What's cooking? part 4

i had it for the first time earlier this year and i have to say i loved it. vinegary, rich, was great. would be scared to make it myself i think, tho there's no logical reason why. might buy mince from a particulrly good butcher.

I liked it! but I like raw protein in general. sushi is probably my fav food, too bad it's killing the planet. xp

I have a pork loin roast that I was thinking about braising low and slow in heavily spiced and seasoned stock like a chuck roast, but I'm not sure that's the best approach. It's a very lean cut, whereas chuck roast is well marbled, and I'm afraid the pork roast will just turn out tough. Any opinions?

I would also be wary with such a lean cut, but if you carefully monitored temp maybe you'd be OK? I pull pork off heat at 145. Living on the edge here.

Even a low temp braise will get the meat too hot too fast. I'd roast it in a low oven (250-300 F) until the interior is around 140/145. Coat in a nice dry rub of your spices first.

^^^I defer to Jaq on all cooking matters, but I've adapted a "no roasting below 450" stance a la Barbara Kafka.

Pork is so good when it's cooked low and slow! Beef and lamb are better done hot and fast to be sure.

any tips on using frozen corn? thaw first, or straight into the pan?

I throw straight into the pan, usually

My mouth wants some coffee ice cream but my body says "don't do it."

tried out the banana soft serve in my food processor. omg!

roasting a beautiful variety of beets
about to eat some prosciutto with fig jam and this crazy delicious aged sheepsmilk manchego
feel like a g with all this classy food

i also ate a croissant but i didn't make it

You fancy!

Our weather is too warm for all-day cooking this weekend, so I just cut up a bunch of veg into a crude salsa and chucked it over chorizo and black beans, and called it "tacos."

making this to take to sister's dinner party tonight: http://www.choosecherries.com/recipes/spinach_cherry_salad_with_cherry_vinaigrette_755.aspx

cept i'm using arugula and spinach instead of all spinach.

mexican chorizo or spanish? i got a new kind of spanish chorizo and i think i am going to try it tonight with some lentils and beet greens!?

Always the Spanish kind! I don't even know if I've ever seen the crumbly Mexican chorizo, although maybe I just haven't recognized it.

Chorizo + lentils + bitter greens sounds great, BTW.

i have an impossible time finding spanish chorizo here! sad because i much prefer it to mexican.

me too! like by leaps and bounds. don't really care for mexican chorizo because it is so insanely greasy. i'd eat it, but wouldn't cook with it or order it at a restaurant. it's ok.

a coworker recently informed me about this online spanish food source, and if anyone ever wants to get me a present...ZOMG
i've been wondering if there is a place i could get boquerones locally but i would also not mind having them delivered to my home.

http://www.tienda.com/ (deceptively simple url, no? how could i have not known about this?)

Really?? I just get the GOYA kind, usually. Or whatever is avail. I've never seen a store have more than one kind, like one brand p much fills the niche, but every grocery has SOME kind of sausage-shaped chorizo!

i am perplexed by this because no store here carries goya brand spanish chorizo -- they carry tons of other goya products, but the spanish chorizo is usually always palacios.

goya mexican chorizo yes, everywhere, and it is in a casing, but it is still not cured spanish chorizo. ime goya makes mostly latin american products. so weird!

tza, try adding some frozen mango to the banana soft serve, or blueberries, pineapple - it is n/l

Oh, LL, it is in a casing and that made me think it was Spanish! Because you showed a picture of loose crumbly Mex stuff and I didn't think past that. I'll look again at home but as always, yr prob right.

oh ok, that would explain it!

as for frozen bananas:

every week i buy 6-7 bananas, break them up into pieces, and freeze them. then i use these frozen bananas as a base for smoothies (+ kefir, another fruit -- usually mango or berry -- protein powder, ground flax, a little juice) and it's basically the same thing you guys are calling 'soft serve' -- mushed up fruit. i usually use my immersion blender to squash it all up because it's easy to clean compared to the food processor.

this is not revolutionary or even very interesting, but i thought i would share.

