Breath of the Wild – Page 3

Salt-Grilled Gourmet Meat

November 21, 2017by Teri Mae8 Comments

It’s the second of two Thanksgiving posts and the day is almost here, which means this recipe is just in time! So open this up, thaw your turkey (properly), and let’s make a turkey.

Raise of hands, how many of you have ever made a turkey before? Really? That few? Well don’t be intimidated. I promise it’s a lot easier than it sounds or looks. Quite frankly, it’s just like any other salt-grilled meat recipe we’ve already done, with a few adjustments, of course. And you’ll love the finished product. It’ll be picture perfect and deliciously juicy for all your guests/family!

Salt-Grilled Gourmet Meat

Now, you should have started thawing your turkey by now following the instructions provided with your turkey (they almost always come with instructions). It can take up to 4 days to thaw a turkey (depending on the size) in the fridge. If you need to speed up the process you can fill a sink with cold water and place the turkey in. Continue checking the water to make sure it doesn’t get too warm. Drain the water every 1/2 hour and refill with cold water again. Do this for roughly 8 hours. It’s easier to thaw in the fridge but in a pinch, this other way will work. Just whatever you do, please thaw it correctly! I don’t want to be responsible for any food poisoning here!

We start with what’s called a brine. Now, there are several ways to brine a turkey but I’ve chosen the easiest of them all. You have enough to do on Thanksgiving – no reason to make it harder. The brine with a turkey is the same principle as with pork – it tenderizes the meat and allows the juices to stay inside instead of the bird getting dry and gross. It also negates, with an extra step, the need for basting! That’s two time savers here people. We’re on a roll!

You’re going to need to remove the bird from the packaging and take out any extras they throw in for the really hard-core people a.k.a the giblets and the neck. Open the bottom of the turkey and they should be in there. It’ll be a long neck and a packet of weird mushy stuff. If the packet isn’t in there check where the neck is supposed to be attached. Sometimes they put it up there to be sneaky.

Once everything gross is out pat the turkey dry with paper towels and coat it with kosher salt and pepper. Be generous, it’ll help! Allow the turkey to sit, with the salt and pepper, at room temperature for 1 hour to take off the chill. The skin will be crispy and delicious if you do it that way.

While the turkey is warming up wash the sage and oregano or thyme, slice a medium onion into quarters, and remove the skin from 6 garlic cloves. Place these inside your roasting pan, or if you don’t have excess cash floating around to buy a new pan for one meal a year (like me) a normal 11X15 cake pan. If you want to get extra easy buy one of those disposable cake pans, like my mom does, and just throw it away when you’re done. Whatever will fit your turkey comfortably will work! Line the bottom of your pan with these ingredients, putting the onions in the corners.

The next step is almost as important as the brine. It’s also, for those of you who are a little squeamish, the grossest part of the entire affair. Rub the room temperature butter all over your hands. Then rub the entire turkey with those hands, pausing to get more butter if needed. Make sure the entire bird in covered in the butter to make sure there’s an even crisp to the skin. A safety note, just because I’m a microbiologist, please don’t reuse any butter you may have touched with raw poultry again. Just throw it out and save yourself a horrible bought of food poisoning.

Preheat the oven to 425°F. It’s very important you don’t go much higher than that because most glassware will shatter if you do and that would ruin your entire night. If you’re using metal feel free to go up to 450°F. Put your turkey in the pan and put your pan in the oven on the middle shelf. Close the door and walk away for 45 minutes. Plenty of time to get started on literally 1 million things to be cooked for dinner.

Once the turkey has been roasting for 45 minutes take some tinfoil and cover the breast of the turkey, molding it to keep it in place. It’ll help trap in the moisture and make for a much more juicy bird! If you need to make a piece of tinfoil bigger to cover the whole turkey simply fold over the edges of the foil together and press down to seal. It’ll work. Trust me.

Lower the temperature of the oven to 350°F and bake for the remainder of the time. Here’s a handy, dandy chart for approximate times if you need one. It’s all based on pounds, really, so make sure you know the poundage of your bird beforehand.

9-11 pounds: 2 1/2 hours

12-14 pounds: 3 hours

15-17 pounds: 3 1/2 hours

18-20 pounds: 4 hours

21-23 pounds: 4 1/2 hours

24+ pounds: 5+ hours

To check if the turkey is done you’ll need an instant read meat thermometer. You can buy them in any grocery store this time of year for about $5.00. It’s worth it. You’ll use it again (maybe…). When the time is up stick the thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, making sure you aren’t touching any bones. Allow the thermometer to read. Your turkey temperature should be 165°F. If it isn’t, your turkey needs more time to cook. Mine took an extra 20 minutes to get up to temperature. If you need to check again make sure you check in a different spot than the first time! If you want to be extra careful, check in the breast under the wing, as well. The temperature is much more important than the color. Any turkey could have a pink coloring naturally, but if it got up to 165°F or higher, you’ll be just fine!

Remove the turkey from the oven and cover loosely with foil for at least 30 minutes to allow the turkey to rest. This equalizes the juices inside so you have perfectly moist, delicious meat.

Remove the turkey from the pan and start slicing! There are several excellent videos if you google “how to slice a turkey”. I think you’ll be alright!

While someone is slicing you can make the gravy. Technically this isn’t part of the recipe but who eats Thanksgiving turkey without gravy? Remove all the herbs, onions, and garlic, and pour all the drippings into a pot and add all the chicken or turkey stock. Heat the liquid to a boil and, while you’re waiting, make the cornstarch mixture. You could use a roux if you feel like it, but that takes longer and we are all about making Thanksgiving easy here! Mix the cold water and cornstarch together until dissolved. Once the liquid is boiling slowly add the cornstarch slurry to the drippings. Stir and continue to heat until thickened. If you need it thicker, just add more cornstarch liquid.

Serve with all the Thanksgiving trimmings and have an incredible time!

Link’s Salt-Grilled Meat

- Raw Gourmet Meat or Raw Whole Bird
- Rock Salt
Salt-Brined Roast Turkey
- Servings: dependant on turkey pounds
- Time: 1.25 hour prep, 2.5-5+ hours to cook, 30 minutes rest
- Difficulty: moderate
- Print
Turkey
- 1 Turkey
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt per pound of turkey
- 1/4 tsp pepper per pound of turkey
- 1/2-1 cup butter, room temperature, based on turkey size
- 7 sprigs fresh oregano or thyme
- 5 sprigs fresh sage leaves
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 medium onion
- 1 instant read meat thermometer
Gravy
- 1 pan turkey drippings
- 3 cups chicken or turkey stock
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 3 heaping spoonfuls cornstarch
Directions

1. Thaw your turkey according to the packing instructions, generally refrigerated for a few days. If you need a quicker thaw, fill a sink with cold water and place the turkey in. Drain the water every 1/2 hour and refill with cold water. Continue this process for 8 hours until the turkey is thawed.
2. Remove the bird from the packaging and take out the neck and giblets. These should be located inside the turkey at either the bottom or the neck holes.
3. Dry the entire turkey with paper towels
4. Coat the turkey in the kosher salt and pepper. Allow the turkey to sit, with the salt and pepper, at room temperature for 1 hour to take off the chill.
5. Wash the sage and oregano or thyme.
6. Slice the onion into quarters.
7. Remove the skin from 6 garlic cloves.
8. Line the outside edges of a glass or metal cake pan large enough to hold your turkey with the aromatics, putting the onions in the corners.
9. Rub the room temperature butter all over your hands, coating them completely.
Then rub the entire turkey with those hands, pausing to get more butter if needed. Make sure the entire bird in covered in the butter. A safety note, if you touch any butter with turkey or turkey-covered hands please throw it away to mitigate the risk of food poisoning.
10. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Put your turkey in the pan and put your pan in the oven on the middle shelf. Close the door and bake for 45 minutes.
11. Once the turkey has been roasting for 45 minutes take some tinfoil and cover the breast of the turkey, molding it to keep it in place. If you need to make a piece of tinfoil bigger to cover the whole turkey simply fold over the edges of the foil together and press down to seal.
12. Lower the temperature of the oven to 350°F and bake for the remainder of the time. Please see the chart in the body of the post for the correct times.
13. Insert the instant read thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, making sure you aren’t touching any bones. Allow the thermometer to read. Your turkey temperature should be 165°F or higher. If the temperature is not quite high enough, roast the turkey until the temperature reads the correct amount.
14. Remove the turkey from the oven and cover loosely with foil for at least 30 minutes to allow the turkey to rest.
15. Remove the turkey from the pan.
16. To make the gravy remove all herbs, onions, and garlic, and pour all the drippings into a pot. Add the chicken or turkey stock and bring to a boil.
17. Mix the cold water and cornstarch together until dissolved. Once the drippings are boiling slowly add the cornstarch to the drippings, stirring to mix.
18. Stir the gravy and bring it back to a boil. Add more cornstarch and water if a thicker gravy is desired.

