Studio Living: My dishwasher is small, but this was worth it

I have a thing about poultry skin. Generally speaking, I think it's icky. The only exception I delightfully make is for Peking Duck. If I am offered fried chicken, I'm as likely as not to pull off the skin and give it to someone who appreciates it.

I'm not going to argue that cooking with the skin on will make for juicier meat. I also have friends who love poultry skin, so when I found this recipe, the cabbage and bacon and braising intrigued me, I invited one of them over for dinner. Conveniently, he arrived early and I got some assistance, which was much needed due to space constraints, which I'll get into in a bit.

The ingredients are all things I find tasty, though I did make a few adjustments: (I also capitalized Tablespoon in this list)

• 2 1/2 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (6 to 8 thighs; 1.15kg) (I ended up with 8, which didn't all fit in my sauté pan, I'll get to that in a bit)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon (15ml) vegetable oil
• 8 ounces (225g) slab bacon or salt pork, cut into 1/2- by 1/4-inch lardons
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced (about 6 ounces; 170g)
• 1 pound finely shredded cabbage (about 1 medium head; 450g)
• 2 Tablespoons (30ml) whole-grain mustard (I added another Tablespoon)
• 1/2 cup (120ml) apple cider vinegar (I added another 2 Tablespoons)
• 1 cup (235ml) homemade or store-bought low-sodium chicken stock
• 3 Tablespoons sugar (I cut this down to 1)
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 sprigs thyme (more like a dozen)
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (I completely forgot about this and didn't really need it)

Tasty Blender Tricks: Romanesco Pasta Sauce

Credit for this one goes out to my friend Hilary. Hilary and I worked together at two separate companies. We initially bonded after a pot luck at the first company. She'd brought some utterly fabulous horseradish cheddar and I was the only one who was interested in taking home the leftovers.

So when she sent me this recipe a few weeks ago, I gave it a good read. I am not fond of most squash, though I will occasionally stuff a zucchini boat with meat sauce and top it with a ton of cheese. Generally, I avoid the stuff, preferring other vegetables. 

But the sauce was intriguing. So I made it and I am delighted. Also worth noting: this is vegan and can easily be made gluten-free.

• 2 spaghetti squash (ignored and replaced with  chick pea pasta)
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons olive oil (I didn't need the 2 T)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 garlic clove, sliced (might add a bit more next time)
• 16 oz roasted red peppers, drained (some jars are only 14 oz, it's perfectly okay)
• 1 slice of bread, toasted (it's to thicken the sauce and give it body. If you're serving a gluten-free person, some rice crackers would probably do the same thing. If you're not a carb person, I suspect you can either leave it out or throw in a touch of xanthan gum, if you're a person who has xanthan gum in the pantry)
• 1 red pepper flake packet (or 1/2 teaspoon) (I did much more than this, which will be of no surprise to anyone who knows me)
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (same as above, especially considering that I think I bought the paprika at least two apartments ago)
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Fish for breakfast

Fish for breakfast is hardly a new concept. People all over the planet have been doing it since time immemorial, though unless you count lox on bagels, it has never been a regular thing for me.

My first exposure to the concept was from my father, who occasionally liked to fish. He would sometimes zap some smelt in a pan to have along with his fried eggs and toast. I didn't care for smelt when I was a rugrat. 

Now, older and wiser, I do try new things here and there. I also consume a lot of British media, so I suppose it was only a matter of time before I tried kedgeree, if only out of curiosity. I mentioned I was thinking of trying it, and my friend Marybeth provided this recipe from the BBC. 

• 475g/1lb 1oz undyed smoked haddock fillet, cut in half  (I didn't have access to haddock, the grocery said they had trout, but ended up substituting salmon, so see the additional instructions below for that).
• 2 bay leaves
• 200g/7oz basmati rice, rinsed in cold water and drained
• 4 free-range eggs
• 100g/3½oz frozen peas (optional) (I plan to us a bit more next time. I adore curry and peas together)
• 40g/1½oz butter
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil (there's a history of sunflower allergy in my family, so I used safflower. Avocado would also do. Light and neutral is whats needed)
• 1 onion, finely chopped (as with the peas, there will be more next time)
• 1 heaped tbsp medium curry powder
• 3 tbsp double cream
• 3 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
• ½ lemon, juice only
• freshly ground black pepper

Place the haddock in a large frying pan, skin-side up. Pour over 500ml/18fl oz water, add the bay leaves and bring the water to a gentle simmer. Cook the fish for 8–10 minutes until it is just done and flakes easily. Drain in a colander set over a bowl, reserving the cooking liquor, and discard the bay leaves.

