Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Aliska]

Oh, thank you so much! Those are great ideas. We have two Aldi's; one is a better bet to have duck. They had fresh lamb "butterflied" and much cheaper than HyVee but I passed on it, can't buy everything and freezer space at a premium They have a weekly sale flyer and IIRC don't take phone calls but we can check. Also a couple of Asian groceries.

Will definitely save duck fat which is another great idea. I don't know why but the few times I've had good duck in a restaurant, I was crazy about the flavor.

Maybe I will try red lentils again, wonder if they make interesting hummus.

After I posted the other night, I went through my Campbell's soup and found some split pea. It is definitely sub par and I had to practically pry it out of the can, mushed some water in it with back of spoon; the peas were in chunks. What to do, didn't want to dirty regular stuff so grabbed my potato masheer. Worked beautifully, don't care if a few chunks are left. I don't recommend the fake bacon they stick in it whatever those pink cubes are. I guess it's still nutritous and good for fiber which I need.

My hand potato masher is top quality and different, got it many years ago for my "hope chest" one of the few things left. The handle is comfortable melamine and the masher is circular stainless with holes cut in it. But the cheaper traditional ones seem to work just as well.

Thanks again, gives me something to look forward to after getting a 10# bag of fresh chicken thighs and legs for 59 cents a pound. Froze it so will have to use it up; might be tough because they were much bigger than the usual pieces I have bought and mangled in processing which is probably why they were so cheap. That bag was heavy and didn't look forward to repackaging it for the freezer but got the job done well.

I'm going to make cheater chicken and noodles from a yt video: Slow Cooker Chicken Noodles channel TT.Scraps. Am not going to put a whole stick of butter in it though; otherwise going to follow her recipe pretty faithfully the first time using the Reames noodles; daughter found some at Walmart they failed to get in their daily data base. I don't buy my meat there though and finding decent produce is pretty iffy.

Sorry I go on so long. Bad habit; one thought leads to another; few to talk to in real life.

[Liz]

This is Jacques Pepin's duck recipe---he uses every bit of it including
fat and skin---just a typical frugal French cook. Recipes for everything.

Skillet Duck / Red Oak Leaf Salad / Fried Egg Garnish

Jacques says:" Easy/delicious, cooked like Southern fried chicken in its own fat in covered pot to develop steam; very moist and tender, w/ crisp skin. Use very large lidded skillet/pan. Rendered duck fat goes in dressing; rest is delicious for sautéing potatoes or flavoring soup. Serve duck lukewarm to warm, salad room temp, eggs warm. Serves 4."

BEGIN W/ knife or poultry shears halve 5 lb duck lengthwise, slicing thru carcass bones. Then cut each half into 2 pieces: each w/ leg/breast/wing attached. Cut off backbone; cut duck into pieces. Reserve neck, gizzard, liver, heart.

COOK METHOD Place duck pieces skin side down in heated pan w/ cracklings, add salt; cook on high 5 min. Liftup to dislodge from pan bottom then reset skin side down in pan. Add neck/gizzard, cover/cook on med 15 min. Should be cooking in deep fat; skin should be very brown at this point. Reset heat very low, cover/cook 30 min (almost immersed in fat.) Add liver/ heart; cover/cook 5 min. Liftout duck to sheetpan; set in 170 deg oven. Pour pan fat into bowl; cool. (Usable 2 months for sautéing potatoes, veg.)

SAUCE Deglaze skillet caramelization w/ 1/4 cup fruity dry white wine. Keep warm.

PLATING Center on 4 plates, dressed salad, duck piece, sprinkle duck w/pan drippings; spoon egg garnish around duck. Serve.

GARNISH: Add 2 tea sweet butter to hot skillet heated a min; when butter is hot, add/stir/scramble 2 lge fork-beaten eggs gently on high (should stay runny). S/p.

