What's cooking? part 4

can't stop making tacos and fajitas lately...and endless salsas...might have some for breakfast now since there are leftovers!

got some pigs cheeks from the butcher - so cheap, they were 50p for 2 - does anyone have any idea what to do w/ them?

Cheeks really benefit from braising, and are terrific and rich. One of those things that's good with a comfort starch - mashed potatoes, plantains, rice, whatever does it - and something sharp, like bitter greens or an acidic sauce. Good base for chili or adobo, too.

yeah i thought the slow cooking would be key

thx bill!

i have a bag of great northern beans i want to make hummus with. do i soak them overnight and then cook them? i never really used dried beans before.

I don't think you have to soak them. Give 'em a good solid boil in enough water (with salt) for 30-40 minutes or until they're about the texture of canned chickpeas, let them cool a bit, off to the races.

thanks!

another question: do you think the beets are raw or cooked in this recipe

I am guessing raw.
I am also guessing you could cook them too.
When I was five my parents made a rule that I couldn't go in the garden anymore because I was beet crazy, digging them up, rinsing them off with the hose, and then eating them like carrots. But I haven't eaten raw beets since! Maybe they are still crazy-inducing good!

I am going to try making spring rolls tonight.

yeah i would say raw

Not exactly cooking but I'm stoked I managed to re-create my favourite Mixt Greens Maui salad pretty successfully! Easy when it's just a list of mainly raw ingredients but it was super tasty :)

yet another question:

i have this recipe -
Sweet Potato Grits

3 cups milk
1 cup grits
1 cup sweet potato (finely grated)
1 shallot (finely diced)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
2 eggs (beaten)
olive oil

Bring milk to a boil. Add the next seven ingredients and work out any lumps with a whisk. Reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Temper the eggs into the grits. Brush olive oil into the cups of a silicone muffin tin. Pour grits 3/4 of the way into each muffin cup. Bake for 20 minutes or until set. Allow to cool for ten minutes.

it's part of a larger recipe which i want to try. the problem is that i need to make it vegan. i'm guessing that i can sub out the milk with soy, or a mixture of soy and cashew cream, but i'm wondering how necessary the eggs are; can i just skip that whole egg/baking/setting bit? i have no idea what grits even are.

I can't help with veganizing anything.

Grits are ground corn. Think polenta but coarser.

Last night, made coconut rice pudding.

Today, making cassoulet and cornbread.

well, i guess what i was asking - since i've never eaten grits before - is whether the egg part of it seems essential to the taste or serving of it (if it's cooked with sweet potato).

it seems like the egg whites are used to set the grits into the muffin tins; one doesn't normally cook grits with egg whites.

just put this on the 'what can't you find' thread but this is probably a better place for it. please help oh cooky ones:

i used to have a recipe ripped out of one of the guardian food magazines, (possibly a nigel slater one). it's for a roast chicken (covered in foil and steamed using stock, with veg like leeks and carrots cooked in the roasting tin as well) with a grilled lettuce thing on the side and brown rice with chorizo (or salami). probably the best meal i've ever had in my life. it's been an age since i last made it and have no clue where to start with it - searched everywhere online and no joy. does anyone know the recipe i mean? or a very similar one that might cut it?

Dug out the Cuisinart with the intention of making zucchini pancakes, and saw that I was going to have to somehow extract moisture from the shredded vegetables, at which I scoffed and tried to think of a plan B.

I wound up shredding virtually every shreddable vegetable in my fridge to make a slaw with zucchini, fennel, onion, beet, mint, lime, oo, and I think I am going to eat it with some marinated stovetop-grilled portabellos and a roll? It's like this crazy pink mutant beast version of the thing Just!ne posted on fb for me. I think it tastes good, but I'm also kinda biased to like it since it contains a bunch of things I like. Not sure if it has any wider appeal...it's kind of a visual abomination.

yum!

if you don't want to de-moisturize shredded veg, i recommend mixing with chickpea flour, herbs/spices to make delicious pancake/latke type things.

that's what i was going to do, but i could NOT find chickpea flour at the store that normally has it. i did get some of my favorite guava paste blobs (bocadillo) though and i have eaten 3 already :)

good tip though -- where do you find this flour? it seems to elude me everywhere and i go to like 5 diff grocery stores for various things

chickpea flour is my new favourite thing - LOVE the taste of it, esp for breading things like mushrooms.

Zucchini is pretty easy though, I just squeeze it a handful at a time. Or you can do it all at once in a clean dish towel.

i usually find it at whole foods or like stores (they had it everywhere in seattle, here it is wf and natural foods stores).

ooh i bet it is super yum on mushrooms!

bob's red mill packages it

my current sadface is that i still can't find decent zucchini! went to store last night and it was all sad looking. isn't it time for zucchini now?

Should be -- my mother told me their yellow squash is coming in, and the seasons are the same I think.

i think there's just a conspiracy among dc grocers to deprive me of all the vegetables i want at all times of year.

