cooking the harvest, and growing/catching it.

[george47]

In a minute I will have the potatoes on and begin peeling the shrimp for the fish cakes - need something on Netflix to keep go along.

This is my plan - I have 3 and a half pounds white trout fillet, 1 1/2 pounds of whole shrimp I kept from shrimp - bait - netting (will be a packed cup of meat), and a cup of Cajun boiled shrimp tails. So; boil 2 pounds potatoes, grind the lot with onion, 3 big eggs, 1/4 cup bread crumbs, and ideally green onion plus cilantro (coriander greens) but I think my cilantro is toasted in the summer heat.

So over 6 pounds of fish cakes. This is just an experiment. The alligator gar cakes I make in the spring when the gar run into my bayou are fantastic. I am tired of speck and white trout after years of eating it all the time and think this may be the way to go with them. The white trout are running now and you can catch a cooler full - and they will suddenly go, so best get them if I like this. Which means fishing tonight if dinner is good.

Gumbo soup with garden okra, peppers, and a bought ear of corn, some spicy cooked shrimp and slices of smokes sausage, and whole cherry tomatoes.

I have the pear/berry pie, gave one away, heavy whipping cream and for second dessert - chocolate peanut butter cup icecream. I like the odd flavors. I also have mint chocolate, with dark chocolate flakes and 'Sunday Cone', with bits of cone dipped in chocolate, peanuts, and chocolate swirls in vanilla icecream.

Americans do great icecream flavors - I also get Coconut almond fudge swirl. Pistachio almond. Banana split (cherrys, pineapple bits, peanuts And cashews, strawberries, banana peices, and chocolate swirls) in a vanilla icecream. Butter pecan. eggnog. strawberry swirl.

Is anyone cooking anything?

 

[george47]

So, the fish cakes:

I used about 2 pounds white trout fillets with the roe, and a pound of shrimp - mostly raw shrimp but a good bit Cajun boiled. Then I took some and mixed with mashed potatoes, touch bread crumbs, green onion, made into cakes, pressed into panko crumbs, sautéed in soy bean oil till well done and a nice brown. They were only OK - the texture too rubberyish from the ground fish being kneaded into the potato and egg. I make a tarter sauce of the simplest kind and that made them pop, and were actually pretty good then. Last night I netted another 3 pounds of shrimp but did not go fishing, but will tonight. Then make another batch and freeze it - as I will most of this one, about 2 packets - I always cook extra fish as the (4) dogs demand some after we finish - they are fish mad, being raised on it. The long haired chihuahua that looks just like an Arctic fox, dances all over on her back legs when it is fish time. Which is when the dessert plates get put away.

 

[george47]

The pie - pear/blackberry with a few blueberries to round the flavor out. I like some of the pear to have a firm texture so use a mix of very ripe and some less so. The very ripe dissolve into the sauce as do most of the berries, and them bits remain to give it texture. My mother is always making cakes and pies and giving them to neighbors, and I do as well. For some reason people do not make home made desserts much, although very easy - it takes time and even a little I guess is tight nowadays. I have another five pounds of the pears in the refrigerator and would can them but my wife wants them to keep texture so wants to try freezing them. I prefer canning as it is no effort at all, and then do not clutter the freezer.

The pie is a tiny bit tart from the sourness of blackberries - mine are not sweet (I get a good 10 gallons a year off my bushes and freeze and can them) and then we whip heavy cream with a touch of vanilla and some sugar - takes 3 minutes and the beaters are very good to clean after, when cleaning up the dinner dishes. The sweet whipped cream with the tart fruit pie and short bread crust is excellent! I had seconds with warmed pie and some strawberry swirl, vanilla, ice cream - and that was very good, cannot beat a good fruit based dessert. I make short cake, Pavlovas, Lady Finger cake - to top with sugared fruit and whipped cream. Simple as the cakes are made in batches and the Pavlovas kept on the shelf in a zip lock bag, and the others in the freezer - they are good for 4 + months that way.

 

[george47]

Soup!

I like it every day. I like dinner time. I hate to say it but we put on Netflix, or such, now days with dinner - but do sit at a proper table anyway. But I like soup as it drags out dinner, and that is good. We spend a good hour at the table; soup, sometimes a salad, like tonight will be a Waldorf as we have some grapes - no walnuts, but pecans, a lovely salad, then the main course, and always a dessert. The main course tonight will be very simple, BLTs, bacon, lettuce, tomato, with mayonnaise, on toast. A sandwich which is almost a meal in its self, covering so many food groups. I am going fishing early tonight, 6 p.m., so want to make it simple.

