What's Cooking

[hdv]

To me Heinz is OK, but salty. This one is more "filled" and "fruity". I don't really know how to describe it better. There's bits and pieces in it, and it has the taste of fresh ingredients. Instead of just salty, this one is spicy, without being hot. It definitely has less of a processed food aura to it than Heinz has to me. Of course that might just be an illusion.

 

[deepcreek]

Growing up, my little brother would eat ketchup on anything.  He has fallen in love with Portland Organic Ketchup since moving to the Pacific Northwest a few years ago.  He's sent me a few bottles.  Good stuff.

 

[Cheese]

To me Heinz is OK, but salty. This one is more "filled" and "fruity". I don't really know how to describe it better. There's bits and pieces in it, and it has the taste of fresh ingredients. Instead of just salty, this one is spicy, without being hot. It definitely has less of a processed food aura to it than Heinz has to me. Of course that might just be an illusion.

FWIW...If you sign up to receive Stonewall email, they'll send you out a coupon for 20% off every 3-4 months. Any purchase over $50 also has free shipping. [smile]

Their jams are a staple in our house.https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/food/jams-jellies-marmalades/

It all started with this

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This stuff was so delicious it prompted us to try others. There is at least 1 jar of each one of these in our cellar/panty.

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And in the kitchen cabinet this stuff resides. Just add some milk and an egg and some fresh blueberries if you wish.

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[hdv]

Sadly they don't seem to ship to Europe. At least not as far as I could see last time I checked. That is a pity, because they have some products I would like to try that are not available in the shops here.

 

[semenza]

Speaking of ketchups .................  if you want plain one that is less sweet, smooth, and more ketchupy, without chunks and bits try Trader Joe's organic.

Seth

 

[six-point socket II]

[member=61712]six-point socket II[/member] your shrimp always looks so good!

(...)

Thanks! We get them by the kilogram, frozen, cultured tiger prawns from Thailand. Unfortunately it's becoming a lot harder to get good tasting ones, and then there is the issue with the farms, amounts harvested and child labour ... It's the next highly conflicted product.

Same with salmon, it's inflationary. Prices are getting lower and lower. Not "healthy".

Kind regards,
Oliver

 

[Cheese]

Sadly they don't seem to ship to Europe. At least not as far as I could see last time I checked. That is a pity, because they have some products I would like to try that are not available in the shops here.

This is from the Q&A section on their web site:

Q...Can I send a gift to Canada or any other international destination?
A...No, we do not ship internationally at this time.

[sad] [sad]

 

[hdv]

Yeah, so that's still the case. Too bad. Meanwhile, I have found a shop that stocks part of their products, including the country  ketchup. You'll be hearing no complaints about that from me.  [thumbs up] [big grin]

 

[Cheese]

Yeah, so that's still the case. Too bad. Meanwhile, I have found a shop that stocks part of their products, including the country  ketchup. You'll be hearing no complaints about that from me.  [thumbs up] [big grin]

I tried their Country Ketchup and I thought it was too sweet, that was disappointing...it'll be interesting to hear your opinion.  [smile]

 

[GoingMyWay]

I went shopping at Wegman's yesterday.  They have a whole Stonewall Kitchen section!

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Other grocery stores might have something similar that I never noticed before.

I picked up the Country Ketchup and the Blueberry Pancake mix.  I haven't tried either yet.  I thought my wife liked blueberry pancakes, but apparently she said she doesn't really like blueberry anything  .  The one exception are the blueberry muffins that she got at a class she took that was being held at the Ritz Carlton.  I wonder if it's possible to convert the blueberry pancake mix into blueberry muffins.

Last night I tried recreating one of my favorite dishes from my favorite Chinese restaurant (that sadly closed 5 years ago).  They called it "House Special Chicken" - it was julienned chicken strips,  julienned snow peas, and bamboo shoots in a spicy sauce.  I've never found this dish on the menu at any other Chinese restaurant, nor could I find any recipe online.

I marinated the chicken strips in some light soy sauce, corn starch, and a little sesame oil.  Then I sauteed the chicken strips for a few minutes and tossed in the snow peas and canned bamboo shoots.  I used a combination of sambal oelek and chili garlic sauce for the heat.  The rest of the sauce was chicken broth, a little more soy sauce, and a tiny bit of sugar.

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The dish tasted pretty similar to how I remember the restaurant's version.

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[Cheese]

I went shopping at Wegman's yesterday.  They have a whole Stonewall Kitchen section!

Last night I tried recreating one of my favorite dishes from my favorite Chinese restaurant (that sadly closed 5 years ago).  They called it "House Special Chicken" - it was julienned chicken strips,  julienned snow peas, and bamboo shoots in a spicy sauce.  I've never found this dish on the menu at any other Chinese restaurant, nor could I find any recipe online.

I really like the looks of all the julienned ingredients.  [smile]  They'd also cook quickly.  [big grin]  The dish looks good.

Do you have something that juliennes the ingredients quickly/easily? I'd have to do all that work by hand with a knife.  [sad]

Talking about Stonewall products, another one that has a permanent place in our fridge, is their Buffalo Aioli. Here's their recipe for Buffalo Chicken Lettuce Wraps.
https://www.stonewallkitchen.com/buffalo-chicken-lettuce-wraps-R376.html

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[GoingMyWay]

Yup everything did cook quickly.  I sauteed the chicken strips for 5 minutes before adding the snow peas and bamboo and cooked for another 5 minutes.  That cooking time probably could have been cut in half even.

I don't have any kitchen gadget to quickly julienne.  I cut the chicken and snow peas by hand.  The snow peas actually weren't that bad because I stacked 3-4 up at a time.  I tried to stack 2 slices of chicken breasts up but I found they were too slippery so I julienned each chicken strip 1 at a time.  I only used 1 chicken breast so it also wasn't bad.  I bought bamboo shoots that were already cut into strips.

