Goat Curry

My roommate and I share a passion for grocery stores. That's a normal interest, right? I kind of want to add "Grocery store enthusiast" to my "about me" section.

So, on our way back from work one evening, we couldn't resist exploring the grocery store that we had passed by a couple times. It seemed pretty standard, but with some slightly exotic produce such as taro and chayote. It also stocked goat meat. In a stroke of "great minds think alike", we both immediately concluded that goat curry was going to happen.

After some research to find a recipe using few different spices, we found this recipe on indiansimmer.com, which asked for cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaves. We got these spices in ridiculously large portions for ridiculously cheap from the local international market.

The curry is pretty simple: sautée the spices in oil, add the onion garlic and ginger, add the goat meat, add the tomatoes and salt, simmer for 25 minutes.

The resulting dish was good, but not perfect. The goat meat was rather tough. We each attempted to eat with our respective favorite utensils (fork and knife for me, chopsticks for my roommate) but these quickly proved to be useless. After agreeing on a no-judgement policy, we ended up ripping meat from the bones with our hands and teeth. 

Also, the meat was not at all seared and the dish was too greasy. The recipe says to sear the meat after adding the onions, but (at least in our pan) there simply isn't space to do so. So, my roommate and I thought that a way to fix both problems could be first searing the meat without oil and rendering some of its fat, and using that fat (rather than extra oil) to sautée the spices and onions.

Crêpes!

Crêpe with onions, mushrooms, ham, and cheese

On Tuesday we celebrated my brother's birthday again (his actual birthday has not yet happened) with a crêpe party! In my family, "crêpe party" means that we pull out the gridle that has six holes for small crêpes so that each person can customize his or her crêpes and the meal goes on.

For our crêpe batter we use half wheat (not whole wheat) flour and half buckwheat flour. Traditionally, savory crêpes (called galettes) are made with 100% buckwheat flour, but the lack of gluten makes the batter hard to work with, and my family's hybrid crêpe batter lets us use the same batter for savory and sweet crêpes!

To make crêpe batter for 4 people (+ leftovers for breakfast the next morning):

Ingredients:

• 100g all-purpose flour
• 100g buckwheat flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp salt
• about 360g milk
• water

Method:

1. Mix the flours with the salt in a large bowl. (For some reason my family has a designated crêpe bowl)                                                           
2. Add the eggs and mix with a spoon            
3. Add the milk slowly, stirring between each addition to avoid making lumps (if you do get lumps, give the dough a whirr with an electric mixer)
4. Let the dough rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
5. Add water to the dough until it is liquid enough to run off the spoon quickly (if the dough is too thick to spread when you start cooking crêpes, you can always add more water)

To cook crêpes:

1. Heat your pan with some oil. 
2. Add a small ladle of batter to the pan and either use the bottom of the ladle to spread out the batter or rotate the pan so that the batter is very thin but not broken.
3. Cook one side until the bottom is browned, then flip.
4. Add desired topping if toppings need to melt.
5. Cook until bottom is also browned.
6. Adjust the temperature for the next crêpes if they are cooking too fast or too slowly.
7. Serve.

Remember: the first crêpe you make in the pan is always a failed crêpe. Don't sweat it.

For our savory crêpe toppings we had caramelized onions, sautéed mushrooms, ham, cheese, and eggs. For dessert toppings we had nutella, honey, sugar, butter, bananas, and canned pears.

 

The classic "crêpe complète"  is ham, cheese, and a fried egg. I add onions and mushrooms because onions and mushrooms make everything even more delicious.

 

And of course, as crêpes (galettes) are from Bretagne, they must be eaten with apple cider. My dad found some legit unfiltered and unpasteurized cider at Piazza's that supposedly went very well with the crêpes. (As I am under 21 I obviously did not have any ;)

 And the great thing about making crêpes for dinner is that you get to eat the leftovers with nutella the next morning!

New Plan! And Cailles en Sarcophages!

So, it has been a very long time since I have last blogged, and as I don't have enough time these days to write full recipes (second semester seniorness is a lie), I have decided to take a picture of some interesting food I see/eat and write about it every day or every other day! Sounds fun? Yes! Unfortunately my camera is having some issues at the moment, but I don't think it is anything some duct tape and new batteries can't fix! (hopefully) Until I get around to fixing it, I will be hitchhiking off of other people's cameras.

