Snow Crab Doria

Inspired completely by the recipe I based the Green Bean Casserole Doria on, but this variation is something I dreamed up myself!

For the casserole

1 teaspoon butter 

350 grams cooked rice (1 rice cooker cup)

100 grams or less Gruyere cheese (or other melting cheese, grated) 

For the filling

150 grams chopped blanched spinach, drained well

190 g cooked snow crab meat 

1 tablespoon butter

100 grams chopped onions (I went with a sweet onion and it was amazing!)

120 grams mushrooms (8oz package of whole baby bellas cut thick should do it!)

1 t salt 

For the bechamél

1.5 Tablespoon butter 

1.5 Tablespoon AP flour

1 ½ cups milk

salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Butter a casserole dish using about a teaspoon of butter - 8" - 10" casserole will work best. Move the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 425*F 

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onions and mushrooms (add salt after the mushrooms have started to release moisture) until the mushrooms are starting to caramelize (about 6-7 minutes).

Push the mushrooms to the edges of the pan and put the butter and flour in the middle of the pan. Cook the roux until there are no lumps of flour, but don't let it brown. Once the roux is done (it will start to smell toasty and nutty) turn down the heat and pour the milk in all at once. Stir the mixture vigorously until there are no lumps of roux remaining.

Turn up the heat to medium and bring the béchamel to a boil to thicken. Add the spinach and snow crab to the pan, and stir to distribute evenly. (I just had to add the beans since the mushrooms and onions never left the pan!)

To assemble the Doria, spread an even layer of rice along the bottom of the buttered casserole dish.

Top with the mushroom, crab and spinach béchamel.

Cover with an even but LIGHT layer of shredded cheese.

Put the Doria in the oven and bake until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese has browned on top, about 20-25 minutes.

Green Bean Casserole Doria

 This is pretty much Mark's recipe with a few changes: https://norecipes.com/mushroom-doria-rice-casserole/

Ingredients

For the casserole

1 teaspoon butter (I needed less than 1 T to butter the casserole

350 grams cooked rice (1 rice cooker cup)

100 grams Gruyere cheese (or other melting cheese, grated) (I went lighter)

Fried onions (for garnish) (I didn't use them)

For the filling

180 grams green beans - (I went with 150 grams frozen haricots verts, thawed and then cut into smaller pieces - this way I can avoid blanching, etc. Just thaw, chop and use!)

1 tablespoon butter

100 grams chopped onions (I went with a sweet onion and it was amazing!)

120 grams button mushrooms and 100 grams shimeji mushrooms  (I went with an 8oz package of baby bellas, cleaned and sliced - delicious!)

1 teaspoon salt (pretty sure I used a lot more through the course of the recipe - season to taste - I also added black pepper along the way ... most of the salt and the pepper was added after the beans were added to the bechamel andit was reducing - just taste and season!)

For the bechamél

1 tablespoon butter (erred on the side of a fat Tablespoon)

25 gramsflour - about 2 ½ tablespoons (I went with a heaping Tablespoon of flour - I try not to second guess recipes but I know how to make roux! It is 1 part fat to 1 part flour! I was ready to add more flour if needed ... but using less flour was perfect)

1 ½ cups milk

Instructions

Butter a 10-inch casserole dish using about a teaspoon of butter. Move the oven rack to the middle position and preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 C). (I preheated to 425 so I could also cook a breaded porkchop at the same time! lol  Also? 10" is a little big in my opinion! I would use a smaller dish next time so the rice layer is thicker!) 

Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and the whole green beans. (I got to skip this step because I am using thawed haricots verts instead of fresh green beans)

Blanch the beans by bringing the water back up to a full. Drain the beans and rinse them under cold water to chill them enough to handle. (using frozen beans, I got to skip this too ...)

Trim the stem ends off of the beans and chop them up into 1.5-inch lengths. (I did this with the thawed haricots verts - I chose them to replace the fresh beans because they are thin and delicate whole beans ... I would have selecteed frenched green beans otherwise and just thawed them with no need to chop.  I know many people make recipes like this with just chopped beans, but I always prefer when the bens are thinner.)

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onions, button mushrooms, shimeji mushrooms (or whatever mushrooms you are using - pretty much nay mushroom will work!), and salt until the mushrooms are starting to caramelize (about 6-7 minutes).

Transfer the mushrooms to a bowl and add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan along with the flour. (I just pushed the mushrooms to the edge of the pan and put the butter and flour in the middle of the pan.  It might feel easier to make the roux with an empty pan and either way will work, but I like not having to remove anything from the pan if it only needs to go right back in!) 

Cook the roux until there are no lumps of flour, but don't let it brown. (If you leave the mushrooms and onions in the pan, start mixing the roux in the center but don't worry when inevitably the mushrooms get mixed in - I wound up with everything mixed together and I kept it moving until I could smell the roux was done - since it is not to be browned, you know its done when it starts to smell a little nutty. It will look very dry - its fine!)

