Recipe Notes: Cod Baked in Foil with Leeks and Carrots

26 May 2019

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

In Boy Scouts we called them "hobo dinners" and they were cooked on a campfire. In restaurants you can get meals, often fish, cooked en Papillote. Fish, vegetables, and seasoning are closed in a pouch of foil or paper and baked. In the closed environment the food steams efficiently, the flavors meld, and nothing is lost. The ATK TV show featured such a meal created using cod. In my quest to learn more fish recipes, I tried it.

The published recipe was for four people. Since fish is not usually good as a leftover, I made half the recipe. Prep consisted of several steps. A compound butter was made with butter, lemon zest, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. A garnish was made with parsley, lemon zest, and garlic. The skinless cod fillet was cut into two pieces, each about 6 ounces, patted dry, and seasoned with salt and pepper. A carrot and leek were cut into 2-inch matchsticks, seasoned with salt and pepper, and mounded on a sheet of foil. A tablespoon of white wine was added to each mound (in place of the vermouth in the recipe). The fish was put on top of the vegetables and smeared with the seasoned butter. A second sheet of foil was placed on top and the two sheets crimped together. The two packets were placed on a rimmed baking sheet and placed into the oven at 450° for 15 minutes. After that time they were removed from the oven, the packets opened, and the fish, vegetables, and accumulated juices transferred to plates. They were garnished with the parsley mixture and served. The total time was 55 minutes, the last 15 of which was hands off.

The success of this recipe depends on the preparation of the fish and vegetables since the cooking is blind with no opportunity to check for doneness. The fish, in particular, needs to be the right thickness. The thickest fillets I found might have been a little thinner than the specified 1 inch, thus they were just a tad overdone. Likewise, I may have cut the vegetables too small as they were also a tad overdone. That being said, this was a good dish and worth doing again. The fish was flaky and juicy, for the most part. It could have used some more seasoning, perhaps putting salt and pepper on both sides rather than just one would fix that. Or maybe it was because it is cod which does not have a strong flavor.  I thought there was too much leek and not enough carrot. 

Recipe Notes: Vanilla Pudding

13 May 2019

Recipe from Cook's Country

I know what you're thinking: vanilla pudding, how boring can you get! I object to the use of "vanilla" to mean something is plain. Why shouldn't vanilla be recognized as the delicious, unique flavor that it is? I was excited when I discovered this recent recipe for vanilla pudding. I like to make pudding and, even more, I like to eat pudding. I have made, and written about, several different flavors of pudding but never vanilla, until now.

Making pudding from scratch is easy. A mixture was made by whisking together cornstarch, milk, and egg yolks in a large bowl. In a sauce pan milk, sugar, and salt were combined and brought to a simmer. Off heat, the hot milk mixture was whisked into the egg mixture. The resulting mixture was returned to the sauce pan and heated to 180°. Vanilla extract and butter were whisked in and the pudding was  strained into a bowl and refrigerated for several hours to set. That's all there is to it. The total time to make the pudding, not including the time to set in the refrigerator, was 30 minutes.

The resulting pudding tasted good, it had a lot of vanilla flavor and it was silky smooth. However, the  pudding didn't set properly. While it was runny it was still thick enough to eat with a spoon without the pudding spilling in your lap. I suspect I did something wrong, perhaps not heating it sufficiently. A few others have reported the same issue in the comments for the recipe online. Maybe I'll have to try this again to see if it will set up for me.

P.S. I made this again a few weeks later and it turned it fine with the consistency you would expect from pudding. I still suspect the problems I had the first time stemmed from not cooking the mixture enough.

Recipe Notes: Pork, Fennel, and Lemon Ragu with Pappardelle

1 May 2019

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, January 2019

To me, Ragú was always just the brand name for a canned pasta sauce. Only later in life did I learn that it has a more generic meaning as a meat sauce for pasta from northern Italy, spelled with or without an accent on the u (ragù or ragu). It's most common form is ragu rosso, a tomato-based sauce. This recipe is for a ragu bianco which has no tomatoes, trading these for lemon and cream. According to the article in Cook's Illustrated, this version of the sauce predates the more common tomato-based meat sauce. 

A flavorful liquid was made to braise a pork shoulder (Boston butt) roast. Pancetta and water were  cooked in a Dutch oven until the water evaporated, forming a dark brown fond in the pan. Finely chopped onion and fennel bulb were added and cooked until softened. Minced garlic, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper were added and cooked until fragrant. Cream and water were stirred into the mixture then the pork was added. The covered Dutch oven was cooked in a 350° oven until the pork was tender. The pork was removed from the pot and allowed to cool. Meanwhile, the juice and zest from two lemons were added to the braising liquid. The cooled pork was shredded with two forks, added to the Dutch oven, and covered. Pappardelle (a wide, thin pasta) was cooked to al dente in salted water, drained, then added to the pork mixture. Grated pecorino Romano cheese was stirred into the mixture with some of the pasta cooking water. Finally, the ragu was finished with some finely chopped fennel fronds. Total time to prepare this dish was 2 hours 45 minutes, more than half of which was hands off. Cook's Illustrated has started to include time estimates with their recipes and in this case my time matched theirs.

We both enjoyed this dish, garnished with some grated pecorino Romano. We thought there was too much lemon, so much so that the lemon flavor overpowered some of the other flavors in the ragu. The combination of fennel, lemon, and tender pork is great and the cream sauce a nice compliment. We found that it keeps well and is good when reheated; like many dishes the flavors are better blended after some time and the lemon is a tad less dominate. This is a dish to make again, but with less lemon.

Recipe Notes: Hearty Beef and Vegetable Stew

14 April 2019

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

We like beef stew and recently had slow-cooker beef Burgundy, a very good dish with deep, beefy flavor and a smooth, rich sauce. However, unlike traditional American beef stew, it doesn't have much in the way of vegetables. On a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen I saw a vegetable-rich version that looked good. I made it one Sunday, how would it compare to the beef Burgundy?

I had more beef than the recipe specified so I increased the other ingredients accordingly. Making the stew included several prep sessions alternating with cooking. Ingredients were added at different times so nothing would be overcooked when the stew was done. Most of the 4 hours, 20 minutes total time was hands off. The majority of the prep time, 1 hour 10 minutes, came at the beginning. Boneless beef chuck was trimmed of hard fat, cut into 1½-inch pieces, seasoned, patted dry, and browned in a Dutch oven. The beef was removed and a large portobello mushroom, cut into ½-inch pieces, was cooked then browned in the pot. Vegetable oil and diced onions were cooked until softened then garlic and fresh thyme were added. Next, flour and tomato paste were stirred in and cooked until the flour was lightly browned. Red wine, beef broth, and chicken broth were stirred in. Bay leaves and the beef were added and the Dutch oven was placed in a 300° oven. After an hour, red potatoes, carrots, and parsnips were added and cooked until tender. Chopped kale was then added and cooked about 10 minutes. Finally, chopped parsley and frozen peas were added and cooked for about 10 minutes.

I thought the stew as okay but I missed the deep beefy flavor that I had enjoyed recently with the beef Burgundy. I also dislike kale so that flavor in the stew was not pleasant for me. Diane liked the inclusion of parsnips but thought the beef chunks were too large, something she often notes for ATK stews, as they should be bite size and not need to be cut up to eat. We only have stew like this once or  With the shortcomings, and poor comparison with the excellent beef Burgundy, I will probably not make this again.