December 2016 Cooking Wrap-Up

Cooking wise, if not in other respects, 2016 has been a successful year.

I made a second sourdough starter with canned pineapple juice and whole wheat flour and then made some great breads with it. I thickened it up quite a bit compared to the one I made in 2105 and that may have accounted for some of the success. Experience helped as well, as I’m less hesitant about trying new sourdough recipes. I did revisit the old stand-by, regular yeast, and made a delicious honey challah just before Christmas. Definitely something I’ll be repeating next year.

Bacon, Cheddar Cheese and Cracked Black Pepper Sourdough loaf and round Honey Challah

Crumb of the challah

Cooking on an even stricter budget than ever before resulted in having to be creative with simple ingredients bought on sale, like chicken, pork and ground beef, or leftovers, and the results were mostly successful. You’ll have to scroll back through the posts to see them. I do miss fish, seafood and steak however. I’m also grocery shopping less often and there’s less wastage as I try to use up what’s most perishable first. I’m also going back to basics with the dishes I’ve been making such as cookies and fudge. I haven’t been buying as many jarred sauces as in the past, while using up the ones I already have in things like stir-fries.

The meat sauce I made recently with a simple spaghetti sauce base was delicious as well as economical.  One pound of ground beef was stretched to make eight cups of sauce.

I turned some leftover mashed sweet potato into muffins with raisins for added sweetness using a recipe found on Rachel Ray’s web site.

And because I missed seafood … I bought a package of mussels in garlic sauce on sale, and one of cooked shrimp, and made this pasta dish with the spaghetti sauce.

Risotto Duo … Lemon Shrimp Risotto and Fresh Corn Risotto/Arancini

My brother did a grocery drop off … ok, it was beer, a grapefruit cooler and corn on the cob, but it still counts as groceries in my book. I am attempting to think of creative things to do with my goodies.

First, the fresh corn.

Risotto is usually a side dish like pasta but, like pasta, you can make it an entree by adding a protein.

Lemon Shrimp Risotto

I decided to make a basic risotto with a flavourful chicken stock (Better than Bouillon, in this case) with saffron threads and a half glass of Reisling Pinot Grigio. I removed one third of the risotto when it was almost done to a second saucepan and added diced sauteed shrimp to it and a bit more stock. I stirred in some lemon zest and juice just before serving.

Ingredients: 1 1/2 cup arborio rice, 1/2 cup white wine, 5 cups chicken stock with a pinch of saffron threads, 1 onion, finely diced, 1 large clove garlic, finely minced, 1 cup fresh kernel corn, 6 tbsp unsalted butter, 6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 3/4 pound peeled and deveined shrimp, zest and juice of 1/2 lemon, salt and pepper as needed. If desired, fresh basil leaves, julienned, may be added to the risotto along with the lemon zest and juice.

To the rest of the risotto, I added fresh corn kernels, cut off the cob and sauteed in butter and olive oil, and after refrigerating the risotto overnight, I made cheese arancini. I was going to add fresh basil to the filling but I got too tired to bother going outside to pluck fresh basil off my plants.

Speaking of basil … here are a few pictures. Of course, the hot weather has got me down so I’m letting my plants go to seed rather than harvesting them and making pesto as I’d planned.

Re-imagining Basic Recipes

So much for my ‘break’. But I’ve been having a lot of fun and couldn’t resist sharing some pictures.

Taking a recipe and re-thinking some elements to come up with something new and exciting is important for the daily cook. And those of us on a budget who can’t run out and buy exotic or expensive ingredients.

So, adding beet puree (only 2 tbsp to a 2 egg pasta recipe) to a basic pasta recipe and coming up with a very pretty pink pasta doesn’t take a lot of money, just some imagination, or google-fu in case your imagination is as limited as mine.

Making the Beet Pasta

 

Dressing the resulting pasta is another fun pastime.

Shrimp Scampi … a very romantic shrimp supper for two

 

Browned Butter and Sage … a more modest meatless pasta dish with a generous grating of Grana Padano cheese

No changes in this dish from the basic recipe I posted before, but the pictures are MUCH nicer.

I haven’t made these onigiri (Japanese rice patties) in ages. You can leave them plain or fill them with anything from the classic umeboshi which are a type of pickled ‘plums’, dried bonito flakes moistened with soy sauce or a very Western tuna salad. The onigiri may also be eaten as is or grilled, basted with soy sauce and then grilled again briefly. Wrapping a strip of nori around the rice patty keeps your fingers clean, but you’ll want to wait til the last minute so the seaweed stays nice and crispy.

I learned a fun way to shape/pack sushi rice into a round ball. Simply take 2 small round bottomed bowls, rinse them with water so the rice doesn’t stick, add your rice to the bottom bowl, put the other bowl on top and SHAKE back and forth for a minute or so.

