S.I.P./Quarantine Cooking

Well, we are all in a mess, so lets have some fun and learn a few things along the way!  First and foremost might be that...you can make a burrito at home!!!  That's a bit facetious talking to this crowd here on THP, who have some of the maddest cooking skills on the interwhebz. 
 
SO, lets post what we are cooking at home, what is made from the pantry, what was out of but substituted, all basic cooking skills.....
 
I'll get it started!
 
A couple days ago, talking with my son who is now 21 and living on his own for the last 2 years, he said..."I gotta go, Mom, the roasted chicken is done.  We're gonna eat dinner now."  :sniff:  AWW!!!!  I'm a happy mom.....
 
 Here's what we did for family entertainment last weekend.  We rented Milo and Otis...for the DOG to watch!!!

 
what's in the meat drawer- pork chops
Pantry- wild rice (doctored up majorly!)
Breading with pantry crackers
tomatoes (cuz that was the best FRESH veg I could come up with.)

 
I didn't have Panko, so I blitzed some Mary's pepper crackers in the food processor with some flour,  added some spices and pepper powders, dredged the chops in seasoned egg/milk wash and then cracker crumbs.  Pan Fry in cast iron skillet with a bit of oil until golden brown and done.
 

 
Rice- Saute rice mix in some butter (ala Rice-A-Roni) until toasty nutty done.  Add water and chicken base/boullion, cook until done.  Key notes!  Use broth as the cooking liquid and saute the rice mix before with butter!  There are lots of quinoa, rice mixes....just don't cook with plain water.  Saute in olive oil/butter or not,  or not, but definitely use seasoning in the water. 

 
Looks kind of blah, but was really yummy!

 
 
next up... Pork, shrimp, LO wild rice-vs-white rice, beans........and andoulle...
 
share what you got cooking.  Might make this into a competition of who had the best cooking Hack, or best out of nothing dish, to be awarded when all of this shite is over.
 
and my husband has developed a strange affinity for watching musicals.
 
Paint Your Wagon
Oklahoma
Dirty Dancing (OK...that one's mine... )
 
 
I'm queuing up
Pirates of Penzance,
Showboat
South Pacific...

 
and Floyd's final episodes.....

 

[salsalady]

Check out Netflix Series...
We Are The Champions
Eps. 2 Chili Eating


Ed Curry, a contest with world champions, new peppers, many recognized faces.

I dont know how or if it is possible to link a Netflix series. The first episode was a cheese roll race, which is pretty good also, then the fresh chili eating contest.

And it was spelled "chili"....

 

[salsalady]

New Years Day!  WOOHOOO!  Anything's better than 2020! 
Start it off right with a gift from the 'Kid. 

 
 
Okay, ready to cook.
 
start time 12:00.  Finish time after 5:00.

 
shiitake and crimini mushrooms, shallots, bit o' butter, evoo, garlic, fresh thyme-cooked down to dry out.  When cooked down, it seemed oily, so I put it on paper towels while in the refer chilliin'.

 
Sear the tenderloin on all sides in cast iron pan on high heat.  Cool, then rub with mustard.  I used a stone ground mustard.

 
Shingle the prosciutto on cling film and spread the duxelle on top.  Roll it up in the cling and refer 20-30 minutes.

 
Roll it in the puff pastry, trim as necessary, roll up in cling film again, refer another 30 minutes.

 
Put the meat log onto parchment paper on a baking sheet.  I used some of the trimmings to try and make some peppers, onion, etc for decorations.  Brush with an egg wash.  BAKE!  40+ minutes at 390F until instant read thermometer was 135-140F.  I pulled it knowing it will continue to cook while resting for 20 minutes.
 
oh WOW!!! This looks so good!

 
 
 

Uuuuhhhmmmm, yea....that's a little rare....  I can handle a medium rare, but when the blood is running out onto the board...that's a No-Go.
 
We cut the end off for something to eat because by now it's been 5 hours of cooking and fiddling and drinking...I put the rest of it back in the oven for another 20 minutes.  

 
I made what was supposed to be a green peppercorn sauce (except I couldn't find green peppercorns at Hanks, so I substituted capers) in the cast iron searing pan. Saute a bunch of shallots in butter, add fresh thyme, capers, cream, black pepper (sorry, geeme).  Sprinkle of fresh chives~

 
 
 
Verdict?  The tenderloin was very tender, not much flavor (pretty much what all the recipes said), crust was nice, too much shallots in the sauce, didnt' really care for the prosciutto and mushroom layer...
all in all...not worth it.
 
Next day- we peeled off the pastry and mushrooms, cut the meat into 1/2-3/4" slices, laid it gently into a pan of hot au jus just enough to warm it up...now THAT was some good tasting meat!

