what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

making nigel slater warm potato salad for the first time this year. i need to make more things from this book and more things from cookbooks in general.

got inspired by some pbs thing on Alice Waters last night, so making Chickpea and Farro Soup from one of her cookbooks. a couple herbs, garlic, celery, onion and orange zest, 3/4 of the chickpeas get pureed. sounds like a simple classic provençal sort of thing that is right up my alley.

can't believe I've never made this dish before, but I did cod with chorizo and lentils from this recipe: http://www.ramus.co.uk/recipes/pan-fried-cod-lentils-chorizo/

and it was way better than I expected. I put a chopped tomato in and left out the kale (had green beans on the side). It had a sweetness as well as savouriness.

cod with salty pork things is a good combo.

I made this last night -- so simple, and SO goddamn good!!
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/150016559668/cantonese-crispy-chicken-thighs

reminds me of the berebere spicy chicken thigh recipe that stevie d posted ages ago -- kind of the same principle, but not spicy but super flavorful.

gosh, I haven't made those berbere chicken thighs in years. sad! I'm actually v delighted that they've had staying power on this thread tho

i have made them a few times, i heart them

made this tonight: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/charred-and-raw-corn-with-chile-and-cheese

subbed feta in for the cotija because living in the uk, had it with grilled squid and a glass of muscadet - love summer food!

omg i love summer food too
i grilled some pineapple 2 days ago and it was heavenly

windows open, music on, wine, breeze coming through the house, it is a good time to cook.

otm

charcoal grilled flank steak and new potatoes tonight for us, but it's noon on the west coast. time to marinate the steak!

i suggest giving this a play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IatdfP_W8

love summer food

first blt's of summer for lunch <3

grilled squid, a salad similar to another one i mentioned itt of tomato, roasted corn, feta, basil and lime juice. big glass of chablis easing a horrible hangover.

yum

squiiiiiiiiiid
love it
i am about to go to the store (tomorrow tbh) and remembered that i love ceviche so i think it's time for that

baked a two layer caker for mr veg's birthday ... am now living my own Great Britsh Bake Off

- planned to do 1 good size cake & sandwich it
- turned out more modest in height than anticipated
- baked a quick second layer
- made buttercream frosting
- was v unappealing off-white so colored it yellow
- now looks like actual butter lol
- did my crumbcoat, all good
- added jam filling, and whipped cream
- added top layer, noticed whipped cream starting to break down slightly
- o fuck the whipped cream prob wont hold
- madly frosted the whole thing & spackled over the filling to lol contain it lololol
- shoved it in the fridge, hope for the best
- hopefully (vainly) that it isnt sitting in a pool of oozed cream tomorrow

hee hee all a bit of adrenalin & fun in the end
i do enjoy baking, masochist that i am

damn you've put the work in there!

tonight i am going to cook a chicken leg and have some asparagus on the side. i bought a jar of romesco which is a bit of a cheat but whatever.

cake update:
https://instagram.com/p/BV0RVSclEyL742png8BPEUUUNKGe8OCiNSt30Q0/

the frosting set nice & hard so my "spackling" method contained the filling :)

cream kinda disappeared/ soaked into the cake despite crumb-coat but there was plenty of jam

cake was ok but v dense...may have buggered up the method somewhere so i think i'll go back to classic sponge cake next time, i have more experience with those

overall yay!

cool!
your insta-link = Sorry, this page isn't available, btw

god i miss being able to run down the street and pick up fresh squid like i was able to while living in sf. living in chico on account of school rn and can't wait to get outta here in a year

My neighbor has gotten into gardening in a big way this year for the first time, and we got hit with a deluge of yellow squash last night. At least it's not zucchini. I'm having rice + furikake + sauteed squash + a fried egg on top for lunch, and will make a pureed squash soup for dinner.

i really like making a simple squash soup just by roasting it and then putting it in with stock, onion, garlic, ginger and coconut milk and then immersion blending. very easy light meal.

sunday is fish day. whole roast plaice with cherry tomatoes and thyme, handful of samphire with lemon and olive oil. glass of vinho verde.

