Manitoulin — Life on the level

[Kerry Beal]

The lighting in the kitchen is rather poor - worse than usual this am for pictures. Buttermilk Impossible Pie for work today.

 

 

[Anna N]

 Good morning. Yet another sunny morning on Manitoulin Island although  word is that it’s going to become uncomfortably hot and humid later today.  

 

 I just wanted to comment on yesterday evening’s side dish of corn and bok choy.   The protein choice was a no-brainer since I was portioning and repackaging the chicken thighs we bought at Costco when we were in Sudbury.  And the cooking method was also a no brainer – – 425°F on steam bake function in the CSO for 30 to 45 minutes.

 

I do try my best not to waste food and so I knew that there were 2 cobs of corn and 4 baby bok choy that were not going to be good for very much longer.  I could not recall ever seeing these two vegetables combined so I decided to Google the combination. Sure enough Food & Wine  offered a recipe that was fast, easy and did not require any ingredients that were not readily available to meet here in the condo.  The corn was caramelized in some garlic infused oil, the bok choy leaves were separated and added and then the whole was seasoned with a tablespoon of fish sauce (fortunately we had a bottle of Red Boat in the house).  The dish was finished with a squeeze of lime juice. For such a simple dish I thought it was really tasty and would certainly do it again should I ever find myself with fresh corn and baby bok choy at the same time.😯 

 

 To me it was one of those serendipitous discoveries that can help resuscitate a flagging cooking mojo. 

 

 Breakfast had great potential — Max Burt’s own pastrami, mustard and sauerkraut on toasted rye bread. 

 

 

 But the store-bought, no name brand sauerkraut was insipid.   I am sure I have had raw cabbage that has more of a bite to it and more flavour than this.

 

 But it did bring to mind a dish I had in a Bavarian restaurant many, many years ago which I have never been able to duplicate. It was a meatless casserole of very flavourful sauerkraut. Damned if I can remember much more about it than that but it turned my late husband from a sauerkraut hater to a sauerkraut tolerator.  So perhaps I should be trying to decide what I can do to the rest of this jar. Any ideas? 

[kayb]

5 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 But it did bring to mind a dish I had in a Bavarian restaurant many, many years ago which I have never been able to duplicate. It was a meatless casserole of very flavourful sauerkraut. Damned if I can remember much more about it than that but it turned my late husband from a sauerkraut hater to a sauerkraut tolerator.  So perhaps I should be trying to decide what I can do to the rest of this jar. Any ideas? 

 

I seem to recall some nice sausages from the meat vendor among the grocery shopping the other day. Brown them, saute some onions, throw in the sauerkraut, add Reisling, some juniper berries, some caraway seeds, an allspice or three, and a healthy portion of spicy brown mustard. Nestle the sausages back into that, and simmer. Choucroute garnie!

Edited July 9, 2019 by kayb (log)

[Anna N]

10 minutes ago, kayb said:

 

I seem to recall some nice sausages from the meat vendor among the grocery shopping the other day. Brown them, saute some onions, throw in the sauerkraut, add Reisling, some juniper berries, some caraway seeds, an allspice or three, and a healthy portion of spicy brown mustard. Nestle the sausages back into that, and simmer. Choucroute garnie!

 

 That sounds like a great plan. Thank you.  The juniper berries might pose a challenge but I suppose we could have a good stiff G&T alongside. 😂

[Kerry Beal]

29 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 That sounds like a great plan. Thank you.  The juniper berries might pose a challenge but I suppose we could have a good stiff G&T alongside. 😂

Pretty sure we might find juniper berries up here in a box 

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

The protein choice was a no-brainer since I was portioning and repackaging the chicken thighs we bought at Costco when we were in Sudbury.  And the cooking method was also a no brainer – – 425°F on steam bake function in the CSO for 30 to 45 minutes.

 

Do you (or does anyone else) find that cooking the thighs this way leads to a tray full of water?

