Day 4: Ssssssmokin!

There is something you should know about The Geek: he is a smoker. Not of cigarettes but of hickory, alder, oak and pecan. He smokes seafood, pork, chicken, and beef all to delectable ends and keeps my freezer chocked full of smoked salmon and other smoky delights. It has been raining the last few days so when the sun peeked out this afternoon, The Geek decided to smoke a rib eye roast.

Smoking is all about numbers: The size of the roast, time to cook per pound, the internal temperature, the ambient temperature, the temperature at which the meat is fully cooked but not overly done. Since he is a math wiz, The Geek has smoking down to a science.  The roast came out of the smoker promptly at 5:30 and was a perfect 141F. The combination of oak and pecan gave it a beautiful mahogany color, a heavenly scent and fantastic flavor.

When The Geek smokes the entrée, I make the fixin's. Due to time constraints, it is usually a simple chopped vegetable salad with a loaf of bread from the bakery but on the weekends, I like to try more elaborate dishes. Today I chose one of my favorites, Alton Brown's Roasted Edamame Salad. I also had a butternut squash that needed to be eaten up so I decided to try Ina Garten's Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette.

I'll start with the Roasted Butternut Squash Salad. Peeling and cutting up the squash was a huge effort. Roasting it took a lot longer than the 20 minutes listed in the recipe and the resulting texture was not suited for a salad, in my opinion. The vinaigrette took closer to 20 minutes (more than twice the time listed) to reduce. And unfortunately I did not have many of the key ingredients called for in the recipe. I replaced the arugula with leaf lettuce, pear cider (the carbonated kind) for the apple juice, and left out the cranberries and walnuts since I did not have comparable replacements. Perhaps this is why the salad turned out to be such a bland mess? Even if it had turned out as delicious as the reviewers on the website had raved, I'm not sure I would make this again - it was just way too much effort.

Alton, or 'AB' as we his devotees call him, never lets me down. I follow his Roasted Edamame recipe to the letter, with two exceptions. First I use frozen corn that has been thawed. And second, I like to roast the soybeans and corn until they are shriveled down to wrinkled, brown shadows of their fomer selves. I realize this does not sound at all appetizing but the beans and corn take on a chewy texture and the flavor really concentrates down. The catch is that it takes almost an hour of roasting time at 450F to achieve this effect but it is well worth it.

Busy Mom Modifications

• The substitutions in the Squash salad were probably to the salad's detriment. If I make this again (which is not likely), I will invest in the recommended ingredients.
• I'm not sure why The Barefoot Contessa has you peel and cut up the squash before roasting. I suspect the idea is that you can coat the pieces of squash before roasting and that somehow improves the flavor. In the past when I have roasted squash, I quarter it, scoop out the seeds and fiber, and slather the exposed surfaces with the maple syrup/butter/brown sugar/whatever and it has always been delicious. And you have the bonus of being able to easily scoop the flesh out of the skin. If you're going to try this recipe, you may want to quarter instead of chopping up/peeling the raw squash.
• AB has you cutting the corn fresh off the cob. I use frozen corn that has been thawed.
• The Edamame salad is quick and easy, and if you roast for the recommended 10 minutes, this is very do-able for a weeknight dinner.
• Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil before putting in the beans and corn. This will make it easier to transfer to the serving bowl (lift off the foil and pour into the bowl) and simplifies clean-up.  

The Results

• Of course the roast was the star of the meal. If you don't have a friend with mad smoking skills, then you should go out and find one.
• I've said enough about the squash salad.
• The edamame salad is always a hit.

Ratings for the Edamame Salad

• From The Geek: "Wow! This salad has a lot more flavor than you would think it would have from looking at it. It is really good." 
• Difficulty: Easy.
• Time to prepare:  20 minutes up to 1 hr 10 minutes, depending on how long you roast the soybeans and corn and assuming you use frozen corn
• Prognosis:  A favorite that I love to serve to guests

My Shopping List

Nothing - I made do with what I had on hand.

The Tally

The day's tally: $0
Total this week so far: $7.77

Day 1: Chicken Wings from Alton Brown

I love chicken wings and I love Alton Brown. So when I saw the episode of Good Eats, "The Wing and I," a few weeks ago, and then found frozen chicken wings at Costco, I knew I would be making them soon.

I decided that this would be a good dish for my first day of pantry shopping. In looking at the recipes for Buffalo wings and Orange Glazed Wings, I saw that I had just about everything I needed. I bought a can of frozen orange juice concentrate, of which I used half. I'm allowed to buy fresh fruits and vegetables as needed in this experiment and celery seemed like a good accompaniment. Of course this meant I had to buy blue cheese dressing. Since salad dressing is a "staple," it is an allowable purchase. A loaf of La Brea Bakery French bread rounded out the meal.

Chicken wings are usually deep fried which really adds to their already high fat content. I like AB's recipes because the wings are steamed (which allows much of the fat to drip off) and then roasted in a 425F oven so that the skin gets crispy. But the caveat is that these recipes, while easy to make, require two hours to prepare if you follow the recipes as written.

Busy Mom Modifications

• I forgot to take the wings out of the freezer to thaw (as frequently happens!) and so I steamed the wings for 20 minutes instead of the 10 minutes in the recipe.
• I didn't refrigerate after steaming because I didn't have time. Refrigeration dries out the skin so that it will crisp up more readily in the oven. I dried the wings thoroughly with paper towels before sticking them in and they turned out just fine.

The Results
Both kids devoured the wings. My son, who has very low tolerance for spicy foods, pointed out that the buffalo wings were not spicy at all. The buffalo glaze was quite thin and just ran off the wings. We found that if you let them sit, the butter would thicken a bit as it cooled and that helped it stick. But maximum flavor was achieved by rolling the wing around in the buffalo sauce just before eating.

Ratings

• FKP*: Delicious!
• Easy to make
• Time to prepare: 70 min., if you do not refrigerate the wings after steaming
• Prognosis: This one's a keeper!

My Shopping List

• Orange juice concentrate: $2.29
• Celery $0.99
• Bleu Cheese Dressing $2.50
• La Brea Bakery French bread $1.99

The Tally

The day's tally: $7.77
Total this week so far: $7.77

*FKP: Finicky Kid Pronouncement, which would be utterances from my teenage son.