What's cooking? part 4

Roast lamb (thyme), roast potatoes, Vichy carrots (w' chives), kale.

Despite the general recommendation for potatoes cooked in goose fat, I must admit, after much experimentation white flora produces my favourite roast potatoes - crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside.

I feel a bit of a philistine, but there it is. Possibly I just like them a bit lighter than when cooked in goose fat.

Autumn/early winter lamb is easily my favourite and now if you don't mind I'm going to crack open the wine.

makin yams w/roasted garlic and rosemary, wish i had a lamb and wine :(

just made (then promptly devoured) loco moco for the gals. it works well on wet mornings when rain cancels rides.

i had to look up loco moco

James Kelly, a University of Hawaii-Hilo professor, writes that the loco moco dish was created in 1949 by the Inouye family, who owned the Lincoln Grill in Hilo, Hawaii in 1949. A group of boys from the Lincoln Wreckers sports club contributed to its creation.

There's a couple of hawaiian plate lunch places around here but I've never actually gone to either yet. It intrigues me but kind of grosses me out at the same time.

oh man, i miss lamb, i haven't had it in months....

Lunch today: spinach ricotta ravioli (from trader joe's) w/ homemade alfredo sauce. So garlicky, so yum. And it's bread-baking weather, dough for 2 baguettes is on its first rise.

And I'm experimenting with cocoa/cinnamon/cayenne shortbread cookies.

Might have overdone the cayenne a bit, the dough is packing a long afterburn!

1 c butter
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1 c flour, sifted + 1/4 c rice flour if you have it, otherwise 1.25 c flour
3/4 c dutched cocoa powder
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cayenne
1/2 tsp kosher or sea salt if using salted butter, 1 tsp if not

Oven @ 325 deg f. Parchment paper or silicone mats on baking sheets.

Cream sugar into room temperature butter until fluffy (5 min on medium w/ mixer). Add the vanilla and cream again.

Sift dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add 1/2 the dry mixture to the butter/sugar and mix on low speed until well blended. Add the remaining dry mixture and mix on low until incorporated, then on medium for 1-2 minutes until well blended. Chill the dough for at least 1/2 an hour. I'm rolling it into 2 1.5" dia logs in waxed paper, chilling, then slicing. But you could roll it out carefully (sticky!) 1/4" thick and cut into shapes or scoop by tsps onto the prepared sheets and gently flatten. Space 1" or so apart and bake for approx. 15 min.

If you want the cookies a bit sweeter, sprinkle with a little granulated sugar before baking.

OMG!!! Baking just intensifies the spice and the cocoa-ness. The next batch I'll halve both the cinnamon and the cayenne, and cut the cocoa back to 2/3rds cup while increasing the sugar to 2/3 c and the flour by 1/4 c.

Also, do not touch anywhere near the eyes after handling this dough!

i just made a chocolate cookie recipe from 2007 cooking light -- it's spicy, but not overwhelmingly so. i would recommend reducing the sugar a little though. i found mine too sweet.

• 5 ounces bittersweet (60 to 70 percent) chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Dash of black pepper
• Dash of ground red pepper
• 1 1/4 cups sugar **** use no more than 1 cup! *****
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°.
Place chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through red pepper); stir with a whisk.
Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 5 minutes). Add egg; beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla; beat just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack.

it made about 30 cookies, which is just about the amount i can eat/feed to the husband/give away before they go stale

Everyone that has tried the original version spicy chocolate shortbread has loved them! So I just overreacted to how spicy they are. I will still cut the cinnamon back, because that seems to be too dominant. Also - fabulous with vanilla ice cream.

i am gonna make a pinto bean stew with dried ancho chiles and diced tomatoes and plenty of garlic. i think.

I got a Caribbean cook book for my birthday and tried out a couple of the snacks for my party, namely vegetable patties and shrimp and corn cakes. Both were astoundingly good and so simple to make. I'll give you the recipe for the cakes...

