What's cooking? part 4

http://www.veganconnection.com/recipes/african_stew.htm

I made a variation of this last night and it was pretty amazing.

Hot pine...apple...? I'm not sure...does that seem right?

First stop insulting yourself. Then think about what you want to eat. Then figure out what you need to buy and to do to in order to make it. Then try to make it!

That was xp, sorry!

xxp It may not seem right, but it was great. Pineapple + peanut butter + hot sauce = magic happened.

One of the first things I learned how to cook (like 10 years ago?) was this horrible sounding thing with black beans, raisins, an entire jar of salsa, cumin, cinnamon, almonds, and rice. It tasted good, though, and gave me confidence to do weird things.

Also one of the first things I ever cooked was an attempt to recreate the Vietnamese noodle salad I had at a restaurant.

Just saying that each came from the idea that I wanted to eat good food and save money -- being hung up on skill is a waste of time.

At least I think so.

i'm really intrigued by that stew but am thinking my gf would not go for it

I gained confidence from finding recipe books that used flavorful ingredients. The first Jamie Oliver cookbook was a big revelation to me, in that a lot of his recipes are put together in the same kind of way you do when you're looking in the cupboard figuring out what to cook. And he's got a very relaxed approach which isn't as intimidating.
I know he gets a lot of crap but I found him v good at boosting my confidence when I was living on my own & trying to cook 'grownup food'

being hung up on skill is a waste of time.

― this customer is a jerk (La Lechera), Monday, January 14, 2013 4:52 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree w/the caveat that for someone who hasn't cooked much prep times can get pretty crazy for some dishes. just something to take into account for a weeknight meal.

Z S, you can find lots of great stuff at All Recipes; their rating system is extremely helpful.

Z S - This was one of the first Jamie Oliver I ever made from his tv show - spaghetti thing with fresh tomatoes and fresh olives --- it's so ridiculously simple, you don't really have to cook much at all, and you feel like a genius lol. Mr Veg still asks me to make it from time to time

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/simple-summer-spaghetti

150 g black olives, stoned

looooool this is gonna be a journey

Hot pine...apple...? I'm not sure...does that seem right?

― grossly incorrect register (in orbit), Monday, January 14, 2013 4:48 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

pineapple rules in savoury dishes

420 aside, that looks good V! but it does raise another potential constraint - my lack of a good local grocery store. nearest thing is harris teeter, which sometimes has decent stuff but often disappoints with the selection.

I like pineapple on pizza actually but when it has appeared in, for instance, curries I randomly ordered, I've found it gross.

http://i.imgur.com/X89kB.jpg

it's okay you're from the midwest ; )

Z S my recommendation would be to purchase 'how to cook everything' by mark bittman on iphone or iPad, it's got some really good kitchen basic stuff too (w/ great pencil illustrations)

yeah on the front page of the app is a button that says 'kitchen basics'

xxpost Z S - nah I understand that. It mightn't be the best for that situ,. However - it's pretty adaptable to the ingredients you can get. I have made it with canned tomatoes (try for italian plum tomatoes which will give you a little bit extra flavor, or at the very least whole canned tomatoes), just don't use the horrible canned olives. Make sure you get kalamatas.

Sometimes the thing to do is go to the store first and buy some things that look good/interesting that you think you will like, then get them home and search for recipes that use those ingredients. If you get hung up on needing a specific cut of meat or type of pasta or squash or whatever, it can feel like a huge may-as-well-order-a-pizza hurdle.

agree with all y'all -- bittman is annoying as a person but he gives good beginner's advice imo

i think starting with things that are more assembly-focused rather than COOKING -- tacos, for instance
that's all shopping and chopping with the exception of whatever meat you choose to make, and the payoff is greater than the effort it takes to assemble a taco or three.

yeah good call on tacos

z s - try "the simplest and best shrimp dish" from the mark bittmann app (which i also recommend.)

triple-sign tacos, get you into the chopping/prep work groove but only one v. simple thing to actually cook.

Pineapple w/red peppers is pretty much the best flavor combo

ZS when I moved out I "cooked" stir frys only until my grandma gave me a recipe of hers that I liked for tuna, Parmesan & rice. Sounds so terrible but tastes great. It was the first recipe I followed and I used to make it twice a week (nutrition, yeah!) and be melodramatically meticulous about the directions but now I wing it. It's so hilarious to me, looking bad, what chaos I could wreak on a kitchen then. Bonus, this is cheap, too, saffron aside. This is roughly the same: http://southernfood.about.com/od/tunarecipes/r/bl30104m.htm

I love cooking now. But it's mostly based around meat, so I haven't many ideas to share. Tonight I made a bomb broccoli slaw with slow-cooked ribs & Yorkshire pudding. Living large after a good rib sale & a Christmas crockpot.

