Chicken (turkey/whatever) Por Pie

Nailed it last time and annoed iwthin an inch of my life that I coulsdn't find the recipe I based it off of ... that one had more veg ... the only thing i wouled have changed last time was using less vef.  Let's go ...

Preheat oven to 350*

Thaw 1 Cup frozen mixed veg (maybe more?)

1 can condensed Cream of Chicken soup

2 pie crusts

3 C cooked shredded/cubed/whatever chicken/turkey/whatever

Combine chicken/turkey/whatever, soup and veg - salt and pepper to taste - press one pie crust into bottom of 9 inch pie plate (bonus points: separate one egg - brush bottom crust with egg white only, mix yolk and remaining egg white with a splash of milk and use as egg wash for top pie cruat).  Or you could blind bake the bttom pie crust ... or use any or all of the above in whatever combination you choose.  Or not - I usually don't bother and ...whatever!), pour in filling, top with second pie crust and cust a vent in the center.  Bake 40-45+ min until golden, let set for about 15 minutes before serving.

Yissssssss.

There is also leftover mashed potatoes and fancy potatoes - future variations should include mashed potato toppintg and/or fancy potato incluaions.  There is an orphan pie crust that needs used ... thinking BOTH. Maybe cream of mushroom soup and usine only green beans instead of mixed veg and getting those leftover fried onions into the mashed potato topping for a sort of green bean casserole leaning pot pie ...

Chocolate Chip Cookies

 2.25 C AP Flour

Cranberry Relish

1 bag (12 oz) fresh whole Cranberries, sorted through, washed and drained well
1 large Navel Orange - sliced into wedges, skin and all
1 large Red Delicious Apple - sliced into wedges, barely cored, mostly to remove seeds
1/2 - 1 C granulated sugar - matter of taste, tradition calls for 1 C but I experiment with going lower

This is my Grandma McLellan's recipe - not sure where she got it from, but this is a recipe she always made for the holidays and I always made with her using her white KitchenAid stand mixer that she bought on the day that the plane flew into the Empire State Building in the 1940's (need to look that up and link it ...)  My mom still has the grinder attachment for it that we used - the mixer finally gave up its last a few years ago so the relish making fell to me and my setup.

Traditionally this is a 1-1-1-1 recipe: 1 bag of cranberry, 1 navel orange, 1 apple (my grandmother always used red delicious - I have never tried another variety - its purpose is to blend into the background and add to the sweetness to balance the orange and cranberry) and 1 cup of sugar.  I have experimented with lowering the sugar and have been happy with the results I get anywhere from 1/2 cup for a nice tart condiment where you can really taste the orange and cranberry to the full 1 cup that is just sweet and tangy and wonderful and works so well with turkey or ice cream or ... so many things.

Just slice the apple and orange into wedges that will fit well into your grinder of choice - I use a KitchenAid stand mixer with their sold-separately grinder attachment - and run those and the cranberries that you have sorted through to remove bad ones, washed and dried through the grinder into a bowl,  Once everything is ground, add the sugar.  I would suggest adding 3/4C of sugar to start (unless you really like straight up cranberry and orange flavor - start at 1/2 C!) - mix well with the ground fruit, store in fridge, give it a mix the next day as the flavors will have continued to blend.  If you want it sweeter, add more sugar at this point, mix well and come back in a few hours, mix and taste again.  But before adding more sugar than you started with, give it a chance to meld together.

Green Bean Cssserole

340 g frozen French cut green beans, thawed
10.5 oz can Cream of Mushroom soup
1.5 C Fried onions - 1 C + 1/2 C ... plus maybe more ...

Oven to 350

Than the beans and drain well. Mix with the cream of mushroom and at least 1 C of fried onions and put in casserole dish.  Bake 30 min - remove from oven and top with at least 1/2 C fried onions, bake additional 10 min and remove 

~fin~

gravy w/o drippings

 ganked from:

https://thetoastykitchen.com/how-to-make-gravy-without-drippings/

Ingredients

Basic gravy

• ¼ cup (56 g) unsalted butter
• ¼ cup (30 g) all-purpose flour
• 16 ounces (453 g) broth, chicken, turkey, or vegetable
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt, to taste

Thanksgiving gravy (optional additions)

• ½ small onion, minced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Instructions

Basic gravy

• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter.
• Whisk in flour until no lumps remain. Cook for one minute.
• Slowly add broth to pan, whisking to incorporate. Add pepper and whisk to incorporate. Bring to a simmer and cook, whisking frequently, for about 5-7 minutes, or until desired thickness is achieved.
• Remove pan from heat and season with salt to taste.

