salad | Allison Cooks Alton's Good Eats

Posts Tagged ‘salad’

Episode 150 – “Just Barley”

Posted: December 30, 2021 in Season 10
Tags: alton brown, bacon, baked, barley, barley water, beverage, bread, dinner, drink, fennel, good eats, grain, grits, lamb, lemon, meat, quick bread, salad, side dish, soup, stew, summer, vegan, vegetarian

It’s super cold and snowy here and I’ve really been wanting to get a blog post done. I honestly wrote some of this post a few weeks ago, but then I had some health issues that prevented me from finishing it at the time. I won’t go into detail, but 2021 has not been my favorite year. Here’s hoping that 2022 is much better!

We recently had the opportunity to see Alton’s live show, which was super fun. We had previously seen him two other times and both times we were pleasantly surprised by the hilarity of the live shows; that’s not to say that Alton hasn’t been funny on Good Eats, but just that the humor in his live shows has been kicked up a couple notches. I was curious to see how this show would compare to his others, especially since he has publicly stated that this will be his last touring show; I would highly recommend that you catch his show if you so happen to have the chance.

After completing the recipes from this episode, I think it was safe to say that we met our dietary fiber recommendations for that week, as I cranked out all five recipes from Alton’s barley episode in the same week. I enjoy the episodes, such as this one, in which Alton truly demonstrates a multitude of uses for a particular ingredient. And, to make it more fun, barley is an ingredient that I do not regularly utilize.

Baked Barley

This recipe is sort of the stepping stone of the episode, as it is a basic recipe for baked barley that could then be used in myriad ways. Ideally, you will want to use hulled barley for this recipe, but I had to settle for pearled barley. What is the difference? Well, pearled barley has been polished to remove both its husk and bran layers, while hulled barley has only had the outermost husk removed. Hulled barley is more nutritious and takes longer to cook. Still, this recipe seemed to work just fine for the pearled barley I used.

To make baked barley, put 1 C barley in a 1.5 quart lidded casserole dish, along with 1 t Kosher salt, 1 T butter, and 2 C of boiling water. Stir, cover the dish tightly with foil, and place the lid on top of the foil. Bake the barley at 375 for an hour.

Immediately upon removing the barley from the oven, remove the lid/foil and gently fluff the barley with chopsticks or a large fork.

You can serve the barley immediately or you can refrigerate it for later use. Or, you can use it to make a…

Barley Salad

For this salad, you’ll need to prepare a batch of Alton’s baked barley, as written above. To make the dressing, whisk 2 T extra virgin olive oil with 3 T fresh orange juice.

Extra-virgin olive oil and fresh orange juice for the dressing.

Add a batch of Alton’s baked barley (cooked and cooled), a julienned head of fennel, 1/4 C of toasted pine nuts, 1/2 C grated Parmesan, 1/2 C cooked/crumbled bacon, 2 T chopped parsley, and Kosher salt/black pepper (to taste).

We enjoyed this salad, though the orange juice was almost unidentifiable. I found that adding additional orange juice really jazzed this salad up a few notches. I also found it necessary to add quite a lot of Kosher salt. I would certainly make this again, especially as a dinner side or a lunch salad.

Barley and Lamb Stew

Where we live, at least, it is certainly stew weather. I view lamb as a very polarizing ingredient, as people seem to either love or despise lamb, with very little in between. I happen to greatly enjoy lamb, so this stew was enticing from the get-go. This recipe begins with trimming/cubing 2 pounds of lamb shoulder. Add pinches of Kosher salt and pepper to the lamb cubes, along with 1 T flour. Toss the lamb to thoroughly coat in the flour.

Cubed lamb shoulder tossed with Kosher salt, pepper, and flour.

Heat a 4-5 quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, adding 1/2 T olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add ~ a third of the meat, browning on all sides. Remove the meat as it browns, and brown the remaining meat in two batches.

When all of the meat has browned and been removed from the pan, add more oil (if needed), 3 sliced carrots, and a pinch of Kosher salt. Cook the carrots until they have some color.

Carrots and Kosher salt added to pot to cook until golden.

Add the lamb back to the pan, along with 1 C of barley grits (we ground barley to a grit-like consistency), and a quart of chicken broth or stock. Bring the stew to a boil, add a cover, and simmer for 30-45 minutes, or until the lamb falls apart.

Serve the stew with fresh oregano.

This lamb stew was good, but not Earth-shattering. I would call this stew simple but tasty. I would recommend serving this stew the day it is made, as it becomes overly thick/congealed when refrigerated and reheated. We ate this stew with a side of…

Barley Bread

When making Alton’s barley bread, you will need 10 ounces of barley flour; you can either purchase this ingredient or you can mill the flour yourself from 10.5 oz of barley. Either way, place the flour in a bowl with 2.5 T baking powder and 1 t Kosher salt, whisking to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 2 T honey. Add 1/4 C canola/vegetable oil and 1 C milk.

Once the wet ingredients are combined, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, stirring to combine; since barley is low in gluten, you can thoroughly stir this dough without making it tough.

Pour the dough into a lubed Dutch oven and cook it for 35-40 minutes, uncovered, over a gas grill that has been preheated on low for 15 minutes. Alternatively, you can bake the bread in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, which is what I did. Regardless of cooking method, seek an internal temperature of 190 degrees.

A slice of barley bread, served here alongside Oktoberfest soup.

We enjoyed this bread, which was slightly sweet and nutty. The crumb is very crumbly, so don’t expect a bread that holds together tightly when sliced. I also found that this loaf stuck to my Dutch oven, so I used a dinner knife multiple times to free the edges of the loaf from the pan. I then used Alton’s tip of placing a paper plate on top of the loaf before inverting the loaf onto the plate. Eventually, this worked, though I did have some cracking and breaking at the edges of the loaf. I find this to be a good weekday bread to pair with soup; we ate it alongside an Oktoberfest-style soup.

Barley Water

The final recipe of this episode is one I immediately recognized as being included in Alton’s “EveryDayCook” cookbook. I figured then that this must be an Alton favorite. Barley water, by the way, is a beverage that is traditionally served at Wimbledon. To make it, heat 1 C hulled barley in 2 quarts water over high heat until boiling. Decrease the heat and simmer the barley for 30 minutes.

While the barley simmers, use a vegetable peeler to zest two lemons into a pitcher, also adding their juice. Stir in 1/4 C honey.

Strain the liquid from the cooked barley into the pitcher, stirring to combine. Refrigerate the barley water until it is sufficiently chilled before serving.

Barley water after straining liquid into the pitcher.

Although we were not enjoying this beverage in the midst of warm weather, I can still say that it is very refreshing. The predominant flavor in this drink is lemon, and particularly the slightly bitter flavor of lemon zest. I would maybe consider decreasing the amount of lemon zest here with hopes of less bitterness. Since I have never consumed any other barley water I cannot say whether this level of bitterness is typical; perhaps it also depends somewhat on the actual lemons you use? That said, I legitimately liked Alton’s barley water and I plan to make it again when the season again turns to warmth.

Episode 144 – “Flat is Beautiful III – Flounder”

Posted: September 2, 2020 in Season 9
Tags: alton brown, appetizer, cheddar, cheese, fish, flounder, good eats, leftover, lemon, oil, olive oil, poached, protein, rice, salad, salmon, seafood, spinach, stuffed, vinaigrette

I fell behind a little bit in my project, as we went out of town a couple times and our 11-month-old has kept me pretty busy. She is crawling everywhere, standing, and into everything, so I can really only get things done when she is sleeping! Oh, and some days we only take one nap! I also wanted to make some of my favorite summer dishes (gazpacho, caprese, and risotto) before the season is over. Summer has gone by way too quickly for my liking.

This episode, featuring another “flat” food, showcases flounder. Alton claims that flounder is a readily available fish, which is probably true in some areas, but not where I live. I called our local markets and was told that they never have flounder, and that any flounder they would order would be frozen. My only option, it seemed, was to use frozen flounder fillets, so that’s what I did.

Baked Stuffed Flounder

The first flounder recipe is for flounder fillets stuffed with a vegetable filling. This recipe, as written, makes enough for four to six people, so I halved it for us. To make the full recipe, you’ll first want to cook enough rice to yield three cups of cooked rice. You can set the rice aside until later. To start the filling, melt 2 T butter in a skillet over medium-low heat, adding a chopped medium onion and a pinch of Kosher salt.

