Charmings Colcannon a.k.a. Mashed Potatoes with Bacon and Scallions

Aurora and I have been very busy girls.  So Charming and the Raging Mr. spoiled us with a St. Patty's day feast.  I have to start by saying the corned beef was a treat that I had not had in about 7 years due to nitrates.  Fortunately Trader Joes carries uncured corned beef.  It is GOOD!

St. Patty's day menu
cheddar and porter cheese
beer bread
corned beef cooked with Guinness and onions
braised leeks
mashed potatoes with bacon and scallions
Guinness gravy

I will probably post other parts of the meal later.  The part that impressed me the most was the mashed potatoes.  I immediately picked the boys minds on what they did and now I share it with you.

Ingredients

3 lb yukon gold potatoes
1/2 c butter
1/4-1/2 c milk
1 t pepper
1 1/2 t salt
1/2 lb bacon
4 scallions

Directions

1)  bake potatoes
2)  chop up bacon and cook until lightly crispy, save drippings and set bacon to the side
3)  add potatoes to a heated stock pot and mash until there are no lumps
4)  chop scallions
5)  mix salt, pepper and butter into potatoes
6)  mix milk into potatoes until desired consistency is reached
7)  mix in bacon and scallion and adjust salt and pepper to taste

I hope this inspires you to have fun with your food and make the ordinary extraordinary.

Anthoinette

Alfredo trials part I

Tonight I had some beautiful artichoke ravioli in the refrigerator that was looking at me longingly.  I decided that it needed a good Alfredo sauce and asparagus to go with it.  Strangely enough all of my cookbooks failed me.  I looked through 2 Italian cookbooks, one of my old culinary school textbooks and even brides guide, which is usually a fabulous go to.  I ended up going online and finding several different versions which I considered blasphemous for differing reasons.  I ultimately found one that I could work with at food network.  Giada has an interesting version which will require more work before I am fully happy with the results.  Considering that all of my go to's failed me...

For starters I had to cut the recipe to 1/4 of its original quantity
2/3 c heavy whipping cream
2 T lemon juice
3T butter
1/2 c parmesan
1/2 T lemon zest
pinch each, salt, pepper, nutmeg

Then I played

2/3 c heavy whipping cream

2 T lemon juice

3T butter

3/4 c pecorino romano

1/2 T lemon zest

2 oz proscuitto

pinch each, salt, pepper, nutmeg

I followed Giadia's directions

pour 1/2 of cream into pan, mix with lemon juice, add butter and stir over medium heat until butter is melted.

I make cheese using lemon juice and milk.  Everything in my knowledge said the cream should curdle. To my amazement, it did not.  I removed it from the heat and cooked the pasta.  I pulled the cooked raviolis from the pan and stirred them in adding the rest of the ingredients.  It got a bit weird for a couple of reasons.

Part of Gadias directions requires the heat from the pasta to help cook the sauce.  The second issue is that ravioli does not hold up to that abuse.

Needless to say I will revisit this.  The things I will try differently are as follows:

1)  half the lemon juice and do not use the zest

2)  finish cooking the sauce in the pan and pour on top of the pasta

3)  I may add more of whatever hard Italian cheese I desire.  I am currently undecided on this

4) get rid of the salt and add more pepper and nutmeg

Other than that I would call this a fairly successful trial.  It is just going to take a little more play.

I hope this inspires you to try something new and just have fun playing.  The worst that can happen is you have to order Pizza.

Anthoinette

Miso Mahi Mahi

Continuing on with the Friday fish tradition this week I was inspired by a beautiful Mahi Mahi a wonderful Miso soup mix I found.  Thank you Trader Joes.  This is a well balanced meal in itself and does not require more courses or accompaniments.

Miso Mahi Mahi

Ingredients

1 lb Mahi Mahi
1 lb parsnips
1 small red onion
1 lb asparagus
1 T sesame oil
6 c Miso soup (enough mix to make)
2 T sriracha or other pepper/garlic sauce
1 T hoisan
1 t grated fresh ginger
1 t garlic
100 g rice noodles

Directions

1) julianne onions, peel and cut parsnips into coins, cut asparagus into 1 1/2" lengths after snapping the ends

2) Saute onions and parsnips in Sesame oil until onions become partially transparent

3)  Bring Miso soup to a boil, turn off heat, put fish in and cover

4)  Mix sriacha, hoisin, ginger and garlic into parsnips and onions

5)  Evenly spread asparagus on top of parsnips and onions and cook for 3 minutes more then stir to combine

6)  Evenly divide parsnip mix into 4-5 bowls, topped by equal amounts of uncooked noodles then fish then miso and serve

NOTES:

I realize that some of these items may be seasonal in your area or just hard to get so here is a substitutions list:

Miso soup-fish or vegetable stock

Parsnips-carrots

Mahi Mahi- just about any fish, rock fish, salmon, cod, halibut

Rice noodles-speghetini

I hope you enjoy this detour into fusion cuisine as much as my friends and family did.

