What's cooking? part 4

I should take the best 5# of these down to the only nice restaurant in town and say "how would you like to have a source for these, and plenty of basil, next year for caprese salads you can mark up about 1000%?"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/tomatoes090509.jpg

gorgeous!!

made a basmati pilaf with green beans and tomatoes earlier this week, bout to make it again right now

WmC yr tomatoes are the bomb

wanttt

― tehresa, Saturday, September 5, 2009 3:37 PM

Thanks! The smaller bowl was Paul Robesons and underneath them, 3-4 Amish Pastes -- a coreless oxheart-shaped tomato. All those are in the oven now, roasting. The bigger bowl is all Boxcar Willies, a really beautiful globe tomato that is my main tomato every year.

Wish you guys were here to get some -- I've been giving away about 5 lbs a day to neighbors. I guess I'll have a tomato sandwich for dinner.

the gate vegetarian cookbook says that you ought to make sure you fry yr okra before whatever else you do with it to de-goopify it

er "Other people soak them for a few hours in water acidulated with lemon juice or vinegar. Some people make the mistake of thinking that the longe you cook okra the less sticky it will seem, but without either preliminary frying or soaking it just goes on getting stickier as you cook it."

this has a recipe for pickled okra. hmmmm

Pickled okra is fantastic, esp with a hot chili or two in each jar. I always keep some in the fridge.

WmC do you know of any good places online to get tomato seeds? I wanna buy some for my parents so that they'll stop growing the big box department store tomatoes. alternately, recs for a good all-purpose tomato? they grew some nice looking ones this year but the flavor just wasn't there...

i may try pickling some okra if i see any. mainly i am curious at what point in the process it transmutes to 'crunchy'.

anyone have any paneer recommendations?

Like, how to make paneer? It's pretty simple - heat milk over a medium flame to the point it starts to tremble (just before it simmers), then stir in a teaspoon of lemon juice per quart and take it off the heat. Let it sit for 10 - 15 minutes for the curd to form, then strain into a sieve lined with a double layer of dampened cheesecloth or thin dishtowel. Twist the cloth tight around it. Keep it twisted tight and let it hang to drain overnight. Use or refrigerate the next day.

Ulp, I should have been more clear - I meant does anyone have any favourite things to do with paneer - but, er, thanks - I am sure to make paneer one day and I shall look up these instructions when I do so -

i wonder if this works with soy.

I generally fry cubes in ghee, then do saag/palak (w/spinach), or shahi (w/cream, cashew, raisin), or mutter (w/peas). A pile of recipes here that would be okay starting points to riff on. Julie Sahni's Classic Indian Cooking is a good reference.

Dairy + soy always seems kind of wrong to me. Like conflicting umami notes duking it out or something.

i mean using soy milk instead of reg milk. but yeah. probably would end up gross.

I don't think the soy proteins react to acid the same way the milk proteins do - but I always think of panneer/fresh farmer cheese as the dairy equivalent of tofu: relatively bland protein that is good in various gravies/sauces. I wonder what the tofu process involves?

Wow, you really can find everything on the internets: how to make tofu at home. Looks like you need a chemical coagulant instead of a simple acid, but otherwise very similar to making panneer.

dyao, I get my tomato seeds each year from Tomatofest. Great selection -- almost too great unless you have a specific idea what you want. One downside is that the minimum order is $15, but at least you can take your pick and plant just the healthiest from an enormous number of seedlings.

Starting from seed is definitely the way to go from a disease standpoint -- I read that the Late Blight that got so many home gardeners' crops this year spread in part because so many people got their starter plants from the same Lowes/Home Depot/Walmart places, and all of those come from the same commercial growers in the Southeast.

i've had soy milk curdle before in acidic coffee, but i'm guessing the end product would be a mess (if attempting the paneer).

just made some lasagna for my friend with a newborn
hardly worth noting, but hey

thanks for the info WmC! I'll look to them next season

jambalaya and cornbread for dinner tonight

Jus, here's some pasta bake recipes:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/collections/pasta+bake+recipes

This sites rly good, I use it a lot. Just yesterday I made this:

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15254/english+breakfast+date+cake

Which came out fabulous (chopping dates is a PITA though)

tea leaves in a cake!!

thanks trayce, just the kind of thing i've been looking for

oh you strain the leaves out of the tea before you use it! :D

Mind you, hmm... I wonder.

