Earl Cooks Mother's Day Dinner for the Mother of My Girls

Are you my mother? No. But the mother of if my girls and the best woman I have ever known.

I started the meal with a sous-vide steakc which I then pan seared in my 12" cast iron skillet, seasoned with Chicago steak seasoning, salt & pepper.

AfterI seared off the steak, I removed it to rest and then place some

finely diced new potatoes to absorb the seasoning and beefy flavor from the steaks. Once that is well on it's way, I add some artichoke hearts to the skillet, just to heat them through. There w have it Steak & Potatoes & Artichoke Hearts.

My Gal (a.k.a.:"Turkey") is a meat and potatoes kinda girl, but she loves veggies and salads too! Love You!

"Turkey" Pressure Cooks Artichokes - Simple IS Better

Before I married my lovely wife, (a.k.a. "Turkey"),  more than 40 years ago, I had never eaten an artichoke (in fact, I had tried to avoid foods with the word 'choke' in them).

One of our wedding gifts was a Presto Deluxe pressure cooker in the lovely 70's color of Avocado Green and stenciled with animals, vegetables, and kitchen implements (shown at the bottom). A pressure cooker was also something I was unfamiliar with. Our kitchen growing up didn't have one, but my lovely wife knew just what to do — read the directions, follow the recipe guide — things I rarely do! One of the first and best uses of the new device is artichokes! We used to eat these regularly as our daughters grew up, and they loved them too. Don't confuse these with the canned or bottled stuff in the grocery store. These take real work to cook & real work to eat them right, but man, are they worth it.

 If you have never eaten a whole artichoke, a brief anatomy lesson is on the right, alongside  the required bowl of melted whole butter required to enjoy each petal. One may say that anything dipped in a bowl of butter is good, and I won't argue with that, but the act of peeling, dipping and then scraping the bit of artichoke flesh dripping in butter left on the petal is unique. I am a bit of a purist and butter is all I need, but my wife does like a bit of lemon on hers. And once you devour all of the petals, remove the thin purply covers, you get to the choke, which is aptly named, but once you remove it you are left with the heart.

Yes, the heart is what every one wants, bottles, or cans, and there is a reason—It is like butter coated smoothness, and then it is gone😒.

In the past, I have recommended frozen artichoke hearts, and they are fine, but the experience of eating them freshly cooked by my wife is light years bond those! Obviously, you can't have hers, but try them in your pressure cooker or instant pot or even in a steamer basket!

Earl Cooks Artichoke Hearts With Zucchini & Yellow Squash

This is a dish where the preparation takes longer than actual cooking time, which is  a nice change. For this dish you will need:

 —Artichoke Hearts

 —Zucchini

 —Yellow Squash

 —Butter

 —Salt & Pepper

 —A Veggetti Pro or other other spiralizer. What is a SPIRALIZER you ask? 

It is a kitchen tool that turns firm vegetables into spirals, like the zoodles you find in the grocery stores. There are several versions including professional versions, or attachments to your stand mixer. But for under $15 you can have one and save yourself the cost of buying the store made zoodles for 3 to 4 times the price of the ones you make. 

Don't buy the Veggetti, buy the
Veggetti Pro

A note here. The "Veggetti", a cheaper version is too much work and often doesn't work. Buy the pro version. You get more blades and less wrist work. You will thank me later.


On with the dish...
...as my picture shows, I turned a zucchini and a yellow squash into ribbons. This was just for fun. If you don't have a spiralizer, chop them or slice them to your liking. 

Now for the artichoke hearts. We have found Trader Joe's frozen artichoke hearts a winner. They do not have the bad texture and preservative taste of canned or bottled. I recommend keeping several bags on hand for quick and easy side dishes. 

Place the artichokes in a good sized sauce pan with a stick of butter. Our favorite way to eat artichokes is by dipping them in melted butter, so I was trying to mimic that experience with this dish. (My wife also like hers with lemon, but I don't like to interfere with the buttery goodness). Once the artichokes are heated to temperature, add the 2 kinds of squash. This will certainly need some fresh cracked pepper, and maybe salt. The squash is a blank canvas in a way, and can be seasoned as you like, but I did not want to coverup the artichoke in mine. Alfredo would go well, as would Parmesan, so make it your own!

