What's cooking? part 4

uh

i want that

sorry, i ate it all :-P
for the first time i made indian food that tastes as good as my favorite fancy indian restaurant

also convinced myself that i could not live without mint
what a glorious plant

my gf has been cooking with mint more lately. mint has my full support.

i came home from work v hungry and wanting to have those burritos again.
spacecadet i think it takes everyone a long time using full recipes to get to be able to throw things together w/o thinking about it & have it taste good. there's no need to be sad.

I'm so glad the hot weather has broken enough to get in the kitchen and cook. I'd never survive as a raw-foodarian. (I have a meatloaf in the oven and am going to start the mashed potatoes right now.)

amen to that. it's still 90 degrees here, but i can see the end. or rather, the future of cooking season. after eating so many salads and cheese-meat-crackers type quasimeals i almost felt like i had lost my appetite, but...no. it's still there.

The first day we get where the high is below 80, I'm going to get 10# of beef neckbones to replenish my beef stock supplies. I'm down to my last quart.

spacecadet, you should check your ilx webmail!

question: what is the best way to go about roasting either a) a whole bulb of garlic or b) a few cloves?

cut the root ends off, drizzle w/ oil, wrap in foil, put in slow oven (300 deg or so) until they feel soft (approx. 1 hr)

huh - would that work in a toaster oven?

i guess so, right? why not? i love my toaster oven.

I'm sure it would!

a few cloves would probably only take 30 min or so, btw. But it's so good and can go in so much stuff, I usually do the whole head.

Man no kidding, I have a hard time not just eating the whole thing on bread the minute I take it out of the oven.

do you think it's freezable once it's cooled down?

freezing might make it impossible to get the good stuff out of the skins, so I'd squish out the paste and freeze that.

i made some disastrous indian filo puff things tonight... they are in the oven now. i have never cooked with filo before but i must have done something wrong: the recipe said to use two sheets and to put 2-3 generous spoonfuls of the filling on top before rolling up tightly... well, the whole thing melted! so then i panicked and just started grabbing a bunch of sheets and kind of mushing everything together.

ok these are half gross, half good: all those layers of pastry remained pretty much uncooked - i think i needed to oil them? but i don't have a pastry brush.

yeah, when you layer phyllo, it's the butter or oil between the layers that lets it get crisp and puffy. If you have an oil mister (like the Misto), that works better than a pastry brush (for oils, not for melted butter).

Man no kidding, I have a hard time not just eating the whole thing on bread the minute I take it out of the oven.

Tell me about it. I'm dreadful at just standing in the kitchen squeezing the cloves onto the bread - just take them to the table and sit down! Must admit I tend to do them w'out the foil, but I can't see as how it would make any difference other than taking slightly longer.

valuable lessons with the habanero

An oil mister! what a great idea.

It'll go great with my oil missus.

Oh, dadpaws.

why is my hand and face still burning from this

omg

eek

index and naughty fingers still slightly burning iirc

Let that be a lesson to you then.

I once got chilli in my eye - this was after I'd washed my hands, too - man, it hurt.

on a complete standoff w/ my genitals btw

I planted a bunch of chilies this year for the first time and got a 100-pack of plastic gloves for the peeling and destemming and stuff.

That reminds me, I need to pull up last years jalapeno bushes - theyve gone all feral and end-of-seasony.

one more post and i'll shut up about my habanero disaster

so my girlfriend stopped by after work, while i was cooking still, and just sort of helped herself to my milk (straight out of the jug, as both she and i are wont to do), and immediately goes WHY ARE MY LIPS BURNING!!!

lol

hahaha damn, you must have been rolling in it

lunch co-op has been awesome! trying to convince coworkers to start a blog so we can share recipes. one made an amazing moroccan pot pie with a phyllo crust this week. omg nom.

things i have made so far:
gazpacho
tuna, white bean, and arugala salad
veggie/chicken masala
quinoa summer salad
ratatouille
build-you-own spinach salad (ie lots of containers of goodies to throw on the spinach)

can not wait for soupy season!

last weekend i roasted some beets (omg hot kitchen but it was worth it!) and tossed them in a mustardy vinaigrette, served over spinach... made me anxious for fall!

coconut rice pudding mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

my bro and i are having birthdays so i made a triple batch of macaroons to cover both parties

http://www.flickr.com/photos/95905148@N00/4959306005/

also made: 1x chocolate cake w/ raspberry buttercream and ganache (kind of too rich tbh), and a ton of mezze-y stuff - broad bean falafel, kofte, hummus, tzatziki, tabbouleh, aubergine salad, etc etc. i was only assistant/plongeur for the savoury cooking tho.

plongeuse, maybe.

Dammit I wanted to make gooseberry raised pies today, but no gooseberries to be found. Used to have them in the garden when I was growing up and they make the best puddings and jams. So roast lamb and flageolet beans for main, and then, I don't know, perhaps some pears or something for after, no, wait, ginger ice cream. Maybe.

So nearly went for steak and kidney pudding, but it's still a little early in the year for it.

those macaroons are GORGEOUS!

i'm attempting massaman curry tonight again hoping i can come out with something i like this time. trying letting the beef marinate in coconut milk and ginger for about an hour, then simmering about 20 minutes or so, before i go ahead with the usual fry off the paste and all that.

i had an idea at work today for something else to do with it, too, but i forgot now that i'm home so it'll probably not be that great again.

sounds awesome!

i have been having fun with rose petal preserves

yeah i'm a little ways into the simmering stage now and that alone is tasting kinda great (oh i lied, in addition to the coconut milk/ginger i chopped up about four thai red chiles + fish sauce for the marinade)

i have never heard of rose petal preserves!

here's how i have been eating them:

1) on a cracker (goat chz, rose preserves, thinly sliced apple)
2) in a crepe (fig + preserves)

later this week i plan on making some puff pastry turnovers with it, but i'm not sure if i want to do the apple/cheese combo or stick with dessert fig.

if you like flowery-flavored foods, rose petal preserves are AMAZING. bet they would be good heated and poured over vanilla ice cream or sthg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3555/3281853303_31926e7103.jpg

ummmm emergency tips for ACCIDENTLY DOUBLED THE CARDAMOM?

halp