Recipes

Fruitcake

September 12, 2017September 16, 2017by Teri Mae19 Comments

There are many versions of fruitcake. It means something different in every society and region of the world. But if you take a peek at the recipe in Breath of the Wild it’s pretty obvious Link makes a Bavarian fruit cake. Now, I don’t know how to make one of these layered, intense cakes on my own so I turned to my favorite pastry cookbook, Tartine by Elizabeth Pruitt. She is an absolute star in the pastry world and her creations always look too good to be true. Instead of shifting this recipe around to make it 100% my own, which wouldn’t have worked out nearly as well or delicious, I simply adapted this recipe to make it a little more “me” and ran with it. So tighten those bootstraps, grab your handy whisk, and let’s get going on the most difficult recipe to date.

Fruitcake

With how long this recipe takes as a whole we need to prioritize. It’s like tackling a group of lizalfos – if you don’t freeze some and take out the silver one on one you’re never going to finish without dying. Same with this recipe. We start with some recipes and then, while they are “freezing” we work on the easier bits. The ice breaks, we finish it all off, and we unlock the treasure, which, in this case, is an incredible cake.

We start with the cake. It’ll take a bit to bake and cool and we can work on other components while it does. So start with flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Using a hand whisk (yes, I need to specify, we use a lot of whisks in this recipe) blend the flour mixture until well-combined and aerated. Make a well shape in the bottom of the bowl with the flour and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular bowl but you’ll be grateful for the stand mixer if you’ve got one) and another bowl separate the egg whites and yolks from 6 eggs. You can do this in a few ways, the easiest is probably one of those fancy egg-separator-thingee-mabobs you find in the cooking aisle. The cheapest is the way I do it, by slowly cracking the egg in two, keeping most of the whites and all the yolk in one side of the shell. Then slowly tip the yolk into the other shell. Keep up this slow version of hot potato until the only thing left in the egg shell is the yolk. The albumen (white part) goes in the stand mixer bowl, the yolk goes in the other bowl. And trust me, if you don’t go slowly you’ll break your yolk, which defeats the purpose. If it happens try and keep as much of it out of your bowl, dump the egg, and try again.

Repeat this process for all 6 eggs, then add the vegetable oil, water, and extract to your yolk bowl. Mix this well using your hand whisk and transfer it to your flour mixture. Whisk this in for 2ish minutes until it’s nice and smooth (you can use a normal whisk for this).

And now for the stand mixer. We need 4 more egg whites but don’t need the yolks so go ahead and throw those out. Put on the whisk attachment, add the bowl, and whisk on medium-high until the eggs get frothy. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment. But don’t blame me when your arm falls off from all the vibration! Once the whites are frothy add the cream of tartar. Keep whisking until the eggs hold soft peaks. There’s a photo if you’re unsure! Then add a bit of the sugar, and, yes, you know the drill, keep whisking. Once the whites hold nice, stiff, shiny peaks it’s ready!

Here comes the part that’ll ruin your entire cake if it’s not right – we have to fold in the whites. Fold too quickly and too vigorously and you’ll lose all that beautiful air we just put in them. Fold too slowly and you’ll get bored, give up, and leave. So we scoop about 1/3 of this whites into the batter and carefully fold in by scooping from the bottom and turning over on the top. Gently continue this until it’s well mixed then add the remaining whites and fold in until just combined. Grease a springform pan with butter and then add flour. Tap out the excess flour, but make sure all your butter is covered by flour. Pour the batter into the pan and bake.

Next: the pastry cream. This will take a bit to cool, as well, so it needs to be second. Add the milk into a saucepan with the vanilla and the salt. Heat it all over medium-high heat, making sure to stir frequently. If you don’t you may burn the milk and I promise you it’ll be horrific to eat and you’ll wind up throwing it away. While the milk is warming up whisk (using a regular whisk) the eggs, cornstarch, and sugar in a bowl until smooth. When the milk is almost boiling pour about 1/3 (we like thirds here) of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk constantly. Once combined quickly add the entire mixture into the saucepan and continue to whisk and heat over medium heat until the mixture (a custard, if anyone wanted to know) becomes as thick as lightly whipped cream and is just under the boiling point (i.e. a few bubbles but not actual boiling).

Ladle (or scoop, spoon, spatula, etc…) the cream out of the pan and put it in a shallow bowl. If you leave the cream in the pan it’ll keep cooking and ruin it. Let it cool for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to remove some of the heat. Once it’s cool add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time and whisk until smooth.

Cover the cream with plastic wrap the same way we did the Wildberry Crepes by pressing the plastic all the way down on the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Place this in the fridge to chill and take a deep breath! We are maybe 1/3 of the way through this recipe…

When the timer goes off test the cake for doneness (which is totally a word) by inserting a toothpick. It should come out nice and clean. Remove the pan from the oven but leave the cake in it to cool. Let it cool entirely before doing anything with it.

So is that cake almost cool yet? Almost? Perfect. Once it is let’s start on the next few steps. We need to make the fruit puree (to prevent the cake from drying out), the actual cream filling, and cut all the fruit. Let’s start with the cream bit.

Again, it needs to cool a tad so timing is key. Add the gelatin to the water and let it sit for several minutes. It’s kind of cool and gross to watch so if you do I won’t judge. And while we are doing that let’s make a double boiler. To do this we need a saucepan that’ll be several inches deep with water but still have headroom for steam and either a stainless steel mixing bowl or another pan (which is what I do. We get fancy around here). Fill the first pan several inches deep with water and get it boiling. Once it is add some 1/4 cup of the chilled pastry cream to the bowl/bigger pan. Place this bowl/pan over the boiling water and pray the water doesn’t touch the pan. Heat the cream, whisking constantly, until hot to the touch. Add the gelatin (which has now become The Blob) and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and add half the remaining cream. Once it’s mixed add the remaining pastry cream and hand whisk until smooth.

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment whisk the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Gently, using our skills from earlier, fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream mixture.

Now for the fruit. Take about 1 pint of the washed raspberries and blend them with the sugar and salt until smooth. Pour it out and set it aside. We cut up and remove the pits from the peaches and wash the rest of the raspberries.

And now it’s cake time!

Remove the cake from the pan, finally, and carefully cut the top off to make an even level. Cut it right down the center (longways) to make two even cake layers. Line a springform cake pan (it can be the same one, just wash it first) with plastic wrap, making sure there’s extra to cover the cake at the end. Put the bottom layer of cake in so it’s nice and snug. Spoon on about half of the berry puree and then a thin layer of cream. Arrange the fruit in a nice pattern (and of course it’s the one photo I forgot to take!) and then add the remaining pastry cream. Gently add the top layer of cake and press down slightly to remove any air bubbles. Cover the top layer with the remaining puree, cover it with the wrap, and set it in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours. If you pull it out early the cream won’t be set and the whole thing will fall apart. Trust me, I did this…

When it’s almost time (I promise, just a little more whisking) let’s make a nice whipped cream. Add the cream and sugar to a stand mixer or bowl and whisk until it holds stiff, delicious peaks. Remove the cake from the fridge and release it from the pan. Move the cake to a cake stand (if you’re cool) or just remove the plastic wrap and place it on a plate (my method). Using a spatula, add the whipped cream just like you’re icing a cake. If you’re feeling like you haven’t done enough feel free to pipe some fancy swirls on to the top. Decorate with the fruit and enjoy the spoils of your hard-won war! Congratulations and let them eat cake!

