A Cook's Diary

[brothers]

Oh yes. I've had pretty good luck with the premixed Louisiana brand gumbo base. We add sausage and chicken and serve it over rice. Quick and delicious.

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[pausted]

Looks good. I’ll look for it at the store.

[drmoss_ca]

No new dishes to report here; just more of the same. Lots of curry, okara balls etc. Last night I served up some stir fry - shrimp, onion, courgettes (what do you call them...ah! Zucchini!) and green pepper on rice with home made sweet and sour sauce.

S&S Sauce
In a small saucepan, mix:
3/4 cup white sugar
1/8 - 1/4 cup white vinegar (err towards lower end)
3/4 cup water
1/8 - 1/4 cup soy sauce (again, be circumspect, you can add more, but can't take it away)
2-3 TBSP tomato ketchup (I favour French's, as it contains only Canadian tomatoes)
2 TBSP cornflour

Heat until thickened. As the cornflour cooks you will see the mix turn from red to brown over just a few seconds. Then it's ready. Can be made, cooled and reheated without harm. Experiment with more vinegar for more tanginess, sugar for sweetness or ketchup for more Canadiana. Comes out just like your local Chinese takeaway without any enormous tin cans being harmed.

[Rufus]

Courtesy of America’s Test Kitchen, this is our favourite recipe for Salmon Cakes:

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
2 tablespoons minced fresh parsley (optional)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
4 teaspoons lemon juice
1 green onion/scallion, sliced thin
1 small shallot, minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (plus or minus)
11/4-pound skinless salmon fillet, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/2 cup vegetable oil

METHOD
1. Combine 3 tablespoons panko, parsley, mayonnaise, lemon juice, green onion/shallot, mustard, salt, pepper, and cayenne in bowl. Pulse salmon in food processor until coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch pieces; may want to do this in 2 or 3 batches. Transfer to bowl with panko mixture and mix gently until uniformly combined.

2. Place remaining 3/4 cup panko in shallow dish. Using 1/3-cup measure, scoop level amount of salmon mixture and transfer to baking sheet; repeat to make 8 cakes. Coat each cake with panko, gently patting into disk measuring 23/4-inches in diameter and 1-inch thick.

3. Heat oil in 12-inch frying/sautee pan over medium-high heat until shimmering. Place salmon cakes in frying/sautee pan and cook without moving until bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Flip cakes and cook until second side is golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer cakes to paper towel-lined plate to drain for 1 minute. Serve.

This recipe is very easy to make and is pretty well foolproof (I can make it). We have these salmon cakes once a week.

Enjoy.

[drmoss_ca]

Another use for okara, and since it involves chocolate, likely to be popular! This is a chocolate cake:

150g okara
150g sugar
60g chocolate
150g milk
90ml vegetable oil
1½ tsp vanilla
½ TBSP white vinegar
150g all-purpose flour
30g cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 160C/320F. Butter an 8x4-inch loaf tin and line the bottom with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a small pan, combine okara, sugar, chocolate and milk. Heat over medium heat, whisking constantly until the chocolate has completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in oil, vanilla and vinegar.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour in the wet okara mixture and use a large wooden spoon or spatula and fold gently until just combined - don't overmix but there shouldn't be any streak of dry ingredients either.
Scrape the batter into the loaf tin and spread it evenly with the spatula. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the tin on a wire rack.

Man, this one was weird to cook. Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Victoria sponge territory anymore. Heating milk, sugar, chocolate in a pan, adding oil, vinegar and vanilla, and then mixing into flour, rising agents and cocoa? Where are the eggs? The butter? Oddly, it worked:

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It's pretty chocolatey, but just a tiny bit dry. I'd serve it warm with custard, cold with ice cream, or best of all, bake triple quantities of the mix in a round tin, slice it up, add cherries, cream and chocolate for a Schwarzwälder kirschtorte. If you don't want to go there, some treacle, molasses or Golden Syrup instead of some of the sugar could make it moist and gooey.

Whatever I do next, it has to use more than 3/4 cup okara. I'm ordered to look into carrot cakes. Will report in due course.

[drmoss_ca]

Carrot cake be damned (I made a few, but they weren't as good as the normal kind). So today I took a batch of okara, and made scotch eggs with it. Not quite vegan - notice the egg in the middle? - but who gives a hoot about vegans? These tasted good.

