What did I cook this weekend.....

Been on a oyster kick lately...

 

Ok, I just want to point out that banger is the guy who told me he cant get fresh fish cheap and thus eschews sushi...

 

Sadly so my friend and thus, baked oysters.

Got to give Kroger props though; good quality, relatively fresh and been on sale for half price of late.

 

Being Valentine's day and all, my wife and I teamed up I the kitchen and made steamed crab, grilled shrimp, twice baked bacon cheddar potatoes, bacon wrapped asparagus, and salted caramel cupcakes. Wish we had thought to take pictures.

 

If you look below the pictures there are links to the PDF files of the recipes. The only thing wrong is that this recipe says to emulsify in the food processor. For weisswurst I prefer a bit more texture so I used a large (1/2") plate and then emulsified in the KitchenAid mixer on high in ~2lb batches.

 

Oh, great, thank you - I missed that!

 

Headbanger - are the second ones oysters Rockefeller? They look droolingly delicious - and once again - asking for a recipe - seem to be doing a lot of that on this thread lately! It's a testament to the great cooks on here that I want the recipes to try them myself!

 

I usually feel like using a company's recipe for a meal is "cheating" somehow, but let me just say that Goya's recipe for arroz con pollo has made it onto the short list for rotation in La Casa de Creamy....

http://www.goya.com/english/recipes/arroz-con-pollo

 

No, I used chorizo, shallots, garlic and butter for that batch. They were very good, the sausage will overpower the oyster though if you use too much of it.

 

That looks good! Sazon Goya has been a staple in my spice cabinet for many years now, I put it in almost everything.

 

Bought a side of Alaskan wild salmon for SWMBO's Valentine's Day dinner. Cut a nice piece out for her and now I'm turning the rest into gravlax. Not bad for a $20 investment. Should be ready in a couple of days. This weekend, I hope to brew and have a nice bagel with gravlax and a schmear.

 

Cool! I learn something new every day here!

 

Let us know how it turns out, the last gravlax I made was waaayyy too salty & I'm looking for a good gravlax recipe.
Regards, GF.

 

Absolutely gorgeous!! I love oysters and those just look fantastic. I seldom have them unless we are visiting family down in Gulfport, Mississippi and can get them fresh.

 

Not to steal matt's thunder (great looking grav btw matt!) I have found that equal parts salt and table sugar is the magic mixture. I also give my grav a good rinse before consumption.

Only thing I do differently is instead of saran wrap I use aluminum foil and instead of a brick (this might be due to the fact that I am in New York ) I use the Complete Works of Shakespeare, Second Edition. I am nothing if not cultured.

 

I looked at a recipe by Bobby Flay, for the ratio of salt to sugar. It was 1/3 cup salt to 1/2 cup sugar. I kept the ratio, but went just a little under the volume, for the amount of salmon. He specified a couple teaspoons of cracked white peppercorns...I used about a teaspoon of black. And a "bunch" of fresh dill. I bought one of those little packages. I finely chopped most of the dill and mixed everthing together and heavily covered the fish. I tore apart the rest of the dill and dill stems and used it on the outside wth a little of the mixture.

I made a similar cure, but with some spices and no dill...on a rainbow trout, last June. It was awesome. When I unwrap the fish, I rinse it thoroughly in cold water. It will be a bit salty...but with cream cheese, onion, capers, tomato...on a toasted bagel...amazing.

 

Homemade hot dog chili, NW England split top buns w/ sides toasted in butter, Hebrew National hot dogs, onions, mustard, and, yes, ketchup. Get over it. KETCHUP!!! When I turned 18, I didn't suddenly become a ketchup-hater.

 

Starting my batch of Mexican style pork and squash stew in a few minutes.

It is cold out and this will warm things up.

Cube the pork. I like pork shoulder but my wife is on a lower fat kick so I use pork tenderloin.
Cook the pork with some oil until it is browned, add some sliced onions and cook until they are pretty caramelized. The pan will develop a lot of nice fond.

While the pork and onions are cooking cut in half about 6-8 tomatillos. Put then in a seperate pan to cook until they soften slightly turning a couple of times. Also add about 6 cloves of garlic so they soften too. After they are softened add them to a blender with 2 chipotles in adobe. I also rinse out the blender, this adds some water to the sauce.Blend into a sauce. Pour over the pork and onions. This will help deglaze the pan. Be sure to scrape up all the good bits off the bottom.

Then cube up some butternut squash about the same size as the pork cubes. Add that to the pork sauce mixture and cover and cook for about 45 minutes, until the squash is well cooked.Longer is fine. You may need to add some additional liquid to keep it from getting too dry.

Serve with some lime and cilantro...YUM.

 

I'm a big fan of split top buns .Here in Ohio I get Heiners brand they are really soft,sweet and chewy.Also they stand up with a dog in them unlike those other lay down losers.Make my own coney sauce.I just got a new recipe for Detroit style which I can't wait to try.And yes every once in a while I'll have hot dogs with nothing but mustard and ketchup on them.I don't think I'll got to hell for that.Other things maybe but not that.

 

Gonna need some serious documentation on this one.

 

OK how is this.

Pork and onions.

 

This should have been first.

 

The final product..

Soooo good.

It was one small pork tenderloin, one large onion, 6 tomatillos , garlic. The squash as much as you want. 2 chipotles. easy...

My wife requests this a lot. one her favorites.

 

Lo Mein...some veggies, some Chinese salted pork (that tastes like country ham, BTW) and some extra firm tofu that I marinated in some of the Hoisin based BBQ Sauce I made to use on salmon recently. A little water, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, Chinese cooking wine, et viola!
SWMBO didn't get the meat...easy to adapt for the vegetarian!

 

Where do you get Chinese salted pork?

 

Duck breast with cherry sauce, Carolina rice, green beans. The recipe shows a line of sliced breast with the sauce artfully applied; I just dumped on a lot, lol.

 

Looks delicious but your centerpiece needs a little work

 

At the big Asian store at South Hills Mall...Grand Asia Market. By the way, if you've never been there and you're adventurous, the "box meal" at their in-store food service set-up is a couple big scoops of rice and pick three from the steam table. And it's not stuff modified for American tastes!

 

lol. My mother is gearing up for tax season..

 

In my quest to fine tune my culinary chops I read a lot of articles regarding the science behind ingredients and preparation. This article I found fairly interesting and will lead me to my own testing this weekend. Has anyone read this yet?
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/01/how-to-mince-chop-garlic-microplane-vs-garlic-press.html

 

Oh yeah, I've been there a lot of times before. I've never eaten there though but they do make bubble tea, which I get each time I go.

 

The gravlax is ready! Rinsed well, dried off, sliced thin and served on a toasted bagel with cream cheese...I swear I thought I had a jar of capers in the fridge. Oh well. Didn't miss 'em! As it warmed a bit, the subtle dill flavor just started to come out.

 

Some day Ill make grav with the traditional beet sauce, etc... but its so hard to not put on a chewy bagel with capers and cream cheese. Now that I think of it, gravlax sushi couldnt be half bad...

 

I love duck. mmmmmmm. That looks good.I usually do duck for Thanksgiving instead od turkey.

 

Tell your mom her placemats and plates are lovely.

 

Have you read On Food and Cooking?

 

Not yet....

 

Mattmmille, that gravlax looks pretty cool. I have never heard of it, can you explain it a little more for me. I have quite a bit of wild caught salmon thats frozen. This might be an option for some.

 

It is F'ing cold here.

Need something to spice it up

Some extra spicy shrimp etouffee sounds good.

The trinity...

 

Almost ready to add the shrimp