What's cooking? part 4

Sadly, it's probably overdone.

With breasts, prob. overdone. Thighs or a whole chick with all the bones will get fall-aparty in a crock pot.

Just chop 'em up real fine and eat with lots of avocado! Still yum.

^^ avocado solves everything.

LL, those oatmeal muffins from that embarrassing website are a hit. Housemates have already swiped a few. I made half the amount - next time I'll do the whole amount and freeze.

Well luckily since I shredded them up and chicken shreds finely, it didn't matter that the individual fibers weren't tender! I simmered down the cooking liquid and put the chx back in. Tacos were delicious.

i made this delicious thai basil stir fry last week - her photos make it look bland and sauceless, but i dusted my tofu in cornflour before frying in a little oil so it browned up way more, and the dish looked a lot saucier.

also this veggie-laden red lentil stew with caramelized onions was decent.

and this nicoise salad sandwich was a hit (i left out the artichokes tho).

this week i've made a weird chickpea curry with orange juice and tons of veggies, and this salad of butternut, lentils, kale, roasted tomatoes, spicy pumpkin seeds and tahini dressing. i hate tahini so it was not a favourite of mine.

i've also been eating way too many afghan cookies (...mostly the uncooked dough...):

2 sticks of butter creamed with
3 oz sugar in the food processor then add
a good handful of cornflakes (roasted peanuts work great too) and pulse before adding
6 oz flour and
1 oz good cocoa
blend and then eat with a spoon or
freeze and eat like fudge squares or
bake as cookies at 350f for about 15mins

i made fried rice!

it was awesome, i didn't make enough, now i want more

Tomorrow I'd like to make a noodle salad bowl, resembling something I ate at a thai restaurant. So far I have lemongrass, radishes, chicken, and rice vermicelli. Should I use beef or chicken stock? Or maybe make a vegetable ginger stock? Any ideas on other ingredients?

chicken imo since you are using chicken

Lime and cilantro and peanuts

And fish sauce!

not that i think most of you need this, but if you need a *meal to impress* that isn't a ton of work, this is good:

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2014/02/pappardelle-with-duck-ragu-from-robertas.html

i bought the fresh pasta but if you have the simmer time the sauce is a breeze. when i was finishing it i was like "eh this doesn't look that cool" and then i whisked in the chocolate and it was one of the most beautiful transformations i've seen cooking in a while.

i made this for dinner & i accidentally overcooked the potatoes so it was like guacamole mashed potatoes

so good

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/cilantro-avocado-potato-salad-recipe.html#!

made this simple veggie-quinoa salad with a super mustardy dressing

and the tofu for this sandwich came out spectacularly well - probably the best tofu i've ever eaten

this butternut salad with shallot dressing was decent

I made a lentil ragu a few days ago that was really good. That duck ragu sounds really good. I'm thinking of making chili with cubed turkey breast?

Is that a bad idea, consistency wise? I'm afraid either the turkey and sauce ratio will be too wide or that the turkey will overcook and become stringy?

i think ground turkey might be a better idea, if that's an option? ground meat is what i usually see in chili (but maybe there's some cool new way to make it that everyone is doing that i don't know about because i live in a bubble)

well you can make chili with cubed stew beef but with turkey i think i would def go with ground

hey la lechera, I tried those oatmeal cupcake things and they were pretty good!

i used the full amount of bananas in the recipe and it did take me a day or two to get over the weird wet-rubber texture of them

but the taste was really good. I was reading back over what you had said about them --- you only use 2 bananas? do you reduce the amount of water or oats or anything? i was thinking that sounded like a thing I would do, but i was curious how it changes the texture/consistency etc

Yeah, two medium sized bananas. The taste is only mildly banana-y and the texture is not dreamy (like a croissant) or anything, but they're totally edible. I don't change the water or amt of oats.

Long, long rasslin' match with work deadlines ended last night -- can't wait to get back in the kitchen, starting with homemade bread.

ok I will try that!!

my prilosec meds have worn off and i'm trying to see if i can manage my acid reflux now without the meds, so these are perfect tasty, filling, unoffensive snacks for me to experiment with. thx again LL!!

yeah, they are exactly that -- inoffensive flavor/texture (for me at least), don't make me sick, nutritious enough, cheap to make, produced in volume, freezable. good to have around! good luck! i hope you feel better soon.

winter salad of quinoa, pomegranate seeds, tangerines, spring greens w/ a sauce of mandarins, cashews, ginger - not really my thing, but jordan loved it.

another winter salad of kale, chard, wild rice and parsley, w/ sweet peppers and a simple lemon/evoo vinaigrette for tonight. i think i way over cooked the rice, bc i didn't realize that there are a bunch of different types that require different cooking, and my wild rice was from a bulk bin. i just googled "wild rice" and got 2c water p/0.5 c rice, simmer for 55 mins.

just1n3 I am continually amazed and inspired by what you are cooking! I mean that is how I feel about many folks on this thread, but iirc you don't particularly think of yourself as a cook and/or like cooking AND you cook vegan! You are a kitchen badass, is the thing.

^^ otm

i do hate cooking for the most part, and the one absolute number luxury i would choose in an instant is a personal chef!!!

i'm also super fussy and picky and exceptionally embarrassed about it, and it makes cooking stuff hard when i dismiss so many recipes. this new thing i started a few weeks ago (after being in a rut for quite a while) is: i've stopped cooking for myself/us and cook exclusively for jordan i.e. i look for recipes that jordan would like (and he is the least fussy person i know, apart from being vegan) and on sunday nights i prep a whole bunch of stuff for his week's lunches and dinners. sometimes i like the stuff i end up making for him, sometimes i don't. but i tell you, it has somehow made cooking much more enjoyable bc i feel so much less stressed about it - bc i'm not cooking for my own fussy tastes. it does mean i've been eating A LOT of toast, but i've been enjoying cooking more than i have ever before, so that's saying something.

also: i finally made really good hummus!

i no longer have toaster access, it's kind of weird, there was once much more toast in my life. i made skillet toast, it's not the same.

