Inside My Mid-life Crisis

Seriously? 2 and a half years since I put a post on this blog???? How about a Cheese Souffle then?

Posted by Jill , , Monday, August 3, 2020 2:02 PM

Souffles have always seemed really intimidating until I watched a video of my hero Jacques Pepin make his Mother's recipe. It's a breeze! Here is Maman's Souffle! (that's French for mother, get it?)

This recipe uses a gratin dish rather than a souffle dish. The gratin baking dish is wider and flatter which allows for more surface area for crispy, cheesy goodness of the top and edges. It also uses whole eggs and not just whites made into a meringue which is why this is such an easy user friendly recipe!

Preheat your oven to 400.

Assemble your supplies and ingredients. I like to grate my cheese, measure out ingredients, do my chopping etc at this point, then you can just go for it!

Now, don't get scared but I altered this recipe:

The recipe called for Gruyere Cheese- I used Jarlsberg Cheese - a nice nutty swiss type melty cheese. The recipe used 5 extra large eggs, I used 6 because I did not have extra large eggs.

The recipe used Chives, I finely chopped up about a 1/2 cup of Lacinato Kale, spinach would also be nice

The recipe uses whole milk.. um eww, I used Fat Free Half & Half with no issues, I really think any milk would work.

Butter the sides and bottom of your gratin baking dish and coat the sides with grated parmesan cheese. This is just like when you bake a cake and you grease your cake pan and coat with flour, same idea.

Place your prepared baking dish on a sheet pan, a good habit to get into as you may save yourself some oven cleaning by taking this precaution against spillage!

When you are ready to go, start off by making the roux, that is melt your butter in a saucepan over medium -low heat, add your flour and whisk it in well, let it cook for about 10 or 15 seconds to cook out that flour taste.

Next you will add your milk all at once while continuing to whisk. Keep stirring until it starts to thicken up and comes to a boil, this will only take a couple minutes, so stay with it!

Guess what? you just made a bechamel sauce base! (More on that another day!) Remove from heat, add salt & pepper and let this cool at least 10 minutes.

**Cooling the sauce allows us to proceed without tempering the eggs or scrambling them on accident!

Meanwhile...

In a separate bowl, beat your eggs well with a whisk or fork, stir in your grated cheese and your chives (or what ever green goodness you decided to use) Next stir the egg mixture into the cooled sauce and Mix well. Now pour into your prepared gratin baking dish. You can bake this immediately or set aside and bake later.

When you are ready, bake 30 - 40 minutes until the souffle is puffy and well browned on top.

Dont be dissapointed if it falls a bit and does not remain super puffed up, it will still taste amazing. We eat it hot or cold!

Tada! Serve with a slice of tomato and a crusty hunk of warm bread- great for any meal of the day!

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Dry Aged Prime Rib part 3 The finale!

Posted by Jill , , Monday, December 25, 2017 7:41 AM

The time has come to cook our beautifully aged prime rib roast! Unwrap the cheese cloth and dispose.

Use a very sharp knife and trim just the very hard, dark, driest edges off the roast.

Using a sharp paring knife cut "X" holes in the top to stud with garlic cloves

Now to the salt crust! Use coarse Kosher salt, I prefer Morton.

Add water a little at a time to a dry snowball consistency

Lay down a one inch thick base layer on your baking pan and place the roast bones down on the salt bed

Starting on the top, pat a one inch thick layer over the fat cap of the roast. You will pull salt up the sides and don't worry if some falls off the ends or sides. As long as it is mostly covered, its all good.

Insert you meat thermometer carefully to get it to the center of the roast.

Bake at 325-ish for about 20 minutes per pound. This Roast started out at 12.6 ponds. Loss of moisture in aging and then the trimming probably came down almost a pound so I'm planning about 3 hours give or take 20-30 minutes. This is when the thermometer is really important. Don't forget that your roast will need to rest for about 20-30 minutes before you cut it and it will "cook more" so plan for this when you pull it. I will probably pull at about 130 degrees and it will rest up to about 140 in the center. The ends will be more well done. My people fight for the end cuts (butt cuts).

Out of the oven, the salt from the sides shrunk away, discard the salt.

Rest for 20 or so minutes to let the juices settle

You can see how the bones separated from the roast when the strings were removed. this is why you ask the butcher to "cut and tie" your roast.

These bones have the sweetest meat on them and are sent to the freezer just the way they are to become my famous beef barley soup on another day.

**One final note, my meat thermometer was "off" about 20 degrees so our roast came out a bit more done then I would have preferred but most we have many "medium" eaters so it was all good. I will be buying a new thermometer! It was still delicious!

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Dry Aging Prime Rib Part 2

Posted by Jill , , Sunday, December 17, 2017 5:05 PM

Heeelllloooo! Since there was so much interest in this technique, I decided to give you a sneak peek! This is after one week dry aging in the beer fridge. As you can see, the dark spots are drying out sealing the meat and the enzymes in the meat are doing their good work tenderizing the roast. I re-wrapped in fresh cheese cloth, now back to the fridge until cooking day on Christmas eve!

