What's cooking? part 4

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!

I leave the skin on and eat it. It's not pretty but tastes good. btw, Mr. Jaq bought 3 of the most giant beets I've ever seen at the produce stand last week - bigger than baby heads! I had to use my cleaver to break them up.

cleavering baby heads, what have u become lol

I bought some golden beets this weekend, I'm excited to try them

they are all so pretty - like eating jewels.

Just got back from the sto' with some beets, time for roasting. I think I'm going to cut them up and toss them with a lot of nuoc mam, some mushrooms and some noodles.

I always freeze thai basil because it's hard to get where I live and dirt cheap when I go elsewhere. It isn't ideal but it works, especially if I'm using it in soups or stir-fries where the texture sort of doesn't matter.

I love stir-frying chicken with asparagus or green beans and a lot of shallots, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, white pepper, coriander, with some peanuts and lime and thai basil at the end. And tons of chili paste.

^^^this is my favorite thing ever. Also good with thinly sliced pork.

adding quality olive oil to store-bought hummus has been a very important discovery to me as A Person

Getting better at crispy chilli beef, just ate a MOUNTAIN of it

Recent soup du jours: borscht and avegolemono.

Any ideas for a lot of hot italian sausage, other than the usual suspects?

Orecchiette & broccoli rabe w/ the italian sausage - is that one of the usual suspects?

I like hot italian sausage with braised greens like chard or kale; or some kind fideo is a good use of it if you arent averse to pasta

oooh avgolemono is so good!!! yum

making a mario batali minestrone tomorrow - excited imo

Two chickens coming out of the smoker in a few minutes -- I'm hungry enough to chew on my own elbows, but they have to rest a little while first.

resting is torture when you're hungry

Italian sausage and pasta is happening tonight; maybe some sort of savory bread pudding with sausage and random veg?

What sort of soup might involve sausage? I have some cabbage. . .

hmmm, like a russian cabbage soup w sausage in place of beef shank or w/e? idk about that w italian sausage tho. italian sausage soup sounds like something outta louisiana. lots of shrimp or potatoes or something!

Saute onions + garlic, crumble (or slice) sausage in and brown lightly. Pour off the fat if you like. Add pork stock (or chicken), about 1/2 of what you will want for the volume of soup. Let it simmer for 5 min or so. Chop some kale or other greens, toss in the soup. Stir for a minute or two. Thin with milk to the amount you want and eat.

adding roasted sweet potato to my repertoire tonight. I don't usually cook with it but I'm determined to start including it on the reg.

what kind are you using? my favourite are the purple-skinned/white-fleshed bc they are exactly like new zealish kumara. i could live without the orange ones.

garnet are the ones I have tonight

the orange ones are my jam but I like all of them. the 100% purple ones are CANDY

I love soup like jaq's with the addition of white beans

I got some special supersweet Japanese sweet potatoes a few weeks ago - not only sweet and delicious, but floury, like roasted chestnuts. We're now back to the normal orange ones - I roast them in the skins until they caramelize.

Ooooh OK I am getting into the idea of sausage and white bean soup with kale and/or chard, whichever I can salvage from the snow-battered garden.

Slow-baked steelhead fillets for us tonight, sitting there now with some fresh thyme and lemon zest in olive oil brushed all over. Then into a low (275 F ish) oven for 15 min or so. And, I had 1/2 a can of pumpkin left over from making the cat food today that I didn't want to seal up and freeze, so there's some curried pumpkin soup simmering away too.

left over from making the cat food
whaaaaaa

cat food has 4 lb. organic chicken thigh meat, 1/2 a large can of pumpkin, 1/4 cup cod liver oil, 1 tbsp seaweed (plaque off), 1 tbsp taurine powder, 1 cup of Instincts Plus premix + 2 cups of water. They love it.

omg minestrone was awwwwwesome. first soup I've made in weeks that I can't wait to eat another bowl of tomorrow.

Decided to use my stew beef to make beef and barley soup tonight--you just swung it.

woot!

waiting for chicken to get to temp and then boom, chicken and gravy COME ON DOWN

kind of a late dinner but sooo worth it

I've been wanting to do something with oxtail for a while, so took the plunge at bought some at the weekend. Going with a recipe from Rome out of La Cucina, it's two hours in and looking good. Only another 3 hours cooking to go.

I made boiled new potatoes last night and covered them in herb butter with dill, chives, and parsley, ate some, and promptly got horribly sick. Pretty tragic if I can't eat butter now. ;______;

On the bright side I dragged myself out of bed to make that beef soup (bc I'd already thawed the beef) and when it was ready, put it outside the window to cool (I love doing that!) and will add barley to it tonight and then FEAST.

i made hummus tonight, with fresh chickpeas - i even peeled the lil' fuckers - and for the millionth time, it tasted blaaaah. what am i doing wrong?? i've tried so many different methods/recipes, fresh tahini/jarred tahini and i just can't get it right.

i give up!

For me, texture was the difficult thing with hummus--I can only get it silky smooth with a vitamix, not a food processor or standard-issue blender (both of those result in more of a fluffy, textured hummus--not bad if you like it that way). For seasoning, more garlic, more lemon, more salt, less tahini, lots of tasting to get it just right.

oh and the olive oil you use makes a HUGE difference in the taste!

hey justine are you using raw chickpeas or cooked? because raw chickpea hummus is kinda gross in my experience. canned or fresh cooked chickpeas are the way to go.