Cooking updates
No posts from me for awhile. (OK, except for the brief one just before this). The constant snows and having to deal with them (i.e. stocking the house grocery-wise, kids off from school, constant shovelling, problems with the generator, etc etc etc) just did not leave me the energy to post. I actually had lots of posts in my head, but never got around to them. Probably for the better. Some of them were not fit to be public in anyway shape or form. Not content, just too ranty or depressing.
Here are some miscellaneous food and cooking tidbits I have been doing:
Bread baking for the DtG feast has begun. Goal is 30 loaves of bread. I can do 2 loaves per day with no problem timing-wise. (I use the easy artisan no knead method). I cannot count on being able to bake on weekends, but even so I should be able to meet the goal. I am not too concerned about freezer-space for these, as I have space at other freezers in addition to my own. It will also be interesting to see how much of a budget-saver this really is.
Tried out a new recipe for the feast. As in, redacted from scratch for this one. Although, to be honest, it is not a complex recipe. Here it is:
Harleian MS 279 - Leche Vyandez
xxxj. To make Stekys of venson or bef. Take Venyson or Bef, & leche & gredyl it yp broun ; then take Vynegre & a litel verious, & a lytil Wyne, & putte pouder perpir ther-on y-now, and pouder Gyngere; & atte the dressoure straw on pouder Canelle y-now, that the stekys be al y-helid ther-with, & but a litel Sawce; & than serue it forth.
Or, in more modern English,
31. To make Steaks of venison or beef. Take Venison or Beef, & cut & griddle it up brown; then take Vinegar & a little verjuice, & a little Wine, & put powdered pepper thereon enough, and powdered Ginger; & at the dresser strew on powdered Cinnamon enough, that the steaks are all covered therewith, & but a little Sauce; & then serve it forth.
So, the first time I made this I used thin sliced steak (because that is what was good at the market) but I found it cooked too fast and was too "tough" when eating because of this. I also was way overboard on the vinegar.
So the second time I made it I did it like this:
Took approx. 1 lb of good sirloin steaks, and cut them into 4 oz pieces or so. Browned them in a little olive oil just enough to get a good searing color on them. Then added to the skillet 1/8 cup of vinegar (I used balsamic because that is what I had, but I think any other would be fine as well) and 1/8 cup of red wine. (I ignored the verjuice because I did not have any -- you could add a dash of lemon if you wanted). Then I sprinkled black pepper and ginger and cinnamon on them (less than 1/4 tsp and more than 1/8 tsp -- sue me for not being exact). A little stirring to get all mixed up, and then covered the skillet and let it cook over medium heat for several minutes -- to make sure the beef got to a good safe temperature. Then put the the steaks on a serving platter, and poured some of the pan sauce onto it (not all). A sprinkle more of cinnamon and then to the table.
We ate it, and it was good. It is going onto the DtG feast menu (although I have to modify it to put the beef into pans in the oven after browning since I do not have a skillet big enough for 60 people!) I'll also be using london broil cuts since it will be a tad more economical that way.
And for the final in recipe trials, I made salmon for the family. Well, for all but the boyo since he doesn't eat new things and while the latest food allergy test showed seafood is no longer an allergen I donot have a need to push that one yet. The girls tried salmon for the first time. Rose liked it ; Susan did not . I could have predicted that one (and did to myself). It was actually the first time Siegfried had salmon ; he liked it as well.
The salmon was simply cooked in oil (5 minutes flesh side down and then turned -- they were not thick so it was only about 3 minutes more to cook the fish through). Removed the salmon to a plate and covered to keep warm. To the hot skillet added 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup cream cheese. Stirred to a creamy sauce and then added 1/2 cup chopped cucumber and a bit of basil. (Original recipe called for dill but no one else in the family likes dill). Once the sauce heated up again poured it over the fish and served.
The sauce was fine. Nothing special. But a nice change of pace from the boring chicken nugget meals that I usually serve the kids. :) Next I might introduce them to the flavors of a fruit salsa on top of the salmon. But that might have to wait until after DtG.