What's cooking? part 4

yipes

It's been at least a decade since I made a moussaka, but last Thursday we got a half dozen purple globe eggplants from our CSA, plus another eight rather exotic Turkish orange eggplants that are about the size of handballs. Therefore I'll be making a moussaka this evening. I thought about rounding out the menu with a horiatikisalata (aka greek salad), but decided a tossed green salad would be less authentic, but more suitable. I may try to locate a bottle of retsina, for old times' sake.

one of the stands at the farmers market had white eggplants

they look like alien pods, they're so cool looking

i love eggplant so much

though honestly i think it is one of the most demanding vegetables -- you have to make sure that thing is cooked. so many times eating out i end up so disappointed when i bite into an undercooked, bitter eggplant

i mean i think it is best when it is absolute charred mush

I've never warmed up to eggplant but would be happy to keep giving it a try.

Back to trying to come up with interesting cold salads -- I thought about the standard boring carrot salad at every family reunion potluck ever, and am trying something different. Instead of grating carrots and throwing mayonnaise at it, I'm cooking carrots in yellow curry paste and coconut milk. When they're done I'll pull them out, chill them and then assemble a sort of traditional salad with raisins, slivered almonds (+ my roasted peanuts), vidalia onions or green onions, whatever else I think of. If I need dressing I'll add spoonfuls of the curry sauce instead of mayo.

Mmm, that sounds good. My awful 'aubergine melt' was accompanied by a rather good salad of beetroot, red cabbage and grated carrot.

I have a v v good eggplanta pasta recipe I wd be happy 2 share w/ yall

best when it is absolute charred mush

Another Mediterranean slash Middle Eastern eggplant dish that I consider to be excellent is baba ghanouj, which should be right up marcos' alley.

I have also known many unsuccessful aubergines but they always look so gorgeous when you slice them up and when they're done well they are superlative

saw a balsamic strawberry, arugula, and goat cheese salad on a menu last night
was gonna order it
but thought
hey
i can just make this myself
so i'm going to and then i will tell you all abt it

decided to augment my regular cornbread with bacon & add a maple syrup glaze for the bacon potluck. easy peasy

i just can't get down with any kind of fruit in a salad. why does it weird me out so much.

with the huitlacoche i mentioned the other week we made a killer pizza, imo. sauteed onion to soft, added corn niblets and huitlacoche- -enough to cover the base of a 'zza - kept cooking for a few minutes in order to take away some of the moisture. spread it on dough as the sauce element, topped with grated manchego, (finished with chopped habaneros, natch) end result is freakin' tasty as hell.
also picked up some packaged fresh mole Oaxaqueno on 24th St. (SF) that just needs broth added to it. have only made tofu mole with it so far, but it, too is a quality, but inexpensive product, not too sweet

http://80breakfasts.com/ensaladang-talbos-ng-kamote-swee/
such a refreshing salad, using yam wire leaves (akin to spinach, kinda, but with less oxalic acid). and simple, too. took like 4 ingredients and 5 minutes to make

mashed purple sweet potato with chipotle, red beans and cheddar burrito, 'cuz i had all the ings just lying around already. **cking good

I was portioning out a pork loin this morning for the freezer and pork chops today, and decided to turn the narrow tip, the end with so much connective tissue, into an ad hoc sausage with garlic, ginger, ketjap manis and sriracha. Pork dumpling filling, basically. Stir fried that with onions, broccoli and mushrooms to have with brown rice -- one of the best things I've made in months.

I made baba ganoush for the first time! So easy. I needed something different but healthy to put on my baba's pittas that we have pretty much every day.

How did you cook the aubergine?

I braised some brussels sprouts last night for the first time this autumn. Delicious!

WANT BABA

haaaaalp, i need recipe ideas! haaaaalap!!!!

I was portioning out a pork loin this morning for the freezer and pork chops today, and decided to turn the narrow tip, the end with so much connective tissue, into an ad hoc sausage with garlic, ginger, ketjap manis and sriracha. Pork dumpling filling, basically. Stir fried that with onions, broccoli and mushrooms to have with brown rice -- one of the best things I've made in months.

This sounds amazing btw.

haaaaalp, i need recipe ideas! haaaaalap!!!!

Black bean and butternut squash enchiladas

xp

That kind of improvised cookery, based on some ingredient you had no previous plans for is just so damn rewarding. I love it. You get to conjure up a dish out of pure insight.

Felicity Cloake's chana masala nearly blew our heads off last night. Very tasty, but fewer chillies next time.

xps OMG I want bb+bs enchiladas!!! I've never made enchiladas before! Do you have a preferred recipe or should i just google one?