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Basically it goes like this:
- hard boil your eggs
- make soy milk and drain okara
- mix okara with soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, finely diced onions, olive oil and oatmeal until consistency looks right.
- take a square of clingfilm and oil it
- place a good dollop (imperial dollop, not metric) of fake-sausage mix on it and pat it into an oblong about 1cm thick
- place an egg on top and fold up the clingfilm, forming the fake sausage meat around the egg
- peel off clingfilm and pat the whole mass into some kind of rounded shape
- roll the result in panko breadcrumbs, then daub with oil or roll in oil in an oven tray
- bake for 20 minutes at 400ºF
- allow to cool before eating

[fallingwickets]

looks very good....will have to try non vegan version

[drmoss_ca]

I made a couple of these today:

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But to explain how and why, I must tell you about Dewey and his brother, who are a pair of bachelors who live at the end of the road (an increasingly unrepaired dirt road that gets less and less like a road as you go along) up the local mountain. Almost all their lives they have had no running water and no electricity, although maybe they now have electricity - it's been a couple of years since I last was up there. Probably the happiest and most contented people I know, they seem to come to town (Ahem! 600 souls is certainly a town!) once a week or so by hitching a ride from neighbours they must walk down to. You know when they are coming, much as with a bear or a skunk, and that's all I need say about that. Lovely, kind, generous guys. Each summer, Dewey goes across his lane to the enormous blueberry fields (not his, as he openly admits) and spends a few minutes raking and brings me the results. So I make two pies, or this year, two tarts. One for me, and one for him. One of these days I should go and claim back the nice non-stick pie dishes that he has acquired from me over the years; I've only one left. So these were made in disposable tin trays.

Crust is my standard short crust pastry, with a tablespoon of sugar added since it's not a savoury pie we're making.

1⅓ cups white flour
¼ tsp salt
1 TBSP sugar
4oz shortening (I use Parkay brand veg. shortening, because of SWMBO), COLD, cut into tiny cubes

Place all in a food processor and pulse until the resulting crumb is like breadcrumbs. Maybe 30 seconds in all. Open the lid and start to add ice cold water I TBSP at a time while you pulse. Somewhere between 4 and 6 TBSP the pastry will form into a ball and then you stop. Whether it's 4 or 6 depends on the brand of shortening: Parkay is 4, and Imperial is 6, depends on the water content in the grease. Either way, you add until it goes into a ball. Scoop out your pastry, divide into two equal halves, and wrap each in clingwrap and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes. Wash the food processor and grease a couple of pie dishes. The paper wrapper the shortening came in will do for this.
After 30 minutes or longer, take out the pastry and roll out on a floured surface until it has a diameter of 9-10" (pie dishes are usually 9" diameter). Place pastry on dish, press down into the base, and trim off excess. Prick the pastry in the bottom with a fork in five or six places, as this lets out steam and stops the pastry rising off the bottom. Now we blind bake them, that is to say, we cook the pastry and the filling separately, unlike the way your mom made apple pie.
Cover each dish with aluminum foil, shiny side down, folding the edge down around the edge of the dish and pastry. We have to weight down the foil, and I have a large canister of old pennies for this, but you could use rice or beans. Just keep them for repeat use in the future, as you won't want to make chili with them after they have been baked. My oven will bake these pie crusts at 350ºF in 30 minutes, but you may need to take one out and look under the foil at 20, 25 minutes; ovens are all different. When done, let them cool a bit and then carefully separate the foil and its load of old coins/beans or rice. Leave the crusts to cool down while you make the filling.

Filling is 3 cups of blueberries per crust, 2 TBSP cornflour (or cornstarch depending on where you live) per crust, ¼ cup sugar per crust and 1 tsp lemon juice per crust. So I put twice of all those in a pan since I have just made two piecrusts. Shake or stir it a bit to coat the blueberries in the cornflour and sugar. Put it on medium heat, put a lid on it, and stir gently every few minutes. Once it simmers, the filling will thicken and be ready in 5-8 minutes. Pour into the pie crusts when it has cooled a little, then leave them to cool completely.

I've wrapped one in a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for the next time Dewey comes to town. The other will be served tonight after a curry. It will go nicely with cream, ice cream, or custard.

[drmoss_ca]

Made a peach pie today, with shortcrust pastry as above. Place pastry in the bottom of a greased pie dish and prick it so it doesn't rise off the bottom. Use 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup butter to make a crumb, just as when making pastry. Layer sliced peaches and sprinkle with the flour/sugar/butter crumb and repeat layers till the dish is just a bit higher with filling than its edges (will settle on baking). The flour and sugar and butter will combine with released peach juices to make a sweet and clear syrupy sauce the peaches will sit in inside the pie. Place on pastry lid and pierce to let out steam. Bake at 350ºF for 45 -55 minutes, or till browned. Yes, you may brush the top with sugar and water, or an egg wash if you want it pretty, before you bake. Let it cool before cutting.

