What's cooking? part 4

you guys, the dinner went really well!

a couple people came over and helped me out with the frantic last 30 minutes or so. they took care of the salsa and warming up the black beans and tortillas as i concentrated on the chiles rellenos.

chiles rellenos debrief

holy shit, this was crazy. i didn't really realize what i was getting into here, but 3 of the 4 chiles came out reaaaaally well. the recipe i followed involved roasting the chiles for about 45 minutes, peeling the skins, cutting a slit in the side and removing the seeds, stuffing them with an unholy amount of monterrey jack (supposed to be 3/4 cup per chile but i couldn't fit close to that much inside), tying them back together with skewers, and then dipping them in a batter made of a cup of beer, 1/2 cup of flower and 2 whipped egg whites, then basically deep frying them in 3 inches worth of cooking oil.

sounds simple enough, but roasting the chiles for that long and then peeling them made them extremely weak. stripping out the seeds just made them even more unstable. and three inches worth of cooking oil in a giant pot turned out to be waaaaaaaaaay more cooking oil than i anticipated - i barely had enough. the first chile cooked way faster than i anticipated. i was supposed to leave it in for about 5 minutes, but after 1 minute it the batter had blackened so much that it was inedible later. the other 3 came out great!

anyway, we had a few friends and housemates join us for dinner and it was just a pleasure. everyone was very nice and complementary, especially on the chiles rellenos. i think they were kind of surprised that i tried to make them - "you made chiles rellenos but you didn't even know how to separate egg whites?" i explained i'm just really naive, though less so than i was last week i suppose!

you got n00b's hubris!
congrats on your succcessful dinner :)

impressive! i hate deep frying

i should just retire now before i fuck up too badly!

but yeah, for next week i am definitely going to massively scale back and only make 2-3 things from scratch.

Awesome news, ZS - welcome to the great adventure that is cooking :)

I'm terrible at deep frying - the last time I tried it, I destroyed the kitchen. Batter and oil spatters everywhere, barely edible fried objects, etc. Your chili rellenos sound delicious!

yeah, the oil went everywhere, it was a complete mess. my cooking eq is really terrible. the pot with the cooking oil was way too small, and when i dipped the first chile the oil immediately bubbled up almost over the edge as everyone ducked for cover.

That's the best thing. You tried a whole bunch of new things and you weren't really phased by it til you got in there. And you had a fun dinner as a result. So you can still look at the whole thing as a good experience, and just revise techniques and things next time you try it out. That's the best way!

Nothing worse than having things be so incredibly FAIL from start to finish that you never want to do them aqain.

Positive mental attitude is a great chef tool!

mega props to you for Chiles Rellenos btw

roasting the chiles for about 45 minutes, peeling the skins, cutting a slit in the side and removing the seeds, stuffing them with an unholy amount of monterrey jack (supposed to be 3/4 cup per chile but i couldn't fit close to that much inside), tying them back together with skewers, and then dipping them in a batter made of a cup of beer, 1/2 cup of flower and 2 whipped egg whites, then basically deep frying them

i want to go to there

yeah, it was probably on the unhealthy side. i also experienced a flashback to my long john silvers days. i could almost hear my sister call to the back "20 fish, 20 chicken, and more fries!"

*shudders*

loool

HOW LONG ON FRIES, Z S?

i estimate that i have deep-fried, at a minimum, 40,000 fish and 40,000 chicken in my life. holy shit, can that be true? conservatively, 100 fish per night that i worked, x 4 nights a week, x 52 weeks in a year, x 2 years of employment. and honestly i think i was usually frying at least 200 fish a night. jeeeezus

that's not even counting the hushpuppies.

oh wow. god now i'm trying to figure out how many buffet pans i washed at nearly 3 years at 0ld C0untry Buff3t (one must googleproof the name of the beast.) i'm sure it's way over 40,000. what a shitty thought.

lesson: there is no lesson in quantifying past mysery

Haha, loving your username right now! Staying true to your roots!

I don't want to think about how many kfc roast chickens I cut up, or how many chicken burgers I made

and how many tonnes of mashed potato i made

all the dirty socks and panties donated every day at current job, i wonder how big a ball they would make

Any ideas for an interesting cabbage dish? Cooked, not slawed?

I've only got my favorite way, which is tasty but uninteresting: chopped and sauteed in bacon fat until some bits are deeply brown, sprinkled with a dash of crushed red peppers.

Is it white or red cabbage? Because you can't beat some cooking apple in with red cabbage.

It's white, but I do have apples. I also need to figure out what to do with a celery root.

