Curryish Seafood Soup in a Dutch Oven

It was Mother’s Day, and I wanted to cook something both unique and exciting. It had to be low in Weight Watcher’s points (my wife and I are both on that program, now), and it had to be made with what we had on hand (I don’t like to go shopping on Sundays).

So, that’s all a pretty tall order. I looked through the fridge and freezer, and found some proteins (the seafood), a lot of seemingly random veggies in the fridge, and of course, our own pretty well stocked spice cabinet and pantry. I started to get an idea in my head. I would make a tomato-based soup, combining all of the seafood and veggies, and using curry spices. I don’t know that it’s really an “authentic” curry, but it ended up tasting GREAT!  Maybe you could call it “Indian Fusion”... Whatever that means.

Mark's Curryish Seafood Soup

12” shallow Dutch oven
20 + coals below to sautee
14-16 coals below to simmer

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Medium Onions, diced or sliced
3-4 Stalks Celery, diced
4 Cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 Peanuts, shelled, roasted or not
Salt

4 Cups Poultry stock
1 lb Shrimp, peeled, deveined
1-2 lbs of other seafood, like Salmon and/or tilapia filets
1 6oz Can Tomato paste
1 8oz Can Tomato sauce
1 14oz Can Coconut milk
1-2 8oz Cans Water chestnuts, drained
Cauliflower

Curry powder
Chili powder
Lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Parsley
Tomato powder (optional)

Start out by thawing everything. I keep my homemade stock frozen in old drinking water bottles, so I have to let it melt. The seafood was also frozen.

Once those were thawed, I got some coals on. While they were getting hot, I diced the veggies.  I put the Dutch oven on the coals listed for the saute, and drizzled in the oil. Once that was nice and hot, I tossed in the veggies, stirring them frequently.  The salt helps with the flavor, and it also draws out the moisture. I had read that indian spices are more flavorful if you “activate” them in hot oil for a few minutes first. Next time I do this, I’ll shake in the curry powder as the oil is heating. I’ll see if that makes any difference.

Once the onions are translucent, and the celery is getting a little softer, I added in the the second set of ingredients. I adjusted the coals for the simmering phase. Really, I just let the coals keep burning down, and I don’t replenish them quite as much. If it gets boiling too vigorously, I’ll pull some coals out, or just wait a while before adding any fresh coals.

Also, when I start the simmering phase, I keep the lid on. This traps the heat and helps it get up to boiling a little quicker. After it’s simmering, I take the lid off. I stirred it every 15 minutes or so, breaking up the fish filets, and making sure that the bottom isn’t burning.

After about 45 minutes or so, I added in the flavorings in the final set of ingredients. I went pretty liberal with the spices, etc.  I added a little of each one, then after 10 minutes or so, tasted it, and added any that I thought were lacking. Go easy on the hot pepper/chili powder at first, because you can always add more heat, but you can’t take it out.

I want to explain the tomato powder! About a year ago, I wanted to make some dried tomatoes, like the ones that get packaged in small jars of olive oil. They’re almost fully dried, but not quite. So, I cut up some tomatoes and put them on bread cooling racks in my oven. I set the oven to the lowest possible setting, propped the door slightly open, and went on about my business. Well, I let it go too long, and the poor tomatoes ended up almost burned. But a moment of inspiration hit me, and I ground them up in my blender, and made it into a powder. It has a delicious, smoky tomato flavor!  I like using it a lot, and, in fact, I’m almost out, so I think it’s time to make more!

When the cauliflower is soft, and the flavors are all well-stewed together, you can call it done! Serve it up with some fresh-baked bread!



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch oven Salmon and Asparagus Hollandaise

The other day, as I was planning out my month of Dutch oven dishes, I had a very clear idea in mind as to what I was going to cook this last Sunday. Very clear, that is, until my wife spoke up.

“I want salmon!”  She said with a finality that unlaid my best laid plans. “Salmon with asparagus and a hollandaise sauce! With poofy rolls.”

Well, I was more mouse than man.  It was an easy choice, really, especially since I was intrigued with the idea, especially of the sauce.  I’d never done a Hollandaise.  I wasn’t even certain if I’d tasted one before.  I wondered about that out loud.

“It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

Yeah?  How do you do it?

“Just buy one of those little packets.”

Oh, no.  Nonono.  No.  This is my chance to learn learn something new and test myself.  I’m not going to just “buy a little packet”.

It worked out quite well.  I did learn a lot about the sauce. One very important thing I learned was that it’s crazy to do a Hollandaise sauce outdoors in a dutch oven in the middle of winter.

But, as I said, it all turned out well.

Dutch oven Salmon and Asparagus Hollandaise


The Salmon and Asparagus

12” Shallow Dutch oven
22+ coals below
10-12  coals above, later in the recipe

1 large filet of fresh salmon, cut into 2-3” wide chunks
Juice of 4-5 limes
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup fresh parsley
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
Chili powder

3-4 fresh asparagus spears per guest
olive oil
kosher salt


The Rice

10” Dutch oven
14-16 coals below, maybe more

1 1/2 Cups rice
3 cups water or stock
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1/2 cup fresh parsley
2 2 oz packages of sliced almonds
Juice of two limes


The Hollandaise Sauce

8” Dutch oven
12+ coals below
glass or metal bowl, slightly larger than the Dutch oven

Water

4 egg yolks
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted (1 stick)
Pinch cayenne
Pinch salt


I cut the salmon into chunks and put them into a ziptop baggie, along with all the flavorings in the first set of the list.  I shook that all up to coat the salmon evenly, and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or so, while I did other things, like making the biscuits.  I used just an ordinary biscuit recipe, and added shredded cheddar and minced garlic to the dough.  I’ll write it up someday, but for now, my focus is on the other parts of the main dish.

I prepared the rice next.  I put all of those ingredients into the 10” Dutch oven and put that on the proper number of coals.    I watched it while I cooked the salmon and other things, and marked when it boiled.  About 10-15  minutes after, I pulled it off the coals, without opening the lid, and let it steep and steam while the other parts of the dish finished.

The salmon was the third part to go on.  I put a little olive oil in the bottom of my 12” shallow Dutch oven, and set it on the coals.  I wanted it to get VERY hot.  When I laid the salmon pieces in it, the sizzling and the immediate aroma let me know how good it was going to taste!

After a few minutes, when the down side of the fish had a little browning going on, I turned the pieces over with some tongs, and closed up the lid.  I had a lot of salmon in the pot, so it wasn’t cooking too fast, even though it was initially quite hot.  With the lid on, I put some coals on top just to let it bake a bit.

I shook the asparagus in a baggie with the seasonings in its list, and laid them across the top of the salmon pieces, then replaced the lid.

Finally, to turn my attention to the Hollandaise.

I started by separating the eggs, and putting the yolks in a glass bowl I had pre-fitted to my 8” Dutch oven.  I’ll show you how they match up in a minute.  Before I began, I put about a cup of water in the Dutch oven and put it on the coals with the lid on.  I juiced in the lemon, and I began whisking. I had to whisk for quite a while.  It blends, but for a long time it doesn’t really change much, but then suddenly, it goes from a very runny, almost orange, liquid, to a light yellow, thick creamy texture.

