What's cooking? part 4

much less of a pain than I expected - this video made it all seem quite... doable, so i found the relevant proportions from some blog or other and did what the woman in the video had done. (it helped that i have a handheld electric whisk thing: i would not have wanted to whip the meringue by hand)

for the filling all i did was mash and sieve some raspberries and then fold the puree into a bar's worth of melted white chocolate. and add red food colouring because it was an offputting lilac colour. and then put it in the fridge and feel sure it would never set and would taste disgusting (tbh i do think the white-chocolateness of it is kind of cloying/muddy).

Tonight: lamb burgers with curry and scallions, layered on a roll with cucumber ribbons and feta sauce with parsley. Served with orzo and wilted spinach dressed with lemon juice and crumbled feta. Greek night!

Last night I attempted something I do often: to replicate a dish I've had out somewhere that I really liked. A lunch place by my work does this amazing pasta: linguine with tuna, fried breadcrumbs, capers, garlic and lemon. It was so vibrant with the taste of garlic and lemon and saltiness.

I made my own last night, sans the crumbs. And it was majorly disappointing :/ I'm not sure what I did wrong, though I think I didn't add anywhere near enough grated lemon rind for one thing. It just tasted so flat!

Hate it when that happens.

What is a recipe that uses a LOT of lettuce? We have lettuce coming out our ears from our garden, and getting a little tired of green salads. Anybody tried stir-fried lettuce or lettuce soup?

Lettuce soup works.

butter, onion, garlic, 250g lettuce leaves + stalk, a tablespoon of plain flour, litre chicken stock/water, double cream, egg yolk, chervil/parsley (this is going to be pretty similar to the cress one upthread btw)

cook the onion and garlic, stir in the slice up lettuce, mix round for a minute, add the flour. cook for another minute, add stock/water. simmer for five mins. Puree soup, whisk egg yolk n cream together, add to soup, stir heat, eat.

i bought a huge amount of lettuce for $1 today. and way way too much basil and a couple eggplants. i think i'm gonna make this: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipes/9078

I want that.

Instead baked potato, sausages and beans. Hmm. Actually I want that as well. But that stir fry looks good.

Made a nice haricot bean and tarragon soup the other day, had with some left over pork and anchovy meatballs and a mint, basil, lettuce salad with dressing just lemon juice, s + p, and olive oil. It was great.

the eggplant thing was really good but if you follow the instructions the eggplants and onions won't cook through (or maybe my "bite size" is larger than average). i had to turn the heat down and let everything steam for a few minutes before adding the vinegar and soy sauce. and i used rice vinegar.

i mean turn the heat down and cover the pot

i wanna make some roasted red potatoes with rosemary but it's 90º out

toaster oven?

I think I'm gonna try that eggplant recipe why because it looks delicious

I made the Cooks' Illus potato salad again today, first time this summer, and I can't stop stealing spoonsful out of the bowl.

my friend came over, sliced up a bunch of rhubarb real thin, then fried it in butter, then added maple syrup, then poured the whole thing over some vanilla ice cream.

that, my friends, is "what's cooking."

stewed rhubarb was one of my favourite foods as a kid - on ice cream, on cereal, or just on its own.

today made green papaya salad w/ mint, thai basil, pea shoots and also pad thai
then
pea and pancetta risotto for dinner

also:
brownies

i made some kind of terrible concoction of vegetables w/ mirin, hoisin, garlic, sesame seeds, soy sauce and seitan. it was bad. i even screwed up boiling the damn pasta.

so now i'm having crumpets instead.

Nothing worse than a meal totally going rougue on one, I hate that!

it happens to me quite a bit :/

U should try that sausage and red lentil soup thingy I posted on FB, it was quite nice.

