What's cooking? part 4

shit afterwards, not during right

I'm in the process of cooking some home fries and was trying to think how I could change up the eggs a bit - I thought "maybe I'll just mix them in to the potatoes" then this thread loaded 0_o Done.

I'm gonna add mushrooms too

i've never yet been one to cook with celery because whatever, but i definitely thought this would have been a good place for some

i thought of mushrooms too, but i used all mine up : /

eggs turned out startlingly good, much better than my usual, i think it was the combo of oil and potato complication keeping me from mucking about too much with them

I got cocky and premixed the eggs and it turned out kinda meh; next time I'll just crack the eggs on top because I love identifiably yolky bits

we got to host easter today so i slow-roasted a boneless butterflied leg of lamb. one of life's small pleasures is carving a roast you cooked and seeing that the middle looks exactly like you planned.

gonna do a crockpot chuck roast overnight

got inspired unexpectedly from the what's baking? thread where Jaq mentioned grain-free pizza crust. had me searching before asking for that recipe and came upon Portobello Pizza, which i just made and they're freaking lovely. brushed on a French vinaigrette and roasted portos.
topped with: zucchini that was shredded and sauteed with a little garlic/oregano
then sauteed red onion
topped that with wilted spinach
then a wee dab of marinara
finally a slice of provolone.
made these for work but baked one off to share with workfriend. was better than i expected (i.e. for a "pizza" concept i wasn't missing the bread aspect)

Nice! I tried using portobellos to replace hamburger buns with not much success - roasting vs. grilling might be the key.

oh, hey Jaq wld you be willing to share the aforementioned grain-free crust?

Sure thing - the dough is more of a super sticky batter and has to be baked on parchment paper. This makes enough for 4 cookie sheets worth of crusts

500+ grams tapioca flour (1 bag of Bob's Red Mill)
400 grams mashed roasted root vegetable (I use yellow sweet potato)
3 eggs
1/2 cup coconut milk (or cream if you're okay with dairy)
1/2 cup avocado oil (or whatever high temp oil you want)
1.5 tbsp salt

I mix in a stand mixer because this stuff is seriously sticky - mix everything except the tapioca together well, then add the flour 1/3 at a time. If not using a mixer, mix together salt, root veg, and tapioca flour in a big bowl - work with hands until it's crumbly. Beat remaining ingredients well in a smaller bowl, then stir into the flour/veg mixture until well blended.

Heat oven to 425 F. Line whatever pan you want to use with baking parchment paper. Spoon and spread the batter/dough out thinly and as evenly as possible. I usually make a thicker edge all around. Bake for 10-15 min, until the edges are lightly brown. Remove, cool and then top with sauce/etc/cheese. Return to oven for 9-10 min until cheese melts and gets brown/bubbly.

this stuff freezes great, btw. I portion out into crust size cling-wrapped packets. Also makes okay crackers and, if you make the dough stiffer with more tapioca worked in, dinner rolls with a nice crust and chewy interior.

oi ilc

i made lentils like this, more or less

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/warm-french-lentils-recipe.html

and put them over rice. i doubled the lentils to two cups, used brown instead of green i think (but THEY ARE GREEN), and probably could have beefed up the vinaigrette if i had planned better.

it was pretty good! especially the leeks i think, i had never cooked with them before.

it was a little dry (the lentils soaked up enough water though, i think) for a whole meal, though. can anyone advise an easy way to get it to come out saucier?

now that's interesting, a turnip for flavoring. did the leeks get soft enough in 5 minutes?
i think you partly answered your own question as far as beefing up the vinaigrette to make it less dry. i'm one that's not shy with butter but alternately some added extra virgin would work, too.

awesome thx for the recipe and the tips that sounds really good!wonder if soy milk will work. and i've never done that flax/water vegan egg substitute slurry but might try both of those ideas after making the set recipe one time or 2. coincidentally, accidentally purchased a buttload of tap starch today for work when meaning to get regular tapioca. i reckon a plain russett would work, eh (since i've got no other root veg handy at the moment).
xpost

i only used the white and light green parts, they were just fine. like spring in a pan.

i was kind of hoping for a more lentily dimension to the sauce i anticipate existing

gumbo tonight

:D

A pastitsio here tonight, but a slightly odd vegetarian one with lentils in place of meat, from a recipe in Vegetarian Epicure. Plus a green salad.

made red lentils w/ mushrooms and carrots, with beef broth, unfortunately the beef broth had salt in it for real and i added too much, so i made my first dish that legitimately is too salty

I was jonesing for a ridiculous sandwich yesterday so I bought a small pack of beef short ribs and braised them in stout until it all fell apart and I reduced it down and ate it on grilled bread with caramelized onions, horseradish and the surprisingly delicious canned cheddar from the university dairy. It was kind of over the top actually.

