What's cooking? part 4

Flapjack a bit easier than anzacs i think? no flour or bicarb. You can put other things in though, dried fruit is a fave.

xp pretty sure it's unsweetened?? idk, i just buy it from the bulkfoods section. but there is a cup of sugar in the mix so probably stick to unsweetened.

Thanks, everybody! I can't wait for my next trip to the store!

want to make this four thieves vinegar, but have no idea where to find fresh (or even dried) anise hyssop for sale? i haven't done much searching for mail order stuff, just looked locally where i normally shop (produce markets, farmer's markets, etc) don't have a garden ;_;

http://nourishedkitchen.com/four-thieves-vinegar-recipe/

i know i could go ahead and make it without that, and that it would taste pretty great (probably) but (1) i really like the way it looks in the bottle and (2) i loooooove anise and want to infuse as much of the stuff into my life and my vinegar as possible

among other things, i am experimenting with improved condiments/garnishes/flavor pastes this year in order to simplify my life
(a boring old salad tastes a lot better with rose-infused vinaigrette or spicy candied walnuts and they're easy to make and have around without spoiling)

This weekend the new Big Green Egg debuted with a beer-butt chicken and a smoked pork shoulder, both of which came out way beyond expectations! Need to learn to control the temp better in the very low range (190-200 F); turns out there is a fine line between "low fire" and "no fire." I'd like to cold-smoke fish and cheese!

I got a couple of really nice smoked ham hocks at the Nashville Farmers Market a couple of weeks ago, so I made a pot of white beans with them yesterday. While they were simmering, I took a look at all that good smoky pork broth and said "hmmm" -- pulled aside a couple big ladles full of it and used it to braise some chicken thighs, so today I have some really tasty chicken to shred up into a hoagie-roll sammich.

La Lechera, you could use fennel fronds or angelica instead of hyssop to get a similar flavor. I love the idea of infusing vinegar - have a huge pot of lavender in bloom right now as well as rosemary and tarragon doing okay in the garden. Need to get some mint planted though - I want it to take over the yard, think how amazing that would smell!

you don't think it would lose a floral edge? i guess the lavender would take care of that, and look just as pretty if i used fresh instead of dried.
i'll try it!

backyard of mint so dreamy

Exactly what I was thinking on the lavender. Angelica is a more floral anise flavor to me, too, while fennel is more vegetal?

i got an amazing present in the post today, and apparently i have jaq to thank!!!!

(i got a big pot, with a steamer basket and a deep colander type of thingy - may sound like a dumb present, but i've told ytth to stop buying me useless gifts and start buying me KITCHEN gifts. so he did. and he asked jaq for advice on what sort of pot to buy. lol.)

Hope it suits!

whenever my gf's birthday comes around i consider cool kitchen stuff, which we'd both use, but then i feel like homer buying marge the bowling ball with his name engraved on it and try to think of something else. i stress wayyy too much abt gifts though.

yeah, i used to think buying stuff like that as 'gifts' was pretty lame and mean, but i'm REALLY into kitchen stuff now, and it's not like we're made of $$$. plus, buying me kitchen stuff is a guaranteed hit.

like, sadly, i would be SUPER FUCKING PSYCHED, if i got a dyson vacuum cleaner for xmas.

Oh man, I'm just fine with Mr. Jaq buying me kitchen stuff, as long as I get to use it first (and, you know, the most).

Ditto, if I got a cherry red KitchenAid mixer. Or a couple of bits of cast iron cookware. Or a full set of the highest quality knives.

(all of which are 100s of $$$ so, it aint gonna happen sigh)

yeah, i should probably get over it, cooking together has become a pretty cool part of our relationship (unless i'm crabby, i've made it sorta unpleasant a couple times!) we've been looking at cast iron cookware the same way we look at puppies we'd love to adopt.

You'll have the cast iron longer.

jaq, those narrow metal shelving units you have in your kitchen - are they from ikea? i have been coveting them ever since we visited you.

No, I've only ever found them on-line here: http://www.improvementscatalog.com/product/pantry-rack-chrome.do
They really are great, pretty much the perfect size for kitchen stuff.

garden yielding tomatoes hand over fist. what are your great tomato recipes, ILC??