Onion and Kosher salt in skillet with melted butter.

While the onion sweats, pour 1 C heavy cream and 1/4 C white wine into a saucier over medium heat, and whisk as you bring the mixture to a simmer.

Heavy cream and white wine in saucier.

Meanwhile, add 1 minced clove of garlic to the onion and cook for a minute. Once the cream mixture is simmering, slowly whisk in 10 ounces of cheddar cheese, letting each addition of cheese melt before adding more. When all of the cheese is in and the sauce is smooth, remove it from the heat.

Cheese, ready to add to simmering cream/wine.

To finish the filling, add to the onion pan 10 ounces of chopped frozen spinach that has been thawed and drained, along with the zest of a lemon. Next, add 2 T chopped parsley, 1/2 t Kosher salt, and 1/4 t pepper. Remove the filling from the heat.

Garlic, chopped frozen spinach, and lemon zest added to onion.

Parsley, Kosher salt, and pepper added to finish vegetable filling.

Stir the cheese sauce again before placing 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of flounder fillets on a sheet pan. Season the fish liberally with Kosher salt and pepper. Distribute the spinach filling among the fillets, placing a mound at the widest part of each filet.

Flounder fillets, seasoned with Kosher salt and pepper.

Vegetable filling placed on the center of each filet.

Roll the fish around the filling, bringing the tail end up over the filling and the head portion down, kind of twisting the fish around the filling. Place the fillets seam side down in a 1 1/2 to 2 quart casserole that has been filled with the 3 C of cooked rice from earlier.

Fillets rolled around filling and placed on rice.

Pour the cheese sauce over the fish and rice and bake the fish for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Let the fish rest for five minutes before serving.

Cheese sauce poured over fish and rice.

Fish after baking for 25 minutes.

Alton’s stuffed flounder.

Okay, so I instantly cringed at the idea of fish and cheese together when I watched Alton prepare this dish. Cheese and seafood? Well, it turned out that the cheese wasn’t so much of the problem as was my fish. Is all flounder fishy? My flounder smelled super fishy when I opened it and maintained a fishy flavor after cooking. The fish also had a somewhat mushy texture, and we both found it really unappealing. In fact, I just ended up eating the rice with the filling and sauce. I would definitely not make this recipe again as it is written. Maybe this would be better with a different type of fish? Still… fish with cheese. Yeah, I’d recommend skipping this one.

Oil Poached Flounder

After making Alton’s first flounder dish, I decided to make the remaining to recipes with a different type of fish that I could get fresh locally – salmon. My flounder was just so bad that I could tell it would not taste good in any recipe. Yes, substituting ingredients (especially the main ingredient) goes against the premise of this project, but I chose to do it here in Alton’s oil poached flounder recipe. To poach fish in oil, heat 3 C of olive oil on the stove over low heat until it reaches 300-310 degrees.

Olive oil heating to 300-310 degrees.

While the oil heats, heat the oven to 350 degrees and season 1 1/2 to 2 pounds of fish fillets with Kosher salt and pepper.

Salmon, seasoned with Kosher salt and pepper and cut into fillets.

Thinly slice a lemon and line the bottom of a cast iron skillet with the lemon slices. Top the lemon slices with a few sprigs of fresh parsley.

A layer of lemon slices and parsley in a cast iron skillet.

Place the fish fillets on top of the parsley and top the fish with another layer of thinly sliced lemon and a few more sprigs of parsley. Make sure your parsley is not wet.

Salmon placed on top of lemon/parsley.

More lemon placed on top of fish.

Parsley on top of lemon slices.

Place the skillet in the preheated oven and carefully pour the hot oil over the fish.

Skillet placed in oven and hot oil poured over.

Let the fish cook for 10 minutes before removing it from the oven. Let the fish rest for five minutes before serving.

Fish after poaching for 10 minutes in the oven.

Alton’s oil poached fish.

You can strain and save the oil for later fish cooking. If you plan to make the next recipe, which uses leftovers from this recipe, be sure to save 1/2 C of the cooking oil and two of the lemon slices. My salmon turned out moist and flavorful, yet not greasy. I do think my fish was slightly overcooked, so I would be tempted next time to cut the cooking time by several minutes. I did like this method of cooking fish and I did save the oil, so I think I’ll try this again. I suppose you could always mix up the fresh herbs; since I used salmon, I think dill would pair well.

Flounder Fish Salad

Leftover fish is typically pretty gross, so I wasn’t sure what to think when I saw Alton making a leftover fish salad. To make this salad, whisk together in a bowl: 3 T white wine vinegar, 1 T lime juice, 1/2 t Kosher salt, 1/8 t pepper, and 8-10 drops of hot sauce.

White wine vinegar, lime juice, Kosher salt, pepper, and hot sauce.

Slowly whisk in 1/2 C of the strained leftover cooking oil from the previous recipe until you have an emulsion.

Strained poaching oil to be whisked into vinegar mixture.

Completed dressing for fish salad.

Fold a pound of leftover cooked fish from the previous recipe into the dressing.

Leftover poached fish added to vinaigrette.

Finally, add two diced leftover lemon slices from the previous recipe, 2 T parsley, and 2 T scallions. Serve the fish salad with crackers.

Diced lemon, parsley, and scallions added to fish.

Alton’s fish salad on crackers.

I used my leftover salmon from the previous recipe and thought this turned out to be surprisingly good. We ate this as an appetizer on crackers. The fish didn’t taste fishy and the vinaigrette had a nice pep to it. The leftover diced lemon added both texture and a bit of tart citrus. I found this to be a very summery dish. While I never would have considered eating leftover fish before, I may make this salad again in the future if we have good leftover fish. I can assuredly say that this recipe would have been awful if I had used the frozen flounder that I used in the first recipe, so if you do decide to try this one, be certain that you are using good fish!

Episode 140 – “My Pod”

Posted: May 30, 2020 in Season 9
Tags: alton brown, cream, creme brulee, custard, dessert, dressing, fruit, good eats, pear, poached, salad, sugar, sweet, vanilla

Two days ago marked five years since Ted was diagnosed with cancer. It was also his birthday yesterday, so we certainly have some things to celebrate this week! Good eats will absolutely be on our plates the next few days, including the steak au poivre from episode 141 – stay tuned for that. Thank goodness we will be having nice weather too!

I just finished up the recipes from episode 140, which were three vanilla-centered recipes. I had to order some vanilla beans for these recipes; I didn’t get the most expensive ones, but they were fairly plump, moist, and aromatic, so I think they were sufficient. In case you wonder why vanilla beans are so expensive… Did you know that vanilla flowers can only be pollinated on one day every year? They also often have to be pollinated by hand. In addition to that, vanilla pods have to cure after they are harvested, which takes months.

Fruit Salad with Vanilla Dressing

To first showcase vanilla, and specifically vanilla extract, Alton whipped up a fruit salad with a vanilla dressing. To make the salad, place the following items in a large mixing bowl: 1 Granny Smith apple (peeled, cored, and diced), 1 C halved seedless red grapes, 1 pear (peeled, cored, and diced), 10-12 halved medium strawberries, 1 peeled/diced mango, 1 sliced banana, and 1/3 C toasted chopped walnuts. I toasted my walnuts in a small skillet until they were fragrant.

Walnuts, toasting in a skillet.

Granny Smith apple and red grapes.

Granny Smith apple and red grapes, along with pear, mango, banana, and toasted walnuts.

To make the dressing for the salad, whisk together in a small bowl: 1 t vanilla extract, 1 t lemon juice, 1 t honey, 1/4 t Kosher salt, 1/4 t pepper, 1/2 C plain yogurt, and 1/4 C mayonnaise.

Vanilla extract, lemon juice, honey, Kosher salt, and pepper.

Plain yogurt and mayo added to the dressing.

Add the dressing to the fruit, and toss to coat. Season to taste with additional pepper.

Dressing added to fruit.

Strawberries added.

Alton’s vanilla fruit salad.

When I made this fruit salad, I was reminded that I should make fruit salads more often. I liked the combination of flavors and textures that Alton chose, as some of the fruit added tartness and crunch while others were softer and sweeter. The nuts were a nice addition, and I don’t think I’ve ever included them in a fruit salad before. The dressing itself is only very mildly sweet, which is really all you need with all of the sugar from the fruit. The only thing I question with this recipe is whether it truly exhibited the power of vanilla extract. I appreciate that Alton included a vanilla recipe that only used extract, but this recipe was pretty faint in the vanilla department. I would argue that Alton should have perhaps demonstrated how to make homemade vanilla extract, as he could then have used the homemade extract to make a delicious vanilla poundcake. Or, he could have used the homemade extract to flavor a cocktail. Just my two cents.

Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee is Alton’s second vanilla-based recipe, and he uses a whole vanilla bean for this one. To start, use a sharp knife to split a vanilla bean open and use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds. Bring a quart of heavy cream to a simmer, along with the scraped vanilla bean and its seeds.

Scraped vanilla bean.

Scraped vanilla bean placed in a quart of cream.

Once simmering, remove the pan from the heat and let the vanilla steep in the cream for 15 minutes.

Cream after steeping.

While the cream is steeping, whisk 6 egg yolks in a large bowl until they have lightened in color and preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Slowly add 1/2 C sugar to the yolks; vanilla sugar is ideal, if you have it. You can make vanilla sugar by placing a vanilla bean in some sugar. In fact, you can make it at this point of this recipe by rinsing the steeped vanilla bean and placing it in some sugar for later use.

Six egg yolks.

Six egg yolks, beaten and then sugar was whisked in.

Next, slowly add the warm cream to the eggs, whisking in just a little bit at a time until it is all added.

Ready to slowly add warm cream to yolks.

Custard after adding all of the cream.

Line a roasting pan with a tea towel and place six ramekins inside, dividing the custard among them. Alton filled his ramekins after placing his roasting pan in the oven, but I found it easier to fill the ramekins on my countertop.

Custard poured into ramekins within a tea towel-lined roasting pan.

Either way, once the filled ramekins are in the roasting pan inside the oven, add hot (not boiling) water to the roasting pan until it comes about half-way up the ramekins.

Custards in the oven and hot water added to come halfway up the ramekins.

Bake the custard for 40-45 minutes or until it is set, but still jiggly in the center. Okay, so I had enough custard to fill six ramekins plus a larger, shallower dish (see photo above). My shallow custard was very obviously done after about 30-35 minutes, as it had greater surface area.

Shallow custard after baking.

My ramekins were still very jiggly at 45 minutes, and my intuition told me to cook them longer. I ignored my intuition, however, as I could hear Alton stressing that you do not want to overcook the custard.

Ramekins after baking – still underdone in the middle.

Yeah, I should have listened to my intuition. My ramekins were still very wobbly in the center after cooling to room temperature. I decided to put them back in the oven again, and I ended up cooking them for at least 20 minutes the second time around. They were a little more golden on top than they should have been, but they ended up setting up just fine. Let the custards cool to room temperature and then refrigerate them until ready to serve.

Custards after

To brulee the custard, sprinkle an even layer of sugar (again, vanilla sugar is best) over the top of the custard.

Sugar sprinkled over the custard surface.

Using a torch, heat the sugar until it begins to brown in places. Then, pick the ramekin up and rotate it as you hold the ramekin at a 45 degree angle, letting the molten sugar flow over the surface as you continue to brulee. My sister-in-law gave me a small butane torch years ago, so I used that. Alton prefers to use a high-powered torch from a hardware store.

Alton’s creme brulee.

This was a delicious dessert, even despite my initial under-baking. The custard was perfectly smooth and rich, and had a deep vanilla flavor. Alton’s brulee method of rotating on an angle worked perfectly, giving a perfect golden, sugary crust every time. This is a wonderful recipe – just be sure to cook the custards until they are just barely wobbly in the center. Oh, and if your ramekins are sized as mine are, you will likely have enough custard for at least eight desserts!

Vanilla Poached Pears

My mom got on a short kick years ago of making poached pears. I recall her making at least three or four types of poached pears over, what seemed to be, just a few short weeks. If I’m being honest, I remember hoping she would finally make something different for dessert! I don’t believe that I had ever made poached pears prior to this recipe of Alton’s that I prepared last week. This recipe starts with pouring a 750 ml bottle of riesling or viognier into a large saucepan.

A bottle of Riesling.

Add 1 C water, 5 oz sugar (vanilla sugar is best), and 1 vanilla bean that has been split/scraped.

A vanilla bean, split and scraped.

Wine, water, sugar, and scraped vanilla bean being brought to a simmer.

Bring the wine mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. While the liquid heats, peel and core (from the bottom) four pears, leaving the stems intact; Alton did not specify a certain type of pear in the episode. Oh, and to core his pears, Alton used a spade drill bit, so Ted picked one up for me. The drill bit worked really well!

Pears, ready to be cored with a spade drill bit.

Cored pear.

Place the prepped pears in the almost-boiling liquid and cover the pan.

Pears added to simmering liquid.

Let the pears cook for 30 minutes or until they are knife tender. Remove the pears from the liquid and let them cool for 30 minutes at room temperature. Conversely, I see that the online recipe instructs you to cool the pears in the refrigerator.

Pears after cooking for about 30 minutes.

While the pears cool, increase the heat under the cooking liquid and reduce the liquid until you have about one cup remaining, which should take 20-25 minutes. I found that it took a little longer than this for my liquid to adequately reduce to a syrup.

Cooking liquid before reducing.

Cooking liquid after reducing.

Once reduced, serve the pears with the warm syrup.

Alton’s poached pears.

Vanilla flavor and aroma were very evident in these pears, as the vanilla seemed to have actually permeated the pears themselves, and the syrup also had a lovely vanilla infusion. The syrup was sweet, but not cloyingly so, which I really appreciated. I should have cooked my pears a little longer than I did, so mine were a bit too firm, but that was my error. All in all, this recipe did a great job of showcasing vanilla and is a great way to utilize fruit in a dessert. This would also be an easy dessert to serve for a dinner party, as you could easily double the syrup and cook multiple pears in a large pot.

Episode 134 – “Pantry Raid V: Good Wine Gone Bad”

Posted: February 28, 2020 in Season 9
Tags: alton brown, beef, bottom round, entree, gingersnap, good eats, grilled, lettuce, marinade, protein, roast, romaine, salad, sauerbraten, vinegar

This was a fun episode for me to do, as vinegar was the star of the show. For as long as I can remember, I have loved all things vinegar-based. I absolutely loved to arrive at my grandparents’ house in Baltimore because my grandma always had a bag or two of Utz Salt and Vinegar potato chips waiting for me. I was also the weird kid in elementary school whose mom would pack pickled eggs in her lunch. I had discovered pickled eggs at our local Blimpie, and my mom and I would each get two eggs with a basket of pretzels. To this day, I still love pickled eggs, but, as Alton would say, “That’s another blog.”

Grilled Romaine

An interesting grilled romaine salad is first in this episode. The night before you want to serve this salad, place a metal loaf pan in your freezer and add 1/2 C red wine vinegar. Let the vinegar freeze overnight. This will be enough vinegar for four servings. When you are ready to prep the salad, cut the bottom off of two hears of romaine lettuce and slice them in half lengthwise.

Romaine hearts, halved lengthwise.

You will also need 1 C of finely grated Parmesan, 1 T olive oil, and black pepper. Spray a griddle pan with nonstick spray and preheat it over medium-high heat. Brush the cut sides of the romaine hearts with olive oil and generously grind pepper on top.

Romaine hearts, halved lengthwise, brushed with olive oil, and sprinkled with black pepper.

Place the grated Parmesan in a long, shallow baking dish and dip/press the oiled sides of the romaine into the cheese.

Grated Parmesan in baking dish.

Romaine hearts after dipping/pressing into grated Parmesan.

Place the romaine hearts, cheese side down, on the preheated griddle and cook for 1-2 minutes, or until the cheese is brown and crispy.

Romaine hearts placed cheese side down on lubed pan.

Remove the lettuce from the hot pan. Alton tells you here to place the grilled lettuce (cheese side up) on ice, as you want the lettuce to have a dichotomy of temperatures; I did not find this to be necessary as the non-grilled side of the lettuce was still cool after such a short cooking period. Remove your frozen vinegar from the freezer and scrape it with a fork to “fluff” it up. Sprinkle the frozen vinegar on top of the warm cheese and serve immediately.

Grilled Romaine topped with flaked frozen vinegar.

