What's cooking? part 4

This week's giant pot of food to bring to lunch everyday is a dearly loved soup, Bittman's
West African Peanut Soup With Chicken. KALE. In a rare fit of being exactly unlike myself, though, I didn't have any garlic on hand.

i have achieved bean zen!

13 bean smoked pork shank soup was delicious, unexpectedly so. the meat off that shank was wow

Slow roasted 15 lbs of boneless pork shoulder overnight, rubbed with thyme, black green white and pink pepper, smoked paprika, salt. House smelled SO GOOD this morning and the cats were going insane from it. Couldn't stand it and ate a bunch for breakfast.

yuuuuum

Oh I'm totally going to try the Bittman peanut soup this week! Will halve it because it is just me until Friday.

It is like the quintessence of yummy/healthy/high-energy lunch.

Do you do it with a salad or bread or? I looooove soup, but unless it involves noodles or rice (pho, chinese noodle soups, korean soups served w/rice, etc.), I don't really feel *satisfied*.

A banana, usually? I eat a a banana w/everything, though. Bread would work.

I need to get over my banana aversion. Latest strategy is to eat a bunch of different kinds while in Sri Lanka, hoping I find one that rocks my world. Of course then I will never be able to find said bana variety stateside, and will continue my near-bananaless existence.

pan-grilled chicken with 3 pepper seasoning, roasted beets with yogurt-horseradish sauce & spinach greens.

apple crisp for dessert

sundays have become my cooking day & it makes me vvvvv happy

i need some advice from puff pastry expert, la lachera:

i have some litte pp shells (the round ones). i was thinking of spooning on some pesto and slices of roast delicata squash, maybe a little parm. do i just prick the bottoms? anything else i need to do to avoid sogginess?

maybe add a thin layer of cheese at the bottom to hold everything on there/create a bed for the possibly sog-creating pesto? what kind of pesto? might i recommend a spicy mint with red pepper flakes? i like really strong flavors though, so mint at your own risk ;)

how cool is this thing?!?!

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_meb6lpmsFn1rpe0jco1_500.jpg

wow! i love that

that's how I (would like to) roll

are those common in some part of the world? i remember seeing something vaguely like this when i was a kid, but i think it was in art class?!

basically i love anything that creates a pattern when you roll it over something else

They are for Springerle.

oh wow, thanks! that is so cool. i'm totally going to look into these thingies.

Thanks LL, I'm making a basic basil pesto, but I'll def do the cheese thing!

oh noooo... i hadn't had puff pastry products in so long, i'd forgotten how DELICIOUS they are!! i ate all the tops of the shells - jordan's never had this kind of stuff before so he won't know anything's missing ^_^

now i want to make everything with puff pastry!

i think i'm gonna do little PP apple pies for xmas - but they have to be vegan, can i skip the egg wash? it's just a shiny thing, right?

you could brush with maple maybe?

Doesn't puff pastry have butter in it? I thought that's how it got so flaky?

pepperidge farms makes an accidentally-vegan kind, i guess it has shortening in it instead?

Yeah I love accidentaal veganism and PP is common for it suprisingly! I think because veg shortening's cheaper than actual butter?

Mayo in this category too, cheap ones are made with thickeners instead of egg...

i almost always make my own pastry and i only use butter but i think a lot of the commercial ones are vegan.

omg you make your own puff pastry?
for real?
if so, i bow to you.

i think the egg is just for shiny, so you could easily go without

oops that last thing was to just!ne

also last night i made the chicken soup my host grandma (lol year abroad) taught me to make, which was the first time i had ever been taught how to make anything without a recipe. she is still my inspiration.

You can make reasonably good pie crust with Crisco instead of butter, it's not my favorite but it doesn't completely ruin it. So there's your vegan pastry. :)

The Trader Joe's puff in my freezer has butter in the ingredients. Nice to know there's a vegan option.

Making your own puff pastry is pretty impressive, estela!!

I made it when I saw frozen stuff for $10 in Whole Foods. It's fairly easy even for a baking idiot like me.

I have made my own puff pastry but it has never turned out well. All that folding...

puff pastry is not at all difficult if you have 'the touch'.

i've been hesitant about making pork tenderloin due to memories of them being plain and dry, but i did one tonight. followed the sear-roasting method of my gal molly stevens, did some chinese 5-spice in addition to salt and pepper. came out nice and tender and satisfying.

yay! it's so good! and v easy once you get the knack.

woke up way too early, the mouthful of cereal I ate before I headed out the door was not nearly enough...sooooo: second breakfast/brunch of scrambled eggs with goat cheese, spinach and mushrooms coming up

:D

Mouthful of cereal or a lone bagel is my usual breakfast and it leaves me feeling shitty til I eat again so I decided this morning would be diff and that I would cook some of the eggs I just bought! In orbit held my hand and walked me thru the process of frying an egg (which I've never actually done) and the egg-flip was both fun and successful!! This was paired w a toasty cream-cheesed onion bagel and a glass of horchata w 2 shots of espresso in it. Breakfast perfection.

It was like the time I taught gravel puzz to toast a bagel.

Jk, Stevie! It was my pleasure, of course.

my new breakfast plan is to eat a hell of a lot of soft-boiled eggs.

what is this fried egg flipping technique? Do you use a spatula or flip the pan or???

In the air. Kitchen-style.

nice! do you use a nonstick pan or regular?

second breakfast otm

fking best idea I've had this year

Non-stick pan w sloped sides required.

Chicken, cider and leek casserole with buttery crispy-skinned baked potato, I <3 you

oh hi yeah think I might love that too, wow