Sliced, fresh from the garden, with some buffalo mozzarella. Dressed with olive oil and salt.
Seeded and chopped into ceviche.
Seeded and chopped into tabouli.
Excess crop turned into tomato paste and canned/frozen.

So jealous of succesful tomato growing. Thus far, it has evaded me :( Damn possums.

Tomato sandwich with mayo, salt and pepper, eaten over the sink because the juice is going to run down your arms.

Excess crop turned into tomato paste and canned/frozen.

― Jaq, Wednesday, July 27, 2011 10:15 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

any good method for this? or should I turn it straight into sauce?

got about 20 tomatoes today and looking at the plants will probably harvest at least 10 more tomorrow. for a 3 person household... :O

can you make a tomato relish?

i also like a tarte of crust, spicy mustard, and tomatoes.

http://www.foodinjars.com/2010/09/tomato-jam/

any good method for this?

You really want a food mill or a strainer (like this one) because it is incredibly tedious to peel tomatoes and pick out all the seeds from the pulp. And if you peel and seed, you lose a lot of the flavor (which is in those little juice packets around the seeds).

Peeling by dropping them briefly in boiling water until the skins loosen and then coring/coarsely chopping then canning might be your best bet. Frozen chopped tomatoes really suffer for texture, though can be a nice addition to soups/stews/braises.

Depending on the type (romas work best for this), you could try to dry them.

Okay, that tomato jam sounds life-changing. I'll be making some of that once I get some ripe ones on my vines.

yeah that tomato jam sounds great! lot of sugar though

what's wrong with leaving the peel/seeds in the preserves?

my dad is bringing me some fig jam he made last weekend :)

Do you have a lot of available freezer space? The last few years, I've peeled them (boiling water method), cut the cores out and cut them into quarters/eighths, then just frozen them in quart bags. Nice rough'n'ready method, quick, no jar processing needed. But you have to have a bit of freezer space.

Otherwise, canning in quarts is SOP.

alternately you can give me all your extra tomatoes

what's wrong with leaving the peel/seeds in the preserves?

Nothing, if you're talking that tomato jam. But tomato paste is so concentrated, the seeds become bitter stones of tooth pain and the peels end up like bits of plastic wrap.

lol tza if I go down to the dc/va area I'll bring a peck! (a...peck!)

souvlaki cries out for rad tomatos, it's worth some proper consideration.

improvised some cider/apple sauce to have w/ my chicken today, surprisingly good.

hmm will try to make a souvlaki soon!

the aldi here has a food dehydrator for $20, gonna try to make some sun dried tomatoes!

i made vegan tacos with lentil 'meat' and a salsa that was just tomatoes blackened in a pan and then pulsed in the FP a few times, along with some red onion, garlic, lime juice and sugar. they were amazing! i don't even like lentils.

I thought it was illegal for vegetarians not to like lentils.

i'm not a vegetarian! still an omnivore!

anyone who loves lentils is an ascetic imo

i just made salmon for breakfast because it was on sale at whole foods and i bought a TON but it's been so busy this weekend and i haven't had time to make dinner. so we are now having honey-balsamic glazed salmon for sunday brunch? it is really good. i could eat salmon for breakfast more often!

xp idk, lentils can be cooked in lots of great stocks and sauces etc. but it's usually just the texture that i find off-putting. these lentils were cooked with onion, cumin, ancho & chipotle powders, toasted sesame oil, smoked salt, smoked paprika, tomato paste.

Sorry, I got you confused with a vegetarian ilxor!

I like lentils, no texture issues there...chickpeas are another matter. I've had to face the fact that chickpeas need to be broken down to their hummus or falafel states for me to like them.

aldi had run out of the food dehydrator by the time I got there :(

xp I was probably being about 40% serious. lentils are useful, yr right & i like them, but they also possess an innate potential for overwhelming blandness. indians can complain about the blandess of english cuisine all they like, but i've had moments shovelling down salty daal when my mind turned to sartre's being-in-itself.

xps yeah i can't really deal with un-hummus'ed chick peas either. or baked beans.

food dehydrator

Deepish pan + cheesecloth + breeze and you are set