The Mammoth Post - Part One

I'm back after a week without posts. My excuse this time? I spent the past few days in St.John's and Marystown so I have been absent from the blogging world. However, my little trip was filled with yummy food adventures, not all of which I have picture of, unfortunately, because I didn't bring my camera. I did, however, pick up an Iphone 4 (as an extreme ledite, this is a massive accomplishment) so I do have pictures of my last restaurant visit.

Sunday, April 17th, I was in a very lazy mood and did not want to cook. We had some leftover turkey from the day before (naturally) and some crab dip left over from Friday night, so I created a mish-mash no-cook supper featuring leftovers. I piled my plate with cold turkey and mustard (divine) and some crab dip with Old Dutch Lightly Salted plain rippled chips and Toppables crackers:

Yes, I didn't cook, and yes, it looks gross, and yes, I had chips for supper. But hey, when you're lazy and even the microwave seems like too much effort, leftovers like this are the way to go. And I'm an adult, I can eat chips for supper.

On Monday, Randy decided to use the last of the leftover turkey to make turkey soup. I'm not quite sure all of the ingredients in it because I let him commandeer the kitchen while I watched Teen Mom the news. I know he added turkey (white and dark meat), potatoes, carrots, vegetable soup, and chicken oxo.

Homemade Turkey Soup simmering

The soup turned out to be really delicious. Randy claimed it was a small pot but it was enough to have for supper plus lunches for the next two days. It was a pretty cold day on Monday too so it was nice to have something warm, hearty, and homemade especially since we probably only have a few more 'soup days' left before it's too warm to eat soup. Ah, who am I kidding? It's Newfoundland. A girl can dream.

On Tuesday, I decided to make a Sweet and Sour Pork Stirfry recipe from my Company's Coming Stirfry cookbook Mom gave me for Christmas. For this recipe, you need:
- White vinegar (3 tbsp)
- Cornstarch (4 tsp)
- Cooking oil (1 tbsp)
- Pork tenderloin, trimmed of fat, cut into 2 cm cubes ( 1 1/4 lbs)
- 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
- 1 medium green pepper, cut into strips
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- Water (1/4 cup)
- Salt (1/2 tsp)
- Can of pineapple tidbits (with juice) (14 oz.)
- Brown sugar, packed (1/3 cup)
- Soy sauce (1 1/2 tbsp)

Stir vinegar into cornstarch in small cup. Set aside.

Heat wok or lage frying pan on medium-high until very hot. Add cooking oil. Add pork. Stir-fry for about 5 minutes, until lightly browned.

Add next 5 ingredients. Cook, covered, for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender-crisp.

Add remaining 3 ingredients. Stir. Stir cornstarch mixture. Add to pork mixture. Heat and stir for 3 to 4 minutes until boiling and thickened. Serves 6.

Per serving: 250 calories, 4.8 grams total fat.

This meal wasn't bad - not crap, not great. It definitely was not one of the better strifry meals I have made with this cookbook.

I had been dying to make a recipe using puff pastry for awhile so on Wednesday, I chose a Rachael Ray recipe called "Fancy Pants Salmon" from the "Look and Cook" cookbook Randy gave me for Christmas. As a side, I chose the "garlicky creamed corn and spinach" side from the same cookbook.

For the salmon, you'll need:
-2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
-4 skinless salmont fillets (if serving 4, I halved all this for two servings)
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 or 2 small leeks, halved lengthwise, thinly sliced (I omitted this entirely and it was still good)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 3/4 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves (these have a very strong taste...if I made this again, I would omit them)
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry dough, 11x17, defrosted
- all-purpose flour
- 1 egg, lightly beaten with a splash of water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Season the fish with salt and pepper and sear for a minute on each side. Remove the fish and reserve. Add the remaining tablespoon of olive oil to the skillet. Add the mushrooms and brown for 5 to 6 minute, then add the leeks and cook until softened, about 2 to 3 minutes more. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper, then add the mustard, cream, and tarragon to the skillet. Bring up to a bubble, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until thickened, 3 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let cool. Roll out the puff pastry with a little flour on a large work area. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the rectangles of dough on it. Divide the mushroom cream sauce among the rectangled of dough, making a small pile in the middle of each.

Place a piece of seared fish on top of the sauce and fold the edges of the dough up around the fillet. Trim the excess dough. Use the egg wash to secure the seam, then place the fish seam side down on the lined baking sheet. Cut a few slits in the top of each pastry parcel. Brush them with the egg wash and transfer to the oven.

Bake until the pastry is puffed and golden, about 15 to 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

For the garlicky creamed corn and spinach, you'll need:
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3 cups frozen corn
- 2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- nutmeg
- 1/2 pound fresh spinach

Heat a large skillet over medium heat with the butter, add the corn and cook for 5 minutes.

Stir in the garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the cream and nutmeg to taste and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, until very creamy. Wilt in the spinach, adjust the seasoning and serve.

The finished product came out like this:

And for a look at the inside:

The puff pastry was awesome. The pastry itself was light and fluffy and the egg wash kept anything from seeping out of it. The sauce complimented the salmon well, taking away from the fishiness of it and keeping the whole thing nice and creamy. The garlicky creamed corn and spinach I was not a fan of. The garlic was almost overwhelming and it was just kind of a flop. No real taste to it. I wouldn't recommend making the side (but provided the recipe just in case you are feeilng bold).

Thursday was the day before Randy and I left town so I wanted to make something quick and easy and use some leftover ingredients that might go bad while we were gone. So, I went with an old staple: Pad Thai:

Yeah, it's not the best presentation. I slopped it all in there because I was starving and just wanted to chow down. Later that night, Randy broke out a pack of bacon and a can of water chestnuts and made bacon-wrapped water chestnuts.

Yep, we sure devoured an entire pack of bacon. Bacon-wrapped anything is boss in my books, but water chestnuts are so thin and light and crunchy that you don't even notice you have downed a half pack of bacon between two people. Truth be told, if he had cooked the entire pack, I'm sure we would have eaten it.

That's all for this installment - since I have quite a lot to write about, I've decided to divide it up into two posts. Stay tuned for my next post - the St.John's Easter Holiday post! Spoiler alert: I ate a lot of junk.

Shoutouts go to: bacon wrapped water chestnuts, butter pecan ice cream with chocolate syrup, and plain saltine crackers.

Here's Sebastian chillin' with a Christmas present: