Kim Shook
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Posts posted by Kim Shook
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I've been seeing more and more advice lately that you should salt cabbage and let it sit for awhile to get some of the water out. I've never done this. And yes, my slaw bowl always has water at the bottom. But I've always just drained it and had no problem with the slaw itself being watery. My question is: Isn't the cabbage limp after its been salted? When I've seen it done on TV, it LOOKS limp.
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merstar – I am making those brownies soon
!Some recent baking – a coconut cream pie that I took to work for a co-worker’s birthday:
Jessica ended up getting two birthday desserts this year. She had a friends (NO parents invited
) party at her apartment and requested Pink Lemonade Cupcakes:
For her family party, she wanted a turtle cake. I don’t know if anyone remembers the sad fate of last birthday’s turtle cake. I made it into a layer cake and when I came back to it a couple hours later it had fallen apart and we ended up with ‘Bowl Cake’. So I just made it a sheet cake this year:
Coca Cola chocolate cake, dulce de leche and Christmas cinnamon pecans.
Slice:
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Gorgeous breakfasts, folks! I have a couple to add – not nearly as yummy looking as y’all’s!
The toast is from a loaf of cheese and chive beer bread that I made from a mix – it was surprisingly good.
Sausage, eggs and potato pancakes made with leftover herbed cream cheese potatoes.
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My name is Kim Shook and some of you folks look familiar to me. Did we used to know one another???
Seriously – I know that I’ve been MIA for a while now. One thing and another – holidays especially crazy this year, my folks moved to Richmond and have had some health issues and needed lots of attention and work has just been impossible. That last problem, though, is GONE!! I’ve joined the ranks of the retired. Early (I’m 52) and possibly (hope not) temporarily. But thrilled and happy and intent on enjoying it for as long as I can make it last. I’ve done very little real cooking in the last couple of months, other than Christmas, but I’m ready to dive back in. I’ll be focusing on more frugal cooking now and that should be interesting since I need to keep things lower in carbs for Mr. Kim.
While I haven’t been posting, I have been reading and the food that y’all have been making is just astonishing. Also inspiring – I kind of lost interest for a bit there and threads like this one kept me going. I could not possibly go back and comment on everything that I’ve loved and wanted to copy and wondered about in the last 2 months, so I’ll just dive in and go on from here.
I have been taking pictures of the few meals that I’ve cooked since Christmas. New Year day dinner always looks the same at our house:
Ham, black eyed peas, collards, scalloped tomatoes and cornbread.
The scalloped tomatoes:
More recent meals:
Meatloaf:
Green beans, cheese potatoes and more cheddar/chive beer bread:
Leftover meatloaf sandwich -
I put the meatloaf on a toasted slice of the beer bread and topped it with some onion rings.
A chicken pasta dish – recipe given to me by a good friend and coworker:
Pesto chicken and mozzarella. You serve it on pasta and then top it with sautéed tomatoes in a balsamic sauce:
I found these eency weency pear-shaped tomatoes – about the size of the tip of my pinkie finger – that tasted wonderful. Finished dish with grated Locatelli:
Great dish! Even leftover it was moist and delicious.
I didn’t make this one, but HAD to show it – From a local BBQ café:
The Hog Dog – a delicious and HUGE (that’s a hoagie roll, NOT a hot dog roll) sandwich. A large, natural casing dog, wrapped in bacon and deep fried. Topped with their house smoked BBQ, sauce and a fantastic slaw.