in sum, i always use frozen fruit because it makes for a nicer texture in the smoothie

goya does sell a spanish chorizo - http://www.goya.com/english/product_subcategory/Frozen-Foods/Prepared-Specialties#111

have used it before. that's why i'm so confused that i can't find it anywhere in dc/va.

i do the same thing - slice up the bananas (my blender is useless, so the bananas can't be in chunks) and bag them in ziploc bags. i don't even like bananas or mangoes normally, but frozen and blended they are just amazing.

yeah i've done frozen bananas in protein smoothies before. but this is just straight bananas processed for 5 min and they become fluffy and amazingly good - more like ice cream than a smoothie.

oh, i also need some pro tips about kale: i bought some of the not-curly stuff, tore it off the stems/veins, washed in salted water, sauteed in peanut oil with garlic and apple cider vinegar till it wilted a bit - it was ok but kind of bitter? i don't like bitter at all, so is kale just not for me or did i do it wrong?

hmm, i don't find it overly bitter at all. was this the dinosaur kale? i've not had much experience with it.
maybe the partic bunch you got, or a palate thing?

tza that is so weird! i have never seen that before in my life, and i have shopped at what seems like a zillion markets. i'm glad we've sort of solved the mystery of what laurel is eating, but why isn't the goya chorizo more widely available?!

i'm not sure about the kale either -- i felt the same way about beet greens until i realized that what i had eaten before were just kind of a bad bitter bunch, and they were not supposed to taste like that.

I kill my kale with lemon juice. Maybe that brightens it up a lot? But I like bitterness and dislike vegetal sweetness/darkness, so....

Hey, wait, that IS my chorizo!!

reminds me, i heard nigella on morning edition talking about chorizo and chickpea stew a while back... and i really want to make it. but i can't find the chorizo :( i know it has to be *somewhere*!!

i like a little acid w/ my greens, but lately i am eating more and more kale raw in salads, etc.

these greens look like they like acid too (man do i love chard, it is easily my favorite green, even more than kale, i'm afraid) going to miss the farmer's market when it's gone ;_;
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Aqm5yVcK-JU/S8pNlu6FkyI/AAAAAAAAAAk/5H8y4wqNwaE/s1600/rainbow+chard.jpg

omg gorgeous

any reccs on a brand of dutch oven? i think that is the next thing on my kitchen-needs list. i was looking at the lodge ones, since they seem a good price, but a good chunk of reviews say that the enamel chips off very easily and very quickly.

i love my lodge pans (i have 3) and i will defend them to the end! no need to spend more imo. i have a small dutch oven that is perfect for 2 people + leftovers sized meals. maybe if i were cooking for 5 on a regular basis, i would need a larger pan -- but i don't, so i don't want to clean/lift/store a larger dutch oven.

this is mine except it's brown (ugly colors are cheaper ime)

http://cdn1.iofferphoto.com/img/item/140/163/095/DSwF.jpg

yeah that's the one i was looking at - so no probs with flaky enamel?

Nope, and I've had it for at least 2 yrs probably more, but I don't remember exactly when I got it.

I don't bake bread in it though, which I understand requires high temps? Mostly stews, rice dishes, etc.

Easy weeknight meals, mostly. No problems at all though. I love it.

Just be relatively cautious (don't use metal utensils, don't put cold water in the hot pan, etc) and the enamel will not be a problem - the same is true for spendy Le Crueset.

-bought some broccolini or brocolette (dunno the name) from the farmer's market. saute in EVOO with garlic, on high heat so it gets brown and crispy. so good! I do love that bitterness. you can squeeze some lemon juice and more EVOO on it after it's done.

I have a Lodge enameled dutch oven -- love it, recommend it without reservation. But it is heavy -- bone dry, the pot and lid weigh 25 lbs.

I feel I should post on ILC sometimes...right now I'm cooking Dry-Fried Chicken (aka "gan bian ji") from Fuschia Dunlop's wonderful Sichuan Cookery book. Rather inauthentically, I tend to do basmati rice with my Chinese food.

You should!! That sounds delicious. I only care about rice choice w/ risotto, but otherwise rice is mostly rice to me.