that's a lot of work for one sandwich -- i hope you had another one today

i bought my first brisket (i saw them at ti's and found the smallest one, which was $12 -- that's kind of a lot for a weekly meat purchase for me, usually I'm in the 6-8 range)
it is currently in my crockpot smeared with a paste made from garlic, ginger, berbere spice (from my local Ethiopian market!), tomato paste, fenugreek, and salt and then doused with a little soy sauce and rice vinegar because i figured they couldn't hurt. hopefully i haven't ruined this particular cut of meat. i plan to shred and then crisp under the broiler before serving however i plan to serve (over vegetables, as tacos, a sandwich, whatev)

it smells unbearably good

GOT SOME PORK SHOULDER
RUBBED IT W FENNEL AND CUMIN
STUDDED IT W GARLIC
LET THAT SHIT MARINATE A TIME
BROWN THAT SHIT
PUT IT IN A DUTCH OV W/ A BOTTLE OF FLANDERS RED ALE
BRAISE THAT SHIT FOR HOUURRRRRSS

$$$ €€€ £££ PROFIT £££ €€€ $$$

WE CALL IT "PORK SHOULDER WITH GARLIC AND FENNEL AND CUMIN BRAISED IN LIKE BELGIAN SOUR BEER"

FUCK THAT SHIT'S GOOD

MAKE SOME FUCKING GARLIC MASHED POTATOES FOR IT TOO OR SOMETHING

yeeeeahhhh

LL, tell us how that brisket turned out?! It sounds like a beautiful work of art, and a leap forward in the "cooking meat" area!

Yknow, it was ok. The flavors were great, but the meat itself was not really to my liking for how $$ it was. Maybe I cooked too long? I'll probably stick with pork and chicken in the crockpot and just make beef on the stovetop.

I ordered a brisket sandwich at a traditional diner the other day and it was pretty bad and flavorless, tbh. Simply being a giant piece of meat is not enough.

Brisket is, ime, the single most difficult cut of meat to do well.

Skirt is my all-time favorite cut! Works on the grill, works in the crockpot--it just works!

I have a recipe for skirt that first involves boiling the skirt with aromatics, then shredding it, then frying it with onions and stuff, and it is *delicious* despite being boiled meat.

skirt is awesome, yeah

I've made brisket twice and it was disappointing both times, I should try it again during my upcoming summer of leisure.

that's a lot of work for one sandwich -- i hope you had another one today

It actually wasn't that much work - I keep a ton of caramelized onions in the freezer, and just had to brown the ribs for a couple minutes. I had stray carrots and celery and half an onion and beer for the braising liquid so it was 15 minutes of setup and three hours of dog walking, drinking and playing scrabble til it was falling apart.

why does fkn beef need to have so many different names?!

i'm just going to give up on beef til i get the grill back out -- that's the only way i really like it anyway

chard fritters with shiitakes and chevre. dollop of creme fraiche

Whoa, sounds awesome. How do you fritter a chard?

You'd need some kind of batter or other binder I suspect.

I made red wine poached pears in a pressure cooker. They're aight.

xxpost
steamed and chopped chard. cooled. sauteed sliced shiitakes adding garlic and green onions towards the end.cooled. mixed egg yolks with ricotta in a bowl. whipped egg whites that were separated. to yolk mixture added flour/baking powder/salt and crumbled chevre just to incorporate. gently folded in veg., then even more gently folded in whites.
thought they came out quite nice

that sounds great!!

^^ I can't imagine that not being particularly nice. (exudes waves of envy)

i'm making a vegan cheesecake with a base made from crushed triple ginger cookies and plain filling. i'm also gonna drizzle some vegan caramel sauce over top (maybe a coconut-based one?) but i want to add nuts - is there a particular nut that goes best with ginger? i have pinenuts, almonds, walnuts, cashews, and some probably-stale pecans and hazelnuts.

Of those, I'd probably go for pecan.

maybe toast the pecans if they are stale? Otherwise, almond or cashew imo.

Coconut milk makes really decadent caramel btw.

My caramel turned out fuckin DELICIOUS! Way better than I expected. The only problem is that the recipe said it would make a thin runny sauce, but I ended up with rock-hard candy! I poured some over the cheesecakes while it was still hot, then spread the rest out on parchment and will smash the shit out of it later todayand sprinkle on top.

Those ginger cookies from trader Joe's make an amazing base btw.

I'm relieved it turned out so good bc 25 mins of continual stirring really sucks

Do you have a candy/deep frying thermometer? Essential tool, imo.

Isn't the thing with caramel meant to be that you don't touch it, otherwise it crystallises?

I don't know, I stir the shit out of mine, but I also like grainy fudge.

I've heard Jacques Pepin say not to stir caramel at all, but I also have cookbooks that say to stir constantly.

The recipe I used said

1 cup granulated sugar + 0.25 tsp salt into pot on high heat, stir till all clumpy, reduce to low, stir till smooth (I gave up after a while and just thought fuck it if it has some small lumps), add half cup coconut cream slowly, stir till smooth.

I turned up the heat bc low was not doing shit to melt the sugar.

I have a candy thermometer but I didn't use it because it's shit and also bc it wouldn't work in the big stock pot I had to use(my only heavy-bottomed pot).

caramel makes me kinda nervous since I witnessed a saucepan full of it boil over as a kid

i like to to go with lower heat personally bc I'm paranoid, and I only stir it early on to help dissolve the sugar, then I leave it

everyone makes it different though