe does call out making a few extra cups. It might also be the toughness of the gelatin.
In the article, this aspect seemed to be of most concern to the author. Gelatin can take up to 12 hours to fully set, apparently, though it's servable after four. So, the amount of gelatin you use for a same-afternoon serving is different (i.e. more) than if you are making it the day ahead (i.e. less), if you're trying to have consistent results. I made the day-ahead version.
This tasted great, but I've only had it that one time before, so, honestly, I'm not entirely sure if I got the texture right. I suppose the only way to find out is to taste test at Ante Prima and others…
I made the raspberry coulis the next night, as my frozen berries weren't thawed yet, it was getting late and even if I had made the 4-hour formulation, it wouldn't be ready yet.
The one thing I forgot was to puree the mixture before I strained it. I don't think that was too big a deal. However, the mixture started out really, really tart. That may have been an effect of using the frozen berries (and it was definitely them and not the lemon - I tasted a leftover from the bag to check). Regardless, I was able to cut it decently with a couple more spoons of sugar.
The flavor balance came out right, but the sauce was definitely too thin. Much more thickening was required than I could have expected in the refrigerator. I definitely should have drained the thawed berries - that didn't even occur to me until after I added the sugar. I think there was well over ½ cup of juice alone. No matter - I reduced it down by about 1/3 to get a good consistency.
What I don't get is how this is a "fast" dish for Top Chef. It's easy to put together, but how to you get it set within the narrow time frames (usually a total of 2 hours or less) they have to deal with? They must be pushing the gelatin content and/or practically freezing it.
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Revisit: Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce
Not truly a do-over, but Sunday night we had our friends Chris & BJ over to watch a movie (Paris, Je T'aime - awesome). I was planning to make more of the tomato sauce and decided to serve it with the gnocchi I had frozen from the last time.
I was a little unsure of how the gnocchi would turn out, this being the first time I've prepared the frozen from the homemade recipe before. I was a bit concerned about the centers not being cooked, or being too dense, or something. Turns out they cooked just as evenly as the fresh stuff, took just a few minutes longer.
The tomato sauce was a quadrupling of the same recipe from the Chopping Block, using a Pinot Noir instead of a white wine. It came out orangish again. Even Chris was surprised that this was not a cream sauce. Hmm. No matter. It was, again, very, very good. And I had 2 quarts left for later use. The wine flavor again wafts through lightly and was recognizable as a red.
I'm now confident enough with this that I'm going to start trying different recipes. I was leafing through my Inside the Eastside cookbook and saw a marinara that looks pretty good, so I'll give that a try next.
I was a little unsure of how the gnocchi would turn out, this being the first time I've prepared the frozen from the homemade recipe before. I was a bit concerned about the centers not being cooked, or being too dense, or something. Turns out they cooked just as evenly as the fresh stuff, took just a few minutes longer.
The tomato sauce was a quadrupling of the same recipe from the Chopping Block, using a Pinot Noir instead of a white wine. It came out orangish again. Even Chris was surprised that this was not a cream sauce. Hmm. No matter. It was, again, very, very good. And I had 2 quarts left for later use. The wine flavor again wafts through lightly and was recognizable as a red.
I'm now confident enough with this that I'm going to start trying different recipes. I was leafing through my Inside the Eastside cookbook and saw a marinara that looks pretty good, so I'll give that a try next.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Gnocchi in Tomato Sauce
With the discovery of a bag of potatoes in the cupboard, it was time to give gnocchi a second try. I ended up making a double batch to use all the spuds before they went bad.
On the sauce front, my general need to practice the tomato sauce from my Sauces 101 class was spurred on by the recent NPR story about the high sodium levels in processed food. Not that it should have been a shock, but the fact they cited that you often can't even taste the stuff gave me pause. If I'm going to eat something bad for me, I should at least get something out of it. Sure enough, my stand-by jarred marinara, Classico, is packed with the stuff.
The potatoes in question were Yukon Gold again, leftover from the holidays where I had planned to mash them. The recipe I used, from Becoming a Chef, called for Russet. I had my own reasons for not liking using the Yukon - when mixing yellow egg yolks with yellow-tinted potatoes, it's really hard to know when you're done. But at a Thanksgiving party, I learned from our friend and Trib Good Eats editor/writer, Joe Gray, that the real reason was that the Yukons are too waxy. Hmm. I never knew that there were qualities to potatoes varieties like that. Time for more reading. In regards to their suitability for gnocchi on that basis, I don't buy it. Aside from the prep issue, these batches again tasted great with almost perfect texture. I froze the second batch for later. I had tried refrigerating some uncooked ones last time and they almost immediately fell into a horrible, gloppy mess.
