JGE 114 – Day 2 Authentic (Almost) Irish Shepherds Pie

Good Day,

Well, I've been asked regarding my construction of my Irish Shepherd's Pie for our Day 2 of my authentic Irish Cuisine Challenge.

Oh yeah, my Irish Cuisine Challenge began on Saturday MArch 10 and will run through St. Patrick's Day on Saturday March 17. The Challenge is to re-create as many authentic Irish dishes that actually and may come from Ireland.

Did you know that Corned Beef and Cabbage is not necessarily an Irish recipe from Ireland? From what I have read it is a recipe concocted by Irish Americans here in the United States. The corned beef is said to have come from some Kosher Deli in the States, as a replacement for a specific and unavailable ingredient.

Also Green Beer is not indigenous to Ireland.

So I thought that pictures/images, in this day and age, are worth much more than 1,000 words.

I actually combined, albeit borrowed, ingredients stated in two recipes. There recipes are 1. Traditional Irish Shepherd's Pie from Genius Kitchen, and 2. Roast Garlic Shepherds Pie from Donal Skehan.

And here are the ingredients that I used.

Garlic Cloves
Olive Oil
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Russet Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Ground New Zealand Lamb
Ground Pepper
Sea Salt
Thyme
Beef Broth
Red Wine
Green Peas
Butter
Sea Salt
Ground Pepper


And just to add a wee bit of panache I added a Marinated and Chickpea Salad.

Just remember Jim's gotta eat.

Enjoy,

Jim

JGE 113 – Spinach and Zucchini Quiche with Japanese Yam Crust

Good Day,

Yes, I do love to experiment with food. And I love to eat food.

 And In this case, a Spinach and Zucchini Quiche fit everything; food, experimentation, and eating.

I borrowed the recipe from Cooktop Cove – “Watch how to make a spinach and feta quiche with sweet potato crust”.

Here’s the list of my ingredients –

1 ½ pound Japanese Yam – I didn’t have any Sweet Potatoes. I sliced the Yam using my Mandolin.
10 ounces Baby Spinach
4 cloves Garlic, minced – I used a tablespoon of minced garlic
1 Onion, small diced – I like onion and I used a medium one
¼ cup Buttermilk – I did not have any low-fat milk
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 cup Feta Cheese
1 cup shredded Mozzarella – I added a tad bit more.
5 Eggs
½ teaspoon Paprika – I used 1 teaspoon
1 teaspoon Salt
Pepper to taste.

I sliced the Japanese Sweet Yam extremely thing and created the crust. I brushed the crust with Olive Oil.

I baked it in the oven at 375˚F for 10 minutes. I then let it cool down.

I then fried the Onion, the Garlic, and the Zucchini on Olive Oil until the Onion was translucent. I added the Baby Spinach and let it sort of reduce. I made sure that the ingredients were dry and then I set the vegetable aside to cool them down.

I beat the 5 Eggs with the Buttermilk, Paprika, Salt and Pepper, and Mozzarella.

I filled the cooled crust with the cooled vegetables and then poured the Egg mixture over the top. I then crumbled the Feta Cheese and sprinkled it over top.

I baked the Quiche for 30 minutes at 375˚F. Watched to see that it did not burn and then took it out of the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes.

The result – Not bad. The one nice thing that I did like was the offset of the salty Feta Cheese against the sweetness of the Japanese Yam.

Would I try this one again? Hell yes.

Jim's gotta eat. Be healthy,

Jim

JGE 112 - Cauliflower and Mushroom Roast

Good Day,

Last night I tried, thank you, Martha Stewart, I attempted a Cauliflower-And-Mushroom Roast.

Supper was terrific.

I pretty much followed the recipe, but I did use Portabella Mushrooms.

My blood sugar did drop 7 points this morning to 109 mg/dL, sort-of a see-saw from yesterday.

And more images -

Jim's gotta eat. Be healthy,

Jim

JGE 111 - Brazilian Fish Casserole

Good Day,

Last night supper - Swai Brazilian Fish Casserole and Jamaican Rice and Beans.

I found this recipe on Clifford A. Wright’s book “Bake until Bubbly”,, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, NJ, 2008.

Here are the ingredients called for –

2 tbsps Red Palm Oil – I used Coconut Oil
1 large Onion, finely chopped
4 large or 28 oz. can Tomatoes, drained
1 ½ lbs Yellowtail, Mahi Mahi, or Sea Bass – I used Swai, cut into 1 ½ cubes; I cut portions
1 14-oz can unsweetened Coconut Milk
2 tbsps freshly squeezed Lemon Juice – I used Lime Juice
2 tbsps chopped Parsley
3 Garlic Cloves, crushed
1 fresh Red Jalapeño or Serrano Chile, finely chopped – I used a Green Jalapenõ
1 tsp freshly Ground Black Pepper –
½ tsp Salt – For both the Salt and Pepper I used 2 tsps+ of Badia Adobo Con Pimienta


I followed the instructions which are very, very simple but once again I sort of deviated from the actual recipe.