I prefer it!

tell me about yr good hummus, just1n3

well every time i make it, it tastes disgusting to me, like using raw chickpeas (whic lol i actually did the first time i made hummus bc i was so limited in my food knowledge that i thought they just needed soaking).

but i accidentally figured out it just tastes disgusting when it's fresh and needs to sit overnight.

i use the smitten kitchen recipe, leave out the garlic and add a tbsp or so of ground cumin and lots of evoo (which i finally submitted to).

Tomorrow I'm all set to make homemade beef stock! I have marrow bones and oxtails, carrots, onion, celery and a spice/herd sachet. I'm going to roast the bones, oxtails and carrots first and even char the onions. It's the time I'm a little uncertain on. Some recipes call for simmering for a 6 to 8 hours, then others say to a day or even 2 days? Also I read to only add the spice/herb mix for the last hour or two of cooking, that you can overcook the herbs until they lost their flavor? Does anyone have any tips or experience with making beef stock?

I make it twice a year, spring and fall generally. I roast about 10 lbs. of beef neckbones at 325-350 for a good while, probably 4-5 hours. Then into the big stock pot with cold water, peppercorns, bay leaves and all the aromatics, onions/carrots/celery/garlic, clean but unpeeled. I also make sure to deglaze the sheet pans with water and scrape the fond into the pot. Sometimes the tiniest bit of salt, but I shoot for a low-salt stock so I can control the saltiness of whatever finished dish it's going in later. Simmer but don't boil for about 3 hrs, then I turn off the heat and fish out all the bones and solids and strain it through cheesecloth. I'm lucky enough to have a 2nd fridge out in the shop, so I chill it overnight out there, peel the layer of fat off the top the next morning, and I've got the day to reduce it down to whatever strength I want it. Usually a Saturday/Sunday operation. Yields about 2 gallons, give or take. I have no idea if I'm doing it "right," but it produces a stock I really like.

10 lbs of beef neck bones!! I might not have enough, I only have 4 lbs of oxtails and 1.5 lbs of marrow bones, do I need more? I also read some people coat the bones in tomato sauce before roasting them? For some reason I can't imagine how big or small or what a beef neck bone would look like?

I like to use knuckles for the gelatin they add to the stock. Though I've read about making really long simmered stock (bone broth), I usually don't let it go for more than 8 hours covered. Then I strain it, chill it, defat it, and concentrate it (simmering until it's reduced by at least half). You'll do fine with the bones you've got, just use only enough water to cover them plus another inch - too much water can make weak stock. You're better off with more concentrated, which you can dilute.

Neck bone looks like a vertebra, bigger than a tail vertebra by some.

Oh, also I use only bay leaf and peppercorns for a 6-8 hour simmer, they can hold up to it okay.

http://www.seriouseats.com/images/2011/08/20110802-beef-tendon-500.jpg

Ye olde beef neckbone. Each of those pieces are probably 3" x 4", sliced about 1.5" thick. Lotta good stuff in those to be coaxed out. I'm lucky Tupelo's big enough (barely) to have one store with an actual butcher.

Experimenting with chestnut flour this morning in a baked pancake. Smells amazing!

Corned beef in the slow cooker today :D

Mr Veg said next year he'll attempt home-corning a brisket, which is v exciting

I've been wanting to make corned beef, with homemade potato salad!

This is only my second time making it. Last year I slow cooked it in the oven, but it got a little dry I thought. So I'm trying the all-day slow cooker with onions, garlic, guinness and a bit of water. We'll see. Oh and I'm having a crack at colcannon for dinner (kale not cabbage).

Home-corning queen

going to make some vaguely St David's Day tarts with 'reduced fat' frozen puff pastry that was reduced to 60p...

what are they? the tarts, I mean

leek and bacon, with a big thing of goat's cheese on :)

Channeling my spring fever into making portable heart shaped foods, like oatmeal cakes and egg blobs. It's turning out alright but I've got no idea where the little heart pans came from.

I'm v jealous of the heart pans, they are so cute.
We both have to work tonight after raucous bachelor party so big greasy breakfast with home fries in the pipeline here

I made those oatmeal cupcakes for my students for midterms and they actually like them! My only tip is that they need to cool significantly before being stored or condensation will make the cupcake liners all soggy.

Tonight I made Root Vegetable Hash with Pan-Seared Tortellini and so can you!

1 parsnip, cut into dice
2 small carrots, cut into dice
1 large Yukon Gold tater, cut into dice
1 small onion, cut into dice
Lots of cloves of garlic, chopped coarsely
Olive oil, salt, pepper
^^^^^toss, spread in even layer in 9x13, bake at 400* for 45 min or so, stirring every 15 (for the last 15 min I cranked it to like 500* to get it brown n crispy)

1 10 oz pkg tortellini
^^^^^cook acc to directions, maybe 1 minute less. Generously coat the bottom of a large heavy pan with olive oil, throw those little fuckers in and spread evenly and just walk the fuck away* for like 5-10 min til they get golden on the bottom. Stir and cook like 5 min longer
*it is v hard to resist the temptation to stir everything all of the time but I am learning how to do it for the sake of browniness

stir that shit up; drizzle some nice olive oil and sprinkle w/ salt. Boom.