Dehydrator and Dinner:Salmon over rice with veggies

So...I've been patiently waiting for the dehydrator to arrive. Kalen and I left it by accident at the house after the wedding However, to our surprise, Mom and Marc decided to buy a new one off of Amazon for two reasons. One shipping would have cost the same or more than the new dehydrator. Two from what I recall the other dehydrator was massive, so we probably would have been struggling for space which the one we got is much more comfortable to situation in the apartment laundry room.

Meanwhile, for the last 4 days I've been cranking out goodies. I want to test how efficient this puppy is. One thing I didn't care about the model was that there is no temperature gauge. Though I guess it wont matter for right now since someone is home most of the time monitoring it while its running.


Selecting product. So jerky is supposed to keep from 1month to 2 years depending whether or not you use a cure. Though, what usually happens is that jerky never lasts more than a few days because its consumed. And can not really test the theory of how long it really could last. Now, everything that I've read about jerky describes selecting the leanest meat possible. For good reason, the high fat content in ground beef for example would turn rancid if left out. Though you can make salmon jerky which has a very high fat content. You just have to stick in the fridge. Now that said, we selected a choice top round roast since there is a very low content of fat in the meat for our jerky.

Day 1-Beef Jerky (no photo we ate it too quick) and pizza sauce

 Meat, roll in dry rub and marinate 1hr in fridge

• >2lb of Top Round Beef, sliced thinly against the grain

Dry rub, grind in magic bullet

• 1T salt
• 3/4T garlic powder
• 1/4T lemon grass powder
• 1/2T white ground pepper
• 1T five color pepper corns
• 1/2T lemon pepper corns
• 1T oregano, whole dried
• 1/4tsp black cumin seeds
• 1/2T cumin ground
• 1/2T minced onion, dried
• 1/2T orange pepper (central mkt)
• 1/2T dynamite Dallas Chili powder (central mkt)

Dehydrate about 4hours or more depending on thickness of meat.
 

Pizza Sauce, puree

• 2 vine ripe tomatoes
• italian spice mix
• nutrional yeast
• sprinkle more dried herbs on top of puree

Use olive oil and coat fruit leather sheet and pour puree. Dry for about 5-6hours. Grind in magic bullet. Should make about 1/4c of dry mix.

Day 2, 3-Tomatoes and veggies

Since Sprouts had vine ripe tomatoes on sale for 49cents a pound. Yeah it was time to test how the dehydrator would do tomatoes. It took 2.5 batches to finish off the tomatoes, 8hours each batch. Do not spray oil on trays.

• 8lbs of Tomatoes, made about 7.1oz of dried tomatoes which fills about 3/4 of a 1 gallon zip lock bag
• 1/2  white squash, thinly sliced for chips
• 1/5 celery, 1/2 inch thick sliced blanch in 1/2t baking soda & 1c water (keeps from browning)

The dehydrated half of the squash to see how it tasted. Makes very tasty chips. For a fact, I'm curious if it would be good with salsa. And the celery I powdered as best as I could and added sea salt to make celery salt. These took about 5hours

Day 4-Veggies and strawberries

After washing all the tomatoes stuff off the racks. I started another batch to free some space up in the fridge.

• 3/5 celery, 1/2inch thick blanch in soda/water
• 1lb strawberries, >1/2inch slices (remove tops)
• 1/2 white squash, thinly sliced for chips
• yellow squash, thinly sliced for chips
• 1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced for chips
• 9 baby carrots, sliced length wise in strips blanch in hot water (save hot water)

Meanwhile, I prepped dinner.

Salmon over rice with veggies

Defrosted Salmon that was on sale a few months ago. Luckily no frost was formed around the fish. Marinated with sauce from the veggies and white sauce by pureeing with sesame soil, roasted white and black sesame seeds, dried minced onion, miso, soy sauce, and sugar. I took the left over blanching water that I used for the carrots to cook rice. Then I panned fried the Salmon in sesame oil, olive oil and chili oil mix to crisp the skin and top of fish. Sauteed the left of vegetables with green peas over medium heat. When the sauce started bubbling remove fish to plates, then add in the rice to finish. I added a bit more sesame oil to crisp the veggie rice mixture. Serve warm. I added red pepper flakes to mine.