Lobster

Ok, I will admit to being a real wuss when it comes to dentists. Actually it is more like a phobia. So because of an abscessed tooth in November and still trying to clear the antibiotics from my system, I finally went to see a new dentist. The only way I could tolerate that abomination was to bribe myself. The plan was if the news was bad, I got to do a little garden shopping and a lobster. Since after the next few visits, I will be drinking from a staw (yep that sounds like a lot of fun!) I figured what the heck, that lobster looked pretty good!

Fresh Lobster

Fresh lobster is expensive here so you really do want to pick out one in excellent contition. This one cost me about $14 CDN. Things to look for are good movement and clear eyes. The body should be deeply coloured and healthy looking. They packed him into a box lined with plastic but with no water. Despite a couple of stops, he managed fine. So when I got him home he went into the sink. I named him Hermin. I know you are not supposed to play with or name your food but I felt entitled last night.

Fresh lobster come with elastic bands on their claws. This is for your protection! From experience, if you cook the lobster with the elastic bands on, there is a bit of an off rubbery taste. I don't like this so just before cooking I snip the elastic bands off.

Cooked Lobster

Cooking lobster is actually rather easy. Bring enough water to cover the lobster to a boil. Some salt the water but I do not. Snip the elastic bands from the claws then drop the lobster into the water. Some have complained about the lobster squealing but I've never had that happen. Lobsters have a built in timer. They turn an orangy red when cooked.

When eating lobster, hot drawn butter is a must. It does add to the experience and flavour. Don't think you can get away eating lobster without making a mess and don't underestimate how filling a lobster can be. It doesn't look like a lot of meat but looks are definitely deceiving in this case! In general, the tail and claws have the most meat. It's sweet and tender. The smaller legs do have a bit of meat for the determined.

While lobster is more expensive than other meats, you can easily make a nice lobster meal at home for a fraction of the cost. So give it a try. I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised!

Enjoy!

Cheese Bowls & Cheese Lace

A quick reminder: This blog has really grown in size. There are several recipes in the archives so settle in with a hot cup of coffee and take a few minutes to browse the archives. There are a lot of good recipes to spark your interest.

The new KitchenAid® RVSA rotary slicer and shredder attachment arrived Saturday so I decided to use for Sunday's meal. My goal with the KitchenAid® attachments is to eliminate a few single or limited use kitchen appliances thus freeing up a bit of kitchen space. I'm hoping this attachment will replace my slowly fading food processor.

KitchenAid® Shredder Attachment

This is a blatant plug for KitchenAid® stand mixers and attachments. I am extremely impressed with the quality of these appliances. At the front of the mixer there is a little port covered by the logo that flips up. The attachements fit in there.

When I opened the box for the rotary shredder/ slicer attachment, the first thing I said was "Oh my!". Talk about impressive looking! There were four cones: thin slice, thick slice, fine shred and thick shred. Immediately this gave me more options than my food processors. Each cone is about 4" long and 4" diameter. The housing is a heavy plastic that reminds me of melamine. The food pusher is built into the handle and the hopper itself is at least a good double the size of my food processor. Assembly is super easy. Just put the desired cone onto the shaft, give a slight twist then put the shaft into the housing and attach to the mixer port.

I initially had two problems. First, out of habit with my food processor, I was pushing to hard and caused the entire attachment to swing free. There is no need to apply pressure at all! Now this would not have happened if I had attached it properly in the first place. Each attachment has a little divet where the attachment knob tightens into. Looking at the attachment after it popped off gave me the clue I had attached it improperly. The second problem is the removal of the cone from the shaft. It does need a bit of a tap but that was easily solved.

Cheese Cups & Cheese Lace

Cheese cups and cheese lace are two ways to get a lot of protein without the fat. Both pack a lot of flavour! Cheese cups are used for presentation while the cheese lace is used for snacking or garnishing. Whenever I make either, I grate enough cheese to make extra cheese lace. We are rather partial to using cheddar cheese.

I think I stumbled upon this method when researching low carb diets for one of our friends. Immediately I saw the potential for presentation. Making cheese cups is rather easy but gives a very nice presentation for salads. Grate the cheese of your choice, spred into large circles on parchment paper for cheese cups or smaller circles for cheese lace then bake at 350ºF until all the cheese looks to be almost crisping.

Note: The following instructions require a fair amount of paper towels! You will be surprised at the amount of oil depending on the cheese. For the cups, remove from oven and cut each circle roughly away so you are working with one circle at a time. Work quickly as they do harden rather fast. Invert a glass into the centre of the cheese, quickly flip over and peel the parchment paper away. Using paper towels, press the cheese towards the glass then let cool. Repeat for all the cups you are making. Remove from the glasses and swab up any oil on the inside of the cups with paper towels. If making cheese lace, move the baked cheese circles while still on parchment paper to a cooling rack. When cooled, place onto a layer of paper towels to absorbe and extra oil. I find both keep well when vacuum sealed in canisters and refrigerated. However, I normally make only what we will use up within a day or two.

