What's cooking? part 4

got around to baking that famous no-knead bread recipe today - wow! pretty incredible

oh my dad LOVES that recipe.

tza, that link in your previous post didn't work -- what was it?

oh sorry!
it's michael chiarello's "damn hot peppers" --- SOOO good

last night i got a ton of fresh romas from my relative (same as zucchini supplier, sadly their zucchini is finished this year). probably not enough to make tomato jam, sadly, but i need to figure out what to do with them soon because they're very ripe.

stick in a blender w/ a bit o' lemon juice, and splashes of worcestershireshire and hot sauce and a pinch of salt = some Killer Tomato Juice
i did this last week and it was a kinda revelation

ok temptation was too much. i'm making a 1/4 batch of the tomato jam. so psyched! think i'll have it w/ chicken sausage tonight.

i've been getting a bit more ambitious in my cooking recently; feel like i need to be posting here. i'm a pretty terrible judge of my own work but tonight i was successful in grilling a skirt steak which had nice flavor and doneness (probably third time in my life i've grilled something other than burgers/dogs/sausages) and am feeling good atm. sadly i burned the living hell out of the fingerling potatoes i had wrapped in foil and tossed on the grill but that's just a matter of keeping track of time better.

The mister and I had a brisket failure on the big green egg; good flavor, certainly edible, but texture was too dry :(

-making tostones again
-picked up a bottle of vietnamese fish sauce (as opposed to thai style) and made nuoc cham
-gonna be ~brave~ and have tostones with nuoc cham instead of lime juice

omg i completely botched some mashed potatoes last night but on the plus side i guess i will be able to make baby food when the time comes.

add flour, egg and onion, fry into potato pancakes? or are they already in the bin?

we ate some, sent some w/ bf for lunch, there is a lil left...

Mashed-potato pancakes were a huge treat when I was a kid, but after I was out on my own, I realized why my mother didn't make them often. They can be a bit of a PITA to make, and v. oily.

i think nuoc cham is a magical elixir. it makes everything taste good.

Bought some corn husks and masa to make tamales this week. Didn't realize the recipe on the bag calls for lard, which I don't have. But I do have all that bacon grease I've been saving in the freezer...

I am baking some tandoori chicken bits - marinated thigh pieces in tandoori paste and yogurt, draped over a rack on a roasting dish in a v hot oven, so they'll go all blackened and tasty - its not char-grilling but it comes out close enough. Dinner is that with some basmati cumin rice... would do a tomato salad but being late winter tomatoes are shit, so :(

recommendations, please!

i am to make a dessert to take to a dinner where my host will be making green chile enchiladas, guacamole, and posole. what should i make? stumped! (p.s. i love chocolate but the last time we had this couple for dinner i made mousse, so that's out).

i mean, chocolate is not out. just mousse.

you could try one of these? they're super easy and really rich

http://www.howdidyoumakethat.com/content/desserts/raw-lime-mousse

http://www.howdidyoumakethat.com/content/desserts/raw-mango-coconut-flan

http://www.howdidyoumakethat.com/content/desserts/raw-vanilla-pear-pudding

I made a fantastic Rogan Josh from scratch last night. I was proud.

TZA -- how about little puff pastry tarts with cinnamon-sugar and apples and fancy hot chocolate to drink?
So much easier to make than it seems!

Also, congrats DL.

what should i make?

Maybe paletas in some great and unusual flavor(s)? Though if it's still really hot out, transport might be an issue.

i made faux-crab cakes with king oyster mushrooms and sea beans last night - sounded so good on paper, tasted like sawdust.

lech that sounds lovely but maybe hard to transport!

i am thinking of tequila lime sorbet. maybe with berries on top.

i guess you would have to make the hot chocolate there :-/
somewhere abuelita is crying hot chocolate tears for you

ugh second cooking failure in a row :(

pizza crust made with spelt flour - really blah and had a weird aftertaste. what's your go-to pizza base recipe, ILCers?

thank god i have a peanut-butter-cookie-dough-ball-banana-blizzard to look forward to for dessert.

go to trader joe's. buy 99¢ herbed pizza dough.
also once i used a bob's red mill gluten free mix that was good.
i've never made from scratch but also i don't eat much pizza.

yeah i normally make these mini pizzas on herb foccacia for jordan, but i wanted to try this recipe for pizza slices (roll out the pizza base, spread on toppings, roll up, slice into rounds).

i'm gonna make veganized souvlaki pitas tomorrow - hopefully they turn out better!