Anthoinette

Sea Urchin

This morning I went to the farmers market and saw a beautiful sea urchin for sale.  I have not tried it before but it is all the rage right now.  So, I decide to try it.

Sea Urchin take one...

I tried cutting it open.  I have seen people on T.V. cutting the top off of it.  I tried unsuccessfully.  I decided to cut it open horizontally.  Inside were a lot of black viscus stuff, some smooth blackish panels and some orange caviar looking stuff and at the bottom is this funny bony portion that I have no idea what to do with.

To the internet I went.  What I found out on the internet is first that I tried cutting open the wrong side and that the only part I wanted to keep was the orange caviar looking stuff.

During the process of opening and cleaning the Sea Urchin to get the precious Uni this dark liquid went every where and stained my counter and hands.

At the farmers market I was told to either eat it plain or add some lime to it.

Four of us tried it both with and without lime.  It is a delicate, slightly sweet flavor.

Though none of us cared for it we are happy we tried it just to find out what the hype was all about.

Antoinette

Cocktail Sauce

Last Friday we did crab cakes with cocktail sauce, springtime spinach salad sans bacon, and artichokes.        I still need to play with the crab cake recipe.  But, the cocktail sauce was wonderful.  The easy way to make cocktail sauce is equal portions of ketchup and horseradish, which works well but...
I got a little creative and it was worth it.

Cocktail Sauce

Ingredients

5 T Ketchup
5 T Horseradish
1 t Worchestershire Sauce
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t garlic
1 t lemon juice

Directions

1)  mix all ingreidients

2)  let sit for at least 15 minutes to meld all the flavors before serving

I hope you try this next time you need some cocktail sauce.

Anthoinette

Peach Sangria

Aurora and I set out to make Bobby Flays White Peach Sangria when we discovered we did not have all of the required ingredients.  So we did what we do best and improvised and came up with a darn good sangria.


Peach Sangria

Ingredients

1 c pineapple juice
1 c peach juice
1 c orange juice
1/4 c sugar
1/2 c brandy
1/4 c triple sec
1 750 ml bottle white wine

Directions

1) mix all ingredients until sugar is disolved

2)  chill before service

Provolone

I was fortunate to find that Trader Joes carries cream line milk.  It is not quite as good as raw milk, but for half the price and only a slightly lesser quality I am quite happy with my find.

I finally belted down and on a whim I made Provolone with 1 gallon of cream line milk and 2 cups of buttermilk.

Here is the process

Heat the milk to 97 degrees, sprinkle the thermophilic powder over the top, let set for 2 minutes then stir in and let ripen for 60 minutes.

Add 1/4 teaspoon lipase powder that has been disolved in water for 20 minutes, stir in and let set for 10 minutes

Mix in 1/4 teaspoon rennet and let set for 20 minutes

Cut the curd into 3/8 inch cubes and let set for 10 minutes

Heat and stir the curds while heating it to 144 over 45 minutes and let set for 15 minutes

Remove the curds to a colander and let it sit above the whey, covered for 30 minutes

Then you move onto the stretching process and this is where things, once again, do not go quite right

So, I gloss over the stretching process, put the curds in a mold and squeeze out the extra whey for about half an hour with 5 lbs of pressure

Then I brine it in a solution of 1 lb kosher salt and 2 quarts water for 2 hours

I have to say it turned out pretty well, with the exception of the stretching thing.  Though I think I know where I went wrong.  I think that instead of going for short, cubes of curd I just need to make long curds and see if they pull well.

The experiment will be duplicated sometime in the future using the longer curds and hopefully that will fix my stretching issue.

Anthoinette

Bread Pudding

My husband hates bread pudding, french toast and rice pudding because of the texture, and the raisins, but mostly the texture.  I finally made a bread pudding that he will not only willingly eat but asks for more!

Donut Pudding

Ingredients
3 eggs (2/3 c)
2/3 c milk
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t clove
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t allspice
1/4 t ginger
1 t vanilla
1/4 c brown sugar
3 cake donuts
4 fluffy donuts
1 t butter


Directions

1)  Preheat oven to 350

2)  Mix all ingredients except donuts and butter until homogenous

3)  Cut the donuts into 8th

4)  butter an 8" square bake pan

5)  put donuts in buttered pan then pour liquid mixture over it and press donuts into mixture until it is absorbed into all the donut chunks

6) bake at 350 for 1 hour

7)  let cool for 5-15 minutes before serving, preferably with icecream

I hope your family enjoys this too.

Anthoinette