 

Crack open the ball of rice on a moistened sheet of food wrap over which you’ve sprinkled some salt, and add your filling. Tighten the plastic wrap around the ball and filling and squeeze it tightly, then form into a triangle shape.

Plain Onigiri – wrap a strip of nori around the patty before eating

Yaki Onigiri – I like to add a bit of wasabi to the onigiri before wrapping the nori around it and eating.

 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies become cookie cups … I used 3-4 tbsp to make balls which were placed into muffin tins sprayed with cooking spray. The cookies and cups were baked together for 15-16 min at 350 deg F and then I used the bottom of a shot glass to press down the cookie in the muffin tins to make a ‘cup’. The cups were allowed to cool for 5 minutes before being removed from the muffin tins and transferred to the cooling rack to cool completely.

I’ll fill the cups and share pictures soon.

 

Bang Bang Shrimp (and Chicken) version 2

I’ve made Bang Bang Shrimp before but simply sauteed the raw shrimp in a garlic butter and then coated them in the sauce. This time however, I went for the more challenging version and tempura battered the raw shrimp and then deep fried them. I was disappointed with the pale look of the shrimp even after several minutes of frying so, for the rest of the batch, I dipped the battered shrimp into Panko bread crumbs.

Oops!!

I had forgotten that Panko browns … very quickly. I reduced the cooking temperature and time and ended up with much prettier shrimp.

At this point, you can do anything you want with your shrimp, including just eating them with a seafood sauce. I decided to serve the Bang Bang sauce (equal parts sweet Thai chili paste and mayo, with some Sriracha for heat) on the side. The poor pale ‘tester’ tempura shrimp were tossed with the sauce and sprinkled with sliced green onions for a nicer presentation.

Bang Bang Shrimp tossed with sauce

I had extra tempura batter so I diced up a chicken cutlet and made the chicken version of the dish. If you wish to serve this as a shared dish, provide a container of toothpicks and let your friends spear their own.

Bang Bang Chicken drizzled with sauce and garnished with green onion

For the tempura batter, I used a Bonefish Grill copycat recipe. There are several out there.

Bang Bang Shrimp version 2
(Bonefish Grill Copycat recipe)

1/2-1 lb of large shrimp

Sprinkle shrimp with about 1/2 tsp of salt. Let sit for 12 minutes in a large bowl.

Tempura Batter

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup milk or water (add 2 tbsp of water and then more as needed)
1 large egg

2-3 cups vegetable oil for deep frying
2 cups Panko (optional)
1 tbsp sliced green onion for garnish

Pre-heat oil to 350 deg F in a medium sized pot.

In a second bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, milk and egg. Whisk together until smooth. Add additional milk or water if needed until it is thin enough that it will coat the shrimp.

Drain off excess batter and fry, 3-4 at a time, depending on size of container, for 3 minutes, turning so both sides get browned.

Fried shrimp … a little pale looking for my taste

For a crunchy crust, drain off excess batter, place the battered shrimp into a large shallow bowl with the Panko, turning over to coat both sides.

Fry for 2-3 minutes or until the coating is browned and the shrimp are curled up. Place onto a tray lined with paper towels to drain off the excess fat and let cool.

Bang Bang Sauce – makes about 1/2 cup of sauce

1/4 cup mayo
1/4 cup sweet Thai chili sauce
Sriracha to taste

Mix together well and either toss with the shrimp before serving or serve on the side. Garnish with green onion.

Mushroom and Shrimp Linguine for Valentine’s Day

This was going to be a mushroom linguine but as it was Valentine’s Day, I decided to splurge and add some large Black Tiger shrimp to the dish.

Mushroom (and Shrimp)** Linguine – 4 servings

340 g linguine
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
2-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 pkgs (454 g) white button mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp (5 mL) chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 cup (250 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup (75 mL) whipping cream 35%
2 tsp (10 mL) grated lemon zest
2 tbsp (30 mL) lemon juice
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground black pepper
2 tbsp (30 mL) chopped fresh parsley or 2 tsp dried parsley

** Peel and devein 1 pound of shrimp

In large pot of boiling lightly salted water, cook pasta according to package directions until al dente. Reserving 1/3 cup of the cooking liquid, drain.

Meanwhile, in large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium-high heat; saute garlic until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add (shrimp,) mushrooms and thyme; saute until the mushrooms are softened, about 3 minutes (and the shrimp are red).

Stir in pasta, reserved cooking liquid, Parmesan cheese, cream, lemon zest, lemon juice and black pepper; cook, stirring, until sauce is slightly thickened, about 1 minute.

Stir in parsley if using fresh. If using dried, reserve 1/2 tsp for garnish.

Serve with more grated Parmesan cheese on top if you’d like as well as the dried parsley.

Dessert was a white chocolate panna cotta with a raspberry coulis.

For the coulis, I combined 1/2 cup of raspberries with 1 tbsp of coarse sugar and 1 tbsp of lemon juice, pureed it and then strained out the seeds. A fast and elegant presentation.