Could you use gram flour maybe? I wonder if that would work.

just a regular old white flour recipe would be great, too!

my banana blizzard peanut thingy was fucking amazing!

here is the recipe for interested parties:
into a food processor:
1/2 raw cashews
1/2 rolled oats
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar

whiz till powder fine

add
3 tbsp maple syrup or golden syrup. maybe even honey?
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp peanut butter

whiz till it's like a dough - sort of sticky and roll-able

add
1/4 c roasted peanuts
1/4 c choc chips

pulse for a bit to mix in. roll into balls and refrigerate.

take
3 frozen bananas (i currently have about a dozen bananas, sliced, in my freezer for such occasions)
some type of milk
2 tbsp peanut butter

whiz till it's like ice cream soft-serve. add 3 or 4 of the cookie dough balls and pulse to mix in. serve in tall glasses and crumble a couple more cookie dough balls on top.

^^^ make this to impress your vegan man, trayce. it'll blow his mind.

Ooo that does look good! Ta! I might just try it! LOL not that I ever have fruit in the house haha :(

i used to fucking hate bananas (well, not really hate, but def not voluntarily eat) but frozen and whizzed and with stuff like other fruit or peanut butter added just takes it to a whole other level).

Yeah I'm not a fan but I could see that being delish. If only bananas weren't so horribly xpensive here now thanks to all the floods and whatnot, alas :(

i also made a big tray of granola (first time) and we're gonna eat it for breakfast, layered with mango-banana soft-serve

my piece of shit blender can't really handle frozen bananas - it started smelling like smoke. oh how i dream of a vitamix!!!

I have a breville combo blender/food processor unit and I hardly ever use it haha :( God, I hate my kitchen SO MUCH >:|

by the end of this weekend i will have a greatly expanded kitchen, thanks to my beloved.

gh second cooking failure in a row :(

pizza crust made with spelt flour - really blah and had a weird aftertaste. what's your go-to pizza base recipe, ILCers?

― just1n3,

huh. are you sure your flour is reasonably fresh? it's been years but i useda make pizza dough exclusively w/spelt flour and: a) it made a dough that was wonderful to work with; and b) it always tasted fine.
Neapolitan Pizza Dough recipe i got from one of the owners of A16 (a nice resto. in Frisco):
1 tsp yeast
1 1/4 cups warm H20
3 1/2 - 4 cups .00 flour (or sub 1 cup cake & 2 1/2-3 cups AP)
2 tsp salt
(olive oil to lube the bowl for the made dough)

yeah i'm pretty sure it was fresh. i should note that my husb thought the pizza rolls were delish, but i couldn't eat more than a couple bites. so maybe it was me and not the recipe?

i made the lentil tacos again but used steamed cabbage leaves instead of tortillas - surprisingly good!?!

as usual i have been cooking various things, but few of them as noteworthy as the granola i've been fiddling around with based on alton brown's recipe as stated here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-recipe/index.html

except i use
pecans instead of cashews
less sugar
less maple syrup

and add about 2 spoonfuls of these (pardon me for hyperbolizing/braggin here) salted caramel chips that I got in Paris.

Why it's delicious:

-- coconut gets all toasty
-- a little goes a long way; this recipe could last a couple of weeks probably?
-- excellent for breakfast or snack just by itself with regular or almond milk -- the coconut and maple syrup really do a number on whatever liquid you add
-- delicious over fruit for breakfast or dessert with a little drizzle of kefir and honey if you've got a mean sweet tooth

in sum, recommended.

why i bothered in the first place: i loathe cereal advertising so much that i figured i could just make my own and avoid contributing to shit like "pinch an inch" and whatnot. fuck that shit.

I really really like granola with coconut jam as the sweetener - the Filipino kind (not kaya, which also has eggs). Haven't made that for ages.

Coconut jam?! ::makes note for Atlanta shopping trip::

The Filipino kind is really more like coconut dulce de leche - just coconut milk and sugar cooked down. Malaysia and I forget who else makes it with added eggs, more like curd in texture. Both are really good - but the Filipino kind is easy to add to stuff as a sweetener. I used to use it in my coffee all the time when I had a lot of Filipino stores around.

That sounds goooooooooood. Never had coconut jam, but there is a Filipino shopping center (like a warehouse with little stalls inside maybe?) just south of me. Maybe I'll go in there someday!

ive got kaya in the fridge but ive never seen the filipino one!

I made my own granola for the first time recently, too, and it's amazing! I eat with a soft serve kind of thing made from blended frozen banana, unsweetened soy milk and a 2nd fruit like mango or blackberry.