Kevin, our gardener and good friend caught an extra trout on his fishing trip the other day so he gifted us a nice one. It's the largest trout I've ever seen, it could easily have fed 4 people. It was cleaned and head off so I just stuffed diced onion with salt, pepper and dill in the cavity, drizzled a little olive oil over top of it and put it in the oven at 325F for about an hour.
Mashed potatoes were standard. Peel, chop, boil, drain, mash, butter, salt and a little milk. The only thing to say about mashed potatoes is don't over process them, it turns them into a thick paste no one will be able to eat.
Asparagus, you eat the end with the proto flowers. Hold the cut end in your fingers and bend the stalk over. It will snap at the right place. Below the snap to the cut end is fibrous, use for stock only. I have an asparagus cooker which is a tall narrow pot with mesh insert. The asparagus stand up and steam in it. Works great. Any steamer will work or just boil them lightly in a little water.
Hollandaise Sauce
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup butter
1/2 lemon juiced
1 tsp water
pinch salt
Melt the butter but don't get it hot. Slowly whisk the butter into the egg yolk as for mayonnaise. When all the butter is taken up the sauce should be thick. If it's runny, butter went in too fast and broke the sauce. Fix it by getting another yolk and slowly adding the broken sauce to the fresh yolk. Go slow, don't break it again.
Add lemon, water and salt. Bring to a simmer on medium low heat or over a double boiler. Whisk continuously. If it's too thick add 1/2 tsp water. Pour over fish and asparagus. Garnish with a little chopped parsley.
Fern requested chicken with mushroom white wine sauce so I paired that with broccoli and basmati rice. Mine is completely submerged but there is a breaded chicken breast under all that sauce. All I did was put 1/4 cup bread crumbs in a plastic bag with 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp poultry seasoning and fresh ground mixed pepper. I shook the breasts in the bag, laid them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven for 20 minutes at 325F. They were a bit small so took 5 minutes less time than usual. The rice was done in the microwave with salt, olive oil and a few drops of lemon juice. I also put a few drops of lemon on the broccoli, which was steamed, cooled and reheated in olive oil.
For the sauce I seared 5 sliced mushrooms with some fresh crushed garlic. When the mushrooms had a sear I sprinkled two teaspoons of flour over all. I stirred that in and let the flour taste cook off most of the dish. Then I turned off the heat and whisked in a cup and a half of white wine. Turn the heat back on and bring to a simmer. Turning off the heat while adding the liquid usually avoids lumps. It needed half a cup of milk too. It still needed something, I added a teaspoon of chicken stock powder and that filled out the flavour. I let it simmer till it was reduced by about a third, maybe a little more. I added salt, pepper and 1/2 a teaspoon of thyme.
Fern doesn't like anything on his rice so there was sauce left in the pot. After dinner Fern got mad at me for not putting the excess sauce on his rice because it was really delicious. I really can't win.
Not often I started making dinner yesterday but I bought a gallon of milk speculating that I could make a batch of mozzarella cheese. When I got home and looked up the instructions, it was quite doable.
Mozzarella Cheese
4 litres milk
1 1/2 tsp citric acid - my pharmacist had this stuff, vinegar might work too
1/2 enzyme tablet
1/2 cup water
salt - probably 1/2 tsp but not sure yet
Warm the water to 35C and put the enzyme tablet in it to dissolve for 10 or 15 minutes. Warm the milk to 35C and add citric acid and the water with the enzyme in it. My instructions didn't mention salt but it needs it. I don't know yet if it can be added at this time. Anyway, that's it. The tablet instructions say wait 5 minutes but I found 10 to 15 is better or even longer. I think once the enzyme is used up it stops and nothing else happens so it shouldn't over work itself even if you leave it an hour.