Alton recommends picking up the whole salad and eating it like a hot dog. This recipe is good and bad. The recipe is flawed when it comes to the application of the cheese to the lettuce, as the cheese does not adhere well when you apply it to the oiled lettuce, and most of the cheese sticks to the pan when you cook it. Ted suggested making Alton’s Parmesan crisps from episode 113, molding them over the top of the grilled lettuce. Otherwise, you could place the cheesy lettuce under the broiler for a couple minutes. Either way, Alton’s technique in this recipe just really does not work well. That being said, the salad itself was fun to eat, as I really liked the contrasting flavors and temperatures. The frozen vinegar is super intense, packing a real zing of flavor, and its contrast with the warm cheese and lettuce is interesting to the palate. Technique flaws aside, this was just a fun recipe to try out.

Sauerbraten

The Sauerbraten recipe in this episode was the one I was super excited to make. Why? Until a few years ago, my parents lived two hours from me. We visited them regularly and my mom would always make some stellar food. For years she told me she wanted to make Sauerbraten for Ted and me, but she never ended up doing it before she was unable to cook. Although I did not get to eat Sauerbraten with my mom, this was my chance to finally try Sauerbraten, and to talk to my mom about the recipe. Sauerbraten translates to “sour beef,” and this is a recipe that, although simple, requires a few days. First up, combine in a large saucepan: 2 C water, 1 C cider vinegar, 1 C red wine vinegar, 1 chopped medium onion, 1 large chopped carrot, 1 T plus 1 t Kosher salt, 1/2 t pepper, 2 bay leaves, 6 whole cloves, 12 juniper berries, and 1 t mustard seed.

Water, cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, onion, carrot, Kosher salt, pepper, bay leaves, cloves, juniper berries, and mustard seed in a saucepan.

Cover the pot and bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, decrease the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Set this liquid aside to cool until it is just slightly warm to the touch.

Vinegar mixture being brought to a boil.

Vinegar mixture, after simmering for 10 minutes.

While the vinegar mixture cools rub a 3 1/2- 4 pound bottom round with 1 T vegetable oil and sprinkle Kosher salt liberally over the meat.

Bottom round, rubbed with oil and sprinkled with Kosher salt.

Sear the meat in a hot pan on all sides, using tongs to flip it. Once all the sides of the meat are browned, place the meat inside the marinade and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. Alton placed his meat directly into his saucepan, but my saucepan was not large enough to accommodate my roast. Instead, I transferred my meat and my marinade to a large plastic container. Regardless of what vessel you use, you want the meat to be as submerged as possible.

Meat, searing in a hot pan.

Seared beef placed in a large container.

Cooled marinade poured over beef.

Place the meat into the refrigerator and leave it for 3-5 days (preferably five). If your meat is not completely submerged in the marinade, flip the meat over once per day. After five days have passed, remove the meat from the marinade and whisk 1/3 C sugar into the marinade. If your marinade is not already in an oven-safe vessel, transfer it to one now.

Meat after marinading for five days.

Meat removed from liquid and liquid poured into Dutch oven.

Sugar added to marinade.

Add the meat back to the marinade, place a lid on the pot, and place it in a 325 degree oven for four hours, or until the meat is tender.

Meat added back to marinade and placed in the oven for four hours.

Meat after cooking for four hours.

After cooking, remove the meat from the liquid, keeping it warm; I tented my meat under foil. Strain the cooking liquid, discarding the solids. At this point, you can add 1/2 C raisins, but I did as Alton did and opted to leave them out. Place the strained liquid over medium-high heat and whisk in five ounces of gingersnap crumbs (a food processor works best for this).

Cooking liquid.

Crushed gingersnaps.

Cooking liquid, strained into saucier.

Gingersnaps added to liquid and cooked until thickened.

Whisk the sauce until it has thickened and serve it over the sliced beef.

Alton’s Sauerbraten.

Alternatively, you can shred the meat and serve it on Kaiser rolls with the sauce, though this is not a traditional presentation. Sauerbraten is certainly not a pretty dish, but it does have a great deal of flavor. The meat is falling apart by the end of the cooking and has quite a pronounced vinegar flavor, which is interesting. The sauce is pretty rich and is a mixture of sweet and sour flavors. I actually found that the sauce could easily overwhelm the meat, so I used only a little bit of sauce. We ate this for dinner two nights, serving it slice the first night and as sandwiches for the second night, and we liked it both ways. Mom said this recipe was very similar to hers, as her recipe also used gingersnaps to thicken the sauce. This is a very easy German recipe that is fun to make at home, and I’m so glad I finally got to try Sauerbraten

Episode 127 – “Give Peas a Chance”

Posted: June 21, 2019 in Season 9
Tags: alton brown, burger, cheese, curry, good eats, herb, mint, patty, peas, salad, side dish, soup, split pea, vegetarian

With episode 127, I have officially begun the 9th season of Good Eats. It’s crazy to think how much has transpired since I started this project and how many recipes/methods I have attempted. In case you have not heard, Alton is bringing Good Eats back to TV with new episodes starting in August, so that is definitely something to look forward to. By the way, I have read online (It must be true then, right?) that this episode was the only Good Eats episode that was actually filmed in Alton’s home kitchen, so there’s a random fact for you! With that, onto peas!

Curried Split Pea Soup

To first showcase the mighty pea, Alton begins this episode with a recipe for split pea soup. Requiring less than 10 ingredients, this soup is one that can easily be whipped up on a weeknight. To start, rinse 12 ounces of dry split peas under cool water and place a large saucepan over medium-low heat.

T Twelve ounces of dried split peas.

Add 2 T butter to the pan and, once the butter has begun to melt, add 1 C chopped onion and a pinch of Kosher salt. Let the onion cook for a couple minutes or until softened.

Onion and Kosher salt added to melting butter.

Next, add 1 T minced garlic and let the garlic cook for a minute or two.

Garlic added to the pan.

Add 1 T curry powder to the pan, increase the heat to high, and pour in 5 C chicken broth. At this time, also add the rinsed split peas.

Curry powder stirred in.

Chicken broth and rinsed split peas added to the pan.

Bring the liquid to a boil, decrease the heat to low, and cover the pot. Let the soup cook for 45 minutes, or until the peas are falling apart. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

Soup after cooking for 45 minutes.

Finally, puree the soup with an immersion blender.

Pureed split pea soup.

Alton’s curried split pea soup.

I served this soup with goat cheese toast for a light dinner and we both thought it was pretty tasty. I opted for a Madras curry powder in my soup, which resulted in a medium level of spice. The curry flavor was definitely prominent, so you really won’t care for this if you do not care for curry. I found this dish to be comforting home fare, and it is certainly healthy. Split peas are packed with protein and fiber, and you could easily make this soup vegetarian by using vegetable broth in place of the chicken broth. This is just a good, simple, everyday soup recipe.

Split Pea Burgers

Speaking of vegetarian recipes, Alton’s split pea burgers are a protein-packed vegetarian entree. Veggie burgers are not something I make regularly, so it was funny that this recipe happened to pop up right after I had made some other veggie burgers the week prior. At least this was good for comparison’s sake! For Alton’s burgers, heat a medium saucepan over medium heat, adding 1 T olive oil, 1/2 C chopped onion, 1/2 C chopped red or green bell pepper, and a big pinch of Kosher salt.

Onion, bell pepper, and Kosher salt added to olive oil.

Stir the vegetables until they have softened and add 2 t minced garlic and 4 ounces of sliced mushrooms. Cook the mushrooms for four minutes.

Mushrooms and garlic added to softened veggies.

Next, add 1 C dry split peas, 1/2 C uncooked brown rice, 1 t ground coriander, 1 t cumin, and 3 C vegetable broth.

Split peas, brown rice, coriander, and cumin added to the pot.

Split peas, brown rice, coriander, and cumin added to the pot, along with vegetable broth.

Increase the heat to high and bring the broth to a boil. Once boiling, decrease the heat to low, place a lid on the pan, and simmer the mixture for one hour.

Mixture after simmering for an hour.

After simmering, transfer the contents of the pot to a food processor and pulse the mixture 5-6 times or until combined; you do not want to puree the mixture, as you want to retain some texture.

Cooked mixture in food processor.

Pea mixture after pulsing a few times in the food processor.

Transfer the pea mixture to a bowl and add 3/4 C bread crumbs, and Kosher salt and pepper to taste.

Bread crumbs added to the burger mixture.

Final burger mixture, ready to be chilled.

