Cooking Class with Caleb: Beef Stroganoff

For this cooking class, we were making a main dish to serve 10.  We chose to make Beef Stroganoff.  The recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/beef-stroganoff-recipe/index.html

The specified four servings per recipe are extremely generous, but we doubled the recipe, using 3 pounds of beef and adding a bit more broth to stretch the recipes.  Another change we made was to add a splash of sherry to each finished sauce to round out the flavor.  We did use pre-sliced mushrooms for expediency since this was an after-school class.  In our final seasoning we used both Murray River Flake Salt (a pink salt) and a bit of smoked sea salt (a black salt).

Caleb did an awesome job learning to cut an onion, using the boning knife to trim fat off the beef and kept pace with me as we each cooked one recipe of the stroganoff.  He also did a great job of clean-up, being careful to return the kitchen to it's clean state.  His dinner received rave reviews from his family as they gobbled it up!

Impromptu dinner last nite

Looking into the freezer, I found some cooked shrimp.  I put a pot of water on to boil and cooked some fettuccine florentine - half are spinach noodles.  In a skillet, I put one lonely frozen pre-cooked piece of bacon that I had chopped up with scissors.  Next I added a bit of butter then flour to make a roux.  Since I hadn't added any salt, I added some Murray River Flake salt (my current fave) and a bit of California Citrus Rub (both from Savory Spice Shop).  Then I added about a cup of milk, making a nice white sauce.  After tasting it (it had a nice bite from the citrus rub), I added the thawed shrimp and a generous sprinkling of parsley and some frozen, shredded parmesan.  I put the lid on it to meld flavors until the pasta was done.  A nice tidy dinner with leftovers for tonite.

Chicken: A new recipe

From Bobby Flay at Food Network:  Garlic and Oregano Marinated Chicken with Roasted Pepper and Black Olive Relish with Saffron-Tomato Rice

www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/garlic-oregano-marinated-chicken-with-roasted-pepper-black-olive-relish-recipe/index.html


My Notes:
*  Cutting the recipe in half (which is what I made) would easily serve eight!

*Don't be shy with the ancho chile powder - most of it is neutralized by the time you bake the chicken

*I used boneless, skinless chicken breasts and thighs - it actually took about 25 minutes to bake them

*For the rice, I used one can of chicken broth and another cup of water; only 7 minutes in the pressure cooker on first ring; don't skimp on the saffron; cook the onion first then add the rice to coat with the oil, then add the broth & water adding the saffron then

*I roasted my own peppers over a gas burner (a grill would work well too), tossed in a bag to steep, then seeded & chopped the olives, garlic, and peppers for the relish in the food processor - tossing the vinegar, honey, thyme & parsley with the chopped veggies in a bowl afterwards; the juice of half a lime, half a lemon is just right

*To serve a crowd, coarsely chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces, layer it on top of the rice and top with the Relish to serve on a platter or out of a very large casserole

Comments:
The Relish is awesome - would make it just to have as an appetizer with some crackers and goat cheese