Ever have one of those days in the kitchen where absolutely nothing goes right? I had one of those days today.
To be sure, I was very ambitious today...Susan wanted manicotti, and since that's a pretty simple dish to make (using this awesome recipe from Cook's Illustrated), I decided to get a little nutty and make some other stuff, too.
First, I decided to make bread. I set a sponge, although I knew I wouldn't have much time to let it sit. It was mainly an experiment to see if it would make much difference to my bread, so I mixed a cup of flour, a cup of water, 1/4 teaspoon of sugar, and one packet of rapid-rise yeast. I covered that with plastic wrap, and put it in the sun to sit for a while.
With that done, I headed to the store to get the stuff for manicotti. This is where things started to go awry. The Cook's Illustrated manicotti recipe calls for using no-boil lasagna noodles instead of tubes, which works out great...no trying to stuff tubes of slippery pasta, just slather some filling on a lasagna a noodle and roll it up. You let the no-boil noodles sit in almost boiling water for five minutes, then let them cool, and they are perfectly pliable and easy to use. However, the store didn't have the normal Barilla noodles, but these really thick noodles that said they were no-cook noodles. I grabbed 'em and headed for home.
I had also decided to make my own ricotta cheese instead of relying on store bought (although I did get an emergency backup tub of ricotta). Earlier this year I had made Indian Paneer cheese, and it had been pretty easy, so I figured it would be simple to make ricotta.
I got home and poured a gallon of milk into a large stockpot, and set it on medium high. I also juiced some lemons for curdling the milk at the appropriate time. I got the milk hot, and poured in the lemon juice, and stirred. And stirred. Nothing...no curds at all. Crap...is it too cool? I jacked the heat up. Seeing as how I needed to get my bread dough going, I asked Susan to help out while I mixed my sponge with some more flour and water. Susan stirred, and stirred, and started getting tiny little curds.
I finished up the bread dough and got that rising, and then back to the ricotta. What was only supposed to take 1-2 minutes was taking forever. Susan got the milk near boiling, and then stopped stirring. Now large curds started appearing. We poured the mixture into a cheese-cloth lined colander, and let it sit. The recipe said to just let it go for a minute to keep the ricotta creamy, but it looked really watery, so I turned my attention to other things.
Well, that was a mistake, because when I came back to it, it was really thick...much thicker than ricotta normally looks. I popped it into a container anyway, and slid it into the fridge to cool. With that, I needed to start going on the sauce and the noodles, and form the bread into loaves so it could rise. I got that done, and started preparing the sauce while Susan got going on the filling. I also got some water boiling to par-boil the lasagna noodles.
After my baking stone was nice and hot (500F for about 30 minutes), I slashed my nicely risen bread loaves and slide them into the hot oven. I tossed in a cup of water into the oven for some steam for a nice crust, and then turned back to the noodles. I poured the water into a baking dish, and then slide the noodles into it. The noodles were really thick, but I figured that since they were no-boil, they would be fine. I pulled a noodle out and laid it on a towel to dry a bit, and noticed that it felt stiff still. I tryed to roll it, and it snapped...not pliable at all. Crap. I let the noodles sit for a bit longer in the water, and then pulled one out. Now they were pliable, but when I bit into one, it was totally raw in the middle and inedible. Not good. I put a large stock pot full of water on the stove, and figured I would try and boil them a bit longer.
Susan started making the filling for the manicotti, and after checking out the store bought ricotta with the homemade stuff, decided that the homemade ricotta was just fine. It hadn't really gotten too thick after all, and really tasted better than the tub of ricotta from the store.
I figured it was time to check my bread by this time, and they were....turning black?? What the? Oh snap...the oven was still at 500F, not the 400F the bread should cook at. I quickly turned the oven down, and covered the bread with foil, and checked my watch. I decided to yank the bread out at the 30 minute mark, rather then the 40 minutes they normally take.
Back to the noodles...my water was boiling, so I figured I'd grab some noodles and boil them for a bit, around 2-3 minutes, just to make sure that they were edible. I grabbed some noodles, and...they were all stuck together after sitting in the water too long. Dang it!! OK, I was done with these stinkin' noodles. I started a new batch of water and asked Susan what she wanted...penne or farfalle. Instead of rolling up the filling, I was going to just mix the filling with the pasta in the baking dish, pour the sauce on top, and then cover with Parmesan.
