What's cooking? part 4

I'm in the grip of frozen diced potatoes that I skillet up with bell pepper and brussels sprouts until everything is singed and blackened, then dump a handful of gruyere on top to melt.

Makes a giant plate of comfort goodness.

In short, YAY FALL!!!!!!!!!

Gruyere is delicious

blackened huh

blackened anything + gruyere = heaven

That sounds really good and easy.

Oh IT IS. I happen to have a pack of good sliced ham right now so I julienne a slice of that and brown it up as the last thing in the pan (because it only takes a minute compared to the sprouts which need time to crisp) and toss the slightly crunchy ham strips on top. It's not culinarily challenging, it won't make you RETHINK potatoes or anything, it's just really good and not heavy.

You've basically described my perfect work from home lunch.

Mine too!

Actually it's kind of telling that despite being browned in olive oil and having melted cheese in it, this giant pile of potatoes/veg actually ISN'T heavy and never makes me feel unpleasantly full. I guess gruyere punches above its weight in adding flavor without um density? Heaviness? I mean I love melted cheddar too but after four bites of cheese fries with cheddar on them I know I'm going to feel sick before this is over.

Southern Foodways Alliance had a post recently about ya-ka-mein, a southern route to a meat-brothy noodle soup similar to pho. I'd never heard of it before, though it's something of a New Orleans mainstay. Oxford chef Corbin Evans' umami-bomb starts with pork neckbones and smoked turkey legs instead of beef bones. And that's what's cooking today.

http://www.southernfoodways.org/side-dish-corbin-evanss-ya-ka-mein/
http://www.southernfoodways.org/oral-history/ya-ka-mein-in-new-orleans/

INTRIGUING.

dang that sounds good

I'm at the stock making stage and it's smelling pretty outrageous around here.

Please report back in exquisite detail. This is new to me despite many many many years in the very deep south.

Oh hai, I am just over here in Birmingham for the weekend - driving your way now :)
That sounds amazing.

You'd be welcome if you did come over! We are among the worst housekeepers in the county and the house is a pig sty, but the ya-ka-mein is good.

I'll post some pics in a little while. The stock is so rich! Almost too intense, but I can't bring myself to dilute it.

i'm learning to make irish soda bread

it uses baking soda and vinegar rather than powder/yeast to get the bread to rise. white vinegar is recommended but i've been using rice wine vinegar, because. but it says i'm supposed to add it to milk and allow it to curdle, about 10 minutes - nothing really happens, at least not anything fantastic like i was expecting.

does anyone know if the curdling is just not usually very noticeable - or is rice wine vinegar missing e.g. an acid that would make it poor for this purpose?

Ooh I made soda bread for a while! In a cast iron skillet that I pre-heated, no less. I don't like it with fruit in, though, just nice and heavy and bready and a little bitter/sour from the rising agents.

I used lemon juice to curdle milk usually, I think? I can't remember if it looked like anything, but in any case it was still a milk-life liquid, not, like, cottage cheese.

MILK-LIKE

yeah that's what i was wondering

i mean even spoiled milk curdles more than this intentionally doctored stuff

i did notice a little… flecking, but definitely milklife overall

oh well i shall see soon

I get up when I want
Except on Wednesdays when i'm rudely awakened by the milkman

Sous vide salmon and roasted okra tossed with harissa. Tasty.

tortilla soup in the crockpot
best part is dressing it up to my personal specs

i have a bunch of costco chicken thighs in the refrigerator and i'm only allowed to spend very little money on groceries so i'm going to make a huge thing of either chicken tinga or chicken chili verde. which? PLEASE HELP

I made a 100% satisfying gluten-free mac'n'cheese using almond milk and rice flour for the roux (and butter bc it's low in lactose) and putting pungent aged cheese and GOAT CHEESE into the sauce. Oh and TJ's brown rice corkscrew pasta which turned out to have a pretty good texture?

Also I folded in two shredded sauteed chicken breasts and minced rosemary.

My life has new meaning.

xp tinga!

