what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

Was so apprehensive about it because of how much attention and technique it supposedly takes but having done it it’s actually quite straightforward AND doesn’t make near the mess I thought it might

I still didn't realize how hot this pepper was, because after washing my hands three times, I used the bathroom and (apologies for TMI) realized the side of my penis that I had touched was on fire. This lasted at least 15 minutes after washing the area with soap and water.

In sum: this was a very hot chili.

xpost what is Assassin’s Spaghetti plz

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=spaghetti+all+assassina

I used the recipe from the America’s Test Kitchen app, which rules my cooking world these days

Basically you prepare some heavily diluted tomato paste in one saucepan, throw some passata (tomato puree) with seasonings into a big skillet, and then the raw spaghetti gets chucked right into the seasoned puree. You keep prodding and cooking the noodles in the puree, adding the diluted tomato water a cup at a time, folding it in - you don’t want to stir the pasta, because that will even out the texture too much - and finally after using up all the tomato water the pasta is completely full of flavor, cooked throughout but generally still al dente and seared in places so it just has this incredible bite to it. So good, cheap and relatively simple. Just takes time and attention.

interesting! sounds really good

It is the goodest

Tonight I am making Briam, a Greek dish of slow-roasted vegetables (one pan!)

Finally used some of that recently invented pasta shape, cascatelli, in a one-pan skillet pasta last night with impossible’s spicy sausage. It was awesome, really like the way the cascatelli holds sauce and is easy to fork.

our pear tree is nuts this year, soooo many

making a double batch of pear butter rn

4# fruit
2 C water
1 C white wine/champagne vinegar

bring to boil and simmer for 3 hours

add

1 C sugar for every 2# fruit
1 lemon, zest 1st juice 2nd
2 t cinnamon
1/2 t clove
1/2 t allspice

cook slow and low until you think it's done, heavy coat on spoon

I made tomato compound butter today with roasted tom/garlic/thyme, and fancy butter and some basil. Now in freezer. And two batches of kale pesto of which the most tedious part was cleaning every kale leaf of bugs or egg masses bc moths got under my kale netting. Also in freezer. Freezer’s getting full. (I need a chest freezer in my apartment.)

That pear butter with wine vin does sound really tempting, it’s just that without bread in my life it’s hard to imagine what to put it on.

put it on fresh pear slices with good cheese

mix it w/chopped nuts & yogurt?

usually we dry them but we have been lazy this year, L made fig jam but not much. the apples are coming on, the grapes will prob be here early in late September

Our 2 yo fig tree is about to go nuclear. Looking forward to using them.

I made macerated peaches (3 peaches, 1 T Sugar, 1 T Cointreau) and yogurt for dessert. It was so good.

I have never heard of pear butter. That seems like a lot of sugar! Is it basically a jam?

like apple butter, yeah!

I’m making slow cooker chili again today, but totally winging it this time based on some random ideas plus “some ingredients lying around that need to be used”

Will take notes and report back

Totally forgot about apple butter. Haven’t had it since childhood.

Fruit butters are my fave. Last week I had a bunch of peaches that were ripening faster than we could eat them in cereal/oatmeal/etc so I made a small batch of peach butter. Light on spice, a goodly amount of citric acid, good result, very peachy.

T/S peach butter vs peach moonshine

(I used to have a connection for the latter and it had frightening qualities)

peach butter sounds amazing
peaches are one of the absolute best things about summer

pork medallions in a plum, balsamic and garlic sauce with buttery mash

yes it was great but /old dmac look away now/ im more and more regretting pretty much any meal i make with basically any quadruped meat and may in time start to edge in the same direction with poultry so im marking ut a regretful 8/10

the exquisite aroma of some decent balsamic cooking over some sizzling meat is what I live for some days

So good

Chili 8/25/2024
Ingredients!!!!

