What did you cook today?

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ColonelJLloyd
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ColonelJLloyd »

Sent a meal home with a friend who was hosting a casual dinner party with some friends. Salad prep and building a lasagna bolognese (sidekick without Parmesan).

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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

ColonelJLloyd wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:15 pm Sent a meal home with a friend who was hosting a casual dinner party with some friends. Salad prep and building a lasagna bolognese (sidekick without Parmesan).
Really nice and really nice of you to do it! And you broke out the Takeda . . . even nicer! :)
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by Jeff B »

ColonelJLloyd wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:15 pm Sent a meal home with a friend who was hosting a casual dinner party with some friends. Salad prep and building a lasagna bolognese (sidekick without Parmesan).

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Re: What did you cook today?

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ronnie_suburban wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:26 pm Really nice and really nice of you to do it! And you broke out the Takeda . . . even nicer! :)
Ended up cutting a chunk of my middle fingernail off later on, but with my Okeya bunka. Happens the way it always does; I got careless flying through a bunch of carrots. I'm not blaming the bourbon, but it was a factor. :oops:
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by taz575 »

I was doing some potato cutting videos years ago and sliced skin right off my knuckle in the video; you could see the skin sticking to the blade! Had to redo that video, but I think I have the original video around here somewhere!
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

ColonelJLloyd wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 1:13 pm
ronnie_suburban wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 12:26 pm Really nice and really nice of you to do it! And you broke out the Takeda . . . even nicer! :)
Ended up cutting a chunk of my middle fingernail off later on, but with my Okeya bunka. Happens the way it always does; I got careless flying through a bunch of carrots. I'm not blaming the bourbon, but it was a factor. :oops:
Badge of honor, my friend. Badge of honor. :)
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Re: What did you cook today?

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taz575 wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 1:39 pm I was doing some potato cutting videos years ago and sliced skin right off my knuckle in the video; you could see the skin sticking to the blade! Had to redo that video, but I think I have the original video around here somewhere!
Oh boy! Show and Tell day :lol:

PS Did you outshoot the competition and bring home a frozen turkey???
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

Continuing to creep along the Thanksgiving prep trail. Today's task was some cream of mushroom soup that will eventually go into a green bean casserole . . .

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Soup Mise En Place & Moritaka AS Gyuto, 210mm
Sliced creminis, unsalted butter, shallots, assorted/reconstituted dried mushrooms, celery, oyster mushrooms, smashed garlic cloves, dried mushroom soaking liquid, heavy cream, 4x gelatinous beef stock, black pepper (laced with homegrown sage), salt and white wine. Didn't do much fine cutting here because this will eventually go through the blender. The pre-ground black pepper is the byproduct of what I used to 'clean' my spice grinder after grinding the sage yesterday. Basic assembly: seared the aromatics in butter, then added all the mushrooms, s&p, a megablob of the stock ;), the soaking liquid and the wine and let it simmer . . .

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Pre-Soup Simmer
This was just the start of the simmer. I kept it going until it was all very soft and liquidy (about 2 hours), then turned off the burner . . . because I'm heading out for happy hour in a few minutes! :D

When I get home, I'm guessing I'll be glad I did as much as I did before I left. 8-) :lol:

Later, I'll run it through the blender, then strain it through a chinois and finally, stir in some cream by hand. After I taste it and adjust the seasoning, I'll pack it up and it put in the fridge, where it will await casserole assembly, which will happen in a few days.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ColonelJLloyd »

Props, Ronnie. I have to be judicious about certain pieces as storage is limited. My food mill and sieves get the job done well enough a lot of the time, but I miss China caps and chinois.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by taz575 »

I won a turkey 2 weeks ago, first time shooting on almost 3 years! But I donated it back to the club.

I will see where the video went?
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Re: What did you cook today?

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taz575 wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:33 pm I won a turkey 2 weeks ago, first time shooting on almost 3 years! But I donated it back to the club.
Nice! 8-)
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by XexoX »

taz575 wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:33 pm I won a turkey 2 weeks ago, first time shooting on almost 3 years! But I donated it back to the club.
Was this when you went out shooting turkeys? Or was that someone else?
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

ColonelJLloyd wrote: Fri Nov 18, 2022 8:03 pm Props, Ronnie. I have to be judicious about certain pieces as storage is limited. My food mill and sieves get the job done well enough a lot of the time, but I miss China caps and chinois.
Yes. It takes up a lot of room. I keep mine on a hook on the wall of the stairway that leads to my basement. No room in any of the cabinets for it.
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Re: What did you cook today?

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After I made lunches for everyone else I looked around and mine really came together. Next to the sheetpan I used to cook off bacon this morning was a baguette I didn't get around to using Thursday. In the fridge was a pint of split pea and ham soup I thawed out a few days ago. A bit heavy for the middle of the day, but really satisfying when it's cold out.

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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

ColonelJLloyd wrote: Sat Nov 19, 2022 12:40 pm After I made lunches for everyone else I looked around and mine really came together. Next to the sheetpan I used to cook off bacon this morning was a baguette I didn't get around to using Thursday. In the fridge was a pint of split pea and ham soup I thawed out a few days ago. A bit heavy for the middle of the day, but really satisfying when it's cold out.
I think you found a very honorable way of making yourself the best lunch without anyone else feeling slighted. Nice! :D And btw, those croutons look delectable, even without the soup. :)

Plenty of leftovers for us to finish up here but we've got a rather large supply of turnips that I'm trying to work through. To that end, I decided to make a 'practice' turnip gratin to accompany our leftovers. I was thinking that if it went well, I may also make one to bring to my sister's house for Thanksgiving . . .

