This is also pretty straightforward. I am writing it up as a post because I think the flavors taste good together. To rehydrate dried mushrooms, simply place them in a large bowl and add boiling water. Let them soak before using. The leftover liquid is mushroom dashi and can be used to flavor soups.
Serves: 2-3
Ingredients
3 large bell peppers, sliced into 1/2" pieces
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 c. dried shitake mushrooms, rehydrated
1 tbsp low-sodium natural soy sauce
sea salt, to taste
olive oil, for frying
Directions
1. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. When the oil easily spreads across the bottom of the pan, add garlic and stir until lightly browned.
2. Add bell peppers and mushrooms and stir fry until the peppers have changed color. If using green bell peppers, the green with be a much richer lawn-green color. This should take no more than five minutes.
3. Season with soy sauce and sea salt while frying. Remove from heat and serve.
Foil baked trout
This is a pretty simple recipe and can be done in less than a half hour, provided that the trout is already gutted and cleaned. And, as long as the oil doesn't leak out of the foil packet, clean-up is easy. Assume serving size is one trout per person. I would recommend using olive oil on both sides of the fish to keep the skin from sticking to the foil.
Ingredients
1 trout, cleaned
fresh or dried herbs: thyme, parsley, garlic, poultry seasoning, whatever is available
lemon slices (optional)
unsalted butter, up to 1 tbsp
olive oil
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Tear out enough aluminum foil to wrap the fish in a rectangular package and lay fish, scored diagonally on both sides, in the center. Drizzle olive oil on both sides of the fish before adding herbs, salt and pepper.
2. Place two lemon slices, fresh/dried herbs, and butter inside the fish. You can also sprinkle a salt-free seasoning blend on both sides of the fish, or season with some sea salt and black pepper.
3. Wrap fish with aluminum foil and place on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot.
Ingredients
1 trout, cleaned
fresh or dried herbs: thyme, parsley, garlic, poultry seasoning, whatever is available
lemon slices (optional)
unsalted butter, up to 1 tbsp
olive oil
sea salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Tear out enough aluminum foil to wrap the fish in a rectangular package and lay fish, scored diagonally on both sides, in the center. Drizzle olive oil on both sides of the fish before adding herbs, salt and pepper.
2. Place two lemon slices, fresh/dried herbs, and butter inside the fish. You can also sprinkle a salt-free seasoning blend on both sides of the fish, or season with some sea salt and black pepper.
3. Wrap fish with aluminum foil and place on a baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve hot.
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Well, definitely this batch of cookie dough needs to be chilled before forming and baking. I did a test batch of six tablespoonfuls of batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and the cookies did what I thought they'd do. Melt and spread out into very thin discs. While they are tasty, the cookies did require more baking time than I thought, about 15 minutes, which gave the cookies a rich, dark brown color. Looks like rounded teaspoonfuls will have to be the measure for this ingredient ratio.
Ingredients
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. organic granulated sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
3 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1 c. dried cranberries
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. In a food prep, cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Blend together until well combined.
2. Add to the food prep, flour, salt and spices. Pulse until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix rolled oats and dried cranberries. Fold together with butter mixture.
4. Let the cookie dough chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before forming into rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven), until the cookies are lightly browned.
6. Cool cookies on a wire rack before storing or eating.
 |
| This is what happens when unchilled cookie dough is used. |
Ingredients
1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 c. organic granulated sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar, lightly packed
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
3 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1 c. dried cranberries
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
1. In a food prep, cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Blend together until well combined.
2. Add to the food prep, flour, salt and spices. Pulse until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, mix rolled oats and dried cranberries. Fold together with butter mixture.
4. Let the cookie dough chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes before forming into rounded teaspoonfuls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven), until the cookies are lightly browned.
6. Cool cookies on a wire rack before storing or eating.
Beef and Eggplant Ragu
The taste reminded me a lot like a ratatouille. The sauce was burdened by eggplant flavor, however. Perhaps one large aubergine was too much for this simple beef recipe. Also, I couldn't taste the fennel at all. So maybe next time I should use fresh fennel instead of fennel seeds and dice the eggplant into smaller bits. This ragu is traditionally served over pasta, but fried brown rice is an acceptable substitute.