Chill the mixture for at least 30 minutes. To cook the burgers, divide the pea mixture into five ounce portions, flattening them and lightly dredging them in bread crumbs. Cook the patties for 3-4 minutes per side in a nonstick skillet over medium heat that has been lubed with olive oil.

Veggie patties cooking in oiled skillet.

Serve the burgers on buns with your desired accompaniments.

Alton’s split pea burgers.

These burgers weren’t the best veggie burgers I have ever had, but they were decent. I found their texture to be a little one-note, but they were pretty flavorful. We ate our burgers with some spinach, tomato, pickles, and mustard, and they were pretty good. If you happen to have a vegetarian in your family, these are probably worthy of a try. Otherwise, they are just kind of okay. You can freeze the portioned patties for later use, which does make them super convenient for a fast meal.

Green Peas with Cheese and Herbs

And now, for my favorite recipe of this episode: peas with cheese and herbs. For this recipe you will need a pound of shelled fresh or frozen peas; I chose to go with frozen peas, as it takes a lot more time to shell fresh peas. Regardless of whether you are using fresh or frozen peas, boil three quarts of salted water and add your peas.

A pound of peas added to salted boiling water.

If you are using fresh peas, cook them for three minutes, while you will only want to cook frozen peas for one minute. Dump your cooked peas into a colander and set the colander in ice water to cool the peas quickly; I actually just ran my peas under very cold tap water until they were cool.

Peas, running under cold water after cooking.

To make the dressing for the peas, mix 2 T red wine vinegar, 1 t Kosher salt, 1 T minced shallots, and 1/2 t pepper in a medium bowl.

Red wine vinegar, Kosher salt, shallot, and black pepper to make the dressing.

Once combined, drizzle in 3 T olive oil as you whisk the mixture to emulsify.

Olive oil, ready to whisk into dressing.

Add 2 t chopped mint and 2 t chopped parsley, along with four ounces of cubed Ricotta Salata, Fontina, or Swiss cheese. I had a shaved mixture of Parmesan and Fontina, so I used that. Last but not least, fold in the peas.

Mint and parsley added to dressing.

Cheese and peas added to dressing.

Cover the salad with plastic and place it in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

Alton’s peas with herbs and cheese.

This was a delightful salad to have as a side dish, though we both felt it could use more mint. I will make this salad again, but I will be sure to double the mint next time. The sweetness of the peas pairs fantastically with the salty richness of the cheese, and the vinaigrette adds a pop of acid and brightens the whole salad up. Add a touch more mint and this one is a keeper!

Episode 126 – “Do the Rice Thing”

Posted: May 24, 2019 in Season 8
Tags: alton brown, arborio, asparagus, bacon, brown rice, good eats, grain, mushroom, rice, risotto, salad, side dish

Although we have had a lot of sadness in 2019, we also have some recent and upcoming blessings. A few days after our dog died, we wound up adopting another little hound who has been living with us now for about a month. We named our little Redtick Coonhound Julep, and she has been a funny and busy distraction. Aside from chasing the cat, she has really been quite a good puppy so far. She is only about eight months old, so she has much more energy than we do! We figure this puppy is excellent practice for our baby who is due to arrive in October. Yowza! I think I can safely say that 2019 has already been the greatest year of transition I will likely ever have. Now, onto the cooking.

Wild Mushroom and Asparagus Risotto

My mom was the person who first introduced me to risotto after she had ordered it in a restaurant years ago. She said she instantly thought of me when she ate it, as she was sure it would be something I would love. I have made many risottos over the years, trying various methods and recipes, including a pressure cooker risotto and an almost no-stir recipe. Alton’s risotto is a pretty classical version that requires only about 10 ingredients. You will need some steamed asparagus that is cut into one-inch pieces and some wild mushrooms that you have browned in butter and Kosher salt (you want approximately seven ounces of asparagus and five ounces of mushrooms). You can easily prep the veggies a day in advance, or you can sub any leftover veggies you have on hand. When ready to make the risotto, bring 6 C of chicken broth to a simmer, along with 1 C white wine; Alton likes to use an electric kettle for this, but I just used a saucepan.

Simmering broth/wine.

You want to keep this liquid at a low simmer for the duration of making the risotto. Next, heat a heavy 3 to 4 quart pan over medium heat and add 2 T butter, 1 C chopped onion, and a pinch of Kosher salt. Sweat the onion until it is soft and add 2 C Arborio rice, which is a short-grain rice.

Butter, onion, and Kosher salt in the pan.

Arborio rice added to the onion/butter.

Stir the rice for 3-5 minutes or until the grains become translucent around their edges.

Rice stirred until clear at the edges.

Once translucent, add enough of the hot broth to the pan to just cover the rice and shake/stir the rice. Alton’s shaking method was new to me, as the other risotto recipes I have made have called for stirring. Continue to cook the rice, shaking the pan occasionally, at a bare simmer until no liquid remains in the pan when you move the rice with a spatula. At this point, add hot broth/wine again just to cover the rice.

Liquid added, just to cover the rice.

Rice cooked until no liquid is left when the rice is moved with a spatula.

More liquid added.

Continue cooking the rice and adding more liquid as needed. When 3/4 of the liquid has been added to the rice, give the risotto a taste; if the rice is tender and creamy, you may not need to add any more liquid. When I tasted my risotto at this point, the rice grains were still quite crunchy, so I ended up adding all of the hot liquid.

Continuing the process of cooking and adding liquid.

When the risotto has reached a creamy texture, give it another taste and adjust the salt, as needed. To finish the risotto, add the cooked mushrooms and asparagus to the pan, along with 2 ounces of grated Parmesan, 1 t lemon zest, and 1/2 t nutmeg.

Risotto after adding all of the liquid.

Mushrooms, asparagus, Parmesan, lemon zest, and nutmeg added.

A bowl of Alton’s risotto.

Alton’s risotto is a very classic recipe that works very well. Yes, it does take some time for all of the liquid to be absorbed by the rice, but risotto is really not a difficult thing to make and you can get creative with the additions you make. If you are new to risotto, I can say that Alton’s recipe is a fool-proof introduction.

Brown Rice Salad

I have always been really comfortable cooking white rice, but have never had a great way to cook brown rice. For this brown rice salad, Alton shares his preferred method for cooking brown rice, which is an oven method. To cook brown rice Alton’s way, put 1 1/2 C short or medium grain brown rice in an 8-inch square pan. Add 2 1/2 C of water just off the boil, 1 T butter, and 1 t Kosher salt, and give it all a stir.

Brown rice, hot water, butter, and Kosher salt in an 8-inch pan.

Cover the pan tightly with foil and place it in a 375 degree oven for one hour. After an hour, remove the foil and fluff the rice with a fork. Voila – perfect brown rice!

Rice covered with foil and put in a 375 degree oven for an hour.

Fluffed rice after cooking for an hour.

To make Alton’s brown rice salad, heat a 10-inch pan over medium heat and fry six pieces of bacon until crispy. Remove the bacon from the pan and add 1/2 C diced red onion.

Bacon frying in large skillet.

Red onion added to bacon fat.

When the onion is golden, add 1/2 C white wine vinegar, 1/2 C chicken broth, 2 t Dijon mustard, 1 t sugar, 1 t Kosher salt, and 1/2 t pepper.

White wine vinegar, chicken broth, Dijon mustard, sugar, Kosher salt, and pepper added to the cooked red onion.

Crumble the bacon into the pan, along with the cooked brown rice and 1 T chopped fresh dill. Stir the mixture until the liquid is absorbed.

Cooked brown rice, bacon, and fresh dill stirred into liquid.

You can eat the salad immediately or you can refrigerate it for up to a week.

Alton’s brown rice salad.

I fixed this rice salad for lunch for us and we thought it was great. The rice is perfectly cooked and the salad is super tangy and zesty. I highly recommend this salad for a side dish or light meal. And, Alton’s brown rice cooking method is awesome!

In case you are curious about different types of rice, Alton explained the differences in grain lengths in this episode. Short-grain rices, like Arborio, contain a lot of amylopectin, so they release a lot of starch and have a sticky, creamy texture. Medium-grain rices have a soft texture when cooked and have a mixture of amylose and amylopectin; they have less amylopectin than short-grain rices have, but more amylopectin than long-grain rices do. Finally, long-grain rices have the most amylose and the least amylopectin, so they release less starch and cook up with a fluffy texture.

