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First blog post
This is the post excerpt.
This is the post excerpt.
This is your very first post. Click the Edit link to modify or delete it, or start a new post. If you like, use this post to tell readers why you started this blog and what you plan to do with it.
Hello friends
by now it is probably clear that Penzeys Spices are used in a lot of Mr Nut recipes. There are several reason for that choice, one is to avoid my wife’s spice storage system where one must search through millions or at least nearly millions of spice bottles on her spice shelves. Then there is the convenance of having all the spices premixed in one bottle instead of having to hunt through the millions of Cyndy’s spices bottles for the individual spices called for in the recipe. IT WAS TIME FOR A SOLUTION TO THE CHAOS.
The pictures in this blog are just ”thumbnails” of the actual pictures. You can and should enlarge the ”thumbnails” to see the whole picture by clicking on them. To return to normal view, click on the left facing arrow at the top of your screen)
This was made just for Penzeys Spices. With limited tools at my disposal the rack was made with utility in mind not beauty.
This rack will hold all the Penzey Spices I could ever want to use
The rack folds up nicely keeping the spices from falling out.
To be in touch with the technology of today, the latch is Velcro.
Looking forward to actually using the spice rack, until then it will be stored next to my heavy duty stand mixer.
Á bientôt
Mr Nut
Hello friends,
last week Cyndy and I collaborated on making a recipe from Taste of Home magazine. The contributor was Joanie Shawn of Madison WI. Because Velveeta has not been considered eatable in our family since our second oldest son, William, (age 53) had a ”love” affair with it during his Junior high years, we preceded wth a bit of skepticism.
The pictures in this blog are just ”thumbnails” of the actual pictures. You can and should enlarge the ”thumbnails” to see the whole picture by clicking on them. To return to normal view, click on the left facing arrow at the top of your screen)
Cindy, almost ready to add the cubed Velveeta to the soup. She was the the boss, for this endeavor
The soup looked weird. But was it too thick with Velveeta? The taste test yielded a NO.
As usual the presentation was not professional but the taste was great. A real winner recipe.
Á bientôt
Mr Nut
based on recipe from Taste of Home magazine by Joanie Shawnhan
Blog of 10-25-2016
At least eight servings for old folks
In our family Velveeta ”cheese” was a no! no! Not real “cheese”, was our impression of Velveeta. But Joanie Shawn’s recipe, with a few changes is a real winner. This is a easy and relatively quick meal as far a preparation and cooking goes. The only negative thing is you really need to use the whole package of Velveeta, because in our family, what would be done with the left over Velveeta.
Ingredients:
1/2 pound 92 or 94% lean ground beef
4 tablespoons butter, divided
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. dried parsley flakes
about 1 1/2 pounds cubed unpeeled potatoes (most of the vitamins are in the skin)
3 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 pound package Velveeta process ”cheese”, cubed
1 1/2 cup cups milk (fat free or 2% works well
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup sour cream
Directions:
9. Serve
Hello friends,
Again, the The Food Lab book has provided this novice kitchen warrior with a little more cooking knowledge. This time it was about making chicken cutlets without beating the #$%&% out of the chicken breasts to make them thin.
The pictures in this blog are just ”thumbnails” of the actual pictures. You can and should enlarge the ”thumbnails” to see the whole picture by clicking on them. To return to normal view, click on the left facing arrow at the top of your screen)
With a sharp knife and the smooth side of the chicken breast up, make a horizontal cut to divide the chicken breast into two pieces.
What you have is two cutlets without working out your frustrations with a meat hammer.
The second thing learned was, for searing meat a FLAT bottomed skillet is needed so that the oil placed in the skillet will fill the air gaps between the meat and the surface of the skillet. liquid transfers heat better than air (a little of science: physics ).
As learned before, dry brining has advances over wet brining. If you have time, at least forty minutes, rub a little Kosher Salt onto the surface of the cutlets and and place them on a plate, uncovered in the refrigerator for at least forty minutes (maximun time overnight). The modern refrigerator with it frost free design helps draw out excess moisture from the meat.
