What's cooking? part 4

love peas in creamy pasta sauces: esp fresh peas

I always whirl my peas before using them

I do peas, pink salmon, and shallot or leeks, in a creamy sauce. Delish. And so quick!

om nom nom

Gah now Im hungry.

Orzo salad w spinach, basil, feta, lemon, and tomato. Easy as pie, but the lemon imo really is the secret ingredient because it just teases you into taking the next bite.

Oh and pine nuts.

That sounds really delicious

I mean, I would be a pain and pick out the tomato because I have some sort of digestive/taste issue with raw tomato. It sucks :/

ugh made red velvet cupcakes & recipe called for way too much sugar. dammit.

I'm cooking a orange ginger beef stir fry right now, never made a stir fry before so well see. even toasted sesame seeds and used orange zest!

mr veg is cooking a spice-rubbed pork tenderloin on the bbq, and I'm making some braised kale & brown rice

I'm so hungry

so stir frying isn't as easy as I thought it would be, it had a nice flavor, but I didn't get the glaze I was going for.

I need a drink

I made a pizza from a 45 cent Fresh and Easy dough ball. Put some Putanesca tomato sauce on it (homemade from last year), with ham, mushrooms, goat cheese, and oil-cured olives. Turned out pretty well. I've found the F&E pizza doughs are easier to work with than the Trader Joe's.

And I'm finishing a bottle of Avalon Cabernaet Sauvignon that I drank with it.

my favorite italian cookbook author, never lets me down

Maccheroni all'Aquilana (w/ Zucchini)

skipped the saffron, egg yolk and scallions. substituted 50/50 thyme + rosemary for oregano cause i was out (not ideal but not bad either) and substituted parm for pecorino. used combination of stock and hot pasta water for the hot water, skipped the salt.

still turned out pretty damn good

i cut the recipe in half and cut down on the cheese even further than that

I've found pizza dough is suprisingly easy to make from scratch tbh! No raising needed like bread. This recipes good:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/25844/basic+pizza+dough

The key is using the special bread/pizza flour, which has high protein.
Made this with it:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/26426_349827582756_726857756_4088487_3437844_n.jpg

LOL looking for that pic on my FB led me to this pic which I'd forgotten: some cakes i made for my ex's b'day

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/23680_367754612756_726857756_4134761_8102713_n.jpg

whoa awesome

A+ cake

I'll confess I cheated and used storebought madiera cake, carved up, but man it was fun to make :D

*screeeeeeeeeeeeeee* *whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrp*

As S- said at the time, "better build quality than Behringer". lol.

lol! high praise!

Hahah hardly! ;P

Positive feedback!

fnarrr

that pizza looks delicious trayce (the cakes too!)

btw, do you know what happens if you use all purpose flour instead of special bread flour? how does that affect the texture? want to try the pizza recipe but don't want to buy an entire new thing of flour...already have like 3 diff flours right now...

I use AP flour for my dough, turns out good!

I do use yeast though & let it rise, might be a different technique

hmmm ok. i will try it.

I am a cooking newb and general kitchen disaster area and I made WmC's mushroom sauce and it was very good!

Misjudged a few amounts and timings on the way but it still turned out delicious. I also poured it on some not-great shop-bought fresh pasta, which is the main thing I hope to improve on next time, but there will definitely be a next time. Thank you, WmC.

Today I'm cooking the pork belly! Really excited and hope it turns out well. I'm making a beet spinach salad with goat cheese to go along with it.

xpost

Glad it turned out well! All the talk of creamy mushroom pasta has been making me crave it myself. I'm thinking about doing a version with some tuna in it tonight. (Need to remember to warn my wife so she can dab a bit of Vicks Vaporub under her nose.)

Also, for whatever reason, I'm starting to crave creamed spinach -- something for the weekend maybe.

anyone tried roasted beets on a grill or roasting beets in general? Any suggestions?

I like raw beets cut into matchsticks on salads, myself. Are you opposed to crunchy raw beets?

Otherwise just roast like you would roast any other root vegetable.

I've always saute beets or any root, I've never roasted them. I was thinking of placing them in foil and turning the grill on low, should I cover them in oil?

I usually roast them in a foil pouch with some olive oil and salt, then peel them when they're just cool enough to handle. There's something sexy about feeling the skin slide loose under my fingers. xp

^^ what he said

oh so I shouldn't skin the beets?

not necessary but you can if you want

Excellent beet thread: Beets

I think if they are wrapped in foil, oil probably doesn't matter, though a little would help keep them from sticking? Roasting with skin on is easy and keeps you from getting dyed fingertips.

Thanks guys!

Oh man, that mushroom pasta is so good with tuna (and peas). Takes me back to my yout'.

Re the pizzsa: yeah the strong flour for pizza and bread just helps its integrity I guess but its fine with regular flour - I use yeast either way - I think strong flour just makes it crispier?

So the pork belly has been cooking at 300 for 3 hours in the aromatics and basing liquid I made. It looks like a huge slab of fat, not the most appealing sight. Now I have to slice it and place it under the broiler, I hope this works out, after looking at it I'm second guessing myself with this whole idea.