SALAD Combine/stir gently head red oak leaf lettuce/bunch arugula leaves, Dressing (should look separated). 1/2 tea minced garlic, tbl ea chp shallot, wh/wine vinegar, 3 tbl mixture duck fat/peanut oil/ol/oil, tea light soy sauce, s/p.

CRACKLINGS Cook down diced skin/fat trimmings. Use to fry duck and add to dressing.

[Liz]

THE BEST duck recipe for entertaining. Fantastically easy--beautiful
showpiece entrée for guests. Serve with honey glaze beside colorful
steamed veg, and make a rich gratin to create a special occasion meal.

Honey Lacquered Duck Breast

METHOD Cut small slits in skin side of 2 magret duck breasts, not into flesh. S/p both sides. Sear on med-high skin side down 7 min, reducing to med-low after 3 min. Flip; cook 4-5 min. Plate/foil over to retain warmth.

NOTE Pour the rendered duck fat into a clean container and save it for other culinary uses.

SAUCE Turn heat up to med; deglaze pan with 4 tb honey and 3 tb balsamic, scraping up browned bits. Simmer/slightly thicken 2-3 min. Add dash of salt.

FINAL Return the duck breasts to the sauce in pan, turning to coat evenly. Plate. Carve breasts.

SERVE immediately, garnished with a drizzle of glaze.

[Aliska]

Added to my recipe file from MightyMama. Sounds yummy! Thank you.

I just made my black bean kalamata olive hummus. Yum. But it is so messy and oily, hard to scrape from the work bowl, sliced a chip of blue plastic while trying to get as much as possible out of the bowl, didn't run the processor after that I don't think.

Any hints or secrets how to make it less difficult to transfer from the work bowl to the serving bowl? I need to leave the blade in until I get a lot of it out or it will get through the hole in the middle.

It's worth the effort though.

[cherry]

"He may have been saying it was Kosher or Halal..."

or squirrel....

[Jamestown1630]

No, it was beef or lamb with lots of seasonings. His ‘special’ seemed to mean that one had to go to a special store to get it. He was the son of a Jewish mom and an Arab dad.

[Jamestown1630]

Do you ‘pound’ your sauerkraut? Dale Calder posted a video on sauerkraut yesterday; that part starts at about 9:22. He uses those little ‘nipple’ vents that someone here recommended recently; they look simpler and easier than the glass airlocks that we’ve been using.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTc7l0Iy6Ks

All: I will be away for a week, but Yaelle has generously offered to post the thread next week. See you when I’m back.

[Yaelle]

No, I just used a fermenting glass jar. I did cheat and used a culture powder to get it started. Only done it once. Need to start up again. I love the fermented fruit recipes too, tastes like chutney and is good with meats.

[Liz]

I love fermented fruit, tastes like chutney and is good with meats.

Italians have their fabled "Mostarda"---fruit in mustard oil---emanating from the decadent days of Rome. Usually served w/ meats as a condiment. Most magnificently chopped than added to a pumpkin ravioli filling in a sauce of butter and sage invented by a talented Italian chef.

An enchanting addition to the dinner table, yes?

Elizabeth David's "Italian Food" describes the famed mostarda di frutta of Cremona: "whole fruits, pears, cherries, little oranges, figs, plums, apricots, and slices of melon and pumpkin, preserved in sugar syrup flavored with mustard oil....

Its origin goes back to the honey, mustard, oil and vinegar condiments of the Romans, who also preserved roots such as turnips in these mixtures.

David fondly recalls merchants in Milan selling the preserves from large wooden pails. Traditionally, mostarda di frutta would be served alongside cold boiled meats, fowl, and even roast eel.

Today its a wonderful accompaniment to a charcuterie platter, paired with strong cheeses, or served with roast fowl or boiled meats (as in the ancient days of Rome).

[Yaelle]

Not only does that look delicious, but the history is fascinating. I love the history of preparing foods.