Well, I had earlier pulled my bread, and let it cool a bit. Despite the temperature mix up, it looked pretty good. I sawed off a piece, buttered it, and gave it to Susan. I make myself a piece, and took a bite. I instantly realized something was not right...it was strangely bland. What on earth?? I had thought I would get more flavor from the sponge...what had gone wrong? I asked Susan...she agreed it was a little bland. I started going over in my head how I had made the dough, and that's when it hit me...no salt. I had never added salt to my dough. Adding a sprinkling of sea salt to the top helped, and added a nice crunch, but that was the last straw. I had been in the kitchen from 2:30 until 6:30, and nothing had gone right.
Fortunately, the farfallicotti turned out pretty good...it tasted just like manicotti, so dinner was still good despite the lasagna noodle debacle. Still pissed about the bread, though....
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
Weekend Challenge, Part #2
After making the calzones, it was on to Saturday. Susan had bought regular chicken thighs, not the boneless, skinless kind, but no matter; those are awesome, too. At first, I thought about cooking them in a bunch of liquid, and throwing rice in the pot with the chicken to cook, but that really didn't sound all that hot to me. So I started thinking about something with pasta instead.
I wanted to go simple, with few ingredients, so I heated up some olive oil in my La Crueset dutch oven, and browned the chicken thighs with plenty of salt and pepper. Once those were done, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter to the oil and let that cook and brown a little bit. To that I added 4 medium onions, chopped, and 2 red peppers, also chopped. I stirred to coat them in the oil/chicken fat/butter, and then put the lid on the pot. I cooked the onions and peppers until they were nicely caramelized, taking the lid off towards the end to reduce the liquid. I put the chicken thighs back in, and then added a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes. That didn't look like quite enough, so I threw in another 14-oz can. I let the simmer for about 3 hours, and then served it over penne with copious amounts of parmesan.
On Sunday, I had a smallish pork roast to contend with. I initially considered cubing the meat and braising with rice and beans in a southwesterny sort of way, but then it turned out that Susan had forgotten to get me any chiles. Plus, after braising the chicken, I kind of wanted something different. So, I took the pork roast (a 2.6 pound bone-in picnic roast), rubbed him all over with olive oil, and then salt and pepper, and let it sit out to come up to room temperature.
After a couple hours, I pre-heated my grill and threw the roast on high heat to sear it on all sides. As that was going, I started my potatoes. I took about a 1.5 lbs of red potatoes, diced them (about a 1 inch dice), and tossed them with olive oil and two cans of artichoke hearts in a large meat roasting pan. I slid that into a 350F degree oven.
Once the roast was seared nicely, I turned off the right side burner, and slid him over, intending to cook the roast over indirect heat, like I do with ribs. The roast was a bit fatty, and I didn't want flareups. Unfortunately, when I stuck in my instant read thermometer about 45 minutes later, I got nada. Since the potatoes were rapidly reaching readiness, I turned the right side burner back on, turned all the burners to med-low, and put the roast over direct heat.
Once the potatoes were fork tender, I liberally coated them in parmesan cheese, and slid them back into the oven. I took the roast off the grill, and let it rest while the potatoes were cooking. It had a very nice crust from the grill, and looked really good.
In the end, the roast turned out very flavorful, although there wasn't as much meat on it as I had thought. No matter, the left overs and bone are going to become part of some navy bean soup this week. The potatoes were good, although both Susan and I agreed that the artichoke hearts didn't really add anything. They tasted fine, but the potatoes would have been just as good without them. So, they are going to get combined with some ground lamb, sauteed with a bit of cinnamon and cumin, along with a can of diced tomatoes, and make some sort of Greekish/lambish potato thing.
I wanted to go simple, with few ingredients, so I heated up some olive oil in my La Crueset dutch oven, and browned the chicken thighs with plenty of salt and pepper. Once those were done, I added about 3 tablespoons of butter to the oil and let that cook and brown a little bit. To that I added 4 medium onions, chopped, and 2 red peppers, also chopped. I stirred to coat them in the oil/chicken fat/butter, and then put the lid on the pot. I cooked the onions and peppers until they were nicely caramelized, taking the lid off towards the end to reduce the liquid. I put the chicken thighs back in, and then added a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes. That didn't look like quite enough, so I threw in another 14-oz can. I let the simmer for about 3 hours, and then served it over penne with copious amounts of parmesan.