Link’s Fruitcake recipe:

- Apple or Wildberry
- Any fruit
- Tabantha Wheat
- Cane Sugar

Fruitcake

Servings: 1 cake
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty: extra hard
Print

A Bavarian-style fruitcake with peaches and raspberries

Recipe adapted from Summer Fruit Bavarian by Elizabeth Pruitt from Tartine

Cake

2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup water
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Pastry

1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons butter

Filling

3/4 teaspoon gelatin
1 tablespoon water
1 batch pastry cream
1 cup heavy cream, very cold

Raspberry

1/2 pint raspberries
1/4 cup sugar
1 pinch of salt

Toppings

2 cups heavy cream
1/3-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 pint raspberries
2 large peaches

Cake

Pre-heat the oven to 325°F and grease and flour a 10 inch springform cake pan.
Add the flour, baking powder, 1 1/4 cups of the sugar, and salt in a bowl. Whisk the flour mixture until well-combined and aerated. Make a well shape in the mixture and set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer or a regular bowl and second bowl separate the egg whites and yolks from 6 eggs. You can do this by slowly cracking the egg in two, keeping most of the whites and all the yolk in one side of the shell. Then slowly tip the yolk into the other shell. Continue switching egg shells until the only thing left in the egg shell is the yolk. The albumen (white part) goes in the stand mixer bowl, the yolk goes in the other bowl. Repeat this process for all 6 eggs.
Add the vegetable oil, water, and extract to your yolk bowl. Whisk this until smooth and transfer it to your flour mixture. Whisk the two together until it’s nice and smooth.
In the bowl of the stand mixer add 4 more egg whites to the 6 already separated. Using the whisk attachment, whisk on medium-high until the eggs get frothy. If you don’t have a stand mixer you can use a hand mixer with a whisk attachment. Once the whites are frothy add the cream of tartar. Keep whisking until the eggs hold soft peaks. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and whisk until the whites hold nice, stiff, shiny peaks.\
Scoop about 1/3 of the whisked whites into the yolk batter and carefully fold in by scooping from the bottom and turning over on the top of the batter. Gently continue this until it’s well mixed. Add the remaining whites and fold in until just combined.
Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan.

Pastry

Add the milk into a saucepan with the vanilla and the salt. Heat over medium-high heat, making sure to stir frequently to prevent burning the milk.
While the milk is warming up whisk the eggs, cornstarch, and sugar in a bowl until smooth.
When the milk is nearly boiling pour about 1/3 of the hot milk into the eggs and whisk constantly. Once combined quickly add the entire mixture into the saucepan.
Continue to whisk and heat over medium heat until the mixture becomes as thick as lightly whipped cream and is just under the boiling point (i.e. a few bubbles but not actual boiling).
Ladle (or scoop, spoon, spatula, etc…) the cream out of the pan and put it in a shallow bowl. If you leave the cream in the pan it’ll keep cooking and ruin it. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to remove some of the heat.
Cut the butter into tablespoons. Once the cream has cooled slightly add the butter 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until smooth between each addition.
Cover the cream with plastic wrap by pressing the plastic all the way down on the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Place this in the fridge to chill until needed for the filling.

Filling

Add gelatin to the water and let it sit for several minutes.
While the gelatin is forming make a double boiler by adding several inches of water to a saucepan and heating until lightly boiling.
Once the water is boiling add 1/4 cup of the chilled pastry cream to a second saucepan or stainless steel bowl. Place this bowl/pan over the boiling water and heat the cream, whisking constantly, until hot to the touch. Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and whisk in half the remaining cream. Once it’s mixed add the remaining pastry cream and whisk until smooth.
Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks.
Gently fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream mixture and set aside.
Take about 1/2 pint of washed raspberries and blend them with the sugar and salt until smooth. Pour it out and set it aside.

Assembly

Wash the remaining raspberries and pit and slice the peaches
Remove the cake from the pan, finally, and carefully cut the top off to make an even level. Cut it in half to make two even cake layers.
Line a springform cake pan (it can be the same one, just wash it first) with plastic wrap, making sure there’s extra to cover the cake at the end.
Add the bottom layer of cake to the lined pan so it’s nice and snug.
Spoon on about half of the berry puree and then a thin layer of cream.
Arrange the fruit in a nice pattern and then add the remaining pastry cream.
Gently add the top layer of cake and press down slightly to remove any air bubbles.
Cover the top layer of cake with the remaining puree. Cover the cake with the wrap and set it in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours.
To make the whipped cream topping add the cream and sugar to a stand mixer or bowl and whisk until it holds stiff, delicious peaks.
Remove the cake from the fridge and release it from the pan. Move the cake to a cake stand or remove the plastic wrap and place it on a plate.
Using a spatula, add the whipped cream just like you’re icing a cake.

Recipes

Glazed Veggies

August 22, 2017August 22, 2017by Teri Mae7 Comments

I seriously underestimated the amount of fun and lack of free time I would have on my vacation last week. I suspected that, since I had to be back to the hotel by 9ish to put my small child down for bed I would have plenty of time to write a blog post in the evening. What I did not account for was the extremely late nights and loads of fun my family would have staying up till 12 or 1 each night playing card games. Never underestimate the hilarity of a game like Balderdash at midnight when all the adults are exhausted but cant. stop. playing.

But that serious fun does mean I missed a lot of posts! I’m sorry! And after I specifically made two recipes the week before in order to not miss a week… So thanks for your patience, thanks for the continued support and follows, and let’s get on with the show!

Glazed Veggies

Guys, this recipe is super easy but super delicious. That makes it a win-win, right?

First we chop the veggies and, if you’re feeling bold, chop and mince the fresh herbs. If you’re not feeling bold, no worries, this recipe is equally awesome for all types. Just measure out those herbs and get them handy because, frankly, herbs of all sorts look pretty.

Start boiling the tiny, finger height portion of water in a nice, deep pot. If you haven’t noticed I’m super exact with my measurements… Just check out this post for proof…

Once it’s boiling add the carrots and cover with the lid. We want this to boil for 7-9 minutes, depending on how full your pot is, or until the carrots are “crisp-tender”… Who makes up these cooking terms, anyway? For those of you who can’t guess based on the name, crisp-tender means the stage after raw but before mushy. It’s a pretty big ballpark, you can’t really miss it unless you’re being negligent. And you’d never be negligent with carrots, would you?

Remove the carrots, drain the water, and put the pot back on the heat. Add the honey and butter until they melt together. Add your herbs and carrots back in and stir until the carrots are coated and the herbs are a little fragrant, about 2 minutes. Serve warm!

You wanna know how to best use this recipe? Add it as a side to either the Salt-Grilled Prime Meat or the Salt-Grilled Meat. That’s what I did and it made for one amazing meal!

Link’s Glazed Veggies

- Any Vegetable
- Courser Bee Honey

Herb Glazed Veggies

Servings: 4
Time: 15 minutes
Difficulty: easy
Print

Carrots glazed with honey and fresh herbs

Filling

1 lb carrots
1.5 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
1-1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
1-2 teaspoons pepper
1.5 tablespoons fresh thyme (or 1-1.5 teaspoon dried thyme)
1.5 tablespoons fresh oregano (or 1-1.5 teaspoon dried oregano)

Directions

If you use fresh herbs wash and then mince the herbs. Use a very sharp blade to mince in order to prevent bruising. Mix both the thyme and sage together and set aside.
Cut all carrots equally and evenly to ensure they all cook the same amount and finish at the same time. If you desire, peel the carrots first.
Boil enough water in a 4 quart saucepan to cover the first joint in your finger.
Add carrots and cover the pot. Allow to boil for 7-9 minutes, or until crisp-tender.
Remove carrots and drain pot.
Add honey and butter and allow to melt together. Add herbs and carrots and stir until carrots are completely glazed and the herbs become fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Serve hot.

