2 posts in 1

I've been slacking a bit in the kitchen recently.  I've had a couple of timing fails trying to get what I wanted to done and I've been swamped at work. 

So Tuesday night I had a one pan lasagna dish from Cooking at Home with America's Test Kitchen.  Overall, pretty good but I probably put too much ricotta in.  But anyway, on to the pictures.

Here we have the mise, canned diced tomatoes, ricotta, onions, garlic and red pepper flakes, parmesan, ground beef, and lasagna sheets.

I first sauteed the onions for a few minutes then added the garlic for about 30 seconds, then finally the ground beef went in until cooked through.

The final plating, honestly it looks like crap on a plate.  But what you haven't seen here is that after the beef was cooked the lasagna sheets when in which were then topped with the tomatoes and a bit of water.  The pan then was covered and the mixture simmered for about 20 minutes.

After the mixture was simmered, I added dollops of ricotta and the parmesan and let that sit for a few minutes to melt a bit. 


Then tonight because I'm slammed at work, I didn't have time for anything too fancy.  Thankfully, I had something easy in the hopper.  Rock Roasted Shrimp from Good Eats 2:  The Middle Years.  Again a decent dish but nothing to really write home about.

The mise, the top pic is a sheet pan covered with rock salt and the shrimp still in their shell.  Second pic is the side dish I decided to throw together, fingerling potatoes.

The final presentation.  The potatoes were roasted for about 25 minutes and the shrimp for about 15. 

Where's the Beef

So you're getting 2 for 1 tonight.  Last night I had roasted beef inside of a salt crust from Alton Brown's Good Eats:  The Middle Years.  Overall, it tasted pretty good, unfortunately the level of cooking was on par with a giant hot mess.  I overcooked the beef by about 3+ levels.  It definitely ended up well done when I was shooting for rare.  A complete amateur mistake.   Oh well on to the pictures.

Here is the mise for the salt crust.  The bowl on the left includes egg whites, water and a mix of herbs that included thyme, marjoram, oregano, and rosemary.  The left bowl is flour, salt and pepper.

Here is the mise for the rest of the preparation.  The completed salt crust, the beef and more herbs.

Here is the salt crust, rolled, trimmed and topped with the herbs.

Prior to being wrapped in the salt crust the beef goes into a hot pan with peanut oil.  Note the beef was not seasoned at all, because the idea is that the crust will do all of the seasoning.

The completed seared beef.

The beef is now wrapped in the salt crust and ready to go into a 400 degree over for about 30 minutes.

The package over being pulled from the oven and resting for an additional 30 minutes.  The resting is from the idea that the meat will continue to cook and raise the internal temp an additional 15 degrees after being removed from the oven.

Here is the beef after being removed from the salt crust.

And the final presentation.  As you can see, it was just insanely overcooked and it makes me ashamed that I call myself a cook after doing something like that.  But the salt crust did it's job and seasoned the meat well.

Paris 1906 Part 3

Yeah I know I promised things would start to become more artful with this post.  But I lied.  I made the doughs for the three different types of breads needed for the meal, but I didn't do any baking.  So this will be another pretty vanilla post.  However, with the target date of March 10 approaching quickly.  Starting next Saturday I will begin to put together a lot of the final components, so you should start to see some fun stuff.

This was the mise and completed dough for the cracker that will be served with the pork rillette.

This is all of the pictures for the brioche dough.  The first pic is the mise.  The second pic is the mixed dough and the final pic is the dough after about 4 hours sitting at room temp.

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the dough for the bread service that goes with the meal.

This last pic, however, is the completed pork rillette that will be served as part of the appetizers.

More pork and apples

So we're going back to a classic this evening.  Friday night from Bobby Flay's Bold American Food I had a Chipotle flavored Pork Tenderloin with Apple Juice Sauce.  This was actually a two day procedure and unfortunately I don't have any pictures from the prep on Thursday night.

Here's the mise after the apple juice sauce had already been made.

Here is the seasoned pork in the pan with a bit of peanut oil.

And now time for the completed seared pork, ready to go into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Along with the pork I roasted off some fingerling potatoes and tossed them with butter, chives, salt and pepper.  So here is the entire spread.

And a final close up shot of the plate of pork, cooked to a perfect medium.