Today: red beans and rice, but with pinto beans.

celery root = celeriac? I either roast and add lemon or mash with potato. Classic dish is a remoulade iirc. Or you could make ice-cream.

These prosciutto wrapped mini frittata muffins just came out of the oven. I've got a slow cooker chicken and gravy going (hoping for double the gravy this time). Time to roast some beets, and then some bacon-wrapped chicken thighs, and that should do me for the day (and the coming week) of things wrapped in pork products.

Made some beer soup from a French cookbook. It was ok I guess; had quite a bitter aftertaste, which may or may not be intentional. The recipe called for "bière blonde" so I used Leffe Blonde, maybe there's scope for using a different beer for greater success. Not sure I'll try again.

Oops I should change my dn.

I put sriracha in my microwave mac & cheese is the extent of my cooking today #dayoff

weekend of tacos
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8219/8396063229_cdee46eb7d_z.jpg

i got this salsa with chocolate in it and i keep putting it on everything. i gotta figure out how to make it because it was $5. today i am making chicken curry with almonds, raisins, and spinach.

made jansson's temptation tonight, and a leg of lamb, really nice evening dinner on a very snowy day.

Celeriac/celery root ended up in a soup with carrots, leeks, potatoes, chicken stock. Blended until smooth.

I've decided that I actually prefer chunky soups over pureed.

For dinner tonight I did Ina Garten's beef bourguignon recipe, which involved my first-ever cognac flaming. Fun! Will serve over some mashed potatoes shortly.

I tried flambeeing last week for the first time...I guess I used too much brandy and for a second I was certain I was going to burn down the house, or at least scorch the ceiling. Got away lightly in the end though.

The only time I've tried to flambe something was at 2 am in the driveway during a 24-hr cook-a-thon.

What sort of fish do you put in a thai curry? Just any whitefish?

Do I spy some tomatillo salsa in that food shot? Just bought some yesterday btw, have spices in cupboard just waiting....

yup!

Anyone got some good (easy, not too spicy) suggestions for something with Thai basil in?

Also is it ok to freeze? I've found some Google results saying you can freeze the sprigs whole and some saying you shouldn't do that and should chop/mince it, put it in water in an ice cube tray or freezer bag, and freeze that. I'd prefer the former as I'm lazy and my small freezer is permanently short of surfaces flat enough for ice cubes.

(Bought a big bag when I saw some because I couldn't find any last year for a recipe which very specifically said to use it and not European basil, but now I can't remember what the recipe was for or where to find it. Oops.)

Not too spicy = I have a pack of very mild medium-sized red chillies in the fridge but would not like to use more than 2 per recipe or swap them for a spicier variety

Anyone got some good (easy, not too spicy) suggestions for something with Thai basil in?

two dumpling wrappers, prebought or homemade, stuff 'em with mashed sweet potato and 5-spice, a fresh thai basil leaf. pan fry 'em in butter, deglaze w/ a little balsamic. eat as asian ravioli.

Ooh, DUMPLINGS! sound good. Thanks. Will try to get to the Chinese supermarket for wrappers.

(will it do the DUMPLINGS! substitution? If not, I'll have to do it myself: DUMPLINGS!!!)

Thinking of trying some kind of chicken with Thai basil as I used to live near a takeaway which did an excellent one of these (probably not at all authentic, as it was a Chinese takeaway with a very Anglicised menu), but the versions you get in restaurants over here vary wildly as to how it tastes and the ones I've had have ranged from "not at all spicy" to "made my eyes water for 20 minutes afterwards", so picking a recipe online seems a bit of a gamble.

soda that sounds DELICIOUS
will try!!!

Attention Beet People of ILC -- do you peel yr beets before roasting?

I have been keeping the skin on and then peeling them when they're cooked but UGH I'm really not happy with the arrangement and am seeking alternatives.

I roast then peel -- the skins slip right off.

hmm. what temp do you roast and how long

I have a devil of a time getting them to 'slip right off'. the skins blister up and they sort of slip but they're still really difficult to deal with. maybe I'm not cooking them enough

It's been a while, I don't remember. Do you roast them covered or wrapped in foil, with a bit of oil on them? The foil holds in moisture so they steam as much as roast. Maybe I'll roast some beets today -- it's been too long and they are good eating.

I put oil on them but I don't cover them in foil -- I usually do them at 350 for about 45 minutes

Just checked -- Bittman says 45-90 minutes at 400˚F, aka a good long time at a good hot temperature.

Okey doke. I'll crank the heat next time and see if I have more luck!

Thanks!