By then, the water was boiling outside.  Here’s where there is a lot of compromise going on. On the one hand, you don’t want it to be too hot, and a vigorous rolling boil is too hot.  On the other hand, it’s freezing cold out, and I’ll have to overcome that.  I took off the lid and set the glass bowl over the Dutch oven.  I had chosen the bowl to cover the dutch oven like a lid, but to not have the bottom rest in the boiling (or simmering) water.  I knew that the bowl wouldn’t seal completely, so the boiling water would cool very quickly.

With the bowl on the Dutch oven, over the simmering water, I continued whisking, constantly whisking.  The idea is to “temper” the egg, that is, to raise the temperature slowly, so that it cooks, but it doesn’t scramble.  I poured in the melted butter, gradually, while still whisking.  I had no idea how hot it should be, or how it would look.  Eventually, however, it did heat up, and it went from a smooth, creamy texture, to a slightly thicker, creamier texture.  Along the way I added in the pinch of salt, paprika, and cayenne.

By the time I was done with that, the salmon and asparagus were done, and the rice was waiting for us as well.  I spooned out a serving of the rice, and laid the salmon pieces on top of that.  The asparagus went to the side, but also still on the rice.  Then across it all, I drizzled the Sauce.  Finally, the biscuit made the meal complete.

Did it work?  My wife said that it was better than any restaurant.  I love it when she says that!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Salmon Dietary Challenge

I had a very interesting Dutch oven cooking challenge this last week. My family and I have been traveling cross-country to visit my parents in Indiana. My folks are getting a bit "on in years" and we came out to visit and help out.

 

Mom, especially, has been quite thrilled by the book, and so, Jodi encouraged me to bring a Dutch oven out with us so I could cook for them one night. We all decided it would be great to do it in celebration of my dad's birthday. The tricky part is, both Mom and Dad have some quite specialized dietary needs. Mom gets sores in her mouth, so she can't eat things that are too acidic, or even too salty. Neither of them can have foods that are too fatty, and Dad can't have too much sodium (the salt thing again).

For his birthday, Dad chose salmon.

 

So, here are my parameters:

• 1 - a salmon dish, with small portions.
• 2 - Little or no salt
• 3 - for Mom, little or no acidic flavors
• 4 - Little oil or fats.
• 5 - Still have it be flavorful and visually appealing.
• 6 - Do it all in only one Dutch oven

That all added up to quite a challenge. I tackled the challenge and came through nicely.  I baked a loaf of swirled bread. Then I roasted some potato chunks and finally cooked the salmon pieces atop the potatoes. The fish was served topped with a salad of fresh sweet peppers and other veggies.

As I cooked it, however, and as I thought about it afterward, I thought of how I could have made it even more flavorful and robust, and have stayed better in the parameters. Here's that plan:

 

Dietary Challenge Dutch Oven Salmon

12" shallow Dutch oven

15-18 coals below

• 1 medium yellow onion
• 3-4 cloves fresh garlic
• 2 sweet peppers, different colors
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 2 stalks celery
• Dash of salt
• 1 Tbsp butter

22-24 coals below

• 4-5 portions salmon
• 1 Tbsp butter
• Liberal shakes of thyme, sage, cilantro
• Dash of salt
• Dash of pepper

10-12 coals below
16-18 coals above

• 6-8 small red potatoes 
• Dash of salt
• Dash of pepper 
• Dash of paprika
• 1 Tbsp butter

The first step is to light up the coals and get the Dutch oven ready to sauté the veggies.  Get the dutch oven really hot. While that is heating up and readying, dice up the veggies and mince the garlic.  My idea is to sweeten the onions and tame and enrich the flavors of the veggies by sautéing them in butter.  Start with the onions and the garlic.  Once they're translucent, add the peppers. Finally, add the celery and tomatoes. Once the veggies are done (and I'd go until there is some carmelization on the onions), pull them out of the Dutch oven and set them aside.

 

While the veggies are cooking, season the salmon with the flavorings, and quarter the potatoes (I leave the skin on). 

Then, refresh the coals, and get the Dutch oven really hot again, still using just bottom heat. Really turn up the heat. Melt the butter on the bottom of the Dutch oven, then put the salmon filets on. It should sizzle and sear instantly. After a minute or two, turn them over and let the other side sear. Let each side get a good brown going on.  Since you won't have a lot of salt to carry the flavor, you'll use the sear and the herbs instead.

When the salmon is nicely brown, but not necessarily cooked all the way through, pull it off. Melt the last of the butter and toss in the potatoes, with their seasonings. Stir it all up, to evenly coat everything. Adjust the coals for a 350 degree bake, and set the oven on the heat.

After about ten minutes, the potatoes will be starting to cook through, but not done yet. Layer the salmon pieces on top of them, and the sautéed veggies on top of the salmon. Bake it for another 10-15 minutes.

And there you'll have it! A delicious, flavorful meal, with relatively little fat and sodium, and little acidic flavors, all cooked in a single Dutch oven.

 

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Dutch Oven Seafood Feast, Part 1 - Smoking Salmon

A long time ago, I was surfin’ the ‘net, looking for some Dutch oven ideas, and I came across one called outdoorcooking.com.  One of the blog postings was all about smoking salmon in a Dutch oven.  When I first saw that I had one of those Sit-Back-And-Slap-Your-Forehead moments.  I knew that someday, I would try it.

This last weekend, I did.  In fact, I tried a couple of seafood dishes that had been stacking up in my queue.  Even though I cooked them simultaneously, I’ll write about them separately.

Now, not only was I trying out two dishes that I had never before tried, I was also trying a technique I had never even seen before.  Add to that the other dish was mussels, which I had no experience with, either, and my confusion and stress levels were high enough.

Then, to make matters worse, I invited my neighbors over!  What was I thinking? Didn’t I say, “Never cook a first time dish for friends”?  Yeah, well, I don’t take my advice, either.

So, I liked this guy’s idea for putting the chips under aluminum foil and a grill. But what if, I thought, you need to add more chips?  This was my idea:  Inside a larger Dutch oven, put a smaller Dutch oven lid, inverted, on a lid stand.  Chips go below, salmon on the lid, larger lid on top, propped open...   Boom.  Dutch oven smoker.

...But I had no idea if it would work.  Would it get hot enough to smolder the chips?  Would it be too hot so as to fast cook the salmon? I had no idea.


Dutch Oven Smoked Salmon

14” Deep Dutch oven
10” Dutch oven lid, with a lid stand

40 + coals below

• 1 Salmon piece (~8 oz) per serving (I did about 7)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Any herbs you like (I used Thyme)
• 1 Lemon

• Smoking chips

I started by lighting up some coals.  I wanted to try out the setup, before I actually put the salmon on, to see if it would smoke.  I put the 14” on a monster boatload of coals.  I gave a rough count, and it was about 45.  I scattered a layer of dry smoking chips  (I used applewood) on the bottom.  On top of that, I put an oven thermometer.  I wanted to be able to monitor things.