This is MaMa Tum Yum, hot and sour, gumbo. I use a Creole gumbo base for my summer soups as I have peppers (4-5 kinds) and okra, and beans, in the garden - tomatoes part of the summer (add whole cherry tomatoes at the end.)

Because I net shrimp they go into most of my soups, and this little smoked sausage, Bryan smoked.

The sausage is kept frozen and a 2 inch piece cut off and sliced - and is thrown in at the end with the shrimp, adds an excellent flavor bite. One packet lasts a long time.

I chop a couple peppers, then add some beans (dried carrot from the spring garden too) and simmer 15 minutes, add the sliced okra, cook a bit - then deceide where to take it. This one I had added some chopped purple cabbage for colour and flavor. This a tiny Mexican Knorr chicken stock, some instant onion soup, when about done add the shrimp and sausage, the MaMa 4 flavor packets (I keep the hot one for my bowl as my wife does not like hot) then the bean thread noodles, and a Sansburys packet of instant 'Hot and Sour' soup - and let sit 3 minutes till noodles are done.

No effort, just assembling, and wonderful. But I may go Moroccan, Thai, or just gumbo - veg sometimes, Mexican - the base is the base, and can be any veg. I often use a ear of sweet corn, cut off and added with 5 minutes simmering so it stays crunchy.

Then I do milk based soups - asparagus in spring, broccoli in winter, crab and shrimp all year.

 

[george47]

I realized when I said 4 packets that may be confusing. I bought a case of 30 of these for $12 - not the best, but I like them. Rice thread noodles - and they have 4 packets of flavoring. One is the soup base, one a flavored oil. one the hot peppers, and a fourth of something I am not sure of. MaMa

Fish tonight, I have about 15 pounds of white trout to clean. I think I will grind it and pack in 10 oz bags for making anything. I am thinking of making balls with the ground fish, add raw shrimp, peppers, onions...... then sautee and make a sweet and sour sauce with red bell pepper and pineapple pieces. Serve over rice. I am always looking for something to do with fish which is not the staple of rolled in cornmeal and pan fried in a minimal amount of vegetable oil.

 

[george47]

The pecan crusted redfish on the half shell is my wife's very favorite, I made it the first time a few days ago. Pecan trees are everywhere here, they are very traditional.

The redfish has very thick and heavy scales - the way it is very often done is 'on the half shell' where a fillet is cooked with scales on and it makes its own baking dish and the fish stays moist.

Butter melted, pecans added with a good amount of jar chopped garlic, dash sugar, salt. This cooked in the microwave a bit. The fillet is baked 20 minutes, then topped with the nuts and baked another 20 minutes till the nuts are crunchy.

It is delicious. And very simple.

 

[george47]

Not much action here so I am bumping the thread to keep it alive - making a pie and steaming some crabs. The lemon curd bottom layer I do on some of my pies is very simple. Put 1/2 cup sugar, 3 whole eggs or 4 yolks, and 3 Tablespoons lime juice in a double boiler bowl, cook over boiling water siring with a whisk till thickened, pour into cooked pie crust - let set a few minutes, then add fruit filling.

Fruit filling - any fruit, 28 ounces of it peeled and sliced, 1 cup sugar - simmer it 8 minutes - more or less, then dump in 3 T cornstarch dissolved in 3 T water - stir till it has become clear again, a couple minutes max, half cool till still very warm, pour into pie crust on lime, refrigerate 6 hours ideally so it fully sets.

Pie shell - frozen one, deep one, thaw, ***** all over bottom and sides with fork to stop it bubbling up, cook 400F, 200C 12 minutes till very dark.

Someone make a pie and tell me how they do it. I make a pie every week and it takes no time. Made a coconut one last night.

[video=youtube;xpia0LswJ6g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpia0LswJ6g[/video]

The beginning shows chicken feed - I net them the small fish, they love them.

 

[george47]

FISH CAKES, lovely. Grinding the raw white trout and shrimp -

This batch has both cooked and raw shrimp, the fillets, and the trout roe all being ground, minced, together. Pretty good and I froze batches - no potato, to see how that works.

last night I just did a small batch so used the mini food processor, 8 oz fish. 3 oz raw shrimp. Then microwave and mash and cool a russet potato (7 oz) mix with an egg. chopped onion, raw fish, and press into panko crumbs. cook. I am thinking of trying a samosa thing with raisins, peas, cardamom, green onion, curry powder, and a touch of chutney. Then the crumbs for the crunchy coat and fry in veg oil (I like soy oil)

Love the fish cakes, with tarter sauce especially. We are so tired of Gulf trout having eaten them a couple times a week for years - they have a distinctive flavor I have had enough of - but the cakes, well the flavor comes from many things. Crunchy outside, lovely inside. From two nights ago

Soups continue being mostly a gumbo from the garden okra and peppers, with some bought stuff - a very hearty soup with plenty of the shrimp I net.