Recipes

Salt-Grilled Meat

August 1, 2017by Teri Mae4 Comments

I’ve done salt-grilled prime meat but it’s summer, which means I want to grill like crazy. So while that mood lasts I made salt-grilled meat. Instead of choosing just a choice cut of steak instead of a prime cut of steak I tried to think about what Link actually eats in the game. There’s a lot of birds and a lot of wild pigs. So it came down to chicken and pork. Now, if any of you grill you know that you never, never, ever grill chicken. It is incredibly difficult to get cook through without drying out. However, if you do cook pork, you know that you fell victim to one of the the classic blunder, the most famous of which is never get in a land war with Asia but only slightly less well-known is this, never grill pork unless death is on the line… But we have a few tricks to help you build up an immunity to grilling pork. Follow these steps and you should come out the victor.

Salt-Grilled Meat

If you are going to use fresh herbs first wash and then mince the herbs. You want to make sure you have a really sharp blade to mince greens. If you don’t, instead of cutting they tend to bruise. Mix both the thyme and sage together and set aside.

The most important thing is the very next step. If you skip this step we may as well quit now… We have to tenderize the meat as much as possible so the pork doesn’t dry out while we grill. It’s called a brine, bro.

The pork you purchase should be at least 1.5 inches thick. Any thinner and it will cook too quickly. Take your pork loin out of the fridge. Pat each piece dry. Now we gently slice the fat at 1 inch intervals. You want to slice the fat but do not slice the meat. If you have a thick piece of fat along the side slice about 1/4 inch in. If you have a thin strip of fat cut all the way through but do not cut the meat.

Brush or rub the pork on both sides with oil, preferably olive or avocado. Then rub the pork generously with salt, pepper and the herbs. Now we let them sit for at least 30 minutes. Don’t get impatient. Remember, 30 minutes is the minimum for how long we want to brine. Closer to an hour and the pork will be even more tender and juicy.

Since not everyone has an outdoor grill I decided to make this using our stove-top grill. Heat on medium high when the pork is nearly ready to cook. When the grill is hot lay the pork down away from you. Allow to sear and cook for 8ish minutes. Along the side you’ll see how far up the pork is cooking. When you can see that the cook of the pork is nearly to the middle but not quite (maybe 1/3 of the way up) render the fat by holding it fat-side down on the grill for 30 seconds to 1 minute if the fat is thick. When that’s done flip it over and cook on the other side. It should be nicely and beautifully browned.

Cook for about 8ish minutes on this side as well. This is where you have to start using your judgement. It should be mostly cooked. You have a 10 minute minimum rest time so you want the pork to be cooked medium so it can finish up while it’s resting. This means pulling it off when it reaches an internal temperature of 135F. You want the final temperature to be 145F. If it’s not quite ready flip over and cook for a minute or two, then flip again and cook for a minute or two. This will prevent it from over cooking on one side and still cook through.

Take the pork off the grill and place on a plate to rest. Cover with foil and let it sit for about 10-12 minutes so the juices can equalize. If you try and skip this step it’ll be a little tough and the juices will all run out.

Uncover and serve with whatever you’d like! If you want to wait till next week’s recipe this pairs really well with that!

Link’s Salt-Grilled Meat

- Raw Meat or Raw Bird Drumstick
- Rock Salt

Salt-Grilled Pork

Servings: 4
Time: 30 minutes brine, 20 minutes cook
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Salt-grilled pork with thyme and sage

Filling

4 pork loin, 1.5 inch thick
1.5-2 tablespoons oil
1-1.5 tablespoons kosher salt
1-2 teaspoons pepper
1.5 tablespoons fresh thyme (or 1-1.5 teaspoon dried thyme)
1.5 tablespoons fresh sage (or 1-1.5 teaspoon dried sage)

Directions

If you use fresh herbs wash and then mince the herbs. Use a very sharp blade to mince in order to prevent bruising. Mix both the thyme and sage together and set aside.
Take your pork loin out of the fridge and pat each piece dry.
At 1 inch intervals gently slice the fat but do not cut the meat. If you have a thick piece of fat along the side slice about 1/4 inch in.
Brush or rub the pork on both sides with oil, preferably olive or avocado. Rub the pork generously with salt, pepper and the herbs.
Allow the pork to sit for at least 30 minutes. If you choose to brine for longer start them in the fridge and finish the last 30 minutes out of the fridge.
Heat your grill on medium high when the pork is nearly ready to cook. When the grill is hot lay the pork down away from you. Allow to sear and cook for 8ish minutes. Along the side you’ll see how far up the pork is cooking. When you can see that the cook of the pork is nearly to the middle but not quite (maybe 1/3 of the way up) turn it and render the fat for each chop.
Flip the loin and cook on the other side for another 8ish minutes.
At this point your chop should be mostly cooked. You have a 10 minute minimum rest time so you want the pork to be cooked medium so it can finish up while it’s resting. This means pulling it off when it reaches an internal temperature of 135F. You want the final temperature to be 145F. If it’s ready remove from the grill and place onto a plate.
If your pork isn’t quite ready flip it over and cook for a minute or two, then flip again and cook for a minute or two. This will prevent it from over cooking on one side and still cook through.
Take the pork off the grill and place on a plate to rest. Cover with foil and let it sit for about 10-12 minutes so the juices can equalize. Uncover and serve!

Thursday Thoughts

It’s Okay to be a Hero

July 27, 2017by Teri Mae10 Comments

Lets chat for a bit about heroes. The new, modern, trendy, super cool, trench coat-wearing thing nowadays is anti-heroes. Batman, Joel from The Last of Us, Aloy from Horizon Zero Dawn. All these characters are dark, mysterious, brooding, kind of morally ambiguous, and dreamy. It seems that the media and critics are obsessed with the anti-hero and anything even remotely resembling a hero is a boring trope that’s obviously been done before.

But you know who I love? The hero. I love Link, Mario, and Captain America. I love the brightness, the hope, the radiating goodness that pours out of a hero and into our lives. Heroes are absolutely still relevant and, especially in these dark times, still necessary in our games, movies, and media.

So what’s the exact difference, you may ask? Well let’s check Wikipedia – because that’s what we do nowadays.

A hero is defined as a “person or main character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through impressive feats and ingenuity, bravery, or strength, often sacrificing their own personal concerns for the greater good”. Let’s break it down. A hero is someone who utilizes their natural abilities to overcome evil. They are always found giving up what they want to help others and are good, true, honest, and kind. These characters always do the right thing and have a fantastic moral compass.

An anti-hero is a “protagonist who lacks conventional heroic qualities such as idealism, courage, or morality. Although anti-heroes may sometimes do the right thing, it is often for the wrong reasons and because it serves their self-interest rather than being driven by moral convictions”. So these are the people who fight against the system, break the rules, live by their own code, and do their own thing. And somehow they usually end up doing the right thing for the people around them. But it’s not always the best way to do it or the best reasons.

Because anti-heroes are much more flawed and much more like us they tend to be more loved. They appeal to us because we relate to their circumstances, they struggles, and dilemmas.

But…

Just because a character is a hero doesn’t mean they’re flat. Or outdated. Or boring. It just means they are a good person with good morals who does good things for people. It’s because they are heroes that makes them people we should emulate. I mean, add a couple of cut scenes of Batman sneaking through a window with an ax and this just became a horror film. Instead of focusing on the parts of a hero no one feels they can relate to, lets focus on the fact that these are characters we can strive to be!

My sister-in-law and I have this debate semi-regularly. She is a hard-core anti-hero fan and I am a die-hard hero worshiper. It’s why she loves Brontë and I love Austen. Why she loves Rogue One instead of Force Awakens and I… well I love both. And I wish I could help her understand that a character doesn’t need to be an anti-hero to be worthy of praise or positive critique.

