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Kim Shook

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Posts posted by Kim Shook

  1. Welcome, Daniel! I usually don't have a hard time the first few weeks of summer - the hot weather still new and (somewhat) welcome. I'm ready for all the fresh vegetables and grilling and all. When they are in, I can eat nothing but sliced tomatoes and corn for days. Summertime is a good time to grill fish. It's good hot the day you cook it and is wonderful cold (especially salmon and trout) the next day on top of a big salad. What Doodad said goes for me, too. When it gets to the middle of the summer is when I start to get so tired of summer food that I can't think straight. I feel that if I see another salad I'll go around the bend. I'm ready to donate the grill to the Salvation Army. At that point, when fall stews and braises beckon, but it's still too hot to even think about cooking such things, your pressure cooker is your friend. Crank up the AC, put some short ribs in the PC, pour a nice glass of red wine (no Pimms or G&Ts) and relax.

  2. Dinner tonight:

    gallery_3331_114_225171.jpg

    Kielbasa w/ onions and sauerkraut, fries and collards from the CSA box. The collards were especially good – young and tender.

    There was lots of pot likker left after cooking the collards, so we had a treat:

    gallery_3331_114_236711.jpg

    pot likker and cornbread croutons – crazy good :wub: !!!

  3. MiFi – can you expand a little on the cod gratin? It sounds wonderful.

    Re: Cod Gratin recipe -

    Sure can; got it from a new publication worth checking out:

    Sweet Paul Magazine

    Thanks so much! That looks like a good publication. I'll look at it in more depth when I get home!

  4. For dessert last night, I made The Blissful Glutton's peach-cherry crisp:

    gallery_3331_114_22302.jpg

    with vanilla bean ice cream on top:

    gallery_3331_114_168388.jpg

    I’ve made this before and we like it a lot. You can assemble the whole thing before your guests arrive and stick it in the oven when you sit down for dinner. By the time you are ready for dessert, it’s hot and ready to be topped with ice cream. But the topping was different this time – less crumbly and browned. I think I know why: since three out of the four of us are diabetics, I tried using Sugar Twin Brown in place of regular brown sugar. It tasted fine, but the texture was off. I don’t think I’ll do that again. After all, with the fruit and the heavy carb load of flour and oatmeal and ice cream, a little regular brown sugar is hardly worth bothering about!

  5. Prawn – Beautiful, as always and the proscuitto wrapped monkfish sounds awesome!

    MiFi – can you expand a little on the cod gratin? It sounds wonderful.

    Low effort dinner the other night:

    gallery_3331_114_159021.jpg

    gallery_3331_114_112910.jpg

    Some of Jessica’s sublime blueberry pancakes (leftover from a dinner that she had for friends), basted eggs and bacon. Simple, but very satisfying.

    We had our Father’s Day celebration last night. Jessica kidnapped Mr. Kim this morning for a Daddy/Daughter weekend. He doesn’t know it, but they are going to WV to raft on the New River. It’s something that he’s always wanted to do and hasn’t ever had the chance to. We had a bon voyage breakfast at Cracker Barrel this morning. And now, I have two days of solitude. Just me and the cat :wub: .

    We had Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom over for dinner and started with this:

    gallery_3331_114_87869.jpg

    Caprese w/ bocconcini and grape tomatoes – and some really huge, flavorful basil from the CSA.

    Dinner was:

    gallery_3331_114_134735.jpg

    Ribs

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    slaw w/ red wine vinegar, mayo and brown mustard. I often add some kind of mustard to slaw – we first tasted it at a little BBQ shack in NC and like it a lot.

    gallery_3331_114_103319.jpg

    My version of CI’s Boston baked beans.

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    gallery_3331_114_15345.jpg

    cornbread gems

    Dessert was a peach-cherry crisp w/ vanilla bean ice cream:

    gallery_3331_114_168388.jpg

  6. Kim, that all looks scrumptious. It looks like there's a separate, whiter layer on top of the cheesecake. My imagination ?