A Sunday dinner with my parents - Roast beef, mashed potato w/ herbed cream cheese casserole, Brussels sprouts and Marlene’s Yorkshire puds. My cute little one-rib prime rib roast:
Marlene suggested that I basically treat it like a thick steak – sear in a skillet and then roast it at 325 degrees convection. It was so small that I roasted it in my convection/toaster oven and it turned out great:
Puds:
Plated:
With gravy:
Dessert was just pumpkin muffins from a mix, fixed up with a 10X glaze and some of my cinnamon pecans on top:
Got an urge for shrimp tacos:
They ended up being shrimp tostadas, because I suck at frying tortillas in a taco shape. Just jumbo shrimp dusted with Zatarain’s seasoned fish fry, topped with slaw made with Green Goddess dressing and lime juice. I also made an avocado cream to go with it. Sides were black beans and corn with salsa and Penzey’s taco seasoning and chips:
Last night was Chicken & Dumplings and Slaw:
It hasn’t ever gotten cold enough this winter for real seasonal food, so I just said the hell with it and made some anyway!
Tonight was an old favorite with a twist:
Hoisin braised short ribs, rice, yellow squash and green beans. The twist was that I did the ribs in a slow cooker. They turned out perfect and I didn’t have to have the oven on for 5 hours!
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ooooh, Keith! I remember asking you about those Bossa Nova dishes awhile back on the dinner thread. Showcasing them in this thread is really making them hard to resist! Just gorgeous!
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Okeydokey - it's poached eggs for dinner one night this week. I always seem to follow your lead egg-wise, Maggie (I would do well to widen that to everything-wise
). When you wrote about soft boiled eggs, I hunted up a store that still sold egg cups and we had soft boiled eggs until Mr. Kim started to cluck. Poached are a favorite of mine, though, so I'll try this soon. -
Jerry - I totally missed your question about the frosting on my Halloween cupcakes until just now. I THINK that I used a variation of this recipe - substituting white chocolate for dark. (I confess that I sometimes completely cheat and substitute canned frosting for the buttercream component!
).Dejah - unless it is a handed down family secret could I pretty, pretty please have your shortbread recipe? It looks perfect.
Everyone's macarons are getting me itchy. I recognize the symptoms - the same ones resulted in my first batch of bacon jam after watching egulleteers post it. I'm afraid that macarons are in my future. They all look and sound delicious, but I have to say: Jerry! Those colors and flavors are outrageous and fabulous and make me want to make them right now (damn you!).
Deena - thank you SO much for posting those Rice Krispie Treats! Sesame (especially black) is one of my top five favorite flavors and ginger one of Mr. Kim's - I'm thinking a VERY small batch for Valentine's day will thrill him!
Shelby-chile!!! Gorgeous cookies! You need to come to VA to give me a piping lesson. My skills do NOT exist. And I hied myself right over to Smitten Kitchen and printed out the recipe for those Margarita cookies - they look fantastic. Pretzel fudge??? What would that be?
cookingofjoy - I think that I have that cookbook and your picture and description makes me want to try that cake. Beautiful!
I made all of my traditional goodies for Christmas. Honestly, if you went back a year or two, you'd see all the same stuff - PB cookies, sugar cookies, peanut brittle, fudge, etc., etc. I love it all, but there's no point in posting pictures AGAIN! I did add Dorie's World Peace cookies to the mix and they were a BIG hit. Now that my parents are up here and settled into their apartment and everyone is fairly healthy (finger's crossed) and the holidays are over, I'm hoping to get some more baking projects done. Well, as soon as the decorations are put away
. I can see at least at least 5 or 6 things I want to make just from y'all! -
peh-cahn: what we make pies from
pee-can: what long haul truckers use
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PC – I adore your braided chocolate bars!
Jerry – next trip to Richmond – Mr. Kim wants more coffee, but I want macarons
! Curls – please, please tell me how you manage to make such a gorgeous apple pie! My apples never stay up inside the top crust like yours. They cook down level with the pie pan and I end up with a bunch of empty crust! Gorgeous.
A Coca-Cola cake that I made for a co-worker’s birthday:
It was fantastic – moist and super-chocolatey. Everyone at the office said that it was the best chocolate cake they had ever tasted.