Lord David Cecil once said (when talking about Austen’s novels, but let’s be honest, it can be applied to any hero character, “There are those who do not like [heroes]; as there are those who do not like sunshine or unselfishness”. These character’s can bring light and happiness into our lives and into our perspectives. Instead of focusing on the flaws and negativity and selfishness we are given the option to look at the selflessness, the integrity, the courage of characters doing the right thing because it’s the right thing. Link saving Hyrule in every iteration simply because he’s in the right circumstances. Mario rescuing the kidnapped girl and freeing countless worlds from the clutches of tyrants. These are the people with hope and the ones who can teach us to hope.

The website Literary Devices explains that “in modern society when we are presented with a character that is overly righteous and upright, we find it too good to be true. The social turmoil that the entire world as a community has been facing recently has disposed us to be skeptical of almost everything. . . So, we relate better to a character that has suffered through life and has both good and bad sides than a character that is only seen doing good.” And maybe that’s true, but I like to believe there’s some good left in this world and that heroes exemplify who we can become in order to make things right!

Who are your favorite heroes? Or, if you prefer anti-heroes, which is your favorite and why?

P.S: Special shout out to the artist Kurama805 on DeviantArt for the artwork I used as my featured image! This is a downloadable wallpaper and is gorgeous!

Recipes

Fish Pie

July 26, 2017by Teri Mae8 Comments

Guys- I’m sorry about the whole “no post thing” yesterday. I’m currently preparing for a vacation on top of several fires at work and I completely forgot it was Tuesday…

Link sure has some serious pastry and cooking skills. This recipe, while not exactly difficult, was a bit strange. I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve never had fish pot pie before. I’ve never had fish anything pie before. And while I learned that a lot of people make seafood pie, hardly anyone uses fish – it’s typically crab, shrimp, or a combination of both. And if they do make fish pie, it’s made with a puff pastry crust, which isn’t quite as malleable and shape-able as shortcrust. But, from past general experience and a whole lotta luck, I bring you fish pie.

Fish Pie

This recipe gets a involved kinda fast. It feels like it starts off easy and then all of a sudden food is ready to be turned, you weren’t paying attention to correct cooking order and you’re dirtying extra pans just to make it all work, your crust starts to get too warm and difficult to roll out, and children start crying. At least, mine did! But you got this – because we are going to do this together.

First, in order to make things easier in the future, put a large cookie sheet in the fridge. Having something cold to put your crust shapes on while you roll everything else out will make sure they stay nice and flaky! Then we start with the filling.

Dice carrots and onion and get those peas thawed. You can do this by either microwaving for a minute or simply running them under water. The peas don’t need to be cooked, or even warm, since they will go through a few more heat steps before you eat them! Heat your pan on medium and then add your oil. Add your onions and saute (a fancy word for cooking in a minimal amount of fat over relatively high heat) until slightly tender and they turn translucent. Add your carrots and cook for a few minutes or until the carrots are tender. Add the peas next and cook until warm and mixed thoroughly. Remove your veggies from the pan to a plate or bowl and put your pan back on the heat.

Make sure your fish is thawed properly if it was frozen and, for the first time ever, we don’t need to warm it up to room temp or even pat it down! Add all your milk, your fish, and half the thyme, oregano, and dill to the same pan you cooked your vegetables in. Keep the heat on medium and allow to come to a boil. Once it’s boiling drop the heat a bit so it simmers. Simmer your fish for 2-3 more minutes on this side and then flip them and simmer for an additional 3 minutes. You don’t want to overcook it or the fish will get rubbery and gross in the pie. Remove the fish to a plate, and, if you did it right, it’ll be flaky and beautiful and still a bit glistening on the inside. Break the fish up on the plate into bite size pieces.

Now we start the roux. Roux can be seriously hard, especially if you’ve never done it before. I became really good at it when I was determined to make homemade mac and cheese. It took me a long time to get it right and I had to throw out a lot of batches before I really nailed it down. Here are my tips for a perfect roux:

Melt your butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. You could probably use a regular saucepan, but I always use my enamel dutch oven since it keeps the heat nice and even. Wait until the butter is completely melted and bubbly. Once it is, whisk in half the flour. This is important! If you try and do it all at once it probably won’t melt back down. Once all the flour is incorporated and the mixture starts to melt and become a bit liquidy again add the remaining flour. Whisk is continually until it starts to melt again. At this point start timing – you’ll want to whisk continually for at least 2 minutes or until you reach the blond stage of a roux (a little darker than when you added it. you want all the flour taste to be gone!). Once the butter/flour mixture is melty and blond start slowly adding the milk that you left in the pan. Add about half the milk – the flour/butter may ball up on itself but just keep whisking. Just keep whisking, just keep whisking, just keep whisking, whisking, whisking… It’ll sort itself out! Whisk until the mixture is homogeneous and slightly thick. Add the remaining milk and repeat. If the mixture is too thick you may have added too much flour. Add regular milk until it reaches a nice, gravy-like consistency.

If you are unlucky and screw up your roux this is how you’ll know:

The flour and butter never reach that nice, melty stage after any flour addition
The flour/butter balls up when you add the milk and never mixes properly.

Don’t worry! If one of these things happen just throw it out and start again. Especially the first one – you can sometimes come back with even more vigorous whisking from the second but it’s very difficult to fix the first.

Once you have nice sauce add veggies, the remaining spices, and the fish. Stir until combined, adjust spices for taste, and remove from the heat. This we will set aside until the crust is ready!

Phew – all done with step one. Now on to step two… which is just as long and just as rough.

Start by adding ice cubes to a cup or two of water. You want the water to be as cold as possible! Add all the flour and salt for the shortcrust (which, for those of you who are normal people, is pie crust) to a large bowl and whisk to mix. Use butter flavored shortening (for a better flavor) and cut it into large chunks. Mix in the shortening, using your hands, by rubbing the shortening into the flour until it’s combined into a nice, crumbly texture with some pea-sized clumps.

From this point forward you’ll want to handle your crust as little as possible. The more you fiddle with it the tougher and denser the crust will be. And we want a light, flaky crust because that’s the delicious way! Slowly add the water 2 tablespoons at a time and combine it with the flour mixture. I mix by hand because I have a better grasp on how the dough is actually doing. Only add water until the mixture is just combined with some flour mixture not perfectly mixed in. Too much water and you’ll be left with a tough, dense crust. Take your cookie sheet out of the fridge and lightly flour a surface. Take about 1/4 of the dough, mash it into a ball, and roll it out. You’ll want it to be nice and thin, at least 1/8-1/4 inch, or it won’t cook evenly and your distribution of crust to filling will be weird.

At this point I took a knife and, using a template I made before I started, cut out the base of the fish. If your rolled out piece isn’t big enough just tack on more from the bowl and roll it out with the piece you’re working with to make it bigger. Place this on the cookie sheet, gather up the scraps and lay them to the side, and repeat for another 1/4 of the dough. Repeat two more times until you have 4 base pieces, which will be enough for two pies. Take all the scraps, mash them into a ball, and roll them out together. From this there should be enough, if you angle properly, to cut out all your designs perfectly. Lay them to the side (or leave them where they’re at).

Fill two of the fish shapes to within 1/2 inch of the edge – don’t fill them too high and don’t fill that gap or your pie won’t close properly and it’ll leak. Wet the edges with water (I use my finger because I’m super fancy), place the other fish shape on top, and press down along the edges. Crimp each edge with a fork to help seal the dough. Repeat for the second pie. Wet the back of each of the designs and place it down on the fish shape where you’d like it. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top crust, ensuring it pokes all the way through to the center. This will help the steam escape and keep your pie from exploding! Beat and egg and brush the tops of each pie with it. Place in the oven and bake for 40 or so minutes until the crust is golden brown!