Thanksgiving gravy

• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add minced onion and cook until softened and lightly browned, about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic and cook an additional 30 seconds.
• Whisk in flour until no lumps remain. Cook for one minute.
• Slowly add broth to pan, whisking continuously. Add poultry seasoning and pepper, whisking to incorporate. Bring to a simmer and cook, whisking frequently, for about 5-7 minutes, or until desired thickness is achieved.
• Remove pan from heat and season with salt to taste.

Notes

• Gravy can be made up to 3 days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator, or frozen for up to 3 months. 
• If frozen, transfer your gravy from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before serving to thaw.
• Reheating gravy: Pour gravy into a saucepan and warm over medium heat. Whisk until warmed through. Add water as needed if gravy is too thick. 
• Don't have poultry seasoning? Try adding a combination of thyme, rosemary, and sage instead. 
• Chicken broth can be substituted with any type of broth you have on hand, like turkey, beef, pork, or vegetable broth.
• How much gravy do you need per person? Plan to prepare between ⅓ to ½ cup of gravy per person, erring on the higher end for holidays like Thanksgiving.
• If doubling or tripling this recipe, gravy will take longer to cook and thicken

Tenshinsan

 Sauce:

3 tsp potato/corn starch
3/4 C chicken broth
1 T sugar
2 T Soy sauce
1/2 T unseasoned rice vinegar
1/2 T Sake

Omelet: 

4 eggs
4 scallions
    whites to cook ahead of omelet
    2/3 greens to add to omelet mixture
   1/3 greens for garnish
Surimi - about 6? sticks - lost track - think it was 6 

1    Heat neutral oil in skillet - add scallion whites - cook until soft

2    Add enough neutral oil to pan to equal about 1 T ... then add about 1 T sesame oil

3    Mix omelet ingredients together -when oil in skillet is hot, add omelet ingredients to skillet

4    Gently stir while cooking into large, soft curd style omelet - when done, turn out onto rice

meanwhile in sauceland ...

Combine all ingredients COLD, bring to boil over med/high heat and reduce until thicker, bubbly and shiny

Omelet goes over fresh, hot, fluffy rice, sauce goes over omelet, reserved scallion greens go over sauce

~fin~

Pan fried baby yukon gold potatoes

Set up a steamer and add scrubbed baby yukons (and some fresh herbs if you have them ... thyme, rosemary, whatever)

steam ~10 min (untl tender - pokeable with fork or knife)

remove - let them steam off and dry a bit

Heat ... plenty ... of butter in a pan ... med heat? Add potatoes and brown on all sides - they are cooked, so this is about adding flavor and texture                       

Ice Cream

 https://icecreamfromscratch.com/cuisinart-ice-cream-maker-recipes/

IMPROVED Idahoan boxed Au Gratin Potatoes

 So ... I was making shake and bake pork chops and needed a starchy side and wanted boxed Au Gratin potatos ... and discovered I had no milk.  And I had no good alternatives. We are recently moved back in after the fire and not all staples, supplies and routines are back to 100% so OF COURSE there was no damn milk.

The Idahoan Au Gratin boxed potatoes call for 3/4 C milk.  I had no milk, but I did have Fage 5% Greek Yogurt.  I figured 1/4 - 1/3  C of the whole milk greek yogurt  with enough water to equal 3/4 C would do ... and of course I went with 1/3 C Greek Yogurt with water to equal 3/4.

Then I followed the rest of the package instructions - except for temperatures because I had those shake and bake pork chops to cook to.  So ... preheat to 450*, cook au gratin potatoes for 10 min - cut temp to 400*, add thiccccc shake n bake coated pork chops, cook 23 min, remove potatoes and pork chops from oven - rest both about 5 min befofre serving.  