6 Six-inch corn tortillas, chopped into 1” pieces, baked at 350F for 10 minutes
4 Shallots, diced
1 White Onion, diced
2 Serrano Peppers, diced
4 Dried Arbol Chiles, stemmed, seeded, and torn into 1” pieces
4 Chipotles in adobo sauce, diced
3 Garlic Cloves, crushed
2 12oz Impossible Beef
1 12oz Field Roast Spicy Chorizo
2 Tbsp Cumin
1 Tbsp Paprika
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Coriander
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Brown Sugar
2 tsp Black Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Sumac
2 Bay Leaves
1 10oz Can Ro-Tel Tomatoes & Hatch chiles
1 15oz Can Fire Roasted diced Tomatoes
1 15oz Can Black Beans
1 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Cup Abita Amber Lager or similar
2 Cups Better Than Bouillon Chipotle “Stock”

Chuck all the things into a slow cooker. Cook on high for five hours or so. Stir every once in a while to make yourself feel alive. Serve immediately with grated cheese on top, sour cream and green onions too if that’s your thing.

peaches are one of the absolute best things about summer

Absolutely
Peaches, nectarines, decent strawberries. We grow raspberries too which are great.

I made this pasta last night, which is a late summer staple when I need to use up peppers.

Pasta with yellow pepper sauce

It is amazingly rich and satisfying. If you are using green peppers or your peppers are less sweet, add a few small pinches of sugar like I usually do.

pork medallions in a plum, balsamic and garlic sauce with buttery mash

I'm gonna need it to be like OCTOBER before I can cook something this rich but hell yes.

Tombot, that is just a TON of ingredients for something that's one final mass/product (as opposed to like, a protein plus a side plus a sauce and a topping, and so on). Do you feel like an alchemist, slowly dropping grains of sumac into your bubbling concoction?

it has been a cool and rainy august :(

yes half the fun of chili-craft is feeling like an alchemist

and getting to put the spice drawer to good use

the transmutation of beans and meat

(or meat-like products)

I miss growing hot peppers and making hot sauce out of them. Some future year, hopefully.

The fermented mango-habanero hot sauce with carrot and onion in it for color and body was really a slam dunk and I'd love to keep it in regular rotation.

I've been making my own chili powder blend, specifically for this vegan recipe, which is absolutely awesome: https://rainbowplantlife.com/vegan-chili/

ooh jaq that looks great

What's the chili pepper blend like??

I have whole dried chilies that I grew a while back but they need to be ground up and I haven't sacrificed an old coffee grinder to using for spices yet. lol

I made my own chili pepper blend too but I just bought a bunch of chile en polvo and put it in a plastic container. I also can’t remember which chiles I chose
Lol
My cooking has gotten very haphazard in the last few years.

Feeding yourself, much less other people, is an eternal burden. I eat very haphazardly myself (thank goodness for halal takeout and nachos) and I skip dinner 5-6 nights a week and make things in bulk so I'm just heating up leftovers much of the time.

im more and more regretting pretty much any meal i make with basically any quadruped meat and may in time start to edge in the same direction with poultry

I hate it but soft same. But all the alternatives to meat proteins either activate my ick even more or make me feel horrible. Will have to find some balance here for sure.

a food processor will pulverise dried chilis enough for a chili fwiw

don't you Mericans put cinnamon and cocoa powder into your chillis? I like the ingredients of that chilli recipe. But I'm not into this idea of throwing onions/protein/peppers into a slow cooker without well and good browning them in a pan first.

I think I'm going to make a slow cooker lamb chilli tomorrow, by the time I get home, won't be in the mood for cooking.

I'm not into this idea of throwing onions/protein/peppers into a slow cooker without well and good browning them in a pan first.

What's the chili pepper blend like??

It's a lot more aromatic than store-bought. I used arbol, guajillo, and New Mexico. And yes, a food processor is enough to break it down.

Cocoa powder is there to add a bitter profile, which I like. I've seen some recipes add sweetened dark chocolate, but I almost never add sweeteners to my entrees.

xp

I wash the pan out on the hob with some beer/wine/water and pour it in, more precious flavour. but yeah washing up can become a full time agony.

what's in your lamb chilli?

it will be frozen lamb mince, brown onions, bell peppers, red/green chillis, some fresh tomatoes some tinned, stock, tomato puree, honey, cinnamon, cocoa powder, cayenne, hot chilli powder, cumin, red kidney beans, chickpeas, dried oregano, a bulb of garlic and hopefully some fresh coriander to garnish. Nothing groundbreaking, really - quite Jamie Oliver level pedestrian! With some boiled rice and oven fries and some soured cream