September 2020 – Cooking the Books

September 26, 2020

Herby quinoa makes for quick, tasty dinner

This week’s recipe, I regret to say, sat unused for years in my binder full of recipes. I feel extra bad about that, though I have several unmade recipes ripped from magazines in the binder, because this one came hand-written from my mother.

Even in the era of the Internet where she has shared several recipes with me via email, this one came to me hand-written. I’m not even sure when I got it or why (other than that it’s tasty), or why I never made it.

However, my sweetie recently purchased quinoa for a vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe I mentioned recently, and so we had some extra sitting around, ready to be used. Enter my mom’s herby quinoa recipe.

Her recipe called to be made in a saucepan, but it was a small enough meal, enough for four servings, that it fit easily in my 9-inch Le Creuset.

It was incredibly simple, and incredibly tasty, and I feel incredibly stupid for waiting so long to make it.

While it does have bacon in it, it’s otherwise pretty healthy. Welcome after last week’s indulgence. The grain, herbs, some toasted almonds, with some bacon, and voila, a tasty weeknight meal is made.

Here’s what I did, following Mom’s recipe … though she forgot to specify the amount of broth so I had to wing that part and it took slightly longer to cook than her recipe said:

Ingredients

½ c. slivered almonds
1 t. vegetable oil
4 slices of bacon (her recipe called for two thick pieces, I had thin stuff so I doubled it), ¼ in. dice
1 small shallot, diced
1 c. quinoa, rinsed
2 c. vegetable or chicken broth
2 sage sprigs (hers called for 1, but I am a sucker for herbs)
1 T. minced chives
1 T. chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread almonds in pie plate and toast in the oven until golden brown. Let cool.

In a 9- to 10-inch skillet, heat oil, add bacon, and cook until fat has rendered, about 2 minutes. Add the shallot and cook stirring a few times, until the shallot has softened but not browned. Add the quinoa, stock, and sage, and bring to a boil.

Cover and cook over low heat until the stock has been absorbed, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes. Discard the sage stems, fluff the quinoa with a fork. Stir in the chives, parsley, and toasted almonds. Season with salt and pepper, and enjoy!

September 19, 2020

This dip is loaded

Once upon a time, there was this magical world where we could safely gather in large groups and enjoy each other’s company while we shared fancy foods and strong drinks. But then darkness befouled the land, and those visits became virtual.

While I’m not missing the commute to see our friends in the Cedar Valley, I am missing their company and the ability to share tasty treats with them on a semi-regular basis.

Some foods are just better shared with friends, and only partially because having that many calories in the house is a terrible idea. However, this week’s decadent loaded baked potato dip sounded too delicious to wait until we can again share physical space with our friends.

It was pretty easy to make, and honestly, it wasn’t much of a challenge for two people to eat it over a few days, though I’m not sure that was the healthiest move. But it was a tasty choice.

As its name suggests, it’s a mix of potatoes, bacon, cheese, sour cream, and green onions. To make it slightly healthier, I did serve it with sweet pepper wedges and bread, rather than a saltier vessel. Still, you could taste extravagance in every wonderful bite.

Here’s what I did, mostly following a Better Homes & Gardens recipe:

Ingredients

2 ¼ lb. Yukon gold or other small potatoes, quartered
Salt
4 slices bacon
10 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 ½ c. shredded sharp cheddar
½ c. sour cream
2 to 3 green onions, chopped
½ t. garlic powder
Bread and/or sweet peppers, for serving

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large saucepan, bring a lightly salted pot of water to a boil and then add the potatoes. Cook, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender, and drain.

Meanwhile in a large skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon to drain on paper towels. When cool enough to touch, crumble bacon, reserving about 1 T. for topping.

In a large bowl, mash the still warm potatoes, add the remaining bacon, cream cheese, 1 c. cheddar cheese, the sour cream, green onions, and garlic powder. Stir to combine.

Spoon mixture into a 9- to 10-inch cast iron skillet.
Bake the mixture for 20 to 25 minutes or until heated through. Remove from heat and turn on the broiler.

Top the potato mixture with the remaining ½ c. cheddar cheese and the reserved bacon. Broil 4 to 5 inches from the heat for about 1 to 2 minutes, until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Serve warm with the bread and/or peppers, and enjoy (even if it’s just you, treat yourself!)!

September 12, 2020

Savoring creamy salmon piccata

The first time I tasted chicken piccata was pretty much life-altering. I can’t say definitively that it was *the* recipe that made me want to up my cooking game, but it was pretty close.

I was living in rural North Dakota — before the oil boom — and there weren’t a lot of restaurant options; plus, I didn’t have a lot of money to eat out all the time (still don’t, in fact!). At the same time, there are only so many times you can cycle through the same handful of items you know how to make before you start looking for something, anything new.

At some point along that journey, I discovered the magical combination of flavors that make up a piccata: tart lemons, salty bursts of capers, a slight creaminess from butter, and the savoriness from a simple sauce mostly made of broth and wine. The plain-ish chicken breasts are just the perfect vehicle to enjoy the rest of the tastes on your tongue.

I like this classic dish so much, I made it into a trashy casserole that I like enough to have made multiple times.