I also learned how to better roll the dumplings with a fork. When you chop up the rolled-out dough into pieces, the chunks are sort of squared off at the knife cuts. My trick is to grab one of the corners of the pieces with the back of the fork and roll the piece towards you, dipping the tines into the dough when they're on top. I do think that my pieces are about twice the size they should be, so next time, I’ll dial the chunks down, but they worked great. They were longer, rather than thicker, than they should be, so they cooked up just fine.
With the tomato sauce, I tried to go my usual route: the first time making anything, I try to follow the recipe verbatim. I make exceptions for doubling the quantities or beefing up a given dried spice if it's been on the shelf longer than it should. But 6 tb butter? Yikes. One of the points was to make a healthy alternative to jarred. That dairy was swapped for olive oil, but the volume stayed the same. Not only is olive oil generally better for you, it supposedly helps release the cancer-preventing components of the tomatoes.
I don't quite remember how it turned out in class, but I was pleased with the results this time. While cooking, the white wine gave a great, succulent aroma and taste to the reducing stock. Kind of like what I love about the veloute’ sauce. I used my still-new-enough-to-be-exciting immersion blender to puree it in the pot which worked great. The only “change” I made to the recipe was that I used about 1.5 tsp of dried oregano where they say to add spices at the end.
The resulting sauce was very tasty. I held off on adding salt (only about 1 tsp) or any more spices, as there was a fine delicate flavor that I didn’t want to mess with. The flavor of the wine came through in the finished product very subtly.
The pureed sauce also had sort of an orangey color with a hint of creaminess, more like a vodka sauce than a marinara. This makes a bit of sense since the red roma tomatoes were mixed into the beige wine and stock mixture, but seemed a bit “off” in a way. The tomatoes were definitely ripe, so I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. Next time, though, I may try using a red wine instead of the white (this was a pinot grigio) for the color and I will definitely extend the recipe even further (4x) so that I have more for use later.
Interestingly, the sauce didn’t have as much flavor when served with the gnocci and large diced broiled chicken breast. Both of those are bland enough that I was surprised, but the sauce by itself was a delicate flavor. However, I made the sauce on New Year’s Day and when I had the leftovers for lunch and used the last bit with angel hair tonight, the flavor had popped a bit, as you might expect.
On the sauce front, my general need to practice the tomato sauce from my Sauces 101 class was spurred on by the recent NPR story about the high sodium levels in processed food. Not that it should have been a shock, but the fact they cited that you often can't even taste the stuff gave me pause. If I'm going to eat something bad for me, I should at least get something out of it. Sure enough, my stand-by jarred marinara, Classico, is packed with the stuff.
The potatoes in question were Yukon Gold again, leftover from the holidays where I had planned to mash them. The recipe I used, from Becoming a Chef, called for Russet. I had my own reasons for not liking using the Yukon - when mixing yellow egg yolks with yellow-tinted potatoes, it's really hard to know when you're done. But at a Thanksgiving party, I learned from our friend and Trib Good Eats editor/writer, Joe Gray, that the real reason was that the Yukons are too waxy. Hmm. I never knew that there were qualities to potatoes varieties like that. Time for more reading. In regards to their suitability for gnocchi on that basis, I don't buy it. Aside from the prep issue, these batches again tasted great with almost perfect texture. I froze the second batch for later. I had tried refrigerating some uncooked ones last time and they almost immediately fell into a horrible, gloppy mess.
I also learned how to better roll the dumplings with a fork. When you chop up the rolled-out dough into pieces, the chunks are sort of squared off at the knife cuts. My trick is to grab one of the corners of the pieces with the back of the fork and roll the piece towards you, dipping the tines into the dough when they're on top. I do think that my pieces are about twice the size they should be, so next time, I’ll dial the chunks down, but they worked great. They were longer, rather than thicker, than they should be, so they cooked up just fine.
With the tomato sauce, I tried to go my usual route: the first time making anything, I try to follow the recipe verbatim. I make exceptions for doubling the quantities or beefing up a given dried spice if it's been on the shelf longer than it should. But 6 tb butter? Yikes. One of the points was to make a healthy alternative to jarred. That dairy was swapped for olive oil, but the volume stayed the same. Not only is olive oil generally better for you, it supposedly helps release the cancer-preventing components of the tomatoes.