On Sunday, I had a smallish pork roast to contend with. I initially considered cubing the meat and braising with rice and beans in a southwesterny sort of way, but then it turned out that Susan had forgotten to get me any chiles. Plus, after braising the chicken, I kind of wanted something different. So, I took the pork roast (a 2.6 pound bone-in picnic roast), rubbed him all over with olive oil, and then salt and pepper, and let it sit out to come up to room temperature.
After a couple hours, I pre-heated my grill and threw the roast on high heat to sear it on all sides. As that was going, I started my potatoes. I took about a 1.5 lbs of red potatoes, diced them (about a 1 inch dice), and tossed them with olive oil and two cans of artichoke hearts in a large meat roasting pan. I slid that into a 350F degree oven.
Once the roast was seared nicely, I turned off the right side burner, and slid him over, intending to cook the roast over indirect heat, like I do with ribs. The roast was a bit fatty, and I didn't want flareups. Unfortunately, when I stuck in my instant read thermometer about 45 minutes later, I got nada. Since the potatoes were rapidly reaching readiness, I turned the right side burner back on, turned all the burners to med-low, and put the roast over direct heat.
Once the potatoes were fork tender, I liberally coated them in parmesan cheese, and slid them back into the oven. I took the roast off the grill, and let it rest while the potatoes were cooking. It had a very nice crust from the grill, and looked really good.
In the end, the roast turned out very flavorful, although there wasn't as much meat on it as I had thought. No matter, the left overs and bone are going to become part of some navy bean soup this week. The potatoes were good, although both Susan and I agreed that the artichoke hearts didn't really add anything. They tasted fine, but the potatoes would have been just as good without them. So, they are going to get combined with some ground lamb, sauteed with a bit of cinnamon and cumin, along with a can of diced tomatoes, and make some sort of Greekish/lambish potato thing.
Friday, October 9, 2009
This Weekend's Challenge...
So, this weekend brings a new challenge...instead of going to the store and buying all sorts of awesome ingredients to play with, I get to use just what we have on hand (within reason, of course...we needed some meat and a few staples). So, it's time to peer into the pantry and figure out what the heck I'm gonna do.
Tonight will be an easy layup. I have shredded mozzarella and tomato sauce left over from last weekend, so tonight I'm making homemade calzones, with my crust rising as we speak. Not sure about Saturday and Sunday, but I did notice we have a lot of canned beans...pintos and black beans, so I'll likely be doing something with those. We have plenty of pasta and rice, and some potatoes as well, so lots of stuff to play around with. Susan got the cheapest meat she could find, so I'll be working with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and a small pork picnic roast (at $2.49 a pound, no less!). So, we'll eat good, save some money, and clean out the pantry, all in one weekend!
Tonight will be an easy layup. I have shredded mozzarella and tomato sauce left over from last weekend, so tonight I'm making homemade calzones, with my crust rising as we speak. Not sure about Saturday and Sunday, but I did notice we have a lot of canned beans...pintos and black beans, so I'll likely be doing something with those. We have plenty of pasta and rice, and some potatoes as well, so lots of stuff to play around with. Susan got the cheapest meat she could find, so I'll be working with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and a small pork picnic roast (at $2.49 a pound, no less!). So, we'll eat good, save some money, and clean out the pantry, all in one weekend!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Roast Chicken & Gnocchi; Homemade Pizza
So, this weekend, the one thing my wife really, really wanted was homemade gnocchi. Not sure why she was craving it, but when I asked her what she wanted me to cook for her this weekend, that was what she wanted. Always happy to oblige, I immediately started thinking about the possibilities.
The first thing that sprang to mind was a simple brown butter sauce with sage. I’ve never tried it before, but it always seemed like a surefire winner with the gnocchi. But that left open the question of what to serve with it…that alone really isn’t a main course. So I started thinking along the lines of a Bolognese sauce. Not an Americanized spaghetti sauce, mind you, but an authentic Bolognese sauce, starting with a mirepoix of celery, onions, and carrots, and slowly coaxing maximum flavor from ground pork, beef, and maybe veal or lamb. A real Bolognese has no oregano or garlic, or any of the other seasonings we typically associate with that sauce. Nor is it overly tomatoey…my favorite Bolognese sauce recipe is from Saveur magazine (number 110, April 2008), which is “Anna Nanni’s Ragu alla Bolognese.” It is fantastic, and has only 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. It is utterly sublime over homemade gnocchi. But I digress…
I floated the idea of the gnocchi with the Bolognese sauce with Susan, and got only a lukewarm response. Her tummy doesn’t respond well to too much rich foods, and I think she was hoping for something a bit less fatty. Hmmm…back to the drawing board for me. I thought of all the things that go great with gnocchi…fontina cheese, pesto, etc….and I figured they all would be a bit too rich for this weekend.