I just just made some thai style stir fried water spinach and it's pretty good although it tastes a little chinese-ish because I used chinese fermented soybean paste instead of thai salted soybean paste. think I'm gonna go down to the thai market today or tomorrow and try to find some thai soybean paste.

stir fried water spinach?

also known as morning glory

http://www.realthairecipes.com/recipes/stir-fried-water-spinach/

that looks delicious!

it is! I think I like it better than real spinach because the taste is a bit lighter but more importantly the stalks have better mouthfeel - they kind of 'crunch' in your mouth without being too tough

man that's why i have been LOVING pea shoots lately
i put them in everything -- noodles, soup, salads

I really don't like cooked spinach but I love the shit out of random stir-fried asian greens.

moving to a kitchen with a GAS STOVE soon! so psyched!!

i am going to attempt some kind of sesame kale salad today. blanch/quickly steam the kale to soften a little... maybe soy, sesame oil, chili flakes, dried seaweed flakes?

bought some locally grown long beans, made a stir fry roughly following this recipe:

http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1618,151176-240200,00.html

(didn't use pork, subbed sriracha for chiles.) very very good but I think I cooked the beans for too long, luckily I have half a bag left with which to refine my technique

Last night - chicken cooked in white wine, garlic and rosemary. + french beans and for dessert a fantastic orange and almond cake that I'd made earlier in the day.

dry fried beans are one of my fav things ever at chinese restaurants

made some awesome black beans with sauteed onion, roasted garlic, roasted jalapeno, cumin, chili powder, simmered w/ a touch of water for a few min.

and a few squirts of lime juice for pep

Pea soup, then roast chicken in an Italian way - put two whole lemons in a chicken, that you've salted and peppered, then close it up with some cocktail sticks or a skewer or whatever, truss the feet lightly together - and it expands like a balloon in the oven and you get an incredible flavour.

Wanted to use Sicilian lemons, which are not tart in the slightest (tho you might purse your lips slightly as you pay for them thru clenched fist. Anyway, there weren't any, so I got the normal ones.

Raspberry and almond tart for pudding.

Got home from Atlanta with a ton of exotic groceries; been cooking all weekend. Yesterday was lamb burgers, replenishing my crystallized ginger stash, making a carrot cake for my daughter's birthday. Today is cayenne pepper mash, roasting anaheim chilies, roasting tomatoes for puree, and making falafel in a little while. If I have any energy left later tonight, my basil is going haywire and I need to make a batch of pesto.

recommendations for a good quality balsamic vinegar?

Trader Joe's usually has one or two decent brands, and actually the Costco Kirkland brand isn't bad (hat tip: WmC)

I'm still trying to sort out the oven at our new place - it cooks really hot! Like, the 350 deg F setting is more like 400.

Yesterday though, made tabbouleh and a black bean/cheddar dip for a get-together. I didn't have any chipotles in adobo, so I used some New Mexico, Anaheim, and pequins and some smoked paprika in addition to Mexican oregano and epazote for seasoning. Very tasty, not too spicy.

I made some guacamole and the avocados I used today were much much tastier than the avocados I had been using. these ones came from mexico (haas avocados, but not grown by coleman) whereas the ones I'd used before were from australia.

I had a bunch of old tortillas sitting around, so I had no choice but to make a bunch of really delicious tortilla soup. My husband likes it, too, which is rare/incredible.

Some veal ravioli (from the oldest and still the best italian deli in London afaik, Camisa's) in brodo, and some peas with mint and butter, plus glass of nice light Italian red.

All about dips right now -- jaq those sound yum!
Threw together a nom dip/paste/spread of white beans, garlic, artichoke, spinach, sardine, oo, and lemon. So good.
My oven is way weird. I think the dial is inaccurate, but I'm learning to turn it up higher than the desired temp. I need to get a thermometer and test it out.

oh man pad thai is so much more effort to make for yourself than i always remember

Roasted beets, potatoes and broccoli (figured I might as well take advantage while the oven was cranked up). Ate the first two with fresh dill and sour cream, the third with grated parmesan.

pan-fried tilapia (lightly dusted w/flour)
mango salsa w/onion & cilantro
steamed asaparagas
corn on the cob
couscous zapped w/curry powder

^^tonight's humid summer dinner

this week I want to make some kind of cucumber/mint salad. thinking rice-wine vinegar might be better than something sharper like white or red wine

tilapia gets a bad rap for being tasteless but I dig the mild flavor & texture, and oh yeah the price is right

I like tilapia, and it's a lot more environmentally friendly than most fishes iirc.

Tilapia is hella cheap! Last Lent, I got some for $1.50/lb.

this week I want to make some kind of cucumber/mint salad. thinking rice-wine vinegar might be better than something sharper like white or red wine

― too rock for country/too country for rock & roll (m coleman), Sunday, 11 July 2010 23:02 (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^ this is a good idea