Once it's set the whey will be clear and the milk solids will be gelled. Cut the curd into one inch squares, put the pot back on the stove and slowly heat to 40C stirring gently. Remove from heat and continue stirring gently for 2 to 5 minutes. Gently lift the curds out with a slotted spoon into a bowl. Periodically empty water from the bowl that weeps from the curds. Gather all the curds you can with the spoon but do not strain the remainder. What is left is soggy, not gelled, doesn't taste good and doesn't have a nice texture. Pour it out. If needed heat the curds up in the microwave till almost too hot to handle and start stretching it. Pull it out, fold and stretch again. This smooths out the texture in the cheese. You can tell when it's done, it's nice and smooth. That's it, mozzarella!
Pizza Crust - turn oven light on, it warms oven perfectly for rising bread and making yogurt
1/2 cup water
1 tsp yeast
2 tsp honey
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
Warm liquid to 41-46 degrees C. Add yeast, let stand 5 minutes. If using stand mixer put water, yeast and honey in bottom, then flour and salt on top. Start and stop the mixer until all the flour is taken up then let it run on medium speed to kneed the dough. Or you can kneed by hand for 5-10 minutes until the dough is soft and supple. I usually use the machine then finish by hand for best results. It will be soft and run like molasses when it's ready. Put it the oven to rise till doubled, about an hour. Punch down twice and start stretching to shape on parchment paper. I assemble the pizza on my pizza paddle which happens to be the same size as my pizza stone. Put it back in the warm oven to finish rising.
Pizza Sauce
1 12-14oz can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic - crushed
1 onion diced
fresh or dried basil
salt
pepper
Caramelize onion, add garlic, basil and tomato. Bring tomato sauce to simmer and reduce volume by half. Let cool.
Preheat oven to 425F
Grate the whole chunk of mozzarella.
Brush olive oil all over the inside of the pizza crust. Spread tomato sauce over it evenly. Lay thinly sliced ham around. Sprinkle pineapple tidbits around, don't use too many or the crust will get soggy. I sliced a green pepper thinly and put rings around the pizza. Finally spread the cheese evenly over all. I slide paper and all onto the stone to cook. Bake for 20 minutes or till the cheese and crust are browned.
I noticed how much I've mixed up metric and imperial units. When I was in high school the Liberals made Canada metric. That would have been great if it had been left that way, but the Conservatives came to power and changed the law so both systems could be used. 45 years later we are still doing the same thing. It's insane.
The corned beef is from Mitchell's, Brian makes it up there himself so it's as good as making it myself. I simmered it for 4 hours this time instead of 3 hours and that made a difference, it was soft as butter and a delight to eat. I served it with a dollop of Dijon Mustard. Mashed potatoes and frozen peas on the side.
Cheese Scone - Preheat oven to 425F
1 1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Mix
1/4 cup butter
Cut butter into the flour with pastry cutter till it is like oatmeal.
3 tbsp sugar
1 cup grated cheddar
1/3 cup milk
Add the milk and use a fork to lift the flour into the milk all around the bowl. Keep mixing till all the flour is taken up. If it's too dry add a little more milk a teaspoon at a time. Form into a ball, flatten and cut into 6 wedges. Place on parchment and bake 13 minutes. Watch them, they are done just before they scorch.
Coleslaw
I bought a bag of coleslaw cut up so all I had to do was make a dressing. I decided to go with mayonnaise based so I got an egg out and separated the yolk. I Whisked in 1/3 cup of oil to make the mayo then added juice from 1/2 a lemon, a pinch of salt, 1/2 tsp Cajun spice mix and a little pepper. It wasn't bad but it was screaming for some fresh garlic. Had I added some it would have been a really good slaw. As it was, we ate it, but neither of us said, 'this is really good!'
Friday Mitchell's tries to bring in fresh fish. It's local so it's usually snapper, which we both like. I simply salt and season the snapper with Cajun spice mix then put it in hot oil in a frying pan. The potatoes were boiled, drained, mashed, buttered, milked, salted and stirred with a fork. The broccoli is steamed, cooled under cold water and reheated in olive oil. It sounds complicated but you steam the broccoli early when you have time then leave it cold till the fish is on it's second side, then put the broccoli into the pot with olive oil.