In the car on the way to school we are listening to the Little House on the Prairie and I perk up at all of the food stuff. The plums by the creek all came ripe so Mary and Laura collected them all in pails
And Ma laid them out on cloths on the prairie in the sun to dry them for winter. I used to collect antique cookbooks. I made a conscious decision not to any more but still interested in learning.

[Liz]

The plum tale is interesting.

Sans refrigeration, they had to scramble to preserve food for the fall/winter larder.

My grandmother used to “put up” summer’s bounty....tomatoes, peaches, and the like.

That musta been hard work.....boiling all those jars, filling them up, and sterilizing everything.

[Yaelle]

Yes, “putting up” was a ton of work. We are so spoiled today.

My mother tells a story of her great grandmother in Louisiana when the union troops came storming into their home demanding food. She showed them the larder with all the jars of peaches and told the soldiers that she had put rat poison into one of the jars. They left her larder be.

[Liz]

Gramma was one clever lady.

[MightyMama]

You’re most welcome! And black bean olive hummus sounds pretty awesome too - what all do you put in it?

[Aliska]

I juiced a half lemon and didn't look like enough so put all the juice in there (had to stop and run the juice thru a fine mesh strainer to get the tiny seeds out). Then I put in about 1/3 cup tahini I cut out some chunks with a table knife to try to keep the oil out of it that all ran to the top plus it's very thick. Then one large clove garlic peeled and cut into a few pieces. Then eyeballed it for two tablespoons olive oil. Started pulsing, splatters all over, was too thick, threw in a little water which got me where I wanted.

Measured up about 1/2 cup and a little over kalamata olives (ate one lol) put in strainer and rinsed to get some salt and vinegar off. Put in workbowl. Drained in same strainer one 14 oz can el cheapo walmart black beans, didn't bother to rinse and didn't need any of the saved liquid this time but usually do.

Then added 1/2 tsp cumin and a little cayenne I shook in the palm of my hand. Usually use about 1/2 tsp salt but knew this would already be salty enough. Pulsed awhile because the olive skins take a little longer and scraped, was a little more runny than usual but fine. Chilled and even better today. The olive flavor comes through nicely. There's also a green and ripe olive one I haven't tried.

I think it is epicurious that recommends not using a recipe. I don't but measure some things, depends on what it is. Hope I remembered everything I did. Finished it off with some smoked paprika on top, didn't want any more oil on this one like they do. Didn't have anything pretty green to snip on, could have crossed a couple garlic chives but didn't think of it.

That little chip out of my nice silicon scraper was bugging me because I did pulse after it happened and didn't notice. Wasn't going to throw the stuff out and it turned up in my mouth, fit almost perfectly the nick so set it there to show daughter, forgot, it ended up in the dishwater or cloth. Didn't want it in garbage disposal but might have handled it and it turned up again so I threw it in the trash and could forget about it. There's a reason why they put a harder scraper in the package but I don't like it because it's big and stiff but will try that one again as I don't want any more gouges in my flexible silicon ones. The most annoying thing is those blades are soooo sharp and with a good-sized batch, was oily. It was replaced in a cuisinart recall several months ago, glad I caught that (they might not have notified me and I'm sure I registered that). Hope I get better at not making such a mess when I make hummus; Hamilton Beach has a scraper you put in the bowl that does the sides but I'll be content with what I have and just live with it.

[Liz]

All chocolate, all the time.....chocolate version of Italian cake classic.
Inventive use of boxed cake mix. Simple recipe made extraordinary, and absolutely delicious.

Chocolate Italian Cream Cake / Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing

ING 18.25 oz box Butter Pecan Cake mix (or use butter cake mix) 1/4 cup cocoa 1/3 cup canola oil 2 eggs 2 egg whites 1 1/4 cups water tsp coconut extract 1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted 1/2 cup flaked coconut option Cream Cheese Icing (see recipe) About 2 tb ea Toasted coconut and optional pecans

BATTER beat cake mix, cocoa, oil, eggs, egg whites, water, coconut extract. Stir in pecans and coconut. Bake in 3-9" sprayed pans 350 deg 12-15 min--tops spring back when touched. Cool 10 min in pans; then onto cooling racks.