    Nope, not your imagination. There is a thin layer of sweetened sour cream that is put on in the last 10 minutes of cooking.

  7. dystopiandreamgirl – let me add my kudos for that amazing cake. I am just in AWE!

    pastrygirl - every single one of those desserts sound amazing! How about some pictures?

    I made a low carb dessert for Mr. Kim tonight to welcome him home from Arizona:

    gallery_3331_119_146727.jpg

    Lemon cheesecake. He’s diabetic and lately is being really careful with his carb intake. It’s really starting to make a difference in his blood sugar levels, so I’m trying to be supportive.

    gallery_3331_119_45152.jpg

    This was made with Neufchâtel cheese, low fat sour cream and Splenda and it was delicious with a really good texture.

  8. Blether – nice looking fish!

    robirdstx – I like the looks of your meatloaf, too! I’ve copied the recipe and will use it soon!

    Jmahl – the shrimp looks fantastic. When we were in NOLA in March, I enjoyed the shrimp and oysters and crab so much and it’s heartbreaking to know that it may be gone and that those folks who make their living bringing it to us will lose their livelihood.

    Dinner last night was a pizza made by Fat Guy’s method:

    IMAG00051.jpg

    Mr. Kim has been in AZ this past week and got home this morning. His welcome home dinner was all by-request:

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    Salad with my dad’s paprika dressing

    gallery_3331_114_81674.jpg

    Steamed, roasted new potatoes w/ parsley and olive oil

    gallery_3331_114_112372.jpg

    Broccoli w/ lemon

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    Peppered pork loin

    gallery_3331_114_44240.jpg

    With the sauce – white wine, chicken stock, cream, sour cream and whole grain mustard.

    I surprised him with a low carb dessert:

    gallery_3331_119_45152.jpg

    Lemon cheesecake

  9. I've had this thread bookmarked forever and finally made a pizza tonight. My first successful pizza EVER! Nice crust and so EASY. I did a sausage and onion pizza and we really liked it a lot. I avoid making pizza because I've always had trouble rolling out the dough and doing the peel slide. This was great and I'll be able to make pizza anytime now. Thanks for starting this topic, Steven!

  10. David - I adore the idea of gravlax w/ gougeres and am totally stealing the idea for my next brunch.

    Soba - I really like the looks of your Sopa de ajo. I went to your blog and got the recipe and can't wait to try it.

    Thank you all for the good information on the wine! I'm guessing that I'll need to remember all the advice, since we will most always be drinking fairly young (read: inexpensive) wine :rolleyes: . I've known about letting wine 'breathe' forever, but never experienced it so fully before.

  11. Quick pickling seems to be everywhere! I harvested two little Kirby cucumbers yesterday. One is being sliced lengthwise in strips for lettuce wraps, but the other is going into "the bowl" which for me is a small wide mouth jar. As the years pass I find that I prefer rice vinegar or even industrial strength white with some water because, to my taste, the cucumber flavor is more pure than with cider vinegar or white wine vinegar.

    That sounds good - I'll try a batch with white or rice vinegar this year!

  12. Prawn – I LOVE char siu and yours looks absolutely perfect. I’ve never made my own, though. Bravo.

    percyn– I wish we had a source nearby for some pastrami that looked like that! Wow.

    Dinner last night:

    gallery_3331_114_182527.jpg

    pressure cooker beef stew. Pressure cooking is like magic to me. It took a total of 11 minutes cooking time and everything was perfectly tender and infused with flavor. It actually took longer to prep the ingredients than to cook. This would be a great weeknight meal, especially if you got all your prep done the night before. Plus, it’s really frugal. It made enough for probably eight with less than $6 worth of meat.

