What's cooking? part 4

He's been doing no-knead for a while but he got a KitchenAid stand mixer and wanted to start using it, so experimented w kneading methods but hasn't figured them out yet!

Ah, right on. I'd been nervous about doing it right, too. I have the 6 quart w/ spiral dough hook so ~5 mins seems to be recommended, the smaller ones ~8 mins at medium speed.

I used Fleishmann's instant active yeast. Proofing was two hours in an oiled metal bowl on top of my stove because my duplex was ~65F last night - turning the oven on to 125ish warned the stovetop enough to let it rise.

got a new 10" cast iron recently and haven't used it a lot except for pan roasting brussels sprouts so i can finish them with a dash of this lovely yuzu soy sauce i picked up in japantown and the wee-est dash of fish sauce. it my new fave vegetable side dish

i love americans' enthusiastic love of sprouts! here they are often, at best, something to be tolerated

You're not over-cooking them enough. They're not done until they're crunchy, imo.

I love a fairy cabbage, me. Don't even mind them soggy.

got some asafoetida delivered through the post - it arrived badly-packed and stank up the entire house for a day. never cooked with it before so i hope the end result is worth it!

XXP oh we over-cook them. in boiling water. it's an abomination. we've seen people on tv sautee them with bacon or almonds or whatevr but that's not TRADITIONAL

asafoetida does add a nice layer of complexity to curries that i couldn't get any other way. i bought mine in a little plastic jar, and i i keep that plastic jar inside another tightly closed glass jar. doesn't stink things up at all, though you can still smell it in the spice cabinet

IME doing something other than boiling the hell out of fairy cabbage (I am going to call brussels sprouts fairy cabbage from now on, thanks Madchen) is a fairly recent development in US cooking, at least in my family. Really any vegetable. My family was shocked SHOCKED when as an adult I started eating asparagus and collard greens and sprouts. It was only because I discovered I could prepare them in a way other than boiling them unto sulphur-y mush.

I had an uneasy peace with broccoli and then I got pregnant and barfed once shortly after eating broccoli and now it can fuck right off.

I have grown sprouts this year and am having some of them tonight in the sprout/feta/walnut pasta dish that has been on the board before.

My family was shocked SHOCKED when as an adult I started eating asparagus and collard greens and sprouts. It was only because I discovered I could prepare them in a way other than boiling them unto sulphur-y mush.

Yes! I have a way higher tolerance for mushy overcooked veg than most people, I don't mind steaming (i.e. not boiling) cabbage until it's a mush, but godddd don't leave it in the water while it mushifies or it gets that taste

That said I still haven't come round to asparagus and I don't generally cook sprouts for myself because even though I like them the way most people who are not my mother or my primary school cook them I'm not even really sure what it is about sprouts that can have that sprouty taste. Is it the boiling? Is it how fresh they are (I've heard the fresh ones are more flavourful and thought "yeah, but I don't like the flavour, so that might not help")? Is it a certain strain of them that is getting less ubiquitous but my mother still faithfully searches for?

I used to like broccoli but I buy it a lot less since the time I bought a head of it and realised partway through cooking that despite a rinse it was covered in little brown insects.

My go to sprouts recipe is to cut them in half, toss them with salt, pepper, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar, then into the oven at about 400 degrees for at least a half hour. You want them to be very tender with some nice crispy, dark brownness on them. They don't have that funky sulfurous taste to them when you cook them this way. You can cook asparagus the same way, just not as long (also good - tossed with sesame oil, salt, pepper, and sesame seeds).

My mom's special occasion sprouts recipe is sprouts in browned butter. I actually forget how it goes, but she got it from the Joy of Cooking (ubiquitous in American kitchens, at least).

The trick for me for collard greens was to cut the damn stems out and cut them into smaller pieces and braise in something flavorful and meaty them as opposed to just throwing those big old stringy stemmy leaves into a pot with water and a slice of fat back and boiling them to hell and back.

That sentence is a fucking mess. Sorry!

Collards good - take out stems, chiffonade into bite size pieces. Crisp some bacon in a pan, and add some red pepper flakes, maybe garlic, throw in the collards for a quick saute, then braise them in a little stock until they are tender and delicious.
Collards bad - rinse those massive leaves, throw them whole into a giant pot with plain water and a hunt of fatty pork, boil until the entire block smells like farts.

I quarter sprouts, toss in melted bacon fat (what, you don't have a washed out soup can of bacon fat in your fridge? Who even ARE you?), s&p, spread across sheet tray and roast at 400-425 for a while, toss, roast, until almost black on the edges.

I actually really don't like their earthy...not quite sweetness otherwise--gotta be roasted and crispy to get some bitterness and whatever that sugar turns into.

carl totally OTM about collards. i LOVE collards when they are braised in a skillet with good flavors

christmas at my wife's grandma's house was so funny. the grandma is passed now but i just remember her having string beans and carrots and other vegetables in pots just BOILING - not a simmer, BOILING - for ever and ever and ever. like we'd be there all day the vegetables were just boiling all day. shit was GROSS

anyone have any good cassoulet advice? i'm taking it on this weekend and planning to follow this recipe, despite how different it looks from other cassoulets i have tasted and enjoyed

christmas at my wife's grandma's house was so funny. the grandma is passed now but i just remember her having string beans and carrots and other vegetables in pots just BOILING - not a simmer, BOILING - for ever and ever and ever. like we'd be there all day the vegetables were just boiling all day. shit was GROSS

I know exactly how that smells. It smells like Christmas at my grandmother's house.

My mum used to have to make two lots of veg, one for the grandparents and one for everyone else.

It makes me wonder what concessions our kids are going to have to make to our weird tastes when we get old.

"Granny insists on having fairy cabbage roasted in the oven with balsamic vinegar, instead of lazerblasted, which is healthier and tastes better!"

Gran won't eat food from the replicator. We have to cook everything on a stove!

(nb: damn straight I'd eat replicator food. I'm just biding my time, waiting for the day.)

I really, really want to roast fairy cabbage on Dec 25, but I fear many questions and comments and pushing stuff around on plates from the traditionalists.

Was it someone here who posted a few weeks back about romesco sauce? If so, thank you. I had bookmarked it and just made it tonight over sea bass and potatoes - it was superb and really easy. I overdid the smoked paprika a bit.

Really any vegetable. My family was shocked SHOCKED when as an adult I started eating asparagus and collard greens and sprouts. It was only because I discovered I could prepare them in a way other than boiling them unto sulphur-y mush.

so otm

my sister bought me a STOCKPOT for xmas so i'm gonna see about cookin up some stuff in that. like STOCK. or maybe just bigger batches of beans.

bah

decided to make fruitmince pies for myself for Christmas. no tart tins so I figured, hey I'll make turnovers instead. frozen puff pastry, jar of fruitmince, how hard could it be

clearly it was not my morning. cut the pastry squares too small (i was trying for 16 out of each sheet), even the smallest amount of mince splurted outside the seams, and the dough got too soft too quickly so they would fall apart just trying to put them on the baking tray.

so I cracked the shits and threw it all in the bin. I'll give it a day or two and try again when I'm in a better frame of mind.
definitely need bigger squares. some days are just not good cooking days

sometimes we all just ruin things!

things don't ruin we

back in the ring this afternoon for turnovers round 2

"This time it's personal."

prep stage complete. success so far!

...but now the garbage disposal is clogged

#circleoflife

<3 u

they worked! big pillowy flaky turnovers full of yummy fruit mince

uncancel christmas!

I cultured my own butter and it's delicious - I used the organic whipping cream from Trader Joe's and some kind of grassfed yogurt, left it covered for two days then ran it through my food processor.

Organic heavy whipping cream, that is. It was the only kind I found locally that wasn't ultra-pasteurized and whose only ingredient was 'cream.'

Wanted to use some grassfed blah blah blah cream but that's $6/pint around here.

VG did you use the fruit mince that has beef in it?

i cooked BEANS in my stockpot. with a HAM SHANK, for the first time.

the ham shank made it fucking stink. is there any way to… not do that?

Was looking forward to cooking family Christmas dinner, but currently extremely resentful of family, and by extension, towards cooking Christmas dinner.

xxpost no i just use fruit-only mince.

EMERGENCY!!!!

I MIGHT NEED TO COOK A GF MEAL TONIGHT TO IMPRESS A BOY

It needs to be delicious and relatively simple/easy to prepare, ideally something GF by nature w/ stuff I can just grab at the supermarket instead of lots of substitutey/emulatey shit

obv I could google this but y'all have such great recommends and I just want someone to hold my hand and say "here make this foolproof wonderful thing"

also note "to impress a boy" i.e. he is coming over my house i.e. let's keep it, shall we say, easy to digest

lol

easiest thing that comes to mind would be roast chicken (either whole or pieces), nice roasted veg mix, and a simple salad?

stevie i often make this when i have company, it's not super difficult and is very rich-tasting and satisfying. you need to have access to dried chiles and canned whole hominy (but most supermarkets in urban areas have both). it's always been well-received by guests. i'm vegetarian but you could easily brown some meat and add it to this stew.

posole with red chile pods

1-2 tablespoons safflower oil
1/2 onion, finely diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
3 dried guajillo chiles (usually available in the mexican food aisle of a grocery or a latin market, they are not super spicy)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 28 oz. can hominy, drained (any latin market should have this, i've even seen it at whole foods in the mexican food section -- hominy/posole are whole kernels of corn that have been treated with an alkali, usually lime (the mineral) or ash, which makes the corn more nutritious and flavorful -- this corn treatment creates that really good flavor that you get in tamales or good corn tortillas)
salt to taste
about 2-4 cups of stock, bean broth, or water (I don't measure this - add less if you want it thicker or more if you want it soupy)
garnish with any of the following: lime wedges, diced avocado, chopped cilantro, shredded cabbage, chopped green chiles, or diced white onion

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium-sized pot. Saute the onion with the guajillos for about 5-7 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and oregano cook until fragrant.
3. Add the drained hominy, stir, then add the stock/water/broth. Simmer for about 30 minutes.
4. Serve in bowls with the garnishes.

I am baking lemon-pecan biscotti atm. My back has been very sore for the past several days, which makes the usual Christmas preparations very difficult, but Mrs. Aimless and I will muddle through.

When I think "impressive and easy" I think lamb chops, but $$$$$$

oooh good one

Find a local butcher who sells pre-made frozen stock (beef, veal, or chicken). No cans, no cartons, no bullion. Anything you cook in it will be a million times better than if you just used water. (Couscous, rice, boiled things, etc.) I recently paid around $3.50 for a quart of stock iirc.

If you're cooking red meat, consider making a salsa verde (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Salsa-Verde-51163810) or persillade to go with it (http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roast-Lamb-Loin-Persillade-14269). Make them a day ahead so you don't have to deal with it when you're cooking the entre.

Two Christmas cakes marzipanned, ready to be iced tomorrow. Game plan for turkey, potato and veg timing written down. Veg prep tomorrow. Have not yet delivered on a promise to make brandy snaps.