what's cooking? part 5: 2017-2027

I don't like fennel because it is anise-y. I feel like I need to broaden my horizons tho w/r/t winter vegetables, I can't only eat potatoes all year, and I love kale but let's be honest it's not in season in February.

A friend is coming over on Sat bc she wants advice on cooking large hunks of meat. Considering a pot roast alongside a rolled stuffed pork loin -- one easy, one complicated.

try parsnips! one of our favorite winter things is just roasted winter veggies (beets, onions, carrots, garlic, parsnips, turnips, potatoes) mixed up with some olive oil, rosemary, and a bit of sausage, cover and bake.

best way to enjoy fennel is to throw it in the damn garbage bcz it tastes like licorice and it is GROSS

I made a great pork dish with star anise the other night and the first time I made it I used like one star anise (recipe says 5) because I hate licorice but actually it's so subtle it's really good so I always use 5 now

THANK U STEVIE YOU <---> ME = SAME TEAM

anise and fennel are wonderful flavors

that said i have bought fennel bulbs in the past and they have rotted in my fridge bc i couldn't decide what to do with them fast enough :/

tbh I wish I didnt' loathe anise/fennel bcz it wd make things a lot easier but welp here we are, what can ya do

parsnips are the devil fyi

hmph

parsnips are fine, they're sweet and a lil weird but they're fine

quickest way to ruin a soup imo

THE DEVIL

parsnips are good caramelized together with other vegetables as the base for a winter soup stock, they contribute a lot of complexity and are similar to carrots w/ their sweetness. im not a fan of plain parsnips though

for burly winter root vegetables i prefer celeriac

I stand with VG.

Honey roast parsnips are my secret ingredient in a veggie soup

monsters, all of u

mushroom pizza that has a bunch of rehydrated porcinis sauteed with a load of criminis and garlic, on top of fontina, carmelized onions with rosemary playing the role of sauce on some bland-o plain white dough i made

haven't had farinata in years, might attempt this recipe for saturday lunch http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/05/how-to-make-farinata-italian-chickpea-pancake.html

we had my brother and his family over for dinner the other night. they love cooking indian and so do we, so we made a huge feast. i haven't cooked this much food in a while:

masoor dal
benghali green beans and potatoes
tomato sambal
summer squash w/ mustard seeds
saag tofu

All the way at the other end of the vegetarian-omnivore spectrum, I'm making beef stock today.

I agree with VG that parsnips would not work well in any soup I know about, but they roast well and were quite acceptable in a beef and peanut stew recipe my wife made just a few days ago.

I really like roasted parsnips but they are such a damn awkward shape--the top fat part and the itty bitty skinny end make it diffcult to get evenly-roasting pieces.

had some oddly delicious parsnip cake last winter

I'm out. Can't take this parsnip thread. Too triggering.

I had a couple of ideas for pesto variations yesterday — roasted peanuts instead of pine nuts, and mustard greens instead of basil. I got some mediocre mustard this morning and tried that one out -- pretty good, but it needs fresher, more-peppery greens.

my co-worker's ex-husband hunted a deer and gave her a bunch of venison she couldn't use and i'm the leading consumer of meats in the office so i got some and made venison/pork chili and it's the best

niiice

My father in law used to give us venison and it was always good in chili. I don't really like chili tbh but it was ok.

i impulse bought a frozen rack of venison back around the holidays and still need to do something with it

just recently realized how freaking awesome delicata squash is. it's my new kabocha (eg fave winter squarsh). thinkin' of stuffing a couple a la http://beardandbonnet.com/delicata-squash-burrito-bowls/

Venison is awesome with mole. You're welcome.

delicata is great xp, i like it too because you don't have to peel it and it cooks faster than other winter squash

I'm also a fan of delicata. And venison! Had a discussion with a rabbi about kosher venison, which is a thing but v. v. expensive.

yeah delicata is like the french fries of squash in a good way

steely dan of squash even?
ended up making a Killer kale salad -- dino kale sliced v thinly, rubbed with salt and mashed roasted garlic, added some lemon juice and olive oil. threw in some quinoa/amaranth that i'd cooked together mixed it together and plated. topped with 1/2" slices delicata that had cumin and smoked paprika rubbed into the inside (automatic salt and pepper all around, natch) and dressed the top of salad with a simple but yum tahini/apple cider dressing. salad loving housemate was in heaven.

i have some lamb mince - it looked nice at the butcher so i bought it. not sure what to do with it.

my thoughts:

shepherd's pie
mince and potatoes cooked separately not in pie

i mean, do any recipes use lamb mince without being some celtic stodgefest?

go greek imo

you could make meatballs! flavor them however you want (i like parsley, something spicy, onion, garlic, ginger, ??) and eat with rice & vegetable of your choice. or put I guess you could also put them in soup.

shepherds pie with garlicky sweet potato mash

mince is ground meat right?

yep

actually I was looking at this keema recipe earlier, could try that?
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/461642/keema-with-peas

yeah that's right, sorry should have said!

meatballs is prob a good idea, i thought about something like a kofte tho think the spices i'd need might not have survived moving flat a while ago - could prob improvise a bit with szechuan pepper or something maybe as the spicy element.

xpost that keema recipe looks good, prob do have the spices for that. i can obv buy new ones just my cupboards are packed.

oh ok, in that case, keema meatballs?

