Venison Stroganoff

A generous friend gifted us with a few pounds of ground venison. This is what I came up with! Everyone loved it, which surprised me. I had never worked with venison before, but a quick search gave me the idea to try Stroganoff. I called up my Dad, our family Stroganoff Expert. He instructed me to combine ground meat, onions, garlic, roux, broth, mushrooms and sour cream (plus a few more details as to how to do it). I thanked him, and got to work. I didn't have normal mushrooms...but I did have enoki! I threw some onions into a pan with some olive oil, and unwrapped the venison. Erm. It was frozen. Into the pot it went, with some flour (for the roux bit) and then...some water, because honestly? My roux was burning. (Sorry, Dad. I'm not great at following directions when babies are pulling on me.) 

Anyhow. It came out tasty - that is the main thing to keep in mind here! 

Aunt LoLo's Venison Stroganoff

Ingredients: 

1 pound ground venison

1 large onion, chopped

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp. flour*

2 cups water

1 bundle enoki mushrooms, woody end removed, chopped

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

2 cups frozen peas

salt and pepper, to taste

1/2 cup greek yogurt

In a dutch oven, brown your ground venison. Add your chopped onion, and sauté until soft. Add your flour, stir to combine, and cook until golden (about 2 minutes). Add your water, mushrooms, garlic powder and frozen peas. Stir. Cook, covered, until the peas are done (about 10 minutes). Uncover and continue to cook until the sauce thickens. Turn off heat and stir in the greek yogurt. 

Serve over noodles or brown rice. 

Enjoy! 

*This recipe can be made Gluten Free by using cornstarch or a similar thickener, instead of flour. You can make a slurry of the thickener and some cool water and stir it in at the end, when you are cooking the sauce uncovered to thicken it up. 

Chow Review: Lunchbox Laboratory

Cinnamon Life Crunch and Key Lime milkshakes

Deep fried dork balls

Portabello, goat cheese and balsamic onion burger with sweet potato fries

Lunchbox Laboratory Review
989 112th Ave NE, Bellevue, WA // 425-505-2676

Pros: Really fun flavors, with unique combinations. The burgers are absolutely huge. I chose one with a portabello steak, and finished the whole thing. My sweet potato fries were blistered and crispy and delicious. The dork balls (duck and pork) were tasty, and just really fun to order. (Go on - I dare you. Say "dork balls" and DON'T smile. See? Not possible.) The standout of the night, for me, was my Key Lime milkshake. I love key lime pie, and this was spot on. I also appreciated the long, skinny, rectangular plates. The tables were cozy, and the plate shape shows attention to detail. The restaurant decor was fun, in a kitschy retro/mod kind of way. 

Cons: The restaurant is inside of an urban living/shopping building. The only restrooms are around the corner and down the sterile, empty concrete hall...and they are locked. You need a passcode from the waitress to get in, which you wouldn't KNOW until you actually got down there. Maybe there was a restroom in the restaurant, but I didn't see it. Also, the prices were a bit steep. We had a discount, through a corporate discount card, and still paid $50 for two burgers, two shakes, and an appetizer. Ouch.

Everyday Fettuccine Alfredo

A few days ago, Mr. LoLo and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. (D'aww.) We had already gone out, by ourselves, the previous weekend, so the actual day of our anniversary was spent at home. I tried to choose a menu that would get the whole family excited, but was also not TOO damaging to my post-baby weight loss efforts. This alfredo recipe uses very little dairy, compared to a classic cream based alfredo. In fact, the sauce is almost half vegetables. Not too shabby! Perhaps "every day" is going a little far, but I would definitely put this pasta dish into our regular rotation. I served this with a side of roasted broccoli. 

Everyday Fettuccine Alfredo

(Adapted from here, on FoodNetwork.com)

1 head cauliflower, chopped

2 cups water

3 cloves garlic

2 cups frozen peas

1/2 cup cream

3 cups grated aged cheddar

Salt & Pepper to taste

Fettuccine, cooked al dente

In a saucepot, combine your cauliflower and water. Cover and cook over medium for 25-30 minutes, or until your cauliflower is very, very tender. (Add your garlic to the pot as well if you prefer a milder garlic flavor. I added mine later, as I prefer my garlic quite strong.) 

(At this point, you can turn off the stove and set your cauliflower aside until you are ready to get dinner prepared. I did this step a few hours ahead of time.) 

(Time to cook your noodles! Put on a pot of water, and cook your noodles according to package directions while your sauce is being blended.) 

Pour your cauliflower and water into a blender, along with your garlic (if you haven't already added it), and puree until it is completely smooth. Return the puree to your sauce pot, add your frozen peas, put it over medium low heat, and heat until your peas are cooked. Stir in your cream and set aside. 

When your noodles are finished, drain them, return them to their pot, and pour the cauliflower pea mixture over the top. Sprinkle in a little of the cheese at a time, stirring well between each addition. If the sauce is too think, splash in a little extra milk or cream. 

Enjoy!

Custard Filled Moon Cakes

I'm going to start off by saying I've never tried these. I came across the recipe on a Hong Kong blog that features videos of chefs preparing traditional dishes. I mentioned the recipe on facebook, and several friends asked me to translate it. This? Is the result.

Translated from here. (There is a recipe written down in Chinese, and a video in Cantonese.)