Pour the cooking liquor into a saucepan and stir in the rice. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer the rice very gently for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave the rice covered for 3–5 minutes more. By this time it should have absorbed all the fish liquor.

While the rice is cooking, bring some water to the boil in a saucepan. Add the eggs and cook for 8 minutes. Drain them in a sieve under cold running water and when cool enough to handle, peel them carefully and set aside. Cook the peas, if using, in a small saucepan of boiling water and drain.

Melt the butter with the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion over a low heat for 5 minutes until well softened, stirring occasionally. Add the curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. 

A word about the curry powder. I am quite fond of spicy heat, but I have to say that the extra-hot curry powder I had in the house was a bit much. I will be getting a milder one for the next batch. If you want an assortment to choose from, I am happy to recommend Auntie Arwen's (this is not a paid endorsement, but I'll happily take money for it).

Place the cooked rice into the pan and stir into the onions. Add the peas, cream, parsley and a few twists of ground black pepper.

Flake the fish into chunky pieces and add these to the pan. Gently stir in the lemon juice and cook for 1–2 minutes. Cut the eggs into quarters and place them on top of the rice. Cover the pan with a lid and heat through for 2–3 minutes or until the eggs are warm, then serve.

If not serving immediately, tip the kedgeree into a warm dish and dot with a few cubes of butter. Cover with kitchen foil and keep warm in a low oven for up to 20 minutes before serving.

The instructions I followed at the first step:  To make this dish using hot smoked salmon, swap in 500ml/18fl oz light chicken stock in place of the cooking liquor from the fish. Stir in the hot smoked salmon with the peas.

Raiding the Freezer

I blame the friends who brought carnitas to New Year's Eve. Tender and juicy and then I remembered I had a pork loin in the freezer. I had also made huevos rancheros this week so I had tacos to use up.

So I went poking around the internet, like one does, and found a recipe that intrigued me.  I scaled everything down because my pork loin was much smaller, but kept the proportions the same:

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 lb. pork loin
• 1 cup chicken stock (I had low-sodium in the pantry, so I went with that)
• 1 orange, juiced
• 1 lime, juiced
• 7 oz. can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste 

There are very few recipes where I feel the need to change something. Ask anyone I've ever lived with and they'll tell you I put salt on my salt. I thought I'd be adding some garlic salt to this after it came out of the oven, but nope, nothing needed.

The instructions:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Heat the olive oil in a large Dutch oven or skillet over a burner turned to medium-high heat.
• Sear the pork loin on each side, about 4 minutes per side, until a crust has formed. (I don't really care for my meat crunchy on the outside, so I seared for 3 minutes a aside to get it a brown shade. As you wish) 
• Turn the burner off and add the stock, orange juice, lime juice, and the can of chipotles to the Dutch oven, or transfer the seared loin to a casserole dish and top with the ingredients listed above. (I went for the casserole dish because I didn't have so much pork that I thought it warranted such a huge vessel #StudioLiving)
• Place the lid on the Dutch oven, or cover the casserole dish with foil, and place in the preheated oven for 2-3 hours. When you can pull apart the pork with a fork, it is done. (I went for the full three hours and flipped it halfway through, although keeping it covered kept it plenty moist)
• Taste and add salt and pepper if desired, but I often find that the canned chipotles add enough seasoning. None needed! How delightful!
• If a crispy carnita is desired, spread the pork out on to a sheet pan and turn the oven to high broil.
• Broil for 2-3 minutes, until a crust has formed on the meat. Watch carefully so the pork doesn’t burn.
• Serve in tacos, burritos, quesadillas, or on taco salad.

My carnitas went in a couple of tacos topped with black beans, a bit of salsa verde, sharp cheddar, green onions, and sour cream. I didn't have enough room for the avocados, so those got eaten at the end with everything that dripped out of the tacos. I call that a win. 

Prefolding pic because nobody was handy to hold a folded taco while I took the shot.

This is definitely being made again.

If you try these, let me know. It's rare I have so little commentary on a recipe. This just works!

Dessert for a change (a simple baked pear)

 This one is going to need a little tweaking, but I'm fairly happy with the results, especially considering I was winging it without a recipe.