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 large aubergine, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp EVOO
One 15 oz can organic diced tomatoes
1/3 c. tomato paste
1/2 c. dry marsala wine
1/2 tsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp each fennel seeds, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, brown garlic, ground beef, and olive oil together over medium heat. When all the pink is nearly gone in the beef, add the eggplant, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Let this mixture simmer for 10 minutes before adding the wine, sugar, and spices. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes, or until the eggplant is cooked.
Ingredients
1 lb lean ground beef
1 large aubergine, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp EVOO
One 15 oz can organic diced tomatoes
1/3 c. tomato paste
1/2 c. dry marsala wine
1/2 tsp organic granulated sugar
1 tsp each fennel seeds, garlic powder, dried oregano, dried basil, dried thyme
freshly ground black pepper
Directions
1. In a heavy-bottomed pot, brown garlic, ground beef, and olive oil together over medium heat. When all the pink is nearly gone in the beef, add the eggplant, tomatoes, and tomato paste. Let this mixture simmer for 10 minutes before adding the wine, sugar, and spices. Cover and let cook for 20 minutes, or until the eggplant is cooked.
Kitchen Notes: Ingredient Cycling
My pantry is stocked with a lot of herbs and spices that I hardly use. Some herbs like tarragon, tomato powder, and lemongrass powder were bought for experimentation purposes. The lemongrass powder turned out to be a really good substitute for fresh lemongrass flavor in Asian meat dishes. I've come across a few chefs in the Pacific Northwest who regularly throw out jars of dried herbs for "freshness" reasons, but depending on the spice or herb. I recommend against that practice. What gives a dish it's unique flavor comes from the oils of an herb, which are more prevalent and potent in fresh or recently dried herbs. There are some ingredients that will last indefinitely if stored properly (clean, airtight glass jars) such as saffron, cardamom pods, dried hot peppers, cinnamon bark, etc.
Over the years, the food-related resolutions have evolved over a necessity to a) reduce food waste, b) cycle through pantry items in a reasonable manner before the expiration date, and c) keep cooking interesting.
The freezer has the resolution that no new meat may be bought until less than a week's worth of meals remains; although, I'll certainly buy seafood and/or meat if it's in season or on sale.
The refrigerator has a one-week eating period, meaning that any cooked foods not eaten within one week are tossed (to be composted in the yard, if non-meat). This is just to keep up with safer food practices. Also, since cheese is very perishable, unused cheese is frozen except for cheese used for sandwiches.
The pantry is on a one-year cycle, meaning that everything has to be cycled through within a year like canned goods, cereal, dried nuts, etc. Excluded from this cycle are dried beans, rice, dried noodles, dried mushrooms, etc. Canned and boxed goods within their expiration date but not used in a year are donated to food drives.
The food drives and food banks do not accept homemade jams, breads, or other food products unless they were made in a commercial kitchen. So that really begs the question of, what do I do with the jams and fruit butters that I make that I don't consume, other than shipping it out as gifts as currently do now. *ponder*
Over the years, the food-related resolutions have evolved over a necessity to a) reduce food waste, b) cycle through pantry items in a reasonable manner before the expiration date, and c) keep cooking interesting.
The freezer has the resolution that no new meat may be bought until less than a week's worth of meals remains; although, I'll certainly buy seafood and/or meat if it's in season or on sale.
The refrigerator has a one-week eating period, meaning that any cooked foods not eaten within one week are tossed (to be composted in the yard, if non-meat). This is just to keep up with safer food practices. Also, since cheese is very perishable, unused cheese is frozen except for cheese used for sandwiches.
The pantry is on a one-year cycle, meaning that everything has to be cycled through within a year like canned goods, cereal, dried nuts, etc. Excluded from this cycle are dried beans, rice, dried noodles, dried mushrooms, etc. Canned and boxed goods within their expiration date but not used in a year are donated to food drives.
The food drives and food banks do not accept homemade jams, breads, or other food products unless they were made in a commercial kitchen. So that really begs the question of, what do I do with the jams and fruit butters that I make that I don't consume, other than shipping it out as gifts as currently do now. *ponder*
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