So I started thinking about chicken…perhaps roasting one, and having the gnocchi on the side. But what to do with the gnocchi? Then it hit me…why not pull the chicken out of the roasting pan, and then put the gnocchi into the drippings, toss, and then roast? And, perhaps throw some fresh sage leaves into the mix? Susan also wanted asparagus to go with her chicken, so I figured I could parboil the asparagus, blanch it, and then throw it into the gnocchi / chicken drippings mix, and roast until hot.
By the way...if you've never made gnocchi before, I'll let you in on a secret....never boil your potatoes....bake them instead. I once tried to quickly boil small chunks of potatoes, and ended up with water-soaked potatoes. There wasn't enough flour in the world to bind the mashed potatoes into a dough that I could roll into gnocchi...it all had to get tossed. Then I read a recipe that had you bake the potatoes, let them cool, peel them, mash them, and combine with flour...that worked way more better, and I've never looked back. So, never boil, always bake, and add just enough flour to bind the potatoes, and you will have wonderful gnocchi.
That is essentially what I did, and it turned out pretty darn good. Except for the sage…that was waaaaay too strong. Normally, when I use fresh sage when I roast a chicken, I throw it on quartered red potatoes, and let it cook the entire time…that way the flavor is milder and the leaves are crispy and good. This time, after only a few minutes of cooking, the sage was raw and overpowering…I found myself shoving them to the side of the plate (as did Susan, who is usually a fresh sage freak). The gnocchi, though, immersed in the chicken juices, was very flavorful. So next time, I’m going to forego the fresh sage, and just use the chicken drippings to flavor the gnocchi.
Tonight, we decided to do homemade pizza. I used my favorite recipe for the crust, from “The New Best Recipe,” from the folks who do “Cooks Illustrated” magazine. I threw the dough together in my Cuisinart, and let it rise in a warm oven for about an hour. I had a couple toppings in mind…a leek/onion/tomato mixture for Susan and I, and a straightforward cheese pizza for my son Nick. I had also promised Nick that he could help, so he was very excited about cooking with Dad.
After getting the pizza dough started, I cleaned and chopped the leeks and onions. I threw those into some hot olive oil with salt and fresh ground pepper, and let that caramelize. I got Nick started with a very simple tomato sauce for his cheese pizza…a single can of tomato sauce with another can of tomato sauce, combined with a bit of garlic salt, some summer savory (‘cause I was out of oregano!), some dried basil, and a hit of fresh ground pepper. Then I had Nick form his pizza crust (see the pics). We pre-baked the crust on a hot stone (heated at 500F for about 45 minutes), and after about 5 minutes, pulled it from the oven, sauced it and cheesed it, and then slid it back in to finish.
While Nick’s pizza was cooking, I got going on the other pizza. I formed it, and got it on my pizza peel, and stabbed it several times to keep it from puffing. When Nick’s pizza was done, I slide mine in, and decided to go chill out by the computer with a glass of Pinot Noir. I waltzed back into the kitchen, and almost had a heart attack…my pizza dough had puffed to almost 5 inches in height! Egads! I pulled it immediately, and attacked with a fork. Fortunately, I was able to deflate it without too many issues, and started topping it. I poured the leek and onion mixture over it, and then added sliced roma tomatoes. I covered those with parmesan cheese, then shredded mozzarella, and finally a handful of dried basil. I slid that into the oven, and cooked until the cheese started to brown a bit.
It turned out pretty good. The tomatoes could have been a tad thinner…the slices were a bit thick, but overall, the complete package was fairly tasty. Nick’s cheese pizza was really good…I threw on some parmesan on that as well, and the final product was really good. It all reminded me how easy and good homemade pizza can be.
