Salt Lick dinner tonight. After not being in the kitchen for what, two weeks, except for that pork chop? I managed to oversalt AND overcook the rib eye - we only ate about a quarter of it. Shrooms were a bit salty too, WTF. my cambozola dressing on romaine wedge was good, though, but i seriously need something sweet now. saved the rest of the steak for tacos, maybe drowned in some Pato sauce it’ll be ok.
we had a nice little “brunch,” tho - fries and oysters, bloodies and beer. Times two. Disco nap ensued.
and I also cooked a batch of red posole that turned out great (not salty!) and smells amazing. that’ll be dinner later this week sometime.
Little time to prep an Easter dinner due to my extra busy work schedule. We still wanted something that felt festive, so time to let the oven do the work. Bacon wrapped pork tenderloin (only a few medallions shown), fingerling potatoes roasted with duck fat, roasted asparagus, and the carrots on which I roasted the tenderloin.
Dollops of green sauce are TJ’s zhoug. Zhoug served nicely as a bright, spicy stand-in for chimichurri or some other sauce I would have had to prepare otherwise.
Piled everything on one platter to make dinner look more like a feast. Plus we have the rest of the tenderloin and a few potatoes left over for another meal.
Mrs. P was busy prepping our deck garden for the new season and was understandably too tired to cook. We ordered takeout from Don Pepe ll and had delicious lobsters stuffed with scallops, shrimp, and crabs, as well as an avocado stuffed with the same seafood, with crispy homemade potato chips on the side (not pictured). Mrs. P did however make a delicious coffee ice cream with crunchy dark chocolate espresso chips and Medaglia D’Oro coffee for dessert.
Sure - I winged it, but made notes to myself as I went along. FYI, Sweetzfree is liquid sucralose (Splenda). I generally use both sucralose and erythritol in baking because IMO, the blend gives a more “sugar-like” sweetness than either one alone. If you prefer your baked goods on the sweeter side, you will need to use more than I call for below - I prefer baked goods only modestly sweet, and to be honest the rhubarb curd was POWERFULLY tart as written (this will also depend on the tartness of your rhubarb, naturally - the variety I grow is pretty intense).
Crust:
2 c. almond flour
1/3 c. granular erythritol plus 1 packet Splenda
6 T. melted butter
zest of one lime
1 t. gluten (optional, helps the crust hold together better)
pinch salt
Mix all ingredients well and press into an 8x8 pan (lined with foil or parchment sling). Bake 15-20 mins at 350 until edges are golden but crust is still fairly blonde.
Cheesecake:
1 lb Philly cream cheese
2-3 oz fresh chevre
2 T. sour cream
1 jumbo egg
1 jumbo egg yolk
1 t. vanilla
1/4 c. granular erythritol
9-10 drops sweetzfree
Blend cheeses well, add sour cream and blend well to combine, scraping down sides. Add erythritol and mix until dissolved. Add remaining ingredients and mix until no lumps remain. Pour through sieve to remove any lumps onto crust. Bake 25-30 mins at 300 until set on edges but still jiggly in the center. Cool while making curd.
Rhubarb Curd:
1 lb rhubarb
1/4 c. erythritol
10 drops sweetzfree
juice of half a lime
4 jumbo egg yolks
5 T. butter
pinch salt
Cook rhubarb with a splash of water until completely soft. Drain and puree in blender until smooth. Press through sieve if desired to remove any stringy pulp (you should have about 9 oz of puree or a generous cup). Add sweeteners and lime juice and taste for sweetness level, adding more sweetener if necessary. Place puree, egg yolks, butter and salt in a double boiler and cook, stirring constantly, until temperature reaches 160. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly, then spread over cheesecake layer. Refrigerate entire dessert until fully chilled and set.
When I cook a steak, I use Kenji’s method. I take it out of the refrigerator at least 40 minutes in advance. Salt it lightly. Get a cast iron pan very hot. Add a small amount of olive oil, then the steak. Here comes the “method”. You flip the steak every 20-30 seconds. When it has achieved the proper color, it’s done to our liking. Quite rare. If you use this method, you’ll soon discover how to get it to your liking
that’s what i always do. except i do like to pre-salt the day before if possible.
just went overboard this time. with the salt and the cooking. it happens!
I’ve done it both ways, cold, not cold, the Kenji/Gordon Ramsey method, reverse sear, etc. Usually each of those methods turns out just fine. Sometimes I just go over a bit, as was the case here.
1 Like
meatn3
(equal opportunity eater in the NC Triangle)
358
I find when I haven’t been cooking regularly that my skills get rusty. There are just so many nuances that you aren’t conciously aware of but respond to during the process. Being away from the kitchen does make my timing and seasoning get wonky.