I don't quite remember how it turned out in class, but I was pleased with the results this time. While cooking, the white wine gave a great, succulent aroma and taste to the reducing stock. Kind of like what I love about the veloute’ sauce. I used my still-new-enough-to-be-exciting immersion blender to puree it in the pot which worked great. The only “change” I made to the recipe was that I used about 1.5 tsp of dried oregano where they say to add spices at the end.
The resulting sauce was very tasty. I held off on adding salt (only about 1 tsp) or any more spices, as there was a fine delicate flavor that I didn’t want to mess with. The flavor of the wine came through in the finished product very subtly.
The pureed sauce also had sort of an orangey color with a hint of creaminess, more like a vodka sauce than a marinara. This makes a bit of sense since the red roma tomatoes were mixed into the beige wine and stock mixture, but seemed a bit “off” in a way. The tomatoes were definitely ripe, so I don’t think there was anything wrong with it. Next time, though, I may try using a red wine instead of the white (this was a pinot grigio) for the color and I will definitely extend the recipe even further (4x) so that I have more for use later.
Interestingly, the sauce didn’t have as much flavor when served with the gnocci and large diced broiled chicken breast. Both of those are bland enough that I was surprised, but the sauce by itself was a delicate flavor. However, I made the sauce on New Year’s Day and when I had the leftovers for lunch and used the last bit with angel hair tonight, the flavor had popped a bit, as you might expect.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Chicken Night
Tonight, I went all out with the chicken.
In addition to tackling the Roast Chicken again, I tried the Poulet Saute' Chasseur (Sauteed Chicken with Shallots, Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Tarragon) from the Chicken 101 class. More specifically, I tried the chicken part. I didn't have mushrooms or tarragon in the house, but what I really wanted to practice was pounding the chicken properly.
Wow. The joke just writes itself, doesn't it? Ahem.
There was nothing exciting about the roast chicken except that I did it completely correctly this time. I went by time, rather than temperature only as I did last time. At 20 min/pound, I cooked it for 2 hours, 20 minutes. While the internal temp was insanely high (200-something), it came out really well. I think I over-compensated a bit (though the time was pretty accurate) and I may have been touching a bone when measuring. Again, something to practice.
Instead of my big turkey roaster, I opted for a smaller lasagna pan I had. My roasting rack from our Weber grill fit, so the area of the pan was cut in about half. This made it much, much easier to baste.
We didn't eat the bird that night, but I used the meat the next night tossed with some pasta and spinach. But I tasted pieces of breast and thigh the evening of the cooking and it was decently juicy and taste. And then, of course, the carcass went to stock.
So, for what we did eat. I'd never used the proper technique when pounding out chicken. As I think I mentioned in the Chicken 101 entry, you're supposed to flatten the chicken with strokes of the mallet (strike and pull to the side) instead of hammering it like a nail. This worked really well. For this, you then dredge the breast in a little olive oil and then saute' it (though, really, it seemed more like pan frying).
The "sauteeing" worked out well. As with all things I cooking in a saute or omelette pan, the first one was a wash - a little undercooked for the flour coating on one side (the chicken was fine, though).
I then followed The Joy of Cooking's recipe for gravy which worked out really, really well. From memory, you deglaze the pan with white wine, bring to a simmer and whisk in flour. The thickness of the gravy depends on the amount of flour and the thickening takes a few moments after it's whisked in. It came out a little thick, as I didn't wait long enough, but it was very, very close to perfect.
This is the third time I've ended up with undercooked rice in the last month. I think I just got a bad bag. Like it's too old and dried out or something. I usually don't have a problem with rice at all. Of course, on those (formerly rare) I screw up, I think of Keith on Survivor: Australia who proclaimed he was a fantastic chef and then couldn't make decent rice to save his life.
In addition to tackling the Roast Chicken again, I tried the Poulet Saute' Chasseur (Sauteed Chicken with Shallots, Mushrooms, Tomatoes and Tarragon) from the Chicken 101 class. More specifically, I tried the chicken part. I didn't have mushrooms or tarragon in the house, but what I really wanted to practice was pounding the chicken properly.
Wow. The joke just writes itself, doesn't it? Ahem.