If you want my honest opinion this pie #1) tastes way better with tartar sauce smothered on top, and #2) is more work than it’s worth. Unless you want to make something extra special and pretty I’d just cover a pie dish with your shortcrust, add the filling, cover the top, seal, and bake that way! It’ll be much easier! But this way definitely turned into a show-stopper for looks!

Link’s Salmon Meunière

- Tabantha Wheat
- Goat Butter
- Rock Salt
- Any Seafood

Fish Pie

Servings: 2 large pies
Time: 2.5 hours
Difficulty: moderately difficult
Print

White fish pot pie with vegetables

Filling

3/4 lb white fish of any kind
2 cups milk
1-2 teaspoons pepper
1.5 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
1/2-1 tsp dill
2-3 tsp salt
1/2 cup carrots, diced
1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
1/2 cup peas, thawed
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons oil

Shortcrust

3 cups flour
1 cup butter flavored shortening
4-9 tablespoons ice water
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Directions

Put a large cookie sheet in the fridge or freezer.
Dice the carrots and onion.
Thaw the peas by microwaving for 1 minute or running them under water for 1 minute.
Heat the pan on medium. Add the oil and onion and saute until slightly tender and translucent. Add the carrots and cook for 3-5 minutes or until tender. Add the peas and continue cooking until warm and mixed thoroughly.
Add all your milk, your fish, and half the thyme and oregano to the same pan you cooked your vegetables in. Keep the heat on medium and allow to come to a boil. Once boiling, drop the heat to a simmer. Simmer your fish for 2-3 minutes on this side. Flip the fish and simmer for an additional 3 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat, leaving the milk in the pan, and place the fish on a plate and break it into small pieces.
Melt butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. When the butter is completely melted and bubbly whisk in half the flour. Once all the flour is incorporated and the mixture starts to melt and become a bit liquidy again add the remaining flour. Whisk continually until it starts to melt again. Continue whisking for about 2 minutes or until you reach the blond stage of a roux (a little darker than when you added it but not brown).
Once the butter/flour mixture is melty and blond start slowly add half the milk from the pan. Whisk until the mixture is homogeneous and slightly thick.
Add the veggies, remaining spices, and fish to the sauce and stir until combined. Adjust spices for taste and remove from the heat.
Add several ice cubes to a cup of water and set aside.
Add all the flour and salt for the shortcrust to a large bowl and whisk to mix.
Cut the shortening into large cubes. Add it to the flour and, using your hands, mix them together by rubbing the shortening into the flour until it’s combined into a nice, crumbly texture with some pea-sized clumps.
Make a small well in the center of the flour mixture and slowly add the water 2 tablespoons at a time. Using your hand mix the water and flour together until combined. Continue adding water until the mixture is just combined but not perfectly mixed in. Don’t add too much water and don’t overmix or the crust will be dense and chewy.
Take your cookie sheet out of the fridge and lightly flour a surface. Take about 1/4 of the dough, mash it into a ball, and roll it out to 1/8-1/4 inch thin. Using a template (or freehanding it) cut the base of the fish out with a knife. If your rolled out piece isn’t big enough just tack on some more from the bowl and roll it out with the piece you’re working with to make it bigger.
Repeat step 14 3 more times to make 4 fish shapes.
Take all the scraps, mash them into a ball, and roll them out together. From this there should be enough, if you angle properly, to cut out all your designs perfectly. Lay them to the side (or leave them where they’re at).
Fill two of the fish shapes to within 1/2 inch of the edge – don’t fill them too high and don’t go in that 1/2 gap or your pie won’t close properly. Wet the edges of the pastry with water, place the other fish shape on top, and press down along the edges. Crimp each edge with a fork to help seal the dough.
Repeat for the second pie.
Wet the back of each of the designs and place it down on the fish shape where you’d like it. Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top crust, making sure it pokes all the way through to the center.
Beat and egg and brush the tops of each pie with it.
Bake for 40 minutes at 425°F. Allow to cool for several minutes before serving.

Recipes

Salmon Meunière

July 18, 2017July 18, 2017by Teri Mae11 Comments

I learned a lot while making this recipe. Here are my top three – and then on to the food…

First: it is very important to choose your butcher carefully when you get seafood. I mistakenly used a grocery store butcher that I usually trust. Apparently the betray you when it comes to seafood. The salmon wasn’t scaled properly and still had all it’s pin bones. And, not only that, but the cut was uneven. I wound up slicing off a decent amount of fish that wasn’t really usable to get even portion sizes! I was pretty disappointed. So make sure you choose a reputable seller, double check that they scaled and removed the bones prior to purchasing, and then hope you have a very sharp knife if they don’t cut evenly!

If you do get unlucky enough to have to debone the fish yourself it’s really easy. Just annoying. Wash a pair of pliers with hot water and soap. Carefully push the flesh of the salmon in and grasp the tip of the pin bone. Pull it as carefully as you can to prevent the flesh from ripping. It’s not bad if it does, it just isn’t as pretty anymore. Make sure you get all the bones – you’ll be able to feel them if you gently run your hand down the length of the fish. If you are doubly unlucky and they didn’t remove all the scales just flip the salmon over to skin side up. Run the blade of the knife down the fish and watch all the clear, inedible scales pop off. But you can always skip both these steps by choosing a better store! Which I will do for all my fish from now on.

Second: experimenting with a very basic, traditional recipe turns out sub-par results. I tried really hard to fiddle with this this recipe a bit and make it my own. Turns out this recipe is so straight forward it doesn’t do well with a lot of tweaking. I tried the sauce twice before I finally gave up and realized sometimes the old school way is the best way.

Third: no matter how many times I try it I really, really hate salmon. It’s very fishy, even fairly fresh, and fatty. The flavor is just… not my favorite. If I’m going to spend this much on a protein you can bet it’ll be something I actually want to eat. Unlucky for me, there are still a handful of salmon recipes left in the official Breath of the Wild guide…

Salmon Meunière

You’ll find a lot of themes in these recipes. One of them is to allow the meat to warm up to room temperature and to pat it dry before seasoning. I explain why in my Meat and Rice Bowl recipe. And that’s exactly how we are going to start salmon meunière – take the salmon out of the fridge about 30 minutes before cooking and allow to warm up to room temperature.

While it’s warming up wash and pull the leaves off the parsley. It’s pretty easy, actually. Just grab the stems and line up the leaves, place the knife edge down right at the base of the leaves, and gently but firmly pull the parsley through the knife blade. It’ll get most of the stems off and leave you with a nice pile of leaves. And no, it’s not one of the piles that hides a korok seed. Sorry. Roughly chop the parsley into pieces, they don’t have to be perfect. You’ll want a small handful of parsley. If you’re using fresh lemon cut it in half and squeeze the juice of one of them. You only need 3/4 tablespoon so no need to go crazy. Smash the garlic by placing the flat of a knife blade against the garlic clove and smash your hand into the blade. Never do this on the edge of the knife and never smash the knife down – both these could result in some serious cuts and I refuse to be held responsible for that. When the garlic is smashed peel off the skin. Get the butter cut and ready to go and play a few rounds of Splatoon 2 until the salmon is ready.

When you’re ready to cook pat the salmon dry and season with kosher salt and pepper. Turn your burner on to medium, add your oil, and get your pan nice and hot. When the pan is hot add the butter. Be really careful, the butter will splatter and pop as the water cooks out of it! We add the salmon when the butter stops popping so when the mixture starts to calm down spread the flour out on a plate and dip and pat the salmon into the flour to completely coat it. This is called dredging and it’s a pretty awesome technique to get a nice, crispy, almost fried skin. Make sure you don’t dredge too early or the flour just gets soaked into the fish and it doesn’t fry quite as well.

Add the fish to the pan, skin down, laying it away from you to prevent any oil splatters. Let it cook for 3-4 minutes on this side then flip the fish and allow it to cook for 3 more minutes. Take it out of the pan, place it on a plate, and cover with foil. You’ll want to do this next part quickly – the longer the fish sits under that foil the less crispy it gets!