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[fallingwickets]

i sent you a prepaid fedex label

clive

[drmoss_ca]

Maybe some of this too? Hurricane Teddy is coming to visit tomorrow, so today I cooked up a big pan of (vegetarian ) chili, which can be easily reheated on the rocket stove if the power goes out.

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[fallingwickets]

yes, we rent fussy here! hopefully teddy isnt nasty

clive

[maskaggs]

Chili for us tomorrow -- a first day of fall tradition. To be accompanied by an oktoberfest or two/three/....

[drmoss_ca]

Canadian Thanksgiving, so just made some pastry and a pumpkin pie. My shortcrust pastry is described somewhere above in this thread, and the filling is:
15oz canned pumpkin
14oz condensed milk
2 eggs
1tsp cinnamon
½tsp nutmeg
½tsp ginger
½tsp salt

Roll out pastry and line greased pie plate. Prick bottom with fork to prevent lifting. Mix up filling well and pour in.
Bake 15 minutes at 425ºF, then reduce to 350ºF for 35 minutes. A knife will come out dry if cooked properly.
Allow to cool before cutting and serving.

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[Rufus]

We’re going to give Hoppin’ John a try tonight.

It was a great success: both my wife and I enjoyed it very much. We had the leftovers today at room temperature and without rice or any additions and they were even more tasty than when freshly cooked. I made it with canned black eyed peas and American-style (streaky) bacon, but next time I’ll make it with dried black eyed peas and a mix of streaky and Canadian bacon. Also, I will serve the rice on the side as we both thought the rice (Basmati) muted the taste a little bit. I think too that I may tinker a little with the spices and perhaps make it the day before serving it for dinner; I find that the intensity of the taste of most stews and chili increases when eaten the day after preparation. Nevertheless, it is a tasty and very enjoyable dish that is well worth the effort. Thanks for sharing your recipe, Chris.

Made it again last night. This time I increased the bacon to 6 pieces of streaky bacon and doubled the amount of Cajun spice. Used canned black-eyed peas Unfortunately I was too heavy-handed with the hot sauce. Served the rice on the side. Made it up first thing in the morning and let it sit until 8.00 pm for dinner. Notwithstanding the excessive hot sauce, it was excellent.

Had it tonight and this time I held back on the hot sauce. Positively excellent.

[drmoss_ca]

So here we go with fish cakes held together with a mousse. You will need something like this:
1lb fresh shrimp
1lb fresh salmon
(when I say fresh, I mean unthawed and ready to go, so you might buy frozen stuff)
3 egg whites
a little salt, pepper
some finely chopped sweet peppers - red, green, yellow all look nice, and onion
garlic and ginger, which could be fresh, paste or powdered
½ pound panko
A few cilantro leaves
1 TBSP of cognac (I used rum, being Nova Scotian)

So first put the panko in a food processor and chop it as finely as you can. Set it aside.

For the mousse, put half the shrimp and the egg whites in the food processor and blend the hell out of them. This is your mousse. Add the cilantro, garlic, ginger and rum. Blend them a few seconds more.

Chop the salmon and the remaining shrimp into small pieces (<1cm), and add the sweet peppers also chopped very small. Also add the finely chopped onion if desired. Now add the mousse to this and mix well.

Divide the mixture into 6-8 equal parts. Each part should be formed into a patty, and I used a 3"x1" cutting ring for this.Then roll it in the finely ground panko. In a hot frying pan, add them one at a time for 1-2 minutes each side, then turn and remove. When all are done, you have 6-8 fishcakes waiting to be fully cooked. This is where I burned my hands quite a lot trying to release the cakes, sitting in hot oil, from the cutting ring.

When you want to cook them, finish them in a 375ºF oven for 10 minutes.

The cakes may be served with salad or any vegetable you like. Mine went with mashed turnips and frozen peas, along with some commercial tartare sauce, but that's just me cheating. They were excellent, but I'm not sure it was worth the effort. One can buy frozen fishcakes and heat them up in 20 minutes. These taste far, far better, but you spend 3-4 hours in the kitchen and get some burns on your hands. Have fun if you can do it better than me, which is easily possible! Here they are, after frying to make the sides just brown, and waiting to go in the oven:

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[EL Alamein]

Looks scrumptious!

But why process the panko? I imagine preference. One could probably just leave them as they are, no?

Chris

[brothers]

Edit - looks great!

[drmoss_ca]

Yes, I'll edit it.

[drmoss_ca]

Looks scrumptious!

But why process the panko? I imagine preference. One could probably just leave them as they are, no?

Chris

It's just to give them some crunch on the outside.