I have a bent piece of wire, about ⅛ of an inch in diameter. I hooked that over the edge, and put the lid on. That raised the lid enough to vent.  I set that aside, and checked the temperature from time to time.

In the meantime, I prepared the salmon.  I trimmed off the skin, and shook some salt, pepper and herbs on each piece, both sides.  I left that to sit.

It took a while to heat up the Dutch oven, but once it did, I was very pleased to see smoke pouring out when I went to check it. The interior temperature was about 250, so that was also perfect for smoking. I put the lid stand in the middle of the Dutch oven, and put the lid on the stand, inverted.  I put the salmon on the resultant platform, and set the lid back on. Just to be sure I did it right, I put a short-stemmed meat thermometer in one of the thicker parts of salmon. I also left the oven thermometer in.

From that point on, I just checked the smoke, the temperatures, and the salmon every 30-40 minutes. It fluctuated as high as 350 and as low as 200. I tried to keep it lower. I did add coals, but after a while, I found it wasn’t as necessary to keep as many on to maintain good temperatures or smoke.  I did add some chips at one point because I saw it not smoking as much.  I just sprinkled them in through the gap between the lid and the wall of the 14”.

Finally, after about 2 hours, the meat temperature read about 170.  It was done!  And I served it up on the rice in part 2 of this writeup.

It was really, really, really delicious.






Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Sushi? In a Dutch Oven?

Well, Mark, you have finally lost it.  You’ve gone too far.  Now we’re going to have to call the Dutch oven police on you.  Sushi?  Really?  That can’t be legal...

OK, OK, technically, I only made the rice in my dutch oven.  That’s really all you cook, anyway, right?  But still, can you imagine making such an exotic meal out in the woods somewhere?  It’s a cool thought!

Brendon and I have made sushi about 7 or 8 times, now, indoors.  I admit that, with that little bit of experience, we’re hardly expert chefs.  But we’ve been able to make it work pretty well, and have created some good and simple rolls.  Let me share with you what I’ve learned.

Dutch Oven Sushi Rice

10” Dutch oven
~18 coals underneath

8” Dutch oven
~10 coals underneath

• 3 cups Japanese short-grain rice
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt

Tools

• a wide wooden spoon or spatula
• A fan

• a non-metallic bowl, preferably wooden, preferably wide and shallow

I’ve learned that the process is as important as the ingredients.  That begins all the way back even before I started cooking.  I took three cups of Japanese short-grain rice and put it in a bowl.  I filled it with water until the rice was well submerged, and stirred it and turned it with my hands.  Instantly, the water became a murky white.  After a few turns, it seemed it wasn’t getting any cloudier, so I carefully drained as much as I could without spilling the rice into the sink.  Then I filled it back up with fresh water and swished and rinsed it again.  And again.  And again.

I’ve never gotten it to the point where the water flowed completely clear, but I have been able to rinse it so that it was almost clear, or at least significantly clearer.  I usually do it at least six or seven times.

Finally, I put the rice in a strainer and let it sit over my sink for about a half hour.  That’s when it’s ready to cook.  While the rice is straining, I lit up my coals and let them get hot.

I put the rice and the water into my 10” dutch oven, and set that on the coals with the lid on.  I let it sit there for about 20 to 25 minutes.  Normally, when I cook rice, I watch for venting steam, but this time I didn’t see any, so I had to carefully watch the clock.  Keep in mind that the dutch oven has to heat up, too.  I didn’t lift the lid at all.

Once the rice time was done, I pulled it off the coals and set it aside.  I didn’t lift the lid.  It sat for quite some time, easily another 20 minutes.

While that was finishing the final stages of cooking, I mixed the sweet vinagar ingredients in the 8”, and put that over some coals, uncovered.  I stirred that, and let it dissolve to a low, rolling boil.  Then I pulled it off and let it cool some.

Combining the rice and the vinegar is an odd process.  I dumped the rice into the non-metallic bowl.  While slowly stirring the rice with the spoon/spatula, I would alternately use my other hand to pour in some of the vinegar mix, and fan away the moisture and steam.  Stir, pour, fan, stir, pour, fan.  Sometimes, when Brendon and I do this together, one of us fans while the other pours and stirs.  If you’re using one of the traditional shallow wooden bowls, the wood will also help wick away some of the moisture in the rice.

When it was all done, I was left with well-cooked rice, clinging to itself in clumps, with individual grains still visible.  It had a delicious sweet and sour taste.  This got set aside to get closer to room temperature.

...To be continued.  (Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnn)

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

"Friendship" Fish Soup in a Dutch Oven

I have some good friends across the street.  They're a young couple, and he's a techie and a graphic designer.  He's been working on a website that looks really great called absoluteblastcaps.com, and he's been asking me for some SEO help and advice.

Now, sometime last summer (or it might have been last spring), he went fishing and gave me some of the fish he'd caught.  He also made me some fish soup.  Man, it was delicious!  It was a mess to eat, though, because the fish was just cut up into chunks.  It was gutted and scaled, but not filleted.  So, you're eating the broth and the veggies with a spoon, an you're pulling the fish meat off the bones with your fingers, and it's a mess.  Really, if you eat this stuff, you'll want to be with good friends, because it's a mess.  Did I mention that?

So, because of that, and since it's his recipe and method, and since he gave me the fish, and since I invited him and his wife over to sample it tonight, I'm calling it "Friendship Fish Soup".

"Friendship" Fish Soup in a Dutch Oven

12" Dutch Oven
20-24 coals below

• 4-6 cups water
• 2-3 medium fish
• 4-5 medium onions, sliced
• 4-5 stalks celery, sliced
• 5-6 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 small-medium zuchinni, quartered and sliced
• 4-5 medium carrots, sliced
• 1-2 green peppers, sliced
• 1 jalapeno, cored, seeded, and sliced
  
• Bay leaves
• Basil
• ~1/4 cup lemon juice, to taste
  
• ~1 Tbsp Salt, to taste
  
• Pepper to taste
  

This is really an easy dutch oven recipe to make.  You slice up the veggies, you cut up the fish, you put it on the coals and you cook it.

Like I said, earlier, he gave me the fish last spring, so I gutted, scaled, cleaned them and then froze them.  I just got them out in the early afternoon and let them thaw.  I cut off the tails, and then cut the fish into 4 2-inch chunks.  I put that in the dutch oven, bones, skin and all.  I put in all the other ingredients, and put it on the coals, covered with the lid. 

Really, you can do this with whatever veggies you've got on hand.  I went really heavy on the onions, because I like a soup that's got some good veggie substance to it.  Potatoes would have been another good one to add.  Noodles or rice would have also worked.  I like keeping the broth pretty clear, though, because you're gonna be sticking your fingers in it...

Every fifteen minutes or so, I'd check it and taste the broth.  Add salt, pepper, and the seasonings you like as you would.  I think I'd have added a bit more jalapeno, or only cored half the jalapeno I added, so there would've been a bit more heat.

I thought about going with some poultry stock to start with, instead of water, but I finally figured that we'd be making a great fish and veggie stock, so I just used water.

I really liked it.  My wife wasn't as enthused by it, and didn't like the idea of picking fish bones out of her soup, so she only had the veggies.  Still, we had a great time visiting with our friends, and I really like the recipe.  Every once in a while, I make something that I like, even though hardly anyone else will. 



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.



Mark's Other Blog Posts: LDS Music Connecting, Mormons and Digg.com,5 Years of SOHOMan

Healthy Dutch Oven Recipes

For a long time, I've not been overly worried about healthy cooking. And even less so in the dutch oven. Many of the dutch oven recipes are all about rich meats and sugary desserts. I love that stuff.

But I'm realizing that I can't go on like that indefinitely, and that I need to cut some of that back. It's vital that my family be more concerned about our foods.

So, I'm starting to cook more healthy, both in and out of the dutch ovens. So, here are some of the recipes I've found of late that are healthy, tasty, and fun to cook!

Here are the recipes in the basic "Healthy Dutch Oven Cooking" series:

• Part I - Dutch Oven Lime Marinated Chicken with Salsa Fresca
• Part II - Dutch Oven White Chili
• Part III - Mark's Family Whole Wheat Bread in the Dutch Oven

And here are some "back issues of the Black Pot" recipes that are also full of good health:

• A zesty Jambalaya
• This Tomato Soup is healthy!
• Blackened Salmon! Yum!
• Yogurt and Herb Fish
• Lotsa veggies in Mongolian Stir Fry!
  

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Mark's Other Blog Posts: Personal Thoughts on LDS General Conference, Making Music With Family,

Dutch Oven Salmon with Potatoes and Asparagus

OK, I did it. I cooked asparagus, and I even liked it. Yes, there I admitted it. I even called my Mom and told her and Dad about it. They thought that was pretty funny. Dad said I was finally growing up.

I also learned something about my "dry-roasting" cooking technique. I first tried it when I did the jerk chicken , and again when I did the pseudo-Indian chicken. The basic idea is that a dutch oven cooks by trapping the steam and the heat. The heavy lid traps all the moisture in. That's great with almost everything you cook, but once in a while, you want to cook something that's a bit dryer, something that sets seasonings in a glaze or something like that. You don't want to trap the moisture. I don't know what to call it, so I'm calling it "dry-roasting".

To make it work, you put something under the lid to lift it up. I found a thin metal grill that I could place under the lid. It lifted the lid, but not much. That way, the moisture escaped. I found, however, that a lot of the heat did, too. I'm sure that the fact that it was a windy and cold day today didn't help much, either.

But in order to make it work, you have to up the coals SIGNIFICANTLY. I put a thermometer in the bottom of the dutch oven while I was cooking the potatoes, and found that I needed to almost double the coals in order to get the kind of heat needed. I liked the results of cooking that way. It does lose a lot of heat that would have normally been trapped, however.

Dutch Oven Salmon with Potatoes and Asparagus

12" dutch oven

In the dry-roasting phase: 25 + coals each above and below
In the final baking phase: 10-12 coals below, 18-20 coals above.

• 4-5 medium to large potatoes
• Olive oil
• parsley
• salt
• Pepper
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

• Fresh Asparagus, about 4-5 sprigs per serving
• Olive Oil
• Salt
• Lemon pepper or lemon zest and pepper

• 1 fresh Salmon fillet
• 1 bundle green onions, chopped
• dill
• 1 lemon, sliced

I started out by lighting up the fire. That was a bit of a challenge as windy as it was, but eventually I had coals getting white. While those got ready, I got to cleaning the potatoes. The original recipe I drew this from called for baby potatoes. That would have been yummy. But I didn't have any. So, I used regular potatoes, quartered and then sliced in the cube-like chunks.

I put them in a bowl, and dashed over some olive oil, then all of the other seasonings and flavorings. I shook it in the bowl and mixed them all up.

Then I went out and put the oven on the coals to pre-heat some. I spritzed a little extra oil in the bottom. I don't know that I needed to, but I did. Once the oven was a bit hot, I put in the potatoes. I let those cook for a while, using the dry-roasting technique described above, until they got good and seared on all sides, and the seasonings were clinging to them. Since I was playing with the temperature, it took a little longer, but I think in normal conditions, it should take about 30 minutes or so, with a couple of stirrings.

While that was happening, I was preparing the asparagus and the salmon.

The asparagus was easy enough. I cut off about the bottom third of the asparagus, 'cause I remembered the bottom being the nastiest part when I was a kid. I put the sprigs into a bag with just a splash of oil and the salt and lemon stuff. I didn't have any lemons today, so I just used lemon pepper. I shook it up to coat the asparagus sprigs.

Then, I cut the salmon fillet into four big pieces (that's how many would be eating). I sprinkled on the dill, scattered over the chopped green onions, and put a lemon slice on each one. Actually, today I used lime slices, 'cause that's what I had handy instead.

I took all that out to the ovens. I took off the lid and the grill separator, and added the asparagus to the now delicious looking potatoes. and stirred them together. I laid the salmon fillet pieces in on top of those, and put the lid on solid. I readjusted the coals as above, and began baking the salmon and asparagus with the potatoes.

Because it's still quite hot, it didn't take long to cook the salmon, maybe only about 15-20 more minutes or so. At that point the asparagus was "al dente", as my Dad said. It was definitely cooked, but it wasn't wilted. It was still a bit cruncy, resisting your teeth a bit. The oil had kept the seasonings tight to the stalks, and tight to the potatoes, so those were quite yummy, and the salmon was delicious, too.

This meal really turned out four-star, if I do say so myself.

Dutch Oven Basics: Salmon and Rice

When you’re cooking in your dutch oven, and especially when you’re just learning, you do a lot of really simple recipes, and cook a lot of easy stuff, like cobblers and biscuits from a can. These are great. They taste yummy.

But for me, I wanted to learn to cook some dishes that also carried a lot of “Wow!” factor, both in the look and in the taste. I wanted to also make some things that, when I set it down in front of people, they would really be dazzled.

I guess if you wanted to, you could look at something like that and say that I have a deep-seated need for approval and I need therapy. And you probably wouldn’t be too far off!

This dish is very simple. Like the stew from last week, it is a one-step, one-pot meal. It’s not really a “dump” meal, however, it’s more of a “layered” meal. Still, it’s very simple to prepare, and very easy to cook, too. And, when it’s all done, and you put it on people’s plates, it really wow’s them.

This, for me, is also a landmark dish. It’s one of the first ones I created myself. I took it to forth place at the Eagle Mountain Pony Express Days Cookoff one year. You’ll notice that I altered this recipe slightly from the one back then.

Baked Salmon and Rice

12” dutch oven
8-9 coals below
16-18 coals above

• 1 1/2 Cups Rice
• 3 Cups chicken broth
• 2 cans Cream of Something Soup1 can tiny shrimp
• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 small can water chestnuts
• Chopped parsley
• Chopped thyme
• black pepper (preferably coarse ground, or, better, fresh ground)
• Salt

• 3-5 Good sized portions of salmon (1 for each person eating) It can be frozen or fresh
• Butter
• 2 lemons, sliced

I started by lighting up a bunch of coals. By the time all of the food was prepared and in the dutch oven, the coals were white and ready, too.

This dish is created in the dutch oven, but it’s not dumped in. It’s built up in layers. Once it’s cooking, you won’t want to stir it. The bottom layer is the rice, the broth (or water), the garlic, and the cans of soup and shrimp. I mixed those up fairly thoroughly.

Once that layer is done, I sliced up the onions and the celery. I added the water chestnuts, and stirred those together. Then, I gently laid those three veggies on top of the first layer. I sprinkled a generous amount of the parsley and the thyme over the top, as well as the salt and the pepper.

Then I covered the veggies with a layer of the salmon filets. I dusted each piece of salmon with more salt and pepper, then put a small pat of butter on top of each one. On top of that, I added two slices of lemon. The dish was ready for the fire!

While it was cooking, I turned it often. I would turn the lid about a quarter turn, then pick up the oven and turn it back the other way a quarter turn. That way, the coals were in different positions relative to the food, and it cooks more evenly. I cooked it for about an hour and only opened the lid a few times. You want to keep the steam in to cook the fish and the rice. While it’s cooking, the cells of the lemon burst and the lemon juice runs down with the melted butter onto the fish and into the rice. It’s an incredible flavor.

You have to keep heat on it. After about 30 to 40 minutes the coals will start to burn down, and so you’ll need to replenish them. About 15 to 20 minutes after I put the first batch of coals on the oven, I’ll add fresh coals to the “side fire”, where there are still a few leftover coals burning. These coals will catch the fresh ones, and once the coals on the dutch oven are dwindling, they’ll be ready to add.

Not only is it delicious, but it’s really easy to fix. And it really impresses people!

Dutch Oven Yogurt and Herb Fish

Last weekend, my family got to go fishing.

I mention that for a couple of reasons. One is that we are not really a fishing family. We go fishing pretty much once a year. There’s a program called C.A.S.T. (Catch A Special Thrill), which sets up a day where volunteer boaters take handicapped and special needs kids and their families out on a lake and everybody fishes all morning. We’ve done it three years running, and it’s always a lot of fun. I’m always impressed at the hard work of those volunteers, as well as the organizers. It’s a really impressive day.

Another reason I mention it is because this year was a very special year. It is the year that my curse was broken!

See, every time I would go fishing, nobody caught anything. I don’t just mean me. I mean, nobody. Nobody in our group, nobody in our boat, nobody. I started to get this emotional, gut-level complex. I began to think I was cursed.

But this time, I caught some, Brendon and Jacob caught some, the Pursells (our friends) caught some, EVERYBODY caught some! And since the Pursells don’t really like to eat fish, I got to bring it all home. And, today, I got to cook them!

Now, since I don’t usually catch ‘em, I sure don’t know how to fillet them. But after literally butchering the first one, I kinda got the hang of it, and the rest turned out pretty well. They were all bass. Most were smallish, with not much meat, but there were a few pretty sizable ones.

I’d found, in a cookbook I have, a recipe for a yogurt and dill sauce for chicken. I thought it would taste good on fish, so I looked at it again, and modded it with some additional herbs, and put the whole thing on potatoes. Here it is:

Dutch Oven Yogurt and Herb Fish

12” Dutch Oven
8 coals below, 16-17 above in the baking stage

• A lot of white fish filets. I think there were probably about 10 fish we kept, most of which were 10 to 12” before filleting, and a few were as long as 14”

• 2 small tubs of plain yogurt
• Juice from 2 limes
• Very liberal applications of:
• Dill weed
• Oregano
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Salt
• Pepper (coarse ground)
• Any other herb or spice you want

• 1 medium to large onion, quartered and separated
• 1 lb bacon, cut into 1” squares
• 1 tbsp garlic
• Salt, pepper
• 2 large potatoes, quartered and sliced

I started by Filleting the fish, and putting them all in a big mixing bowl. Then, in another bowl, I mixed all of the sauce ingredients. I poured that over the fish, and stirred it up to coat them all thick. I put that in the fridge to marinade.

I continued by sautéing the bacon, the onion, and the garlic until they were all pretty brown. I had the oven over a lot of coals at the time, probably around 25-27 or so. I added the salt and pepper, then the potatoes. I stirred it all up to coat the potatoes in the bacon grease. At that point, I pulled the dutch oven off the coals, and set it up for the baking, with the above listed coals on top and below.

Since fish cooks pretty quick, I baked the potatoes for about 20-30 minutes before adding the fish on top. Then, about a half hour later, it was all done.

I was kinda surprised by how much liquid there was at the bottom. It was almost like a soup. But the yogurt and the herbs on the fish tasted great! Fish and yogurt are not very strong flavors, so make sure that you really let go with the herbs!

Food, Art, Service, and Dutch Ovens

Dutch Oven Salmon and Potatoes

My friend loaned me a really cool book called “Culinary Artistry”. He said it was basically a textbook that he used when he was first employed as a cook. It’s seriously cool. The first part has a lot of articles about the author’s philosophy about the nature of food and art, and about how he grew up around it, and how he learned to love to experiment. He talked about how we all grow up wanting to try things, but we keep being told "Don't play with your FOOD!"

So, now that I'm a grown-up, I can play with my food!

Anyway, a large part of this book is basically a reference book. You can look up any primary ingredient, and it will tell you a list of other ingredients and spices and flavorings that "go with it". Some of them go together so well, that they're considered "classic combinations", and they put those in the list in bold face.

I had some frozen salmon left over from the cookoff, so I decided to try something. Rather than find a salmon recipe that spells out exactly how much of everything to put in, I was going to look at this list of compatible ingredients, see what things I already had in my pantry and fridge, and combine them in amounts that made sense!

So, I looked over the list. A few things jumped out at me from the beginning. Potatoes, onions, even bacon. I thought of one of the early dishes I had made with just those three, adding in chicken and cheese. An idea was taking shape.

So, here was my final list:

• Bacon
• potatoes
• Onions
• garlic
• mushrooms (fresh)
• Green onions
• Lemon (zest and juice)
• Parsley (fresh, if you've got it)
• vineagar
• red pepper
• black pepper
• salt
• And, for fun, some commercial salmon seasoning I had

I started off with the bacon. I cut about a half a pack of it into some small pieces and put them in a 12" dutch oven over about 20 or so coals. Once they were pretty brown and crisp, I drained off most of the grease and added some sliced and separated onions, the sliced mushrooms, and the garlic. I let the onions cook until they were getting clear and a little brown.

Then I quartered and sliced a few potatoes, really thin. Not potatoe-chip thin, but thinner than I usually slice them. Why? I dunno. Just trying something different. They went into the dutch oven. I also added in the parseley, the sliced green onions, the lemon zest (and the juice). Then I added in the salmon. I put all that on top of about 8-9 coals, and put about 17 on the top. I was going for the basic baking temperature of about 350 degrees.

Then, as it was cooking, I added the seasonings. I also added a little bit of water to help steam the potatoes.