(can you eat tealeaves?)

okra cooking right now!

I was thinking "dang that's a late dinner" and then I remembered you moved to Seattle. Hope you like it...was the okra still fresh?

ish! i forgot it was in there so there was some thorough cleaning/trimming involved (though i tried not to make to many slices to avoid slime).

Hmm dates in tea bread, sounds lovely. Not made anything like that for a while....

Tell you what I've made bloody loads of though, Bakewell Tarts. Line yr tin with tart pastry (cba writing my tart pastry recipe, I'm sure you have yr own), spread with jam of your choosing, tho' I prefer marmalade, tbh. Wallop 50g butter with 125g caster, light, fluffy, etc, beat in three eggs followed by 125g ground almond. Vanilla essence if you feel fancy. Pour over pastry + whatever (whilst I'm on the subject, lemon curd makes for a thoroughly entertaining jam alternative here, should you be doing so grate a bit of zest into your egg/almond mixture also), bung flaked almonds on top, throw in oven. Takes the duration of one reasonably difficult crossword to bake.

Any simple recipes for Japanese pumpkin (kabocha) and Japanese eggpants (nasu)? They don't have to go together. The traditional kabocha recipes seem to involves tons of sugar. Any alternatives?

got some chickpea flour and some ground flaxseed yesterday. i am going to make some kind of baked good/bread? not sure what yet!

thai eggplant recipes? in addition to the japanese ones? i have some grown ones and some baby ones. i think i'm going to use the baby ones in nam prig nam prig but, er, without the water bugs

also, does anyone have a good tofu-specific book? ideally one that has a bit about how it has spread and is used around asia, not one that has clever ways americans have found to use it to make tiramisu or cheesecake

oh yum, i am totally going to make the first recipe i found! zucchini and chickpea flour pancakes. nommmm.

http://www.justhungry.com/zucchini-and-chickpea-pancakes

There seem to be some great Thai recipes that make use of Japanese pumpkin, but I stuck with simple and traditional: cut into bite size pieces with the skin on and simmer with water plus a little soy sauce and sugar. Also made a Japanese eggplant stir fry with bunameji (beech mushrooms) and tomatoes.

tonight: thai peanut chicken with peppers and fettucine noodles.

1. make a sauce of coconut milk, chicken bullion, peanut butter and curry paste until it gets to nice thickness. add cornstarch if necessary.
2. saute chicken till it's nice, remove from pan. saute red pepper and onion in pan till it's nice, then add back chicken and warm thru. combine with sauce and simmer a bit. add noodles and nosh.

I have found my new comfort food and it is colcannon.

Any other good recipes w/leeks? I am now in love with them.

leeks in white sauce is basically one of my favouritest foods ever

As some of you saw on facebook I made hummus in my new food processor and it came out really garlicky - not so much due to too much but more of a sharp raw garlic taste, I think. I've had suggestions of removing the centre germ and also of cooking the garlic... wondering if roast garlic would be too subtle, though.

Oh and leek and cauliflower soup with heaps of fresh thyme and a bit of potato and cream = NOM.

trayce it may have to do with the procesing, too. bc your pulverizing it and letting out ALLLLL the garlicky burny goodness - i've had this issue with salad dressings.

Yeah thats a good point! Also one of the cloves was lol hueg so next time I'll try less.

Next stop: rocket pesto. I wont be sticking any knives in blenders and coating myself in green goo though ;)

oh also, fresh garlic is less intense than dried, in my experience.

Ah I'd always use fresh anyway though! :) Nummy fat purple aus garlicks.

t do you mean fresh like green garlic? i used to have this hummus problem too. i've never used roasted garlic but it would probably work. what i do is just remove the germ and add it 1/4 clove at a time.