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Mise En Place & Moritaka AS Gyuto, 210mm
White wine, salt, sagey black pepper, shallots, hakurei turnips, minced garlic, grated cheeses, unsalted butter and whole milk.

After sweating the garlic and shallots in the butter, I added the turnips, wine and milk (along with the s&p) and simmered it all for about 15 minutes. From there, I transferred it to a ceramic casserole dish and baked it at 375F for about 75 minutes, covered for the first 35 or so. At the very end, I added the cheese and broiled it for about 4 minutes (rotating it halfway through) . . .

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Hakurei Turnip Gratin
Going in, Mrs. Suburban was highly skeptical but she ended up loving it, and so did I. This is a really nice treatment, especially because the distinctive flavor of the turnips -- they have a subtle, almost-cinnamon note -- still comes through loud and clear. If I don't make this for Thanksgiving, I'll almost certainly do it for Christmas Eve or Christmas. Other than starting with 3 pounds of turnips, I didn't really measure anything but if I were to tweak anything next time, I'd probably add a touch more salt.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ColonelJLloyd »

Gratins rule. I can't recall doing one with turnips, but I am totally into that.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

ColonelJLloyd wrote: Sat Nov 19, 2022 8:12 pm Gratins rule. I can't recall doing one with turnips, but I am totally into that.
Yeah, I'm going through my turnip honeymoon right now. Didn't think I liked them, got some hakureis in my CSA box, realized that I do like them and now I'm just trying out different ways to make them. Gratins are great; a cheap parlor trick, so why not plug in the turnips? It turned out great but I'm not sure it makes sense to bring one to Thanksgiving -- with the side of my family that's fussier (more set in their ways) about their food -- and where there will already be an onslaught of side dishes. Christmas/Christmas Eve (smaller groups who are typically more interested in mixing things up) is probably a better fit. Either way, I'll keep this one on the short list.
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Re: What did you cook today?

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I chunk up turnips, boil for around 35 minutes, drain and let cool. Then I put some in cheese cloth and wring out most of the water. Then I mix with seasoning, shredded cheese and butter and bake for 10-15min at 375 convection, stir and then add more cheese on top and pop back in for another 10 min or until the cheese is melted. Came out really good for a small batch I did. I used 4 purple topped turnips that were about 3" or so in diameter. Next time, I am going to mix rutabaga and turnips and do the same thing, probably for Thanksgiving. Turnips and rutabaga have a lot of water in them!
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by ronnie_suburban »

taz575 wrote: Sun Nov 20, 2022 1:21 pm I chunk up turnips, boil for around 35 minutes, drain and let cool. Then I put some in cheese cloth and wring out most of the water. Then I mix with seasoning, shredded cheese and butter and bake for 10-15min at 375 convection, stir and then add more cheese on top and pop back in for another 10 min or until the cheese is melted. Came out really good for a small batch I did. I used 4 purple topped turnips that were about 3" or so in diameter. Next time, I am going to mix rutabaga and turnips and do the same thing, probably for Thanksgiving. Turnips and rutabaga have a lot of water in them!
Sounds good. I think just about all veggies are around 90% water but some seem to hold that moisture more than others when they cook. Squeezing them out seems like a great move, especially for a gratin.

I started out my cooking day with another task on my incremental path to Thanksgiving . . .

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Toasted Breadcubes
Some Japanese milk bread that I cubed up then baked in the oven at 350F for about 15 minutes. I'm just going to let these sit out until dressing assembly day, which will either be Wednesday night or Thursday morning, depending on how cold my walk-in/garage is then. If 40F or below in the garage, I can work ahead a bit. If not, I'll wait until the morning of.

Next, it had been a couple weeks since I omeletted but I wanted to get RID of some leftovers this morning. Did that with my Demeyere 5-Plus nonstick . . .

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Leftovers Omelet
Sausages, onions, peppers, bechamel sauce and assorted cheeses. Toasted/buttered Japanese milk bread. Worked some of the bechamel into the eggs, which may explain their pale color. That wasn't a move I'd eagerly repeat. It was fine but not really an improvement over plain old eggs.

Next up, extracted some pork tenderloins from the depths of the freezer and thawed them overnight . . .

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Pork Tenderloin Mise En Place & Sukenari HAP40 Gyuto, 210mm
White wine, red jalapeno, 4x gelatinous pork stock, slivered garlic, leeks, yellow & orange bell peppers, trimmed and trussed pork tenderloins, sagey black pepper, salt, red onion and evoo.

Staying on theme, deep in the fridge, I found some foraged maitake pieces that I'd forgotten about (shit!). They weren't in perfect condition but the fact that I'd cleaned them ahead of time and stored them in a double paper bag left them in fine shape. Decided to saute them . . .

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Sauteed Maitakes
Evoo, unsalted butter, shallots, scallions, garlic, 4x gelatinous beef stock, red wine, salt and pepper.

Oiled and seasoned the tenderloins, then seared them in evoo. Once browned on all sides, I removed them and sauteed all the veg in the pan. Added the wine and stock, let it reduce a bit then put the seared tenderloins on top of the veggies (adding some mini tomatoes that I decided to use after I took the pic) and put the whole thing the oven for 20 minutes at 400F convection . . .

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Pan-Roasted Pork Tenderloin
This seemed to reduce just the right amount by the time the pork reached 135F internal. Veggies were soft but not mushy. Sauce was there but flavorful.

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Plated Up
Happy to have cleared the freezer space and remembered the maitakes before it was too late.
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Re: What did you cook today?

Post by trancher »

Scrumptious, Ronnie! Really diggin' that pork tenderloin in the pan picture. Nice work.
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