baked apricots with brown sugar and some leftover cream.

mmmmm yum

i just looked up samphire and still don't recognize it
intrigued!

it's sometimes called sea asparagus - it's like a salty quite coarse green - very nice and cooks quickly. think it was faintly popularised by foraging chefs over here, i guess it's plentiful in the uk as you can buy it in most supermarkets now.

not only have i not seen it, i haven't heard of it
i guess i'm nowhere near the sea, might have something to do with it?

the name is very appealing

often sold at the fishmongers or fish counter or whatever. give it a go if you can find some. it's mostly a side for fish but i think i've seen it in pastas and stuff before as well.

i'm always into a new vegetable
someone should make an ESG omelette with it -- eggs, samphire, gruyere

there's a place in oakland that only does mac+cheese called homeroom. stumbled upon their cookbook a couple years ago but filed recipes away and hadn't used any. made their vegan sauce recipe yesterday and it was un-flippin'-believable. added sauteed mush/onions and some chopped kale to it and baked it covered for awhile then topped with panko breadcrumbs til they got toasty. this gets regular rotation status consideration. was one of the simplest things in the world to make (the sauce involved no cooking!), too

just had a google, might give it a try. i am basically vegan (i eat a piece of pizza with cheese on it every once in a while/will eat vegetarian if I'm somewhere where it's the only option logistically) and have tried a few different vegan mac and cheese recipes, but this one looks fairly different to others I've tried.

i made this vegan "carbonara" on friday, it was very good http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2017/03/vegan-carbonara-pasta-recipe.html

Oh! That looks killer. Yeah I've tried 3 other v good vegan Mac recipes and don't think I'll be going back to them. Sauce in this one is pretty loose but came together perfectly when baked

i didn't like this very much! haha. oh subjectivity.

i don't get too upset at "failures" of this kind though, it's always worth trying new things out and you won't love everything

dang, sry to hear that. the three people that i ate it with /seemed/ to enjoy it as much as i

it wasn't too bad (i just ate leftovers for lunch at work) but i think i prefer other vegan macs I've made that were cashew based more

tonight - whole roast rainbow trout stuffed with parsley, lemon and garlic. and a baked potato. i got quite excited about having a baked potato cos they're so impossible midweek when time is scarce, realised i hadn't cooked one in years. topped it with grated manchego and chopped scallions. glass of gruner veltliner relieving a horrible hangover after some friends' 40th celebrations yesterday :)

very nice!

i'm in the middle of a move and devoting a disproportionate amount of time to unpacking/setting up the kitchen bc i miss cooking.

moving update: my rad induction range was delivered today so i celebrated ironically by burning the hell out of my finger on a pan that was under the broiler.

made this tonight, it really livened up a fairly bland dinner of boiled potatoes and a chicken breast: https://food52.com/recipes/12000-old-bay-aioli

ooh i love old bay
it's really good on popcorn

been alternating butter chicken (from Ajanta book), vegetable korma, and paneer kofta (also Ajanta) for about one year, and I'm still not tired of it somehow

ooh i love old bay
it's really good on popcorn

― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Wednesday, August 2, 2017 3:46 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i just discovered this and it is otm

must try that. it's not so commonly available over here, i had to order a big tin on amazon. it is seriously addictive stuff.

you probably know this, but you can make it yourself

yeah i guess so - it is just a bunch of other stuff.

food - just a bunch of other stuff

yeah old bay is something you can make but it's also worth it to buy it because you get a free shaker to dispense it and it is already made!
if you couldn't order it on amazon i would offer to mail it to you
that's how tasty old bay is

my junkfood-approximating popcorn is drizzle of olive oil, old bay, nutritional yeast, and if i am feeling like i need a really serious treat, a little parmesan cheese

i went to a restaurant in a coastal town last weekend and we decided to get some popcorn shrimp--their interpretation was literal with fried jumbo shrimp in a box w/old bay popcorn.

I've never heard of it, what's it like? I thought you meant like a really dried up bay leaf