Categories
Produce Sauces Sides Uncategorized Vegetarian

Creamed Spinach w/ Gruyère

    Creamed Spinach
    Creamed Spinach

    It’s Gruyère week here at StreamingGourmet. I just can’t get enough of the stuff. I guess it’s also heavy cream week. Sorry! But since I bought these items for the Tarragon Chicken dish the other day, I’m determined not to waste them.

    I became a fan of creamed spinach while waiting tables at the now defunct Ingleneuk Tea House in Swarthmore, PA. I was a vegetable girl there in 1991. As the main dishes were served, I offered each guest one of the evening’s side dishes from a large bowl I carried from table to table. I regularly ladled out maccaroni and cheese, stewed tomatoes, or creamed spinach. The restaurant served family-style meals from its opening in 1916 until its demise in a fire in 2000. With whom do I share the distinction of having served vegetables at the Ingleneuk? That would be none other than James A. Michener, a 1929 graduate of Swarthmore College. Swarthmore is a dry town, so there never were any restaurants of consequence there. Renato’s pizza and the Ingleneuk were the extent of the culinary scene in the early nineties. Except, come to think of it, for Occasionally Yours, a little café and catering company that served very decent food.

    So it was at the Ingleneuk that I first learned about adding fresh grated nutmeg to creamy dishes like macaroni and cheese and creamed spinach, an addition I am quick to include in these dishes today.

    Creamed Spinach
    2 – 4 servings

    Ingredients

    2 Tablespoons butter
    1 medium yellow onion, diced or 3/4 cup minced shallots
    (For more flavor, add garlic too – Emeril does)
    2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
    1/4 cup heavy cream
    1/2 cup whole milk
    1 6 oz bag pre-washed baby spinach
    pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
    1 Tablespoon freshly grated Gruyère cheese
    Salt and pepper to taste

    The Cream Sauce
    The Cream Sauce

    Method

    1. Heat milk and cream over low heat in a small saucepan. Make sure the milk doesn’t get scalded on start to boil. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, deep frying pan over medium-high heat. Add diced onion and sautée until the pieces are starting to turn brown, about 6 minutes. (You could cook them more gently until softened, but I like the nutty, sweet flavor that results from browning them in the butter). Reduce the heat to medium and add the flour. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon and allow flour, butter and onion mixture to brown for 3 minutes. This is a roux and is the basis for so many cream sauces (including my favorite mac n cheese sauces).

    Throw the raw spinach right in the pan
    Throw the raw spinach right in the pan

    2. Whisk in the heated milk. Reduce heat and stir continuously while incorporating. Add pinch of nutmeg and blend. Simmer gently until sauce thickens. Add Gruyère and stir until completely melted and blended. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour the raw spinach directly into the pan (this might break some rules, but it sure simplifies things and worked for me). Stir spinach to coat with sauce and watch the spinach wilt. Once spinach is thoroughly wilted but still a vibrant green color, remove pan from heat and serve.

    Creamed Spinach w/ Gruyère
    Creamed Spinach w/ Gruyère
      Categories
      Produce Sides Uncategorized Video How-to

      Sweet Potato French Fries

        Sweet Potato French Fries with Roast Beef
        Sweet Potato French Fries with Roast Beef

        While making sweet potato chips the other day (see that post here), I decided to use one of the other attachments from my new mandoline and make french fries as well. Once again, I was surprised and delighted by how easy and quick it was to turn one giant yam into a pile of matchstick fries.

        After hestitating for a long time (“Mandolines are too expensive,” I thought. “They’re too dangerous.”) I purchased my Swissmar Borner V Slicer Plus for only about $40 and I learned that it works great and has many built-in safety features. Click on the photo to learn more.

        Mandoline Magic
        Mandoline Magic

        As usual, I was in a rush, so I didn’t salt these for the recommended 30 minutes. I just salted them and threw them into olive oil that I had pre-heated to nearly smoking. It only took about 5 minutes before they looked done.

        Frying in Olive Oil
        Frying in Olive Oil

        With tongs, I transferred them to a paper-towel lined plate and dabbed them to remove the excess oil. I salted them again and enjoyed them with leftover roast beef from the night before. Scroll down to watch the recipe video I used for the roast beef.
        Although they tasted great, the sweet potato fries weren’t super crispy, so I did a little research. There’s a thread on CHOW that recommends soaking them in water first, then dredging them in cornstarch and then frying. I’m definitely going to try that next time because several people who tried this method concurred that it was a big success. You can read that thread here.

