What's cooking? part 4

I've started buying larger bags of smoked paprika whenever I hit a Penzeys as I find that I use a ton of it - that plus sherry vinegar is like a super easy shortcut to faux Spanish food.

http://50.116.98.185/~mmmstuff/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/51bXUvbM6AL._SL500_AA280_1.jpg

^^^ my jam

remember those little sweet potato and spinach tofu pocket thingies i made? i expanded my offerings to include one with cucumber and avocado and another with those two things + a few little pieces of smoked salmon (how convenient is that?!)

after i took this pic i topped both with crushed seaweed and a few sesame seeds, and drizzled a little chili oil on the ones with salmon

they were great!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8202/8180580152_c5c36d15d9.jpg

this barely counts as cooking, but hey

also the tops of the puffs were thrown into a broccoli stir fry i served on the side (and mixed with rice noodles for lunches today)

They are cute!

I didn't realize Thanksgiving was just next week--promised to bring at least 1 apple pie to my friend's family for dinner, which means I'll probably make 4 of them, which means I need to lug an UNGODLY amount of apples home soon.

why do you have to make 4?

i know this is how you do but you don't need to make 4, right?

these are the puffs in their container -- they're $1.60/12

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8180571900_deca6db225.jpg

I'll have to leave one at the hosts' house, it's not polite to pack up your leftovers and take them with you. :) Which means I need at least one to take and one to eat at home. Then if you're going to do two, you might as well do more, because you got all the stuff out already, plus you can freeze them unbaked and they keep indefinitely. Not that I have that much room in my freezer but maybe I can clean things out.

I was thinking of giving one to each floor of my building for the hols, but then I've gone through all 4 and won't have any to freeze. Maybe reconsider.

and this -- this! -- is why my homemade gifts always fail!! when i am called upon to do the same thing a bunch of times, i no longer want to do it. i am terrible at big jobs! teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrible.

Haha! I sort of am too which is why I want to do these all at the same time and not 4 weekends running! If I have to get out the bathtub-sized mixing bowl, the food processor, the rolling pin, I am doing this all at oncet.

Plus feeding apples to the food processor for slicing is kind of fun.

Pork red curry tomorrow! What sort of pork do I buy? I'm still learning how to meat. There are so many kinds! Is tenderloin the preferred cut?

i'd think for that application you could use shoulder but i'm not (yet) a pork expert

Shoulder would be too fatty, better for a long slow cooking indian curry or braise. For a thai curry where you're just searing the meat, stir-fry style, I would use tenderloin

Agree with tenderloin, but that shit gets overcooked FAST so pls use caution.

Tonight: bulgogi lettuce wraps! Did not make my own kim chi but whatevs

I swear this thread has the fastest turnaround of any thread on the whole ILX

Gotta admit I just get a big juicy pork chop for thai curry and slice thinly, chopping off the rind

Don't tend to really sear it though except very briefly before adding the liquid

cooking chicken & spinach/mustard greens curry thing from 660 Curries.

:D

Just got 2 big bunches of gai lan/chinese broc from supermarket. APart from obv chinese broc in oyster sauce dish, what could I make? I've done these with chicken in a stir fry before but there must be other ideas.

Spouse's latest philosophy is that if you are going to have the smoker going anyway, you might as well fill it to capacity. Thus 40-some pounds of brisket currently smoking. The entirety of ILX is invited over to dinner tonight!

O_O

be right over

holy crap

ilx all-meat carcinogen cru unite

I have never had an artichoke (the hearts, yes, but never a whole one). I want to start. I can google recipes, but does anyone have a favorite preparation?

This basic method -- http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cook_and_eat_an_artichoke/ -- has always been my go-to. The fun is in coming up with different dips and sauces. My favorite will always be extremely garlicky mayonnaise, but when I was a guest of M. White, he made a mustard sauce emulsified with walnut oil that was really great.

my parents used to dip the leaves in butter and then scrape something off with their teeth -- when i was a kid this seemed like the most revolting thing on earth, but now it sounds kinda appealing in a "food that takes a long time to eat with your hands" way

that would be a great thread - "foods that appealingly take a long time to eat"

i love those foods!

Yeah, the butter dipping sauce and the scraping is what I want to experience!

I have made a lemon-dijon-butter sauce for leaf dipping that was a+ok. Melt button, squeeze lemon, whisk lemon juice into butter and then whisk in dijon mustard to taste. I use salted butter.

Laurel you may enjoy some roasted garlic in there too? I know you like garlic.

So like a lemon/white wine/butter sauce and a roasted garlic aioli?

Apologies for the mayo.

mayo's up to you
the first one sounds divine, i might add a fragrant green thing of some kind

I have done the butter/scraping thing before. It's... a thing. Kind of a pasttime of diminishing returns

it seems like a super 70s thing to do
let's all sensually eat with our hands and then sit in the conversation pit and smoke a doob

Okay.

yeah pretty much

maybe a little more food would be nice, but that basic formula is a winning one.

I love the ritualistic process of dismantling an artichoke, with the big flavor bomb payoff at the end, eating the heart in 3-4 bites.

Mr veg makes yummy grilled artichokes with a creamy-mustardy-worcestershire dipping sauce

my mom got so tired of my dad insisting it's cool to grill vegetables that she just rolls her eyes and makes her own separately now

Love a steamed artichoke with the leaves dipped in butter and lemon (simple, perfect) scraped off. So decadent! But a lovely friend of mine insisted on making hollindaise for the occasional whole artichoke ritual. Can't go wrong with either. Wish I were there!

Mussels! Using this recipe.

Should find a youtube vid about de-bearding, probs? I have never made any non-shrimp shellfish before.

the pedant in me say: mussels and the like are a bivalve seafood, not "shellfish"
i know, who cares, i LOVE them!
in any event
farmed mussels don't require purging and beard removal is as easy as "if you see some just yank and pull to the side" until it tears off

like people beards

I wish.

They are wild Maine mussels, I believe! I will soak them anyway.

sounds delicious anyway
good luck!