I turned the oven on to bake at 350˚F. I used a cast iron skillet and cooked the chopped Onion in the Coconut Oil. Following the recipe, but not using a separate casserole dish I just threw everything, excepting the Jalapeño into the Onion and Coconut Oil in the cast iron skillet. Once everything was gently mixed and blended I put the skillet into the oven and baked for 15 minutes. I did sprinkle the chopped Jalapeño on top of each plate. I definitely will repeat this one.

Supper was terrific.

My blood sugar did drop 7 points this morning to 109 mg/dL, sort-of a see-saw from yesterday.

Jim's gotta eat. Be healthy,

Jim

JGE 110 - Japanese Beef Curry

Good Day,

Last night I tried something completely new and very, very different. I cooked and ate Japanese Beef Curry.

What you see is the completed dish, the Japanese Beef Curry on top of Jasmine Rice all topped with broiled Mozzarella Cheese.

I discovered the recipe, completely by chance at the site Pressure Cook Recipes.

Was this good? Is the sky blue?

Easy to make with few ingredients but it does take about 3+ hours to prepare.

Ingredients were quite simple, and I adjusted a bit for two of us -

1 pound Beef Chuck Tender steak
6+ medium Garlic cloves, chopped
3/4 cup unsalted Chicken Broth
2 Golden Curry roux cubes
1 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 1/2 pounds Yellow Onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsps unsalted Butter
Kosher Salte and ground Black Pepper

1 cup Jasmine Rice
1 1/2 cups Water

Mozzarella Cheese, grated for topping

I will say that the preparation did take some time, especially the mise-en-place and the cooking of the ingredients, the onions. I followed the well thought-out instructions at Pressure Cook Recipes...and I used my Instant Pot.

Here are some images, and I'm not creating a cookbook, just some quick shots with my iPhone.

Supper was terrific.

My blood sugar did go up 7 points this morning to 116 mg/dL, and if I had eaten anymore I am sure that my FBS would have gone up a couple more ticks.

Right, I used my Instant Pot.

Jim's gotta eat. Be healthy,

Jim

JGE 109 - Pak Cham Gai Fan – aka Chinese-Style Steamed Chicken

Good Day,

I really, really, really like my new Instant Pot. Last night I tried to make Pak Cham Gai Fan – otherwise known as Chinese-Style Steamed Chicken.

My prime ingredient included -

1 large boneless/skinless Chicken breast

marinated in -

2 tbsps Regular Soya Sauce
2 tbsps Dark Soya Sauce
1 tbsp Shoaxing Wine
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp White Pepper

I added 3 cups of Jasmine Rice, rinsed, and 3 1/2 cups of water to the inner pot.

I followed the instructions directions from Happy Noodle TV and added

4 Spring/Green Onions
8 Garlic Cloves
2 Inches Ginger
150 g Shitake Mushrooms
3 Star Anise, (not sure of the plural)

It’s supposed to be an 11-minute Instant Pot recipe.  I followed the instructions and used the manual settings on high pressure.  I was expecting the typical pressure cooker steam whistling.  There wasn't any.  So I repeated the process again.

Well lo and behold every turned out okay.  The chicken was cooked.  The rice was cooked.  I plated the meal with chicken and rice topped with some Dark Soya Sauce and Toasted Sesame Seeds.  I added a teaspoon of Hot Pepper Sauce, the one I made from Habaneros.  I also steamed some Baby Bok Choy.

Supper was terrific.  (But I am looking for that burst of steam.  Maybe I am wrong.)

My blood sugar dropped 13 points this morning moved up 2 points to 107 mg/dL.

Right. I am sold on the Instant Pot.

Jim's gotta eat. Be healthy,

Jim

JGE 108 – New Instant Pot Challenge – This Morning: Congee

Good Day,

Breakfast - Congee..

And yes I do like kitchen gadgets. I hummed and hawed about getting another small appliance some time ago. I thought I would never use it. But I got suckered…sort of.

Yes, I did get a new Instant Pot. The model I got on an Amazon.com super deal moment. Instant Pot IP-LUX60 6-in-1 Programmable Pressure Cooker, 6-Quart 1000-Watt.

And this morning after checking the slight upward swing of my fasting blood sugar count I decided that I wanted to have…to make some Congee.

There are 320,000 Google results for the phrase “Congee recipes”. When I change the search phrase to “Congee recipes, Instant Pot”, I received 74,000 results. And of course who knows how many are just duplicate copies or each other.

Well this morning I decided to pattern my Congee concoction after the “Instant Pot Congee (Jook)” from the website BudgetByte$.

Of course I did not have similar ingredients. My ingredients:

1 cup Long-grain Rice
6 cloves Garlic
2 inches fresh Ginger
6 large white Mushrooms
5 cups Chicken Broth
2 cups Water
½ tsp Salt

Toppings:

Dash of Soy Sauce
2 Green Onions
Dash of toasted Sesame Seeds.

I followed the directions for the Instant Pot.

And there was left-overs. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I have made Congee on my stove-top.

Everything turned out fine, and I had me a bowl of freshly made Congee after I completed my sit-ups this morning. Will have to wait until tomorrow to see if there is any impact to my A1c calculation.

Right. I am sold on the Instant Pot.

Jim's gotta eat. Be healthy,

Jim