Celery Root and Potato Latkes (p. 592)

Ok so I had some celeriac kicking around in the fridge for a while that I was planning on using for a sauce for venison steaks but it had been a while since it had been acquired (fortunately it keeps for a while) so when I saw a few  celery root recipes, I bit on the latkes.
 Here's the thing about celeriac. Everyone and their mother has said how much nuttier and earthier it is compared to its stalky brethren. But seriously. When you peel it for the first time, you'll catch a whiff and you'll understand. Your first bite -  the same understanding.
I've never made latkes before, and the experience of grating an onion is both odd and tear-inducing.

Meez:

You'll need a pound and a half of peeled celeriac (I had about a pound when it was all said and done), a pound and a half of russets, lemon juice, pound of onions, 2/3 C AP flour, 4 large eggs, salt, pepper, celery seed, and veg. oil.

Procedure:
Grate your celeriac. Grate your potatoes into a large bowl. Toss w/lemon juice. Grate your onions into the same bowl. Drain off the liquid, dump the mess into the middle of a kitchen towel, and twist it up to squeeze out as much moisture as possible (you'll be surprised how much you get out). Put this back in the big bowl and stir in your 4 beaten eggs, your flour, the salt, pepper, and celery seed.

The mix

Put about 1/3 inch oil in a 10 in. pan and bring it up to heat but not smoking. Spooon out about a 1/4 cup of mix into the pan and flatten into a disc.

On the heat

When the edges look brown (you can lift it up to check the bottom), flip it over. The top should be a nice golden brown color. When the bottom looks similar, take it out and set on a wire rack to drain. You can put the rack on a pan and rest in a 250 degree oven to keep it warm or just eat them as they go. I had a roomate help me with a few. You can top with sour cream or applesauce.

I opted for sour cream.

So, how was it?
Right out of the pan, they're really good. Warm, they're ok. 

What did you learn?

Grating onions isn't as hard as it sounds, just really weird.

Recommend it?
Yeah, it'd be good as part of a breakfast or accompanying some meat.

Pork and Tomatillo Stew (pp. 469-470)

I did this because I had some pork shoulder in the freezer and I love tomatillos in salsa verde. This was the first recipe that I wasn't terribly impressed with. I went over to my friends' apartment to watch the tech game and make them dinner. This stew is a little better after a day or two in the fridge (which stew isn't?). 

Meez:

Fairly involved - You'll need a couple pounds pork shoulder, cut into 1 1/2 inch cubes, veg oil, 8 garlic cloves, 1 bottle dark beer (I opted for Shiner Bock), 1 1/2 cups OJ (wait, what?), 1 pound of peeled, husked, rinsed and quartered tomatillos, 1 28 oz can whole tomatoes, liquid reserved, chopped, 2 large chopped onions, 1 bunch cilantro without roots, leaves and stems chopped (that's something I love about cilantro, you can just chop up the stems along with the leaves unlike parsley), 2 jalapenos, chopped seeds and all, 1 can of drained black beans, 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1 8 oz container sour cream.

Procedure:

Pat dry and season your pork cubes with salt and pepper. Heat 1/4 C veg oil in a pot 'til it's hot but not smoking. Throw in your 8 garlic cloves and stir them until they're golden brown. At this point you'll brown your pork cubes in batches. In another pot, throw together your beer, OJ, tomatillos, tomatoes, and the tomato juice. Let this sauce simmer for about 20 minutes. When you're done with your pork in the other pot, pour off everything (I'm assuming the garlic cloves too) and reserve a TB of oil. Throw in your onions and cook 'til soft. To this add your sauce, pork, cilantro, jalapenos, and S&P to taste. Bring it to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover partially and let it sit for about 2 hours or until the pork is tender. Reseason with S&P, add your beans, and simmer uncovered for about 10 min.

The whole mess

While your stew is simmering, cook up some rice to serve with it. Take your sour cream and stir in the lime juice for a garnish.

Ready to eat

So, how was it?Ok, the raw sauce was pretty...I don't know...not quite awful, but between the OJ, the tomato juice, and the beer...when it's added back to the pot with all the other ingredients, the sharp edges get rounded off and the cilantro also helps to keep it in check.

What did you learn?

It is important to fully thaw your meat before you're ready to start. Patting it dry multiple times also helps.

Recommend it?

Not really. It did get better in the fridge though.

Buttery-Toasted Oatmeal with Sticky Apple Topping (p. 647)

I've always loved steel-cut oatmeal. It's so much creamier than the instant kind. The trade-off is time, but if you want your breakfast to be a little more lavish, try steel-cut rather than rolled. You will be surprised.

Meez:

Steel cut oatmeal, apples, brown sugar, butter, salt, half-and-half

Procedure:

Heat 2 1/2TB butter in a heavy saucepan until it stops bubbling. Add your cup of steel cut oats and stir until it browns a little more (difficult to tell) and gives off a nutty aroma (not so difficult). Add 4 1/2 cups boiling water (electric kettle or hotpot is great for this) and 1/4 tsp salt to the oats and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a skillet melt half a stick of butter and add 2 apples (they call for Gala or Fuji but I used some of my remaining Golden Delicious) that have been peeled, cored, and sliced 1/8 inch thick.

Oatmeal and apples on the heat

Stir occasionally until they brown a little. Then add 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/8 tsp salt. Stir gently (because the apples will be tender at this point) until the sugar has melted. Stir in half-and-half and let it thicken up. I used whole milk instead, initially it looked like it curdled (possibly from the malic acid in the apples) but it thickened out after a bit and looked good.
Put your oatmeal in a bowl and put the apple topping over it.

Final dish

So, how was it?
It was really good. I'd probably do it again another weekend for breakfast. It's thick, hearty, and sweet.