With that new or improved knowledge, it’s time to move on to the recipe.
Á bientôt
Mr Nut
Mr Nut’s original recipe
blog of 10-24-2016
Serves 4 older persons
Chicken cutlets were cooked using the Sous Vide machine for two hours at 141℉. The mushrooms and onion were sautéd until they developed their own fond to serve as the base of the sauce. The mushrooms boosted the fricassee’s meaty flavor. Finally, the sauce was finished with sour cream, which added body. Wondra flour was slowly added and whisked into the sauce to thicken it to your desired consistency.
Making Cutlets out of the breasts:
With a sharp knife and the smooth side of the chicken breast up, make a horizontal cut to divide the chicken breast into two pieces.
What you have is two cutlets without working out frustrations with a meat hammer.
As learned before, dry brining has advances over wet brining. If you have time at least forty minutes Using Kosher Salt rub a little salt into the surface of the cutlets and and place them on a plate, uncovered in the refrigerator for at least forty minutes (maximun time overnight). The modern refrigerator with it frost free design helps draw out excess moisture from the meat.
INGREDIENTS:
—————— Brining and Sous Vide cutlets———————
1 tablespoon Kosher; salt for dry brining
about one pound chicken cutlets (four).
1 tablespoon Penzeys Spices: Adobo*
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
——————————Sauce———————
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup onion , chopped fine
6 ounces mushrooms , cut into 1/4-inch slices
2 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth.
1/2 cup sour cream
Wondra flour added slowly for thickening agent
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon tarragon or parsley flakes
INSTRUCTIONS:
————————— the cutlets——————-
—————————- sauce————————
Hello friends,
From November 13, 2012 a recipe for French Onion Salisbury Steak, cried out for help. It was written using many colors (new color printer), but not much about cooking skills or knowledge. Also, now in 2016 many of my new recipes use the Sous Vide method of cooking. As I read the book The Food Lab my knowledge is increasing even though it is sort of fleeting, after a few days. But I reread the source of the knowledge as needed.
For example, when searing meat oil is usually introduce to the skillet to help increase the contact of the meat with the skillet surface. This requires a skillet with an FLAT base. most of our skillets are concave, thus not good for searing. We do (Cyndy and I share) have one stainless steel skillet that has a flat base and searing in it is faster than starting the outside grill and using the searing burner.
Á bientôt,
Mr Nut
Mr Nut’s recipe blog of Oct 23, 2016
Makes four 4 ounce steaks;
With a strong desire for medium-rare Salisbury Steak, the only choice that is acceptable and safe is Sous Vide cooking. Also with the use of Penzey Spices, most of the individual spices are already mixed in the Penzey Spice mixes.
Ingredients:
——————for the Salisbury Steak:—————-
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/8 cup minced dry parsley flakes
1 teaspoon Penzeys Spices; Beef Roast*
———————-for the sauce—————-
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 cup sliced onions; slices cut in half
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 14.5 ounce can beef broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Directions:
———————Sous Vide ——————
Hello friends
Again there was need to revise and simplify another recipe. For example, why make Marinara sauce when Ragu Italian Spaghetti sauce works just as well. Also, it seemed logical to group the ingredients for each phase of the cooking. Therefore, the recipe that follows this blog reflects the above changes.
Á bientôt
Mr Nut
Original recipe; inspired by in the book titled Modernist Cooking made easy by Jason Logsdon
revised in blog of 10-19–16
Ingredients:
————— Sous Vide——-
2 chicken cutlets about 1 lb.
12 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon Penzeys Spices Jerk *
1 tablespoon fresh crushed rosemary or 1/2 teaspoon dry crushed rosemary
*Jerk Ingredients: ginger, chili pepper, brown sugar, garlic, paprika, allspice, lemon grass, thyme, nutmeg, black pepper, cumin, cayenne red pepper and jalapeño.