Episode 118 – “Melondrama”

Posted: February 7, 2019 in Season 8
Tags: alton brown, cantaloupe, dessert, fruit, good eats, honeydew, melon, muskmelon, salad, sorbet, summer, vodka, watermelon, wok

Seeing as it is currently 12 degrees outside here, it really isn’t peak melon season. I take the episodes in the order they come, though, so we enjoyed a couple melon recipes in February. Although the melon was not of the greatest quality, these recipes still managed to give us a little taste of summer.

Hot Melon Salad

I have wanted to make this melon salad since I watched this episode with my dad when it originally aired in 2005. I remember that it just sounded so good to me when I first watched this episode. Alton prefers to use a high-powered outdoor gas burner for his wok, which is a setup my dad adopted after watching Good Eats. I do have my dad’s outdoor burner, but it needs a new hose, so I used our flat-bottomed wok on our regular old stove. Whether you are cooking indoors or out, heat your wok on a hot burner until water droplets instantly turn to steam upon hitting the pan. As with any stir fry, be sure to have all of your ingredients ready ahead of time, as the cooking goes very quickly. The ingredients for this dish are 1 1/2 T olive oil, a thinly sliced red onion, 8 ounces of cubed honeydew melon, 8 ounces of cubed cantaloupe, 1 T basil chiffonade, Kosher salt, black pepper, 2 t red wine vinegar, 2 ounces feta cheese, and 1 T toasted pine nuts.

Ingredients for salad: red onion, basil, olive oil, red wine vinegar, toasted pine nuts, and feta cheese. Not pictured: melon.

Speaking of cantaloupe, did you know that all of the cantaloupes in this country are really muskmelons? Anyway, once the wok is hot, add the oil to the pan and swirl to coat.

Oil in hot wok.

Add the sliced red onion and toss until heated through.

Onion added to hot wok.

Next, add the cubed melon and toss again, cooking until the corners of the melon just start to brown slightly. Add the tablespoon of basil, along with a pinch of Kosher salt and some black pepper.

Melon added to onion.

Basil, Kosher salt, and pepper sprinkled over melon.

Drizzle the vinegar into the pan and transfer the salad to a serving dish. Finish the salad by sprinkling on the feta and pine nuts.

Red wine vinegar drizzled over fruit.

Pine nuts and feta sprinkled on to finish the salad.

Alton’s hot melon salad.

We had this as a side dish one night and we ate the entire salad. I really like the flavors in this salad and how they compliment each other. The melon becomes sweeter from the heat, yet the red wine vinegar gives just a light touch of acidity. The feta adds some much-needed salt, while the red onion gives some pungency. The crunch of the pine nuts is a nice addition to a salad that is otherwise composed of ingredients with fairly similar textures. To me, this dish would be a perfect summer grilling side dish, and I intend to make it again, just as soon as deck season arrives.

Melon Sorbet

A fresh melon sorbet is the second recipe in this episode, and it is super easy to throw together.

Sorbet ingredients: watermelon, lemon juice, vodka, and sugar.

Puree a pound plus five ounces of watermelon in a food processor.

Pureed watermelon.

To the pureed melon, add 3 T fresh lemon juice, 2 T vodka, and 9 ounces of sugar. The vodka serves to lower the freezing point of the sorbet, making the texture softer and less icy.

Lemon juice, vodka, and sugar added to watermelon puree.

Refrigerate the melon mixture for at least two hours before churning in an ice cream maker.

Churning sorbet after chilling.

Once churned, transfer the sorbet to an airtight container and freeze for 3-4 hours before eating.

Watermelon sorbet.

The amounts of watermelon flavor and aroma in this sorbet are amazing, especially considering that I could not get great fruit. The color of the sorbet also seemed more vibrant than the color of the melon itself. As for texture, this sorbet stayed pretty soft and scoopable, and had very few large ice crystals. This sorbet truly is a taste of summer. It is quite sweet, so I have to wonder if a slight decrease in sugar could make this even better, though I suppose that could also alter the final texture of the sorbet. Perhaps I will just have to make two batches of sorbet once melon is in season – one with the original sugar concentration and one with a slightly lower concentration. I also intend to try this with some other types of melon, though I would imagine the sugar would have to be adjusted accordingly for the sugar contents of different melons. This sorbet is super refreshing, easy, and can brighten up even the coldest of winter days.

Episode 97 – “Herbal Preservation”

Posted: April 4, 2018 in Season 7
Tags: alton brown, chive, good eats, herb, parsley, salad, sesame, tarragon, vinegar

The 97th episode of Good Eats was all about fresh herbs, how to use them, and how to preserve them. Growing fresh herbs in the garden is one of my favorite things, as I love being able to spontaneously clip what I need for a summer salad or cocktail. What are Alton’s favorite herbs? He listed his top 10 in the episode: chives, mint, thyme, dill, rosemary, oregano, basil, tarragon, sage, and parsley. Personally, I’d put cilantro on my top 10 list, but that’s just me.

To store fresh herbs in the kitchen, Alton recommends that you lay them out on paper towels, spritz them with some water, roll them up, and then roll them again in plastic wrap. He maintains that the crisper drawer is too cold for herbs, so you should actually store them in the top of the refrigerator. To store long-stemmed herbs like cilantro or parsley, cut an inch or so off of their stems and stand them in fresh water in the refrigerator.

When fresh herb season is coming to a close, you can always dry your surplus. To do this, dip the herbs in boiling water for five seconds and then plunge them into ice water. Run the herbs through a salad spinner and lay them between two new furnace filters. Strap the furnace filters to a box fan and let them dry for 12 hours. Flip the filters over and let the second side of the herbs dry for an additional 12 hours. Once the herbs are dry, rub them between your hands to easily remove the leaves from the stems.

Finally, if you prefer to freeze herbs for later use, you can portion them out and freeze them as ice cubes. After a quick thaw, your herbs are ready to use. In addition to all of his herb tips, Alton did also include two herb recipes in this episode, the first of which is for tarragon chive vinegar.

Tarragon Chive Vinegar

To make Alton’s tarragon chive vinegar, begin by putting 1 t of household bleach in two quarts of water. Swirl 12 sprigs each of fresh tarragon and fresh chives in the bleach water for about five seconds, and then move them to a large bowl of clean water to rinse. The bleach is used to kill any spores that could be on your fresh herbs.

Household bleach.

Bleach water on the left and clean water on the right.

Fresh chives and tarragon.

Herbs taking a dip in bleach water.

Herbs taking a dip in bleach water, and then placed in clean water to rinse.

While your herbs rinse in the clean water, heat 6 C of white wine vinegar to 190 degrees in a saucepan.

White wine vinegar.

Vinegar, heated to 190 degrees.

Place your clean herbs in a lidded container and pour the hot vinegar over them. Place the lid on the container and let it sit in a cool room for two weeks.

Rinsed herbs placed in lidded container.

Vinegar poured over fresh herbs and left to sit for 2 weeks.

After two weeks, repeat the bleach water/rinse process with 12 sprigs each of fresh chives and tarragon.

Bleach water on the left and clean water on the right.

Fresh chives and tarragon in fresh water after dipping in bleach water.

Rinsed fresh herbs.

Divide the fresh herbs among glass bottles, and pour the vinegar through a cheesecloth-lined funnel over the fresh herbs; discard the original steeping herbs.

Fresh herbs placed in glass bottles.

Vinegar after sitting for two weeks.

Vinegar strained and poured over fresh herbs in bottles.

Store the vinegar in the refrigerator for five-six months or at room temperature for five-six weeks. Though this vinegar takes a couple weeks to steep, it is super easy and looks really pretty in the bottle. Hello, gift idea! So far, we have used this vinegar on salads and vegetables and we really like it. I would not be able to identify the flavor of chives in this vinegar, as tarragon is the predominant flavor. I was nervous that the tarragon flavor would be too intense, but the vinegar is actually very well-balanced and adds only a subtle tarragon flavor. This is a fun, easy project and you could certainly try it with other fresh herbs.

Parsley Salad

The other recipe in this episode is for a parsley salad. Alton seems to feel that parsley is a very underappreciated herb that is often viewed only as a garnish. Here, though, Alton makes parsley the star. For the salad dressing, whisk in a bowl 2 T lemon juice, 2 T lemon zest, 1 t honey, a pinch of Kosher salt, 2 t of toasted sesame oil, and 6 T walnut oil.