Using a few paper towels rolled in a ball and a heavy duty oven mitt pour out the oil into a heat safe container and wipe the inside of the pan. We don’t want to keep any of the old mixture since it’s likely to burn if it cooks too long.

Add the new butter and smashed garlic and wait for it to melt and cook down. It will take 2-3 minutes to turn brown and nutty and delicious. Remove the pan from the heat (don’t follow my photo example and just turn off the heat. It’s not good enough!). Add the lemon and parsley and stir to combine. Again, use caution, this mixture may splatter as well. Uncover the fish, pour the sauce over, and serve immediately. PS- if your pan is still really hot your parsley may brown pretty quickly and it’ll make your sauce look a bit burned. I promise, if you use this recipe it won’t burn and will still taste good!

Link’s Salmon Meunière

- Tabantha Wheat
- Goat Butter
- Hearty Salmon

Salmon Meunière

Servings: 2
Time: 30-45 minutes
Difficulty: moderately easy
Print

Salmon drizzled with a meunière butter lemon sauce

Salmon

2 8 oz portions salmon
1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
1-2 teaspoons pepper
2 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup flour

Sauce

3/4 tablespoon lemon juice (juice from half a small lemon)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2-3 tablespoons chopped parsley
1 large garlic clove, smashed

Directions

Warm the salmon to room temperature.
Using the blade of your knife pull the leaves off the parsley by gently but firmly running the blade along the stems. Roughly chop into small pieces.
Cut the lemon and juice one half, making sure not to get any seeds in the juice.
Using the flat of a knife blade smash the garlic and remove the skin.
Pat the salmon dry and season with kosher salt and pepper.
Heat a pan over medium with the oil.
When the oil is hot add the butter. Be careful, as this will splatter and pop until all the water is cooked out of the butter.
When the butter mixture starts to calm down add the flour to a plate and dredge the salmon by patting it into the flour. Immediately add the salmon to the pan, skin down, by laying it away from you.
Cook the salmon for 3-4 minutes, turn, and cook for another 3 minutes.
Remove the salmon and cover with foil.
Acting quickly pour the remaining oil mixture out of the pan and wipe out with paper towels. Be careful not to burn yourself and use proper heat proof equipment.
Add the 5 tablespoons of butter and garlic to the pan and allow to melt and brown, about 2-3 minutes.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon and parsley. Again, use caution when you add the lemon because it may splatter and pop.
Immediately pour over the salmon filets and serve.

Recipes

Carrot Cake

July 11, 2017July 11, 2017by Teri Mae9 Comments

It’s came! It finally came! The recipe you’ve all been patiently waiting for (I’m looking at you, Later Levels). Since I had a little more time with this recipe I decided to experiment a bit and go a little different route than your traditional “carrot cake”. Most carrot cake, at least in the U.S. is more of a quick bread than a cake – it’s dense and crumby, though still good. Instead I combined a few different recipes I found and made a much more light, airy crumb texture, that had plenty of height and reminded me much more of an actual cake. But, by doing this, I made it a bit more complicated. So bear with me and let’s dig in!

Carrot Cake

Start by mixing together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon, and most of the sugar. Put it in a bowl, use a whisk, and get it nice and evenly aerated and blended. Oh, and make sure you pull out the eggs. You’ll want them to sit at room temperature for at least 20 minutes before you whip them.

Grate the carrot using a fine grater. It’ll take about 4-5 large carrots to get enough for this cake. That seems like a lot, but can you imagine a better way to eat your veggies? I usually don’t peel my carrots. I feel like the skin has the potential for being good for you and is not, at the very least, not bad for you. And it saves you that extra few minutes in time and clean up. Win-win. And, because we aren’t using Endura carrots, anything that shortens the time is worth it. When the carrots are ready slightly squeeze handfulls of them over a sink to get a little of the juice out. This will help keep it from falling to the bottom of the pan and from letting the cake be too wet.

Now here comes the different part and the reason this isn’t an “easy” recipe. Add all the eggs to a bowl and whip on high, using a whisk or electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, until they start to get bubbly. Stop and add the rest of the sugar and all the oil, and continue whisking until the eggs get light in color, start to get fluffy, and can almost double in volume. This will take at least 5 minutes. If you’re lucky enough to have a stand mixer like a KitchenAid you can do this while grating the carrots and save yourself even more time!

Once the eggs are ready slowly fold in the carrots. This mixture will be really thick and you’ll wonder why on earth we spent all that time whipping eggs, but trust me. It’s worth it. Slowly add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Butter a 10 inch round cake pan, making sure you get all the cracks and crannies. I prefer a springform pan because they are the easiest to get a cake out of. If you don’t use a springform you may have to flour the pan as well as butter it. Just throw in some flour after you grease it, shake it until the butter is covered, and dump out the excess. It’s pretty easy. Add the cake batter and stick it in the oven. The entire bake process is an adventure, like completing a shrine. Depending on the oven, the type of oven, how old your oven is, etc… your baking time will be different from someone else’s. But my oven bake time was about 45 minutes. Yours will be pretty close to this, but just watch starting around 40 minutes. Getting a perfectly domed cake is all about timing. Take the cake out to early (or even check on it too early) and the whole thing will collapse on you. Take the cake out late and it’ll be so dry you’ll regret eating it. So if you open the oven door to check on the cake and the center wobbles a bit close it quick and wait another 5-10 minutes before you even try again. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean when it’s ready!

While the cake is baking feel free to make some good, old fashioned cream cheese frosting. Make sure the butter and cream cheese is at room temperature and add them to a bowl with the vanilla (again, a stand mixer comes in really handy right about now). Beat them together until they are well combined. If you use a stand mixer make sure you scrape the bowl at this point with a spatula. Add the powdered sugar 2/3 cup at a time until it becomes spreadable. How much powdered sugar you add is really up to your taste preferences. I prefer a more sharp, tangy frosting (if I eat it at all) so I was good at 2 cups.

When the cake is done take it out of the oven and allow it to cool completely before frosting. I take the springform sides off after about 5 minutes so it doesn’t keep cooking. If you use a regular round cake pan take it out of the pan after 5-10 minutes and let it cool on a wire rack. This will prevent the bottom from getting soggy. No one wants a soggy bottom.

Make sure you wait until the cake has cooled completely before you frost. If you don’t the entire top layer will peel away into the frosting and become a big, giant mess. When cooled, frost and enjoy! Oh, and I don’t recommend garnishing with a raw carrot. But I won’t judge if you do…

Link’s Carrot Cake recipe:

- Any Carrot
- Tabantha Wheat
- Cane Sugar
- Goat Butter

Carrot Cake

Servings: 1 10 inch cake
Time: 1 hour
Difficulty: moderate
Print

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting from Breath of the Wild

Carrot

4 eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups finely shredded carrot (about 4-5 large carrots)
3/4 cup cooking oil

Frosting

4 oz cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F
Whisk together flour, 1 1/2 cups sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together until aerated and combined
Shred carrot with a fine grater. There is no need to peel beforehand but you may if you desire.
Slightly squeeze handfulls of carrot to remove excess moisture.
Using a stand mixer or electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment whip eggs together until frothy. Slowly add the oil and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and whip together until light in color, fluffy, and almost double in volume.
Gently fold carrots into the egg mixture. Be careful not to deflate the eggs.
Slowly add and stir in flour mixture until just combined.
Butter and, if not using a springform pan, flour a 10 inch round cake pan. Make sure the butter gets in all the cracks. If you need to flour the pan add a handful of flour and knock the pan in circles until it’s covered in flour after buttering. Dump out excess flour.
Add cake batter to the pan and use a spatula to smooth down and even the surface.
Bake for about 45 minutes. The cake will be done when a toothpick comes out clean.
Make the frosting while the cake is baking by adding the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla to a mixer or bowl.
Mix until combined and slowly add powdered sugar, 2/3 cup at a time, until you reach a spreadable consistency and desired flavor. This, for me, is 2 cups powdered sugar.
When the cake has cooled for 5-10 minutes remove from the pan and allow to finish cooling.
Frost and serve! This cake will store well at room temperature for a few days tightly covered.