———Coating —————————
1/4 cup dried Italian style bread crumbs
1/8 cup grated parmesan or Italian style cheese
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/4 cup plain yogurt (apply with a Pastry Brush)
—————-Searing——————
1/8 cup olive oil
———Marinara Sauce: —————
just use 1/2 a jar of Ragu Italian (or any style) style Spaghetti sauce.
———Pasta———————
3 1/2 ounces wheat based pasta (non wheat tends to breakdown when warmed up in leftovers).
——————-finishing Chicken———————-
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
4 slices mozzarella cheese (1/4inch thick)
2 tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
Dried oregano, (sprinkle on top of the plate before serving
Directions
(At least 3 to 5 hours before serving)
————-Sous Vide the Cutlets———-
———————-Pasta————————
Cook the 4 ounces of wheat pasta according to the directions on the pasta package
——————Coating the cutlets———-30 minutes before serving,
————————Searing————————
——————-Finishing the cutlets———————-
Hello friends,
Chicken Marsala is a great meal, but how about Pork Marsala? Back in April 2015 a recipe for Chicken Marsala was developed, based on an allrecipes.com recipe. Why not a Pork Marsala using the Sous Vide method of cooking loin pork chops to medium rare without overcooking the outer portions of the loin pork chops.
After studying brining in the book The Food Lab by J Kenji López-Alt, I have moved away from wet brining with water, salt and sugar, since that introduces water into the meat, decreasing the meat’s flavor. For this recipe, a dry salt brining will be used for a minimum of one hour. Then the loin pork chops will be cooked Sous Vide method for three to five hours ( three is enough) in a water bath set at 131℉. Then the loin pork chops will be coated and then seared in a very hot flat bottom skillet.
After removing the seared loin pork chops (set them aside and keep them warm) Sauté the mushrooms for a couple of minutes in the same but cooler skillet and then add the Marsala wine and Sherry, simmer and then thicken the sauce with Wondra flour to form a thick sauce. Return the loin pork chops to the sauce and to heat up the chops.
Á bientôt
Mr Nut
Mr Nut’s recipe
Servings: 4
The Sous Vide method of cooking allows for a consistent temperature throughout the meat. Dry brining helps tenderize the meat without adding water into the meat. With the Sous Vide cooking method the brining is actually optional but it does tenderize the meat more than just Sous Vide cooking. Even for an inept man this would be an easy and delicious meal.
Ingredients:
——-Brining —————
four loin pork chops
about one tablespoon Kosher Salt ( has coarser granules)
——-Sous Vide cooking————————
about 1/8 cup Penzeys Spices – Bavarian*
*Bavarian ingredients: crushed brown mustard, rosemary,garlic, thyme, bay leaves and sage
———Coating ————-
up to 1/4 cup Italian style bread crumbs
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
about 1/4 cup Plain Yogurt (use pastry brush to coat pork chops)
———Searing————-
2 tablespoons butter
1/8 cup olive oil
———Sauce——
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup sherry (avoid cooking sherry)
Wonder flour (for thickening)
Directions:
Help friends,
Just a short note to update the cooking of Mr Nut’s frozen pizza. Since the toppings are about one inch thick, it was necessary to micro-wave the pizza first, for about four minutes before placing it in the 450℉ oven, not on a pizza stone, but on the upper middle oven rack for about 20 minutes.
The updated recipe for making and freezing pizza follows.
Á bientôt,
Mr Nut
updated 10-7-16
Continuing the pizza making recipes development from a previous blog, let’s deal with making the sauce. Also baking one pizza and freezing the second pizza. If you have already made your pizza dough and have the sausage ready to go, (see blog: Making Mr Nut’s Pizza Dough and pizza sausage) let’s finish the pizzas. It makes sense to make two pizzas at a time because tomato sauce comes in 8 ounce cans and tomato paste comes in a 6 ounce can. i.e. no waste.
Mr Nut’s Pizza Sauce Ingredients: (for two pizzas)
2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped broccoli stems or celery.
1/2 cup finely chopped red or green pepper.
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 ounces tomato sauce
6 ounces tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Pizza Sauce Directions:
Put 2 teaspoon olive oil in sauce pan and sauté the red ingredients, then add the green ingredients to the brown ingredients. and keep on low heat until needed.