There was nothing exciting about the roast chicken except that I did it completely correctly this time. I went by time, rather than temperature only as I did last time. At 20 min/pound, I cooked it for 2 hours, 20 minutes. While the internal temp was insanely high (200-something), it came out really well. I think I over-compensated a bit (though the time was pretty accurate) and I may have been touching a bone when measuring. Again, something to practice.
Instead of my big turkey roaster, I opted for a smaller lasagna pan I had. My roasting rack from our Weber grill fit, so the area of the pan was cut in about half. This made it much, much easier to baste.
We didn't eat the bird that night, but I used the meat the next night tossed with some pasta and spinach. But I tasted pieces of breast and thigh the evening of the cooking and it was decently juicy and taste. And then, of course, the carcass went to stock.
So, for what we did eat. I'd never used the proper technique when pounding out chicken. As I think I mentioned in the Chicken 101 entry, you're supposed to flatten the chicken with strokes of the mallet (strike and pull to the side) instead of hammering it like a nail. This worked really well. For this, you then dredge the breast in a little olive oil and then saute' it (though, really, it seemed more like pan frying).
The "sauteeing" worked out well. As with all things I cooking in a saute or omelette pan, the first one was a wash - a little undercooked for the flour coating on one side (the chicken was fine, though).
I then followed The Joy of Cooking's recipe for gravy which worked out really, really well. From memory, you deglaze the pan with white wine, bring to a simmer and whisk in flour. The thickness of the gravy depends on the amount of flour and the thickening takes a few moments after it's whisked in. It came out a little thick, as I didn't wait long enough, but it was very, very close to perfect.
This is the third time I've ended up with undercooked rice in the last month. I think I just got a bad bag. Like it's too old and dried out or something. I usually don't have a problem with rice at all. Of course, on those (formerly rare) I screw up, I think of Keith on Survivor: Australia who proclaimed he was a fantastic chef and then couldn't make decent rice to save his life.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Reheating Sauces
Yesterday, my sister found this blog in the course of an email search. I hadn't been promoting this other than a recent addition to my email footer. Also, Johanna over at the very interesting and highly recommended Comics Worth Reading linked to me once after I asked her a question about the Amazon Associates program. So, I was curious to know who was looking at this, as I had previously assumed I had an audience of, maybe, 3. Not that it should affect what I'm doing, which is to motivate myself and document progress. Anyway, I installed a hit counter (Blogpatrol), which also includes some reporting on how people got to the site. One feature is that they tell you the search criteria used to get here if someone used Google.
Whew. What's my point, other than to freak you out about Big Brother?
Someone yesterday got here with the phrase "reheating bernaise sauce." So this reminded me of something I hadn't shared yet. 1 1/2 weeks ago, I had my at-home success with hollandaise sauce, for which I closed the report with "Eggs Benedict tomorrow!" That Sunday, I went ahead with that plan and put the sauce in the microwave. Guess what? Yeah, I'm sure everyone else in the world knows, but it almost immediately broke. The sad thing is that I tried for 30 seconds (on the default setting of High) first and it seemed okay. But rather than stirring what I had at that state, I popped it in for 30 seconds more. That's what did it.
In Sauce class a few days later, our hollandaise got cold before our end of class meal and I wanted to avoid the same result. So, I made a warm water bath and very gently whisked the sauce to keep the temperature even. Note that before I possibly ruined my teammate's work, I did run this by the instructor and get the thumb's up. The method worked very well. I need to look up how to save those after they do actually break or to thicken it up if it's too thin; there must be a way. If the yolks curdle, it's hopeless, but afterwards...
So there you go. You implicitly ask and you receive.
Whew. What's my point, other than to freak you out about Big Brother?
Someone yesterday got here with the phrase "reheating bernaise sauce." So this reminded me of something I hadn't shared yet. 1 1/2 weeks ago, I had my at-home success with hollandaise sauce, for which I closed the report with "Eggs Benedict tomorrow!" That Sunday, I went ahead with that plan and put the sauce in the microwave. Guess what? Yeah, I'm sure everyone else in the world knows, but it almost immediately broke. The sad thing is that I tried for 30 seconds (on the default setting of High) first and it seemed okay. But rather than stirring what I had at that state, I popped it in for 30 seconds more. That's what did it.
In Sauce class a few days later, our hollandaise got cold before our end of class meal and I wanted to avoid the same result. So, I made a warm water bath and very gently whisked the sauce to keep the temperature even. Note that before I possibly ruined my teammate's work, I did run this by the instructor and get the thumb's up. The method worked very well. I need to look up how to save those after they do actually break or to thicken it up if it's too thin; there must be a way. If the yolks curdle, it's hopeless, but afterwards...