Halloween cupcakes:
Cake for a co-worker’s BD:
I had some trouble with this cake. It was a Southern Living recipe. The cake layers felt apart into 2 and 3 large pieces. The frosting was supposed to fill and completely frost the cake and there was not nearly enough for that. Also, while the frosting tasted great, it was much too thin – even if there had been enough, it would have slid right down the sides of the cake.
Another cake for one of Mr. Kim’s co-workers:
Just chocolate/chocolate. Classic, delicious and very easy!
My MIL did Thanksgiving and asked me to make a side dish and a pecan pie. I’d never made pecan pie before. So I remembered a friend’s fantastic looking ‘Heart of Dixie’ pecan pie at Cookskorner.com and tried that out:
It was fantastic! The dough is a pate sucre with cocoa and it calls for both chopped and whole pecan halves. Heavenly! There was not a sliver of a piece leftover.
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I have been MIA for awhile now – just ‘life stuff’ going on – plus the holidays coming up, but I’ve been sneaking peeks at work between patients coming in the door and while I can’t go back and comment on everything that has impressed me, or caught my eye or made me hungry, please know that those little peeks have enriched and inspired me, as always!
I’m taking a break from decorating to scarf down a piece of Costco pizza (we buy the whole ones and freeze them and use them instead of delivery) and have some ‘me time’! I thought I’d post a few pictures of some recent meals:
Roast beef, Brussels sprouts au Gratin, Marlene’s cream roasted potatoes, Marlene’s Yorkies:
A bit overdone – I’m still not really used to the rotisserie yet. The temp seemed to JUMP from 99 degrees to 140 in no time at all.
Teriyaki pork and pineapple skewers, stir fried Ramen and snow peas:
Steak and potato pie and cornbread:
(We also had kale, which is why we had cornbread)
Plated:
Marlene’s Crispy Pork Chops Tonkatsu, green beans and teriyaki rice:
Marlene’s Beef Stroganoff:
Roast beef and Marlene’s Crispy Smashed Potatoes:
Purchased cheese fondue w/ dippers (bread, apples and tots)
The fondue was surprisingly good, we bought it on a whim at Costco and were really pleased. The ingredients were cheese (three kinds including Swiss and Emmentaler), white wine, kirsch and cornstarch – so just what I’d put in it anyway.
Fried shrimp (dusted with rice flour) and more Crispy Pork Chops Tonkatsu:
Looks like I’ve been depending on Marlene a lot just lately, huh
?My MIL did Thanksgiving and asked me to make a sidedish. I forgot to take a picture. It was from the November issue of Southern Living – roasted onions. You use red, pearl and cipollini onions and shallots – toss them in a brown sugar, olive oil and balsamic mixer and roast at 450 degrees until caramelized. Everyone loved this. I can’t wait to make it with roast beef sometime.
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Percyn - life is getting in the way of fun for me lately, but I've been trying to keep up with the blog - and it has been absolutely fascinating! I don't ever want it to stop! Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
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Well, dern on the tempering
. I'll just have to keep hoping for Mr. Kim to spring for the temperer. sigh. -
OK, but - it says it tempers chocolate. If it really does, it would be MUCH cheaper than the temperer that I have on my wishlist right now ($465!!!). Mr. Kim might actually spring for this (the temperer has been on my wishlist for almost 10 years).
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I actually HAVE made a boob cake - for one of the doctors at work. I've also made a...um....gentleman cake (urologists)! I don't know what you are planning for icing, but I found that a few coats of really thick glaze worked best to accentuate the 'contours'
! I looked at the At Last menu. It looks great - I'd love some mac and cheese with ham!