After the two circular pizza doughs have been par-baked, set one aside to completely cool. With the second par-baked pizza dough build your pizza. (keep the dough on parchment paper)
Pizza Toppings: (for one pizza)
3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
about 3 ounces sautéed Italian style sausage
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (sautéed).
1/2 cup sweet onions, (sautéed).
1/4 cup grated Italian Style Parmesan cheese.
15 slices pepperoni; 1 3/4 diameter slices
1/4 cup red pepper pieces, (sautéed).
1/4 cup red onion pieces, (sautéed).
Roma tomato slices, (about 6 slices)
Recommended order of toppings:
1. Place a base thin layer of the mozzarella cheese on the crust.
2. Add the brown-green mixture. (sauce)
3. A layer of sharp cheddar or more mozzarella cheese.
4. Add the Roma tomato slices, pepperoni slices, and Italian Style Parmesan cheese or more mozzarella cheese.
5. The add the sausage and sautéed mushrooms, Red onion and red pepper pieces).
6. Top it off with the black olive slices.
Using the Peel return the par-baked pizza to the oven at 450℉ after topping it, for another ten to fifteen minutes or until the cheese has melted.
After you have enjoyed the pizza and the second par-baked pizza crust has completely cooled, repeat the topping direction above.
Freeze the pizza: Place the pizza on a baking sheet and freeze, uncovered, until solid, about 3 hours. Once frozen wrap the pizzas in plastic wrap and aluminum foil: The double layer protects the pizzas from drying out in the freezer. You can freeze pizza for up to three months.
Bake the frozen pizzas: When ready to eat the pizza, preheat the oven to 450°F. Since the toppings are about one inch thick, it is necessary to micro-wave the pizza first for about four minutes before placing it in the 450℉ oven, not on a pizza stone, but on upper middle oven rack for about 20 minutes. Bake until the crust is dark brown and the cheese in the center of the pizza is bubbly. Eat immediately.
Hello friends,
It’s time to venture off on my own with an original recipe. The Food Lab book recommends Sous Vide approach for cooking meat followed by a good searing technique. However, there are little to no detailed instructions for the process. Four sources were used to develop this recipe for a loin pork roast. The Food Lab by j. Kenji López-Alt; All About Roasting by Molly Stevens; Modernist Cooking Sous Vide by Jason Logsdon and of course Google.
For the life of me the conversion of linear measurement in millimeters to inches escapes me and what is left of my brain. Enter a Google search and right away one inch was equal to 25.4 mm. Wow! how neat, later, that night in the hot tub, my memory resurfaced. The conversion key used throughout college was, floated to the top of my brain: one inch was equal to 2.54 centimeters. This information was need to determine the cooking time for the Loin Pork Roast because the height guide for determining cooking time was in millimeters.
Being a believer in wet brining meat before cooking it, the concept of dry brining was new to me. Wet brining adds water to the meat, thus diluting the flavor. Dry brining yields a more flavorful meat because it does not add water to the meat. Time is the issue, if you can brine 40 minutes and up to three days then dry brining would be preferred. If you are rushed then a 30 minute super wet brine would be acceptable. Be careful with the amount of salt used in dry brining, since you may be able to detect the sodium in the finished product. An eight hour dry brine was used for this recipe.
The pictures in this blog are just ”thumbnails” of the actual pictures. You can and should enlarge the ”thumbnails” to see the whole picture by clicking on them. To return to normal view, click on the left facing arrow at the top of your screen)
A funny thing happened on the way to the searing. The pork roast that was sort of in one piece became three pieces. Why??
This was just one piece, but part of three muscles. According to J. Kenji López-Alt the brining process ”effectively unravel(s) the proteins that make up the sheath around the muscle bundles.” Thus the muscles separated.
What started our as one piece of meat became three pieces.