Recipes

Salt Grilled Prime Meat

July 5, 2017by Teri Mae8 Comments

Thank you all for you patience as I sort through the latest episode of “Extreme Home-Ownership”. This last one, if you missed my live-tweet recipe extravaganza, involved a fried motherboard on our brand new range the first time we used the oven. Apparently it’s an incredibly busy week in the appliance warranty repair business this week because the earliest they can come fix it is Friday. Which is the worst for a cook/baker like myself. I’ve definitely learned all the weird work-arounds like cooking pasta in a rice cooker (it turns out mushy… I don’t recommend it) and the benefits of an electric fry pan (thank you parents for that one). But come Friday we should be back in business!

In the meantime I tried a new thing! I did a live-tweet of this Salt Grilled Prime Meat recipe. And yes, I know on twitter I called it a live-twitter. I’m still new to the social media game – an embarrassing thing to admit for a 20-something like myself. There were a few people who stuck around and checked it out. Did any of you blog followers think this was cool? Is it something you’d be interested in seeing again? Or, instead of live-tweets, would you rather see a twitch stream showing the entire process start to finish? I’ve been thinking about starting one and maybe the comments on this post will help me finally make up my mind on the matter! But now, without further delay, here’s the reason you came to my blog today:

Salt Grilled Prime Meat

We start with purchasing the meat. After a lengthy discussion with the butcher yesterday I finally learned that prime meat is, indeed, a thing. Apparently there are 4 major types of meat – Select, Choice, Prime, and Prime Aged (least to best from left to right). As you would expect the higher the quality the higher the price, with this particular butcher charging about $20.00 a pound for prime New York strip steak. I had him cut 1 inch thick steaks for me and 4 cost about $40.00 total – a very pricy sum for a single part of a single meal. It’s definitely something to save for special occasions!

We start by taking the meat out to warm to room temperature about 30 minutes before cooking. As I mentioned in my Meat and Rice Bowl recipe it makes a huge difference in the evenness and the time it takes to cook if you do this! Make sure you keep it covered – as a microbiologist I promise you don’t want flies on your food!

With about 10 minutes until grill time heat your grill. I have a charcoal grill so this recipe is how to work with charcoal. If you have a gas grill I think you’d want the setting at about medium-high. You’ll have to play with it a bit to be sure… If you are lucky enough to have a charcoal grill, like I do, start your briquettes. I use Kingsford Match Light. I have found they are the easiest and best quality – it’s what my dad, the master griller, uses. Stack the briquettes in a pyramid and light in several places. Leave them to burn and turn ashy for about 10 minutes.

When the coals are almost ready pat the steaks down with a paper towel to remove the excess liquid. This is especially needed if the steaks were frozen and have been thawed. Brush the steaks lightly with olive oil and season generously with kosher salt and pepper. We use kosher salt because the large crystals make for a better flavor. Using ground salt makes it much more difficult to control the quantity and taste of the salt on the steak.

Once the coals are ashy spread them out along the bottom of the grill until they are evenly distributed. Lay the steaks cross-ways along the grill – you want really pretty sear marks and it provides the best support for your steaks. Cover your grill and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill and thickness of the steaks.

Before they start to look cooked on both sides turn the steaks over. Cover and cook another 5-7 minutes, depending on how well done you’d like them. Remove them from the grill and leave the cover off to allow the coals to burn out faster.

Place the steaks immediately on a plate and cover with foil to let them rest. This rest period is very important – it allows the juices to equilibrate so they don’t ooze out the steak the minute you cut into it. It makes for a more tender, juicy bite!

Garnish and serve just the way it is – if you did it right it’ll be delicious! And trust me, if you do splurge and get prime meat, it’ll be the best steak you’ve had in a long time!

Link’s Meat and Rice Bowl

- Any raw prime meat or bird thigh
- Rock salt

Salt Grilled Prime Meat

Servings: 4
Time: 30-45 minutes
Difficulty: moderately easy
Print

Prime New York Strip steak charcoal-grilled with salt and pepper

Ingredients

4 Prime New York strip steaks, about 1 inch thick
1-2 tablespoons kosher salt
1-2 teaspoons pepper
2-3 tablespoons oil
40 or so Kingsford Match Light briquettes (This quantity is based on the size of my grill. You may need more or less based on yours.)

Directions

Warm the steaks to room temperature.
10 minutes before cooking your steaks build a pyramid of briquettes in your grill. Light them in multiple places and allow to burn until ashy.
Dry your steaks with a paper towel, especially if they were previously frozen.
Brush the steaks lightly with olive oil and generously spread kosher salt and pepper. Gently rub this in to the steaks.
When the briquettes are ashy and grey, but still hot, this means they are ready. Spread them evenly across the bottom of the grill and replace the grill top.
Add the steaks perpendicular or at an angle to the grill lines. Don’t place them parallel because this won’t give your steaks the support they need.
Cover the grill and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes. This time is dependent on several factors, including the heat outside, retention of heat in the grill, and thickness of the steaks. Keep an eye on them so they don’t overcook!
Before they steaks look cooked on both sides flip them, cover, and cook for another 5-7 minutes. This time will be determined again, by lots of factors, including how well done you’d like them.
Remove from the grill and cover with foil. Allow the steaks to rest for at least 5-7 minutes. This will allow the juices to equilibrate and will make your steak more juicy.
Serve with whatever you’d like but enjoy these steaks just as they are! You won’t regret it.

Recipe Polls, Recipes

Monday’s Poll has (yet again) been cancelled – and a surprise for tomorrow’s recipe!

July 3, 2017by Teri MaeLeave a Comment

Bad news, folks. Monday’s poll has once again been cancelled. This is due to some very unexpected, unappreciated, and unbelievable events happening over at my brand new house yesterday… I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. P.S. – they aren’t good. This has made it impossible for me to hold to my last poll and make carrot cake tomorrow… I’m so sorry! Especially for those of you who have been waiting weeks for this!

Since I haven’t had the capability to cook/bake for the last 2 days I am going to try something new tomorrow! Over at Instagram and Twitter, starting tomorrow morning-ish, I will be live-posting a recipe for Salt Grilled Prime Meat! I’ll start with why I can’t post what I meant to create, show you how to shop and choose a good cut of prime steak, and walk you through all the steps to grill your own perfectly seasoned and grilled steak, all in time for Independence Day here in the U.S.! So if you haven’t already head over to @sheikahplate and follow to get photos and a live feed of the recipe. If you feel so inclined follow along! It’ll make the perfect meal to enjoy with fireworks… or your favorite form of random, middle of the week, not a holiday – not my country, entertainment!

See you all tomorrow! I’m pretty excited!

P.S. – the full recipe and photos will be posted on the blog Wednesday for those of you who can’t follow tomorrow. But come on, you want to be there. It’ll be awesome!

Salt-Grilled Gourmet Meat

Link’s Salt-Grilled Meat

Salt-Brined Roast Turkey

Turkey

Gravy

Directions

Fruitcake

Link’s Fruitcake recipe:

Fruitcake

Cake

Pastry

Filling

Raspberry

Toppings

Cake

Pastry

Filling

Assembly

Glazed Veggies

Link’s Glazed Veggies

Herb Glazed Veggies

Filling

Directions

Salt-Grilled Meat

Link’s Salt-Grilled Meat

Salt-Grilled Pork

Filling

Directions

Fish Pie

Link’s Salmon Meunière

Fish Pie

Filling

Shortcrust

Directions

Salmon Meunière

Link’s Salmon Meunière

Salmon Meunière

Salmon

Sauce

Directions

Carrot Cake

Link’s Carrot Cake recipe:

Carrot Cake

Carrot

Frosting

Directions

Salt Grilled Prime Meat

Link’s Meat and Rice Bowl

Salt Grilled Prime Meat

Ingredients

Directions