    I served it with broccoli from the CSA box and rolls:

    gallery_3331_114_135025.jpg

    The broccoli was a surprise. It didn’t look too great and was more than a week old (our box was delivered last Friday while we were in NC). But it was delicious. I just steamed it, grinded a lot of pepper over it and squeezed a whole lemon on top.

    This went into the stew and we drank the rest of the bottle with dinner:

    gallery_3331_114_130762.jpg

    We are total wine ignoramuses, so I don’t know the quality of this wine, but it tasted a bit too strong at the beginning of the meal. Halfway through the glass, though, it was better. Explain, please?

  13. Soba – lovely, as always! I am very ready for tomatoes and yours look perfect.

    Bruce – your omelet looks beautiful. How do you get the caramelized looking crust?

    Mr. Kim is off to AZ for the week on Tuesday and so I made him a good bon voyage breakfast this morning (I believe they find SMOOTHIES an adequate breakfast out there :raz: ):

    gallery_3331_117_177046.jpg

    Scrambled eggs (CSA), sage sausage and biscuits. That oughta hold him.

  14. I have to say, I am even more disappointed in this channel than I thought I was going to be, and that' saying a LOT.

    The programming that I've scanned in the guides seems to be retreads from the early days of Food Network (i.e., Molto Mario, Sara's Secrets, Michael Chiarello, Emeril) and retreads from Food Network Canada. I don't think I've seen anything in the listings with a copyright date later than 2008 ! Now, Molto Mario, Sara's Secrets and Michael Chiarello were good shows, but like, I'VE SEEN THEM. I've seen them ALL, over and over when they ran on Food Network. I don't really need to see them again.

    In my time zone, the vintage Julia doesn't run at a time that's convenient for me to watch. The evening programming seems to be a rehash of the "Unwrapped" and "Secret Life of...." model.

    I did watch a new-to-me show earlier in the week. The premise was that the chef (who's also a singer/composer of rap-ish/hip-hop-ish stuff) worked with "exotic" ingredients. Like...wait for it...mango. It was a Canadian production, again with a copyright like 5 years ago. I won't be seeking it out again.

    No Pam, I haven't seen ANY *new* programming. Seems to me its a scam to let Scripps flog some old, tired horses over and over and sell some additional advertising time on them, and get some additional payments from cable and satellite services to carry them.

    Pass, thanks anyway.

    This. Exactly. I ate up all the stuff that Food Network used to have with REAL chefs and don't need to see reruns. And Julia comes on while I'm at work - we don't have DVR or Tevo (sp?) or any of that newfangled stuff, so that's off. Pooh.

  15. When we were in NC this weekend, I got a souvenir:

    gallery_3331_122_166191.jpg

    Scary. I found it at a little country gas station/store. Yes, it says “Fried out chicken fat with attached skin”. I haven’t gotten up the courage to open it yet.

    Wow, those look GOOD! Pork cracklins are a favorite carb free snack of mine (the hell with the cholesterol, I'm gonna die of something!) But I do loves me some chicken skin!

    Yep, me too. I would rather pull all the skin off fried chicken and fill up on that than eat a whole piece without it. Well, I finally got up the nerve and tasted one. I'm not sure still. Very greasy, as you would expect. Pretty good flavor. I might try microwaving for a few seconds and see if that is better. They are still pretty scary, though.

    Dinner last night was bratwurst w/ caramelized onions, green beans and potatoes, creamed corn and sweet potatoes:

    gallery_3331_114_85233.jpg

    The brats were those already cooked ones – really white. Mr. Kim likes the kind that you have to cook, but I actually prefer the flavor and texture of these.

  16. deadstroke – gorgeous pork belly!

    djyee – the lemon balm was a nice addition to the chicken. I was afraid it would disappear with the smoke, so I kept it very simple – just olive oil, pepper and the herb. It was delicate, but THERE.

    robirdstx – that is just a beautiful pizza!

    Soba – your chicken looks delicious. I cannot truss a chicken to save my life – I end up with 20 feet of string wrapped all around a chicken that is as splayed out as before I tied it. So yours looks pretty good to me.