Cooking fish seems a bit daunting when you've never done it. The first thing to do is pull the bones out. They are mostly near the head end in the centre inside of the fillet. You have to feel up the whole piece of fish to find them all. When you find one, grab with pliers and hold your fingers around the bone so you scrape the meat off as the bone comes out. Next, cut off any bits of skin still on the fish and there might be a strip of white fat along the top edge, I cut this off too as I find it unpleasantly fishy tasting.
I tried using my smart watch to take videos while the fish was cooking. It's a bit wobbly but shows how the fish turns from translucent when raw to opaque when it's cooked. In the video I say it's turning translucent but I meant to say it's turning from translucent to opaque. As the fish cooks the meat becomes opaque on the bottom, moving up through the fish to the centre. When it reaches the centre, turn the fist over.
Then I turn the fish over and watch the meat turn opaque up to the centre and it's done.
That leaves the butter sauce. Squeeze juice from half a lemon into a small pot. Add a teaspoon or two of water, a pinch of salt and bring to a boil briefly. Remove from heat and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Once it's melted, whisk it into an emulsion. Pour the sauce over the fish and broccoli.
The store made sausages from Mitchell's are a nice inexpensive change. I was going to fry them and serve them on fresh pasta with a red wine reduction gravy kind of sauce. I wanted beans or peas on the plate beside them but cauliflower was half price and I just couldn't pass it up. I originally imagined the cauliflower steamed with grated cheddar melted over the top. That probably would have worked but I was running out of time so I threw together a cheese sauce instead.
Somehow I managed to crank out an eggs worth of fresh pasta and cooked it in the bottom of the double boiler the cauliflower was steaming in.
I caramelized a couple of diced onions then added a diced celery stick and a few small cloves of garlic. I sprinkled a teaspoon of flour over all and sweated it together . In a sauce pan I put 1.5-2 cups red wine, brought it to a boil and reduced it to about 1/3 volume. I added caramelized onion mixture to it. I added a teaspoon of beef stock powder, a tablespoon of water, salt and pepper. It was a little anaemic so I added a tablespoon of milk for body. A little more instant blending flour on top to thicken it and let that bubble for a few minutes to cook the raw flour taste off. It tasted good but the colour was completely off putting. Maroon food just doesn't look appetizing unless it's borscht.
The cheese sauce was butter and flour cooked for a minute then milk slowly whisked in and finally slices of cheddar melted into it. I knew before plating that red gravy mess with cheese sauce is not going to plate well. Fortunately both sides tasted good on their own, they just didn't belong on the same plate. If I had ditched the cauliflower and nuked some peas the plate would at least have looked cohesive and probably tasted better over all.
I ate everything on my plate, cauliflower first, then the pasta. The dog ate some of the pasta too so it wasn't too bad. He's super fussy and only eats the best people food. The sausage and pasta tasted much better than it looked and the cheese sauce was great on it's own. If I'd plated the pasta on one plate and put the cauliflower in a bowl and called it cream of cauliflower soup I probably would have had a winner.
Ground beef is affordable and easily chewed, an important consideration for ageing teeth. We've both had teeth break around fillings and 30 year old caps fall off. It takes a month to get in to a dentist to get it fixed so it is a problem that can go on for months. Here I have about 365gm of ground beef that I added 1/4 cup bread crumbs too, fresh chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Form it into 2 patties and fry to a good sear on both sides then put in a 325F oven for 15 minutes.
Potatoes I peeled and boiled up for mashed. Broccoli was steamed, cooled in running water and reheated in olive oil. The gravy was a diced onion caramelized, stick of celery sweated and sliced crimini mushrooms fried to a nice sear. Then a teaspoon of flour was sprinkled over top and the pot tossed to spread the flour and cook off the flour taste. Add 1 teaspoon beef stock powder. Take pot off the burner and added 1/2 cup of milk. Stir that in and add 1/4 cup water, cook that down and if it becomes too thick add a little more water. Add salt and pepper and serve over the meat and potatoes.
The gravy flavour is developed cooking the onion, mushrooms and celery and so that is where to spend the time doing it right. This is an easy and delicious meal that doesn't cost too much. The meat, broccoli and mushrooms were less than $8 for two people.