Salad in Cheese Cup

Salad served in an edible bowl is a nice treat and perfect way to fancy up a simple salad. It makes a nice presentation that looks like it took a lot of time but in reality didn't.

I have a couple of tricks when serving salad this way. First, the cheese cup should be cold as should the plate. Second, the lettuce should be dry. Third, fill the cup just before serving. I prefer using a homemade viniagrette at the table for salad dressing.

Homemade Viniagrette

2/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1/3 c herbed vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard

Here's where it gets fun. Substitute half the vinegar with lemon juice for a different flavour. Homemade herbed vinegars are easy to make (method in archives) so play with the flavours. You can substitute the dijon mustard with a mustard of your choice, honey or even sugar so the possibilities are endless.

Sweet & Sour Country Style Ribs

We buy the majority of our meat in bulk, usually a hind quarter of beef and a half of pig. Sometimes I pick a particular cut I want at our local butcher shop. Since I don't grocery shop the way most do, I like checking out the meat section when I do get to a grocery store just in case I see something that strikes my fancy. The other day we were at Sam's Club so of course I had to check out the meat section.

Country Style Ribs

This package of pork shoulder Country Style Ribs looked too good to resist. The package was $11.69 for 7.04 lb cut into eight lovely sized ribs of about .90 lbs each. It will give us at least four meals for two people so is still on the frugal side at $2.90 per meal or $1.45 per rib. Served with plain white rice the entire meal is very frugal!

I vacuum sealed half the package for freezing then decided to sear the rest, put into the crockpot then add our favourite homemade sweet and sour sauce.

Searing

I'm not a huge fan of crockpots even though I have two. They see most of their use during bulk cooking sessions, making stew or keeping something warm when entertaining. Any meat that I put in the crockpot is always seared usually in olive oil. This adds a nicer depth in flavour and gives a better colour.

Normally I would have seared the ribs then bake in a clay baker at a low temperature until tender then add the sauce and bake uncovered until the sauce thicked. Last night I decided to try the crockpot instead. Everyone rants about how much they love their crockpot so I wanted to see if I could get similar results to the baking method. I seared the ribs in a hot pan with olive oil. Then I transferred the ribs to the crockpot and added just a little water to prevent sticking and set to high. I let them cook about 40 minutes then added the sauce.

Ready to Enjoy!

I used our favourite sweet & sour sauce. It was my mother-in-law's recipe and even though I tweak it a bit on occasion, I don't deviate by much. This sauce just seems to have the right balance using ingredients right from your pantry. This sauce is perfect for making sweet & sour meet balls, sweet & sour chicken wings and of course sweet & sour ribs. The minor deviations I have made include using dijon mustard instead of regular, using Worchestershire sauce instead of soy sauce, and adding a little extra vinegar. The deviations are always based on the meat I'm using. For this dish, I used the recipe in its original format.

Sweet & Sour Sauce
recipe by: my dear MIL

2 c ketchup
1/2 c vinegar
1/2 c brown sugar
dash of soy sauce
dash of mustard (about 1 tsp)
corn starch and water slurry

Wisk ingredients except corn sstarch slurry. Pour over the meat and continue cooking the desired length of time. Add the corn starch slurry to thicken during the last 15 to 20 minutes of cooking time.

Grilled Steaks

The smell of grilling steak filled the air last night all from the indoor comforts of our home. The weather has turned and we have been having a bit of nasty stuff so firing up the outdoor grill wasn't too appealing.

Steaks on Indoor Grill

Pictured here are the three about 1-inch thick rib eye steaks we grilled last night. There are a couple of tricks to grilling indoors. For years we used a table top indoor grill but now have one as part of our stove. There should not be any flare-ups although we have seen very small quick flames, here then gone. If there are larger flare-ups is turn off the heat! All indoor grills will smoke but some deal with this problem better than others. If you have a table top model of grill add about 1/2 inch of water to the bottom then grill. The water will help reduce the smoking. My stove has a downdraft system so the smoke is sucked right out. We set it to low.

Now you can't really see much from this picture as far as cleaning but it is best to let everything cool before cleaning. The two black grill come off as does the white centre vent that does get pretty dirty when grilling. Soak all of these in hot soapy water after cooling. At this point cleaning a table top model and built-in is the same. However, a built-in has a grease drain so what you have to do is pour hot water down the drain. It will take a couple of cups to be sure the tube is clean. Empty the drain cup, wash with hot water and replace. There you go!


Grilled With Mushrooms

This is a picture of one of the rib eye steaks grilled and topped with sauteed mushrooms. Steaks are generally grilled to medium rare here but sometimes rare. Sauteed mushrooms are a given. We sauté the mushrooms in butter then pile them on the steak. This is just the perfect accompaniment for any steak. Served with an oven baked potato an corn, you have a hearty meal.

I guess I should mention about seasoning steaks for grilling. I like adding a little Montreal Steak Spice when grilling steaks. My husband does not season expecting instead his skills to make the full flavour of the meat shine and he always does! He has a knack of knowing exactly when to turn the meat and it is only turned once, that's the rule.