koko's corner

Hmmm, what to do with left over trout

I had some trout left over from my trout feast. As I was picking through it getting out those danged pesky little bones. I was thinking I would like it in some kind of sauce, maybe a white sauce, then I thought a take off of lobster thermador might be good. GIMF (Google is my friend) and I found some lobster thermador recipes. Never having made it before, I checked out several recipes.

The recipes were almost identical in ingredients and method. It starts with a basic white sauce made with white wine, milk,tarragon, shallots, Dijon mustard and Parmesan cheese. I decided to eliminate the shallots, because I don't have any, and the Parmesan cheese because it just doesn't sound good to me with trout, and I thought it would be overpowering anyway.

So, after I got the pesky %$# bones out of the trout I assembled the sauce ingredients.

Dont' worry, I'm not going to bore you with a step by step white sauce. Come see what I did.

Trout fresh from the lake

I am the beneficiary of my neighbor's fishing skills. He came by a few days ago with 5 lbs of trout, just hours from the lake. I saw him out cleaning it, but never thought I'd be fortunate enough to have some within minutes.

Doesn't get any fresher than this. C'mon, lets see what to do with it.

Doro Wot, Spicy Ethiopian Chicken Stew

This is the chicken dish I made with the Ethiopian spice blend berbere. It is to live for delicious.

First I gathered together all the goodies I'd need. Chicken, berbere, garlic, ginger, onion and eggs.

Let's bring Ethiopia into our kitchens.

Ethiopian Spice Mix Berbere

The last issue of Saveur Magazine, the best-est ever food magazine, and the only one I subscribe to, has an article on Ethiopian food. In the article is this recipe for the spice blend Berbere, a staple in Ethiopia.

I gathered all the spices together

so let's get busy.

Basic Enchilada Sauce

The other day I was asked for my enchilada sauce recipe. This is something I've been making for so many years I make it without thinking. I made the sauce again yesterday but kept track of what I did.
This is a basic recipe that I would consider a mild sauce. It's not overly spicy and is a good place to start. Tweak the recipe to make the sauce your own.

I used 6 mild and 5 hot dried New Mexico Chiles.

C'mon, lets make some enchilada sauce

44 Cordial, the results

I'm past due writing this follow up on the 44 Cordial I started 2 months ago. I was meaning to, but I got sidetracked. Then I got a comment on the 44 Cordial from "chef tom", so that prompted me to get busy.

I took a shot of it halfway through, it's already developing a beautiful color. I snuck a little taste and the only flavor that came through at this time was the orange.

For my taste, the orange flavor comes through first with the coffee hanging out in the background. It has a long finish, (I think that's wine talk for the flavor lingering in your mouth ;-)

Worth waiting for.