Today I make a Southern thing, a Dump Cake. I have some over ripe persimmons and you take the pulp, put in a round cake pan, 'dump' half a recipe cake batter (I am using lemon cake with walnuts) on top of the fruit pulp, bake, it kind of becomes one with the fruit - I will sprinkle some brown sugar on the persimmon but do not have to. Serve warmed with some ice-cream, I have my gallon of low fat strawberry swirl, vanilla, icecrem in the freezer as I always do. Low fat so a bit oh-hum, but $6 a gallon, and not terrible.

 

[george47]

Well that was the one I was trying to develope - a major success. Samosa fish cakes. Chopped 8 oz white trout fillet in food processor quickly, microwaved a 7 oz russet baking potato which was mashed peel and all, let cool. Microwave 1/3 cup frozen peas to boiling and drain, chop 1/4 onion.

Mix potato with an egg for firm cake, without for delicate cake (I did not use an egg because I forgot - was great) 1/4 cup raisins, onion, two cardamom pods seeds roughly chopped, garm marsala, curry powder, whole fennel - all in small amounts, and a round Tablespoon of chutney - mix all with a dash of salt. Make into 5 cakes, press into panko crumbs, saute in some vegetable oil 30 minutes, turning, on low till deep brown and crunchy.

With it I made a Tzatziki sauce using USA dill pickles finely chopped as the cucumber (no squeezing and draining like fresh cuke takes - use right from the jar) and finely chopped celery (a tarter sauce leaning thing) with yogurt, touch of hot sauce, dried dill (plenty) and dash of sugar to counteract the sour of everything.

Then doing Thai and Vietnamese cooking I have the big bottles of sweet chili sauce (not hot) and siracha - and with those on the plate had a lovely selection of dipping sauces.

Was fantastic.

Cream of corn and shrimp soup with an ear of fresh corn, celery, potato, onion, smoked sausage, milk and shrimp from the bayou.

The Coast traditional Persimmon 'Dump Cake' from over ripe persimmons given to us - made with a lemon/walnut batter, with ice-cream.

Edit to say - put the persimmon pulp into cake pan and stir in some cornstarch till it dissolves, then dump cake batter on top - the walnuts were an excellent addition. The pulp is very watery and this makes it thickened, just 1/2 a teaspoon.

 

[george47]

So what dessert today? Maybe my coconut impossible pie - I would be very disappointed with you all if no one makes it - so, so easy, everyone loves it, healthy - kind of - too.

But berries should be used. Possibly a fool. I see it as some thickened, sweetened, blackberries (maybe some blueberries thrown in) kind of like my pie filling but still a little runny when cool. So whip cream (we eat whipped cream almost daily - so fast to make, (and one licks the beaters and bowl) with extra sugar and vanilla, stir in some yogurt then put in a tallish glass, put in fruit, some fool mix, and fruit. Serve.

And tonight is to be either fish cakes - I have a cooler with about 20 pounds of trout from last night fishing - or the eggplant (aubergine) lasagna - which I love. I even have a small bit of hamburger meat to put into the marinara sauce so it will not be vegetarian. The eggplants were 1$ each - who could resist.

 

[george47]

Hamburgers last night, I was to make a dish with the beef but after skipping the nights sleep before, and not much the night prior to that, I was too tired to bother.

I am making a pie in a bit but cannot think of what I want - although here it tends to be blackberries with everything. The last few have been berry/pear - no persimmon left, peaches way too expensive and have no scent so are likely flavorless -I bought rock hard plums really cheap but they need a good wile, if they ever do ripen. There are a couple withered apples in the back of the refrigerator. I have a 3 year old can of apricots... maybe apple/apricot/blackberry -

Tonight I have a handful of jumbo shrimp from a spot of netting at the harbour boat launch; maybe 20. I think maybe peel, dip in flour, then water, then cornmeal or fine bread crumbs - cornmeal (fine) would be traditional here, and then fried. The main course will be a pecan crusted redfish fillet.

I have artificial crab we were given by someone going out of town - that will be for the salad course. Having lived in Seattle a bit who can forget Crab Louie salad - and this one (picture from web) even has a couple shrimp. Maybe I will just do crab + shrimp Louis. Crab surimi is actually very good, and does an excellent job as a stand in for Dungeness crab in a Louis salad.

Soup possibly skipped as I have to net bait shrimp when it gets dark for some 2 a.m. fishing trip planned. Maybe a can opened - say clam chowder, or chicken gumbo, and some things added.



Tell me about your favorite pies. And tarts - interested in jam tarts but never made them.