Oh holy hell ... I will never bother with milk again and ... I am on the verge of recommending using only 1/4 C of Greek yogurt because using the 1/3 C ... these were RIDICULOUS. But only on the verge - it would be fine either way but these are not uncomfortably over the top ... just enough!

Chicken with Mushroom Cream Sauce

Based heavily off:

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/creamy-mushroom-sauce/

and

https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/chicken-marsala.html

Pretty much chicken marsalla with sauvignon blanc instead of marsalla in the sauce

Ingredients 

2 Chicken breasts, boneless skinless, sliced to half thickness and pounded out to 1/4" thickness
3 T Flour
3/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
2 T Butter
1 T olive oil

2 small/med shallots
1 T butter
12 oz mushrooms, any kind, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 C white wine
1/2 C chicken broth
2/3 C Heavy Cream

1 T cornstarch + 2 T water or broth
3 T fresh parsley

Directions:

Place the flour, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper in a ziplock bag. Add the chicken to the bag; seal bag tightly and shake to coat chicken evenly. Set aside.

Heat the oil and 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. (Use a stainless steel pan for the best browning. Nonstick will work too, but you won’t get that nice golden color on the chicken.) Place the flour-dusted chicken in the pan, shaking off any excess first, and cook, turning once, until the chicken is golden and just barely cooked through, about 5 to 6 minutes total. Transfer the chicken to a plate and set aside.

Saute shallot in 1 T butter until softened, about 3-5 minutes.

Add mushrooms, salt, and pepper. Cook until mushrooms have released juices. Add thyme and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.

Add the wine to deglaze and loosen any bits off the pan and simmer a few minutes until the wine has almost evaporated.

Add the chicken broth and cream. Simmer 5 minutes or until reduced by half.

To thicken the sauce further, combine cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water (or broth) and mix well. Add cornstarch mixture into the broth a little bit at a time to reach desired consistency. You may not need all of the cornstarch mixture.

Let simmer 1 minute.

Season with parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Notes - used 20 oz mushrooms so upped to 1 C cream + 3/4 c each of wine and broth - could have used more acid - more wine or finish with lemon.

Knife cut on chicken went wild - wound up with several thin slices each breast, no pounding, great result - I will do this on purpose going forward.

Do the mushrooms the correct way - do not add salt and pepper until they release liquid and then don’t add the additional liquids until the pan is near dry.

Use thickener sparingly

Sherry or Marsala would have been better! Lol

Freezing? Some people say this would freeze well, just be sure to stir continuously while reheating. Have not tied it myself, note for posterity in case I decide to.

Reheating - I packaged the leftovers in a Foodsaver bag and was going to toss it in the freezer only to realize I am running short on freezer space ... so I tossed it in the fridge.  It is 9/15/23 and time for leftovers.  I am reheating sous vide - its already in the bag - it is 100% cooked, it is thin chicken breast cuts in cream sauce ... 155*??? Thinking lower than 165* because of the cream sauce.  We'll see - hopefully I will remember to add notes.  Since I am sous vising which is as passive as it gets, may as well make the asparagus I was too lazy to make the other night and some pan friend yukons ... recipe (read: random musings) incoming.

Chawanmushi

(This is still in the "notes that will only makes sense to me" stage - recipe refinement to follow ... maybe)

Notes:

Did you know?! (selfeyeroll) You can eliminate the bubbles that form around the edges of things like this using a kitchen torch! And you SHOULD get rid of the bubbles whether wirth blowtorch or toothpick or leaving it alone for a while until it happens on its own or it will be all pockmark looking.

Egg to Dashi ration should be 1:3 so scale up or down with that ratio in mind

Dashi:

• Use Crystal Geyser water - 1 liter - (metric magic ... that will weight 1000g)
• 10g kombu soaked one hour
• bring to simmer - remove kombu from water at 80*C/180*F (ish - I used all my metric magic above ... this is close enough for hand grenades in terms of temp conversion ... pretty much "bubbles forming but not actually quite a simmer just yet, but almost")

***You can keep used kombu aside, julienne into 3" long pieces and add to leftover katusobushi (also chopped a bit more finely) for making furikake - you also add pretty much teriyaki ingredients to all of that and sautee until pan is nearly dry and shiny shiny shiny and then add toasted sesame seeds - the actual amoutns and ingredients are around here somewhere, hopefully I will kink it at some point ... ***

• bring the pot to a boil - when it reaches a boil, kill the heat and add 20 g Katsuobushi and leave it alone completely for 5 minutes.
  
• pour the pot through cheesecloth/papertowel and strainer/funnel into container - wait until completely cool before storing - store up to 4 days

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1.5 C dashi
• 0.5C egg (2-ish)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• add ins - kamaboko, mushrooms, scallops, edamame, shrimp, chicken, peas, mushrooms, etc.
• mitsuba (no mitsuba? - flat leaf parsley is fine)

Blend eggs with chopsticks ntil uniform, add dashi and salt, mix trying to get as few bubbles as possible.  Strain mixture.  Add in the add ins to lidded cuips, then add in egg mixture, cover with foil or lids.

Prepare pot to steam the cups - make sure the cups do not touch the bottom of cooking pot and that the containers are not floating - water does not need to actually touch the cups, but CAN touch the cups, so long as the water level does not allow for water to seep inside the cups

Bring the water to a boil and drop to low heat so the water is simmering - should take somewhere around 20 min but it all depends on volume, how thick the cup is, how many add ins, etc.

done when 160*f or more 

September 10, 2023

Going for 2  servings of chawanmushi - thinking one egg and whatever 3x that volume in dashi.  Made GORGEOUS dashi according to notes above yesterday so I will be using that  - I have seen people say you can sub in any stock or use instant dashi (so long as you strain it extra well so it doesn't look nasty when finished) but ... don't. This is literally dashi egg and salt and whatever add ins you decide to use - there is nowhere to hide any weird flavors and every opportunity for a really well crafted dashi to shine. It's so painless to make dashi from kombu, katsuobushi and filtered water and its so front and center in something like katsuobushi - it's not worth making chawanmushi unless you are willing to use good ingredients.

sliced shiitake - added to cups raw
lotsa kamaboko
sauteed enoki
mitsuba

Cheddar bay biscuits

307.5g Bisquick

2t baking powder 

1t garlic powder 

-combine in bowl, create well in center, into that add:

8oz shredded cheese

2/3c whole milk

-combine until just mixed and pulling away from sides - do not ovedmix.. drop in spoonfuls on greased or parchment lined sheet - makes 6-8 

Bake at 425* 10-12 min until golden, brush with 2T melted butter

Baked Cod with Ritz Topping

 Enough Cod (or other similar fish) for 4

1 sleeve of Ritz (26+ - 26 is 2xmini packs)

5 Tbsp melted butter

Parsley - enough to make it look nice

Preheat oven to 400*

Butter a glass/ceramic/corningware/whatever baking dish

combine melted butter, crushed ritz and parsley 

pack on top of cod fillets (boneless and skinless you filthy casual ...) 

bake 20 minutes or until brown and delicious 

Cherry pecan baked Brie en croute

 https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/baked-brie-en-croute-with-honey-dried-cherries-rosemary-pecans.html

Kinpira Gobo

 250g gobo - washed, peeled, julienned

140g carrot - washed, peeled, julienned

1 T Vinegar (add to bowl of water for the cut gobo)

1 T veg oil

1 t dark brown sugar

1/4 C Sake

1 T Soy sauce

1/4 t salt 

1 T toasted sesame seeds

Prepare gobo and carrot - place cut gobo into the vinegared water - rinse gobo well and dry before using.  Add oil to pan over med heat (if using chili flakes/pepper/whatever, add it now - its traditional but I can't handle heat) then add gobo and carrot, stir fry until vegetable soften.  From here either add sugar, sake, soy sauce and salt ... or ... add the sugar constantly stirring until the pan is mostly dry, then add sake, soy sauce and salt.  When the pan is once again mostly dry and the dish has started to caramelize remove from heat and stir in sesame seeds.