So there you go. You implicitly ask and you receive.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Do Over: Buerre Blanc
It's a week of catch-up in the kitchen and my first order of business was to win my battle with buerre blanc. I tried the exact recipe I had tried the previous night and it came out perfect. Basically, I took the Chopping Block recipe and added the tarragon and lemon from the Trib recipe. As I expected, the heat was the culprit before and by controlling that correctly, I got a smooth, coating consistency. It does take a long, long time to work in the cold butter into the sauce and it does consume your full attention during that time. Definitely not an absolute last minute kind of thing.
The one thing I'll tweak next time is the tarrogon and lemon. While the sauce came out perfect, the flavor wasn't as intense as the night before. I suspect it had something to do with properly reducing the lemon juice. It was still really good, though.
I served it with the left over poached chicken from the night before and some gemelli tossed with white wine and olive oil. The pasta was my first planned use of that "sauce" from the fingerling potatoes and it worked just as I expected.
It was a very light beige plate, though.
The one thing I'll tweak next time is the tarrogon and lemon. While the sauce came out perfect, the flavor wasn't as intense as the night before. I suspect it had something to do with properly reducing the lemon juice. It was still really good, though.
I served it with the left over poached chicken from the night before and some gemelli tossed with white wine and olive oil. The pasta was my first planned use of that "sauce" from the fingerling potatoes and it worked just as I expected.
It was a very light beige plate, though.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sauces 101, Pt 2
Last night was Part 2 of my Sauces 101 class as the Chopping Block. This time around we learned the rest ofthe "Mother Sauces," which were:
We had a different instructor and assistants this time. They were all great, solidifying my impression of quality at the store across the board. If I had noted names, I would definitely give them props here.
I made sure to work towards more equal time with my table partners on the hands on stuff , which I facilitated by moving to the other side of the table from the stove. That worked out pretty well.
The downside was that I only ended up being hands on with the hollandaise. I didn't worry about the vinaigrette or mayonnaise, because I've done the first and the second seemed really, really easy. But I wasn't paying attention like I should have and missed out on the buerre blanc.
I actually started the hollandaise, but handed off the whisk. My partners then had the dreaded curdle, which I think was function of keeping the egg over the heat too long. I was handed the whisk for the second attempt and I rocked it. Practice. It paid off.
I also got compliments from the staff for my knife skills on my shallots. I'm still slow, but those are coming along.
A few observations/things I learned:
Mustard is, apparently, a common ingredient in mayonnaise, used as an emulisfier. What I don't get is how you get any other flavors like a regular mayonaisse or an ailoi with the mustard in there. The instructor said that you wouldn't be able to tell, but I'm not yet 100% convincd. I could definitely taste it in ours. So, I'm thinking that egg yolks are the way to go.
A few years ago, the Pulse button on my KitchenAid food processor died, so I have to use the On and Off buttons quickly to pulse, or twist the feeder/lid. Another guy in the class mentioned that his KitchenAid had the same exact problem, but that his father-in-law was able to fix it. I'm very, very tempted to give this a try. Not quite at the point of getting out the tool box, but... This came up because we used the exact same model that I have for the mayonaisse.
We made the hollandaise with a double-boiler, which Peterson recommended against. I asked about it and they thought the direct heat method is harder to control the heat (the opposite of what Peterson says),but is done in kitchens more for time, fewer pans, etc. The boiler is definitely more forgiving with the heat. Now that I know the direct heat way, I may stick with it.
Saturday, September 15, 2007
Do Over: Hollandaise Sauce
Since we're doing the Hollandaise in class on Wednesday, I wanted to give it another shot so that I wouldn't be so far behind the curve. I was going to try several small batches until I got it right.
I got out my fresh eggs and followed the Peterson instructions from before. I looked at a couple of other books and they didn't seem to be as technique focused or something. The first batch was exactly the same as the previous attempt. I ended up with scrambled egg yolk. Ugh.
I noticed when whisking the egg yolk and water that I was splashing the mixture out of the brasier, because of the shallow sides. I has used that because of the rounded bottom and the heat resistence. Peterson made a big deal about being able to get at all of the sauce with the whisk and a regular sauce pan had the problematic corners.
