What's cooking? part 4

well mine was quite stiff from the (v cold) fridge so i could just lever out spoonfuls and flatten them a bit in the pan. in other circumstances a little bit of beaten egg might have been necessary. also breadcrumbs, flour, these are options.

That egg and browned-up rice cake thing was so good, I want to make some more rice that I don't need for anything just so I can have it for breakfast again.

Also I'm going to do something with a pork shoulder roast today. Roast it, probably.

playing it safe huh

jk

Sauteeing an 8-lb piece of tied up bone-in pig leg seemed like a long shot.

debone that sucker and stuff it!

jk

just made a kinda sublime scramble:
sauteed porcini, added egg and some moz-a-rella = so freaking simple but comforting and YUM

I actually might de-bone it and mash up garlic and herbs, paste them in there, and roll it back up.

sounds nice (even though not really a meat eater i still have appreciation for cooking (recipes, techniques, smells). maybe roast on a bed of chopped apples?

i didn't make the meatballs last night bc i was lazy but i went to wegmans and bought a buttload of food so there will be a lot of cooking in the near future. i'm making this right now http://www.publicradio.org/columns/splendid-table/recipes/chicken_tinga.html

they have 1-lb packages of ground free-range lamb so i got 3. they're like $7 which is a lot but for lamb it's not imo? because i love lamb

just made a kinda sublime scramble:

I did that the other day: mine was eggs scrambled with some dill and spring onion greens, then at the very last monent as it starts setting the curds, stirred in baby spinach and crumbled feta cheese. Soooo good.

tinga was awesome w/ corn tortillas, cotija, and avocados. it tasted like real mexican food. i think i might have quadrupled the number of chipotles though.

Pork roast spread with garlic, rosemary, truffle salt, paste moistened with apple cider, re-rolled and roasted for over 3 hours.
Boiled baby yellow potatoes with chives
Arugula salad with mustard dressing
Pan sauce made after pouring off the fat, reducing, some flour, adding more cider

I am only good at one kind of cooking and that is giant pieces of meat, but I'm decent at that, at least.

that sounds amazing

I am going to try red curry with shrimp. How do I buy shrimp? Should I just get whatever fresh shrimp is the cheapest at the Asian supermarket? What should I avoid? What's the yummiest?

you want black tiger shrimp, my man

The bigger the shrimp, the more I like dry cooking methods (grilling, pan sauteeing, roasting). In a curry, I like smaller shrimp, even though they're more work to peel.

I'm making shrimp and grits tonight because the version of that dish I had last week for my birthday was really really bad.

i never buy shrimp. it's expensive but i buy tons of expensive stuff unjustifiably all the time, so i should.

i'm making this http://thedomesticman.com/2012/10/02/hungarian-goulash-gulyas/
wegmans didn't have hungarian paprika, which shocked me! so i'm using regular paprika.

i spent a bunch of time trying to find a smoked paprika retailer this weekend before going to cook at someone's place, found some (in this cute lil sack; i have the kind in the red tin at mine & figured i should get something different, it's from a hungarian company), only to go to the place & find the cupboards stocked with three kinds of smoked paprika. craziness. i use it a lot though. even just making rice i throw a little in at the start, & make it pilau style. i never really dug regular paprika but like smoked a whole lot, idk if i'd go back & appreciate the normal kind more, it is possible that i am just sold on the speciality of it being 'smoked'.

my mom has bought me smoked paprika for xmas every year for the past 3 years. i've still not finished the first one!

made my favorite quinoa salad for dinner last night -- quinoa, black beans, corn, green/red peppers, pickled jalapenos, with a cumin-lime dressing. There are days when I think I could live off this salad.

Made my first chili -- used a basic recipe from Marc Bitman, but I added tomato paste toward the end cuz I was like "how the fuck can you NOT have tomato in this"

I've started buying larger bags of smoked paprika whenever I hit a Penzeys as I find that I use a ton of it - that plus sherry vinegar is like a super easy shortcut to faux Spanish food.

http://50.116.98.185/~mmmstuff/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/51bXUvbM6AL._SL500_AA280_1.jpg

^^^ my jam

remember those little sweet potato and spinach tofu pocket thingies i made? i expanded my offerings to include one with cucumber and avocado and another with those two things + a few little pieces of smoked salmon (how convenient is that?!)

after i took this pic i topped both with crushed seaweed and a few sesame seeds, and drizzled a little chili oil on the ones with salmon

they were great!

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8202/8180580152_c5c36d15d9.jpg

this barely counts as cooking, but hey

also the tops of the puffs were thrown into a broccoli stir fry i served on the side (and mixed with rice noodles for lunches today)

They are cute!

I didn't realize Thanksgiving was just next week--promised to bring at least 1 apple pie to my friend's family for dinner, which means I'll probably make 4 of them, which means I need to lug an UNGODLY amount of apples home soon.

why do you have to make 4?

i know this is how you do but you don't need to make 4, right?

these are the puffs in their container -- they're $1.60/12

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8486/8180571900_deca6db225.jpg

I'll have to leave one at the hosts' house, it's not polite to pack up your leftovers and take them with you. :) Which means I need at least one to take and one to eat at home. Then if you're going to do two, you might as well do more, because you got all the stuff out already, plus you can freeze them unbaked and they keep indefinitely. Not that I have that much room in my freezer but maybe I can clean things out.

I was thinking of giving one to each floor of my building for the hols, but then I've gone through all 4 and won't have any to freeze. Maybe reconsider.

and this -- this! -- is why my homemade gifts always fail!! when i am called upon to do the same thing a bunch of times, i no longer want to do it. i am terrible at big jobs! teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrible.

Haha! I sort of am too which is why I want to do these all at the same time and not 4 weekends running! If I have to get out the bathtub-sized mixing bowl, the food processor, the rolling pin, I am doing this all at oncet.

Plus feeding apples to the food processor for slicing is kind of fun.

Pork red curry tomorrow! What sort of pork do I buy? I'm still learning how to meat. There are so many kinds! Is tenderloin the preferred cut?

i'd think for that application you could use shoulder but i'm not (yet) a pork expert

Shoulder would be too fatty, better for a long slow cooking indian curry or braise. For a thai curry where you're just searing the meat, stir-fry style, I would use tenderloin

Agree with tenderloin, but that shit gets overcooked FAST so pls use caution.

Tonight: bulgogi lettuce wraps! Did not make my own kim chi but whatevs

I swear this thread has the fastest turnaround of any thread on the whole ILX

Gotta admit I just get a big juicy pork chop for thai curry and slice thinly, chopping off the rind

Don't tend to really sear it though except very briefly before adding the liquid

cooking chicken & spinach/mustard greens curry thing from 660 Curries.

:D

Just got 2 big bunches of gai lan/chinese broc from supermarket. APart from obv chinese broc in oyster sauce dish, what could I make? I've done these with chicken in a stir fry before but there must be other ideas.

Spouse's latest philosophy is that if you are going to have the smoker going anyway, you might as well fill it to capacity. Thus 40-some pounds of brisket currently smoking. The entirety of ILX is invited over to dinner tonight!

O_O

be right over

holy crap

ilx all-meat carcinogen cru unite

I have never had an artichoke (the hearts, yes, but never a whole one). I want to start. I can google recipes, but does anyone have a favorite preparation?