What's cooking? part 4

haha my dad had a friend whose fb pic is of her hand w/a bandage bc she didn't use the hand guard on her xmas present mandoline

Have never used my hand guard with mandoline and have not shed blood, but have done so on microplane/box grater repeatedly!

i mean, i chopped my thumb a few weeks ago w/ a regular knife so i should probably at least start out by using the hand guard

shit tza you should have told me you wanted one - we have a fancy cuisinart one we never use! i would have sent it to you.

oh i didn't even ask for one, it was just given to me as a bday present.

They are excellent for making scalloped potato bake. Thin slices of tato = cooked right thru.

i make omelettes with sliced potatoes all the time w/ mandoline. lay them in the frying pan and fry them until cooked, add chopped onions, cook, pour in eggs

ooh like tortilla style

yeah i think i was making that first and kept not having all the ingredients in the winter, so that's my pared down version

i am going to have a week or so to plan some recipes bc i have to have it mailed to me. no blades on the carry on baggage!

i know that i could just slice veggies for this but maybe i will use mandolin to make perfectly cut quick pickled veggies.
http://tinyurl.com/253fp9s

i never got the hang of using our mandolin - i found it easier just to slice with a knife.

i use it more in the summer when i make nonstop salads
in the winter i don't have much use for it and tend to cut matchstick sized things with a knife

I made risotto tonight with shrimp and peas. When I have the time to do it, risotto might be my favorite thing to cook. Maybe bcz in part it says "you have free time & cool weather"?

yeah, i think i like cooking risotto more than i like eating it! it's just a fun process.

I wonder why I never made parmesan biscuits before - so easy! 4.5oz plain flour, 4.5oz butter, 1oz grated parmesan, a pinch of cayenne and a hefty grind of black pepper. All store cupboard ingredients, only 10 mins in the oven and HIGHLY addictive.

It always makes me feel like such an old lady, but reading the weekly grocery circulars is really a weekly peak for me. Avocados 8 for $1!

^^^^one of the few things I miss about Texass is avacado deals like this all the damn time!!!

Potato soup and cornbread, perfect to go with the winter storm rolling in.

so i want to cook this recipe that involves a mushroom sauce - shiitake mushrooms, garlic, sake and lemon. but i don't have sake. i have close proximity to a corner store where i could get some kind of wine.

what would be a suitable replacement?

most recipes say you can sub dry sherry for rice wine

but i guess a recipe that asks for sake is not asking for rice wine

i bet it's too late but thinking about this, a rice wine substitute would probably be fine in that context. i don't really get why a recipe would ask for sake if it's to be cooked because sake doesn't taste like much to me except alcohol. it's like half-strength vodka so you could probably even add that (and then the alcohol just cooks off). can you tell i don't like sake.....
someone who cooks with that could probably answer better but that's how i would guess

yeah see sake and vodka dont taste anything alike

they both taste like alcohol and water to me, i really have no taste for sake at all

yeah i was gonna say try mirin?

oh also if you have a korean grocery/liquor store you could use soju, which i know is not like sake but it also tastes the same to me! this is how i cook by substituting things that aren't real substitutes

i do that all the time :)

soju http://www.rabbitsonline.net/images/emoticons/disgust.gif

i had a pretty awesome soju bloody mary once at a korean place. they serve it with a cucumber kimchee garnish and fresh horseradish!

ehh i already sent jordan out for dry white wine - i think i will add 3/4 dry white and 1/4 mirin, since i have some of that.

ok that might be good; i've only downed it straight.

xpost

sounds good to me - white wine would work well w/ the rest of the ingredients anyway.

Dry vermouth, too.

fuck amazing dinner just now. rubbed some harissa on two chicken thighs and griddled them nicely, then had them with chickpeas which i roasted with a crushed clove of garlic or two then tossed in cumin powder and a pinch of chilli, salt, and pepper. so fucking good!

so my dad got me an induction cooktop for my 30th, and judging from its maiden voyage its streets ahead of the electric jobs i've got in my apt

woah cool!

yeah i just gotta figure out where to ~put~ it

Induction is so great - I love the single burner I've got. I was really worried at first about putting it on top of the metal stove (magnetism!), so kept it on the butcher block. Which was a pain, so now it lives on the stove where it gets used more than any of the official stove burners.

btw, happy birthday, gbx!

i'd love to put it on one of my burners, but there's no outlet on that side of the room :-/

brussel sprouts, kohlrabi and radishes + crispy chicken thighs

all from "ad hoc at home"

thomas keller is a serious dude. but what i like about this book is that the recipes are simple, but without shortcuts. he's like "this is the right way to do it, and this is why it's worthwhile."

Baking a pumpkin cheesecake w/ almond flour crust right now.

I like that kind of cookbook, lukas. Like Mastering the Art of French Cooking - so many steps! But if you skip or combine steps, the results aren't the same.

stir fry: tofu, ginger, garlic, parsley, yellow bell pepper, tomato, tamari, rice vngr

jaq are you gluten-free now or just having fun w different flours?

tza, not intentionally gluten-free, but a side-effect of no sugars/no starches current way of life. But also having great fun with almond and coconut flours especially. Coconut flour makes v. delicious brownies, btw, plus is mad crazy to work with - 2 tbsp = 1 cup wheat flour!

oooh that sounds like it'd be good! let me know if you come across any a+ recipes!

So far, cookies/brownies are the only 100% coconut flour things I've made that rate pretty good. I tried making crepes with it and they were just too weird and WRONG. I will be trying it out for breading at some point though, and blending it with almond flour makes it more batter-y.

eggplant manicotti in the oven - uses strips of roasted eggplant instead of noodles. i think i may like it better than regular manicotti! the filling is fat free ricotta, baby spinach, asiago, egg, dash of crushed red pepper. homemade marinara on top and bottom of baking dish.

That sounds amazing. Did you use a recipe or just wing it. Either way - I'm gonna copy.

sorta followed this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Eggplant-Manicotti-with-Ricotta-Asiago-and-Spinach-Filling-105539