50 g plain flour
50 g polenta
200g cooked shrimp
2-3 spring onions
3 eggs
40g melted butter
250 g sweetcorn
salt and pepper

Whisk the eggs, add the flour and polenta, then everything else and mix well. Then just gently shallow fry tablespoonfuls of the mixture for 2-3 minutes each side. Serve up with slices of lime, chopped coriander/cilantro, sour cream and hot pepper sauce. So quick to make and utterly gorgeous.

btw guys apparently i am being auctioned off at a med school thing and my buyer gets a dinner for 4-8

what am i gonna make????

nazi food only

oh that will go over well

luna bars and vitamin water w/vodka

How much for one (1) bike nerd almost-doctor who cooks? Oh? In that case I will take a dozen.

you will have to come to the auction ;)

I can't order online? Most barbaric.

i bought some chicken breast tenderloins but i haven't cooked chicken in so long i don't even know what i wanna make with them :(

marinate in curry spices + a little oil, broil or panfry, spicy peanut sauce and raita on the side; steamed broccoli, rice

i am going to make brussels sprouts so i may just do v basic seasoning and pan fry

WmC otm

I am so addicted to brussels sprouts. I've been eating them every day.

that cookie recipe looks fantastic. i'll have to try that soon. this week i am lazy though, the furthest i've ventured beyond thanksgiving leftovers is rice, beans, & butternut squash.

brussels sprouts are the in vegetable this season aren't they? i basically ate them once as a kid (nobody in my family liked them, so we never had them again), and suddenly they're all over the food-obsessed corners of the internet.

this thread needs some kind of exchange scheme with the nutrition nazis

I was just reading a restarant review (in this week's new yorker, maybe?) that stanned for roasted brussels sprouts with sriacha, lime, and honey. May try!

that sounds like a good idea. i keep seeing brussels sprout trees for sale cheap and then not buying them because you know wtf am i going to do with a brussels sprout tree

i didn't know they came on trees...?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e9/Brussels-sprouts-on-stalk.jpg

Might grow those next year why just because they look intersting

It is weird that out of all the cruciferous veg, cabbage & brussels sprouts are the only ones I really like.

really like = cld happily eat every day and have a third helping of

Kale and some other greens are pretty good.

now i am hoping to try them! am probably going to be eating junk out of the house for the next couple days though :/ boo grad school.

There are many days when I would pick broccoli as the only veg I could take to a desert island.

I would pick mushrooms, if they count. No question about it.

Mushrooms are the things that tell me 'hey man, why u need meat, just become a vegetarian already.'

Hay quincie, this guy says he recreated that brussels sprouts/honey/lime/sriracha dish, as soon as I have more in the house, gonna try it...

tonight: spaghetti squash with tomato sauce and meatballs, and a peach jam tart for dessert. do peach and almond go together? this recipe involves almonds, so i hope so.

It was a cloudless sunny day and I had a pound of good quality raw peanuts, so I made a batch of peanut brittle. (If you've never made nut brittle, it may seem weird that the weather matters, but it definitely does.)

tonight: traditional fakesgiving w/ the old crew. 2 turkeys! popovers! stuffing and mashed potatoes and other things tbd!

i contributed my famous "cases of black label" recipe

WmC, why does the weather matter?

reporting back on peach jam tart: modified from an apricot tart recipe in a russian cookbook, added a little marmalade (because i had not quite enough jam) and baking chocolate to the filling, and it turned out excellent. the dough turned out oddly closer to biscuit than pie, but it was still good.

That is the nice thing abt living in a dry climate like New Mexico: never having to worry about humidity mucking up your meringue or candy-making.

WmC, why does the weather matter?

Yep, like Abbott said, humidity will mess up candy -- it'll suck up the water in the air, be tacky and nasty and sometimes won't even get all the way brittle. If the air is dry, the candy will stay dry to the touch and won't get you sticky to pick it up.

Just made a ton of empanadas with beef, onions, olives, hard boiled eggs, and scallions, and some aji pique. Brining half to a cocktail party to help soak up the booze, freezing the other half for later.

Just made pasta w/asparagus & goat cheese. This is the kind of meal I have to be careful not to eat too much of.

mmm cheeses. I've become a little addicted to fried haloumi which is just deadly for my belleh.

friday was crab meat and aspagus risotto (using crab stock).

today was pork pozole to try and combat the creeping chill.