House Husbandry

Working on putting a dinner party together for Saturday night. Menu's been decided and I'm trying some things out in advance of the actual prep on Saturday.  Today I focused on a scallop amuse bouche, using a single sous-vide scallop, atop some beet horseradish.  I haven't tasted it yet, but it sure looks pretty. The scallops cook at 140 for just 30-40 minutes.  They've been turning out really nice.  I tried them this morning with defrosted scallops and also with frozen.  The frozen ones need to cook closer to the longer time.  The defrosted ones were pretty well done at the lower end of the time frame. Currently working on trying some vegetables.  I've cut some carrots up and added a little salt and pepper, as well as argan honey and a little butter.  There's also a beet sliced up with some capers, onion, and salt and pepper.  I can't wait to see how these turn out.  I haven't tied any vegetables yet.  They need to cook at 18...

It's cold, so it's time to make soup again. I made a Broccoli with Roasted Garlic soup yesterday that turned out quite well. 2 Heads Garlic 2 small onions 1 small potato 1 head of broccoli 4 cups of chicken stock Pre-heat oven to 400°F.  Slice the top off of the head of garlic and drizzle with olive oil.  Place on a baking sheet or in a garlic roaster and roast for at least 30 minutes.  Cool to handle. Chop onions and potato and saute in olive oil until the onions begin to get soft.  Coarsely chop the broccoli and add to the pot.  Add garlic now that you can handle it.  Add stock, bring to a boil and then simmer for 30 minutes. Puree the soup with an immersion blender or in batches with a regular margarita blender. Season to taste.  Wasn't that easy?

Only thing to do is to make some soup beans.  Already made chicken noodle soup earlier this week, so I can't eat that again. Started yesterday.  Soak the beans for a day.  Yes, a day.  Bay leaf in the water. The next day, drain the beans and add fresh water to cover.  I then added some garlic, celery, carrots, onions, dried mustard and salt pork.  I've also got a veggie bouillon cube in there for a little more flavor. It's sitting on the stove now and has been there for about two hours.  Need to go check it soon.  It smells good.

I've spent most of the day in the kitchen.  After taking the Dog on an epic 4 mile walk, I rested my feet for a minute and thought about what I wanted to do today. Decided I wanted to make some pasta.  I used to do it on New Year's Day for a couple of years in a row, but it's been probably three or more years since I last did it.  I've got the equipment and had bought some semolina back in January, so decided to just go for it. Started by making the dough in the Kitchen Aid. 1 cup Semonlina flour 3/4 all-purpose flour olive oil salt water 2 eggs Mixed that up till it was coming together and took it out and pressed it in shape.  In retrospect I probably should have used a little more water. Then got out the attachment that rolls it out.  Started running chunks through that on the fattest setting.  Fold it, next setting, fold it, next setting ad nauseum.  I really like playing with my food. I got it to the 5th setting today.  The do...

Soaked up some lentils until the water was clear.  Sauteed some onion, celery and carrot in some olive oil and added a bit of garlic.  Then added some Anatolian spice that I got in Ístanbul to the mix, followed by the lentils for a moment.  Added the veggie broth I made the previous day and some tomato paste.  Let that simmer for about a half an hour.  That's all it needs. Stuck a hand blender into the pot and pureed that mess up.  Added some salt and pepper and then the juice of about 3/4 of a lemon.  Voila.  Another hearty, tasty meal.

Getting into the soup thing this week. Sliced up a big leek and sauteed it in a big pan with olive oil, garlic and a white carrot.  Made it wilt.  Added some chopped up cauliflower, Ottoman spices, and some tomato paste thinned with water.  Simmered that for about a half an hour in a box of veggie broth. All the ingredients in the pot Got it all mushy, and then tossed it in the Vitamix with some raw cashews and pureed the hell out of it.  Added a little more water to clean the container and poured that back into the soup.  Super good.  You have to make this. To go with dinner, I also cooked up some farro in mushroom broth.  On the side I did a mirepoix of celery and onion, plus those white carrots I was talking about earlier.  Added some garlic.  Then added a container of chopped up mushrooms, and then some thyme.  Blended this mix with the farro.  Yum. Tossing the trimmings into a pot All of the trimming from all of...

Working on some soup for dinner tonight. We the pan with some avocado oil.  Add a spoonful of crushed garlic.  Once that's sizzling and popping all over the place, throw in the white park of the leek I chopped up.  Wilt that a bit.   Add some Ottoman spice I have too much of. Cut up two big bunches of kale and add that.  Start with about half first and wilt it down a bit depending how big of a pan you're using.  Then add the rest.  I also diced up about a quarter of a potato to eventually thicken it with.  Add a bunch of vegetable broth.  Simmer to wilt the kale down some more.  Add some white wine because everything tastes better with wine.  Cook that about a half hour. Plan next is to let it cool down and them I'm going to puree it in the Vitamix.  Baking a sweet and regular potato in the oven now, in case the soup doesn't seem like enough.  Crudite chopped up in case there's some munchies that need quelling. Updat...

Tonight I got a little industrious.  Cleaned up a baking potato and two sweet potatoes and baked them in the convection oven.  Chopped up a couple of heads of broccoli, half for juice and half to just munch on.  Also cleaned the stalks so I could eat those. Juice has the aforementioned broccoli Some kale Three large golden beets with the greens A huge jicama 1 green apple some carrots a zucchini a turnip ginger turmeric

Used 4 cups cashews, a jar of green salsa I picked up on sale yesterday, a little nutritional yeast and about a cup of water. Puréed the hell out of it in the vitamix. Delicious.