Earl Cooks Valentine's Day Steak for his "Turkey" 💖

I wanted to do something a bit special for Valentine's Day for "Turkey" (that's my wife). Some time ago we discovered how much more we enjoy steaks cooked at home if they are cooked correctly, which almost always means "Sous Vide" which is in a water bath bringing it to the perfect doneness and finishing it in a cast iron skillet to give it a seasoned crust that makes a perfect compliment to the nicely tender inside. But I need to do something RESTAURANT quality if it was going to pass the muster on Valentine's Day. I have a plan. 

My plan would start with flowers and grow from there. These can't be just any flowers because "Turkey" likes bright and colorful and playful. I found the perfect tiny bouquet.




 Next, I had on hand something just for a romantic evening. A set of fluted stemware and some bubbly (sparkling white grape juice). "Turkey" doesn't much care for grape juice, but it's the thought that counts...right?

Time for the first 2 "courses". We have recently been loving arugula as a base for salads. It has a mild, peppery taste reminiscent of watercress. To that we added bacon and bright, multicolored cherry tomatoes topped with our favorite dressings ("Turkey" likes Cilantro Lime Ranch, and I like Blue Cheese). I followed that with steamed artichoke hearts (Get it? Hearts on Valentine's), and melted butter. These came frozen from Trader Joe's and are about as close to fresh as you can get. No preservatives. This left us somewhat full and now it was time for...

 ...That's right—BASKETBALL! The Utah Jazz were playing their last game before the All-Star break and had won 10 in a row! We had to see if they could make it to 11! My perfectly cooked steaks would have to wait. Fortunately, we had eaten enough to hold us through. (A good portion of the game anyway). To set your minds at ease, the Jazz pulled it out at the last minute. Now, Back to the food... 

This is my newest kitchen toy, an immersion circulator for cooking sous vide. It works by heating and circulating the water for perfect cooking. Just seal the food in vacuum sealed bags then set it and forget it! It will cook to the right temp. and keep it there for however long you want. 

The steaks turned out great! The top left shows the steak after sous vide and seasoning with Montreal Steak Seasoning. The next is after turning and the third shows a new trick I taught myself. Since the steaks were the same size and shape, I clamped them together with my tongs, locked the tongs and cooked the fat off of the edge. Clamped, they balanced nicely together.

I don't usually cook dessert and Valentine's was no exception. Fortunately, We each thoughtfully provide one another with dessert...Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, although mine, on top, was themed and almost double in size. Thanks "Turkey"!

Earl Cooks Mediterranean Crusted Salmon with Spinach/Artichoke Riced Caulifower

Salmon has become the go-to seafood in our house. I originally started serving it because of it's health benefits, but now it is for it's versatility and flavor. It seems to be readily available year-round, and while not cheap, it is rather reasonable. I try to have it once a week, so I am always looking for new ways to season and serve it. While shopping a my local fishmonger (the seafood area in the butcher section at the chain grocery store), I spotted some salmon fillets that were pre-seasoned with a Mediterranean herb crust, so home they came! Now all I had to do was find a side that wouldn't negate the health benefits of the salmon, so I created Spinach/Artichoke Riced Cauliflower...what a MOUTHFUL. And yes it was a mouthful, but easy and per my wife's instructions, cleared a bit of cupboard space! The details follow...
Ingredients
̶  for the Spinach/Artichoke Riced Cauliflower

• 1 pkg Riced Cauliflower (frozen)
• 1 can Artichoke Bottoms
• 1 can chopped spinach
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Salt & pepper
• 1 TBL real butter

 ̶  for the fish

• 2 Mediterranean Herb crusted Salmon Fillets (5 oz). I bought mine at my local Smith's, a Kroger grocery subsidiary, but have seen them elsewhere and even in the frozen food section. You can also find crust recipes all over the internet
• Salt & Pepper
• Lemon
• 1 tsp real butter 

Instructions

̶  for the Spinach/Artichoke Riced Cauliflower

• Drain canned spinach and artichokes and rinse thoroughly
• Chop Artichokes
• Cook Riced Cauliflower per package instructions and drain any excess liquid
• Combine all and heat through
• Add butter, salt pepper and lemon juice to taste

 ̶  for the fish

• Cook per recipe instructions. If you are cooking fresh salmon, I recommend a skillet to give the skin the necessary crispness, but I cooked mine in the oven because the skin had been removed

Results/Conclusions

The salmon was good, though not as good as I have made before. I love artichokes, but the canned variety lacked the savory goodness of fresh. My wife likes canned spinach, or spinach in any form, so it was fine and we have come to enjoy riced veggies of all kinds. All-in-all it was a satisfying  weeknight meal, though next time, I will make a few changes.