Dressing ingredients: toasted sesame oil, honey, walnut oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

Lemon juice, lemon zest, and honey.

Kosher salt, sesame oil, and walnut oil added.

Fold four ounces of cleaned/sorted parsley leaves into the dressing, along with 3 T toasted sesame seeds.

Sesame seeds, being toasted in a skillet.

Toasted sesame seeds.

Parsley and toasted sesame seeds folded into dressing.

Let the salad sit for 30 minutes before serving. Since only two of us were eating this salad, I made half a recipe, which gave us each a proper side salad portion.

Bowl of parsley salad.

I liked this salad more than I thought I would. Parsley leaves are a little tougher/chewier than other greens, but the texture really did not bother me. I found the dressing to be an amazing compliment to the parsley flavor. The dressing had quite a lemony punch, but also had roasted and nutty flavors from the oils. If you, too, are biased against parsley, give this recipe a go. This recipe truly did make me realize that parsley has more uses than I give it credit for. Plus, this finally gives a way to use up that last half-bunch of parsley (does anyone ever actually finish a full bunch of parsley before it spoils?), rather than throwing it in the trash.

Episode 85 – “Crustacean Nation III: Feeling Crabby”

Posted: August 21, 2017 in Season 7
Tags: alton brown, Butter, crab, crustacean, fried, fritter, ghee, good eats, marinated, salad, seafood

As I type, my beloved Coonhound, Hitcher, lies next to me. He was diagnosed with inoperable cancer a few weeks ago. He has been my constant sidekick since we found him, as an abandoned puppy, on a roadside 10+ years ago. This news has been tough – very, very tough. Once again, I will use this Good Eats project to distract myself.

As the daughter and granddaughter of Marylanders, I have had my share of crab over the years. Growing up, a trip to Grandma and Granddaddy’s was not complete without a crab dinner (or 3!). Whether it was a trip to a local seafood restaurant, a family crab picking session around Grandma’s table, or a plate of Grandma’s amazing homemade crab cakes, crab was something we ate early and often. Yes, this was an episode I eagerly anticipated.

Steamed Alaskan King Crab Legs

Alton’s preparation of crab legs was first in this episode. When purchasing crab legs, it is best to buy frozen legs (frozen crab has already been cooked), thawing them overnight in the refrigerator at home; just be sure to allow the moisture to drain away from them as they thaw, and consume any thawed crab within 24 hours. Alaskan king crab legs are large, so you can allot two per person.

Alaskan king crab legs.

Working with three legs at a time, break/cut each leg into sections at the joints. Wrap the segments in two layers of damp paper towels, along with a sprig of fresh dill.

Alaskan king crab legs, broken into segments and topped with fresh dill.

Wrap the entire bundle tightly in plastic wrap, and microwave it for two minutes on high power; the goal here is to re-heat, rather than re-cook the crab.

Alaskan king crab legs, broken into segments, and topped with fresh dill. Wrapped in damp paper towels and plastic wrap, the whole bundle heads into the microwave.

Let the heated crab legs rest in their bundles while you microwave any remaining packages of crab. Serve the legs with ghee, which just happens to be the next recipe in this episode.

Steamed crab legs, served with ghee.

Alton’s crab leg method is outstanding. It takes almost no time to prepare an amazing meal, using this method. If you want to have crab legs at home, this is the way to do it.

Ghee

What goes better with crab than butter? As mentioned above, Alton recommends serving his crab legs with ghee. To make Alton’s ghee, melt a pound (I did 1/2 pound) of unsalted butter over low heat.

Melting unsalted butter over low heat.

As soon as the butter has liquefied, increase the heat to medium.

Liquefied butter. Increasing the heat to medium.

Continue to cook the butter over medium heat until it finishes foaming.

Butter, foaming for the first time.

When the foaming has ceased, increase the heat to high and wait for the butter to foam a second time. Watch the pan carefully, as the butter can easily burn.

Butter, foaming for the second time.

When your ghee is ready, the pan will have brown bits on the bottom and the butter will have darkened slightly. Strain the ghee into a clean container and serve.

Strained ghee.

Ghee is a perfect accompaniment for crab legs, and Alton’s explanation of how to make ghee is super easy. If you prep crab legs at home, be sure to make some ghee also!

Marinated Crab Salad

Alton’s third crab recipe is for a marinated crab salad. I suppose you could just purchase crab meat for this, which is how the online recipe is written, but what fun would that be? Instead, in the episode, Alton hand picked the meat from two Dungeness crabs. Thankfully, I was able to find whole Dungeness crabs at a new local store.

Whole Dungeness crab.

If you have never picked a crab before, here are Alton’s instructions:

Flip the crab upside down.
Use a screwdriver to pry off the apron.
Holding the crab over a sink, pry off the back of the crab.
Rinse the inside of the crab.
Pull off any gray gills, discarding them.
Twist off the legs.
Break the remaining central core in half and pull out as much meat as you can from the tiny compartments.
Crack each leg and scoop out the meat.

My crabs had already been prepped through step 5, so I just had to get the meat out.

Whole Dungeness crab, apron and gills removed.

Crab legs, twisted off.

Central core of crab.

Crab meat, picked from Dungeness crabs.

Once you have your crab meat, it is time to make the marinade for the salad. Combine in a large Ziplock bag: 1 C olive oil, 1 C red wine vinegar, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 C chopped parsley, 1/4 C fresh tarragon, 1 1/2 t Kosher salt, and 1/2 t pepper.

Fresh tarragon.

Olive oil, red wine vinegar, garlic, parsley, tarragon, Kosher salt, and pepper.

Use an immersion blender to thoroughly emulsify the marinade. Add your crab meat to the marinade, pushing any excess air out of the bag. Refrigerate the crab for 4-8 hours.

Marinade and crab in plastic bag.

Serve the crab mixture over mixed greens with lemon wedges.

Marinated crab salad, served over greens.

This was a light summer entrée that we enjoyed on our deck. While tasty, I did feel that the delicate flavor of the crab was a little overpowered by the marinade. To me, crab is so good on its own (see the crab leg recipe above) that I would tend toward recipes that allow the crab to shine more.

Crab Fritters

Crab fritters were Alton’s last recipe in this episode, and he did use purchased crabmeat for this one. In the episode, he used a 50/50 combination of lump and special crabmeat. Since I was only feeding two of us, I used one 8-ounce container of jumbo crabmeat.

8 ounces of crab meat.

To begin, place a rack on a sheet pan for draining and heat 2 1/2 quarts of canola oil to 375 degrees over medium heat.

Canola oil, heating to 375.

Meanwhile, combine 1 C lump crab meat, 1 C special crab meat, 1/2 C mayo, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and 1/2 t pepper.

Crab meat, mayo, lemon juice, and pepper.

Scoop the crab mixture with a 1-ounce ice cream scoop, rolling the balls in Panko breadcrumbs.

Using an ice cream scoop to form the fritters.

Crab ball, rolling in Panko.

Fritters, ready to be fried.

Alton tells you to fry the balls for 5-7 minutes, or until they are golden, but I found that my fritters were done in 3-4 minutes.

Fritters, added to hot oil.

I served my fritters with lemon wedges.

Crab fritters.

Alton’s crab fritters were pretty darn delicious, as they had little “filler” and loads of crab. The Panko breadcrumbs gave a crispy, crunchy shell to the creamy crab/mayo filling. These are a definite great alternative to the classic crab cake.

Episode 71 – “Good Milk Gone Bad”

Posted: December 10, 2016 in Season 6
Tags: alton brown, cumin, dessert, dressing, frozen yogurt, ginger, good eats, herb, herb spread, lemon, million island, salad, salad dressing, sauce, tarragon, thousand island, yogurt, yogurt cheese

Fresh Yogurt

Yogurt is one of those things that I always feel I should eat more of than I do. I tend to go in spurts with yogurt, eating it frequently for a while, and then not at all. Alton’s yogurt episode began with homemade yogurt. I made homemade yogurt once years ago when I was in grad school, as part of my food microbiology lab course. All I really remember from that experience was that I had a lab partner from Mongolia who called himself “Woody,” I could barely understand a word he said, and our yogurt was very pink. Needless to say, I was hopeful that my Woody-less yogurt would be more successful. When making Alton’s yogurt, you can use any type of milk that you choose, but Alton opted for organic 2% milk in the episode of Good Eats. Alton did say that whole milk will result in looser yogurt, while skim milk will yield yogurt with a grainy texture. In addition to a quart of milk, you will need 1/2 C of powdered milk, 2 T honey, and 1/2 C of plain yogurt, containing live cultures.