Bought some locally-milled grits at the Tupelo farmers market last month. Finally made some a couple of days ago and they went straight into the trash. Too coarsely ground, bitter tasting, and it included the hull or the pericarp or whatever of the kernel, which I could cook for a year and it wouldn't get tender.

Whoa! I've never had grits taste bitter.

It was quite an unpleasant surprise!

Yeah, I would think so! I wonder what causes that - if it's the grind, or the wrong kind of corn, or what.

Bill, did you ever get a vacuum sealer? The reason I ask is, this afternoon my daughter thawed out a sealed pack of the gravlax I made four years ago and it's just fiiiiine.

Still haven't! Someday, though. This time of year I always wish I had one so I could compress watermelon and cucumber.

She made Gravlax Egg McMuffins for dinner. What hath I wrought!

Keep an eye on Woot.com - I got a Rival vacuum sealer that works great for <$20. Works with the less expensive rolls or the precut bags. I've been using it to bruise and sous vide asparagus etc as well as pack perishibles.

Father's day celebration w/ my pops. He's taking care of chicken, I've made:

Goat cheese, red pepper and roasted eggplant sandwich on tomato basil bread (bought Pop a panini press – this is his favorite sandwich). Surprise!
Blueberry buttermilk upside down cake from the latest Bon Appetit magazine. It is splendid.
Chiogga beet and carrot slaw with coriander and sumac
Ravioli filled with sweet potato, honey, Szechuan pepper, five spice, and garlic. (This is kind of a rip off from Ming Tsai's latest, amazing, book.)

Had amazing tequila and food in Mexico (in a little tourist enclave ...) and we're going to try to recreate the experience. I'm responsible for hot sauces. I remember a wonderful habanero sauce which i believe was just minced habanero in vinegar. Anyone have tips about salsa fresca? Or any other ideas?

i have been mad lazy lately and got one of those tubes of cilantro (mixed w/ a little oil to form a paste)... have been squeezing that into salsa to perk up boring jars.

tbh it's good cilantro flavor and so much easier than chopping. also it doesn't go bad. i can never get through a bunch of cilantro before it starts to turn.

Bayless salsa recipes are pretty foolproof and easy if you have a food processor. I love his Mexico Everyday book. A little googling will serve your needs, I'd imagine.

Yeah, I don't have an especially ambitious goal here. More talented chefs will be making actual food. Thanks!

Bayless recommendation seconded. And any time you're looking for a specific Mexican dish, Diana Kennedy is another good one to check - can't remember if you can search her books on Amazon (which saves a trip to the library).

For the first time since Christmas I found duck in the supermarket here - just in time for my birthday! I have some unbelievable bullshit to try to deal with this week, so if I succeed at doing so, this weekend will be a combined birthday/bullshit-survival celebration with smoked duck, foie, Georgia peaches, Hubig's pies, and whatever else celebratory I can dig out of the cupboards.

awesome!! sounds great :)

i am trying to figure out how i will celebrate the end of my week (and this job) but that may be less about cooking and more about the cocktails thread...

i have had good luck w/ easy bayless recipes, but his moles are prone to disaster in my experience. i have made 3 of them, and all of them have turned out weird and crappy

made a slaw this am for work potluck. lots of ppl were bringing in meat-heavy dishes (chicken meatballs w/ peanut sauce, bbq pork loin, etc.) so i went with savoy and red cabbage, mango, jicama, yellow pepper, carrot. made vinaigrette last night and let it marinate red onion pieces: lime & lemon juice, rice vinegar, sesame oil, s&p, a dab of honey, cilantro, something else i'm forgetting now... i hope it's good and not too acidic. i'm bringing fresh mint to garnish it before serving.

Whole Foods, I'm gonna hate how much I spend on you when the local one opens next year, but man am I happy to have sunflower greens and pea shoots. (And three kinds of miso and six kinds of cheese, and hanger steak.)

crossposted from the Father's Day thread because my wife and daughter can't get too much credit for the work they put in on this:

badam sandheko (Nepalese spiced peanuts)

chicken beli ram with chapatis
pan-fried halloumi
coconut shrimp with 2 dipping sauces
portobello banh mi "sliders"

mojito ice

cedar planked salmon with dill mustard
wild rice, roasted asparagus

berry ice

kulfi
green tea & mint biscuits

Every bit of it was fantastic.

sounds good, but i do not understand what a portobello banh mi slider is. pls to explain?

Roasted portobellos; marinated daikon/carrots; cucumber, sliced jalapenos, basil leaves; sauce of soy, lime juice, fish sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar. They toasted hoagie rolls a bit, added a good bit of the sauce and a very light amt of mayonnaise (all the recipes J. found called for mayo), loaded the roll up with mushrooms and vegetables, sliced it into small slider-sized portions.

If anybody is feeling like being critical of any lack of "authenticity" in this sandwich, please keep it to yourself.

(not meant at you, remy)