So, as soon as I saw a recipe for a salmon piccata, my interest was piqued.

Unfortunately, the first two, yes TWO, recipes I came across for it had no exact measurements. Now, I’m not a super stickler for precision when I’m making dinner and not, say, a bread, but it helps to know a rough amount to ensure you end up with a sauce and not a soup.

I started Googling and found what turned out to be quite a few salmon piccata recipes. I found one that mostly suited my needs from a blog felicitously named Grateful that seemed similar to a handful of others I found, if not exact, so I mixed and matched a couple other ideas from other blogs to come up with what worked for me.

And well, since it met my tastes, I loved it. I served it with a side of orzo but any grain or pasta would make a great bed for this delicious — and extra creamy — sauce.

Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

2 T. olive oil
12 to 16 oz. skinless salmon filets
½ to 1 c. flour for dredging
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 T. garlic, minced
¾ c. plus 2 T. vegetable or chicken broth, divided
½ c. dry white wine
2 t. cornstarch
½ c. heavy cream
Juice from half a lemon, plus slices for serving
1 T. butter
2 T. minced fresh dill
2 ½ T. capers, rinsed
2 T. minced fresh parsley

Directions

Heat a 9- to 10-inch skillet nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 T. olive oil.

Dab the salmon dry with paper towels. Dredge through the flour, seasoned with salt and pepper, and then place in skillet. Sear until bottom is golden brown, about 4 minutes. Carefully flip the fillets and then continue to cook until cooked through, about 2 to 3 minutes longer.

Transfer the salmon to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm.

Add the remaining olive oil and add garlic, sauteing until just brown, about 20 seconds. Pour in the broth, minus the 2 T., and wine and let simmer until broth is reduced by half, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with the 2 T. remaining broth, and then pour mixture into the reduced broth mixture and cook until thickened, stirring often, about 1 minute.

Stir in the cream, lemon juice, butter, and dill. Remove from heat and return salmon to the skillet. Spoon the sauce over the salmon fillets, and then sprinkle with capers and parsley. Serve with a small pasta, such as orzo, maybe some white wine, and enjoy!

September 4, 2020

Peaches and bourbon, that’s my jam

Apparently I didn’t have enough of using booze to make food after last week.

This week’s excuse is only that I have been wanting to make this peach and bourbon jam recipe for years and for some reason didn’t think about the fact that although it called for a saucepan that it would almost certainly fit in my little Le Creuset.

Plus, I really like bourbon and peaches. Especially as I both mourn the end of summer and welcome the first hints of autumn.

This wonderful peach bourbon jam offers a good balance of both summer’s sweetness and cooling fall flavors.

I love bourbon pretty much any time of year, but with the cool comes the welcome sensation of a good whiskey burning through my insides. Peaches, of course, are peaking, and I can’t get enough of one of my favorite summer fruits while they’re in season.

The only thing I forgot about is my anxiety when it comes to getting things to an exact temperature.

From the first time I tried to make salt water taffy as a tween to my first personal blog on peanut brittle, I have a long habit of mostly screwing up this type of thing.

While the end result worked great (whew!), it was supposed to get to temperature in 6 minutes … but the recipe also warned to adjust the temp as needed. Me, I read that as turning things down, but I was disappointed when after 10 minutes, I was still about 15 degrees shy of the goal. I turned things back up and voila, I could literally see the change in texture to something that actually resembled a jam.

So, I did cook things down a little bit more than the 2 cup yield, but I got a peachy vanilla-y jam, and that’s just peachy keen for me.

All that’s missing is the peanut butter.

Here’s what I did, following an Epicurious recipe I’ve had saved for years:

Ingredients

½ vanilla bean
1 lb. ripe but firm yellow peaches, pitted and cut into ½-inch pieces
1 c. sugar
½ c. peeled and grated Granny Smith apple
1 c. bourbon
1 T. bottled lemon juice (the recipe specified the bottled for the preservative qualities)

Directions

Place two small plates in the freezer to chill (for testing thickness later).

Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise, and scrape out seeds into a 9-inch coated cast-iron skillet. Add the rest of the vanilla bean, and then stir in the peaches, sugar, apple, bourbon, and lemon juice. Mix together, cover, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Turn on stovetop to medium-high heat, and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often. Once sugar is dissolved, reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the peaches are softened, about 10 to 15 minutes.

Remove from heat, and crush the fruit with a potato masher until mostly smooth.

Return mixture to the stovetop, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often and adjusting heat if necessary, until the mixture reaches 217 to 220 degrees, about 6 to 10 minutes.

To test consistency, place a teaspoon of the jam on the chilled plate, and freeze for 2 minutes. Then, drag your finger through the jam; if your finger leaves a distinct trail, it is ready, but if it’s still runny, continue to simmer the jam for another 1 to 3 minutes, and test again.

Meanwhile, place two 1-cup mason jars, or large mason jar under hot running water until heated through, 1 to 2 minutes, and shake dry. Use a funnel and ladle to portion out the hot jam into the hot jars. Let cool to room temperature, cover, and refrigerate until the jam is set, about 12 to 24 hours later. (Jam can be refrigerated for up to 2 months.) Enjoy with some toast, or use it to make a tasty PB&J sammy.