I realized that I had a more pointed whisk that could get into the corners easily, so for the second try today, I used my regular sauce pan. It worked! I was able to get a much better froth before it went on the flame. As soon as I could see the streaks on the bottom of the pan (which was the point before when the eggs scrambled), I yanked it off of the fire, whisked more to cool it down (~20 seconds) and added my clarified butter. At that point I was satisfied that it had worked and then proceeded to flavor it with the lemon juice and the salt.
Because I was focusing on the egg part, I didn't bother with juicing fresh lemons and just used the bottled stuff. Then I threw in about a teaspoon of salt. This was a bit much, but overall, it turned out very nice.
So, it seems the key thing I was missing before was a strong enough whisk. Once I was using a pan where I could let loose like I should, all was good.
To make sure that I actually had the technique down, I made a second batch about 10 minutes later. It was no fluke, this worked well, too. I did only put in lemon and mixed the two batched together to reduce the salt taste. Eggs Benedict tomorrow!
I got out my fresh eggs and followed the Peterson instructions from before. I looked at a couple of other books and they didn't seem to be as technique focused or something. The first batch was exactly the same as the previous attempt. I ended up with scrambled egg yolk. Ugh.
I noticed when whisking the egg yolk and water that I was splashing the mixture out of the brasier, because of the shallow sides. I has used that because of the rounded bottom and the heat resistence. Peterson made a big deal about being able to get at all of the sauce with the whisk and a regular sauce pan had the problematic corners.
I realized that I had a more pointed whisk that could get into the corners easily, so for the second try today, I used my regular sauce pan. It worked! I was able to get a much better froth before it went on the flame. As soon as I could see the streaks on the bottom of the pan (which was the point before when the eggs scrambled), I yanked it off of the fire, whisked more to cool it down (~20 seconds) and added my clarified butter. At that point I was satisfied that it had worked and then proceeded to flavor it with the lemon juice and the salt.
Because I was focusing on the egg part, I didn't bother with juicing fresh lemons and just used the bottled stuff. Then I threw in about a teaspoon of salt. This was a bit much, but overall, it turned out very nice.
So, it seems the key thing I was missing before was a strong enough whisk. Once I was using a pan where I could let loose like I should, all was good.
To make sure that I actually had the technique down, I made a second batch about 10 minutes later. It was no fluke, this worked well, too. I did only put in lemon and mixed the two batched together to reduce the salt taste. Eggs Benedict tomorrow!
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Sauces 101, Pt 1
On Wednesday, I took another class at the Chopping Block. This was the first of two parts on sauces, the second to be on the following Wednesday. This time, I learned a LOT more and not only about sauces. In part, I think it was the structure of the skills classes (like my Knife Skills class) versus the menu classes (like my Indian class). But the quality of the instructor and the smaller class size made a big difference, too.
We learned four sauces hands-on, with a demonstration. The hands-on were:
We learned four sauces hands-on, with a demonstration. The hands-on were:
We got a demonstration for a pan sauce from a pork tenderloin sear with red wine for the deglazing.
All of these were quite good. The big surprise for me was the veloute'. It looked a lot like the crappy chicken gravy you see so often, like on mashed potatoes. But this was really tasty. The white wine reduction really gave it some bite. I was also surprised at the tomato sauce. I'd seen that made on TV and the ubiquitous scenes in movies, but never in real life. It's surprisingly not too difficult. I doubt I'm going to swear off jarred pasta sauce like I did with chutney, but I will definitely give it a shot.
Things I learned that had nothing to do with the recipes:
- Meat needs to warm to room temperature before you grill or fry it. I had no idea. It certainly hasn't been mentioned in my grilling books. When cold meat is cooked on a high heat, the difference between the outer and inner temeratures is much greater. i.e. you're get charred on the outside and raw in the middle.
- A really good reason to use unsalted butter. I always used salted butter, just because. It's certainly better on toast. But if you use a salted butter in a sauce that gets reduced, it will get incredibly salty due to the concentration.
- Add ingredients in the order they're listed, even if it seems they're all at once. Well, this explains my issues in the ubiquitous (word of the day) saute' of onion and garlic. Particularly with these two, you're supposed to saute' the onion first, then add the garlic.
- Don't stir constantly in a saute'. I thought that you were supposed to, but apparently, this releases heat from the pan. Stir just enough to get an even heat on all the things being sauteed, but no more.
So, this is what I was talking about regarding gaps in my knowledge. These all seem really basic, but I didn't know any of them.
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