What's cooking? part 4

It's actually this sound and not a bilabial stop (b) or a labiodental fricative (v)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bilabial_approximant

what kind of dried chillis did you use in that recipe local garda? im guessing you couldnt find new mexico ones over here? or am i wrong

I saw it as adobada in NM!
Also in NM I lived down the street form someone who had a homemade sign in their driveway ending in thw rods "por fabor."

thw rods
the words
amazing

used indian ones...it turned out okay, i didn't use the liquid or sauce at all tho as it was like scorching, the meat itself was quite spicy. prob could have cooked it a little better, it wasn't as tender as you'd like, but i had it in for 2 and a half hours and was hungry! it took a lot longer than i intended to prep everything else. made a salsa to go with it, overall pretty nice but i'd love to know why the pic shows the sauce all over it. i think you would die if you ate that.

just made a curried lentil (w/coconut milk soup) and i think it's about the best soup i've ever made (i've made about a metric fuckton of soup in my life).
red lentils, mire poix and garlic, veg. stock, curry powder augmented w/ cayenne, freshly ground fenugreek and coriander, some "tomato product" and finished with coconut milk. cilantro garnish. gonna hafta give some away (grudgingly)

That does sound VERY good. I'll do that next time!

Weird, I made something similar (from the New Soup Bible) last week, although mine wasn't THAT awesome. Had lots of onions in and lime juice & spring onions at the end.

Spaghetti with a mushroom-rosemary cream* sauce. Oh man, did it hit the spot.

*not actually cream, just a roux + lowfat milk

¡fajitas!

made a super quick spice mix of cumin, garlic powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, oregano, 21 seasoning salute, and some cilantro paste. so tasty after a quick post-work dip in the pool.

I'm all about barley risottos these days. Made one tonight with grape tomatoes, kale, mushrooms, and some bacon tossed in at the end. In addition to being really tasty and chewy, a barley risotto doesn't require lots of stirring like one made with arborio rice. Just bring it to a simmer, cover, and leave it for an hour.

can't stop making tacos and fajitas lately...and endless salsas...might have some for breakfast now since there are leftovers!

got some pigs cheeks from the butcher - so cheap, they were 50p for 2 - does anyone have any idea what to do w/ them?

Cheeks really benefit from braising, and are terrific and rich. One of those things that's good with a comfort starch - mashed potatoes, plantains, rice, whatever does it - and something sharp, like bitter greens or an acidic sauce. Good base for chili or adobo, too.

yeah i thought the slow cooking would be key

thx bill!

i have a bag of great northern beans i want to make hummus with. do i soak them overnight and then cook them? i never really used dried beans before.

I don't think you have to soak them. Give 'em a good solid boil in enough water (with salt) for 30-40 minutes or until they're about the texture of canned chickpeas, let them cool a bit, off to the races.

thanks!

another question: do you think the beets are raw or cooked in this recipe

I am guessing raw.
I am also guessing you could cook them too.
When I was five my parents made a rule that I couldn't go in the garden anymore because I was beet crazy, digging them up, rinsing them off with the hose, and then eating them like carrots. But I haven't eaten raw beets since! Maybe they are still crazy-inducing good!

I am going to try making spring rolls tonight.

yeah i would say raw

Not exactly cooking but I'm stoked I managed to re-create my favourite Mixt Greens Maui salad pretty successfully! Easy when it's just a list of mainly raw ingredients but it was super tasty :)

yet another question:

i have this recipe -
Sweet Potato Grits

3 cups milk
1 cup grits
1 cup sweet potato (finely grated)
1 shallot (finely diced)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
2 eggs (beaten)
olive oil

Bring milk to a boil. Add the next seven ingredients and work out any lumps with a whisk. Reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to cook for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Temper the eggs into the grits. Brush olive oil into the cups of a silicone muffin tin. Pour grits 3/4 of the way into each muffin cup. Bake for 20 minutes or until set. Allow to cool for ten minutes.

it's part of a larger recipe which i want to try. the problem is that i need to make it vegan. i'm guessing that i can sub out the milk with soy, or a mixture of soy and cashew cream, but i'm wondering how necessary the eggs are; can i just skip that whole egg/baking/setting bit? i have no idea what grits even are.

I can't help with veganizing anything.

Grits are ground corn. Think polenta but coarser.

Last night, made coconut rice pudding.

