Prep time: 30 seconds for the fish, and really, how long does it take to fill a pan with water and turn on the heat?
Overall time invested in prepping, preparing, etc. less than five minutes. Cost estimated at $6.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Baked Salmon over linguine with thickened milk sauce with cheese
I picked up a nice filet of salmon on sale for $5, wild caught Alaskan that was already thawed, which meant no refreezing but cooking right away (I'd never eat farm raised). I put it in an oven safe bowl and poured milk over it and baked it at 350F for 45 minutes until it flaked. I'd put water on to boil about 15 minutes before it was done baking, and made some linguine. Drain the linguine, and then pour the salmon and milk over it, add some butter and garlic, nutmeg
and white pepper with some grated Parmesan cheese and oh my goodness deliciousness ensues!
Prep time: 30 seconds for the fish, and really, how long does it take to fill a pan with water and turn on the heat?
Overall time invested in prepping, preparing, etc. less than five minutes. Cost estimated at $6.
Enjoy!
Prep time: 30 seconds for the fish, and really, how long does it take to fill a pan with water and turn on the heat?
Overall time invested in prepping, preparing, etc. less than five minutes. Cost estimated at $6.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Julie's Mousaka with Rhubarb pie for desert
Last night I made my own version of a classic Greek dish, Mousaka. All I had to eat was some potatoes and a few eggplants so that's what i cooked with. Mousaka is sort of like the well known Irish dish, Shepherd's pie (if you've never had it). It was, and still is (as I eat the leftovers) delicious.
It takes a bit of time to make, but well worth it. I start by slicing up a large eggplant, or a few small ones, enough to cover the bottom of a large casserole dish. I drizzle some olive oil in the dish and layer the eggplant. Then I slice up some potatoes, and layer those over the eggplant. That part doesn't take too long. I cover it and put it in the oven and let it bake for an hour at 350F - I want those potatoes and eggplant slices cooked and soft. While that's baking, I make the sauce that is the next layer. I take a quart of tomatoes that I've canned, juice and all, put it in a saucepan, and grab a couple sprigs of rosemary, lots of oregano, a few basil leaves and some thyme from my garden or windowsill (if it's winter, I grow herbs indoors and move them out in the spring). I put the herbs in with the tomatoes, and a bay leaf. I put in about a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and two minced garlic cloves. Then I just let it simmer on low until the timer goes off for the potato/eggplant layers. I pull the casserole out of the oven, remove the cover and pour the tomato/spice sauce over it evenly and put it back in to bake, without a cover this time. If you're not a vegan, which I'm not, you can fry some ground lamb (about 1/2 lb) and put it in the tomato sauce before you pour it over the layers in the dish. I just love the added flavor that lamb gives this dish. I suppose ground turkey would also work if you like.
While the tomato sauce is baking into the eggplant/potato layers in the oven at 350F I make the bechemel sauce that goes on top (which is not vegan, but is vegetarian if it's ok to eat butter and eggs). I made this up, and I think it's pretty tasty:
Take 6 TBS flour and 6 TBS butter and over a very low heat, melt the butter and blend the flour into it. Slowly, while continuously stirring, add 6 cups of milk and four egg yolks and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. I only had five cups of milk so I used one cup of water in addition and it came out fine. It's ok to be creative up to a point in cooking. Stir like crazy until the sauce thickens (I cheat and turn up the heat after the milk is blended in smoothly with the flour/butter mix). Once it starts to thicken, take it off the stove and pour it over the casserole mix from the oven. Bake it another half hour.
I can live off this for about three days, and not have to cook anything. It takes about an hour to do, but well worth it.
While the mousaka was baking the last half hour I went out to my garden, cut enough rhubarb to make a pie, came back in, washed the rhubarb, cut it up into 1 - 1/2 inch pieces, put it in a big pan with 2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of flour and then made some pie crust. The pie crust consists of two sticks of butter and 2 cups of flour: Cut the butter into the flour until it's pea sized. This is one time where lazy is good - you'll get a flakier crust the less you work it, those big hunks of butter make delicious flakes in your crust! Drizzle 8 TBS water over the flour/butter mix while lifting the dough up and around with a fork. Next, use your bare hands (take your rings off and thank me later) and mix the dough just barely until it mostly sticks together, but no more! Remember, less is better here. Squeeze off about half the dough and flour a cutting board (I love my wood one!) and roll it out, use a floured - rub flour on it - rolling pin, or a wine bottle, anything round and smooth will do. Roll it out in different directions until it's about as big as your pie pan. Any kind of pan is fine, glass, ceramic, thin tinfoil ones. Doesn't matter. Fold the pie crust in half on your board. Now fold it in half again. It should look like a triangle at this point, but don't squish it, you're going to unfold it on your pie plate! Pick up the folded dough carefully, and move it over your pie plate, position it so it sits near the edge and the point of the triangle is in the middle of the plate. So easy! Now all you have to do is unfold it. Perfect! Pour the rhubarb surgar mix into the pie plate with the crust you just made. If you're lucky enough to have strawberries or rasperries, put them around in it, too. I didn't have any, so I used some incredible rasperry preserves. yummy. I just used a small spoon and globbed small bits around the pile of rhubarb/sugar/flour. It worked. Repeat what you did with the first half of the dough: roll it out, fold it, move it, center it, unfold. You can use your fingers to pinch the top and bottom halves of the dough together or press down ont the edges with the tips of a fork if you want it pretty. Ok, now this is VERY important: Cut some holes in your top crust to let out the steam and juices. Rhubarb has a lot of water and it will make an awful mess if you don't cut holes AND put a cookie sheet under it to catch all the sugar water that WILL bubble up and out when you bake it for an hour and 20 minutes at 350F. Your rhubarb should be very soft at this point, and there should be a lot of syrup in your pie - it'll gel up quite a bit when it cools.