I like the flavor of pears, but I'm not really fond of the texture. Mostly I use them in smoothies with a lot of chopped or grated ginger (there's usually some in the house, sometimes fresh, soemtimes from a jar), vanilla protein powder, almond milk, maybe some nutmeg, the last idea for which I thank my unofficially adopted little sister Fae.

I've tried a few different kinds and I usually come back to Bosc. I've had them grilled, poached in wine, these have gone over vanilla ice cream or gelato.

This week I figured, why not bake one? It's no secret I loathe the taste and texture of the traditional flour/sugar/salt/water/fat, but really, there's no rule all baked fruit needs to be in pie or tart or turnover. 

If I wanted crunch, I have raspberry granola, and that could be an option for the other pear in the fridge. I like the spices, though, so after some thought, I came up with this.

• One Bosc pear lazily peeled so there's a little left for texture,
• 3/4 Tablespoon of butter
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar (I had light in the pantry. Dark would work just fine)
• Ground nutmeg
• Ground ginger
• 2 Tablespoons cream for serving

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees F (244 C, 477 Kelvin) first thing. 

The pear was chopped into bits no bigger than a cubic inch. No, I didn't measure, this was purely eyeballed. I tried to keep them similar.

Next, I  used some of the butter to grease a small class baking dish, then put the rest in a ramekin in the microwave at level 5 for 30 seconds to melt it. Pears into the dish, stir with the butter.

From there, I sprinkled on the sugar and stirred again, then shook the nutmeg and ginger jars over the pears a few times. Again with the stirring.

This next bit is where I need to tweak some. I put the pears in the oven, uncovered, and stirred them every ten minutes or so. I think I need to do this at list every fifteen. I didn't really get some nice browning until about 45 minutes in and I ended up turning up the heat a touch towards the end. I will post an update when I do this again.

It also needs a bit more spice, maybe a touch of vanilla. 

They came out of the oven looking like this:

and it is definitely clear that I need some smaller bowls because the serving, which was perfect for one, looked a little lonely in the smallest of the bowls I have.

I finished it with 2 T of cream because I love fruit and cream and I didn't want the sweetness of ice cream to overwhelm the spices. It made for an excellent mouthfeel. 

Quite easy, overall. It could easily be made vegan with a butter substitute (I'm not up on my butter substitu5es), and finishing it with a coffee creamer. Trader Joe's has a vanilla one made with almond and coconut milk that could work, but I'd use only 1 T because it will have extra sugar. Not sure if almond milk by itself would work, but it's definitely worth investigating.

If you try this, please let me know! 

Sometimes You Read the Comments: Tuscan Tomato-White Bean Soup

 Hello everyone! This summer has been rather lazy in the cooking department. For meals, I've mostly made things I'm familiar with because the humidity sometimes get so bad I don't even want to think very hard. 

Suddenly, it was September and I realized if I was going to do anything special with fresh tomatoes, I should probably do it now or not until next year.

I'm losing my job (anyone need an IT Project Manager?) at the end of September, so comfort food is called for. Last time I made tomato soup, the results were not my favorite, though I definitely learned a few things.

This recipe intrigued me. I love white beans, though I usually have them in a salad with tuna. Hey, protein! Definitely makes the soup heartier, and the recipe is also easily adaptable to serve my vegan friends. Plus, I don't usually get enough vegetables in a given day/week anyway.

The comments on this recipe ranged from OMG I love it to I Had to Adjust. So, I adjusted quite a bit.

Our ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling (mild grump here for having to capitalize Tablespoon all over this recipe.)
• 1 large onion, chopped (I also threw in a shallot)
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed
• Kosher salt
• 2 Tablespoons tomato paste (I doubled this because one of the comments had mentioned they thought the recipe bland and they added both sugar and vinegar)
• 2 pounds tomatoes, chopped (I used Roma, which several recipes I looked at recommended for soup. I also threw in some leftover cherry tomatoes I had in the apartment)
• 2 15-ounce cans no-salt-added white beans, drained and rinsed (I could not find no-salt-added, so I went with low sodium and rinsed them twice)
• 1 quart low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (I used vegetable here)
• 1 sprig rosemary, plus 1 teaspoon chopped leaves (I used four)
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes, plus more for sprinkling (I doubled this)
• 4 cups cubed ciabatta bread (about 4 ounces)
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (about 2 ounces)

The instructions were easy to follow:

1. Heat 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the onion, 3 garlic cloves (try 5) and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened, 5 minutes (15). Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring occasionally, 1 minute (5). Add all but 1/2 cup of the chopped tomatoes (I threw in them all, I'll explain why in a bit), the beans, broth, 1 cup water (1/2 Cup chicken broth, 1/2 cup water), the rosemary sprig(2), red pepper flakes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer 20 minutes.