    We got our CSA box on Friday and then went out of town until Monday night. So I was trying to use as much as it as possible as quickly as possible. Tonight I did a salad with the Bibb, arugula and radishes (all CSA) topped with some Benton’s proscuitto and poached eggs (CSA):

    gallery_3331_114_18318.jpg

    I also did roasted asparagus and Marlene’s glazed carrots (both CSA). The carrots…well, they turned out a little odd:

    gallery_3331_114_156006.jpg

    I’ve made the recipe before and they were amazing – so it was the carrots, not the recipe. But these carrots never got tender. They went from raw and hard to candied and tough and never went through a soft phase. It’s something between candy and carrot jerky. Tasted really good, though.

    Carrots, asparagus and croissant:

    gallery_3331_114_83911.jpg

    Dessert will be as many (CSA) strawberries as we can eat before they go furry.

    When we were in NC this weekend, I got a souvenir:

    gallery_3331_122_166191.jpg

    Scary. I found it at a little country gas station/store. Yes, it says “Fried out chicken fat with attached skin”. I haven’t gotten up the courage to open it yet.

  17. merstar – that cake sounds great! What tweaks did you do and how did it taste?

    My daughter’s best friend ordered mini cupcakes for a gathering he was having for his website:

    gallery_3331_119_136204.jpg

    I came up with Margarita mini cupcakes.

    gallery_3331_119_176993.jpg

    They were yellow cake flavored with coconut extract and the frosting was a fluffy white icing flavored with key lime extract. I tinted the frosting slightly green and topped it with green sprinkles and some coarse sugar to mimic the salt on a margarita.

    Some junky cupcakes that I made for Memorial Day:

    gallery_3331_119_186910.jpg

    Just a strawberry cake mix with white frosting and decorations. The little neighbor girl loved them :laugh: !

  18. DeEttas – both of those tortes are just gorgeous!

    David – your little Bundts are beautiful. Was that pan metal or silicone?

    jaredrakes - “So many things are still red.” :laugh::laugh: I remember making a cake for my daughter that required red, dark green, dark blue and BLACK frosting. I kept finding smears of color for weeks! Your cake is adorable. Do NOT make excuses for it!

    Some weekend baking:

    gallery_3331_119_165027.jpg

    Orange-Cranberry muffins. I found a fat-free mix in the pantry. I have no idea where they came from since I never buy anything like that (maybe when Jessica moved back in?), but rather than waste it, I messed with it a little bit – an extra egg, dried orange peel flakes and an orange juice and 10X glaze and they weren’t bad at all.

    Crumb:

    gallery_3331_119_53954.jpg

    I also made some oatmeal cookies to take to the office:

    gallery_3331_119_5187.jpg

    This is my go-to recipe, perfected over the last 35 years or so that makes a good, chewy, BIG cooky.

  19. menuinprogress – what a beautiful sear on that scallop!

    Nick – gorgeous duck!

    deensiebat – that’s some good looking mulch! And, really, isn’t EVERYTHING better with a poached egg on top?

    Darienne – I’ve made that rice and it’s delicious!

    Soba – nice to see your post! Beautiful, as always!

    Mr. Kim was smoking a couple of pork butts to take to NC this weekend so I fixed up a chicken with the lemon balm from the CSA box and had him put it on the smoker too:

    gallery_3331_114_135844.jpg

    I rubbed it with olive oil, put some of the leaves under the skin and stuffed the cavity with more leaves:

    gallery_3331_114_161690.jpg

    This was one gorgeous, juicy bird – we are smoked chicken converts:

    gallery_3331_114_56182.jpg

    gallery_3331_114_131888.jpg

    We had it with some (Not So) Spicy Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup that a friend sent me the recipe for:

    gallery_3331_114_188546.jpg

    This was very popular with Mr. Kim and Jess. Too much cumin for my tastes and besides, I only really like sweet potatoes when they taste like dessert :blush: .

  20. djyee – That pasta dish looks wonderful. We love lamb and orzo is my go-to starch, so I know we’d really enjoy that. Thanks for linking to the recipe!

    Dinner last night was Sweet and Sour Glazed Pork Chops. We went to our butcher and got these lovelies:

    gallery_3331_114_165032.jpg

    These things were HUGE – 1” thick, 4” wide and 7” long! And how about that fat cap?

    The chops were wonderful – juicy, PORKY and the balsamic, honey, butter and rosemary glaze is perfect with pork:

    gallery_3331_114_158300.jpg

    I also did the ubiquitous salad and some plain old cheddar au gratin potatoes:

    gallery_3331_114_172970.jpg

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    Plated:

    gallery_3331_114_95120.jpg

  21. Darienne – I’ll look for the cut and try that. I really like the idea of pulled beef. I had to laugh when you said that you didn’t know how to pick meat, because that is always my problem, too. I know rib eyes for steaks and chuck for pot roast, but then I get lost. My first impulse is if it’s flat, it’s a steak and if it’s a big ball, it’s a roast :rolleyes: .

    robirdstx – thanks for the link. I printed it out and will try that soon. Your Cannelloni is gorgeous. I make a similar one with chicken and ham and we love it with the spinach!

    deensiebat – your couscous is lovely.

    Dinner tonight was MORE Greek salad:

    gallery_3331_114_129875.jpg

    yawn

    And grilled cheeseburgers w/ a fried egg:

    gallery_3331_114_30403.jpg

    Nom.

  22. robirdstx – both the garlic toast and the ravioli look wonderful. I am mesmerized by your bread, though. I clicked to enlarge and it looks almost like there is cheese there, too. Could you give me a mini-tutorial on that bread?

    dcarch – you may only be 6 posts in to your eG career, but you obviously have some serious experience. Gorgeous food and pictures. I am enjoying all of your contributions. The fresh stuff is mostly from the Community Supported Agriculture baskets we have signed up for.

    MiFi – I would love to try the duck rillets. We had pork rillets in NOLA for the first time and we fell in love. And I think that shrimp, soppressta and mozzarella is an inspired combination (love the fancy picture, too!).

    Darienne – pulled BEEF? Hmmmm. How’d you do that? What cut of beef? Inquiring minds and all that.

    deadstroke – Gorgeous first post. We saw beef cheeks in the butcher shop the other day and I wondered what I could do with them. Now I know!

  23. Bruce – thank you! That chicken looks beautiful and the marinade has all my favorite stuff in it!

    dcarch – I can’t figure out what I’m looking at. Do those ribs have handles? They look fantastic. And are those fries under the impossibly thin and gorgeous red onion strings?

    Dinner last night was a ‘Greek-ish’ salad. I used the CSA Bibb, mustard greens and spring onions:

    gallery_3331_114_47806.jpg

    Dressed w/ a lemon dressing and some of the CSA feta:

    gallery_3331_114_46861.jpg

  24. Oh, lord, I think I’m guilty of all of this stuff and probably more. And as a basic good girl and cradle Episcopalian things left undone has always bothered me more than things done (I am better at not being bad than I am at being good).

    Mr. Kim is an anti-waste fiend, so I toss all overripe bananas in the freezer – at last count, I think we have 17. Nothing gets thrown away straight from the table, but when he’s not around I dig around the back of the fridge and find horrors.

    Erin’s “Oh, God, the lettuce, the lettuce” cracked me right up. I, too, have lettuce shame. Thank God Romaine lasts as long as it does. And with herbs, there seems no way to win. If I buy it at extortionist prices, I use one leaf and the rest dissolves slowly into goo. If I get all energetic and buy plants, I either forget to water them and kill them, or my recipe needs huge amounts and there isn’t enough on the plant.

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