What's cooking? part 4

i used to save all the fat we trimmed from tenderloins etc at the restaurant i used to work that our chef otherwise would've thrown away for beef stock. all our veg scraps too. and once my friend jesse filled up the tank of his biodiesel truck out of our grease trap. good times.

I like to make my own veg stock because it is so much yummier than store veg stock. Plus it is basically life's only opportunity to put sea goo (aka kombu) and a parsnip in the same pot.

Those roasted root veggies sound so yum!

veg stock seems like a no brainer cause there's all those ends of onions and shit that you're otherwise gonna throw away, right?

every time i have a party now, i always serve a veggie platter and a pot of lentils. for one most of my friends are vegetarian, but primarily i like to use all the butt ends of the broccoli, peppers, celery, etc for the veggie platter to make the stock in which to cook the lentils.

the trick with the lentils is, whatever spices/aromatics/etc you put in there, you should replace 1/8 of the water/stock with COCONUT MILK because it's DELISH. and then all your white friends are like "wow your lentils are EXOTIC".

and your black friend is like "what's up with this chili?"

One of my daughter's go-to comfort foods is curried lentils -- w/yellow curry paste and coconut milk

hi! just a little warning: i emailed a few of you today for a recipe sharing chain thingie. no pressure if you're not into those sort of things. i think it will be fun!

new favorite sauce: sriracha and mayo, 1:1

fry sauce, I should say

http://www.thekitchn.com/healthy-hearty-breakfast-idea-egg-baked-in-an-avocado-165707

i need to try this

tell me more dayo. please.

Hmm. Four bundles of soba noodles in peanut sauce might have been a little too much.

lukas, mix sriracha and mayo in a 1:1 ratio, dip fries into it or anything fried. yum!

i found a medieval recipe for pea soup with ginger, saffron, and almonds and that was my plan for tonight, but my car went crazy so i panicked and went home instead of to the grocery store. down to what's in the freezer :(

brb

yesterday's friday deal at my whole foods was lobster tails! mad them tonight (butterflied and broiled) with roasted asparagus, artichoke hearts with white wine/lemon, and cheddar biscuits. mm.

sounds horrible!

is there a thread for what the hell to do with the bare bones left in your fridge? bcz i think i'm about to make a fish curry with frozen tilapia filets and oh man this isn't going to go well

make stock

oh lol you don't literally mean bones.

fish curry is good. it could work!

or not.

this seems like a thread that could be dr. strongo's nuevo cuisine if you actually made it.

btw TZA, I was following my family tradition of "the better it is, the worse we insult it." Your lobster dinner sounds fantastic.

Fish curry sounds good! Make a nice brothy coconut-milky curry with onions and carrots in it, poach fish very briefly in it, serve over rice, PROFIT.

oh lol you don't literally mean bones.

lol you had me googling for stock recipies using only filets of fish thinking damn she must know something i don't

i had a few glasses of white wine with the lobster...

i just dug through the cupboards and the coconut milk i thought i had was not there so that's out.

so i have a couple filets. carrots, a shallot, some garlic and galangal. regular gamut of dry spices. hmm.

xp i've had a few shots of tequila with my...nothing...i understand

frozen tilapia fillets are... not good for anything that isn't heavily seasoned so it might be a good plan. it's either that or they taste like the fish equivalent of chicken breasts

btw if you have butter and cayenne pepper you can blacken them cajun-style

or just season w/ salt and pepper and some lemon juice and saute

these are good ideas, problem being i am getting drunker as i let them thaw

don't get drunk and decide to try to make ceviche with them

I mean, not that people have done that.... uh, yeah

Saute minced shallot and garlic in butter or oil, add a shot of tequila to the pan, lay the fish in, cover and steam. squeeze on some lime.

i have all these things minus the lime, but i think that one might be a go. possibly add ginger or galangal root...

edible +

no...downgrading to edible.

Hey as long as you dont put chocolate sauce on em you'll be fine.

in a steaming rig like this what could i expect

http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy282/everytownexceptpaducah/steamerkinda.jpg

also frozen fillets from a bag what can ya do

Tonight I made one of those once-a-year type over the top meals for Valentines day - ribeyes with some demi glace that I had in the freezer, homemade fries with chive/lemon/pepper mayo, lettuce with garlicky dijon vinaigrette, a good bottle of local wine, and, to ensure the ridiculous food coma, chocolate souffles. Feeling kind of bloated right now but it was worth it.

Sounds amazing. I made complicated mayos once, to go with roasted potatoes and garlic cloves. The worst part was trying to evenly flame-char and then SKIN my own bell peppers instead of buying them. Must have spent an hour just picking shards of skin off like an idiot. Ah those were the days.

Today I had a pound or two of stew beef, a can of San Marzano tomatoes, a bottle of red wine, and a carton of beef broth. Now all browned and seasoned and in a 300-degree oven for an hour, at which time I will add carrots and possibly baby yellow potatoes. While I'm waiting, I will degrease the stove top because holy shit.

you gotta let the pepper sit in a paper bag, rolled closed, for a half hour or so before skinning! the skin comes off easily in like 5 pieces instead of 1000

Sound advice, which I'll take for the next time (if there ever is a next time).

Because you are not kidding about the 1000 pieces.

The plastic handles of Le Creuset pots are oven-proof, right? I mean it's not even very hot in there.

i looked it up once. i think they are safe to 375 or so. i was making no-knead bread and it was hotter than that so i unscrewed the top and put a piece of aluminum foil in the hole to plug it up.

that wasn't a handle though, the little holder thing in the center? i think they're the same material

i decided to try making ratatouille in my crock pot and it was disastrous - i timed everything all wrong and ended up letting it cook for like 10 hours. i actually managed to completely cook all flavour out of it. it literally tasted like... nothing.

Trying to eat more beans because
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6EX0GepzOA

I made the awesomest batch of pintos: garlics, cumin, tons of the CHILE FROM HATCH, and that smoked sea salt + pepper just chilling in the pot liquor. I have eaten them every day for over a week and I'm still not tired of them. Think up next are some Anasazis!

Made menemen for the first time. Ridiculously simple and so, so good. Perfect for an excessive breakfast.

Abbott, I wish more ilxors understood the amazing power of the CHILE FROM HATCH. I don't build whole vacations around just any foodstuff.

I bought a 40 lb bag of roasted hot Hatch hiles from the farmer's market & it was defs my best investment of 2011. What's left is taking up 1/4 my freezer.

So jealous!

I bought a bunch of chile powders (mild and hot green, mild and medium red, chipotle) from Biad Chili, the processor that NMSU uses. Can't wait to get through current work deadlines so I can get into the kitchen and tinker.