What's cooking? part 4

I take it back. not familiar with this dish so I googled after the fact - was just going by the way I've normally seen that cut of meat prepared

Yeah I've seen recipes that call for both ways, and I'm unsure which works better. For some reason I'm scared of cubing this roast. I'm afraid I will ruin it, not sure why.

I'd cook it whole.

I am reattempting a modified chipotle mac and cheese based on this recipe (but w/ less sauce bcz there is way too much sauce for the amt of pasta that there is) (or maybe I should just up the macaroni and make a ton and have leftovers for years idk)

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Macaroni-and-Cheese-with-Garlic-Bread-Crumbs-Plain-and-Chipotle-102738

made scrambled eggs with bacon, peppers & mushrooms & bacon leavings all mixed in...whoa good

one trick I've learned the last couple years w/mac&cheese is that the pasta comes out better and it helps the dish overall to only cook the noodle halfway before cooling. was hard to resist taking it further the first time I tried it this way, but it really seemed a improvement to cooking it to al dente....don't worry the mac will hydrate perfectly when you go to bake it in the sauce.

xpost

Oh yeah I love that trick!! Having perfectly al-dente baked mac n cheese wows ppl bcz many are used to only having mushy mac n cheese. Best tip.

otm

http://www.kcet.org/updaily/socal_focus/commentary/transpacific-routes/the-asian-american-supermarket-more-than-just-a-grocery-store.html

disappointed by the lack of mention of south asian supermarkets tbh

This recipe may be a bad Americanization of actual Japanese soup but even with some monkeying around w the ingredients, it's damn good.

And by monkeying around I mean I didn't have basil or jicama, I didn't use mushrooms, I subbed green beans for edamame, and I sliced a carrot into it. Topped with radish and scallion. Still gooood.

rolled about 30 unagi/avo/cucumber rolls yesterday @ work for an event. nevr worked with b-b-q eel before but it was a v v nice prepared (kryovac) product. warmed it up slightly in order to separate the skin and fat from the flesh and it was so damn dee-lish.

have black beans soaking to make some yam/black bean salad later today - need to pick up a few habaneros....

traditional coleslaw recipe, anyone? (mayo-based)

i haven't made it for a while, and for the life of me i can't remember exactly what i used to put in it.

i usually start here: http://www.food.com/recipe/the-pantry-coleslaw-136004

dial down the sugar considerably and dial up the powders/celery salt

I tweaked my chipotle mac + cheese w/ garlic bread crumbs recipe

guys

this is a mac of wonder

celery salt SO key

never have understood why there's so much sugar in so many trad coleslaw recipes

i've never put sugar in mine, def. but i always use carrot and sweet red onion so i think that's enough sweetness. i can't remember the tart part of the old recipe i used to use.

sugar in coleslaw? Woah, i'd never do that. Shredded cabbage,carrot, celery, and capsicum with a mayo/lemon juice/mustard dressing is all I ever do.

I often add a small amount (~3/4 tsp or less) of sugar to the dressing to offset some of the tartness of the lemon juice. Never more than a tiny amount like that. Seems to help, but that's just my taste.

I'm not eating enough vegetables. Looking for ways to cook vegetables such that I can re-heat them at work in the microwave as a good base for proteins, without them wilting too much on me. A few dishes that I can whip up fast at home in the evening, making enough for a few days' reheating at a time.

I roast beets on Sunday for the week ahead, but I just eat them cold. Also bags of arugula and baby kale eaten raw for salad - I keep olive oil and vinegar at my desk for dressing. Roasted root veggies might reheat okay in the microwave.

Yes, I should get back to doing beets for the week - I used to, and I love them cold. I find that when I roast a bunch of veg in the oven, they get too oily (or burn if I try to add less oil) - I need to experiment. I do take arugula and spinach as salad, but I get bored and want something with more crunch. Maybe green beans with some kind of citrus dressing?

sweet potato roasts and reheats really well ime - i cube and toss it in the barest amount of oil (maybe a tbsp for 2 large ones), so that it's only v thinly coated, roast high at 425 (oh and wash the starch off really well first, then dry). i never understand any recipe involving roasting veg that says to 'place the vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil' - you end up using way too much or not enough.