lately my favorite meal is meatballs as described above + rice w saffron & a small piece of cinnamon + some kind of chopped radish/greens thing. colorful and flavorful but not overwhelming.

that does sound p good. i have saffron i believe. i think the meat should be quite nice so prob doesn't need too much done to it.

trying to impress a new friend of the human female species so am gonna try and pull off homemade ramen noodles, which i've been considering for awhile. http://luckypeach.com/recipes/fresh-alkaline-noodes/
and gonna use a couple bits from that cool recipe someone posted above for "the ultimate rich and creamy vegan ramen" like the soy shiitake tare and the mushroom-scallion oil

I've had an Instant Pot for a week now. I've tried steel cut oats, soft-boiled eggs (one batch overcooked, one batch undercooked -- I'm zeroing in on the sweet spot), pork loin roast, and potatoes and carrots to make hash out of the leftover pork roast. It's an interesting tool, worth the money I think. Going to try yogurt in the next few days.

xposts
Bifteki. I usually make it with ground beef, but sometimes a mix of beef and lamb; all lamb would probably be awesome. Especially if you could grill it over an open flame.

Just going to throw together a salad with black-eye peas, fresh chopped tomato, cucumber, red onion, maybe some parsley along with some kind of acidic dressing. We'll eat it with ham, either on the side or in the salad. I haven't decided, yet.

This was awesome the first time I made it (vegan spinach curry):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjDCJcO6njI

One suggestion would be to add a little bit of mint as well.

sleeve, that bbq recipe looks amazing. I will have to give that a try soon.

Why can’t I find light soy sauce anywhere except for a very high price online? Is “lite” the same as “light”?

Nevermind - I just read that regular and light are interchangeable. Dark is the really different one.

talking of dark and light soy I attempted a basic Cantonese Chow Mein the other day that was a fail because the noodles I used were crappy uk supermarket brand fine ones. I've got the dark and light soy sorted, just needed one of them bags of pan fried egg noodles you get from Chinese supermarkets that I couldn't find at Morrisons.

I think the light soy is cheaper and generally the standard one because it hasn't been fermented as long

homebrew green pea curry with lots of cumin, greens and coconut milk i've been making once a week all summer, my lunch most days. very bright, almost fluorescent yellow color.

heat neutral oil in a soup pot on med-high, add whole spices (1 tbsp black mustard seed, 1.5 tbsp cumin seed, 4 or 5 shelled cardamom pods, a few whole cloves, a pinch of smashed coriander seeds) and a pinch of hing. add a diced onion when the seeds start to pop. when onion is translucent add thumb sized piece of ginger (minced) and equal amount of garlic (also minced) and 1/2 tbsp cumin powder. saute for a couple of minutes until the garlic and ginger is fragrant.

add 1 lb of split green peas (rinsed), 8 cups of water, however much salt you like and 2 tsp turmeric powder. bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer until peas are more or less soft. add a can of coconut milk (pref Brad's Organic) and puree with an immersion blender. simmer until peas are completely cooked.

remove from heat and add a bunch of greens (stalked kale or baby spinach), juice of half a lime, 2 teaspoons S&B curry powder (you can use garam masala i guess). give it another quick blitz with the immersion blender to chop up the greens. serve it the next day ideally, with fresh cilantro. on its own, over rice, or with roti. i like it chilled.

the cardamom, cloves and coriander don't affect the overall flavor of the dish very much in such small amounts but you get a few mouthfuls with nice surprises.

had a really good quinoa "Alla Nerano" recently, from a posh deli next to Lennox Hill Hospital. it was $4 for a little taste, like half a serving. i might try to make it myself. there were pistachios in it!!

Is hing worth going out of my way to find? I saw that it's similar to fennel seeds.

xp yummmmm

Hing = asoefatida (sp?) or no?

I believe that's the case, quincie!

haha, i call it asafoetida irl but hing is easier to type :)

prob worth having if you make lots of dal, otherwise no. it's generally "optional" and most recipes that use it only call for a pinch (Madhur Jaffrey's daily tarka uses like half a tsp, which is a lot) so a 3.5 gram container can last practically forever.

Brahmin ascetics who don't eat onions or garlic use it to flavor their food, to give an idea of its pungency.

I've got two packets of asafoetida powder on my spice wrack only used it a handful of times for chana dal. One of them subtle ingredients where through my own ignorance I wasn't sure what it added so its become an underused one.

It's also one of them ingredients that I couldn't find easily with online supermarket deliveries - I think I got it from ebay

dark soy sauce is mostly for marinades and glazes for meat

it's quite mad that the evolution of soy as a top notch condiment came about because most ppl were getting priced out of salt

Xp I have Thai tofu recipe that requires light & dark for the sauce

same with the recipe I was doing, it was a mix of light/dark plus oyster sauce and sugar. I love how so little of it can flavour so much.

Question for you all. Years ago my Colombian friend made me a meal, which was delicious and I often make some version of it myself, but I wondered if it had a specific name?
It's just a rice salad, white rice mixed with black beans, black olives, diced spring onions, cucumber and cherry tomatoes, with lots of cilantro. We have it with chicken just cooked with basic or Mexican kind of chicken seasoning.

that sounds delicious. I am hoping somebody who knows says something like "it's called 'ensalada de arroz'" and you immediately enter the rice poll thread with "well there's no goddamn ensalada de arroz so...".

Doesn’t sound familiar to me as a known dish w a specific name but it does sound tasty!