What's cooking? part 4

Hmm - thought I posted about skipping the soy milk and just using eggs plus a little water and veg oil, don't know where that went to. Oven temp at 325 F, take it out when the center looks just barely set, then let the residual heat finish baking the center for 10 minutes before you cut it.

grease or oil the bottom of the pan before you layer the potatoes in for sure.

Whitey on the Moon, that sounds delicious.

I'm simmering fennel and oregano sausages in red wine, crushed plum tomatoes, sweated Walla Walla sweet onions and garlic right now. For dinner tonight over pasta. I feel kind of bad for italian food losing to mexican in the poll - it should have been a tie.

when can i come over

Oooh, I just got a call from my mother and will be picking up a couple of pounds of okra tomorrow. Some of you may say bleah but I say nom.

haha, if only I'd gotten my post in just before gbx's.

joke's on all of you bc i actually do get to go over!

<3

tza, blackberry crisp w/ vanilla ice cream too, for afters :)

oh yum okra - after you mentioned that awesome okra dry curry WmC, I look for it at every indian place I go. So good.

ok let's forget about my stupid frittata idea, i'm on my way over to jaq's

awesome!

i should get some okra.

has anyone ever used dragon beans? kind of purplish/white looking green beans? i also saw redder ones, called cranberry beans, but i chickened out and just got green beans.

haha i knew there had to be SOME way we could finally lure you up!
xpost

how do i caramelise some onions for my frittata

Those beans sound incredible! I've never seen them. We used to grow purple beans at my folks - they were just like green beans, only easier to pick because the purple pods stood out against the leaves. When cooked, they turned green. I've seen cranberry beans as dried beans, but not fresh! Uwajimaya sells those long beans, that are like 18" long green beans. They are sort of intimidating.

ok so i had okra a few times in uganda and it wasn't slimy??? i wanted an explanation, but i couldn't ask the cook for various reasons

http://oneblockwest.blogspot.com/2009/07/dragon-tongue-beans.html

i will have to get some next time!

how do i caramelise some onions for my frittata

Slice thinly or chop smallish. Put a heavy pan over low heat and add some oil. Toss the onions in the warm oil and let them cook down for 5 or 10 minutes. When they are all limp and translucent, you can turn the heat up a bit and just keep pushing them around in the pan until they brown. A tiny sprinkle of granulated sugar will help them brown up and give a nice caramel flavor, if they weren't slightly sweet to start with.

uh-oh... i decided to just guess and i threw some butter and balsamic vinegar in a pan and then threw the sliced onion in. i need to learn more patience, but i'm just too lazy to find these things out before attempting something.

this should be interesting

they smell really good, at least

i want answers re: un-slimy okra. did they just rinse it or something??

i have no idea! i should cook more okra.

probably the way it was cooked. Was it the young small pods? They are a lot less slimy.

i had chard recently and figured out that we have it in nz - but we call it silverbeet

it was like zero slimy, and i have no idea if they were small and young, as i am from the cold north, and unfamiliar with okra. all i know is that it was delicious

the guy told me to take an extra bunch free bc he still had a bunch left :)
xpost

re: okra - the young ones are smaller around than a person's little finger, and the bigger ones can be bigger around than a person's thumb. I know the dry curry way of cooking it, which is sort of like a stir-fry, is really not slimy. Also, using fresh okra is much much less slimy than using frozen.

ah that must be it. they were small, and i think it was stir fried-ish

i just put the whole thing in the oven:

layer of fried potato slices covered in broccoli, marinated red caps, sauteed onion and spinach, diced grilled chicken, a little bit of cheese. i used 9 eggs but it's a big pan so the egg is only about 1/4" thick, while all the stuff is about 2" high

Also, using fresh okra is much much less slimy than using frozen.

Yes, this is key. And the fewer cuts, the less mucilage, so look for small pods that you can just trim the stem and cut in half. For fried okra, the cornmeal sort of seals in the mucilage at the start. Obv., some people don't mind the slime, and cook a few pods whole in with a pot of blackeyed peas; and then there's GUMBO.

xposties

mmmmmmm okra

success!!!

Excellent!

i am inspired! i think i am going to slice potatoes for the crust of my little thingy and then it will be a multicolored potato crunch on the bottom, with zucchini and onions and chard and maybe a tiny bit of cheese with egg poured over and then bake it. i am worried about potatoes sticking to the pan, though. hmm. does this seem too risky?

i greased my pan with plenty of butter, as per jaq's instructions, and they didn't stick a bit

i greased mine with olive oil. it is in the oven now. the potatoes are slow cooking, i'm afraid it will stick because i'm not actually using the right kind of pan. but it looks pretty and i think it will taste yum!

it came out delicious! minimal sticking (mostly egg, actually). if i do it again i will use more chard and maybe bake longer (it baked at least 45 min probably). the top potatoes were drying out mid-cooking, so i sprayed a little pam on top for moisture (maybe this is sacrelig, but it worked).

i took some pictures because these potatoes are so pretty:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9375.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9378.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9382.jpg

you could try par-boiling the spuds first, that way they won't take so long in the oven?

it does look tasty! i LOVE potatoes more than any other food, i think

yeah i think definitely pre-cooking the potatoes in some way. also i would maybe leave out the soy milk (i didn't use too much, but i would probably have preferred a bit firmer texture). or add another egg (only had 3 in the fridge!).

yeah my 9 eggs were not enough for my huge dish of... stuff

also i made a little salad of cherry tomatoes, garlic, balsamic, and basil to go with. yum.

That looks gorgeous - those purple potatoes look like beets!

roasted tomatillo salsa tonight! so easy and amazingly good. i ate it with eggs, soft corn tortillas, black beans, tomatoes, and thick yogurt.

also can i just say i am all inspired after the julia child movie and wore my old school blue and white nieman marcus apron with butterfly appliqué (gotten from basement of deceased wealthy great aunt's stuff - a foodie who did greenbrier culinary classes for fun). i felt super crafty :)

Got conned into making tiramisu. Can't be doing with it.

One fun thing: baby figs wrapped with serrano ham, sprinkle a little goats cheese on top then give it a couple of seconds with a blowtorch/v. hot grill

posole verde with roasted pork tenderloin
yum

in retrospect i would have precooked the posole because it took TWO HOURS even after soaking all night and most of the day. still though, it tasted great.

anyone have a dry curry okra recipe? got some okra today and i want to try this!

Yeah, I have one around here somewhere, I'll dig it out sometime this morning.

OK, this is what I found on the internets a few years ago minus my adjustments.

1 lb. okra
1 big tomato, diced
2 med. onions, diced
4 green chilies, chopped (adjust to taste)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/3 tsp ground cumin
2/3 tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 bunches of cilantro
3 Tbsp veg. oil
salt to taste

Trim the stems from the (washed, dried) okra and cut it into 1" lengths. Over medium heat, stir-fry onions, chilies, spices and salt until the onions are soft and golden. Add okra, stir-fry for approx. 15 minutes until they're cooked through but still fairly firm. Add the tomato and lemon juice and stir-fry for another minute or two, just long enough for the tomato to break down a little. Turn off heat and sprinkle with cilantro.

My variations: I don't do cilantro, so that got left out. Two medium onions seems like a bit much for 1 lb. of okra, so I use one med-large onion. The recipe doesn't specify what kind of chilies but I assume they're for heat, so I usually wind up using a spoonful of sambal oelek.

and after all that it still has okra in it :(