Barely blanched green beans in a citrusy vinaigrette sounds awesome. I do like yams/sweet potatoes, but we have them pretty every morning for breakfast. There was a cold eggplant salad I made a few years back, with sesame and kecap manis, that would be super for lunches - if I can find the recipe again!

i never understand any recipe involving roasting veg that says to 'place the vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with oil' - you end up using way too much or not enough.

no kidding! feel like this is just to make the recipe seem less involved because you don't have to use a separate bowl.

I do that! I will stop doing it. Just1n3, when you say 'rinse the starch off' does that have to involve soaking, or can it be just rinsing? I had never heard of it but just googled and it seems soaking is recommended, but then I'd have to be organized...

I usually just soak for 30min or so, then a quick rinse. It makes a huge difference!

I was at the end of a grocery cycle yesterday and we needed to eat so I made a pasta sauce that was like 3 different sauces all together -- garlic/white wine/lemon + can of fire roasted tomatoes + chili flakes + parmesan + pancetta + basil on angel hair. it was delicious. i mixed in some baby spinach at the end to give it some more vegetable content (but i do this with basically everything) i really should have put the rest of the wine back in the fridge instead of putting it into my stomach though.

i haven't been experimenting very much in the kitchen lately but maybe the change of seasons will kick me into action.

Thaaaat sounds goood. It just made me resolve to get serious about risotto this fall, so that I too can eat garlic/white wine/lemon/parmesan things.

I have two not-terribly large globe eggplants, which are something of a novelty down here--would love that recipe, Jaq!

I also scored some mushrooms, which I am very much looking forward to in a white wine sauce with thyme over pasta.

Gonna stuff and roast a chicken today, which I have not done for aaaaages. Roasting will take place on the grill, hopefully, as it is still too hot for me to consider turning the oven on.

risotto is one of my favourites! esp lemon risotto with grilled salmon.

Here it is, quincie, from Bitten: http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/05/30/recipe-of-the-day-cold-eggplant-salad-with-sesame-dressing/?_r=0

That looks so easy! Going to try it today. I had no idea about boiling eggplants rather than frying them in oil.

xpost to you, Ljubljana: said you have a nuker @ work so you could just take some raw broccoli or cauli florets and toss 'em in the micro and you'll have cooked veg in a minute. sry if i'm being Captain Obvious

been making kale salads almost every day lately never repeating the same ingredients ('cept for a member of the kale family). slivered dino kale, mango, hazelnut with a honey/lemon vinaigrette was my fave lately (prep entailed massaging kale with kosher salt and a little lemon juice before dressing. I think it made them really nice and tender).

interesting. i'll give that a try to tenderize the kale a lil bit.

i always do that and it really helps! i let it sit with lemon + oo there while i make whatever else i'm making and by the time everything is ready, the kale is ~tenderized~

I never thought I would say this, but I have kale envy :(

i have been making this http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/home/2013/8/13/shredded-kale-salad-with-tomatoes-olives-feta.html
and i have eaten this 1,000 times http://www.10thkitchen.com/2011/11/raw-kale-salad-with-lemon-and-pecorino/
i always have curly kale though because it's cheap at farmers' market

xp yes, I sometimes do take in raw broccoli/cauli and nuke it, but it was just too boring, so I stopped doing it.

ok got a raw collard salad marinating in oil and acv, thanks yall

got a huge pile of free apples from a local orchard & decided to make a pie

why did I use the cooks illustrated pastry recipe. whyyyy
i forgot that it drove me insane last time, curse my bad memory. it's soooooo stupidly soft & weird that it's almost unworkable, even with repeated spells in the fridge

but the pie is in the oven now so :D

What's so bad about the recipe? I use a basic BH&G pie crust recipe and apart from certain temperature considerations I don't fuss about it too much.

it has tons of shortening as well as butter and is v v moist, so once it comes out of the fridge & comes to temperature it's ridic soft to roll & work with, i am used to traditional firmer dough i guess

Huh. Yeah mine is drier too I guess.

i bought the cook's illustrated baking book 10 years ago, and i just seem to reach for it out of habit - i should just store it out of the kitchen so i dont use it

like the look of that sproutedktichen kale salad. sometimes have trouble finding decent tomatoes and i think beets (shredded raw or roasted) would also go well with the feta/mint and that dressing.
xpost

Made a big salad of roast baby beets/chickeas/goats cheese for a BBQ on the weekend. Forgot I'd eaten a buttload of beetroot. Freaked out when I peed pink this morning, haha.

made the momofuku bo ssam for a friends birthday, it was amazing. and super easy! recommended.