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Dry Aging A Prime Rib Roast part 1

Posted by Jill , , Sunday, December 10, 2017 5:46 PM

Hello again friends. Its hard to believe I haven't made a post for a year. Ok maybe its not hard. Time is just flying by so fast. Make sure you stop and smell the roses.

I thought I had a demo on dry aging a prime rib (or any other roast at least 4 pounds in weight) but I guess not. I see the salt crust cooking techniche but not the aging. So here we go!

Step one, buy an amazing hunk of beef! This is a gorgeous prime rib I bought from the Blue Max boys on Canyon. It is the "small end" so the first bone is only about 4 inches long. This is the more tender end of the roast. This is a 5-bone roast weighing in at 12.6#. It will loose a little weight in the aging process due to loss of moisture.

Hello my succulent roast beast! You have to request the small end from the butcher. I also had them "cut and tie" which means the bones are cut off then tied back on again (see the strings?)
I also requested he leave a bit more of the fat cap on the roast. Normally a bit more of the fat would be removed but for the drying process, this is best to leave mostly intact.

Next we wrap in cheese cloth. You can find this at Bed Bath or its actually cheaper for a much larger piece if you buy it at the craft or fabric store!

Wrap it up like a mummy and place on a rack on a sheet pan. You need the rack so that air circulates around the whole roast.

Next place the roast in the very back of your fridge. It is the coldest spot. I have the luxury of having a "beer fridge" so its ok that it takes up a lot of space. After 24 hours, I will replace the cheese cloth with new as the first day quite a bit of liquids will come out of the roast.

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I'm baaaaccckkkkk.... why is it I can only find time for these posts when I'm not working?

Posted by Jill , , Thursday, November 3, 2016 1:41 PM

Oh right, work takes a lot of time out of your day!

So let me ease back into a post with a simple Pumpkin Curry Soup with spicy grilled prawns!

Ingredients:
(1) Sugar pie pumpkin
(1) Box of chicken Stock (4 cups)
(1) Can coconut milk- light is better
(2) Cloves garlic
1/2 c chopped onion
Cajun Seasoning (Penzy baby!)
Sweet Curry Powder (yellow- Penzy again)
Kosher Salt
Course Black Pepper
Olive Oil
Prawns, about 6 per person unless they are really big ones- then 4

Start by cutting your pumpkin in half, clean out the seeds (more on this in a minute) and lay cut side down in a baking dish with abut an inch of water in it. Bake at 350 until tender I think mine took an hour.

Pumpkin Seeds: Are delicious! Clean the pulp off your seeds, spread seeds on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil and liberally season with Cajun seasoning and kosher salt (garlic salt would be good too) and roast along with your pumpkin stirring them around every 10 minutes or so until they are crisp. ( I think mine took about 30 minutes) yummy as a garnish on the soup, a salad or just to munch on!

Ok, back to the soup...

Chop your onion and garlic, saute in your heavy soup pot with some olive oil until translucent.
This is an enameled cast iron dutch oven, I got a Chef's Brand at Tuesdays for $40. Way less expensive then the $300 Le Creuset and just as heavy, durable and heat dissipating I would guess. Easy to clean too.

When your pumpkin is soft, pull it our of the water and remove the peel. I have the fingers of steel of an experienced kitchen Goddess but be careful, it will be hot!

Chop your pumpkin into 1-2 inch pieces and add to the pot with the onions and garlic. My pumpkin yielded about 3-4 cups of chunks.

Season well with the Cajun (1t), the curry (1t) and salt & pepper to taste. Pour in the box of chicken stock, I like the Costco brand, its' not too salty and is actually organic, bonus!

In the words of the immortal Chef Anne Burrell "BTBRTS": Bring to boil, reduce to simmer!

Let your soup simmer at least 20-30 minutes to allow the flavors to come together. While the pot is simmering away, prep your shrimp for the BBQ. I skewer mine and season with more Penzy Cajun and a pinch of S&P (salt & pepper people, stay with me!) Grill them off! (This is Brant's job)

I also prefer home-made croutons. And why would you NOT make them yourself?

TIP: Every time you have a piece or 2 of leftover or old bread (no mold!) cube it up and toss in a zip bag in the freezer to have on hand.

Pull out 2 cups of bread cubes, Place on the baking sheet you used for the seeds, drizzle with olive oil and season as you wish (me again with the Cajun, S&P) and bake stirring frequently until coated, seasoned and crispy 10 or 15 minutes at 350 should do it.