I figured it would cook about 40 minutes or so. I had to keep adding coals because there was a pretty strong and steady breeze blowing and it kept stoking up my coals. Also, I ended up going almost an hour before the potatoes were fully cooked. I stirred it occasionally, to distribute the seasonings. That broke up the salmon, too.

For those of you that understand Utah Mormon culture, my wife is the Relief Society Compassionate Service director for the ward. What that means is that if someone's family has a crisis, she gets to step up and coordinate some help. Sometimes that means cooking some meals while the wife is recovering from an illness, or watching the kids while the mom and dad are at the hospital with another child. It's a cool calling for Jodi, because frankly, that's the kind of stuff she does even when it's not her gig.

Well, I got to help out today. Part of the reason I cooked was to make enough not only for my family, but also for a family down the street that had just had a miscarriage. We've been there, and it's not fun, believe me. So, I got to use my dutch ovening to help lighten someone else's load.

And where was Jodi during all this? Well, like I said, that's the kind of person she is. She spent the afternoon and evening with another good friend up at the hospital. My wife is amazing.

What I Learned Today

I cooked in the Eagle Mountain Pony Express Days Cookoff. I did it last year, too, and that was pretty fun, but this year was a total disaster. Part of it was that it was at a weekend that happened to be a very stressful one, personally, and so I had a number of distractions and setbacks. I ended up taking sixth place out of seven. Not good.

I do have to say, though, that it was VERY well run. Those that were in charge and those that did the judging did a GREAT job.

The biggest thing I learned is that I will never do another competition/cookoff again as a solo act. If I can’t get some help as a team, it’s not worth it. As a solo, you are working right on the edge the whole time. If something goes wrong (as did right off the bat this morning), you have some flexibility to adapt and work it. As a solo, you just have to roll with it, and you have very little room to work.

I also learned that when you coat salmon with blackening spices, you want to shake off the extra. I didn’t this time, and it was waaaay too spicy. Also, use a thicker cut of salmon. It’ll be more moist in the end.

The bread turned out great. The glaze even worked as I wanted it to. But I did it a little bit differently. I covered the top in whipped egg, and added honey to the glaze to make it thicker.

I also realized that with only a few exceptions, the most recent cooking I’ve been doing has all been big project meals and preparations for cookoffs. I’m weary, and I need to get back to cooking for fun for a while. Back to trying new things, back to learning new strategies.

Anyway. See you all next week!

Russian Coulibiac in the Dutch Oven

I got a whole bunch of (well, four) cookbooks for Christmas. Most of them were the big, hefty 500+ pagers, with all kinds of recipes in them. One was a really cool book all about breads. I’d really like to get good at dutch oven breads this year. Call it a resolution.

But, I thought that I’d make something from one of them this week. I looked in the pantry and the freezer to see what we have, and saw some salmon filets in the freezer. So, I started looking for ways to “do salmon”. I found a bunch of recipes for various marinades and sauces, and they all sounded good.

Then I stumbled across one called “Coulibiac”. I’d never heard of it. I didn’t even know how to pronounce it (it’s: “koo-lee-BYAHK”. I Googled it!). But the thought of salmon and rice and tomatoes all in a pastry shell got me really excited! It was a totally new way (for me) to look at fish. In the Coulibiac, the fish is a part of the dish, as flavor and texture, rather than the whole center of the dish itself.

I did it in two days. I’m really glad I did, because I ran into some real troubles in the pastry. The recipe calls for “puff pastry” as the shell. I didn’t know what that was, so I looked it up in the back of the book. It directed me to a recipe for what it called “puff pastry”. That was something you used to make cream puffs and éclairs. I made a batch of it, and was really frustrated when it ended up as a batter, not as a crust. I tried again, thinking I had misinterpreted and mismeasured. Not so. Now I had two bowls of goop that were both clearly unusable for what I was trying.

So, I dove into the book. I looked up every possible variation of “puff pastry” I could think of. Finally, I just looked up pies, and there was an aside about all kinds of different pie crusts, one of which, you guessed it, was called “puff pastry”!

So, I made a couple of batches of that, and chilled it overnight.

Then, today, after church, I rolled out the pastry, added the filling and baked it. But that will all come out in the recipe’s instructions.

Also, I made a double batch of the filling, thinking I would make two Coulibiacs (is that proper to pluralize that way?). It turns out that the basic recipe already makes enough for two, so the recipe below is plenty. But, I had to double the crust recipe. Actually, I mixed it and rolled it out twice. Also, I combined some of the steps to make it easier to cook in the dutch oven. Even with that, though, it ended up looking and tasting quite gourmet. And when you bring it out to the table and pronounce it correctly, you’re sure to impress! It will serve a lot of people, because it’s very filling.

Russian Coulibiac in the Dutch Oven

12” Dutch Oven (re-used in two steps)

Step one: 12 coals above, 12 coals below (I used more, ‘cause it’s winter)
Step two: 21 coals above, 10 coals below (425 degrees. Again, I used more, ‘cause it’s winter)

Step One:

The filling:

• 1/3 Cups rice
• 1/3 cups chicken broth or water
• 4 tbsp butter, in cubes or slices
• Juice of one lemon
• Zest of one lemon (I didn’t have any lemons, so I just used the juice, but it would’ve tasted even better with the zest)
• 1-2 medium onions, diced
• 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, don’t drain
• 2 lbs salmon
• Liberal shakes of salt, black pepper, parsley
• Not so liberal shakes of chili powder (just to add a little zip, not to heat it up)

So, I started by heating up come coals, and adding all the ingredients to a 12” dutch oven. I assembled it in layers, but it all ends up being mixed together. The salmon, after it’s cooked, will break up in the stirring. I put the rice and the broth in first, then the onions and the butter. I used butter slices so that it would melt and blend better, rather than a big butter spot in the middle. I layered the salmon (it was frozen) on top of that, and put the spices and the lemon juice on last.

Once that was on the coals, it only took about a half hour to 40 minutes to cook. The salmon cooks fast, but the rice takes a little longer. It also takes some time to get the dutch oven up to temperature, especially on a cold January day.

While that was cooking, I started on the crust. Here’s where I had my frustrating misadventures with the éclair batter. As I mentioned, I ended up making two batches of this recipe, for two (side-by-side) coulibiacs.

The Crust

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 tbsp butter
• 6 tbsp shortening
• dash of lemon juice

I combined all the ingredients in a bowl and mixed them with a pastry knife. Then, I put it on my floured counter and rolled it out. It was still pretty sticky at that point. I rolled it not so wide, and more long. Then, I folded it bottom up and top down, in thirds. I sprinkled more flour on the countertop and rolled it out again. I repeated this several times, turning the dough each time. Finally, after three or four folding/rollings, I put each batch of dough on a plate, wrapped it in plastic and popped it in the fridge.

By that time, the salmon mix should be done for you. I pulled it out of the dutch oven and put it in a big mixing bowl. Since there’s tomatoes in the recipe, I didn’t want to leave it in the dutch oven and ruin my seasoning patina. Then I covered the bowl up and put it in the fridge. In winter, we have a really big fridge that doubles in the summer as a garage.