Here's the Midwestern Mom Weeknight Dinner edition that I make, which you can complicate by making/prepping the components from scratch as you like.

1 can black beans
1 container of pre-cut butternut squash or one bag of cut frozen butternut squash (can also use peeled and cubed sweet potatoes)
1 onion, diced
Garlic to your preference
Jalepeno, diced, if you are not feeding a toddler
Cumin and chili powder to taste
1 can Rotel tomatoes
Package of corn tortillas
Enchilada sauce (I like the Frontera brand)
Shredded cheese
Salt and pepper

Saute the onion and jalepeno. Add the cumin and chili powder plus some salt and pepper. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Then add the squash and stir it up real good to coat it with the spices. Add drained and rinsed black beans and the tomatoes, then cover and simmer until the squash is soft (20 to 30 minutes, probably, but could be more. Just keep an eye on it and add some water if the squash is hard but the pan is getting dry). Add more salt and pepper if needed.

Meanwhile, warm up the tortillas by whatever method you like (I actually prefer to do this in a dry frying pan, but there's probably a way to microwave them).

Pour about a third of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of a baking dish. Spoon filling into the tortillas then roll them up and place them seam-side down into the baking dish. Do this until you run out of filling, tortillas, or room in the dish. Pour the rest of the sauce over top, add cheese to your liking, and bake at 350 until the cheese is melted and bubbly, like 10 to 15 minutes.

Warming up the tortillas is the kind of thing I'd normally skip but it is key to keep them from crumbling when you try to roll them up.

you can warm bulk tortillas by spraying them w/oil, stacking them in twos, and putting them on a sheet in the oven for a couple mins. just cover them with a towel or something to keep them moist while u roll.

microwave tortilla warmers, the insulated fabric pouches, are the best thing

anything that doesn't produce extra dishes. So a hairdryer.

i just got so much flaky Mexican/ceylon cinnamon!! What to do with it??

There's brand that sells refrigerated half-cooked corn and flour tortillas that you heat up in a skillet until they're done - they're amazing.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/09/best-flour-tortillas-tortillaland.html

huh, apparently they are stocked at a Safeway not too far from me. . . which I happen to be driving past tomorrow. I will investigate!

yeah i'm def gonna hit up price choppers for some of those

I wound up eating half the package of flour ones I got just heating and then snacking.

Made with actual, honest to god no fucks given lard.

I WANT THOSE TORTILLAAAAAAASSSSSS

I saw a video that mentioned Michael Voltaggio's 'signature dish' of egg yolk gnocchi - yolks, salt and olive oil blended then pushed through a pastry bag into boiling water to poach. That sounds pretty awesome and versatile but I don't know where to start with a yolk to oil ratio.

My instinct would be to try it as deep-fried mayonnaise, in the interests of science.

Super bummed that the awesome tortillas were not actually stocked at the Safeway I stopped by :(

i went to farmer's mkt and got a HUGE butternut squash and a pound of kale
i went to costco and got 2 whole chickens and 4 lbs and ground beef
i am gonna make a lot of food for the week bc cooking at night when i'm tired makes me eat crappy or not enough (not making all the ground beef though lol)

Super bummed that the awesome tortillas were not actually stocked at the Safeway I stopped by :(

My boo and I drove to the other side of the city to go to a ShopRite that allegedly carried them but they didn't and the ShopRite was SO CROWDED bcz it was noon on a Sunday and it was a travesty

I may be a sucker and pay a bunch of money to order them online.

Question: any ideas for sorrel?

http://chocolateandzucchini.com/ingredients-fine-foods/50-things-to-do-with-fresh-sorrel/
i've had sorrel soup before. was alright. i like the look of the famous Troisgros recipe Salmon with sorrel cream, and there's more nice ideas on this page:
http://www.amateurgourmet.com/2011/05/salmon_and_sorrel_troisgros.html - i like the fact they namecheck Richard Olney there

have only worked with sunchokes a few times and it was a v long time ago. farmer's market had some cool looking red sunchokes so this is now in the oven and smelling kinda sublime:
http://firstlookthencook.com/2010/02/07/sunchoke-and-potato-gratin/
(i used low-sodium veg broth for the liquid)

I roasted a bunch of turnips and rutabagas the other day. I've been using them as the starch in my meals instead of potatoes or rice or pasta. Pretty satisfied with the results so far.

I have some leftover Thai chicken that is oily and meh. Would it be a very bad idea to blend with stock, herbs and a lot more chilis and turn it into soup?

sounds like a fine idea.

Will report back.