 

[FreeportBum]

Sous vide @128° then crisped up on the bbq

 

[Ashen]

Nice looking beef all around , that first cut picture of the wellington was perfect doneness for me, maybe even a bit over. I like the rare side of med rare.

To be honest , I really don't like beef tenderloin. I think that it is the most useless piece of meat in the cow.

The simple reason people are always wrapping it in bacon , etc or dousing in sauces, is that the reason it is tender is the same reason it has next to no flavour.

Great cut for people that don't actually like the flavour or texture of beef though.

 

[salsalady]

Bum's beef looks rare with no blood. The juices look cooked. It's hard to see in mine, but it was literally bleeding all over. Kinda grossed me out.

True comments, Ashen. I dont think I've ever had filet mignon, tenderloin steak or a tenderloin. Most recipes made note of the lack of flavor, hence the bacon and sauces. I wonder if injecting it would work? ( No, im not talking about mainlining it... ) you know, like brisket and turkey.

The wellington wasnt a total failure. It didnt have a soggy bottom, the pastry was good, we ate that even the next day.

John and i are discussing it right now. Another thing to note is we were both disappointed with the shallots. It seems like the last several years, shallots havent been tasting good. We use tons if garlic and onions, the shallots have a bitter something there. I thought it might be season, or source, thought id give it amother try. I think it would of been better with onions and garlic.


We are also discussing how to bacon wrap and sear the loin then remove the bacon.

 

[Ashen]

There is a jamie oliver version of wellington that uses ground beef that I prefer hugely. Kind of like a meatloaf wellington.

 

[Hells Kitchen]

I'm carnivorous so that blood running onto the board is a source of delight for me...

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

Buttermilk/hot sauce brined deep fried frog legs.

 

[salsalady]

That marinade looks like the dipping sauce!


The leggs look yummy~~~

 

[JoynersHotPeppers]

That marinade looks like the dipping sauce!


The leggs look yummy~~~

Oh the dipping sauce is 25% hot sauce and 75% ranch treated them similar to wings with a seafood twist. If you have not tried the Old Bay Hot Sauce, do yourself a favor and get it! 

 

[The_NorthEast_ChileMan]

The leggs look yummy~~~ 

 
 

 
Yes they do!

 

[salsalady]

  Now, if only I could find that avatar with the chilelady doing the can-can! 
 
JHP- I have seen some posts on OldBay, guess I'll pick some up if I see it. 
 
I was joking because it looked like you took the marinade and used it as the dipping sauce.  I know that's not what you did, but they looked the same.  Just giving you a hard time. 

 

[salsalady]

  I'm such an idiot sometimes.
 
 
I have to talk to the State about some licensing and fees.  I've been putting it off for a couple weeks.  Came home early today so I got the notice, called the number on the page.
 
"BlahBlahBlah..call back during normal business hours"  CLICK
 
Hmmm.  OK... called the number again....Same Thing....CLICK
 
WTF!  Now I'm getting pissed.  It's 2:15 in the afternoon!  What the bloody 'ell?  Why is noone answering?!?!???
 
 
 
OKAY!  I know how to get around this....I'll call another department and have them transfer the call to the correct department!
 
RingRing...."BlahBlahBlah Call back during normal business hours"....CLICK   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
FINALLY....I realized it's MLK JR day and everything is closed!  

 

[keybrdkid]

the steaks my cat/raccoon didn't eat:
 

 

 

[salsalady]

the steaks my cat/raccoon didn't eat:
 

 

 
OK, KBK, You gotta explain this ^^^...what do cats/racoons have to do with that nice looking steak??? 
 
 

 

 

[salsalady]

Texas Creek Products SUPERBOWL SALE is back!
 
http://thehotpepper.com/topic/74582-texas-creek-superbowl-sale/?p=1707757

 

[Ashen]

We had a craving for shrimp tacos.

Not pictured was the pickled jalas I added at the table.

 

[salsalady]

MMMmmmm!  SHRIMP TACOs!   What's the sauce?

 

[Ashen]

Usually I make a sauce of mayo and gochujang but Wally world didn't have any gochujang for our online order.

I improvised with mayo, garlic chilli paste, lime juice, dash of fish sauce, dash of toasted sesame oil, couple pinches of sugar.

I actually liked it better .

Batter was
1/4 cup ap
1/4 cup corn starch
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp hot Spanish paprika
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp MSG
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

Enough ice water to make a smooth batter slightly thicker than the consistency of heavy cream.

 

[dragonsfire]

Awesome! drool
 
(MSG ?? )