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I'm loving all this, Randi! I've enjoyed each one of your food blogs and this is no exception. Oddly enough, I actually knew about the Santa Monica ex-pat British thing. My stepdad is English and when we lived in Reseda (1969) we used to go to a pub in Santa Monica called the Mucky Duck (long gone now) and eat fish and chips made with plaice - first time I'd ever tasted it. Your fish tacos look fantastic. I am in love with fish tacos, but have to make them for myself because I've never had one at a restaurant that wasn't too spicy (another supertaster here, I've been told - I like strong flavors, but can't do heat). I remember your Canada kitchen redo - I'm amazed at what you can accomplish in so much less space in California - quite a change in space and comfort. Funny what love does to you, huh
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We need a suppressed snorting laughter emoticon - I'm at work and "packing cake" gave me the giggles! It's not me, but I'd like to have that cake recipe! And, no, Jerry - I'm not up to a burrito of that size.
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Kim, I'd be really tempted to try that cake with boiling milk in place of the water - I find that it adds just that little hit of moisture without unduly affecting the crumb. Also, have you tried it with fresh orange zest in place of dried? That's another source of moisture; I've found that dry zest/peel can really suck the moist out of most baked things.
Thank you so much! Great ideas - I'll try them next time I need to make this cake.
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EN – thanks for the oven fried chicken recipe. I’ve never made it well – yours looks great. I’ll try it soon!
Norm – that ham salad sounds wonderful. I love the addition of dried apples. I would never have thought of that, but it is perfect!
Deensiebat – oh, my goodness! That focaccia is just delectable looking. I’m printing that out to go in the ‘to try’ file. And I may just print out the photo to gaze at.
MsDL & David – oh pot roast. I am SO ready for pot roast!
Keith – gorgeous lamb dish. And those dishes are haunting me
.I did a very simple dinner the other night while I was preparing stuff for my FIL’s birthday party. Some good friends gifted us with a bunch of homemade preserves. We sampled the plum, blackberry, strawberry and fig:
Along with some country ham, a basket of biscuits:
and a plate of fried eggs:
Could not have been easier – or more welcome and delicious.
Friday night was my FIL’s BD party. I did country ribs, mac and cheese, and angel food cake with caramel sauce (his very favorite dessert in the world). One of my SILs did a gorgeous salad with a sweet honey dressing and the other did peas with mushrooms and onions. The mac and cheese, the angel food cake and the caramel sauce were all from Michael Ruhlman’s new book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”. I was very honored to be picked, along with some other folks over at Marlene’s website, cookskorner.com, to do some recipe testing for the book. It was truly one of the most fun things I’ve ever done – a real dream job for me.
Ribs:
SIL’s salad:
Mac & Cheese w/ Soubise:
That one got a tad overdone, but it still tasted amazing and the second one wasn’t quite as crispy.
Angel Food cake with caramel sauce:
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For my FIL’s birthday on Friday night I made his special request – angel food cake with caramel sauce:
Both from Michael Ruhlman’s new book “Ruhlman’s Twenty”. And both delicious. He was a very happy man! As I mentioned over at the dinner thread, I was lucky enough to be asked, along with some others at Marlene’s website, cookskorner.com, to do recipe testing for the book. It was the coolest thing I’ve ever done!
Since I made two cakes for the party, I had 20 (!!!!) leftover yolks. I made 12 Yolk “Angel Food” cake:
Frosted:
Slice:
Close up:
I need a little help here – or maybe just someone to tell me to give up on this cake. The last time that I made it, I found it a little tough and dry. Kerry suggested that I use cake and pastry flour instead of AP and to fold the flour mixture in rather than beating it in with a mixer. I did that and it helped the texture so much – it was tender and soft and (as you can see) had a nice crumb. But it was still dry. You can see the recipe here. Within the constraints of the recipe, is there anything that I can do to add moisture?
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RRO – lovely breakfast. Whenever I see your beautiful and elaborate breakfasts I wonder what time do you eat, exactly? There would have to be at least 6 hours between rising and dining for me to begin to get my head around preparing all of that (see below – it took me 2 hours and a trip to the supermarket to make waffles and bacon!). My heroine
!PC – wow, that sounds good! What do red bananas taste like?
Jmahl – must search for that book (pretty sure I own it) – I need to have that bread.