Frost layers and sides with Cream Cheese Icing; sprinkle with toasted coconut and pecans.

ICING beat smooth 8 oz reduced/fat cr/cheese, 3 tb butter. Rain in 1/4 cup cocoa, 16 oz conf; add tea vanilla.

[Trillian]

Whataburger Chicken Strips

Ingredients
1 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken tenders
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
oil for frying

Directions
Soak chicken strips in buttermilk for about 2 hours before preparing the tender strips. For best result soak overnight.

Make the seasoned flour by combining flour, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Stir the flour until it is well blended.

Make a batter of the seasoned flour and buttermilk by pouring in about 1/2 cup of the buttermilk into the flour. You want the batter a little shaggy. Coat the chicken with the batter and place on a rack and allow it to dry. The batter may fall off when cooking if you don’t allow the batter to try the chicken.

Discard remaining buttermilk.

Heat oil to 350 degrees.

Gently place 3 or 4 breaded chicken tenders into the hot oil. Cook chicken tenders a few at a time until they are golden brown. Drain on a clean wire rack.

You may serve this with gravy or honey mustard.

http://www.copykat.com/2017/03/12/whataburger-chicken-strips/

Longhorn Steakhouse Parmesan Crusted Chicken

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts, sliced in half horizontally, and pounded thin
1 cup Lea & Perrin’s Chicken Marinade
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon melted butter
Cheese Blend
1 ounce Gruyere cheese, shredded
4 ounces white Cheddar, shredded
1 tablespoons Parmesan cheese , shredded
2 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded
Cheese Sauce (optional)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup cheese blend
Cheese Blend
1 ounce Gruyere cheese, shredded
4 ounces white Cheddar, shredded
1 tablespoons Parmesan cheese , shredded
2 ounces Fontina cheese, shredded

Directions
Slice chicken breasts in half horizontally, and place into a zip top bag and add marinade. The chicken should marinate for at least 30 minutes, it is better if you allow it to marinate longer. I like to let mine marinate overnight when possible.

Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Add a vegetable oil. When the vegetable oil heats up add chicken. Cook the chicken for 6 to 7 minutes on one side, then flip over, and cook on the other side for 4 to 5 minutes. The chicken should have a lightly browned outside edge.

While the chicken is cooking toss together the cheeses (Gruyere, white Cheddar, Parmesan, and Fontina). If you desire make the cheese sauce by heating together the heavy cream and 1/2 cup of the cheese in a small skillet over low heat. Also add the Panko bread crumbs to a small bowl and add the melted butter. Toss the Panko bread crumbs with the melted butter until they are lightly coated with butter. Set your oven to broil.

To assemble the chicken place chicken on a oven safe dish or pan and add about 1 tablespoon of cheese sauce to the chicken, then add shredded cheese blend, then top with buttered Panko Bread Crumbs. Do this for each of the chicken breasts.

Place the chicken under the broiler and broil for a 3 to 4 minutes or until the cheese begins to brown.

http://www.copykat.com/2016/05/11/longhorn-steakhouse-parmesan-crusted-chicken-copycat-recipe/

Another copycat site:
http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/copy-cat-recipes/copycat-a-to-z/

[Liz]

Ina made this Warm Duck Salad for a lazy Sunday meal.
She recommended Blueberry Crumb Cake for dessert.

Warm Duck Salad

PREP Roast two duck breasts skin-side up 400 deg
to fave degree of doneness; set on counter 15 min.

ASSEMBLY Set on server: mache, endive, supremed
oranges, raspberries, toasted nuts. Toss w/ Dressing.

SERVE Top w/ fat-trimmed warm sliced duck (add just before serving).

DRESSING Ol/oil, sherry vinegar, chp shallots, orange zest.