 

[george47]

Oh, yes - this:

It is good, and just whip it with milk, ready to eat in an hour - any older ones here remember 'Birds Angel Delight' from the 1970's? Which I hear has made a big resurgence - well this pistachio, sugar free, instant, pudding is very good and in a similar vein - I put some chopped almonds in too to increase the nut effect. I need to work on developing a fool/trifle thing using it.

 

[george47]

I made a peach pie last night, one of the best fruits for a pie. I bought 4 huge peaches for $5, they had a slight peach smell which is better than most that have none, and was why I got them.

I do no-bake pies mostly as I dislike a under done bottom crust I often get by baking the fruit in the raw crust. I bake a bought deep crust 12 minutes in 400f, till very dark. You need 3 1/2 cups fruit, (28 oz, 800 g) and 1 cup sugar, bit less if you wish, I use a tiny bit less, 3 T cornstarch dissolved in 3 T water.

I used 2 peaches and one big pear that was getting old to make up the 28 oz, these were big peaches- peel with a fruit peeler, cut off stone and slice into pie size. Put in pot with sugar and leave an hour, or not, and slowly bring to boiling - boil 8-10 minutes, dump in cornstarch mix, stir 2 minutes till fruit is thickened and not cloudy. Pour into cooked brown shell. Cool - overnignt to completely thicken, or 6 hours in refrigerator.

Really good, peach pie is amazing. Hard to not go get a slice during the day.

We have a batch of white trout fillets ground, 2 1/2 pounds and will freeze in half pound batches. Tonight is Thai fish cakes, a famous dish from there, and I may make some red bell pepper Pad thai as a side, but am out of the toasted peanuts - I do have some Pho but need another trip to the Asian Market in Biloxi soon. Also need some fresh coriander (cilantro) and always have the big bottle of Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce.

Anyone do Thai cooking?

We had an ex excellent shrimp Tika Marsala from a jar of sauce bought at a discounter that gets odd lots in - should have gotten several. Bottled curries are just beginning to show up in American Supermarkets. I do get basmati rice as I was raised on it, really is worth the difference.

Edited to say add T of lemon or lime juice to a peach pie - forgot to mention that.

 

[george47]

So.............cooking.....

Breakfast/lunch is a corn pancake, cornmeal, a USA South staple. I thought of egg and grits - another corn thing, I just bought a 5 pound bag of quick grits

from walmart. Fish and grits, and shrimp and grits are a proper dinner here with the older people, although grits are always part of a proper breakfast in the Deep South. I have a pie shell thawing - so what is going on, what are you cooking? Any local thing? Haggis and curry gravy? Rosehip jelly tarts? If not, why not?

Fish cakes last night, and peach pie, so good we finished it in two days. If you are shopping and see peaches pick one up and sniff it, if it has any aroma of peach buy kg of them and a frozen deep pie crust and make a pie. So easy. And buy 500 ml of whipping cream.

Edited to say the 5 pound of grits was $2.30 - One Pound fifty. And it makes a lot of grits. I am half way through the book "Black Hawk Down", Mogadishu 1993 - 90% unemployed, the economy was warlordism and UN aid. What a fat and easy life we lead - may as well show some appreciation by cooking good food well.

 

[george47]

Grits, a wonderful food - I have some cooking now. 1/4 C grits (quick ones) 1 C water, microwave, wait a bit, microwave - hot grits. I like mine with butter and honey.

Last night I made Thai fishcakes - I did not like them, I think I am not into 'fish sauce' that is the main flavoring. Back to the Indian thing, and I will work on the Tex-Mex thing.

Made a peach pie which is always good. And gumbo soup.

 

[Tonyuk]

Some excellent recipes here thanks for sharing! Not long had a big breakfast but i'm getting hungry again reading this haha, i might be baking some fish tonight at this rate...

Tonyuk

 

[george47]

Hello Tonyuk. Tell us how to bake fish, I liked the pecan crusted redfish a lot but tonight will be speck fillets, smaller and without the hard scales to keep them nice. I think I will do one fillet dipped in flour, then an egg wash, then into a crushed nut mix of: nuts (either pecan, walnut of sliced almond) some panko crumbs, and some coconut strands. This recipe came from a organic woman we know. Spray coated fish with oil and bake on an oiled sheet pan.

I have two pies to make - I think the two layer ones with lime curd as the bottom layer, and then blackberry on top. I still have a lot of blackberries. I just nodded off - I did not sleep last night so need to get moving or I will fall asleep sitting here.

Tonight the soup will be the garden peppers and okra with dried carrots and some leftover shrimp curry - then add some stock cube, cardomon, coriander, and a touccccccccccccccccccccc c

 

[sandbender]

What happened to george47? See this thread.