Kam Sa Lai Wong Yuht Beng (Custard and crushed yolk moon cakes)

Makes 8 55g. mooncakes

Day 1:

Skin:
84 grams mooncake syrup (you can find recipes on Google - a syrup of sugar, water and lemon juice)
24 grams canola oil
600 grams flour
12 ml. (2 1/2 tsp.) alkaline water (found at asian grocers)

In a bowl, combine flour, oil, syrup and alkaline water. Mix it with your hand, covered in a plastic glove if you don't like getting messy. This will make a glossy, slightly oozy ball of dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2:

Filling:
75 grams flour
20 grams cornstarch
20 grams custard powder (or instant vanilla pudding)
6 eggs
160 grams sugar
20 grams glutinous rice flour
80 grams powdered milk
a few tbsp. of each: evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk
100 grams butter
12 grams salted egg yolks, cooked and diced.

In a bowl, combine the cornstarch, flour, glutinous rice flour, custard powder, powdered milk and sugar. Stir until well mixed.

Stir in the 6 raw eggs and then the three kinds of milk. Mix well, and then steam the entire mixture for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, add the butter on top of the mixture and stir to combine, then mix in the crushed cooked, salted egg yolks.

Pull out your prepared "skin" dough and roll it into a log. Now roll your filling into a log. Cut your skin dough into 15 gram lumps, and your filling dough into 40 gram lumps.

Pick up one lump of skin dough, roll it into a ball, and then carefully squash it into a flat circle. Place your balled up lump of filling in the center and carefully use the skin to encase the filling.

Follow the directions on your mold to shape your moon cake, then place on a foil lined cookie sheet.

Spritz your sheet of shaped moon cakes with water, and then bake at 180 C. (350 F.) for 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush each cake with an egg wash, then bake another 7 minutes at 160 C. (325 F.) or until golden brown.

Allow to rest overnight.

Day 3:
Enjoy!

Nearly Instant Pancakes

Last weekend, I bought a bag of self-rising flour to make these biscuits. Yesterday, my daughter was a sad, moody mess..and nothing could cheer her up except for a plate of pancakes. The morning was simply too busy to make it happen, so I promised pancakes for lunch. 

Silly me. 

Lunch on that particular day came after hours at the gym, spent playing and swimming. Everyone in the house was famished, and fuses were short. I had to get lunch on the table quick, but those silly pancakes...argh! To borrow some old phrases, I cast mine eyes around my kitchen, looking for ideas...and they fell upon the open bag of self-rising flour, still on the counter. It was worth a shot! 

I dumped and stirred and heated up the griddle...and made the fluffiest, silkiest pancakes EVER. Seriously. Here's a pretty close approximation of what went down. 

LoLo's Nearly Instant Pancakes

(Makes 5 large pancakes)

Preheat your griddle to medium low. 

In a medium sized bowl, add 2 cups of self-rising flour, one egg, and about 2 1/2 cups milk. (I used rice milk.) Stir with a wire whisk, and assess. If it doesn't look like pancake batter, add either more flour or more liquid. A few lumps are ok. 

Proceed as normal - grease your griddle, and cook the pancakes. 

Yum! I may never buy a pancake mix again. SR flour, upon consideration, is just about nearly the same thing. 

Cream Biscuits

Are you ready for the easiest biscuits in the world? So simple, you don't even need a recipe, but I'll give you one anyhow. (The beauty of not needing a recipe is that you can eyeball things if you need to make just a few biscuits, or need to use up an odd amount of flour left in the canister. Cool.)

Cream Biscuits
(Adapted from the millions of cream biscuit recipes out there, all of them Southern)

Makes 12-16 biscuits

Preheat your oven to 375.
Lightly grease a sheet pan.

In a medium sized bowl, add 2 cups of self-rising flour and 1 1/2 cups (12 oz.) heavy (whipping) cream. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. If it is a bit crumbly, add another splash of cream. Sticky? Add a tablespoon of flour.

At this point, you have two options: drop biscuits and cut biscuits.

If you want drop biscuits, drop spoonfuls of your biscuit dough onto your prepared cookie sheet, 1/2" apart.

If you want cut biscuits, lightly flour your work surface and gently fold/knead your dough two or three times until it makes a sort of smooth ball. Roll it out to about 1/2" thick, and cut with a 3" cookie cutter. Please your biscuit rounds onto your prepared cookie sheet, again 1/2" apart.

Bake 15-17 minutes, or until the bottoms just start to get golden (or a little longer, if you like darker biscuits). Remove to a cooling rack, or straight into your serving basket.

(These biscuits are pretty darn close to what you get with your fried chicken with the eleven secret herbs and spices. Just FYI.)

Melt in Your Mouth Ribs, From the Grill

These ribs were pre-seasoned from the meat counter, but any rack of ribs rubbed with your favorite dry rub would be fantastic. I followed directions from Mark Bittman, but am now unable to find the exact recipe. He used a pan of woodchips in the bottom of his grill, to get a smoky flavor - I skipped that step. 

The trick to amazing melt-in-your-mouth-ribs from the grill is to light one side of your BBQ, heat up the grill for about 15 minutes, throw your ribs on the un-lit side, and then turn the heat down as far as it will go. This method takes hours (at least 2.5-3), but the results are ridiculous. So tender, the marrow can be chewed out. So well done, the bones practically fall out of the meat. 

I will definitely be trying this with my homemade "char siu" (Chinese BBQ) rib sauce. I'll let you know how it goes!