 

I seem to remember when my CSO was new, and I cooked chicken thighs this way, the tray ended up pretty dry, but my CSO (at the ripe old age of 5 1/2) is certainly starting to show some wrinkles.

[Anna N]

22 minutes ago, Kerry Beal said:

Pretty sure we might find juniper berries up here in a box 

 What part of, “I need a stiff G&T are you not getting?“😧

[Anna N]

2 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Do you (or does anyone else) find that cooking the thighs this way leads to a tray full of water?

 

I seem to remember when my CSO was new, and I cooked chicken thighs this way, the tray ended up pretty dry, but my CSO (at the ripe old age of 5 1/2) is certainly starting to show some wrinkles.

To be honest I never looked. Around here the one who cooks is not the one who does the cleanup (usually) so I’ll wait for Kerry to respond.   I suspect not because she did ask me if I wanted to save the chicken fat.

[Kerry Beal]

52 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 What part of, “I need a stiff G&T are you not getting?“😧

Ah - my bad!

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

To be honest I never looked. Around here the one who cooks is not the one who does the cleanup (usually) so I’ll wait for Kerry to respond.   I suspect not because she did ask me if I wanted to save the chicken fat.

These were nice and dry - only puddle was a bit of fat and some crispy bits that I enjoyed while I cleaned up. 

[Anna N]

Last night I happened to mention to Kerry just in passing that it was the first day since we arrived on the Island that one or both of us hadn’t been inside a grocery store!  I knew it couldn’t last.  Today when I thought she had already started work in the clinic she texted me from the grocery store to ask me what was on the list.   Not that that has any relationship to what will be purchased.

 

 

 I see cookies and pimento cheese in our future!   I did ask for the whole grain mustard.

 

 

And just for the sake of completeness this is the other gift box that Kerry’s student brought up.  In his business he partners with other artisans and puts together gift boxes similar to this. The wrap on the chocolate bar is by a local artist in the Georgian Bay area.  You might have seen it before on eG when the business belonged to someone else.  

[gfweb]

44 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Last night I happened to mention to Kerry just in passing that it was the first day since we arrived on the Island that one or both of us hadn’t been inside a grocery store!  I knew it couldn’t last.  Today when I thought she had already started work in the clinic she texted me from the grocery store to ask me what was on the list.   Not that that has any relationship to what will be purchased.

 

 

 I see cookies and pimento cheese in our future!   I did ask for the whole grain mustard.

 

 

And just for the sake of completeness this is the other gift box that Kerry’s student brought up.  In his business he partners with other artisans and puts together gift boxes similar to this. The wrap on the chocolate bar is by a local artist in the Georgian Bay area.  You might have seen it before on eG when the business belonged to someone else.  

 

 

Whipped Body Butter.

 

Butter from whipped bodies?

 

 

[Anna N]

13 minutes ago, gfweb said:

Butter from whipped bodies?

Definitely the best kind!

[Kim Shook]

3 hours ago, Anna N said:

  But the store-bought, no name brand sauerkraut was insipid.   I am sure I have had raw cabbage that has more of a bite to it and more flavour than this.

 

 

This is really odd.  Mr. Kim and I love really sour sauerkraut and find that the most intense is the canned store brands.  The fancy name brand kinds are always too bland for us.  

[Anna N]

31 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

This is really odd.  Mr. Kim and I love really sour sauerkraut and find that the most intense is the canned store brands.  The fancy name brand kinds are always too bland for us.  

This was in a jar.  Not that that should be a huge factor. I just think this is crummy sauerkraut.

Edited July 9, 2019 by Anna N
To change creamy sauerkraut to crummy sauerkraut which was much more accurate (log)

[lindag]

Cooks Illustrated testers' favorite were the Eden Organic in a jar - in first place, with Libby's canned in second.

 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

 Good morning. Yet another sunny morning on Manitoulin Island although  word is that it’s going to become uncomfortably hot and humid later today.  

