What's cooking? part 4

Made the vegetable lo mein I'd been craving for a few days. It really hit the spot.

Sounds lush, wouldn't add anything else. Just sautee the leeks in a bit of butter for a few mins, they take a little while to soften

Using the left over sausage grease is ok too right?

Browned mushrooms are so fucking good. Also damnit I wish I'd picked up bread for crumbs! I love texture contrasts

Instead of the usual mayo-relish-onion tuna salad, I made it Thai style -- tuna, green onions, mint, nuoc cham. Filled a big beautiful homegrown tomato full of it for lunch, with crackers.

i thought i had invented tomato and bread salad but then i looked it up and found this is called panzanella. i made it like exactly right though so i must be a genius of cooking. i inhaled it though, i wish i had slowed down.

mmm panzanella is the best

it is! i just used regular whole wheat bread and toasted it. i got a bunch of purple basil at the fm this morning and had pecorino in fridge. dressing was crushed garlic, olive oil, and white wine vinegar. will make again.

The pasta I made was soooo goooood!! It was about 12oz ww fusilli, 8oz sausage, a giant leek (like almost a pound), a handful of currants, some garlic, some butter, and a good amount of pecorino. Oh man, I might try dried cranberries next time for added tartness but it was srsly great.

i think I am going to make spaghetti bolognese tonight. mmmm italiano

I had a bread salad at a place in Seattle last weekend that was made with summer squash, grilled peaches, mint, and labneh and it was one of the best things I've eaten in a long time, one of those dishes that actually alters your perceptions and makes you rethink things. I need to try to recreate it.

Where was that, joygoat? b/c I want to eat that.

yeah i think i'm gonna make that

but tonight i am making marinated lamb and roasted vegetables. i'm gonna die roasting things in this heat but meh

but lamb

lamb sounds good! what are you marinating it in?

last night we did lamb and a sort of improvised red wine sauce with redcurrant jelly, except we overdid the redcurrant jelly, which was rather sweeter than we expected. but still pleasant, must try again and remember not to panic if the sauce looks a bit mean/thin and start throwing more solids into it

crushed garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, dill, salt and pepper

oh i also added dried oregano

that does sound good! i'd never thought of dill with lamb, interesting. enjoy!

that's like the same marinade i use for everything. dill is good in the way mint is good, not too overwhelming just there. i was going to make tzatziki but i don't feel like doing that many foods. i'll make it later this week.

Man, I havent eaten lamb in forever.

Jaq - it was at the blind pig bistro in Eastlake. Everything we had was really really good, and surprisingly inexpensive.

OMG guys 3 words;

Boneless.
Skinless.
Thighs.

yeaaaaaaaaaaaah

Why in fucks name do moms and everyone else everywhere buy breasts exclusively? I mean oh my god girl these things got flavor like Stevie got sass

everyone's scared of the fat content in thighs

Also people like my mom and dad won't eat dark meat chicken because it's too weird and gamy tasting. I am not joking.

yeah I know a lot of people who don't like the taste of dark meat

them ppl be crazy imo

The boneless part a-ok but NOM SKIN

I am eating a giant taco/tortilla/unrolled burrito thing with:

• Cabot Private Stock super-sharp cheddar
• black beans refried in butter
• green pep, onion, garlic sautéed in butter
• chicken BST's simmered for an hour w chili powder, garlic, cumin, cayenne, oregano, salt
• chipotle salsa

xpost I've trained myself not to eat skin but every now and then I break down and omnomnom

Tonight's dinner, spaghetti bolognese. An old classic, maybe mu favorite comfort food ever

http://i412.photobucket.com/albums/pp201/sharonjoy666/9be6153c.jpg

My food styling could use work, I know

Dammit Stevie now I want to make a chicken cacciatore for dinner with thighs, italian passata, and some good olives and capsicum.

also thats a tasty lookin classic bol, Veg! :D

it was deeeeelicious

Stephanie Alexander bol sauce recipe. Tried + true

I have an all-day recep from somewhere--it is awesome but sometimes at the end of the day I'm starving and I'm like THIS took 5 hours?? or whatever.

Maybe it's from Cooks Illus, I use their everything.

Yeah, see I find their recipes v tiresome and overly complicated, often with silly instructions to do things that truly don't matter.

I have a recipe of theirs that I use, only I don't don't line the pan *just so* with four woven together strips of parchment paper or use that particularly difficult to find type of blueberry. Or whatever -- you know what type of instructions I'm talking about. Following their recipes to the letter doesn't usually lead to any better results ime than when I make small changes to make things easier for myself; really what I want is something that tastes good when I want to eat and doesn't make me feel stressed out while I'm preparing it. Their recipes are a guide, but usually I chart my own path (and take notes) when I use one.I find the cult of recipes kind of weird and interesting, tbh. (Also I hate being told what to do)

Hee. I cut corners w their stuff sometimes but then it doesn't come out the same (obv). The thing about the spag bol recp is that it calls for you to cook all the water out of the meat 3 separate times: first the brown ground meats until they give up water & go dry, then add milk and cook til dry, then add white wine and cook til dry, then add tomatoes and start the simmer period. Not even including the mirepoix etc.

But then I love painstaking things, I just get hungry in the 4-5 hours it takes to make.

This recipe is a lot shorter than that, about an hour simmering or more if you want -- just wine reduction, no milk, then chicken stock and puree'd tomatoes and simmer for at least an hour.

simmer for an hour i can handle
it's just the "you must spend 4-5 hrs making our perfect food" that i bristle at -- that's a luxury i don't even want, like a fur coat

I still love Cook's for the occasional new take on something or a weird technique that saves time or when they seem to have done the work for me in terms of distilling a bunch of recipes down to one definitive one. But I don't slavishly follow every bit of a recipe and get kind of tired of the new turkey recipe every fall. They also have different ideas than I do in terms of what ingredients are obscure or hard to find.

I've been using their pumpkin pie recipe for the last couple of years and every time I use it I swear it's the last time, because it's so annoying and overcomplicated. like cook the pumpkin etc and then whisk in the cream and then put the eggs in a food processor and while that's running pour the HOT liquid into the food processor, and it's just like u_u really

but stupidly I never think to do the research to find an alternative! it always turns out nice enough though, I think is why I forget.

Laughing at Lechera and me in this thread because we are so ourselves. She's like, "How does this thing work for ME because my life/needs come first or gtfo?" and I'm like "How much can I suffer to do this per some lofty standard? Oh, was it supposed to be fun? I must have missed that memo."

selfish only child, at your service!

I was thinking something far healthier and more practical but either way!

that too ;)

for the record i use the pumpkin pie recipe on the can of pumpkin and just fiddle with the spices and rely on a good crust to make it taste fancy and not like cafeteria food

also i don't think i am selfish

yeah I've heard that the Libby's recipe is the way to go. I think I will resolve to do that this year.