What did you learn?
I learned to keep half-and-half (or at least heavy cream) on hand more often.

Recommend it?

Absolutely, it's great for a delicious breakfast that'll power you through the day.

Apricot Chicken with Almonds (p. 396)

Meez:

You'll need about 1/3 cup almond slices. You also need apricot jam, soy sauce, some wholegrain mustard, salt, pepper, and butter for the sauce. Also some chicken breasts.


Procedure:
Toast your almond slices in the oven until golden brown.

 Toasted almond slices

If you can smell them, you've probably toasted too much. Salt and pepper both sides of your chicken breasts. Lube up a baking dish and place the breasts in. I seasoned one side and laid it season-side down and then seasoned the other side. Put it in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, make up your sauce. Put the apricot jam, soy sauce, mustard, salt, pepper, and butter in a small pan and heat it until the jam melts. After your breasts have baked for 10, take them out and pour the sauce over each of them. Try to evenly distribute the sauce over all the pieces. Put it back in the oven for another 10 minutes. After that time is up, you'll broil it for about 3 minutes, basting the breasts with the sauce once. I went about a minute and a half, basted, and wend another minute and a half. Pull it out of the oven and top with the toasted almond slices.

Finished

So, how was it?
I'm not a huge fan of chicken breasts because they tend to overcook but these turned out great. The sauce really contributes to the flavor and the almonds add a great crunch.

What did you learn?

I wouldn't have thought up this combination myself, but it's a winner.

Recommend it?
Indeed. It's relatively fast and the prep is minimal.

Basic Pastry Dough (p. 781), Sour Cream Apple Pie (pp. 772, 773)

Pie crust - It always seemed like some mercurial process that could go off the rails at any point. Confession: I've never made a pie from scratch.The reality is, it isn't difficult as long as you follow a few guidelines.

Meez:

Chopped apples in mildly acidulated water (splash of apple cider vinegar)

Pie crust (in wax paper, more on this later)

Didn't get a shot of the sour cream mix or the crumble mix.

Procedure:

To make a piecrust, the book recommends using a food processor. At this point, I don't own one, with the exception of a little 3 cup job that came w/my blender. So I blend and cut fat into doughs by hand. So do this until you get pea-sized lumps. Work in some icewater. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and smear it to distribute the fat. Flatten into a disc and chill.
Roll out the dough until you have a 13-inch round. I roll my dough between 2 sheets of wax paper, a trick I picked up from my mother. This allows you to get a thin dough without worrying about a floured surface and rolling pin. Place this dough into a pie plate, trim it up and chill it.

Make up the sour cream mix. Eggs, sour cream, vanilla, sugar, flour, nutmeg, and salt.
Core and cut up a pound of apples. I did this earlier and rested them in acidulated water so there wouldn't be any unsightly brownage. I went with Golden Delicious apples (instead of the recommended Granny Smiths) I picked up from the Floyd County Harvest Festival. The nice ladies attending the booth assured me they'd be just fine for a pie. They were right.
Arrange your apple slices in your chilled piecrust and then pour the sour cream mix over it. Put it in the oven for 15 min. @ 400. Reduce to 350 and bake for about 45 - 50 min. While this is going on you want to assemble your crumble mix, which is 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and 1/2 stick butter. Blend together with your hands until you get small clumps. I blended it a bit long and wound up with a smooth paste. I chilled the paste and then ran a fork through it to make bits and pieces, which I then topped the hot browned pie with and baked for a futher 10 minutes at 400. I cooled it for about an hour.

Sour Cream Apple Pie, fresh out of the oven.

So, how was it?

The short version:

a hot mess.

It fell apart a bit. I served it with some vanilla ice cream.

The crust was crumbly and tender, probably too crumbly. I don't know if this was due to a lack of blind baking or just me not working the dough enough.

What did you learn?

Cut this pie with a sharp knife. The apple chunks will make your slices uneven if you use something with a dull edge. Also, in the future, I'll try using alcohol instead of cold water to blend into my pastry. I think either Cooks Illustrated or Harold McGee recommend this. I have some good apple brandy I'd use for another apple pie.

Recommend it?

Yeah, the sour cream mix really added a nice tang to the apple flavors. It's a bit like the mixture in a danish, except less thick.

Silky Lettuce Soup (pp. 117-118)

Hi. I'm Derrick and I'll be attempting a cook-through of 'Gourmet Today.'

I've settled on Silky Lettuce Soup for my first recipe. It jumped out at me for two reasons - It's got a base of onion and potato (more on this later), and it used coriander, one of my favorite spices.

Meez:

Lettuce, potato, onions, garlic, coriander, 1TB butter (to finish)

Procedure:

Sweat the onions and garlic in 2TB butter 'til soft. Add coriander, salt, and pepper. Stir. Add lettuce, potato, and 3C water. Bring to a boil, take it back down to a simmer, cover for 10 min.

Just prior to covering.

Then blend in batches, or go the stick route:

One of my favorite appliances.

Finish with salt, pepper, and your reserved TB of butter.

Plate and enjoy.

So, how was it?

Not bad. It was similar to the Potato-Onion soup in Vol. 1 of 'Mastering the Art of French Cooking.' The coriander does add a subtle dose of citrus while the lettuce gives it more body and a crispness.

What did you learn?

Maybe next time I'll reduce the amount of potatoes and increase the lettuce. I used a whole potato and about a head and a half of both green and red lettuce, respectively. I wanted more essence of lettuce. Also, I love my stick blender, even though it doesn't give as fine a texture to soups and the like. Less cleanup is also a nice factor. I'd recommend a blender for this if you're not feeling lazy.

Recommend it?

Sure, it's fast and tasty and a nice riff on the traditional potato-onion soup.