Enjoy!
It takes a bit of time to make, but well worth it. I start by slicing up a large eggplant, or a few small ones, enough to cover the bottom of a large casserole dish. I drizzle some olive oil in the dish and layer the eggplant. Then I slice up some potatoes, and layer those over the eggplant. That part doesn't take too long. I cover it and put it in the oven and let it bake for an hour at 350F - I want those potatoes and eggplant slices cooked and soft. While that's baking, I make the sauce that is the next layer. I take a quart of tomatoes that I've canned, juice and all, put it in a saucepan, and grab a couple sprigs of rosemary, lots of oregano, a few basil leaves and some thyme from my garden or windowsill (if it's winter, I grow herbs indoors and move them out in the spring). I put the herbs in with the tomatoes, and a bay leaf. I put in about a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and two minced garlic cloves. Then I just let it simmer on low until the timer goes off for the potato/eggplant layers. I pull the casserole out of the oven, remove the cover and pour the tomato/spice sauce over it evenly and put it back in to bake, without a cover this time. If you're not a vegan, which I'm not, you can fry some ground lamb (about 1/2 lb) and put it in the tomato sauce before you pour it over the layers in the dish. I just love the added flavor that lamb gives this dish. I suppose ground turkey would also work if you like.
While the tomato sauce is baking into the eggplant/potato layers in the oven at 350F I make the bechemel sauce that goes on top (which is not vegan, but is vegetarian if it's ok to eat butter and eggs). I made this up, and I think it's pretty tasty:
Take 6 TBS flour and 6 TBS butter and over a very low heat, melt the butter and blend the flour into it. Slowly, while continuously stirring, add 6 cups of milk and four egg yolks and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. I only had five cups of milk so I used one cup of water in addition and it came out fine. It's ok to be creative up to a point in cooking. Stir like crazy until the sauce thickens (I cheat and turn up the heat after the milk is blended in smoothly with the flour/butter mix). Once it starts to thicken, take it off the stove and pour it over the casserole mix from the oven. Bake it another half hour.
I can live off this for about three days, and not have to cook anything. It takes about an hour to do, but well worth it.
While the mousaka was baking the last half hour I went out to my garden, cut enough rhubarb to make a pie, came back in, washed the rhubarb, cut it up into 1 - 1/2 inch pieces, put it in a big pan with 2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of flour and then made some pie crust. The pie crust consists of two sticks of butter and 2 cups of flour: Cut the butter into the flour until it's pea sized. This is one time where lazy is good - you'll get a flakier crust the less you work it, those big hunks of butter make delicious flakes in your crust! Drizzle 8 TBS water over the flour/butter mix while lifting the dough up and around with a fork. Next, use your bare hands (take your rings off and thank me later) and mix the dough just barely until it mostly sticks together, but no more! Remember, less is better here. Squeeze off about half the dough and flour a cutting board (I love my wood one!) and roll it out, use a floured - rub flour on it - rolling pin, or a wine bottle, anything round and smooth will do. Roll it out in different directions until it's about as big as your pie pan. Any kind of pan is fine, glass, ceramic, thin tinfoil ones. Doesn't matter. Fold the pie crust in half on your board. Now fold it in half again. It should look like a triangle at this point, but don't squish it, you're going to unfold it on your pie plate! Pick up the folded dough carefully, and move it over your pie plate, position it so it sits near the edge and the point of the triangle is in the middle of the plate. So easy! Now all you have to do is unfold it. Perfect! Pour the rhubarb surgar mix into the pie plate with the crust you just made. If you're lucky enough to have strawberries or rasperries, put them around in it, too. I didn't have any, so I used some incredible rasperry preserves. yummy. I just used a small spoon and globbed small bits around the pile of rhubarb/sugar/flour. It worked. Repeat what you did with the first half of the dough: roll it out, fold it, move it, center it, unfold. You can use your fingers to pinch the top and bottom halves of the dough together or press down ont the edges with the tips of a fork if you want it pretty. Ok, now this is VERY important: Cut some holes in your top crust to let out the steam and juices. Rhubarb has a lot of water and it will make an awful mess if you don't cut holes AND put a cookie sheet under it to catch all the sugar water that WILL bubble up and out when you bake it for an hour and 20 minutes at 350F. Your rhubarb should be very soft at this point, and there should be a lot of syrup in your pie - it'll gel up quite a bit when it cools.
Enjoy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)