It was time to move on to searing the meat which required a skillet with a FLAT bottom surface. This was very important because when you add oil to the skillet it must cover the bottom surface of the skillet, thus insuring that there is good contact between the skillet bottom and the complete surface of the meat in contact with the skillet. All of our skillets were convex in the interior (not good), and the oil was not under the meat correctly. Also, the searing really messed up the stovetop area, with oil spatters everywhere. Next time the searing burner on our outdoor grill will be used because the unevenness of the skillet surface nor the meat surface will be a problem.
Notice that the complete meat surface was not seared, because much of the meat surface never had contact with the skillet surface.
Notice the great pink color of the interior of the meat slices. Also, the searing did not cook the interior of the slices. The flavor was great and the meat was very tender.
Alot was learned with this attempt at a new recipe. The following recipe reflects some the thing learned this time.
Á bientôt,
Mr Nut
Based on information from: The Food Lab by j. Kenji López-Alt;
All About Roasting by Molly Stevens; Modernist Cooking Sous Vide by Jason Logsdon
serves about six
Ingredients:
one pork loin roast; about 28 ounces and two inches thick
about 2 teaspoons Kosher salt
about 2 teaspoons Penzeys Spices; Adobo seasoning **
1 tablespoon canola oil
**Penzeys Spices; Adobo seasoning contains: onion, garlic, Tellicherry black pepper, Mexican oregano, cumin and cayenne pepper
Directions:
Hello friends,
Continuing the pizza making recipes development from yesterday’s blog, let’s deal with making the sauce. Also baking one pizza and freezing the second pizza. If you have already made your pizza dough and have the sausage ready to go, (see blog: Making Mr Nut’s Pizza Dough and pizza sausage) let’s finish the pizzas. It makes sense to make two pizzas at a time because tomato sauce comes in 8 ounce cans and tomato paste comes in a 6 ounce can. i.e. no waste.
Mr Nut’s Pizza Sauce Ingredients: (for two pizzas)
2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 cup finely chopped broccoli stems or celery.
1/2 cup finely chopped red or green pepper.
1/2 cup chopped onion
8 ounces tomato sauce
6 ounces tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning
Pizza Sauce Directions:
Put 2 teaspoon olive oil in sauce pan and sauté the red ingredients, then add the green ingredients to the brown ingredients. and keep on low heat until needed.
After the two circular pizza doughs have been par-baked, set one aside to completely cool. With the second par-baked pizza dough build your pizza. (keep the dough on parchment paper)
Pizza Toppings: (for one pizza)
3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
about 3 ounces sautéed Italian style sausage
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms (sautéed).
1/2 cup sweet onions, (sautéed).
1/4 cup grated Italian Style Parmesan cheese.
15 slices pepperoni; 1 3/4 diameter slices
1/4 cup red pepper pieces, (sautéed).
1/4 cup red onion pieces, (sautéed).
Roma tomato slices, (about 6 slices)
Recommended order of toppings:
1. Place a base thin layer of the mozzarella cheese on the crust.
2. Add the brown-green mixture. (sauce)
3. A layer of sharp cheddar or more mozzarella cheese.
4. Add the Roma tomato slices, pepperoni slices, and Italian Style Parmesan cheese or more mozzarella cheese.
5. The add the sausage and sautéed mushrooms, Red onion and red pepper pieces).
6. Top it off with the black olive slices.
Using the Peel return the par-baked pizza to the oven at 450℉ after topping it, for another ten to fifteen minutes or until the cheese has melted.
After you have enjoyed the pizza and the second par-baked pizza crust has completely cooled, repeat the topping direction above.
Freeze the pizza: Place the pizza on a baking sheet and freeze, uncovered, until solid, about 3 hours. Once frozen wrap the pizzas in plastic wrap and aluminum foil: The double layer protects the pizzas from drying out in the freezer. You can freeze pizza for up to three months.
Bake the frozen pizzas: When ready to eat the pizza, preheat the oven to 450°F. If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven as it heats; When the oven has heated. Bake for 8-10 ???? minutes, until the crust is dark brown and the cheese in the center of the pizza is bubbly. Eat immediately.