Tastes like Chicken

So on today's menu was spiced chicken.  A really simple recipe from Cuisine: February 2005.  Seared and braised chicken thighs served with tomato sauce.  And away we go. 

The mise, spice mixture, white wine mixed with tomato paste, garlic and ginger mix, onions, beef broth, chick peas, olives, tomatoes, lemons and finally the chicken thighs.

Here are the chicken thighs after being seasoned with the spice mix.  The spices included, paprika, salt, cumin, coriander and cinnamon. 

The thighs after being seared off for about 4 minutes per side.

The completed mixture in the pan.  From here the pan was covered and then braised for about 20 minutes.

And now the the completed plate.  Not the most attractive thing on the planet but delicious none-the-less.

Paris 1906 Part 2

Part 2 of the whole reason I started this blog.  The Paris 1906 menu from Next Restaurant in Chicago.  Thus far this weekend I've finished the duck jus for the duck course, lamb and veal stocks for the lamb course, everything except the final plating for the turtle soup, and one of three stocks necessary for the sauce for the fish course.  Things are coming along great, and next week I promise things will get more artful. Next weekend the goal is to bake all the breads necessary for the meal.

So here is the evidence from this weekend.

The items for the lamb stock.  Top pic is raw lamb bones, that were then roasted in a 350 degree oven for an hour.  The second picture are the vegetables that went in with a bunch of water.  The final pic is the final product after the stock went 12 hours in the original pan and then another hour or so this morning. 

Hear are the veal stock components, top picture is veal bones and oxtail going into the pot.  Yes, oxtail is not veal but it's the same animal just a different age, and it was a whole lot cheaper and more accessible than ordering veal knuckles.  Second picture is the veg that went into the pot.  Final pic is the result after 12 hours of simmering.

Here we've got the mise for the turtle soup, the veg and meat, which consisted of chicken thighs and turtle meat, which surprisingly enough did not stink up the house like I thought it might.

The final result of the mussel stock.  Which was made from shallots, fennel, garlic, tarragon, lemon juice, vermouth and mussels.  This so far has been the biggest waste of the adventure.  I don't like mussels very much at all.  I can eat about 2 before I start feeling queasy so eating two pounds is absolutely out of the question, so I'll be throwing them away. 

Overall a good weekend so far.  two more stocks to make tomorrow, then I really get to experiment by trying out my food saver's ability to cook sous vide. 

Lamb Chop's Play Along

Yeah, I totally went there with that title but it's appropriate.  Thursday night from Bobby Flay's Bold American Food I made pan seared lamb chops served over preserved jalapenos. 

So here we go.

The mise.  WE've got a mixture of red peppers and jalapenos, red wine vinegar, sugar and the lamb chops.

Here is all of the ingredients except for the lambchops.  The recipe called for preserves but I really just candied the vegetables because I didn't feel like canning them. 

Here are the lamb chops in the pan.  Lamb should always be served rare, so I only cooked them for about 3 minutes per side.

The completed lamb chops.

The completed plate.  This meal was absolutely delicious.  I probably didn't make the vegetables as spicy as I could have since I used an equal number of red peppers and jalapenos and as you know, red peppers are much larger.  Which overall was probably a good thing since I don't do very well with spicy.

Anyway, it's now Saturday and time for round 2 of the stocks and broths for Paris 1906, which I will have posted probably tomorrow.

Steak and Potatoes

A classic combination, but can definitely be taken to the next level.  This recipe was taken from America's Test Kitchen.  This is a pan seared ribeye steak served with buttermilk mashed potatoes and a mustard cream sauce.

 This is the mise.  On top we have the potatoes, and on the bottom, we've got the steak, the mustard, cream , white wine, shallots and chicken broth.

The steak hits a hot pan, seasoned with just a little salt and pepper.

The potatoes.  The top picture is the spuds after they came out of a 15-20 minute bath in boiling water.  The bottom picture is the potatoes all mashed up mixed with butter and buttermilk.

The cooked steak, to a perfect rare temperature.  The steak was seared for about 3 minutes per side and then spent about 5 minutes in a 300 degree oven.

The sauce is made in the same pan the steak was cooked in.  First after adding a bit of oil to the pan cook the shallots.  Once the shallots have cooked add the wine and cook until almost evaporated.  Then add the broth, cream and mustard and stir to combine, and cook until sauce is thickened.

The finished product.  Man it was delicious.