Back to Basics Cooking

Air Roasted Veggies

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At least the air roasting is true for the carrots, sprouts, and broccoli.  The potatoes were boiled, smashed and then roasted on a tray below the basket with the other veggies. Everything was tossed with oil and kosher salt.

I set the temp at 350 to start and then bumped it to 375.  They took about 13-14 minutes after it came to temp but I put everything in before it was fully pre-heated.  I’m still feeling my way around cooking times, not ready yet to set and forget until the timer chimes.

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Modern Lasagna

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Modern in the sense that I used sodium citrate dissolved in milk to aid in the making of the cheese sauce.  (I did it in a little water so I could see it dissolve.)  Much like the modern mac and cheese recipe I used a while back I used it to melt mozzarella and parmesan in the sauce.  It was similar to a bechamel and it worked very well.Not much to look at, the first portion dug out of the pan while it was still warm.  The taste was great, though. I worried that the lack of flour might affect the “set” of the lasagna. It might have, but it’s difficult to tell.  A reheated portion the next day was OK.Two people can’t eat all of that so I froze individual portions for later.

“Choice” Ribeye

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That is what the label said this piece of shoe leather was.  I’ve decided that the best use for most of the beef we bought because it was locally raised is as material for ground beef.  I have a meat grinder, just need enough beef fat to add to it as it goes through the machine.  I am so disappointed.  “Grass fed” is a scam.

Sammich Pr0n

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I’ll be bummed when I run out of those candied jalapenos.  The slaw is from a copycat KFC recipe.  It’s a favorite of Mrs J.  I’m torn between it and one using shredded cabbage and fresh peppers in a sweet and sour dressing.  I think the vinegar slaw works better as a topping on fish or pulled pork.  YMMV

Tidbits

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Homer was sniffing the catmint the other day, I took a snap but it’s not very good.The new toaster oven is just a tad bigger than the last one – enough so that my 12″ cast iron skillet will fit inside with the door closed.  I celebrated by making a bigger batch of baked beans.Since the new toaster is also an air fryer we are having French fries more often.  The leftover fried chicken comes out very well,too.The roasted chicken was done beer can style in the big oven, the fries were done in the air fryer.  I tried to cook too many at one time because I didn’t want just a few frozen leftovers in the bag,  A longer cooking time might have served this batch better but a few were starting to get rather toasty at the ends.We dropped Gabe off at the groomer and had a few hours to kill.  I was stymied in my search for the box mix wild rice I prefer so went a few towns over and found some.  Lunch was at a Chinese buffet over there that we found with a web search.  It’s located in a dead shopping mall, when we walked in from the parking lot we were dismayed to see just a few patrons.  We thought it was because the food sucked but it wasn’t that bad.  It’s just that it is suffering because of the mall woes.  I made coq au vin yesterday.  It’s pretty easy but it does take a while.  I broke down a whole chicken so I had the breasts in there, too.  Usually I go with just chicken thighs but we were out of those.  That’s a big ol’ breast atop the garlic mashed potatoes.Today I’m making chili with canned hominy instead of beans.  I was tired of looking at that can in the pantry.  There is nothing you can throw together in the kitchen that someone, somewhere, has not already done.Not sure if the upward stare is wistful or wishful.  On the far left is the stump feeding station.