The first thing that sprang to mind was a simple brown butter sauce with sage. I’ve never tried it before, but it always seemed like a surefire winner with the gnocchi. But that left open the question of what to serve with it…that alone really isn’t a main course. So I started thinking along the lines of a Bolognese sauce. Not an Americanized spaghetti sauce, mind you, but an authentic Bolognese sauce, starting with a mirepoix of celery, onions, and carrots, and slowly coaxing maximum flavor from ground pork, beef, and maybe veal or lamb. A real Bolognese has no oregano or garlic, or any of the other seasonings we typically associate with that sauce. Nor is it overly tomatoey…my favorite Bolognese sauce recipe is from Saveur magazine (number 110, April 2008), which is “Anna Nanni’s Ragu alla Bolognese.” It is fantastic, and has only 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. It is utterly sublime over homemade gnocchi. But I digress…
I floated the idea of the gnocchi with the Bolognese sauce with Susan, and got only a lukewarm response. Her tummy doesn’t respond well to too much rich foods, and I think she was hoping for something a bit less fatty. Hmmm…back to the drawing board for me. I thought of all the things that go great with gnocchi…fontina cheese, pesto, etc….and I figured they all would be a bit too rich for this weekend.
So I started thinking about chicken…perhaps roasting one, and having the gnocchi on the side. But what to do with the gnocchi? Then it hit me…why not pull the chicken out of the roasting pan, and then put the gnocchi into the drippings, toss, and then roast? And, perhaps throw some fresh sage leaves into the mix? Susan also wanted asparagus to go with her chicken, so I figured I could parboil the asparagus, blanch it, and then throw it into the gnocchi / chicken drippings mix, and roast until hot.
By the way...if you've never made gnocchi before, I'll let you in on a secret....never boil your potatoes....bake them instead. I once tried to quickly boil small chunks of potatoes, and ended up with water-soaked potatoes. There wasn't enough flour in the world to bind the mashed potatoes into a dough that I could roll into gnocchi...it all had to get tossed. Then I read a recipe that had you bake the potatoes, let them cool, peel them, mash them, and combine with flour...that worked way more better, and I've never looked back. So, never boil, always bake, and add just enough flour to bind the potatoes, and you will have wonderful gnocchi.
That is essentially what I did, and it turned out pretty darn good. Except for the sage…that was waaaaay too strong. Normally, when I use fresh sage when I roast a chicken, I throw it on quartered red potatoes, and let it cook the entire time…that way the flavor is milder and the leaves are crispy and good. This time, after only a few minutes of cooking, the sage was raw and overpowering…I found myself shoving them to the side of the plate (as did Susan, who is usually a fresh sage freak). The gnocchi, though, immersed in the chicken juices, was very flavorful. So next time, I’m going to forego the fresh sage, and just use the chicken drippings to flavor the gnocchi.
Tonight, we decided to do homemade pizza. I used my favorite recipe for the crust, from “The New Best Recipe,” from the folks who do “Cooks Illustrated” magazine. I threw the dough together in my Cuisinart, and let it rise in a warm oven for about an hour. I had a couple toppings in mind…a leek/onion/tomato mixture for Susan and I, and a straightforward cheese pizza for my son Nick. I had also promised Nick that he could help, so he was very excited about cooking with Dad.
After getting the pizza dough started, I cleaned and chopped the leeks and onions. I threw those into some hot olive oil with salt and fresh ground pepper, and let that caramelize. I got Nick started with a very simple tomato sauce for his cheese pizza…a single can of tomato sauce with another can of tomato sauce, combined with a bit of garlic salt, some summer savory (‘cause I was out of oregano!), some dried basil, and a hit of fresh ground pepper. Then I had Nick form his pizza crust (see the pics). We pre-baked the crust on a hot stone (heated at 500F for about 45 minutes), and after about 5 minutes, pulled it from the oven, sauced it and cheesed it, and then slid it back in to finish.
While Nick’s pizza was cooking, I got going on the other pizza. I formed it, and got it on my pizza peel, and stabbed it several times to keep it from puffing. When Nick’s pizza was done, I slide mine in, and decided to go chill out by the computer with a glass of Pinot Noir. I waltzed back into the kitchen, and almost had a heart attack…my pizza dough had puffed to almost 5 inches in height! Egads! I pulled it immediately, and attacked with a fork. Fortunately, I was able to deflate it without too many issues, and started topping it. I poured the leek and onion mixture over it, and then added sliced roma tomatoes. I covered those with parmesan cheese, then shredded mozzarella, and finally a handful of dried basil. I slid that into the oven, and cooked until the cheese started to brown a bit.
It turned out pretty good. The tomatoes could have been a tad thinner…the slices were a bit thick, but overall, the complete package was fairly tasty. Nick’s cheese pizza was really good…I threw on some parmesan on that as well, and the final product was really good. It all reminded me how easy and good homemade pizza can be.
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