 

[hdv]

It is a bit sweet to my taste as well. But still much much better than the rest that is either too salty, or too spicy, or way too sweet.

 

[Cheese]

I had a few left-over ears of corn so I made this salad to go alongside some sautéed scallops. I eliminated the bacon so as not to tamp down the flavor of the scallops.
https://www.today.com/recipes/avocado-corn-bacon-salad-lime-vinaigrette-recipe-t111620

This is a great corn salad recipe. I've paired it with chicken and have also used it with flanksteak. I'll usually double the vinaigrette so I can also drizzle it over the protein that I use.  [smile] 

Sometimes I've also thrown in some black beans and then seasoned the meat with some cumin to give it a Southwestern twist. It all works.

If you don't like cilantro you could substitute parsley, basil, spinach or arugula.

The scallops take on a brown cast because of the browned butter I used to sauté them.

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[GoingMyWay]

I made our favorite frozen fries in the air fryer yesterday to try the Country Ketchup.

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This was the first time making frozen fries in the air fryer.  The fries came out really nicely and took less than 10 minutes.

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On the left is regular Heinz Ketchup and the Country Ketchup is on the right.  My first thought was the Country Ketchup was sweet, but then I detected the spiciness.  I really liked the subtle heat in it along with the texture and chunkiness.  My wife said it reminded her more of sambal than ketchup, but she liked it.  It was totally different and nothing like we've ever had before.  Thanks for the suggestion!

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[hdv]

Ah, sambal. There's my vice! I made, ate, and still eat lots of that stuff (though less than I used to do). It used to be it couldn't be hot enough for me, but since a couple of years I have made a deliberate effort to tone it down. I found it had reduced my ability to taste subtle flavours. Luckily my tasting buds have regained their full spectrum again. Still, I will not easily turn down a good sambal. Djeruk might be my favourite type of sambal. Oelek definitely is my least favourite one.

 

[rvieceli]

Here’s a bit of yummy comfort food for us.

Italian beef in the slow cooker. Very easy and very forgiving. No haters please, got this recipe from my born in Italy aunt. I have modified it slightly over the years for the slow cooker.

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Start with a Chuck roast, don’t use anything fancier or less marbled. Won’t be as good. This one was about 3 pounds. You can use a bigger one, once done it portions up and freezes well, maybe adjust your wine and garlic amounts accordingly.

Splash some red wine in the slow cooker 6-8 ounces. Put the roast in, no need for browning. Toss in 6-8 or more garlic cloves. Put them on a cutting board, take the flat of your knife over the top of one and bash to break up the clove and remove the peel before adding in.

Let it go on low for about 6 or so hours. I usually flip it about halfway through. But you don’t need to. When it’s done it will literally fall apart. Remove from your cooker. Using two forks pull it apart like you were doing pulled pork  [smile]

Leave the garlic cloves or take them out or smash them up. Your choice.

You are going to get the meat back into the pot but leave the fat and gristle behind.

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Here comes the secret ingredient:

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Yup that’s right a package of Au jus gravy mix. I almost had a stroke when she told me  [eek]

But it works.

Throw everything back in the slow cooker and let it go for a while longer to let the gravy mix incorporate.

Serve on the rolls of your choice.  Yum [wink]

Some folks like a more liquid result, just add more wine in the beginning.  [big grin]

Ron

 

[Cheese]

That looks good Ron. However I’m surprised that there is no browning required as that does produce the fron which is the basis for flavor.

I’m going to try it and will report back.  [big grin]  Thanks for the recipe.

 

[rvieceli]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

Here’s a quote from Jamie Oliver from his cookbook “Jamie’s Dinners” I think.

“The great thing about this stew is that it gets put together very quickly, and this is partly to do with the fact that no time is spent browning the meat. Even though this goes against all my training, I experimented with two batches of meat – I browned one and put the other straight into the pot. The latter turned out to be the sweeter and cleaner-tasting, so I’ve stopped browning the meat for most of my stews these days.”

Also I think I’d suggest at least a 4-5 pound chuck roast. I don’t cook with much salt and depending on the au jus mix it can be a bit salty.

Ron

 

[Cheese]

[member=44099]Cheese[/member]

Here’s a quote from Jamie Oliver from his cookbook “Jamie’s Dinners” I think.

“The great thing about this stew is that it gets put together very quickly, and this is partly to do with the fact that no time is spent browning the meat. Even though this goes against all my training, I experimented with two batches of meat – I browned one and put the other straight into the pot. The latter turned out to be the sweeter and cleaner-tasting, so I’ve stopped browning the meat for most of my stews these days.”

Also I think I’d suggest at least a 4-5 pound chuck roast. I don’t cook with much salt and depending on the au jus mix it can be a bit salty.

Ron

That's interesting Ron...

Jamie Oliver is one of only 6-10 "celebrity chefs" that I consider produce meals that are consistently good/great. The vast majority of them can be hit or miss.

Whether it's that the restaurant style proportions don't scale down to the "dinner for two" or that there are magic tweaks along the line that the chefs incorporate but fail to mention, a lot of them just don't transfer from the restaurant to the home kitchen.

This includes Emeril...some of his are good while others are just OK.

One of the most decadent recipes I've ever made was by Jamie Oliver for a grouping for New Years Eve and it was a full 6# beef tenderloin rolled in sautéed fresh mushrooms and wrapped in thyme & prosciutto. OMG...to die for.

Along that line of thought, one of my go-to "celebrity chefs" that consistently hits it out of the park is Ina Garten. She performs at the 90% level consistently. I've cooked so many of her recipes and they are always so delicious. She's just tough on the trouser size...a little goes a long weighs.  [big grin]