Turn down the heat and pour the milk in all at once. Stir the mixture vigorously until there are no lumps of roux remaining.

Turn up the heat to medium and bring the béchamel to a boil to thicken. Add the sauteed mushrooms as well as the green beans to the pan, and stir to distribute evenly. (I just had to add the beans since the mushrooms and onions never left the pan!)

To assemble the Doria, spread an even layer of rice along the bottom of the buttered casserole dish.

Top with the mushroom and green bean béchamel.

Cover with an even layer of shredded cheese.

Put the Doria in the oven and bake until the sauce is bubbly and the cheese has browned on top, about 15-20 minutes.(Since I had a lower oven temperature, I went with 23 minutes at 425*F and it was PERFECT!!!

Corn Muffins

Recipe here: https://thestayathomechef.com/easy-buttermilk-cornbread-muffins/

▢1/2 cup salted butter melted

▢2/3 cup granulated sugar

▢2 eggs

▢1 cup buttermilk

▢1/2 teaspoon baking soda

▢1 cup cornmeal

▢1 cup all-purpose flour

▢1/2 teaspoon salt

▢113.5 g salted butter melted

▢133.33 g granulated sugar

▢2 eggs

▢240 g buttermilk

▢0.5 teaspoon baking soda

▢159 g cornmeal

▢125 g all-purpose flour

▢0.5 teaspoon salt

Instructions 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tin or line it with cupcake liners.

In a medium-sized bowl combine the melted butter with the sugar. Beat in the eggs until well blended.

Add in the baking soda and then slowly pour in the buttermilk while you stir.

Add in the cornmeal, flour, and salt and stir until well combined. Pour batter into the prepared muffin tin.

Bake in the 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes, until the tops start to brown.

Chai Concentrate

 5 cups water - bring to a boil in pot with a lid

1/3 cup loose leaf chai blend - add to boiling water then drop to a simmer for 30 min in a covered pot

Cut heat, add 1/4 cup sugar, stir to dissolve

Cool, refrigerate, lasts up to 1 week

Cranberry cornbread muffins

This recipe is from: 

https://www.theleangreenbean.com/cranberry-corn-muffins/

Ingredients

Scale

• 3/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup fresh cranberries (or frozen)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter (melted) or vegetable oil

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. Mix melted butter or oil, eggs, milk and sugar in a bowl.
2. Add flour, cornmeal and baking soda and stir to combine.
3. Stir in cranberries until just mixed and scoop into greased or lined muffin tins.
4. Bake 22-25 minutes at 375 degrees F.

 

Kinoko Rice

10000000% copied from Yoshimi who creates Tokyo Kitchen - here is here video - she is amazing, I literally just copied her ingredients below so I could have them handy for when I make this - go watch her and then watch all of her other videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdDgXCo-ArI

Ingredients:

2 C Japanese rice + water for cooking

300 g mushrooms (shimeji, shiitake, maitake – but really any)

2T soy sauce

2 T mirin

2T sake

1T Sugar

2tsp instant soup stock (dashi granules, veg, etc.) - conincidentally, this is one serving packet of the nice instant dashi I have! lol I bet that is true for most brands... one day when I am less tired I will make this with fresh dashi!!!

I am trying this in my neuro-fuzzy rice cooker - I added all of the ingredients (with the mushrooms just laid on top of the rest of the ingredients - not mixed in) and then only aftgerwards realized that I added the rice before adding the water to cook the rice .., after adding all of the other cooking liquids! I added a little extra water but not much - depending on how this comes out I will either make sure to put the rice and cooking water in the rice cooker first and THEN add  the other liquids and ingredients, or if just right ... it just joins the list of things that magically just wqork in a rice cooker! I used the regular/sushi rice setting.

Cornbread Madeleines

 

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/article/if-france-and-texas-had-a-baby-it-would-be-a-cornbread-madeleine

Cornbread Madeleines

Makes 24

INGREDIENTS
4 tablespoons of bacon drippings or butter
2 cups/285 grams of cornmeal
1/2 cup/80 grams of flour
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups/480 ml of buttermilk

PREPARATION
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F / 200 degrees C.

When the oven's hot, divide the bacon drippings (or butter, depending on which way you go) among the 24 madeleine molds (you'll need 2 pans with 12 molds each) and slide into the oven so the pan gets nice and hot. Depending on the size of your oven, you may need to do this one pan at a time, and bake your madeleines in batches.

Whisk together the cornmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine the lightly beaten eggs with the buttermilk, and mix this into the dry ingredients. Pull your hot pans out of the oven, pour the bacon grease or butter into the batter, give it a quick stir, and divide the batter among the madeleine molds. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Pull them from the oven and remove immediately by giving the pan a bang on your countertop--they'll pop right out.