I made braised Brussels sprouts tonight. I served them with meatballs & brown rice and a spinach salad.

in the process of making something like this (but subbing seitan for pork):
http://www.theravenouscouple.com/2010/05/braised-stuffed-tofu-dau-hu-nhoi-thit.html

made a chicken vegetable white bean soup doubled up in stock pot threw some kale and manchego in there. subsisting on it until pay day.

But that sounds DELICIOUS.

can't remember if i've posted this recipe before but even if so, it's worth posting again bc it's SO FUCKING DELICIOUS

one block of tempeh, sliced as thin as you like
couple tbsps of oil

place in single layer in pan (orig recipe says heavy-bottomed but i just use my allclad skillet) on medium high

mix together:
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp cheap balsamic
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1/2 c of water

pour over tempeh, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook uncovered for 30mins until most of the liquid is evaporated and you just have about a quarter cup or so of a thick delicious reduction and nice brown tempeh.

serve hot in a baguette with salad greens, heavily-peppered sliced tomatoes, plenty of good mayo or avocado or both, and little bit of diced sweet red onion.

oh and about 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil in that mixture

I love having dinner leftovers for breakfast. If I'm being completely honest, I'm not even that INTO breakfast. I'd much rather eat this wonderful Thai-ish curry chicken and rice soup.

What's a good brand of tempeh? Or do they not vary very much? Gonna try that recipe tonight!

The trader Joe's stuff it's fine! I think they're pretty much all the same.

Monday I made a really delicious lime-chile-chicken thing in the crock pot, using both hatch chile powder (+cumin) and Huy Fong chile sauce because I didn't want to choose between SW USA and SE Asian chile flavors. That night I had the worst gastrointestinal distress I've had in decades, but my daughter, who ate the same thing, didn't have any problems at all. After a couple of days to recover, I'm digging into the leftovers -- just to see if that was the culprit, but also because it's really really good.

Totally! I forgot I have some fancy hot pepper blends from NM and I just threw in the regular dried red ones I got 2 years ago at the Latino-centric grocery store. And curry leaves that I've had in my freezer for months, luckily they freeze perfectly. Needs lemongrass next time (I always say that because I can't get lemongrass easily near me.)

I've seen tubes of prepared lemongrass paste at local grocery stores -- I need to give that a shot, because prepping and freezing a bunch at a time results in too much dried-out/freezer-burned product for me.

I made risotto with orzo pasta instead of rice and, as well as tasting awesome, it only took 15 minutes to cook.

last night i made chicken in my cast iron skillet with a sherry/thyme reduction, roasted brussels sprouts and cauli, and cheese/crackers. it felt like fall food.

i miss summer food already!

What do you do with molasses? It's not really a thing in nz but I bought a jar awhile ago for a recipe and now I don't know what else to use it for.

i think i've only used it for cookies?

molasses is best used in baking. I use it when I bake granola. it shows up in quick breads & some muffin or cookie recipes. pumpkin pie. gingerbread. not very useful in cooking though.

is it similar to treacle?

Down here it's a ubiquitous biscuit-topper, more in play than honey and in some households more than jelly or jam. Mix a little softened butter into some molasses and it's really heavenly stuff.

I only mess with sorghum molasses, never tried blackstrap, which I hear is sulfurous/bitter and kinda nasty tasting.

Funnily enough, I saw this recipe posted on Facebook just this morning: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/alton-browns-molasses-and-coffee-pork-chops-recipe.html
I assume you could marinate tofu or tempeh with it as well.

I like to use it instead of brown sugar sometimes when I'm making barbecue sauce.

I was going to say it's good in marinades. And you can use it in any recipe that calls for black treacle, so tons of baking.

Looks like it is the same as black treacle! In which case I've made this which I loved (was a bit dubious about the bitterness of the treacle but it's good in this cake): http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1462/sticky-stem-ginger-cake-with-lemon-icing

I like to use it instead of brown sugar

food trivia. brown sugar is created by simply combining refined sugar with molasses.