Having learned my lesson the last time, I set a timer for 20 minutes, and continued listening to a current favorite podcast, Malevolent, while starting to write this entry. For the next hour, I got up and stirred every 20 minutes, scraping the sides as it reduced. When I tasted it, even with my additions, I felt it was way too bland, so I threw in a can of tomato paste, stirred, and put on another episode. 

Adapted for Sous Vide: Butter Shoyu Chicken

When I want to make something, but I'm not sure what, I often find myself back at Just One Cookbook. I find Namiko Hirasawa Chen (aka Nami)'s writing style to be friendly and laid back, and I find the recipes easy to follow and they don't tend towards needing special equipment (Yes, I know, this entry is full of special equipment. the irony is not lost on me).

Butter-Shoyu Chicken caught my eye because I don't tend to think about butter or much dairy at all when it comes to Japanese foods and the taste combination intrigued me. Another factor: I had everything in the fridge, freezer, or pantry.

Well, almost. I had two boneless chicken breasts and no thighs, and they were skinless to boot, so I was not going to get the rich deep poultry flavors I wanted from the recipe as written. However...

I've been playing with the immersion circulator long enough that I was comfortable enough to try adapting so I could. Same ingredients for the sauce went into a glass measuring cup (a bowl works too if that's what you'd rather. Or a small jar for that matter where you can cap it and shake. Whatever's easiest for you in your kitchen):

• 2.5 Tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons sake
• 1 Tablespoon mirin
• 1 Tablespoon sugar

I stirred it well, using a swizzle stick a friend had given me for my bar. (thanks Gina!), put it aside and looked at the recipe again. 

I didn't need the oil for sous vide, so that could be eliminated. So could the additional Tablespoons of sake because I wasn't steaming the chicken with it. I made my bags with my vacuum sealer (Note: if this is too fiddly for you, there are other options I'll talk about below), stirred the sauce again and opened the chicken.

When I work with raw chicken, I touch it as little as possible, using tongs (links to different types here on The Accessible Chef). The chicken will start out either on a plate, in one of those handy not-quite-Tupperware containers you can get at the grocery store for your leftovers, or a decent-sized bowl. I sprinkled each side of the chicken with kosher salt and ground black pepper and put a breast in each bag, stopping occasionally to stir the sauce again to get that sugar dissolved.  

To each bag I added .5 Tablespoon of butter, which I cut in half and put one on each side of the bagged breast, and then 2 Tablespoons of salt. From there, I sealed the bags and put in the ridge, then started up the rice cooker. I was going for brown rice, which my Toshiba says takes an hour and twenty minutes.

I filled the sous vide container with water and heated it up to 147 F, which is 63.88 C (and 337 K, if you care 😃). Once things were set to cook, I had I did some minor cleanup and watched an episode of Death in Paradise on Britbox. It has been remarked upon that I might be addicted to crime shows, especially British ones.

One murder later, I put the rest of the sauce in a small pan on the stove, and set the heat to medium. I also filled a small pot with water, set that burner to high, and washed some snow peas. Those would get tossed into the water once it boiled, just long enough for them to turn bright green.

While waiting for the water to boil, I opened the sous vide bags and drained the juices into the pan with the sauce and turned the heat up to medium-high until I started seeing small bubbles. then I reduced it down to low, giving it a bit of time to reduce. 

If I'd been having company, I likely would have seared the chicken in a grill pan to have those nice marks on it, plated it over the rice, and scattered the snow peas in an artful circule. That wasn't quite what happened. I put the rice in my favorite bowl, pre-cut the chicken so it would be easy to grab with chopsticks, added the chicken, the snow peas, and spooned the sauce over the chicken and threw a few green onions on top. Absolutely delicious.  

I forgot to get a picture, to my embarrassment. I was pretty hungry by that poin.

Regarding sous vide bags. They can be a big pain in the ass to make. While vacuum sealers aren't hard to use, they can be heavy and awkward, and they take up a lot of storage space. I haven't tried this, but some people swear by this water displacement method, with a standard zipper bag. A few vendors out there also make silicone re-useable bags. I have a few of these, but haven't tried yet. I do find them easier to close than standard zipper bags because the seal mechanism is larger.  I have plenty of leftovers, so I may try reheating the chicken sous vide with one of them. It's about time I tested that out.