So after the stock was done, cut up 1 1/2 onions and diced two poblano peppers. Threw that into a pot with some olive oil and garlic.  Cooked that up for a few minutes and then added some ground coriander, cumin and ground chipotle chili.  Kept cooking that. Added the stock I made and a touch more from a box.  Got that simmering really good and then added a can of white beans and another can that I mashed up.  Added the juice of 2 limes and about a half a cup of white wine.  Simmered that for about 30 minutes or so.  Shredded the rest of the chicken from last night's dinner and added that along with some fresh cilantro.  Cooked for a few more minutes to warm up the chicken. Served it with with some crushed up blue corn chips and a dollop of sour cream.  Pretty tasty.  Ended up having about a bowl and a half.

Made a roasted chicken, stuffed with lemons on a bed of onions.  Good stuff.  Picture above is some green beans with mushrooms in Ottoman spice from our last trip to Istanbul.  We also had some Brussels sprouts tossed with some balsamic vinegar.  Good stuff. For the Superb Owl I'm making a stock from the bones from last night's chicken.  I added a bay leaf, some poultry seasoning, 1/4 of an onion, old celery, a few baby carrots, a dash of lemongrass and maybe a half cup of white wine.  The rest of it's water and I'm just going to let it simmer on the stove until I'm done with the movie I'm watching.  Pro-tip, simmer very gently to get a clear broth. The stocks going to be the base for a chicken chili.  I've also whipped up a batch guacamole to go with it.  Can't wait to see how the soup turns out!

Tonight's green juice consists of: 1 bunch of leafy green kale 2 Fuji Apples 1 Granny Smith Apple 1 Bosc pear 1 parsnip 1/2 bunch of parsley 3 celery stalks 2 large cucumbers 1 orange some leftover ginger Shopped somewhere else today.  They didn't have the wide, wide range of veggies I can get at Whole Foods, but I got most of the primary, green components. One thing I haven't been mentioning is that I tend to add water or coconut water to the mix.  It's good the same way adding a little water to a glass of whiskey brings out the flavors.

Did my morning erranding and ended up at Treasure Island Foods, a nice little independent market with a great selection of foreign products that you just don't see everywhere else.  Was happy to see that some of their produce was a little cheaper than Whole Foods'.  I'm getting a little annoyed with just how much it costs to shop there and am trying to ween myself away from them.  It's just been a little tough in the cold.  I think it will be worth it though, unless I need something last minute.  The walk will do me good. 

Still working on the soup.  Had some for lunch yesterday and should get some more of it today.  I love it when a little work goes a long way like that.  The juices have been lasting through breakfast and Sweetie has been able to take a thermos of it for lunch, as well.

Tonight's tasty concoction consists of: 2 Fuji apples 1 Granny Smith 1 big chunk of ginger 1 pinky of turmeric 3 small Golden beets 1 zucchini 2 large English cucumbers some parsley 1 Cara Cara orange 3 stalks of celery a ton of carrots 1 parsnip 2 medium jicama 1 bunch lacinato kale Good stuff!

Carrots galore 3 stalks of celery 3 cucumbers 1 zucchini 2 Fuji apples 2 smallish chunks of jicama 1 pear 1 parsnip 1 big red beet 1 big bunch of red kale Going for a red juice this time.  Don't forget you had this the next day.  You're not dying.

Baby, it's cold outside.  Let's make soup in no time. 1 finely chopped medium onion 3 carrots cut in tiny pieces 3 celery stalks in tiny pieces Fire up the pot, throw in some oil, and garlic and all those veggies. Chop up a package of sliced mushrooms and cook those in a separate pan with some butter and more garlic. Chop up some chicken thighs into tiny bite sized pieces.  Keep checking what's cooking. Transfer mushrooms to mire-poix pot and then add a little toasted sesame oil to the pan and toss in the chicken pieces with still more garlic.  Cook chicken until done. Add box of stock to the veggies and once the chicken is done, throw that in, too.  Added a can of petite diced tomatoes with jalapenos and cilantro.  Stir.  Bring to a boil. Add water to the chicken pan to cook some pasta in that with the double goal of cleaning the pan. Boil cute, tiny pasta separately.  Add some thyme and saffron to the soup.  Once it boils, turn...

Last night's juice wasn't bad, but I won't be repeating it.  Tonight I present to you: 1 bunch of kale (because there must always be kale or some other good leafy green) 1 zucchini 2 small pieces of ginger (not a dismembered red-head) 1 pinky of turmeric that was big enough that they charged me 6 cents for it 1 jicama robusto 3 stalks of celery (can't have too much of this or it's nasty) 2 pink lady apples 1 granny smith apple (because it's Thursday) 1 big bag of carrots 1 turnip 1 parsnip 2 big English cucumbers 1 orange the balance of the parsley from yesterday Now let's cut them up and feed them to the Machine. Not bad.  1 hour 3 minutes beginning to end. (Cut - 30 minutes/feed/strain/clean.)  This one's pretty good!

Tonight's juice will consist of: 1 bunch of kale 1 lemon 1 yellow squash some parsley 3 celery stalks 1 bag of carrots 1 bartlett pear 1 fancy orange 2 English cucumbers 1 zucchini 1 granny smith apple 1 jicama 1 rutabaga 1 turnip 2 golden beets some fresh mint  Let's see how this goes.

Finally used the stock I made the other day to cook up some farro, add some corn with Tapatio, and the rest of the shredded chicken from the stock carcass to make a soup for this blustery day. Cleaned out a jar of crushed garlic and threw in a little thyme as well. Good stuff.