Breakfast this morning:
waffles and Benton’s bacon. Jessica crumbled bacon into her waffle batter. Wow. I meant to try it with a smear of warm bacon jam, but I forgot. Well, we have leftovers and I’ll try it with them.
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EN- Happy Birthday from me, too! Mrs. EN is some cook - that dessert looks beautiful.
Jerry - congrats on the macaron success. You should give a little class next time y'all come to Richmond - I think it would be hilarious and informative. I haven't dived into trying them yet. I will probably miss that bandwagon - but then, I'm used to that - we just started getting cupcake shops here
!We met some out of town friends for a halfway visit last weekend (halfway between us and them). They brought us some homemade preserves – fig, blackberry, plum, strawberry and preserved whole figs!!! I took them banana bread:
Mark Bittman’s Banana Bread. Good, but it benefitted from sitting overnight – it was a little bland the day I baked it.
And Lois’ Best Coffee Cake, a recipe from Maggie that I've made over and over (recipe is here ):
This time I added lemon zest and tiny, wild blueberries that I get frozen from Kroger.
Cake for a co-worker’s birthday this week:
Daquiri pound cake. Not as pretty as it usually is, but it tasted great. Once it was cut, it didn’t last 2 hours at work! The birthday girl got one piece and when she went back after lunch to get a piece to take to her husband, it was gone!
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Norm - that Southern ham, beans and collards dinner looks amazing! Gorgeous ham. It looks so moist. How do you cook it - mine tends to dry out a bit.
MiFi - oooooh - beef burgundy on polenta - what a great idea!
percyn - you eat more lobster than anyone I know. I am extremely envious!!
Genkinaonna - I love, love, LOVE the look and sound of that salad and that you made it from on-hand stuff. Thanks for the TJ hollandaise tip - I am hollandaise-impaired - mine tastes good, but is the consistancy of mayo!
EN - is that cornflake chicken fried or baked? Because I've never seen oven baked 'fried' chicken that looked that good.
Bruce - that is a GORGEOUS crust on your chicken!
Not doing much cooking lately - too busy prepping for a family BD party tonight and other bits and pieces. I did make dinner the other night:
Huge pork chops from the Belmont Butchery, topped with an apple, Calvados and raisin concoction – also green beans and croissants.
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Blether - yes to fresh ginger, which I love and never have any trouble with. Yes, also to a ready-made garam masala. I'll check the ingredient list when I get home! As far as cooking with it, it is added to the pan after the chicken in browned and cooked at medium with the other spices for a couple of minutes, then tomato sauce is added. Thanks so much!
Kay - yes, that rueben strudel looks delicious, but I just have to tell you what LOVELY hands and arms you have!!! I always love pictures that show folks actually doing things and that one now a favorite!
percyn - I love that bucatini - it's one of my favorite pastas and your sauce looks wonderful. Of course, I'd maim people for one of those
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So, for some reason, I have a plethora of box cake mixes in the cupboard....it seems I have an obsession for them when they go on sale 10/$10.
Anyway, the older I get, the less I like the taste of the mixes. So, I googled and found a few ways to make them taste less "boxed". Such as replacing the water with milk, oil with butter and separating the egg whites and beating them before folding them in. Oh, and adding vanilla.
By the time I did all of this, I could have made these from scratch.
Cupcakes made with yellow mix and dollop of peanut butter in the middle. Topped with chopped up Mr. Goodbars from the Halloween candy bowl.
Those look really good, Shelby. I actually use cake mixes fairly often for yellow and white cakes (I haven't yet found a dependable 'go-to' recipe for those yet) - and when I get a surprise "We need a cake" request. While I prefer the taste of a scratch cake, I really love the texture of mixes. It looks like you got a nice crown on those. My cupcakes (even mixes) tend to flatten on me.
Salting Cabbage for Slaw
in Cooking
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Thanks, y'all! I'll do it then. How long do you think? I've seen anywhere from 1 hour on up.