I was always into watching cooking shows as a kid and messed around making omelets with tons of horrible junk in them or whatever but I really got seriously interested in cooking when I was really stoned at my boss's apartment in Detroit in 1997 before going to a Kraftwerk show and started reading his copy of the Joy of Cooking that was on the coffee table and everything in it sounded delicious and I bought a copy soon after that.

I moved to Arizona soon after that and found The Border Cookbook and started to try to make things that I liked from Mexican place, which gave me a reference point. I made a shitload of recipes from these books and learned a ton of fundamentals.

I'm not necessarily "good" technique wise but I've done it so much and trial and errored along the way that I feel really comfortable cooking now and have memorized basics about how things work and go together that it's really pleasing to me that I can just make a whole lot of things without having to read or study or anything, just knowing from past experience.

I'd be so happy to be able to play music this way, having practiced regularly for years until it becomes second nature but I just can't and never will. Needing to eat every day really forced me to learn cooking and I never needed to play music.

Get one decent pan and a sharp knife. I couldn't work out why some easy dishes took ages to make then I used my friend's sharp knife and it was a revelation.
BBC goodfood is another good site with loads of really easy stuff. I kind of hate having heavy hardback recipe books out while i'm cooking!

Z S the other option is to do what my uncle does, which is to make a big stew of all your favorite things (i.e. like barley, rice, oreos, peanut butter, ginger snaps, cream cheese, sriracha, soy sauce, lentils, pop tarts, and coffee ice cream) and cook that on the stove for like 5 hours and then just eat from that for the rest of the week (via reheating using a microwave)

I basically do that and call it "lentils" or "black bean soup." Skip the ginger snaps tho.

yeah they get a bit soggy

I'm not necessarily "good" technique wise but I've done it so much and trial and errored along the way that I feel really comfortable cooking now and have memorized basics about how things work and go together that it's really pleasing to me that I can just make a whole lot of things without having to read or study or anything, just knowing from past experience.

I'd be so happy to be able to play music this way, having practiced regularly for years until it becomes second nature but I just can't and never will. Needing to eat every day really forced me to learn cooking and I never needed to play music.

thanks for typing this out so i didn't have to. have thought this so many times and tried to remind myself that cooking with ease is something. it's something!

like, my cooking is not gonna blow anyone's mind or anything, but it'll make life more pleasant currently and in the future. that's something.

I had a big lunch yesterday and was way lazy and just ate some white rice that had been in my rice cooker for two days. I put soy sauce and sriracha on it. That's a meal, right?

kind of feeling I should have ground up some oreos and sprinkled them on top

i dunno
if you had some edamame in the freezer you coulda nuked it in there for a little added health/bulk/color, add some spinach after you heat and then some of those fluorescent red pickled ginger thingies and it's a meal.

that's what i woulda done
to me that is not cooking -- that is assembly

oreos ok too, maybe some grape jelly and nutmeg?

these are good ideas

Z S the other option is to do what my uncle does, which is to make a big stew of all your favorite things (i.e. like barley, rice, oreos, peanut butter, ginger snaps, cream cheese, sriracha, soy sauce, lentils, pop tarts, and coffee ice cream) and cook that on the stove for like 5 hours and then just eat from that for the rest of the week (via reheating using a microwave)

A good idea if it was just me eating, but I want to make something nice and fresh for mah gf

Downloading that app you all recommended though!

oh if that's the case you can still make the stew just add everything I mentioned plus some raw kale and spirulina powder

i think finding your own personal groove is essential to confident cooking
for instance, i am v into assembly, pls do not ask me to make a roast because i don't even really know what that is or to whip up a [fancy french term] because i don't know what that is either

good luck to you!! and if i were making that stew, i would prob toss in some dog hair, for its unique proteins

nutritional yeast

nice, there's a vegetarian How to Cook Everything!

I haven't picked it up but I always am suspicious that it's the same cookbook without the meat

one of the most annoying parts about this venture will be playing Where The Fuck Is This Thing at the grocery store. it's especially annoying because about 25% of the time the answer is You'd Think We Have This Thing, But We Don't

it's got a lot of the same recipes but also new ones