Today, making cassoulet and cornbread.

well, i guess what i was asking - since i've never eaten grits before - is whether the egg part of it seems essential to the taste or serving of it (if it's cooked with sweet potato).

it seems like the egg whites are used to set the grits into the muffin tins; one doesn't normally cook grits with egg whites.

just put this on the 'what can't you find' thread but this is probably a better place for it. please help oh cooky ones:

i used to have a recipe ripped out of one of the guardian food magazines, (possibly a nigel slater one). it's for a roast chicken (covered in foil and steamed using stock, with veg like leeks and carrots cooked in the roasting tin as well) with a grilled lettuce thing on the side and brown rice with chorizo (or salami). probably the best meal i've ever had in my life. it's been an age since i last made it and have no clue where to start with it - searched everywhere online and no joy. does anyone know the recipe i mean? or a very similar one that might cut it?

Dug out the Cuisinart with the intention of making zucchini pancakes, and saw that I was going to have to somehow extract moisture from the shredded vegetables, at which I scoffed and tried to think of a plan B.

I wound up shredding virtually every shreddable vegetable in my fridge to make a slaw with zucchini, fennel, onion, beet, mint, lime, oo, and I think I am going to eat it with some marinated stovetop-grilled portabellos and a roll? It's like this crazy pink mutant beast version of the thing Just!ne posted on fb for me. I think it tastes good, but I'm also kinda biased to like it since it contains a bunch of things I like. Not sure if it has any wider appeal...it's kind of a visual abomination.

yum!

if you don't want to de-moisturize shredded veg, i recommend mixing with chickpea flour, herbs/spices to make delicious pancake/latke type things.

that's what i was going to do, but i could NOT find chickpea flour at the store that normally has it. i did get some of my favorite guava paste blobs (bocadillo) though and i have eaten 3 already :)

good tip though -- where do you find this flour? it seems to elude me everywhere and i go to like 5 diff grocery stores for various things

chickpea flour is my new favourite thing - LOVE the taste of it, esp for breading things like mushrooms.

Zucchini is pretty easy though, I just squeeze it a handful at a time. Or you can do it all at once in a clean dish towel.

i usually find it at whole foods or like stores (they had it everywhere in seattle, here it is wf and natural foods stores).

ooh i bet it is super yum on mushrooms!

bob's red mill packages it

my current sadface is that i still can't find decent zucchini! went to store last night and it was all sad looking. isn't it time for zucchini now?

Should be -- my mother told me their yellow squash is coming in, and the seasons are the same I think.

i think there's just a conspiracy among dc grocers to deprive me of all the vegetables i want at all times of year.

Bought some locally-milled grits at the Tupelo farmers market last month. Finally made some a couple of days ago and they went straight into the trash. Too coarsely ground, bitter tasting, and it included the hull or the pericarp or whatever of the kernel, which I could cook for a year and it wouldn't get tender.

Whoa! I've never had grits taste bitter.

It was quite an unpleasant surprise!

Yeah, I would think so! I wonder what causes that - if it's the grind, or the wrong kind of corn, or what.

Bill, did you ever get a vacuum sealer? The reason I ask is, this afternoon my daughter thawed out a sealed pack of the gravlax I made four years ago and it's just fiiiiine.

Still haven't! Someday, though. This time of year I always wish I had one so I could compress watermelon and cucumber.

She made Gravlax Egg McMuffins for dinner. What hath I wrought!

Keep an eye on Woot.com - I got a Rival vacuum sealer that works great for <$20. Works with the less expensive rolls or the precut bags. I've been using it to bruise and sous vide asparagus etc as well as pack perishibles.

Father's day celebration w/ my pops. He's taking care of chicken, I've made:

Goat cheese, red pepper and roasted eggplant sandwich on tomato basil bread (bought Pop a panini press – this is his favorite sandwich). Surprise!
Blueberry buttermilk upside down cake from the latest Bon Appetit magazine. It is splendid.
Chiogga beet and carrot slaw with coriander and sumac
Ravioli filled with sweet potato, honey, Szechuan pepper, five spice, and garlic. (This is kind of a rip off from Ming Tsai's latest, amazing, book.)

Had amazing tequila and food in Mexico (in a little tourist enclave ...) and we're going to try to recreate the experience. I'm responsible for hot sauces. I remember a wonderful habanero sauce which i believe was just minced habanero in vinegar. Anyone have tips about salsa fresca? Or any other ideas?

i have been mad lazy lately and got one of those tubes of cilantro (mixed w/ a little oil to form a paste)... have been squeezing that into salsa to perk up boring jars.

tbh it's good cilantro flavor and so much easier than chopping. also it doesn't go bad. i can never get through a bunch of cilantro before it starts to turn.