Ingredients for homemade yogurt: plain yogurt with live cultures, dry milk, honey, and milk.

Begin by pouring your milk into a saucepan, adding the powdered milk and honey.

A quart of organic 2% milk.

A quart of organic 2% milk, along with powdered milk and honey.

Meanwhile, allow your yogurt to come to room temperature.

Plain yogurt, being brought to room temperature.

Using a probe thermometer, heat the milk mixture to 120 degrees over medium heat. Remove the milk from the heat, and pour it into a clean cylindrical container, allowing it to cool to 115 degrees.

Milk mixture, heating over medium heat to 120 degrees.

Milk mixture, cooling to 115 degrees before mixing with yogurt.

Once the milk has cooled, whisk about a cup of the warm milk into the yogurt.

About 1 C of warm milk whisked into yogurt.

Then, whisk the yogurt/milk mixture back into the cylinder of milk. Wrap the cylinder in a heating pad that will maintain the yogurt’s temperature between 100 and 120 degrees; you can test your heating pad first by filling your cylinder with water.

Yogurt added to milk and wrapped with heating pad to ferment for 6 hours.

Allow your yogurt to ferment for three to 12 hours, depending on how you like the texture of your yogurt; a shorter fermentation will yield looser yogurt, while a longer fermentation will give thicker yogurt. Alton did an even six hours in the episode.

Yogurt, after fermenting for 6 hours.

Refrigerate your yogurt overnight before using.

Alton’s homemade yogurt.

I thought this yogurt was fine, but really nothing special. If anything, I would have liked this yogurt to have had a thicker texture, so I would possibly ferment it a little longer if I were to make it again. Honestly, I wouldn’t go to the trouble of making this again when I can easily buy yogurt that I like just as much.

Thousand Island Dressing

So, really, Alton calls this dressing “Million Island Dressing” in the episode, and it is a good use for some of his homemade yogurt. To make his dressing, whisk together 1 C plain yogurt, 2 T vegetable oil, and 2 T tomato sauce.

Yogurt, tomato sauce, and vegetable oil.

Once combined, add 2 t lemon juice, 2 t dry mustard, and 2 t sugar.

Lemon juice, dry mustard, and sugar added to dressing.

Next, whisk in 1 t Kosher salt and 1/2 t pepper.

Kosher salt and pepper added to dressing.

Finally, fold in 1/2 C diced onion, 1 T relish, 1 T chopped green olives, and 1 minced jalapeno.

Diced onion, pickle relish, chopped green olives, and jalapeno added to dressing.

Alton’s “Million” Island Dressing.

I enjoyed this dressing more than I thought I would. It has a really good kick from the jalapeno, tang from the yogurt and lemon, and bite from the onion. It also adds a lot of texture to a salad. We actually liked this enough that I made it a couple times in one week for us to eat on our lunch salads. This is a really good salad dressing.

Tarragon Yogurt Sauce

If you are looking for another savory application for plain yogurt, this tarragon sauce is one to try. This sauce is very versatile and could be served over many things, including fish, eggs, and vegetables; in the episode, Alton says that his favorite use of this sauce is over braised carrots, so that is how I opted to use mine. For this sauce, begin by heating a saucier over medium heat, adding 2 T olive oil, 1/2 t Kosher salt, 1/2 C finely chopped onion, and 1 1/2 t minced garlic.

Olive oil, Kosher salt, onion, and garlic in saucier.

I did not have a saucier until recently, but I inherited my parents’ copper-bottomed Calphalon saucier when my brother and I finished sorting through our parents’ belongings; thankfully, my parents are still living, but they really do not cook anymore. Yes, I have learned that a saucier is a very nice tool to have for a job such as this tarragon sauce. While your onion and garlic saute, combine 2 T cornstarch and 1 C chicken stock in a lidded container, and shake to combine. This slurry will help to thicken the sauce, and will also prevent over-coagulation of proteins, AKA curdling. Cream-based sauces have enough fat to prevent curdling, but yogurt-based sauces do not. Anyway, add the slurry to the pan, increase the heat, and add 1 1/2 T dried tarragon, whisking.

Slurry of cornstarch and chicken stock added to pan.

Heat increased and dried tarragon added to sauce.

Sauce after whisking.

Remove the pan from the heat and temper 1 C of plain yogurt by gradually whisking in some of the sauce mixture. Finally, add the tempered yogurt to the pan, whisking.

Yogurt, ready to be tempered.

Tempering yogurt by whisking in some of the warm tarragon mixture.

Adding the tempered yogurt to the pan.

Heat the sauce over low heat, just until warmed through. As I said before, we ate this sauce over carrots as a side dish.

The finished tarragon yogurt sauce.

Tarragon yogurt sauce over cooked carrots.

The tarragon flavor in this sauce is quite strong, giving a real anise-like flavor, and you also really taste the yogurt. This is a sauce you could make with other herbs too; I think a dill version would pair terrifically with salmon. Either way, this is an easy sauce to dress up veggies or protein.

Yogurt Cheese

What is yogurt cheese? Yogurt cheese is yogurt that has been allowed to drain, removing whey. While cheese has had its whey removed, regular yogurt has not. Allowing yogurt to drain results in a thick yogurt that has a consistency similar to cream cheese. To make yogurt cheese, line a strainer with two layers of cheesecloth, setting the strainer over a bowl. Add a quart of plain yogurt to the strainer, folding the cheesecloth over the top.

A quart of plain yogurt in a cheesecloth-lined strainer.

Weigh the yogurt down with the lid of a pot and a can, refrigerating it for four hours.

Weighing down the yogurt with a lid and cans.

Yogurt cheese after four hours of draining in the refrigerator.

Yogurt cheese can be used plain as a spread, or in Alton’s recipe for frozen yogurt, which I will write about below. I tasted the plain yogurt cheese, but opted to use it for Alton’s other recipe; it tasted like plain yogurt… just much, much thicker.

Herb Spread

This herb spread is basically the same recipe as the one for yogurt cheese above, but with added seasonings. To a quart of plain yogurt (I used homemade) add 1 1/2 t cumin, 2 T chopped parsley, 1 t Kosher salt, and 1/2 t pepper.

Cumin, parsley, Kosher salt, and pepper added to a quart of plain yogurt.

As with the yogurt cheese above, place a cheesecloth-lined strainer over a bowl and add the yogurt mixture.

Seasoned yogurt poured in cheesecloth-lined strainer to drain.

Weigh the yogurt down with a pan lid and can, allowing it to drain for four hours in the refrigerator.

Seasoned yogurt, weighed down with a pan lid and cans.

Yogurt cheese after four hours in the refrigerator.

The resulting spread is tangy and has a punch of cumin, and it is great with crackers or on sandwiches.

Herb spread with crackers.

Talk about an easy hors d’oeuvre, and it is even easier if you use store-purchased yogurt!

Lemon-Ginger Frozen Yogurt

This recipe is the perfect use for Alton’s yogurt cheese. Combine in a bowl 4 C plain yogurt cheese, 3/4 C sugar, 1/2 C light corn syrup, 2 t lemon zest, 1 T minced fresh ginger, and 3 T lemon juice.

Four cups of yogurt cheese.

Four cups of yogurt cheese, plus sugar, light corn syrup, lemon zest, fresh ginger, and lemon juice.

Whisk the yogurt mixture until smooth and freeze in an ice cream mixture per the manufacturer’s instructions.

Yogurt cheese mixture, whisked until smooth.

Yogurt cheese mixture in ice cream maker.

In the last few minutes of churning, add 1/4 C chopped crystallized ginger.

Crystallized ginger to be added in final minutes of churning.

Chopped crystallized ginger added to ice cream maker in final minutes of churning.

Freeze the frozen yogurt in the freezer until firm.

Alton’s lemon-ginger frozen yogurt.

This frozen yogurt is super refreshing and reminds me of warmer weather (as I type this, it is snowy outside and the Christmas tree is illuminated). The first time we ate this frozen yogurt, the crystallized ginger seemed too chewy, but after freezing the yogurt for a longer period, the chewiness went away. I definitely foresee making this again, as it is packed with ginger and lemon flavor, and is a relatively healthy treat. This is worth making.

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