Back to your soup: You have simmered and melded. Time to bring it all together! If you don't have a boat-motor, add it to your Christmas list. Mine is a Cuisinart Stick Blender and I got it at Macy's on sale during the Holidays for about $19 bucks. If you don't have a stick blender, a regular hand mixer will do the trick. I don't recommend using a blender as hot liquids can explode everywhere possibly burning you and certainly making a hug mess (Have you ever seen this happen on chopped? Even chefs can make this mistake if not done very carefully!)

Slowly blend your soup to smooth out the pumpkin chunks. TASTE IT NOW, this is a fine time to add a bit more seasoning if you want to.

Shake your can of coconut milk well, it has a tendency to settle. Open it up, I use a church key and just punch a tiny air hole on one side and 2 triangle openings on the other, now stir into your soup. Not only is this adding a bit of coco-nutty good sweetness but it gives the soup a velvety texture.

You are now ready to serve your soup. This serves 4 nicely. Ladle soup into bowls, gently set a few croutons in the center of the bowl followed by a few of your spicy shrimp!

Enjoy this beautiful, rich, spicy and sweet taste of fall with a crisp Dry Riesling or a big buttery Chardonnay.

Penzy: www.penzeys.com is my go-to for all things herbs, spices and seasonings. I have been buying online from them for years (like almost 20!) They have a few brick-and-mortar stores across the county. Downtown Seattle closed but I think they are looking for a new location with better parking.

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Christmas Eve Paella

Posted by Jill , , Saturday, December 28, 2013 7:47 AM

As I sometimes do, we took a break from tradition this Christmas Eve dinner. We feasted on an as-authentic-as-I could-get-it Spanish Paella!
Santa brought me this real-deal pan, large enough to feed a crowd ya think?

Since this was the pans maiden voyage, I had my hands full so the demo photo-shoot is a little lacking. I will do a full demo next time I make it. But you will get the idea...

I started by ordering and gathering Saffron and Spanish bittersweet smoked paprika- both essential flavors for paella. I seasoned the chicken with paprika, rosemary, thyme, salt & pepper...wait the saffron comes later!

This is all dark meat chicken thighs and Mexican chorizo sausage. I wasn't able to locate any "Spanish cooking chorizo" but plan to hunt some down next time. The Mexican had good flavor, wasn't hot at all and was even a little sweet. Good but not what I expected.

Then next prep item was for the "Sofrito"
You need twice as much tomato as onion and chopped garlic to taste.

Slice the tomato and onions in half and grate on a box grater. Some online demos I looked at used a food processor- I think this is a better technique. The tomato skin could get tough during cooking if you used a processor.

By grating the onion and tomato you get an amazing texture especially for the tomato. I plan to try this technique on a tomato bisque soup soon! Grate it all the way down to the skin and discard the skin. Keep the onion and tomato separate for the time being.

Ok here is where the demo gets a little spotty! My heat source is a work in process, this is a "fire pit" propane burner. It worked pretty good, but I have a couple ideas to make it better next time but it will involve some welding-- Linda, I'm talking to you!

I heated up the pan and some olive oil, that's what's in the green jug and put the chicken and chorizo on!

Then we cook the meat, I wanted it all the way done before moving on because once the rice goes in it actually goes pretty quick. Next time I will not use bone-in chicken, too hard to cook evenly in this vessel. Also- I wound up cutting up the chorizo with scissors. Loose meat next time.

Somehow we missed a picture of the Sofrito. Once the chicken and sausage were nearly done, I moved them to the outside edge of the pan. In the center, in the remaining cooking liquid and olive oil, I added the grated onion and garlic. Slowly cook down the onion caramelizing it, then add the grated tomato. Cook gently to get the Sofrito to brown a bit in color from the caramelizing.

Now the rice... At the end of the day it's all about the rice. The meats, seafood and vegetables are all well and good but it's the rice that makes it Paella.

Paella rice is a medium grained little fat white rice. "Bomba" rice. It looks like risotto rice but it is different. In risotto, you have to stir constantly. In Paella, once the stock goes in you don't touch it again. Use the right rice.

The rice is added in the shape of a cross. I'm sure this is significant, I will report more on that next time. You can barely see the Sofrito beneath the rice.

I used the stock from the clams and mussels I cooked off earlier, it was warming on the BBQ grill burner. A tea was made with a cup of stock and a pinch of carefully toasted Saffron. First the rice was stirred into the Sofrito until well coated and evenly spread over the bottom of the pan. Then I added the Saffron and stock "tea' and gradually added more of the stock until the rice was just covered.

The rice cooked around 10-15 minutes before it started to come up to the top and the stock was absorbed, remember, NO stirring!

In goes the clams and mussels. These can go in uncooked (which is typical) but since I wanted the stock, I cooked mine ahead.

Don't forget the prawns and a few king crab leg pieces for looks!

Turn the prawns over. Sprinkle in some frozen peas.

Let rest under foil, heat off for about 10 minutes. I never did quit get to the ideal toasted rice bottom called "socarrat" . That is going to take some practice!