        Remove them from oil to a paper towel
        Remove them from oil to a paper towel

        Even without the extra cornstarch step, these fries were super yummy. The texture reminded me a bit of the French fries at In & Out Burger, not super crispy, but still good. And since they’re sweet potatoes, they’re packed with extra nutrients, right?

        Sweet Potato French Fries
        Sweet Potato French Fries

        Now for the roast beef video. In this video, they coat the beef with grainy mustard before roasting it. Yum.

          Categories
          Fish & Shellfish Produce

          Dungeness Crab Cakes

            Dungeness Crab
            Dungeness Crab
            Crab Cake
            Crab Cake

            I adapted this recipe from the Crab Cake recipe at Simply Recipes®. In her post, Elise wrote that her crab cakes would have benefited from an added spice kick, so I added 1/4 teaspoon of Fiery Chile Fusion to mine. I also cut the ingredients in half since I only bought one crab. I made other small adjustments for taste and rewrote the directions to my own short-cut liking.

              Categories
              Casseroles Produce Uncategorized

              Gratin Dauphinois of Potatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes (Sunchokes) and Leeks

                Gratin of Potatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes and Leeks
                Gratin of Potatoes, Jerusalem Artichokes and Leeks

                When a friend of mine told me she had a bumper crop of Jerusalem Artichokes in her backyard, I saw an opportunity to try yet another overlooked, underappreciated vegetable.

                I had never heard of Jerusalem Artichokes (now often called Sunchokes), though once she dropped them off, I recognized them from that isle in the produce department devoted to intimidating root vegetables. Jerusalem Artichokes are not actually a kind of artichoke though they are in the artichoke family. They are a kind of sunflower and are native to North America. They were grown by Native Americans before Samuel de Champlain discovered them and brought them back to France in the early 1600’s.

                Jerusalem Artichokes
                Jerusalem Artichokes

                When picking sunchokes, look for ones that are firm to the touch and plump. They should be crispy when you slice them raw. As sunchokes sit around, they get mushy.

                I figured the best way to cook this unfamiliar root vegetable would be to add it to a Gratin Dauphinois. I used the Gratin Dauphinois in Jacques Pépin’s book as the basis for my recipe.

                Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook
                Chez Jacques: Traditions and Rituals of a Cook

                I adapted the recipe by adding the sunchokes, the leeks and the nutmeg. Also, I made a few substitutions based on what I had on hand in my kitchen. For example, I didn’t have Gruyère cheese, nor did I have half and half or heavy cream, so I substituted 4-year aged cheddar for the Gruyère and 2% milk for the half and half. It came out great, so you should feel confident making these kinds of substitutions in a pinch.

                  Categories
                  Basics Produce Uncategorized

                  How to Get the Arils Out of A Pomegranate

                    Getting the seeds (arils) out of a pomegranate is not as difficult as it may seem. I got more than a cup of arils out of just one large pomegranate, pictured here.

                    Pomegranate
                    Pomegranate

                    Start by cutting off the top of the pomegranate about 1/2 inch down from the top (the crown).

                    Cut off the top of the pomegranate
                    Cut off the top of the pomegranate
                      Categories
                      Produce Uncategorized

                      Pomegranate Teaser

                        Pomegranate Arils
                        Scored Pomegranate with Arils

                        This is the first pomegranate I’ve ever opened. I love the color. The arils were easy to remove. Just wait to see what I’m going to cook with them.

                          Categories
                          Basics Panini Pork Produce Sauces Uncategorized

                          Pork Chop with Marsala Sauce (Creamy Version)

                            Pork Marsala with Noodles
                            Pork Marsala with Noodles

                            I’m a huge fan of chicken Marsala and veal Marsala, but I’ve got a craving for a pork chop, so I figure “why not try pork Marsala?” At the store, a double thick pork chop catches my eye and once again I think, “Why not?” (read on to find out why not). I’ve never made Marsala sauce before, but I figure it’s a variation on the Fig Sauce I did in September, just with mushrooms and Marsala wine instead of figs and Balsamic vinegar. Let’s see how this one turns out. An ingredients list (of sorts) is at the end of this post.

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