 

 I just wanted to comment on yesterday evening’s side dish of corn and bok choy.   The protein choice was a no-brainer since I was portioning and repackaging the chicken thighs we bought at Costco when we were in Sudbury.  And the cooking method was also a no brainer – – 425°F on steam bake function in the CSO for 30 to 45 minutes.

 

I do try my best not to waste food and so I knew that there were 2 cobs of corn and 4 baby bok choy that were not going to be good for very much longer.  I could not recall ever seeing these two vegetables combined so I decided to Google the combination. Sure enough Food & Wine  offered a recipe that was fast, easy and did not require any ingredients that were not readily available to meet here in the condo.  The corn was caramelized in some garlic infused oil, the bok choy leaves were separated and added and then the whole was seasoned with a tablespoon of fish sauce (fortunately we had a bottle of Red Boat in the house).  The dish was finished with a squeeze of lime juice. For such a simple dish I thought it was really tasty and would certainly do it again should I ever find myself with fresh corn and baby bok choy at the same time.😯 

 

 To me it was one of those serendipitous discoveries that can help resuscitate a flagging cooking mojo. 

 

 Breakfast had great potential — Max Burt’s own pastrami, mustard and sauerkraut on toasted rye bread. 

 

 

 But the store-bought, no name brand sauerkraut was insipid.   I am sure I have had raw cabbage that has more of a bite to it and more flavour than this.

 

 But it did bring to mind a dish I had in a Bavarian restaurant many, many years ago which I have never been able to duplicate. It was a meatless casserole of very flavourful sauerkraut. Damned if I can remember much more about it than that but it turned my late husband from a sauerkraut hater to a sauerkraut tolerator.  So perhaps I should be trying to decide what I can do to the rest of this jar. Any ideas? 

 

Anna, can you buy Bubbie's sourkraut?     Cold-packed and very fresh tasting.     Like all their products.

Here

[Anna N]

4 minutes ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

 

Anna, can you buy Bubbie's sourkraut?     Cold-packed and very fresh tasting.     Like all their products.

Here

 Down south for sure.  Here? Most unlikely. There are some days you can’t even buy chicken thighs.

[Anna N]

8 minutes ago, lindag said:

Cooks Illustrated testers' favorite were the Eden Organic in a jar - in first place, with Libby's canned in second.

 

Not that I often trust Cooks Illustrated no matter what they’re testing, but I think sauerkraut is one of those things that very few people would agree on what is “good” sauerkraut.  It is an ingredient that whether commercially canned or homemade is all over the place flavour-wise. 

[Margaret Pilgrim]

32 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Not that I often trust Cooks Illustrated ....

👏👏👏👏👏

[Porthos]

On 7/2/2019 at 4:26 PM, weinoo said:

 

This a cut I used to get from our dear departed butcher, Jeffrey, at the old Essex Street Market.  Specifically, I would use it for grinding and making burgers at home. Great flavor; I'm sure it will be wonderful bathed and then finished off however.

When SnowAngel would write about The Cabin chuck eyes were one of her favorite choices.

[Kerry Beal]

Paper Airplane tonight to compare to the Paper Plane last night.

 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

The two batches of fries in the freezer were removed and both cooked at 200º C for just under 4 minutes each. The first batch was larger - it dropped the temperature significantly more. 

 

 

Experiment #1

 

 

Experiment #2

 

2 was defiantly crisper and stayed crispy even when cool. 

 

 

[Kerry Beal]

In spite of Anna's concerns to the contrary - dinner was quite acceptable.

 

 

[Porthos]

I did a major happy dance when I saw this thread earlier today. I've not been on the internet much lately since I've been doing planning, buying, and packing for our first real vacation in 4 years. We rent a housekeeping cabin next to a fishing lake in the eastern Sierras and prefer,  besides our food and beverage, to bring our own pots and pans. knives, kitchen gadgets, and such. It takes a lot of planning.

I am now caught up and ready to enjoy another Manitoulin Summer trip. 😃😃😃😃