Step Two:

So, today, all I had to do was come home from church and roll out the dough. The recipe says to roll it into a square, about 11”x16”. I didn’t measure, but I shot for that size. Then I put a lot of the filling in the middle. I cracked open a couple of eggs. I rolled the filling up, burrito-style, sealing the seams with the beat up egg along the way.

The recipe suggested cutting a few strips of crust dough off before you roll it up to use as decoration, either twisted or braided. I decided to go for the extra style points and try that. It really made it look cooler. Traditionally, you’re also supposed to cut some stylish holes in it, much like you do in an apple pie.

I did that for both coulibiacs, and put them side-by-side (kinda crowded) into my 12” dutch oven. With both of them in the oven, I coated them each in more beaten egg. I put that oven onto the coals and baked it for about an hour. That’s longer than the recipe called for, but it’s an indoor recipe, and you’re not dealing with cold weather and heating up the cast iron.

I turned the dutch oven a lot, about every 15-20 minutes, to make sure that it didn’t burn on the bottom. When it was all hot and the crust was a rich brown, I pulled it off. It was done!

I sliced it meatloaf style, about two inch slices. The book suggested a drizzle of melted butter, garlic and lemon juice, so I tried that. It was nice, but it was already pretty rich, so I’m not sure it needed it. My wife suggested that it would have also tasted great drizzled with a Newberg sauce. Hmmmm…

Nonetheless, this one was a delicious treat, and quite the impressive visual as well. Kinda swanky for a back-porch kitchen, eh?

On a side note, not about dutch ovening… A client of mine at my day job, over the holidays sent me some steelhead trout that he’d smoked. I’ve never tried it before, but all I could think when I tried it was “WOW”! So, much thanks to Mike and Debbie! When their website is up and running, I’ll make a linkback to them.

Dutch Oven Sourdough Bread, The Adventure, Part III

I am so glad I wasn’t cooking for company last night. It was one of those days where it tastes OK, but it just didn’t come out quite right.

I did the sourdough bread. It cooked OK, but not great. Not fluffy like I wanted, even a tich doughy. For the dinner part, I made the salmon that I’d done at the cookoff last June. It wasn’t done right, either.

I think it has a lot to do with the weather. It was cold yesterday, and I thought I had compensated for that with some extra coals. But apparently it wasn’t enough extra coals. The rice and the veggies weren’t fully cooked, and the bread just didn’t work.

Well, and the bread took three hours to raise the first time, to get to the “double in bulk” part. And then, I’m supposed to let it raise again to “double in bulk”, but at that point I already had the salmon on the coals, and I wasn’t too interested in waiting another three hours. And, in the end, it didn’t really taste that sour. It had a good white bread taste, but not the tang I was hoping for.

So, I guess I’ll try again later. When I do, I’ll post the recipe and results.

Salmon and Jambalaya in the Dutch Oven

Last weekend, we had some good friends over for games and dinner. They're a young couple, and my wife and I had become fast friends with his parents, and watched him grow up. Now he's married and telling this story makes me feel really old...

Anyway, I made some dutch oven for them. I did a variation of the old Jambalaya recipe, combined with the Lemon Salmon recipe I did for my folks and at the cookoff. It turned out REALLY well.

I started off just making the jambalaya according to the recipe. The only thing I added was a hefty portion of medium-sized shrimp. I did cook it a bit differently, though. I put the dutch oven (a 12", open) on a lot of coals to cook the sausage, onions, and peppers, and then when I added the broth (I used a cup and a half) and the tomatoes and spices, I covered the oven, and did coals on top as well as under. Using more liquid and keeping the lid on cooked the rice much better, and I found it wasn't runnier, like I'd feared it would be.

When I put the broth and tomatoes, etc, into the dutch oven, I also set the salmon portions on top. I dusted them liberally with this really great cajun spice mix we've got, and then topped that with a slice of butter and a slice of lemon, just like the other salmon recipe.

I also tried to do some garlic butter cheese biscuits, but that didn't turn out so spectacularly. I did it from a mix, and added butter, grated cheese and minced garlic. They tasted OK, but I'm wanting really bad to match what they do at Red Lobster, and I'm not even getting close.

Still, I got lots of kudos on the jambalaya, and my friend said he doesn't even really like seafood. So, that worked out well!

I get to do Dutch Oven Tamales again this weekend, for my wife's scrapbooking party!

My Son

So, the other night, I was making some Kofta. Remember, I made that one a while back, and I'm the only one in my family that will eat it...?

Well, suddenly my son says he wants to cook something, too. My first reaction is to sigh and roll my eyes, because I'm kinda stressed putting this meal together already. But, he's insistent, and I want to teach him how to cook, and especially how to cook in the Dutch Oven. So, we start looking around at what to cook.

He grabs a bag out of the fridge which contains the tiny fillets of a fish he caught on an outing a couple of weeks ago. Really, the fish should've been thrown back, but it was still in the legal keeper range, and it was the only one he'd caught thus far, so we kept it. Good thing, too, as it was the only thing caught in the whole boat the whole day. I think I'm cursed, but that's a subject for another blog.

Anyway, I latch onto this as a great idea. We can make this work. I grab up my 8" oven, and we pour about a half cup of rice in the bottom, with about a cup of water. On top of that, the fish fillets. Then some seasonings. Hmmm. Seems like the lemon pepper isn't shaking out so smooth. He opens it up and shakes. You guessed it--it dumps!

We spend a few moments scooping out as much as we can, and put it out under the coals, next to my 12" of Kofta.

Before long, they're both bubbling. One time, he checks it and stirs it up a bit, and of course the fish breaks up. That's what I'd expected it to do, so it's really a rice dish with fish and lemon for flavor.

It actually turned out not too bad. It was a bit sour from too much lemon pepper, but not intolerably so. The fish was cooked fine, and my boy had the experience of dutching with his dad, and cooking a fish he'd caught. A pretty good evening, doncha think?

Oh, yeah, about the Kofta...

I did it pretty much as the old recipe was, except that I did 3 cups of water instead of two. That made for a more "sauce-y" mixture. I also lightened up on the parsley, which I liked, and the lemon juice, which I didn't like so much. I do like it with more lemon. I did the salad, too, and that was yummy. I chopped up the jalepeno bits more so this time, so it gave an edge to the whole dish instead of getting a hot bite once in a while.

My First Cookoff!

What a fun time! I can't remember when I've had that much fun. It was a totally different feel that cooking at home alone.

First of all, there's no time pressure when you're doing it yourself. In this cookoff, each entrant (or team) had a judging time. Mine was 1:30. So, you have to time your preparations in such a way that your food is done at just the right time to prep your presentation and take it to the judges. That can be tricky, as you'll see!

Second, there were a lot of other people there. I was the 8th entrant, and so there were 7 other teams. Getting to know them and interacting with them was a lot of fun, and I learned quite a few tricks.

I got there at around 8:00 in the AM. I'd spent the previous hour and a half or so gathering up all the things I'd need (still, I forgot a couple of things, like my chopping board for the veggies...). I arrived, signed in, and claimed my space.

