Friday, November 27, 2015

Turkey and lemongrass chowder

As described in Costco Basin Potatoes, I left the lemongrass and anything that drained off from cooking the turkey that was in the bottom of the crockpot, threw in the bones, I threw in two more of the potatoes, filled with water and cooked it on low in the crockpot all night. The next morning I removed the potatoes and chopped them into chowder size chunks, and strained the mix into a pot and threw away the bones and lemongrass. Now that we have the broth with potatoes, it is time to build the chowder.

I added 1 cup leftover dark meat turkey, 1 cup celery cut up fine, 1/2 small onion, and 1/2 cup carrots. I also added 1 and 1/2 cups of the potato/cheese mix from yesterday.  I cooked on low for 30 minutes stiffing often, until the soup really begins to thicken there will be a tendency for everything to settle to the bottom and burn. Then I put it in the fridge to rest.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Costco Basin Gold Potatoes - Thanksgiving

We flew to Kauai on Monday and went to Costco Tuesday morning to reprovision the house. There was a huge bag of potatoes, but they looked really cool, some of them were the biggest potatoes I have ever seen. We were invited to John and Vicky's for Thanksgiving along with Rudy and Shanda.

I found a piece of a turkey at BigSave, turned out to be all dark meat, but it fit in the crockpot. The lemongrass had grown while we were gone, so I cut a big bag of it and lined the bottom of the crockpot with lemongrass, a bit of salt and a few flakes of red pepper. Put the turkey on the lemongrass and covered it with more lemongrass and cooked overnight on low with the lid off. It worked great. Lemongrass flavor infused the turkey meat. I took the largest potato, cut it into chunks boiled it in lemongrass tea and salt, when they started to get soft, I moved them to a skillet and lightly pan fried them in a bit of hemp oil. I placed them in a baking dish and covered with a bit of cheese and fennel and broiled just enough for the cheese to stick to the potatoes. I kept the lemongrass tea on heat for a reduction.

Took the meat off the bones and toothpicked meat to the potatoes. Could not find GF flour for a roux, (we have been gone since March), so used corn starch to thicken and spooned the sauce on top. Garnished with a bit of sprinkle cheese.

These potatoes seem like they can be worked with. Put four in the crockpot on low for six hours. Peeled them for another dish. Smashed them up. Added a cup of sprinkle cheese, a bit of salt and fennel. Mixed it all up. It was like dough. Measured just heaping tablespoons, rolled into a ball, made a pooka with my finger and filled with pulled pork and sprinkle cheese. The four odd looking ones are smoked salmon since Rudy does not eat pork.



For supper, I took the potato skins, covered with a bit of cheese cooked up a fish in oil and fennel pretty good. The next day, before we left for thanksgiving I put the bones with the leftover lemongrass that was on the bottom of the crockpot, covered with water and tossed in a potato. I am headed over to pull the potato and set the crockpot to low. Tonight or tomorrow, I will finish and make a lemongrass turkey chowder.

Saturday, November 14, 2015

Another miss at Lake Tapps Community Church - Snow Crab legs

I can cook, I know how to prepare and season food. But that does not mean that I make the right choices for my demographic. Last night was mission's focus potluck at LTCC. Missionaries really do go out of their way, so I wanted to do something special.

Four pounds of snow crab legs paired with Idaho potatoes coated with smoked salmon chowder. And we didn't skimp; 1.5 pounds of smoked salmon.

They ate some of the crab legs, but not all, almost none of the potato casserole.

The apple walnut bars sold fairly well, but I think it is because they were the only Gluten Free dessert. Sometimes you just shake your head and keep on trucking.