First Interesting Food: Cailles en Sarcophages from Le Festin de Babette


My dad had been talking for a long time about making this dish: quails stuffed with truffles and foie gras and then wrapped in puff pastry. And on Wednesday he finally did make it!

It should be noted that instead of truffles, we used regular mushrooms and truffle oil. Also, the puff pastry crust was baked empty and sliced open, and the baked and stuffed quails were set inside a few minutes before serving.

During dinner we discussed what tweaks could make this better, and concluded on an extra pan seared slice of foie gras on the side.

This was all in all a delicious dish, so thank you Dad and Brother!

photo cred: my dad

The Thanksgiving Chronicles, Part 2: The rest

I'm finally getting around to part 2! I have been busy growing cobaltous chloride hexahydrate crystals and such, but today is Friday. Fridays are good.

 This is the pumpkin pie after being assembled and before entering the oven. Admire the smooth custard: it was achieved through much effort filtering (and eating the filtrand, aka anything delicious that did not pass through the sieve).

 The onions and celery for the stuffing with parsley and other herbs.

The beautiful roasted turkey. We did in fact cook the stuffing inside the turkey because turkey juice is what makes stuffing taste so amazing.

 Mashed sweet potatoes! No, there is not a volcano inside the potatoes, I just happened to take the picture while my dad was mashing them.

 The marshmallow crust on top of the sweet potatoes.

 The carved turkey meat.

 My favorite: the chestnut stuffing! We made it with chestnuts, celery, onions, staled herb slab bread, 2 apples, turkey liver, and some of the turkey stock I had made the day before.

My plate. Noteworthy items are Virginie's garlic-sautéed green beans and cornbread, as well as my brother's orange-cranberry sauce.

Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of the desserts, but we had pumpkin pie, apple tart, and some pumpkin flan my dad made by adding milk to some pumpkin pie filling that didn't fit in the crust. All were delicious!

Confit de Canard

More pics here

Never heard of it? It's French! It was invented as a way to preserve duck meat. It is similar to canned peaches if you replace the peaches with duck thighs and the syrup with duck fat. Are disgusted already? Well, don't be, it's delicious! My parents bring cans back from France sometimes, and my mother cooks it wonderfully.
The duck is lifted out of the fat and either roasted in the oven or in a pan on the stove. My mother usually uses the oven, but tonight she used the stove. We found the problem with the stove is that the duck sticks to the bottom of the skillet. Traditionally, the duck is accompanied with potatoes pan fried in part of the duck fat! This adds a deep flavor to otherwise bland potatoes. To cook the potatoes, first boil them for 10 minutes, slice them up, and then pan fry them.
Complemented by a simple salad, this dish is perfect for cold weather or just an evening of indulgence. Read more on Wikipedia! Be a wikinerd!

Poll Results! How do you like your steak cooked?

Raw	1 (7%)
Rare	3 (23%)
Medium Rare	4 (30%)
Well Done	1 (7%)
I don't eat steak	4 (30%)

Votes so far: 13

So, it was a majority of medium rare and people who don't eat steak! I like my steak medium rare too :). I'm actually surprised at the number of my friends who don't eat steak. Are y'all veggies, or do you just not eat beef?
Yay! someone voted raw! I assume this person eats steak tartare, raw ground beef served with onions and capers. Learn more on Wikipedia.
Steak! with fries? a seasonal salade to make it healthy! and please serve it shaken, not stirred.

What I'm eating: Chili Dogs at Squaw Valley Ski Resort

So, my family goes to Tahoe often, and we usually ski/board at Squaw Valley. After skiing or snowboarding (I board), all morning, we need a hearty lunch to keep us going. Hearty is the perfect definition of the meals served at the food court.
Yesterday I chose a chili dog: a hot dog with beef chili poured on top with cheese. It wasn't bad, but the hot dog was too salty. It would have been just as good without the sausage, just chili in a bun. Without the sausage, it would also be smaller and easier to finish.
With the chili dog I had some fries, my secret soda fountain mix, and half an orange. Recently, the food court started using cups made from corn. They look like plastic but are apparently 100 percent biodegradable. My family made jokes about eating the cups, but the drink inside did not taste like corn.
Anyways, the food here at Squaw isn't too bad, just very filling.