The rules require you to make two dishes: A main dish and either a bread or a dessert. Both of mine required only an hour or so to cook, but the rolls I would bake needed all morning to rise. So, I fired up a few coals, so I could warm the water for the yeast and melt the butter. The dough came together pretty easily, and so I set about meeting the other dutch'ers.

One team, to the south of me, came with a professional setup. Tables, canopy, tablecloths, centerpiece, all kindsa stuff. They were also doing a salmon dish, and a chocolate cake.

On the other side of me was Paul and Susan. They were doing a beef brisket, and had already begun smoking it when I arrived. There were more across the way. Troy did a white chili, another husband and wife did a stew. There were a couple of friends that did a jambalaya, and a young husband and wife that did a pork crown roast. All of us had plenty of down time while we were waiting to start cooking or actually doing the cooking to visit and get to know each other. The best part of the entire day.

Timing is critical. Finally, at about 11:30, I began chopping up the veggies for the salmon (Troy loaned me his cutting board).

At noon, I fired up the coals, and half past, I had them both cooking.

I started to get really nervous by about 1:00. It didn't look like it was cooking as quickly as I needed it to. By 1:15, I think the salmon was pretty much done, but the rolls were still lookin' grim!

Jodi came by and offered to go and get a plate for the presentation. She didn't get back in time, but that was OK. The rolls came through, and the salmon came through, and I put them all on a garnished up DO lid flipped upside down. I actually had it done with about four or five minutes to spare before it was my turn and I was called up to present it to the judges.

This is how it turned out. I was pretty pleased! But would the judges be?

They judged based on a big list of criteria, both on the taste and presentation of the final dishes, but also on the process of cooking it and your interaction with others as they walked around your workspace. I think there were four "field judges" and another four "taste judges". Each dish was tasted and graded, and then they spent another twenty or thirty minutes tabulating up all the results

While that was going on, we were all unwinding and tasting each other's dishes. That was the second most fun part!

In the end, I took fourth place. Not bad. I didn't get any of the cash or big prizes, but I was quite pleased with my results. Wynonna and Tom, the ones with the big rig and the most experience ended up tops. Their cake was the best! Their salmon was good, too.

The second place folks won with a delicious pork crown roast. They should have won, IMHO. I thought theirs was the best, hands down. The third place was kind of a surprise. A team, new to competition, with just a simple beef stew and a pineapple upside down cake. But they were both delicious.

Here's some pics of the winners:
Pretty impressive stuff, if you ask me.

Overall, I was very excited to just go and meet these folks. I had a great time! I'll definitely be doing more public cooking!

Dutchin' for the Folks!

My parents came into town last week, and today I got the chance to cook for them. I really enjoy cooking for myself and my family, but there’s something really cool about sharing that with others. It’s a little bit service, a little bit showing off, a little bit stressful, and a little bit relaxing.

One of the most “gourmet” of dishes that I’ve made is my lemon salmon and rice. It’s a recipe that I created from a recipe for baked chicken and rice that I found in a DO cookbook somewhere. It’s one of those dishes that looks great when it’s all put together before you bake it, and looks even better when it’s all done.

I’m also preparing for my first DO cookoff, to happen next weekend here in Eagle Mountain. I have no idea what to expect, since I’ve never, ever done one of these things before. I’ve never done a gathering, nor a competition. I’ve pretty much cooked it all and learned it all on my own. So, I’m excited to see how other people do it, to see if I’m doing it “right”!

In the cookoff, I have to do two dishes: an entrée, and a bread. So, I tried it today. I tried to break down all the steps so that I could have both be done at about the same time, but that didn’t work out. But at least, both tasted great.

Baked Salmon and Rice

12” DO

8-9 coals below
16 coals above

3-5 Good sized portions of salmon (1 for each person eating)
1 1/2 Cups Rice
2 1/2 Cups chicken broth
2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
2 medium onions
1/2 cup mushrooms
2 stalks celery, sliced
chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 lemon, sliced
black pepper (preferably coarse ground, or, better, fresh ground)
Salt
Butter

1. Pour rice and broth into a 12” DO. Mix in the Cream of Mushroom soup (It doesn’t need to be well blended).
2. Mix the onions, mushrooms, celery, and garlic together, and layer on top of the rice.
3. Lay the fish on top of the veggies in a circle.
4. Slice the lemon and put one or two slices on top of each piece of fish. Put about a half tbsp of butter on each fish piece.
5. Salt and pepper (I like it pretty liberal with the pepper). Sprinkle in the parsley, and I like a spritz or two of Worcestershire sauce.
6. Bake at 350 until meat and rice are done (about 40 min to 1 hr). The fish will be steamed. The juice cells in the lemons will burst and drip lemon juice down into the fish. Yummmmm

Then, along side of that, I baked these rolls (they’re adapted from a recipe in a DO cookbook. The book makes it all garlic with parmesan, but I just make the rolls. They’re really good that way):

Amazing Rolls

12” DO (I used my deep one)

7 coals underneath
14 coals above

1 tbsp yeast
½ cup warm water
1 cup melted butter (melt a half cup first, then another half later on)
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
1 cup milk
5+ cups flour

1. Mix the yeast and the water, and let it stand for 15 minutes or so, letting it activate the yeast and foam up.
2. In your mixing bowl, add ½ cup of the melted butter, the eggs, the sugar, and the salt.
3. Add the milk, and stir it all up
4. Add the yeast & water, stir that all up.
   
5. Add 5 cups of flour, stirring as you go to make a smooth dough ball. Then add more as needed to get the right consistency. The original recipe didn’t say to, but I kneaded it in the bowl for five minutes or so.
6. Cover the dough with a damp cloth, and set the mixing bowl somewhere warm (in the summer, I just use the back porch) for a couple of hours. Let the dough ball double in bulk.
7. Then, I break off chunks somewhere between the size of a golf ball and a tennis ball, and arrange them in the bottom of a greased DO.
8. spread the other ½ cup of melted butter liberally over the dough balls
9. Bake for about an hour with the suggested coals.

The tricky part about baking, I’ve discovered, is heat management. It’s got to be hot, but if it’s too hot, then it burns above and below, and is still doughy in the middle. If it’s not hot enough, it never cooks at all. The sad thing is, I don’t think you can learn how to regulate it by reading a blog. The only way is to try it on your own, following the directions as close as you can, and see if it works. It took me three tries to make good bread. Fortunately, this recipe was one of the winners!

(Extra note, added later: Any time you're cooking more that 45 minutes or so, I've found that I'll have to add more coals. I keep a stack of burning briquettes off to the side of my cooking area and replenish it by 4-5 coals at a time, just to keep a good fresh supply and maintain the heat on the ovens.)

It IS critical to turn the oven every 15 minutes or so. Just lift the oven by the wire and turn it about a quarter turn, then turn the lid a quarter turn back the other direction. This assures that the bread isn’t over or under the same hot spots for the whole baking period. Another thing I did was to cook the last fifteen or so minutes with top heat only.

I’m not sure how to describe these rolls, but they’re a little bit denser than normal, and the flavor is really sweet.

My folks loved it! Hope yours do, too!